- Chapter 3: Nailed -
"You sure this is alright?" Jack murmured while looking very suspiciously at Charles who just brushed her off, "Of course - unless you're scared. You know I'd understand. The legend of Bloody Mary may be scary for a little girl like you." A wink would follow, which in turn, would cause the girl to sigh, "Maybe if you were the thing slicing through flesh you'd feel differently. Plus, if things get bad, I don't trust you'll stick around, then what am I gotta do? Throw myself at them?" "You do that to Trace anyways." Another wink. Banter such as this was exchanged for the next two hours as their trip ensued.
Upon the arrival, Jack was stunned. The two had arrived at a ghost town. The eerie silence sent goosebumps up her spin. "So, this is it?" Charles nodded and motioned for her to move forward. The two stepped cautiously into the town. The more Jack looked around, the more she felt uneasy. The buildings looked old but there wasn't any damage to be seen. The dirt roads had obvious signs of foot traffic and there were fresh vegetables on the farm land. This place was clearly not abandoned, but the lack of people to be seen seemed contradictory. "What...what is her bio again, Charles?" The young man took a breath and kept a wary eye on their surroundings, "She's the queen of this little town, but crazy as they come. She has murdered half of her subjects under the claim that they were heretics. Only problem is, heretics of what? We're not really sure. She's just that crazy." "You picked this mission why?" Charles smiled, "Because I have a thing for crazy women. I think it explains why I like you so much." Jack rolled her eyes. But then, the mood went cold. They heard someone laugh.
The bellowing of the laughter was loud and feminine. It would be considered the laugh of an evil scientist had Jack's life pertained more to comic book. Instead, the madness was from power. If the two were given the chance to see her castle, they would have stumbled upon a diary of her first servant, Olivia. It would have told about a woman being attacked at a young age and overcompensating her whole life to find safety. Her desperation creating a monster that murdered any threat she felt. Even those that posed nothing against her would be painfully slaughtered as if killing was a soothing mechanism instead of a heinous crime. Her evil soul would slowly mutate the once beautiful woman's body into that of a disgusting creature. That story, however, would remain in the depth of her castle. The fate of these two fighters had another path to go instead.
The laughter was replaced by words, vile sounding words spoken by a hissing tongue, "Ssssso, I ssssee my town hassss company. I've been waiting sssso long. Have you come to bow at my feet? But I ssssee no ssssacrifice." The voice fluctuated deeper at the end as a figure slithered out from behind one of the buildings ahead. It was only there for a brief second, but appeared to be long and had several appendages shaking on its body. The form would disappear behind another building as the voice picked up again, "Have you brought a sssssacrifice? Which one ssshould it be? Which one ssshould I add to my...collection?" Jack took Charle's hand and held it tightly. She was nervous. Even just the sound of this monster's movement was alarming. It sent several clicks and clacks into the air while the sound of grinding followed.
"It's okay." Charles whispered, "Let's do this." Jack nodded and began her transformation. Her form slipped into the axe in a flash. This movement appeared to annoy their target which in turn reeled in the distance, "Sssso, you plan on taking my throne. They sssend a bunch of kidsss to take on the great Mary! Ahaha," The monster than broke into mad laughter again as her body picked up speed. The creature then appeared behind them and Charles turned to meet it face to face.
Setting his dark eyes on its body, he was disgusted. It had the face of a young woman with a smile etched into her features, but everything else was a mess of body pieces. Her own form had no limbs. It was just a neck that stretched wider and longer. But nailed into its skin were arms of all sorts. Some so old they had decomposed into just bones, which explained the clicking when she moved. Pouncing, the creature screeched and barred its fangs. The arms attached to it reached forward in unison. Charles reacted and brought up Jack in a solid slice. It took off three arms as the creature recoiled and cried in pain. Charles, which had his characteristic smile on his lip, gave an answer, "Not used to having your subjects fight back, eh?" The beast cried back in anger before charging forward. Charles took aim again. His back leg was slightly too far back. When the attack came, it threw him off his center and he missed, along with almost being side-swiped by a boney hand.
