By: Yomi
Disclaimer: Hunter x Hunter is copyrighted by Yoshihiro Togashi, Shounen Jump Weekly, Shueisha and Nippon Animation
Chapter 22 – Danger approaches
Hisoka disregarded Legato's pleadings and shrugged off Machi's clutching hands. Leona kept her eyes on the ground, trailing behind in the shadows of the group. She wondered if it had been such a wise idea to tell the red head the news, that the man who he shared the same roof with had contact of the unwholesome nature with Iori.
Leona closed her eyes for a brief moment, allowing old memories to rake their dirty claws through her mind once more. She was back in the devastated warehouse that she had once called home, the dank smell of rotting wood pervading the air smacking into her nostrils. Weak light from a cracked light bulb swung around with eerie hypnotism as she walked down the silent hallway, the echoes of her footsteps unnaturally smothered.
Her fingers trailed along the damp wood and her footsteps slowed, coming to an eventual halt at a door, opened by a fraction, allowing a sliver of light to shiver in the darkness. There were voices from within, almost drowned out by screams and sobs. She went down onto her hands and knees and peered through the crack.
Images of naked women hanging in chains and wicked curved hooks from the ceiling first blocked her view. Some had been gutted down the center with loops of intestines hanging out, cold blood dripping onto the concrete floor. Others, still twitching, showed signs of life in their wide eyes overloaded by horror. Some of them opened their mouths to scream, showing their tongues had been cut out whilst death was beginning to congeal around the luckier few. The room stank of blood, meat and decay.
The slightly hunched figure of Iori casually strolled through the room, amongst the hanging pieces of meat. There was a wolfish smirk on his face as he surveyed his torture specimens, giving particular sounds of approval at the sight of ones still struggling with the last of their strengths. Those ones gave him a thrill to a watch. There was a perverted ecstasy when it came to watching a woman in her last throes of life, the flame flickering before dying. He laughed again.
"So Mr. Illumi, I'm surprised you came back."
A man called Illumi kept two steps behind Iori as he followed Iori around the torture chamber today. She could hardly believe he was a man. His hair was long, lustrous, well kept. His fingers were long, dainty, too fine for a man. He had large feline black eyes, now narrowed, beneath eyebrows plucked by the best beautician. He stood out like an exotic black rose of great delicacy amidst rotting and wretched weeds.
There were splatters of blood on his expensive clothes. He irritably looked at the stains and made an even greater effort to avoid the crimson pools of blood. Apart from the flicker of annoyance, his face was terribly cold, determined to reveal nothing. There was a subtle harshness in the way he gazed about him, but Iori was too extreme these days to appreciate subtleties and nuances. He failed to catch Illumi's disapproval for his surroundings.
"Your hints and implications are louder than my brother's stereo setting," this Illumi said with a chill in his tone enough to give you severe frostbite. "I have the goods. Where is the exchange?"
Iori gave him a narrowed, sideways look and pulled out a pair of orange, glowing tongs from the hot coals. His smirk widened at the curling smoke as the metal came into contact with the cool air, and he bought it to one of the still-moving women, pinching her nipple with the metal.
Illumi's impassively looked on, neither flinching nor revealing disgust. His blank mask was perfect. He could have been crying and shrieking in fear at the sight of Iori throwing his head back, laughing away his madness as he mutilated the woman suspended from the ground by iron hooks digging into her ribs; or he could have gagged, or even thrown up, at the smell of burning meat. But he did nothing and almost seemed to patiently wait for the torture session to be over and the light die out in the woman's eyes.
"The exchange, Mr Yagami," the raven haired man repeated once more. There was no change in his voice or hints of cracking around the edges.
Iori continued to appear unfazed by the other man's coldness. He threw the tongs back in the coals to be reheated and took out a white pill bottle, one which could fit snugly in his fist.
"So tell me, amuse me, what is a decent man like you doing with these drugs?"
"Your place is not to ask questions."
"Come on," Iori said, giving a faint laugh and he patted Illumi's shoulder, "don't be such a stiff. Wouldn't you like to know who supplies me with this drug?"
Illumi steadily looked at him. "If you must know, Mr Yagami, I want to go through the exchange and get out of here. I feel my soul getting dirtier with every minute that I spend here."
Iori feigned a hurt look. "I haven't even shown you the children's chambers yet. That place is magnificent – I've got spotlights, cameras and the right equipment set up in there. Children are so delicate. You've got to know how much pain they can take each time so they last a little longer and then you can play with them a bit more. You should hear their screams Mr. Illumi, especially the boys. They are the most beautiful."
Iori missed the look of unholy rage murder that seized Illumi. For a moment, he appeared even more insane than Iori. Illumi's arms were rigidly held in place by his side by sheer determination which showed through the veins standing on his temples. His fists were so terribly clenched you could almost hear the bones breaking. Then it was gone, as sudden as someone turning off a tap.
"Mr. Yagami, your mind is so far gone you don't even know where your ass ends and where your mouth begins. Have you never wondered why you're constantly being given all this information, free of charge, free of conditions and attachments?"
"Who gives a fuck? I live only for the moment's pleasure, and if the information in that envelope of yours will give it to me, to hell with the consequences."
The brief pity that flashed by in Illumi's eyes was replaced by malicious satisfaction. "If that is your free will, then so be it. Don't say you were never warned when you're up to your eyeballs in your own shit."
