Chapter Eleven:

"Man, where is he?" Joey demanded.

Yami glanced up from where he'd been staring intently at a spot on the door, wishing it would open. Was Aibou okay? Was he hurt? But Joey was right, Kaiba had been gone a long time.

"Something must have happened to him," he said.

"Still no luck with reaching Yugi with your mind?"

Yami shook his head unhappily, resting his forehead against the hardwood. He could feel no trace of his hikari. Their psychic link was being blocked.

"There is so much psychic interference in here," Yami murmured. "Whether it's the ghosts, or black magick, something. It's like hitting a wall."

"Don't hurt yourself. We'll find another way to get to him."

"Kaiba has been gone too long." Yami straightened up and turned towards the stairs. "Stay here and I'll--"

"No!"

Joey grabbed Yami around the waist and pulled him back. Yami looked up at him over his shoulder, Joey's arms around his waist.

"I'm not going to risk losing you, too," Joey said. "Not after what just happened downstairs. No way."

Yami smiled reluctantly, warm with Joey's love, frustrated by his protectiveness. "Joey, I don't know what we can do. Aibou needs help, Kaiba may need help, and we have to get out of here. We can't just stand here in this hallway. Let's--"

"Dead, they're dead, all dead!"

"They're all dead!"

Yami and Joey both looked up as the voices came from the stairwell leading up to the third floor. Both froze as Mr. and Mrs. Johnston came into view, covered in blood. Mr. Johnston held a swinging spike-ball on chain from a short pole, while Mrs. Johnston had a short sword with a wickedly curved blade, almost like a scrimitar with a second point facing back towards the hilt. The Johnstons focused on the two of them. Yami saw that their eyes were open, but glazed, like they were drunk.

"They are possessed," he said.

"That doesn't help us any!"

The Johnstons came racing down the hallway. Mr. Johnston, in the lead, swung his spike-ball hard. Joey shoved Yami out of the way ducking himself the other way. The spike-ball thunked into the jamb of the door where Yugi had disappeared, but the door did not open. Mr. Johnston yanked out the spike-ball as Yami caught his balance. Joey had hit the floor on purpose, but now scrambled to his feet. Mrs. Johnston had caught up, and now she went after Yami. He ducked out of the way as she swung the sword at him.

Like her husband, Mrs. Johnston's attack was wild and unprofessional. She swung again, but Yami ducked away from her easily. He knew how to swordplay, and she was as amateur as they came. If he had a sword of his own, he'd be able to disarm her without hurting her, but he didn't.

Mr. Johnston swung at Joey again, who ran away a few paces, but clearly wasn't going to leave Yami, who was on the other side of the two crazed married people.

"Joey, we can't keep ducking them!" Yami called as he continued to dodge Mrs. Johnston's attacks. "We will mess up. You must get away and try to disarm him. I will do the same with her."

"I'm not leaving you!"

"You have no choice. One swing of that and you could die. Now I'm telling you, get up to the third floor, find some way to incapacitate him. I'm going down to the ground floor. I'll find Kaiba and we'll come back for you."

"Yami--"

"Just do it!"

Mrs. Johnston came at him again, but this time Yami turned and headed down the stairs. To his relief, she followed after him rather than turn to help her husband kill Joey. Hoping that his lover would be all right, Yami made it to the ground floor and headed for the torture room. He did not want to go there again, but that was the only conceivable place to find a sword.

The door was still open. Yami ran inside, skidding to a stop to avoid slamming into a table laden with implements whose purpose he didn't want to know about. A wall of swords, knives, and axes drew his attention and he went over to it. Two things were missing from their hooks, but he didn't pause to guess what they were. Mrs. Johnston came into the room, shrieking when she saw him.

"Dead!"

"Mrs. Johnston, you must try and get a hold of yourself," Yami said as he pulled down a straight sword, holding the handle easily in his right hand. He backed away from the wall as she came forward. He knew his skills, but he was still afraid of accidentally hurting her. Even if she and her husband had committed the murders upstairs, they were not responsible.

