A/N I must apologize to those who read the first chapter of this story and enjoyed it; I am a something called a 'panster' writer, which means that I plan very little of my chapters- I write, and what happens happens. I cannot write any other way, though this style of writing does have it's drawbacks, one of the larger ones being that I have intense writer's block. I got over it, and this chapter very nearly ended up being 10,000 words, before I was advised to split it up, so the next part should be coming soon. Enjoy.
Lin: Sierra doesn't own Ghost Hunt
Sierra: Thanks Lin, I think we got that.
Lin: *Glares daggers at me*
Koujo Lin typed restlessly at his computer, his dark eyes scanning the word document containing the unfinished details of the last case that Shibuya Psychic Research had solved. He hadn't been able to finish it with the migraine that he'd been suffering from earlier in the day, and then the phone call from his father, and the dramatic recall. He was now tired and the time was past midnight, so the onmyouji's mind was not really on his work, for a change. Instead, his thoughts were dedicated to the aforementioned phone call that had very nearly shocked him to death; his sister, Lifen, was missing.
Lifen was nineteen, in reality, not much older than Mai. She was one of the reasons that the stoic onmyouji, who had a strong detestation for the Japanese people, had began to warm up considerably towards the feisty brunette who was his co-worker. In some ways she reminded him of his sister- both passionate and loyal. Though Lifen was more of a handful as Lin remembered, last time he'd went back to Hong Kong to visit, Lifen had been eighteen and already had quite the rebellious streak, according to their mother. He guessed that it must have been quite difficult for her growing up; she did have four older brothers to contend with- all averaging above six foot two in height.
Lin remembered having to compete with his older brothers- Draidyan and Lukida, when he was her age. He had thought that he'd never had someone to get the one-up on until his mother had given birth to his only younger brother, Nazuke. Then three years later, she had announced that she was having her first, and most likely only girl as she felt like she was becoming too old to continue having children.
Lifen had become precious to Lin fast- brothers were a quantity that sometimes he'd felt like he had had too much of, but sisters, he only had the one. He had filled the protective older brother role well, until he'd gotten the call from Martin and Luella Davis regarding their son who had an impressively large amount of PK and needed to be taught Qigong to control it. This was just after Lin had graduated High School, and his grades were high enough to attend Cambridge, meaning that he could go to school as well as watch over Noll at the same time- it had fit perfectly.
Lin had been seventeen, and Lifen only nine when he'd left Hong Kong. The young girl had made her older brother swear (she had only a little while before upgraded from the pinkie-promise), that he would be careful in England, and not to forget to come home every once in a while. It had been hard, though Lin had managed to come home and visit his family every year until his transfer to Japan upon Eugene Davis's untimely demise.
He had missed his yearly visit- much to Lifen's irritation, as Lin painfully remembered. He regretted that now- he realized that if she was not found safely, he might never see her again. He might never get to see her marry, or have children.
He had sworn to be careful, so why hadn't he asked her to do the same while in China? She had thought about his safety, but had he thought about hers? Guilt made the usually stoic Onmyouji cease in his typing and close his dark eyes.
Footsteps outside of his office door caused Lin's eyes to pop open; he strained his ears to hear in the silence of the room, after a moment, he managed to hone into the noise; and realized that it was the unmistakable pitter patter of feet on the hardwood floor of SPR's reception room.
This was strange as the only other people who were supposed to be at the office were Naru and Mai, the former who was working in his office and the latter who was sleeping upstairs in one of the adjoining apartments (she had moved into the one opposite of the apartment that Lin and Noll shared when they returned from England- her landlord had realized that he could get into legal trouble for allowing an underage orphan to rent from him, and had not wished for the problems), and should not have been awake, as far as the Onmyouji was concerned.
He held onto that train of thought until he heard a familiar voice coming from the office adjacent to his own- it was indubitably Mai's.
"Naru, are you awake?" A pause ensued, and then, "Naru, I think that there's something wrong...it feels like that int- intui thingie or whatever you call it." Lin strained his ears and was surprised when he heard an obviously sleep tinged voice reply.
