Chapter 8 - Healing Kiss? : Part I

9:30 am - The Dal

Bo went to the Dal after she got a call from Trick. Trick told her an old friend of his needed some help.

" So, what's the emergency?" Bo asked Trick after she walked into the Dal. She saw Trick sitting at the table with a man. He was in his mid forties, tall, fit. It was his well-trimmed bushy moustache and the peaceful look in his eyes that caught Bo's eyes. Hearing Bo come in, he raised his head a little so he could look at her. There was a smile on his face, a smile of confident and knowing. Bo suddenly felt self conscious, as if he could see through her mind.

" Bo, meet my old friend, Shingo." Trick stood up and introduced him to her. Then he continued, " This is my granddaughter, Bo."

" The unaligned Succubus, so I've heard." Shingo stood up and shook Bo's hand politely, not too tight to make things awkward, but firm enough to be sincere.

So nice to meet someone who has manners. Bo thought.

" Indeed it is." Shingo smiled to her and said.

" What?" Bo was startled. She frowned and shook her head.

" Ah, my apologies. I haven't introduced myself properly. I'm a Satori. I read people's mind and speak it out loud."

" Oh." Bo relied. She raised her eyebrows and thought, what a useful skill for gambling.

" True, but most casinos have black listed me now." Shingo said.

You don't have to make comments for every thought I have, douche. Bo stared at him. Then she realized that not speaking out loud would not work for her right now.

" I can't stop it even if I tried. Consider it as my punishment for being able to read people's mind. I have to speak out loud what I read."

" Wow, is there a way to stop being read by you?" Bo asked.

" Yes, indeed there is." Shingo paused for a moment, then he continued, " Stay at least five steps away from me."

" Oh." It was then Bo realized that Trick was staying awfully far away from him, for being an old friend.

" I practiced Buddhism for hundreds of years, just to fight against my urge to speak out everything I hear, but sometimes I still can't contain the urge to make comments on them. I'm so very sorry." Shingo bowed lightly to her.

" Well, enough for the introduction then." Bo said, " What can I do for you?"

" There has been some strange deaths at the place I work. The police couldn't find anything, so I thought I'd go to Trick, my old friend, for help."

" Where do you work?" Bo asked.

" A mental hospital miles away from the city."

Looney Bin? Bo thought. Then she continued in her heart, no, he can hear you, don't think!

Shingo smiled. He didn't make any comment this time, instead he said, " What do you think about me being able to read people's mind?"

" Cool, but creepy." Bo said. She knew it was useless to disguise her true thoughts in front of him, so she decided to speak out loud.

" Yes. I have found it very hard to work in a more desirable environment because, after a while, most people try to keep as far as they can from me." Shingo said.

" That sucks." Bo said.

" Indeed it does." Shingo nodded. " But in the asylum, my ability can be extremely useful sometimes. Most of my patients there don't realize that I am reading their thoughts."

" Ok, great career choice, I guess." Bo said, " So, care to tell me more about this case?"

" Three of my patients have died during last two weeks. Police say it was by natural causes, that they were just too old, but it was just too abrupt."

" Any of your patients see or hear anything?"

" I don't know. I can't tell whether they actually saw or heard anything, or they just thought they did."

" Ok, I can look into it." Bo said, " So how are we gonna do this?"

" You can pose as a nurse in the facility, unless you want to be a patient instead." Shingo said.

" Nurse is fine." Bo said.

" Bo, you'll need someone to watch your back." Trick said to her.

" Well, I guess I'll call Dyson then, since Kenzi is out of town."

Shingo narrowed his eyes and watched her taking out her phone. " Why don't you call the person you are actually thinking about right now?"

Bo stiffened. She looked at Shingo, a little embarrassed and angry. Trick looked at them confused. Shingo shrugged and smiled at her.

Fine! Bo thought.

10:20 am - On the Way to the Asylum

" Again, enlighten me. What am I here?" Tamsin was sitting beside Bo on the back seat. She stared at Bo.

" Trick said I needed someone to watch my back." Bo shrugged.

" You could have called Dyson, or your human pet, or anyone else!"

" Well, Kenzi is out of town."

" Then what about the wolf?"

" Emmm...maybe I prefer to spend time with you?"

