Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Wind Knoll's Curse ❯ Chapter 15

Author's Notes: Sorry! XD;; I got horribly addicted to World of Warcraft, and I haven't been able to pull from it since. But I promise I will try to from now on. Enjoy. :-)

 

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There came a knocking upon the walls down the hallways lining the Wind Temple as well as two men shouting, “Lights out!” It was the night crew given their nightly rounds of walking up and down the many halls that people slept within, banging on the doors to make sure people knew it was curfew and time for the candles to go out and for people to go to sleep. One took the left side while the other took the right.

 

Scarlet remained within her bedroom trying to wipe her mind of the horrific scene she had just witnessed. Her head was buried underneath her pillow in attempts to drown everything around her out. She didn't hear the knock on the door nor the yell for the lights in her bedroom to be turned out.

 

“What am I doing here?” She wondered to herself with her eyes closed tightly. “Apparently everything within Wind Knoll is twisted and evil!” Even if Jin was merely placing mercy on the sick Teresa, Scarlet just couldn't see it that way.

 

Regardless of what she did, Scarlet couldn't erase the horrific scene from her mind. She eventually pulled the pillow from her head so she could sit upon the side of her bedcovers with her gloved hands folded in her lap. From where she sat, she could hear her door starting to rattle thanks to the wind pushing against it several times. It startled Scarlet and sent an uneasy shiver up her spine from where she was sitting.

 

Scarlet got to her feet and headed hesitantly towards the rattling door. Her hand touching the doorknob, she opened it only to have it fly open to nearly hit her in the face. She jumped back and guarded her face against the wind the demon was unleashing as he stood there at her door. The wind felt angered and irritated as it hissed by her ears.

 

“What do you want?” The redheaded demon asked rather angrily from where he was standing.

 

“What do you mean, `what do I want'?” Scarlet asked with her tone filled with fear as she slunk down against the pole within the center of her bedroom. “You came to me!”

 

Jin expressed an annoyed sigh as he closed the door behind him once he entered the room. “You didn't blow out your lights during the call for lights out. I am guessing you need me for something?” He explained as he headed over towards the bed to lie down upon it for a moment.

 

Scarlet watched him closely, noticing that he was irritated and weary from the day. Slowly she got up to her feet to head over towards the agitated demon. “I didn't hear that the lights needed to go out. I am sorry I bothered you…”

 

The demon caught the scent of Scarlet's fear tickling his senses from where he sat upon her bed. “Did my anger scare you that badly or is there something you're not telling me?” He wondered as he leaned upon his side with his elbow supporting him.

 

She wasn't sure what to say about the actions she had seen in Jin's bedroom when the demon asked her to leave. Scarlet wondered how to phrase her question without being obvious. The floor appearing welcoming to her, she knelt down upon it to look at the demon directly. “As long as you are here, I might as well ask you—if someone is dying, do you let them die as it was intended, or do you…help them?”

 

Jin tapped his fingers upon the covers beneath him thinking about her question. “You didn't obey me, did you?” He asked, biting at his nails for a moment. “You saw what I did to Teresa.”

 

Scarlet said not a word though her guilty look spoke for her.

 

“Answer me this, Scarlet, through all the years of your mother's suffering, did you not once wish you could relieve her of such pain?” Jin asked as he rested his head upon his overlapped arms. “Naturally we let the sickness take its course unless the human asks we relieve them of the pain.” He ran his fingers through his own hair with a muffled sigh. “I didn't kill Teresa because her sickness was becoming a burden; I killed her because she asked me to, because the pain was too much for her.”

 

Scarlet wasn't sure whether to be disgusted or relieved. Once again she was reminded of her mother, remembering how her mom cling to life within that bed only to be found dead one unfaithful day. “Touya the Ice Demon watched over my mother,” she expressed in thought. “Did he kill my mother?”

 

“I don't know,” Jin shrugged as he pushed himself up off of Scarlet's bed. “I may be friends with Touya, but that doesn't mean I know what goes on with him and his worshippers.” He headed over towards the lit candles circling the center pillar in her room, using his wind to blow them out. “Now, lights out,” he stressed, wagging his finger at her. Jin turned around to head back towards her door to head back into the hallway, so he could head to his bedroom to sit and think.

 

The darkness enveloped the room, leaving Scarlet in complete darkness at first until her eyes adjusted. She was back upon her bed gazing up at the ceiling in thought. Her pillow pulled close to her cheek once she turned to her side, she found herself wide awake with too many questions running through her mind. Scarlet remained still within her bed, waiting for her body to succumb to exhaustion she could feel tiptoeing over her. Eventually she drifted off to sleep within the temple's walls.