"Mai, do you have any idea what time it is?" It was Oliver's voice, and the irritation from being awoken was clearly evident in his voice.
"No." Lin heard the soft and slightly worried reply from the young brunette, and then the audible sigh of frustration from his charge.
"It's past midnight, Mai, why aren't you in bed asleep? You do realize that you have work in the morning, correct? I don't want you taking naps on the job anymore than you already do." The paranormal researcher muttered in a beseeching tone. Lin realized that in his tired state, Noll had not understood Mai's reason for waking him up. The black haired man stood up from behind his mahogany wood desk and rose to his full height, completely prepared to march into his charge's office and speak on Mai's behalf, as he knew why she had went into her Boss's office at the hour she had. However, the need did not arise as neither of the teenagers spoke for several minutes, due to this, Lin assumed that the altercation had upset Mai and she was standing in Noll's office sulking, so he went back to typing out the case details, the rhythmic sound of his keys clicking luring his mind into a state inattention. He unconsciously tuned out the noises of his environment (something that he had gotten used to doing while Masako, Ayako, and Monk were called in to investigate cases), until he heard a particular phrase from the office next to his that contained his name. At that moment, the Onmyodo's ears perked up.
"Mai, that still doesn't explain why you didn't go to Lin with this- he knows just as much about your intuition as I do and I assure you that he is fully capable of keeping you safe should the need arise." Noll's voice was still wary with sleep, although it seemed as if some of his prior irritation with his younger assistant had evaporated, no doubt due to the fact that Mai had recounted her reason for interfering with his slumber once again.
"Lin was asleep on the couch when I came downstairs, I didn't want to wake him up, and well, I didn't know that you'd be asleep and by the time I came in here and realized that you were it was too late-" Mai stuttered, her voice rising as she tried to explain her actions to her Boss. The narcissist mercifully cut her off.
"Never mind that now- what's more important is why Lin was sleeping on the couch in the first place- he has a bedroom upstairs should he get tired, which is a rare occasion in itself it seems."
By this time Lin had made his way to the door of his office and pulled it open, revealing the darkened SPR reception room; his view of the couch was clear, and there was no figure resembling his own lying on the couch, although somehow that made him feel more uneasy. Who or what was it that Mai saw?' He wondered anxiously to himself. Lin summoned his shiki with his mind (he only had to whistle when he need them to become visible to everyone else), and they appeared to him without fail- five humanoid looking creatures slightly resembling young children. At first glance they could be considered cute, but on closer inspection they had twisted fangs protruding out from their mouths, like a cats, and paws to match. As he watched one even flexed his hand and dangerous claws slid out silently as the 'child' flexed. The most disturbing aspect was the pair of wings jutting out from their shoulders lending to their eerie and otherworldly aspects. This was their true form- the one only someone with electromagnetic vision could see. The white lights that appeared for everyone else was their choice of physical manifestation, as it was a very basic and easy to manipulate form.
Though Lin had the power to order his Shikigami to change their physical projection anything that he desired (it took his own energy to do so, and could have very dangerous consequences if he attempted to change all five of them at one time into a form he was not utterly familiar with), he could not command them to change the childlike form he laid eyes on every time he looked at them out of his right eye, as they did not have the power to change their real form.
Once his shiki were present, Lin made his way out into the darkened reception room and felt chills run up his spine. Continuing forward, he made his way to Oliver's office to the right of his own and pushed open the door. Naru was sitting at his desk, his chin captured in his hand, and Mai was standing beside him, her cinnamon eyes wide.
"Lin," the brunette said gently, her eyes slowly meeting co-worker's wary gaze, "why were you sleeping on the couch- why not go upstairs?" Lin chuckled darkly, causing the young girl to blink in confusion.
"I haven't been anywhere near the couch tonight, let alone sleeping on it, Mai," He said, his gray gaze traveling to Naru's blue one. The paranormal researcher had an unreadable expression on his stoic face, however his right hand, the one not holding his chin, was drumming a slight rhythm on his desktop.
"Mai, are you positive that you saw Lin on the couch? It wouldn't be the first time that you were wrong about something," Naru questioned, unable to hide the slight smirk that formed on his face; Lin knew that he secretly loved the kick that he got out of insulting his young assistant's intelligence, as he never failed to get a reaction out of her.
