“Of course we’ll play with you!” Annabelle’s soft voice resounded, followed by a giggle. “Why wouldn’t we?”

The words made Jules grit his teeth, but he decided not to pay it any heed, or at least try not to. Instead, he quickly scanned the area, taking in the sorrowful sight as his mind searched for a way out. 

Behind each doll was a human silhouette barely visible to the naked eyes, the body translucent. The teenagers didn’t notice the ghostly figures in the dim light, but Bastien and Jules could see them as clear as day.

They were from different ages and genders and, considering their clothes, from different eras too. However, they all shared the same numb expression, their heads hanging low and their mouths stretched into a taut line. Like the dolls, their eye sockets were empty holes that seemed bottomless, so black it was nauseous. Bloody tears continuously rolled down their cheeks, dripping from their chins and vanishing like ashes just before touching the floor.

The ghastly silhouettes appeared indifferent to their fate yet also in terrible pain. But how could it be otherwise? Their broken souls were trapped inside porcelain dolls, and all they could do was reenact their deaths over and over again, trying to regain what they had lost from passersby.

“…You will play with us?” came the answer a short while later, Annabelle’s words having taken their sweet time to sink in. “You really will?”

“Don’t worry, I’m a woman of her word.”

Again, laughter rang throughout the bedroom, louder than before. 

“Then, will you come closer?”

“Sure!”

Before Jules could react, his sister had already done as told and skipped to the closest doll, which sat on a low table. She crouched so that their faces would be on the same level, wanting to take a closer look at its empty eyes.

The sight made his heart jump to his throat, but Jules knew he could not intervene, not now. He would have only one chance to end it all, and he could not waste it by acting rashly and alerting the dolls. Before moving, he had to have found the doll that controlled all the others and be sure it was it. If he were to shatter a decoy… 

He didn’t want to think about it.

So Jules watched, not moving an inch.

“Closer!” The voice demanded, and so Annabelle obeyed, shortening the distance a bit more. Jules sucked in a deep breath, telling himself to stay still. “…Miss, you have beautiful eyes. They look just like silver!”

“Haha, thank you.”

There was a second of silence, then the voice added with a soft giggle:

“If you lose the game, will you give them to us…?”

These words seemed to trigger the dolls, and they all stretched their arms as if trying to touch Annabelle’s face. The one sitting before the teenager almost succeeded, but its arms were still a little too short in the end.

Gnashing his teeth, Jules tore his eyes away from his sister and went back to looking around the place. He had no time to waste. But goddammit, where was it?

“We really, really like your eyes.”

Was it this one?

“We want them.”

No, it wasn’t.

“Then why wait before taking them?”

How about that doll?

“Yes, why wait?”

Still no.

“At any rate, they will lose the game.”

Not this one, either.

“Just like everyone before them.”

Nor this one.

“So why wait?”

Again, not this one.

“There’s no need to wait.”

For Goodness sake, where was it?!

“Then shall we take them now?”

The cacophony of voices sometimes was just like thunder and other times, just like a whisper; it was dissonant and disorienting. Soon, it made Annabelle’s ears ring and her head throb with pain. She instinctively leaned on the table to steady her swaying legs, her nails scratching the wood.

Only, she was now close enough for the doll to touch her.

The tiny fingers grazed her cheekbones, the cold sensation giving her goosebumps. It felt like ice, way too cold for porcelain.  

Time seemed to come to a halt as the fingers slowly slid higher, nearing her eyes. The doll’s mouth appeared to move, but it wasn’t in sync with the words it said.

“Say, will you give us your eyes? Will you—”

A loud crash interrupted it, and all became quiet again. The dolls’ heads and arms dropped, the innocent-like smiles on their lips forever frozen. Their eyes also appeared a little less black, a little less bottomless.

As the noise abated, the teenagers tensed. Stiffly, they turned toward Jules, holding their breaths.

He couldn’t have…?

But just as they feared, a shattered doll now lay at the man’s feet, the broken porcelain shining slightly under the dim light. The small head rested on a veil of white hair, cracked in half, the rest of its body pretty much dismembered.

In a heavy silence, the girls watched a small eyeball roll and slowly come to a stop beside Bastien, who was leaning against the wall. They blinked, but the shattered doll and eyeball were still there.

“…It was an accident,” Jules said in a deadpan tone, not showing a trace of guilt whatsoever.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Annabelle cursed, pulling her hair as she straightened her back. “You’re the one who told me not to touch the props, and yet you go ahead and break things?!”

“I said it was an accident.”