" Whatever. Like I don't have better things to do on my day off." Tamsin rolled her eyes and leaned back. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Shingo laughed in a low voice, as if he just heard something funny but he didn't want other people to know about it.

" What are you laughing at!" The Valkyrie growled.

Shingo watched them from the rareview mirror. He smiled.

" Oh this is going to be very fun." He said.

12:10 pm - The Front Gate of the Asylum

" So this is the hospital you are working at?" Bo looked around at the gate, after she got off the car. It was different than she thought. In her mind, the lunatic asylum would look gloomy, scary and empty, with crazy people walking around aimlessly, just like those appeared in horror movies. However, right now she saw sunshine, fountain, well mowed lawns, and nice, clean buildings.

" Not all asylums are gloomy." Shingo said to Bo, " A place clean and well maintained helps the patients' recovery. Natural lighting helps with the depression symptoms."

" Oh, good to know." Bo said.

" Come with me, if you would." Shingo nodded to her, and walked towards the central building.

Bo was about to go with him, but she saw Tamsin fell behind, so she ran to Tamsin.

" Scared?" Bo raised her eyebrows and asked.

" Unlike you, I don't want to strip in front of other people." Tamsin said, " I don't like being mind read."

" What? You got secrets buried so deep you don't want anyone to know about?" Bo teased her.

" You'll never know, sweetheart." Tamsin smirked. She walked towards the building, making sure she was at least ten feet away from Shingo.

Bo followed her. The winter sunshine had made her warm, and lazy. She stood there for a while, looking around. Then she saw a child looking at her behind a tree.

Bo smiled to her, and waved her hand to her. The little girl just ran away, as if she was scared.

12:50 pm - The Asylum

After showing Bo and Tamsin around a little inside the main building, Shingo lead them to his office.

" Wow, so you really are a psychiatrist." Bo looked at his license on the wall.

" Indeed I am." Shingo sat down behind the desk and nodded to Bo. He paused a little, then he continued, " Yes, I used to be a psychic, for a long time."

" Can you at least not make any comments on my thoughts?" Bo said.

" My apologies." Shingo raised his hands, with a sorry look on his face.

" So how are we gonna do this? We just pose as nurses and poke around for information?"

" Yeah, just see if there is anything that stands out." Shingo said, " Where is the Valkyrie?"

" She...emmm...she is trying to stay away from you."

" Ah, understandable." Shingo said, " Why aren't you?"

" I got nothing to hide." Bo shrugged.

" Are you sure about that?" Shingo smiled, moving his eyes to the door when he saw Tamsin wandering around outside the door.

2:00 pm - The Asylum

" Oh fuck me!" Tamsin said. It was the tenth time she cursed after they got out from Shingo's office. " Why did I even agree to this shit with you in the first place!"

" Maybe because you want to be with me." Bo teased her. She checked out Tamsin, trying hard not to laugh. " You look good in the nurse outfit, Tamsin. Beside, who's gonna judge you here?"

" This is just ridiculous. Let's just go check the crime scenes out and get this shit done!" Tamsin said, " And we don't even know if they are crime scenes yet. They could have just totally died because they were too old."

" Three deaths in the past two weeks? And Shingo said they were totally healthy and they just dropped dead overnight."

" That's how people die. One minute you are still breathing, the next you just stop."

" Let's take a look at those rooms ok?" Bo smiled to her.

2:10 pm - The Asylum: Room 132

" This is where the last victim lived." Bo walked in the room. Other than simple furniture, there was nothing special in it.

Bo walked to the bed. She saw some writing on the wall. Apparently it was left by the patient. It looked like a long, discrete conversation between two people.

- The sky fell, with the stars

- Proof?

- Look at your chest

- Nothing's there

- Don't look with your eyes, but with your ears and your heart

...

- Hey, can we talk?

- No

...

- We haven't talked for while

- So?

...

- Heaven just came to me

- Bullshit, no such thing exists

- I heard angels flying around.

- Liar

" Well the writing stops there. Is he talking to himself?" Tamsin frowned.

" He was a... dissociative identity disorder patient. Probably it's a conversation between his two personalities inside him."

" Ok." Tamsin checked the window and everywhere in the room. " I don't see anything out of order." She said, " Although, someone could have tampered with the scene. It's been two weeks."

