A/N: . . . I have no excuse. There is no excuse for why I've been gone for nearly two and a half years. So, I won't make any. I do apologize in advance if I make a few mistakes, I couldn't get a hold of the movie to rewatch it before typing this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Faye, her aunt, you know the drill.
Chapter 19: Games Are Supposed To Be Fun
The trip home from the forest was slow going.
Alex had remained cold and unmoving, and there was nothing they could do for him. The only cheerful one was Smile, who was bounding around, chasing squirrels and all in all enjoying life. Even if he was a demon dog, he was still, apparently, a dog.
"So. Are. . . are you going to give him back to Mary?" Faye asked, glancing at BB. The girl seemed to think for a moment before shrugging.
"Depends on if she needs him back. I was thinking of keeping him around for a while." She whistled and Smile bounded back, jumping up and accepting the ear scratch he was given from the girl.
"Why does the fact that you're thinking of keeping something that can be described a hellhound not surprise me?" There was a dry chuckle from the other girl.
"It's me we're talking about, Fairy. Come on, look, the woods are gone. Let's. . . I guess go to your place. Not sure where else to go." Faye just nodded. She wanted to get home and sleep. The half healed cuts on the back from the claw marks were still stinging, and now that the most recent attack on their lives was done, the girl figured they might as well be ready for the next one. She had a terrible feeling that it wouldn't be long before it was back.
Saski's hand shook on the controller as she started the game. The first thing that appeared was a screen with words that made her flinch.
She didn't want to read them, but another test of the door revealed it was locked. The only way she was going to get out was if she played along with the game. A final kick was aimed at the wood before she walked back over to the game and looked at the words.
"Come to me, clouds," the woman began, the words weighing heavily in her mouth. "May you rise as an evil storm born to rip them open. Let the cover of night bear witness and destroy those who resist so they harm me not." Her throat tried to close up, her tongue was like lead, but she had to get out of there. The woman had to force herself to finish. "Let the blood of many cleanse me, preserving beauty eternal," her voice dropped down to a whisper. "I pray you."
And then the game started.
The figure stepped hesitantly, legs shaking as if they weren't sure how to work. Their arms and fingers were twitching, and they had leaves and twigs sticking to their hair.
The figure paused outside of their house and grabbed a door knob, twisting it open and awkwardly shoving the door open. They stumbled in, falling over onto the couch. Their limbs stopped twitching as much, and the figure's breathing slowed to a near stop.
And so they rested.
The door had clicked unlocked as soon as she spoke the words. Whatever they had wanted from her, they'd gotten it.
She'd never played this game before. Saski rarely had the opportunity or desire to waste time playing games, but occasionally they provided a useful break for stress relief. This one, however, she'd heard rumors about. The title was an understatement.
The game seemed to work in a similar way to how the dream world worked for Freddy. If you died in the game, then you died, period. She wasn't about to let that happened, so she'd have to play the game very, very carefully.
Her movements were careful as she guided her virtual avatar through the game, and she scanned it for anything she might need to use, just in case her nearly nonexistent video game skills failed her, which they likely would.
When the first enemy dropped a rose, she raised an eyebrow.
Hm. Roses temporarily protected from evil, huh? Interesting.
The game hadn't been too hard just yet. Still, she crunched the confidence that as beginning to grow and tell her the whole trip would be this easy. That kind of arrogance would just get her killed, in the long run.
It was about half an hour of playing and trying to figure out the game before something happened the surprised her.
Another player joined the game.
Faye was, at first, highly wearing of the envelope taped to her front door. That was only to be expected after everything she'd went through.
Still, she couldn't place exactly where she might have heard of something that tried to kill through envelopes. Her hesitation was only furthered by Smile flattening his ears back and growling at the object.
"Mary said he could sniff out the supernatural." BB muttered, before walking up and studying the parcel. "Whatever this thing is it- . . . It's got your name on it."
Faye walked up to it and frowned. Sure enough, her name was on it. That actually didn't phase her as much as the familiar handwriting. It looked exactly like her aunts, and that was enough to make her reach up and grab it.
The woman was gone. They'd found the house empty and a pool of blood, and it didn't take much to figure that she was dead. After all, that's what her aunt would want her to think. The handwriting, however, looked exactly like the woman's.
"Saski wrote this. Look, this is the same handwriting on the letter I got from her." BB glanced over her friend's shoulder to look at it and a small scowl appeared on her face.
"Since when is your aunt sending you supernatural stuff? Wait, no, scratch that, since when is your aunt still around to send you anything?"
Faye shrugged and opened the door, taking a quick glance around. Everything appeared to be as they left it.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, though, maybe it'll help." Admittedly, she was a bit uneasy about the package. The last few items she'd gotten from her aunt had been useful, such as a kit to go with the lock picking lessons, but she was pretty sure that she'd never given her something that could be marked as supernatural.
"Hm." There was a few moments of silence while the two girls studied the package, and then BB sat on the couch and, glancing at Smile, simply stated, "She said he could find supernatural stuff. She never said anything about the intent behind the stuff." That about decided it, and Faye dumped the contents of the package out on the table. A thin CD case with the words 'Stay Alive' written across the top slid out, along with a very folded note.
The handwriting was the same as the last letter, and she read it out loud for the sake of her friend.
"Dear Faye. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'll get back just as soon as possible. I've included a copy of a game here, and while video games might not seem prudent to survival, this one is. There are a few things in here that you'll need to learn before I get back. Love, Saski."
There was a brief moment while she processed this before dropping the paper and declaring, "That's bullshit."
BB's only real change in expression was to raise an eyebrow at her. "The fact that she's still alive and that's all you get, or the fact that she's having you play videos games?"
The other girl handed over the letter and began to point out the errors she had noticed. "Look, Saski said she didn't like her name. The last letter was signed with 'Aunt S,' and this one is signed with her name, no aunt. This is her handwriting, but it's written wrong."
"You think someone forced her to write that?" BB got to the point quickly, taking the letter and holding it carefully by the corners. ". . . 'There are a few things in here that you'll need to learn before I get back.' If somebody really made her write this, that could mean whoever did this wants you to play it before they'll let her go."
". . . We just got done with this. We just got done." Really, there was only one thing that could plausibly result from playing the game.
"You could just not play it," BB pointed out, picking the game up as well. "Your aunt's tough. She can probably handle it."
"That's why I'm worried. Whoever or whatever took her managed to beat her. Look, you saw how trashed the place was. She went down with a fight, but she got her ass kicked, and I'm worried that she won't be able to get out." The girl picked up the game. "So, we're going to do some research and figure out where to go from there."
The woman was playing. She was finally playing the game. It had taken longer than expected, but she was doing it.
In the house that Saski was being kept in, there was a room with several monitors. Each one displayed a room of the house. Most of the monitors were being ignored. Nothing interesting was happening, each one simply displayed a room that could have been replaced with a photo for all that was happening in them.
The only one that was really being focused on was the one viewing Saski.
