When the vision ended and Jojo opened his eyes, he was back in Gaylen's farmhouse.
Caught off guard, he fell to the ground and stumbled but steadied himself immediately.
"____"
"____"
"____"
The others stood silently, their expressions serious, surrounding him like a shield.
Trish, her brother Darry, Gaylen, and her granddaughter Addison were standing behind Freya, who was inquiring about the Creeper's hand.
"Jojo, are you all right?"
Rosalie helped him steady himself and asked, a little worriedly.
Previously, when Jojo was immersed in the vision after holding the Creeper's hand, his eyes had turned white, and his body had started to float upwards from the ground.
When Rosalie saw this, she immediately tried to act, wanting to break the Creeper's grip on Jojo's hand—as Klaus did with Elijah—but was stopped by Alice.
"Wait, Rosalie... Jojo is in a vision. When the vision ends, he'll return to normal."
Hearing Alice's explanation and reassurance that it was due to the vision and that Jojo would return to normal after it ended, Rosalie calmed down a little and stood beside Jojo, waiting for the vision to pass.
Meanwhile, Alice instructed the others to form a protective circle around Jojo until the vision ended, just in case the Creeper struck while Jojo was in no condition to fight back.
Nod~
"How much time has passed?"
Nodding his head in understanding, Jojo asked Rosalie how long he had been in the vision.
"You've been in the vision for the past 23 minutes and 23 seconds."
Hearing Jojo's question, Freya, who had been waiting calmly, spoke while showing the stopwatch in her hand.
"____"
'Again, 23, huh...'
Seeing it was once again the number 23, Jojo fell silent, pondering the meaning behind the number.
"So... what did you see in the vision?"
After a slight pause, noticing Jojo's silence and deep thought after hearing about the time, Freya broke the quiet, her voice tinged with curiosity.
While everyone else was also looking at him, waiting for an answer, the previous description given by Elijah had piqued their interest.
Even Elijah was looking at him with expectation.
Sigh~
With a sigh, Jojo began explaining the vision he had seen.
He described the place Elijah had mentioned before, the story of Arion, and how the Creeper was a clone of him.
He also recounted how the Creeper had stolen souls from Arion, who was his king and had been cursed to become the creature he now was.
Jojo further explained the way Arion had suggested breaking the curse and how the Creeper needed to kill and collect 23,000 pure souls.
However, the Creeper was limited to hunting a maximum of 23 lives once every 23 years for 23 days.
"So, you're telling me this Arion you mentioned is the king of hell?"
Raising his eyebrow, intrigued by the story, Klaus asked Jojo again to confirm the nature of the place Arion ruled.
"Yes, it should be... that place looked very different."
Hearing Klaus's words, Elijah broke his silence, speaking once again.
He seemed thoroughly convinced that the place Jojo saw in the vision was hell.
"Is that so?"
Seeing that Elijah was convinced the place Jojo saw was hell, Freya turned to Jojo for confirmation.
"____"
Cough~
"I don't think so... It's a separate dimension owned by a demon who can create many clones of himself."
Snapping out of his thoughts with a slightly awkward cough, Jojo shook his head.
With narrowed eyes, he clarified his thoughts to the group.
Nod~
"So, what should we do to stop the Creeper?"
Nodding in understanding, Freya asked the crucial question—how to eliminate the Creeper.
"To eliminate the Creeper, we need to find its original body. I saw it in an old mansion where some cult is worshipping it. Behind the Creeper's body, there's a drawing of a pregnant woman."
Jojo's eyes narrowed as he recalled the location of the Creeper's original body and the cult that worshipped it like some kind of god.
"Damn, another cultist."
Hearing this, Jacob cursed under his breath, a frown crossing his face.
Memories of a previous encounter with cultists who had kidnapped their clan's girls for a ritual sacrifice came flooding back.
Jacob's eyes turned toward Leah, who also looked visibly uncomfortable.
"____"
Seeing Leah Clearwater's reaction—unsettled when cult involvement was mentioned—Jojo raised an eyebrow at her, curious about her unease.
Feeling Jojo's gaze on her, Leah lowered her eyes, a little embarrassed, while her cheeks turned red.
Whisper~
"Well..."
Whisper~
Noticing Jojo was looking at Leah, Freya stepped forward and whispered in a low voice, reminding him that Leah was one of the girls he had saved from the cave when he first arrived in Forks.
Leah had since been appointed as his secretary while Jojo was away and had taken a break from handling cases.
Oh~
Hearing the full details, Jojo understood why Leah was feeling uncomfortable. He gave her a gentle smile to soothe the mood.
Taking a deep breath, Leah stepped forward, her heart racing, as she prepared herself for the moment she had been waiting for over the past two years.
Gulp~
"Sir... I've been waiting for this moment for the past two years to thank you."
With a gulp, Leah thanked Jojo sincerely for saving her life two years ago—a moment she had been holding onto all this time.
"I did what I had to... And I should also thank you for believing in our DMC and joining it."
