Dean stood there for a second, watching her walk away.
She’s so cute!
Yvaine disappeared inside the mansion, which was as silent as she left.
She walked to her room upstairs and then quietly closed the door behind her.
For a brief moment, her fingers lingered on the bracelet around her wrist.
A faint smile touched her lips, though her eyes were saddened upon seeing it.
“…Best Friends.”
The room suddenly grew dark and darker.
Before she could react, an invisible force wrapped around her neck.
Yvaine’s feet left the floor.
She gasped as she was lifted into the air.
A low, distorted laugh echoed from every corner of the room, “So, you do know how to get the work done.”
Yvaine clawed at the unseen grip around her throat, struggling to breathe.
The darkness slowly gathered around her human figure.
Its attention drifted toward the silver bracelet on her wrist, “…Clever move.” It chuckled, “A pair of lovers’ bracelets.”
The bracelet around Yvaine’s wrist began glowing faintly.
Thin strands of pale blue light slowly emerged from the bracelet, flowing into the darkness, as if feeding it.
It let out a satisfied laugh, “The bond is starting to form. But it is not deep for me to draw his spiritual energy.”
It sniffed from the bracelet, “A tiny drop of your blood on his bracelet, doesn’t establish the bond I want.” It laughed devilishly, “I can smell a different powerful energy inside you.”
It looked directly into Yvaine’s eyes, “You simply wanted to spend more time with him, you have no interest in finding Miley genuinely.” ITs laughter became mocking, “It pleases you that Miley has disappeared.”
Yvaine’s eyes widened, “N-No.”
“You hated seeing another girl ask him out.”
“I didn’t-–”
“You were and are enjoying having him all to yourself.”
“I said that’s not—”
The invisible grip tightened violently around her neck, “Don’t worry, I did it for you!”
Yvaine struggled desperately, her vision blurred.
It fed itself from this feeling of Yvaine, “My strength is returning.” Its voice dripped with thrill and amusement.
The darkness surrounding thickened.
Tears gathered in Yvaine’s eyes, “I-I…”
The darkness suddenly released her.
Yvaine crashed onto the bed coughing.
She curled forward, desperately drawing air back into her lungs.
The entity hovered silently above her.
“Whether you admit it or not, human hearts are wonderfully selfish. How do I know? Cuz, once I was one of them,” It slowly started fading.
“Don’t disappoint me. One week, that’s it.”
Yvaine’s uneven breathing was only heard in her room as the darkness faded.
Her trembling hand slowly reached toward the broken bracelet around her wrist.
She stared at it for a long time.
“Was I that much evil?”
Meanwhile…
Dean quietly parked the car.
The neighborhood had already fallen asleep.
He glanced toward the window of Ellie’s room.
The room was filled with dark.
“She’s asleep. Mission sneak back inside…”
He quietly closed the car door before tiptoeing toward the rainwater pipe.
After a small struggle and nearly slipping twice, he finally managed to climb back onto the narrow ledge outside his room, “Going down was definitely easier.”
He carefully pushed the half-opened window open and slipped inside.
“Voila!”
Just as he reached to close the window from inside, a sharp pain shot through his wrist, “Ouch…”
Dean instinctively grabbed it, trying not to make a sound.
The pain vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.
“What the…”
He looked down at his wrist.
The bracelet had snapped cleanly in half.
Dean frowned, “It didn’t look that cheap to get broken easily…”
He picked up the broken pieces and was about to place them inside the drawer when something caught his attention.
Around his wrist, a small circular patch of blood clotting appeared beneath the skin.
As if his wrist had been tied tightly for several hours.
Dean gently pressed the area, “Damn, that hurts… Did I hurt myself somehow?”
He couldn’t remember bumping into anything.
After staring at it for another few seconds, he quietly placed the broken bracelet, inside the top drawer of his desk.
“I’ll get it repaired later.”
Still puzzled, he walked towards the kitchen.
The sting eased almost immediately.
“Weird day!”
He headed back to his room.
Within minutes, sleep claimed him.
His eyes opened in his dreams.
That same tree.
That soft melody.
He walked towards the tree, as usual, Yvaine sat there.
Her back faced him
“…Yvaine.”
She slowly turned, but before she could speak, something emerged from the darkness behind her.
It wrapped itself around her waist and violently pulled it into the darkness.
Dean instinctively ran toward her, “YVAINE!”
He lunged forward.
Something caught his eyes.
A metallic chain.
It stretched straight.
He followed it with his eyes.
It was coming from the direction where Yvaine was pulled.
He began pulling the chain towards him quickly and violently.
But nothing came except the chains.
He then started looking at the other side of that chain.
His breathing stopped.
It was handcuffed around his own wrist.
In another second it disappeared beneath his skin.
An unbearable pain tore through his wrist.
Dean screamed, “AAAH!”
He jolted upright in his bed, while his breath was ragged.
Sweat covered his forehead.
Instinctively, his attention goes to his wrist.
The blood clot disappeared.
He stared at it in complete silence.
“What the fuck is this?”