Maya slowed down after a few seconds, glancing behind her uncertainly she noticed with annoyance that her companions still hadn't moved from their spot. She stopped and looked around moodily for anything interesting in the street; a newspaper lying on a step caught her attention. Picking it up, she noted the several large colour pictures of buildings on fire, including one that was surrounded by Chinese people. The writing was in western letters though, she couldn't tell which language but it didn't matter, she'd never learned to read English anyway.
The little girl made her way back to the others, presenting the newspaper at first to the kitsune. Takeda quickly glanced at it before looking away with a shrug, Maya couldn't tell if this was because he simply was not interested or if he couldn't read it either. She then passed on the newspaper to Zetta, who held it so Gabriel and Lily could see it too.
[HEADING=3]The International Times: Paris Edition - 19th June 2010[/HEADING]
[HEADING=1]Huge fires simultaneously hit large cities around the world, over 200 believed to be dead[/HEADING]
From yesterday evening to early this morning in Central European Time a series of explosive fires have hit at least seven large cities around the world, including New York, Paris, London, Shanghai, Mumbai, Tokyo and Mexico City. So far there appears to be no connections between the attacks locations, other than they were all in highly populated areas. Here in Paris an uncontrolled fire hit the
Rue de Vanenne street, leaving over 30 dead and more than 100 injured. Initial reports suggest that two explosions less a minute apart started the blaze, the first inside a drive-through fast-food restaurant and the second on the street outside. Police are still investigating and experts have already commented on the likelihood of international terrorists being responsible. While initial figures suggest there total death toll around the world to be about 200, it may actually be much higher. More on page 3...
[HEADING=2]5 mutilated bodies found in empty Paris hangar[/HEADING]
In the early hours of the morning 5 human corpses were discovered by local police in an unused building. Those first on the scene described their shock at the brutality of the killings, describing the bodies as "wrenched on two", "pierced to the ceiling" and "broken under shrapnel", apparently while the victims were still alive. An official statement has revealed that the victims were all adult males, but their identities are remain unknown. The police are appealing to the public for any information, particularly on a potential suspect; a tall thing young white man aged roughly 20 to 25 who was spotted leaving the premise on CCTV cameras around the time the killings occurred. This report continues on page 6...
Both Lily and Zetta raised their eyebrows and looked at each other in surprise, evidently they already knew something about it. Gabriel's response was more measured, he was reading the front page with interest but it was hard to tell what he was actually thinking. Maya stamped her foot impatiently as they silently digested the information.
"What's it about?" she whined "Why won't you..."
She stopped because suddenly she shuddered, it felt cold as if a shadow had just crossed over her, but nothing had. Her companions also seemed to be looking around oddly, like they could feel something too. She looked across the road and blinked when she thought she saw something dark but vaguely human shaped floating under a parked car for a moment, before the spectre disappeared. She raised her hand to point out it out to the others, but before she even had a chance to the car exploded in a huge ball of fire, sending scraps of metal flying all across the street. The small girl screamed and grabbed hold of Takeda in fright as the wave of hot air saturated with the stench of burning fuel swept over them.
~
"You're not dead if I can help it!"
Alec and Blackrose turned in surprise to see a Chinese woman wearing a heavy brown coat, standing behind them. The patrons of the bar gasped, and then stared at her in shock, their mouths hanging wide open at her sudden appearance. At a closer inspection her eyes seemed oddly red as if she'd been crying and her face was grey and tired.
"My name's Rin and you were about to ring me... believe it or not our conversation would have been most interesting. However, the police are on their way here right now and you two would have been thrown into a tiny jail cell, or worse, before you'd even reached my apartment... had I let that future come to pass. Luckily for you, I believe we can help each other, come now I will take you to safety."
She reached forward and gripped the two Americans by their shoulders. Almost immediately, the bar melted away to be replaced by nothingness, which a moment later became a neatly decorated room with a sofa and a television.
"So, I already know what you want but you might as well ask me for it anyway. Any other questions would be appreciated now so we can get that tiresome getting to know each other over with and get down to business."
She crossed her arms and stood straight in a serious pose, which didn't quite fit with her drained and haggard appearance.
