No Strings Attached

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Puppet Master belongs to FullMoon Entertainment

Author Note: Yay, my first even request fic! This request was given to me by somebody I know and I happy to write it for them. As ever my main minion AsilYssam proof read behind me.

Warning: This fic contains horror movie type gore, main character death.

Alex Whitaker sighed as he settled behind his desk in his office at Yale. He was… unsettled. He had been since his little… adventure… at the Bodega Bay Inn in California. Well, maybe the word 'adventure' was a little strong; a huge bloody mess and trap were better words.

Alex had been lured to the Bodega Bay Inn by dreams of his former colleague Neil Gallagher threatening to kill a young woman while at the same time telling Alex than he wouldn't be able to save her. The dream had also lured his other former colleagues Dana Hadley, Carissa Stamford and Frank Forrester to the hotel as well. There they had learned from Megan Gallagher, the same young woman from his dreams, that Neil had died and had even showed them the body within the casket.

They had stayed the night at the inn… boy that had been a mistake. Neil had been looking for an old puppet master named Andrea Toulon who had held the secret to bringing objects, and dead bodies, back to life. And Neil had found Toulon's work within the Bodega Bay Inn. He had gotten close to Megan, who's family owned the hotel, had killed her parents then married Megan. And once he got what he had come for, had killed himself only to bring himself back to life.

Alex sighed and rubbed his forehead, a headache building up. Part of him still couldn't wrap his head around what happened, he might be a psychic with the ability to see the future, mostly in the form of dreams, but what he had seen at that hotel… it was the stuff of nightmares.

Toulon had created living puppets and Neil had become their new master when he had found them. Through the puppets Neil had killed Carissa, Frank and Dana in horrific ways. He had also had the housekeeper Theresa killed then brought back to life… now that Alex thought about her he wondered what had happened to Theresa. She had disappeared after the whole thing.

Just as quickly Alex put her out of his mind, thinking… remembering… how Neil had revealed himself still alive, in a fashion, then had attempted to kill Alex. The man absently touched his neck as he remembered Neil's cold hands wrapped around his neck, beating the shit out of him.

And then… those strange puppets had turned on Neil, had killed him for good. Had cut him up so that strange green liquid would drain out of his body. Alex remembered Megan's screams… he closed his eyes as he remembered it all.

The police had been skeptical; of course they had Alex would have been worried if they hadn't. After all, while Dana's cut throat could be considered normal, as normal as death got anyway, Carissa and Frank deaths were not. He and Megan had blamed it all on Theresa who had disappeared by that point. It wasn't like they could tell the police that Neil had come back to life and that he had used possessed puppets to kill the others then had tried to kill Alex himself. If either of them had attempted to tell the police that story, Alex and Megan would have been locked up so quickly their heads would spin. As it was, it was amazing that they had let Alex leave town and go back home to New Haven.

But, despite all that, Alex had thought the whole mess was truly over and done with… until the dreams started again. And that left him worried.

It was the same dream, Neil and Megan dancing in the room where they had dined, spinning around the white column pillars that decorated the room. Neil wearing a white mask that covered his whole face. Then the dancing would stop and they would turn to face Alex, Neil holding Megan close to his side on the left while removing the mask and letting it fall to the ground.

"I told you Alex, you can't save her," Neil would say as he removed a gun from a hidden place and point it at Megan.

Or sometimes it wasn't Neil that killed Megan but that puppet with the white face wearing a black coat and hat, the one that had a knife blade for one hand and a hook for the other. The puppet would leap at Megan, his bladed hand heading for her throat.

No matter the dream, Alex would wake with a gasp right before Megan was killed his heart pounding and his body covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

Alex stood and started to pace his office, running a hand through his shoulder length hair. He wasn't sure what was going on, Neil was dead for good now… wasn't he?

'Well we thought that when we saw him in that coffin but he wasn't quite all that dead now was he,' Alex's mind said back to him. What's to say that somehow Neil hadn't cheated true death again? Didn't the mad man say that the only way to truly kill him was to completely destroy his body? Yet those freaky puppets had managed to stop him when Alex couldn't.

Megan could be in danger from those puppets too, neither of them knew what had happened to the things. They had disappeared before the police arrived, just like Theresa had.

