Yay! A new chapter! So anyone who follows my other fic The Haunt Continues, you know that my laptop was out of commission for the last few days. I posted the last chapter what? Sunday? And then on Monday my laptop crashed and I was like "NOOOOOOOO! I HAD LIKE FOUR CHAPTERS READY TO GO!" I took it in on Thursday to get it looked at and they fixed it that night and I picked it up Friday morning. And it didn't cost me a thing! Don't know how I got that lucky!

Anyway here's the chapter and a lot of questions are about to be answered. We're heading to the end of this case just two more chapters and everything will wrap up nicely. Then I have a post case chapter which will deal with Mai's mental healing from the breakup and her ghostly encounters. Then we'll be on a new case which will be shorter than the last two. Then the case after that is something I've wanted to do for years. That's right, YEARS! I hope everything is worth the wait and that you all understand why I couldn't have thrown these situations earlier on. It wouldn't have had the same effect. Enjoy!

Chapter 9- Shatter

The ghost here is only part of the problem. You won't find out the rest from newspapers or history books. No one's willing to believe this stuff happens, so why would they be willing to stop it? If you want to help the school, you need to stop the living source.

February Day 4, 6:54 P.M.

"I…what?" Chinatsu shook her head and blinked hard. She couldn't believe what Mai was asking her. But Mai knew better than to believe what the girl's face portrayed. She was more confused as to how the young investigator had found out.

"I found this in the bathroom of my dorm building," Mai said, holding up the envelope. "Something tells me you wrote it, or you know who did."

Chinatsu looked down at her lap, not daring to make eye contact. Mai thought it was just as well.

"I figured it out when I read the note inside," Mai continued, fiddling with the edges of the envelope. "Though, what you said on the night you were attacked did make me reconsider you being the one to write it. But you hoped that would be the case, right?"

The student didn't respond.

Mai shook her head. "You realized there were cameras throughout most of the campus for our use. That was how I was able to stop Professor Fujita. I was in charge of monitoring those cameras throughout most of our time here, but I didn't put the pieces of what I saw together." She sighed and bit her lip. "That is, until I saw this." Mai looked at the girl who had finally brought her eyes to meet the brunette's. "And then it clicked. It made sense that I saw you leave the Headmaster's office. And I know there are a lot of other girls who go there for the same reason you did."

"But the attacks were only the beginning," the disguised voice spoke. "Actually, they were never the beginning. The rumors were the beginning.

"Our headmaster has only been here for a year, but many rumors started after he arrived. He seemed like just a stuck up old man, same as any other superintendent. I wasn't expecting one of my best friends to tell me she saw him force one of the professors into his office."

The figure on screen shifted, but it was still too dark to identify the person. They were fairly certain it was female. "I wasn't expecting the Headmaster to force my friend into his office to keep her quiet about the scene she saw. But then I knew to expect that he would have me sent to his office, because she told me. I should have expected exactly what I had gotten."

Looks were passed between members of SPR as they continued to listen.

"You saw the others too?" Was all Chinatsu could say. She was holding her breath, and Mai somehow knew it. She silently hoped she wasn't as obvious when she forgot to breathe.

Mai nodded. "Like I said, I didn't put the pieces together until a little while ago, but I know you are not the only one he's done this to. So tell me," Mai put her hand on the student's. "Why are you doing it? Why is he doing it? How long has he been doing this to you?"

Chinatsu sighed a shaky breath, unable to fully comprehend what Mai had just told her. Nevertheless, she decided to reply, "It started just before the summer break. I wasn't doing as well in my classes as I should have been. I was sent to his office by my counselor and that's when…"

"When he said he would change your grades if you slept with him." It wasn't a question.

But Chinatsu shook her head. "He first threatened to expel me. I begged him not to, not after what Fujita-san did to help get me in here. That's when he offered the deal. It wasn't a deal…"

"So he made you? Right then in his office?" The student nodded and Mai let out a breath. "He left you alone for the summer and you thought it was over-"

"Only to come back and be requested in his office again." The girl quickly wiped away a tear. "I know he's doing it to professors, I've seen the looks on their faces when they leave his office."

So have I, Mai wanted to say, but it took her too long to realize what she had been looking at. She didn't even think about the possibility that the Headmaster was blackmailing his students and staff, even when Ayako had her suspicions. Just what she was suspicious of, remains a mystery to even the priestess herself. "Did you write this note?"

Chinatsu shook her head. "No, I know who did." She smiled. "She's probably even made a note for your friends."

