okay so i lied there will be two more chapters after this i really didn't mean for the case to become so long really lol if i uploaded the whole chapter (i'm not even done yet lol) the word count would be near 9,000 or so words so...yeah i'm splitting it into three parts enjoy part one of the finale :)

Disclaimer: i do NOT own Ghost Hunt idk why i have to put this up lol also, this case is dedicated to my Shinigami Buttercup Meister! I haven't heard from you in a while and I hope you're doing okay! ;) Enjoy!

Chapter 10- Stones

October Day 6, 8:45 PM.

"No…" Mai gasped as she saw the pregnant woman lying unresponsive on the floor. "She can't…"

"Akahana-san!" several others exclaimed rushing or limping down the stairs as Naru and Lin raced in.

"What happened!" Naru ordered as Ayako knelt to the ground examining the poor woman.

"Akahana-san, Akahana-san, can you hear me?" the priestess called, tapping her shoulder. "Please, say something!" She took her pulse. Listened for breathing.

She's alive…thank goodness… Ayako felt herself relax slightly.

"Ayako-san?" the weak whisper came from the woman as she tried to turn her head.

"Don't move, everything's going to be fine," Ayako ordered with confidence, then turned to those around her. "We're going to need an ambulance."

"On it," Yasuhara pulled out his phone.

"Hara-san, what happened?" Naru practically barked to the medium.

"I…I" she stuttered, completely baffled. "We were just going to get some ice for Kiko's ankle and then the air became cold…" She was just horrified as she continued. "It happened so fast, I didn't realize what happened until she was on the ground."

"Just before that happened," Kiko added. "I witnessed one of the ghost maids and had a knife thrown at me."

"One of?" Naru tried to confirm, when he noticed the crucifix lying on the ground. "Monk, get Father Brown immediately."

Confused the monk nodded and raced out as Ryouta dashed in. "Akahana!" he knelt down next to her. "Akahana! Good God! Are you okay? Akahana!" She gave a little bit of a smile and took his hand, despite the priestess's orders.

"It's time, Ryouta-kun," she said with a long and somewhat painful breath. "It's time."

Yasuhara had gone out to wait for the ambulance while Naru had a word with the Australian priest when he arrived. The boy nodded and walked over to the crowd, picking up the fallen crucifix charm and kneeling before the expecting mother. "I understand that this is yours," he said with a calm smile. He placed the charm in her hand. "Would you like me to say a prayer for you and your baby?"

"Yes, please, Father," Akahana replied looking tired and in pain. John looked to the Father-to-be.

"Please, Father," Ryouta nodded as the priest began to say a prayer to St. Gerard.

"O great Saint Gerard, beloved servant of Jesus Christ, perfect imitator of your meek and humble Savior, and devoted child of Mother of God…" he recited, blessing the woman with Holy Water as well as the father as he went.

"H-how long do you think it will take the ambulance to get here?" Mai asked, as Kiko leaned on her for support.

"Soon." She sounded confident as she watched the fuss before them. The confidence was only an act. "I hope."

"Preserve this woman from danger and from the excessive pains accompanying childbirth, and shield the child which she now carries, that it may see the light of day and receive the purifying and life-giving waters of baptism through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." John finished, placing a rosary in the woman's hands as well. He gave another smile. "You're going to be just fine, Akahana-san. The spirit here will no longer harm you or anyone else." John always had this innocence about him that seemed to calm even the direst situations. Needless to say, the woman was grateful for his concerned gesture.

"Arigato, Father."

It took over ten minutes for the ambulance to arrive, taking the expecting parents and a concerned priestess following behind in Yasuhara's car. All stocked with protection charms and a promise to report back their status, they left for the hospital praying that whatever those maids were, didn't follow.

"Hara-san, do you sense anything?" Naru asked her once everyone was at Base.

"They haven't left, not a single presence has left the building," Masako sighed with relief. "I don't think they realized Akahana has left-"

"They know, they just can't follow," Naru countered, interrupting her. He turned to Monk and John. "How's Yoshiko doing?"

"She's shaken up and disoriented," John replied. "She's unsure of the date and does not know who we are."

"She's resting in one of the rooms nearby, we gave her several charms and told her we'd check up on her soon," Monk added leaning back.

"My Shiki are also with her making sure this spirit doesn't try to repossess her," Lin included from his laptop.

Naru nodded his head and exhaled, facing everyone with a grave expression. "Tomorrow is October second. We have only tonight to rid the building of this spirit, now," he explained, turning to Mai. "Mai."

