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VIII: Lotta's Horrible Night
Interrogation Room #4, 9:40 AM
They saw familiar brunette woman with big afro already seated in the table.
“Oh, I only called for Mr. Wright and Edgeworth.” She said.
“Lotta Hart?!” Phoenix said.
“Yeah it's me so... can we like begin this or somethin'?” Lotta seemed to be a little nervous.
“Now... you refused to tell anything to the police as these events that took place were somewhat freaky, right?” Franziska asked.
“Yep... Police wouldn't believe me anyway. I thought that Mr. Butz's friends might be more open...” Lotta glanced at Franziska. ”What is she doing here?”
“Franziska is involved in investigation so you can speak freely Ms. Hart.” Phoenix said.
“Oh all right, where to begin.” Lotta fidgeted nervously. ”Oh, right I have to show you something.” She opened her bag and took out several photos. “Here.” She laid them on the table for the four to see.
“Hmm... Are these shots from the Gourde Lake?” Edgeworth asked.
“Yup, they are an' the man there is none other than now missing Mr. Butz.”
“What were you doing at the Gourde Lake last night Ms. Hart?”
“I was practicin' nighttime photography... and ended up returning to supernatural photography.”
“Supernatural?... What you mean by that?” Franziska asked.
“A-ah'll explain when we get that far.” Lotta replied nervously.
“Larry is painting, he sees something, stands up, took couple of steps.” Phoenix muttered while browsing the shots. ”HOLD IT! That isn't possible...” He pointed the picture were Larry was in a very obscene pose.
“It's impossible for a human to be in that kind of pose.” Franziska stated.
“How did Larry manage do that?” Edgeworth wondered.
“He didn't...” Lotta said.
“Funny... to me it looks like he is held by some... invisible force.” Maya said.
“You got that right Miss Fey... Yes, invisible to the camera, but not to plain eyes.” Lotta said.
“See, there should be a girl in these pictures... at least starting from there where Butz turns his head.”
“A Girl?” Phoenix asked curiously.
“Yup, a very pretty thing accordin' to what I noticed from Butz's reaction.”
“Hmph... So Larry did run away with a girl after all.” Edgeworth said.
“Hold yer horses Mr. Prosecutor... It ain't that simple although I didn't dare to wait and see whether he went voluntarily or not... I guess he did and he didn't...”
“A Girl invisible to camera, visible to eye but no reflection...” Maya said and went pale again.
“Ah... I think you got it Miss Fey.” Lotta said.
“No... no way...”
Franziska felt shiver in her spine. ”(That's nothing but a foolish hunch.)”
“Fey... Maya, unfortunately answer is yes... As s-she almost g-got me too...” Lotta said voice little shaky.
“What? What do you mean she almost got you too?! Answer me NOW!”
“Hey, hey I tell you when I get there!”
“... Is something wrong Franziska?” Edgeworth asked suspiciously.
“I am just fine Miles!” She yelled.
Phoenix was eyeing both Maya and Franziska with suspicion. ”Maya, do you know something?”
“No.. well yes, ... Signs match but... it can't be!” She replied.
Phoenix looked none wiser.
Franziska snapped. ”Are you slow this morning Mr. Phoenix Wright, don't you get it?! Girl with no reflection, she wouldn't have a mirror image. Pale face who doesn't stand sunlight, fangs in mouth... A vampire you foolish foo!...” She slapped her hand on her mouth silencing herself immediately.
”... A Vampire?... Ridiculous!” Edgeworth stated.
“Franziska?...” Maya asked.
“I-I was stating to this spikehaired fool what you were after Fey that's all!”
“I guess this is less trouble than I thought... Yeah a vampire girl attacked Larry Butz last night and took him away, heard me and almost got me too!” Lotta said very bluntly.
“A-are you serious?” Phoenix asked.
“Cross my heart an' all that... I ain't lyin'.”
Franziska looked at the obscene pose photo. ”You mean, in this picture the... vampire is holding Larry Butz?”
“Yup, that's when she bit him.”
“Do you have evidence to prove this?” Edgeworth asked.
“What about the blood in Larry's painting?” Phoenix countered.
“... Good point.” Franziska muttered.
“What, what blood... Wait you mean the moon right?” Lotta asked.
“How did you know?” Phoenix asked.
”I heard some of their conversation... the girl said something about giving the blood red moon a proper shade with his own blood...”