" I've got the police reports here." Bo raised her hand with a folder, " We can look at them later tonight."

" Are you serious? We are staying here overnight?" Tamsin opened her eyes wide and turned around, staring at Bo.

" I don't know about you, but I'm staying."

Tamsin sighed. " How can I get rid of you, bitch..."

" You can't." Bo said, " Come on, let's go to the second victim's room."

2:45 pm - The Asylum: Room 108

The room was just like the previous one, with simple furniture, nothing stood out.

" Patient who died here...suffered from severe visual halluciations..."

" Nothing pops out." Tamsin said.

" Yeah... I don't see anything either."

3:10 pm - The Asylum: Room 102

The room was a little messy, comparing to the other two rooms. Bo walked in, looking around.

" Someone lives here now?" Tamsin looked at the room and asked.

" Yeah, a week ago, this room was assigned to another patient..." Bo said, " I didn't see anything unusual here."

" Told you, probably they were just too old. Can we just go home now?"

" Just a minute, let me check the - Holy mother of ...shit!" Bo suddenly screamed after she opened the closet.

Tamsin rushed to her and stood between her and the closet. She saw a man hiding in the closet, with a weird smile on his face with his hand raised, as if he was about to attack Bo.

" Who the fuck are you?" Tamsin asked.

" Hi, my name is Richard." The man walked out from the closet, as if nothing had just happened. He reached his hand out for a hand shake, but neither of the girls shook his hand.

" You sacred the shit out of me!" Bo finally had let out her breath. She could still feel her heart pounding hard.

" Are you two pretty girls here to see Leonard?" Richard asked them.

" Who the hell is Leonard?" Tamsin asked.

" The first victim." Bo said. She turned to the man and asked, " You knew him? You knew Leonard?"

" We used to play chess together, all the time." Richard sat on his bed, " He sucked at chess so bad!"

" Ok. Where is he now?"

" He died, two weeks ago. You girls don't know about that?" Richard said as he looked at Bo.

" What are you doing?" Tamsin whispered to Bo.

" Just checking to see if he knows what was going on." Bo whispered back. She then cleared her throat and looked at Richard, " Did he say anything to you, before he died?"

" Of course, we talked all the time!"

" Anything out of the blue? Anything weird?"

" Everything he said was weird." Richard lowered his voice and whispered to Bo, " Leonard was crazy."

" Yeah, we know that." Tamsin smirked.

" He talked about all kinds of weird stuff. He was talking about birds last time we played chess. We have no birds here! That is just ridiculous!" Richard stood up and turned to the window.

Bo wanted to continue the conversation, but Richard suddenly started to mumble about things that they could not understand. Bo tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't respond. It was like suddenly he was not aware of their presence anymore.

" Ok. Why don't we just take that cue and leave." Tamsin said as she pulled Bo out.

8:30 pm - The Asylum: Nurse Station

Two male nurses were on shift when Bo and Tamsin went to the nurses' station for some information. Apparently they were very excited to see two hot girls.

" Wow, how come we have never seen you two before!" One of them exclaimed.

Tamsin turned around and rolled her eyes. Bo smiled to them and said, " New recruits."

" Do you want us to show you two around?" The other guy stood up eagerly. He was shorter than the other guy.

" Not right now." Bo sat down beside them and said. She lowered her voice and said, " I heard someone talking about three deaths in two weeks here, is it true?"

" I don't want to scare you, but yes." The taller guy lowered his voice too. He looked around and continued in a voice as if he was telling a campfire story, " They were old, and weak, but pretty far from natural death."

" They died naturally?"

" At least it was what they told us. We think this place may be cursed or something." The shorter guy lowered his voice too.

Tamsin rolled her eyes again. She was standing behind Bo with her hands in her pocket. She was just listening to their conversation.

" Yeah I was actually on duty the night that Leonard guy died." The taller guy continued, " We found him dead like two in the morning, but I checked him an hour before that and he was totally fine."

" That is weird."

" So, what do you say we show you two around the place and maybe..." The other guy winked at Bo, giving her the you-know-what-I-mean look.

" Maybe some other time." Bo said. She stood up and grabbed Tamsin's hand. They walked away before those two guys spoke up again to ask them out.