Iori face contorted into an ugly snarl at Illumi's mocking tone, and he lunged like a rabid dog, with his clawed hands outstretched, to rend the man's pale flesh. The long haired one knew no fear. In fact, he slapped aside the hands with casual calm and his own lightening quick punch connected with a sharp crack on the right of Iori's jaw. Iori's bulky body crashed to the ground, already unconscious, and his head collided with the concrete. The naked violence in that small act caused her stomach to jump and her hands flew up to clamp over her mouth. Iori was a formidable fighter, especially when intoxicated by drugs. He knew no pain or fear and his strength was tripled. His fingers were like the iron hooks dangling the women in the air; he could easily rip and tear a man's limbs off in a frenzy.
And Illumi decked him with one punch and thereafter delivered another sharp kick to his ribs before prying the small pill bottle out of Iori's hands. He carelessly dropped the envelope that he had bought behind him and showed himself out.
"Lee! Pole! Please watch where you're going!" Legato's sharp reprimanded intruded into her thoughts. The memory, however, left her shuddering.
"What's the matter with you, Lee?"
"Mr. Hisoka, I…," she swallowed and tried again, "I really don't think this is a good idea."
Hisoka flatly stared at her. "There are four of us and only one of him. You three Bluesummers hold him down and I'll go search his room."
"No Mr. Hisoka, you don't understand. Illumi is not who you think he is. He's a terrible man to provoke. Maybe we could wait until he's out of the apartment first, avoid confrontation."
"And snoop around like a thief?" Hisoka demanded in outrage. "Me, Hisoka, have to sink so low as to go as to sneak through someone's things? No, no and no."
Legato pulled him back by the arm. "I think Leona's got a good point. You remember being strangled by him at Fantasia don't you? It took the combined efforts of five grown men to get him off you. I don't have Bashou or Ubo's muscles. Leona and Machi certainly can't help. You could be walking into a death trap."
When Legato reminded Hisoka of Fantasia, the magician felt sweat dot his forehead and involuntarily, his hands once again went to massage the non-existent bruises on his throat.
"Illumi's not at home most of the time, right? There'll be plenty of opportunities to go through his stuff."
"His room is always locked," Hisoka finally replied after a long pause. His resignation did nothing damper the rage burning inside him however. "Tell me what I should do if I do find the drugs in his room. Is there any point in confronting him? What will making him confess achieve?"
"The exchange, Hisoka. We want to know what kind of information he was supplying to Iori and who gave it to him. We want to know what Illumi got out of playing the courier."
"I suspect he was sent by Salar."
"I know, Lee," Legato yanked at her hair to stop her from looking at the ground all the time, "but what's in it for Illumi? Are you seriously trying to tell me that Illumi would risk his life into Northside over a few pills?"
"Hey, Hisoka, does Illumi look like a drug addict to you?"
The red head pondered on Machi's question. He saw Illumi taking drugs now and then, but it was never done in secrecy and he took it regularly. He had just presumed that Illumi was on some medication, or maybe he was taking some sort of anti-stress tablets. Of late, he had seen less and less of Illumi taking his pills and in the past two weeks, he had stopped all together. Hisoka presumed that he got well.
"When was it you saw Illumi, Lee?"
"About a month and a half ago, or maybe a month."
Hisoka sighed. "Since you guys are already here, why don't you come
up to have a drink? The Stool, and now this – it's all getting a bit too
much. I think a tall, cold drink would be nice."
Dougy Cameron was over at Illumi's apartment, fitting on another set of clothes when Hisoka barged in with the Bluesummers siblings in tow. Old experience and basic instinct told him that it was a bad omen. Since Machi was a girl, who was also working with Hisoka at Hunter Works, his paranoid mind told him that whatever Machi could have said to Hisoka, there would inevitably be something negative about his manager.
Illumi's arms were wrapped around his waist, trying to adjust the buckle at the back so as to hold the coat firmly in place. Dougy grinned and turned his head slightly so that his lips brushed against Illumi's ear.
Fire instantly erupted on Hisoka's head of red hair. He was taking great long strides towards them and Dougy topped it off with a giggle.
"There, that should hold but I – "
Illumi's eyes bulged as he was torn away from his model. Fortunately, he crashed onto the couch and missed the dangerous corners of the coffee table. After the initial impact of the shock faded and his vision back in focus, he leapt to his feat.
"What's your damn problem!"
Hisoka looked around at the room full of people and the unrepentant smug grin still on Dougy's face. "Private word with you?"
He went to the stereo and blast the music on high setting, then ushered Illumi into his bedroom.
Dougy turned the full devastating charm of his smile on to the siblings,
masking the uncertainty he felt underneath, and evenly said, "Hi, how are
you all doing?"
The door slammed shut and Hisoka locked it.
"This is sheer idiocy Hisoka! If you can't see, I'm working right now. What's so damn important?"
"How could you do this to me? I confessed my affections for you yesterday and here I find you embracing another man!"
"If I recall correctly, I don't think I ever returned your 'affections' and I was not embracing another man. He's my model and I have to make sure the clothes fit."
"You….you…didn't have to do it like that!"
"Stop it Hisoka, you're being childish and I don't have time for this."