Either way, Alex was sure Megan was in danger. His psychic dreams were a warning, somehow Megan was in danger again and he couldn't just stand by and let it happen. Turning on his heel, Alex strode out of his office to make the arrangements he needed to return to the Bodega Bay Inn.

Megan got little warning about Alex's arrival, he called her from the airport as soon as he landed and told her he was getting into a cab right then to come to the inn. She fretted, wondering what caused Alex to suddenly decide to come back, but prepared a room for him anyway.

When the cab carrying Alex arrived, she greeted him with a smile and a hug.

"What's wrong Alex?" she asked as soon as they were inside the hotel. "You didn't say much other than you were coming back."

"Sorry," Alex said as he put his hastily packed bag down and ran a hand through his hair. "I was worried about you. How are you Megan?"

"I'm fine," Megan assured him with a smile. "It's a little busy here, I've got the contractors here finishing the renovations Neil and I started before Neil… well you know. I'm hoping I can get the inn open again soon."

"So there aren't any more problems with… him?" Alex asked.

"What?" Megan asked a little surprised then shook her head. "No, he was buried the day after you left. I checked, he was still in his coffin when it was placed into his grave." Alex let out a slow, relieved breath but still had a ball of unease in the pit of his stomach. "Alex please, can you tell me what is going on?"

"Yeah, yeah I'll tell you," he said. He picked up his bag and followed Megan to one of the couches in lounge area of the hotel lobby. Megan poured them both a glass of scotch from the mini bar as Alex sat and cradled his head in his hands. He looked up and gave Megan a weak smile as he took one of the glasses and drank from it as Megan sat down on the chair next to the couch. "I've started having those dreams again. The ones that brought me here to start with."

"Oh Alex," Megan said softly and leaned over to clasp her hand over his, squeezing it gently. "I'm fine. Neil is gone for good, I'm not in any danger."

"It's not just Neil," Alex said. "Sometimes I dream about those puppets as well. Have you seen any of them? Or Theresa, did she ever come back?"

"No… no I haven't seen those puppet things," Megan said with a quick shake of her head as she sat back in her chair, taking a sip of her scotch. "Or Theresa… poor Theresa. I hate what Neil and those things did to her. She didn't deserve that. None of them did. Alex really, I'm fine. I could have told you this over the phone if you had called me."

"I think I still would have come out," Alex confessed. He sighed and loosened his tie a bit then leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, the scotch glass clasped between his hands. "Maybe it's nothing. I could be wrong and my dreams aren't me seeing the future but results of what happened. Nightmares." Now that he put it that way… maybe they were just nightmares and he was over reacting? But they felt just like his normal psychic dreams. Megan leaned forward and grasped his hand again, giving it a squeeze while smiling gently.

"I have nightmares too," she said. "And I am happy to see you Alex."

"Maybe I could look around, just to make sure," Alex said still not able to shake the feeling that something bad would happen. "After all you've been through, I don't want you to get hurt."

Megan sighed softly and smiled again. "If that's what will finally put you at ease. I had a room made up for you, the same one you stayed in last time. Come on, I'll walk you up." Alex smiled back and put the glass of scotch on the table, Megan's glass joining his on the oak surface, and grabbed his bag as they stood. As they walked up the elevator, cleaned from all the blood and gore from that night, Alex and Megan talked about what happened with the police after Alex had returned to his home and how they were on the lookout for Theresa as the only suspect to the murders.

Over the next couple of days, Alex took the time to explore the hotel checking every crook and nanny. He left no stone unturned as he searched for the puppets, for any trace that Megan might be in danger.

But… he found nothing there. He went back to the locked room that Megan showed him that night but all he found was the same old diary that belonged to that Toulon man and an old dusty trunk with puppet parts inside. But no sign of any of the puppets he had seen that night.

Alex also visited Neil's gave in the little grave yard near the inn. The dirt of the grave was still fresh but it looked undisturbed. He was also startled to find the grave of Andre Toulon in the graveyard on his way out. It almost felt as if the ghost of this old puppet master was following Alex around, but he knew it had to be all in his mind.

In the end there was nothing. Nothing at all to support his dreams, nothing to show that Megan could be in danger. Once again Alex was starting to doubt that his dreams were really him seeing into the future and was more along the lines of nightmares from what had happened.

