NOTE: As I mentioned before, I'm honestly not trying to get Seto and Tea in a romantic thing together ;D
"Another presence?" Yugi repeated. The couch they were sitting on rose into the air. Tea, Joey, and Bakura screamed. Yugi, Seto, and Tristan just looked astounded.
"Take us down! Take us down!" Joey yelled.
Madame Fiona placed her hands over her temples and started to chant. Then she hummed low and called in a commanding tone, "Spirit, release them and deliver your message!"
"This *is* my message," an eerie voice intoned. "You will all suffer painful deaths for your interference!" With that the couch was slammed back down and everyone spilled onto the floor. Yugi got to his feet and, raising his right hand, banished the evil presence.
"Oh man, what was that?!" Joey exclaimed.
"An evil spirit," Yugi said grimly.
"I'm not being scared off the case," Seto growled.
"Me either!" Joey said hotly.
"You are brave," Madame Fiona purred. "Not everyone has the courage to stand up to demons." She stroked Joey's messy blonde hair and he backed away nervously. "Ah, surely you are not afraid of me," Madame Fiona smiled.
Joey gulped. "Eh, well . . ."
"I will not harm you, Joseph," she assured him. "I will not harm any of you."
Seto glanced out the window. "The limo's here," he announced.
Yugi nodded. "We'll be taking our leave now," he said, smiling at Madame Fiona. "Thank you for your kindness in letting us stay here."
"Of course. Come back again soon," Madame Fiona replied, watching them go out the door and get into the limo.
****
"So, Yug, what's the plan now?" Joey asked as they rode downtown.
"We should visit the funeral home," Yugi told him. "It dawned on me that at least some of the people there must know something about pyrotechnics."
Joey nodded slowly. "Oh. Yeah, I see what you mean, Yug," he said.
"Head for the funeral home," Seto directed his chauffeur.
"Yes, Mr. Kaiba," the chauffeur replied with a nod.
****
When they arrived at the funeral home, the last thing they expected to see was five scarecrows running out the door, each one holding something that looked like file folders. Mr. Graves was chasing after them, screaming angrily.
"What happened here, Mr. Graves?" Yugi asked as they ran over.
"I've been robbed by an entire group of straw men!" Mr. Graves yelled. "They took the files for some of the most unusual . . . customers," he finished finally.
"Don't worry, we'll do our best to find them," Yugi assured him. "Meantime, call the police!"
With that, the six teens took off after the fleeing scarecrows, which all decided to run in different directions. This caused the teens to split up as well.
"Be careful!" Yugi called. "It's almost dark and anything could be lurking in the shadows!"
How pleasant, Tea thought as she found herself running alongside Seto Kaiba.
"I don't see any scarecrows!" she yelled.
"I saw one," Seto replied grimly. "It went down in that alley."
In the ensuing darkness, Tea suddenly found herself alone in the alley. She looked around, feeling worried and uneasy. "Kaiba?" she called, her gaze darting back and forth. "I thought you were coming in here! Where are you?"
A horrible laugh that didn't sound anything like Seto was her only answer, and a scruffy man stepped out of the shadows, leering at her. "Hey, girly, you shouldn't be wandering around the streets all by yourself," he sneered, advancing on her.
Tea backed up, her blue eyes wide with fright. "I'm not alone," she said steadily.
He smirked. "Not anymore, you're not. Now how about coming with me for a little moonlight stroll?"
"Not on your life, buster!" Tea snapped.
He reached for her arm. "I said come with me!" he growled.
"Stay away from me!!" Tea tried to hit the evil man, but he grabbed her wrists tightly.
"You're comin' with me, girly," he leered.
"I won't!" Tea screamed, kicking wildly.
"Let her go. Now!"
Tea looked up. Seto Kaiba had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and he glared threateningly at the man, who only laughed and didn't release Tea from his grasp.
"Seto Kaiba, eh?" he mused. "Is she your girlfriend?" He jerked Tea forward.
"No, she's not my girlfriend," Seto replied coldly. "But I'm not about to let you do anything to her. Now let her go."
"Oh, you're just a kid," the man snarled. "I'm not afraid of you !" He took a step backward, still holding on to Tea, whose eyes were wide and frightened. "What could you possibly do to me?"
