Hizashi Mansion, Chapters 7 & 8

Chapter 7: The Interrogation1

Due to being half conscious I don’t see much, but from what I can tell I’m being carried through seemingly endless halls of white. The building may look dark and dreary on the outside, but inside there is no shortage of light. Every time we turn a corner it’s like being hit with something straight from the Twilight Zone.2

Not that the walls are MADE of light. They’re just your average ordinary painted white walls, but from the looks of things they have high intensity florescent lights built into them. As if my sight wasn’t bad enough at the moment. At first the walls are bare, but when Aldan comes to a particular hall things start to look important.3

Plain metal doors, several of them, are stretched down both ends of this hall. Each has one of those annoying communication pads next to it. I curl into myself slightly in Aldan’s tight grip, waiting for that BEEP again...4

It doesn’t come. Yet, I hear the distinct sound of a door sliding open. Next thing I know, a warm, yet calm voice is moving smoothly through my subconscious. 5

“Bring in the assassin,” it says. Crap. My head shoots up, all pain forgotten. But not for long, because Aldan walks into the room and dumps me like a pile of dirty laundry into a hard, uncomfortable chair. Everything throbs. Then he steps back and returns to the closed door, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He looks away. Yeah, thanks a lot dude, I think. 6

When I’ve managed to compose myself as best I can in this weird chair, I look around the room. It’s almost exactly like an interrogation room in a police precinct...except those usually don’t involve more florescent lights do they? Not to mention this place is filled with creepy machines and various sharp objects made of silver. I freak out when my hands move over the chair unconsciously and realize it has restraints...hard, silver ones. What the hell?! This isn’t an interrogation room, it’s a torture chamber!7

“You should be afraid, murderer. You’ve committed a very serious offense rather carelessly.” That voice again. Even spiked with anger it’s warm, like honey in its sweetest season. I look to where it’s coming from, and the source is another very young, very beautiful man.8

He is sitting at a small gray table, small, slender hands folded in front of him. He’s dressed exactly like Aldan, the same black uniform with white buttons, but that’s where the similarities end. This man has a sweet, gentle and (I’m almost afraid to say) outgoing air about him, even when he’s looking at a person with absolute hatred. I can tell he can be cold and cruel when need be, but usually he’s the farthest thing from it. The glare he’s giving me now still bathes me in warmth. I’m captivated by his eyes. They’re amber like mine, only the tone is much deeper, and his hair is the lightest shade of chocolate and slightly unkept.9

This must be Kade. Taking him in, I have to wonder: are these people even human? Aldan, in looks, strength and speed, is far beyond a human. Kade, I can tell by looking at him, is the same, maybe better. Those flawless amber eyes narrow when I spend all this time staring at them. 10

“Why so entranced, vampire? Surely you have heard of me,” that sweet voice says. Alright, that’s it. Now it’s MY turn to get narrow.11

Without lowering my gaze, I say, “I am not a vampire.”12

Kade raises an eyebrow, then looks amused for a moment. He turns to look at Aldan, and they share that particularly irritating grin. 13

“Is that so? What are you then?” 14

“Human. The same as you, I presume?” I answer. More raised eyebrows, but this time it looks like I’ve surprised him. Maybe it’s starting to dawn on him that I’m not in any way, shape or form like a vampire. And why are these people talking about vampires anyway? I glance over at Aldan. He’s staring at me coldly. I’m glaring back, when suddenly I’m asked a question I never thought these people would ask.15

“Who are you?”16

I don’t know what to say to that. I turn back to Kade, who has an odd expression on his face. Take interest and the tiniest pinch of confusion, make it beautiful and you’ve got the way he was staring at me. I open my mouth, then close it again. I lower my eyes to my hands, still cuffed together in my lap. God, where do I even begin?17

“Perhaps an easier question to start. What is your name?” Kade asks me. Now I can hear patience and even more calmness in his voice. Without looking over at Aldan’s corner, I can feel his eyes flashing in shock. He’s starting to protest, but Kade silences him with a look. I can understand his outrage. Obviously, interrogating a suspected murderer shouldn’t be this friendly. But I like Kade. I make a silent oath to ignore Aldan and cooperate with him.18