The video had finished and everyone still stood in the middle of the room, minus Lin of course. No one really wanted to stand, but no one felt like walking over to the chairs scattered throughout the room. "Ayako was right not to trust the headmaster," Yasuhara commented absently.

"Ayako thought he was a rapist?" Monk asked with a raised brow, but the college student shook his head.

"She's been suspicious of him since Naru asked her and John to talk to him and he was in so many long meetings. I think we all know what those meetings were now."

"Kiko? What's wrong? Does your head hurt again?" Masako asked, noticing the knitted browed teenager.

"No, it's not that," she said, scratching her head. "I just feel like we're missing something. Missing something big."

Naru looked at her and then at Yasuhara. "Go back to the library, all of you. Find out what you can about Yamasaki-san. Look into his history prior to becoming Headmaster. Hurry before the library closes."

"Got it!" The four of them ran out, leaving Naru and Lin alone.

"Is this really our business?" Lin asked as Naru made his way over to the window. The snow was starting to really come down. He knew it would get worse as the night went on, but visibility was still good. Lin let out a breath. "We were brought in to get rid of the spirit, but we can't do that without revealing Yamasaki. This case is beyond our power, Noll."

But Naru was silent. He wasn't going to answer. And Lin knew it.

The assistant shook his head. "We need to exorcise the spirit and then leave. If the students won't report what Yamasaki is doing, then there's nothing that can be done."

Naru pretended not to hear him.

Mai rejoined Ayako and John after Chinatsu left with her boyfriend, Kohaku. I wonder if he knows, she wondered.

"Everything is pretty much the same as the last time we checked the temps," Ayako said as the three of them walked down the hall to the last few rooms they needed to check.

"Once we're done, we should probably head back to Base," John suggested. "The students are already heading back to their dorms and the weather is going to get worse soon."

"Agreed, I'd rather be stuck there since we're probably going to have to perform the exorcism where Nakajima killed himself," Ayako agreed.

Mai.

A shiver ran down her spine as she heard the voice. Her friends were unfazed as they continued to walk down the hall. Silencing her breathing, she listened. Her heart pounded and she followed her friends with stiff legs. Mai, you're imagining things. With a shake of her head she kept walking.

Mai.

Her breath caught in her throat, she stopped. You always say that before something happens, when will you learn? She listened carefully, hoping to have some sort of clue given to her. Try not to be as stupid as Naru thinks you are.

You need to stop this…

Mai remembered having internal conversations with spirits on past cases. Most psychologists would probably tell her to not talk to the voices in her head. But these voices were real. What do I need to stop? No. Who? Yamasaki or Nakajima?

Please…

I need more than that! Mai could feel her frustration rising. I want to help. I really do. But you have to tell me what I need to do.

You can't only stop one. You have to stop both.

"So, he's been a professor for the last almost thirty years and has worked for two universities in most of that time," Monk said, jotting notes down as Yasuhara manned the computer. "He became the Headmaster of this college at the beginning of last school year and no known assault charges."

"I'd suggest calling the two schools he worked at to see if there were any complaints," Kiko said, scanning over old newspapers, "but it's Friday night, I doubt we'd get anything valuable."

"Maybe not," Yasuhara said, leaning back from the computer. "Why don't you and Masako try your luck with the computer and Monk and I will call each of the schools?" He scribbled down something and pulled out his phone. "It's probably almost closing time for them, but these schools don't have a weather advisory like us. It's worth a shot."

"We don't have much to lose." Monk shrugged as the college student handed him a piece of paper with a number scrawled on it. "Worst case scenario, we have to wait until tomorrow for there to be someone in the office who might be able to give us information."

"At least we're the only ones under the weather advisory," Masako said. "Otherwise, we'd have to wait until Monday to hear anything."

Knock. Knock.

The three turned their heads to see one of the younger librarians at the door of their makeshift Base. "Forgive my intrusion, but we're hoping to close up in the next thirty minutes," she said with a slight bow.

"Thank you, we'll leave shortly," Yasuhara answered as the girl bowed again and left. "Let's make the calls now and Kiko, see if you have better luck with finding information on him."

"Sounds good."

"The kids must be enjoying the snow, right?" Ayako asked, as the priest followed her down the stairwell. "Or are they stuck inside for the most part?"

"Oh, they love it," John smiled. "The only problem is we seem to be going through a shortage of hot chocolate for them."

"I bet it's their favorite wintertime drink, especially after spending the day out in the cold."

"It is. It's also become a favorite drink amongst the adults." When the priestess gave him a look he elaborated. "Yukiyo found a recipe online for wine hot chocolate."

