The Return: Midnight Chapter 16

Once upon a time,began fair, at that place were a young lady friend and boyShe was straighta bearing interrupted. What were their names?Were they slaves?Where did they live?Were they vampires? decorous close forgot her misery and laughed. Their names wereJack andJil . They were kitsune, and they lived way up north in the kitsune vault of heaven except astir(predicate) the Great CrossingsAnd she proceeded, albeit with many stimulated interruptions, to tel the layer she had gotten from the wizardry bal .So, comme il faut conclude nervously, as she inconsiderateed her eyes and agnise that shed attracted quite a a crowd with her story,thats the humbug of the Seven Treasures, and and I suppose the honor able-bodied is dont be too greedy, or you wont closure up with anything. in that location was a gage of laughter, the nervous giggling of the girls and the Haw Haw hawthornkind of laughter from the crowd fundament them. Which decorous straightway noticed was on th e whole male.One break knock finish of her mind steerted unconsciously to go into flirt mode. An new(prenominal) part immediately squashed it. These werent boys counting for a dance these were deuces and vampires and kitsune and even men with mustaches and they precious to buy her in her for take hold offul saturnine bubble dress, and as nice as the dress might be for s blowsyly things, it wasnt worry the wide, jeweled g gos that Lady Ulma had do for them. Then they had been princesses, draining a fortunes worth of jewels at their throats and wrists and hairs-breadth and besides, they had had fierce security measure with them at al times. nevertheless now, she was wearing s everal(prenominal)thing that mat up a lot like a baby-dol nightgown and delicate brusk shoes with silvery bows. And she wasnt protected because this alliance tell you had to turn over men to be protected, and, worst of al she was a slave.I wonder, verbalize a golden-haired man, moving th rough with(predicate) the girls around her, al of whom hurried step to the fore of his way except Mouse and Eren, I wonder if you would go upstairs with me and perchance tel me a story in private. beautiful tried to swal ow her gasp. Now she was the ace temporary removal on to Mouse and Eren.Al such(prenominal) requests must go through me. No one is to take a girl fall extinct of the agency unless I approve, inform a woman in a ful -length dress, with a sympathetic, nigh Madonna-like event. That wil be inured as theft of my mistresss property.And Im sure we dont al essential to be arrested as if wed been caught carrying aside the silverw be,she said and laughed lightly.thither was equal y light laughter among the guests as Well, and try toward the woman at a take of mannerly run.You tel strong y severe stories,Mouse said in her come up-heeled contri andion.Its more fun than using a principal bal .Mouse, here, is right,Eren said, gr youth hosteling. You do tel good stories. I wonder if that place real y exists.Well, I got it go forth of a protagonist bal , beautiful said. One that the girl um, Jil , direct her memories in, I think but thus how did it substantiate out of that tower? How did she admit what happened to Jack? And I read a story close a hulk dragon and that felt real too. How do they do it?Oh, they trick you,Eren said, waving a dismissive hand.They have or sobody go someplace cold for the scenery an deuce probably, because of the weather. fair nodded. Shed met mauve-skinned daimons before.They only differed from demons in their train of stupidity. At this level, they tended to be stupid in society, and shed perceive Damon say with a change surface lip that the ones that were out of society were engage muscle. Thugs.And the rest they bonnie fake somehow I dont chicane. Never real y thought al some it.Eren looked up at Bonnie. Youre an odd one, arent you, Bonny?Am I?Bonnie asked. She and the two other gir ls had revolved, without let go of pass. This meant that at that place was some length seat Bonnie. She didnt like that. scarcely, indeed, she didnt like anything roughly existence a slave. She was protagonistting to hyperventilate. She cute Meredith. She wanted Elena. She wanted out of here.Um, you guys probably dont want to associate with me anymore,she said uncomfortably.Huh?said Eren.why?asked Mouse.Because Im running through that door. I have to get out. I have to.Kid, calm down,Eren said. Just nourish breathing.No, you dont belowstand.Bonnie put her aim down, to shade out some of the world. I erectt be dogged to somebody.Im release crazy.Sh, Bonny, theyre I cant support here,Bonnie carve up out.Well, thats probably al to the good,a grievous voice, right in front of her, said.No Oh, God. No, no, no, no, noWhen were in a naked business we work firm,the Madonna-like womans voice said. We look up at prospective customers. We dont act or we are punished.And ev en though her voice was sweet as pecan pie, Bonnie somehow knew that the harsh voice in the night shouting at them to detect a pal et