Seto responded by first squeezing a pressure point on the man's arm, and he screamed in pain, releasing his grip on Tea, who quickly darted out of the way to watch from a safe distance. Then Seto grabbed the man's wrist and flipped him over. The man groaned in agony and struggled to his feet, attempting another attack. Seto swiftly lashed out with a karate kick, sending him flying against the brick wall. "Had enough yet?" Seto asked, glaring at the man, who was gasping for breath.
"Just wait . . . Seto Kaiba . . . I will have my revenge," he rasped.
Seto shrugged in a "Yeah, whatever" kind of way and turned back to Tea, who had watched all this wide-eyed. "Are you alright, Tea?" he asked.
She nodded shakily. "I'm okay . . . thanks to you," she whispered softly.
Seto didn't answer. Instead he put his arm around Tea gently and led her out of the alley, back the way they'd come. "That scarecrow will just have to be allowed to get away," he muttered. He didn't mention that he was planning to come back later and look for it.
****
When they got back to the funeral home, they found that the others were already there.
"Whoa! Where have you two been?" Joey burst out when he saw them approach.
"We were starting to get very worried," Yugi added.
"I ran into a real jerk in an alley," Tea told them, "and Kaiba showed him a thing or two!"
All eyes turned to Seto, who simply shrugged and replied, "Tea can tell you about it later. Were any of the scarecrows found?"
"Not a one," Joey sighed. "They ran off with all of the 'unusual customers' files."
"What exactly did you mean by 'unusual customers'?" Seto asked Mr. Graves.
Now Mr. Graves sighed. "Well, I know how ridiculous this is going to sound, but several people brought to my funeral home lately have had strange marks on their necks."
"What kind of strange marks, Mr. Graves?" Yugi queried.
"Well, frankly . . ." Mr. Graves paused. "They looked like fang marks."
"You mean like from a snake?" Tristan asked.
"Not exactly," Mr. Graves replied, "and that's part of what's so puzzling. They don't look like any kind of marks we've ever seen before."
"You say that's only part of what's puzzling, Mr. Graves?" Bakura asked.
Mr. Graves nodded. "That's right. The other very odd thing about those particular bodies is that they've been drained of most of their blood."
Everyone gasped, and Bakura suddenly looked lightheaded. Tea had to catch him before he fainted.
"Oh man, you're kidding, right?" Joey exclaimed.
Mr. Graves shook his head. "None of us here at the funeral home can understand it. It just doesn't make sense."
"So is that what killed 'em, then?" Joey wanted to know. "Or did the blood drinkers come after they were dead?"
Mr. Graves sighed. "The pathologist couldn't find out what killed any of them. She had to call the causes of death 'mysterious circumstances.'"
"Ohh man, is anyone else thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Joey exclaimed, looking at each of the others in turn.
"You're thinking that this is the work of vampyres and that Madame Fiona is to blame," Tristan deduced.
"What else?" Joey threw his hands up in the air. "I think that we should search her place when she's not there and see what kinda stuff we find!"
Tristan rolled his eyes. "Joey, we could get arrested!"
"Better alive in jail than dead on the floor!" Joey returned. "I don't wanna be her next victim!"
"You're over-reacting, Wheeler," Seto said dryly.
"Excuse me for entering this conversation, but WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??!!" Mr. Graves screamed.
"Oh, nothing, Mr. Graves," Tristan replied. "Joey here just thinks that psychic lady who foresaw the scarecrow attack is a bloodthirsty vampyre."
"Scarecrows, wraiths, vampyres . . . What next??" Mr. Graves moaned. "Zombies??!"
"Actually, we've already dealt with those," Tristan grinned.
Mr. Graves moaned again and ran his hands through his hair, completely messing it up.
"Don't worry, Mr. Graves," Yugi said determinedly, "we're going to get to the bottom of this!" He paused. "Mr. Graves, does Bob Fielding know anything about pyrotechnics?" he asked.
Mr. Graves looked surprised. "Well, yes, he does," he admitted. "But what does that have to do with anything?!"
"It might help with the investigation," Yugi replied mysteriously.
"Well, whatever," Mr. Graves said irritably. "Now I will bid you all good night." With that he went back into his office and slammed the door.
"Friendly guy," Joey remarked sarcastically.
"Well, I think he has many good reasons to be upset," Yugi said grimly. "This is one twist I wasn't expecting."
"It's that creepy Madame Fiona, I know it is," Joey declared.
