Dragonflie:  Eheheheh…

Daisuke:  I said “before Christmas.”  I’m sure I said that!

Miyako: Ah, what the hey.  It was the holidays!

Ken:  With nearly nil internet access.

Dragonflie:  Ken’s finally on my side!  Yay!

Ken:  …

Daisuke:  Can we just get it finished now?

Miyako:  Last line!

Raising Hell

            a.k.a. “Evil Does What Evil Lusts”

Chapter Seven

            “The Sacrifice: Take Two”

“Oh, now this is just great,” Miyako grumbled.

“What?!” Wallace yelled back.  The Voice was still laughing- in fact, it seemed as if it was approaching hysteria.

“I don’t think this is all that funny!” Sora shouted.  “Couldn’t you give us a hint, or something?”

“Is she seriously asking the evil laughing Voice thingy to help us?” Takeru asked Iori.

“What?!”

“Think about this logically!” Koushiro shouted then, waving his arms to get everyone’s attention.  “We’re here because of the Evil, right?  So the Evil has got to have some idea as to how to stop this!”

“We do?” Taichi asked.

“What?!”

Mimi had had enough.  Taking a deep breath, she started shrieking at the top of her lungs- it was cover up ears or feel your eardrums melting out of ‘em time.  But it did the trick- not even the Deep Booming Voice could stand such an assault for long.

“So there,” she said smugly to the ceiling when the laughter had stopped.

“What?!” Hikari called back.

“Seriously, though,” Koushiro said when the ringing in his ears had subsided.  “You guys are the Evil.  Together, you’ve got to have some idea how to stop this!”

“While they’re trying to think, I vote we play charades,” Daisuke said.

“Charades?  Charades sucks!” Miyako said.  “How about Pictionary?”

“I don’t have Pictionary,” Iori sighed.  “In fact, the only game I’ve got is checkers.”

Daisuke and Miyako looked at him with appalled expressions, but Michael had brightened up.

“Let’s have a checkers tournament!” he cheered.

“Are any of you taking this seriously?” Koushiro demanded.  “We could be stuck here forever!”

“Aw, c’mon; it’s not that bad,” Takeru said, trying to sound cheerful despite his own sinking feelings.

Koushiro snapped, “Not that bad?  We’re the captives of Evil!  Forever!”

“But… they’re not really bad Evils, you know?” Daisuke argued, gesturing to Ken with a rather goofy grin.

“But what about all the bad things that have been happening?”

“Bad things?” Mimi repeated, looking doubtful.  “Getting rid of Michael and getting this guy in exchange?  Bad things?”

“Let’s see,” Koushiro snapped.  “The full moon, dark clouds, strange noises, and ominous mist didn’t mean a thing to you?  What about the letter written in blood?”

Jyou raised his eyebrow at Taichi.  “I thought it was your way of being romantic.”

“Hey, the dark clouds were your idea!” Taichi said defensively.  “I- I think…”

“Wait, what’s this?” Yamato demanded.  “This stuff- your idea?!”

“Not- not really,” Jyou said, suddenly confused.  “I mean, it kind of was, but that was- before.”

“Before you materialized as people,” Ken said quietly, but with a breathless intensity.

“So you do remember being Evil!” Koushiro said triumphantly.  “Think of a way to get us all out of this!”

“All I know is that it requires a sacrifice,” Jyou said wretchedly.

“We tried the sacrifice thing, remember?” Hikari snapped.  “Think of something else!”

“But a sacrifice is the only thing that’s going to work!” Taichi wailed.  “There’s gotta be a sacrifice!”

There was a long moment of silence.

“We could always sacrifice the furniture,” Mimi muttered.  “It’s ugly.”

Iori glared at her.  “Think again.”

“I can’t think right without some low-fat blueberry yogurt.”

“Well, we’re fresh out of yogurt-“

“Then I’m fresh out of ideas.  Find me some goddamn yogurt, thank you.”

“Do the what?” Ken asked, being the only person who would even look at Daisuke in the eye right now.

“The noodle dance!  It helps you think!”

“Please get me out of here,” Miyako whimpered, holding onto Wallace.  “Or kill him.  Please.”

“I can’t think without my yogurt…  It’s the only dairy I get and I need my yogurt!” Mimi said again.  And again.  And again.