“What is your name?” he asks again with a bit more force.19

“I heard you,” I say. “My name is Ray.”20

He absorbs this, trying it out on his own tongue. “Ray...like a ray of the sun?” he inquires. I just stare at him. Huh? 21

“Uh...I guess...it’s short for Arayna.” What is it with these people and light? Kade looks again at Aldan, who’s looking away. Shaking his head, he turns back to me. The questions continue. 22

“And where do you come from?” 23

“Wait a minute.” I can’t help but interrupt, because I feel I should say something to save that guy’s pride over there. The tension in this room is killing me. “Why are you being so nice? What happened to the girl I apparently killed?” 24

It seems I’ve completely mastered how to surprise this guy. A smirk forms on his perfect mouth, and for the first time since I got here, Kade starts to really look at me. His gorgeous eyes scan over me from top to bottom, taking my entire body in, and with the intensity of that stare I feel almost violated. Now I KNOW he’s not human. Sure, a beautiful man can look at a woman and make her insides melt, but this is completely different. I turn my head to the side, closing my eyes. Shivers ripple down my spine. I don’t know how to describe what those eyes are doing to me. It feels like he has dunked me in a hot bath and cleared my mind of everything troublesome and uncertain. 25

“Kade, what the hell are you doing?!” I hear Aldan’s voice in my subconscious, and he sounds pissed. “You’re LINKING with her?! You know that’s forbidden, what’s gotten into you?! SHE KILLED LUCY!”26

Suddenly, with a jolt like someone dumping cold water on me, the link is broken. In the last seconds that Kade and I are “linked” I feel the rage burn up in him. I’m pretty groggy and my sight’s a bit blurry, but I don’t miss it at all when Kade’s fist comes in contact with the table, silencing Aldan. The black haired man freezes, knowing he’s gone too far. 27

“Let me ask you a question, Aldan.” Kade’s voice is still completely calm. “Do you sense any vampire energy coming from this girl at all? Did you search her for the Kage’s mark? Did you do ANYTHING going by procedure when you captured this young woman?”28

Whoa. Aldan had broken the rules and angered the boss. The fuzziness in my head is starting to clear now, and I’m glad. I would like to see Aldan humiliated after beating my next three lives out of me. I turn my head to look at him, and for a split second, our eyes meet. He tears his gaze away from mine swiftly and looks at the floor. 29

“No,” he whispers. I can hear anger, shame, and guilt all saturating that one word. For the first time, I see Aldan with his guard down. And it’s heartbreaking.30

Kade gets up from the table and walks over to Aldan. It seems the two men have completely forgotten I exist, and that’s fine...for now. I won’t be treated like another chair for long. But in this moment, there are definitely things that need to be said.31

“Do you not remember your training?” Kade says softly to him. “No matter the victim, even if it’s the most important person to you, you must ALWAYS follow procedure. Now, thanks to you, we may have a completely innocent human girl in our custody instead of the beast who REALLY killed your wife. You were blinded with rage and I understand that, but you must not let those emotions cloud your judgement. Do that and it will be way too easy for the Kage to take control of you.”32

Aldan looks like he’s about to cry. His bright blue eyes are glossed over. “But...Lucy...” 33

“I know.” Kade puts a hand on his shoulder and gives it a squeeze. For a moment time freezes, and I feel a lump forming in my own throat. Poor Aldan. Suddenly I don’t see him as a heartless jerk anymore. He’s just a man who loved his wife very, very much, and what he did to me is definitely understandable. The only person I have that I really love is Sasha. If anything happened to her, I know I would do the exact same things as Aldan. 34

Then the sweet moment unfreezes, and Kade has turned to look at me again.35

“However,” he says, “the link was unsuccessful. I cannot be sure that this girl really is human. She could be a vampire with a really well made disguise.”36

Is he serious? What does it take to convince these people?!37

“Aldan, I want you to take her to the medical facility. We’ll run tests on her to be positive, then we can determine if she is the assassin who killed Lucy.”38