The glow from the screens was the only thing that lit the room, which was almost empty. The room looked like it was meant to be a bedroom; an open door led to a small, almost empty closet. The only other door attached to the room was shut.
The room was sparsely was a mattress in the corner, and a pile of bags, cans, and bottles in the opposite corner. The desk held a half full water bottle and a bag of peanuts.
Occasionally a hand with nubby nails reached in and retrieved one, lifting it out and bringing the morsel to a pair of chapped lips, which would open to allow the snack in before going back to being lightly chewed by the owner of said lips.
The woman had finally gotten the point. The hand lifted up and dropped to a small remote, flipping a small switch to open the door. With that, the figure stood, picked up a flashlight, and walked out of the room, leaving the bag of peanuts behind them.
Now to see if the other players had joined in. The Countess wasn't easily appeased, after all.
"Okay, looks like it's all set up." BB muttered, before turning to look at Faye. "You sure about this?"
"Yeah, I'm sure." Faye had a controller in hand, ready to play. It had taken a lot of time debating over what to do, but she'd figured that if this was the way to get her aunt back, this is what she would have to do. The girl had used some of the money that she hadn't used to bribe a certain business suit wearing creature to get some roses from the grocery store, and those were sitting next to her, just in case. "Remember what you need to do?"
The other girl had a pair of scissors and an empty flower wrap with her. "Yeah, yeah, get some wild roses for the undead. You remember, don't stop playing, alright? That thing doesn't really have a problem with unpausing on you."
"Yeah, I got it." The smart choice would be to wait until her friend got back, but she wasn't sure how much time she had to get her aunt back.
"Just stay safe, alright? I'm going to be pissed at you if you manage to get yourself killed too." Faye nodded and smiled at her.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry."
Saski couldn't type into the chat, but at least she knew what the headset was for now. She found a safe spot and took a minute to plug it in and shove it on her head before picking the controlled back up.
"Faye, that better not be you." There was a brief crackle of background noise and then an unfortunately familiar voice responded.
"I hate to say it, but it is. There wasn't much choice!" The woman gave a slight groan. She'd wanted to keep the girl safe, not give her more ways to get killed.
"What do you- How'd you even get a copy of this game anyway?" There! The other girl's avatar was there. She made her character turn and walk over as she listened to the response.
"I found it on the door, with a note in your handwriting on it." That thought chilled her. Not only the idea that someone was able to mimic her handwriting well enough to fool the girl, but that they actually managed to trick her into going along with it.
"The note made it sound like they were holding you hostage," Faye continued, her voice crackling through the headphones. "The style of the letter was off."
If the game wasn't as deadly as it was, she would have paused just to yell at the girl. While she may have underestimated her intelligence with the last assessment, she'd overestimated her common sense.
"I didn't write, I'm telling you that now. Whoever has me here faked it. Please tell me you didn't read the incantation at the beginning."
The answer didn't come right away, as at the moment a small group of undead spotted them, and they had to maneuver around to get rid of them. It was cautious going; neither of the players wanted to see their characters get harmed.
"I did," Faye stated, once they'd gotten to a relatively safe area. "It was the only way to play."
"Just don't tell me your friends are going to start playing to. The last thing we need to worry about is-" She was cut off by the younger girl, before she could finish the sentence.
"Alex is dead. No need to worry about him." Despite the words, she could hear that the tone of voice made it clear that Faye was upset. Still, comforting had never been one of her better skills. She'd abandoned that one a long time ago.
"You other friend? What about her?"
"She's out looking for wild roses. And, no, I don't intend to let her play. Plus, there was only one disc. She couldn't if she wanted to."
"Alright. Did you at least figure out a way to keep the other creatures you were dealing with out before you started playing?" There was a pause, and then Faye spoke in a somewhat sheepish voice. Saski found it a bit too easy to muster the mental image of the girl nodding at the game, and chuckled despite herself.
"I got them to stop. And before you ask how, I bribed one." She had bribed a monster?
"You'll have to tell me that story when we beat the game," the woman muttered into the mic. "Any idea how to beat it?"
"Not so sure on the game, but we did some research on the backstory. There is a way to stop the blood countess." The blood countess? That was a familiar name.
"Why does Bathory have a video game modeled after her? Whose bright idea was that?" In her mind, she could picture her niece shrugging.
"No clue. Anyway, the only real problem with stopping her is that we need to find her body. Uh, let me see. . . They used nails, to put her spirit back in, and then burned it." More undead in the video game. Saski flinched as her character took a scrape to the arm from one of the reanimated creatures, before her nieces avatar took care of it.
"Thank you. So, essentially the plan is to find a body from the early 1600's- One that is, if I remember where the castle was, somewhere in Slovakia- put three nails in it, and then burn it, while trying to avoid whatever manifestations this game will create. Am I up to speed?"
There was an almost unsettlingly long pause, and the only reason she wasn't worried that the girl had spontaneously combusted was because her avatar was still moving.
"That, and judging by the movie, she can try and kill us even if our game selves aren't quite dead. Uh, that, and we can't pause. The game will keep playing us even if we shut it down, so someone has to keep playing, or. . ."
Saski couldn't remember her late sister's policy on cursing around children, but Faye probably picked up a few new ones with the string of curses that fell from her mouth after the girl had finished explaining.
"Alright. This is going to be. . . much more challenging than expected. Would I be able to pause long enough to get home, so that, at the very least, we can watch each other's backs?"
"Hang on, watch my back for a minute." The other avatar froze in place and Saski kept an eye out for anything that might get a bit too bloodthirsty.
"Okay, back. I think as long as I'm playing, she'll be distracted enough to not come after you. Try and hurry, alright?"
Saski nodded and then, slightly nervously, reached out to turn the system off. The woman stuff the game back in it's box, and then quickly removed the cords and bundled the game system up in the jacket she'd been wearing.
The door to her room had been unlocked, and she pushed it open, wearily glancing around the hallways as she did. There was little to no light, and she made her way down the hallway by feel, pausing when she got to doors to test them. Most she found locked, but when she got to the end of the hallway, she noted a dull glow.
A quick test revealed the door to be unlocked, and after setting the objects in her hands aside, she shoved it open, ready to beat the crap out of the little fucker who'd dragged her there in the first place.
The room was devoid of life, however, so she walked in and glanced around. Once the lack of people was verified, she turned to glance at the monitors.
Every room was there, and she shoved the momentary creeped out feeling away to study them. Unfortunately, she didn't have a pen or a paper, so it took a while, but she managed to map out the house in her head.
The way out, from what she could see on the night vision enabled cameras, was on the other end the hallway she'd come through, then down some stairs and to the right. If the door wasn't open, then there was a window not far away which she could open, be it the 'proper' way or the 'illegal' way.
Regardless of how, she was going to get out of that house.
It took longer then she would have liked to make it to the front door, and even then it was hard to tell she was actually at a door until she smacked her hand against the knob. Cursing at it and the lack of power to the rest of the house, she shoved the door open.
