Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Wind Knoll's Curse ❯ Chapter 43

Author's Notes: Haha, sorry if I ever gave the delusion that the story was over at that point. While it would be a very nice place to stop things, that would leave way for a sequel. Also, that ending would be too depressing for my taste. There should be about (I estimate) 5 or so chapters till it is over finally. We shall see what I manage with. Sorry for it taking so long to get wrapped up. D:

 

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Eventually, Wind Knoll's buildings were being rebuilt from the ground up. The temples were left alone, as nobody expected the `Gods' to return. Everyone already saw them in their glory, and those left alive felt ashamed of their foolishness. The debris of the temples was left where they were, as nobody could remove what remained of them without getting attacked in some form. Besides, the plans to remove what was left standing would take all night…and at night was when things changed…

 

Three boys stood outside of the old Bakers' house. They were teenagers that had just gotten out of school and wanting to find something else to do. The door to the old, decrepit house was boarded up from the outside, as were the windows.

 

“They say that the old wife of the wind demon lives here,” the blond haired boy explained to the others nearby, as he stayed situated on his bicycle. “She attacked her stepfather and ate his face off before taking his skull for part of her collection.”

 

The shaggy, redhead in the group shook his head with a `tch' sound. “She didn't do it because she was born a demon. She was cursed with the town like everybody else!” He explained in Scarlet's defense. “The woman worshipped the wind demon, so because of her sin, she was damned forever.”

 

“I heard she worshipped someone else too, but I don't know,” said the other boy in the group, who had curly, strawberry blond hair. It had been years since Wind Knoll had been cursed, and the foundation as well as some stories got twisted about involving everything.

 

“Well, they call her the Demon Mother,” the blond went onwards to explain, as he put his bike down to walk up the cracked driveway. “Supposedly, when she was here, she got into a fight with the wind demon, and he killed the baby they were going to have.”

 

“Luke, that's not true!” The strawberry blond teen remarked with a shake of his head.

 

“How do you remember it then, Keith!” Luke exclaimed, as he looked through the boards to try and see into the abandoned building. He was intent on getting inside, just to see if the rumors were real.

 

“It was her stepfather that hit her so hard that the baby died inside of her. It wasn't the wind demon,” Keith explained from behind his friend. “What are you doing? We shouldn't be here; you know that, Luke!”

 

“I just want to see what is in this house,” Luke insisted, as he tore one of the boards off. “I want to know if everything everybody says is true when nightfall hits.” He knew it would be a bit before the sun fell behind the mountains, but he wanted to look inside and see if anything interesting was about. “Come and help us, Mark!”

 

“What if the stories are true?” Mark wondered, as he made his way over towards the boarded door to try and get it open as well. “I mean, the town elders told everyone to stay away from here. She killed people before, they claim! They say some were sent here to find what the cries at night were, and she devoured those that dared step foot within her house. That's why the house is shut off like this!”

 

“Stop bitching,” Luke grumbled, as he removed the last board with the others. “There—now, let's see what exactly is in here.” He dug into his backpack to pull out his flashlight he brought with him. “Everyone remembered to bring these, right?”

 

Mark and Keith both showed their source of light to Luke. As the electricity to the building was cut off years ago, they needed some way to be able to see about the dark house at night.

 

“So what exactly does the Demon Mother do?” Mark inquired curiously, as they walked over the noisy floorboards. “I heard she rips people's faces off.”

 

“No, you idiot,” Luke insulted, as he continued towards the kitchen. “She eats people, as well as their souls, I heard. After the body rots, she takes the skull and puts it away in her private collection.” He carefully stepped over the broken glass all over the rotted floorboards to look at some of the china that was still left in one piece but covered in cobwebs. “They say she hopes that her one true love will step through those doors, but the wind demon isn't coming back. She is damned here forever.”

 

“Where is her room? I know she is said to reside there mostly,” Keith stated, as he was standing around in the living room.

 

“I am sure it is up these steps,” Mark called from the hallway, as he gazed up them from the foot of them. The others coming to join him, he wasn't noticing that the other guys were looking at him closely. “So who is going up there?”

 

“I say you do it,” Luke insisted, nudging the redhead forwards with Keith's help.

 

“What-wait-no!” Mark held onto the dusty railing tightly, not wishing to budge from where he was standing on the second step. “Why me!” He exclaimed in wonder between them.

 

“You're the scared one that didn't want to come to begin with,” Keith pointed out, his arms crossed over his chest. “Why not grow a pair and go upstairs and see if she's there?”

 

Mark shook his head, not wishing to be devoured. “You guys are nuts!”

