I was woken up by someone shaking me awake. I was still so tired and so groggy that I just couldn't focus on what was happening right away. "Wha-?" I rubbed my eyes with my palms roughly before focusing on who was shaking me. It was Guinevere. She was standing tall above me, her hand on her hips, shoulders squared, and her eyes narrowed. Because she looked mad at me I just said the very first that came to my mind. "What'd I do?" My speech was slurred with sleep and probably still loud as she put her finger on her lips.

"Shhh…" She warned me. "I need you. Come with me." She then grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet.

If I were in my right of mind I would probably protest just a little, but because I was so sleep deprived and groggy I just rolled with it. "M'kay…" I honestly just wanted to go back to sleep, but Guinevere 'needed me' for whatever reason and I couldn't bring myself to tell her no. I'll tell you what, nothing woke me up faster than when she led me outside and the very obvious negative degree weather hit my unshielded face very fast and very hard. "Holy!-" I cut myself off as I grabbed my jacket and pulled the collar up over my nose. "W-Wha-" I tried to ask but a harsh wind made me stop mid word. Shuddering violently I felt a chill go down my spine, my hands go numb, along with my feet all of this happening in a matter of seconds.

"Don't ask questions, keep quiet, and just follow me." Guinevere then grabbed one of my wrists before pulling me along. The wind picked up along with the snow. Some flecks of snow hitting my eyes, I inhaled through my nose (as my mouth was not an option with my jacket collar over it) and felt some inhaled snowflakes. I felt my lungs and nostrils burn from the cold. Didn't seem like the cold was bothering Guinevere as she just soldier on through the snow like it wasn't even there.

The snow was starting to collect on my glasses; impairing my vision. I could feel cold snowflakes seep into my jacket making me even colder. Damn, if I wanted to be cold I would have stayed in Lincoln. Still, I didn't protest, if Guinevere needed me then she needed me….

But why me? I mean why not ask the big scary dragon or nimble brownie? Why does she need me? I honestly think I would have figured this out by now if I wasn't too busy truly focusing on the cold. Also, just a side note if Guinevere didn't have a grip on my wrist I could have easily gotten lost from her, because I'm practically walking blind here.

Another harsh wind hit my face and I was forced to move my head to the side. "Are we in a blizzard?!" I finally demanded to her once it kind of fully dawned on me that this weather wasn't normally snowy weather.

"Keep quiet, we're almost there!" She urged me along quickly. At this point I just did as she asked, I kept my mouth shut and I followed her. My vision was impaired, as I mentioned before, but now I was just completely and utterly blind. So, I was pretty happy when I heard the unmistakable sound of a door creaking open loudly. I ushered into somewhere, a house or a shack… somewhere. The door shut, but I was still freezing and couldn't see a thing. So, I just said 'fuck it' at that point and took off my glasses. Yeah, I couldn't see but at least now I could make some sense of my surroundings the best I could with my glasses off anyways. I could see wood… just gray wood. I could see what I think is a table in the middle of the room, a couch, a chair, a TV- so, this was a house. "Brr…" I heard Guinevere shutter and watched as her blurry form quickly rush over to (what I assumed to be) a fireplace. I watched as she lit up a lighter and actually set the flame inside of the fireplace. Within seconds it was lit and I narrowed my eyes at that. Still, I was grateful for the warmth and set my suspicious aside for now. I quickly decided to shed off my big jacket so I could wipe down my glasses with my shirt. Once inspected and made sure my glasses had no smudges I returned them to my face and zipped m coat back on. I felt goosebumps rise all over my body.

Now that my vision was completely back and I was able to see the area for what it was something truly felt off about the place. My first focus was on the couch. It was most definitely from the nineties for sure even though it was obviously eaten by moths I could easily tell. This was the same with the red chair off in the corner. The TV looked almost like it was more from the eighties. The house didn't have any wallpaper or paint just old decaying wood. "G-Guinevere… where are we?" I asked as I tucked my arms under my armpits for warmth.