Finally after hours of fruitlessly searching every inch of the hotel and the grounds around it, Alex felt it was time to throw in the towel. Neil was in the ground and didn't look like he was coming back, there was no sign of those living puppets or anything else that might be a danger to Megan.

"I thought I might be safe but it was nice of you to check Alex," Megan said with that sweet smile and a squeeze of her hand in his once he told her. "Why don't you finally take the time to relax and I'll make us a really nice dinner before you head out in the morning. It's a bit nippy to go down to the beach but the inn does have an indoor pool," she suggested.

Alex laughed softly and shook his head. "I didn't really bring anything to swim in."

"We have a small gift shop here in the inn, I think we have some left over swim gear from the last summer that the inn was open," Megan said. She lead him to the gift shop, more of a counter than anything off the main lobby for things guests might have forgotten or needed to replace, and entered the storage room behind it. She came out a moment later with a cardboard box and set it down here. "Here, there should be something you can wear in here. I have to go check on dinner, I'll see you in a couple of hours Alex."

Alex nodded absently as he started to dig through the box. There were a few ladies and children swimsuits that were instantly discarded to the side and a few pairs of swim trunks none of which looked to be in Alex's size. But there was a pair of speedos that were… not really Alex's style by any means but the idea of swimming a few laps or just floating around in the pool to let his mind unwind a bit after the stressful last few days did sound very appealing… Well it wasn't like anyone was going to see him in these. Alex took the speedos and headed to the pool that Megan had mentioned.

Alex stared up at the ceiling as he lazily floated in the pool. He had started out doing laps, putting his whole mind and body into the activity to the point where he forgot everything else. It was nice that he forgot the whole reason he was there, even if it was only for a few minutes. His limbs still burned from the activity as he hadn't had much of a chance to go swimming in recent years, he had forgotten how nice it was. Maybe he should make the time to use one of the pools at the university for now on.

Alex closed his eyes and tried to relax, letting himself float mindlessly around in the just slightly cool water. Part of him felt like a fool rushing back here like he did, Megan was right when she said he should have called first when he had arrived. After what he had gone through it was expected that the experience could influence his abilities. Maybe he should take some real time off, get his head back into working order. He would do his students no good like this.

As Alex floated around he started to doze off, overtaxed from looking for the danger that he thought Megan might be in. Spent from the dreams that first Neil had sent him then the nightmares from that night. Sometimes when he closed his eyes, he could still see the others at the dinner table in the hall of the inn. Carissa with a large hole drilled into her head where her mouth had been, Frank covered with bite marks and a wide crazy grin on his face and Dana with her neck cut wide open. Any of those were enough to give any sane person nightmares.

As Alex dozed, he dreamed of the puppet with the bladed and hooked hands attacking and killing Megan. The puppet stood over Megan's head and forced his hook up her nose, wiggling it around then pulling a piece of her brain out.

Alex gasped as he jerked awake, treading water as he tried to shake the dream from his mind. A terrible feeling churned in his gut like it always did after one of his dreams. There was also a horrible burning, biting feeling on his chest and stomach. He glanced down and screamed in terror at the sight of several leeches sucking out his blood, their sharp teeth tearing at him…

Alex gasped as he jerked awake, slipping under the water as he flailed about. He came up a moment later coughing harshly as wiping water from his eyes. He swam over to the nearest pool edge and clung to it as he tried to calm his racing heart. He checked the front of his body but saw no leeches and no bite marks.

"I am getting tired of these dreams," he groaned to himself as he rubbed his face. He looked up as a nearby grandfather clock outside the pool area started to chime, turning his attention to the clock hanging on the far wall. Alex bit back a curse as he realized he had completely lost track of time while in the pool.

He pulled himself out of the water and grabbed the hotel towel he had left on a deck chair. He had planned on getting out of the pool a lot earlier than this so he could go back to his room to shower and change before dinner. But now he was running late instead. He could still go up to his room but then he would even later and he didn't want to keep Megan waiting.

Alex eyed his clothing as he towel dried his hair, he didn't relish the idea of putting back on his dirty boxers and glancing at the clock again, he pulled on his clothing over the speedos. He would just go up to his room to get clean and changed after dinner, he was sure Megan wouldn't mind.

