pretty quick huh? lol well here's is the second to last part one more chap and this case is officially over and thank god seeing as i've been working on it for almost a year lol there will be a new case but probably not for a while unfortunately school will be starting soon i start a new job this week and i'm possibly going to be leading a new youth group exciting right? lol anyway this is dedicated to my Shinigami Buttercup Meister! ENJOY! :)

Chapter 11- Hell

"Find anything, Yasuhara-san?" Masako called after closing the nth folder.

"Nope, I don't think s-wait." He noticed a folder on the floor near the door. "Where did this one come from?"

"Maybe John and Kiko brought it with them when they came?" she offered.

"Let's see," he opened the folder and his eyes grew wide. "I don't think so, neither of them mentioned this information when they arrived and we didn't find this at the library."

"Then-" the medium paused and they looked at each other.

"Where did it come from?" they said in unison.

"Naru, it's nearly midnight," Lin said, after over an hour of questioning and virtually no progress. "We have no more time."

Naru cursed under his breath, before kneeling by Yoshiko's bedside. "Yoshiko-san, you remember how a man committed suicide last year?" The woman nodded under the covers. "That will happen again in that very same room unless you tell me what you saw the last few days."

She still refused to answer.

"Someone will die, possibly more than one person. Ishikawa-san was already rushed to the hospital a few hours ago. Did you want her to be the one to die tonight?" Naru sort of fibbed, He knew only men had committed suicide and if anyone were to be in danger it would most likely be either John or Monk, but he needed answers.

"No! Not Akahana-san!" the woman wailed.

"Yoshiko-san, please, what did you see? Anything at all, the tiniest detail can help us, but we need you," Monk coaxed her.

It was silent for a minute, Lin's typing had ceased, it seemed breathing did as well. "I…I was trapped…"

"Go on," Monk helped.

"Fire, it felt like I was burning…and-and there were bars but I could jump out of them if I wanted, but I couldn't…and flowers…and a weird star thing….and the hotel…and flowers…" The woman was so tightly wound inside the blankets it was a wonder that she could breathe.

"Thank you," Naru said, standing up. "Monk put a barrier around the room to keep Yoshiko safe."

"You figured it out?" the monk raised a brow.

"She said flowers," he replied.

In unison the men the room figured it out, "The garden."

October Day 6, 11:49 P.M.

Eleven minutes until October second.

"What does it say?" the medium asked gliding over to the college boy, peering over his shoulder.

"It's just an article that was published recently about the history of the hotel. The church that had been planned to be built was built, but before the plans for the hotel came into action, a mysterious fire burned the church to the ground," he explained.

"Well, both Mai and Kiko said that in their vision they felt they were lit on fire," Masako commented. "But, what is really all that interesting about that fire? Aside from the animosity between religions the church is barely connected to the case."

"You didn't let me finish, this is a recently published article only within the last ten years or so, where the fire originated from is most likely in the same area where-"

"Where the garden is, we know," Naru remarked as he stormed into the room.

"You got her to talk?" Yasuhara asked as Lin and Monk filed in as well.

"Barely," Monk replied, "but we were able to figure out a possible area where the ritual might've taken place."

"The garden?" the medium asked, the monk nodded.

"That's the only thing we could figure out from what she told us," Monk elaborated. "She mentioned flowers and bars that kept her inside but she could jump out and there is a large gazebo outside in the garden so…"

"Where's Mai?" Naru interrupted.

"Kiko said she needed to use the restroom and brought Mai with her a while ago, John went to go look for them, why?" Before anyone could answer or even process his question, Naru raced out. A flashback from their case at the summer camp.

"What was that about?" Monk questioned only to see Lin jump for the door as well.

"The camera by the garden is no longer functional and there is no sign of Kiko or Mai anywhere else," he explained briefly as he ran out with three others trailing behind him.

"Mai, I think our curiosity has gotten the better of us once again," Kiko said.

"What do you mean? And what do you mean again?" Mai raised a brow.

