This is based on Tattletail but I changed it to a specialized paranormal entity that possesses toys and gives smaller versions of the toys to its children to possess. I had no clue how to make those Furby-like toys compatible in the Nightmare Universe so I gave them a larger toy type they could embody. I won't stoop into the matricide part for this but it will be addressed in another story.
Kia grumbled as she curled into a ball on Max's bed to sleep. Although she preferred nocturnal activities, she had to keep up with the triplets' schedules and babysit in the daytime. They were asleep now...hopefully. Max just returned and crashed on the bed as well from a long day; they were both exhausted. A nap would do her good. But she didn't hear the door to the girls' room opening in her slumber and neither did Max.
"Sshhh, quiet! She's out. Come on."
"We shouldn't be doing this."
"Yes, but who is going to stop us? By the time they awake, we'll be back in bed no problem."
"Confident for someone who's blown this for us twice before."
"Girls! Quit it! We need to get going."
All three silently descended the staircase to the main entrance, but they froze when the trees outside made a small creaking sound. Must have been some wind that kicked up. When they confirmed Kia wasn't alerted, they opened the door to the outer yard. A small breeze bristled past them and two of three shivered in their night flannels. Their head gear also failed to protect them from the night.
"Ah damn, that's cold!" Cat winced in her rainbow leopard print flannel pants and white-rimmed rainbow spotted shirt with a wild cat imprinted on the front.
Cade held her arms close in her blue and purple unicorn shirt and galaxy-themed blue nebula flannels. "Yeah, it's only eleven too so midnight might be worse."
Chris shrugged it off out of sheer determination to press forward in her reddish orange dragon shirt and scale-dressed flannels. "Well, we have to do this."
"Okay, but if we get eaten, killed, or freeze to death, Max will kick our asses and ground us," Cade said.
Cat gave her a confused look, "I don't think our brother can do anything if we're already dead, genius."
"You never know. It's Max."
Chris rolled her eyes, "Girls, seriously, let's go!"
They wandered through the field towards a barn in a neighboring property as Chris read a scanner she had brought with her. For some time, odd fluxes of energy were appearing in and out of that barn and they had tried to convince Max and Kia that something was there but the scanner seemed to coincidentally refuse to work when one or both adults were present. In fact, it seemed less coincidence and more of something only making itself known to them.
The barn was huge but empty. The horses and cows that were once living inside had all but disappeared. Whether the owner sold them off or predators were getting to them was unknown. Or maybe, just maybe, the presence inside the barn scared them off to where the animals refused to come back. Not even birds seemed interested in landing on the building's roof let alone going inside for shelter from seasonal rains and to build secure nests which all but confirmed something was there that shouldn't be.
"I don't know about you guys but it's dark and we're in colorful pajamas. I think we stick out like a sore thumb here. There's no telling how many predators and creatures can see us, especially your pants, Chris. Those are shiny," Cade grimaced.
Cat didn't say anything but did look down with slight concern. Chris ignored the comment as she approached the barn door. Her scanner was going berserk and she quickly shut it off to not aggravate anything inside with the noise.
"Well, if you two want, you can stay out here and keep watch if you're not comfortable going in. I'll go and check it out," Chris said.
Cat shook her head, "Oh no you don't! We're sisters! We go in together, through thick and thin. What are sisters for if not being there for you even in the face of danger?"
Chris smiled and Cade sighed, "Exactly. Also, I'd rather be inside than out here. Just saying."
The triplets quickly pushed the barn door open despite how heavy it was and went inside before closing it to keep the draft of cold air out. Leaning against the door panting, all three caught their breaths and carefully peered around the enclosed area.
The stalls for the horses were torn out or damaged with only one completely untouched on the far end, the second level of the barn was missing beams and had claw marks across the scaffolding, and the air was thick with a scent that none of them could identify. They all flinched when they heard breathing to their right behind stacked hay bales that touched the second floor.
Cat didn't dare move and Cade pushed the ringleader, Chris, forward to go first who shot her a glare in return before going up to the hay. The other two followed skittishly. They expected to find a flesh-eating demon or a ghost animal perhaps. It would make sense since this was a barn, but as rounded the hay stacks, they instead gave a grunt of dissatisfaction.
There was only a large green and purple toy dragon built the size of a small swing set. It was plastic, its eyes closed and it stood quadrupedal, and it just looked slightly goofy like one of those FisherPrice Imaginext dragon toys. The wings weren't anything but decoration.
Cade smiled, "Hey, I recognize that. It's the Dragon Playhouse by that company in Burbanks, California. The one that got recalled. Mayhem Magic, that's it! They did mythical themed toys, games, setups. Don't remember why they went bankrupt but they made decent toys in their prime."
"Wasn't it through lawsuits of injuries and one kid died on one of these dragon playsets, right?" Cat asked.
Chris nodded, "Yeah, but why is it here is the question."
The Dragon Playhouse was basically an indoor, outdoor playroom that also able to speak four to five lines, had blinking eyes and light up exterior and interior. The chest of the dragon could open to allow kids to walk inside and had built-in toys in its walls for tykes, a sitting booth, a slide if its left side was popped open, and it had little remote-control dragon companions of similar design with charging bays for them near where the tail was, up to five dragon toys per playhouse could be stored. It was a tyke toy meant for porches or large playrooms with child entertainment for hours, even had special cartoons with the dragons featured on DVD that came with it. It was a huge success...until company Mayhem Magic went out of business.
As the three girls took a closer look at the green dragon, they noticed the playpen had scars and cracks around its otherwise pristine plastic body. Around the neck, arm joints and even the fake wings had some at the ends where the wing met the body. If they didn't know any better, the most pronounced cracks kind of appeared like the dragon had joints like a normal living thing.