The sun blinded her for a moment, and that was with the door only opening part of the way. Frowning, she shoved against it again, and then twice more to get it to open up with a loud ripping sound.
It wasn't until the woman took a few steps away from the house, then glanced back, that she realized what had been keeping her back.
The entire house was covered in climbing roses. Saski studied them for a moment, before reaching out and plucking a few from the door. According to her niece and the game, those would be helpful.
Considering she had no where else to put them, she added the roses into the bundle that was her jacket. It was the easiest way to carry then and still manage to actually make quick progress back to the house.
The only problem was she had no idea where she was.
This was an issue on numerous levels. First, she didn't want to leave Faye playing the game by herself for too long. Secondly, she'd have to be careful not to wander too far from the rose house while she tried to gather her bearings. She might have to go back to the room to reset up the game, if to long passed. Third, there was no way she could even begin to try and make plans for an attempt to get to the body while she was lost somewhere in the woods and her niece was stuck with the game.
There was only one thing she could do, though. She had to try and get out. And so, the woman set off to try and find a path.
She'd only gotten a few feet away when she heard the noises. Low groans that reminded her of something she'd heard in the game. A hand went to the jacket to bring out a fist full of roses, and then she turned to throw them at the undead.
The meager handful of flowers halted a few of them in their tracks, but there were at least half a dozen more, and there was no way she was going to be able to take them all. Saski wasn't stupid. She did what anyone would in that situation.
She turned and fled, holding the bundled up game close as she did.
BB wasn't very pleased with her task.
Granted, she understood that wild roses were something that her best friend would currently need a lot of, but there was something that just felt wrong about leaving her to go and find them. Splitting up was never a good idea in any horror movie, and now she was wandering around some of the thinner patches of trees, hoping to try and find some of the flowers she needed.
She'd wanted to leave Smile with the other girl, considering he wouldn't be able to sniff out the roses himself, but Faye had told her to take him with her. Even if BB wasn't playing the game, the Blood Countess might try and go after her. That, or she'd get caught up in something else.
Either way, it was better if Smile was with her. The girl was glad that the creature, who was currently trying to catch squirrels like any other dog, was with her, in all honesty. Faye's point had been pretty valid. The other girl would likely know when something was happening. She. . .
Well, she'd be in the dark.
BB wasn't sure how long it had taken, but eventually she found a bush of red blooms, and she began to use the scissors to quickly and methodically cut the stems. Cut, grab, put in flower bag, repeat. It was an almost soothing process, at the very least a sign of progress. It meant that, at the very least, she'd have plenty to bring back to help.
She was just gathering the last couple of roses when Smile, who had up until then been marking his new territory, froze in place. She watched as he turned a bit and began to growl, a sound that made his ever smiling expression seem about five times more terrifying.
"Something's on it's way." She muttered to him, standing up and taking a few steps forward, until she reached the dog. "Gone on, we've got to-"
And then she saw. There was a woman running, a woman that she recognized.
"Saski!" The woman stumbled and fell, making BB wince internally, though her face maintained it's usual blank expression. Oops.
It was then that the undead came into view, and as much as she knew it was a bad idea to run toward the things that wanted to eat you, she didn't have much of a choice. They'd already thought the woman dead once, she wasn't about to have them proven right.
Saski hadn't expected to hear anybody yelling for her in the middle of the woods, and it made her break her concentration and catch her foot on something.
She rolled over and sat up, the box still clutched firmly to her chest. Breaking the disc might help, but it also might ruin any chance she had of actually surviving the game. Not a test she was willing to make, that was for certain.
Either way, she had to get up before those things got there. The woman shifted, planting one hand in the dirt and shoving herself up to her feet with a slight groan, the dirt stinging the cuts across her palm. There was the slight distraction of the acknowledgement that she'd have to wash that out and then-
One of the undead lunged at her and she felt a burning sensation on her arm as she landed. The wound her avatar had received was now very real, and she shuddered at the feeling of blood running down her skin. She used her good hand to shove at the creature on her, not that it did much, and then-
Something jumped on it. A medium sized dog like creature pounced on the undead and bit into it's arm, making it let out a screech.
"Catch!" She glanced up to the source of the voice, and she only had time to register that it was a familiar face before she reached up to catch what seemed like a bouquet of roses. She grabbed a few and threw them in the general direction of the undead, before she felt an arm yanking her to her feet.
And then she and BB were running. Her mind hadn't settled down yet, and it was racing in a hundred directions. BB, her being here was good. Despite the fact that Saski wasn't exactly fond of the girl's methods of handling some of the things they'd encountered (really, they should have gotten rid of that doll), she was glad to see her. After all, the girl's presence meant she would know a way out of the woods.
It took them five minutes of running before they broke out of the trees and ended up outside the path, near some houses, but they made it. What was better, Saski knew this part of the area. Now all they had to do was get to her house and-
"Wait."
"Wait." BB spoke in her usual tone, though the recent exertion showed in it. "We can't go just yet." The woman had started to walk away, and at her words, turned back, a puzzled expression evident.
"We're waiting for my dog." BB was not about to run off without Smile, and she wasn't going to let the woman do the same. She and Faye's aunt still weren't on the best of terms, and probably wouldn't be for a long while, so the surprised expression was worth a mental chuckle.
"We need to- When did you get a dog, anyway? I didn't see a-" The woman was cut off by Smile appearing and sitting to happily chew on the arm of one of the undead. That got a small smile out of her, which grew by another fraction as Saski glanced back and forth between the two.
". . . I'm. Okay, I'm not even going to ask. Let's just get back to Faye. I need to set this thing up," she indicated the bundled jacket.
BB almost raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I expected you to put up a fight about him." She muttered, whistling for Smile to come with them and walking after Saski. "You're not usually that accepting of stuff that you think is 'dangerous'."
The woman didn't hesitate in her steps, but she did in her response. At last she stated, "I haven't had decent food or sleep since the little fucker who figured out how to beat me in a fight dragged me out to the woods. I want to get home, figure out a way to get out of the possesed video game situation, and rest. I honestly do not have the energy to get upset over something that just saved my life."
Well, that was a fun speech, but it didn't change BB's opinion by much. Still, she had to admit, the walk was a bit less tension filled then it would have been before.
Oh, this wasn't good.
Only one of the other players had joined. The other had gone to hunt for roses without even trying to play, and the fourth and final one wasn't even there.
Not that the Countess liked using boys, but she said there would be four, and that one was male. She had not stated that one would resist playing and one wouldn't be there, no, she had very distinctly said four.
Oh, this was very, very bad. If the Countess didn't get what she wanted-
No, it was better not to think about that.
It was best to just get back home and try to think of a plan to get more players. Maybe if more people joined the game, the Countess wouldn't notice.
Maybe. . .
It was time to get more games out, and to check on the Countess.
Faye had to admit, the game would have been a lot more fun if she hadn't known that losing would kill her.
The graphics weren't the best, true, but the plot was interesting. It was just the type of horror thing she would have loved to play, back before her life had become one giant horror movie collage.
