[1] The Girl with Lotus Eyes and a Box of Takoyaki

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Rome's nightmares always started the same way.

The silence came first. Total sensory deprivation, like having his ears plugged from water pressure at the bottom of a pool. The only sound was the thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat.

Then the weight arrived. Something deeper than physical. Existential dread, maybe. Fear so deep it needed a face.

So his fear gave the darkness eyes.

Twelve equal flower petals bloomed in the irises. Like those time lapse videos on YouTube.

Some part of his brain screamed that he'd seen these eyes before, that they'd been watching him his entire life through mirrors he didn't know existed.

Then he fell.

He always fell.

Rome woke up gasping, vertigo from free falling catching up to him.

His head throbbed.

Fuck, someone clocked me good.

A rough burlap blindfold covered his eyes. His hands were zip-tied behind him around a metal chair.

Fantastic. Someone had come prepared for him specifically.

The air tasted like pennies with underlying humidity. Basement or warehouse, then.

Water dripped in the distance.

Plink. Plink. Plink.

Rhythmic enough to be annoying, irregular enough to prevent use as an accurate timer.

The concrete beneath his boots felt gritty. He scraped his heel to listen to the echo. Large space. High ceiling based on sound dispersal.

Then there was the feeling.

It crawled across his skin like static electricity, raising every hair in waves from his spine outward. He always got this when something unexplainable happened. Last time was seeing that thing in the alley he'd convinced himself was a hallucination from bad energy drinks.

This felt stronger. Like standing too close to power lines.

He strained against both zip ties. Same resistance. He flexed his fingers, trying to create space, but the plastic held firm.

The dripping water was behind him and left. His breathing bounced back faster from that direction.

That feeling intensified suddenly.

Was someone here with him?

"Hello?"

"Stupid," he hissed immediately after. "Real smooth, Rome. Why don't you ring the dinner bell while you're at it?"

Then he heard it.

Click. Clack.

Stilettos on concrete.

Click. Clack.

Not approaching in a straight line. The sound circled him widely, taking time. Whoever wore those shoes knew he couldn't track them. Establishing dominance through patience.

Click. Clack.

The sensation surged with each step, like a radiation detector.

Click. Clack.

Then came the smell.

Takoyaki.

"Really? Couldn't finish your snack before the kidnapping?"

The footsteps stopped but that feeling persisted.

A primal thrum resonating in his bones, making his pulse quicken in ways unrelated to fear.

The fuck is wrong with me?

The air pressure changed. Someone stood directly before him, close enough he felt their body heat.

Fabric rustled. A hand touched his face and ripped away the blindfold.

Rome's eyes adjusted to the dim light. When they did, he immediately wished they hadn't.

The eyes from his nightmare filled his vision.

The woman owning them was without doubt the most beautiful he'd ever seen. Long white hair fell around her face, catching the hanging bulb's light like fresh snow. She wore a fitted black suit jacket over expensive casual wear, the kind that screamed money and power.

She took another bite of takoyaki, studying him like a specimen in a jar.

That's when Rome saw the aura.

He didn't see it with his eyes exactly, but with whatever made his skin tingle. Faint purple energy shrouded her, concentrated around her breasts, hands, and mostly her eyes.

"Well, you're more interesting than your file suggested."

"My file?" Rome croaked.

She popped the last takoyaki into her mouth, made a satisfied noise, then tossed the empty container over her shoulder. It landed perfectly in a trash can ten feet away.

Show off.

"Rome Angelo. Seventeen. No living relatives. Full-time student at Pacific Community College while working construction part-time." She circled behind him. Her fingers trailed across his shoulders, making the purple energy flare. "Fourteen foster homes. Consistent reports of 'unexplainable phenomena'. Moving objects. Mismatched shadows. Unusual accidents."

"Who the hell are you?"

"That's one way to ask for my name." She completed her circle. Those lotus eyes studied him with pressure-like intensity. "Though given the circumstances, some vulgarity is warranted."

She leaned down to his level. Rome saw faint blue veins around her eyes, smelled something expensive beneath the takoyaki.

"Here's what I need to know, Rome. Are you a Demon, or a Shaman?"

He stared. "I'm a construction worker."

Her laugh was genuine. "Oh, I like you. But that's not really an answer."

"It's the only answer I've got, lady."

"Amelia," she corrected, straightening. "And that necklace tells a different story."

Rome's blood went cold. The obsidian pendant had been around his neck forever. He'd never taken it off.

"How do you know about..."

"These eyes see many things." She tapped her right eye, the lotus pattern pulsing violet.

She leaned in again, eyes glowing, petals rotating faster.

"That necklace is a seal. Very old, very powerful, designed to suppress and contain." Her voice dropped. "And when I look at you with my eyes fully open, do you know what I see?"

Rome didn't want to know.

She told him anyway.

"A human body. Normal physiology, normal spiritual pathways. But underneath..." Her finger touched his chest, sending electricity through his nervous system. "Something that's been sleeping behind that seal your entire life."

"You're insane," he managed.

"Am I?" She showed him her phone screen.

Crime scene photos. Three bodies, skin gray and sunken like month-old fruit. Mummified, completely drained.

"Three bodies found in the warehouse district last night," Amelia said clinically. "Drained of life force. Hollow shells. Damage only a demon could inflict."

Rome's stomach dropped. "I didn't..."

"And you were the only person with a demonic signature at the scene."

"That's impossible!" His laugh edged with hysteria. "I was helping my buddy look for some ghost. I didn't kill anyone!"

"Jake Mendoza confirmed your presence through his social media check-in at 10:47 PM. Estimated time of death was between 11:00 PM and midnight."

"I didn't... I can't..."

Amelia pocketed her phone, studying his face.

"Your heart rate just spiked to 140. Pupils dilated. Breathing suggests genuine panic. You don't remember what you did?"

"Remember what? I didn't do shit!"

She picked up more takoyaki.

"You must be hungry, you've been unconscious for six hours."

She offered him one. "Say aah..."

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself." She ate it instead. "Where are my manners? I'm Amelia Beleth, head of the Beleth Clan, one of the Four Great Families. Also first-year instructor at New Pacifica Shaman College."

She set the container aside and gripped his chair's armrests.

"And I'm the person deciding whether you live or die in the next five minutes."

The lotus patterns spun faster.

"So let's try this again, darling. What. Are. You?"