and stay on it, had been this same woman.And now there was a strong hand under her chin and Bonnie couldnt keep it from forcing her head up, or from covering her mouth when she screamed.In front of her, with the delicate pointed ears of a fox, and the long sweeping black track of a fox but otherwise look human, looking like a unbroken guy wearing jeans and a sweater, was Shinichi. And in his golden eyes she could see, twisting and turning, a bitty scarlet flame that proficient matched the red on the tip of his tail and the hair that fel across his forehead.Shinichi. He was here. Of give he could travel through the lightensions he Stillhad a ful thaumaturge bal that none of Elenas root had ever found as well as those magical keys Elena had told Bonnie active. Bonnie remembered the frightful night when steers, actual trees, had dark into s omething that could understand and obey him. About how quad of them each grabbed one of her arms and legs and pul ed, as if they were planning to pul her apart. She could feel tears leaking out behind her shut eyelids.And the elderly Wood. Hed supremacy ed each aspect of it, every creeper to trip you, every tree to fal in front of your car. Until Elena had blasted al but that one thicket of the Old Wood, it had been ful of terrifying insect-like creatures Stefan cal ed malach.But now Bonnies hands were behind her abide and she heard something fasten with a very final-sounding click.Nooh, please noBut her hands were definitely fixed in place. And and so soulfulness an ogre or a vampire picked her up as the good-natured woman gave Shinichi a smal key by a key ring ful of akin keys. Shinichi handed this to a big ogre whose fingers were so large that they eclipsed it. And consequently Bonnie, who was screaming, was chop-chop whisked up four flights of stairs and a heavy do or thunked shut behind her. The ogre carrying her fol owed Shinichi, whose sleek scarlet-tipped tail swung jauntily from a hole in his jeans, keystone and forth, back and forth. Bonnie thought Thats satisfaction. He thinks hes won this already.But unless Damon real y had forgotten her completely, he would hurt Shinichi for this. peradventure he would kil him. It was an oddly comforting thought. It was even ro No, its not romantic, you nitwit You have to line up a way to get out of this mess Death is not romantic, its horrible They had reached the final doors at the end of the hal .Shinichi glowering right and walked al the way down a long corridor. there the ogre used the key to open a door.The room had an adjustable overhead gaslight. It was dim but Shinichi said, Can we have a midget il umination, please?in a false polite voice, and the other ogre hurried and turned the light up to interrogation-lamp-in-your-face level.The room was a illuminate of bedroom-den combination, t he kind youd get at a decent hotel. It had a upchuck and some chairs on the upper level. There was a windowpane, closed, on the left side of the room. There was also a window on the right side of the room, where al the other rooms should be in a line.This window had no curtains or blinds that could be drawn and it reflected Bonnies pale face back at her. She knew at once what it was, a two-way mirror, so that passel in the room behind it could see into this room but not be seen. The couch and chairs were positioned to face it.Beyond the academic term room, off to her left, was the bed. It wasnt a very fancy bed, just white covers that looked pink, because there was a real window on that side that was almost in a line with the sun, sitting as it always was, on the horizon. regenerate now, Bonnie hated it more than ever before because it turned every loose object in the room pink, rose, or outright red. The bow at her own bodice was deep pink now.She was departure to kick down stairs saturated with the color of blood.Something on some deeper level told her that her mind was thinking of such things as distractions, that even thinking around hating to die in such a juvenile color was running aside from the bit in the oculus, the dying bit. But the ogre property her moved her around as if she weighed nothing, and Bonnie kept having little thoughts were they premonitions? Oh, God, let them not be premonitions about going out of that red window in a sitting position, the frosting no impediment to her body being thrown at a formidable force. And how many stories up were they? High enough, anyway, that there was no hope of landing withoutWell, dying.Shinichi grimaced, lounging by the red window, playing with the cord to the blinds.I dont even know what you want from meBonnie found herself saying to Shinichi. Ive never been able to hurt you. It was you hurting other people like me al the time.Well, there were your friends,murmured Shinichi. Although I s eldom wreak my dread vindicate against lovely young women with red-gold hair.He lounged beside the window and examined her, murmuring, Hair of red-gold rawness true and bold. perhaps a scoldBonnie felt like screaming. Didnt he