Now, though, the satisfaction from progressing was nonexistent. The game was getting harder, and she was still nowhere close to figuring out how to actually beat it. All she really knew was that she had to keep going, stay alive, and try not to let the avatar of her guardian get killed.
The avatar was still there, despite the fact that the woman wasn't even playing. It made the game the equivalent of one of the escort missions that nobody liked because the person they were escorting was a huge idiot that never considered what might be happening to their guard.
It was an irritating pain in the ass, and the near heart attack from the sound of the door opening didn't help.
"I found flowers." Her friend's voice managed to calm her down a little bit. The next voice that spoke, however, almost made her pause the game to jump up for joy.
"She found me to. She and her. . . dog." Even if the tone was uncomfortable and hesitant, that was her aunt. The woman had put her partially through hell, sure, but she had been trying to keep Faye alive. And, much like the avatar on screen, Faye hadn't always listened to her advice.
A small part of her whispered that she hadn't abandoned the virtual Saski, but another part smooshed that one. After all, she had been able to take care of herself. Virtual Saski would have died within minutes if she hadn't stayed on her tail and kept fighting.
"As much as I would love to come and say hi, I'm a bit busy," the girl called towards the front door. She heard noises, and then Saski walked in and set the jacket she'd been wearing down out of the girl's line of sight, before directing some words to her.
"I'll play again as soon as we can get it set up." And then she was gone.
It hadn't really taken to long to get a TV from another room set up. Soon, Saski and Faye were playing while BB and Smile were keeping watch on the doors and other ways into the room.
BB was a bit hesitant to trust that just beating the game would manage to get them out safely. In the movie, they'd had to stab nails in a corpse, and then burn it.
Granted, finding the corpse would be a bit difficult, but if that's what they had to do, then that's what they would do. Of course, they wouldn't manage to do it just by sitting and playing the game, and they needed BB there. Just in case.
Still, doing nothing made the girl uncomfortable. She wanted to be able to help with more than just flower duty. She wanted to be able to actually help them defeat the centuries old spirit, not just play with it.
It was about then that she got shaken out of her thoughts by Smile. He was standing at the door, not quite growling at it. The noise emitting from his mouth might be described as that, but it didn't have the anger that usually went behind growling.
BB walked over and peered out the peep hole. There was nothing there, but Smile had stopped his growling and was staring at the door expectantly, clearly waiting for her to open it.
She hesitated for just a moment, and then crouched down to scratch the dog behind the ear.
"Is it something important?" The girl muttered as the dog turned his grin to her. ". . . Make sure you come back, alright?"
With that, she opened the door.
To say that Smile could sniff out the supernatural would be an inaccurate, albeit easy to understand way of explaining his powers.
Smell had nothing to do with it. Instead, he had a sense of the way the world worked. There was an understanding that things were run a certain way, and that was just how the universe worked. When the rules of the universe were broken, he became aware of it, whether it was by something's existence not fitting completely with how things, by all rights, should work, or by something outright breaking the rules.
Now he could feel something doing just that; breaking the rules. The demonic dog could feel the need to go to this particular disturbance, because he knew that it was important, it mattered, and the vaguely jam scented girl would want to know about it. All of these connections clicked in his doggy brain as he raced out of the house and down the street.
Being part of the supernatural side of things himself, it didn't take long to reach his destination. However, there was something else. He knew that he needed to be at this house, but he also knew he needed to make sure that the occupant was safe. That one was more part of his recent 'training' at the hands of the bloody girl.
He had to make a stop first, though. He had to get a rose, just in case any more of those tasty people showed up. He couldn't eat them all by himself, so might as well make sure the boy had one.
And then he could take the boy to the roses, and they could get more. The roses that grew over the house would protect him and then he could bring him back to the jam girl. And then maybe she'd let him eat more people.
With that thought, Smile turned and raced toward the trees, back to the rose house.
It had been a strange feeling to wake up in the forest. The last thing he really remember was that masked thing knocking him out, and then nothing.
At least, nothing until he woke up on the forest floor after what felt like an electric shock. His whole body was sore, and he flinched when he sat up. Glancing around, he realized that he somewhere in the woods. According to the stuff he'd looked up before, that was the last place he wanted to be, and so he struggled to his feet. A quick glance down to make sure everything was okay and he'd be on-
"Ah, shit!" The boy had looked up, and then continued looking up when his face was met with cloth. He'd staggered back and looked up, passing the suit, passing the tie, so that his eyes met with the smooth skin of Slenderman.
The creature had his head tilted to the side in an almost curious manner, and one hand extended. Alex flinched back, but he felt himself strangely rooted to the spot as the hand came into contact with his head.
Oh, that blood hurt. It hurt worse then the shock that had woken him up less than a few minutes ago, and he could almost feel himself slipping back into unconsciousness.
When the boy awoke again, he was laying on something much harder than the ground. A brief investigation with his hand led him to the realization that it was some kind of concrete, and after sitting up, he realized he was on the side walk. What was more, he was right next to his house.
Standing again, he stepped hesitantly. His legs were shaking as if they weren't sure how to work properly, and he had to wonder just how much time had passed since he'd last walked on them. They weren't the only limbs to misbehave either; he could feel his arms and hands shivering and twitching, and he gave them a few shakes to try and get them to behave, before checking to see if he was injured.
A brief examination noted nothing new, although his hair seemed to have attracted a lot of leaves, twigs, and god only knew what else.
It took a while, but he managed to walk up to his house and twist open the doorknob before awkwardly shoving the door open. He stumbled in, practically falling over onto the couch. The cushions beneath him were soft, much softer than the last few places he'd rested, and he closed his eyes to slip into a nice sleep that wasn't the result of being knocked out.
When he woke up for the last time that day (or night, judging by looking out the window), he felt much calmer. Sure, his muscles were screaming at him for whatever he'd been put through the past however long he'd been out, but he felt if not relaxed, then at peace. The worry and fear that had been plaguing him since he'd first seen the tall man were gone.
Of course, the worry and fear that had been plaguing him since he first decided to spend some time in America like the moron he was was still present, but that was far more manageable. That was good.
His first stop was to the bathroom to take care of all that assorted business, and then he changed into some clean clothes. Rooting through the kitchen managed to procure him something to eat, and once that was taken care of, he felt much more human. It was almost indescribably nice, and for a moment he could pretend that none of stuff he had witnessed had ever happened. He wanted to hold onto the experience for as long as he could.
Which last about five minutes, after which he heard knocking at his door. He stood, walked over, and opened it.
The next thing he knew he was flat on his back and something was attacking his face. It wasn't claws, or teeth, but something else he knew of very, very, well.
He was being given a bath by an over excited canine.
His own dug, though, had been sent back to stay with his parents, for fear of the poor creatures safety if he stayed around to much longer. Considering this, he carefully shoved the animal away to get a good look at it's face, and once he did, he screamed.
The body could be passed off as a husky, but the face was pure demon. It looked as if someone had peeling the skin away and the- Was dog the right word?- The thing was grinning at him. There was black hair in place of fur on his head, and all in all, the creature was the stuff of nightmares.
