(Chapter 17! Hoorah! Anyways, I hope this chapter doesn't suck, it better not or 17 isn't my official lucky number anymore and I'm going back to 4. Not much to say about this chapter. I NEED STORIES! My creative gauge is going down slightly and I can't think of decent scary stories. I've been looking around snopes for the last hour trying to find some good urban legends. And for those of you who are wondering, yes I have given up on the "Death to Amy" thing. But I'm still iffy on the Sonamy coupling. Enough rambling though, I'll just give you what you want. Um, what do you want? Oh yeah, the story.)
As Tails walked back towards the castle, he noticed Lucius and Veronica talking with Drake again. He ducked behind a bush and listened carefully.
"Drake, this has gone far enough, you have your kill, now finish it off and leave, before they suspect you." said Veronica.
"Too late for that I'm afraid." said Drake. "Besides, the more I have now, the less I'll need next time."
"But it will also increase your yearning, you'll need more to live off of next time." said Lucius.
"You are being ridiculous. I'll be fine, not to worry." said Drake.
"That's what you said before you took our lives. We do not wish to feed of blood as you do, but we know that more blood now will mean more killings later, not to mention if that bat girl finds a taste for blood. The death rates will go through the roof, and we will be suspected of murder." said Veronica anxiously.
"Not murder, dear Veronica. Like you two said before, we are but parasites living off another. We are not murderers." replied Drake.
"Drake, you don't understand, if they figure out what is happening they will give you the stake! That we don't mind, it's better than what it is like now." said Lucius.
"Lucius, the reason I don't let you accept death is because I need you to own the castle, it won't go to me if you die. Besides, you keep those rascals in line. If you weren't around, they would have destroyed my plans by now. You strike fear into their hearts. They believe that you are voluntary bloody-suckers, but you won't do anything to them." said Drake.
"But Drake, what if you ran out of blood and went mad after being used to drinking so much at once?" asked Veronica.
"I'll feed on your servants. They aren't good at keeping the place clean anyways. I can put some better humans into a trance." said Drake.
"No Drake, we won't allow it." said Lucius.
"I'd watch your slippery tongue if I were you Lucius. I can always make your bride think my way." said Drake as his eyes began to glow faintly red.
"It doesn't work on-" started Lucius.
"Voluntary vampires, Lucius. I believe you have read the manual. It only won't work if your wife becomes voluntary, then she will be resistant to hypnotizing." said Drake.
Lucius sighed.
"Fine then, but mark my words, your end will not be far ahead." said Lucius.
"Consider them marked." said Drake with raised eyebrows.
Lucius and Veronica stalked off towards the greenhouse while Drake went in Tails' direction.
Tails crouched lower behind the bush and thought "So Lucius and Veronica are involuntary, that means…"
Drake drew closer as Tails thought to himself.
"I have to go, now. Before Drake realizes."
"Realizes what, kind sir?" came Drake's silky voice.
Drake was standing there by the bush smirking.
"You can-" began Tails.
"Read minds, yes. A skill I have mastered over the ages that Veronica and Lucius seem to ignore. Of course, involuntary vampires are less powerful than voluntaries." Drake replied.
"What have you done with Rouge and Cream?" demanded Tails.
"Ah yes, the fruit bat and the hare. You will be meeting them shortly." chuckled Drake.
"What do you-" Tails was cut off as Drake knocked him unconscious.
Back in the ballroom, everybody was still swapping stories while Tails was gone, his disappearance gone completely unnoticed.
"Hey, did you know L.Ron.Hubbard started the church of Scientology when someone bet him he couldn't make his own religion?" said Sonic.
"That's nothing, I heard that around Halloween, people hide needles and razors inside apples." said Knuckles.
"Ouch, that would hurt to bite into one." said Star-la.
"I did once, I had to get stitches on the top of my mouth." said Amy.
"That's what you get for eating unwrapped candy or fruit." said Susie.
"That's what our teacher always told us around Halloween, but I never believed her." said Amy.
"And look what happened to you." said Sonic.
"It seemed like it was made-up at the time." said Amy.
"Hey was it a needle or a razor?" asked Sonic.
"A razor, a needle would've hurt less." replied Amy.
"Yeah, but you would probably get hit with some LSD." said Shadow.
"Do I want to know what that is?" asked Amy.
"You tell me." smirked Shadow.
"Hey, speaking of LSD, did you know that gang members use to swab that stuff on telephones and dials in phone booths?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah, and they would drive around at night with their headlights off and the first person to flash them a warning would get shot." said Knuckles.
"Didn't that happen around Toledo?" asked Amy.
"Yeah, gang members would also hide under cars and slit peoples ankles and steal a shoe as proof they did it." said Knuckles.
"Once again, ouch." said Star-la.
"Hey, what about the one were the old lady outs her dog in the microwave to dry him off after a bath and it explodes?" asked Sonic.
"Poor dog." said Susie.
"What about the mummy that brought down the titanic?" said Shadow.
Nobody answered. All eyes were on Shadow.
"You're telling me you never heard that one?" said Shadow.
Everyone shook their head no.
"Ok, it goes like this…."
-story-
In the late 1890s, 4 rich young Englishmen visiting the excavations at Luxor were invited to buy an exquisitely fashioned mummy case containing the remains of Princess of Amen-Ra.
They drew lots. The man who won paid several thousand pounds and had the coffin taken to his hotel. A few hours later, he was seen walking out towards the desert. He never returned.
The next day, one of the remaining 3 men was shot by an Egyptian servant accidentally. His arm was so severely wounded it had to be amputated.