Naru was beckoning her to say something, but what? What could she possibly know that he or anyone else doesn't know? "Me? What about me?" Her eyes were wide with confusion.

"Your instincts on this case have proven more correct than not," he explained rationally. "Start from the beginning, everything you've noticed since we got here, your dreams and visions."

"J-just explain everything that happened over the last week?" Mai's voice still hung with confusion. "What will that do?"

"We compare it with evidence and research we've gathered and plan out just what may be 'L's next move." Naru continued, holding a hand out, gesturing her to explain everything.

"That's a lot to explain-"

"Then you better speak fast and clearly, we do no have much time," Naru finished. It was done. Naru won. Time was of the essence and Mai couldn't argue anymore.

With a sigh she explained everything she witnessed and felt throughout the case. The little voice she heard ask for help. When she passed out bringing tea and the tea ended up burning her arms. The little dream hat reminded her of when she was abused in her sleep. When she went to apologize to Naru after the argument and saw the vision of the demon. The ghost maid approaching her and being dragged into room 534. Her dream of the multiple suicides and finding the letter. The E.V.P. session. Akahana being attacked again. Fearing John would be in danger if he came. Speaking with Akahana. Listening to the E.V.P. Another E.V.P. session. The dream of what she believes are Kaoru and Yoru's deaths. Listening to the E.V.P. session and seeing the vision of Otsune as a little girl along with more deaths. Akahana being attacked again. Kiko and John arriving. Yoshiko's first exorcism. Another voice in her head as she went to get tea. Kiko and Mai having the same dream. More voices in her head when she took a shower the next morning. Finding out the history of the hotel. Lilith. The dream of herself being Itsuko. Ayako being attacked by a maid. John sleeping for so long. The connection of the case and the letter. Realizing that there had to be a reason for Akahana to be targeted. The vision of Lilith's resurrection. Speaking with Otsune. She and Kiko sharing the vision of Lilith and the deaths of the three sacrifices. Finding the mystery from an article dated October third ninety years ago. Kiko being attacked by a maid during the exorcism. Akahana being attacked and sent to the hospital. "That was when we realized that there are actually three maids," Mai finished her long story with a few pants.

Naru simply nodded then turned to their guest investigator. "And what happened when you were attacked?"

"A different ghost maid approached me, the knife was in her back," Kiko explained, her ankle elevated on a spare folding chair next to her. "She was shouting 'Devil's to be born' and things like that. I tried to run, but something grabbed my ankle and pulled me down. When I looked up a knife had been thrown at me."

He went into his thinking pose. "Then Matsuzaki-san said she saw another maid with a knife in the back of her neck, screaming, then something dragged her down the stairs," he added, gears in his head turning. "So the maids are the culprits. Having been betrayed when they tried to raise Lilith, you said they spoke some other language?" He looked to Mai.

"Hai, I couldn't place it, but it went something like," Mai explained, thinking back to the dream. "'Lilith Lamia, Lilith Lamia, maredicam terrai' or something."

"'Lilith Lamia, Lilith Lamia, maledicam terrae, maledicam terrae,' was what the people around the pentagram chanted," Kiko continued for her. "Then, 'Lilith lamia, et maledicam terrae qui ambulant per eam. Exaudiet vocem nostram! Appareant pro nobis et vindicas atque benignissimus!' One man had chanted. It's Latin."

"'Vampire Lilith, Vampire Lilith, curse the ground, curse the ground," John translated. "Vampire Lilith, curse the ground and those who walk on it. Hear our cry. Appear to us and-'"

"'Avenge our kind'" he and Kiko finished together.

"So they were angry with someone," Monk interjected. "Why go to so much trouble?"

"God." Mai gasped.

"What?"

"They were angry with God, and followers of God," Mai kept shaking her head. "Otsune's mother was a Christian and so is Akahana…"

"And in many Christian religions the religion of the mother passes onto their child," John confirmed.

"Why such hatred?" Yasuhara wondered aloud.

"Back around that time there was still quite a bit of animosity towards Christianity, not nearly to the point of killing them, but during the State Shinto period they were prosecuted," Monk cleared up.

"That's correct, the group performing the ritual probably felt that their land was being taken over and wanted an enemy of the Christians to seek their revenge," Naru added.

"Manabu…" exhaled the petite brunette. "He was the ringleader of the ritual. He betrayed those girls and let Lilith kill them for his own revenge."

"That would explain why they targeted men, for their own revenge," Lin added from his little corner.

"But why the flip between revenge on Manabu and targeting Otsune?" Masako interfered.

