REVIEW RESPONSE
Nightw2: I'd estimate that there's about 3 chapters left (including this one) but the suspense will pick up in these last few chapters. I also have a couple of surprises in store. You'll just have to wait and see.
They Call Me Kalli: Glad you think I've improved. I've actually had a lot of the ideas for a while now. If you still say that I have room for improvement I'll take your word for it. I hold the view that there is no perfect writing style. I'll just have to read other fics and improve my style. Thank you for saying what you think is wrong with my style, now I can improve. When I last saw a review, your criticism about my writing style was a little vague but I understand better now.
Vampire huntEveryone turned to the doorway where the voice had come from. Everyone was worried about who it was. They were expecting another ghost but instead saw Penelope standing in the doorway.
"Penelope!" Sylvester cried. He ran up to her and embraced her. She returned the hug.
"Are you ok?" Penelope asked.
"I was worried about you, I saw you get taken away by those zombies and that vampire." Sylvester replied. Penelope hugged him tightly.
"I'm fine, but I was worried about what he'd do to me." Penelope said.
"How did you escape?" Tweety asked.
"The hard way, by fighting." Penelope replied.
"I guess that comes from fending off Pepe le Pew." Aaooga remarked (A/N: Nightw2 pointed that out, thanks for the idea)
"Yeah, I took up self-defence to fend him off." Penelope replied.
"I see." Tweety muttered.
"Are all of you ok?" Penelope asked.
"Not all of us." Tweety replied sadly. Penelope got worried.
"Why?" Penelope asked although she had a feeling at what he was going to say.
"I'm half-vampire." Tweety replied sadly. Penelope looked surprised.
"Half-vampire?" Penelope asked.
"Read this book for an explanation." Aaooga replied, showing Penelope the page regarding half-vampires. Penelope read the information with interest.
"Now that I've read this, I know that you're related to the vampire Tweety." Penelope said.
"I am, how?" Tweety asked.
"You're his great, great, great, great grandson according to him." Penelope replied.
"So I was bitten by a relative so that why I'm only half vampire." Tweety said.
"Can half-vampires be turned to normal?" Penelope asked. Aaooga looked offended.
"Didn't you read the whole section?" Aaooga asked. Penelope looked embarrassed.
"Oops." Was all Penelope could say.
"I have to kill the vampire that transformed me." Tweety said.
"And I heard you know something about a silver weapon." Aaooga added.
"Yes, I saw Sweetie's ghost a few minutes ago…" Penelope began.
"I think we've all met her." Sylvester said.
"What did she say?" Aaooga asked.
"She said there was a silver tipped dagger in her corpse." Penelope replied.
"I saw a dagger in her skeleton from when I was trying to find Aaooga." Tweety said.
"Where was her corpse?" Aaooga asked.
"In the passage near the passage I came out of." Tweety replied.
"You mean in the bedroom where we found each other?" Aaooga asked.
"That's the one." Tweety replied.
"How could you identify it was her corpse?" Sylvester asked.
"I'm a graduate of body Identification by looking at the bones." Tweety replied.
"I remember that programme." Penelope exclaimed.
"Then let's head there and get that dagger." Sylvester said. Everyone went back to the bedroom.
The group were to the bedroom where Aaooga had found Tweety. It was pretty much on the other side of the house however so it was a very long trek.
"How much farther?" Sylvester asked in frustration.
"You asked that 5 minutes ago." Penelope said. She was getting annoyed with Sylvester's lack of patience.
"Whatever." Tweety muttered in annoyance.
"We're pretty close now. Just a couple more corridors." Aaooga replied.
"You said that…" Sylvester began to moan.
"Don't start!" Tweety snapped. Sylvester found his rage building.
"You get me so angry!" Sylvester yelled. Tweety tried to remain calm but was getting angry as well.
"To be honest, you make me angry as well." Tweety replied calmly. Sylvester then lost it.
"That does it!" Sylvester yelled. He went to pounce on Tweety but stopped when Tweety revealed his fangs.
"Don't push me or I will bite you." Tweety threatened. Sylvester gulped at the thought. Penelope stepped in between Sylvester and Tweety.
"Don't bite my boyfriend!" Penelope shouted.
"I will if he pushes me, and I may bite you as well." Tweety replied sternly, still showing his fangs. Both cats backed off.
"I don't think you'd even bite me." Sylvester remarked.