That said, Illumi turned to go. Hisoka hauled him onto the bed then threw himself on top of him, seizing the struggling arms and pinning them by his side.
Struggling by twisting and writing was a bad idea. Certain parts of their body touched and created shocks of electricity that danced up his spine. Hisoka's wet lips possessively covering his own, his hot tongue pushing past his teeth into his mouth, didn't help either.
Illumi's eyes rolled back as wave after wave of heat swept away his resistance and the lack of air made him dizzy. He doubled his efforts to get the man off but that just gave him all the wrong pleasures.
Only unwillingly did Hisoka break the kiss, and he drank in Illumi's flushed cheeks and open, panting mouth with sweet contentment. "You returned my affections," he said softly.
"I did not!"
Hisoka applied only the slightest pressure to his hips and it was enough for a moan to hiccup in Illumi's throat.
"You just did."
"Get off me. There are still people outside. What point are you trying to make?"
Hisoka's smile became playful. "Just wanted you to know you have feelings for me."
"Yes, I feel like I want to wipe that smirk off your face with the coarsest sandpaper known to man and then stick a hundred knives into you."
"Be nice," Hisoka murmured and slipped his hand under Illumi's shirt. He instantly thrashed.
"Don't touch me like that! It makes me sick!"
"Of course it doesn't. It makes you feel very good."
It felt like Hisoka's hot hands were stroking every inch of his body. Illumi cursed the philanderer's long years of experience with this matter and gritted his teeth. His will would not be so easily crushed.
Hisoka was toppled out of the bed by a surge of unnatural strength in Illumi and he landed with an impressive thump on the carpeted floor. Illumi instantly sat up and rearranged his messy hair and buttoned up his shirt that Hisoka only took two seconds to undo.
He mercilessly kicked back Hisoka, who had tried to pounce on top of him once more.
"If you were a cat, I'd have you neutered years ago," he tried to say calmly, but his uneven breathing wouldn't allow it and only made him sound unsure and insecure. "You have guests. Entertain them or send them away."
Hisoka eyed him suggestively. "So we'll continue tonight?"
"I sleep with a pair of scissors beside my bed. You're very welcome to try."
Despite paling slightly, Hisoka managed the crooked smile and trailed out after Illumi.
He had completely forgotten about everything that had just happened
today.
~*~*~*~*~
Monday, 10:30 am, Central Park
Although it wasn't official that the gazebo in the middle of Central Park belonged to Lady Persephone, no one in their right mind would occupy that gazebo on Monday mornings because it was Lady Persephone's morning tea area.
There was always a retinue of friends or close relatives tightly packed around her at all times. She would never be caught anywhere by herself and her people hung around the fringes like vultures, looking for an opportunity to get on Lady Persephone's good side.
Lord Hades was a rich and influential man you see. If he liked you, owning your own studio and directing your own anime wasn't such a fancy dream any more.
Today, she bought her daughter and invited her cousin Filia and her most lovely son, Xelan.
"Little Xe, come to Aunt Persey!" Lady Persephone scooped the child off the ground in one big whoosh of a hug, grunting slightly at Xelan's growing weight. "Big boy now aren't you. Big boy causing big trouble. Tell Aunt Persey all about it – what happened on the weekend? I think Elysian Shares almost fell by two percent because of the bad news in Anime City. Don't lie to me, I know you had a hand."
Xelan's eyes darted from side to side and he gave small pout. "It was all Valgarv's fault. He was bullying Kay."
"Bad man! And so what did you do?"
"Shura kicked him in the shins!"
Lady Persephone dramatically gasped and deteriorated into a series of giggles with Xelan.
"Then Kay and I ran to Shura's house and hid in his room. He lent us some clothes to wear. They didn't find us for hours."
Lady Persephone looked disappointed. "That's it? No revenge for the bullying?"
Xelan leaned forward and pressed his cheek to her cheek so he could whisper delicately into her ear, "We're going to destroy Valgarv and reduce him into dust and less than dust!"
Lady Persephone drew Xelan back with a look of malevolent cruelty sparkling
in her sky blue eyes. Xelan seriously gazed at her, though with an impish,
devilish smile on his angelic face, and she hugged and kissed the child.
Filia was always one to socialize with the right people, and she was glad that Xelan had some part in him that was similar to her. He could make Lady Persephone the happiest aunt in the world.
The Ul Copt family was large and there was always some distant aunt or uncle in a convenient position of power whenever you needed help. Persephone captured the heart of the most powerful and richest man in Anime City and Filia was proud to say that she had Ul Copt blood in her, however thin it was.
It didn't prevent Persephone from adoring Xelan. She loved to sit and stroke his smooth cheeks, coo in delight over his dimples, rub his pink lips with her finger tips whenever he betrayed his intelligence by saying something that sounded wrong coming out of the mouth of an eleven year old. She also took pleasure in running her hands through his glossy purple hair.
Xelloss' purple hair – no Ul Copt blood in him. That connection made Filia frown – Xelan's lustrous mane was a beacon brighter than any lighthouse light, reminding her again and again that Xelan had Metallium blood in him as well.
But thankfully Lady Persephone did not seem to mind and she hugged and kissed Xelan all the same. He must have said something amusing.
"You know what this means Integral," she said, nudging the inattentive blonde haired woman standing like a soldier at attention beside her.
