Chapter Thirty Six ~ Loose Rocks
The silence was deafening. Everyone was in complete shock with what had happened. In such a brief period we had learnt so much. About the creature. About Cassandra and her sons. About Mr Gomez. It was so overwhelming.
I felt Melvin's grip slacken around my arm as he watched his brother's neck break and him whimper for one last time, before he fell limp at the monster's, that apparently was Mr Gomez, feet.
Suddenly there was a blood-curdling screech from Cassandra. I turned to the witch to see her chest heaving as she stared at her dead son. Her eyes bulged and her skin seemed to be pulsing. Her hands were clenched into fists so tight that veins were visible on her, now pale, skin. Cassandra's once beautiful face had turned up in a horrific expression. A snarl was visible on her mouth and her teeth grinded together.
The creature that had killed her son looked up at the witch and it's mouth curled up slightly, as if it was smiling. I saw Robin's eyes on Cassandra and he took a few cautious steps back. His eyes began to flick from Mr Gomez to Cassandra, his face unsure and tense.
Cassandra's face whipped suddenly towards her only remaining son, still furious and pulsing. Her skin seemed to ripple and looked like it was strained. Her veins were all visible and clear in her sheet like colour. She looked like something had sucked all the life out of her. She threw down the knife in her hand and it landed near where I was forced to kneel.
"Finish the ritual." Her voice was barely above a whisper. It was low and husky, sounding nothing like her own elegant, high tone that sent shivers up my spine. It sounded slightly demonic if anything.
She turned back to the De Noir tutor and let out a loud snarl. She shook violently then seemed to explode, her skin apparently over done by the strain. She twisted and grew, her bones and spine changing shape and breaking to make a new form. Hair grew, covering her body, giving her a rough, dirty coat. Her face elongated and formed a long snout, complete with fierce looking teeth.
Cassandra had changed into some horrifying creature, just like Mr Gomez had before. The witch's body no longer stood by the fire, instead was some monster that looked to be something from a nightmare. Come to think of it, this creature looked a lot like the creatures that chased me through the forest in my nightmare.
In a blink of an eye, the creature, or Cassandra, lunged for Mr Gomez. The attack took the large animal by surprise, but luckily he defended himself before the witch could rip out his throat. The two animals then engaged in a vicious battle, something that completely sent me speechless.
Melvin seemed to be in shock aswell, but then his grip on me became rough and harsh. He pushed me aside hard and I fell over, narrowly missing the fire. I saw him crouch down and pick up the knife his mother had dropped before. I then realised what he was going to do.
Finish the ritual
I tried to scramble to my feet and get away, but I felt a strong hand grab my leg to stop me. I attempted to kick Melvin to get loose but he was much stronger than his late brother. His grip suddenly disappeared from my ankle, but before I could react, Melvin grabbed my robes and pulled me into a kneeling position like before. He shoved me close to the fire and I heard him muttering.
I closed my eyes, feeling the tears pouring from my eyes. I couldn't die. I couldn't die now.
Suddenly, I was pushed to the floor again and Melvin's grip disappeared from me altogether. I half expected him to grab me again, but he didn't. I could hear the sound of struggling. I sat up and turned around just in time to see Robin punching Melvin square in the face. The giant staggered back a few steps. Blood began to drip from Melvin's nose, and he turned back to Robin, his face hard.
"Judging by your face," Robin said slowly, stepping back slightly. "I'd say that was a bad idea." Melvin's laugh boomed loudly.
"You guessed correctly." He said.
ROBIN'S POV
Melvin grabbed the front of my shirt and practically lifted me high of my feet. His grip hurt against the scars and bruises on my chest. I was then thrown aside and landed somewhere near the bank of the pool below the waterfall. I didn't have any chance to react as I was then hauled up by my shirt again. This time though, Melvin threw me into the pool.
I hadn't realised how deep parts of the pool actually was. I was submerged before I had chance to hold my breath. I quickly gathered my senses and kicked my way to the surface. Once I reached it, I took a big gulp of air. The whole action had weakened my body even more than it already was. I spotted Melvin stood on the bank, watching me with a hard expression.
"You'll stay in there, if you know what's good for you." He said. Behind him, I could see Maria being held by one of the guards, even further behind her was the others, still grouped together. Cassandra and Mr Gomez were no where to be seen. It seemed it was just Melvin and myself, no one to intervene.
I swam backwards to the opposite bank, my eyes still on Melvin. I could see everyone waiting to see what I would do. Once I reached the bank, I pulled myself up by my elbows, though I winced greatly. Finally, I made it out of the pool and staggered to my shaking feet. An arm shot instinctively around my lower torso, where the bulk of the pain was. A shape caught my eye. The limp, dead body of Melvin's brother in his creature form. My eyes flickered back to where Melvin stood, eyes narrow, watching me.
"I see your mother has left you." I called over to him. I saw Melvin's face strain slightly at the mention of his mother. "To baby-sit?" I let my mouth turn up into a smug smile.
"I have a job to do." Melvin called back. I raised an eyebrow.
"And what might that be?" I asked, feigning stupidity.