"Oh Joey," Tea sighed.
****
After Seto dropped the others off at the game shop, he instructed the chauffeur to take him back to the alley. He knew the scarecrow wasn't likely to be around, but he was hoping to find some kind of clue.
"Mr. Kaiba, sir, are you certain you want to get out here?" the chauffeur asked doubtfully, looking around at the broken-down buildings and dark streets. "It doesn't look very safe."
"I'll be careful," Seto replied, opening the door and stepping out. He entered the alley from the other side and looked around. No one was in sight, but was that some wisps of straw clinging to a building's fire escape? Quickly Seto pulled them free and put them in an envelope he'd brought with him. Perhaps the straw could be tested to determine where it had come from. That could be a valuable clue.
"Hey, you there! Young man!"
Seto looked up. A woman with her hair in curlers was leaning out of the window, looking at him curiously. "Yes? What is it, ma'am?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I saw you down there earlier," the woman called back. "I was just wondering if you were looking for something."
"I might be," Seto replied, crossing his arms. "Do you know about something that I might want to know about? Did you see anything that looked suspicious?"
"Well, yes, I did, actually," the woman nodded. "About thirty minutes before I saw you the first time, I saw what looked like one of those horrible straw men running by carrying file folders. Then it climbed up that fire escape there and went in the building through the door on the roof."
Seto looked thoughtful. "What is this building here?"
"Oh, it used to be a store with an apartment over it," the woman replied, "but it's been abandoned now for about fifteen years."
"Did you ever see the scarecrow come out?" Seto asked.
The woman shook her head. "It might still be holed up in there."
"The police are looking for those scarecrows, you know," Seto told her. "They committed a robbery."
The woman sighed. "Well, I hope they catch them. I want to get those horrible things off the streets and back into the cornfields where they belong!"
Seto nodded. "We all do. Thank you for your help, ma'am," he said, turning to climb up the fire escape.
"You be careful now," the woman cautioned.
"I will be," Seto assured her.
When he reached the roof, he noticed that the door was blowing in the autumn breeze. Either the scarecrow had done that, or someone else had come up here.
Before Seto could plan his best course of action, he felt cold metal pressing against his neck. "Move and I'll slit your throat," an evil-sounded voice hissed.
"Another presence?" Yugi repeated. The couch they were sitting on rose into the air. Tea, Joey, and Bakura screamed. Yugi, Seto, and Tristan just looked astounded.
"Take us down! Take us down!" Joey yelled.
Madame Fiona placed her hands over her temples and started to chant. Then she hummed low and called in a commanding tone, "Spirit, release them and deliver your message!"
"This *is* my message," an eerie voice intoned. "You will all suffer painful deaths for your interference!" With that the couch was slammed back down and everyone spilled onto the floor. Yugi got to his feet and, raising his right hand, banished the evil presence.
"Oh man, what was that?!" Joey exclaimed.
"An evil spirit," Yugi said grimly.
"I'm not being scared off the case," Seto growled.
"Me either!" Joey said hotly.
"You are brave," Madame Fiona purred. "Not everyone has the courage to stand up to demons." She stroked Joey's messy blonde hair and he backed away nervously. "Ah, surely you are not afraid of me," Madame Fiona smiled.
Joey gulped. "Eh, well . . ."
"I will not harm you, Joseph," she assured him. "I will not harm any of you."
Seto glanced out the window. "The limo's here," he announced.
Yugi nodded. "We'll be taking our leave now," he said, smiling at Madame Fiona. "Thank you for your kindness in letting us stay here."
"Of course. Come back again soon," Madame Fiona replied, watching them go out the door and get into the limo.
****
"So, Yug, what's the plan now?" Joey asked as they rode downtown.
"We should visit the funeral home," Yugi told him. "It dawned on me that at least some of the people there must know something about pyrotechnics."
Joey nodded slowly. "Oh. Yeah, I see what you mean, Yug," he said.
"Head for the funeral home," Seto directed his chauffeur.
"Yes, Mr. Kaiba," the chauffeur replied with a nod.
****
When they arrived at the funeral home, the last thing they expected to see was five scarecrows running out the door, each one holding something that looked like file folders. Mr. Graves was chasing after them, screaming angrily.
"What happened here, Mr. Graves?" Yugi asked as they ran over.
