Lisa's eyes stung. The pain had been building up in her while she headed for Krauss' business place that she once visited with her best friend, and now, as she stood in front of the red door as her gaze fixated on it, she didn't know how much longer she could keep the tears from staining her cheeks. Keeping her eyelids open for an uncomfortably long time would mean welcoming the tears brimming in her ducts. And blinking those eyes would mean giving way to tears.
She settled for the latter. With one blink, a heavy drop of tear strolled out of her eye and was soon followed by an equally hard drop from another one. But the tears stopped only after a few falls, as though she had cried so much that there were no more tears left to shed. Besides the wet tracks trailing down her face and the dampness of her thick curly lashes, the only evidence of her deep-set sorrow was the heaviness of her heart, as though a heavy weight pressed down on it, making each breath a torment.
There was no guarantee that Lisa would find the solution she was so desperately in search of, but for the sake of a love she believed so dearly in, she trusted that this last resort would be worth it. She dipped her hand into the front pocket on the left side of her double breasted brown trench coat and clenched a fist around an object, which in so little a time, had become her most precious possession.
She pulled it out and unclenched her fist to reveal a necklace that had once been a part of Chae Richards. The memories and moments she had with her girlfriend before she stole that necklace replayed again in her mind, inviting a greater sorrow in her cloudy-dark life without love. Sighing, she took one hard look at the necklace and secured it again. It was only a matter of time before its pendant rested on Chae's chest once again. That was a belief she held on so strongly to.
With a calm breath, she feasted her eyes on Krauss' door once again. It was barely even 5a.m., so the man should be in bed, sound asleep, enjoying the peace of mind that had been so rudely taken away from her when Chae was snatched away into the cold arms of death.
Lisa retrieved her hand from her pocket, but she was not about to release her fist just yet. She brought it to the red door instead and banged hard enough to awaken him from the deepest of slumbers. Barely letting her fist rest for even a moment, she pounded again, harder than she had at first.
After a while, Krauss wrenched open the door from the other side. His groggy eyes just as disoriented as his ruffled hair and the rest of his face.
"What the fuck?" He mumbled.
Lisa's jaw clenched instinctively as she watched him getting his consciousness back on. His lips twitched to crack a smile when his vision revealed to him who was standing at his doorstep, and he was scared to be proven right about the screaming soul of Lisa Isaac that he could hear. I'm a dead meat, he thought.
But it was unfortunate for him since his guilty smile wasn't an expression Lisa wanted to see. She kept her position there with anger and exasperation that no man would be able to tone them down. Because at that point, only Chae's lovely touches could tame her brutal quintessence of conviction she had for a man like him; a criminal, a liar, a manipulative bastard she wished to be damned to hell.
So she tightened her fist until she could almost hear her bones cracking, and without the luxury of a second thought, she swung the firm ball of her fingers right into Krauss' face, delivering a heavy blow that had him losing his footing. Pain erupted in her knuckles once her hand was in contact with his cheek but she couldn't award herself with self pity. Lisa knew the pain was necessary, it was the only evidence of a well-delivered punch.
With a loud groan, Draco staggered backward from the impact of the blow that had apparently broken a bone or two in his nose, and at once, Lisa seized him by the lapel. Giving him no moment to adjust to the pain she had just inflicted, she dragged him with her into the living room. Krauss' growling voice was a lot like the sound of a wounded animal. Perhaps a heavier blow would be an end to the undesirable sound. But that wasn't what the detective wanted either.
Silencing him was a part of Lisa's plan, but that would only come if he failed to give her the information she had come to milk out of him. With long strides, she headed for a stool by the counter of Krauss' bar while pulling him so gracelessly that he stumbled with each step. Once she arrived there, she sat him down on the furniture and glared at him, her eyes spewing venom. His hair spilled over his forehead, his nose was red and sore. His whole body would be just as painful if he didn't start talking. Lisa freed her grip on his shirt and stood in front of him, her body shivered as adrenaline raged through her.
"You better start talking now" She aimed a stiff finger at him like it was a barrel of a gun.
Krauss' first response was a cough.
"Talking?" He snuffled, as though there was a blockage in his nose.
Lisa grabbed him by his collar once again, this time, it was hard enough to cut off his airways. She leaned in until her face was barely an inch away from his.
"I know everything you did to Chae, Krauss, you have tricked her just like you tricked me" She said. "You better answer the questions I have for you," Lisa demanded in a menacingly calm voice. "Or I swear my face will be the last you'll ever see."
"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!