"To finish what we've started." He said through gritted teeth. "Get the powers from the Moon Princess to restore our powers." He paused. "Though it seems an arrogant boy who has a pathetic affection for the silly little girl is preventing me from doing that job." I grinned as his cold eyes stared me down. "So it looks I'm going to have to get rid of him. For good."
"Hmm." I nodded slowly, enjoying taunting the giant man. "You've tried to kill me once already." I pointed out. "Though, clearly, it didn't seem to work." A chest rumbling snarl came from the man.
"Well, we won't make the same mistake twice."
Before I could retort, Melvin transformed, much faster than any of the previous transformations I had seen. His creature form was only slightly smaller than Mr Gomez's current form, though infinitely more terrifying. The beast spread it's legs apart and let out a loud roar in my direction. I stood, motionless, just staring at it.
"Robin!" Maria's voice jolted me just in time, as the creature lunged across the large pool and onto the bank I was on. I moved out the way quickly before it landed on me, and turned to face my, now over-powering, opponent.
"Run, you idiot!" My sister screamed. The creature snarled again, then tried to lunge for me. I quickly came to my senses, jumped and ran. I headed for the waterfall, scrambling behind it. The creature followed me, seconds after. I grabbed a loose rock and threw it at the beast's large head. It screeched as the rock hit him in the snout, drawing blood. I grinned in victory but realised that was a mistake.
The creature took a swipe at me and hit me hard, knocking me off my feet. Soon the beast's large face was in mine, though it didn't kill me like I expected. Instead it just stared at me, seemingly taunting me before it got rid of me for good.
I could smell it's rank breath as it pressed it's face up close. I tried not to show any fear, though I knew I would be dead within seconds.
Right before it could rip me apart, a loud, spine-chilling screech was heard. The creature was stunned for a few seconds and raised it's head away from me.
The benefit of being underneath a waterfall was that there was plenty of loose rocks to hit your attacker with.
As the beast was distracted, I quickly grabbed a rock then hit it hard across the face again. Without pausing this time, I scrambled to my feet and ran.
When I exited the waterfall, I immediately ran into one of the castle guards. I recognised him straight away, seeing him around the castle grounds often. His eyes were blurred, obviously still under Cassandra's spell. Without warning, he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground, cutting off my air supply.
There was another screech in echoed in the distance and this disorientated the guard trying to kill me. I took my chance quickly to punch him and he dropped me. Behind me I heard the sounds of the creature following after me, now regaining it's senses. It spotted me and lunged at me. At the last minute, I ducked and the creature collided with the trance-fixed guard.
A wash of pain came over me and I cried out. Everything just seemed to be catching up on me, and I knew that if Mrs Harper could see me, she'd probably banish me to my room for a week to rest.
Melvin finished off the guard, then realised that he had got the wrong target. It's large head whipped around and set eyes on me. I had to think fast otherwise I would be dead in an instant.
On the floor, I spotted the guard's gun that he had lost when Melvin attacked him.
"Oh, this is such a bad idea." I muttered. Before Melvin could jump at me, I rushed forward, grabbing the gun. I struggled quickly with shaking hands, trying to figure out how to aim, all knowledge having disappeared. Melvin jumped for me and I quickly raised the gun and took four shots in the attacking creature's direction.
END ROBIN'S POV
The shots echoed out through the air and I saw the creature, that was trying to attack Robin, fall to the floor in a heap. I saw it groan slightly then try get to it's feet again. Though it then collapsed back onto the ground again, falling limp.
Melvin was dead.
I stared in disbelief for a few moments. I was completely sure the creature would finish Robin off, unaware of the gun lying on the floor near Robin. I watched as Robin struggled into an upright position, still pointing the gun at the dead beast before him.
Just then, there was a loud sound of trees snapping. I turned in the direction of the noise to see another creature, either Cassandra or Mr Gomez, fly out from the cover of the forest and land on the floor. Yet another creature ran out after it, and prepared for another attack. Though it stopped when something caught it's eye.
It spotted the recently dead creature, just by where Robin stood. It's chest began to rumble and it's heaved a snarl. I then realised this creature was Cassandra. And she had just spotted her one remaining son, dead. Dead in front of a very guilty looking Robin, holding a gun and still pointing it at the dead beast. It was easy to work things out.
Completely forgetting about Mr Gomez, Cassandra turned and made slow, careful steps towards Robin. Robin raised the gun towards her. I saw it was shaking.
"Don't come any closer, Cassandra." He called out. The creature made no attempt of stopping. "I mean it." Nothing. I saw Robin pull the trigger, hesitantly.
Click
Robin's eyes widened as he stared down at the gun in his hands. There was a low growl from Cassandra, which seemed to come out like a chuckle.
It took me a few moments to realise what was wrong: the gun had ran out of bullets.
(A/N) I really need to get back into the updating routine again! Sorry again for the long wait.
Sorry again, this chapter isn't that good. Don't worry I won't be dragging this part of the story out much longer.
Please tell me what you think because, again, I'm not sure if this chapter went aswell as I wanted it to.
-jemlou-