"Watch it! This isn't some test dummy from class. Don't treat this like a joke." Jack cried out while watching the on-goings from below her weaponed mask. "Heh, calm down Lumber. Trust me." It fell out in a calm manner, yet, inside his heart was racing, "I can do this." This was the most fear Charles had ever felt – but also the most excitement. This was what he had been waiting for all his life and now he could make his name known. When Mary had finally turned herself around to face the young man, Charles was ready. The two met eyes and the charge began. Charles grunted as he pulled back his arm for a swing as Mary laughed like a maniac. Taking his swing, the boy aimed for the head. The red blade came down but the creature shifted its angle at the last moment, causing the axe to come down on the creature's right side just below the neck. It slicked down, almost chopping the head clean off. Although this moment was the creature's most devastating blow, it gave it the opportunity it needed.
The creature ended up twisting back its to bite into the leg of Charles. In a split second, the boy forced the butt of the axe downwards so that the monster's fangs wrapped around the weapon. The force from the movement supplied Mary with a powerful headbutt under the boy's legs and sent him tumbling. His hands were ripped from Jack as he rolled away. His limp form finally took rest near one of the huts. While down, Charles was not yet out. His left leg was certainly bruised, if not broken, but with a grunt and a deep breath, he stood. His dark eyes flickered to see Jack still wedged between the creature's jaws. It was coiling back and forth, trying to get the axe handle out of its mouth but it appeared too wide for its fangs to reach back around. This sent a smile to Charles's lips and speed to his legs.
Running forward, the man reached out for the handle close to the blade and jumped forward, forcing the red metal to come crashing down onto its neck. The blade ripped through skin and bones. The nailed arms reached out and grabbed onto Charles, but the blow had already hit. The torque behind it was so powerful that it knocked out one of the fangs from Mary as she reeled and screamed. It was too late. The neck was cut through and her head tumbled. The body of the monster disappeared into a small ball that bounced back and forth before finally coming to rest on the ground. It was done.
Popping back into human form, Jack fell onto her knees. Her hands held up her head as she took in a deep breath. It was time for her to calm down. As her heart slowed, the girl stood up and shuffled over to the evil soul. Her tender hands gripping onto the floating item before Charles snuck up behind her. "So, Lumber, eat up before it gets cold." He smirked and placed a hand on her shoulder. Jack gave a modest grin before slipping the purple soul behind her lips and swallowing. It was an awkward feeling, almost slimy, and then it was gone. "One down, ninety-eight to go. But that felt close. When you went down, I just...I got nervous." Charles laughed, "Well thankfully you were so fat that she couldn't spit you out, aha." Jack elbowed the man hard with a snarky grunt. Charles keeled over in response and laughed, "Worth it."
"So what now, big shot? We go home and get someone to tell us we did a good job?" Jack asked with smirk while reaching upwards to crack her back. Charles shrugged, "We could, or we could look around for a while. My informant hasn't talked with Death yet so we may want to lay low for a bit." The weapon glared at him, "You didn't get anyone's permission, did you?" She only got a smile back. "Well then, Mr. Dependable, I guess that means we look around. Speaking of which...want to see what we can find in the houses? I want to see if there are any survivors." Again Charles shrugged, "Sure."
The first three houses seemed unimportant. All the items and furniture appeared undisturbed, indicating that there was no struggle. It was odd to them. They knew where part of their bodies had ended up, and yet, it was as if the people didn't fight it. Neither one accepted that these people simply put themselves into the slaughter, thus, they began to formulate ideas to what happened here instead. But after leaving the last house, a clue came into view. It was a woman who was humming to herself and picking up some pieces off the ground from the couple's battle.
She was well developed, with glorious curves and long blue hair that was swept into a braid. She had brown skin and light blue eyes. She caught Charles's attention right away while Jack looked to her suspiciously. Charles, of course, was the first one to address her, "Why hello there, miss...?"
The new woman turned her gaze to the meister with a closed mouth grin before saying, "Miss April Von Mittens! What can I do for you today?" The boy was about to make a response; however, Jack pushed him out of the way, "What are you doing here?" The woman didn't even bat an eyelash before replying, "I'm getting the things I need, silly! I've been wanting a monster fang for a while and tahdah! You guys got it for me without a problem! Such smart kids!" She giggled while collecting her things into a small satchel tied to her hip. This was a warning sign to both kids. This woman was a witch.