Hunted By The Shadows

Chapter Eight

She looked frozen. Her eyes still locked onto his, with that look of desperation. Desperation for answers, and it was all his fault for bringing this onto her. He had let the words roll off his tongue, knowing that it would affect her life from now on. One breath had brought the words to her ears.

"You're going to die, Rinoa"

Her eyes hadn't looked away or shown anger from his words. She hadn't shown that she didn't believe him, or even shout at him. She was still here, still with that look in her eyes. Squall had never seen anything like that before, the way she reacted. Silence. Her desperate eyes locked into his. Frozen.

Guilt pumped through his veins as he looked at her vulnerable form, and he suddenly found it hard to keep eye contact with her. Suddenly he feared that look in her eyes, he never wanted to see that look again for as long as he lived. Squall's eyes shifted down, towards anywhere away from her.

He heard the presence in front of him stand and walk away from him, hearing her footsteps make their way out of the Library. It was then he let out a deep sigh and rubbed his temple with his fingers. He really hated where his yearning for answers was leading him. It had been a few years ago when he had first started his research. He promised himself he would do this alone, that was when he didn't know anyone else who was going through the same experiences as him. His thoughts went on to Rinoa. Yet at the same time, he knew that she shouldn't be involved in this, there was nothing he could do for her.

The scenery around the Library suddenly darkened. He was in that house again, in the hallway. He looked down at the corpse on the floor in front of him. Her back facing him, lying in that pool of deep crimson. Her hair was drenched in blood, parts of her hair were beginning to dry and clot together. An arm lay lifeless, with flaky dried blood over her hand. The pool surrounded her, stretching out and breaking off like streams. The small streams leading towards Squall, as if they were hands trying to reach out for him. Call out for help, but it was too late. The stench of blood filled his nostrils, he felt the blood reach his bare feet; surrounding them in the warm crimson.

The walls of the house suddenly dropped, and he was back in the library again. Still sat at the small table, the chair pulled out opposite him, where Rinoa had recently been sat. He thought back to that day, when he was eight years old. That day that had changed everything. He was too late to do anything to help her. Squall quickly rose from his chair and made his way out of the library.

The sun outside shone down as he made his way through the doorway. He was surprised to find Rinoa stood just outside the library door; she looked as if she were lost. Squall watched as she turned her head in his direction, her once placid eyes now showed a look of loss and fear.

"I'm sorry" was all Squall could manage to say, not really sure if they were the right words she wanted to hear. He looked out into the distance so he didn't have to see her features. His mind was still a little dazed from the crimson images he had just seen a few moments ago.

From the side of him he heard a sigh escape Rinoa's lips "Just tell me everything you know, Squall" she said quietly "Even if I don't like the answers, just tell me."

Squall turned to face Rinoa once more; her features seemed to plead to him. Slowly he nodded his head. She deserves to know, he thought to himself. "I'll show you," he said slowly, before walking away from the library as Rinoa soon followed after him, not quite sure where he was taking her.

Squall paused at the black-painted door, his hand slid into a pocket and emerged a moment later with a set of keys. Slipping them into the lock he opened the door and stepped to the side allowing Rinoa to pass. She moved past Squall, silently examining the surroundings.

The apartment was very small, in the room, which they stood there was a sofa against the far wall. In front of the sofa there was a large coffee table, its surface littered with several books and papers. Rinoa noticed that the apartment was very simple, only the bare necessities could be seen, and what could be seen was very impersonal. She noticed that there was nothing that showed Squall inhabited this place. On a shelf to the right of the sofa there was a golden cross, one that would be commonly seen in churches.

"So this is where you live?" Rinoa said turning to face Squall, still inspecting the environment around her. She watched as Squall nodded his head, looking slightly uncomfortable, before walking towards the coffee table.

From the coffee table he picked up one of the many books hidden underneath the pile of papers. Taking the book firmly in his hands he flipped through a few of the pages before handing the open book to Rinoa. "Read this," he said watching as she took the book from his hands "I think it has something to do with everything that's happening."

