AN: Is this going to be a trend where writing one of these chapters takes a bunch of writing and rewriting? Anyways, I finally finished this chapter, so have at it I suppose! I'm a little sad I couldn't really fit in the fight scene, but it would have dragged the chapter out for longer than needed, so I decided that it would be for the best to save it for the next chapter.

Until then!

Bloodsport

Chapter Fifteen

Conversations with a Vampire

"I don't suppose either one of you closed the door."

"No, I didn't." Shaking her head, Sera exchanged a glance with Heiji. "What about you, Hattori-kun?"

"When would I have even had the time ta?" Heiji pointed out, arching his brow, even as a tight frown set itself upon his features. "Seems like maybe we weren't as ahead of them as we thought we were."

"We?" Sera asked. "I believe it was because of you that we ended up here in the first place."

"Well that's-" Heiji began, only to find himself cut off.

"This is hardly the time to argue." Jodie noted, letting out a slight sigh. "The two of you stay right here. I'll check the doors."

"I wouldn't say we were arguin'." Heiji muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

That the door had closed... that was odd. Not only had he sensed nothing, but he'd heard nothing as well. No matter how involved he was in conversation, it wouldn't be enough to prevent him from hearing the sound of such a heavy door from closing. Hell, it wasn't only just him- even the ears of a normal human could pick that much out. It had surely made enough of one when Sera had opened it, after picking the padlock that held them shut.

And it seemed that he wasn't the only one who picked up on the strangeness of it. He didn't have to look her way to know that Sera's gaze was leveled on him, and it was all he could do to keep himself from flinching under the scrutiny of it. "You didn't notice?"

"No, not a thing." Heiji told her, shaking his head. "But neither did you."

"Well, that's fair enough." Sera admitted, tucking her hands into her pockets. "But between the two of us, I was under the impression that you had the better ears."

"Well thank ya. I take quite a degree of pride in them." Heiji told her, accepting the compliment that he knew wasn't so much meant as one. "But I can promise ya that I really didn't notice. Would have said somethin' if I had."

At the very least, he didn't sense that pressure, the same one from the underground room... though he couldn't help but be on edge. Just locking them in here didn't seem as if it would be something the culprit would do- even if it would eat up time, and keep them from locating Kazuha before...

As that thought entered his mind, for a moment, he felt his blood boil, but he fought it back, turning his head away from Sera as he bit down on his lip to keep it under control. It was only natural that he would feel antsy at the prospect of being trapped when he had a time limit to deal with, but this feeling was different from that.

...was that the culprit's plan? No, somehow he didn't think that was it. It almost seemed too simple.

"Are you alright, Hattori-kun?" Sera asked, taking a step around him, not missing the way that he seemed to draw his upper teeth back into his mouth. Even in the low light provided by her flashlight, she could still make out the sharp glint of white on either side of his mouth- was it just her imagination, or had his canines grown longer?

For just a moment, the black ring around his eyes had seemed to expand- before it had sunk back, as if reigned in. The first time she'd noticed, she'd thought her eyes had been playing tricks on her, but the odds of the same thing happening twice...

It wasn't just her imagination. She was all but sure of that now.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Heiji told her, his tone curt. "More importantly, it looks like what we should be worryin' about is gettin' out of here. How did it go, Jodie-han?"

"As I thought, they're locked tight." Jodie told them, shaking her head. "I couldn't even so much as get them to budge."

"Odd." Sera noted, resting a hand against her chin. "When I came in here, the only thing holding them closed was a padlock. I don't think that would cause them to shut so tightly. It wasn't even that hard to open."

"Maybe the culprit just wanted us ta think that." Heiji noted, folding his arms in his chest, fighting the urge to rest one hand on his sword case. For a brief moment, when they had first noticed the doors had been closed, he thought he'd felt a chill down his spine, but now, he didn't feeling anything like that.

Had it just been his imagination, then? No, somehow that didn't seem right. It must have been one of those things that locked them in here, that much he could guess. Though he couldn't feel anything now- or see anything, even in the edges of his vision, there was still a chance one of them was in here with them, waiting for a chance to strike.

Whatever the case, he didn't like this, this uncertainty. Even if the culprit's only plan was to trap them in here, just the time delay alone was enough to make him feel in a way that he didn't want to.

"It's possible." Jodie noted. "She might have guessed that we would go to her patron, and attempt to glean further information from him. If she knew that much already, she could have prepared a trap for us."