Hearing Leah's thanks, Jojo accepted it graciously and also expressed his gratitude for her trust in him and his Demon Management Center (DMC) organization.
When Leah listened to Jojo, she felt her heartbeat quicken suddenly, her face turning crimson.
Click~
"I'll show this to Hope."
Klaus, who had been listening to the conversation, smirked, pulling out his mobile phone and capturing the moment.
He sent the photo to Hope while typing a teasing message in the chat box to his daughter.
Freya and Elijah gave Klaus a deadpan look as he chuckled to himself, clearly amused and imagining things.
Grrr~
Their conversation was interrupted by a growling sound that immediately put everyone on alert.
Darry nearly climbed up a tree in fear, dragging his sister Trish along, but she pulled her hand free and moved closer to Jojo, feeling safer with him than away.
Hearing the growl, Gaylen instinctively pulled her granddaughter Addison behind her for protection.
Chuckle~
"Elijah, it seems that kid is awake."
Hearing the growling coming from the car, Klaus chuckled, turning to his brother with a wide smile.
Sigh~
"He must be hungry since he's a newborn."
With a sigh, Elijah calmly walked toward the car where James was kept. James, the assistant of Sheriff Dan Tashtego and a key member of the special team formed to hunt and kill the Creeper, had been turned recently.
"How about using this?"
After pondering for a moment, Klaus pointed at Rocket, the horse Gaylen and Addison raised on their farm.
"No! He's like my family!"
Hearing Klaus's suggestion, Addison's face turned pale, and she hurried to stand protectively in front of Rocket.
"If you need blood, you could take it from the pigs in the mud puddle over there."
Gaylen pointed across the field, where outside the fence a group of pigs was playing and bathing in a muddy puddle.
After feeding James with the pig blood, he finally calmed down, drinking a large amount before turning to listen to Elijah's conversation quietly.
He was the sole survivor from the team, saved by this group of people who weren't even normal humans.
When James introduced himself and explained why he and his team were attacked, it left Jojo and the others stunned.
Sheriff Dan Tashtego had died in the attack, and James, who had been on the verge of death, was saved by Elijah—who turned him into a vampire.
At the time, they believed James could be a vital lead toward uncovering the Creeper's plans.
Additionally, Elijah felt Freya needed an extra hand to assist them.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
After calming down from the shocking realization that he was no longer human, James took a deep breath and looked at Elijah, asking the question.
By his reaction, it was clear he was uncomfortable with his new reality as a vampire.
The experience of drinking blood from pigs rolling in the mud left him with a sour taste, though it helped him regain control over his thirst.
"Ms Gaylen, is there any haunted party happening in any nearby village?"
After thinking deeply, Jojo suddenly remembered a pamphlet he had seen in the vision, showing cultists praying to the Creeper.
He clearly recalled it being an invitation to some kind of haunted party.
Hearing this, Gaylen shook her head, indicating she didn't know anything about it.
"____"
But Addison seemed lost in thought, recalling a few people handing out pamphlets advertising and inviting people to a party happening in Louisiana, with a scary Halloween costume theme.
According to the reaction she had seen from her schoolmates, many of them seemed interested in attending.
"Yeah, there is a party happening in Louisiana. A few days ago, some people dressed in Halloween costumes were giving out pamphlets, inviting the high school students to the party."
Breaking the silence, Addison told Jojo what had happened at her school a few days earlier, as she was leaving after classes had ended.
Sigh~
"Then our next stop is Louisiana."
With a sigh, Jojo declared their next destination.
At that moment, the Creeper's hand still clutched in Jojo's grip, began to burn with hellfire.
Struggle~ Struggle~
The flames consumed the Creeper's original hand, which soon turned to charcoal. With a press, Jojo crumbled it into ashes.
Somewhere in the forest…
The Creeper had cruelly killed one of the boys who had dared to pee on his favourite truck.
The gruesome scene left the other two boys running in fear and terror, horrified by the Creeper's monstrous appearance and brutal strength.
Sneer~
With a sinister sneer, the Creeper grabbed a spear from the back of his old truck.
He aimed at the fleeing boys, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike and take them both down in one attack.
One of the boys was running normally, while the other, with an injured leg, struggled to get as far away as possible, his face pale with terroras.
"____"
Thud~
Just as the Creeper was about to execute a double kill, his palm—gripping the spear tightly—suddenly crumbled to ashes.
"Ahhhh~!"
A piercing scream echoed through the forest as the Creeper's eyes widened in shock.
His hand burned bit by bit, consumed by an otherworldly flame. He could do nothing but endure the unbearable pain.
For the first time, fear flickered across the Creeper's face.
He staggered, placing his other hand on the old truck to steady himself, but the agony was unimaginable.
Swish~ Swish~
In the blink of an eye, the Creeper accidentally triggered one of his traps.
A sharp iron rail shot out, piercing straight through his head and eyes, rendering him motionless for the time being.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
Thanks for reading the chapter!
Please give a review and power stone!!!