Integral rolled her eyes and dutifully nodded, lifting the corners of her lips into something resembling a half hearted smile. Filia was always hanging around her mother putting on those exaggerated exclamations all the time at almost anything that her mother said. If her mother told her to hop and bark like a mad dog, Filia would probably think it was the most wonderful idea ever to have graced the earth and would personally make sure the entire neighbourhood heard her mad barking.
They were courtiers – suck ups and false people. Anime city, Integral found, was littered with them and you never had to look far to spot one. Their eyes usually gave them away, always shifting, darting from side to side constantly, unable to hold a firm gaze. Their all encompassing nature made them even more suspect and after some time, when it became apparent that they agreed with every opinion you made, no matter how ridiculous, you realized that a slimy leech had latched onto your skin, sucking onto you with its tens of razor sharp teeth.
And what to make of the purple haired menace charming the peals of laughter out of her mum? Well, Integral was undecided on this point. Xelan made her mum happy at least, and although he was known to be smart, quietly rebellious and shared intimate company with Prince Kaéry – bane of all parents, there was a subtle appeal about the boy. It could be his pensive nature, his mother's cerulean eyes and trusting gaze or the pretty pout that made his presence tolerable, and if he felt like it, enjoyable.
"So my dear niece, what do you think of your co-actor Alucard? Any possibility between you two? Look how happy your mum is with my precious Xe. I think she's ready to be a grandma soon, don't you?"
Mentioning the no good, womanizing, two timing Alucard in the same sentence as her and further in a question of a suggestive nature made her inwardly cringe. Cold sweat dampened the back of her red silk shirt, the same silk shirt that he had picked and bought for her.
"I am interested in someone else, Aunt Filia," she replied primly then immediately wished she hadn't said it aloud for her aunt stirred beside her and the hairs on the back of Integral's neck shivered.
"Ah, my dear niece has been looking around Anime City! How delightful. So tell Aunty Filia, who is this special man?"
Seeing as her mother was still engrossed by the purple haired child, there was no way she could help her out of this shallow grave. Doing her best to maintain as much pride and dignity as she could, she calmly replied, "His name's Salar."
A gasp she did not expect. Was there something wrong with the announcement?
Filia looked at her as if she was delirious from a high fever. "You mean…Karasu's older twin?"
"Yes. A handsome, charming and polite man. I'm sure father would approve of him."
"And heartless, calculating, emotionless, no-good man!"
Persephone looked up, disturbed by the racket. "Is something wrong cousin Filia?"
Filia paled and was suddenly at a loss, groping for words which eluded her and left her looking like a fish on dry land, gasping for air. Integral hurriedly reassured her mother that all was fine before her aunt had the chance to pull herself together and dramatically blurt out her crush.
"It's nothing mother. Aunt Filia was just saying how much she wanted to go and take a walk around the fountain."
Persephone blinked. "You mean that fountain. Oh yes, nice piece of work that is. Well, you go ahead, but remember to be back by lunch otherwise little Xe here will get hungry, won't you my precious nephew?"
"Yes mother," Integral faintly echoed and gave a small curtsey before tugging on Filia's arm and dragging her away from the Gazebo.
Once they were safely clear of hearing range, obscured from view of the Gazebo by the thickening clusters of trees, Integral spun around on her heels and loomed over her aunt so that Filia saw dark shadows pass across her tanned face.
"Did you have to say that so loudly just then?"
Filia bought her trembling hand to cover her astonished and gaping mouth and she tried her best to appear apologetic. It seemed that Integral had inherited a fair amount of her father's rare, but terrible anger. Sir Integral Hellsing now stood before her in her icy aura and fear rooted Filia to the spot even though she urged her body to back away.
Through chattering teeth, she said, "I'm sorry darling, I didn't mean to blurt it out like that. Please, forgive me, but Salar! Have you gone truly insane?"
Integral's head whipped around, trying to spot lurking reporters or any other person with a set of ears and a loud mouth within vicinity. They were still in the more popular, sunnier areas of the garden and there were people aplenty. It was no place to talk about private crushes and open libel, so Integral clamped her fingers around Filia's wrist and dragged her to the quieter, remote corners of Central Park.
Filia was pulled in the general direction of the fountain – a large, three tiered monument that graced one of the more secluded areas of the park. The bottom tier was supported by merman who propped up most of the structure with their aching shoulders. The second tier was held up by water nymphs, and at the top sat Poseidon with his Trident, glaring at his surroundings with a stern face. Because the trees around the fountain had grown such that the canopy blocked off most of the sunlight, people hardly ventured there, and the gardeners neglected to the repave the gravel paths leading to the fountain. When the track became faint and the path uneven, even fewer people ventured into the darker part of the park and consequently the fountain fell into disuse.
It was the perfect place to talk without the treacherous ears of slimy rats.
Although the sun was near the zenith of its brilliance and the day considerably warming up, each step towards the fountain bought a gust of cool wind which made Filia shiver. The light had dimmed and it was as if they had stepped into an abandoned forest overgrown with wild weeds and prickly thorn bushes after dusk with only a rare sliver of silver sunlight able to pierce through the disturbing illusion every now and then. Few birds chirped and the cicadas maintained a steady hum. The hypnotic splashing of water from the fountain could be heard in the distance.