The third man in the foursome found on his return home that the bank holding his entire savings had failed. The fourth guy suffered a severe illness, lost his job and was reduced to selling matches in the street.
Nevertheless, the coffin reached England (causing other misfortunes along the way), where it was bought by a London businessman.
After 3 of his family members had been injured in a road accident and his house damaged by fire, the businessman donated it to the British Museum.
As the coffin was being unloaded from a truck in the museum courtyard, the truck suddenly went into reverse and trapped a passerby. Then as the casket was being lifted up the stairs by 2 workmen, 1 fell and broke his leg. The other, apparently in perfect health, died unaccountably two days later.
Once the Princess was installed in the Egyptian Room, trouble really started. The Museum's night watchmen frequently heard frantic hammering and sobbing from the coffin. Other exhibits in the room were also often hurled about at night. One watchman died on duty; making the other watchmen wanting to quit. Cleaners refused to go near the Princess too. When a visitor derisively flicked a dustcloth at the face painted on the coffin, his child died of measles soon afterwards.
Finally, the authorities had the mummy carried down to the basement figuring it could not do any harm down there. Within a wk, one of the helpers was seriously ill, and the supervisor of the move was found dead on his desk.
By now, the papers had heard of it. A journalist photographer took a picture of the mummy case and when he developed it, the painting on the coffin was of a horrifying, human face. The photographer was said to have gone home then, locked his bedroom door and shot himself.
Soon afterwards, the museum sold the mummy to a private collector. After continual misfortune (and deaths), the owner banished it to the attic.
A well known authority on the occult, Madame Helena Blavatsky, visited the premises. Upon entry, she was sized with a shivering fit and searched the house for the source of &an evil influence of incredible intensity; She finally came to the attic and found the mummy case.
Can you exorcise this evil spirit? Asked the owner. There is no such thing as exorcism. Evil remains evil forever. Nothing can be done about it. I implore you to get rid of this evil as soon as possible.
But no British museum would take the mummy; the fact that almost 20 people had met with misfortune, disaster or death from handling the casket, in barely 10 years, was now well known.
Eventually, a hardheaded American archaeologist (who dismissed the happenings as quirks of circumstance), paid a handsome price for the mummy and arranged for its removal to New York. In Apr 1912, the new owner escorted its treasure aboard a sparkling, new White Star liner about to make its maiden voyage to New York.
On the night of April 14, amid scenes of unprecedented horror, the Princess of Amen-Ra accompanied 1,500 passengers to their deaths at the bottom of the Atlantic. The name of the ship was of course, the H.M.S. TITANIC
-story end-
"That's a creepy story." shivered Amy.
"Yeah, but we asked for a story, not a history lesson." said Sonic.
"Well you sure could use one." replied Shadow.
"How do you know that after being stuck on the ARK half of your life?" asked Knuckles.
"Prof. Gerald had a lot of books on the ARK about earth. One of which was a book of legends. THAT was one of them." answered Shadow.
"So that story isn't real?" asked Amy.
"Of course not. That mummy never left Luxor. It's still in that museum." said Shadow.
"Anyways, I think that after hearing about it's reputation, the captain of Titanic wouldn't let that mummy on board, would he?" asked Star-la.
"Unless he never heard of it, or unless he was skeptical and never believed the curse. Of course, he's probably regretting his doubt now seeing how he is swimming with the fishes." said Sonic.
"Ok, now that we've cleared up that topic, let me ask you something. Where's Tails?" asked Susie,
Tails woke up to find him in Drake's secret cove again, only this time he was behind iron bars. He ran up to the jail door and shook it yelling "Let me out." there was no answer.
Tails shook the bars harder and yelled even louder, but he still received no answer.
Tails turned around and slumped down against the bars. He sighed and looked around. In the cell were Rouge and Cream.
"Rouge, Cream!" cried Tails.
The two captives woke up from their sleep and cried "Tails!"
Cream ran up to Tails and hugged him tight.
"Tails, I'm so glad you're here!" cried Cream.
Tails began to blush. Rouge smirked at him and leaned against the cove wall.
"Cream, what's going on? What has Drake been doing?" asked Tails.
"Nothing to me. He did bash my head open, but he stitched me up before I managed to wake up from the incident." answered Cream pointing at the stitches on her head.
"Rouge, you've been here longer, what about you?" asked Tails.
"Drake has been slitting my wrist and getting blood that way." said Rouge pointing at the numerous cuts and scars on her wrist.
"Well from what I heard, Drake doesn't plan on letting you live, Cream. An Rouge, you won't be a fruit bat for much longer." said Tails.
"That bastard." said Rouge. Cream put her hand over her mouth. "I should've known he was an idiot. I fell for him like a lovesick puppy." huffed Rouge.
"It's not your fault. He had you in a trance, and apparently, the servants too." said Tails.
"What else do you know: asked Rouge.
"That Lucius and Veronica are not voluntary vampires. They said they would rather take the stake then survive like this, but Drake is using them and he won't let them get killed. They don't even suck blood! They are totally helpless. Drake said that if Lucius let his secrets slip, he would hypnotize Veronica." answered Tails.
"So that means that Drake is the real culprit here." said Rouge.
(Heheheh, that final Rouge quote makes her sound like Lani Minella (the girl that does her voice) when she does Nancy Drew in the Nancy Drew computer games (which I have 8 of). Anyways, I should have the story finished around mid-September. It's all going by so fast! I can't believe I've almost finished my first ever fanfic…………..enough of me. Before I forget, the story of the mummy that brought down the Titanic was (ahem) borrowed from snopes. I'll try to hurry with the next chapter!)