So why was it wagging it's tail like it was happy to see him? And why was there a-
Was that a rose under it's collar?
Okay, something was seriously wrong here. There was a demonic dog in his house that looked like it could eat him, but was acting like any dog would to see a friend they hadn't seen in a long time. It's tail was wagging at a hundred miles per minute, and he was crouched forward slightly in a 'let's play!' stance.
Hesitantly, Alex reached out a hand to pat the dog on the head, and when he didn't lose the hand, he moved on to gently pull the rose from under the collar.
"Alright, so what is this? Some new kind of trick?" He muttered, as he examined the flower. On one hand, he wanted to research what the thing symbolised. On the other, the last time he'd put a lot of research into his work-
Well, he didn't want to think about that.
"Alright, ah. Dog?" The creature perked up, his head tilted, an alert expression on his face.
"Where'd you get this, anyway?" With that, the dog turned and raced out the door, leaving the highly confused Scot to chase after him called, "Slow down! I didn't mean go that fast!"
Back to the house to get the other games. So many copies had been made, but only a few were ever given out at a time. The Countess had to be kept happy, sure, but that didn't mean the game needed to become so widespread that everybody knew about it. The bloodshed would overjoy the Countess for a while, sure, but eventually nobody would play it. If nobody played it, and the Countess wasn't satisfied-
No. The Countess would be kept happy. The supplies were managed carefully for just that reason. In fact, the only reason more were being introduced was because this group had fluked. More were supposed to play, she'd said they'd all play, but they didn't and now a new group had to be found.
Still, the Countess couldn't be contacted until the players were all dead. That was just how it went. She would be distracted with killing them, she wouldn't mind her servant spreading the pool just a bit further.
The door was left open, and many of the roses had been torn off. To be expected. It was alright, though. There were still more, and as long as the roses grew over the house, it was safe enough. They'd been let loose to grow wild, so the house was safe from the undead, and even the Countess had trouble getting in.
Of course, the roses were there for the undead. The fact that they worked against the Countess was an added. . . fact. It certainly wasn't a bonus, nor was it anything the servant would take advantage of.
At least, not that the servant would admit.
All that was left to do was grab the flashlight used to navigate the house from it's spot protected by so many thorns and flowers, and then the controlled madness would be spread just a bit more.
A hand reached down to pick up the tool-
And then there was a blur of confusion as something slammed the hand and the body it was connected to away.
All thoughts of the Countess were immediately forgotten in favor of the growl coming from the creepily human grin that was much more prominent.
While Alex had not wanted to go back to the woods for any reason, the dog wouldn't just let him turn around. No, it would come back and use puppy eyes (which creeped him out so much he went with it just to make it stop), growling, barking, and at one point had even snagged hold of his pants and made it evident that he would be dragged if he didn't go along.
The boy had had enough of getting pulled places out of his control, so eventually he'd given up and just followed the damn thing, even if it kept getting ahead of him and making him doubt where exactly he was supposed to be going.
Eventually, after much irritated muttering, he stepped out from the latest patch of trees and shrubs and all things nature and into a clearing. The smell of roses was almost overwhelming, and the sight of them covering what appeared to be a small hill was a disorientating.
Then there was the dog. It had pinned down some poor, terrified looking kid. Alex stepped forward and scowled at the animal.
"Hey now, there is no need for this. Stop that." To his surprise, the smiling face turned to him and, while the creature didn't immediately get off, the growling stopped. That was a good sign, and he walked up and crouched next to the kid.
"I am so sorry about this- . . . thing. He seemed very insistent that I show up here, not sure what he wants with you. You alright there?" The kid's eyes left the dog and turned to Alex, widening at the sight of him. The boy noted that they looked a bit sunken in. The entire appearance of the kid seemed too big. The clothes and even the skin seemed too big for the body.
"You- You're the other one the Countess wanted." The words were low, and he realized that the kid in front of him was two things. One, a boy, and two, creepy as hell.
"What countess? And, ah, what does she want with me?" He had a really bad feeling, but the boy wasn't currently a danger. Currently, he was a doggie mat.
"The- . . . The Blood Countess. She wanted you to play the game, and you have to! She always gets what she wants, or she gets very, very, angry." That got a raised eyebrow out of him.
Putting together the facts was a bit difficult, considering he was pretty sure he was missing half the pieces of the puzzle, but he did his best. The boy in front of him knew some Blood Countess, which was certainly a name to run away from very quickly, and this lady wanted him to play a game. No, not a game, he'd said it was the game. One specific game that, with his luck and usual companions, would end up with him dead. Speaking of his usual companions. . .
"What did you mean by the 'other one' exactly? Who else did this countess of yours want?" It was at that moment when the boys already wide eyes widened even further, and then his entire face scrunched up as if he was afraid somebody was going to scream at him.
"I can't tell you, she wouldn't want me too. She always gets what she wants, and she doesn't want you to know too much. You already know too much. She'll be angry, she'll be really, really angry."
Alex frowned and glanced up at the rose house. "She in there, then?"
"N-no. She doesn't go in there. Doesn't like roses. Can't go in there," the boy mumbled, before glancing around fearfully. "That's not why the roses are there. The undead can't get past them either. To many. It's just an accident that Countess can't either."
Whoever this countess person was, she clearly terrified the boy, and Alex had to take a second to wonder just how long he'd been under her thumb. Half of him wanted to just turn and walk away. He'd gotten in over his head enough already.
Then again, this lady apparently wanted him to play some kind of game, so he was already in over his head, regardless of if he left the boy there or not. Talking to him, however, might at the very least manage to get some answers.
"Well, if she doesn't like roses, and she can't get in there, maybe we can go inside and talk? After all, if she can't get in there, she wouldn't be able to hear us, right?"
The boy stared at him for a long moment before hesitantly nodding against the grass. "She might not. No, I don't think she would. Maybe." Alex nodded and glanced at the dog.
"You can get off him now. And I mean it this time." He forced himself to sound more confident than he felt, and the dog, to his surprise, jumped off. The boy it'd been holding down sat up, and when Alex offered a hand to help him up, accepted it.
"Okay, I. . . I have a room in here, and I. . . Hang on, the flashlight," he muttered as he reached into the bushes with a hand that appeared to be scratched and bleeding slightly. The light was clicked on and then the boy scampered into the house, pausing once he was safely through the doorway to wave at Alex to follow him.
The boy hesitated as he got to the door. The thought that this might be a trap occurred to him. Sure, the boy seemed to genuinely believe that whoever this countess lady was, she wouldn't be able to get in, but. . .
Well, standing out there wouldn't get anything done. Even if it was a trap, he was sure he could take the scrawny kid, and if there was anybody else around, the boy would have called for help when the dog thing jumped on him.
With that thought, he took a step towards the door.
It was almost inevitable. One of the best parts about games was they had saves. Death was usually little more than a slap on the wrist. Sure, you might lose a bit of progress, but it wouldn't take up much of your life to get it back.