"Sorry I'm late, I lost track of time," Alex said as he slid into the chair across from Megan. His hair was still damp and hung around his ears in wet clumps. Instead of eating at the fancy dining table in the main hall with all the pillars, Alex and Megan were eating in the employee break room like they had been for the last couple of days. It was much cozier and friendly looking than the hall had been. It didn't have all the bad memories attached to it either.

"It's fine," Megan assured him with a smile. "I was just finishing up anyway." She set out a couple of plates filled with food down on the table. Already there were wine glasses filled with wine on the table and Alex picked up his, taking a sip.

"Hmm, good year," he said after taking another. Megan just smiled again and started on her dinner. She asked him a bit about his classes at Yale, keeping all conversation away from that night and Alex's dreams. He happily talked about his classes and some of his more brilliant students, drinking more of the wine as Megan topped off his glass. He absently noticed that Megan never drank from her glass but put it out of his mind.

But as the dinner wore on, Alex's thought began to cloud. It felt like his head full of cotton and his mouth was very dry no matter how much wine he drank. His movement started to become clumsy and black spots danced before his eyes. Alex clung to the table to keep himself from falling over, his head swimming.

"Are you alright Alex?" Megan asked her voice sounding like it was coming from far away. Alex looked at her and realized a tad too slowly that she seemed way to calm about how he was acting. She was still eating her dinner and hadn't even touched the wine in her glass at all.

"You…" he said slowly but couldn't seem to get his thoughts in order. "You… drugged…"

Alex started to list to the side until he fell off his chair to the floor with a grunt. He thought he heard a dog barking and looked up as a small dog walked over sniffing his face. Alex's last thought was that the dog looked very much like the one Dana always carried around, the one she had taxidermy, then his vision went black and he knew no more.

After that Alex swam in and out of consciousness. When he next opened his eyes, his head still feeling like it was stuffed with cotton, he saw the ceiling passing by slowly and the sensation of being dragged. He almost drunkenly lifted his head and looked down the length of his body. Holding onto his feet was the muscled bound puppet with the tiny pin head, the puppet made grunting sounds as he pulled Alex along the carpet and marble floor. Alex tried to move his legs, to kick the puppet away but already he could fell himself falling back under before he could.

The next time he came to, he was sprawl out in the bottom of the elevator, the pin head puppet by the door.

"Ohhh," Alex tilted his head slightly this time seeing the puppet that was dressed like a jester by him, a sinister smile on its face. This time Alex tried to muster the energy to yell, to call for help, to scream Megan's name but whatever he was drugged with sapped everything out of him and he quickly lost consciousness again.

The third time he felt himself being dragged again, the doors to the hotel rooms passing by slowly but was unable to stay awake long enough to do anything before blacking out again.

When he came to next, Alex felt like he was laying on something soft. His eyes fluttered open as he felt his limbs being moved and saw Megan standing over him.

"M-meg-" he started to say.

"I really do like you Alex," Megan said as she unbuttoned his shirt and began to pull it off of him. "But you should have stayed at your home, you shouldn't have come back." Alex made a confused sound and tried to reach up and stop Megan from undressing him but his arms felt like lead and he was unable to move.

"M-" he tried to stay, why was it so hard to talk. Why was she doing this?

"I didn't want to hurt you Alex," Megan continued as if Alex hadn't tried to speak. She moved Alex around, Pinhead helping her to move Alex around so she could remove his button down shirt then his undershirt. "If you had stayed at your school, stayed away from here, this wouldn't have to happen."

Alex tried to move his lips, his tongue feeling like it was bloated and mouth so dry.

"….why…" he managed to say. Megan looked up at him, smiling ever so sadly.

"Neil wasn't the only one who took to studying Toulon's diary. When I found the book in that locked room, I tried it for myself," Megan's eyes unfocused a little. "It was wonderful Alex, I know why Neil spend so long looking for Toulon's work."

No, nononono! Alex tried to force his limbs to move, didn't Megan know what sort of danger she was in messing with those things? He had to stop her, for her own safety or for his didn't matter at this point. He tried to speak, tried to move, but everything was so hard with the drugs in his system.

