Escape the Night: Betrayal at the House on the Hill
A/N: Hello, world and welcome to the start of the start of the final episode of Escape the Night! I still do have my dentist appointment, but that isn't until the afternoon, so I decided to post this, and the first chapter will be posted tomorrow despite the fact that I will be recovering from the root canal business.
As you will recall, Joey, Dawn, Eva, and Oli have just found out that Arthur, who'd been pretending to be the butler, is the final owner and has been in league with the Evil this entire time. Can they escape before it's too late? Time to start reading and to find out! Onward with the story!
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
PROLOGUE: BEING USED
Nine hours ago, a group of twelve YouTubers arrived at a house that was trapped in the 1920s to attend a dinner party hosted by Joey Graceffa and Dawn Hatcher. It had started out fine with them all having a wonderful time with some of the girls flirting with Joey, who was going to receive the deed to the house that very night, and they all were having a wonderful dinner when it all went horribly wrong.
Shane had been the first to die from a poison, and the others learned that he had been the member of an ancient order known as the Society Against Evil. He'd come to the house in order to perform a ritual to seal away the evil that was hiding within it. Learning that they needed to find four artifacts, plus decide who would go into challenges in order to obtain them with at least one person dying, they had had no choice but go forward after the time-traveling car was destroyed.
That was nine hours ago, and in that time most of the group had died: Andrea was killed by the ungodly machine; Justine was buried alive; both GloZell and Bart died when their names were written into a murder journal; Sierra was killed during an exorcism; Matt was poisoned; Tim shot himself in the head, and both Benny and Lele had been electrocuted to death.
Now, the only people still alive were Joey, Dawn, Eva, and Oli. After freeing the fourth owner, Vincent, they had learned from him that the fifth and final owner was no other then Arthur the butler. Now they were fleeing for their lives down the stairs, determined to get out of that house before sunrise, and they were running out of time!
Joey, Dawn, Oli, and Eva all ran down the stairs and across the foyer to get to the front door. Eva was in the lead and was close to reaching the door – when Sarah suddenly came out of the library and grabbed her from behind, pressing a sharp knife to her neck. Marvin also appeared and pressed the barrel of a gun to Oli's head, and both Joey and Dawn skidded to a halt when they saw their friends had been captured.
"Try anything, and your friends will die," Sarah warned them with an evil smile on her face.
Arthur arrived in the foyer, calmly strolling forward and was unsurprised by the display before him. "Well, well, well," he commented, coming up behind the couple and clamped his hands on their shoulders, gripping them tightly so that both Dawn and Joey both gasped in pain, wincing. "Isn't this quite a plot twist? Let's go into the living room and have a chat, shall we?"
Arthur steered Joey and Dawn into the living room, forcing them to their knees, and they were soon joined by Oli and Eva. Both Marvin, who'd pulled out a second gun that he was now pointing at the back of Joey and Dawn's heads, and Sarah stood behind them, keeping her knife pressed to Eva's throat so that the girl could only whimper in fear. Arthur stood before them, enjoying the fact that he didn't have to pretend anymore.
"Why are you doing this?" Dawn asked the ex-butler, furious with herself for not seeing it sooner. "Why trick us into coming here in the first place?"
"Really, you haven't figured it out yet, Donny?" Arthur countered and bent down so that he could touch her face, and when Joey tried to stop him, he backhanded him across the face. "Now, now, wait your turn, Joey," he scolded while the young man rubbed his sore jaw, and turned his attention back to the brunette, who was glaring at him.
"Think about it, my dear," he said, grasping her chin to keep her from moving away from his touch. "All those villains that your various characters have fought against on Star Trek, Doctor Who, and even on Power Rangers. What do they all have in common?"
Dawn swallowed, but she knew what he was getting at. "Absolute control over others," she answered, and the ex-butler released his grip and patted her cheek, making her cringe. "And that's also their downfall," she added as he straightened up. "For absolute power corrupts absolutely. And the evil in this house will corrupt you if it hadn't already."
Arthur chuckled and nodded, amused by her words. "Oh, the evil has tried to corrupt me," he admitted, "but how can you corrupt someone who has already made decisions that has already corrupted his own soul?"
"What are you talking about?" Joey asked, feeling overwhelmed, confused, angry, and upset by everything that had happen so far.
