A/N

Read and review. Mew.

Monster High Fan Fiction

Chapter 9: Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but Silver Will Kill Me

This illness was born of your love and passion... It is in the mutt's blood that it came to you...

There is no cure for what you have; it will progress until there is nothing left of you but a ravenous hunger that will devour everyone you love.

The only way to stop you will be to wait until someone kills you or your hunger becomes so great that you die from it... Or, of course, you could kill yourself if you can obtain a moment of sanity...

I had intended to use this power to my advantage, controlling it to raise people to my will...but now you will suffer and watch those you love suffer as well...

...and know I am coming for you when all is finished, before they can kill you for all you have done... or rather, will do…

Draculura flung her head back with an intenseness that implied a sickening crack. A scream pulsed through me and I convulsed all through my body. Jerking away from Clawd sending him flying from my lap a few feet away on the ground I dug my nails into the snow, to the point of pain in my nearly numb knuckles. My throat was so dry the cries of defeat aching through me came out hoarse, so no one in the world would hear and come to my aid.

A quiet moan slipped from Clawd where he lied on the ground. Both of us were bathed in his blood. The silver running through his veins allowing him to bleed out until every drop was gone. If I could just… get him to the hospital… Another scream shook me.

I will have your body… Another convulsion.

Another voice? It was not Clawd's, or Ambrogio's… It was female.

"The first thing I will do with it, is destroy that worthless dog!" A painful whisper escaped my lips and I involuntarily lunged towards Clawd's motionless body. No!

In a twisted fight against what seemed to be myself I rolled around in the bloody snow. My hand reached for Clawd like talons. An image of his shredded form caught in my mind. With control of my left hand I dug my nails deep into my right wrist. Another chocked scream broke forth and a wailing cry on the inside of me shook my mind. It angered her.

"You cannot beat me!" She screeched hatefully through my lips. "I am better than you!"

That's where you're wrong! You are not better than me, and I will not let you overcome me! My mind was stronger than this. I was stronger than this. "You… " I struggled for every word. "will be beaten... tonight…"

... ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ...

In the dark and snowy night, Cleo de Nile crept along the corridor of the hospital where Howleen was held. I was not able to sleep, so while Deuce and father rested I left to clear my head. A note sat on the counter pinned down by an Anubis hole-puncher I got daddy for father's day one year.

It smelt sterile and sickening at the same time in the dreary halls. No one was here except for a few nurses and doctors. Not many people worked the graveyard shift.

My gold and jade wedges click clacked along the floors, and the rustling of paper around the lavender flowers I took from the vase at the house were the only sounds that disturbed the deathly peace of the hall way.

A quiet beeping jumped in every room, letting everyone know their hearts were unbroken and un-phased. Telling the nurses they were not ready to rest with the mummies for good.

I stopped at a reception desk and the nurse let me go right in. She would have said no, but she told me that she thought I would be able to pry Clawdeen from the bedside so she could get some rest.

"That's bad for your complexion you know." I said as I entered the room.

Clawdeen turned towards me, "Hey girl."

"Hey." I said in return. She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. Her eyes had huge unfortunate bags, like bruises, hanging down under them. And her fur was matted, and long enough to have been brushed out all over her body.

Clawdeen looked at me then looked towards the clock hung on the white wall-papered walls, "What are you doing here so late?"

"Couldn't sleep.." Her eyes showed she could sense, probably smell my distress. "I didn't know this happened to your sister, I just found out earlier this night… um morning."

She turned away without saying anything for a long few minutes. "I just can't believe… I just… don't understand…"

"Here," I needed to give her some peace. "I brought you some lavender flowers from the house." She took them. "I would have bought you something nicer, but who would have thought that all stores were closed at this hour? Even to me?"

A smile played on her lips, but it didn't seem right on her face, not here, not now.

"You know lavender is good for relaxation. I recommend its use every day." It was silent for a long time. But in this uncomfortable environment what could I expect.

It was amazing to say that this was the happiest I had been in a while, even at my baby shower. Just being here with her, my best friend, helped. "Claws?"

"Yeah Cleo?" She replied keeping her eyes on Howleen, and her hand in her sisters.

"I think… I think we are going to be okay."

She turned to me, a look of disbelief touching the sparkle the lights put in her eyes. With the tilt of her head it was gone. "Why do you say that? What with all that has happened…"

"Because we are strong. And we have each other." She looked up, "There is nothing that can stop us if we believe in ourselves, and each other."

"But…" She started.

"But…?" I asked.

"Why do I have a sense that the bad isn't done coming?" She finally said.

"Because times like these, go around the sun dial many moons and many cycles of the sun before they are over, to quote Manu." I replied on a smile, looking away from her now at the small table overflowing with teddy wolves, get well cards, and enough flowers to start a shop. I wondered if the flowers were all really for Howleen, or if some were for Clawdeen.

"I don't think that is it…" She said behind me.