"An-" Guinevere paused and so did I, we both heard a low crackle coming from above us on the second floor. "-House. Abandoned." She finished quickly. I focused on her for a few seconds before a heard the creak above me once again. I was feeling just a little uneasy like I was honestly and totally being watched. I looked over my shoulder a couple of times and found nothing. Just another doorway going deeper into the house. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was something else, but still, I started to walk towards the other room.

I only just poked my head inside of the room and found it to be a kitchen with a four person dining table. My nose scrunched up when I saw rotten sludge on the dinner table. I could see that there was a plate in front of each of the four chairs but the plates were empty, the sludge was in a pan at the center of the table. Slowly I walked up to the table, the closer I got the worst the smell was becoming. I didn't know what was in the pan originally but judging by the maggots currently writhing in it I could tell you it was something most likely some sort of meat. I tried to ignore the smell of the sludge and focused on the plates. I ran my finger down the first empty plate I came across. A thick blanket of dust wiped clean down the center by my finger, this showed the white porcelain underneath. I brought my finger up and just looked at the dust for a few seconds before flicking it away. I walked away from the table and focused on the stove top.

A white gas stove with no window to watch the cooking food. I always felt a little uneasy being around old gas stoves. I felt that they were just one move away from exploding but that's just my anxiety from too many shows and movies. I grabbed the handle to the oven door and opened it. Nothing, as figured but I was just curious. I shut the door and heard a loud creaking noise behind me. I turned around to see Guinevere.

"So… why are we here?" I finally asked Guinevere.

"Isn't it obvious?" She asked back with a bit of a chuckle.

I looked up and stood on my toes to open the top cabinet doors. I was only met with more dusty plates. "If it were obvious I wouldn't have asked." I informed Guinevere rather smartly before I shut the cabinet. I then quickly opened the cabinet next to the one. Dusty cups were all that greeted me this time.

"We're looking for the Kikimora."

My smile dropped and I slammed shut the cabinet almost out of shock. "You and...me?" My voice squeaked in fear. I focused back to her. No doubt wide-eyed and clearly scared. I knew my face must have suddenly flushed as I felt it go colder than it already was and I was starting to shake.

"Whoa, whoa, Easy." Guinevere saw that I was clearly terrified by this and walked up to me. The floor creaked loudly under both of our feet but we didn't pay any mind to it. Guinevere placed both of her hands on my shoulders. My eyes went down to her shoulder. "Look at me." She demanded. I just shook my head quickly out of reflex. "O-o...Okay… then listen to me." I could hear an odd tone in her voice. Like she just figured something out. "I know what you're thinking. Why us? Why you and not Firedrake?"

I nodded. 'Exactly what I'm thinking actually.' The only clear thought I could really form right now.

"Because Tammy, I told you. I need you… I need you to… be the one to lure the Kikimora out-"

"No-"

"Tammy."

"No."

"It's not going to do anything to you."

"Why me then? Why not ask… Sheldon? I'mnotheartlessbutcurious-" I started speaking fast again and honestly if Guinevere hadn't of spoken up right then I think I would have started stuttering.

"Shh." Guinevere placed a finger on my lips to silence me. "I promise you, Tammy. I have a plan, and I don't plan on you getting hurt in anyway. Okay? I can't use Sheldon because he's another fabulous creature. I can't use Firedrake because he might scare the Kikimora. I can't use Sorrel for the same reason as Sheldon. If my mother wasn't so elderly and sore I might have her help but I can't. Tammy, you are my only option." Guinevere explained slowly to me. The floor creaked again, and again we did our best to ignore it. I finally squared up and looked up at Guinevere's face. This only lasted for one second at best, but that one second was long enough for me to see the clear desperation in her gaze. I looked back down at her shoulder. I shut my eyes for a few moments before sighing out deeply.

"...Wh-wh-wha-what-what do you need me to do?" I stuttered out finally.