Integral finally stopped and let go of Filia. She crossed her arms and warily studied the unfamiliar surroundings and breathed in the damp smell of earth and decay.
"What's wrong with the man Aunt Filia? The last I saw him, he was ever so gracious and charming. He's reasonable, well mannered, chivalrous and understands me very well."
Filia placed her firmest grasp on her niece's shoulder and wished she could convey her seriousness by the dark look of despair on her face alone. It certainly made Integral notice her. She cleared her throat.
"My dear, Salar has about as much empathy as a rock, and I've met rocks even more humane in comparison. I hear from my husband that Salar is a genius and that he used to be harmless before he disappeared about a year ago. But he's caught up with all the wrong people now and he's using his intelligence for bad things. My dear, you're being tricked, deceived!"
Integral roughly jerked herself away, lips twisted in a snarl. "I can't believe you would slander a man behind his back!"
"Integral! Listen to me!" Filia used her sternest voice which could on most occasions get Xelan to comply with her wishes. "You cannot possibly ever hope to know the real Salar unless he chooses to show you. And if he ever does, I advise you to run, run away as far as you can."
"What has he done to you Aunt Filia, to make you say such horrid things about another person?"
"He's got the biggest bounty in Northside for a start. Then he's…," Filia made some wild gestures in the air, tracing circular patterns, "I don't know how to explain it. People used to feel awkward in his presence because we had nothing to say which would interest him. But that was ok – things were just awkward and uncomfortable. Now…there is no life in his eyes, only a cunning darkness that seeks to devour your soul."
"I don't believe you," Integral said flatly.
"I only saw him yesterday at Mistress' place. Shura had taken the nasty Kaéry and my darling Xe to his place after some very impolite words with Valgarv. Then he came when we were wondering how to split Kaéry and Xe up so by baby can accept Valgarv and his new life. He came and we all felt like we were trapped in a room with a tiger who hadn't eaten for an entire week."
Integral thrust out her chin haughtily. "That's probably because your impressions were tainted by bias."
"No, my niece, I hardly know the man yet he terrifies me like no one has ever terrified me. There's no warmth in him, no comfort in his icy eyes. He's cold and harsh and his own twin brother would say the same. Integral, he's an actor – just like the rest of us."
"Say I believe you, but why? Why would Salar try to deceive me into thinking he's a nice guy? There are plenty of other pretty girls – "
The leathery sound of rotting leaves being crushed reached their ears. Filia instantly hushed her niece, pulling her down onto her hands and knees then peered through the cracks between the trees. She strained her eyes in the weak light only to make out the shape of a child, around six to seven, dressed in a pink satin dress, scampering through the thickets and nimbly jumping over the exposed roots of the Morton Bay Fig trees.
"What bad luck. That's Mrs. Robinson's daughter Jesabell. Shh, keep quiet Integral. We don't want her to see us otherwise she'll pester us to no end."
"But what's a lone child doing in this part of the Park?"
"Seeking attention," Filia said tightly, her lips pressed into the most disappointing line. "I'd have her smothered as a baby if I knew she would turn to be like this. That child's a monster – was born to be an actor too. Knows all the tricks to get attention from adults."
"Worse than the Prince of Brats?"
"Oh no, of course not. The Prince of Brats can ruin your business, destroy your name and kick you out of town if he felt like it. Jesabell only specializes in pissing adults off to get attention. Just an annoying brat but totally harmless. Still, we don't want her to be following us for the rest of the day. Come on, let's get out of here."
Integral stood straight and dusted the dirt off her skirt and straightened her blouse. "Aunt Filia, she's going to get lost. There's no clear path for her to follow to make it back."
Filia waved her hand and curtly dismissed the idea. "Mrs. Robinson has a beagle specially trained to pick up her daughter's scent. If the police do announce she's missing tomorrow, we'll just tell Mrs. Robinson we saw Jesabell around here and let the dog do what he' been bred to do."
But Integral refused to budge. "You still haven't told me why Salar should lie to me."
"Shh! Not so loud! Ok, if you want to talk, keep your voice down."
Filia squinted through the semi-darkness to where she last saw Jesabell and released a sigh of relief. "Coast clear. Don't want a pesky child like that over hearing us now. Now Integral, I know you father doesn't like you getting involved in his business and politics – "
"Doesn't let me get involved," Integral interrupted, muttering.
" – so you might not know what's been happening around Anime City for the past month. Even I'm a bit unsure myself but my associates have been affected. Have you by any chance heard of Vallanor?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jesabell Robinson was six this year and could always extort an adult to pick her up a buy her a lollipop if she put her mind to it. That was her sole and only talent and it made her voice sweetly, and sickly poisonous to an adult ear.
Today, she was going to cause the biggest commotion Anime City had ever seen yet. She was going to hide in the quietest part of the park and wait until the whole city kicked up a fuss over her disappearance and had to get the police to find her. Then everyone would be looking at her, and all the adults would all be fighting to hold her in their arms whilst lights from the camera flashed around her. And so she broke away from her classmates on their school field trip today and ran straight to the fountain when everyone was too busy feeding the fat ducks. No one goes to the fountain. It was going to be the perfect hiding spot.
Through the darkening woods and looming trees, along the abandoned path, shrugging her way between the narrow gaps of prickly thorn bushes, Jesabell finally saw the fountain, over six meters high. In the wane sunlight that struggled through the choking canopy, the stone pulsed like a heart an eerie iridescent grey.