 

“Stop acting like you're going to wet yourself!” Luke insisted with a chuckling sigh. “The sun won't set for another ten minutes or so. You have more than enough time to go upstairs and tell us what you see.”

 

Mark bit his lower lip before gazing up the stairs at the dimly lit upper part of the house. “Fine! But you guys owe me big for this…!” Getting to his feet, Mark headed up the staircase slowly to the very top to find the door that once belonged to Cynthia's bedroom was smashed and splintered upon the floor still from the force Kurama had put into it. Stepping inside of the room nervously, he looked around to find nothing in particular except for a statue of Touya on the nightstand with an old picture frame. He got closer to the nightstand to get a good look at the old, worn picture. He didn't recognize the young, blond in the image, but Mark did understand it was obviously a mother with her daughter. “Wonder if that is the Demon Mother when she was alive,” he mumbled to himself, looking at Cynthia's younger self.

 

He still wasn't sure if that was the girl's bedroom or not, so he made his way back out into the hallway to head over to where Scarlet's bedroom was. Opening the door slowly, Mark stepped inside to curiously look around. He couldn't help but nearly withdraw back at the horrible smell within the room. Not able to place his finger on what it was exactly, he stepped inside with his arm up to his nose and mouth to block the scent.

 

When he stepped into the room, everything looked normal to him. Mark gazed about the dresser to find an assortment of things that involved dusty jewelry and torn papers. He couldn't help but pick up one of the documents. “How I miss the wind demon and await the day he returns to me before I forget,” Mark read best he could, as the writing was large and all over the place as Scarlet's mind began to deteriorate when she wrote it. “So this must be the Demon Mother's room.”

 

“What's taking him so long?” Keith wondered irritably to Luke. “The sun is going to set any minute now, and I want to get out of here before that happens.”

 

Luke looked out the old windows to see the light of the sun starting to slowly fade through the cracks of the boards covering them. “Mark, get out of there!”

 

Upon hearing Luke's voice, Mark spun around to find the last light leave Wind Knoll. Running towards the door, which was still opened, he found it quickly shutting in his face. “Let me out!” He yelled, banging his fist on the door. From where he stood, he watched in horror as the room began to change slowly under the influences of nightfall.

 

The facade of the dusty, abandoned room began to peel away like paint from the walls. Everything was replaced with bloodstains on the walls and floors and rust littered all areas of the room. It was like this every night. The mask was rotted away to reveal the truth that had happened those many years ago when the sun went down. Mark moved upon the stained floor to find a blood trail leading into the bathroom. Nervously, he headed towards the stained tiles of the bathroom to look around and find the medicine cabinet was nearly in shambles. The glass upon it was rusted and blooded from someone either being rammed within it or someone punching it.

 

Mark got closer to the sink to find bloodstains all over it. In the reflection of the mirror, a black figured went from one side of the doorway to the other and a brief, warped sobbing could be heard, alerting the young man. Grabbing his flashlight, he turned it on to point at the doorway to find nothing there. “H-Hello…?” He asked nervously, as he stepped back into the frame of the doorway to look about the room. “Is somebody there?”

 

Not getting a response, the frightened redhead turned towards the shower curtain hanging loosely where it was once placed. Slowly he stepped over towards it to put his fingers upon the decayed fabric before throwing it back. Horror overtaking his expression, he backed up till he felt the wall behind him preventing Mark from going anywhere further. In the tub was nothing but water filled with old blood and partial skeletons of those that had ventured into the house and never made it out alive. All he could clearly see above the water was the skulls.

 

“Oh God!” He yelled, trying to run for the bedroom door once more only to stop himself when he heard the faint crying yet again. Turning around slowly, Mark looked to the cabinet mirror in the bathroom to watch as something black began to form from the shadows of the room.

 

Scarlet seemed to slowly peel herself from the darkness upon the wall. Her long, flowing hair and robes acting as the shadows cascading over the area moved with her like each part was alive. Opening her off-white pupils, she exposed her blooded teeth to the trespasser. The rest of her body pulling from the mirror, it looked as though the walls, which kept her, snapped back like skin ripping apart from an injury as the cursed woman made herself known.

 

Mark was paralyzed, finding himself unable to move. All he could see of her was the exposed, decayed flesh upon her face and those on her arms and chest. The rest of her just looked so black that the demon woman blended in with the dusk lighting. It made him feel as though she were everywhere, and Scarlet was.