"Yes, you stupid narcissist! I know what I saw; Lin or someone who looked a lot like him was sleeping on the couch," Mai yelled, her gaze hardening, she did not like to be doubted. Although by now, Lin had heard enough to know that something was off.
"Mai, I assure that the only time that I have left my office since around eight at night was to come in here. I have not been on the couch." Mai's face faltered, then fell as she realized what Lin was saying; she really hadn't saw him.
"Do you think that I could have been imagining it, Naru? You told me to trust my gut feelings, and I could have sworn that this was like one of those," The young psychic tried to defend herself, however even her own voice had taken on a dubious tone, as if she was no longer convinced herself. Although Lin did not feel in the slightest that she had imagined it. Thinking like that was something that could get them killed in their line of work.
"Mai," The stoic Onmyouji said, gaining the attention of his younger co-worker, "did you have one of those 'gut feelings' before or after you saw what looked like me on the couch?" He watched as her brown eyes narrowed then closed as she recounted the past fifteen minutes in her head. After a moment, she opened her eyes and spoke.
"Before. As soon as I woke up, I felt like something was wrong. Then I saw you, or what wasn't you on the couch and came in here to tell Naru," Mai answered, her brow crinkling as she though back to the moment that she had awoken.
"What woke you up originally, did you have a dream or something of the sort?" Naru chimed in, his dark eyes scanning around the room uneasily.
"I did have a dream, actually. Gene was in it too- he told me to wake up but he wouldn't, or couldn't tell me why." Mai answered. Lin could see the barely perceptible stiffening of Naru's shoulders as he heard the news that his dead twin brother was still acting as a spirit guide to Mai and had not passed on; the Onmyouji was sure that the body language would be lost on anyone who hadn't know the young paranormal researcher as long as he had, but Lin could not be so easily fooled by his friend's stoic persona; he knew that as deep down as it may have been, Oliver did miss Eugene greatly.
However, when Noll spoke, his tone sounded as casual as if he were discussing the weather forecast, and not a dream in which his deceased twin brother was attempting to provide aid to his danger magnet of an assistant.
"Gene didn't say anything about the reason why it would be prudent for you to awaken, he simply told you to wake up, am I correct?" He asked, sounding slightly unconvinced.
"Well, to tell you the truth, Gene didn't actually 'say' anything," The brunette began, smiling sheepishly at her Boss, who as always, remained stoic, "but his eyes said to wake up; they looked scared, and his mouth kept moving, but no sound came out. It was like something was blocking him from communicating with me," She finished in a rush, memories of her spirit guide's pleading cerulean blue eyes, identical to the one's belonging to the man in front of her, begging her to wake up.
Naru stood up suddenly from behind his desk, and headed towards the door. Lin moved to follow, and when Mai did not, her boss turned to look at her from over his shoulder.
"Mai, why are still standing there looking like an idiot? Are you coming or what?" asked Naru, a slight edge of annoyance in his voice.
"Where are we going, Naru?" The brunette asked, coming up behind Lin and falling into step with him as he and Naru exited the office. Oliver, as per the usual, said nothing, however Lin offered a few words in the way of an explanation.
"Oliver has no idea what it was that you saw- he would rather take the precaution of leaving the office temporarily than remaining and running the risk of a return visit," The Onmyouji replied, his eyes darting around the darkened reception room that they had come into. He did not see anything suspicious, however the chill that he had felt upon walking out of his office had not left him. He followed behind Naru, until he saw his charge approach the couch where Mai had saw the figure that had looked like him.
"What is it Naru?" Mai asked, taking a few steps forward, however, she did not get far, as Lin's furious voice startled her.
"NOLL- don't do it!" he yelled, the words sounding as though they had been ripped from his throat. Oliver, however, did not listen, as his hand snaked towards the couch. A sharp gasp escaped him as he was pulled into a psychometric vision. His shoulders stiffened, and his blue eyes glazed over. Mai yelled, however Lin just stared. 'What the hell is he thinking? He knows what will happen! The Onmyouji screamed inside of his head.