On the bench just meters from the fountain was a solitary figure with a sketchbook on her thighs. Her pale face looked sickly and eyes were like two chips of sapphires set in sculpted marble. Although the lady was pretty, she had a statue's stillness and half its life. Those lazy half open eyes would look upon the world's suffering with calm indifference and the grim line of her red blood lips could lift in mild amusement as screams of pain stung her ears. There was no kindness about her.
All the greater challenge. Nothing was more exhilarating than breaking the ice of the coldest and most unresponsive adult. Jesabell fixed her brown curls back into their rightful place and did her best to wipe the dirt away from he pudgy face.
"Excuse me lady, but I'm lost," she said, putting on her meekest and most adorable look. She battered the long eyelashes that nature had bestowed upon her and pouted, knowing it made her irresistible.
Did she not say it loud enough? The whispering of the fine lead tip scratching the paper haunted her ears and Jesabell wondered if she should repeat her question again.
And so she did, but the lady still gave no sign that she heard. Perhaps she was deaf?
Deciding to test her theory, Jesabell slowly walked in full view of the lady and cautiously waved to get her attention.
"Excuse me, you're blocking my view," the black haired lady finally said, looking up her with eyes less human than her china doll at home above the fireplace, and said in a voice which made her gulp. But Jesabell would not let the unfriendliness deter her. She skipped the remaining two steps to close the gap and stretched out her hands to be lifted.
The lady flipped to the next page of her sketchbook and started a new picture. Being so superbly ignored was not something Jesabell Robinson, Queen of Attention, was used to. She resisted the urge to stomp her feet but her devious mind was beginning to brew a dozen ways to make the lady love her.
Ignoring the snub, she adopted the shy look and hooked her fingers together behind her back. "My name is Jesabell Robinson. Don't you think it's a nice name? My mother thinks it's a nice name. She says I'm good and obedient like an angel. Do you think I am?"
"Good obedient little girls go away when told to do so. I have no patience or love to spare for the snivelling likes of you."
Snivelling? Did she just say 'snivelling'? Jesabell thought, biting her lips in fury over the grievous insult and told her foot not to kick up all the dirty, wet leaves. She's just testing my tolerance, she tried to reason with herself, and if I show that I can tolerate whatever meaness she throws at me, she'll give up and accept me!
So with the smile of sugar on her face once more, she helped herself onto the seat beside the lady and leaned towards her. The uncontrollable shivering she consequently suffered made her regret it though. But determined as she was, Jesabell gritted her teeth and maintained her honey sweet looks.
"What picture are you drawing? Would you like to draw me? I can sit very still."
Why was the lady so damn quiet? Why won't she look at me? Jesabell began to seethe with rising frustration. Daring to shuffle an inch closer, she craned her neck to get a peek of the new drawing. The lady's arm was in the way and so she gave up and slid off the bench.
"How would you like me to stand," she said, putting on a variety of poses, "like this, like this or with my hands on my hips like this?"
"In a coffin, six feet under the ground perhaps?"
A reaction was better than none. So she stood onto her tiptoes and did her best twirl. She liked the way her dress swivelled around her and when accompanied with her brightest beam, no adult could resist her. She didn't like the black clothes that the lady was wearing. Black only made her pale skin look sickly grey. Black was for people with strange moods. Black was usually worn by unfriendly people. Unless they were men. Men's suits were usually black.
The lady's deep blue eyes lifted, to look at her and herald the awakening of some nameless terror lurking within each human's soul. She lifted the sketchbook off her lap and flipped it over for her to take a look. The boundless cruelty in the lady's smile turned Jesabell's blood to ice. As did the sketch.
The picture was made from a hundred shades of grey created by the varying
degrees of pressure applied to the pencil on paper. It was the ghastly
portrait of a small rotting corpse animated but a gloating, smirking puppet
master. And that small carcass controlled by the strings showed bits of
bone and a grisly death's head grin. It was distinctly wearing her pink
satin dress with the lace trim on the hem.
Jesabell shrill scream was piercing enough to penetrate the suffocating darkness and alert two other blonde women speaking in hushed tones.
"Aunt Filia!"
"Shh!"
The scream came again, and this time it struck a spear of ice in their hearts.
"Come on, Mrs. Robinson's daughter's in trouble!"
"No Integral, let's get out of here. We don't want to get caught up."
"I can't believe I just heard you say something as heartless and despicable as that!" Integral exclaimed in shock, her face twisted in horror. She stalked through the carpet of moss and rotting leaves, making directly for the source of the scream. Filia bit her lip and stomped off after the crimson outline of her rash niece.
Integral's sharp eyes caught bits of pink satin and raced to the spot. To hell with the humiliation if this was all just a stunt by one brat kid. Rather safe than sorry.
"Hurry! I can see her."
"Yeah," Filia panted, slumping against a tree trunk to catch her breath,
"I'm right behind you. Right behind you…You go ahead without me, I'll catch
up…"
Integral found Mrs. Robinson's daughter in the lap of a dark, brooding Morton Bay Fig a few paces from the fountain. Her face was glistening with tears. Just behind the fountain, on a grey stone bench with lashes of vine clinging to the seat, was a woman sitting, impervious to Jesabell's third scream.