I turned, "You work so hard, I know Howleen is thankful. But you need to get some rest for yourself. I know as well as you she wouldn't wish you to run down yourself like a dog…"

A look came into her eyes. "I don't want to leave her…"

"I know you don't, but she'll understand…"

"What if she wakes up? What if I'm not here, and something happens…"

"Everything will be fine…" I said.

"How do you know for sure? Can you promise me that everything will be okay? That she'll… she'll still be there when I come back…"

"I can't promise you… And I don't know for certain…" She looked to me, "But Manu always talks to me about trusting Ra and fate… Things will work out in the end… If you believe."

There was a few minutes that dragged on after that, the seconds ticking by audibly from the clock, then she spoke up. A new hope tainting her tone. "Alright, I'll believe…"

"So will you come with me? We have got to do something about your hair when we get home, I might even need to wake Manu for his help! You are an emergency disaster ghoul!"

A slight laugh came from her, almost sounding foreign. "Okay, let me grab my things and check in with the nurses."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::

"You… will not… beat me, silly girl!" Draculura said, fighting an inner turmoil that seemed to be trying to end her.

Don't say things that aren't true! I rebuked. I was sweating and shaking from pain. The fight between me and the monster inside was raging a war I wasn't sure I could survive. But I would not loose. I would die first.

"Ha ha ha haaa! You, daughter of Dracula! A thousand and some odd years, and you still aren't able to turn into a bat?! How pathetic! You waste this body and your potential! I could do it better justice than you!"

Don't tell me what… "…I can do!" I had regained some control. "This is my body! I choose how to use it!" I jerked my body to a kneeling position, awkward, since I had been lying near in a fetal position for what felt like an eternity.

"I… will choose who I will be! I will choose who I will love! And I will not follow anyone, but my own judgment!"

But I….

"And I will not let anyone turn me into a monster! I am Draculura, daughter of the mighty Dracula, and I will become whoever I want to be in this world."

A sound of panting that came from me and the inside of my head ended with a shriek that threw my body back into the snow with a force that had no origin.

A burning sensation like the heat of a thousand fevers scorched my flesh from the inside out. It seared so deeply into my core I couldn't even cry out. Hoping someone would hear, when no one would…

This was not the end. I was not finished with this story, Clawd and I would have our chance.

A new type of burning came upon me that could be seen in my eyes. A burn of determination to not let life end. Mine, and Clawd's.

I will save Clawd. He will not die tonight!

With all the power that rested in my body, I drug myself over to where Clawd was breathing at a shallow pace. I could sense the life fading from him with every passing second.

Through the night air blew a light breeze, taking with it the clouds that were covering the bright moon. The eyes of that man peered down at Clawd and I. There was no judgment in his expression, he saw us as not Were and Vampire, but boy and girl, simply trying to exist and protect the lives we knew.

The look in his face showed where a decision had been made. Whether I would learn what the decision was or not made no difference, but you could see something in the way the luminescent rays gathered around Clawd and I like a spot light, that fate had chosen to bestow some measure of leniency upon us.

A renewed sense we would live on pushed me to remove my blood soaked hood. I wrapped Clawd to the best of my ability and levered him up onto my shoulders. At a pace dragging behind that of a Zombie, I made my way towards the hospital. Fighting every atom in my being. Telling myself I would make it in time. There were no other solutions. Just now, and my will to make it so.

... ################################ ...

Clawdeen slid the violet messenger bag with the neon green strap onto her shoulder, feeling the weight of more than the bag hanging there.

I don't want to leave her, but I can't keep running like this, or else I'll end up in a bed beside her. The nurse at the desk found a transparent orange vase to put the lavender flowers in and we set them on the window sill where they could get light in the morning, not that it mattered since they were already cut. Cleo helped me gather my things and we headed out, leaving the room smelling like lavender and sunshine, Cleo's scent all the way.

Down through the winding hallways to the front door I caught the scent of something I recognized. Fear and desperation tainted the waiting room along with the heavy scent of blood. A red trail mixed with muddy snow led to a girl with oh so pale skin and black hair touched with pink. Draculura stood by the sign in holding a clocked mass. The smell of my brother burned my nostrils.

But where was he? Then a shudder of realization struck me with all the force of a big mack truck, or a rusty green station wagon. "CLAWD!" I screamed.

I dropped my bag and ran to him. Draculura reeked with the smell of his blood. "What did you do?!"

"I… I…" She stammered.

"Don't…" Clawd tried to defend her before cringing. I grabbed him from Draculura, slightly taken back from the weight of him, not expecting it to be so much.

I could smell the silver on him, the stench so penetrating it caused my stomach to turn. "What did you do to him?!"

"It wasn't…"

With the force of the moon backing me, my fatigue turned to anger and a fierce ferocity that just ached to take itself out on Draculura. A deep and monstrous growl broke through my teeth and passed my fangs in a snarl,"WhAT DId YoU dO to MY BROTHER?!"

A/N

This is Mizzy Neko, there is one more chapter for this story, and then I have the notes for a sequel. Please review.

Mew my kits, bye. Out.