Spellbound

Part | Two

The car's door opened, and a tall security man stepped out, helping Mana in. Atem listened to the noise inside the vehicle and knew that Mana had been placed in their serial killer's laps.

"So tell me, sweet thing, you have a master yet?"

"Why? You're trying to own me?" Mana purred back.

"Mmm, you read my mind, cutie."

"Let me put you in a face-down position, you little Dark Magician Girl." their serial killer whispered in Mana's ear as she replied with a sigh.

Atem narrowed his eyes at that statement.

Then the dark Rolls Royce took off to Ra knowing.

Taking Mana away from his grasps.

His chest constricted as he stepped on the gas pedal and screeched right behind them.

He tried to remind himself that Mana could take care of herself, but it didn't calm him down. At this moment, he felt such an intense fear for her safety.

"Show me what magic tricks you have." the sick psycho murmured in the crook of Mana's neck.

"Oh, I will." Mana giggled back.

As Atem raced through the streets of Domino city, he never stopped checking Mana's tracer to see if she was alright. He could hear her talking to their killer, but it was hard for him to understand their conversation as it kept breaking up with intermittent static.

"How cheap are Kaiba's technologies?" Atem cursed.

He hated this. He never should've let Mana put herself in danger like this. He should have beaten the life out of his cousin instead.

Slamming his foot down hard on the gas pedal, he clenched hard his teeth. Atem swore to himself that he would never let her go through something like this ever again.

Static noise now filled his ear, and finally, his worst nightmare occurred. The red dot on the screen disappeared.

Like a madman, cursing every single curse word in the alphabet to his cousin, he drove to the outskirts of the city—the alleyways.

He released a breath when he spotted the Rolls Royce vehicle parked out in front of an abandoned warehouse.

Parking the car, Atem quickly exited, slipping through the darkness towards the dilapidated house. His grip on his gun tightened, before he touched his deck of cards in his pocket, prepared to destroy the bastards.

No one was laying a hand on Mana.

To his utter astonishment, Mana came out from the warehouse dragging a struggling tied-up man. She bounced towards him with a triumphant smile on her red lips, holding their suspect up by the collar of his shirt. "Got him," she said, tossing him at Atem's feet like a rag doll. "All the evidence is inside there."

Atem looked down at the suspect, who glared at Mana before Atem realized she had an ugly red mark on her cheek.

The man had slapped her so rigorously.

Quickly Atem's eyes burned with rage as he grabbed the serial killer by the collar of his shirt.

"You hit her?" Atem whispered in a chilling death tone, making their suspect uncomfortable.

"I'll teach you a lesson about hitting women, you bastard," he growled.

"Bring it on, you f-cker." the man spat at Atem.

Mana immediately paled at Atem's deadly expression.

"I can take you on," the man pressured Atem. "I have my deck right here."

Atem just raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"So... it's game time?" he asked in an amused way, his puzzle and eyes glowing.

The suspect's eyes widened as he gasped out, "What-what are you?" And before he realized it, he was peeing himself.

"On second thought," Atem began throwing their killer onto the cold pavement. "You don't even deserve having the honor of defending your worthless life one last time. I think it's a direct ride to the Shadow Realm for you."

The eye of Wdjat appeared on Atem's forehead and suddenly felt a powerful presence around them.

Dark storm clouds formed as a big evil portal began to open.

"The Door of Darkness Has Been O-"

"Yami! Just what the hell are you doing!"

Immediately the sickly pale murderer, Mana, and Atem turned to see Kaiba and his whole team of cops behind him.

"We need him alive!" Kaiba shouted, running towards their captured suspect, who was shaking violently and crying out of fear.

Atem clicked his tongue in annoyance before he finally turned his attention to Mana. "We finished here," he bit out.

Mana watched as he stalked past her without another word, refusing to stay with the investigation team and their boss. She followed him to the waiting company car, the sound of police sirens piercing the air. Climbing inside, she buckled her seatbelt before Atem tore off through the night.

They rode in complete silence but not back to their headquarters—neither uttering a single word throughout the ride. Mana was mad at him for acting like a total jerk, treating her like she was nothing more than an annoyance and incapable of protecting herself.

She was working herself up for another massive argument as they pulled into a giant house on the edge of the city limits. Though the place was excellent, she was ready to dispute her case and make him see that he had been acting stupid all these past hours. As soon as the car pulled to a stop, she unbuckled her seatbelt, exiting the vehicle and slamming the door closed in abject fury that had been steadily building all night.

He had marched off towards the inside of the house. He was leaving her alone in the garage.

She burned with fury.

He just left her?!

Quickly following him inside the house, she muttered, "Oh, not this time."

Exiting the long corridor and entering what appeared to be the living room, she spotted Atem walking towards her with stuff in his hands.

"How dare you-" Mana began only to be silenced by Atem.

"Does it hurt?" he asked as his fingers gently touched her injured cheek.

Mana only froze at Atem's worried facial expression.