Thousands of miles away, Maddy was helping save someone's life.
At this point, if she could have her way she would have let the furious dog attack her father with gladness, but since she had to play the dutiful daughter to the rest of her family members who were watching the scene she was making an attempt to coax the dog who had her dad corned in a tree to leave.
"'Ey," She was crouched dangerously close to the animal, kneeling on the ground. "Listen ta meh ye doona' wanna do this." To be fair to her dad, the only reason the dog had attacked was because it saw him almost hit her and had sprung into action. It had only been doing what it did to protect her, but even though Maddy knew that it wasn't like her family did. And it definitely wasn't like she was going to explain it to them. "As much as I would love ta see ye bite 'is cheatin' bollocks off, ye'll get hurt if ye do so go! I'll find ye later pup okay?"
Her Irish accent affected her voice when she spoke English far more than it did when she spoke Japanese, and she knew it irked her father. He himself had cultivated the perfect American accent over the years due to his utter hatred for anything to do with his bloodlines and family. A reason Maddy really didn't understand, but she knew he could hear her, and he would be upset for letting it get the best of her.
Screw 'im. I'm here helping save his stupid arse so the least he can do is suck it up and leave me be.
The dog stopped growling, and cocked it's pretty head at her as if asking her why she was defending her father.
"Trust meh pup I doona know either, but go before someone comes with a net for yeh!"
Her muttered words were forceful, for she knew someone would do exactly such a thing. Luckily this time the dog listened, and after trotting over to nuzzle her hand, it loped away around the back of the garage to the kennels.
"Merciful king o' fairies how did yeh do tha' lassie?"
Blinking, she looked up into the face of one of her many uncles.
"Oh tha'...er, that was nothing." She chuckled awkwardly. "The poor animal seemed to think my father was an intruder here is all."
Her uncle sent her father a curt look as he was busy clambering out of the tree, and couldn't hear them over the rustling of the leaves.
"Serves 'im right. 'E's more stranger than family is fer sure. Now lassie," Her uncle turned his gaze back on her, his eyes softening. "Doona le' 'im bully yeh into droppin yer lovely accent. Tis yer birthright after all. Even if tis one he forsook."
Maddy's eyes burned with tears as her uncle gave her one more kindly smile before turning to leave. His words had touched her heart, and they had been spoken in the very accent she had always heard her father speaking in when she was a little girl, one that he had often used to comfort her when she was upset. Granted, it was much thicker than hers was and her father's had been, but it sounded so much like her father's old voice that it hurt to hear her uncle tell her to not be ashamed of it.
Said father, had finally clambered out of the tree and was staring at her. His eyes were shrewd and calculating as he seemed to be evaluating her before he smiled, and without a word began to walk towards the house leaving Maddy looking lost and alone on the driveway in front of the garage.
Maddy couldn't help the awful gut wrenching twist of emotions at his smile. He hadn't smiled at her in forever, but that smile was a cruel one. One that boded horrible things to come, and not for the first time, Maddy had a horrible feeling that something horrible was going to happen.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
Tokiya was panicking. He was running out of time and he knew it. The Sorcerer would come for him he knew it, so he had to, had to, had to find that girl first. If he had to choose between his head and hers...well, he knew what he was going to be deciding.
Picking up the phone on his desk, and winking at two of the younger, newer, female officers as they strolled past, he dialed.
"Officer...I do hope, for your sake that this is good news. Hm?"
Shuddering, at the way the slimy voice seemed to stroke over his skin, even through the phone, Tokiya responded.
"She'll be mine within two weeks sir."
There was an awful scraping noise over the other end of the line, before a sickeningly wet plopping noise made the officer's heart skip a beat. He knew what that sound was. It was the sound of the creature he had called sliding it's clawed fingers over the metal of its dissection table. The plopping noise would've been whatever newly dissected body parts on the table falling to the floor as the monster swept them off the table.
It was as much a threat to Tokiya as it was to Nala.
"Tell me officer, have you perhaps heard what the word on the street is?" Swallowing hard, Tokiya stuttered out a no, so the monster continued speaking. "They say that the girl has powerful friends and that they are going to protect her no matter what happens."
The officer gave a forced chuckle.