"But it's strange." Sera said. "Judging from how they were acting on the phone with Hattori-kun, it almost seemed as if they wanted to play a game with us. It's not much of a race against time if the three of us are trapped in here, is it?"

"That's true." Jodie admitted, her brows furrowing in thought. "At any rate, we should try and find another way out. Be careful, though. If this really is a trap, there could others set up within the warehouse itself."

"We didn't come across anythin' like that when we were searchin' the place." Heiji noted. "But are ya sure the doors are sealed tight, Jodie-han? Maybe ya just didn't use enough force."

"I believe I used plenty." Jodie noted, glancing up in his direction. "Would you care to try for yourself, Hattori-kun?"

"I was just thinkin' of doin' that." Heiji told her, forcing himself to flash a grin that he didn't feel that much like giving right now. "Who knows, maybe it needs just a bit of elbow grease."

It was probably a bit of a reckless idea, but as they weren't watching him directly, he'd be able to somewhat brush over the fact that he was far too strong for a normal human. Still, he didn't exactly think it would be that simple- if this really was a trap that had been designed for him, it was entirely possible that the witch had other things in store.

That might have been the reason that there had been nothing to prevent him from entering, come to think of it. With the mansion, it was the same there... if the culprit wanted to trap him, they first had to actually allow him to enter.

Make the entrance wide, and the exit narrow. He'd heard that phrase somewhere before, but at the moment, he didn't care to think much on from where.

"Alright." Jodie said, nodding her head. "In the meantime, Sera-san and I will split up, and look for another exit. Maybe we can get one of the windows on the loft level open. Is that fine with you?"

"Yes." Nodding her head, Sera's gaze flickered over towards Heiji for a moment, a hint of a frown on her features. It was obvious that he was thinking about doing something, and as much as she wanted to stick around to find out what, she couldn't do that without raising his suspicion.

They did need to be able to work together right now. It would be for the best if she acted in a way that didn't make him feel that she was onto whatever absurd secret he might be keeping to himself.

And she very much did get the feeling that it was absurd.

"Then, let's do that." Heiji told them. "If I can't get it open, I'll join ya."

"Right." Jodie said, nodding her head. "Be careful, Hattori-kun. You as well, Sera-san."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." Heiji promised her, keeping the smile on his face for as long as it took him to turn on his heel, facing away from them. Once they could no longer see his face, he let it drop.

Whatever the culprit was planning, he wouldn't let them carry it out. He would rescue Kazuha without fail.

Because if he couldn't do that...

No, no, he was going in a bad direction again. Slapping both of his cheeks, Heiji forced himself to draw in a long breath, planting himself in front of the doors. Up close to them, he couldn't really feel anything, or make out much more than the faint silhouette of light from outside that he knew came from the lamp across the way.

"Well, let's see if I can't just brute force these babies open." Heiji muttered, faintly making out the sound of Jodie and Sera splitting up and heading their separate ways.

Really though, what was the culprit planning? Right now would be a good time to use one of those invisible creatures to attack them, trapped in here as they were. He'd have a hard time explaining to Jodie why he was swinging a sword around in empty air, much less where he had even gotten one from.

Well, it wasn't like he wasn't grateful that wasn't the case, but-

He hadn't even been aware that he'd let out a cry of pain- more like a hiss, really- until he heard his name being called. It had shot through him, white hot and all too familiar, momentarily overwhelming all of his other senses to the point where he hadn't even been aware that his legs had crumpled underneath him, giving way.

"Hattori-kun!" It was Jodie who reached his side first, being the closest. "What happened?"

"No, it's..." Swallowing, Heiji tried to reel in his thoughts, even as his hands still throbbed in pain. It was a familiar sensation, but at the moment, he was having trouble placing exactly where he knew it from. "...it's nothin', Jodie-han. Nothin' at all."

"That sure didn't sound like nothing." Sera noted, as she came up from behind him. "What's wrong with your hands?"

A good question, seeing as he hadn't even checked yet. Even without doing so, from the pain alone, he could already gather that it was doubtlessly an unpleasant sight. It felt as if the flesh on his hands had been seared right of, as if he had...

...so that was it. That was why it felt so familiar.

"Nothin'." Heiji said quickly, shoving his hands into his pockets, ignoring the way the fibers of his jeans picked at the burns. "I just got a bit of a static shock, that's all."