 

Jin leaned against the door to his bedroom, sighing as he gazed sorrowfully over at Teresa's body, which remained within his bed still. He made his way slowly over towards the bedside to sit upon it, so he could gaze at her cold form closer. His hand placed upon her chest, where her heart used to beat, he bent his fingers in a sort of grabbing fashion before raising his hand up slowly.

 

As he did so, the demon seemed to pull an orb like light up through Teresa's chest. He held her spirit, as fair as anyone could tell, and he held it gently within his demonic grasp. Carefully he walked over towards his desk, which was lit with white candles dancing in sky blue light, mumbling a few things under his breath as if to rehearse a chant he well knew.

 

The orb slowly ascending with its pure light continuing to flash about the room, it took shape into that of the formal shell the soul had resisted within. A brief smile appeared upon Jin's face as he pushed himself up out of the chair slowly from which he was sitting within at his desk.

 

“Welcome home, Teresa,” he whispered to the two of them. “Your pain should be gone now.”

 

 

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The sun seemed to hide from Wind Knoll for a long time the coming day. When the wind demon controlled the fog, which swallowed the isolated town, Scarlet got ready to head for work when the temple's clock chimed the tenth hour. She was eager to get up and out of the temple for a moment, hoping that in doing so, she would escape the uneasiness she felt within the atmosphere.

 

Scarlet pulled out a regular white t-shirt with a pair of jeans and a matching pair of white, elbow length gloves to cover up the scars she had embedded within her arms. She slipped her tiny feet within her white tennis shoes before heading out the door of her bedroom she was assigned to within the temple. Scarlet's shoes squeaked against the marble flooring before being muffled by the carpet, which ran down the halls in a neat fashion.

 

Soon her skin was caressed by the warm, morning air as she headed through the forest up ahead that would connect to Willard Drive. The walk through the misty woodlands was hard on her, but Scarlet dragged her feet through the side of the dirt road, eventually catching a glance of the Forest Temple belonging to the fox demon she spoke to about Blossom's life, which was in the balance. The thought of Blossom, and how she hadn't been to work to hear of the outcome of things lately, Scarlet soon started sprinting quickly towards the end of the forest she could just barely see.

 

Her shoes beating against the cement soon, Scarlet made it to the store she worked at to open the door quickly, seeing as Silvia was already there inside. The sound of the bell ringing caught the raven haired woman from where she was arranging things behind the counter. She cocked her thin brow at the fearful looking Scarlet.

 

“What's got you all in a tizzy?” Silvia asked as she made her way beyond the front counter.

 

“Where's Blossom?” Scarlet asked breathlessly with her hands hitting her thighs as she attempted to steady herself from the panic run. “Is she working today?”

 

Silvia clutched a medium sized sign within her hands that Scarlet couldn't read at first as the young woman made her way towards the front door. Her fingernails tapped upon the cardboard before she shook her head. “I am afraid she isn't.” Silvia turned the sign around in her hands that read clearly: HELP WANTED in big, bolded, red letters. Making her way past Scarlet, she went to the front window to post it up. “She called me up a day or so ago and told me she wouldn't be coming in anymore.”

 

Scarlet fidgeted with the end of her white shirt she was wearing as she watched Silvia place up the sign. “How—how did she sound?”

 

Banging her palms upon the sign to make it stick, she grunted when she pushed back with a slight stretch. “She sounded relieved, actually, and that girl used to enjoy working here.” Silvia was oblivious to the past live Blossom had been hiding from. She didn't find anything about Blossom odd as the girl's lies had been perfected about her life in attempts to hide from the fox demon's crazy worshippers.

 

Placing her hand upon her chest, Scarlet attempted to settle herself at the sound of that. I guess she is okay, she thought to herself before turning on her heels to head for the counter.

 

Silvia beat her to it, pointing to the aisles within the store. “You're on floor duty. Restock a few items we have in the back, will you?” Once she sat down upon the stool and opened her favorite magazine to the page she remembered leaving off on, Silvia pointed towards the red curtains hanging to the far right of the counter—straight ahead if you enter through the store's front door.

 

Scarlet turned towards the red curtained back area where she had felt restricted to going into even being an employee of the place. “I—I guess I will see what needs restocking then.”