"Well not like that will help them. The clock is ticking and soon I'll have her in my possession and not even a few foolish school boys will be able to stop me."
"Silence you fool." The creature's voice was full of quiet fury. "You cannot underestimate those 'school boys'. If you can say that then you do not truly understand how powerful they are. Tell me officer, did you know that their leader is a vampire? That his right hand man is a seer who as the rumors have it, is smitten with our prey and has his powers bent to help her? That the sniveling sons of that clothing designer are some of the most powerful magical creatures within a hundred mile stretch? That the child man among them, and his companion are priests that could kill you so much as look at you? No? Then do not pretend to know what you cannot even fathom."
The fury in the Sorcerer's voice grew and snapped like a whip, and Tokiya found himself growing even more afraid for his own life.
"Y-yes my lord."
There was a moment of silence, before the monster on the other end spoke up.
"Remember that officer, and pray for your own sake that the girl is yours within two weeks or it will be your blood being given to appease my master."
There was a click, and then the obnoxious beeping that accompanied the other line being hung up. Tokiya was left sitting there half in fear, and half in anger. Swearing furiously, he grabbed his jacket and stalked out of the precinct.
"I swear by my mother's grave I will catch that bitch Nala and personally help feed her to the Sorcerer."
With those words, Tokiya cast a glance in the direction of Ouran High school for the rich and privileged, and stalked down the street towards it. It was time to start laying the groundwork for the trap he was going to set. And that trap would start with finding out when Miss Madden Aisling would be landing in Ouran. Pulling out his cellphone, he called several numbers, and if anyone he walked by heard him, they would have heard nothing but a pleasant conversation between a man who was looking to see how much damage a package could sustain before it was undesirable to the receiver.
"Oh yes, Tokiya thought gleefully Nala won't be able to escape me this time.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
Honey glanced up at Mori, it had been two days since Nala and Haruhi had moved in with them. So far, it had been uneventful, but as a priest and guardian Honey could sense the movement that the shadows were making at the edge of his protection barriers around the house.
"Do you feel it too Takashi?"
The taller man stared out at the grounds around the house. Of course he could sense it, he could feel the shadows pressing and testing, nudging and waiting. It made him wonder how one human man was able to control the evil in the shadows.
"Mn."
Honey, knowing Mori as well as he did, knew what he was thinking.
"I know Takashi, me too. There's something else at work here after Nal-chan. Something deadly."
His big brown eyes narrowed in seriousness for a moment and he got caught up in thought. A laugh drifted from an open window upstairs and he heard the girls giggling over something Nala's cousin Maddy had told them over FaceTime. Honey didn't realize his face was caught in a frown of concentration until Mori ruffled his hair gently. Looking up at his cousin, Honey understood the quiet look in Mori's eyes and beamed up at him.
"You're right Takashi! We just have to be prepared for whatever else Tokiya brings with him! Now, I think there's some chocolate cake left, so let's go eat it!"
Grabbing Mori's hand, Honey turned and ran into the house in search of cake, choosing to ignore how he felt the evil power at the edges of his barriers poking at them again.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
Several miles away, Tamaki was pestering Kyoya about more security for the girls.
"We can't let Tokiy have them Kyoya! You know that!"
Exasperated because Tamaki had been at it for hours, Kyoya spun on his friend.
"Of course I do! I won't let him have her, but I can't do anything until he shows himself! I have had no visions to show me what to do! So we have. To. Wait."
Tamaki regarded his friend with a quiet knowledge in his eyes.
"Maybe you aren't having any visions because this time you need to think with your emotions, not with logic."
Kyoya growled at him in annoyance. It was too early in the day to be dealing with Tamaki and his cryptic moments of seriousness.
"Logic always triumphs Tamaki, just ask my father."
His blond haired friend shook his head at him, but dropped it.
"How are the club profits doing this month mommy? Because I had a splendid idea."
"Oh?"
"Yes! Think we can afford alligators?"
Kyoya appreciated the blond boy's attempt to distract him, and decided to play along because he knew they both needed it.
"Tamaki, not only did Honey order extra cake for the desert testing day, but alligators are a threat to customers and would scare more away than attract them."
Tamaki pouted.
"But I wanted to hire dancing alligators!"
With a shake of his head, Kyoya picked up his phone to make a call and stepped out of the room.
