Chapter 10

  The drive was the most tense car drive Yuki had ever been in. She was filled with a heavy fog of fear, terror and self-doubt. She kept asking Lady Mirabelle the same question: “What if we fail? What if we can't rescue the girls? What if there are too many cultists? What if we die?”

  Lady Mirabelle for once had no answers. She just shrugged. “If we die, we die. Our world will end, and so why worry about it?”

  Yuki felt she had been slapped.

  “Listen, Yuki. I know you're scared, I am also scared. I have never done anything like this before in my life. I'm a witch with fae glamour, for God's sake. I have no experience of combat or fighting or taking down people. You, with your cursing in the last few days, have killed more people than I have in my whole life. Even Royce rarely has to use violence; most of his cases are solved peacefully or by involving the police.”

  For the first time in her life, Yuki saw Mirabelle's calm and confident exterior start to crack.

  “I tried calling a few friends,” she said, “but no one wants to help us. All the witches and wizards, all the supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves - they all know or suspect what's going on. They all know a big sacrifice is about to go down. They know they should all be scared. Because the creatures on the other side don't care about us. They don't care if you're a human, a witch, or a powerful werewolf. We are all food for them.

  Yet, no one offered to help. No one even wanted to talk to me. They hung up as soon as I asked for help. People I've known for twenty or thirty years are ignoring me. I have never seen such cowardice. I have never seen such an extreme case of self-delusion; like little children hiding their heads under their blankets and hoping the monster will go away. I was hoping that the many people I called my friends, people I've known for ten or twenty years, and people whose lives I've saved, I was hoping they would at least give me moral support. But no one is with us. It's just the two of us: me with my charm magic, and you with your inexperienced, three-day-old, recently-activated magic.”

  The road was empty as they had left the main city. There were no streetlights on the country roads they were driving. They could literally see just a few feet in front of their car. Their current journey seemed to be taking them into an unknown dark with no idea of what they would expect on the next turn.

  “Not even Ivan, that vampire we met? And Royce? Isn't he recovered? You said he has some experience with fighting?”

  “He does, but he said there's something else he needs to check. I trust his judgement. Besides, I went to see him around lunchtime when you were researching on your computer. He was having trouble walking up the two stairs of his apartment. No, I cannot ask him to come on this journey with us. He wouldn't have said no, but then we would only have been putting his life at risk.

  And Ivan has vanished. His night club has a notice saying it has shut down by the council, and all his supernatural patrons have also vanished. I see the signs of Unit 7 here. Clearly they swooped down and vanished everyone. It's like we're living in 1960s Soviet Russia. The bastards can just pick up anyone anytime they like, and there is nothing we can do about it.”

  She took a deep breath. “I hope we are not next. I'm surprised they haven't vanished me yet, seeing as how much I know about this.”

  That was a really poor choice of words.

  Because the very next second a huge jeep rammed into them and drove them off the road within seconds. Armed men wearing black clothes and black balaclavas smashed the windows of the car and dragged lady Mirabelle out.

  “Do not move! Do not move! Or we will shoot!” they shouted out orders.

  Mirabelle’s head and face were bleeding, and she was not moving when they dragged her out. They put a black bag over her head, tied her wrists with a rope, and threw her into the jeep.

  “What about the girl?” asked one of the kidnappers.

  “Leave her,” said another. “He wants her. He's coming for her.”

  Yuki didn't know how long she just lay there in shock. She felt a trickle of blood flow down her forehead. She had made sure not to wear anything red today. But it seems that colour red had caught up with her.

  After what felt like a long time, but could have been minutes, Yuki opened the door to the car and got out. It was pitch dark, and she had no idea where she was. The headlights of the car Mirabelle had been driving were still on, and she could see they were in some sort of farm, but other than that, the headlights told her nothing.

  And just as she got out, the headlights went off, leaving her in the extreme darkness of the night. It was supposed to be a red moon tonight, but the clouds were covering it, and she could see nothing. She could feel the rough ground beneath her. It was soft, so she must be on farmland.

