A/N: Forgive me, I know I took much longer than usual to update but well ,sad to say, most of my writing is preoccuiped with essay and research papers for school. And the fact I was unsure how to complete this chapter without saying too much and not enough but still making you cringe. Now everything is coming to a close. Please review and enjoy my loves.

Chapter 13: The Ritual

Imagine your worst case scenario; okay now multiply that by ten-no twenty times- and you have Nora's current predicament. Never had she thought that she would be held captive by anyone let alone a demon controlling her ex' body. Yeah it sounded like one of those ridiculous stories. As if that wasn't bad enough, Hiei had been right and if he saved her in time, she was sure he would give her his trademark cold glare and a stern lecture about how he was right she shouldn't have gotten involved. But honestly, how the hell was she to expect the demon she been tracking down was hunting her? Even Kurama wouldn't have made that call and he was a borderline genius.

Nora tried to keep up the tough façade but deep inside she feared his plan. Was he really going to eat her? Alive? Cooked? With fries on the side? Just the thought made her cringe. Josh towered over her chained form; her shoulders ached from the short lease around her wrists holding her arms over head as his thumb caress her cheek tenderly, eyes gazing into her with longing. The creep even hummed a soft tune. This guy set a new level for disturbing.

"So are you going to eat me now?" She asked.

Josh stopped humming, stroking her cheek one last time. "Oh no. I really don't like eating people. It's more of an acquired taste, really."

Nora studied him with disbelief. If his intention wasn't to consume then why did he abduct her? "Then if you're not going to kill me…."

"Oh. Don't misunderstand. I'm going to kill you. Honestly if I had the chance to spare your life I would. But no one usually survives the ritual."

Nora gulped. Ritual? She definitely did not like the sound of that. "Ritual?" She repeated, her voice coming out softer than a whisper.

Turning his back on her, he attended to the table parallel, arranging the red candles in a ritualistic fashion. Nora craned her head, desperately trying to catch a glimpse. "Even in Makai, there is forbidden magic –you'd be surprise how many demons actually look down upon it. But I was raise with an open mind and a taste to rise to power through whatever methods." Josh faced her with a vicious smirk. "As a human said- the ends justify the means."

Normally, Nora would find something anything to throw a comment back at her offender but her voice was silenced by terror. She had no idea what he was going to do to her. She had no way to know if the boys notice her absence. Nora wiggled against the metal clasped around her tiny wrist, the grey binding rattled and bumped against her skin. There was no chance of escape, she knew it, but she had to fight somehow no matter how futile her attempts.

"Stop that." Nora obeyed, frightful green eyes staring up at him. "I'm not a cruel man, Nora."

"Could of fooled me." She muttered.

"I won't take your life without at least explaining everything to you. Take it as a parting gift from me to you."

"Oh boy, I love gifts." Nora said statistically.

Josh ignored that last part, "I recently learned among humans there is an untapped resource of power. It was more common than most people believe for a demon to mate with a human. These humans live their lives carefree, no idea the demon blood coursing through their veins. With the right tools, someone can steal those unawake powers and thus become more powerful themselves." A glint of silver flashed from the corner of her eye, at his side was the same dagger from before, the blade glowing ominously.

"Now the tricky part was finding you, demons have a peculiar scent to them. So you can imagine my difficulty pin pointing a person to the smell, it didn't help having those demons lingering about you, overpowering my senses which is why it took me so long to find the right one. But here we are."

"So you're suggesting I'm a demon?" Nora asked skeptically.

"Half-breed technically but a demon none the less." He answered.

"You're insane and-"

"We really shouldn't delay." He glanced at the dagger; the steel had an eerie blue tint. "It can taste your demonic linage in your body."

Nora frightful eyes regarded the weapon clasped lightly in his hand, the intensity of the glow brighten, violently as he brought it near her. "You must be the descendant of a powerful demon." Josh smirked. Suddenly, his body trembled and his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he tumbled to the ground. Josh's body hit the floor with a loud thud as Nora looked on fearfully. A body shifted; slowly her eyes fell upon another body. The body was tall, skin a sickly white to which she could see the spider web of veins beneath the flesh, gold hair fell to his shoulders as pitiless eye regarded her impassively.

The demon rolled his shoulders back and forth, ringing out the knots in his neck, rocking his head side to side. A soft crack sounded and his eyes flickered back to the unconscious body on the ground. "Possessing humans always leave a pain in my neck. It's so cramped in there."

"Josh.."

"He's fine. Now," Two hand curled around the hilt of vicious glowing dagger and poised the weapon blade downward over Nora's chest. "Do try to be quiet as the chant does get a bit tricky."

The demon mouth moved at a inhuman speed, words so strange and old slipping past his blue lips, it sounded nothing like any dialect she have ever heard. A light red mist poured from his body, encasing him and seeping around the dagger. Nora could only watch helplessly as his voice rose and the room vibrated harshly, the table beneath her shaking.

Hiei…please…help me…

His arms raise higher in the air.

The chant growing more rapid and loud, he almost screamed the words.

The room they were in shook as the tremor of power grew even more intense.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

Silence and then the blade soured downward to her chest.

A/N: Yes! A cliffhanger. Go ahead scream at me. How you'll have to wait another month to see what happens? No I'm not that cruel, I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Only a few more to go before I offically finish my first fanfic! Yay! Then will be the sequel which I'm stilling deciding the title and main plot.