Not only was there now way he could explain his silver burns to them, there was also no way that he would be able to explain why he couldn't go to a hospital for them, which they would surely want to do, as soon as they got out of here. He'd be able to explain even less as to how they would heal so quickly and completely, putting him in a situation that he very much didn't want to be in.

"Static shock?" Sera asked, her tone skeptical. "Sure didn't sound that way."

"I can assure ya, that's all." Heiji told her, trying to rise to his feet as casually as possible. It was an obvious lie, but as long as he could keep them from seeing his hands until they healed, they worst of it could be avoided. "More importantly, it doesn't look like I'll be able ta open this door either."

Silver. He'd been aware that it had a rather metallic gleam, but he hadn't thought that it would have been silver. Not just the handles, either- from the looks of it, the entire door was composed of silver.

No way that was a coincidence. Was that witch trying to expose him?

...no, somehow that didn't sound quite like it was enough. But what... what was she trying to accomplish here? There must be some reason she was trying to trap him in here with the two of them, but what...

The sting from the pit of his stomach was the answer.

Though he had properly fed the previous night, before he even realized it, it would seem that he was thirsty once again. It wasn't so strong that he couldn't control it, but going forward, it would only become more of a problem- especially since he would need to draw on that same energy in order to heal. If were to remain locked up in here with them...

He'd never once thought of himself as a monster, and even now, still didn't- but he really didn't want to find out what would happen if he found himself blood starved.

"Hattori-kun, if you injured yourself, you need to let us-" Jodie began.

"Like I said," Heiji cut her off, raising his voice. For the moment, it wasn't anything that he couldn't control. They'd just have to find another way out before things got tricky. "...it's really nothin'! Ya can't even take me at face value, Jodie-han?"

She didn't believe a word he said, that much was clear- but perhaps in response to the glare he was leveling at her, it would seem that she had decided to leave the matter be. Letting out a short sigh, Jodie merely exchanged a glance with Sera, nodding her head. "Then, let's search for a way out together."

Not entirely able to formulate a response, Heiji merely gave her a curt nod of his head. It would be awhile before his thirst would be anything that he would have to worry about- but more important than that, there was the deadline hanging over Kazuha's head. Nearly half a day had passed already, almost in the flash of an eye.

The longer he kept Kazuha hanging, the less he could forgive himself for it. It was his fault that she'd-

...no good. More negativity. Really, what was up with him lately? This way of thinking wasn't like him at all. Was it just because of the stress that he was under that he found himself feeling this way, or did it have something to do with that flower after all?

Either way, he didn't like it. He had to hurry up and find her, so that he could bring the culprit to justice, and return everything to normal already.

Or as normal as they were ever going to be.

"Then, if you find anything, give a shout." Jodie instructed. "And once again," her gaze shifting to Heiji as she spoke, she leveled it very deliberately on him. "...be careful."

"Understood." Once again forcing himself to give a smile that he didn't feel like, Heiji drew in a long breath. He might not need it, but it did help stabilize him some- and more than anything, that was what he needed right now.

He'd thought he'd gotten ahead of the witch- but it looked as if he had simply waltzed right into her trap. Kazuha was right- he really was an idiot.

"Heiji!"

As if she wasn't the one in distress herself, the first word that she gasped out once she found herself free of the gag was that idiot's name.

She wasn't trying to call out to him. There was no way he'd be able to hear her, not even with all of his increased senses. It was just...

...just for a moment, she had felt an overwhelming surge of fear in her chest.

Not for herself, even as the water began to lap at her knees, but for the one who was without a doubt, frantically looking for her right now. She didn't know what it was, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened- or was about to happen.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

Shutting her eyes tight, Kazuha drew in a long breath, as much of one as she could manage. Some might call her foolish, for worrying about someone else when she was in such peril herself, but right now, she felt more fear for Heiji than she did for herself.

Swallowing, Kazuha worked to steady her own heartbeat. She'd just have to have faith in him, in that idiot.

"...please be safe, Heiji."

For a moment, he thought as if he could hear her calling his name.

It was only just his imagination, of course. There was no way that she could be here. He'd have heard her for sure were that the case, that distinctive sound of her heartbeat, one that he had come to memorize.

"Is something wrong, Hattori-kun?" Sera's voice caught his attention, long after the sound of her footsteps had. "Well, other than what's wrong with your hands, that is."

"Like I said, there's nothin' wrong with my hands." Heiji said, narrowing his eyes. "An' it's nothin'. Just thought I heard somethin', but seems like it was just my imagination."

"Imagination, huh?" Sera asked, lifting a brow. "Kind of like it was my imagination that you screamed?"