  She stood there for minutes thinking about what to do - which direction to choose. Her cold, heavy breath weighed her down and her hands shook with fear. She wanted to go down into a huddle and cry; she wanted to lie down on the floor and just give up; but no, those girls were counting on her. Lady Mirabelle was counting on her.

  Yuki realised she should have been paying more attention to the GPS; it would've told her how far she was away from the farmhouse. But she didn't know; she could be 10 minutes away, she could be three hours away.

  Gently by kicking the dirt under her feet, she walked back to what she thought was the main road and thankfully found it soon. Hard road. She would just have to follow the road, and no matter how many hours it took, she would have to continue walking on it until she saw the farmhouse or the sun appeared.

  Not being able to see anything, she just walked by the field of her feet. Her tears flowed freely all through the walk. She remembered her childhood, her parents murdered, her innocence stolen from her along with her healing magic. She thought of those lonely nights she had slept alone, crying herself to sleep, hoping someone would come and rescue her, but no one had come. She had spent years in despair, years feeling hopeless, waking up every day wondering if it would be her last. Something she still thought of even now.

  She had not given in to the darkness yet because this mission had given her hope, had given her something to live for. These young girls would not cry themselves to sleep; they would have a heroine come to rescue them.

  At least, that's what Yuki kept telling herself. It was the only way she could force herself to move one foot after another. And each step felt like she was walking in lead shoes, but she forced herself to walk. She wouldn't let those girls down like the grown-ups in her life had let her down.

  She must have been really deep in her thoughts because she didn't see the car lights until they were almost on her. The car stopped a few feet away from her, and the door opened.

  Even though she was in the headlights and was blinded by them, there was no doubt. She knew who the man was even before he had opened the door. She now understood why the men who had kidnapped Lady Mirabelle had left her here.

  It was the big bad wolf. He had come to get her.

  Her heart filled with hate, so much hate that she felt the heart would go black. She reached into her purse and took out all of her curses, every single bone she had picked the last night.

  She was going to curse him with everything she had.

  She reached for every bad memory she had. Every time she had been humiliated. Every time she had been bullied. Every time at school when the boys had called her plain and ugly but had still tried to sexually harass her. Every time the teachers hadn't believed her and told her to go back to her seat. Every time she had slept hungry because orphanage she lived in didn't have enough food and too many kids.

  Every single bad memory. She took it all in, channelled it through her bones, and sent it toward the man standing in front of her. It was enough hate and dark energy to have killed a thousand men.

  It had no effect on him.

  He ran towards her and punched her hard, real hard, sending her flying to the cold cement road. He snatched the curses from her hand and threw them into the dark field. Then, grabbing her by the hair, he lifted her until she was screaming in pain. He put some sort of a belt around her neck. The belt was made of a cold metallic element that seemed to freeze the blood in her veins.

  “You bitch,” he said. “Do you think you are the first person with dark magic who has tried to kill me? I have more magical defences than you could possibly imagine, defences I have been building for a hundred years.”

  He opened the trunk of her car and pointed in. “Look, I got your friend as well. Have a lie with her. You'll be joining her soon.”

  Yuki realised in terror that Isabella was lying in the trunk of the car.

  Dead.

  ***

  She was roughly pushed into the boot and the boot was shut down on her. The car started moving.

  And that was when Yuki gave up hope.

  It was all over. Mirabelle was gone, Isabella was dead, and she would be dying soon too. She had failed completely. She was too tired to even feel self-disgust or self-loathing anymore. What was the use? Why waste any energy on emotions when she was going to die?

  And then Yuki did something she hadn't done for almost 12 years. She closed her eyes and prayed. “If there is something out there, please help me now. I really need some help. I don't know what to do, God. I don't know what to do.”