"Just walk around the house. Okay? I have to get everything set up." I nodded and almost got ready to just wander around like instructed but very quickly Guinevere yanked on my arm pulling me back almost painfully. "Do not look through keyholes!" She urged me.

"That's oddly specific, Guinevere."

"Keyholes are how she travels. If she locks you in a room, I repeat, Do not look through the keyhole, Tammy."

"Okay…" I was now seriously having doubts about helping Guinevere now, but I was going to go through with it.

"I'll call you back when I'm done."

So, I left her be to her own devices while I went and walked off to another room. The floor, once again, creaked beneath me. This time with almost every step I made was just followed with a long and loud Creeeeaaak. Because I'm so stealthy (sarcasm, obviously)

Still, I left the kitchen and went into another room. This was a bedroom. This bedroom was just absolutely covered in a thick blanket of dust and cobwebs. I had figured it out by now that this house was abandoned, rather hastily. Probably because of the Kikimora. I'm guessing. But that left me to wonder. Why abandon everything just because of this creature?

'Maybe they didn't abandon it… maybe they were never found.' The voice in my head told me. "It honestly sounds like the plot to a bad B movie," I responded to my thoughts out loud with a chuckle. I walked over to the bed before instantly snooping in the nightstands to see what was left behind. However; it was at that moment that my nausea suddenly came back full swing. 'Fuck, not again…' Was the only thought through my mind as I actually had to pause and drop to my knees before trying to swallow my nausea down. 'Something isn't right. Something really isn't right with me.'

I needed to focus on something. Anything. I tried to keep my mind on what was in the nightstand, but my nausea was overpowering. In fact, I let out a sudden and loud gag. I couldn't stop it, I actually vomited… only there was nothing for me to vomit. It was only stomach acid and that was when it truly hit me. 'When was the last time I ate anything?' .

Shit. I don't think I had anything to eat since Pakistan and even that wasn't a lot because the cats got to it before I could. 'Shit… I should of thought… Oh, well. I'll just soldier on. It's just a little nausea I'll live. If I can work with food poisoning I can power through a little hunger.'.

So, I manned up, stood up from the floor and went back to my snooping the best I could. It was a little hard to keep focus now that my stomach was all twisted in knots. I did my best. There wasn't much in this room aside from the bed and dresser. I did go through the dressers to see what I could find, just old clothes. I sucked in several deep breaths to try and control my nausea the best I could. After finding nothing of interest I decided to move on to the next room. This room was actually attached to the next room and I could see why. It was a kids room, the old toys scattered all over the floor, the tiny bed and dresser in the corner. I could tell that the kid had to be at least five. My foot kicked something causing me to look down to see an old barbie doll and I mean old. I picked the doll up and wiped the dust off of her face. I could see that this barbie belonged in the nineties at the least. 'How long ago was this how truely abandoned?' I thought back to the TV, the couch, the gas stove and now the barbie.

Suddenly without a warning, the door behind me slammed shut. I screamed out in freight before spinning around and dropping the barbie. I ran up to the door and tugged on it, nothing. "Guinevere!" I knocked heavily on the door almost in a panic. "Guinevere!" I called again. I pulled and pulled on the door but to no avail. I twisted the door knob every which way imaginable but it wouldn't open. Then I saw it. A weird light coming from the keyhole. 'Don't look through the keyhole.' Guinevere's voice reminded me. I almost felt compelled to do so just to see what was glowing, but I knew better, I knew if I looked something bad would happen to me, otherwise why else would Guinevere warn me not to look?

So, instead of looking I turned my back to the door and just walked forward into the room. I kept my back turned to the door as the room seemed to get colder and colder. My breath hung in the air, the cold clung to my face, and my fingers were starting to turn numb again. I really wished I had gloves on. The old blanket on the child's bed caught my eye and I don't know why I did what I did but I quickly grabbed the blanket and actually threw it over my head. Not to warm up… but to shield my eyes. Guinevere's warning of not to look in the keyholes was being escalated. I had a feeling, just an odd, odd, feeling to keep my eyes covered.