"Well, though to be honest, it really wasn't much of a scream. More of a hiss." Sera added, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm impressed. I didn't think a human being could produce a sound like that."

"Never said it was yer imagination." Heiji said, letting out a sharp sigh. He seriously wasn't in the mood for this. "Just that it wasn't that serious. An' sorry, fer makin' weird sounds. Did ya just come up here ta hassle me or what, Sera-han?"

"Not at all." Sera said, shaking her head. "You don't need to be hostile, Hattori-kun. We're working together on this, aren't we?"

"That's right." Heiji noted, heaving a sigh, sensing that she wasn't going to go away any time soon. "What do ya want then, Sera-han? If it's fer me ta spill-"

"No, that's not it." Sera said, shaking her head. "But I see you're at least admitting you have a secret."

"Ya've pretty much figured that part out anyways." Heiji noted, keeping his tone curt. "An' I'm not really in the mood ta pretend otherwise right now."

"Fair enough." Sera said. "You're worried that we won't get out of here in time, aren't you?"

"Like I said, do ya have a reason as ta why ya came over ta bother me?" Heiji asked, shooting her a sour look. "Cause if ya figured that much out already, I'd think ya'd be better served helpin' ta look for another way out rather than botherin' me."

"Sorry, sorry." Holding up her hands, Sera took half a step back- she couldn't say that she didn't understand why she was being glared at, but that still was a rather impressive one. "I just wanted to ask if you were sure that we're..."

"...alone in here?" Heiji finished for her, letting out a long sigh. "Ya don't feel anythin', do ya?"

"No." Sera told him, shaking her head. "But when we first found the doors had been sealed-"

"...ya did?" Heiji finished, watching as she nodded her head. "Yeah, same. It's been kind of botherin' me, but if another one of those things comes out, I'll just deal with it like I did the last one. If it's hidin' in here somewhere, it might be waitin' until we try ta leave ta stop us, like it did last time."

"True." Sera noted. "I considered that much as well. But are you sure? Given my own close encounter, of course I believe it's real, but as for Jodie-san..."

"I'll cross that hurdle when I get ta it." Heiji noted, frowning as he pressed his hand up against one of the sealed windows. Letting out a sigh of relief as they didn't burn, he flinched, realizing that he was trying to hide his hands from them at the moment, quickly shoving it back into his pocket.

If she'd seen anything, Sera didn't say anything.

"Think we can get one of them open?" Sera asked, pressing against the frame herself.

"We probably could, but it's a bit of a drop, straight down onto concrete, an' it doesn't seem there's anythin' that be climbed down with lyin' around. S'not safe." Heiji recalled. "I'd probably be fine-"

Cutting himself off mid-sentence, he almost couldn't even dredge up the concern for saying too much at this point. Maybe this would all be easier if he just told them straight out that he was a vampire, and got it over with.

And if Jodie weren't a member of the FBI, he might actually consider it.

"You're pretty hardy, for someone whose supposed to be sick." Sera noted, arching her brows. "You could always make the jump yourself, and open the doors from that end."

"Well," shrugging her shoulders, she took a step back, removing herself from arm's length, a fact which was not lost on Heiji, "...it would be bad if you burned yourself again, though."

Fingers trailing over the remaining burns left on his palms, Heiji's gaze shifted slightly in her direction, trying and failing to gauge what her expression meant. Had she really just come up here to ask him about how he was feeling, or had she already...?

"Ya saw, then." Heiji said, shifting his gaze back away from her, pulling his hands out of his pockets. They stung as he pressed them against the window frame, but he ignored the pain- compared to the pain from earlier, it wasn't anything he couldn't deal with. "Ya got somethin' ta say ta me, Sera-han?"

"No." Sera said, shaking her head. "Not now anyways."

"Is beatin' around the bush a hobby of yers?" Heiji asked, taking a step back.

"Given the choice, I prefer to be more direct." Sera said simply. "But I am capable of tact when needed."

"Well cut it out, it's annoyin'." Heiji said, folding his arms in front of his chest.

"Well? Could you tear it off?" Sera asked.

"Yeah, probably." Seeing no reason to lie, Heiji merely nodded his head. "But ya made a good point either. Even if I got outside, if I can't open up the doors, that means I'd leave the two of ya trapped in here, least fer as long as it took fer help ta arrive."

And he still wasn't convinced that what was keeping the doors shut was something as simple as a lock.

