Chapter Twelve:

"A Non-Lethal Way"

When the police arrived, followed by the media, those people who are most prominently involved in the events of the hostage-taking were questioned. And the dead body of the teacher was removed.

The full story of what truly happened at Wammy House would not be known. And no doubt, there will be a lot of speculation. Lucky for Demetre, there were no cameras where he went, so he slipped out unnoticed. He wouldn't need to explain anything to the others. It was better that way.

He lied to the others and said he had to use the restroom, but while he was there, Geist opened up a Shinigami spacial portal, and they made their escape back to the cabin the woods in Hokkaido-Jozankei Forest in Japan nearly six-thousand miles away and half way across the world.

News broadcasts in the UK had the assault their headliner, then it was picked up by other media outlets around the world. It was big news because it involved a hostage-taking of an orphanage.

Demetre couldn't have imagined that trying to retrieve his phone would lead to encounter with Zurn. The events were bizarre, to say the least. But he was glad to could help prevent a tragedy in the making and deal a blow to Zurn at the same time.

He told Adam everything, and Adam briefed members of the Savant Society about the incident—that Zurn could target their families in a similar fashion in the near future at any time. This put the entire Society on alert, but Demetre knew it was in good hands now with its newest enforcer. A woman with lots of experience in the field and a crafty person, a former FBI agent by the name of Naomi Misora.

She was also the one who helped expose Zurn for being the second coming of Jack the Ripper, the fiend who was harvesting organs of homeless people and selling them on the black market.

Demetre learned a great deal of her past was gone subjected to permanent amnesia. She knew her name, but that's about it.

Adam had had a hand in that, entering her mind with his special ability and blocking out painful memories. Because Kira had targeted her and written her name and a Death Note, her mind was filled with chaos—wanting to commit self-harm. Filled with agony and pain after the death of her fiancé who was also killed by Kira, Raye Penber, she had been taking back to the Savant Society, and Adam helped her to forget nearly everything except a select few things, like her name. Her 'memory muscle' also remained, the part of her that was a detective.

She was originally put on the case to hunt down a Jack the Ripper murderer. Thanks to multiple tips to Interpol, and countless police investigations with the assistance of the ICPO, mainly by Naomi, Zurn's killing spree ended, but he escaped prosecution.

Because of her actions and her skills, the Savant Society offered her the job as its new head enforcer, but for obvious reasons, she was not told about the Death Note, because if she touched one then her old memories would return.

In a two-way communication on his laptop in the cabin Study with Demetre standing behind him, Adam spoke to their contact at the Savant Society, a man called Tacoma, who was on the Council. He was sitting in a chair while Naomi was standing behind him. She was a beautiful woman with long dark hair, and smart as a whip, even though most of her personal memories were gone.

"Now that the Society members know of Zurn's actions, I'm sure everyone will be on guard," Adam said.

"Our other enforcement unit is already spread thin," Naomi replied. "It will be difficult to protect every member of the Society. Zurn has the ability to attack any one of them with the League of Darkness behind him."

Adam paused. Then Naomi leaned over, holding the back of Tacoma's chair. She smiled. "I know all about them, Adam," she said. "And I know about the Death Note. I have one of my own now."

"B-but, how? Your memories?"

"I was told that my name was written in a Death Note by Kira, by Light Yagami, he knew that I had caught on to him, so he tried to kill me. I want to thank you for saving me, Adam, and thanks to that little trick that Demetre knows to protect me from future Death Note attacks, I will now be able pay back Kira ten-fold for killing Raye." She then went on to explain that her Shinigami had secretly visited Light Yagami in the middle of the night and used a 'cross-out' method to erase the effects of the Death Note on her, so her full memories could return without pain. Then she wrote her own name in her death note using Demetre's 'infinity' trick, by this method she could not be killed by another Death Note.