Just then I heard a low creaking sound I knew it wasn't from the floor but the rather the door. So, here I was standing in the middle of a child's room with a fucking blanket over me like I was pretending to be a ghost. Yep. I'm smart.

I shut my eyes and tried to focus on my breathing. I could hear feet shuffling closer and closer to me. My breath was starting to become uneven as my mind ran in a panic. The air under the blanket was starting to become hot and stifling making being under the blanket unbearable. I saw only a shadow pass by in front of me through the cloth of the blanket. Weak pitiful whimpers started to leave my mouth as I now shut my eyes. My hands were shaking violently, my heart was beating so hard that I could hear it thudding in my ears. "Ki...Ki…" a raspy sound flooded through the quiet room.

"Go away." I squeaked out scaredly as I tried so hard to stay quiet.

"Ki.. Ki…" My lower lip started to quiver as I could hear whatever was in the room circling around me. 'Where is Guinevere? How could she not have heard me earlier?' I thought in fear. I tried to even my breathing, but all I was truly doing was making things worse.

Then… there was silence. No more movement, no creepy sounds, nothing. So, I slowly lifted the blanket off of my head and sucked in some fresh air thankfully. Looking around fearfully I determined it safe and booked out of there. "Guinevere!" I screamed out to her as loud as my lungs could allow. "The Kiki-" I made it to the kitchen where I last saw her and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw that Guinevere wasn't there.

But my attacker was.

"Fuck I knew I should have told Barnabas..." I cursed lowly before backing up. "Stay. Away from me." I warned him. He took a step towards me. "Guinevere!-" I tried to scream out for help.

"- She's currently taking a nap." I watched as he took another step forward and pulled out his gun.

"Sh-Shit.." I swallowed hard and quickly looked around for something to defend myself with. My eyes landed on a knife holder on the counter next to the stove and without even hesitating I ran and grabbed the first knife I could grab. I grabbed a bread knife. "What did you do to Guinevere!" I demanded way too bravely. My heart was in my stomach, and my hands were shaking, while my breath turned ragged.

"Well, you weren't going to help me. In fact, if I remember correctly you proceeded to not only tell everyone, but now you went and caused more people to get involved!" He huffed in a mild annoyance. I was shaking even more, so much so that I could hardly hold the knife straight.

"Stay away from me." I growled as I backed up again, and once again he took a step forward towards me. Then he just rolled his eyes and in one quick movement, he literally slapped the knife from my hand, hurting my hand in the process. "Ah!" I cried out as the knife clattered on the floor.

"Stupid girl!" He hissed at me before raising the gun. "I should just kill you. It would solve a lot of my problems…" He snarled and I was now staring down the barrel of a pistol and I thought back to earlier in the week with Sheldon and I. 'I'm not that…I'm not suicidal.' I laughed. It was just an awkward and breathy laugh that just escaped my mouth.

"I don't want to die." I whispered. Tears were falling from from my eyes and down my cheeks and yet I was still laughing!

"And I don't want to lose my child, but unfortunately this is how things have to be."

"Y-your child? What's wrong with them?"

"Like you care, like any of you care!" He yelled loudly at me and honestly it was at that moment that I was finally able to pinpoint his accent. He was Vietnamese and from there I was able to piece almost everything together.

"... They have the parasite too… don't they?" I asked him. This clearly took him by surprise as he actually took a startled step back and swallowed hard.

"Maybe… Maybe she got it because some punk terrorist flying in on a dragon decided to give her an infected piece of an infected apple!" He snarled through clenched teeth.

My mind went to Ben taking a bite of an apple and then giving this little girl the rest, I figured that probably wasn't the exact case. He probably cut her off a piece, or cut himself a piece and gave the rest to the girl either way I was starting to see where this guy's anger was starting to stem from. "Ben couldn't have known the apple was infected!" I instantly defended Ben's actions like I actually knew him.

"It doesn't matter! My daughter deserves to get healed as well!" I can see tears in the guys eyes now as he jammed his finger into his own chest.

