SugarBlood

Chapter 4

A.N.: Hey everyone. This is going to start off gory. That's all I got to say… lol.

Slender cursed and swore in his mind.

What the deuce.

How can a mortal have so much influence?

She influenced a demon. Smile.

She influenced a killer. The most unlikely of them, Jeff, he added grimly.

He was currently Slender walking around the forest that he called his home. In two hours, they would be watching over Areyerre's party. The last thing she would want is for any of the creepypasta or himself to be eating any of the guests. Tempting thought though. He chuckled darkly at the thought of corpses littered here and there.

The smell of decay slowly settling in like a dense fog.

Speaking of corpses.

Flashlights in the distance caught his eye. That's practically the dinner bell for him. He Slender walked close enough so he could see the intruders. He was right. Indeed, there were kids here, and one that was slightly older. The teenager. One of the smaller ones was whining that he wanted to grow home. The teenager told him to shut up. The two other little ones grumbled.

One got noisier. "Oh yeah take a shortcut through Slender Woods brilliant idea." The smallest grumbled something under his breath.

Had he the ears of a normal mortal, he would not have heard it: "Dumbasses."

Slender frowned and increased his static level in the air significantly. One teenage girl, and the smallest little one was a boy. The one with the foul mouth. The other two where a girl and a boy. They winced visibly, clutching their heads. The teenager dropped the flashlight she carried. Slender's jagged maw ripped open into one of his genuine smiles.

Malicious and uncaring.

His black tendrils unfurled themselves from his back. The smallest boy saw him. Or, at least knew he was being watched.

The teenage girl cursed. "Shit."

The flashlight had broken and busted, leaving them in darkness. As it was dark, the teenager failed to take into account that there was a child standing behind her. She had thrown the flashlight behind her, deciding it was useless.

And it had smacked into one of the children's heads.

Slender couldn't contain his laughter at the pain caused. The laughter rolled out into the forest surrounding them. They stiffened, and the little one who had gotten hit with the flashlight sniffled from pain. First to die, he decided. The youngest. He appeared right in front of him, and he shrieked in horror. He disappeared before the others turned around to look at the young boy.

"What the hell, what's wrong with you?!" demanded the oldest.

* I am what is wrong with him.* they all gasped in shock at the voice in their heads.

*As a matter of a fact. I am what is wrong with all of you.*

"Aww fuck!" swore the teen.

*Such language.* Slender reappeared, but just down from them, obstructing their path.

He made himself look somewhat like a tree. A tree with moving branches that is. He smiled coldly to himself when they all took notice.

The youngest boy bawled. "Brilliant idea thanks a lot you jerks!" He yelled.

Then the younger boy made a run for it. "Yeah let's go for a walk in a haunted forest! IDIOTS!" he screeched.

Slender sneered in dark agreement and shot out a tendril towards the fleeing lad. It arched over the other children's heads, moving past them. They watched in horror.

*You have such a filthy mouth little boy… come, let me silence it…*

Slender's tendril wrapped around one of the boy's ankles that he had caught, then pulled the boy back to him through the air. The boy was wide eyed and screaming. The moon than poked its rays out to shine down on them all, bearing witness to deeds made more pleasing in the darkness of night. Slender had gotten hold of the boy and his screams became shriller and became pained. Slender's form was hidden by the moon, a void in the middle of the light. Cracking of bones and sickening ripping of flesh sounded. Finally the Slenderman held something out in three tendrils.

*There, now isn't that so much better?* Slender asked.

He began to laugh as the moon shed light on a brutally mangled and headless corpse. The remaining ones alive screamed and one became sick, pouring his guts out onto the ground.

Slender complained mockingly.

*Oh come now, must you do that in my home?*

Slender looked at the other boy with unequaled disdain.

*******************2 Hours later, at the party*************

Slender watched using his Slendersight ability, the manor, the surrounding forest near Areyerre's home, and finally the party itself. He had placed certain creepypastas in disguise as waiters and such in the giant ballroom. That was another thing. He didn't understand how she could have something like that in the manor. Just then, a familiar voice pulled him from his train of thought as he milled about through the ballroom of different voices. He heard her say,

"Lualla. I am pleased you could make it sweetie."