"Oh my, what's wrong?"
Jesabell looked up and saw another lady, with tan skin and blonde hair. Concern and kindness filled her misty blue eyes, and Jesabell felt the ice in her heart start to thaw. Until then, she hadn't realized just how cold she was, that her lips were dark and bluish, and that she was shivering at sporadic intervals. Genuine hot tears welled up in her eyes.
"My foot's stuck."
Integral inspected the situation for herself. Indeed, her foot had been viciously wedged between two thick roots of the tree, showing only wisps of white lace from her sock. The gap between the roots was narrower than the width of Jesabell's foot. How she even got it stuck in the first place staggered belief and defied physics.
She firmly bent down and grasped the foot, as close to the tree root as possible, and put all her strength behind the tug.
It wouldn't budge. At all. More frightening still, blood flow to the trapped foot was rapidly declining. The skin was looking frosty white.
"How are you feeling? Are you in a lot of pain?"
Jesabell let out a trembling breath and horasely spoke through torrents of tears still pouring down her face. "I can't feel it. Can't feel my foot."
Integral tried to twist the foot around, but the appendage had already swollen to such a state that it would not even budge. She tried to pry apart the tree roots. Even if she could only manage a fraction of a centimeter, at least it would relieve the blood flow. But a tree, having weathered a good century of the worst storms and summers, could not be moved so easily.
"Aunt Filia! HELP!"
Her aunt trundled through and stumbled to a halt, half the life drained from her already. She was in an even more disheveled state than the child.
"Foot stuck? What's the big deal? Just yank it out."
"Would you bother yourself and actually look?! It's fricking stuck. I don't even know she managed to get jammed it in there in the first place. You can't get stuck in this – but it is and nothing is giving way!"
"I'll yank and you try to push apart those roots. Use your feet or something as leverage. Ready?"
The women exhausted themselves for the next five minutes. Their efforts were like water breaking against rock, completely going to waste. Even when the two women combined their strength to pry the exposed tree roots apart, it was futile.
They fell onto their backsides, amongst the undergrowth and damp earth, wondering what little else they could do. Suddenly, Filia gave a squeal.
"My Gods! I didn't see you there!" she addressed the voiceless woman sketching away on a big A3 pad. "Can you come lend us a hand?"
A long silence passed and the sound of water falling into the pools of water in the lowest tier of the fountain continued to tinkle with sweet musicality.
"Excuse me, I'm talking to you."
The seated woman lifted her lifeless eyes and regarded them all with as much compassion as one would have for a greedy, obese corporate fat cat with grease trickling down his shirt.
"Could you all please be quiet? I'm trying to have some peace here."
Integral couldn't believe such people existed. She snarled and snapped at her aunt. "Don't argue with her. Get me the largest stick you can find. I'll be damned if I can't get that stupid foot out."
Jesabell was oddly quiet. The sweat drenched on her brow plastered her brown locks to the sides of her pallid white face. Her lips were dry, her tongue was lolling out and her breathing was shallow. Corpses had been known to look healthier than her.
"I want my momee," she whispered.
"Be strong. It'll all be ok. I'll call your mother."
Her phone was not with her. Integral remembered that her phone was in her black Prada bag, and her bag was still by her mother's bag in the gazebo.
"I can't feel my foot," Jesabell continued to whimper, "will they chop it off?"
"Chop it off?"
A feverish light sparkled in Jesabell's dull eyes. "No! I don't want them to chop my foot off! I don't want them to chop my foot of! Please, lady, please help."
"Hush, they won't do that to you."
Integral thought it was her aunt returning with her stick, but it turned out to be her mother and little Xelan skipping by her side, throwing back one winning smile after another.
"Integral honey! You've been gone with Filia for almost an hour. Don't you realize it's lunch time?"
"Mother," Integral exclaimed, jumping to her feet and dusting her satin black skirt. "Mrs. Robinson's daughter has her foot caught. I've done all I can but I can't help."
"Well, call the firemen then."
"My phone…"
"Careless girl," her mother scolded and reached into her own handbag.
Xelan wandered up to the helpless child and mildly studied the situation. "Looks bad."
"Don't say that Xe!"
He shrugged. "If you don't get that foot out soon, the lack of oxygen to the foot could leave it dead. By the time they get it out, it'll be useless and they'll have to amputate it."
"Am-pu-tate?"
"To chop off," he explained, in a simple and efficient manner to the young girl, and studied the tree some more.
"You'd have to get an axe," he continued in that off handed, clinical tone, "and you need to cut here and here to get the foot out. I saw mother looking for sticks – you'd have to have a log six inches in diameter to budge that root, but you can't even fit six inches in there." He turned to Jesabell. "How on earth did you even get it in in the first place? You'd have to…force it in yourself or something?"
"I was running….and I slipped."
Lady Persephone dropped her phone halfway through dialing the number. The cellphone clattered on the ground as she backed away. Fear had stolen her voice and panic made her heart beat painfully fast.
"Integral. Come to mother. Now."
"What's the matter? You look like as if you've seen a – "
"Ghost?" the woman on the bench said, chuckling. She closed the cover of her sketchpad and dropped the pencils into her bag. Her bloody red smile contained all the world's cruelty and malice and her eyes twinkled with venom.