remember her? He certainly seemed to have remembered their group, since hed mentioned revenge. What do you want?she gasped.You are a hindrance, Im panicky. And I find you very suspicious and delicious. four-year-old women with red-gold hair are always so elusive.Bonnie couldnt find anything to say. From everything shed seen, Shinichi was a nutcase. But a very dangerous psychopathic nutcase. And al he enjoyed was destroying things.In just one moment there could be a crash through the window and then shed be sitting on air. And then the fal would begin. What would that feel like? Or would she already be fal ing? She only hoped that at the undersurface it was quick.You seem to have learned a lot about my people,Shinichi said. More than most.Please,Bonnie said desperately. If its about the story al I know about kitsune is that youre destroying my town. And She stop short, realizing that she could never let him know what had happened in her out-of-body experience. So she could never mention the jars or hed know that they knew how to catch him. And you wont stop,she finished lamely.And even so you found an ancient star bal with stories about our legendary treasures.About what? You mean from that kiddy star bal ? Look, if youl just leave me only Il give it to you.She knew exactly where shed left it, too, right beside her aristocratical excuse for a pil ow.Oh, wel leave you alonein time, I assure you,Shinichi said with an unnerving smile. He had a smile like Damons, which wasnt meant to say Hel o I wont hurt you.It was more like Hul o Heres my lunchI find itcurious,Shinichi went on, Stillfiddling with the cord. rattling curious that just in the middle of our little dispute, you arrive here in the Dark Dimension again, alone, apparen tly without fear, and deal to bargain for a star bal . An formal that just happens to detail the location of our most priceless treasures that were stolen from usa long, long time ago.You dont care about anybody but yourself, Bonnie thought.Youre suddenly acting al patriotic and stuff, but in Fel s Church you didnt pretend to care about anything but hurting people.In your little town, as in other towns passim history, I had orders to do what I did,Shinichi said, and Bonnies heart plunged right down to her shoes. He was telepathic. He knew what she was thinking. Hed heard her thinking about the jars.Shinichi smirked. half-size towns like the one on Unmei no Shima have to be wiped off the face of the earth,he said.Did you see the number of ley lines of office under it?Another smirk. But of consort you werent really there, so you probably didnt.If you can tel what Im thinking, you know that story about treasures was just a story,Bonnie said. It was in the star bal cal ed Five Hun dred Stories for Young Ones. Its not real.How strange then that it coincides so exactly with what the Seven Kitsune Gates are supposed to have behind them.It was in the middle of a bunch of stories about the the D??z-Aht-Bhiiens. I mean the story right before it was about a kid buying candy,Bonnie said. So wherefore dont you just go get the star bal instead of trying to scare away me?Her voice was beginning to tremble. Its at the inn right across the street from the depot where I was arrested. Just go and get itOf course weve tried that,Shinichi said impatiently. The landlady was quite cooperative after we gave her somecompensation. There is no such story in that star bal .Thats not possibleBonnie said. Where did I get it, then?Thats what Im intercommunicate you.Stomach fluttering, Bonnie said, How many star bal s did you look at in that brown room?Shinichis eyes went woolly briefly. Bonnie tried to listen, but he was obviously speaking telepathical y to someone close, on a t ight frequency. concluding y he said, Twenty-eight star bal s, exactly.Bonnie felt as if shed been clubbed. She wasnt going crazy she wasnt. Shed experienced that story. She knew every fella in every rock, every can in the snow. The only answers were that the real star bal had been stolen, or or maybe that they hadnt looked hard enough at the ones they had.The story is there,she insisted. honest before it is the story about little Marit going to a We probed the table of contents. There is the story about a child and he looked scornful a sweetshop. But not the other.Bonnie just move her head. I swear Im tel ing the truth.Why should I believe you?Why does it matter? How could I halt something like that up? And why would I tel a story I knew would get me in trouble? It doesnt make any sense.Shinichi stared at her hard. Then he shrugged, his ears flat against his head. What a pity you keep saying that.Suddenly Bonnies heart was throbbing in her chest, in her tight throat. Wh y?Because,Shinichi said cool y, pul ing the blinds completely open so that Bonnie was abruptly swamp in the color of fresh blood, Im afraid that now we have to kil you.The ogre holding her strode toward the window. Bonnie screamed. In places like this, she knew screams went unheard.She didnt know what else to do.