GetBackers Fan Fiction ❯ Witch Hunt ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Okay. Here we go. If you don't like blood, stop reading. You've been warned.

Witch Hunt

Chapter seven

The first thing he heard when he woke up was a monotonous chanting from several voices. Ban forced his eyes open, and still dizzy he saw Ginji hanging by his wrists, standing on his feet but the rope holding him high enough that he almost had to stay on tiptoes. He was naked and placed a couple of meters to the left of Ban. Ginji was awake and stared at Ban with a scared look that Ban wasn't used to see in his partner's eyes.

Ban had difficulties thinking straight but by the ache in his shoulders he could at least understand that he himself was hanging the same way Ginji did. And he could see the room was filled with people dressed in gray robes with hoods. It was they who made the chanting. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind but the action only increased the dizzyness.

One of the greyrobed beings was an elderly woman vaguely reminding him of Toriyoshi, but this time, Ban, in spite of his fuzzy mind, recognized the witch aura immediately. She took a step to face him, and with a gesture she silenced the chanting.

"Ah, you're awake now, dark one," she said. With a smile that made Ban's blood freeze, she turned to the people gathered in the room.

"It's time. Do every step properly but fast; we must hurry before the dark one regains his powers. And remember, don't let the Sacrificer and the Seikon come closer than three meters from each other or we will not be able to stop their powers from releasing the evil demon closed up inside the Seikon."

A young girl stepped forward, bringing a big knife, the Sacrificer, in its sheath. She lifted it with both hands and bowing she offered it to the head of the Demura family.

The old woman took the knife, and while reciting words in an ancient language, she lifted it above her head and raised her eyes to it. When finished, she approached Ginji.

"Pure of heart, twin of light, give us your strength," she said. With the Sacrificer, she cut Ginji's right arm from the elbow to his shoulder. Ban twisted as he saw the knife cut his partner's flesh, but Ginji only tightened his lips a little.

"Pure of heart, twin of light, give us your strength," the others repeated, while a young man stepped forward with a wide wooden bowl.

Demura took the cup, turned to her family and bowed, stretching her arms with the bowl towards them. From the bowl she picked up a small tube, and sticking it into the wound's end at Ginji's shoulder she started to gather his blood into the bowl.

Not until the bowl was one fifth filled she removed the tube. Giving the bowl to the young man who stood waiting, she took a small bottle from a child, opened it and rubbed some strongly smelling ointment to Ginji's wound. Obviously that hurt more than the cut, because Ginji gasped as the ointment penetrated the wound.

The action was repeated with Ginji's left arm, his right leg, his left leg and as the last cut, she made a cross on his chest. That made Ginji groan in pain, and Ban, still not able to focus, could feel the agony his friend suffered from the cuts. The last cut seemed deeper than the other ones and Ginji was pale as a ghost. Ban could see he was very weak from the anemia.

The bowl was now filled with Ginji's blood. Demura put it on a plate on a small table, while a woman safely removed the Sacrificer from the room. As she returned, yet another child brought Demura the box with the Seikon. As she opened the box, it was Ban's turn to groan in pain. The bare sight of the Seikon seemed to affect him. In spite of his own condition, Ginji cast a worried glance at Ban. That guy never seemed to worry enough for himself, always fussing over how Ban felt.

Demura fastened the Seikon to a holder and put the ball in the blood filled bowl. Holding the Seikon in the handle of the holder, she moved to stand in front of Ban.

"Blood of witches, twin of dark, give us your life," was the words she recited to Ban.

Chanting incomprehensible words she started to roll the Seikon all over Ban's body, leaving bloody prints from the symbols carved on the ball, on his skin. Those prints burned, and Ban could feel how his powers were drained from him. He fought as hard as he could not to scream, but when she rolled the Seikon on his back there wasn't anything he could do anymore. Ban screamed in pain.

Demura dipped her fingers in the cup and began sprinkling the blood on the floor while walking in a circle around Ban and Ginji. All the others followed her, chanting again. Demura led the way out of the room and the two boys were alone.

"Ginji, you alright?" Ban asked in an attempt to sound as he himself never had been better. He couldn't fool Ginji, of course; under these circumstances who could he have fooled? Ginji was very weak; without the ropes around his wrists he wouldn't have been able to stand. He all but hanged in the ropes, his legs weren't much support, but he managed to lift his head to look at Ban. After all, it had been Ban who screamed.

