The Whitechapel Case
Fox-Trot-9

PG-13
Horror/Suspense/Mystery (How-Catch-'Em)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or Death Note.

Part 2: The Connections

Chapter 6

Day 2—The three could tell Ms. Fowler's ordeals had taken a toll on her health. She lay there, strapped to the hospital bed as if she were some animal strapped to a dissection gurney. For a woman in her early sixties, she looked more like ninety-something. Wisps of gray strands hung limp around the balding scalp of her head. Long, deep wrinkles lined her gaunt face, especially on her forehead and around her sunken eyes. Pockmarks were all over her face, reaching toward the back of her head, some on her hands and forearms, and more down to her knees, shins and feet. And she was a ghastly shade of pale as ugly as Noll's was beautiful, almost like a frozen corpse with varying patches of gray over her body and specks of red around the bloodless pores of her forehead and hands. She was sleeping. But even so, she was taking in deep, long gasps as if she were drowning.

For a few minutes, Noll, Lin and Bert stayed silent, just observing the helpless woman in front them. The room was Spartan-looking, even for a hospital room. Except for a few chairs and the hospital bed, there was nothing else. Nothing sharp that could be used to stab and slice people with; nothing heavy enough to smash a person's skull with a flailing hand; nothing small enough to conceal in the palm of your hand to escape from the restraints on the hospital bed when nobody was around. These were measures against Ms. Fowler's use on the staff as well as on herself. And even when the doctor closed the door for their privacy, he left it slightly ajar; he wasn't taking any chances.

For Noll, he had his suspicions about Ms. Fowler's third exorcism. It was too short compared to the previous one, and given the severity of her current condition, it seemed to break the pattern set up by the first two exorcisms. Noll was no stranger to Christian forms of exorcism, particularly of the Catholic variety; he's seen and read about enough of those to know the consequences of repeated exorcisms on the same person. It's like a relapse into getting the flu after recovering from it a few days ago; when the body recovers from the flu, that's when the immune system is at it's weakest. Any relapses during this time will further degrade the health of anyone unfortunate enough get it again. Repeated exorcisms work the same way, getting gradually worse as a spirit finds it easier every time to possess its host, and all the harder for the exorcist to exorcise that spirit from its host.

Therefore, if the first exorcism got off without a hitch (taking only two days), and if the second was much harder (taking eighteen days), then the third... was a failed exorcism. Now it made more sense. Somehow, that third exorcism got out of control, forcing Father Carmyne to cut it short after the death of his assistant. And Alice Carmyne's death must have been collateral, exacted by a spirit having a grudge against a possible candidate of one of the five kids Jason Pickmasters told him about.

Bert said, "Noll, do you think Ms. Fowler was possessed?"

"Of course she was possessed, and I have every reason to believe that she's possessed right now," he went to the old woman's bedside. "Lin, I assume your shiki sense a spirit?"

"Yes, they do, but it's very faint... Noll, wait," said Lin; the kid looked at him. "In the last case, you were possessed by a fox spirit faster than I could summon my shiki. What do you think would happen if a spirit as violent as the one in the video were to possess you?"

"If that happens, I'll just ask the spirit questions."

"I'm serious, Noll. What would happen if you woke her up while she's possessed? That spirit could possess you, me, anyone."

"If worse comes to worse, use your shiki to detain the spirit. And performing an exorcism is out of the question; I cannot afford to have Ms. Fowler die on me."

Hopefully, it won't come to that. Lin sighed and stood on his guard, ready to whistle in his shiki should anything dire happen, while Bert edged towards the door, placing a shaky hand on the knob just in case.

Noll took the rosary he got from Jason Pickmasters out of his pocket and placed it into Ms. Fowler's open hand, wrapping her bony fingers around it. "Ms. Fowler... Ms. Fowler, can you hear me?"

At first, nothing but steady gasps; but then those gasps shortened as she stirred from her slumber. Her eyelids twinkled, and she gripped the rosary in her hand.

"Uriel..." she said, opening her eyes, "Saint Uriel, is that you? Have you finally come to lead me away from this cruel world?"

"No, Ms. Fowler. I am Kazuya Shibuya; I need you to answer me a few questions, if you please."

The old woman sighed in disappointment. "I guess I'll have to live a little longer, it seems. You there...I can't see you; come closer."

Noll thought about it. Against his better judgement, the kid leaned in closer to the old woman's face.

"Closer."