"So you're saying you'd run off without us?" Sera asked.

There was a slight pause then, Heiji's gaze trailing back towards her, not quite meeting her eyes. "Right now, I would."

"Because of Kazuha-chan?" Sera asked. "Or perhaps it's because of something else?"

"I thought ya said ya weren't gonna ask me questions like that right now." Heiji pointed out, tilting his head. "Both, though."

"Well, I wouldn't blame you." Sera said, shrugging her shoulders. "Jodie-san would probably be pretty mad, though."

"True." Heiji admitted. "An' if that thing really is around here..."

"I fought it off with my Jeet Kune Do last time, don't you remember?" Sera asked. "I might not be able to see it, but it's obviously vulnerable to physical attack. Well, even so, I guess I wouldn't be able to make it disappear like you apparently can."

"I doubt it would be as easy as shaking it off this time." Heiji noted. "An' there's probably more than one of those things. If they're connected ta the simultaneous accidents of that painter lady's students, there's no way there's not."

"...well that's an unpleasant thought." Sera admitted after a moment. "Well? What are you going to do then, Hattori-kun? Whatever it is, I'm not about to stop you. The feeling of wanting to save someone important to you... I can understand it, you know."

"Because of yer dead brother?" Heiji asked, deciding that if she was going to ask questions of him, he might as well ask one of his own.

"Yes." Sera admitted frankly. "But this isn't about me. It's about you, Hattori-kun."

Letting out a faint snort at that, Heiji rested a hand against the window again, fingers drumming against the metal plate that it had been bolted shut with. "From the way that yer puttin' it, ya make it sound like I'm the one the culprit wants."

"Aren't you?" Sera said simply. "Right from the start, the one that they've been displaying clear interest in is you."

She wasn't wrong, not when he really thought about. As far back as when they had received the sixth painting, something that almost felt like a lifetime ago, the culprit had seemed to be interested in him. He wished that he could claim he knew why, but that was yet another thing that was alluding him.

"So?" Heiji asked, turning on his heel. "What's yer point, Sera-han?"

"I said I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to go on your own, but I will say this, at least." Sera told him. "Doesn't it seem an awful lot like the culprit wants you on your own?"

Wait. Now that she mentioned it...

"But why?" Heiji asked, arching a brow.

"I can't answer that." Sera said, shaking her head. "If you shared your information with me, maybe I could make a few guesses, but all I can say that if it seems like it's what they want, then you probably shouldn't give it to them. I mean, think about- if this warehouse is a trap, what if the one written about in the deed is a trap too?"

"You hadn't thought about that, had you?" Sera asked, frowning slightly as she met his eyes.

"Of course I-!" Heiji began, before withdrawing, his gaze dropping from hers. "Actually, ta be frank, Sera-han, I haven't really been thinkin' all that straight lately."

It was the truth- if he'd been thinking straight, he would have realized that the deed that had been left behind could be some kind of trap already, rather than needing to have it pointed out to him. Pressing a hand against his forehead, Heiji drew in a long breath, trying to steady the static fuzz that had been clouding up his thoughts ever since Kazuha had first been abducted- to very little avail.

"Something's wrong with me."

He hadn't meant to say it out loud- and though he'd barely said it in a voice louder than a whisper, it would seem that Sera wasn't lying about having good ears of her own.

"I did think that something was." Sera told him. "But I didn't want to say anything in case I was mistaken. Do you want to talk about it, Hattori-kun?"

"...no." Pulling his hand away from his head, Heiji tucked it into his pocket. "Rather not."

"I see." Sera said simply- and for a moment, a silence fell between the two. "In that case, why don't you rely on me a little bit more, Hattori-kun?"

There was another pause then, Heiji's gaze flickering over towards her, seeming to almost study her for a moment. Taking a step forward, he closed the already rather short distance between the two of them, so that she could feel his breath on her face.

Or the lack of it, really.

As she thought, he really was...

"What do ya know, Sera-han?" He asked of her- and within such a short distance, there was no way that she could mistake the curve of his canines for anything else. "About me?"

"That's easy." The impression that she got from him was not one of intimidation- if anything, it was the opposite of that.

Fear, she thought.

"You're a vampire, right?"

For a long moment, she almost thought she wouldn't get an answer. Until finally, Heiji took a step back, forcing out a breath. "...when did ya figure it out?"

"To tell you the truth, I had my doubts, right up until you admitted to it." Sera confessed. "I wouldn't have thought that they could have existed, at least not before today."