  As warm tears flowed down her cheeks, she felt someone stroking her hair. It was Isabella. Isabella spoke to her in her head. I am sorry, Yuki. He got me before I even had a chance to understand what was going on. But please save my sister. I cannot stay here long. They are saying I need to move on. Please promise me you'll find my sister. They say she is not at the camp where you are being taken, so you will have to find her some other way.

  “Who is they?”

  I can't tell you, you wouldn't understand. Promise me you'll find my sister. Please promise me. Make sure she is safe and send her back to Spain to my parents. Tell my sister and parents I love them. And I wish I could have been a better daughter and sister, that I could have taken care of them. It wasn't good enough, but I tried my best. Tell them I love them and I'll think of them every day. Goodbye, Yuki.

  “Goodbye Isabella, and I promise you I'll find your sister if she is still alive, and if I am still alive.”

  And at that moment, the car stopped and the boot was opened. Yuki was pulled out by her hair and thrown to the ground. It was soft ground with grass on it.

  Yuki had a quick look around to see where she was at and if there was any chance of escaping.

  None.

  There was zero chance of escape.

  She was in some sort of prison camp.

  She was in a well-built and well-maintained garden of some sort. There were many trees, a small lake, and at the end, an electrified razor fence. It went around the property and covered it completely. And there were automated guns on all corners.

  “Yes, if you try to leave, the guns will shoot you. They are AI-controlled and cannot be stopped by magic. They're programmed to shoot anyone who comes too close to that fence, so don't even think about going there.”

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  Yuki was dragged by her hair and taken inside the house, which was really well lit. Almost a dozen young girls from age 8 to 12 were sitting in the middle of a huge hall with their arms tied behind their backs. All were wearing red dresses.

  “You really are the big bad wolf, aren't you?” said Yuki. “And with a fetish for young girls in red clothes.”

  “Oh, you wouldn't believe it if I told you,” said the wolf. “I go through so many of these girls. It's becoming harder and harder to hide from the police. I started the whole United Nations refugee gig just so I could get more girls from overseas. But what can I do? My hunger forces me.”

  Saying this, he dragged one of the older girls who might have been 12 or 13 and shoved his nose down her private parts, smelling like a wild dog in heat. The girl whimpered in fear but didn't dare move. Clearly they had been trained not to offer assistance. The wolf stopped sniffing after some time and got up. “Yep, she's a virgin. Virgins are tastier.”

  Yuki felt her anger boiling over.

  “You disgusting monster, do you have no shame? She's barely a child. If you are so lustful, why don't you sleep with older women? I saw how women were throwing at you last night at the party. Why don't you satisfy your disgusting hunger on them?”

  He smiled showing almost a hundred sharp teeth.

  “Ah, yes, the party. You were there with that little fae bitch of yours. You thought by staying away from you from me you could hide? How little respect you have for me. I clearly saw you following me. In fact, I slowed down so you would catch up to me. Of course I knew you were there. I hope you enjoyed the show I put on for you. Normally, I would have killed those three men in seconds, but since you were watching I thought I'd make it interesting.”

  “You monster, you filthy animal. Why did you kill Isabella? She was no threat to you, she was harmless.”

  “It was an accident. Trust me, it was an accident. I tried to smell her, but she wasn't a virgin. In fact, she was a whore. I lost control for a few seconds, and before I realised it she was dead. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.”

  Before Yuki could see anything, he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her in the air. “Don't move,” he said, “Don't move.”

  She tried to scratch his face, but that just made him angry.

  He took two of her fingers and bit down on them until Yuki was screaming in pain.

  “I forgot you haven't been trained like these other girls here. Every time you resist me, I will hurt you. Resist me again, next time I will chew your fingers off. Do you understand?”

  She nodded through blinding pain. He put on her table like a filthy animal, started smelling her down there. Yuki was trembling with fear and wanted to run, but remembered the pain she had felt when he had been biting on her fingers. More than the physical pain, it was a humiliation. This was even worse than the time that man had tried to rape her.