This game, though, was not like that.
Death for the avatar on the screen meant death for the player, and the game over screen in front of Faye told her that death was on it's way. In game, she'd gotten a particularly gruesome one; sliced from one shoulder down to the opposite hip in 'neat' halves.
Almost immediately, she dropped the controller and made a grab for the roses on the counter-
"Those won't last long," her aunt mumbled, her eyes still set on her own screen. "We need to figure out something else, something more permanent."
"We could. . . Shit, I don't know." The girl frowned and picked the flowers up. "We did some research into it. There was a movie. . . They put nails in it and burned the body. In the movie, though, the body was nearby."
Saski scowled at the screen and guided her character into what seemed to be a relatively safe room before responding.
"If this really is based off Bathory, her body won't be here. There's no reason it would be. At least, none that I can think of." The older woman scowled at the screen and continued to play. "We don't have any time to get anyone to the castle, either, not the mention the preparations it would take to break in, find the body, and destroy it."
"I-" Faye started to talk, but she was interrupted by BB peering into the room from where she'd been keeping watch.
". . . I heard hoofbeats."
Alex studied the room with the monitors, frowning at one of them.
"So, hang on, if these work, and that room works. . . Why did we navigate up here by flashlight, again?"
The boy had retrieved the half eaten bag of peanuts and the water bottle, and was finishing the snack over on his bed. At the question, he gave a small head shake.
"There's no electricity here. . . uh, the house has a little generator, but it's only hooked up to the stuff that I need. The monitors and the game room. That's the important stuff, so that's what gets power."
Alex couldn't think of a way to argue that, nor did he really need to, so he just turned the chair in front of the monitors to face the boy and sat down.
"Okay- First of all. What's your name, anyway?" The first question, and in his opinion the easiest, brought a few seconds more hesitation then he would have liked.
"My name. . .? It's Terry. And you're Alex!" He stated the fact almost cheerfully. "The Countess told me your name, and she told me the names of the other players too. I left a little note for one of them. I'm very, very good at writing notes."
The fact that the strange kid seemed to know his name startled him, but it seemed that the knowledge was tied to that of this person. Everything seemed tied to her. And thus, his next question was tied to her as well.
"Who is this countess person anyway? And, for that matter, why is she so intent on gaming?"
Terry didn't answer the question immediately. He took his time finishing the peanuts, and then the water bottle, and for a few moments after that, he just stared at the wall. Alex was beginning to wonder if he'd fallen asleep or something by the time he spoke.
"The Countess. . . See, the thing is, the Countess is sort of. . . She's not alive. She's kind of dead too, and now she's a ghost, and that makes her undead, sort of. I think that's why roses work on her. See, she use to be this lady who did things, uh, bad things, according to people, and they sort of left her to die." The malnourished boy glanced up at Alex, then at the wall. "No, you don't get it yet. Not enough. Not enough details. She killed girls, mostly. I. . . don't know why she did it originally, but now she wants their blood. Boys don't make good blood. That's partly why I'm not dead, I think, because she doesn't need boy blood as much."
Alex chose not to question why he was being targeted if this lady was apparently so interested in girls, and instead went in a different direction.
"Do you know her name? That might be able to help me figure out more-" The boy, Terry, was shaking his head so rapidly that Alex was a bit concerned that his head would fall off.
"No, no, I'm not allowed. It's bad, her real name, it's bad to say, she doesn't like it, or she knows if you say it, or she just. . . it's bad to say. Only nicknames. The Countess, the Blood Countess, The Bloody Lady of Csejte, Countess Dracula, the Lady of Blood. No real names, just nicknames. She doesn't hear those as well."
The sanity of this boy really was beginning to fall into question. Usually, he would question it long before then, but considering his usual company, strange things had started to become the norm.
This was getting out there, however. Even for them.
"Okay. So why does she want me to play some game?" There was still a hesitation, but it was much shorter than the previous one.
"The game. . . they made it about her. And she. . . she's very. . . um. She really likes herself-"
"Vain? Narcissistic?" Terry stared at Alex when he interrupted and his shoulders lifted and then dropped in a weak shrug.
"I would never say that. I wouldn't, really, and I. . . wouldn't agree either." Something about the tone indicated that he did agree. That, along with the fearful way the kid glanced over his shoulder, made him certain that this countess person had done a number on him.
"But. . . those are words that people use to describe her. Anyway, she, uh, she got stuck. In the game. Her spirit. And there's a little prayer and the players read it and they call her, and then she comes and takes their blood when they lose. It's messy. And, well, after that, she sleeps until they call her again."
It didn't take very long to piece together the clues.
"Alright, so you play the game and she kills you if you lose the game. Okay. Why did she want me to play? I'm not exactly a female." Terry stared at him for an almost uncomfortable amount of time without blinking before shrugging.
"Countess just told me. She told me to write the letter and she told me to get you four to play, but oh, I only got two of you to play she needs more than just two players, she needs more, or she'll get upset and then I'll-" He gulped and shivered, a hand going to clutch his neck.
"Wait, four? Two of four?" It was probably BB and Faye. Saski had gone missing, and-
"Woah, woah, hold on there. Who are the two playing?" Terry blinked and reached between the pillow and the wall, retrieving what looked like a camera. He turned it on and offered it to the boy.
"The last picture, them together, both players." A quick scan into the recent history showed a glimpse of Saski and Faye. Somehow, the boy had managed to take a picture of them without getting caught. His stealth skills were almost impressive, but if Saski had been one of the players. . .
"So you're the one who took her?"
"No!" Terry almost shouted, then covered his mouth. "No, no, please, I- The Countess told me too, she made me, and she helped me. I didn't want to, I promise."
Alex was a bit torn. The scrawny kid didn't look like he could actually take anyone in a fight, let alone someone like Saski. On the other hand, if the blood lady helping him could do that much, then the kid was much more dangerous than he'd originally thought.
"Why do you do what the Countess says, anyway? Wait, you used to be a player, didn't you?" It was the only thing he could think of to explain the fear that practically radiated from the boy.
"Y-yes, I did. She. . . I begged her to let me go, and she. We made a deal. I'd help her spread around, I'd keep her fed and happy and she'd let me live. I didn't know what else to do, I just. . . I didn't want to die." Alex could sympathize with that, at least. He'd been in enough situations to know that almost dying was never a good time, and in fact, was usually felt with tears, fear, and pain. Not that he'd ever cried.
"But why stay? If she gets sealed up, then why are you still here giving her victims? If nobody plays the game, can she really hurt you?" He was disappointed by the quick nodding.
"See, the thing is, um, I'm still a player, technically, so she's always awake. She won't get sealed back up unless all the players die, or-" A pair of weak hands covered his mouth and he shook his head. He didn't want to add to it, that was evident enough. However, it was also clear that he knew something, even if he didn't seem keen on sharing.
"Is there some other way? Look, she can't get in here. You said it yourself." He was trying to prod gently, to get the boy to respond. "If there's another way, then we can fix it, can't we? I'm not going to do anything to hurt you, don't worry. I don't play like that."
