Betwixt Heaven and Earth

Ninth Divide: Predator and Prey

If she were to be asked which time of the day she loved the most, she would readily answer that she favored the twilight the most: that uncertain hour between day and night when neither is ruler of the world. It had been so ever since she was a child, when the Fae were nothing more than pretty, rather whimsical creatures that populated the stories that her mother read at night to help put her to sleep.

She knew better now, of course – had known better since she was nine years old. From the moment that she had seen her first faerie, and followed it into the eternal twilight of the Seelie Court, all her illusions of cheerful beings with pretty butterfly wings were altered significantly by the truth. Faeries, she learned, could be so beautiful as to be appalling, while the most strange-looking of their kind could possess a compelling attitude that overwhelmed any deformities they might have had.

Ever since then, it had been an almost perpetual adventure – as well as an eternal learning experience. Titania and Oberon had been looking for one such as her, whom they could school in their ways, in the hopes that she would become the arbiter between their world and hers. She accepted the role graciously, only too happy to be of service, for she had grown to love the Queen of the Seelie and her King as surrogate parents. From that moment on, she had lived with one foot in the everyday, mundane world, and another in the surreal world of the Seelie Court.

She could not have asked for more.

Something chattered softly next to her ear, and she smiled in response. "Yes, Boon⁽¹⁾, I know. He has been following us for a while now."

She stopped walking, but did not turn, instead allowed the rapidly-cooling afternoon breeze to brush past her, dead leaves skittering by her feet. She inhaled, and said: "What have you come for this time, Mizuki?"

A soft, velvety chuckle resounded somewhere behind her, and she turned to face this person head-on. It was a slender-looking man, with pale skin and ebony curls that fell around his face, framing it perfectly. The man raised an eyebrow at her, clucking his tongue in mild disapproval. "That is no way to greet an old friend, ."

    "I wonder: when were we ever friends?" 's gaze hardened. "What do you want? Or rather, what does your Prince want?"

Mizuki Hajime, the favorite human of the Prince of the Unseelie Court⁽²⁾, uttered that unsettling chuckle of his, and shrugged. "He wants what he always wants, : your hand in marriage that he may unite the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. You know that it has always been his goal."

    "Then he ought to come here and talk to me himself, instead of sending you." She waved her hand dismissively as she looked away. "I will have no parley with you, Mizuki – not now, not ever, especially if it involves your Prince."

    "If you wish to be stubborn about it, then very well, I shall bring the message to him." His voice took on a wicked lilt as he spoke. "I just hope that you are prepared for the consequences."

The words made 's blood run chill in her veins. She turned around once more, her eyes alight with anger. "What are you talking about?"

    "Nothing, really: simply that Himself⁽³⁾ will do anything if it means he will have you in the end."

    "If he has allied with Echizen—"

    "As I said, he will stop at nothing – even if it means that the Veil must be destroyed."

    "What's in it for you, then?" 's eyes were narrowed as she stared straight at Mizuki, trying to see behind that smug look on his face. "What did your Prince promise you? Eternal life and youth? Endless wealth? Knowledge beyond any that you could have ever imagined? All of the above?"

Mizuki waved his hand in dismissal as he turned around, and walked in the other direction. "It is not much, really: just the hand of a Fox Princess in marriage, a Fox Princeling for a personal page…and the head of a Fox Prince on a golden platter."

's eyes widened. Surely he was not thinking- "Mizuki, what you want is impossible."

Mizuki stopped, and looked over his shoulder at her, frowning. "And why is that?"

    "Do you truly believe that Fuji will let you get away with what you want without a fight? Myobu are not simple in their way of thinking, nor are they gentle in their vengeance."

    "And that is why I need Himself," Mizuki replied, a smirk curling on his face once again. "He is the only one who can give me what I want."

    "So you allied with him in order to take what you must earn?" shook her head. "You disgust me."

    "I'm glad that I do," Mizuki replied as he sketched a courtly bow, making it seem malicious even as he did so. He turned around again, and waved a hand. "Do make your decision quickly. The Prince is not a very patient person."

watched him go, waiting until he had disappeared around the corner. When she was certain that he was gone, she turned around, and started walking again, her pace quicker than before.

The Boon on her shoulder chirruped inquisitively, to which she responded with a shake of the head. "I cannot talk right now, Boon – not when others could be listening."