"Those girls were sacrificed to Lilith, so they must've believed that by targeting Otsune and Akahana they were fulfilling Lilith's wishes." Monk explained.

"But why this spot? Why this area?" Kiko commented assuming a thinking pose very similar to our favorite narcissist. "What would cause such a hatred to summon Lilith?"

"Wait! That reminds me!" Yasuhara quickly pulled out a crumpled up article from his pocket. "I found this at the library, dated just a few days before the article about the pentagram. Apparently a church was supposed to be built on that area, so maybe…"

"That's enough of a motive for that time frame," Naru concluded. "It's been nearly a century since ritual but the only way to perform a successful exorcism is to find where the ritual took place. Have you found any information on that?"

The researchers shook their heads. "Unfortunately, no, the lands marks of the time are different from now. The hotel wasn't even thought of yet and a lot of the farmland has been abandoned or used to build this hotel," the college student explained.

"The library's closed by now so we can't go back and search we'd have to wait until tomorrow," Kiko added.

"There's no time for that, this needs to end tonight," John argued calmly.

"What do you suppose we do? I'm pretty sure out of all the information we have, we have pretty much nothing to figure out where they summoned Lilith," Monk retorted.

"So, either we wait until tomorrow to find more information or…." the medium paused as all heads turned to the shorthaired brunette. Her eyes widened.

"Oh no, I don't think so!" she exclaimed, waving her hands in front of her face. "I can't force myself into having visions! And even if I could there's no way to tell if I have one about where the ritual took place, it'd probably just be something caused by the maids in order to freak me out!"

"She's right, we don't know if the maids are controlling her visions or if they will try to now that we have announced that plan," Lin agreed from his computer. "If they do try to control her dreams, who knows what they could do mentally."

"Thank you, Lin!" Mai sighed, crossing her arms.

"So we're left with only one option," Naru decided.

"We wait until morning for the library to open?" Kiko suggested.

"We pull in all the history of the house that we have gathered, analyze it the best we can and hope we come to some conclusions," he explained standing up. "I would like to speak with Yoshiko, Monk, Lin, come with me."

With that the narcissistic boss, the monk and the assistant left the room, leaving the remaining five members to rummage through what they had. "Figures he'd leave all the work to us," the petite brunette pouted, crossing her arms. "Only to complain about how we apparently did a horrible job."

"That appears to be the pattern," Yasuhara commented.

"Really? He can be that bad?" Kiko's eyes widened.

"Well, you've been on two cases with us, so you should know how he feels Mai is so incompetent," Masako added as John brought over the box of files.

"Why I outta!" Mai stood up, rolling up her sleeve.

"Calm down," John chided, handing out folders to everyone. "Everyone's a little tense since this is our sixth day on this case and tomorrow is October second. We know the history of the hotel on that date so everyone's on edge, Naru included. The best thing we can do try our best to figure out where those people summoned Lilith."

"John's right," Kiko added. "And since we don't know who or when or if someone will be forced to commit suicide, we need to end this case immediately, hopefully before the clock strikes midnight."

"Why then?" Mai asked.

"Think about it, those maids know we're onto them now, before they would wait until nearly midnight to attack but now, they could try to attack at any moment," Masako answered, then glancing at the clock on the table full of monitors. "It's already past ten thirty, we don't have much time."

"Just look at what they did to Akahana, she wasn't due for what? Another month?" added Yasuhara.

Mai looked down at her folder, a feeling of helplessness and anger and frustration grew in the pit of her stomach. It had been over an hour and a half since the young woman was wheeled away on a gurney to an ambulance and to a hospital and they had yet to hear anything from the priestess who followed behind them. Needless to say, the brunette was getting worried.

How long can the childbirth process take? She wondered silently to herself, trying to recall the health classes she had taken the year before on this sort of topic. Can't some women be in labor for hours until the doctor just decides to do a C-section? The topic was still far out of reach in her mind and she continued to worry. She hoped that neither Akahana nor the baby received any damage during that fall.

If only Ayako would call them with some sort of news, even if it were just a two-minute conversation to say that Akahana was still in labor.

"So, they're about to give her the epidural? How long until you think she'll give birth?" Monk asked into his cellular device. "There weren't any complications, right? They think they both will be all right?"

After a few "uh-huhs" and a promise to call when there was any more news, Monk hung up his phone. "Well?" Naru asked, as the monk dropped the phone into his pocket.

"Nothing seems to be wrong, but they only just gave her the epidural, we won't have any real news for most likely another few hours," Monk explained.