  After a few seconds the wolf looked up, “You're a virgin, just as I suspected. Good, I always need more food. Yummy, yummy.”

  “So, is this it?” she asked. “You just kill us?”

  “Don't worry, darling, it won't be immediate. I am going to make you last a few weeks. I might even let you live if you cooperate with me and open your legs when I tell you.”

  He must have noticed a look of shock in her eyes.

  “Of course, dear. What do you think I do with young girls? I don't kill them, at least not purposefully. I have my fun with them, especially the little ones, they are so tight down there.”

  Yuki felt sick to the stomach and wanted to vomit, but she hadn't eaten anything, so only an acidic bile came up her throat.

  “That is so wrong! What's wrong with you? They are children! They are only children!” She screamed at him. “We thought you were a member of the cult, you were going to sacrifice these girls because it's the red moon. Where are the other cultists? Are they okay with your disgusting and animal-like behaviour? Wait, even animals don’t ravish their own children. Even animals don't go this far.”

  He burst out laughing. “Oh, you thought I'm a part of that cult that's trying to open the portal to hell? Oh no, you silly goose! I have nothing to do with them; in fact, I despise them. Oh, don't look so surprised now, come, come. I don't want to end the world; I enjoy the world. I enjoy the feeling when I take these young virgin girls and I break their bodies, their spirits, and their hearts. I love seeing the dead in their eyes as they open their legs for me and hope to die every time I have my little fun with them. Why would I want all this to end? Oh no, no, nothing like that.”

  “But you are involved with them. We know it. We know you've been working with them.”

  “Yes, our interests align. We both want virgin girls, but for different reasons. Plus, those cultists have a lot of money, and the bribes I pay have been increasing every day as the police have been asking more and more questions. So I reached an agreement with them. I would provide them with some girls - the ones who were ugly or not virgins. The cultists have no real way of knowing; they just sacrifice them by the hundreds and hope there are enough innocent souls in there to invite their demonic god into our world.”

  He suddenly thought of something and burst out laughing. He laughed so much that he had to hold onto the table to steady himself.

  “I get it now. You came here to stop the sacrifice of innocent girls. You came to the wrong place. The cultists are carrying their sacrifice on the other side of the city. In fact, in only an hour will begin the ritual and kill almost a thousand innocent people. Some of them are grown-ups, old men and women and families. I gave them all the stock I had that I brought over from Afghanistan and Iraq this year. They care more about quantity than quality.”

  He stopped laughing. “My dear, my child, if you wanted to save the world, you've come to the wrong place. I am not a cultist so I’m not taking part in their idiotic and backward ritual.

  But it doesn't matter, you're going to die today. You are too dangerous, even with that magic nullifying necklace around your neck. I know you can still access some magic.”

  It wasn't true; Yuki couldn't access her magic.

  So she had to buy time. She couldn't die; not like this, not without saving at least one of the innocent girls.

  But no matter how hard she tried, her magic wouldn't come.

  She looked around and saw a mirror. In the mirror, she saw her reflection move as if by itself. The reflection whispered to her, You can use magic, but not curse magic. Remember what the Storyteller told you: Very few stories have a happy ending. Use the magic of the story to end this one.

  Yuki replied: But I can't. My magic has been cancelled. This necklace around my neck is sucking all my life force and magic out of me.

  The trick is not to use your own magic but the magic of the story. The story is more powerful than you, the wolf, than me, than all of us. So use the magic of storytelling.

  And Yuki understood what she had to do.

  She turned to the wolf. “Unlike the other girls, I'm not wearing any red. Wouldn't you like it if I dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood, and you could be the big bad wolf? We could play together in the garden outside just like in the stories. You could rip me to pieces there.”

  “Oooh kinky! I love it. I need to take a shower anyway and then bury a dead body. Go through that room and find yourself a good sexy red dress. Don't bother putting on any underwear, it only slows us down. I'll be back in a few minutes. And don’t even think about trying to escape, there is no exit, and like I warned you, if you resist me, I will chew off your fingers one by one until you understand that I'm the one in control here.”