He rushed forward as he saw Naru sliding towards the floor, reaching out, he caught his young charge. He had fallen unconscious, the strain on his body had been too much without the distribution of energy that only Eugene could have done with him. Lin stared at his charge's unconscious face, as Mai's eyes welled with tears.
"Lin, is he alright?" She asked, coming to stand behind her co-worker. Lin did not reply until he had stood up with Naru in his arms. After a moment, he turned towards the brunette and sighed.
"Yes, he'll be fine after he rests for awhile. As you are aware, his body cannot handle the physical strain that his powers cause, and will respond in varying ways depending on how taxed his energy was. Falling unconscious was simply the repercussion of Noll using his powers this time, we should actually consider ourselves quite lucky that it was not something worse," Mai flinched at his words, however she was well aware that Lin spoke the truth; the last time that Naru had used his powers, his heart had stopped, and he had very nearly died.
Mai shuddered, causing Lin to pick up on what she was thinking.
"This isn't as dire as what happened after his altercation with the Okobu- Naru should recover from this without a hospital visit. There is no need to be alarmed, Mai."
Gesturing towards the door with a slight nod of his head, Lin led the way towards the door and out of the SPR building, Mai following closely behind him. When they got outside, Lin headed straight towards the van and stopped outside of the right door. Mai opened it up for him and watched as he laid Naru inside and went to the the driver's side and slipped into the seat. Mai made a move towards the door, however Lin looked at her from inside the van and shook his head, waving his hand towards the seat behind him; he apparently wanted her to sit in the back to keep an eye on Naru.
Inside the van, Lin buckled up his seat belt and placed the keys in the ignition, causing the car to roar to life. He finished adjusting his mirrors just as Mai's door closed and her own seat belt clicked. Lin put the van into drive and headed towards a hotel further away in Shibuya.
When he pulled the van onto the road, he glanced at his two younger traveling companions in the back seat. Mai had pulled Noll's head into her lap and was stroking his raven colored hair. The Onmyouji wasn't sure if she was aware of what she was doing. However, he glanced at his charge's sleeping face for a fraction of a second, and he could have sworn that his expression looked peaceful. Although, when he turned his gaze back towards Oliver, his face was as stoic as ever. Lin smirked slightly before glancing into the backseat again. His smirk disappeared when he saw the flow of tears streaming from Mai's eyes. She met his gaze in the mirror, but she looked away just as quickly.
"Listen Mai, I told you that he would be just fine after some rests for a night- I'm driving us to a hotel where he can do so. If it is of any consolation to you, if he begins exhibiting signs of a worsening condition, I will not hesitate to get him emergency care. Just trust me on this; he will recover, as he has done before," Mai nodded and wiped her eyes. She proceeded to lay her head against the back of the seat and relax. Lin paid attention to the road and drove in silence for several minutes until the Creston Hotel came into his line of sight. He pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car in a spot close to the entrance.
With a sigh the tall man walked towards the back door and tapped on the window; Mai had fallen asleep. Hearing the noise, the young girl's eyes popped open just as Lin opened the door.
"Mai, I need you to lay Noll down on the seat and get out of the van so I can get a hold of him," The brunette nodded and rubbed her eyes, then gently eased herself out from under her Boss's unconscious form. Lin held out his hand and Mai took it, allowing herself to be hauled out of the van. She released her co-worker's hand just before he turned his back to her and grabbed Naru under the arms, then hefted him up and out of the vehicle. Mai slammed the door closed and followed Lin through the automatic doors of the hotel.
Once they reached the lobby, Lin spotted a vacant couch at the far end of the room, and carried his unconscious charge towards it. By the time Mai had caught up with Lin, he had already laid Naru on the floral patterned couch, with his head propped up on the cushion.
He turned on his heel and walked towards the receptionist's desk. A young Japanese woman with long brown hair stared at the man in front of her with her mouth hanging wide open, revealing her pearly white teeth. Realizing that he was there as a customer, she recovered herself slightly and offered Lin a flirty smile.
