Chapter Twelve: Siren Trap:

January 7th, 2009.

Victoria, Hong Kong.

The hunt began two years ago. The public believed that sirens were evil and needed to be wiped out from Chijou and Meifu. Today marked the second anniversary of that creed.

She hid in the bottom of a ship with thirty-six others. Escaping to anywhere seemed to be the only option. Thousands of sirens were slaughtered each day back in Hong Kong. The survivors gave it their all to keep on living. This ship could lead to freedom or more death.

They pulled out at three in the morning. Only twenty made it to Japan by sunrise.

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November 2nd, 2009.

One light flickered in an abandoned warehouse. Meixiang forced Anna to sit in a chair in the middle of the room. The boys plotted the next course of action. Anna glanced around her.

"Excuse me," she spoke up. Fan looked up at her.

"Yes, miss?" he asked.

"Where are we?"

"Our hideout."

"Why?"

He gave her an odd look. "Why what?"

"Why am I here with you guys?"

Fan smiled and shook his head. "You ask so many questions."

Anna narrowed her eyes at him as the leader patted her on the head. "What else can I do? You dragged me into this."

"Couldn't you shut her up, Meixiang?" one of the younger men asked.

"Sorry Lei," she said. "She isn�t a corpse I'm dealing with. She's a living being. I may be able to control the body, but not her thoughts." Anna sneered at her reason.

"Gee thanks," she mumbled. Fan lowered her shoulders.

"Fair enough," he said. He turned to Anna.

"Be a good girl and keep quiet, okay?" he said. She only glared at him. The leader gave her a little smile.

"Right," he said. An idea crossed his mind. "Meixiang, check her bag," he said.

"Alright," she said. She moved Anna's arm to her brown shoulder bag. The hostage didn't bother complaining. What use would that be?

"What am I looking for?" Meixiang asked.

"A phone," Fan said.

"Got ya!" she replied. Anna looked puzzled.

"Why do you need my phone?" she asked. Her captors ignored her.

"Found it!" Meixiang said. She drew out an iPhone. Fan looked the device over.

"Good enough," he said. He took the phone and opened the message option. He opened up the new message. Fan began to type.

Help! Being held hostage at warehouse. Help me!

He added Tsuzuki's name to the send box and hit send. Fan grinned to himself.

"Perfect," he said.

"Now what?" Li asked.

"We wait," the boss said. Anna frowned at where this was going.

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At Ryo's Funeral Home, Tsuzuki got the text. "It's Anna," he said. Hisoka looked up at him with a puzzled look.

"How?" he asked.

"Well, it's from her phone," the older shinigami said.

"Open it."

"Alright," Tsuzuki opened the message. "Help! Being held hostage at warehouse. Help me!" he read. He turned to Hisoka.

"What do we do?" Tsuzuki asked. His partner thought about that for a moment.

"Clearly, it's a trap," he said.

"But�" Tsuzuki started to protest. Hisoka held up his hand.

"However," he said. "We do need to find out their motives. So, we will trail them." Tsuzuki smiled, but then frowned.

"How?" he asked. His partner shrugged.

"Text back," he said. Tsuzuki nodded once.

"Okay�" he said. He pulled up a new blank message and began to type.

Which warehouse?

He hit send. Tsuzuki turned to his partner.

"Now what?" he asked.

"We wait," the younger shinigami replied.

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Anna sneered at her situation. "Can't you let me up?" she asked Meixiang.

"No can do," she said. "We're going to stay put as Fan figures out what to do next." Anna glanced at the open door. Fan and his boys stood outside talking.

"How long will that take?" the hostage asked.

"Who knows?" the captor asked.

"Hmph," Anna grumbled.

"Holy crap! What is that?" Meixiang cried.

"What?" the other woman asked.

"This fox-thing that just smirked at me!" the captor shrieked. "It's creepy!"

"Fox-thing? Oh�" Anna replied. The woman snickered.

"What the hell is so damn funny?" Meixiang cried.

"Oh," her hostage said. "You just met an old family 'friend.'"