"I've been robbed by an entire group of straw men!" Mr. Graves yelled. "They took the files for some of the most unusual . . . customers," he finished finally.
"Don't worry, we'll do our best to find them," Yugi assured him. "Meantime, call the police!"
With that, the six teens took off after the fleeing scarecrows, which all decided to run in different directions. This caused the teens to split up as well.
"Be careful!" Yugi called. "It's almost dark and anything could be lurking in the shadows!"
How pleasant, Tea thought as she found herself running alongside Seto Kaiba.
"I don't see any scarecrows!" she yelled.
"I saw one," Seto replied grimly. "It went down in that alley."
In the ensuing darkness, Tea suddenly found herself alone in the alley. She looked around, feeling worried and uneasy. "Kaiba?" she called, her gaze darting back and forth. "I thought you were coming in here! Where are you?"
A horrible laugh that didn't sound anything like Seto was her only answer, and a scruffy man stepped out of the shadows, leering at her. "Hey, girly, you shouldn't be wandering around the streets all by yourself," he sneered, advancing on her.
Tea backed up, her blue eyes wide with fright. "I'm not alone," she said steadily.
He smirked. "Not anymore, you're not. Now how about coming with me for a little moonlight stroll?"
"Not on your life, buster!" Tea snapped.
He reached for her arm. "I said come with me!" he growled.
"Stay away from me!!" Tea tried to hit the evil man, but he grabbed her wrists tightly.
"You're comin' with me, girly," he leered.
"I won't!" Tea screamed, kicking wildly.
"Let her go. Now!"
Tea looked up. Seto Kaiba had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and he glared threateningly at the man, who only laughed and didn't release Tea from his grasp.
"Seto Kaiba, eh?" he mused. "Is she your girlfriend?" He jerked Tea forward.
"No, she's not my girlfriend," Seto replied coldly. "But I'm not about to let you do anything to her. Now let her go."
"Oh, you're just a kid," the man snarled. "I'm not afraid of you !" He took a step backward, still holding on to Tea, whose eyes were wide and frightened. "What could you possibly do to me?"
Seto responded by first squeezing a pressure point on the man's arm, and he screamed in pain, releasing his grip on Tea, who quickly darted out of the way to watch from a safe distance. Then Seto grabbed the man's wrist and flipped him over. The man groaned in agony and struggled to his feet, attempting another attack. Seto swiftly lashed out with a karate kick, sending him flying against the brick wall. "Had enough yet?" Seto asked, glaring at the man, who was gasping for breath.
"Just wait . . . Seto Kaiba . . . I will have my revenge," he rasped.
Seto shrugged in a "Yeah, whatever" kind of way and turned back to Tea, who had watched all this wide-eyed. "Are you alright, Tea?" he asked.
She nodded shakily. "I'm okay . . . thanks to you," she whispered softly.
Seto didn't answer. Instead he put his arm around Tea gently and led her out of the alley, back the way they'd come. "That scarecrow will just have to be allowed to get away," he muttered. He didn't mention that he was planning to come back later and look for it.
****
When they got back to the funeral home, they found that the others were already there.
"Whoa! Where have you two been?" Joey burst out when he saw them approach.
"We were starting to get very worried," Yugi added.
"I ran into a real jerk in an alley," Tea told them, "and Kaiba showed him a thing or two!"
All eyes turned to Seto, who simply shrugged and replied, "Tea can tell you about it later. Were any of the scarecrows found?"
"Not a one," Joey sighed. "They ran off with all of the 'unusual customers' files."
"What exactly did you mean by 'unusual customers'?" Seto asked Mr. Graves.
Now Mr. Graves sighed. "Well, I know how ridiculous this is going to sound, but several people brought to my funeral home lately have had strange marks on their necks."
"What kind of strange marks, Mr. Graves?" Yugi queried.
"Well, frankly . . ." Mr. Graves paused. "They looked like fang marks."
"You mean like from a snake?" Tristan asked.
"Not exactly," Mr. Graves replied, "and that's part of what's so puzzling. They don't look like any kind of marks we've ever seen before."
"You say that's only part of what's puzzling, Mr. Graves?" Bakura asked.
Mr. Graves nodded. "That's right. The other very odd thing about those particular bodies is that they've been drained of most of their blood."
Everyone gasped, and Bakura suddenly looked lightheaded. Tea had to catch him before he fainted.
