The Preying City

Amelia woke up with a headache. Her stomach churned as she tried to sit up and it induced a wave of nausea.

The events of last night flashed in her mind. She remembered all of it until the moment she started drinking. It was a strange feeling. She was sure that it wasn't her but she remembered all of it as if she was the one doing it.

As she pushed her brain to try and recall the events afterwards, another pang of headache hit her and she felt fluids rushing up her throat. She got up in a rush to run to the washroom and realized that this wasn't her room.

Left with no choice, she randomly opened a door in a hurry. Thankfully, it was the washroom. Supporting herself with her hands on the washbasin, she emptied her stomach. The bitter taste of her gastric fluids and cheap beer lingered on her tongue.

'Couldn't they have served better alcohol? Ughh... my stomach hurts.'

Done with the emergency, she freshened up and returned to the bed. The room was medium in size and decorated plainly. Little sunlight came through the window that was facing west but the room was warm enough.

Grabbing a glass of water for herself, she organized her fragmented memories. Now that she started making sense of what had happened, she got scared. A different consciousness had taken over her right before she entered the mansion. She was being influenced subtly even before that but she had overlooked it in its entirety. No, it was more like she was being influenced in such a manner that she found nothing strange.

She needed to know what had happened. She had a lot of questions that needed answering but most importantly, she needed to know why her. Unless she figured all these out, she wouldn't be able to rest easy.

Having made up her mind to figure out everything, she got up and headed for the hotel's counter. "Excuse me, can I know who brought me here yesterday?"

The lady in the reception was a middle aged woman wearing a blue dress. "Don't you remember? A gentleman wearing glasses carried you here. You were dead drunk. Thankfully you had a good friend. A young woman shouldn't be drinking so heavily, specially so late into the night. Do you have any idea how dangerous it can get?"

The receptionist answered her question and proceeded to warn her about the dangers of a staying out late for a young lady. She even recounted some events that had made it to the news.

Amelia smiled awkwardly and replied, "Thank you for your concern. I got carried away by alcohol yesterday. I will keep your words in mind."

She checked out and walked away immediately. She didn't know how to respond to the lady's concerns. She wasn't used to being treated with kindness. If she could, she would rather deal with people who wanted something from her.

Chasing away the unnecessary thoughts in her mind, she headed for a rowdy neighborhood. It was where Big Joe lived for the moment. He had told her to come find him if she ever found herself in a pickle.

For the moment, he was the only one she trusted. He was different from other supernaturals she had met. She wasn't sure if it was his work ethic or just his personality but he made sure that she was safe from harm. The actions he took back in the hotel in black wood salt mine had earned her trust. At least to some extent.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door twice. The door opened a little and a pair of eyes observed her from inside. She could tell that it was Joe just by how she had to look up to match his eyes.

"Come in." Joe spoke and moved back to make space for her to walk through. "Sit down. What brings you here?"

"I think I have something inside me." She spoke in a tone full of panic. She could hold back the anxiety and fear because she didn't have anyone to rely on. But now that she had made her way to someone who could help her, her emotions burst out like an overflowing dam. "It can control me without me knowing about it. And then I did things and I knew things that I didn't know about. I don't know when it will control me again. Help me."

"Calm down. You aren't making much sense. What's inside you? Did the police do anything?" Joe spoke gently and placated her.

"I don't know. I don't know if it's the police. I feel like I will know if I can remember what happened afterwards but there's a giant blank in my memory after a certain point."

"Tell me what you know."

Amelia began narrating what had happened after he had jumped from the window to run away. She skipped the part about learning of Mr. Secret's identity and her going to the private investigator. Mr. Secret had saved her once and stepped in to make sure she was safe in the hotel after black wood salt mine incident. She didn't want to create more complications and also felt like she owed at least that much to him.

"So you are telling me that you walked to a half built mansion in a deserted place. And that you had no idea about the place or its name but u suddenly seemed to know about it?"Joe asked once more to make sure.

She nodded expectantly.

"It sounds like possession rather than a controlling ability. But it's not a standard possession as well. If it was, you wouldn't have remembered anything. I need to make sure of some things. Take me to the mansion."

The two headed for the mansion. Amelia's memory were a bit jumbled and shaky but after repeated attempts, they finally reached their destination.

Joe was surprised to actually find a mansion in a place like this. He knew what had transpired here and how all construction had been cancelled after the leveling had been completed.

"It's in there. In the bas.e.m.e.nt." Amelia spoke apprehensively. The party that had controlled her had lead her here and she was scared to go in. Besides she could still clearly remember the madness and chaos.

Noticing her fears, Joe took the lead and opened the door. Peeking in, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Looking back, he spoke in a reassuring manner, "What are you scared of. I am here. Follow me."

The girl stuck close to the giant and walked into the mansion. The first difference she noticed was that the artworks decorating the walls were missing. Now, it resembled a house that had been abandoned mid construction.

"It wasn't like this. There were expensive vases and paintings throughout this corridor and the kitchen was inside that room on the end of the corridor." Moving to the room where the kitchen was supposed to be, she found it empty.

Joe noticed the shock on her face. "Let's go down first. Cleaning this place up wouldn't be hard but removing a giant fighting ring and a bar is another matter altogether."

She just nodded half heartedly and traced his footsteps. It was the same downstairs. Everything had been cleaned. There was no fighting ring, no bar, no booths. It was just one giant bas.e.m.e.nt with jagged walls.

"What do I do? I am scared. I don't even know when I will become like yesterday once again." She broke down emotionally. She didn't consider herself a good person but she had tried to live virtuously. Having endured a decade and a half of tough life, she had finally started seeing good days. Even so, her life felt empty and meaningless and she had turned to the supernatural world to feel alive. It hadn't even been a week after she turned into a supernatural and she found herself once again in this unfair situation.

Big Joe was at a loss. Miss Mystique always seemed to bright and cheerful. Never had he expected her to be so frail. He approached her and patted her back awkwardly. "it's okay. You have Dr. White's brooch that you bought from Mr. Collector. I think you can recover your memory loss with its help. Mr. Collector did say that it could get rid of curses. A small problem like memory loss shouldn't be an issue."

"Mmm... " Amelia wiped away her tears and nodded heavily. Being comforted felt warm and she resolved to herself to not let Joe's concerns go to waste.

She took a deep breath to alleviate her runny nose. "Big Joe, are you my friend?"

"I don't know about being friends but I will do my best to fulfill your requests as long as you pay me. I am still working to pay off the advance you had given me on the sewer."

She found his answer even warmer. Even if he didn't say yes, she considered him a friend of hers already. Being able to confide in someone during such a tough time was a wonderful thing. Setting her emotions and thoughts straight, she turned to him and spoke cheerily, "Let's go. We will spend the entire day helping the poor and unfortunate."

Big Joe looked at her disheveled look and spoke with a beaming smile. "Of course, it's hard to find good Samaritans like us."

The two walked out of the mansion and headed for Amelia's home. She needed to fetch the brooch as well as some money.

A man in dark clothes was observing the duo from a safe distance. He was well hidden and the two didn't even notice him.