There was a slight bell that tolled in his mind as he recalled that Areyerre had planned on taking in her assistant's child. He brushed past all the irrelevant faces in the luxurious room, focusing only on two.

Well. That's interesting.

Areyerre was seated in a red and gold colored chair with a high back on it. Eils and Eilb stood by her, one on each side. Their faces remained devoid of emotion for the time being, eyes focused straight ahead. She was talking and exchanging words of greeting with a young girl in a teal colored dress.

Sally would have fallen in love with it herself if she had been around.

Areyerre became smarter with each passing day, he noted. He believed this because her dress had one long black sleeve that covered her tainted arm.

Then the little girl out of nowhere dove at Areyerre.

He tensed and was ready to spring, but it turned out to be fine. They were hugging each other. Areyerre tilted her face down slightly to the one now identified as Lualla. He felt several familiar presences, knowing who each one belonged to.

Ticci Toby, Jane, and Eyeless Jack where indeed in the ballroom, and he sighed in relief, happy that they actually listened for a change.

He could sense the other presences outside and perched in trees, watching through the windows and eyeing the area around the manor. He followed a pointed gaze from Areyerre. It was not directed at himself though, that would be impossible.

He started in blunt shock at what he saw.

A single red beam darted out from a ventilation shaft on the wall that faced directly across from Areyerre.

The beam landed on the little girl and hovered there for a moment. Everyone became dead still save for the blind and clueless guests in the ballroom. The red beam hovered and moved still, but yet impatiently. After a moment, the shooter must have decided to take the shot anyway. Areyerre leaped up as she sensed it too, swirling the child away from her.

Areyerre faced the bullet alone.

Lualla shrieked in surprise and terror as the crack rang out through the entire mansion because it echoed in the ventilation shaft. The people then took notice, screaming and running away from the ballroom, stampeding out the double doors.

Slender snapped out of it and cursed.

His proxies and creepypastas had acted upon detected the commotion. He shouted at them via the mental link he shared with each of them. *GO,* he shouted mentally. *VENTILATION SHAFT IN BALLROOM!* they all moved towards it and he Slender Walked into the giant room.

I had been keeping an eye out for my supposed hitman when my senses trickled with the well-known sensation of dread.

I looked around and found out why.

I was about to release Lualla from her hug. Then I saw the red beam on her back, following it to a ventilation shaft in the manor's wall. I noticed it hovered there, twitching slightly. So, the target was me and they weren't willing to kill a child do carry out their task. That was good I suppose.

But then my senses clicked as did the shooter's weapon. I had no idea how I could hear this.

All I knew was that it was time to move.

I shoved Lualla well away from me, leaving me and only me open. Lualla shrieked pitifully in shock as the weapon sounded. I felt it's bullet tear into me. Then for some odd reason, I couldn't move my legs, and I crumpled, down, down, until I felt my body touch the floor entirely.

Odd, I thought. Shouldn't I be feeling pain right now?

I couldn't breathe again like when I had attacks from my pained fits. The people screaming in the background faintly reached my ears, and that was all I heard before I blacked out. What seemed like seconds later, a familiar entity called to me

. ~ MORTAL.~

I don't know how I could tell but it sounded kind of worried.

"I'm here."

There was an odd whispery sound. A sigh of relief? ~I did not see this coming, this was an error on my part.~

There was silence for a moment before I asked, "What do you mean?"

More silence for a short time. ~All I can say is that because of my error, you will have to awaken faster than planned. This is my fault. I apologize.~

The voice paused, before adding ~ I can hand you the keys to your awakening, but you must be the one to unlock the door. Do you understand?~

I felt myself nod, then I replied vocally. "Yes, I understand. And thank you."

There was another silence. And then it stretched on. It felt like it wanted to say something more, but didn't. Then the world slowly began to come back to me. Like before, the room starts out fuzzy, then slowly begins to collect itself before my eyes. I heard faces and saw faces.