“So it is Larry's blood and DNA-test will likely confirm it.”
“About the evidence. This time I'm ahead of you... Here are the enlarged shot's of Mr. Butz which I made.” Lotta laid down a new set of pictures.
“Does Larry Butz use drugs?” Franziska asked while examining one of the new pictures.
“WHAT?!... No of course not, why?” Phoenix said.
“Then... I don't know what this is... He looks to be out in this one.” It was a zoomed in picture direct frontal shot of Larry who had glazed out there look on his face.
“Lotta, did Larry behave somehow weirdly at that time?” Maya asked.
“Yeah, the moment he looked at her, Butz was acting like he was in trance.” She replied.
“Hypnotic powers.”
“This is hard to believe... but it seems to make sense.” Phoenix said, he was sweating a bit.
”I'm still not buying this.” Edgeworth said. ”Franziska what is your opinion?”
Franziska fidgeted a bit, but said nothing.
“Alright I have one more shot, enlargement of enlargement the picture from the attack with Butz's head only visible.” Lotta said and laid down one more picture. ”Look at his neck.”
“Two marks... a bite!” Maya said.
“Yup... an' how they just appeared there all of a sudden?” Lotta inquired.
“Oh my... God.” Franziska said. ”Ms. Hart, what happened after that?”
“She didn't kill Mr. Butz, but I didn't want to be there any longer than necessary an' I had seen more than enough and decided get the 'ell out of there and back to mah car as quickly as possible. I was already retreating when I accidentally stepped on a twig which snapped, an' of course she had to hear it...”
“Vampires have sentitive hearing...” Maya said.
“She wondered who was there and demanded me to show myself... Which I didn't do obviously. Nobody sane would reveal themselves to a vampire. I began hurry back faster, thing I didn't notice was the bat flying overhead myself... Soon that girl was in front of me. I was scared for my life. The vampire taunted me an' was about to strike when three balls o' fire struck her.
“Was there someone else?!” Phoenix asked excitedly.
“Yup, a pretty darn good lookin' black haired guy appeared with a sword in his hand. He told the vampire to back off... which she did and took off by changing into a bat again.”
“Man with black hair...” Phoenix said scratching his chin.
“We talked for a bit... and I reckon he was some sort of vampire hunter although he said he wasn't. I thanked him for saving my life and told he me to leave in case the girl would return. I then asked if he needed a ride and I took him to where the man was stayin'.”
“This man... did he introduce himself?” Franziska asked.
“Yup, told his name was Arikado.”
“WHAT?!” Was heard simultaneously from three mouths namely Phoenix, Franziska and Maya. Followed by ”HOLD IT!” from Franziska and Phoenix who were pointing each other.
“Mr. Phoenix Wright... How do you know THAT NAME?!”
“I could ask the same from you.” Phoenix countered.
“You both know him?!” Maya added.
“Fey... What's that supposed to mean?!” Franziska was clearly agitated by this sudden unexpected revelation.
Lotta and Edgeworth were dumbfounded.
“What was that about?” Lotta wondered.
“Damned if I know.” Edgeworth replied.
“Hey... I think you have heard what I have to tell you so if I could leave now...”
“HOLD IT!” Phoenix said. ”Lotta, one more thing... Where we can find Mr. Arikado if we need contact him?”
“Oh yeah... He's stayin' at the new Gatewater Hotel, y'know the one where the Corrida and Engarde thing took place.”
“Alright, thank you for your testimony about the incident Ms. Hart, you can leave.” Edgeworth said.
“... This won't be goin' official police records I reckon?”
“They would think we were crazy If we did that.” Phoenix said.
“That's what I thought too, well see ya.” Lotta waved and left the interrogation room.
Silence followed. Maya, Phoenix and Franziska were exchanging looks.
“So... What was that about?” Edgeworth broke the silence. ”Do you know this man?”
“No... not actually, I know the name though...” Phoenix said.
“That's funny I do too...” Maya said.
“I thought I was the only one who knew that name.” Franziska said.
“And why would that be?” Edgeworth inquired.
“(And here we are... spit it out already!)” Franziska sighed. ”I know that name, because man with the same name was in my dream last night.”
“A dream...? Might have been some dream.”
“It really was, a trial... sudden turn of events and then the battle in the court... Ouch!, Franziska!”
Phoenix was halted with a whip lash.
