[Episode 199676] [Episode 199676]“Are you sure this is the right place, Nabiki?” Ranma asked uneasily, his eyes darting around quickly, never resting on any one place for longer than the fraction of a second, as if somebody would be jumping out of the shadows to attack them at any moment.
The night sky was filled with thick black clouds which promised rain and prevented any light reflected off the moon from reaching the streets of London, cloaking the late night streets in a thick veil of darkness. The winds had picked up, blowing discarded newspapers through the narrow alleys in this part of London. And the smell of ozone was heavy in the air.
“Yes, Master, I'm sure.” Nabiki took out a small piece of paper and looked at it, comparing the address she had written down to the address of the huge Gothic-style house they were standing in front of. “This is definitely the place.”
Ranma spared the Tendo girl a glance out of the corner of his eyes, then turned back towards the entrance of the house.
Maybe calling it mansion would be more appropriate, Ranma mused as he took in the intimidating structure stretching upwards in front of him.
He looked at the big Rose window situated above the large entrance door made of dark wood, then let his gaze sweep along the façade, taking in the numerous ornaments adorning it and the many pointed arch windows. He looked farther upwards, spotting statues of kneeling figures that were placed in hollows along the façade, their hands and feet clawed and their demonic faces twisted into vicious snarls, baring long teeth, until his gaze came to rest on two towers stretching into the sky, their spires almost appearing to scratch the rain-filled bellies of the heavy, low-hanging clouds.
“All right then, let's get this over with,” Ranma said, warily eyeing the mansion. “This place is giving me the creeps.”
Nabiki nodded in response, and approached the large door. “Let's just hope he's home,” she said, before rapping on the door three times.
As they were waiting for the door to be opened, Ranma took a closer look at the wall surrounding the entrance and recoiled in shocked revulsion.
Right next to the door was a mosaic, depicting four different images that were telling a disturbingly gruesome story.
The first picture showed a man and a young boy. The man was smiling kindly at the boy and holding out his hand, while the boy had a curious expression on his face and was in the process of taking the offered hand.
The second part of the mosaic showed a rapidly changed scene. The man had been replaced by a horribly disfigured perversion of a human being. His whole body was extremely lanky, his limbs appearing as nothing more than skin over bones, and his face had been replaced with a demonic visage. The boy was obviously frightened, his eyes wide and full of fear, and had made a step backwards.
The third picture showed the transformed man violently raping the young boy, whose now naked body was littered with wounds excessively leaking blood. The demon was smiling gleefully, a long forked tongue hanging out between rows of sharp teeth, while the boy's eyes were freely leaking tears.
The last part of the mosaic depicted the demon gorging himself on the innocent flesh as he bit into the boy's corpse, which was already missing large parts of his arms and legs.
“What's the matter?” Nabiki asked.
Ranma shook his head. “It's nothing,” he replied, not wanting to upset his companion.
Before Nabiki had any chance to pursue the matter further, the door was opened.
“What do you want?” A small, slightly hunched over man asked them rudely. He was extremely thin, appearing very frail, with greasy hair and dark rings under his eyes.
Nabiki didn't let the man's rudeness, nor his appearance get to her. “We're looking for a Thomas Bagshaw.”
The man eyed both vampires warily. “That's me. What do you want?” He asked again.
“We heard that you were knowledgeable about the occult and that you also had some experience in dealing with magic,” Nabiki began, “and we were wondering if you might be able to help us with a, shall we say, 'rather delicate' problem.”
Mr Bagshaw snorted. “I've got no idea where you heard nonsense like that, but I certainly don't know anything about magic. And even if I did, I wouldn't help you.”
The small man pushed the door, but Nabiki put one hand against it, keeping it open. “Please, I always do my research very thoroughly, Mr Bagshaw,” she said, smiling thinly at the small man. “Or should I call you 'Sorcerer Supreme'?”
The older man narrowed his eyes. “All right, so I might be able to help you. What's in it for me?”
Ranma tightened his hands into fists and bit his tongue to keep himself from saying something they might regret later. This guy was really pissing the pigtailed vampire off, but he could very well be their only chance for a cure, in which case beating him up wouldn't help. Although the man did somehow remind Ranma of Gosunkugi, just older, and his classmate could easily be bullied into anything. Surely this occult geek wasn't any different, especially if he was calling himself 'Sorcerer Supreme'. Maybe if I just dislocate a shoulder, or a few of his fingers...
Nabiki's smile widened a little. “I'm sure we can work something out. May we come in?”
Mr Bagshaw considered this for several moments, then sighed. “Fine, I'll see what I can do.”
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(Posted Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:22)
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