Balm sat in the back room of the palm reading shop she had purchased as a front for the drug business she was setting up. She would pay her fake psychic well to tell doom and gloom fortunes to desperate teens who would buy and take anything promised to help save their futures.
She held up a glass vial full of bluish liquid to the light and looked at the tiny particles suspended in the fluid. The particles were the actual drugs. It was fentanyl. The blue liquid was what it was laced with —magic. The fentanyl would mask their feeling of being controlled by Beryl.
It was a perfect crime. She would dose a town full of hormonal teenagers with the drive to succeed academically at all costs with a drug promised to help them achieve their dreams. What it would really accomplish is to push them to obey her, and she would have them searching for Endymion. The only hitch in the plan was searching for and finding a man that you didn't know what he looked like.
She shook her head and went back to preparing for tomorrow. That would be a problem for another day.
Petasos frowned at the mask she was holding. It was empty of the corrupting spirit it had born. She thought about how at least that part had gone to plan.
She had found the vessel just as Beryl had instructed her that she would. The redheaded woman was in the ally way and, oddly, to Petasos, interested in what was genuinely a South African tribal mask. Something she didn't think anyone so young would be drawn to examine.
As the woman studied the mask, Petasos mumbled the incantation to release the spirit trapped inside the mask. Without hesitation, it possessed her immediately. Just as Beryl had told her, it would.
Petasos had followed the instructions perfectly. Once that was done, she let the woman leave. It would take a few hours for the spirit to take hold fully, and then the woman's will would be destroyed, and she would be forced to do as the spirit commanded.
And that will would be absolute chaos.
That was the plan, at least. The problem was that nothing happened. No matter what kind of reports of attacks that Petasos looked into, none of them were the work of the evil spirit.
She was terrified of what Beryl would do to her. She realized she was failing.
"I'm trusting you with a lot! I just want the truth," Yuki said, standing in front of half a dozen people, most of whom he didn't know. "It's my daughter's life I'm worried about. I won't risk her."
Motoki held up his hands in surrender. "Which is why I'm here. I'm completely human, and I trust them."
"You don't have a daughter. You can't possibly understand all the work I put into protecting her. I joined that stupid group, The Order, solely to keep her safe. My whole life has been about my family."
Usagi cocked her head and smiled at Satoru. "Truth?"
"Absolutely. He's stopped lying now that he knows he can't get away with it. He's being honest now. He doesn't trust us. Not because of what you are, but because he won't trust anyone with his daughter's welfare except for his wife. Right?" He asked Yuki.
"Yes." Truth.
Rei sighed in mild frustration. "I can't help her if you don't tell us where she is."
"The truth first!" Yuki demanded.
Usagi laced her fingers with Mamoru. "Her name is Beryl, and she's worse than Diamond. She's the one that killed Mamoru in our past life and the reason Rei was killed then too. More were also killed. I don't know why she needs a vessel now or what spirit she's using your daughter as a vessel for, but the intent is destruction. We want to save Reika. It ensures our lives too."
"Or you could kill her along with the spirit to save yourselves," Yuki said.
"Truth," Satoru chimed in.
Yuki looked at him in shock, "That's what you're doing? You admit it?"
"No," Satoru replied. "I was merely letting them know you were telling the truth."
Rei rolled her eyes. "You have two options. One, that thing possesses your daughter and eventually destroys her, or two, you let me help you!"
"I have to protect her. I would do anything for her."
"Then do this!" she screamed back. "Do anything —including trusting me! I. Can. Save. Her!"
Jadeite let out a chuckle. "She's amazing and the only one who can do anything. If she fails, who cares? She's your only hope anyway. You aren't missing out on a better offer. She's all you have."
Reika stepped out into the clearing in the woods, guided by her mother. She was grateful for the assistance. She had nothing left in her beyond what she had to fight off the spirit. Her sweet mother had taken care of all of her needs leaving her to fight, and still, she was barely able to keep her own mind.
She felt the darkness shift inside her mind, and sweat beaded up on her forehead as she worked not to let it overwhelm her. "Please help me," was all she was able to whisper before the malicious spirit inside of her tried to surge forward. As her mother struggled to hold her back, Reika snarled and spat at the group of newcomers.
Everyone was amazed at her strength of will as they watched the girl look as if she were shaking herself. She yelled, "No! I am in charge!" and sagged into her mother's arms. The spirit, defeated or at least suppressed for the moment.
Yuki crossed the clearing quickly as he pulled his daughter into his arms and kissed her damp brow. Then he looked at his loving wife. "You've been amazing."
She gave him an exhausted smile. "I hope it's enough."
He caressed her cheek. "You are always enough. I brought help —I hope." He said as he looked at the group nervously over his shoulder.
Usagi walked over and laid a kind hand on his wife's arm. "You have been so brave." She then looked over at Rei. "Now."