All of which I recognized.

And… there's crying. My head shifts away from the concerned creepypastas and Slender to see a little girl being comforted by another little girl in a pink dress. Sally and Lualla.

"Lu…alla…" The girl's heads snap over to me as soon as I mentioned the little one's name.

Lualla darts toward me and holds my hand. Then I notice something else. My right hand is the one she is holding, and yet it is covered in black veiny marks and white discolored skin. Shock ricocheted within me, echoing to my soul.

"What…"

Slender's tone: "Rest for now."

I thudded my head back onto the carpet beneath me. "Where are Eils and Eilb?"

I asked them. My voice was coming back to me easily now. A black and white clown answered me.

It was Laughing Jack. "Your two friends went after your shooter. Jeff went with them."

Jack didn't bothered to hide his surprise and nor did as when he told me. Jeff? Of all people… Why would he… My thoughts where cut off by cooing and crying. I turned my gaze back to my to be adopted daughter, who was being consoled by Sally still.

Sally was saying, "She'll be alright now, trust me!"

I voiced my opinion as well. "She's right Lualla."

She gazed into my eyes. Ugh. Tears. On her? Now that's maddening.

"Know something I told your mom a lot?" I asked her.

Lualla sniffled next to Sally before asking "What?"

"I will not allow you to cry." I said simply.

I smiled softly at her. To my satisfaction, she managed a slight smile, but what she said next took the cake: "But sometimes people need to cry."

I laughed, ignoring the looks I got from the hovering creepypastas. "Your mother said that too. I think I agreed with her." I groaned as I hauled myself up off the floor.

I thought the creepypastas where looking at me strangely before, now they looked at me as if I'd eaten all the cheesecake.

Ha, Ha, my own joke. I heard two different voices swearing and grunts and groans of effort. I spun around and saw Jeff, Eils, and Eilb carrying a man clad in black that struggled faintly. The four where followed by my two guardians, Mifiune and Yukame, who looked more than pissed as if someone mistook the litterbox for their cat food. I noticed thin bloody scratches on the man's legs and face, and figured it out for myself. Jeff saw me and stopped abruptly, giving me the same look the others did. His surprise caused him to drop the man's legs that he carried. As a result, the man they had carried swore and groaned in pain.

"What the fuck," Jeff stated.

His eyes locked with mine, he looked me up and down, then darted forwards. He poked and jabbed at me for a few seconds.

"Ow! What are you doing? Jeff! Ack!" At last he stopped and seemed to sigh in relief before he answered, "Wow, that's really you huh?"

Confusion flashed across my face then I remembered my right hand that was now completely covered as well. I looked at him sternly and asked

"How bad is it?" Jeff hesitated before he answered.

"You're completely covered."

I froze into stone, a blank face amongst worried ones.

Lualla and I had somehow survived the incident with my attacker, or hitman.

Slender and the other creepypastas must be having a party getting the information out of him, I thought to myself.

The shot I had received from the hitman had by some miracle, healed by the time I had woken up on the floor in the ballroom. All that remained now was a roundish scar that was barely noticeable due to the black marks and white skin that completely covered me. I was currently on my back, gazing up at the ceiling in my room on my bed. I had Mifiune curled up at my side, and Yukame had earlier plopped herself on my stomach. Both hadn't moved since they had laid down.

I looked down at the furball on my midsection, and smiled at how peaceful Yukame looked.

I gave her a pet behind the ears, gentle as to not wake her.

Mifiune stretched out on his back beside me.

My thoughts drifted back to the situation at hand. Currently, Eils and Eilb where with Lualla, they had taken her shopping. A mirror stood on a dresser that was to the side of my bed. I could see the cat's forms laying close to me, and I gazed back at myself.

Myself.

Those dark eyes, discolored white skin with black spidery lines.

That was myself. That was me now.

The area around my eyes was darkened immensely.

Huh? What was that?

I got the feeling one gets when his or her skin gets crawled on by an insect.

