Right! I'm almost on a roll! two stories updated in like a month! It's a miracle. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, despite the fact that it is a bit of an interlude... I have lately been trying to write more descriptive, which I hope I've managed here, but then again, it might be really badly written. Feel free to give me constructive criticism about it. And if anyone would like to beta for me I would be thrilled!

Well, that's it for me, I think. I hope this chapter, (which was long in the coming) isn't too disappointing.

Chapter 5

After the vampire had asked the pair to join him to Hell, it hadn't taken them long to agree. While Tatsumi was aware that he had once upon a time read about a method that would allow them to travel there, he had no recollection of where he had read it and no memory of how it would be done. And if Tsuzuki had been taken it would be crucial to get him back soon. Tatsumi would almost even say that Tsuzuki had managed to get himself into a situation that was even more dangerous than the previous one. A vampire was one thing, and the kingdom of demons a complete other.

For Watari there hadn't been much reasoning to do. If Tsuzuki was in Hell, then he needed to get there in order to save him. It was that simple.

It hadn't taken the vampire long to whisk them away after that. He had after all been just about ready to leave when the two stumbled in. And, well, Watari thought as they got there, maybe Hell wasn't so bad after all? While it was hot, it wasn't exactly unpleasantly hot, more like they were on a tropical island, but without any moist in the air.

As soon as they had collected themselves a bit from the transportation Muraki set of with a brisk pace toward the castle- like building in the distance. Watari marvelled at the beauty of it, he would never have imagined that things in Hell could look beautiful. All in all, going down there really was like going on a vacation, warm and pretty.

But he soon regretted that thought. The closer to the castle they got, the hotter it became. And up close the castle really did not look as pretty as he had previously thought. Its white stone showed large gaps and some of the towers looked just as if they were going to fall down. The bottom part was stained black and, Watari gulped, was that skeletons scattered around its base?

He must have faltered in his walk because the vampire turned around and gave him a gloating look.

"If you think it's too much I'll gladly go and save my pet alone. After all, I only invited you out of curtsey."

Watari returned the look with a glare and increased his pace again. The damn vampire wasn't even sweating, while the scientist felt like someone had poured a bucket of water over him.

"As if I'd leave Tsuzuki to the likes of you!"

Muraki felt no need to give an answer and just turned around, taking the lead.

"You'll let me do the talking. Demons have plenty of customs that I'm sure you're unaware of and I don't want one of you ruining any chances we have of managing this without fighting."

The humans sneered at Muraki. What he said made sense, yet Watari did not want to follow his lead, and nor did Tatsumi trust him. He knew that it was possible for the vampire to turn on them at any minute. But he nodded, secretly promising himself that by any sign of betrayal he would not hesitate to throw the vampire to the wolves in their stead.

The castle was a strange building. Once they had got close to it the castle towered over them, the walls reaching higher than what seemed possible.

"Does it even end...?" It was Watari who voiced the question, but it did nothing but echo the thoughts already in his companions' heads. But whether it ended or not wasn't the problem that faced them, instead it was the clear lack of an entrance that caused the group problems. They had walked around the building once and hadn't even seen a window on a lower level. Everything was placed much higher up, in the parts where the castle had yet to be blackened.

"Now what do we do, genius?" Watari continued a while after, annoyed at the lack of response to his earlier question. "There's no entrance. No way in. No door, no nothing! Should we circle the building again? would that help?"

He walked closer to the building, silent for a second.

"Well? What's the plan? Any magic formulas to chant, some vampyric rite to be carried out? Or perhaps," Watari paused for effect, "we should simply knock?"

That was exactly what he did, without waiting for any answer. The knocks echoed around them hollowly and loudly. And then a door opened in front of him.

It was by no means an impressive door, about as tall as Watari it looked as if someone had cut it out of the wall. Yet it managed to almost make Watari's eyes fall out and even Muraki raised his eyebrow in surprise. He hadn't been to hell before and none of the accounts of it had said anything about the oddness of the castle.

A servant appeared in the doorway once the door was fully opened, too tall and skinny to look completely human, he was stooping to fit through the small opening. Dull brown eyes looked out at them from a haggard face and as he opened his mouth to speak it was obvious that he was missing most of his teeth.

"Welcome to the East castle of Hell, ruled by our Lord Baal." The speech was delivered automatically and was much too stiff to make the group feel really welcome.

"If you will come inside I will show you to the waiting room, wherein you must stay until you are summoned."

He walked backwards through the door and beckoned for them to follow. Swallowing his hesitation at entering the darkness that could be seen behind the door Watari followed and the door closed behind him. Tatsumi, who had been walking forward quickly in order to get through found himself locked out with the vampire. Frustrated he knocked on the wall again, but when it opened it was not the same servant. As the same speech was delivered from a girl who was equally tall and malnourished as the first, Tatsumi started to feel worry creeping in. He had no idea what would happen to the scientist in there, and he definitively did not want to think of the troubles he could, would, be getting himself into.

