Arikado sifted through the trash cans outside of the manor. This is where his tracking spell led him, but so far, his efforts remained futile.
"emoc ot em, tsol luos!" Arikado muttered, hoping to find what he needed soon. The brick wall behind the cans rang out a melody. He deciphered this through his finely tuned echolocation. He moved the cans aside and felt along the wall. one of the bricks gave under his fingertips.
He pushed, and a brick-shaped hole opened up. He pulled at the others, but nothing happened. He stuck his hand in the small space and found two letters. One was addressed to Charlotte Morris, and one was addressed to someone named "G". As he reached out, his fingers tingled, as though he had touched a spiderweb. The letters erupted in flames. "No! Eb efas!" he yelled as he reached out to grab them. A bubble formed around them and the fire was extinguished. It was too late.
He heard a grinding noise as he stood up with the bubble filled with ash. the ground was melting into a circular pit in front of him. Slowly, the ground rose, and there stood a great horned beast. It had the legs and head of a bull and the torso and arms of a man. A minotaur. Arikado ran forward and ripped out the beast's heart before it could even move. It crumbed into nothing.
He absorbed the heart into his bracelet and walked off calmly. He went inside the house and opened the bubble over the table. "riaper flesrouy," he spoke to the ash. The pile spread out and gradually turned grey, then white. He picked up the first of the repaired letters, addressed to Charlotte. It read:
Dear Mrs. Morris,
I will be coming later next week time to get the Book of Bron. could you please set it out for me?
Your favorite,
Gabbie
Arikado set down the letter and picked up the other. His time was up. They both crumbled again into ash. Arikado took a deep breath and stood up. He took out a vial and carefully swept the ashes into the bottle and stoppered it. Then he heard the crack of a whip behind him. He put the vial into his pocket and turned around, simultaneously backdashing. He looked up at the visitor.
"Hello, Al-"
"Do not speak that name, please," said Arikado. The man's voice was warped and garbled. It was clearly disguised. Arikado pulled out a chair and gestured to it.
"No thank you, although I do appreciate your hospitality. I merely came for your bracelet." The man held out his hand, and Arikado noticed that his fingers were very small. Like a woman's. Then he saw the whip, and noticed that it was in Chaos form - a metal chain. Sometimes it was leather, in its Calm form. "Are you going to stare or are you going to hand me the bracelet?"
"I think I will continue to stare, thank you, although I do appreciate your respect," he said, voice heavy with irony. "However, I have a rather deep attachment to this bracelet, so I think I shall keep it. Unless your need for it surpasses my own? Hm?" He slid the bracelet off his wrist and dangled it from one hand.
"I do believe that it does. You see, I am working on... you might say, a collection. What I am doing is for the benefit of man." The man reached out and took the bracelet from Arikado. Julius burst into the room.
"No! Arikado, what the hell is this?!" He pulled out a dagger and threw it with precision at Arikado, who caught it and held it out to Julius.
"This is a relative of yours, Julius. Take a seat. Both of you," Arikado said.
Julius looked stunned. He closed his mouth and sat in the indicated chair. "Allow me to explain. The first thing I noticed was the GB engraved in the hilt of the vampire killer, meaning that at the moment, it belongs to young Gabriella here."
Gabriella gasped and her fists tightened on the hilt of the whip.
"You... you read my letters, didn't you, you bastard?!"
"There's no need to get upset, Gab-" But he didn't get any further. She grabbed him by the arm and they disappeared.