Now his face was less than two feet away from Ms. Fowler's. Lin was on edge; if Ms. Fowler wanted to, she could spit into Noll's face or worse—much worse.

But she didn't. She smiled instead, showing a row of yellow but otherwise perfect teeth. "Ah, such a handsome boy, you are. Are you sure you're not an angel in disguise?"

"You're mistaken. Ms. Fowler, I don't have time to play games. I need you to tell me what happened to you after the murders in 1979."

Ms. Fowler sighed again, this time in irritation. "How dare you deny a weary, old woman her just delights! How dare you come into my room just to wither my old heart on such horrors!" She had more pep left in her than the kid was lead to believe.

Now Noll sighed. This was more troublesome than he thought. "Look, Ms. Fowler, I'm sorry to burden you like this, but I need to know what happened to you."

"What for?"

Silence; he thought of his questions carefully. "Are you aware of the recent serial murders going on in Whitechapel?"

"I am; but of the particulars, I don't know. No one has ever dared to talk to me about those crimes, especially after the deaths of Father Carmyne's assistant and daughter. God save Father Carmyne from his wounds!" She sighed, tears welling up in her eyes. "Some people think I am responsible for them."

"Nobody's accusing you of anything in this room, at least not while I'm here."

"God bless you, child," she said; she dropped the rosary in her hand trying to raise it to touch Noll's face, but the straps held her wrist in place. She gave it a few more tugs but gave up. Tears traced down her ashen face. "But it's already too late for me; I have not the strength or the will to keep on living on this God-forsaken earth, let alone relive the horrors of that fateful night."

Noll looked at the rosary and picked it up, saying, "Then I'll wait. I'll wait as long as you need to recover your strength to tell me. Here," he said, putting the rosary back in her hand, enclosing her fingers around it again, "you'll need this more than I will."

Lin and Bert looked on in awe, especially Lin who had never seen his boss show any amount of kindness before to someone he didn't know, as if Noll was somehow possessed himself. But that couldn't be. Lin's shiki never detected anything wrong with Noll for the whole day. What's gotten into you, Noll?

"I wish there were more people like you. I can only hope others would see me as I really am, and not just this withered old hag with a curse placed over her head..." She sighed again, remaining silent for several minutes, then said, "What do you really think I am?"

Now that surprised Noll; even Lin and Bert were surprised. Something was off; this was his interview, not hers. Why was she asking the questions?

"An old woman who's lost her way, that's all."

"Is that all I am to you?"

"Yes, nothing more and nothing less."

A morbid kind of Mona Lisa smile graced her cracked lips. "I admire your honesty, Noll."

Her answer caught the three off guard.

Noll's suspicions were correct. "How did you know my name?"

"I... I thought everybody called you by that name."

"Very few people call me Noll. How did you know my name?"

"I... I heard it from the people downstairs when you came in."

"I said to the reception lady and the doctor my name was Kazuya Shibuya, not Noll," he said, standing full erect and glaring down at the impostor before him. "And this room is well insulated from the outside, so normal hearing can't carry on much farther than twenty feet past this room, let alone all the way to the reception area one floor below. I'll ask one more time. How did you know my name?"

"I... I... God, I don't know," she said, beginning to panic. "It was a lucky guess, I swear!"

"Stop lying. I already know you're not Ms. Fowler. You're that spirit in the video; you're that man in the white suit, am I right?"

For a few moments, the spirit lay there stunned, its emotion clearly visible on the woman's petrified face. Its cover was blown, and it found itself singled out and checked. Most spirits would've either shriveled up and given in, or escaped at all costs, but this spirit had a few aces up its sleeve. "You caught me," it said, grinning an unnaturally wide grin.

At that moment, Lin was one breath away from whistling in his shiki when Noll stopped him. "Don't!"

"But, Noll, we need to—"

"Exorcise me, yes, yes, yes," interrupted the spirit, its craggy voice ripping through the air. "Come on, Lin! A man as manly as you can take on an old crone like me, yes? Or are you too weak?"

"Lin, don't listen to her," said Noll. "She's possessed, remember?"

"Oh, I see, Lin, I see. Could it be that you're too scared to exorcise me? Do you fear me that much? Come on, don't be that way; I dare you to exorcise me! I double-dare you! I triple-dare you! I quadruple-fucking-dare you, you cock-sucking, yellow-bellied Chinaman! You dickless...!" And on and on it went in a continuous string of profanities that would put a cop to shame.