 

“Candles in the back, and a few of the Book of Shadows up front,” Silvia went ahead to name a few things. “You can check the other items later, but those are our best selling items.”

 

Her grayish green eyes turning back to the curtains hanging in the back, Scarlet made her way towards the back area hesitantly. As soon as she stood before the red fabrics hanging from the door archway, she felt this horrible feeling within the gut of her stomach. It made her want to throw up deep inside, but she slowly grabbed onto the silky curtains to pull them out of her way to make it into the back room.

 

Candles were lining the shelves that had apparently already been used given the way the wax on the candles were uneven. An upside-down pentagram was lined out on the floor—anybody who knew witchcraft to a degree would know that was worshipping the darker powers of the world seeing as the tip pointed down to hell. Dry blood could be seen upon the wooden floors and walls, making Scarlet feel queasy inside as she backed up slightly with her hand against her stomach.

 

Her head was pounding as she backed away from the backroom. With her hands upon her head, she shook it steadily to try and stop the dark, blood tainted images from flooding into her mind. A hand soon placed upon Scarlet's shoulder snapped her out of the awful trance she had found herself within. Her frightened eyes falling upon Silvia, they remained wide open with her mouth wide open.

 

“What the hell is in there!” Scarlet demanded to know as her entire body quaked and was strangled in pain.

 

Silvia looked at the slightly waving curtains with a neutral expression. “It is just our area where we celebrate to the demons,” the raven haired woman explained as if it were nothing at all. “None of us could set up such things around our parents or at the temples as some still believe the demons are actually `Gods'.” Silvia laughed at the thought of such idiocy of the human kind.

 

“Why is that pentagram upside down?” Scarlet asked, still trying to catch her breath.

 

“Do you know anything about witchcraft?” Silvia wondered, almost belittling Scarlet's intelligence. She made her way inside of the backroom as her body was numbed to the darkness, which had gathered there, to pull out what she needed Scarlet to put up on the shelves.

 

“I know a good bit of information, and I know that pointing that thing upside down is like putting a Christian's cross the same way!” Scarlet exclaimed.

 

The boxes hit the ground with Silvia leading them to the ground. She couldn't help but find Scarlet's words a bit odd with all things concerning. Silvia couldn't help but get a bit defensive with her own. “Hun, they are demons—you know what demons are and where they come from, right? They come from hell. Ya know that place where the pentagram is supposed to point towards.” Grabbing a cutting knife, Silvia opened the packages nearby. “It's to help them gain more power with the sacrifices we give them.”

 

Scarlet's skin began to crawl. “You—sacrifice people?”

 

“No, we do animal sacrifices,” Silvia replied with a roll of her eyes at the woman's assumption.

 

“But that's still wrong!”

 

A silence loomed over the store after Scarlet's outburst. Silvia stared at Scarlet closely as she steadily rose to her feet. Scarlet was slightly fearful that she would be pushed out of the store and left with no money. It actually made her think twice at that very moment about saying anything further to Silvia. Silvia continued to stare at Scarlet long and hard before finally speaking.

 

“Scarlet, we have been wrong ever since this town was created,” she felt need to point out, her tone almost appearing to scoff at her co-worker. “We're worshipping demons, and we'll all burn in hell once we die. And you are no saint!”

 

Scarlet pulled back at that comment wishing to dodge the slap Silvia was unleashing with her words.

 

“You are worshipping them as well,” Silvia pointed out with a wave of her hand. “No matter what fantasy world you live in, they are demons, and demons rule hell!”

 

Silvia's words slapped Scarlet harshly across the face. She lost her breath as she stood there almost wishing to flee from the store. Scarlet knew that the `Gods of Wind Knoll' were actually demons, but that didn't give people the right to treat them as satanic guardians. They were nothing like that at all!

 

“Now help me with these items, will you?” Silvia almost demanded irritably as she pulled some of the wrapped candles out of the one she had opened. She was slightly eager to avoid the conversation the two of them were having and focus upon opening up the store.

 

“Sure,” Scarlet said softly as she knelt down to the floor to pick up a few of the candles to carry to the back where they needed to be restocked.

 

She placed them where they were meant to be one by one, feeling sick still within the depths of her stomach as she did so. It was like a horrible case of cramps—something deep inside of her clawing at the inside of her belly trying to make its way out. Scarlet quickly covered her mouth in attempts to stop herself from throwing up as she knelt slightly down in the back to hide her sickness from Silvia, not wishing to be belittled by her once more.

