Merida grabbed Anna by the elbow and yanked her away from Rapunzel's line of attack as the cleaver swung down. Thankfully, it missed its target. With a shriek, Anna grabbed Merida, who still had the rabbit in her arms. Together they leapt away from the door and fled from the maniacally laughing chef with the weapon aimed at their backs. They rushed from one end of the room to the next, leaping over the bed, knocking a chair down in their path. Finally, Anna grabbed hold of Merida's hand and flew up to one of the ceiling corners.

Below, Rapunzel let out a vexed little huff.

"Punz, get ahold of yourself!" Anna snapped down at her blonde relative.

Rapunzel propped one eyebrow up, glancing up at her victims and then at the weapon in her hand, then back up again. Her lips slowly stretched into a sadistic grin as her freakishly long hair coiled around the handle of the cleaver.

"What the devil!?" Merida barely had time to exclaim before the murderous chef's hair flung the cleaver up towards them, providing reach where Rapunzel's arm could not.

Anna screeched and pushed her feet against the wall to dive out of the way with Merida in tow. Merida dropped the rabbit, which was apparently of no interest to Rapunzel. Instead, the chef howled in frustration as her cleaver bounced back down to the floor. She bent to retrieve it, having to wriggle it free from the carpet.

"What do we do?!" Anna whimpered, having flown herself and her companion to the opposite corner. To exit the room, she'd have to swoop them down within arm's reach. But she couldn't just fly from corner to corner to dodge Rapunzel forever.

"Wheeheee!"

The two redheads gawked down at the gleeful blonde below, who had finally wrenched her weapon free and frolicked toward them for a second slaughter attempt. Merida growled and raised one hand, focusing on an invisible lasso of power. She wrapped the magic around Rapunzel and flung the girl into the wardrobe, quickly locking it shut so that she and Anna could return to the floor.

"Guys, come on!" Rapunzel yelled from her confinement. "I was just kidding!"

Anna and Merida exchanged wary glances.

"Now what?" Anna scurried back over to the bedroom door to shut and lock it before anyone else decided to attack them.

Merida scratched the back of her head. "Dinnae!"

"Well… you're a witch… maybe you can just magic everything back to normal?"

"How do you propose I do that? I've been a witch for all of fifteen minutes!" She leaned down to the floor and scooped the rabbit back up, holding it out awkwardly the way a person does with an infant when they've clearly never held a baby before. She frowned in thought and attempted to stuff the rabbit back into her witch's hat, much to the rabbit's displeasure.

"We can't just stay here…"

"Oy! Let's call the police then? 'scuse me, officers, we're at a party where things have gone a wee bit DISASTROUS. And we don't know how to tell ye this, but everyone's turned into what they were dressed up as! By the way, we're not crazy." The disgruntled witch had to temporarily give up on the rabbit and set it down on the floor again, letting it hop away as it pleased.

Anna sighed and plopped down on the bed. "I see your point… but again, we can't stay here. How long until someone else turns up?"

Merida nodded.

"Hey…" Anna's eyes lit up with a sudden idea. Merida looked over with reserved interest. "Don't mansions like this usually have hidden passageways?"

Merida shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to look."

Together, they searched the room for any sign of a way out that didn't go out into the hall, where who knew what dangers waited. They looked under the bed, searched the fireplace, turned over books on the shelf and lifted objects up off the night stand. Finally, they noticed distinct giggles from the wardrobe.

"Oh, guys?" the blonde maniac asked from inside.

Disturbed, Anna and Merida both turned toward Rapunzel's temporary prison.

"There's a hole in the back of this closet. It must lead somewhere. Is that what you're looking for?"

Anna was partly relieved. But she gulped along with Merida.

"We're not lettin' 'er out."

"C'mon, guys!" Rapunzel protested. "I won't cut you up… too much."

Something suddenly slammed against the bedroom door. The girls heard a wild growl from out in the hall. Merida and Anna looked back and forth between the wardrobe and the bedroom exit, weighing the dangers.

