I FINALLY FOUND TIME TO UPDATE! SORRY, BUT I'VE LATELY BEEN TIED UP WITH SCHOOL AND FAMILY.Y BUT HERE IT IS! TO REWARD YOU, I PRESENT A SLIGHTLY LONGER CHAPTER! C.J HAS ALMOST A SOUTHERN ACCENT NOW. LET'S GO WITH THE EXCUSE THAT SHE'S DECIDED TO LET HER REAL ACCENT LOOSE! PLEASE REVIEW, PLEASE VOTE AND I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! ENJOY!
CH.8: 1 Incubus, an Assassin, and a Stiff. Check.
As Alice swung open the grand doors to the Tower of Clover, I was soaking in the views. Who ever had done the decor for this place had some high class tastes. Everything was green, white, and gold. And, true to its name, the entire place was decked out in a clover theme. The symbol was practically everywhere. I didn't have much time to admire it though. Someone came blazin down the hallway and tackled Alice to the floor. A familiar silver head of hair looked up from her aproned tummy.
"Alice, save me! Gray is trying to make me work!" I let my masking vibe of friendliness melt away, revealing my aura which promised violence. "Sup, Nightmare. Long time no see." He froze and slowly looked up. He suddenly paled just as I was contemplating what brand of torturous interrogation to use. He tried to scramble off of Alice, but I was a bit too fast. I grabbed the back of his neck and yanked the man to his feet. "Now, you're gonnn explain what you meant then nice and clearly, or I'm gonna-""Nightmare-sama!" I turned to the source of the voice that dared interrupt my threat. Yet another man, this one's attire slightly more normal looking than what I'd seen so far. It looked to be a regular suit, except I noticed multiple throwing knife sheaths on his person. Considering how dangerous this world was, not caring about life and all, I wasn't surprised. He himself had bright, topaz eyes and short navy blue hair. I also took note of the small lizard tattoo on his neck.
"Nightmare-sama, you can't run every time you have to do paperwork. It's part of your role." From what Nightmare said about being chased earlier, I guessed this was Gray. I looked down at Nightmare, "So, trying to skimp on work, eh? I guess I'll deal with you later." With that, I chucked him the few feet to Gray. Nightmare was not only happy to go; he hid behind Gray, putting him between me and himself. Gray looked at me, clearly surprised at Nightmares lack of resistance.
Alice; who had apparently picked herself up off the floor, giggled next to me. "Gray, this is C.J; the new foreigner. C.J, this is Gray; Nightmare's assistant." His eyes widened a bit at the fact I was a foreigner, then he shook his head and smiled kindly at me. "Though I sometimes feel like a babysitter. Thank you for the help." I shrug, "No problem. Since he has to work anyway, I'll let him go for now. Just make sure to give him tenfold the paperwork." I look to Nightmare and gave a sadistic smirk as a plot began to unfold in my head. Hint: it involved a rope, a jar of peanut butter, and an ant hill. Nightmare paled and shouted, "You're sick in the head!"
I raised an eyebrow at him. It's like he read my mind. "I did read your mind." I gave him a wide eyed look. Hey, there are rabbit-men here. Why the hell not throw in a mind reading incubus? I smirked and remembered the most gruesome and stomach churning crime scene I'd ever seen.When he turned green, I imagined a brick wall around my mind with 'Get the f*** out of my head!' painted on it… in blood. His eyes became roughly the size of a dinner platter… then he collapsed, coughing real blood.
All three of us gave alarmed shouts. Gray knelt down next to Nightmare, "Nightmare-sama, are you alright?" Nightmare looked up at us, giving me a glance and smiling nervously. "Yes, I'm fine. C.J, you're welcome to stay here. Let's go Gray." Nightmare then got off the floor, grasped Gray's arm, and fled the grand hallway. Gray looked back, a hopelessly confused expression adorning his face, and disappeared around a corner. I looked down to the blood. I had seen more blood than I hope anyone has to see, but I was still alarmed by the sudden attack Nightmare had. Alice notices my expression, "Don't worry C.J, Nightmare is actually very sickly. He coughs blood all the time," she shakes her head, "I tell him to go to the hospital, but he completely hates them. He freaks out at the sight of a needle."
I look from her to the blood again. Yeah, maybe he does do it all the time, but I knew I had caused this one. I mentally sighed as I shook my head in reality. Truth is, despite how much time I spent in them, I hated hospitals to. Just the smell of the anesthetics that lingered outside of them made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't help but sympathize with him. Guess I'll apologize for, you know... making him cough up blood…. Another truth, apologizing wasn't my area of expertise.
I looked up as Alice grabbed my hand, a smile on her face. "Come on C.J! I want you to meet Julius!" She took off up the stairs at a quick pace, dragging me behind. Julius is the guy who brings the people here back to life, so he's pretty important. What…. "C.J, we're here!" I looked up at her. She put a finger to her lips, the universal sign to shut up, and pointed to a cracked door a little ways down the hallway. She padded up to the door and lightly rapped the doorframe. "Julius, can I come in?" I heard a gruff approval from the other side. Alice smiled at me and motioned me to follow. She opened the door fully and waltzed in. I peaked around the door, an old habit of mine, at the scene beyond and the man called Julius.
