Chapter Eight

The Deception

"I can't believe myself." Jizabel thought, returning to Cain and Riff, moping quietly in his prisoned mind. "I just killed my best friend, but I had no choice." Why couldn't he just keep on a one track mind? Sometimes he was thinking of what he wanted, and other times, he was thinking of killing and blood spill.

"Jizabel, you look pale? Something happen?" Cain asked, noticing his presence.

"Nothing is wrong." he responded quickly, and turned his back to Cain. "I'll be making my leave. I have something else to do."

Riff watched Jizabel retreat from the scene, and sighed.

"Everyone is acting so strangely. Could it be the madness taking over them?" Riff thought, sractching his chin. He knew Cain wasn't influenced by it, sense he wasn't acting crazy yet. Jizabel however was consumed, the look in his eyes explained it all. Riff had no idea what had happened to Eyria, but it probably wasn't worth his knowlegde.

"Riff, shall we leave now?" Cain asked, his voice low and mono toned.

"Something wrong?" Riff asked, quickly turning to his master. How strange again. He was quieter than most times, and rushing? Something was up.

"I just feel, unsafe." Cain said, twiddling his thumbs in front of himself.

"Well, I can't say otherwise. I am getting weird vibes to." Riff thought, grabbing Cain's wrist, and walking away from the previous area, into a newer one.

"With this, I can take to my advantage!" Riff's thoughts said to him, "Now, it'll be easier to kill this Earl!"

"Damn!" Cain thought, "I fell into enemy hands. Oh well, don't matter, as long as I survive his stupid hospitialy, I can kill him." Cain was very well kept, even when drunken in by the madness. He was already comenisning his game plan. Kill Riff first, then the rest! This will be an easy game! I do have a good fire arm! I just have to act like an impudent master to this pathetic dog for a little longer.

"Riff," Cain said, squeezing Riff's arm and stopping him in his tracks.

"Yes master? What is wrong?" He asked, turning around to look into his golden eyes.

"Just one more little thing." Cain thought, reaching his hand into a pocket. Inside, rested his weapon, the revoler plus it's bronze bullet.

"I was just wondering, would you ever hurt me Riff?" Cain asked, changing the look in his eyes to sincerity and sweetness.

"Master Cain, I must protect you with my life. I'd never hurt you." Riff spoke, resting his hand upon his cheek.

"Good, you are mighty close enough," Cain thought, placing a smirk on his lips, and pulling out the gun, loaded and ready...

"I am close enough! I can easily take his life!" Riff thought, staring into the golden eyes of his master. All it would take was one little tiny pull. Riff had every little move planned out already. One hand was placed on Cain's face, but the other was behind his back, holding the weapon in full ignition.

"I just need to get the right shot, at the right moment." He thought, looking over his shoulder slightly.

"No! I can't do this!" Riff's good mind countered his evil thoughts. Inside the poor butler's head, it was good vs evil turmoil. One side said kill him, but the other disagreed. It was intense, and hard to decide which side to side with. Good or evil? Quickly, Riff looked back into his master's eyes, expect the fact, he was staring into the opening of a lovely, shiny, platinum pistol...

None of the other players were around, and yet he could sense them. Eyria's new body and mind was very overwhelming. He could feel any object to the exact detail, and know the scent of any plant, animal or human being in a wink. Being blind wasn't such a bad thing, but it was a slight disadvantage in this little game.

"I'm going to find you Jizabel, and rip to pieces! It'll be an entertaining little performance!" Eyria thought, running through a rushing river and back onto regular wetlands. He had no idea on where he was in this city, but he knew one thing. He was close to someone.

Another thing he could sense extremely well, was heart beats. Even though his vision was black, when a racing heart was nearby, he could see red vibes, coursing across his darkened eyes. Like a heat montior, he could tell where it was coming from, and instantly destroy it. One heart was in his range, and it was quickly coming into approach.

"Well, someone seems a little terrified." Eyria thought, picking up the pace, and heading towards the racing heart. The sooner the blood shed, the better the game...

His feet had carried him far from the other players. He was out of breath, and was rather surprised he could run that fast.

"I can't lost my life! Not yet!" Jizabel thought, ignoring the madness. He was excluding himself, and straying away from the other players. This way, he wouldn't get consumed by the madness, and going on a murderous rampage. He could already feel it though. In his finger tips, his muscles, bones, and even his heart, were filled with darkness.