"We're in a haunted hotel where a ritual to summon a very powerful dark entity had taken place many years ago, right on top of where the garden now stands and here we are in the middle of it." She leaned against the side of the gazebo.

"Something's wrong," Mai shook her head and crossed her arms.

"That we would do something as stupid as walk right into a danger zone? Nah, we've done that before, remember the cliff behind my house? You know how that en-"

"No. Nothing's happening. Listen." Both girls quieted themselves.

It was silent. Not the ominous silence that they usually hear right before something happens. A calm silence with nothing building in the atmosphere. It was nice.

But not what they had intended on.

"Something should be happening, in theory this should be a hot spot for activity," Kiko concluded.

"Exactly, if this is where the activity is originating from, then shouldn't we be ducking for cover, or yelling help, or-"

"Running away? Yeah, that's usually what happens…" Kiko's voice trailed off, as she leaned against the railing for a little seat. "I'm surprised Naru hasn't come after us ye-"

"Naru!" the brunette exclaimed and raced toward the hotel. "We need to tell Naru where the-ah!" Before she could even get out of the gazebo some sort of electric force field bounced her back with sparks flying.

"Mai!" Kiko knelt next to the girl as her body spasmed a few more times from the aftershocks. "Mai, are you okay?"

"Mai! Kiko!" a familiar narcissist's voice called through the air. Kiko could see their friends rushing outside to find them.

"Don't come any closer!" she warned, taking out her earring. "There's some electric barrier around the gazebo!" She threw her earring and caused sparks and shocks to fly about. "Mai already ran into trouble with them!"

"Are you guys okay!" Yasuhara yelled.

"I'm fine, but Mai's-" Said girl began to sit back up.

"I'm fine! Shocked would be an understatement though!" she shouted back, struggling to get up.

"Mai, quit it! You were just electrocuted! Your arms!" Kiko scolded noticing the scorched bandages and blood. "We need to get you help!"

"We have other things to worry about," Mai chided, ignoring the numbness in her arms. "I think one of the maids is returning."

Sure enough right outside the gazebo, a black mist began to mold itself into the shape of a woman. "You lot have been even more of a thorn in my side than that pregnant girl, trying to be all noble, 'I can't leave! This is my business too!' What a shitload!" the woman cackled, becoming more and more visible. "You'd think she'd have learned her place by now! Oh well! By the end of the night she'll be dead and so will a few more! I'll teach you to meddle with us!"

The figure raised her arm and strands of electricity rose from the ground around the gazebo, visibly trapping the girls. "Try to break out of that and you'll get more than some more burns on your arms, Mai-chan!" The mist warned as she cackled.

This isn't good…the thought rang through everyone's minds. Then a whistle sounded.

Two Shiki burst into the area hell-bent on taking down the electric barrier. The mist only laughed. "Ha! That won't be enough to get rid of it! You stupid ass!"

"Takigawa!" Lin ordered.

"Saraba motteri biyari saraba ta taraku!" Monk chanted as Lin whistled again calling all of his Shiki to attack the figure.

"You little pests! Ah!" misty figure exclaimed as the Shiki hit her. Screams arose from the black mist as bolts of lightning shot through the sky. "This isn't the end you little cockshits!"

She disappeared and the electric currant surrounding the gazebo died down. Just to be safe, Kiko threw her other earring and it just went out the doorway. "Looks safe," she commented, as Mai stood back up.

"I just feel bad about your earring," the brunette said.

"I have another pair just like them at home, I'm more worried about you. First hot water burns, now electrical burns, there's gotta be major damage now."

"Are you guys all right?" the question came from three of the four men rushing over.

"Baka…" Naru mumbled under his breath after taking Mai's hands to inspect the damage. "You should have been more careful."

"Like that would've done anything…" she grumbled coldly back at him. She looked around at her friends. Something was off.

Then it hit her.

"Naru, that light shouldn't be on," she said, looking up at room 534. "Monk and I were just in there to change the battery in the camera."

It was much too late at night for any of the living maids to be making their rounds. "Lin, what time is it?"

"11:59…midnight…" he replied and Mai saw it. A shadow dance across the curtains of the upstairs window.