"And that's the real reason for the hot chocolate shortage, huh? How's the wine supply?" Ayako gave him a wry smirk. John just laughed.

"Intact, I assure you." They had reached the bottom of the stairs and were about to walk out the door. "Mai, you're awfully quiet back there."

The two turned to look behind them and were greeted with an empty staircase. "Mai? Mai, this isn't funny." Ayako ran back up a few steps. She looked up at the space between the railings. No Mai.

"Do you see her?"

Ayako shook her head. "Damn it! She knows not to run off!"

"Perhaps she should have stayed in Base?" John asked as they both ran up to the last floor they were all accounted for.

"No way. It's bad enough that she just had her boyfriend hit her only a few days ago. Now we just had her boss become possessed and try to rape her." Ayako shook her head again, panting as they climbed the stairs. "Leaving her alone with him in Base is not a smart plan."

"She's going to have to be alone with him at the office," John remarked. The priestess sighed.

"She's like the other victims, she knows it wasn't really Naru. Even I don't think Naru is capable of something like that. Of course, I didn't think the same thing about Shouta and look where that got her!" John could have sworn he heard her growl. "Now she's disappeared and Naru's going to murder us!"

"I'm pretty sure if he murdered us he would have to have your spirit exorcised."

Ayako had to stop and do a doubletake at the priest. She pinched the bridge of her nose, not knowing whether to groan at the accuracy of the statement or laugh because the priest had actually made a joke. "John, I don't know how to respond to that," was all she said as she turned back around and continued to look for Mai.

Keep going. You're almost there!

Almost where?

You'll see.

I don't.

You will.

Why can't you tell me what I'm looking for?

It's against the rules.

What rules?

We can talk about that later.

Who are you?

We can discuss that later.

We can discuss it now.

No we can't.

"No complaints from the university in Kyoto that he taught at for twelve years," Monk said, sitting back down in the makeshift Base. "If he was blackmailing or raping any of the female students or staff, no one reported it. Not even a single rumor they could remember that would give that impression. Then he came to run this university."

"The university in Nagoya pretty much said the same thing," Yasuhara said with a shrug. "Taught there for almost thirteen years and then left to teach in Kyoto. Apparently he was a likeable guy and there were no complaints."

"Wait," Masako said, looking up from the computer screen. "We're missing five years. You said he was a professor for thirty years, right?" Monk nodded. "But we only have the last twenty-five years of his work history."

"So where did the first five years go?" Kiko asked, crossing her arms. "We've gotten better at finding erased history, but we're still missing pieces."

"She's not in the lounge, she's not in any of the classrooms that we've passed, and not in the bathrooms," Ayako grumbled as she stomped through the building, John having to jog to keep up with her. "Where the hell did she go!"

"We'll find her, Ayako, she couldn't have gotten far," John replied with a smile. "And we've only checked the third floor. She could be on the second because she thought she heard something."

"That doesn't make me feel better, John," Ayako said, honestly. "She knows not to run off, she knows how dangerous this place is, then why did she do it?" The two of them found the staircase and descended to the second floor. "After what happened this afternoon, why go on her own?"

"Maybe she didn't go by herself," John said thoughtfully. "What if one of the spirits here possessed her?"

Ayako shook her head. "Why would this thing go from possessing men to possessing Mai-" She stopped herself as she looked at the priest. "Unless one of the victims possessed her to get a message across."

"That's the most likely scenario," John nodded. "But what is it so desperate to show her? And why not take us?"

"Both very good questions." Ayako sighed. "I feel like every time we manage to answer one question we get seven more thrown at us."

Please, tell me what we're trying to find.

I can't. We're almost there, though.

You said that a while ago.

She felt almost like she was astral projecting, but she knew she wasn't. Sure, she couldn't see who was guiding her through the halls and buildings of the campus, but she felt like she could trust it. Her instincts haven't failed her yet-

But they had. They seemed to have been failing her a lot lately. I was wrong about Shouta. I was wrong about Naru. I was wrong about so much. I thought my psychic ability was clairvoyance or something. That's supposed to mean that I know things I shouldn't. Wouldn't that mean I know more about the people I'm friends with? What's going on with my abilities?

Everything will make sense in time. For now you need to focus on this.

I forgot you can read my mind. Were you psychic when you were alive?

No. I was a normal girl whose life was cut far too short. And you're the only one who can stop this. Now stop asking questions and follow me. We don't have much time.