 

Stepping slowly forwards, she could tell that the man in front of her was a human being. She could hear his heart rapidly beating, and it enticed her all the same knowing that he was afraid of her. Upon the ground, her hair slithered like snakes rapidly approaching its victim. The strands of hair crawled up Mark's body, nearly encasing him entirely while the rest waved about upon the walls. Coming closer to the boy's face, Scarlet's dead breath caressed him. Just as she was inching in closer to bite him, she stopped when noticing something familiar about his face. The shaggy red hair reminded her of the one she had lost years ago, prompting her mouth to drop into shock before realizing there were differences between him and the wind demon was still waiting for.

 

Growling angrily, she released Mark from the entanglement of her hair and released the hold she had on her door with her powers. The door swinging open, Luke and Keith both grabbed the frightened redhead to pull him outside. All three boys stood there in fearful dismay at the sight of the Demon Mother.

 

“My God, let's get out of here!” Luke demanded, pushing the others to hurry down the stairs so they could escape.

 

Scarlet didn't care if the redhead went free. However, she wasn't about to let the others have the same privilege. Getting on her hands and knees, she crawled upon the ceiling on the outside of her room before making it down towards the stairs at a quick pace. Her hair, which was trailing about in the darkness that devoured the town, coiled around Keith's ankle to trip up the teenage boy.

 

Mark and Luke had just made it outside of the house to turn around and see Keith caught. As they were heading back towards the front door to try and help him free, the door slammed in their faces rather quickly to prevent them from coming inside. From that moment, all they could hear was Keith's cries of agony, which echoed throughout Lavender Lane.

 

The cries settling and the body and soul disposed of, Scarlet found herself sitting upon her old bed that night. Blood continued to drip from her hands and face, as she didn't bother to wipe it away. Turning her head slightly towards the windows, she could vaguely remember Jin coming and going from her windowpane when she used to live in that house.

 

“Oh, and a word of advice,” Scarlet remembered Jin responding from the windowsill that night she beckoned to him. She could almost see him there again talking to her. “Whatever you do, don't listen to those girls at the store you're working at. They may be right in knowing we're demons but their worship and incantations are something that they have spilled black blood all over. I've asked them countless times to stop with Hiei and Shishiwakamaru but it sadly never works. I'm beginning to believe they are completely shut off to us now with how dark their practices are.”

 

She watched from where she was sitting as the image dissolved from her mind. Moving from where she was, she made her way over towards the window to look out at the cursed town. The sound of the damned walking the roads affected her very little. She knew they were almost like her brothers and sisters in the matter. Scarlet knew that the boards had been removed from her house, leaving nothing at all from keeping her locked within her home anymore. Vanishing from the broken window, she disappeared within the building once more.

 

 

 

 

Jin gazed up at the star filled sky that night within the depths of Makai. He was within the demon city, thinking back on the many years he had devoted to the humans he held in high regard. While everyone else was slowly adjusting to normal life again, he found himself unable to consider it. Hearing the door open to his bedroom in the apartment he shared with Touya, Jin didn't bother looking over at the ice master. He always knew who it was.

 

“I have dinner ready should you want to eat,” Touya sighed from the doorway. He knew Jin hadn't been himself in so long since the curse befalling the town they watched over for many years. “Jin, come on.” He walked further into the room to grab onto the wind demon's upper arm to shake and gently pull him at the same time. “You have to eat something.”

 

“I'll eat when I am ready,” Jin mumbled. He never felt like eating when he was supposed to.

 

“Christ, Jin, it has been ten years! Let it go, already.” Touya had a difficult time accepting it as well, but he knew he couldn't mourn forever. He sat down on the bed Jin was upon.

 

Jin was offended Touya would suggest such a thing, but he kept the words he wanted to say about it to himself for the time being. “Do you ever think about her?” The redhead inquired curiously. “Do you ever think about Cynthia and what became of her when we burned the town?”

 

Touya looked over at his partner with a shake of his head in disgust. “That's not fair. Besides, if I recall correctly, it was you who tipped the vote and caused the entire town to burn—not me!” He knew that was a rotten thing to say, causing him to swallow hard. “I am sorry, but, yes, I do. Everyday I worry what had become of her.” He paused briefly. “I also worry about Scarlet.”

 

Sighing through his nostrils, Jin lowered his chin upon his overlapping arms upon the windowsill. “I just knew she wouldn't have been able to handle losing the baby. It was the only thing that came to my mind…I was so mad.”

 

“I told her that I would basically come and relieve her of the nightmare that would soon befall her,” Touya explained, remembering that night. “I just never had it within me to go back and do such a thing. It would be too much to walk through just to find her.”

 

“If we went back, we could find Cynthia as well,” Jin pointed out, hoping to change Touya's thoughts on the matter.