"Hello sir," She began, leaning forward so that her cleavage strained against her white Creston Hotel shirt, "if there is anything at all that I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask," Lin didn't acknowledge her obvious come on's in any way.
"I need a room with at least two beds, preferably on the bottom floor," He said, turning around slightly to look over his shoulder at Naru, who had not moved. The receptionist followed his gaze to the unconscious teenager that she had seen the taller man carry inside the lobby and place on the couch.
"Is your friend over there alright?" She asked finally, drawing Lin's attention back to her. The Onmyouji nodded, quickly coming up with a more believable excuse for his charge's unconscious state in his head.
"He was invited to a party with alcohol, and it appears that he had too much to drink. I thought it better to allow him to rest up here than to transport him home in this condition," The receptionist nodded, and pressed a few keys on the computer in front of her.
"I have a room that fits all of you requirements with the addition of a day bed- sound good to you, sir?" Truth be told, the room sounded perfect- Lin had originally asked for a two bed room, as he had not intended to sleep while staying at the hotel (his shiki despised new places, and became very restless when exposed to new environments), however, Lin now felt like he would need to rest to be able to function the next morning; it had been a very long day for him, and the Onmyouji had began to feel the effects. He had intended for Mai to have a separate bed from Noll, however now Mai could take the day bed and he the one originally meant for her.
"We'll take it," He replied simply, placing a hand on Mai's shoulder to steady her; the young brunette had closed her eyes, and very nearly fallen asleep on her feet. The receptionist chuckled brightly, her gaze traveling to where Mai stood at Lin's side.
"Seems like you need to get your daughter to bed, she looks half dead on her feet," She smirked, causing Mai to blush. Lin shook his head at Mai, as if silently telling her not to worry about the woman in front of them. Mai huffed, but nodded her head in agreement. "May I please have your name and credit card information, sir?"
"My name is Lin Koujo, however I will be paying with cash, so would you mind telling me now much the bill for one night will be?" Lin asked, pulling out a black leather wallet from the pocket of his dress pants.
"One hundred and sixty dollars Mr. Lin. But for a little extra, I could come up to the room with you, if you want me to," She offered, leaning forward and placing a hand on Lin's arm. He stiffened slightly and turned a steely gray gaze onto her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Aren't there regulations in place prohibiting this kind of behavior towards customers? Do you want to lose your job that badly?" He asked, a more than slightly perceptible edge of anger in his voice.
"No sir, I apologize for my behavior I didn't mean to-" She began, however Lin would have none of it. His mood had been foul since he had learned of Lifen's disappearance, however he had managed to keep his behavior civil. But this receptionist had grated on his very last nerve.
"I came here to get a damn room, not to picked up by the receptionist. Now if you wouldn't mind doing your job, the girl beside me is exhausted , and I've had a very long day myself." The receptionist's eyes widened, and she appeared as if she were about to cry, however, she held her hand out towards Lin, and he handed her the money he owed for the room. She took it with a jerk of her wrist, making sure that her skin did not contact his.
"You're room number is seventeen, here's your card key. If you intend to stay until breakfast, it will be served at seven a.m. Please enjoy your stay at the Creston," Lin nodded and grabbed the key out of her hand, then promptly spun around towards the couch that he had laid Naru on. The paranormal researcher had not stirred at all since Lin had placed him there, though his breathing was steady.
Lin scooped him up into his arms and handed Mai the card key to room seventeen. She took it from his hand and slipped into the pocket of her jeans. Lin nodded to her and proceeded to carry Naru out of the lobby and down the hallway.
Their room was the seventeenth on the left side of the long hallway. Mai stood in front of Lin and clicked int the key, then pushed the door open. She stood over to the edge so that Lin could push past her and into the suite. Once inside, Lin approached the bed to the left of the room and placed his charge on it, then covered him with the light brown comforter. Naru stirred slightly, a slight groan escaping him, however his blue eyes did not open.
Lin turned towards Mai to ask if she would mind taking the day bed so he could have the larger bed to the right of of Naru's, however, the brunette had already crawled into the smaller bed and appeared to have fallen asleep.