Naru exhaled and walked into the hotel room where Yoshiko was resting. "Nothing that we can control, the only thing we can do here is our job and I intend to do it."

"Yoshiko-san?"

October Day 6, 11:15 P.M.

Forty-five minutes until October 2nd.

After beginning her third folder, Kiko began to think this was hopeless. She slammed the folder shut and stood up with a little difficulty. "What's wrong, Kiko?" Yasuhara asked her, glancing up from his file.

"I need a quick break, use the restroom and splash my face with some water or something," she explained, stretching her arms. "I'll be right back."

"Is that a good idea? Going alone?" the boy hesitated, standing up. "I'll go with you; you're ankle probably still hurts from earlier."

"No, it's fine, it barely hurts, now." She still favored her other leg.

"You're favoring your other leg," the boy countered.

"You're acting like Naru does about Mai, would you feel better if she comes with me?" she offered, grasping Mai's arm and pulling her up.

Mai felt as though she were watching a past argument she had had with Naru, only it was Kiko and Yasuhara. "But-"

"Look, I understand you don't want either of us alone, not with what's happening, but I'd rather not have a guy hovering around outside the bathroom door while I pee." The college boy sat back down.

"Have fun." He went back to his folder.

"C'mon, Mai." Kiko pulled Mai out the door, heading for their room to use their bathroom.

That was weird… Mai wondered to herself. I've never seen Yasuhara-san act like that before; then again I don't really blame him, not with what just happened. Wait-why did we pass our room?

Sure enough Kiko was leading her past their room and around the other rooms until they came to the back stairwell. Quickly but somewhat unsteadily, Kiko lead her down the stairs. Was she possessed or something?

"Kiko?" Mai whispered, trying to tug her arm back or stop her, whichever would work.

Neither did, and now she was being lead to the back door towards the garden. "Kiko! Please don't tell me you're possessed!" Mai pleaded the girl as they finally stopped at the garden, both panting a little.

"I'm not possessed," Kiko stated, taking a step further into the garden.

"I thought you had to go to the bathroom?" Mai's head tilted to one side as she followed their guest investigator.

"Sorry, I just needed to get some fresh air and that was the only excuse I could come up with to get out of doing that work," she explained.

"So, we're just going to leave everyone else to do it?" Something didn't sound right; Kiko didn't seem like someone who would sneak out to get out of doing some work. Hell, she even offered to help John with his!

"Yes-no-wait! Just hear me out," Kiko sighed, putting her hand to her temple as though her head hurt. "Going through everything we researched isn't going to tell us where the ritual took place. We'd have better luck if we found a historian tomorrow morning to speak with us. And looking at words was beginning to give a headache."

Mai sighed and crossed her arms, knowing exactly what she was talking about, but what other choice did they have? Naru ordered them to go through the files one more time, what more could they find that they already didn't know? "I see what you, but we have to-" she paused, gears turning in her head, pieces connecting, notches clicking. It was there.

"We have to what?" The brunette's companion raised a brow, becoming a little concerned. "What's wrong, Mai?"

"I-it's here," she stuttered her eyes moving rapidly over the area before her.

The garden was an odd shape, a circle of hedges surrounded it, there were several openings around it where stones were placed to mark entrances. The flowers were starting to whither, but she could tell that they grew in an odd pattern. A gazebo was placed in the middle, its entrance pointing toward the building of the hotel. The same spot where the hedging stopped and no rock was placed because the wall of the hotel was block the entrance. Looking up Mai counted the floors until she came to the one that had the most meaning.

"Room 534..."

"Yoshiko-san?" Monk called as said woman curled herself tighter into her sheets. "Yoshiko, my friend ere would like to talk to you about what happened."

"N-no…g-go away!" she retorted, you could see her shivering under the covers.

"Please, Yoshiko, he can help, that's why we're here," Monk tried to coax the woman. "We're here to get rid of the thing that hurt you."

"But you can't!" Despair cried from her voice. "There's no way anyone can stop it! It's too powerful!"

"Yoshiro-san, what is the last date you remember?" Naru jumped right in, his patience having been spent.

She refused to answer.

"The less you tell me, the more unlikely we'll be able to stop this thing from attacking you again," he shot coldly, unnerving the poor woman.

"S-September 23!" She huddled deeper into the blanket.

"What did you see during the last few days?" Naru asked her as Lin continued to type.

She still didn't want to answer.

"You're even more difficult than my assistant," Naru muttered.