Yay. Now I have to deal with doctors and needles and get poked and prodded for the next twenty four hours. My day is almost complete. Kade gestures me to the door and I get up as quickly as I can manage. This time when we leave together, Aldan makes no move to touch me.39

Chapter 8: The Tests 40

The medical facility is located at the back of the building, past many more important looking halls and down two incredibly bright staircases. Aldan leads the way, but walks so fast it seems he’s moving at hyper speed. He’s purposely avoiding me now, which I was kind of expecting. Poor guy. I try not to blatantly pity him, because when I make a mistake the last thing I want cast my way are pitiful looks. He would beat me up some more, but doesn’t want to get on the bad side of Kade again. I don’t blame him. That guy’s scary when he’s angry. 41

After about ten minutes we come to a metal door wider than the others on one of the lower decks. Aldan pushes a button on the communication pad, but the loud BEEP has been replaced with a soft click. 42

“Yes?” a cheerful female voice says from inside.43

“I take it Kade told you of your new subject?” Aldan asks through the screen.44

“Oh yes!” answers the voice. “Is she here?”45

Aldan, when he thinks I’m not looking, casts a look I can’t read my way. He isn’t looking at me with hatred, rage and pain anymore, but at the same time it hasn’t softened much. The dislike is still there, but now when he looks at me, he’s confused more than anything. Maybe now that his eyes aren’t clouded over with resentment he can finally see I’m just your average human girl, but covered with the bruises he gave me. I lower my head so that my hair falls forward into my eyes.46

“Yeah, she’s here. Open the door.” 47

The door to the medical bay opens with the same silent, fluid motion as the interrogation room, and from its midst walks a young woman dressed in a white suit with a yellow badge on the sleeve.48

I can’t help but be happy at coming in contact with another female. I’ve been “handled” so to speak by two very frightening men for what seems like decades. This girl looks about the same age as Aldan...and yes, she’s just as beautiful as he. Her hair is a dark, rich brown, almost red, and tied up in a long ponytail at the back of her head. The free strands, waving and twisting through each other like weeds, drape behind her and barely touch the curve of her back. Her eyes are identical to Aldan’s in depth, only instead of blue, they are a deep emerald green. She carries a sort of clipboard in one hand, and flashes me a blinding smile at the sight of me outside. 49

“Well well, pleased to meet you, Miss Ray!” she says in a sweet, young voice like that of a child. She extends a hand to me, and a little creeped out, I take it. Finding it very difficult to speak at that moment, all I manage is a small nod to tell her I’m pleased to meet her too.50

Aldan clears his throat loudly, and the woman seems to deflate before turning to him. “Sir, I’m aware of the situation. Once again, I don’t care if you don’t like my greeting tactics. Not all of us were trained to be cold and antisocial.” 51

He glares at her as I try my hardest to fight down a hysterical laugh. Wow. This girl may be excessively happy, but she sure can handle herself. I like that. I think I’ll cooperate with her.52

“Please report to Kade that the test results will be on his desk this evening,” she’s telling Aldan, and with that, she turns to me. “Please come inside.” With a wave of fiery hair, she walks back into the medical center, and casting Aldan one last look, I follow her. His powerful blue eyes drill into me until the door slides closed behind me.53

The room I’m standing in now is huge and open, with creamy white walls that go up and join the ceiling in one deep curve that goes all the way around. There are no corners, and of course, the place is overflowing with florescent light. Other people who are dressed in the same uniform as the woman are scurrying about, moving and working. Some are cleaning instruments, others using computers, and others keep running back and forth between this room and one of the other three doors besides the one I’m standing at.54

“Please come over here, Miss Ray.” The woman is standing at a station off to the right of the door. She’s flipping through the documents clasped in her clipboard type thing, looking frustrated. She doesn’t look at me when I walk quietly over and stand in front of the cloth covered table, laying my hands gently on its surface because I have to put them somewhere. After a few minutes of listening to the rest of the medical staff at work, she finds the page that she’s looking for. “Huh. That’s interesting.”55