I grunted and rubbed my bag on my bed, trying my best not to wake up the sleeping cats. Finally, the itching mostly went away. Lualla and Eils suggested that I try to sleep. Eilb had agreed with them.

Problem is, when I sleep, I seem to end up with more mutations or I end up talking to that voice.

Speaking of which, it hasn't told me its name or anything, I thought. I looked down at my marked hands.

That voice hasn't harmed me yet, I considered.

Suppose that the entity I spoke to had activated my powers knowing that normally I would not overcome such a strain, being shot through the heart.

I laughed at my sudden lack of logic. Of course it would kill a normal human!

My laugh started the cat that was laying on top of me.

Mifiune stirred and Yukame woke up with a "mrrrrr?" she studied me with those ice blue eyes of hers that could even freeze Medusa herself into staring.

One ear flicked out to the side, the other it's normal way. Yu stretched her paws out in front of her and yawned, still gazing at me. I leaned my head back into the pillows and closed my eyes.

The last thing I remember was finally managing to fall into sleep.

Then being woken up by frantic voices.

Familiar voices at that. I growled in annoyance.

Then rocketed straight up from my bed, eyes wide.

What the hell? The growl I let loose sounded animalistic.

Wrong.

Not Human.

Jeff and Smile stared at me. And stared. Until I scowled.

"Your eyes and hair changed." Jeff said.

"Fuck!" I cursed multiple swear words until I was sure I felt like the only language I spoke was the language called Potty Mouth.

I scrambled over to the mirror.

Jeff I could see Jeff in behind me, trying hard to hold back a grin.

"I didn't know you could swear…" with that, Jeff broke into his usual Joker reject smile.

Smile grumbled incoherently under his breath, his padded paws scraping the floor as he moved up, and jumped up on the bed. The whole time this had been happening, I'd been gazing at my face in shock. I guess my peripheral vision kicked in long enough to see that from them.

My eyes had turned about as animalistic as one of my own cat's eyes.

Only, these where red, barely tinged with yellow. The white of my eyes where no longer their pale color. Instead, they had turned the opposite, into black.

My dark hair had turned the opposite as well.

It went from dark to light. I now had white, whispy hair that could probably make snow seem colored in comparison.

I let out a shocked squawk as something black poured over of the edge of my eyes.

I felt it come out.

I didn't like it.

I held up my hands to my face in a hiss of annoyance. To my surprise, Jeff whipped me around to face him, and pulled my hands away from my face.

"What the hell am I?" I asked him.

Jeff whistled low at the black stuff that had started to pour forth from my eyes.

I felt a tickle in my left eye, and knew that a second black streak was beginning to form down my face.

"I don't know what you are. You even have Slender stumped, not even he knows what you are." Any hint of cheekiness or sarcasm had been pushed aside by now, Jeff seemed to be serious…

Which was bad.

Him? Serious for a change? Hmm.

That Joker Reject smile looks pretty good to me right now, I thought.

"Hey!" Jeff said, waving his hand in front of my face.

I blinked and snapped out of it. "Sorry about that…" Jeff huffed, and all the while Smile had remained silent.

It was obvious though, he was worried.

Jeff continued with an annoyed huff. "Pay attention woman!"

I raised an eyebrow. "You were saying something?" I asked.

Jeff snorted. "It didn't take long for the hitman we caught to talk. Your target is as you thought it would be, that Marc guy."

Jeff said this with a uncanny smile that threatened to consume his face. Which, made me think it was possible in his case.

I nodded calmly. "I knew it."

That was all I said before I turned back to the mirror.

"What the hell am I supposed to do about this?" I snapped.

I saw Jeff twitch weirdly. I ignored it.

"I suppose I could pull a Sia and hide my face from people, but…."

Then I grinned evilly. "I can have them think anything you know."

I turned back to them.

My smile turned into a scowl at the prickle in my right eye.

Another black streak.

Speaking of which.

I ripped open a nearby dresser drawer and grabbed a box of Kleenex.

Jeff came over to me side. "What do you plan on telling them?"

I shrugged, my grin on my face got bigger. "Just what happens to most celebs nowadays. You know. Overdoing it with plastic surgery and Botox."