"Don't push me!" Tweety warned. Aaooga had heard enough. She used her wolf howl to grab everyone's attention.
"All of you calm down or we'll never make it out of here." Aaooga said sternly. Sylvester quietened down and Tweety hid his fangs again.
"Never get into an argument with a vampire." Sylvester muttered. He tried not to show it, but he was scared of Tweety now that he was a half-vampire.
"Look, we're here now." Aaooga said. They were standing outside the door to the bedroom where Aaooga and Tweety had found each other.
"Now where was Sweetie's corpse?" Aaooga asked. Tweety flew to the bedside draw on the left hand side of the bed.
"There's a passageway in this draw. Her corpse is in here." Tweety replied. He opened the draw.
"Will you two be ok here?" Aaooga asked.
"We'd like to fight Count Sleety alone." Tweety added.
"We'll be fine." Penelope replied.
"I hope." Sylvester added nervously.
"Ok, we'll go get that silver tipped dagger Sweetie mentioned." Tweety said.
"See you back here later." Aaooga added. They flew down the passageway leading to Sweetie's corpse.
Tweety and Aaooga had gone down the passageway, leaving Sylvester and Penelope alone in the room.
"Hope they'll be ok." Sylvester muttered. Penelope was sitting on the bed just staring into space.
"Anything wrong?" Sylvester asked, slightly concerned. Penelope looked at him.
"I just never realised that this house had such a terrible secret." Penelope replied. Sylvester sat next to her.
"The only thing we can do now is turn Tweety back to normal and find that last key." Sylvester said.
"Key?" Penelope asked.
"Apparently, there are three keys to the front door. Tweety has two of them and there's one more left." Sylvester replied. Penelope had a brief flashback to when she was in the sacred chamber. She saw the object hanging around his neck in the flashback but recognized it this time. During this time, she seemed to black out, making Sylvester worry.
"Are you ok?" Sylvester asked. Penelope snapped back to reality.
"I know where the third key is." Penelope said. Sylvester looked shocked.
"Where is it?" Sylvester asked.
"Count Sleety has it." Penelope replied.
"So we'd have to beat him anyway." Sylvester said. Penelope looked at him.
"Sylvester, I must apologize for putting myself in danger." Penelope said quietly.
"Huh?" Sylvester asked. He was puzzled by what Penelope had just said.
"When I saw you climb into this house, I got worried and found my own way inside to try and find you, I love you too much to let you get hurt, I'm sorry." Penelope replied bashfully. Sylvester put his arm around her.
"Don't worry about it. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't know where a weapon to beat count sleety was." Sylvester replied. Penelope smiled.
"Anyway, I'm the one who needs to apologise." Sylvester added.
"Why?" Penelope asked.
"Not to you, to Tweety." Sylvester replied.
"I see." Penelope said.
"If I hadn't attacked him and Aaooga yesterday, none of this would've happened." Sylvester added. Penelope wrapped her tail around his back to comfort him.
"It's nice to see you take responsibility, and besides, if you help turn Tweety back to normal, he'll probably forgive you." Penelope said.
"I hope he does." Sylvester replied. Penelope put her arm around him.
"What do you want to do while we wait?" Penelope asked. Sylvester looked at her lovingly.
"I have an idea or two." Sylvester replied. Their lips came together and they were just about to kiss when they heard the bedroom door open.
"Who's there?" Penelope asked nervously. They looked at the door and found a hoard of zombies.
"Not again." Sylvester moaned. They let go of each other and retreated to the other side of the room. The zombies had cornered them next to the window.
"Now what do we do?" Sylvester asked.
"You can surrender." Came a voice from behind the zombies. The zombies parted and Count Sleety stood before the cats.
"You again." Penelope said nervously.
"Did you miss me?" Sleety asked?
"Not really." Penelope replied. Sleety smirked.
"Grab them!" The zombies grabbed Sylvester and Penelope.
"Uh oh." Sylvester moaned.
"This time, keep a firm hold." Sleety ordered.
"It's up to Tweety now." Sylvester muttered but Sleety heard him.
"You think a vampire would willingly slay his own breatherin?" Sleety asked. Sylvester was about to say something but Penelope stopped him.
"Let him find out for himself." Penelope whispered.
"Take them to the sacred chamber, the ceremony cannot wait." Sleety ordered. The zombies took Sylvester and Penelope down to the sacred chamber. Tweety and Aaooga know nothing about what was going on.