"Oh man, you're kidding, right?" Joey exclaimed.
Mr. Graves shook his head. "None of us here at the funeral home can understand it. It just doesn't make sense."
"So is that what killed 'em, then?" Joey wanted to know. "Or did the blood drinkers come after they were dead?"
Mr. Graves sighed. "The pathologist couldn't find out what killed any of them. She had to call the causes of death 'mysterious circumstances.'"
"Ohh man, is anyone else thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Joey exclaimed, looking at each of the others in turn.
"You're thinking that this is the work of vampyres and that Madame Fiona is to blame," Tristan deduced.
"What else?" Joey threw his hands up in the air. "I think that we should search her place when she's not there and see what kinda stuff we find!"
Tristan rolled his eyes. "Joey, we could get arrested!"
"Better alive in jail than dead on the floor!" Joey returned. "I don't wanna be her next victim!"
"You're over-reacting, Wheeler," Seto said dryly.
"Excuse me for entering this conversation, but WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??!!" Mr. Graves screamed.
"Oh, nothing, Mr. Graves," Tristan replied. "Joey here just thinks that psychic lady who foresaw the scarecrow attack is a bloodthirsty vampyre."
"Scarecrows, wraiths, vampyres . . . What next??" Mr. Graves moaned. "Zombies??!"
"Actually, we've already dealt with those," Tristan grinned.
Mr. Graves moaned again and ran his hands through his hair, completely messing it up.
"Don't worry, Mr. Graves," Yugi said determinedly, "we're going to get to the bottom of this!" He paused. "Mr. Graves, does Bob Fielding know anything about pyrotechnics?" he asked.
Mr. Graves looked surprised. "Well, yes, he does," he admitted. "But what does that have to do with anything?!"
"It might help with the investigation," Yugi replied mysteriously.
"Well, whatever," Mr. Graves said irritably. "Now I will bid you all good night." With that he went back into his office and slammed the door.
"Friendly guy," Joey remarked sarcastically.
"Well, I think he has many good reasons to be upset," Yugi said grimly. "This is one twist I wasn't expecting."
"It's that creepy Madame Fiona, I know it is," Joey declared.
"Oh Joey," Tea sighed.
****
After Seto dropped the others off at the game shop, he instructed the chauffeur to take him back to the alley. He knew the scarecrow wasn't likely to be around, but he was hoping to find some kind of clue.
"Mr. Kaiba, sir, are you certain you want to get out here?" the chauffeur asked doubtfully, looking around at the broken-down buildings and dark streets. "It doesn't look very safe."
"I'll be careful," Seto replied, opening the door and stepping out. He entered the alley from the other side and looked around. No one was in sight, but was that some wisps of straw clinging to a building's fire escape? Quickly Seto pulled them free and put them in an envelope he'd brought with him. Perhaps the straw could be tested to determine where it had come from. That could be a valuable clue.
"Hey, you there! Young man!"
Seto looked up. A woman with her hair in curlers was leaning out of the window, looking at him curiously. "Yes? What is it, ma'am?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I saw you down there earlier," the woman called back. "I was just wondering if you were looking for something."
"I might be," Seto replied, crossing his arms. "Do you know about something that I might want to know about? Did you see anything that looked suspicious?"
"Well, yes, I did, actually," the woman nodded. "About thirty minutes before I saw you the first time, I saw what looked like one of those horrible straw men running by carrying file folders. Then it climbed up that fire escape there and went in the building through the door on the roof."
Seto looked thoughtful. "What is this building here?"
"Oh, it used to be a store with an apartment over it," the woman replied, "but it's been abandoned now for about fifteen years."
"Did you ever see the scarecrow come out?" Seto asked.
The woman shook her head. "It might still be holed up in there."
"The police are looking for those scarecrows, you know," Seto told her. "They committed a robbery."
The woman sighed. "Well, I hope they catch them. I want to get those horrible things off the streets and back into the cornfields where they belong!"
Seto nodded. "We all do. Thank you for your help, ma'am," he said, turning to climb up the fire escape.
"You be careful now," the woman cautioned.
"I will be," Seto assured her.
When he reached the roof, he noticed that the door was blowing in the autumn breeze. Either the scarecrow had done that, or someone else had come up here.
Before Seto could plan his best course of action, he felt cold metal pressing against his neck. "Move and I'll slit your throat," an evil-sounded voice hissed.