I cackled in my amusement.

To think it would work out in my favor.

Jeff twitched oddly again. "Are you turning Ticci Toby on me?" I asked, turning away from the mirror to face him.

Jeff was bugging out.

Finally he growled, "Why do you feel the need to hide yourself?" I stopped, considering his thoughts on the matter.

"Marc may be involved in this. I don't want him or anyone to know anything that doesn't concern them, yet." Then my brain ticked in its own way, realizing just what Jeff was thinking. "I don't think I'm ugly Jeff. This is just a shock to me."

I turned to him with a smile. "I'll make you the best deal you have ever heard of." Jeff snorted.

"Uh-huh."

Smile frowned, stood up on the bed with his hind legs, and pressed down on Jeff's shoulders with all his weight with his front paws. This caused Jeff to react in surprise when he fell onto my bed, sitting down.

"What the hell are"-"Just hear her out Jeff." Smile huffed like a bull, glaring at Jeff.

I snickered. "Once this situation with Marc is resolved, I won't hide my true face to the world. However, I don't need to tell them what happened. Let them speculate. Sound good?" I grinned evilly, knowing that would be the fun part.

Jeff began to cackle, then it rolled and picked up speed like a rogue train into full blast laughter.

"Sl-Slender will probably be opposed to this," Jeff choked out.

I shrugged. "It's me I'm revealing, not him or anyone else. Besides, part of the world already believes you exist."

Smile stared at the weirdo on the bed that was holding his stomach, trying not to spill his guts out.

Smile finally gave a light chuckle, then turned back to face me. We smirked at Jeff's laughter. Hmm… a tickling in my back had appeared again.

I jammed my back against the wall in a thud, and grunted, itching my back on the wall.

Jeff had stopped laughing long enough to stare at me. "What are you doing?"

I groaned. "My bad is itchy."

Jeff sniggered. "Maybe you picked up some fleas from Smile."

Smile and I glared. Smile shook himself the way dogs do, and then said, "There. Now you have fleas too."

What Smile did next, I thought was impossible for him. He stuck his long black tongue out at Jeff.

The cheesy grin Smile also had made him look ridiculous. I choked back laughter and made it sound like a cough. All of a sudden, a certain tall entity appeared, and the lights flickered slightly before returning back to normal.

Slender was gazing at Jeff, holding out a glass object in his hands.

A glass blood testing tube.

"Slender says he wants your permission to give some of your blood to Eyeless Jack so he can analyze it."

Jeff looked over to me. I shrugged. "Who came up with the idea?"

Slender finally spoke. "BEN Drowned did, surprisingly."

His soft tone was something I had grown accustomed to hearing, and I liked hearing it. It was almost like a song you can't get out of your head, so you end up listening to it hundreds of times.

"Got a knife, Jeff?" I asked.

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Bitch please, I'm never without my babies."

Jeff held out one of the knives he carried, a classic kitchen butcher knife.

I held my hand out for the vial, and Slender cautiously placed it in my waiting hand.

It took me a minute to figure out he was most likely wondering what happened to my hair and eyes. Turns out, I was right.

My peripheral vision kicked in. For a faceless man, I could tell he was gazing at me with a mixture of concern and surprise, both barely detectable. I held out my other empty hand to Jeff.

"If you will." Jeff nodded and cut on my hand, and it unnerved me.

Not because I could feel the knife biting into my skin and dragging against it, but because besides that…

I couldn't feel a damn thing.

Not pain, like one should feel.

Despite that, blood easily formed from the cut he made.

I angled my hand down, towards a blood vial waiting to be filled. The blood trickled down my hand and into the vial, moving slowly, creeping along just like my newfound black streaks that continued, even now, to pour out of my eyes.

The tickle of it seeping out from my eyes can attest to that.

I watched and waited, steeling my hand into stillness while the vial slowly filled. Finally it reached close to its brim, and I handed it back to Slender.

He took it from me wordlessly, and I explained to him "whatever this is, you can see it has now spread to my eyes, my hair." I gesticulated to my eyes and hair.