Demetre smiled. "I'm glad to have you fully on board with us, Naomi," he said. "We can always use powerful allies against the League of Darkness. And you're going to make a wonderful new head enforcer for the Savant Society. I've heard that some people have left to join the League, that's unfortunate, and I'm sure they were threatened. One has to make their own decisions and family comes first. Hopefully, in future encounters with the LOD, we can restore their faith and they'll return like a wandering flock back to a herding shepherd."

"I don't think it bodes well in calling the members of the Society sheep, Demetre," Naomi said. "But I get your meaning. Stay in contact, and I'm glad you got your phone back. Zurn targeting those kids as a side venture was just sick!"

"I agree, and he'll pay one day," Demetre said. "I guess we both have persona vendettas. But merely catching Light and Zurn will prove difficult. If we don't do it smartly, we could look like the bad guys. Zurn has powerful allies, and if we are not careful, the League of Darkness and Kira could join forces one day and dominate the planet even though their philosophies differ. They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We can't allow them to pool their forces, so we need to fight them together to stop their diabolical plans."

Naomi agreed, and for the next hour, they formulated plans of attacks and preparations for the next encounter with their enemies.

A couple of hours later, Demetre sat on the couch in front of the stone fireplace in the main area and flipped through the picture gallery of his phone. He was glad to have his phone back, and the pictures of him and Dana it contained. He thought he had lost them. All the memories they made together at the Savant Society. He knew they could easily be downloaded to an internet account by Adam, but he was glad to have the phone back that he took the pictures with.

He had made a specific gallery for all their pictures and it contained more than fifty. Most of them were casual selfies, but a few of them were not for prying eyes. One could consider them adult in nature and he hoped Matt had not scrolled through them.

Adam was in a one-seater chair next to Demetre typing on his laptop with Cerberus sleeping at his feet. And it suddenly occurred to him that he had not seen Geist or Angel for some time since they had returned from England.

"Do you know where Geist and Angel are, Adam?"

The boy shook his head. "When Geist returned, he and Angel left to go someplace, they enjoy spending time together just like a real couple. Maybe they're discussing the newest 'Deathscythe Hardware'?"

Demetre smiled. "Thanks," he replied, then got to his feet in search of the pair.

He didn't particularly want to ask them anything, he was just curious where they had gone. He had become the unofficial guardian of their ragtag family and just like a parent, he wondered where they were. Maybe they weren't even at the cabin? He even thought.

He entered the study.

Just then, he heard noises coming from out on the back deck, splashing noises from the jacuzzi. He opened a pair of double doors and found a naked human pair within. He was surprised, and even apologized to them backing away, giving the mysterious couple their privacy. Then his brief lapse in memory that no one else lived at the cabin other than himself, Adam, and the three Shinigami, hit him. Who were these strangers?

His eyes widened. He went back. "Oh my god! Angel? Geist?"

Both human: Angel was thin-framed and had shoulder-length blond hair with hefty breasts. Demetre could see her this way apart from her Shinigami form. Geist, on the other hand, was more broad shouldered and muscular, similar to a sumo wrestler, the complete opposite of what Demetre imaged the Shinigami would look like in human form. Geist had a thin skeletal frame underneath all those 'rocker' clothes. Maybe there was something to be said about a Shinigami once being someone or something else before they became gods of death?

"So, this what you meant by doing 'something together' when you got back? But I mean, you're gods of death?"

"Even gods of death get lonely, Demetre," Angel said, eyeing him with discord. "And how dare you barge into our private time! What do you want?" Angel scolded him, speaking to him curtly like a child. "This is between myself and Geist. Please respect personal space."

"I'm sorry, I never knew you could, I mean—I'm sorry," he stuttered, and then left a little shaken.

He shut the doors to the study and then stood there with his back to them for a moment. He shivered, taken aback.

When Adam walked in with his laptop in hand and Cerberus with him, Demetre saw him look at him curiously. "Demetre, what's the matter? You look like you're seen a ghost?"

"You have no idea."

"Huh?"

"Never mind," Demetre said. He watched Adam venture to his work station at the large oak desk in the study. He had two other computers setup with ghost-routers and modems and on the wall behind his desk was multiple screen CCTV system. "What's up? What have you been working on since I've been back?" He asked the boy, glad to be distracted from what he had just seen. "You seem very enthralled with it."