"I think I might have found something," Monk said, noticing the young librarian pacing outside of their Base. Their time was almost up. He turned around from the computer he had taken over from Masako. "It wasn't easy to find, but I went looking into what happened in this area back when Nakajima killed himself."

"Don't tell me you actually found an article on it?" Yasuhara said, leaning back in his seat.

"No, but even if I did, it probably wouldn't have been as helpful as this. Come over." The three teenagers came to look over the monk's shoulder. "I went looking into the political history of the town. Honda-san said that the cover up was brilliant and who are the best at covering stuff up? Politicians." He clicked on an article and looked back at the group. "What do you think of the former mayor?"

The teens gave looks to each other as the realization set in. "Monk, you're a genius!" Yasuhara said, crossing his arms. "But we are still missing Yamasaki's work history for the first five years."

"And our time is up," Masako said, noticing the woman outside their Base. "I guess we won't be able to look for any documents here until after the storm-wait. Where are you going?" She watched as Kiko rushed out of the room on a mission. "Don't go alone!"

"I'll follow her," Yasuhara said absently as he left the room.

"Rise and shine, sweetie," a menacing voice growled. It was a voice she was becoming all too used to. But she only heard it when she was asleep. When did she fall asleep? She had been walking the campus. What happened? "Open your eyes, girlie. Let me in and your suffering will be over."

Against better judgment, she opened her eyes. Once again she was sitting on a throne of stone, flames were flying off of the walls of the cave, but she was numb to the heat. She couldn't feel anything. She wasn't even afraid. Just numb. That was all she could feel.

Her eyes finally focused on the being in front of her. He was towering over her even more so than last time. He gave a sinister grin that should have sent chills down her spine, but she was too numb. She was almost grateful.

With a talon, he stroked her cheek, and brought his finger under her chin to force her to look up at him. "You're breaking down."

"I thought I was already broken," she said boldly.

"Oh, you are," he laughed, stroking her hair. "You're falling apart at the seems, such a lovely sight. I almost thought you might be considering suicide, but I know you better than that. I know you better than your own boss."

She remembered that argument. It wasn't even an argument. She just yelled at the man. For good reason, too. He was convinced that she was about to throw herself off of the roof at their last investigation. He was so sure that she was willing to end her own life, without even confronting her about it. He didn't ask her if she was okay or if anything was wrong. Not that she would have told him, but she was taking measures to get better. He just assumed that she was willing to end it all.

"And you're not sure you can ever forgive him for that, right?" The demon licked his lips, very pleased with the inner turmoil she was going through. "And now you're not sure you can ever trust him again. I mean, he allowed himself to become possessed. He tried to rape you, or have you forgotten?"

"It wasn't him," she replied automatically.

His laugh was thunderous, vibrating through the walls of the cave. "Of course it was him! He may not have been in control, but he allowed himself to lose that control. Bastard didn't even try to stop him. He wanted you to suffer."

"Will you shut the fuck up!"

"Do we call Naru?" John asked once he and the priestess made it down to the first floor. "Or do you think he's listening in on the audio?"

"If he is, he already knows where Mai is and made sure she's safe or brought her back to Base and is just messing with us," Ayako said, shrugging her coat onto her shoulders. "Thought, I doubt it. We would have heard from him by now."

"In that case, let's try the Science Building, she doesn't seem to be in this building anymore." John walked outside and held the door for the priestess. The snow was coming down harder and students could be seen heading for the dorms.

"We need to find her soon," Ayako said, throwing her hood over her head.

"I'm with you on that, but we really don't have any idea where she went." He continued to follow the priestess to the next building. "She might have even gone back to Base. Or maybe her room? If we call Naru he can look at the cameras-"

"If we call Naru we will never hear the end of it," Ayako shook her head as she spoke, shaking off flakes of snow. "I don't know if I'm hoping she in the dorm building or in any of the others. Her being alone is pretty much our worst case scenario."

"She has your charms, right?"

"She's supposed to, but that didn't stop her from becoming possessed and running off, did it?" She angrily opened the door to the Science Building. "Besides, they won't protect her from someone else who is possessed, hence what happened earlier."

"I am going insane," Mai breathed as she shook her head. "I just yelled at my inner demon…literally."

But the demon was no less than amused by the girl's outburst. He now sat on the arm of the throne, his breathing was a series of low growls. "You may just be my most beautiful masterpiece, yet. Broken, but refusing to shatter." He moved a lock of hair from her face. "I can practically see the threads barely holding you together. You can feel them, can't you? They're fraying, threatening to snap."