Slender nodded, still silent. I raised my hand where Jeff had placed his knife's edge, and scowled. Slender moved beside me, following my glare.

My hand had already healed.

There was blood from the cut originally, but the cut itself was nowhere to be found.

Only the slight slippery-stickiness of blood.

Smile and Jeff had both remained sitting on the bed behind me, they could see what I was growling about. I turned, and Jeff had one arm around Smile's shoulders.

The two looked like the best of friends, and brothers even.

"So Slender, I heard he finally talked and confirmed my target." Slender nodded, still choosing silence over verbal communication.

Then, a lightbulb flickered on in my head. "Where's Lualla and the twins?" Slender looked over to Jeff, and the two met gazes. "Slender says that he had two of his Proxies tail them should there be trouble."

I found myself smiling genuinely, something that rarely happens nowadays.

I gazed up at the Tall Man. Even from a distance, you still had to look up to meet his gaze. "Thank you very much." Slender nodded once more and when I blinked again, there was only empty space where he stood moments ago.

Moments of silence ensued before it was shattered by a loud snarl and rumbling. I flipped around to face Jeff and Smile.

Smile looked slightly embarrassed. Jeff groaned. "The tank is running low on fuel…." "Mine too," rumbled Smile.

I grinned at them, because besides us three in the room I could see two pairs of cat eyes gazing at me from under the bed. "Seems you're all hungry, come with me." I padded barefoot down the hallway, hearing them move to follow me.

I looked behind me and giggled. Smile was trying hard not to step on Mifiune, who weaved in and out of Smile's paws whenever he took a step. Yukame was actually sitting on top of his back, looking proud as if she was the queen of the world.

She yawned widely, then snapped her jaws shut.

Jeff's gaze was on the two cats, disbelieving. "Maybe it's because my cats and Smile are both some part demon that they get along so well." I said.

Jeff's eyes flicked up to mine as we neared the kitchen. "Maybe," he replied.

We had all passed through the doorway. I groaned when I opened the fridge. I gazed back at Jeff. "Pizza?" I asked.

Jeff smirked. "Sure."

Normally, finding a meal isn't a problem here. "Oh, and Smile…" I grabbed a large container from the fridge that I had designated for him.

"Mifiune, Yu," I mumbled to myself casually and half to them as I grabbed cans of cat food, and some homemade dog food.

I pried the big container's lid off for Smile and pushed it to him. He stepped up, gave it a sniff, and nodded his thanks. I had used the can opener and gotten the cat food open, and now Mifi and Yu were dining to their heart's content.

I turned back to Jeff with a huff, happy that they'd been taken care of. "Pizza…" I half ran to the living room, and Jeff and his grumbling stomach followed me.

Minutes later, we had made the call. The pizza was on his way, and Jeff and I had been betting on how many minutes it would take for him to get here.

I'd been saying, "It doesn't matter, because I always get my pizza free because they are always late." Jeff snorted, disbelieving.

I was right again though. Twenty-five minutes later, a knock at the door sounded, and the pizza man was at the door. One thing we hadn't thought of though, was how we were going to answer the door since we both looked like we escaped from the lunatic society.

Jeff and I sweat dropped. "Uh…" Times ticking. Ah!

I cracked the door open and held out forty dollars for say, the six pizzas we ordered.

My face was veiled cleverly, an old-style black hat with a veil on it. It worked like a charm. The pizza guy stared. "Uh… Hi, you pizza's here?"

He said it with the voice of a man questioned just what kind of eccentric billionaire he had found. I handed him the bills and smiled to myself at the man's slight discomfort. I took the pizza with one arm out the door, and told him to keep the change.

I closed the heavy door that had been replaced recently. I heard him say "O-Okay…?" as I'd closed the door.

Jeff stood there, a shit eating grin on his face.

I ripped off the black hat and veil and breathed. "Damn, it's hard to breathe with that thing on!"

I was grinning despite myself though, and shoved a pizza box into Jeff's hands. "Bon Apetit," I said to him.