"I must fight it! I can't let this happen! I don't want to kill anyone!" Jizabel screamed into the silent air. He listened to his voice echo off the empty streets and walls. Maybe shouldn't of yelled. He didn't want to spoil his hiding spot, and more importantly, he didn't want anyone else approaching him. In his hand, he held the gun, and nervously, he was loading it.

"I must fight it! Don't let my body lose control!" he thought, as he clicked the hammer, and held the gun before his frame.

"Oh screw it! Let's go find me a victium!" Jizabel thought, chuckling malicously under his breath. "I'm getting tired of waiting!"

"Looks like their taking a liking to the game?" a voice croaked from a high roof top. He chuckled menicisaly, before looking back behind him.

"You'll enjoy it when the round is over! You get the winner of the little prelim match." When the man didn't get a response from his tied up subject, he walked over, and grabbed their chin with their paper white hand, lifting thier heavy head off the ground.

"What's wrong? You were excitied a mintue ago?" he spoke, letting his cold words flow into his prey's ears. Without hesitation, he removed his hand from underneath their chin, and let the boy's skull hit the hard stone ground.

"You must be tired, or are you forgetting your part of the deal?" he said, turning around to face his prize. Walking back over to him, he placed his boot on his back, knelt down to him, and ran his paper white hand, cold, and lifeless, through the victium's apple green hair.

"Don't worry, this round never lingers, Isaiah." he said, lifting up his head with the chain he had placed around his neck. "It'll be over, shortly."

"Master Cain!" Riff squealed, backing away from the weapon. "What're you doing?"

"Playing the game!" Cain snapped, spinning the revolering. For someone who just adopted into the game, he already knew how to play. Riff was shocked to paryarisis, seeing his master set to kill his own servant. Was he taken away by the madness already? Or, wait, was he just using him!

"Cain, you're not like this!" Riff yelled, trying to get the old Cain back. The one that doesn't kill.

"Yes I am Riff. I've always been like this! I've been wanting to get rid of you sense the day I met you! You've annoyed me, and I could never find the right moment to finish you off, until now."

What was Riff to think right now? He had served this man for years. That included protecting, escorting, dressing, and even bathing him, and now, he wanted to end his services.

"Oh what should I do?" Riff screamed inside his head.

"Simple, kill him first." Said the other Riff, which he called, the evil one.

"No! I can't! I will convince Cain not to kill me!"

"Or, you could kill him first!"

"No!" Riff feel on his knees, and it wasn't in frustration. Something had simply ripped through his chest, out his back, and blood spilled from that one paticiular hole, and his mouth.

"Damn it, someone killed him first!" Cain shouted, kicking Riff's corpse aside, and turning around to face his new opponent. They weren't standing far from the scene, but they were still standing in plain sight. Cain smirked, seeing their figure in the dim light.

"So you're the little brat, you took my prey!" he said, calmly appraoching his intruder.

"You were taking too long twit." they said, their voice enchanting, but haunting. Quietly, their footsteps were like pebbels as he came into the light. His eyes were covered by a bloodly rag, stained by now, and his hands held two, revoling platinums. This is were Cain stopped moving.

"Shit!" he thought, noticing the weapons. "Out numbered, gotta take it easy."

"So, you intend on winning the game?" Cain asked, trying to now think of an escape plan.

"No, I don't. I want to rescue someone." they said, lifting their head up from it's hanging position. Cain's eyes widen. Eyria, now that he recongizned him, but were his eyes gouge out? Doesn't matter, either way, he's an obstacle in my way of winning the game.

"Well, whatever your purpose may be, I won't let you get in my way of winning!" Cain chuckled, cocking his revoler, and aiming it at the young boy.

"I do not wish to fight, but if you intend to threaten me, I'll participate." Eyria said, pointing the guns at him.

Author's Note: Ok, I deeply apologize! It took me...a month to write the last two sentences of the chapter, and then this! Darn, I'm not thinking straight. It's probably due to the fact that I have been reading manga non-stop, and I got my drawing hand back, so I have been doing fanart more often now. (So, I'm not working on a computer.) Well, I hope the next chapter is satisfiying, and grabs a little of your attention. I'll see you again!