Rinoa studied the book in her hands for a moment; it was one of those books, which told of ancient mythology. She began reading the page, which Squall had opened the book to. It was a story of Hyne, and his five followers. A story, which she had never come across before, but she gathered that this was why it was in a mythology book.

Squall sat down on the sofa, silently waiting for her to finish reading the text in the book. He was here to show her everything he knew; he thought that maybe this would be something that could help redeem him from his previous comments. He still felt guilty from before; he could still see that haunting look in her eyes from when she had been in the library. He heard Rinoa shifting and looked up to see her closing the book.

"What does this have to do with what's happening to us?" she said smoothing her fingers over the leather cover of the book in her hands.

"The people that have died in the past," Squall began "Their deaths are always caused by some kind of sword, which is strange because swords are weapons of the past. Also I found that the wounds always have a clean cut, which could only be made from a heated blade."

Rinoa let his words sink in, as she slowly made her way to sit on the sofa next to Squall. She watched as he lifted a pile of newspaper cuttings. "These are all stories of suspicious deaths over the past fifty years that I've managed to collect. All of these people have been killed by the same method, a clean cut which could only be caused by a heated sword," he said handing them over to Rinoa.

"How do you know this is anything to do with us?" she asked flipping through the first few articles of victims who had been killed.

Squall pointed to the article on the top of the pile "This is what began my search. If you read, it describes how when this mans body was found, there were drawings of a symbol of an eye, which he had repeatedly drawn all over his walls before his death. It describes the symbol in the article, and I think that it's the same symbol we've been seeing in our dreams," he paused for a second, before continuing again. "Since then I've been searching through suspicious deaths and found a link between the killings. It could just be some type of serial killer, but its been happening for fifty years, maybe even longer. No serial killer lasts that long, and they've never found any evidence for a suspect."

Rinoa looked back down at the book on mythology, "You think it has something to do with this?" she asked picking the small, leather book up once again.

Squall looked away for a second unsure of how to reply "Maybe," he said "Although I'm not sure yet, but the fact that we have the dreams suggests to me that it's not just some serial killer. I believe it's something that's not human."

He watched as Rinoa looked away, a small glint of fear was visible in his eyes. "Don't be scared," he said quietly "They'll sense your fear."

Rinoa studied Squall for a moment. Hanging on a chain from his neck was a gold cross, something which she had never noticed before. Squall was religious. For a moment, their eyes locked. Rinoa gazed deeply into those stormy blue eyes, looking so serious yet full of emotion. Perhaps it was awkwardness in the current situation, whatever it was, it made her want to reach out to him and try to ease his suffering. Suffering of having the burden of all the dreams since he was a young child. She finally managed to turn her eyes away from him as she returned her attention back down to the newspaper cuttings on her lap.

Rinoa began to scan through each of the newspaper articles, feeling sorrow for what all these people had to go through. She couldn't help feeling uneasy thinking that this will happen to her one day, in the future. She found the earliest article towards the back; it was a photocopy of the newspaper, something which had probably been researched in the library.

She looked up for a moment seeing Squall sorting through the piles of paper and many books on the coffee table, then returned back down to scan through the rest of the articles. She turned to the very last article, it was quite old as the edges of the newspaper were now crumpled and a little torn. Attached to the newspaper was a photograph of a young girl, looking around the age of sixteen. She studied the photograph closely, and then looked at the article. It was a picture of the same girl. In the article it had the girls name written. Ellone Loire.

Rinoa looked back up at Squall "How did you get this photograph?" she asked as she looked back down to the article. She began to start reading the text until it was quickly snatched from her hands. She looked up to see Squall with the article in his hands, walking away from her.

"That article has nothing to do with this" he called from behind him as he entered through a door on his right. Once inside his bedroom he placed the article inside a cupboard and locked it away, alone in the darkness. He returned back to see Rinoa looking slightly confused "It has nothing to do with any of this" he repeated.

Authors note: So there you have it, the conclusion of the previous chapter, and a bit more has been explained! Although I hope there has been more confusion in the story, and even more to be answered in the future. How evil of me! Thank you Keiry and Dark Angels for your reviews, made me smile.