Terry hesitantly dropped his hands from his mouth and, slowly, nodded. "We would. . . we would need to get her stuck in her body. And then we would need to burn it." He added, in a rush, "But that's a bad idea! Very bad! She'll be back in her body and then she'll know it was us and we'll die!"
"She'll get stuck in her body, sure, but she'll probably be a bit surprised, wouldn't she? Would we have at least a few seconds to react?" The small boy thought about that, and gave the most hesitant nod he had during the discussion.
"Maybe. We might."
Alex nodded, less hesitantly and more firmly. "Then let's get to it. I can't let this blood lady murder my friends, after all. I still need to ask why the hell they left me in the forest, of all places. Ah, wait, where is her body, anyway?"
"In the basement."
Hoofbeats. That wasn't good, it meant the Countess was on her way.
It was BB who came up with the idea to take some of the flowers and put them on Faye. One went into her hair, they were looped into her belt loops, a couple were tucked into her sleeves.
If the girl wasn't worried about getting sliced up by a bloodthirsty spirit, she'd probably contemplate how ridiculous she must look.
"Alright, landing in a rose bush saved that one guy in the movie." The taller girl stated, blinking her multicolored as at the shorter one. "This might help better then just holding them."
The living room was tense. Saski was still playing, still trying to figure out a way to end this through the game. The hoofbeats were getting louder. Faye was contemplating whether running might help, or if it would just make the Blood Countess happy to have a hunt, and BB was doing something with the rest of the roses.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door flying open, and then the Countess herself stepped in.
She was wearing a red dress, and Faye's first thought was that she shouldn't be surprised, because what else would someone like her wear? The woman scanned the room for the briefest second and then her eyes locked on the girl. They were soulless. Faye stepped back and as she did, the Countess appeared in front of her and brought a blade that she hadn't even noticed the woman had down, swinging for her shoulder-
The blade made contact. Or, it felt like it did, for a second, and then it dissolved. The Countess stepped back and glared, an expression that could make BB's scariest expression look like puppy eyes. The woman in red stepped forward and lifted a hand, then dissolved.
Faye took a deep breath, and smiled, weakly.
"That worked. I can't believe that actually worked. BB, it-" She had been turning to face the girl, and her blood went cold.
The Countess had an arm around BB's throat, the project the girl was working on out of her hands. One of the blades was being pressed against the girl's throat, and the girl's normally deadpan expression held a trace of shock.
"You can't," Faye muttered, watching her friend struggle and kick in the spirits grip. "She didn't even play the game, you can't-"
The sword was pulled back slightly, and then jabbed down toward the girl's stomach. Faye's immediate reaction was to scream.
"No! Wait!" The blade hesitated. BB looked like she was near passing out, and Faye realized why the girl hadn't spoken up. The grip on her throat was tighter than it looked. As for the spirit, she had an almost mocking grin on her face. There was only one thing she could do.
The girl reached up and pulled the rose out of her hair, dropping on the ground. She watched the woman's grip lessen, and then the ones in her sleeves were yanked out. With every rose removed, Faye became more vulnerable, and BB came an inch closer to safety.
She took the last rose and dropped it on the ground, waiting for the blow, but the Countess motioned for her to step out of the patch of roses on the floor. There was only a moment of hesitation as she began to take the step.
The girl was interrupted by a sudden hiss of pain. She glanced up, expecting to see the worst.
What she saw instead was BB on the floor, unconscious but apparently alive, the Countess with a knife buried in her arm, and Saski, looking more pissed off then she'd seen the woman yet.
"No, you don't. You are not killing my niece, or her friend." The blade twisted and the spirit snarled at her, before disappearing. Saski turned and went to pick up her controller again. The woman hesitated and muttered a few choice curses before dropping it. The game over screen was enough to tell her that there was no point.
Instead, she joined Faye, who was crouching near BB.
"She wasn't supposed to go after her," the girl muttered. "BB hasn't even played the game, let alone died in it. . . You're going to yell at me for being stupid now, aren't you?"
Her aunt actually considered it for a moment, then shook her head, and reached over to pick up one of the roses, handing it to her niece.
"No. Not now. She'll be back soon and, honestly, I just want to get these roses in gear before they wilt-"
Crash
Alex had decided that he didn't like the basement. His only comfort was that the freaky dog thing was still outside, which meant that it was either undead, or really didn't want to go back into the house.
Terry was in front, lighting the way with the flashlight and carrying a hammer and a box of nails. Alex himself had a can of gasoline. The boy had expected to have to go hunting for the materials they needed, but surprisingly, Terry had already had them.
"I need the gas for the generator," he'd explain in his hesitant, quiet voice. "And sometimes I need to fix up the house, so I keep some tools and stuff around. Really, that's all."
Alex was half tempted to say that it didn't explain the matches that the boy also had, but he didn't want to press it. To him, it seemed like the meek little boy had been looking for an excuse to get rid of his boss for a while now. He wasn't going to argue; if this lady was after him and his friends, getting this over with was better done as quickly as possible.
"Alright, we should probably toss the gas on her first. Get everything ready so that all we need to do is actually throw the match." He muttered, more to himself then the boy. "The less time she has to do anything, the better, right?"
There was a small noise from the boy that he took to be a yes, and he tightened his grip on the can slightly as the boy in front of him pushed open a door.
In front of them, resting on a table, arms folded, was a corpse. Somehow the corpse looked almost fresh. There didn't seem to be any decay around it, and if he didn't know exactly what it was, he'd have expected the woman to be asleep.
He hesitated for only a moment before he lifted the can and began to carefully pour the fuel over the woman. It felt weird for him, to be ending something before it might have even started, but that was the way it was going to have to be.
In hindsight, maybe they should have thought that the Countess would come back quickly. After all, they were the only two that had been playing, and both of their game counterparts had died. What need would the spirit have to wait?
Saski shoved the girl back into the roses the moment she heard the sound. The thorns might hurt, but it was nothing compared to what the Countess would do. The next movement was to quickly scoop up the knife that had fallen. It wasn't her spirit hunting one; she hadn't had time to get that. However, the Countess had to be at least moderately solid to actually try and hurt them, and the knife was silver. Silver usually worked for things like that.
The next moment she spun, the blade lifting swiftly. It wasn't with the intention to cut; in fact, it was the opposite. She was raising it defensively.
There was the sound of metal scraping against metal as her blade collided with one of the Countesses, and then she dove forward to try and knock into the ghost. The mistake being that, considering this was a ghost, she flew forward, through her.
Faye picked up one of the roses and threw it at the spirit, but the woman simply vanished and appeared over her. The girl grabbed another flower and held it up just before the blade couldn't meet her shoulder.
It was clear that the spirit was beginning to get very annoyed by the events. She turned away from Faye and lifted one of the blades to bring it down on Saski, as the woman was just beginning to get up.
The third interruption came from neither of the players. It came from BB who had, the moment she woke up and figured out what was going on, picked up the flowers she been fiddling with earlier, and jammed the creation onto the spirits head.