October, Day 7, 12:00 A.M.

October second.

They were out of time. Someone was already in there and could be dead at any moment. Where was John?

Mai ripped her arms from the light grip of her boss and ran into the building, hearing her friends call after her. It had to be John, right? Who else could it be? Many of the guests had left the hotel after the last few days; virtually no one was there.

Thoughts raced through her head as she charged up the stairs. Please, no! Don't let it be too late! Her mind screamed as she began to run out of breath. It wasn't going to stop her. She wouldn't even look at her arms to see everything that she had been through in that week. Seeing it would make the pain real, right now the adrenaline in her numbed it.

There it is!

Room 534. The door was opened. An out-of-breath-Mai stormed into the room. "John!" she shouted. No one was there.

"No…" she whispered, knowing that she definitely saw something in the window just a minute ago. The door shut slowly behind her. A shiver ran down her spine as the room began to grow colder.

She tried to move her legs, to turn around, to do something, anything. They wouldn't budge. "N-nani?" she gasped, hearing laughter in the room. "Who's there!"

It was a stupid question and Mai knew it, however her question was answered in more ways than one. John stepped out from the bathroom, his eyes glazed over. "John!" Mai called to him, no response. "What's wron-"

Her arm moved of its own accord, making her turn her body toward the dresser, her legs followed afterward. "How fitting…" the creepy voice that spoke to Otsune as a young girl chuckled.

Mai struggled with the invisible grip on her; she couldn't so much as shake her head, let alone move her body of her own accord. Horrible thoughts swam through her brain as she imagined what would come next. It was October second now and there were two people in that room…

"No…" Mai try as she might, couldn't rein back control of her body. With shaky and forced hands she opened up a drawer and pulled out a knife. "No! Why!"

"It seems fitting that you pay for meddling! How does it feel to know that you will be killing your own friend!" the voice's high and low pitches hurting her ears as she was forced to take a step toward the young priest.

"I won't!"

"You don't have a choice!"

Bam! Bam!

"Mai!" called the familiar voice of her employer. "Mai! Open this door!"

"Get in here! Hurry!" was all she could scream as she made one step at a time toward John in his trance-like state. "Stop it! Stop it!"

"Someone's gotta die tonight, why not add a little twist?" Mai's hand holding the blade rose in the air as she took another step. Tears began to well in her eyes.

"Please! Don't make me do this!" One more step. One quick swing. One hypnotized priest. In only a matter of seconds one friend would be dead and the other would have blood on their hands. "No!"

Cackling sounded as bangs rapped on the door, threatening to break it down. "Monk! Do something!" the order shouted from an uncommonly worried Naru, as Mai could practically see her brother-like friend forming the seal of the immovable one.

"Nau maku san manda bazara dan kan!" Within moments the door burst open, just as the tears began to leave the poor brunette's eyes as her arm moved down in one swift motion.

"No! Stop!" she cried, the dazed look on the Australian priest's eyes fading away. It was too late! Mai couldn't stop herself and now John was going to die.

She felt an arm quickly wrap around her waist and another hand grab her arm, stopping the knife. A calm yet stern voice said softly in her ear. "Put the knife down, Mai."

A few tears immediately became a river as she still struggled in her boss's grasp. "I can't!" she sobbed, trying to break free. "They won't let me!"

"Lin," Naru ordered as the priest shook his head.

"How did I end up here?" the boy asked as the Chinese man took the knife from the girl's hand.

Ma couldn't believe it. She had come so close to killing one of her friends. One of her family! The innocent priest, the one who never said one bad thing about anyone. And she nearly killed him. If Lin hadn't grabbed the knife from her…

"I-I'm sorry, John!" she sobbed as she finally gained control of her body. Naru let her go and she immediately hugged the priest. "Please forgive me!"

"I-uh-" The priest was baffled just what all happened? He couldn't remember anything, that last thing he could think of was going through the history of the hotel again. "It's okay, Mai." He gave a questioning look to the man in black before him.