"I need to keep this a secret Alex," Megan said as she started pulling his shoes and socks off. "No one can know… I would have left you alone as long as you didn't come back. But you did, you couldn't leave well enough alone." Alex started to struggle again, tried to sit up but was stopped as wooden hands pressed down on his shoulders not letting him move an inch. Megan stepped away from the bed and Alex heard the tinkering of metal and glass. "I am sorry it's come to this, you're sweet and you helped save my life but I can't let you interfere. I can't let you leave so you can tell someone else. I have to keep the puppets a secret. What I can do secret."

Megan came back into view with a syringe full of clear liquid.

"…no…" Alex croaked as Megan came closer with the syringe, tried to move away but couldn't force himself to move. He felt a prick on his neck and closed his eyes in the slight sting of pain. Megan leaned into his line of sight again with a smile so sad that it would have broken his wildly beating heart if he wasn't in so much danger right now.

"It will be over soon," she said as she lightly squeezed his shoulder. "I thought it would be better if one of them take care of the deed. Just relax Alex." Alex felt like he was at the end of a long tunnel as his vision dimmed and a roaring sound seemed to fill his ears.

As he started to black out again he felt hands tugging at his belt and undoing the button and zipper on his pants.

Alex jerked away with a yell spilling from his lips. Even though his eyes were open everything was dark and it took him a moment to realize he was blindfolded. He also quickly noticed that his legs and arm were spread out and tied tight to whatever bed he was on. Alex tugged at his bonds trying desperately to get loose, metal of the handcuffs clanking but refused to give.

"M-megan?" Alex said his voice cracking. His voice and throat felt so dry and he licked his lips before calling Megan's name again. "Megan, please. Let's talk about this."

The bed dipped slightly on Alex's right and he tensed.

"Megan?" He called as he turned his head in that direction but saw nothing but blackness thanks to the blindfold. "Megan, you need to let me go. Please Megan, you don't have to kill me."

There was a soft feminine breathy moan came from whoever was on the bed with him and Alex's felt himself go cold as he got the feeling that is wasn't Megan.

"Who's there?" he asked his heart beating wildly again. He felt a pair of hands, a pair of very tiny, doll-sized hands press against his chest and he froze in fear for a moment before trashing, trying to twist away. "No! Get away!" Alex yelled while yanking at his bonds again but as before they held tight the sharp edge of the cuffs cutting into Alex's wrists and ankles. A soft sound reached his ears over the sound of his panicked breaths that sounded like someone retching. The college professor suddenly had a very good idea of which puppet was with him.

Something cold and slimy plopped onto Alex's chest making him freeze for a moment before yelling in pain as the leech that Leech Woman had coughed up latched onto Alex with painful little teeth and he could feel his blood being painfully pulled from him.

"Megan!" He yelled loudly as he twisted and trashed on the bed, but was unable to escape. Leech Woman moved and retched up another one of her leeches, watching with a little soft moan as it attached itself to Alex's chest. The female puppet skillfully dodged Alex's thrashing as she moved down the bed to his stomach to drop yet another leech. Tunneler stood on the bedside table watching, there as Leech Woman's backup in case Alex managed to escape his bonds.

Alex's back bowed as he arch off the bed, a scream ripping from his throat. He could feel the leeches painfully sucking his blood from his body as his mind filled with a white haze of pain. Razor sharp teeth tore into his flesh, he could feel every single one of them. He felt Leech Woman climb up onto his torso, tiny wooden feet digging into his skin, and tried to buck her off. Leech Woman knelt and grabbed handfuls of the chest hair on Alex's chest making him yelp in pain at the sharp tugs.

Finally after a few seconds of struggling Alex slumped back against the mattress panting heavily. He could feel blood oozing from where the cuffs had bit deeply around his wrists and ankles, the tips of his fingers feeling numb. Leech Woman started coughing up another leech as soon as Alex went still, the leech landing with a wet plop on his chest right above one of his nipples. Alex gave a horse cry of pain trying to twist and thrash again but could feel his energy sapped as the leeches sucked away his life blood.

Leech Woman quickly twisted and crawled down Alex's torso to place another leech on his belly then another near his hip. Finally she slid back onto the bed this time on Alex's other side, placing one final leech on his ribs then moved back her black eyes taking in her work.