Tweety and Aaooga were flying down the passageway to the sacred chamber where Tweety was held before.
"Sweetie's corpse is down this passage?" Aaooga asked.
"Yep, but it's nothing than a skeleton and a few feathers now." Tweety replied.
"Did you see anything odd about the corpse?" Aaooga asked. Tweety thought for a moment.
"There was a dagger in it." Tweety replied.
"That has to be the silver dagger that her ghost mentioned." Aaooga said.
"Then we need to find her corpse again." Tweety replied. No sooner had he said this, they saw the remains of a canary ahead of them.
"That must be it." Aaooga said. They went up to the corpse and saw a dagger sticking out.
"Yep, this is it all right." Tweety replied. He grabbed the dagger and pulled it out from Sweetie's corpse.
"Now we can fight Count Sleety." Aaooga said. The corridor began to fill with mist.
"Is that your ghost Sweetie?" Tweety asked. The ghost was that of Sweetie. It took on her form.
"We now have a weapon to fight the vampire." Aaooga said. Sweetie nodded and spelt out…
'P, L, E, A, S, E, A, V, E, N, G, E, M, E!'
"What will happen to you once Sleety is dead?" Tweety asked. Sweetie spelt out…
'I, D, O, N, T, K, N, O, W, B, U, T, I, W, I, L, L, B, E, A, B, L, E, T, O, R, E, S, T, I, N, P, E, A, C, E, I, F, I, H, A, V, E, T, O, D, E, P, A, R, T!'
"Do you know where the third key to get out of here is?" Aaooga asked showing Sweetie's ghost the two keys they'd found. Sweetie spelt out…
'S, L, E, E, T, Y, H, A, S, I, T!'
"So we'd have had to fight him anyway." Tweety said.
"Why didn't you see it when you met him before?" Aaooga asked.
"I don't think he was wearing it when I met him before." Tweety replied. Sweetie's ghost then spelt out…
'H, A, S, T, W, E, E, T, Y, B, E, E, N, B, I, T, T, E, N!' Tweety nodded sadly.
"Half vampire." Tweety said. Sweetie's ghost then spelt out…
'J, U, S, T, L, I, K, E, M, E!'
"We'd better defeat the vampire quickly." Aaooga said. Sweetie's ghost nodded and vanished.
"Come on Aaooga, time to settle the score." Tweety said. They made their way down the passage, with the silver dagger firmly in Tweety's hand.
Sylvester and Penelope were chained to crucifixes in the sacred chamber. Candles were aligning the walls of the chamber in preparation for something. There was also a mist forming above them. Unlike the other mists, this one was much darker and a hint of evil was coming from it. Count Sleety was at an altar on the other side of the chamber looking at some sort of book, the final key was hung around his neck. After reading the book for a few minutes he came over to Sylvester and Penelope.
"So, you thought you could get away from me so easily did you?" Sleety asked evilly. Sylvester and Penelope gulped.
"What are you going to do to us?" Penelope asked.
"I have a couple of friends in need of a body." Sleety replied, pointing to the mist above them. Penelope gasped.
"A possession ceremony?" Sylvester asked.
"No, a body takeover ceremony, once the ceremony is complete, you will die and other beings will take your body permanently." Sleety replied evilly.
"How's that different from possession?" Sylvester asked.
"Possession is a temporary measure to be used in an emergency." Sleety replied. He was unaware that Tweety and Aaooga were watching from the exit of the passageway. They had heard every word of the plan.
"Tweety, we have to save them." Aaooga said.
"I know, but how?" Tweety asked.
"We have to interrupt the ceremony when it starts." Aaooga replied.
"I get it, that way we can interrupt the process and prevent it from working." Tweety said.
"We'd better do it quick, the ceremony is starting." Aaooga added. They watched in horror as Sleety took a bowl of unholy water and began to approached Sylvester and Penelope.
"If anyone here objects to the body takeover of these two beings, they must speak so now." Sleety spoke in a loud voice.
"Now's our chance." Aaooga whispered. Tweety burst the secret entrance open and flew towards Count Sleety at full speed.
"I object! Those are my friends!" Tweety shouted. He tried to decapitate with the silver dagger but only succeeded in knocking the unholy water out of his hands. Tweety stopped flying and turned towards Count Sleety, with the silver dagger ready to strike again. Aaooga came out from the passage and Freed Sylvester and Penelope from the shackles.