Demetre walked over to the desk.

"We need to talk about Prometheus," Adam said seriously. "From what you told me, the Shinigami is incredibly strong. We need to find a way to subdue him in the future, or we'll never get to Zurn."

"Is that even possible? I mean, how do you trap a god of death when they can turn themselves transparent and walk through walls?"

Adam turned his computer around so Demetre could see it. On the screen was the prototype of a trapping mechanism for and ethereal entity in the form of a cage with glowing bars. "It's only in the beginning stages, and the form is rudimentary, but I believe with knowledge of the supernatural world we now have thanks in part with help from some of the Shinigami at the Savant Society, it can be done," he said. "You see, spirits and even Shinigami, are susceptible to Spirit Writing or spells. Even ghostly entity must adhere to a set of laws of their world. If we build this and cast it with specific trapping spells, there's no way that Prometheus will be able to escape it. Zurn would be defenceless without his Shinigami."

Demetre mused. "Then all we'd have to worry about are the Nycrofiends that he always travels with—beings that are re-animated from the dead and controlled by the leader of the LOD, the 'Dark One'. Zurn is never without them. But he probably never thought to bring them to the orphanage, because he never considered that I would be there. I was lucky." Demetre smiled. "Good work, Adam—this is genius!"

Adam smiled. He then turned the computer back around and opened up a new page, sitting down in his chair.

"Information about the hostage-taking at Wammy House is varying and I believe the media has been told to remove it from their programming," Adam said. "Most likely the reason is, so it doesn't terrify parents who have their kids in daycare, for example; leaving their children with strangers. Something like this can explode out of proportion and cause a negative cascade effect where it shouldn't. Zurn targeted Wammy House, but I don't think he'll do it again. Trickster will be stationed there permanently. William Baxter insists on it to protect Sammy and the other kids."

Demetre nodded. "I'm glad he is utilizing the Death Note positively, not using it to kill," he said.

"Maybe your non-usage has rubbed off on some people? Everyone at the Savant Society knows you are an owner of a Death Note, but refuse to use it to kill out of principle, knowing it can used to help people instead. You will not kill with it. You have your guns, and Zurn is still susceptible to those—just not the Death Note. He's protected from it being used on him, much like a lot of the LOD members. Kira is still a very big threat, however. What are you going to do about Light Yagami? I know you don't what to see him after what occurred recently with L, but you're going to have to eventually confront him again. You might even have to do something you may not want to do."

"And I have reason for not using the Death Note," Demetre said, putting a hand to his heart. He felt the crucifix underneath his shirt. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want—Psalm 23," he recited a line from the Bible. "I will find non-lethal way to pay Zurn back for killing at Dana. The Death Note is merely a tool to aid in my plight, Geist and Angel helping in their own ways. With all of you at my side, Zurn Wellington will be brought to justice. This I vow. As for Light, I still think he can be saved. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet."

Adam nodded. "What about Matt and the others you told me about? Mello and Near? How do you think we should deal with them? Eventually when all of them do come in on their own, they'll become a nuisance—and if the future does come the pass as we have see it, horrible tragedy will befall so many people. We have been given a gift and a chance to change things for the better."

"But what if we alter things for the worse?" Demetre said fretfully. "Leave everything to God, He has a plan. I know Matt has been trying to contact me, but I haven't replied to any of his text message. I'm even thinking of blocking his phone number. I want him to live his own life, and not get involved with us. If our encounter has altered the timeline for Matt in any way and he doesn't get involved in the Kira Incident, I'll be glad for the change; he deserves better. We shouldn't have to worry so much about Mello for now, but Near is going to be major problem. We need to watch him very closely."

Just then, Demetre's phone dinged with another text message. He sighed, knowing who it was from. But when he read it, saw it, he couldn't help but smile at the emoji of a hand with its pinky finger extended.

It was a Friendship Pinky Shake.

End