Night had already fallen, and she knew that it was the time for the Unseelie Court to come out and play. Their powers were strongest the moment night blanketed the world.

She was not safe outside at night – it rarely ever was.

--~*~||Ω||~*~--

    "There's been another ghoul disturbance."

Niou looked up, pausing in the middle of throwing the dice the moment walked in. He blinked. "Another one?"

nodded, and her face was grave in its expression.

He looked across the table at , who was busily counting the little pile of Monopoly money that she had stacked up next to her. "I thought you said that it was going to be quiet, ."

shrugged. "I said that Echizen wouldn't make any moves while he was busy looking for allies. I didn't say that he wouldn't play any games with us."

Kirihara gave her a look. "So you're saying that this is one of his games?"

    "What can I say? The kid doesn't like it when there's no trouble in the world, so he has to make it."

Yukimura walked in then. "I heard that there's been another ghoul disturbance." He glanced at . "Is it true?"

The Forsaken nodded her head solemnly in response. "What are you going to do?"

Yukimura smiled slightly, not showing any fang when he did so – a pretty trick that he must have learned long ago, or so Niou believed. "Send out a team that will deal with them – one that will include you, of course."

's brow furrowed. "Again? Why? I got into a whole lot of trouble the last time I went on a mission with anyone, and I don't want to cause any more trouble again."

    "But this time there will be more of you on the team, which means that, even if you do get in trouble, it won't take long for the others to get to you and make sure that you're safe." He glanced at the others. "Marui, , the two of you are to go farther out, take care of the ghouls that are not within a ten-meter radius of . Niou will handle the ones that are within that ten-meter radius."

Niou looked at Marui and , and noticed that the two of them were looking very warily at each other – or rather, Marui was: just looked as if her birthday and Christmas had come all at the same time.

She'll just leave him alone and let the ghouls kill him, Niou thought with a shake of the head. In such a case they really couldn't blame for Marui's death; after all, it wasn't as if it was her hand that had dealt the deadly blow. He had to make sure that didn't happen.

--~*~||Ω||~*~--

    "Marui, there are three ghouls at eight o' clock. , four for you at three o' clock."

The sound of dagger blades slicing into flesh synchronized with the soft sizzling of necromantic fireballs as they a similar type of flesh, offering an interesting counterpoint to the screams and howls of ghouls that were being sent right back to where they belonged.

managed to listen to all of this without wincing so much – she was already beginning to get somewhat used to the background noise that emanated through her headset. To keep her mind off the carnage that was occurring some distance away from her, she instead focused on watching the radar, while at the same time putting her skills to good use by attempting to search once again for Echizen.

If she were to be truly honest, she didn't want another encounter with him. The last one had been more than enough for her. But all the same, she wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. She wanted to know why it was that Echizen had chosen to appear before her, of all people – and why he was picking her out for "special treatment," as it were.

A soft chuckle emanated from nearby, and jerked her head up, thinking that it was Echizen again – only to realize that it was not, and she relaxed somewhat when she saw who it was.

Niou was nearby, leaning casually against a pillar with a small smile on his face. They were currently stationed in an old abandoned chapel – a relatively safe place to be, or so said: something about ghouls not wanting to be near graveyards since it reminded them of their mortality, or some such thing.

    "You know, if you concentrate too hard, you're just going to give yourself a headache," Niou remarked.

smiled wanly in response. "I already have a headache from this whole affair, so I don't think that it could hurt to keep on concentrating."

Niou laughed, and was surprised by how pleasing she found the sound. A part of her expected something different in the way that Niou laughed – he was, after all, a demon. But the way he laughed was no different from that of an ordinary human: warm with just a touch of cynicism. It was no sinister cackle such as had encountered in one too many bad horror movies.

    "Relax, ," Niou said as he peeled himself from the pillar and walked over to sit down beside her on the stone bench. "I know that you want to get to the bottom of all of this – we all do – but you got to learn to ease up a little. Sometimes, no matter how hard you concentrate, the answers won't come to you."

    "Marui, five ghouls at six o' clock," murmured, before she glanced up at Niou. "But I want to work fast. I want to get back to my normal life as soon as possible."