Lin gritted his teeth and balled his fists so tight that his knuckles popped, as he resisted all he could the urge to lunge at the woman and strangle her, right then and there.

"LIN! Don't listen to her! You can't exorcise her without risking her life!"

Bert looked at the scene in front of him, looked in horror at the petrified woman yelling obscenities left and right, barely believing his eyes—or his ears, for that matter. He was sweating bucket-loads from his temples and armpits to the palms of his hands. He felt dizzy, almost nauseous to the point of fainting. And he felt his stomach give a sudden horrible lurch, as if it was begging for him to get the hell out of the room before it emptied its contents onto the floor. And before Bert knew it, he pushed his way through the door and fell on his knees and hands, panting hard.

Noll and Lin went out of the room to check on Bert, as the doctor and Randolf helped him to his feet. The others shut the door.

"Mr. Grendal..." said Noll, "Mr. Grendal, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, man; I just... need to catch my breath," said Bert. It took a while for him to recover, after which he said, "Jesus, Kid, how the fuck can you handle that? I've been a cop for ten years, but never—and I mean never—have I heard anything like that."

"You and me both," said Lin, clenching his fist at the continuing string of profanity still coming through the closed door.

"Lin, calm down," said Noll. "I know a way to excise the spirit from Ms. Fowler without killing her, but I need your help to do it."

"All right, what's the plan?"

Noll took a deep breath and said, "I'll tempt the spirit to possess me."

"WHAT! Are you nuts?"

"Damn it, Lin, listen to me!" said Noll, looking him hard in the eyes. "When the spirit leaves Ms. Fowler's body, call in your shiki to detain the spirit long enough for you to do an exorcism on it, if they can't destroy it by themselves. Look, I know it's risky, but if Ms. Fowler's forced to keep this up, she'll die. I can't afford to have her die on me; she's too important to the case."

"But I'll need a sign, something that'll tell me when to call in my shiki."

"I'll nod my head; that will be your sign. You'll have a second at most to call them in, so be on your guard."

Lin nodded, not knowing how he agreed to it, but hey! The kid was his boss. Noll ordered his way back into the room; of course, it took some talking with the doctor and the rest of the security staff, but they finally crumbled under Noll's scathing arguments. Now Noll was in the room with the woman still cursing at the top of her lungs.

"God, I hope Mr. Shibuya knows what he's doing," said the doctor, getting out his cellphone and dialing and redialing Father Carmyne's office number with shaky fingers. He cursed at himself when he punched in a wrong number again and again.

"Give me that," said Lin. "Who are you trying to call?"

"Father Carmyne's office. The number is 239-8033."

Lin dialed the numbers in and gave it to the doctor.

In the room, Noll shut the door and locked it, jamming the knob immovable before the security staff could react; they all panicked at this, tapping the window to get Noll's attention, banging at the door and pulling at the door knob that wouldn't budge. Even Bert was frantic. The only one that seemed level-headed out there was Lin, who virtually had to scream at them to stop acting like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. Outside that window, Lin was yelling himself hoarse trying to calm them down, trying to convince them and Bert that he and Noll had a plan, and that all they were doing was making it that much harder for them pull it off; it was hell out there. But here in the room with the door fully shut, it was like another world altogether. No sound except the sound of his footsteps on linoleum flooring and his steady breaths, as Noll prepared himself for the confrontation of his life. It was just Noll and the spirit, one on one, mano-a-mano.

Noll pulled up a chair across from the bedside, eye-level with the spirit.

It had stopped its ranting, now just looking at the brazen kid sitting before it, but still breathing hard when it did this.

Both remained silent for ten minutes, trying to figure out each other's motives.

Then it said, "You have quite the nerve to lock yourself in with me."

The kid stayed mute... One minute... Two minutes... Five and counting.

"Oh, I get it! Oh, I love games!" Now it was laughing hysterically. "You want to turn this into a staring match! Well, guess what, boy: You can't out-stare the dead!" More insane laughter.

"Actually, I did once."

Now it was silent... One minute... Two minutes... Five and counting. Then it grinned an ugly grin before laughing again. "So you say, lad, so you say! Then why not prove it, boy? Prove it like a man! Try staring the Devil himself down! I dare you! I double-dare you! I triple-dare you! I quadruple-dare you!" And it grinned its ugliest grin yet.

"Later."