"I'm fine, Ban-chan." That was the most obvious lie Ban had ever heard and he would have snorted if he hadn't thought that would take too much effort, but before he could respond in any way, Ginji continued in a weak voice. "Ban-chan, what happened? Who are these people? What are they going to do to us?" He whispered, "Is it us who are the human sacrifices?"

Ban knew that Ginji already had figured out the answer to that question, and was only asking in a vague hope he should be wrong. But of course he wasn't. Ban, remembering what he had heard from Toriyoshi suddenly understood it all. She had said he was a twin but he hadn't connected that with Ginji as the other twin. And now he knew the twins' role in this ritual. Still fighting to keep the burning pain from the symbols on his body from his voice, he made an effort to comfort Ginji.

"The old Demura woman is cousin to Toriyoshi," he told his partner. "They are both witches with some knowledge of how to use magic. Hell, I didn't know there were so many magic users still alive. And yes, you're right, they want to sacrifice us. But that's not gonna happen, we'll be alright as long as we're together. Don't worry, Ginji, we'll make it. Now that we're alone, it's time to get out of here." The speech made him exhausted, it took almost all his strength just to keep his pain out of his voice. But for Ginji's sake he had to make these last two sentences come true.

Ginji smiled weakly. "How, Ban-chan? I'm sorry, but I don't have any strength to use my electric power and I'm sure you would already be loose if you could have broken free."

Damned that smart guy. He seemed so naïve it was easy to forget he could always read the situation. And he always knew other peoples emotions. Ban could never ever fool Ginji. But Ginji trusted him, and Ban would do anything not to fail him.

"I told you not to worry, idiot. I'll think of something." How, he had no idea at the moment, of course. His powers were gone; no Snake Bite, no Jagan and he could not summon Asclepios. As a matter of fact, Ban was probably weaker than any ordinary human right now.

His partner was quiet while Ban pondered. What the hell was he supposed to do? He had to rely on that something would come up. Hell, he wasn't going to stand here and let someone kill Ginji and himself.

Nothing had come up, though, when Demura and the others returned. Demura untied Ban's arms and on impulse he tried to catch her. If he could have her as his hostage the situation would be much brighter. Unfortunately Ban hadn't more strength than a five-year-old child, and in spite of her age, Demura easily avoided his poor attack. Instead she caught his arms, and Shigeru stepped forward with a red robe he managed to put on Ban. Demura then turned the brown haired GetBacker around and tied his arms again, this time on his back.

She then turned to Ginji and untied him. When she did, Ginji fell to the floor, too weak to stand. Demura bent over him pouring something from a bottle into his mouth. This made Ginji splutter, but he also regained some of his strength and he was able to rise. Ginji got dressed in a red robe as well, and Demura tied his arms too behind his back and then tied Ban's rope together with the ones holding Ginji.

"Let's go," she demanded, and everybody slowly moved out from the room, out of the house, into the forest.

The procession proceeded with Demura in the lead, to the clearing Shido had discovered earlier. Behind her, two of her descendants were leading Ban and Ginji, covered with the long red robes, and after them all the other came, all of them carrying bundles of cloths.

The clearing had been prepared for the ritual. About ten meters from the gatelike construction stood two low tables, beside each other but also about ten meters apart, with ritual items standing on top of them. At the pond stood a metal bucket ornamented with symbols resembling the ones on the Seikon.

The boys were once again stripped and tied hanging from their wrists, this time back to back in the gate. The members of the Demura clan had put down their bundles, got undressed and then lined up in front of Shigeru and Demura who had gone straight to the pond. For each person Shigeru filled the bucket with water and poured it over the man or woman while Demura recited words not audible to Ban and Ginji. The cleaning ritual kept on until everyone had been rinsed by the water and put on the dry robes from the bundles they had been carrying.

The family, except for some of the elders, made a semi-circle on one side of the gate, leaving the side to the two tables open. The elders lit up fires and burned incense which spread a heavy scent in the air. With all the preparations done they too stepped back in to the semi-circle, watching Demura where she stood alone except for the GetBackers, in the middle of the clearing.

She started a recital again, but this time the words were clear and understandable.

"We summon the power of Yami, our Master. We bring you our sacrifice, the twins of light and darkness. The pure of heart to give you strength, the blood of witches to give us life. The pure of heart to give us life, the blood of witches to give you strength. Together they make a whole, together their power bring a century of power to you. With this power, grant us our wish, give us another century of life. Let their lives be ours."

---

Shido was on the bus once again. He could feel in his butt the many, long hours of sitting he had been forced to do this day, and he shouldn't even have had anything to eat if it wasn't for Kazuki. He was glad Kazuki had let him shared his meal now; of course he could do without food for a couple of days, but he had to admit he felt better this way.