 

“Please, don't talk about her,” the ice master begged, as he pushed himself up to his feet. “Well, at any rate, dinner is ready should you want to eat.” Walking outside into the hallway, Touya sighed heavily having to be reminded of Cynthia. He made his way down to the dinning room table, so he could at least eat that night before bed. As he began to do so, he found his mind wandering back to the times he spent with Cynthia when she was growing up and whenever he went to sleep and dove into the spiritual world. The dreadful thoughts of demons torturing and raping her about drove him to the brink of madness, as Touya placed his hands upon his head.

 

Jin was lying in the bed thinking about Wind Knoll still when the door reopened to reveal Touya once more moments later. He could tell something was on the ice master's mind. Sitting upright in bed, Jin removed his arms from behind his head. “Touya? What is it?”

 

“Let's go back to Wind Knoll,” Touya managed to say. He couldn't handle the thoughts of what Cynthia was going through anymore.

 

 

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A red SUV drove down the road that led in the direction of where Wind Knoll once stood early the next day. A man with wavy brown hair and a bit of freckles spotting his face was at the wheel. He looked identical to Justin Thompson, the high priest once belonging to Jin. In his passenger seat was a blond female, who was reading the map she was given to navigate through.

 

“Are you sure this is wise, Jason?” The female looked to be in her late thirties or early forties. “Justin had his reasons for leaving, I am sure.”

 

“My twin brother was insane to do so, Carol,” Jason grumbled from the wheel of the car. “For years growing up, he claimed something was calling him, so he got into his car and drove to that damned town. I supported his decision in the matter to move there, but when he suddenly stopped calling, I knew something was wrong. I know that damn town probably swallowed him up.”

 

“I am sure you're just over reacting again, man,” the guy in the backseat remarked. He was a bit overweight with dyed green hair and an almost black looking goatee. “Didn't you say he was like a priest or something in this town?”

 

“He was a high priest of the wind and fire demons, Kirk,” Jason grumbled in disgust. He never could believe that his twin brother fell so far in his eyes. Looking over at Carol, Jason nodded at her before turning his attention back on the road ahead. “Where to next?”

 

“Umm, It just says to keep following this road,” Carol mentioned, pulling some of her blond hair behind her ear to keep the long, thin strands out of her face. “Eventually, there should be another obscure road that will lead us into the woods and to where Wind Knoll is.”

 

Jason sighed irritably, as he felt he had been on the road for countless hours. “Will you just give me the map? I am sure you're reading it wrong.”

 

Carol slapped away his oncoming hand with a quick chastising point to the man driving. “I am not reading it wrong! It is just going to take us awhile, so shut up, and drive!”

 

As the two bickered at one another, Kirk could clearly see someone wandering into the road causing him to point it out quickly. “Look out!” He yelled over their risen voices.

 

Jason turned his attention to the street to see what Kirk was pointing out. Grabbing onto the wheel, he spun it quickly to make a quick right turn. He ignored the screaming of the others, as the SUV weaved about the dirt road they found themselves upon soon enough. It led them right into the woods surrounding the area. Jason tried his best to avoid hitting any trees, but to no avail, as the front of his car smashed right into the trunk of one head on. The force of it caused everyone to blank out for a moment.

 

Slowly coming too, Jason rubbed his forehead from where he had found himself hitting the airbag. “Dammit, what the hell was that?” Looking over at Carol, he reached over to shake her gently. “Carol! Carol, wake up!”

 

Carol moaned softly while opening her brown eyes to the hazy sight about her. “What happened? Where are we?”

 

“We're in the woods,” Kirk responded from the backseat, as he opened the side door to let himself out into the murky forest surrounding them currently. “We better find a way to get out of here and fast. I can imagine that when night falls, it'll be difficult to find our way back to the road.”

 

“We have plenty of time then,” Jason sighed, as he looked at the damage done to his car. Running his fingers through his hair, he let out a swear before kicking the front left tire with his brown hoot he was wearing. “Wind Knoll was said to be in these woods, so let's find the damn place.” Walking over to Carol, he took the map from her. He couldn't find it within himself to allow her to continue reading it. “This way.” Jason nodded ahead, past the tree they had smashed into.

 

 

 

 

Night was nearly falling as the trio continued their journey about the woodlands. Kirk and Carol felt as though they were about to roll over and pass out from exhaustion any minute while Jason kept on. “I am beginning to wonder if this town even exists,” Jason pondered, as he looked at the map once more.

 

“It probably does,” Carol huffed, as she made it beside her friend. “But maybe somebody is holding the damn map wrong!” She wasn't about to believe they were lost. The last thing she wanted was to be wandering endlessly in a maze of trees.