For a split second, everyone was quiet. Faye gaped at her friend. BB glared at the Countess, who seemed stunned that someone had dared to shove a flower crown of roses on her head, and the woman on the ground was gathering herself to her feet.
Then the spirit screeched in pain and vanished, reappearing a few steps back. There was a ring of what looked like blisters around her head, and she seemed even more pissed off then she had before.
One of the swords lifted, and she looked ready to murder everyone in the room, regardless of their interactions with the game, when she suddenly froze. Blood dripped from a new hole in hand.
The Countess looked at the wound even as a second appeared, and then she began to screech, this time in anger, as she disappeared.
Driving nails into a corpse was not fun, and Alex vowed to never repeat it (unless the circumstances were, as with this one, life or death), for as long as he lived. Terry was freaking out slightly in the corner, and as much as Alex wanted to tell him to go wait outside, he was a bit worried the demon dog might try to eat him. That was something he didn't need to deal with, especially if the nail thing failed to work.
The first one he picked to drive into her hand, since one nail got to be a freebie location wise. Then he moved up to the head, wincing at the sound of the skull breaking under the hammer.
The last nail was held over her heart, and as he put it in place, he could almost feel the temperature drop. There was a startled shriek from Terry, and then the hammer was brought down.
The corpse opened her eyes almost immediately, and the hand without the nail shot toward Alex. It was instinct to lift his own hands to block it, and instead of scratching his face, the woman snagged the hammer. Her hand closed around it and she pulled it away, dropping it as she lifted herself to her feet.
The boy reached for his pocket to grab the matches, cursing when he realized he didn't have them. He was sure he'd had it, where'd it-
There was the sound of a match lightly, and he glanced to the corner. Terry was staring at the flame in an almost bewildered fashion, the fire seeming to almost hypnotize him.
The Countess stepped toward him and she was in the process of lifting her hand when he threw it. The match caught on her sleeve and the fire raced over her body, engulfing her.
Alex winced at the sudden spike in temperature, and tossed the gas can far away from him. A quick glance at Terry revealed the boy looking the most terrified Alex had yet to see him, and considering there wasn't much else he could do, he reached over and snagged the smaller boy's arm, yanking him back to the door.
"Come on, let's go. This whole place is going to burn, and I am not burning with it."
The race outside was a blur, and things didn't get clear until he realized he was sitting in grass. The house was smoking quite heavily, and Terry and Smile seemed to be having a staring contest, both with their seemingly default expression. Terrified and smiling.
"Oi, don't do anything to him, he's. . . he's a friend." There was a moment of hesitation as he tried to find the right word, but friend seemed to do. After all, you couldn't burn the corpse of a spirit that wanted to try and kill you and not from some bond, right?
The dog tilted his head at Alex, then turned back to Terry. He could see even from his spot on the grass that the dog was going to jump, but he couldn't get to his feet before Terry was back to being pinned on the ground. The creature opened his mouth slightly, and Alex winced in sympathy for the pain that those teeth were going to cause.
Needless to say, he was caught off guard when the demonic looking dog began to happy lick at the boys face.
Terry had, once upon a time, been a dog person. The creatures were always so cheerful and playful and up until he'd found the game and gotten taken by the Count- No, just the countess. She was gone. She didn't need to be fear anymore.
Either way, he was quite happy that the puppy seemed to like him, and as they followed Alex out of the woods, he tossed a stick and giggled quietly to himself when the dog would fetch it back.
The other boy had told him that they were going to see one of his friends, the one that had played the game. Partly to check on them, and partly to see if Terry would be able to stay until they figured out where he should be.
If he were being honest, the boy would admit that he didn't want to go. He was pretty sure the old lady would be very angry at him for what the Co- the countess made him do, but Alex had said he would take care of it.
He liked the other boy. The other boy had gotten him away from the countess, and made him realize that he didn't have to live with that. He'd been so tempted to put the match out, or worse, throw it at the other boy in hopes that she would let him live if he did, but in the end, he'd made the right choice.
And as they walked up to the door and knocked, he was glad that he'd also chosen to go ahead and go with Alex. After all, the place he'd been staying was going to burn down, and since there'd be no more offering people to the countess, he couldn't keep their money, which was how he'd been getting what food he could in the first place.
It wasn't until the door opened to reveal the old lady, who got a very, very nasty look on her face, that Terry began to reconsider.
The first thing she did was shove a rose at him. Alex was, needless to say, highly confused.
"Hey, what are you doing- Ow, that was a thorn! Could you knock it off?" At the sound of his voice, he saw BB and Faye peer into the room.
He was almost knocked to the ground by the force of the shorter girl flying at him and wrapping her arms around him, and even BB seemed a bit happy to see him there. Well, as happy as BB ever appeared, anyway.
"Nice to see you're not dead." The mildly cryptic statement concerned him as he was dragged into the house. The confusion deepened as the dog ran in through the still open door and jumped up on the taller girl, who was quick to give him an ear scratch. "There you are, Smile. So that's where you went off to."
"Ah, what do you mean? Exactly how long was I sleeping out in the woods? And why does BB know the demon do- . . . Actually, scratch the last one. I'm not sure I even want to know."
BB shot him her puzzled look. "Alex, you weren't asleep. Faye and I found you. You were dead. Cold, no pulse, dead." Faye had stepped back by then, and was nodding. Well, that certainly explained why they'd been so happy to see him.
"Anyway, there's no time for talking," Faye added. "Here, you need some roses. The Countess is going to come back any minute, and-" Normally the Scot tried not to be too rude, but he cut off the girl's worried words by shaking his head.
"Actually, no. Me and- Terry, where'd you-" He turned to see the boy being held in place by the hood of his jacket by a very pissed off looking Saski. Terry, in turn, looked about as terrified of her as he had of the Countess. At the mention of his name, Saski tilted her head slightly.
"Terry. So, Terry, do you want to explain why you broke into my house, attacked me, and made me play that game?" Her voice was low, dangerous, and icy cold. Terry had immediately begun to shake his head, and Alex stepped between the two, lightly shoving the boy behind him. He felt a pair of hands grab the back of his shirt, and just sighed.
"Okay, whatever he did or didn't do, he helped me get rid of the thing. It wasn't his fault, so can we just talk about this tomorrow?" The woman opened her mouth to retort when Faye joined in the conversation.
"It might be better if we all rest and give ourselves a chance to calm down. Considering how hectic the last couple of days were, I think some rest might do us all some good." Saski glanced back and forth between the two of them, which turned to three when BB placed her hand on Faye's shoulder. Then, finally, she just shook her head.
"Fine, but he can stay with Alex. I don't trust him enough to let him stay the night here."
With that she turned and left the room, heading to the kitchen. There was a short pause where BB picked some grass off of Smile, and Faye tried to help Alex remove Terry from the back of his shirt, and then the woman reappeared at the doorway.
". . . If they want to stay for dinner, though, I'll allow it."