"Megan!" Alex yelled his voice cracking after all the screaming he had done. He tried to struggle more, if he could just get one arm out of his bonds he could rip the leeches off him, but the cuffs held tight and his movements became weaker and weaker as more and more blood was drained from him. He had lost count how many leeches were on him, his mind only on the pain. Tears had soaked the blindfold over his eyes and he screamed weakly as one or more of the leeches gave a painful suck as they drained him dry. He weakly called out to Megan again… and again… hoping that she would have a change of heart and end this madness… but nobody came.

In the next room over, Megan bowed her head slightly as she listened to Alex's screams. She really wished that she hadn't needed to kill him. The man had been so sweet and kind to her while the others Neil had summoned had been spiteful and horrible. Alex had saved her life and nearly lost his in the process. She sighed and petted Leroy, scratching the reanimated dog behind the ears. Leroy panted happily with a wag of his tail.

Megan winced and glanced at the wall between this room and the one Alex was in as another scream ripped through the air. Why couldn't he have just stayed away? He would have been safe and would have lived if he had just stayed in Connecticut. She sighed and petted Leroy again, she had been upset when Alex had called then promptly shown up at the hotel. Megan had to plan very quickly about what to do about Alex, she told the puppets and Leroy to hide and not show themselves to Alex. Ideally it would have been nice if she could have just let Alex return home after he saw she was in no danger. But Megan wasn't a fool and knew he would keep running back again and again because of that power of his. And sooner or later he would have discovered the puppets and what Megan had been doing.

Megan had… changed… after what happened. It was hard not to after so much death and seeing your dead husband come back to life only to be re-killed by murderous puppets. It wasn't the puppets faults, it was like Toulon's diary said, the puppets did evil things when evil people controlled them. She glanced across the room at the puppets with her. The leader puppet Blade reached up and tapped his wide brim black hat with his hook while Pin-Head looked at the wall as another scream, this one weaker than the last, tore through the air again. Jester sat to Megan's left, his all three parts of his head spinning rapidly before coming to a stop with a frown on his face.

"It had to be done," Megan said. "It keeps all of us safe."

The things in Toulon's diary was fascinating and Megan saw why Neil wanted it so much. She refused to do the things that Neil had done, would have done, with the living puppets. Things had been nice and calm until Alex came back. She had no choice; he had to be taken care of. While Alex had searched the hotel Megan had bought the drugs she needed to knock the man out and waited until Alex had let his guard down before striking She has chosen to use the same room Carissa and Frank had been killed in when they stayed, the bed had the best bed frame to tie someone to, it even still had the cuffs that Frank had been bound to the bed with attached to the frames as she hadn't gotten around to getting rid of them or the bed, and had in a fit of fancy decided to kill Alex the same way Frank had been killed using Leech Woman and her killer leeches.

Then, after what seemed like hours, the sounds from the other room stopped. No more screams, no more banging as Alex trashed in the bed. Megan glanced over at the door as it opened, Leech Woman and Tunneler standing in the door way. Leech Woman had blood on her face around her mouth and her hair was a little mussed.

"Is it done? Is he…" Megan trailed off. Both Leech Woman and Tunneler nodded making Megan sigh then shoo Leroy off her lap and stood. She walked past the puppets and stepped into the other room, looking at the figure on the bed.

Alex was spread eagle on the bed, hands and feet bound to the fancy metal bed frame by the handcuffs, wearing nothing but the speedos he had worn while swimming. The skin around the cuffs was torn and bloody where he had tried to escape from the bonds but Pin-Head and Jester had made sure they were very tight. Megan grimaced slightly at the sight of the large, fat black leeches on Alex's chest and stomach. A couple of fallen off and lay wiggling on the bed leaving behind deep bite marks where they had been latched onto. Taking a deep breath, Megan turned to the puppets that were crowding the door behind her.

"Is the grave ready?" she asked then sighed in relief as Pin-Head nodded. "Alright, then get rid of the body quickly." Megan watched as the puppets climbed up on the bed and started to free Alex's body from the cuffs so they could move him. She needed to clean everything before the construction crew working on the hotel returned in the morning, they had been away too many days now and she needed to get the inn back up and running.

Megan turned and walked out of the room with Leroy on her heels. She would mourn for Alex and what she had been forced to do to him but her secret was safe… for now.