Take Me Back To Paddington (SERIES)

Chapter 38 - The Answers

"I have no idea what you're talking about-" He choked up by the pressure Lisa put around his neck. "...or what you want me to do"

Lisa grunted as she pulled him only to slam his back against the counter.

"Do I have to tell you, huh?" She growled a deep voice. "Listen to my soul, Mr. Krauss, and tell yourself what these hands of mine have done" Lisa paused as her stare locked at him. "You know me, I can definitely do the same thing to you like I did to one of your friends in hell"

Draco's eyebrows rose toward his hairline as fear gripped him just as hard as Lisa was holding his collar. Sweat began to penetrate the surface of his skin, feeling it forming around his sideburn. And it only took a few seconds for him to realise that she meant every word she had just said.

"I-I'm sorry" He stuttered. "Her soul was just so desirable"

Lisa breathed, understanding what the man was explaining about. Chae was a loving, kind-hearted person, she was so special that Lisa recognised the temptation toward that woman's soul. As much as Chae deserved to be among angels, she was also a demon's dream to have in hell. But that didn't mean Lisa would accept everything that was wrongly done to her girlfriend, no deceit had ever been fair for anyone, let alone her beloved Chae Richards.

"I already know that" She responded, slowly loosening her grip on Draco. "Now tell me what I don't know"

Coughing, he wet his lips with his tongue as he tasted his own blood inside his mouth.

"It's Lucifer," He started. "When you were falling from the balcony, he pulled your soul out before your body hit the ground."

Lisa's eyes wide opened, mouth agape when she found out about the reason why she didn't die while travelling. Now she knew why it didn't work and she was brought back into her original universe, breathing in her own body again.

Krauss resumed. "You broke the deal, Lisa, and now you can never travel again to meet Chae"

She swallowed her throat, heart beating fast.

"Why not?"

"Lucifer has forbidden anyone from making a new deal with you. No demon is allowed to buy your soul anymore"

Her hopes shattered as Draco's words destroyed everything she had in mind. Lisa was looking forward to have another soul travelling, because even if she couldn't be with Chae anymore, she wanted to at least meet her for the last time. She had stopped by at Krauss' place with an intention to get a new demon before she could go to Mr. Richards and seek for another help, but she only got disappointment in return.

Lisa dismissed the man from a breathing torture he had endured ever since she stepped inside his place. Her arms that used to be strong until he could drag a man twice heavier than her, now had weakened along her bafflement. She couldn't say a word, not even a single noise, while her eyes were wandering around the walls without anything to look for. Lisa was left dumbfounded, clueless without any other way to meet Chae again, let alone finishing all of these matters for good like she had promised to her girlfriend. For Lisa, she had failed not only Chae, but herself as well.

Krauss stared at the detective, listening to her inner cries.

"L-Lisa?" He called for her.

Silence grew around them as Krauss let everything that Lisa was feeling flow into him. He had been in this business for more than 10 years, helping so many demons in completing their missions to drag out as many holy souls from heaven as possible. He had met so many people; humans with stories to cry for, humans with people to mourn for, but he had never felt such agony like Lisa possessed in her. He had never felt someone who was so sad, so heartbroken, so tortured in the heart like the woman in front of him right now. He had never seen someone who was so lost by losing loved ones, other than a soul he knew would do anything...just to be loved again by the same love.

Lisa sniffled, eyes blurred again with new tears.

"So..." She spoke. "I guess this is the end for me and Chae, right?" Her voice was brittle, waiting to crack when sobs had weighed her chest. "I can't travel to her, and she doesn't have a host here to come to me either"

Draco took moment, thinking the hardest he had ever done in his entire life without being asked to. Lisa had let him go, he didn't owe her anything. He was sure of what he should do. He should shut up and continue with his life like nothing happened, like he never heard of a powerful love duo—Lisa Isaac and Chae Richards. He should think of his own safety, knowing how dangerous and merciless Lucifer was. 

But he remembered the 9 year old him hiding under the bed, covering his ears because he heard his father's soul. He recalled the first time he discovered his gift, and it was after the death of his mother that had turned his old man into someone he was not before. He was reminded of seeing the fake smile of his dad while listening to the real cries of that man. And he memorised his promises to himself that he would use his gift to help as many people as he could to find peace, to unite lost love through different universes, to continue love that was stopped by death.

Yet the future hid something else for him when he was lost in money, in greed, in evil that no one would ever want to wish upon. "You're my son, Paul. Be a good man, make me proud" His father had said to him before he saw his old man pull the trigger and leave him alone in this world.

"T-There is another way" Draco whispered as his eyes welled with tears.

Lisa felt like someone just took her arm as she was drowning and being pulled by the strong current. She felt like she was rescued, her gaze was burning fire of hopes that were lighted up one more time.

"There is?!" She exclaimed with excitement and waited for more words from him.

"Yes, but we will need someone else who's willing to help us" He put more details in his sentence as Lisa stared intently at him, trying to assimilate his words.

"Someone else?" She cocked an eyebrow. "For what?"

Draco cleared his throat, pushing his body toward Lisa.

"Ever heard of Astral Projection?"

Oh shit!