“We’re all going to die in here,” Hikari said in an eerie voice.  “At each other’s hands.”

“You’d think it had been at least half an hour since our first sacrifice attempt,” Koushiro said dully.  “Not three minutes.”

“At least my parents will never know I had a bunch of people over on Halloween,” Iori sighed.  Takeru hugged him to cheer him up, which worked moderately well.

“If no one’s going to think of anything, can we go back upstairs?” Michael asked, tugging on Yamato’s arm.  “There’s a really nice waterbed up there-“

“That’s my mother’s bed!” Iori shrieked, his slight cheer evaporating.

“C’mon, you guys,” Takeru pleaded.  “Think!  We sacrificed everyone to Evil and started up an eternal night-“

“Wait!” Sora shrieked, startling everyone.  “We sacrificed everyone to EVIL!”

“Yeah, we did that,” Taichi said, after a moment.  “At least, we did if everyone’s as Evil as they say…”

“But what if we sacrificed everyone to Good?” Sora demanded, looking over at Koushiro with a hopeful expression.  “Do you think that could work?”

“I-“ Koushiro blinked.  “I don’t see why not…  It’s the only plan we’ve managed to think up, anyway.”

“We could give it a shot,” Jyou said doubtfully.

Taichi came to a sudden conclusion and tackled Koushiro, who yelped.  “You guys do whatever you want- no one but me touches Koushiro, understand?”

“Either I’m doing the noodle dance all wrong, or it doesn’t help you think after all,” Daisuke sighed.  “What the hell is he talking about?”

“Remember how we sacrificed everyone to Evil?” Ken asked.

“Yeah…”

“We’d have to sacrifice everyone to Good the same way.”

“Okay…”

Ken sighed.  “You, Miyako, Iori, Hikari, and Koushiro are our only Good.”

Daisuke thought about that.  “Uh… really?”

“But people have already been sacrificed to Good!” Hikari argued, blushing a little.  “What a way to say it, huh?”

“Jyou, Mimi, Yamato, and Michael haven’t,” Iori said, looking worried.  “Four.”

“Four for four?” Yamato asked, looking more than a little annoyed.

“Or,” Miyako said brightly, “We could just make Daisuke kiss everyone.  Someone grab the holy water and keep Ken at bay!”

“What?!” Ken and Daisuke shrieked, but the plan was already in action.  Wallace, Takeru, and Sora were more than happy to help.

“No!  You can’t do this!” Daisuke shrieked as Miyako and Sora took his arms.  “It’s not fair!  I’m saving myself for Ken!”

“Ken’s already had you,” Hikari called from the other end of the living room, where she, Wallace, and Takeru were keeping an assortment of holy objects trained on Ken.  Iori took Daisuke’s goggles hostage- just in case he tried to bite or kick.

“All right- who’s first?” Miyako asked cheerfully.  “Mimi?”

Mimi eyed Daisuke warily.  “Do I get my yogurt if I go through with this?”

“All the yogurt you could ever want,” Jyou assured her, taking her hand.

“But I’m icky!” Daisuke wailed, trying to break loose.  “I’ll give you cooties!  I’m fattening!  I’ll give you cancer!”

“One more word and I stomp your goggles,” Iori said quietly, positioning his foot.  Daisuke shut up in a hurry.  Mimi took a deep breath, stepped forward, and banged her face against Daisuke’s- hopefully managing to touch lips.

“Done!  Now get me some mouthwash and then my yogurt!”

“THIS ISN’T FAIR!” Ken shrieked from across the living room as Daisuke started to scream for the vampire to save him.

“Oh, shut up,” Michael said crossly, stepping forward and grabbing Daisuke’s chin.  The goggle-less boy eeped and stared up at Michael with wide, terrified eyes.  “This isn’t going to hurt you…”

He pressed his lips to Daisuke’s in one easy, practiced movement, and Daisuke’s eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted.

“Did I mention that faeries often overwhelm human beings?” Michael said, grinning nervously.

At one moment, Ken was held back by a chain of crosses and holy water dispensers.  In the next, he had knocked Hikari across the room and was dragging Daisuke to the couch, threatening everyone who came within four feet of them.  Daisuke was babbling something about magic circles, gold coins, and pride rainbows- completely unable to finish the sacrifice.