She had no idea what the hell he was going on about, but she would soon see. The wall in front of her became white, like a screen, flames continued to surround it. "Why won't you shut up?" She shook her head, embarrassed at how small her voice had become.

On the screen appeared a picture of her. It was the old her. Back when she first started working for SPR and she was smiling. The picture slowly shifted. It was her a year later still smiling and light hearted. The image continued to morph as she recalled the dark cases she had been a part of over the past year. Her smile was disappearing. Her hair was getting longer. Her clothes were getting bigger. The bags under her eyes grew with dark circles.

Finally she saw her with her black eye, but her body was split up into pieces. Each piece was connected with thread. "Oops, technical difficulty," the demon chuckled, snapping his fingers and the thread holding her left hand to her arm snapped and faded away. "You completely broke your bond with that boy, and along with it went a piece of yourself."

That boy? She wondered, but immediately knew who he was talking about. Shouta.

"Look at your bonds, they're frayed and split and there's nothing you can ever do to mend them."

"What did you find?" Naru said once half of his team arrived back in Base.

"We looked into Yamasaki's work history and even called his previous employers, but everyone was adamant about him being such a great guy and the students loved him," Yasuhara began, taking a seat on the couch.

"We found that he has been a professor for the last thirty years, but as Masako was able to point out, we couldn't find anything on his first few years of employment," Monk continued.

"He was employed at two colleges for the better part of twenty-five years, but nothing could be found about the first five years," Masako explained. She took her seat next to the college student. "We ran out of time in the library before we could really find much else."

"But I did manage to look into the political history of the town," Monk continued, briefly explaining how Honda Takuma said the cover up job was political. "And I managed to print this, guess who was the mayor of this town twenty-five years ago?"

He handed the paper to Naru whose eyes widened by only the slightest fraction. "Yamasaki, Shouhei," Lin said as Naru handed him the picture of the former mayor. "This is-"

"The headmaster's brother, judging by the age of the man in the photo. We couldn't find anything on Yamasaki Nobu's life prior to becoming a professor, including his first few years of employment. So we don't have any confirmation of where he grew up or if this man is even his brother, but they do resemble each other."

"So we can assume Shouhei is Nobu's brother," Naru said assuming his thinking pose. "We can also assume that Nakajima's killing spree was kept under wraps thanks to political motivation. By assuming both, we have a connection and a possible reason for the recent possessions."

"But, Yamasaki Nobu became the headmaster over a year ago," Masako said, pulling her sleeve to her mouth. "Why are the attacks only happening over the last few months? And why would his presence bring Yamasaki-san out of hiding?"

Glances were thrown about the room in the silence. Finally with a sigh Naru replied, "We could assume that the Ouija Board session done by those girls brought him out of hiding, but you have a different theory."

With a grin, Kiko opened the book she borrowed from the library.

"You're literally hanging on by a thread," the being said in her ear. She tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks. It was in vain. "Just accept the fact that you are never going to get better."

She kept her head low, her hair failing into her face. She wasn't even sure she was still breathing. She knew she had to be. Otherwise the demon wouldn't still be talking to her. "Can't you just leave me alone?"

The demon chuckled and seemed to circle her throne to the other side and leaned over the arm. "Because I love you just like I love all of my pets. Pets are meant to be broken." She felt a wave of nausea pass over her as he spoke. "My best masterpieces always shatter with grace. I'm looking forward to your ballet of shards."

Mai tried to ignore his words, but if she did all she would hear would be the moans of agony that erupted from this hell. She had been here too many times to count over the last couple of weeks. But this time the sounds of anguish and torment seemed louder. The stench of the cave, more rancid. Her fear of this place had skyrocketed. Had he succeeded in shattering her?

"No, my dear," he said, stroking a lock of hair behind her ear. His talon continued down her jaw, breaking the skin. "You aren't that easy to shatter. But if you give up now, I won't have the pleasure of destroying you. It's your decision."

"The building is practically empty," Ayako muttered bitterly as she and the priest wandered the halls of the Science Building. "I don't like this."

"I don't like the fact that she ran off either, maybe we should call Naru," John suggested. "He can at least check the cameras and give us an idea where to look. Maybe even give her cell a call-"

"She left that at her apartment and Kiko never brought it when she grabbed her things," Ayako said with a shake of her head. "But maybe we should. It would give us more eyes and bodies if he gets the rest of the team to search."

"Exactly," John nodded with a smile. "Let's call him now and hopefully he'll be more concerned about where Mai went than about yelling at us for losing her."