He was sitting at a desk, hands gliding over a broken clock like magic. He was wearing a black suit with gold embellishments. He, like the White Rabbit, had clocks as a reoccurring theme. He even had a clock for a tie. Actually, it was pretty damn badass. He had super long waist length… hell, maybe longer, navy blue hair in a low pony tail and eyes that matched. Though he had a grim look that almost seemed permanently etched into his face, he looked nice enough. He looked up at Alice as she walked in, and, though he hid it well, I could see he was happy to see her. No one can hide the stench of love from the Great Detective C.J Thourn!
His gaze drifted from Alice to me, his eye telling of a quite interest. Oh right, I remembered, Black mentioned there was only 1 female with a face besides Alice. Of course he'd be confused as to why Alice has another girl with a face with her. "Julius, this is C.J. She's the new foreigner!" Unlike the other's I'd met, his face showed no emotion; no confusion, surprise, or even intrigue. My minor facial tick acted up. Nothing I hate more than a human ice cube whose emotions I can't read. That is, if they have any.
"Is that so?" he said with maximum indifference. He then turned back to his work, the happiness that had been with him before covered up so heavily that even I thought I'd imagined it. Alice huffed, "Julius! At least try to be friendly!" she turned to me, "I'm sorry, he's just antisocial." Julius mumbled something about being too busy to be social. I laughed out loud, "Don't worry 'bout it! I was like that whenever I got a new case! Wouldn't rest easy 'till I'd done the job and done it right!" He looked up at me, either surprised by my understanding, or irritated by my loudness. From what came out of his mouth next, I'd guess surprised. "Really? What kind of work did you do?"
Alice's turquoise orbs almost popped out of her skull. She seemed pretty shocked I'd gotten him to actually carry a conversation with me. She quickly got over it, shaking her head. "Now,now. We'll all get to know C.J better at dinner. Which is almost about to be served." How it is that dinner was cooked when she had been out with me all day, I shall never know. She grabbed my hand again and tugged me to the door before turning back to Julius. "Come on, hurry up Julius!" He got up and followed us out the door without a complaint.
When we reached the dining room, (holy crap, they actually eat in the dinning room?) I saw a rather awesome looking table set with even more delicious food! Even though I had tucked in at the Hatters tea party, I was ravenous. Gray and Nightmare were already seated and eating, so I grabbed a chair near Gray and started piling food onto my plate. Alice giggled at my childish reaction, while the other three looked alarmed. What can I say? I'm a sucker for some good chow.
Alice decided to start the conversation off. "Hey C.J, where did you end up when you first came here? I woke up at the top of this tower." I looked up from my small mountain of food. "Eh? Oh, I woke up near Joker's Circus." Everyone froze, forks halfway to their mouths. Gray was the one who broke the silence. "Joker's Circus you say? Did you… meet Joker?" he stated cautiously. "Yup, both of them. They're the ones who found me and explained all this 'Wonderland' stuff. Something wrong?" They all exchanged looks. Nightmare spoke up, "I don't think it's wise to associate with them C.J. They're not the… sanest people around. Best to keep your distance." I gave them a puzzled look. Granted, Black was a trash mouth, but neither of them had seemed like bad people. There was silence for a little while.
Julius looked up from his plate, breaking the awkward moment. "So C.J, you were telling me your line of work?" Gray and Nightmare had 'holy hell, he started a conversation!' looks plastered on their faces. I grinned, "I'm a detective!" All but Alice had a puzzled look on their face. Alice decided to be the provider of clarification this time. "A detective is someone in our world who solves crimes and helps capture the criminal responsible." They all nodded, fascinated. Gray and Julius looked especially intrigued. "So… what kinds of crimes do you solve?" I scratched my head. I had never really had to explain my job in detail before. "All the cases the local forces couldn't figure out. Theft, drug dealing, kidnapping, murder, fraud, missing persons…" I trailed off, seeing a lot of this wasn't registering onto their brains. "You know, a lot more crap is illegal back home than it is here." Alice laughed, "Amen. C.J, you must tell us about your first case!" She leaned forward with her elbows on the table, eager to hear the tale. The others confused looks became those of interest again.
"Oh, that's such an old story! And I've never really told anyone 'bout it…" I trailed off, allowing some of my hatred for public speaking to show through. Alice smiled, "That's alright. Just tell it like it is." I sighed. There's no getting out of this, is there?
AND THERE IT IS! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED! I'M NOT SURE WHEN I'LL GET TO UPDATE AGAIN, SO PLEASE LEAVE ME LOTS OF REVIEWS AND COMMENTS SO I CAN MAKE THE STORY EVEN BETTER! AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE! (ON MY POLE!)