She raced at him, swinging the sword around like an axe. Yami countered, stepping backwards around another of the display tables. She swung again and again, Yami parrying every move, but still reluctant to strike himself. Finally he knew he had to end this. He countered another swing, then jerked his sword around hard. Her sword flew out of her hand, sliding across the floor and disappearing beneath another display table. Mrs. Johnston cried out in pain; Yami's sword tip had slashed her hand.

"I'm sor--"

A gust of wind like what had thrown Aibou into the room upstairs suddenly washed into the room. It struck Mrs. Johnston head-on, lifting her up and dumping her onto a narrow table. Her head fell back into a neck-brace and Yami realized too late he was looking at a guillotine. He lunged forward, but was not fast enough; with a metallic swish the blade dropped of its own accord, severing Mrs. Johnston's head with a wet thud. Her legs kicked a couple of times, blood spraying from the neck all up the wall.

Yami turned and ran out of the room, nauseous and feeling panicky. Out in the main hall he stopped, bending double and breathing shallowly, fighting against throwing up. He struggled with himself, knowing that panicking was not going to help anyone. He was a king and a warrior, he was stronger than this, and he had people counting on him.

Straightening up, Yami felt somewhat more calm. Now he had to find Joey and Kaiba, rescue Yugi, and get everyone out of this house.

Movement caught his eye and he raised his sword, holding it up in front of him with both hands, ready to attack. Out of the doorway leading into the conservancy came Kaiba, holding a vicious-looking axe in one hand. He stopped and looked back at him.

This was one of the few times Yami was actually happy to see him, but he was also cautious. Joey and the Johnstons had been possessed, why not Kaiba as well?

"What are you doing with that?" Kaiba suddenly asked.

Yami realized he was watching him with the same wariness. Relieved, Yami lowered his blade a little. "The Johnstons were possessed and they attacked us. Joey and I were separated and Mrs. Johnston followed me down here. She's dead. The guillotine came to life and decapitated her."

Kaiba's lip twitched in disgust. "Yeah, I found Narendra's head. Someone put it in a roast pot in the kitchen." He gestured to the room behind Yami. "Nothing came to life at me when I went in there. Did you notice everyone but us is dying?"

"Joey sure tried to kill me. And who knows what's happening to Aibou?"

That statement was scarcely out of his mouth before the both of them were running up the stairs, coming to the same conclusion that neither was about to attack the other. Yugi was still locked in that room and Yami had to find Joey, make sure he was okay.

The second floor hallway was deserted. Dread washed over Yami and he was torn about what to do. There was no sound coming from upstairs and the door where Yugi had disappeared through remained stubbornly shut.

"You have had that axe for at least five minutes," Yami said as they both stopped. "You got it out of the torture room, but weren't in there when I was chased by Mrs. Johnston. Where did you go?"

"I grabbed the axe off the wall and was going to head upstairs, but I thought I heard Wheeler say my name from the conservancy." He glanced at him before looking back at the door. "I thought you and Wheeler had gotten Yugi out and were calling the police, but when I went in there, there was nothing in the room. By the way, the phone's busted. It looks like someone hit it with something. If we get out of here, we're on foot out there."

Yami digested this news, worried. Had it really been Joey's voice Kaiba had heard and he had somehow disappeared before Kaiba saw him, or had a ghost somehow mimicked his voice? Why had Kaiba not been attacked while everyone else was? And the grounds of the house were said to be haunted as well. They might escape the house only to be attacked outside. None of them would know how to operate the bus, and without a vehicle, it would be miles back to Vegas. Things looked bleak.

Kaiba raised his axe and addressed the door. "You go find the Mutt. I've got this."

He raised the axe and sunk it hard into the wood. Yami had expected the door to be magickally resistant, but it wasn't. As Kaiba yanked the blade out for a second attempt, Yami stood and watched, still unsure of where to be. Why was there no noise upstairs? Joey might be hurt. Yami turned towards the third floor stairs, deciding to search for him while Kaiba went for Aibou, but the door was overcome before he had gotten far and his need to see Yugi safe made him turn back.

Kaiba's next few strikes had created a hole in the door near the knob, but before he could reach his hand in to try and open the door that way, it swung open slowly by itself, causing them both to back up. Together they raised their weapons to fend off whatever new malice the house had in store for them. When nothing else happened, they both went to the doorway and peered in.

"Yugi?"

Kaiba's question was only heard by an empty room.