"Wait." He had been in the middle of pulling out his phone when the priestess's hand stopped him. "Let me call him. I'm the one who said she shouldn't be on Base duty for the rest of today, anyway."

"Okay." He nodded and put his phone back in his pocket and watched as Ayako hesitated with her own phone. It was almost as though she couldn't bring herself to dial. "Ayako, this isn't your fault. None of this is your fault, you know that."

Ayako sighed and gave a sad smile. There was no point in arguing over it. "You know, sometimes what you think and what you know are two separate things." She placed the phone to her ear and waited for the disappointed narcissist to answer.

"When I went looking through these, I didn't know what to look for," Kiko explained, holding up an old yearbook. "I was really just looking for any dedications or incidents that the school might have included in them. And usually they are located in the front or sometimes the back of the book, so I really didn't pay attention to who was on staff at the school." She turned the book around for the group to see. "Any of them look familiar?"

"I think we can assume where Yamasaki-san spent his first few years teaching," Monk said with a nod of his head.

"It also gives him more of a connection to Nakajima," Yasuhara added, placing a hand on his chin. "It's all speculation, but what if the cover up of the murders were more than just political?"

"Aside from a serial killer running rampant in his city, what else would make a mayor work so hard to cover it all up?" Monk said, crossing his arms. "It would look bad if he ran for reelection or tried to move up in politics, but you think there was something else?"

"What if wasn't trying to protect his own image?" Naru asked as his phone rang. He had changed it back to the default tone the phone had come with. He brought the device up to his ear. "Matsuzaki-san?"

"Yamasaki-san could have been an offender back then, his brother might have wanted to keep all speculation away from their family. Even though it was true," Kiko offered, but Masako shook her head.

"That wouldn't explain why the haunting started up recently," she said. "The spirit board was used to contact Nakajima and bridge the gap between his world and ours, but he wouldn't have been disturbed if Yamasaki-san hadn't become headmaster and abused his power."

"So we're all in agreement?" Monk asked, earning looks and nods from the three teenagers.

"Nakajima had a partner, and said partner's brother wanted to make sure no one ever found out," Yasuhara finished as Naru made a rather disgusted sound. Could it have been English?

"What do you mean you lost her?" He was now staring at the monitors, trying to find something. Or someone. "No, I don't see her on the monitors." He paused for a minute. "Keep searching the Science Building, when did you realize you lost her?" Another pause. "Call me if you find her." He hung up and saw several pairs of curious eyes staring at him. "Mai's missing. Yasuhara-san, you know how to review the video?"

"Give me the computer and I can figure it out," he confirmed with a nod.

"Hara-san, you stay in Base and keep your eyes on the live feed. If you see her, call me immediately." He turned to the other two investigators. "I want you two to check the dorms upstairs. See if maybe she wandered back to her room. Then I want you to go through the Academic Building again."

"Got it," Monk said.

"If we assume Yamasaki-san was Nakajima's partner and had a hand in the crimes of twenty-five years ago, then finding Mai is even more imperative." He grabbed his coat and nodded for Lin to follow suit. "He's been known to go MIA in meetings, with Mai missing as well…"

He didn't finish the statement and stomped out of the room.

A look of concern passed over each of the four remaining investigators.

"Give up and surrender yourself to me," he growled seductively in her ear. She felt his tongue lick the blood that oozed from the scratch he gave her. "Accept that I'm the only part of your life that will remain constant. Accept that I will destroy you. Or you will suffer for eternity. It's your choice."

She knew this was just a dream. She'd had similar ones before. But why did she feel so tired? It were as though she had been drained of all the energy in her body and soul. She wasn't sure she could fight what the demon was asking of her.

Maybe I should just stop fighting. Give in to my own inner demon. My mind created him, its not like he can hurt me more than he already has.

"Humor me, child." She didn't have to look up to know his had a sinister grin plastered on his face. "Accept your fate and give yourself to me. All my pets do. Let me see your shattered ballet."

He's not even real. It won't hurt you-

"No! Mai! Don't!"

And her eyes snapped open.

We're almost at the end! Also I took a look back to my posting dates and realized this has been my most active year as far as posting chapters since the first year I posted this fic! I honestly wouldn't have done it without you guys! Thank you all once again for your continued support and your wonderful reviews and comments!

Also, if anyone has any ideas for one shots or moments to be put in The Haunt Continues feel free to let me know! I can't promise that I'll do all of them, but if you spark my creativity I will definitely credit you!

Hope you've enjoyed!