"Now, but-" Yuki started to protest.
Rei cut him off, saying, "I've got this."
She then walked over, joining Usagi. As she did, the spirit rattled to life again. It fought and kicked within Reika's body. Using her to try and attack Rei as she walked toward her.
"You will stay away, or I will kill this girl!" The spirit screamed.
Rei just laughed, "Destroy the host, and you destroy yourself. You're bluffing."
As she was saying that, Yuki grabbed her and tried to pull her away. "No! What if you're wrong?"
Jadeite snarled and morphed into his werewolf form. He then lept on Yuki, knocked him down, and growled in his face. Yuki trembled with fear as he stared up at the huge werewolf.
It was Usagi who stepped in after one quick desperate glance from Rei. In that one moment, she knew exactly what her friend needed her to do. Stop Jadeite from going too far in his protectiveness. Usagi understood that Rei couldn't. She couldn't ask him to stop because she wouldn't make herself tell Jadeite to stop protecting her at all costs. She loved him and respected his werewolf side too much to make him fight his very nature at her request. Coming from Usagi would feel different for him.
Usagi walked forward and shook her head at the whole scene, working to dispel the tension. "Don't be foolish enough to attack a werewolf's mate," she chastised.
"I didn't attack her," he said, he thought placatingly. "I just wanted to stop her."
Jadeite bared more of his teeth in response.
"No," Usagi admonished. "You grabbed her arm. Don't. Touch. Her. She isn't yours to jerk around."
Werewolf Jadeite nodded sharply once in agreement.
Yuki noticed that he was shaking as he was pinned to the ground. He swallowed and said, "I was desperate to protect my daughter."
As Jadeite's hackles went up, Mamoru stepped forward. He then said, "You are getting in the way and assaulting his mate. Really look at the situation. I get that you're scared, but use your brain."
Yuki thought a bit and then said, "I can see it from your perspective. I wasn't thinking." He then forced himself to look directly at Jadeite, "I am sorry. I won't touch her again."
It was Mamoru who said, "If you cause a problem again, I will remove you from here personally. Jadeite, let him up, and don't attack him again."
Jadeite snarled at Yuki, stepped back, and turned into his human self. "I will obey you, my King."
Mamoru nodded in approval. "I will not let you down. Thank you for your trust in me."
"Always," Jadeite replied.
"Stand by my side," Mamoru commanded Yuki. "You will not interfere again."
Yuki obeyed and went and stood by Mamoru.
Rei smiled at Jadeite and whispered, "Thank you." And then walked toward Reika again.
Rei raised her hands to touch her, and the spirit inside of Reika screamed and tried to bite Rei. Pulling back her hand quickly, she stepped to the side to attempt getting to her from another angle. All that happened was Reika's leg shooting out, making contact with Rei's shin.
"Ouch," Rei mumbled as she held out her hand and swept forward. "You kicked me."
The spirit inside of Reika fought, and once released from her mother's arms, she used her hand in a claw-like manner and swung it at Rei's face.
Usagi zipped forward, grabbed Reika's arms, and pinned them behind her back to control her. The spirit fought back, and everyone heard a loud pop that was the sound of her shoulder coming out of joint. Shifting her arm quickly and still holding tightly, Usagi repositioned it and popped her arm back into the socket.
Rei used that moment to place her hands on both sides of Reika's head. "You should be proud of her. She's fought against something most would lose to in the course of three hours." She meant it completely, even in the face of the Spirit fighting back right now. She then muttered her spell and felt the evil tearing away from her and fleeing Reika.
Mamoru held out his hands and clutched in his right one was a black lacquered box with the word ukuvala written on it with inlaid coral.
"What does it read?" Yuki asked, looking over at the sleek box.
No one answered him.
The spirit was now lacking a body, and Rei was working hard to force it toward the box meant to contain it. Despite her struggles, she was still winning. Rei sighed in relief as she watched the evil spirit head for the box. "Ukuvala," she said, sealing it in the box. "Whoever's spirit it, it's South African. It means 'to seal.' It's Zulu," she said, finally answering him.
Everyone then watched as Reika dropped to the grass and cried in relief. "It's finally gone. I'm free," she mumbled, exhausted and weeping for joy.
"You may go to her," Mamoru said, releasing Yuki from his side.
Both husband and wife rushed to their daughter, collapsed to the ground to get to her, and embraced her. All three were locked in a hug, and Reika was held tightly between them.
Yuki looked over at Rei and said, "I am truly sorry. Thank you for giving me my life back. Without her, we would have been destroyed."
Motoki looked at the beautiful woman, who had just been through hell and felt a stirring in his heart. Reika meant something to him, and he knew he had to discover just what that was.
He was so focused on Reika that he didn't see Rei giving him a knowing smile.