Muraki stood next to him, looking more amused than anything else. The humans had been naïve, they had not quite understood how much danger being in Hell really could be. But it would be amusing to watch them, he thought, some amusement until he really needed to use them to survive.

He kept close to Tatsumi as the other stepped through the door, careful not to be left behind. After all, what good was your bribes if you had lost them? The darkness that they stepped in through turned out to be nothing but a thin veil and the corridor they stepped out to were brightly lit, despite its dark walls and floor. But it was slippery and the servant left at a surprising speed and Tatsumi would have been left behind, had not the vampire, with a badly hidden look of annoyance, grabbed hold of him and pulled him along.

As they went along the corridor it became obvious that they were moving upwards. Not because of any noticeable slanting off the floor, but because the corridors gradually became cleaner the further they got. In the end, after walking through the dull corridors for ages they came to a sudden halt. The corridor was at an end.

It didn't take long until they were moving again, however, because the servant knocked on the wall and it fell to pieces in front of them, and then he led them on into a hall. It was much fancier than the corridor they had just left, with a ceiling so high they almost couldn't see where it ended and pristine white walls. When they started walking again Tatsumi suddenly realised that he couldn't determine how long the hall was, because he couldn't see the end of the room. There was nothing but white walls, broken only by the torches set in even spaces along it.

"Muraki" he hissed, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

The vampire didn't answer him, choosing instead to simply sigh. It didn't matter to him whether or not the humans believed that he knew was he was doing, but he didn't want to admit to them that he probably was almost as lost. There were so few documentations from those who had been to hell, probably because most died on the way, and the only thing he was completely sure of was that you had to play along in the demon's games. Muraki didn't want the humans to know that. No, it was better to keep them ignorant and docile. After all, it hadn't been his fault that they neglected to do research before leaving with him.

Tatsumi said nothing more to him as they walked and the silence almost felt like it was about to swallow him. Something with the room had removed all sound, even from their footsteps, so at times he wasn't sure whether he was awake or if he was dreaming. The hall just kept on running on and on, with no sign of an exit anywhere. Perhaps there were no end to it, just a circular room that they kept walking round and round in.

Just as the thought formulated in his head he realised that it was wrong. He could just see a hint of something large and dark up front and quickened his pace. That led him nowhere except for walking into the servant, who, unstable because of her fragile frame, fell down.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry miss!" Tatsumi said, stretching his hand out to help her get back on her feet, but she didn't take it. Instead the two were left to witness her clumsy attempts to get back on her feet. In the end, she failed, because every time she got a foot up on the ground the limb proved too weak to carry her weight until she was stable again.

"We-we should do something!" Tatsumi exclaimed, trying to get a hold of one of her arms and pull her up, but the vampire kept himself impassive and silent. If a wretch from hell couldn't even take care of herself it was none of his business. Either way, he wouldn't have had much time to move because the servant managed to knock on a piece of wall, from which another servant stepped through. Uncaring of his college's condition he stepped right over her and bid them to follow him. As they walked onwards, reluctantly on Tatsumi's part, two other servants came through the doorway and dragged her away.

They didn't have far to go with the new servant. He stopped a couple of meters away and once again, opened a door by knocking the wall. The interior turned out to be an almost cosy room, clearly designed as a room for waiting, with two couches and a bookshelf.

The servant bowed.

"Please wait here until our Lord is ready to see you."

Tatsumi was on the way to stepping in when he realised that there was one thing the room clearly lacked.

"Wait a minute! Where's Watari?" He looked at the servant. "Our friend was brought up by a different person. Where is he?"
The servant remained mute and passive, frozen in the stance and prepared to leave. He didn't even seem to realise that they had said something, but he needed to stay until they had entered the room.

"Hey!" Tatsumi said, louder this time, "I'm not entering that room unless you bring my friend here."

There was still no reaction, but the thin body was starting to shake from standing still too long.

"Give it up."

Tatsumi turned his eyes from the servant and to Muraki instead.

"He obviously can't do anything about it. Just get in here."

Looking back at the man Tatsumi knew that the vampire was right. But he wasn't about to admit it and give in so easily.

"No. Do you even realise what will happen if I go in there? We will be...!"

His speech was abruptly interrupted in the middle as the vampire took hold of his collar and pulled him back the short distance that was needed for the door to close.

"...trapped..."

Fun stuff, yeah? I quite like hell because I can decide exactly how I want it.

Unfortunately no Tsuzuki in this chapter. I hope you will all live. He should (most likely) appear again in the next chapter. So, like I said above, R&R, especially with comments on how I'm doing with descriptions and also if you want to beta:D