Maya was also staring at him.
“Court... Trial... Battle of life and death?!” Franziska asked.
“Yeah sounds similar... We barely escaped Death... literally.” Maya said.
“Prosecutor was pretty bad..” Phoenix said.
“Don't tell me that we have seen the exactly same dream last night!” Franziska said. ”Pretty bad? He was creepy! An old man who wielded a Goddamn huge scythe in a court room, and he brought over my head several times during that trial!”
“Graham Reaper the so-called Prosecutor of Death... who in the end turned exactly that.” Phoenix added. ”Yeah... It has to be the same dream.”
“Yeah... there isn't any other possibility.” Maya said. ”It was strange I was there seeing things from my own point of view but Maya Fey there wasn't me.”
“Same for me I was there too in pretty much same position wondering what the heck was going on there.” Phoenix continued. ”But I didn't see Franziska there.”
“Fool!... I wasn't there as myself I was that blond girl, Franziska Annabell Schneider... And I was just as clueless as you two.”
“Umm... Well actually I know things, but seeing a dream like that was incredible. I thought that maybe my secret interest finally found their way into dreams but...” Maya said.
“Ahha!... So you know something Fey!”
“Yeah I'm a samurai fan but I'm secretly also a fan on vampire stories, legends, vampire hunters and like.”
“So it was your doing!”
“Franziska, I am a spirit medium that's all. I have no power to alter or affect anyones dreams.”
“What was it then?” Edgeworth asked. ”Sounds very unsual.”
“I concluded that it is some kind of alternate reality thing... as I wasn't there and she was and you never encountered me and so on.” Franziska said.
“Sounds sensible to me...” Phoenix agreed.
“Yeah I guess...” Maya said.
“So there was a court case in the dream, can you tell me about it?” Edgeworth asked.
“Well... It was pretty crazy Edgey... Turned out that Genya Arikado was in fact Dracula's son and he was prosecuted for his father's murder.” Phoenix said.
“Not only that but the case was over 200 years old.” Franziska added.
“That case was way over expired, it wouldn't be possible.” Edgeworth said.
“Yes, Franny-Annie objected that, but was countered by Reaper.” Phoenix said.
“You were defending vampire for a murder of vampire?... No that wouldn't fit in our jurisdiction in any way.” Edgeworth said.
“That's what I said too... expect that Alucard is half-vampire, not a full one.”
“Phoenix means Arikado... Alucard is... was...his nickname or something.” Franziska said. ”Why the heck you are speaking in present time expression? He was in the dream... he isn't in.”
“OBJECTION! You don't know that Franziska so don't make any assumptions.”
“OBJECTION! And neither do you, fool!” Franziska countered ”And how do you think he might be?”
“I can answer to that Franziska... Lotta told that three fireballs struck the vampire girl before Alu... Arikado appeared... They sound like spell known as Hellfire, which is Dracula's trademark attack and one that Alucard has mastered as well...” Maya replied.
“But you said that they are legends yourself!”
“Maybe... they might a have base in reality, after all Lotta witnessed vampire attack and was nearly attacked herself.” Phoenix said.
“This will stay between us for now... Police would take none of it.” Edgeworth said.
“True and we need more information and hopefully we can get it from the source.” Phoenix said and looked at his watch. ”How about visiting Mr. Arikado after lunch?”
Location Unknown, Time: meaningless
Torches were illuminating a place that seemed to a throne room and on the throne someone was sitting hidden by shadows.
Steps we heard when figure with black beard wearing cape and basker walked towards the throne.
Person sitting noticed this a began to speak.
“Lawrence, you answered my summons.” Said clearly female voice from the throne.
Man in question bowed. ”Of course milady... What do you desire from me?”
She took a sip from a glass which had red substance in it. “How is our project proceeding?”
“Very well countess.. Thanks to the wonderful studio you have given me I feel inspiration simply coursing through... First painting is almost complete, it should be ready by tomorrow.
“Mmm... you are progressing much better than I anticipated Lawrence, I certainly made the right decision with you.”
“Thank you milady.”
“By the way, are you... hungry?”
“Yes, but I can manage it.”
“Don't worry we will be going dining tonight after sundown afterwards I will be taking care of my another errand... You may leave now Lawrence, return to your studio. I will summon for you again when it is time to leave.”
Lawrence bowed and turned around leaving the throne room.