    "Really? That eager to leave me already?"

looked up at Niou, her mouth open to fire a response to that, but she stopped midway when she got caught up in his gaze: dark, swirling, and unfathomable, with a world of meaning that she could not even begin to perceive…

She snapped out of the trance when she heard a loud and insistent beeping from the laptop. When she turned to look, she hissed under her breath. Around two dozen ghouls had made it into the ten-meter radius that was under Niou's jurisdiction – which meant that Niou had to go and deal with them now.

    "Two dozen ghouls, heading this way," muttered, and in moments Niou's face had gone from teasing to deadly serious, his eyes going so cold that was somewhat frightened by the sudden shift in his mood.

Niou gave her a look. "Stay here, okay? And if anything comes your way, start screaming and shooting. This time, I won't be late, I promise." And with that, he took off into the shadows, intent on dispatching the ghouls back to hell.

In the meantime, knew that she had some serious work to do, so she went right back to it. Just as she did the first time, she allowed her mind to act like a modem, and hooked herself up to the enormous net of information that was part and parcel of the supernatural world. Her mind worked swiftly and smoothly, following pieces of information as if this came naturally to her. A part of her began to wonder why that was the case, but then she gradually began to realize that this was, perhaps one of her primary skills as a Forsaken.

Just like the first time, it happened quickly: in the middle of following a very promising thread of information, a flash of light blinded momentarily, and when she recovered her awareness, she found herself standing in the same white room that she had been in when she first met Echizen – only this time, the boy seemed a bit more solid than before, while the walls around him were the ones that wavered every now and then.

    "Congratulations," he said, that oh-so-innocent-yet-so-evil smile on his face. "You're still alive after that gift I gave you, and you managed to find me a second time."

knew that she had to get some answers, and fast, while he was still in front of her. "What are you trying to do?" she demanded. "Why are you doing all that you've done so far?"

Echizen smirked. "Isn't it obvious to you already? I want to destroy the Veil."

    "Why? Isn't the Veil the only thing that stands between you and the rest of the world? Don't you need it so that humans don't kill you?"

    "I am human, . I don't need the Veil to hide me, but I want it gone."

blinked. He was human? He wasn't some sort of demon or angel or whatever else there was out there? Then how in the world had he come upon so much power? How could he create ghouls, and even aspire to destroy the Veil?

    "What are you?" asked softly, suddenly realizing that she didn't want to be anywhere near this child with a devil's smile on a cherub's face.

Echizen smirked, and shook his head. ", you really are naïve. Let me educate you on one of the rules of the supernatural world: never expect your questions to be answered directly."

felt as if she was being pushed, and as she fell, she heard Echizen's voice echo in her mind: "I'll be sending you another present to play with, so I hope you have fun with that. But then I thought that it wouldn't be fair if your friends didn't get something as well, so I'll be giving them something fun, too. Hope you have fun trying to find out what that is…"

The flash of light overcame her vision again, just like it did the first time it happened. When it cleared, she was sitting right where she was before, laptop in front of her and beeping madly as a shadow suddenly loomed behind her, growling softly…

turned her head slowly, slowly, not really wanting to see what it was that Echizen had left for her this time. If it was like one of those faceless ghouls…

Her blood froze as she found herself staring up into a faceless head. Paralysis overcame her once more, and in some dim corner of her mind that grew dimmer as her consciousness started to slip, she began to wonder how in the world this greater ghoul had managed to get so close to her…she was near a chapel… said that ghouls couldn't come near because-

    "!"

She felt the death-grip around her neck suddenly release, and she dropped to the ground, coughing and wheezing as the faceless ghoul suddenly reared back, letting loose a scream that chilled her to the bone. She looked up, and watched as Niou came from out of nowhere, daggers in his hands that glinted in the watery moonlight before they disappeared into the greater ghoul's body. A shriek and a scream later, the monster disintegrated into dust, which in turn was scattered by the evening breeze.

Niou sheathed the daggers once again, and turned to , concern on his face. "Are you all right, ?"

nodded, and sat up slowly. "A little dizzy, but not as bad as the last time."

    "Looks like I came just in time then." Niou grinned, and winked. "Told you I wouldn't be late this time."

couldn't help but smile at him when he said that. "Yeah, you weren't late this time. Thanks, Niou."

    "What just happened here?"

looked up, and saw Marui and – the former with a dancing ball of fire in his hand, the latter wiping her two long daggers on her boots to clean the blades.

looked at Niou. "Did she get attacked again?"

    "Yeah," Niou replied as he helped back to her feet. "Same thing as before."