" Wow, you didn't even lay a single finger on them. You are truly a succubus!" Tamsin said.

" Yeah, I do have that type of effect on people." Bo said.

9:10 pm - The Asylum: Lounge

" So, time for us to review the police reports for those three deaths." Bo handed Tamsin a folder, when they both sat down on the couch in the lounge room.

Tamsin took it and put it aside. She lied down and rested her head on Bo's lap.

Bo didn't say anything. She was secretly expecting this. It was one of those moments she enjoyed when being with the Valkyrie alone.

Bo started to read the files to Tamsin. She had a lock of Tamsin's hair curled around her finger subconsciously.

" So they were ruled as deaths by natural causes."

" Yeah, no injuries, no toxins, nothing special. They thought they just passed away."

" Looks to me that way too." Tamsin said.

Bo didn't say anything. She was reading the photos the police took at the second victim's room. There were a lot of pictures drawn by him on the wall.

" Apparently our hallucination dude doodled a lot. The hospital must have cleared them out after the death."

" Anything that could lead to a future Van Gaugh?"

" Hmmm... he actually had dates on every picture he had. This is interesting..." Bo said, " the day before he died, everything in his picture had wings. Before that, nothing had wings."

" So? You said it yourself, this dude was hallucinating pretty bad. He could have seen anything." Tamsin frowned.

" Remember what the closet dude told us? He said before Leonard died, he babbled about birds a lot... Birds have wings!"

" You don't think birds killed them, do they? Besides, a lot of things have wings, plane, insects, angels..."

" Angels! Exactly, angels! The conversation the last victim wrote on the wall. He mentioned about the angels came to him, right before he died."

" What are you saying? Something with wings killed them?"

" It could be a clue... Don't you think it's a little too much of a coincidence three of them all mentioned something with wings right before they die?"

" Alright, what do you propose we do here? Bird hunting?"

Bo kept quiet for a while. Before she said anything, the two male nursed came, panicking.

" The patient in room 121 had just passed away."

" What?!" Bo said as she stood up from the couch.

11:20 pm - The Asylum: Room 121

" How did she die?" Bo asked one of the nurses outside the door of room 121.

" Same as the others, I guess." The nurse who found the dead patient whispered to them, " I was just doing the routine check. I was almost ready to leave, but I heard her say, they are coming, I can hear them flying. I was gonna ask her what she was talking about, then she just passed away. At first I thought she just fell asleep, but I couldn't feel a pulse..."

Bo and Tamsin nodded to each other when they heard the nurse saying that the victim said something flying right before her death.

" Shit is getting real." Tamsin whispered to Bo.

" Definitely something with wings." Bo said. She saw Tamsin frowning. " What?" She asked.

" She said, she could heard them flying, which means, she didn't see them." Tamsin said.

" Yeah, and?"

" Think about the other victims..."

" Oh, finally you agree that this is an actual case now?"

" Not the time, succulet." Tamsin shot a stare at her and continued, " Whatever it is, they didn't actually see it, they probably only heard the wings flapping..."

" And?"

" There is something that fits the profile. A Chonchon." Tamsin said.

" Well then, let's go arrest this thing."

" No, a Chonchon feeds on dying people's soul. They fly through the window when they know someone is dying. You can't see them, but you can hear them flying. That is probably what they've heard before they died."

" But?"

" They don't do the kills. They are like vultures, waiting on dead bodies, but they don't kill their victims."

" Which means something else is killing them!"

TO BE CONTINUED...


A/N: This story has two chapters. I probably will post the 2nd part later this week.

The original description of a Satori is: a hairy orangutan who lives in the mountains, scaring people by telling them what they think, but he doesn't attack anyone, just very annoying. I made some changse to it, so Shingo is a hairy guy who can read people's mind. Also since Satori is a Japanese legendary creature, I gave Shingo a common Japanese male name, which literally means "true understanding". I thought it kinda suited his identity :)

I would like to ask everyone who enjoys this story a favor. If you know any interesting creature/legend/urban legends/folklore/campfire stories/etc etc, and if you wish to see it in this story, pleased don't hesitate to PM me about it :) I do have a handful of ideas about the future chapters right now, but I just like to hear some pretty weird stuff, if anyone likes to share.

Thanks for everyone who read/reviewed this story!