I raise my eyes from the table and am surprised when they lock with hers. Her soft, green gaze is bright with curiosity and concern. Sympathy is in there too. Great. She must have the whole story written on that piece of paper. Before I can stop myself, I’m asking, “What are you going to do with me?”56

She tilts her head to the side like a puppy that’s heard an intriguing sound, but the look in her eyes remains the same. I’m so glad she’s not like Aldan or Kade. The woman glances quickly at her paper again before answering.57

“Nothing serious. Kade just wants me to run a few tests. He tells me you’re a suspected vampire, and were seen running from the scene of a murder.”58

My nails dig into the scratchy white of the cloth. They draw in instinctively as my jaw clenches in anger. I’m going to say it straight out and hopefully she’ll believe me. She at least knows how Aldan is. “I didn’t kill that woman.”59

She looks at me. Her eyes are filled with nothing but concern now. “Kade doesn’t think so, but he wants to be sure.” She lowers the papers she’s been holding and lays the now closed clipboard thing on her supply cart. “Lucy was precious to us all.”60

I bet. Didn’t doubt it for a second. I sigh to myself, looking down at my hands drawn into themselves as a thousand questions scream in my mind. How am I ever going to get out of this mess? Am I ever going to find out where I am? Will I ever see home again? And what about Lucy? Will her husband hate me forever for NOT killing her?61

“Please sit on the table, Miss Ray. I’d better begin if I’m going to avoid the wrath of the boss,” the woman tells me.62

Yikes. The wrath of the boss. I shiver at the rather fresh memory of the sight I witnessed. “Yeah, we’d better avoid that. When he’s angry, he’s really scary.”63

The woman stops her gathering of materials from the cart. I clap my hands over my mouth when I realize that I said that out loud. Man, I am so stupid. I expect her to get angry, but actually, when I make myself look at her, she’s smiling at me. I’m so surprised that I can hardly think straight. 64

“Well finally. Someone else who thinks so.” Her smile widens and her eyes shine. It’s so beautiful and captivating. When I recover as much as I can from her unexpected reaction to what I said, I can’t help but return it. We’re both still smiling as I walk over to the table’s front and boost myself onto it.65

Without another word, the woman gets to work on me. Her procedure is a bit different from the way things are done back home, but she has the same basic idea. Looked at my eyes, my mouth, listened to my heart. The throbbing pain in my body retreated to a dullness that could be easily ignored, and I couldn’t feel be more happy about that. She treated and bandaged the really bad wounds. It was a bit awkward when she asked me to take off my clothes so she could examine me for the Kage’s mark, but it only took a few minutes. After that’s over with, we come to my favorite part. Needles.66

“You’re going to take blood aren’t you?” She gives me a reassuring grin as she fastens a delicate needle into place. 67

“Yes. I have to for your DNA test. Don’t worry, this will only hurt for a moment.” That’s what they tell you back home when it’s going to hurt like hell, and sure enough, it stings horribly. I hiss in pain as the thin stick punctures my skin, the doctor’s slender fingers working certain points of adjustment before drawing it out slowly. I sigh in relief when the needle, the compartment above it full of deep crimson blood, slides easily out of my skin.68

“You know, you’re a better doctor than the ones where I come from. You may have said the same thing they do, but at least you actually care about the pain,” I say. The woman looks up from concentrating on the needle, and tilts her head at me again. It still reminds me of a puppy. A very pretty, very curious little puppy. When the doctor tilts her head, it makes me smile. But the question she asks me wipes that smile right off.69

“Where do you come from?”70

I stop breathing, and close my eyes in complete loss. Driven into another corner, once again I don’t know how to answer. My mind goes completely blank as I look down at my knees. My legs start kicking the air aimlessly of their accord. I want to be gone. I want to sink beneath the floor and have it take me back to the hellhole I call home. I want to be anywhere but here, with those amazing emerald eyes shining at me.71

I start when I feel a hand lay itself on my shoulder. The doctor is looking at me with that concerned face again. Against my better judgement, I’m starting to love that look. But only when she gives it to me. I’m also starting to grow attached to her voice, especially when it’s speaking to me gently as it is now. 72