"Integral, come to mother NOW," Persephone panted between shallow breaths.
"Don't be so frightened now, Lady Persephone. It's not like you and I have an irreparable enmity."
"Integral!"
Puzzled by her mother's reactions, but not wanting to defy her, Integral reluctantly left Jesabell's side and returned to her mother's. Persephone immediately gripped her hand and jerked it so that Integral stumbled back into her mother's shadow.
"Valerie. I didn't know you were in Anime City."
"You didn't know I was alive," Valerie patiently corrected with her uncharacteristic harsh, low voice a woman with her physique would not normally have, "but as you see, I am healthy and doing very well. My Lord's servants are in the City, and I thought I'd come earlier to take a look around. This place has changed quite a bit since I was last here."
"What do you want?"
"What do I want? More like the question is what do you want. I'm here trying to enjoy some peace and quiet from the bustling city, and yet it seems everyone is determined to ruin my mood."
"What do you want!"
Valerie pretended to be deep in thought. "I was thinking of maybe asking my Lord to buy me this park. Then I could come and visit whenever I please without every brat in this city kicking up the gardens. I can sit in the gazebo and watch the seasons roll by. Or I can be by the fountain and enjoy the quiet solitude. That's not too threatening, is it?"
"You stay away from us," Persephone hysterically said, still backing away with each word. "I'll get a restraining order against you even if I have to! I have friends in high places!"
Valerie's laugh made Integral cringe in sickness. Who was this woman that her mother so feared?
"Let me reassure you that my Lord had friends in even higher places."
Valerie slowly rose to her feet and checked her goods. From behind the stone bench, she picked up an object, six feet long, shrouded in black cloth. Unravelling the cloth revealed a sword whose scabbard was encrusted with precious gems. She strapped the weapon onto her sword belt and picked up the rest of her belongings.
"Cousin Integral, that lady can probably cut the roots with her sword," Xelan quietly pointed out.
Valerie was now talking on her phone. "Misha – get me a car. I'll be at the North Entrance of Central Park in ten minutes."
As she walked by, imperiously ignoring mother and daughter, Integral seized on the chance and called her name.
"Please, help the child."
Valerie was a clear half a head taller than her, allowing her to look down on her with generous amounts of ridicule. She did stop, swung around to see Jesabell curled up into a ball, near unconsciousness amidst the jutting, gnarled tree roots.
"How?"
Integral fought to block the surging tides of hysteria threatening to burst her heart. "You could use your sword to cut the roots so we can free the foot."
"You want me to unsheathe my holy blade to perform such a mundane, demeaning, task?" she sneered, giving each of them incredulous looks.
It was Integral's turn to look incredulous. "What? You're not going to help?"
There was a pause. Valerie gave Jesabell's crumpled form one last glance; it was a bored glance that belied an incredible apathy and reluctance to even lift a finger to aid the young girl. Valerie then stiffened, straightened her back even more and clasped her hand over the pommel on her sword. A monstrous and unforgiving lifelessness gripped her throat, and her voice was harsher still.
"Some things you can only learn through pain. Let this be a lesson to her."
"But – "
It was too late. The tall, brooding figure of Valerie was already beginning to diminish and out of hearing range.
But Persephone indignantly blocked Integral's attempt to chase her, and she slapped her good across the face.
"Did I give you permission to speak with that woman!" Persephone hissed, face red with anger. "Did I not say that you had to stay by my side!"
"Mother!" Integral exclaimed, caressing her hurt cheek with a pained and confused look.
"Don't talk back to me. Young lady, you are to never speak to her, do you hear me?"
"You're being paraonid, mother – "
"Promise me!"
"Okay, okay. Calm down!"
Persephone stared at her long and hard and was finally convinced.
Filia returned, a miserable bent stick in her hand, rotten at the core. Persephone stonily stared off into the distance as they waited for help to arrive, unwilling to speak and unresponsive to their attempts to engage in conversation. Xelan quietly poked around Jesabell's predicament, but lacking physical strength, he could carry none of his ideas to help her. He wasn't trying as hard as his mother would have hoped. In truth, his attention was completely stolen by the exit of the stranger, who did not bat an eyelash at the suffering of a human being and could so callously walk away in the wake of dastardly cruel words.
The firemen were late, much to Mrs. Robinson's frustration. Truth be told, they did not perceive the gravity of the call at first and were quite content to delay their response. After all, Mrs. Robinson's daughter was infamous for her troublesome antics, and they thought this was just another one of her pranks. Everyone despised a brat, and Jesabell was a very big brat.
In the end, because blood flow to her left foot had stopped for a full
hour, doctors had to amputate it. In the surgical theatre, under the insensitive
spotlights and masked surgeons, Jesabell Robinson was crippled for life.
Integral and Xelan followed their parents back towards the gazebo, their minds occupied by their various troubling and dark thoughts.
"Cancel lunch Filia," Persephone snapped, still disinclined to look at them, "I have to find Hades. Today has been a bad day. You tell your Xelan not to speak to the woman called 'Valerie' ever again, do you hear me? Xe, listen to your Aunt Persey. If you ever see her again, run, as far away as you can."
The cousins reserved caution and did not fully heed Lady Persephone's words. They had their own questions to be answered and they had their own methods of finding the answers. Running was definitely off the agenda for now.