"I'm sure if you would have just brought your concerns to Firedrake, Guinevere, or someone we would have helped get enough ingredients to help your daughter."

"No…" He shook his head slowly at me. "You don't think I asked already!" He roared at me and I swallowed hard.

"Who told you no?" I questioned. "I have a hard time believing anyone in our group will straight up tell you 'no'-"

"It was the brownie-"

"Ah! Yep, yep, yep… yep. Okay, next time go to the dragon- ah!" I let out a shrill scream as he suddenly grabbed me by my hair. Even though it was shorter now it was still easier to grab. "Fuck! I'm trying to help!" I cried out to him.

"I don't give a damn! My daughter is dying and your friends rejected me! So, I don't care if I have to kill all of you! But I'm getting those ingredients to save my daughter-"

"Ki...Ki…" I felt my blood turn to ice when the door to the main bedroom door slammed shut.

"What the-" He turned his attention to the bedroom door. The keyhole now glowing. "Don't-" He pushed me to the side. "-Get in my way! This Kikimora is mine." And he started to walk to the door. He tried to open it, but all it did was a rattle and not open.

"Don't-"

"-Be quiet! And I'll let you live!" He looked down at the glowing keyhole. "What is this thing using to lock the door.." he got to his knees.

"Don't look through the keyhole!" I shouted- no- I completely screamed at him. But it fell on deaf ears because he looked through the keyhole. Everything that happened next just happened in a matter of seconds. He started screaming madly, the door was ripped open, could see the Kikimora now, but I didn't get a good look as it literally took the man by the arms kicking and screaming before dragging him by the arms into the room before slamming the door shut.

I only stood there, completely stunned as the man's screams still echoed through the small home. I then heard another sound, the sound of another door slamming shut and I just felt the air go completely silent. All I could hear was my own breath and heartbeat. I finally turned and went running back into the living room. Guinevere was there on the couch passed out. I wanted nothing more than to run up to her, wake her up, and get the hell out of there. 'So… you're just gonna let a father who's here because he wants to help his daughter die, huh?' The little snarky voice in my head scolded me rightfully. I sucked in a deep breath and just stared down at Guinevere's sleeping body for a few moments before sighing out heavily. "I… was raised better." I let out a loud groan of annoyance before finally patting Guinevere's pants pockets. I found what I was looking for in only seconds. Her cellphone.

I saw a big case of table salt on its side next to her. I had a pretty good idea that I might need it, so, I grabbed it. I went back into the kitchen and quickly looked through the drawers for something better than a bread knife. I seemed to be in luck because I found a meat cleaver in one of those drawers. 'This is insane!'

Thankfully Guinevere didn't have a password so I easily had access to her phone and without a second thought, I clicked on the flashlight. "I can't believe I'm doing this." I shook my head. Trust me, this wasn't something on my to do list for the night. I went over to the first door, that opened easily. The kikimora obviously wasn't in here anymore. So… where did she take the man?

With the aid of the flashlight, I took a look around the room to see where he could have been taken and my eyes fall on an open closet. Something I didn't notice my first time going into the room. I poked the light over to the open closet and got a pretty interesting surprise when I found out that the 'closet' was actually a hidden stairway down into a basement. "Because of course!" I couldn't stop my loud scream. My scream echoed around the cold stoney stairway. The stairway wasn't that long, but it was crowded and it did lead to a shut metal door at the bottom of the staircase. I shut my eyes tight and let out a small scared cry. 'Turn around… go to Firedrake.' one side of my brain told me to do.

'No, the man will be dead by the time we notify, Firedrake!'

'Why should we help him? He tried to kill us!'

'He needs help… A little girl's life is on the line.'

With a shuddered breath I swallowed hard. "What the hell did I get myself into?" I asked myself before finally descending down the rickety stairs with Guinevere's phone in my right hand, a tub of salt under my arm, and a meat cleaver in my left hand. This may be the last thing I ever do, but I was going to see it through to the end if I had to.