"An' today?" Heiji asked.

"Today I've seen all sorts of crazy things." Sera told him, shrugging her shoulders. "Compared to that, a vampire almost seems normal."

"Well, that's true." Heiji admitted. "Ya'd think that even more if ya actually saw that thing, back in that basement room."

"What is it, anyways?" Sera asked. "You know, don't you?"

"'Fraid not." Heiji told her, shaking his head. "Some kind of spirit, or ghost. I think at the very least it used ta be alive at some point, but more than that, I can't really say. Well, the good news is that I can use this sword to slay them, if ya want ta put it that way."

"What, are you a detective or an exorcist?" Sera asked, arching a brow.

"Guess I'm fallin' into a bit of both lately." Unable to help himself, Heiji cracked a smile, the static in his head almost seeming to clear- if only just for a moment. The tension that had been contained within his shoulders had grown lighter, that much was true. "Though it's not really a lifestyle I pictured fer myself."

"Heh." Sera said, tilting her head. "In other words, you haven't always been a vampire, have you?"

"No." Shaking his head, Heiji told her that much. "Up until half a year ago, I was a proper human, ya know."

"That's too bad. It would have been interesting if your father was a vampire too." Sera noted, making note of the almost sour expression that settled over his face as she brought up the man.

"How'd ya figure, anyways?" Heiji asked.

"I am a detective, you know." Sera told him. "And to be honest, you're not that great at lying, Hattori-kun. Given how lousy you are at covering your tracks, I can believe that you haven't been one for very long."

"Shut up. I can keep a secret if I try, ya know." Heiji told her, his brows knitting together. "Besides, what about ya? Yer not afraid of me, are ya?"

The bark of laughter that escaped from her managed to somehow be both reassuring, and also entirely uncalled for. Shaking her head, Sera folded her arms in front of her chest, giving him a proper smile this time. "Not at all. You're not scary at all, Hattori-kun."

To be honest, he didn't want to admit how badly he needed to hear that right now.

Though it would have probably meant more were it to come from someone who had witnessed that.

"Hey, I can be scary if I try, ya know." Covering up such feelings with bristly offense, Heiji narrowed his eyes. "Anyways, regardless of what I am, we do need ta focus on gettin' out of here."

"And thinking about why it is that the culprit seems to want you alone?" Sera asked.

"No," closing his eyes, Heiji turned on his heel, hoping to mask his expression somewhat, "...if it's that, I'm already startin' ta get an idea."

And it wasn't one that he liked. Really, it was probably a good thing that Sera had followed him up here to speak with him- otherwise, he might be falling into the culprit's trap right now.

Well, he couldn't honestly say if he was on the right track or not. His load had lightened, but the static fuzz of his thoughts hadn't entirely vanished. Still, it was better than it had been before- not as insistent as it had been, giving him space to actually think, rather than just react.

He would put it to good use.

"Just so ya know, our culprit's a witch." Heiji told her, opening his eyes, turning back on his heel. "An' don't give me that look. What, ya can admit vampires are real, but not witches?"

...well, he'd done more or less the same thing himself, so maybe he shouldn't really talk.

"Ah, no, it's just..." Sera trailed off, holding up her hands. "Magic?"

"Yeah, magic." Heiji told her. "Ya saw it too, didn't ya? That huge circle back in that underground room? That's black magic, apparently."

"Black magic, huh...?" Sera mused, a hand straying up to her chin. "But for what reason would a witch murder people?"

"Don't know." Heiji admitted, shaking his head. "I haven't figured that part out myself. As long as we can catch her, and make sure she never commit another murder ever again, I suppose it doesn't really matter."

"That's true." Sera said, her brows furrowing. In truth, it all still sounded so absurd to her- but given the gravity with which Heiji was speaking, she couldn't find it in herself to doubt him.

"An' there's one more thing." Heiji told her. "Our culprit's not Caroline Hayden."

"Eh?" Unable to keep the surprise off her face, Sera blinked. "But back at the hotel, you said..."

"Yeah, I did say that." Heiji said, nodding his head. "It's true that her body's the one bein' used in the murders, but the real Caroline Hayden was probably killed eight years ago."

"Eight...?" As a look of understanding dawned across her face, Heiji's eyes narrowed. "You can't mean?"

"Yeah. Our culprit isn't the daughter." He told her.

"It's the mother."

Judging from the cold chill that crept down the back of his spine, it didn't seem that this was information that she wanted spread around.