C3: Unholy Marks

Mai arrived at the office late once again. Before she was able to open the door, she heard Naru yell, "Mai, I want my tea now!"

"It's on its way!" Mai called back, before heading back to the kitchen to make the tea. Mai put the kettle on the stove and stared at the reflexion of her face in the shiny metal of the kettle. On the right side of her jaw line, there was three thick but faint bruises following her jaw line. Running her hand down the bruise, Mai hoped that no one would see it, or if they did, then they would think it was just dirt. "I would rather let people believe I didn't shower then try to explain over and over again to what caused the bruises to appear," Mai thought to herself.

Finishing the tea, Mai delivered it to Naru, and made a quick retreat; however, Naru was quicker. Clearing his throat, he commanded, "sit down Mai."

"Naru! I already said I was sorry about the doors!" Mai exclaimed as she took the seat that he pointed to. After a few seconds Lin came into Naru's office with the security tape, in his hand. "Put it in Lin. Mai, I want you to watch it closely." Naru said as he stared at Mai.

The tape began roughly ten minutes before Mai started to close the office. "Why are they making me watch this? Wasn't experiencing it once enough for them?" She asked herself. Mai could feel both Lin and Naru's eyes watching her. The tape continue to run as Mai was forced to watch herself being attacked all over again. Fear filled Mai as she watched herself being dragged down the hallway and into the office. The tape stayed on the hallway, but Mai could hear the her screams. Unable to bear the screaming, Mai covered her ears and buried her face in her lap.

Sobs jolted Mai's tiny framed body as she tried not to hear the screams. "Okay Lin." Lin switched the tape off and moved to stand next to Mai. "Mai, tell us what happen." Naru said as he took out his old black notebook.

Mai uncovered her ears and sat back up in the chair. "It started when I dozed off yesterday, in the office," she began as she wiped her face off. "I dreamed that there was two giant red glowing eyes, coming out of the darkness."

"Did it have a body?" Naru asked as he wrote something in his notebook.

Clasping her hands together, she responded, "yes and no. It seemed like the darkness was alive, but I couldn't see if it was connected to the eyes."

"Okay, what happened next?" Naru asked while he locked his eyes with hers.

Fear slowly started to crawl its way back into her mind; however, Lin put his hand on her shoulder and whispered in to her ear, "It's okay Mai. Just calm down and relax."

Nodding, Mai continue to tell them. "I was woken up by Naru calling for more tea. The day passed just like any other day; however, I kept feeling like I was being watched. I didn't think much of it at the time. After I finished my work, I went through the process of closing the office. I remember closing and locking the door behind me. When I reached the stairs, I was attacked by it."

"What happened in the room when you were dragged in there?" Lin asked Mai as he moved to sit in the empty chair next to her.

Mai ran her hand through her hair before answering, "It dragged me into the room, but my body reacted before it could really do any damage. I remember John chatting a prayer about the Word being with God. So I thought I would try to see if it would work. The first time it didn't make far; it slapped me across my face. And then...I was over come with the feeling of not want to die there and the determination not to let it happen. I just started to scream the prayer at him, and I screamed to leave me alone, and it just growled and disappeared."

Closing his notebook, Naru asked, "Why didn't you call us?"

"I didn't tell you because I felt that you would think I was making it up and would get mad, or you wouldn't believe me because I didn't think that the camera would record it. Without proof it would have been writing off as a lie." Mai said, as she hugged herself.

Sighing loudly, Naru stood p and came around his desk. Kneeling before Mai, he spoke in a gentle voice, "Mai, we already seen the tape. We need to make sure that this thing was not messing with us. I'm sorry for forcing you to watch this. Lin and I already talk and decided to take this case. After all I can't have my tea maker getting hurt, now can I?"

"You already knew what happen? You really going to take the case. It'll be over soon, and I will be from this monstrous thing soon," Mai whispered quietly.

Standing back up, Naru moved back to his own chair. "We will have the team meet here tomorrow at 9 am. Lin will make the calls from your desk. Fro now what I want you to do is use Lin's office and get some rest. You don't have to worry with both of us are here." Naru said as he dismissed them.

Mai made her way to Lin's office, as Lin went to her desk. Mai looked back as she said, "Thank you Lin."

Lin nodded and Mai disappeared into his office, closing the door behind her. Lin's office had a book shelf covering one of the walls, and there was a desk under the window. In the far corner sat the couch. Mai made her way to lay down. The couch was only a love seat; however, this didn't bother her. Mai was tiny enough to fit on it. Once comfortable, Mai drifted off into a light doze. As Mai drifted off, the temperature slowly dropped. The room became unbearable causing Mai to wake up. She look up at the window thinking that it was open; however, it was closed and the shade was down.

"Why was it cold in here?" Mai asked herself, as she pulled herself off the the couch. Searching the office, Mai found out that the office had no blankets. "Maybe Lin would have one somewhere," Mai thought as she walked towards the door.

Turning the knob, Mai tried to open the door; however, the door stood still. Fear began to rise up in Mai's mind. Growing fearful, Mai violently shook the door, but the door still didn't move. She raised her fist, and tired to knock on the door. As her hand came down towards the door, Mai heard a growl behind her. Before she could scream, Mai was thrown across the room. She slammed into the book shelf, with a scream of pain.

"Naru!" Mai could hear Lin calling for Naru. Laying on the floor in pain, Mai could hear them trying to get into the office.

"Mai! Mai! Open the door!" Naru called through the door as he banged into repeatedly.

Mai could hear heavy foot steps slowly moving towards her. Slowly, sitting up, Mai tried to crawl towards the door. She was a few feet away from the door when it shoved her down and sat on her back. The monster entwined its hand into Mai's hair and violently pulled her head back.

"Naru! Lin! Help me please! Mai cried out in pain as it dug it's claws into her shoulder.

Naru threw his full body weight against the door, and the door slammed open. When the door open Naru saw the monster sitting on Mai's back. It was the size of a huge man, but it didn't look like one. There was two large horns growing out of it's head. The face looked like a dragon head that was smashed by a rock one too many times. In it's mouth was two sets of fangs that was longer than the rest; one set was on the top of the mouth and the other set was on bottom. The rest of the teeth were short and sharp. It was scaly and it had a tail that had had short, sharp spikes on it. What was more scary was its three finger clawed hands. One was in Mai's hair, and the other one had blood dripping from it.

Naru's eyes widen with shock as he whispered, "Demon."

The demon looked up at Naru and smiled maliciously at them. The monster continued to look at Naru and Lin as it buried it's fangs into Mai's exposed neck.