He wondered if this witch clan really was going to slaughter Ginji and Midou. If only that Snake Bastard hadn't lured Ginji away from Mugenjou… Shido shook his head, he was being unfair and he knew it. He had come to fully understand why Ginji left and he really didn't blame Midou anymore. But it was still hard to like that guy, and it was easy to blame him for all the trouble Ginji had to go through.

Anyway, Shido wasn't going to let anything happen to his former emperor and for that emperor's sake he wouldn't let anything happen to Midou either.

The bus stopped at his destination and he stepped down on the road. Again he had some walking to do. It didn't bother him, but he was eager to reach the clearing - where he expected them to be - as soon as possible. He started to run, and reaching the forest he soon found the animal paths he had followed before.

Something was different in the forest this time. The closer he came to the clearing the more quiet the animals became. He stopped to ask what was going on. It didn't take long before he was provided with the answer. A lot of people were gathered in the clearing and a sense of evil had made all the animals get away from it. 'Is my emperor there? And his friend?' Shido asked with a description of Ginji following the question. Some of the bravest crows were soon back with the answer. 'Yes. But he is very weak and so is his friend. Your emperor have the smell of close to death,' was what they told him.

Dammit. Shido started running again, even faster this time.

---

Demura took the Sacrificer and the bowl once again. This time the knife and bowl had been standing on the table to the left of her, at the side of the clearing opposite the semi-circle of people. She approached Ginji again, repeating the action of cutting and collecting the blood but this time she only cut his arms.

Ginji was now very near collapse; he fought hard to stay conscious. He refused to give up hope even if he of course understood their chances were small. If they would have any chance to get away from this, both he and Ban had to stay awake. While Demura kneeled and whipped the blood in the bowl chanting something, Ginji gathered his strength and whispered to Ban. "Ban-chan, you awake?"

"Still here," came the answer. His voice was strained but clearly audible. A moment he hesitated. Then he said. "Ginji."

"Yes, Ban-chan." Ginji's voice was so full of tenderness Ban could hardly go on.

"I'm sorry, Ginji."

"What for, Ban-chan?" Ginji's voice was genuinely surprised.

"I couldn't come up with anything."

Ginji answered so softly Ban almost didn't hear, but he did. "You have never done anything to me to be sorry for."

Ban wanted to respond but his throat seemed so thick. He tried to swallow. Say it now, idiot, before it's too late. Damn, it was difficult for him to express his feelings in words. Most people would never see any emotions at all except for anger and arrogance. But to Ginji he had at least been able to show what he felt even if couldn't tell him. He didn't have to say anything, Ginji knew and understood anyway. Only, this time he wanted to say it.

"Gin…"

And it was too late. Demura stood in front of him, grabbing him by his hair. She pulled his head backwards, making the back of his head lean on Ginji's shoulder and with the Sacrificer she cut his flesh behind his left ear and draw the knife all the way down to his waist. Where a proper blood vein was found she pushed a little harder and collected his blood in the bowl together with Ginji's blood.

She let go of Ban's head and he slumped forward. He opened his mouth to finish what he wanted to say, but not a sound was heard. He couldn't even find his voice anymore.

---

When Ban's blood had filled up the bowl there seemed to be a pause in the ritual. The semi-circle broke up and people began strolling around a little, talking to each other. Old Demura stood by one of the tables, whipping the blood to hinder it from coagulating. It was at this moment Shido reached the clearing. Or rather, he should have if he hadn't found an invisible barrier, making it impossible to come closer than 10 meters to it.

If Shido had been an ordinary man this would have been a problem, but not now. His animal friends that were with him could move across the barrier without even noticing it was there. They didn't want to go near the clearing, but those who had followed him circled around him on both sides of the barrier. All Shido had to do to cross the invisible line was to use one of his beast imitations. As a lynx he entered the spell-surrounded area, alone, the animals did not want to follow any longer and Shido didn't want to force them. Quietly he climbed a tree and was looking down at the scene in the clearing.

Ginji and Midou were tied to the gate he had seen before, looking even worse than Shido had expected. About 40 men, women and children from the age of ten and older were sitting or walking in the clearing. Two girls in their lower teens were on their way to the tree Shido was sitting in. They sat down under the tree chatting like any teenage girls.

"This is so cool." One of them said. "I'm so glad our parents found the twins at last. I would really hate not being an immortal anymore. Think about dying when you're only 80 or so."