"Okay, on the count of three. I'll open the wardrobe… and you… do something," Anna suggested.

"Oy! Do what?!"

"Well, don't tell me or she'll be expecting it!"

Merida rolled her eyes as she pulled her sleeves up. "Arr, fine. Wait." She put the hat back on her head. "...ready. Let's go."

There was another violent thump against the bedroom door.

"One.." Anna mouthed voicelessly.

"Two…" they whispered together. "Three!"

Anna shoved her fear aside and flipped the wardrobe lock latch up so she could tug the door open, putting herself behind it. Rapunzel hummed as she leaped out with the cleaver at hand. But Merida was ready for her. With one flick of the witch's wrist, Rapunzel went flying dead-center into the nearest wall and remained stuck there. By that point, whatever was trying to get into the bedroom had started cracking through the door. The girls dove into the wardrobe and closed it behind them just as they heard an explosion at the bedroom door. They kept as silent as they could, both feeling around in the door for the hole Rapunzel had taunted them about.

Anna's hands trembled as she carefully slid her fingers along the wall behind her. The last thing she needed was to cry out over a splinter. Luckily, her hand ran over the crack which revealed the door. Bootsteps stomped across the room they left behind. Anna did not even want to try peeking through the crack between the wardrobe doors to see what they'd avoided. She could hear Rapunzel threatening whoever—or whatever—it was.

Anna gingerly pushed the loose board, stepping halfway into the passage behind before she grabbed Merida to follow. She hoped Rapunzel wouldn't be in any real danger while she and Merida worked to undo the magic cast over the party.

Anna led the way. They had to feel their way in the dark. The passage smelled ancient. It was narrow, its walls lined by cobwebs. Anna swatted them away as best she could, trying not to cry out each time she ran into one. The secret passage clearly had not been used in some time. Hopefully the spiders were long gone.

Every now and again they would hear screams or a howl on the outside. They would stop, startled out of their wits. Merida would always gather her wits first and be the one to tap Anna on the shoulder as a signal that they should press on.

Eventually, Anna's hands ran into a wall. At first she panicked that they had come to a dead-end. But as she stretched her arms out first to the right and then to the left, she felt an opening to the left. She almost broke her neck taking a step in the direction, for there was an unseen drop. Merida heard Anna and helped steady her at the top of what they both realized was a winding stairway heading down.

"Well, we're on the second floor, right? Wouldn't mind being on ground level," Merida whispered.

Anna nodded in the dark. "Right… let's go…"

They descended past what they were sure was the ground level. When the steps ended, the passage walls were no longer boarded but merely rock wall, as if they'd climbed down into a cavern. Luckily, the tunnel was lit by a distant light. They followed it all the way to the exit through a cellar door lined by wrought iron. Thankfully, the outer door was not locked and they were able to climb out. Outside of the mansion, they found themselves in the moonlit gardens full of serene Roman statues and flower bushes.

"Whew… I told Mum I'd have fun tonight… I am definitely not havin' fun."

"That makes two of us…" Anna looked down and began to dust herself off.

Together, they walked from statue to statue, unnerved by the eerie features left by erosion. Some were missing parts of their faces and limbs. One archer didn't even have a head. Anna refused to put her back to it, frightened it might come to life. Stranger things had happened that night already.

"….na…"

Anna stopped in her tracks and shivered. Was that just…?

"Annaaa…."

Anna raised her eyebrow. "Did you say something?" She turned her head, looking for any other source of noise. When Merida did not reply, Anna looked again and found herself alone. "Merida?! Merida!" She whirled around and around, her wide blue eyes darting from statue to fountain to statue. But Merida had disappeared. Her frightened gaze leaped over something red and black that hadn't been there a second ago. She looked again to find Hans resting along the wide ledge of a larger fountain, his arm resting on one leg bent up, his other leg stretched out.

He gracefully slid off of his perch and bowed to her.