"I guess an explanation is in order," the ex-butler confessed with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, and shared his story with them. "You see, before all this, I was a confidence man, and I played games with peoples' lives. These days, you would call me a con artist. Anyhow, there was one particular game that I enjoyed playing involving marrying older women with a lot of money and no other family members that were still living." He smirked at the disgusted looks that the quartet were giving him. "Eventually I got bored and I wanted more, which is when the devil came calling. The moment that I entered this house, I knew that I had to own this place, and control the evil within it."
"So, that's what this was all about?" Oli asked, finally finding his voice. "You had us kill off our friends so that you could control the evil?"
Arthur nodded and gestured to where the artifacts were on display. "I needed the artifacts, and the previous owner's gone, so…I could have this house…"
"You played us," Joey snapped and was confused when the ex-butler fished two pieces of parchment out of his pocket and tossed it on the floor. "What is that?"
"That's the ritual," Arthur answered, pulling out two white cloths from his coat.
Oli immediately protested. "We did the ritual!"
"You did the wrong one," Arthur corrected him, patting Oli's cheek, and then he turned his attention to both Dawn and Joey by moving behind them. "Good night." And he shoved the cloths into their faces, covering their noses and mouths completely, and pinning them against his legs as they struggled against his grip.
Joey and Dawn were trying very hard not to breathe in the chloroform that was on the cloths. They clawed at the ex-butler's hands, trying to remove the cloths before they breathed in the sweet-smelling chemical, but it was so difficult not to breath. Eventually the need to breathe was too strong, and they both ended up gasping, inhaling the chloroform, and they both went limp as they passed out.
Once he was certain that they were completely unconscious, Arthur released his grip and both Joey and Dawn collapsed onto the floor, and the only sign that they were still alive was the slow rising and falling of their chests.
"Joey! Dawn, no!" Oli cried out and then his cries became muffled when Marvin, who'd put the guns away, shoved a similar cloth against his face, covering his nose and mouth. He struggled against the gardener's strong grip, but eventually he ended up inhaling the chloroform, and he also passed out, slumping to the floor in an unconscious heap when Martin released his grip.
"Oli!" Eva cried, terrified, and screamed when Sarah shoved the chloroform-soaked cloth into her face. She did fight, but having already inhaled some of the chloroform moments before, it didn't take her very long to fall unconscious, too, and she also slumped to the floor when the maid released her.
Arthur chuckled, tossing aside the cloths he'd been holding and nodded to Marvin, who also tossed aside the cloth. "Help me get these two into the dungeon," he instructed while grabbing Joey by his arms and swinging him over his shoulders, and the gardener scooped Dawn into his arms. "Sarah, remain here with those two until Marvin comes back, and then help bring them down next." And when Sarah nodded, he and Marvin headed for the back of the house.
In a different part of the basement, Arthur and Marvin carried their charges into the dungeon, where there was already a bald man chained to the back wall, muttering to himself, and acting in a Gollum-like manner. They both ignored him and laid Joey and Dawn against two x-shaped poles, chaining their wrists.
"Go back upstairs and help Sarah bring down the other two," Arthur ordered and Marvin left to do just that. Once he was gone, Arthur reached into his coat and removed a black case, which he opened to reveal four syringes filled with a yellowish liquid.
"You know, Joey," he commented as he swabbed the side of the young man's neck with an alcohol pad, and then injected him with one of the syringes, "I'm actually really glad that you, Dawn, and both Oli and Eva end up being the sole survivors of this little game. You four are the strongest, the smartest, and I have plans for you all." He then took out and opened a bottle of chloroform and waved it under Joey's nose to ensure that he remained asleep and patted his cheek.
Arthur then scooted over to Dawn and, after swabbing her neck, injected her with the second syringe. He also waved the bottle of chloroform under her nose to ensure that she also remained asleep. "The evil was worried about your Light, my dear, but it won't have to worry much longer," he remarked, gently stroking her face with one finger. He looked up when Marvin and Sarah entered, carrying in the unconscious Oli and Eva over their shoulders firefighter style, and he waited until they were both chained to the two remaining x-shaped poles. "Go back upstairs, I'll finish up here."
Once Marvin and Sarah were gone, Arthur went to Oli and then Eva, swabbing and injecting them both in their necks with the remaining syringes, waved the bottle of chloroform under their noses to ensure that they remained asleep, and then he set up five boxes next to each of them, including the insane man. He put a ring of keys on a hook behind the mad man, and then he set oddly-shaped pokers a few feet from the boxes. "Sleep well, all of you." And he left the dungeon, locking the door behind him.
A/N: Talk about being used by the enemy. I hate it when that happens. Anyway, expect the first chapter tomorrow and I will see you all then. Bye for now! R&R everyone!