"You don't remember anything that happened just now?" Naru asked him. John shook his head while Mai still sobbed her apologies.

"Little meddling shitbrains!" exclaimed the creepy voice. "You just couldn't let the curse be complete! May as well just kill all of you!"

"Yasuhara-san, do you still have the extra bottle of Holy Water I gave you?" John asked, calmly and gently prying Mai off of him.

How is he so calm? She wondered. I nearly killed him! And he just said it was okay? If Naru hadn't-

It was then that a very inappropriate blush grew in her cheeks. Now was not the time to blush about things like that. What's wrong with me?

"And your Bible," Yasuhara answered, handing the priest his things.

"Well, John…" Naru asked him, allowing someone else to take the reins. "What do you need?"

"We need to block off this room and the rest of the hotel, the only way to exorcise these spirits properly is to do it over the spot where they died," he explained, opening the book in his hands. "Monk, I'll need you to help me draw them outside, Lin-san, once we've led them outside would your Shiki be able to seal the hotel?"

"I'll do what I can," Lin replied.

"Of course," Monk added and John began to read.

"In the beginning was the word, and the word was…" he began, reciting the prayer he always said.

"Nau maku san manda bazara dan kan…" Monk chanted.

"Rin pyou tou shah kai jin retsu zen gyou!" Lin added as Mai also chanted her mantra.

"Masako, what do you sense?" Naru asked as he and the others took a step back.

"Why not ask us yourself you little smartass!" the eerie voice screeched as knocking and rapping sounds echoed on the walls.

"They're angry, they don't want to leave…" Masako explained and Kiko nodded.

"Well, if I had the ability to cause this much terror and have been able to do it for the last ninety years, I'm not too sure I'd leave either," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Ugh! Leave us alone!" the voice screeched. "You little pests have done enough damage!"

"Oh the irony," Kiko commented.

"More like hilarity," Yasuhara replied.

"You don't belong here! This is not your home! It never was your home!" John shouted in a stern tone. "This building is now a place guard by the Lord and you will no longer terrorize those who enter! You run this place no longer!"

With one large shriek and several bangs and raps on the walls, the light flickered and turned offed completely. After several moments they came on and the air was still. "Hara-san." Naru impatient voice broke the silence.

"The garden," she replied, pointing out to the window.

"Let's go!" Naru ordered racing out the door with everyone.

Lin sealed the hotel once they ran out. Moaning groaned in the air as eerie shivers flew down the investigators' spines. "You meddling cockfucks!" a scream rose in the air as screeching emanated from the forest-like area behind the garden.

"Reminds me of that dinosaur snoring at that zombie house," Yasuhara commented.

"It's no dinosaur," Monk chided, as demons began to appear.

Demons of all shapes and sizes emerged from the shadows. Tall. Short. Small. Large. Seductive. Hideous. Red. Blue. Black. Then she saw it. Another Naru. An evil grin on his face.

"That's him!" Mai gasped as the demon headed towards her.

"Monk! John!" Naru ordered pushing Mai behind him.

"Nau maku san manda bazara dan kan!" Monk chanted with no real affect.

"Rin pyou tou shah kai jin retsu zai zen!" Mai cried out as she watched the duplicate Naru's face melt just like in her vision.

"Do you steal believe?" it's voice screeched like nails on a chalkboard. "I warned you nothing good would happen!"

D-do those maids control all those demons! Mai's mind panicked as she looked left and right to see they were surrounded. They're trying to lead us into the garden…it might be a trap, but it might be our only chance!

"Monk! John! Perform the exorcism inside of the garden!" Mai exclaimed.

"Don't! It's most likely a trap!" Naru countered immediately.

"It's also our best bet to perform the exorcism successfully!" Talk about roll reversal, normally Mai was scolding Naru for wanting the team to do something dangerous, no the other way around. Damn! He was rubbing off on her!

"It's too dangerous! Just accept it, Mai!" Masako scolded coldly.

"But she's right!" John opposed. "It's where everything began from, it's where we need to end it."

Defeated, Naru shook his head and closed his eyes. "Do what you will," he said. "I can't stop you."