 

Whatever was threatening to come up did so within her shaking palm. Scarlet pulled her hand back only to find a small pool of blood upon her pallid skin. She was startled as she wiped the corner of her mouth to find more traces there. Her breath quickening, she dove into her shirt to pull out her wind medallion to clutch within her blooded hand. Silently, there in the back of the store, she held it close to her chest and pleaded to herself for someone to come help her—anybody at that time as she said the summoning spell of the Wind God over and over again desperately.

 

“Will you hurry up?” Silvia asked almost angrily as she made it to the back to snap Scarlet from her chanting. “I don't have all day for this stuff to be put up, and seeing as we are short on hands thanks to Blossom's leave, I need you to work twice as hard.”

 

Scarlet felt the entire area tilting as if she were in the middle of the ocean upon a ship rocking upon the waves. She held onto her stomach as she quickly ran for the front door. “I need some air!” She exclaimed hastily as she made it outside.

 

The door opened quickly, Scarlet's hand grabbed onto the bench just outside of the store to try and keep herself from tearing at her own stomach with her nails. The pain was getting worse by the second as she tried to settle whatever it was harming her. Once she sat upon the bench, the air began to blow harshly nearby, making her embrace herself from the chilly wind, which gave her goose bumps. The wind soon settled, leaving way for the wind demon to make his way over towards the hurting Scarlet.

 

His bare feet hurried across the cold cement before kneeling before her, witnessing her pain. “Scarlet, what's the matter?” He asked with his brow furrowed in worry.

 

Scarlet shook her head as she kept her arms about her stomach where the ruthless clawing continued. “I don't know!”

 

Jin narrowed his eyes slightly as he raised his hand to examine Scarlet's aching body. His eyes closed, he could see her spirit fighting with another of a demonic presence. The demon had made its home within her body. The demented creature with broken horns and bleeding, sharp fangs howled and snapped at the prying higher level demon—the demons' eyes a bright white color from what the wind demon could see. Hissing angrily, the evil soul tried to claw at Jin with his large hands, which appeared to be bigger than the creature's head—his nails as long as twelve inches or more.

 

“Dammit!” Jin swore loudly as he pulled his head back to avoid the attack. He shook his head to regain his awareness before grabbing onto Scarlet's shoulders. “Where the hell did this beast come from!” He exclaimed in worry. “This is a high level demon inside of you!”

 

Scarlet looked at her body, rubbing her hands upon her form hoping to get it out. “I got it from within the store!” She exclaimed in a whisper, threatening to cry at knowing something was trying to stay locked within her body to torture her soul. “Get it out—get it out of me!”

 

“You need to tell Silvia you feel sick and leave,” Jin advised. “This demon is going to make you miserable until we get rid of it, and the only way I can do that is back at the temple with a few experienced priestesses.”

 

She shook her head at his request. “I cannot do that! She needs me to work with Blossom gone…!”

 

“Scarlet, this demon is clawing at the innards of your stomach and attacking your spirit!” Jin felt need to explain in order to scare sense into her. “Unless you want to die when this thing manages to destroy your soul, I suggest you do so.”

 

I was scared to talk to Silvia about the situation once I made it back into the store. However, when I showed the blood on my hand, she allowed me to leave—assuring me she would find one of the night workers to fill in for me. I know she wasn't pleased with this outcome, but I couldn't allow this demon to destroy me…

 

The Wind Demon helped me back to the temple as quickly as his wind could carry him as the pains within my body were getting worse by the second. It was as if this demon knew what was to happen and wanted to destroy me before he could be taken care of.

 

One of the hooded priestesses in the temple leaned over within Scarlet's hazy sight with Jin close by. Her eyes were shadowed by the white hood she wore, leaving anyone to guess her eye shape and color. Her hand, chilled by the cold temperature of the temple, rested upon the troubled woman, who lied upon the bed within the hospital wing of the building.

 

“This is indeed a high level demon,” the woman's deep voice beckoned from the densely lit room. “I thought such demons were kept at bay by your friends, my Lord.”

 

Scarlet listened to the two conversing and watched them through her blurry vision, which threatened to fail her. Sweat had marked her entire body as it fought to stay alive within the shell it had chosen to live within.

 

“Apparently not,” Jin said sternly. “There must be a portal, which allowed them within this world from the depths of hell.” He gazed at the priestess next to him. “Can you get rid of this beast? If you can get it out of her, I can destroy it.”

 

“Can you not destroy it inside of her?” Another priestess asked from within the room.