"WHAT! Don't tell me you're backing down from a dare! Those who back down from a dare are the lowest of the low, the scum of scum!"

Silence.

"Well!... What the hell can you say about that?..."

And on and on it went, but Noll ignored its taunts. He saw a pattern in the spirit's speech. Dare, dare, dare. It was always challenging others to a dare. Then he remembered Jason Pickmaster's second-hand account of the five kids who dared one of their number to spend the night in the cave with just a lamp to ward off the ghosts. Could this spirit, this man in a white suit, the one with the evil eyes, be the vengeful ghost of the lost boy from the cave? Noll had hit the jackpot.

Noll smirked at this groundbreaking revelation.

"What's so funny, boy?"

"Nothing." The kid leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. "After thinking about it, I've decided to take you up on it, where you and I take turns."

"Aha, so you really are a man among men! All right, let's begin; I go first. Truth or dare?"

Noll said, "Truth."

"Do you fear me, now?"

"Not a chance."

"Oh, but I beg to differ. You cannot hide your fear from me, although you hide it very well; I can hear that fear in every thump that your heart makes, as it thumps away toward an inevitable end. I know, because I was once you. I feared death once but no more, for I have overcome it. (*) I am the master of death and the master of fear, for...

"When men my scythe and darts supply,

How great a King of Fears am I!" (**)

And the spirit let out another sick bout of laughter.

All at once, Noll felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and his heart nearly skipped a beat, goosebumps forming on his skin; even so, he smirked defiantly at his vile companion. "Now it's my turn. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Are you proud of all the murders you've committed?"

Now the whole room echoed with a sadistic, rasping laughter, when it said, "Proud you say? Ha! I wallow in the glory of my handiwork! Of course, a smart lad like you well knows of my fine accomplishments. My exploits have been in print for decades. But it's not for worldly power or fame or even infamy that I do this, oh no! It's divine power, an other-worldly power, the power of God himself! The power to decide a man's fate, the power to decide when and where a man dies, the power to let a man live out the rest of his wretched life among the ignorant, teeming millions on this God-forsaken earth! That's what I wanted, and now that's what I have, and I will have it for eternity. And nothing can take that away from me, not the gloom of the grave, not the fires of Hell, not the Saints of mercy, not even the will of God. For I am God now, a newborn spirit that wills his own will and follows his will wherever and however it may lead me... (*) Yes, you are looking at the murderer of murderers, boy, the murderer of God! (***) Look on me and tremble!" More insane laughter.

Noll looked at the spirit in disgust. For the longest time, he thought he had seen it all, that he had seen the worst of the worst of the many ghosts and monsters that had plagued his cases, the worst being Urado from the blood-stained Urado case back in Japan. And he remembered all the blood-thirsty murderers he had heard about: Vlad the Impaler; Elizabeth Bathory; Jack the Ripper; Peter Kudzinowski; Albert Fish; the Zodiac Killer; the Boston Strangler; the BTK Killer. All these twisted individuals had one thing in common. They all had a sadistic domination-based fantasy over the lives of their victims, just as their own lives were dominated by others. This spirit had that much in common with them. But to kill God and overtake His rightful place? What kind of sick reasoning is this? How could you challenge something as unknowable as God?

"The only way to kill God is to kill everyone who believes in Him," said Noll. "There are far too many people on this earth for you to do that."

"Is that a dare? Are you daring me to prove it to you?"

Noll remained silent, shaking his head.

"And why not?" it said. "Oh, I get it! You're scared, aren't you? There's no reason to hide your fear; at least you're being honest." (Nothing from Noll.) "Well, if you won't answer, then it's my turn. Truth or dare?"

"Dare," said Noll, looking in its eyes.

"Ooooh, I admire your courage!" And the spirit eyed Noll, thinking up whatever his sick-twisted mind could come up with. Then it grinned evilly, saying, "I dare you to untie these bloody straps. There! Try to do that without shitting your pants! I dare you! I double-dare you! I triple-dare you! I quadruple-dare you!" And it grinned, showing Ms. Fowler's yellow teeth.

Noll just sat there eyeing it for a few minutes. Then he got up, still keeping eye-contact, while his face betrayed nothing of the agonizing terror pulsing against his ribcage like a punching bag, as he began untying the straps, one by one.