That's a lie, Mai knew. He just can't admit that I was right for once.

"Look out!" Lin called as one of the demons lunged at Mai and Naru. Naru move Mai even more so behind him with said girl yelling at him to get out of the way.

"Rin pyou tou shah kai jin retsu zai zen!" a girl's voice exclaimed as the demon shrieked and disintegrated.

"Thanks, Kiko!" Mai said, gratefully, as the blonde priest turned to the monk.

"We need to end this now," he declared and the monk nodded.

"I know," Monk replied as they headed for the garden chanting their prayers and mantras.

"The maids summoned all these demons?" Yasuhara gasped as the group began to huddle together in a group as the demons began to surround them.

"It would appear so," the medium shook as she held her hands together and began to chant her protection spell.

"No, they can't all be demons, could they? Even weak ones have some power!" Mai protested seeing the ashes of the demon that had lunged at her.

"She's right," Naru agreed.

Lin nodded. "The nine cuts chanted by a novice would not have been able to destroy even a low grade demon."

"So what are they?" Mai wondered aloud.

No one knew how to answer that? Were they Shiki? Demons? Illusions?

It didn't matter now, what was important was ending this. "There's something else here, aside from these demons and the maids," Masako said, jolting herself from her chants. "It's over by the hotel at the edge of the garden."

"No way…" Mai and Kiko whispered.

Meanwhile John had finished his prayer and Monk was still chanting. "This is not your home!" the priest shouted, he was determined to get rid of the beings. Nothing would stop him from bringing peace to the hotel. "You don't belong here! Your lives were taken from you many years ago, but haunting this place over a grudge will not bring you happiness or closure!"

"John is trying to convince them to move on?" Mai wondered allowed.

"No, not exactly," Kiko commented.

"In many Catholic house blessings, if there is a presence of a demonic entity the priest will have the members of the family join hands and demand the spirit to leave their house," Naru explained. "There are many reports of the success of that strategy."

"And because Ryouta and Akahana are at the hospital, John's going to do that himself?" Yasuhara concluded.

"It appears so," Masako confirmed as Naru nodded slightly.

"The one who has done you wrong is no longer of this world! Go to the light and give up your hate and rage and the Lord will have mercy on your soul!" John continued.

"You're wrong!" said the three misty figures growing in the center of the garden. "Our hate will never burn out! He must pay!" The forest around the hotel was suddenly ablaze with fire.

"Manabu is dead! He died years ago! There is no longer a church on this ground! You have no reason to stay!" Mai shrieked as she rushed to the garden.

"Mai! Get back here!" Naru ordered, but since when has Mai ever obeyed in such a dire situation?

"You little slut, what the fuck would you know?" the mists hollered at the brunette as she got closer.

"I know your pain! I felt it!" she shouted, breaking Monk from his chanting in order to hold the girl back from getting closer to the misty figures. "You were mercilessly killed and betrayed by a man you trusted! But he's gone now! You must move on!"

The mists simply laughed and materialized into the maids but in the black cloaks Mai and Kiko saw in their vision. "You foolish human, Manabu never left the ritual!"

"W-what?" Mai's eyes were wide.

"The moment we died we placed a curse on him," one maid began, an evil grin on her face.

"Our spirits became servants of Lilith and we were granted the ability to gain our revenge right on the spot! We attacked him," the second maid laughed.

"But we only managed to seal him into the ground," the third continued. "Now we gain our revenge on the anniversary of our deaths by killing men."

"There's only one way to truly move on," the second added. "We need him…" She pointed to John then at the hotel, here Manabu had once stood.

"Manabu, come out, your fate is decided," John said solemnly. "You betrayed three women whom had put their trust in you, you managed to seal your spirit into the ground where you stood as you were killed. Now you must face the consequences, there's no where to hide."

"Come on out, Manabu-kun!" the maids shouted in unison. "Time to play!"

Mai's arm lifted up and she began to do to the Nine Cuts. "R-rin, pyou t–tou sh-shah kai jin restu zai zen…" she stuttered, as her arm moved in the order of each cut.