 

“If I do that, I kill her too,” Jin sighed, massaging his forehead with his fingers. “Right now that demon is latched on tightly to her body, suffocating her spirit. If we don't get it out right now, she will be dead before night.”

 

The priestess within view looked to the others within the room. “Let us get to work then.”

 

Two hooded women came into Scarlet's line of sight, grabbing onto her wrists to bind them above her head while others worked on strapping her down to the bed—making Scarlet feel like she was in a mental institution as the leather belts were pulled over her stomach, chest, and legs. She tossed her head from side to side with her toes curled and her hands clutched within the leather straps, which bound her.

 

The lead priestess made her way back into view with the Wind's Word within her grasp and a few items considered holy to the demon's people. “The beast is within her stomach. It is trying to hide from us,” she almost scoffed as she handed a Celtic wind cross over to one of the women next to her. Raising her hands, she motioned for the others nearby to come closer. “Form a circle.”

 

Everyone within the room, five in total, came into a circle around the bed. Each could not be identified thanks to the hoods they wore. It made the scene appear eerie to Scarlet as she suddenly felt the urge to run as they all raised their hands upwards with their palms open. The lead priestess kept the Wind's Word within her left hand so begin reciting a few spells that would torment the creature and provoke it out of Scarlet's human form.

 

The pain at that moment became unbearable as Scarlet arched her back off of the bed, screaming loudly as the clawing within her body became more fierce. The grunting and screaming she unleashed began to mix with that of the beast inside of her—becoming disgruntle and demented sounding. Her fingers twisting about in a sickening fashion, the demon forced the human woman to use his might to break the leather bindings across her legs.

 

Nobody moved under the witness of such a thing. Even Jin appeared unfazed by it as he kept his focus upon Scarlet and the demonic energy emitting from her thanks to the intruder within her body.

 

“Keep going,” he merely said sternly. “He is threatening to come out.”

 

The priestesses continued their chanting for an hour, the demon refusing to let go of the body he had taken home within. Jin became impatient at this moment as he bared his fangs angrily at the soul, which soon had Scarlet's entire form under his possession.

 

“COME OUT, BASTARD!” The demon yelled angrily as he was feeling Scarlet's soul singing a deafening tone within his ears.

 

At his angered tone, Scarlet's skin began to randomly break into cuts and gashes all over her body. They bled, almost soaking her shirt and dying it red. The agonizing expression upon Scarlet's face halted for a moment before being placed with a demented grin and an eerie laugh. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head, she looked at the wind demon with nothing but the whites of her eyes. “Scream at me all you want,” the demon advised through Scarlet. “I refuse to move. I know you lack the demonic heart to kill one of your weak, human worshippers.”

 

Jin cocked his brow before pulling a sword he had brought with him out into the scene. He placed it horizontally before him within the sheath before pulling the sword from where it was placed slowly. “Do you want to test that theory, demon?” Jin asked with his eyes narrowed and full of a fearful rage.

 

The bluff worked slightly as the laughter and mocking smile disappeared, leaving the demon to frown at Jin. “You wouldn't.”

 

Quickly Jin threw the sword back without hesitation to bring forward towards Scarlet, threatening to kill her with the blade he held.

 

Believing Jin this time, the demon fearfully pulled from the woman he was within as soon as the blade rested upon Scarlet's forehead. The chilling blade forced her body to jerk slightly as the demon quickly left her—he fearing that the wind demon would actually kill them both. Jin didn't, however, as he let the weapon rest an inch from the surface of the woman's skin. The wind demon knew that would be enough to force the high level beast from Scarlet's body.

 

His deep blue eyes caught the sight of the demon attempting to leave through the temple walls. Opening his palm, he gathered up enough of his wind to destroy the damned being there within the circular room they were within. The cry of pain from the demon echoed throughout the halls to those sensitive to its cries as he was destroyed there within the Wind Temple.

 

“My Demonic Lord,” One of the priestess began in a fearful tone as she was checking on Scarlet. “She is not breathing!”

 

Jin looked over his shoulder at the bleeding, breathless woman before hurrying over to her side to look her over quickly. “Get out of here—I can take care of this!” He demanded, his words quickened with his demonic heartbeat.

 

“But—!”

 

“GET OUT!” He yelled angrily as he ripped the leather restraints off of Scarlet before bothering with her shirt.

 

The priestesses darned not say or do anything else as they quickly left the wind demon to be alone. They knew he was only serious and easily angered whenever something desperately needed to be done—they were unaware what was to be done, however as they waited outside of the room.