Lin smirked slightly before making his way towards the vacant bed opposite of Noll's. Reaching it, Lin unfastened his belt and loosened his tie, then removed his shoes and shirt. When he was finished, he placed the discarded items on the table to the left of his bed, and laid down on the soft mattress. Pulling the covers over himself, he focused his gaze on the wall directly in front of his bed. All of the sudden, after blinking, a young girl appeared in his field of vision. But not just any girl. It was Lifen. Lin stared at his sister with narrowed gray eyes.
Lifen stared back at Lin, her deep blue eyes, with just a hint of the gray of his own left eye, were slightly wide and panicked looking. Her clothing- a shirt that appeared to have been purple but was now caked with mud, and a pair of jeans, were tattered almost beyond recognition. Her long black hair was disheveled- something that Lin knew for a fact was of no fault of her own, as she had always taken great lengths to keep her hair, her self proclaimed 'best feature', looking it's best. Upon closer inspection, Lin realized that she had bruises going up her exposed arms, as the flesh there was almost completely purple, and a slight trail of blood leaked down her face from a gash in her cheek- it appeared as though she had been punched or bashed with a blunt object. Anger, fierce and unbridled made Lin clench his fist as he sat up in bed.
Though Lifen shook her head 'no', as if silently telling him not to come any closer. Lin backed down, though his dark gaze was on fire. He wanted to hunt down the bastard who had done this to Lifen and make them suffer- to feel every miniscule amount of pain that they had caused her in tenfold. Lin knew that when he got his hands on the culprit, no one would be able to make him show any form of mercy. Not that he would have anyway- one of the worst mistakes that anyone could make was going after someone's family, especially when they had as strong bonds as Lin had with his only sister.
Lifen smiled, though the expression was full of pain as the stretching of her skin aggravated the gash on her cheek. Lin's blood boiled as he watched her, so clearly trying to be strong for him, but failing so miserably. The normally strong, independent and brave girl looked like she had been forced through the ringer, time and time again. Her eyes had never before appeared so dull, nor so humorless. It would have physically hurt Draidyan, the brother whose dry humor she had inherited, to see the younger sister whom he had trained exceptionally well to understand jokes, as listless as she was and without any form of merit. Lin internally cringed as the thought made him mentally compare the image of Lifen from his last visit to China, to the battered version of her that he was seeing now. It almost didn't register on the furious Onmyouji how much suffering must have been inflicted on her.
Noticing her brother's enraged gaze trained on her, Lifen allowed her smile to fade, then opened her mouth as if to speak. Lin did not expect any words to come out, but was shocked when they did.
"Koujo," Lifen said, the word sounding painful as she forced it out of her dry throat, "don't give me that look- I'm alright," Lin sucked in a sharp breath and stared at his sister as if she had lost her mind, and in a way, he wondered is she had. Alright? He thought to himself vehemently, I would hardly call bleeding and beaten alright. Although he didn't say that aloud, simply stared at her with an eyebrow raised. Taking the hint, Lifen sighed.
"It's really not as bad as it looks- I can hardly feel any of it. Honestly, It could be worse," Lin flinched at her words, causing Lifen's expression to change. She had seemed to realize that none of her statement would have reassured her brother, who had known her since she was little- he would have been able to see through any of his sibling's facades; she was of no exception.
"Don't you dare lie to me, Lifen. I'm not as dense as you seem to take me for. Far from it, in fact. I have eyes. One may be blind, but the other is plenty good enough to see the cuts and bruises all over your body. You are far from fine. Don't pretend otherwise," Lin vented, his tone clipped and his words sounding as though they had been forged from the fire of his intense anger. Lifen's face fell and she looked away, the tightness of her jaw was not lost on Koujo. He knew all too well that she was trying to prevent herself from breaking down in tears.
"What do you want me to do, Koujo? I can cry, I can yell or pray. But its not going to get me out of here," Lifen said, still not looking at Lin. Her voice sounded thick with tears, though Lin's mind was unable to process that fact fully as one thing his sister had said set him off. 'Its not going to get me out of here' She had said 'here', as if she were still in the place where she had been taken after being kidnapped or whatever had happened, and not present in the hotel room with him. It was in that moment of shock that Lin realized that this was not real, and he had to be dreaming Lifen was not in the room with him, the visage of her was just his subconscious being unusually cold and playing tricks on him in his saddened emotional state. When he woke up, Lifen would not be at the foot of his bed.