 

Kirk realized that the steady fog about them was starting to get thicker. It was beginning to worry him a bit. “I say we keep following what is left of this trail. We have to run into something. Either that, or we stay lost out here. This fog is getting worse.”

 

“Come on,” Jason urged, hurrying further down the road before them. When the last bit of sunlight disappeared over the mountainside, he found himself feeling unnerved by the surrounding trees. The sound of eerie laughter echoing about him, he began to run as quickly as possible to a slight orb of light Jason could see further ahead of him.

 

“Jason, wait!” Carol called out, as the man was nearly leaving them behind.

 

He refused to wait. He wanted to feel as though he were safe. When the light disappeared, Jason, however, came to a slow stop. Sighing in defeat, he leaned against the nearest object, which he thought was a tree, only to find it was made of metal. Blinking in confusing, his eyes gazed up to see a soot covered and rusty sign that said: Welcome to Wind Knoll.

 

“Jason!” Kirk seemed to scold exhaustedly. “What's the big idea? The last thing we need is to get separated!” Before he could yell further, he looked up to see the sign that Jason too was dwelling upon. “Whoa…” Kirk hitched in breath, as he looked around what was left of the town. The roads were cracked and had blood nearly painting every few areas red. “What happened here…?”

 

“God dammit, I knew something happened!” Jason growled, as he hurried out into the streets. “Justin!” He yelled, hoping to have his twin brother answer him. “Justin, where are you!” Turning the corner, it was as if the town was deserted. The windows were broken and the doors appeared unlocked. Any neon sign that was still left on flickered as they threatened to burn out. “What the hell happened here…?”

 

Watching her step, Carol made it to one of the liquor stores nearby. She could hear music coming from within it. “Justin. Kirk. Come here.” Waving the boys over, she opened the door to the store to hear the bell ring to announce their arrival within the dark building.

 

The only lighting was a snowy-screened TV in the upper right corner above the checkout counter. Some old liquor bottles still lined the shelves while the others were smashed upon the floor. Mindful of the glass littering the ground, Kirk made his way to the front of his friends to check out what was behind the counter. He found the radio playing just inside of one of the shelves behind the desk. “Hello? Is somebody here?” Kirk called, as he shut off the radio, to avoid there being anymore noise.

 

Thinking she heard something behind her, Carol spun around to witness one of the broken bottles on the floor move slightly from side to side via disturbance of some kind. “Something doesn't feel right. We should leave,” she insisted, tugging on Jason's brown, leather jacket.

 

“Not without my brother!” Jason hissed angrily, pulling away from Carol to head to the door where staff workers were only allowed. “Hello? Is anybody here?” He asked, trying the light switch only to get nothing in response. “This is what I get for leaving home without a flashlight.”

 

Kirk knew there had to be a flashlight of some kind in the liquor store as he worked at one before when he was younger. Opening the drawers, he shifted through the papers and porn magazines to find one sure enough. He turned it on quickly to check and make sure it worked before tossing it to Jason. “Hey, Jay, catch!'

 

Catching the flashlight, Jason turned it on to search into the back room to find more stashes of different types of beer in boxes. The light panning around the dark closet, he stopped when he came across a blooded drape over some kind of figure. Jason slowly inched closer to the tarp to reach down and grab the edge with his fingers. He was hesitant about pulling it off at first, but he had to know what was behind it. When he jerked it away, he was horrified to see a burn and partially decomposed body lying there.

 

Carol screamed, as she turned around quickly she hurried out of the room only to find a disgruntled creature there waiting for her. It looked human but it that had its legs and arms bent in a sickening fashion to where the body crawled like a dog. The body was charred and the veins seemed to boil above the surface of the skin like lava. When its mouth opened, it breathed out a brief form of black flame.

 

Kirk reflexes were to kick the beast, and he did to keep it away from Carol, so all three of them could escape. As they ran through the store, they could hear the creature screaming as it burned most of the building with its flaming breath. Knowing that the fire would cause a reaction, all of them just managing to get out in time as the entire building went up in flames. Kirk guarded Jason and Carol with his own body to prevent any glass from getting on them during the blast.

 

“What the hell was that thing?” Jason asked aloud in shock, as he was helped to his feet thanks to his friend.

 

“It had a weird mark on its back,” Kirk pointed out, as he dusted the glass off of his shirt carefully. “It looked like a Celtic flame symbol or something.”

 

“What in God's name is going on here?” Jason wondered between them, as he looked up at the night sky with a shake of his head. He looked about the empty roads filled with nothing but old, beat up cars with a worrisome shake of his had. “Where are you Justin…?”