“Who cares! Shit, what are we gonna do if the staff finds out?”

“…How about we start by hiding the broken doll?” Iris suggested. “Of course, this is your job, Jules.”

To this, Jules had no complaints.

Thus, the man crouched without further ado and started to gather all the pieces, even the eyeball at Bastien’s feet. As he did so, he made sure to have his back to the teenagers, hiding the broken doll from view with his body.

In the palm of his hand, the eyeball turned around to stare straight into his eyes. The red iris reflected the light and seemed to have been set ablaze, just like the sunset. Strangely, it felt warm to the touch, not cold like a glass eye should. It was also a little squishy and slimy, very much like human flesh.

But Jules could care less and readily crushed the eyeball. Sticky liquid burst out and dripped through his fingers, making his mouth twitch in disgust.

What an unpleasant feeling…

And to add insult to the injury, he heard a stifled but nevertheless irksome chuckle. Again, his mouth twitched, but not for the same reason.

Exhaling, Jules lifted his head to glare at Bastien, who made an innocent expression in return, as if he hadn’t been the one laughing at his expense just a moment ago.  

Oh yeah?

Jules flashed him a smile that wasn’t quite a smile before stretching his hand and wiping it clean on the demon’s pants, slowly and carefully.

“…That’s childish.”

“And?”

“…And nothing.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Turning around, Jules went back to collecting the broken doll’s pieces. While he picked up the porcelain, he listened to the teenagers’ conversation with half an ear, the rest of his senses still on high alert.

“Anna, are you alright?” Melody asked, gently tugging on her friend’s sleeve. “You look a little pale.”

“Yeah… I was just dizzy for a moment, it’s nothing to worry about,” Annabelle laughed, scratching her cheek. “I was a little too excited last night and didn’t sleep much. It’s probably because of that.”

“That’s so like you,” Iris teased, pinching her friend’s cheek. “I wonder why the room became so quiet, though. It’s a little anticlimactic.”

“Dunno. Maybe the doll my bro broke was like the power source? Like, the emitter?”

“…”

“…”

The three girls glanced over as if they were one, seemingly to drill a hole in Jules’s back with their eyes. However, the man pretended not to notice their gazes and got on with the task at hand.

Anyway, their reasoning wasn’t far from the truth.

Once Jules had gathered all the pieces, he pushed the broken doll under the child’s bed. That was when he came face to face with a small, charred face.

“…”

The little ghoul tilted its head, its empty eye sockets staring at Jules with what seemed to be confusion. Its tiny arms were encircling dozens of bloody eyeballs, keeping them close to its chest as if they were priceless treasures. Considering the body size, it seemed to be a young child, though it was impossible to tell its gender as it was burnt from head to toes.

A kid who was hiding under their bed, that was all the hunter saw.

Discreetly, Jules put his index before his lips, whispering in a voice barely audible, “Shhh.”

The little ghoul nodded, the movement making its jaws drop slightly to reveal a tongueless mouth. A bony hand then stretched to take the broken doll, adding it to the eyeball collection. After which, it became immobile, just like a statue.

“How long are you going to crawl on the ground?” Annabelle snorted, kicking her brother’s butt. “Let’s explore the next room. This one lost its charm because of a certain someone.”

“I said that I was sorry,” Jules grunted as he stood up, dusting his pants. “It wasn’t my intention to break it.”

“Who cares! You still broke it in the end.”

Snorting, Annabelle turned on her heel and stormed out. There was no point in staying here anymore.

“…Anna, I told you to wait for us!”

“Then hurry up!”

Taking a deep breath, Jules told himself to think twice before speaking. And keep calm. Yelling wouldn’t get them anywhere, especially knowing his sister’s fiery temper.

With this in mind, Jules jogged to Bastien and lent him his shoulder—the demon was still feeling weak, barely able to stand on his own two feet. Though Jules wasn’t fond of having an incubus cling to him, he knew that supporting him in a more usual manner, as he would with an injured colleague, was doomed to draw the girls’ attention. In the long run, it would also arouse their suspicion.

So, he let it be.

However, the incubus being in a weak state meant the teenagers’ safety rested on his shoulders, just like earlier. Although Bastien had been the one to pinpoint the cursed doll, he could not move, and Jules had to shatter it in his stead. The demon whispered its location in his ear, and the hunter moved accordingly, not questioning Bastien’s words.

Deep down, Jules couldn’t help but hope the following rooms would be as simple as this one to deal with. For the time being, they hadn’t met anything that couldn’t be disposed of easily and quickly, and he hoped it would stay that way.