  “Understood, sir,” said Yuki. “I'll just put on sexy clothes, no underwear, and I'll meet you out in the garden. Give me 10-15 minutes. Is that fine? I need to clean myself a bit too.”

  “Honey, take all the time you want. I am glad you're enjoying this; it makes it less painful for both of us.”

  Yuki went through the room he had mentioned and found it was full of young girls' clothes - hundreds and hundreds of them. All of them looked like they had been worn. Tears came to her eyes - were these all his victims?

  She wiped the tears; she had no time. She didn't know who the young girl in the mirror, who looked like herself, had been. Had it been the Storyteller or had it been the Goddess of Stories? She had no way of knowing, especially with her magic sealed. But that person had given her the idea she needed to end the story.

  And if her hunch was correct, it would also explain why the wolf-like man couldn't be killed with weapons - because in none of the stories was the big bad wolf killed by machine guns or swords.

  Yuki searched through the clothes until she found she was looking for. It was hard to find the exact type of clothes she wanted, but she found it and put them on. She needed one more thing - a special weapon that was mentioned in all the stories.

  Luckily, there was a gardening shed nearby, full of equipment and tools. She found what she was looking for and ran back to her room. And just in time as she heard the beast call out.

  “Where the hell are you? I don't see you in the garden.”

  “I'm in here, my child. You can come see me here,” Yuki replied.

  The wolf-like man came into the room to find Yuki sitting on the bed, a blanket pulled up to her neck.

  “What the hell is this? Why are you wearing those filthy homeless clothes? You look like an old woman.”

  “Who is that?” asked Yuki. “Is that you, my little child? Come near, I cannot see you. My eyes aren't what they used to be.”

  A bit confused, the man came closer to her. “What game is this?

  “Child, is that you? What big eyes you have,” said Yuki.

  “What are you saying?” said the man.

  “And what big hands you have, dear. And what big feet you have.”

  “Are you on drugs, you stupid girl?”

  “That is no way to speak to your granny. Didn't your mother teach you any manners?” said Yuki.

  The man looked like he was going to slap her. He growled at her like a wild beast.

  “And what big teeth you have, my little child. And what bad breath.”

  “Oh, I see. We're playing that game, are we?” He unzipped his pants. “Are you not going to mention what a big tool I have?”

  “No, dear. Granny will teach you a lesson you won't forget. Here, let me show you what a big tool granny has.”

  Saying so Yuki jumped off the bed. In her hand was an old axe she had found in the other shed. She swung her axe at the wolf man. As she expected he raised up his hands to protect his head.

  He needn't have bothered.

  Yuki wasn't going for his head; she was going for his stomach. She hit him with all her strength and cut into his stomach. The big bad wolf fell down crying in pain.

  “What! How is this possible? How did you injure me and why isn't my healing working?”

  Yuki grabbed him by the collar and started pulling him. It was hard as he was too heavy for her, but she kept pulling him all the while he screamed in pain.

  “What the hell have you done to me?” he cried. “Why hasn't the necklace sealed your magic?”

  “I'm not using my magic,” she said, “I'm using the magic of the story.”

  She kept pulling him even as he kept insulting her. Yuki felt like hours had passed, but it could not have been more than five minutes. She dragged him closer to the small lake in the garden.

  The next part was a little disgusting. He was starting to heal a little, so she took the axe and slammed it into his stomach again, opening a big hole. As he cried out in pain and cursed at her, she picked up as many small pebbles as he could and started stuffing them into his stomach, until her hands and the sleeves of her dress were covered in thick red blood.

  “The Big Bad Wolf doesn't die when people shoot at him or try to burn him or try to cut his head with a sword; that's the secret of your magic. You were draining those little girls and stealing their energy. No, the big bad wolf was killed by the woodcutter with an axe. His stomach filled with stones and thrown in the lake. That's what I'm going to do to you.”