What was that? She wondered. I didn't move my arm. I didn't mean to say that!

"Nau maku san manda bazara dan kan!" Monk exclaimed confused. "What?"

A hooded figured molded up from the ground. "You bastards!" it growled. "I had hid for ninety years!"

It's him! Mai's mind raced. It's Manabu!

"Because of your sins and your reluctance to repent, you've cost many lives," John began, his eyes held a serious disgust that no one knew the gentle young man could harbor. "Judgment days is here."

"Ready, ladies?" one maid giggled.

"At long last," said another.

"We can rest in Hell with our sisters!" the third shrieked as they leaped at the hooded figure.

"No! Get off of me!" Manabu cried as the women dragged him toward the center of the garden.

The center began to open up to the fiery pits of what must have been Hell, growing larger and larger, threatening to swallow the three team members standing there. "Get back!" John ordered as he leapt back away from the pit.

"C'mon, Mai!" Monk grabbed said girl's wrist and tugged.

We're not going to make it! Mai noticed the edge of the portal coming closer and closer, tripping her feet.

"Almost ther-ah!" she shrieked as her feet fell out from under her and she dangling over a world of fire hearing moans and screams and other sounds of agony.

"Mai!" Luckily Monk had kept his grip on her and the portal had stopped growing.

He couldn't pull her up. Something had grabbed onto her, she couldn't help but shriek as she felt the talon fingers around her ankle. "Naru!" she could hear Lin scold beyond her own screams.

"Rin pyou tou shah kai jin retsu zai zen!" Tears of terror were in her eyes as her own Nine Cuts sent the demon back to the fiery depths and a certain knight in black armor showed up next to the monk.

"Grab my hand!" he ordered and she obeyed. Together the men were able to pull Mai out just as the portal started to close.

"You bitches!" Manabu screamed as he was dragged. "You wanted to serve Lilith!"

"You didn't tell us it would take our lives!" they shrieked at him. "You're ours now, forevermore!"

Laughter filled the air as the four spirits were all thrown into the pit and the portal closed. The flames in the forest around them disappeared as though they never existed, and the demons surrounding them disintegrated and white souls floated up from their ashes.

"They were the spirits of the men who passed away for their revenge," Masako concluded as the heaviness in the air lifted.

"And they were controlled by the maids for their own gain," Kiko added as they headed for the crumpled up Mai.

"Are you okay?" Mai heard her boss's voice, but it sounded far away, muffled over her beating heart.

"Y-yeah…" she stuttered, realizing she was still crying.

"Hara-san, there are no more spirits present, correct?" Naru asked, his attention focused on his assistant's arms.

"Correct, they have all been able to move on."

"Get some sleep, we'll pack up in the morning," he ordered. "Lin and I will take Mai to the hospital now, you will meet up with us there in the morning."

"N-Naru, I-I'm fine," Mai protested, he just lifted her arms to show her what happened that night.

"No, you're not."

whoohoo! almost done! yay! :D thank you to everyone who faved and reviewed! I appreciate it! remember to take my poll on my profile if you haven't already and if you are going to leave a review here's my question: Out of all the characters you have seen who would you like to return? Be it from the anime or my story, tell me maybe they will come back but no promises.

also back onto that sort of subject now i will not name names nor will i say it was only one person but a few people have told me to get rid of a character or two because they didn't like them or they felt that the character didn't benefit the story. I would just like to say that I respect your opinions as fans and as readers, however the sad truth is, I'm the writer. It's my story so just as I respect your opinions as readers and critics please respect mine as the author of the fic and that all in all, it's up to me and me alone what happened in the fic. Sorry for the rant, but I felt that it needed to be done. If you don't like what is happening in the fic then don't read. I have done that and I admit to it. But that's not to say I don't enjoy criticism good or bad, you can tell me you don't like something, but don't expect me to change it. I'm the writer. Thank you.

On a happier note I hope you have enjoyed the case and the next chap will be much shorter so it should been up sooner and please review! :)

jaa nee!