On the other side of that window, Lin thought he was going to have a heart-attack. He could not believe his eyes, as he was frozen in place, gaping in horror at Noll's actions and completely oblivious to everything else around him. The security staff was once again whipped into a frenzy of panic, this time banging at the window and door. It took Bert every ounce of breath he had to convince the doctor that it was all in the plan that Lin told him; soon even Lin joined him, both trying to calm everyone down. It was Hell all over again.

Noll ignored the ruckus. When he was done with the straps, he pulled up another chair in front of him for the spirit to sit in. Now they were sitting face to face, virtually eye to eye. And that's how they remained: Silent. One minute... Two minutes... Five and counting. All the while, the spirit's grin never wavered.

"Now it's my turn," said Noll. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Are you one of the five kids that got left in that cave and never came out alive?"

"Aha! So you have been doing your homework! That's much better than what I can say for those less competent sleeze bags in that whorehouse called Scotland Yard! Those fuckers never gave a flying fuck about me, just like those four traitors who left me to rot in that hideous Hell-hole! Oh, you're a clever, clever lad, you are!" Now it leaned in close to Noll, saying, "I could only imagine the look on your brother's face, if he were here to see how far you've come!"

Noll stood up, glaring down at the spirit. "How do you know about him? Answer me before I—!"

"It's not your turn, it's MINE!" it said, getting up and returning the glare. "It's my turn; truth or dare?"

Another staring match between the two... One minute... Two minutes... Five and counting! For Noll, the wait was pure agony.

But Noll wasn't the only one waiting. Lin was also waiting, his eyes seemingly glued to the window like he was waiting for a tomorrow that would never come. After dodging a near-fatal heart attack, he felt as if his brain was on fire, as he prayed for Noll to nod that stupid, stubborn-ass head of his. His nerves were fraying with every passing second, and he was living an eternity in Hell with every passing minute, driving him slowly insane. In fact, Lin resisted the growing urge to smash his own head through the window just to tell the kid to hurry the fuck up.

Bert was now explaining the whole situation to Father Carmyne, who had just come in a few minutes ago. He told the father about the plan Lin and Noll had devised to exorcise the the spirit out of Ms. Fowler, and no doubt, the old exorcist was appalled by the idea. No, he was down-right horrified. He had never heard of anything so crazy as to tempt a spirit to possess you in order to exorcise it. It's like playing Russian roulette with a six-shooter, one silver bullet out of five to cure a God-damned werwolf. Gambling at its worst, by far.

"Truth," said Noll.

"Do you believe in fate, boy?"

"Fate is what we make for ourselves and nothing else."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, if I were you," it said. "You don't know what fate is. You have never felt its weight in the palm of your hand. And you will never know what fate is, until you have gone through what I've gone through, suffered what I have suffered, and transcended the chains of death as I have." Noll kept on looking at the spirit, waiting for his chance; the spirit leaned into his face, staring directly into his eyes. "You think I'm bluffing, don't you? Then let this convince you! Look no further than into my eyes, for in them will you see the truth," and the dark pupils of Ms. Fowler's eyes glistened and stirred.

Looking into those eyes, Noll found himself in another place next to a lake on a sunny day in early September. And that brought back the memory. He could remember the day Gene died. Noll saw it all, first hand, through the eyes of his brother in a telepathic vision. He heard the bang of the initial impact as Gene's head slammed into the hood, then the sickening crunch of bone against the unforgiving tread of the woman's car. Though Noll didn't experience the weight of that car as it barreled across Gene's body, he saw the horror of it all, saw and felt it in the marrow of his bones and in the pit of his stomach. When his brother got run over the first time, he was still alive, still breathing, still able to make it if he went to the hospital in time; but when that woman threw the car into reverse, running him over a second time... Dear God, he could hear again the horrible snap and splinter of bone and the last dying breaths escaping Gene's lungs. And when he was thrown into the lake, Noll's vision had turned green, and he knew Gene was dead.

Noll collapsed into his chair shaking all over, though he somehow managed not to fall off, and buried his face in his hands. Sorrow had welled up inside him in torrents and overflowed through his tears; but besides this, he felt something else building. It was pure fury unlike any he had ever felt before. Now this case was more than just personal; it was war.