Lifen seemed to notice the change in Koujo's expression, as she sighed deeply.
"Koujo, I know that you think that this is just a dream- I don't blame you for that. I shouldn't have taken advantage of the fact that you fell asleep to get in contact with you, but I had not other choice." Lin heard her words, but his mind refused to believe them. What she was telling him just didn't add up.
"What you're telling me is that you Astral Projected yourself into my dreams. Believable under normal circumstances, however, Lifen does not possess the skill of Astral Projection," He countered, closing his eyes in frustration.
"You're not thinking clearly, apparently. I know that you are aware that under extreme emotional stress, a person's consciousness can detach itself from the body, without the individual having prior knowledge of how to do so. Koujo, you're the one who taught me that," Lin opened his eyes, fully prepared to tell his sister off, but to his surprise, Lifen was no longer standing in front of the bed, nor was Naru laying in the bed beside his own, or Mai sleeping in the day bed beside the table that had the television sitting on it.
Realizing this, Lin's heart was beating furiously as got out of bed, and glanced around the now evidently empty room. His pulsed raced as he sent a command to his shiki to manifest. None appeared. The startled Onmyodo waited for another minute, however, not one of his five shiki were present. Unsure of what to do, Lin made his way towards the bathroom, the door on the left of the entryway to the hotel room. The door was closed, so Lin pushed it open, and entered the white paneled room.
He saw a tall figure standing in front of the mirror on the farthest end of the bathroom from him. The sound of water running was coming from the sink- a detail that Lin had missed prior to entering the restroom. And there was something else unusual- there was a slight scent of something metallic in the air. Lin knew that he recognized the smell, however, his mind refused to reconcile with the memories of where he'd smelled it before.
Lin stared at the back of the figure's head, before noticing something that made his blood run cold. It had black hair, the same shade as his own, to be precise. Lin stopped dead in his tracks as the figure, whose back was to him, began turning around to face him. At that moment, Lin's head had begun to pound, almost as bad as it had the day before back at the office.
Lin's breath caught in his throat as he was met with one gray eye, and one blue eye, identical to his own. And a face that looked just like his, only caked in blood, and with a sadistic smile painted across his lips. The mouth moved, and exposed teeth, normally white, which now appeared to be stained red. The look alike laughed, a shrill, blood curdling noise so different from Lin's normal one. It took a step towards its counterpart, who had raised his hands in front of chest in an attempt to ward himself off. Suddenly, the look alike stopped moving forward, and stopped smiling. It raised its own hand, and Lin saw something that made his stomach churn.
The other Lin was holding a golden necklace with diamonds spanning the length of it. To others, it might have looked like any other necklace, but to Lin, it was like looking at a ghost. Lifen's necklace, the one that she normally wore all the time, and the one that Lin had apparently not registered that she wasn't wearing when he had previously seen her in his 'dream', looked just like the one handing loosely from the figure's hand.
Lin stared up into his adversary's face, and was met with a cold smile, and expression that he could never remember making with his own face. The figure opened its mouth, and uttered a single, bloodcurdling sentence.
"You did this to her."
Lin shot up in bed, nearly knocking over the lamp on the table as the force rocked the bed frame. His heart was racing at a pace that could not have been healthy, and his breath was coming out in forced pants. The Onmyouji closed his eyes, and held his head in his hands, which he realized, were shaking uncontrollably. He tried to stop them from moving, all to no avail. His head no longer hurt, however, his thoughts, normally so calm and collected, were in turmoil. Questions, so many damn questions, flashed through his mind, and he flinched behind tightly closed eyes. What did I just see? Was that really Lifen, or was that just my mind playing tricks on me? Why- why was I holding her necklace? Am I somehow the responsible for her disappearance? Lin didn't have an answer to any of those questions, though he knew one thing for sure; if any part of his dream had been true, then the situation was indeed dire.