Tortured Soul

"Has she arrived yet?"

"Yes, sir." Fendari spoke to the master over the old-fashioned phone. He turned his face in the direction of the doorway. He thought he heard a sound...

"Good. I will be coming back as soon as my business here is finished. How did she look?"

"Well, as frightened as one could expect, sir. But she appears fine physically. It seems," he said, turning the mask now in the direction of the foyer, "She's taken a liking to Poppy." The door was closed, and the foyer would not have been visible to any normal eye... but he could see her there.

"Poppy? What are you talking about?"

"The dog we picked up, sir."

"Oh, right... Well, that is of no concern... So everything's going according to plan, then?"

"Yes."

He wasn't mentioning there was a man after her, inside the house at this very moment. He had his reasons for not doing so...

"All right. Make sure she stays there."

A click, and his voice was gone. Fendari slowly put the receiver back on its stand, his head still turned in the direction of the girl. He could almost smell her from here. It had hit him even harder than he'd expected. He felt such strong emotions...

Leonardo did not deserve her. Fendari had been waiting for her to come back for far longer than he had. And suddenly, Leonardo gets this plan and decides to bring her here because they botched the operation at the castle. He didn't care about her, he didn't know what it was like... all he wanted was more Azoth. Fendari lifted his hand, saw it faintly glowing through the white glove he wore with pale blue light. He had wanted such things, once... and now it was a curse, something that caused him incomparable pain and suffering each day. But Leana... she could help him. She could make his life complete again. He remembered what it had been like, so long ago. He remembered the smooth feel of her skin, her soft voice moaning in pleasure... He wanted her so badly...

He brought his hands up to his mask and felt his face through the mouth hole. Why... Why couldn't it all end? Why did he have to live while everyone around him died? He would have her. His hands started shaking uncontrollably. He would kill Leonardo, or that man chasing her, or anybody else that got in his way. His hand went down to the hilt of his rapier, closing tightly around it. He felt such hatred... not only for the ones who did this to him, but for everyone... Red lines crossed his vision, he felt as if the air he was breathing was fire instead... Such hatred...

The man raised his head and began to scream.

Weston stood in the shadows in a corner of the foyer, behind a large statue of some old man, nursing his bleeding wrist. The bite marks dug deep into his flesh, still bleeding. Just when he thought he could get the job done quick, that damn dog had to come in and ruin it. Looking back, he wondered why he hadn't closed the door. Well, there was no point in thinking about what he could have done. Next time he encountered her... he'd just have to shoot the fucking animal. There was no more time for playing games. He just wanted to get out of this place and back to his life.

Suddenly, a ghastly sound reached his ears. It was a scream, a man's scream, a scream of pain and suffering. It sounded far away, but it was very loud, and Weston had no problem hearing it. What kind of place was this mansion, anyway? He looked around the room, but there was no sign of where the noise was coming from. It was horrible to listen to, and sent chills up his spine. He didn't want to spend any more time here.

After a few moments, the screams died off, leaving the entire room in dead silence. He saw movement in the storage room doorway. There she was, coming out, accompanied by the dog. She looked around fearfully, but could not see him in the dark shadow cast by the statue. He watched as she moved away from the doorway, the Ainu trailing at her heels. She appeared to be limping pretty badly, most likely a result of that fall she'd taken. She stared at the main entrance for a moment, probably wondering if she should get out of this place. But, after a while, she hung her head, and turned around.

Weston saw her head for one of the stairways leading up to the second floor balcony. He made no move to come out, but made sure to look carefully at where she went. The girl slowly ascended the stairway and made it up to the balcony, then looked around, trying to decide where to go. Finally, she picked a door on the left side of the balcony, suddenly looking very tired and weary. The dog, with a look of genuine concern on its face, looked up at her as it trotted by her side. She opened the door and entered, closing it behind her.

He stepped out of his hiding spot, drawing the Colt .45 from the holster at his belt. He walked toward the same stairway, in no hurry to come after her. He knew he would catch up... and next time, he wouldn't let her get away.