Time to check again if he's made a move any closer.
His other hand was clenched in a fist at his side when the person on the other end gave their report.
Tokiya hadn't made a move yet, rather he had been surprisingly quiet as if nothing was wrong. Kyoya hung up without a word, and stared at the phone in his hand. Suddenly, in a fit of anger that people rarely saw from him, Kyoya threw his phone as hard as he could against the far wall. It hit it and cracked and shattered leaving the boy standing with clenched fists and shoulders heaving with the force of his restrained anger.
He had to stop Tokiya, he wouldn't let him hurt Nala or so help him Kyoya would kill the man himself.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
Out in the open forest miles outside of Ouran, a place that the old ones rumored to be haunted, two tigers crept through the woods. They were stalking something, they had heard it rustling in the bushes farther ahead of them, and they had begun to creep after it. Not really hunting, but not playing either, the big cats slunk alone staying low to the ground. The tiger that was Hikaru was on the left, his fur dappled by sunlight that was streaming through the leaves and branches of the big trees. On his right, Kaoru slid through the underbrush sticking to the shadows as they stalked their prey.
They had been in tiger form all the night before, and all of Sunday because of the full moon. Somewhere, in their subconsciouses, the two boys were asleep, and their tigers were the ones who were in control. They kept their human halves from knowing about the bloodshed and the hunting that they Relishing their freedom, the cats slid through the woods until they caught sight of their prey. A large deer was grazing, Hikaru's tiger reached out a large paw and gently smacked his twin, who responded by glancing at him and curling its lips back in a feral smile.
Defenseless and unaware of the danger coming towards it. Suddenly, with a snarl, the tigers attacked. With a well practiced, and combined attack, they felled the deer in seconds before it even had a chance to cry out.
As they began to tear into it, they felt the push at their minds, the humans wanted out, but with snarls the tigers shoved them back. They wouldn't let their humans be ashamed of themselves for their tigers actions. The last time the tigers had shown them what they had done someone had died, and that had not ended well. No, it was better to keep this hidden from them. Even though they could all feel their sanity slipping as the tigers became more prevalent, the human halves couldn't do anything about it.
They were running out of time, running out of time before they lost their human halves and were nothing more than mindless, feral animals. Even the tigers knew it, and they were afraid. They had to find their other half, if they didn't more people like Haruka were going to get hurt.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
The man at his desk laughed. His monster for hire had just called him to update him on the newest developments and he couldn't help it. The pieces were falling into place perfectly. He picked up a picture on his desk. Two girls smiled up at him, the other woman's face was blocked by the glare from the sun. Without looking at the smaller girl next to the woman in the photo, the man's eyes focused on the other girl. Big green eyes squinting up at the camera, and brown hair that tumbled loose around her shoulders had him chuckling evilly.
Yes, Nala was going to pay for the setback that had taken him years to fix. It was only a matter of time before she was groveling at his feet and begging for forgiveness.
The players were all set in place, and little did they know that the noose was about to grow much, much tighter, oh yes, within two weeks his dream of crushing her pathetic family would finally become a reality.
**Authors Note**
Ok! I know this is a bit scattered and different from my regular chapters, but I needed to build tension and you guys needed to be introduced to the man behind the scenes, the figure orchestrating it all MWAHAAHAHAH!...Ahem, anyway what did you guys think? Tension is building, and secrets are going to come tumbling down. Don't worry, the next chapter will be regularly formatted and not quite as all over the place. What are your thoughts on the chapter? Did you like having the different POV"s from the hosts?
Shout out to…
missrevenge98 + kadi21 (Thanks for the follows/favs guys!)
repy (HEHE yup adorableness!)
raven-jinx-and-jericho-rule (Haha it's about time for him to right?"
ktmyldy28 (As always your review was incredibly appreciated so thank you! And trust me, they'll be around quite soon, they're goin through a bit of a...rough patch right now, but don't worry all will be explained soon. As for the romance yes...Kyoya is very very hard to write but it was super encouraging to hear that you think I'm doing well with it so again thank you!)
Let'sDotheTimeLordpAgain (Do you? Do you really? ;) if you do then yay because same here but you're gonna have to wait and see where this goes hehe)
Abby (GOOD!)