“All right, all right,” Miyako said, sounding annoyed.  “Hikari’s just been given a mild concussion by Ken, so Iori will have to finish up.”

“Me?” Iori squeaked, looking horrified.  “I can’t do that!  It’s bad enough I have all you people in my house!  What would my mom and grandpa say if I was kissing a whole bunch of people?!”

“Don’t tell them?” Taichi suggested from the kitchen, where he had hidden Koushiro.

Jyou shrugged and whispered to Mimi, “Taichi never was any good at sharing.”

Now Miyako sighed loudly, grabbed Jyou’s collar, and planted a loud, smacking kiss on his lips.  “See?  That wasn’t so difficult!  Now it’s your turn.”

“You can’t expect Iori to kiss my brother!” Takeru said, sounding horrified.  “That’s- that’s so wrong!”

“He’s gonna do it and like it,” Mimi snarled, grabbing Takeru’s throat.  “I want out of here, Turtle Boy.  Either I get my yogurt or I make it out of your blood, understand?!”

“That’s an interesting idea,” Wallace said easily, taking Miyako’s hands so she couldn’t keep scrubbing at her lips.

“I-“ Iori said, but Yamato had sighed, rolled his eyes, and walked over to him.

“This isn’t going to hurt,” he said icily before gently placing a kiss on Iori’s still-speaking mouth.

“There wasn’t any tongue, was there?” Michael demanded suspiciously.

“I’m not the one who made someone fall over unconscious, all right?” Yamato snarled back.  But any other arguments were wiped away as an explosion of light took place in the room.

BONG

“The clock’s striking the hour!” Koushiro yelled through the insanely loud chime, but he didn’t know if anyone had heard him- he couldn’t see anything but a golden-white shine.

BONG

The light was centering, focusing on each of the Evils and Guests in the house.

BONG

First Takeru, the glow shining too bright to look at and then snuffing out-

BONG

Then Ken, who fell to the floor when the light had finished-

BONG

Then Mimi’s turn, the light looking almost like fireworks all around her-

BONG

And Michael, who sat down abruptly and started coughing-

BONG

Yamato covered his eyes and screamed, backing into the wall-

BONG

Wallace stared down at his hands; all of the lines were glowing-

BONG

Sora just stood there, serene and easy-

BONG

Jyou seemed to disappear for a moment and then come back-

BONG

Taichi disappeared as well, but when he reappeared, a dark shadow suddenly filled the room and squished the light into a tiny, nova-bright point-

BONG

Which exploded in a soundless wave of white.

“Ugh,” Daisuke said, groaning as he opened his eyes.  “What time is it?”

“About noon, I think,” Iori said, blinking at the clock.  “What- what happened?”

Ken woke up, realized he was lying in a patch of sunlight, and promptly ran out of the room.

“No, no!  It’s okay!” Taichi yelled after him.  “You’re not a vampire anymore!”

“What do you mean?” Yamato demanded, unwrapping himself from Michael’s very cling-tastic embrace.

“We’re all regular people now,” Jyou said, staring at his hands and marveling.  “The last sacrifice!  It broke the spell and made us all-“

“All right,” Takeru said, looking at Iori with very bright eyes.  “No more turtle!”

“No more curses,” Mimi said, looking depressed.

“No more avoidance of holy water!” Ken suddenly laughed, kicking a bottle across the room.

“No more enchanting every guy I meet,” Michael said, chewing on his lip.  Then he grinned and dived at Yamato.

“No more worrying about a wolf,” Takeru said, laughing at the two of them.

“No more breaking curses,” Wallace said slowly.  “Not that it really changes my life or anything.”

“But there’s no more Evil, either,” Taichi said, pulling Koushiro in close.

“Oh, I think there’s still some Evil,” Koushiro replied while slapping Taichi’s hand away from his thigh.

“But best of all,” Sora said, looking over at Iori, “No telling your mom about the wildest Halloween party ever.”

“You mean, if we all get out of the house before she and Iori’s grandpa finish walking up to the door,” Hikari said, looking out the window.

“WHAT?!”

Dragonflie:  Now it’s done.

Daisuke:  …me and Michael?!

Miyako:  Me and Jyou!

Ken:  Iori and Yamato?

Dragonflie:  Oh, what the hey?  It was fun.  ^^