“You’re definitely not one of the Kage. I knew that when I first saw you, the tests be damned,” she’s telling me. “That also means that there’s no way you could have murdered Lucy, because the Kage were the only ones that wanted her dead.” She draws her hand away and sweeps some lose hair behind her ear. “Besides, your soul is pure. I highly doubt there’s enough evil in you to even think about taking a life, Miss Ray.” 73

I’m staring at her. I can’t help it. I can understand how she knows I’m not one of the Kage, but how does she know my soul is pure? I swallow and look down at my clumsy hands again. The intensity in her eyes is starting to freak me out. “Doctor, where am I exactly? What is this place?” It's not Leadsville, I know that's for sure. It might not even be Earth. I highly doubt it is, so when I ask, I decide to assume I'm no longer on my home planet. But...where does that lead for me to be. 74

The woman pauses from gathering her materials, and flinches visibly. “Don’t call me doctor. It makes me feel overworked.” She flashes me another smile, this one the most radiant so far. “Call me Jenka. It’s my name after all.” 75

Jenka. Wow. The name fits her, I don’t know how I know that. I return her smile with more confidence this time, and begin again. “Jenka...I’m from a place called Earth. It’s a planet actually, and...well, let’s not get into that. I think you have the idea. Somehow I ended up in this place when I found an old house in my favorite wood. I was running, and that’s when Aldan showed up.” It feels weird to be telling somebody all of this because it sounds crazy to me, but Jenka doesn’t seem to notice. She’s just listening. I have to take a deep breath to steady myself before I can say more. “I had cut my hand when I tripped earlier on, and when Aldan saw the cut, he thought it was Lucy’s blood. Apparently I ran by his house without knowing it, and that’s why he thinks I killed her. He beat me up and brought me here, and when he and Kade interrogated me, they both thought I was a vampire.” I force myself to meet her eyes once again. “Is that what the Kage are? Vampires?” 76

I can tell I’ve asked an uncomfortable question, but I have to know. Jenka is looking at me with a mixture of sorrow, pain and anger. She shakes her head and leans her head against her arms. She lets out a soft, sad sigh. “Aldan, you fool. Involving an innocent human girl in a war inside a world she knows nothing about.”77

My eyes widen in shock and fear. My mouth drops open and I stare at her. I’ve pretty much forgotten how to breathe. “You’re...at war?” 78

Jenka looks up and meets my eyes. All the light has gone from them. There’s nothing in them now but cold sympathy, like a candle that’s been blown out by a stormy wind. It makes me feel hollow inside. It makes me wonder where the cheerful doctor that treated me has gone.79

“Yes. Miss Ray, I had no idea it was this bad. Please forgive Aldan. He will be punished for his reckless and selfish actions.” There’s an edge in her voice that makes me shiver with fear. In this state, I realize that she’s just like Kade. These people seem human, but either they’re not or they are something more.80

“I know of the planet Earth, of course I do. There was a time when we lived there as well,” she continues. There’s a faraway look in her eyes, and damn, she looks so overwhelmingly sad. “I’ve never seen it, but I hope to someday. My parents used to tell me stories. Kade used to tell Aldan and me. It sounds just like paradise.”81

I can’t help but snort at that. Earth? Paradise? Sure. But that’s easy for me to say. Jenka has never been there. She’s looking at me in confusion, and I mentally smack myself for interrupting her. “I’m sorry. Go on,” I tell her.82

“The Kage were originally from Earth too,” Jenka says after a moment. “You asked what this place is, where we are now. The truth is, I can’t really tell you, because this world is what the Kage and the Hikari are warring over. It’s a fertile world.”83

I narrow my eyes, trying to understand. “Fertile?” 84

“That’s right. It means it has strong magickal capability. It also means that it’s unclaimed, untouched, meaning it has no dominant species living here.” Jenka looks at me, and her eyes are still scaring me with their deep vividness. It’s like their rigged to look inside me, and I feel the same way as when Kade linked with me. “A powerful land with no name. That is why the Hikari and the Kage both want it.”