"Um…" Anna's heart stopped, but she forced herself to keep talking. She thought he looked a little pale. But perhaps he was just shaken by the events at the party. "Hey there… glad to see you're safe."

Hans stalked up to her, strangely silent until he stopped just in front of her…

…and started sniffing the air between them. Anna gulped. She started to step back. Quick as lightning, Hans grabbed her wrist.

"I was wondering what smelled so… delectable."

Anna tore her wrist free and glared at him. "I'm not food. You're under a curse. The whole party is."

He tilted his head, reminding her of a puppy; only, he'd be a puppy that wanted to drain her blood.

"I wouldn't say immortality's a curse," he mused. He pulled her against him and dug his nose against her bare shoulder, making her yelp. "Why…why do you smell so good?!"

"H-Ha-Hans! Stop it! Listen to me—"

"Oh, come on. It only hurts at first."

"Wha…?"

"Once I get going, you'll enjoy it."

Her face lit up like Christmas then. She almost fainted with dizziness and confusion as she smacked her fists against him. "I-I-I BEG YOUR PARDON?!"

The vampire chuckled, his fangs glinting in the moonlight before he gently but firmly tilted her head to one side. Then, he leaned in…

"I said listen to me!" Anna screeched and shoved with all her strength. A white light enveloped the two of them, knocking Hans to his knees. Anna panted, her breaths hot and heavy as she blinked down to find him staring up at her.

The mischief had left him, replaced with concern. "What did you do to me…?"

"Do? I didn't do anything… ah!"

He suddenly hugged her by her bare knees and rubbed his face against her legs, making her squeal and wriggle as she tried to free herself.

He bit at the fingertips of his gloves and drew his bare hands out of them to touch her bare skin. "Ugh… I just wanna… sink my teeth into your ankle here, but I…" His icy fingers snaked down her calves, his thumbs rubbing circles around her ankles. Anna squawked and shifted from foot to foot, trying to shake him off while grasping for composure. "…I can't…unless…" He looked up at her, his gaze drunkenly hazy. "Unless you let me. Will you let me taste you, Anna? Please?"

"NO. What is the matter with you?!" She grabbed him by the hair to yank his face away from her legs, uncomfortably hot and tingly.

Hans groaned like a child who'd been denied his favorite treat. "But I'm soooo hungryyyy…"

Anna rolled her eyes. Whatever she'd done, it appeared she was safe from his appetite for now.

"Just… sit tight for a bit. I have to find Merida and Elsa and-and-and figure out…something. I don't know. We have to figure out a way to fix this."

"Find who? Fix what?"

"It's not supposed to be like this."

Hans frowned. "If you say so…"

Satisfied that he was no longer going to try and eat her, she turned away to resume her search for her companions.

But the vampire called out behind her. "Where are you going?"

She stopped in place, his whine oddly endearing but also irritating. "I told you. I have to go fin—"

Suddenly, she felt his hand in hers. "Can I come with you?"

She turned toward him. "You're just hoping I let my guard down so you can bite me."

Hans shrugged. "I already told you. I can't unless you let me. I do hope you let me. Angel blood smells heavenly." He smiled at his own little play on words.

Anna blushed. "OH… I see! It's because I'm an angel!"

Hans tilted his head again. She wished he'd stop doing that. He slowly drew her hand up against his shirt, a teasing smile on his lips. "Why? Did you want it to be more than that?"

Anna growled and yanked her hand away. "Never you mind! You can come along if you're going to be useful. Just don't get in my way!"

She heard his soft chuckle behind her as she charged on ahead.

"Yes m'am…"

A/N: Ughhh, so I caught a cold at the tail end of my friends' visit. It's been very hard to work on this update. I think I'm just going to push out slightly shorter chapters in the interest of not letting so much time lapse between chapters. I know it's not Halloween anymore, but hopefully those who were reading can still enjoy. :) Thank you for the reviews, guys!

What happened to Merida?! We'll see in the next chapter.