"We're not really immortals," her slightly older second cousin reminded her. "But when we age only like five years in one hundred years I guess we're almost immortals."

"Yeah." The younger one agreed. She hesitated a little. "You know what I think is the most scary thing with this ritual?"

"No, what?" The older girl looked surprised. "I didn't know you thought it was scary. You've never told me that."

Her cousin blushed slightely. "I was too little last time we did this, and it's not until obaasan told us the twins were found and the ritual soon would be held that I really started to think about it. The thing that scares me the most is that the Seikon and the Sacrificer must be held apart. It frightens me a lot, thinking about the demon that can come loose if they come to close to each other."

"There's nothing to be afraid of." The older gave the younger a superior look. "If it wasn't for obaasan's spells, the demon would be free if they were brought closer to each other than 50 meters. Now they can come as close as three meters apart without risking that. And it's no problem to keep that distance. The settings for the ritual are made so that those two items never come closer than about eight or nine meters. That's more than enough safety, I think."

"I know you're right, but it still scares me. Obaasan has to renew this 'distance-spell' every five years just to keep it on the safe side. What if she hadn't done that, and if those stealing back our knife and ball had come back with them at the same time?"

"Stupid, in that case they should have delivered them at different houses of course. And obaasan had put another spell around the house last night. If they had come at the same time that spell would be enough to keep the demon locked up anyway. But it's a very difficult spell and it can only be maintained for about 24 hours. That's why we can't use that spell all the time. I helped obaasan while she cast the spell," the teen said with unmistaken pride.

"I'm glad it's you and not me that are to learn how to make all the spells that is needed for the ritual. I wouldn't want all that responsibility."

"I don't mind, I think it's exciting."

"Did you by the way hear that obaasan had a lot of troubles with these twins? I didn't really understood why."

"They are different from the twins from previous times. They said the light twin is more than just the light one. I think they meant he had some extra powers."

"Strange, I thought the light twin was only supposed to have a pure heart."

"I know, it's so weird. They say this one has even killed, but he still counts as pure hearted. And the dark one is a full-blooded witch."

"He can't be, only girls can be witches."

"You're so stupid, call him what you want but it's the strongest witch-blood we've ever had. Obaasan had to search for much stronger spells than she ever had used before, to bind him after the gas had made them unconscious. If she hadn't, he would have broken free before she could have painted the blood symbols on his body with the Seikon. Those symbols bind him better than any spell, you know, and you can't put them on him if he's not awake."

"I know. You don't have to tell me that!"

"I have to. I'll bet you don't even remember what we are going to do with them."

"Of course I remember. They are going to cut the light one to pieces and burn the dark one alive, and then we eat their flesh and may live for another one hundred years," the young girl said triumphantly.

Shido felt like he was going to be sick. Kazuki had been right. Not that he had doubted it; Kazuki's information was usually correct. He remembered his thoughts when he had overheard Demura and Shigeru talk here this morning; maybe they were getting naked and dance and sing in the moonlight. Dammit, he should've stayed, he should've understood that dancing in the moonlight wasn't what they were up to.

Below him Demura summoned her family to start the ritual again. This time they all formed a circle around Ban and Ginji, leaving gaps in the circle to give clear paths between the gate and the tables. Shido saw how Demura kneeled beside one of the two low tables on which a large piece of paper was spread. There was also a kind of ball in a holder and the old woman dipped the ball in the whipped blood and painted the paper with the symbols carved on the ball.

When the paper was filled with symbols she folded it, laid it in a shallow bowl and with a small torch she lit on one of the fires, she put the paper on fire. The ashes were poured into the rest of the blood in the first bowl.

Demura then brought the bowl to her lips and took a small sip. She walked over to her eldest son in the circle and gave him a sip and continued around the circle to give everyone a taste of the ash mixed blood.

Shido was thinking fervently. He had to do something very quickly; it was obvious those two couldn't manage this by themselves. He couldn't really blame them, it was hell of a situation they were in, and now it was up to the Beast Master to save the day. If he could find out how before it was too late, that was. He sent out a call to his friends in the woods, but all response he got was a sense of fear. They didn't dare come to him.

From his position among the branches in the tree his eyes searched for something else that could give him an idea. He looked at Ginji. The blonde guy was hanging limp and Shido couldn't see if he still was conscious or not. What would help Ginji? Electricity was the first that crossed his minds, but there was no way he could help Ginji recharge with electricity here. He moved his eyes to look at Midou. The Snake bastard was at least still conscious and at Shido's glance Ban seemed to notice something, he raised his head and caught Shido's eyes.

TBC