The spirit placed a bony hand on Noll's head and said, "What a surprise! I would've thought you'd shrivel down to a crying puddle by now. You're much stronger than I give you credit for. You should know the true meaning of that fate, Noll. For it was not Gene's fate to end up that way; it was yours." (Noll looked up at the spirit in shock.) "You befriended one of my worst enemies, one of those rotten four who deserted me in that blasted cave. And for that, I would have had you killed had I not a great respect for you. You see, you remind me so much of myself, for like you, I was that deep-thinking, knowledge-seeking, empirical boy that you still are now. It was out of mercy (the mercy of a god to a lowly, innocent sinner) that you were spared the horror of that fate. I held your fate in my hand that time, Noll; and I forgave you of your sins, for I am merciful as well as wrathful. And if you still don't believe me, then listen to this. Has your mother ever told you of her attempted murder? Has she, Noll? Tell me."

"You knew?" he said, gritting his teeth and balling his fists. "You knew all this time?"

"I'll take that as a yes. You see, I send out... angels to do my bidding on this earth, though you may call them by a different name. These angels do much of my dirty work; I myself have killed very few, only killing when it suits my needs. But when one of those angels happened to set his sights on your mother, I forbade him to do it. It was already quite enough for a mother to suffer the disappearance of one of her sons, let alone for that surviving son to go home to the news of his mother's death. I did that out of mercy for you. So you must be grateful, not hateful, to your benefactor! Is that right?" It grinned that evil grin again.

Noll's blood boiled at the horrible thought that he owed anything to such a monster; the only thing he owed was vengeance.

Lin had had enough of all this foolishness; he wasn't gonna take anymore, even if Noll would fire him afterwards. He was just one breath away from whistling in his shiki, when something totally unexpected happened. The air had become thick with pulsing waves of energy. That's when it hit him. "Noll, don't do it!"

Inside the enclosed room, the air pulsed in ever thicker waves of energy. The spirit had never expected this, taking a few steps back.

"Now it's my turn," said Noll, getting up from the chair. "Truth or dare?"

The spirit was silent for a few moments, not sure what to say; then it grinned that wide, wrinkled grin, saying, "Well, Noll, you certainly are full of spunk! Dare!"

"Let's see who really comes out on top," he said, smirking. "I dare you to possess me. And if you can't, then you're no god at all. You're just..."

"Don't go there!"

"...another would-be imitation of the real thing."

"I'm warning you! One more word out of you, and I'll—"

Noll smirked that all-knowing smirk of his. "If I'm not mistaken, you died when you were much younger than I am. You're just an overgrown kid with a sick sense of justice."

This infuriated the spirit. "You dare to challenge my will?"

Noll nodded his head, which was Lin's sign to whistle in his shiki. But no sooner had he nodded when everything slowed down like a video put on slow motion replay. In this slow motion, he saw those eyes glisten behind those sunken eyelids, glistening brighter than he had ever seen them before; his blood ran cold. Was this the evil eye? Then those eyes fell full on Noll in all their blaze of basilisk horror. He became nauseous and dizzy at the sight, losing his footing as he blacked out. But when he came to, he found himself on the ground being strangled beneath the spirit's vicious clutches, steadily getting tighter and tighter. All this before his eyes, it all resembled an old nightmare many people had, where an ugly hag would strangle you all night, while you lay in bed paralyzed and helpless, sometimes screaming for help that would never come. That's the one thing he hated most in this situation: being helpless. When his vision began to blur, he heard a gunshot, followed by shattering glass and the door breaking off its hinges. The last thing he heard before his lights went out was Lin's late whistle.

Lin's shiki whizzed and whirled around the disembodied spirit that had left Ms. Fowler's body for Noll's, tormenting the spirit over and over, trying to detain it as it zigzagged through the corridors. Unfortunately the spirit escaped the asylum.

Everybody was shell-shocked. But it wore off at the sight of two bodies lying on the floor.

Father Carmyne and the others checked on Ms. Fowler's condition, while Bert and Lin checked on Noll's.

"Damn it, Noll, don't do this to me!" said Lin, checking his vital signs.

(To be continued...)

A/N: Yep, it's a cliffy. I know, I evil. If you've read this far, you're probably a little shocked and pissed at the ending of this chapter; I don't do too many cliffies though. Oh, and please give feedback. ANY feedback. I need to know if there are people out there reading this story. Anyway, till next time, see you later.

(* Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Part I). See Thus Spoke Zarathustra on Wikipedia.)

(** Thomas Parnell's A Night-Piece on Death (Lines 61-62). See "Graveyard Poets" on Wikipedia.)

(*** Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science (Section 125) "The Madman." See "God Is Dead" on Wikipedia.)