"Yet her difficultness has saved her life and helped us on several cases," Lin remarked, leaving the monk baffled.

"Somehow I feel like a third wheel," the monk mumbled to himself.

October Day 6, 11:45 P.M.

Fifteen minutes until October second.

"Thanks for the update, Ayako," Yasuhara said, hanging up his phone.

"How's Akahana-san?" Masako asked.

"So far, no complications, they gave her the epidural a little while ago, but there's still time before the baby's born and anything could happen," Yasuhara explained.

"What time is it?" John asked.

"Quarter of midnight, why?" Yasuhara replied after glancing at his phone.

"Kiko and Mai haven't returned."

"Figures they would leave us to do their work!" Masako sniffed behind her kimono sleeve.

"I'll go look for them," the priest offered.

"Should you really go alone?" Masako interrupted.

"I'd be better off than if one of you goes alone or stay here alone," John smiled. "I'll be right back."

"If you say so," Yasuhara replied.

"This is a horror movie waiting to happen…" Masako commented under her breath.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I said, Mai is probably goofing off again."

"It makes sense," Kiko commented examining the garden. "The spots where the stones are where the people performing the ritual were standing and the way the flowers grow is similar to the pentagram. No wonder…"

"No wonder, what?" Mai asked her.

"When Akahana gave me the tour of the garden yesterday, she mentioned the designers and the gardeners were having a tough time planting and designing because certain areas in the ground wouldn't grow anything no matter what they did so they had to keep the same design from when it was first made," she explained.

"So in the bare spots they just placed the rocks as like a pathway?" Mai found herself taking a step on the stone at one of the multiple entrances.

"Yup and there was a big bare spot were the gazebo is, Akahana-san told me that she had originally wanted a Momo tree in its spot, but the area wouldn't grow grass or even weeds, so she settled for another style for the gazebo." Kiko found herself wandering inside the garden as well.

"If this is the area where the ritual took place then…" The brunette took a step into the entrance of the gazebo and turned to face the hotel. Her mind flashed black to her vision. She could see Manabu in front of her in his hooded cloak and still feel the ghost of the pain those girls must have experienced. With a blink she as back in the gazebo looking at the window five stories up. "So, that's why only men were killed in that room. It's on top of where Manabu stood."

"But why the fifth floor? Why not any of the other floors?" Kiko inquired, studying the hotel from the gazebo. "It's not like only women were reserving rooms on the other floors."

"I don't know…" She leaned against the wall of the gazebo letting out a deep exhale. The October chill was starting to come in now and she wished she had brought her jacket along with her. The nippy air around her was having a bit of a hibernation affect on her; sleepiness began to drowse her body and mind. The exhaustion from the day's events weren't helping her stay awake either, but she knew she couldn't fall asleep. She was not in the right place, nor was it the right time. They had only precious minutes until possibly one of the guys was going to die.

That fact caused a dull throb in her head, a small feeling of helplessness gathered in her stomach. October second was nearly there, meaning someone was going to have to die, right? That's what always seems to happen on this date there. Mai sighed again trying to rid her tired mind of such horrible thoughts.

"What time is it?" she asked with a quick shake of her head.

"Not a clue, but surely it's nearly midnight," Kiko replied.

"Naru's not going to be happy."

"Why?"

"If we need to perform the exorcism out here in the garden the maids have free reign all over the place. They can use anything out here…we're in trouble," she explained, looking around seeing a shed probably full of gardening tools. This could very well be the most violent exorcism yet.

"Right, if it were inside, we could trap them in a room."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Shivers went up both the girls' spines.

"So do I, Mai." The chill in the air deepened. "So do I."

so yes i have made you wait long enough now there will be two more chapters and luckily the next one will be up within the week (i SWEAR this time! really!) but the last two months have been very hectic i've been a nanny to about 5 children (sometimes at the same time) and my dad's been bugging me to get a real job which i have just gotten :) very happy but i won't start for a couple of weeks and this week i've had a lot of time to finally work on this chap and so many things just kept coming to me and so now it meeds to be split up lol

thank you everyone who reviewed, faved, and put my story in their alerts i love you all and hope that this long awaited chapter is enough for now :) this case will NOT be the end of my fic so don't fret i have plenty of other ideas in store which will hopefully be better than this fic if anyone has any ideas feel free to pm me or put them in a review i can't guarantee that i'll use them but i can use some inspiration every now and again if i do use any of your ideas i WILL MOST CERTAINLY GIVE YOU CREDIT! :D Also check out my poll!

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! jaa nee! ^.^