Marui snorted. "Good thing you were close. The greater ghoul didn't have much time to do so much damage. Whatever there is will heal on its own."

shook her head as she sheathed her daggers again. "That's good." She looked at . "I'm beginning to think you're more trouble than you're worth on these missions, kid. How'd they find you this time?"

    "I don't know," answered as she picked up the laptop and closed it. "I saw Echizen again, and when he sent me back here, that thing was already behind me."

    "What did Echizen tell you?" 's voice was dark and serious, and knew better than to mess with her at the moment.

    "He said that he was going to leave a present for me – that was the ghoul, I think – and that he was leaving a present for you guys."

    "Did he tell you what it was?"

shook her head. "No, he didn't. He said that we ought to have fun trying to find out ourselves…"

swore, and pulled her daggers out again. "If he wants us to play his stupid games, then fine, we'll play his games," she muttered. "Let's go. We still have a long night ahead of us."

--~*~||Ω||~*~--

The seals laid around the house broke with hardly a sound, save perhaps for the brief ripple of time and space as each one was shattered. But the shift was only barely noticeable, and did not arouse any suspicion from the residents of the house or its guardians.

Breaking the seals was the hard part, though it was not difficult at all for him to accomplish. After he had done so, it was a simple matter to pick the locks of the house, and from there make his way inside.

He smiled as he looked around: the house was not too large in proportion, but still quite roomy, and elegantly furnished with the intellectual in mind. Books were to be found everywhere: lined up in bookshelves, or piled up in somewhat haphazard but strangely appealing stacks on tables both large and small. He knew, of course, that the books he had seen – numerous as they were – represented only a fraction of the true number that could be found in this house. A greater majority were, in all likelihood, hidden away in the basement, inaccessible save to the mistress of the house and to those whom she chose to welcome as her friends.

But he had not come here to admire that. He had come here for a different purpose entirely, and he had to see to that before he saw to anything else.

With that thought in mind, he climbed up the stairs, his feet making nary a sound on the floor beneath him. He whispered down the hallways, attracting no attention – not even from the still, silent sentinels that stood guard at the doors of her room. He was old, older than these two who sought to keep watch over her. He had much time to learn the ways of magic, and they were serving him well now.

He did not even need to touch the door to get it to open; he merely waved a hand, and the catch inside the knob opened itself, the door swinging open on silent hinges. He walked through, the door closing behind him, just in time to mask the sound of the dagger that he drew out from underneath his clothes.

He moved towards the bed, as silent as the shadow that danced on the wall, and lifted his blade glistening with venom, preparing to stab it into the body of the woman who lay sleeping, wrapped in blankets and sheets.

This was to be the end of .

Proceed to [ The Tenth Divide ]

Return to [ The Eighth Divide ]
 

+ + + + + + + + + +
Kage
1.July.2006

NOTES:

(1)= As far as I can tell, the Boon (or Boone, I'm not quite sure of the spelling) is a creation of Brian Froud's, though it seems to be based on the Russian pooka. Since I have cast the Seelie Court in this story to look like the denizens of Faerie as portrayed by Brian Froud, I have decided to toss in the other creatures that he has portrayed. To find out what a Boon (or Boone) looks like, please visit this link: http://www.ergeal.ru/pix/froud/0002.jpg

(2)= The Unseelie, or Dark, Court is the counterpart and exact opposite of the Seelie. Whereas the Seelie are often projected as at least being considerate for the safety of humans, the Unseelie have nothing except the destruction of humankind on their minds.

In this story, Mizuki occupies more-or-less the same position as in the Unseelie Court.

As for the Unseelie Prince, he is a character that may come into play later, and who is a character created by my best friend Mlina for one of our other fics – even if the Unseelie Court is factual enough in terms of its existence in legends and folklore.

(3)= The use of "himself" instead of "he" or "him," and the use of "herself" instead of "she" or "her," occurs (so I understand it) in Ireland – the result of the mixing of Irish Gaelic with English. In terms of this story, the word is capitalized, making it a reference to the royalty of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts – though it is possible that it will be used in reference to Atobe, Shishido and Ohtori, since in this story they are Daoine Sidhe and Tuatha de Dannan royalty, respectively. Due to possible confusion, I have limited its use in the story.

THEME MUSIC: "Ancient Dragon's Fortress" – Yasunori Mitsuda