  “You bitch, it won't work. I haven't survived hundreds of years to be defeated by a little child like you.”

  “We'll see,” said Yuki, and pushed him into the lake. He didn't resist and sank slowly to the bottom. She felt a few bubbles of air rise as he exhaled his last breath, and then-- nothing.

  With a snap, the necklace around her neck broke and fell off.

  She was free, but she felt her magic had been injured. She would need a few days to heal.

  Yuki walked back into the house to find twelve terrified girls staring at her. Yuki stared back at them. She had no idea what to do. She wasn't the grown-up, she was a child herself. She looked around for someone older to tell her what to do, but there was no grown-up around. She was the only grown-up. So she turned to the young girls.

  “Let me tell you a story. There was once a wolf, a big bad wolf who liked to eat young little girls. But one day he picked a fight with the wrong girl. Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Yuki, was not a girl to be messed with. Even though the wolf was laying a trap for her, she decided to lay a trap for him.”

  Her magic was injured but she forced a few threads to come to her.

  “And then this heroine, this brave young girl, killed the Big Bad Wolf, filled his stomach with stones, and threw him in the water. And then she rescued the little girls and made sure they would never be hurt again. The End.”

  As soon as she said it, she felt the air change a little, and she felt the little girls relax.

  The magic had worked.

  They all smiled. Yuki went and freed all of them. She tried to speak to them, but they just stared at her until one of the older girls turned to her. “They don't speak English. These girls from Afghanistan, no go to school. I from Iraq. My father English teacher, so I speak a little English. But I'm only one.”

  “That's okay,” said Yuki. “Are you girls hungry? Should we cook something? Do you know if this place has a kitchen?”

  “Yes, has kitchen, big one. Enough food for many months. Us girls cook when the evil man was out. We can show you, we can all cook together.”

  The girls were all very relaxed now, started smiling and walking towards the kitchen.

  But Yuki felt something wrong. Her life had never been this easy. She was waiting for something bad to happen, like it always did.

  Fate didn’t disappoint her.

  And the bad thing did happen.

  Just then.

  Yuki felt something change in the air.

  She went outside and looked up and saw that the moon had split in two. There were now two moons up in the sky, one blood red and the other dark blue. She could feel literal blood flowing down from the red moon. Wherever the blood fell, monsters arose. Using her magical eyes, Yuki saw the farmland around them start to crack open as a dozen hands of the undead started to crawl out of the ground.

  It was all over. The cultist had done it; they had completed the sacrifice and opened the portal to hell. These zombies were coming, and no one knew they were even here, all alone, in this deserted farmhouse.

  The young girl had said that they had many months of food here. She knew that the electrified fence and the automated turrets would keep them safe, though for how long she couldn't guess. Certainly the guns would run out of bullets, and she had no idea how to replace them. The electrified fence would keep the zombies out, but only if there were a few dozen of them. She was sure hundreds of zombies would eventually short the circuit out and tear their way in.

  She had no more magical weapons left, and there was no graveyard around to build new charms. Her magic, while it was back, was weak and injured.

  And the worst part of all was: She couldn't fall down and cry. She had to act like a grown-up for once in her life. She had to be the heroine that she had hoped would come and rescue her.

  The young girls were staring at her. They had sensed the fear in her. Though she was sure they couldn't see the two moons or the zombies rising from the ground yet. It was still early in the night and most normal people wouldn't notice the effect until tomorrow.

  “It's okay,” she thought to herself, “I can do it. I've been through worse.”

  She put up the biggest fake smile she could. “Okay girls, dinner time! Let's make something tasty, yum yum yum!”

  Outside, more and more zombies started rising from the ground. They wanted fresh human flesh, and there was only one source for more than 25 miles. All of them started walking towards the farm.

  End of Casefile 2

  Next case:

  Rose’s sister and mother vanish in a government experiment gone wrong. Now, everyone insists she never had a sister. The secret agency wants to buy her silence, but Rose won’t give up so easy.