Just then, they heard robotic whizzing and turned to the side to see a small blue and black dragon near identical to the playhouse waddling up to them on its own from the shadows. It looked cute but it was kind of creepy how its eyes kept looking side to side and its mouth moved. Normally, someone had to have a remote to do that but none were seen.
In the most innocent child voice possible, the dragon began to speak, "Hello, my name is Danny the Dragon! Will you be my friend? Hello, I want to play! Hear me roar!"
It waddled straight into Cat's foot and she picked it up even as it continued its walk cycle without anywhere to go. The toy dragons must have come in all assortments of color but if a Dragon Playhouse could contain up to five dragon toys inside upon purchase, where were the others?
"You may want to put that down, Cat," Chris said with obvious uncertainty.
"It's so cute though! I wish I had one!" She responded, hugging it.
The toy dragon stopped glancing from side to side and blinked before looked directly to its left at the playhouse. "Uh oh, Mama is not very happy! She is mad!"
That made the girls freeze up and slowly, all three turned their attention to the Dragon Playhouse which began to groan. Cracking noises along the so-called joints made them uneasy and backed away. Suddenly, the eyes flared open a light purple and somehow, the fake pupils on the large toy shrank to mere slivers angrily. The jaws that were open closed and a low growl emitted from it despite no throat. The plastic warped slightly to allow movement as its limbs broke their mold to stomp into position.
"You know, I get the feeling this is the bout of energy we were reading," Cade muttered.
"No really?" Cat scowled.
Each crack among its body glowed purple the same as the naturally built lights its setup contained including some that formed inside the mouth giving the dragon a horrific lighting as something akin to a poltergeist empowered as well as the seams of its body like the concealed chest cavity. With one large breath, the dragon roared at them, fake wings flexing above to show off its size. Its teeth and claws may have been fake and stubby, not sharp enough for a kid to accidentally impale themselves but it was doubtful any force used would be equivalent to a mere bump on the body. Anything hard with enough force like stubby teeth could crack bone...or worse.
The dragon walked rather sluggishly towards them as they ran away, dropping the little toy dragon in the process. Morphing plastic wasn't easy to move as one could assume. The playhouse gave a rumble as it was losing sight of the girls not able to keep up with them. With its light being the only true light in the building, it could see the reflective material in the girls' pajamas but once they turned a corner, the only thing it could use to find them was its hearing. It could hear scuffling between the first and second floors but the echoes threw it off until it became dead silent.
In frustration, it roared again as the little blue and black Danny the Dragon toy walked past it. Its chest door to its inner playset opened and hit the ground with a thud as purple mist poured from it. It grumbled as the sound of multiple little toys walking made their presence clear. Five more little dragons in various color schemes walked down the ramp from her body and peered around for the intruders.
"Mama loves you. Go, hurt those naughty children. Make Mama happy," a distorted feminine voice said from the large playhouse.
The toy dragons all said a collective "Yes, Mama." They marched in different directions scouting for the triplets with laughter and ghostly whispering as the dragon playhouse slowly moved forward with a growl.
On the second floor, the triplets watched from the hay pile and groaned inward. Chris huffed, "Of course, it's not a random entity we get. It's Lamia and those damned offspring of hers."
Cat narrowed her eyes, "Lamia? You mean that demon Max fought in those Furby knockoffs that tormented that kid in the suburbs of New York? That Lamia?"
Cade, on the other hand, scoffed, "Lamia is a Greek entity, isn't she?"
Chris clicked her tongue, "If I recall what Max said about her, she was supposedly of Grecian origin and that Lamia was forced to eat her children after birthing them from an affair with Zeus...by Zeus' command. But that's the Grecian myth. Lamia is a demon who tortures and kills children by getting close to them through things they find interesting, like toys, and she often brings her own offspring to lure them into a false sense of safety. After all, if no adults are present, what's the next thing a child will latch onto for support? Other children or toys. It makes perfect sense that it's her...and we're her next victims."
One of the triplets rolled her eyes and replied, "Fantastic. So, what now?"
"We try to get out of the barn and go straight to Max."
Cat frowned, "But wouldn't we lead her back home? Wouldn't she torment and haunt us until she kills us?"
Chris shook her head, "Max wouldn't allow that. He'll spend every second trying to fight off Mama Lamia to protect us."
"He's also going to be pissed so maybe death by demon doesn't sound so bad? Look, there's no possible way to explain this to him without repercussions. But it's also a toy dragon we're fighting, how dangerous can she really be?"
A blast of purple fire hit the rafters above and burned through them faster than any flame they had ever seen. The wood broke and fell. The girls had only seconds to run away before it hit the hay pile they were hiding beside. All three ran across the second floor as fireballs were shot at them making it clear Mama was on a warpath.
"Get them!"
Hearing Mama shout that, the girls saw the cute little dragons that were once waddling like regular toys were now running after them and their demonic eyes became anything but cute really fast. A red and yellow baby dragon was running alongside the beam attached to the barn wall parallel to them and it growled. Chris frowned and swiped the toy off before it could lunge. It clattered onto the floorboards like it was just a piece of plastic.
Cat panted, "Man, Toy Story ain't got nothing on this!"
"Yeah? Well, I would rather deal with a killer Woody doll than this!" Chris bit back.
All three slid to a halt when three of the little toy dragons were perched waiting for them on hay bales before the rounding corner. Unfortunately, the dragons timed their pounce perfect and latched onto the girls, relentlessly nipping and trying to burn them with their small but painful fire breath.
Cade managed to shove her attacker off immediately but Cat screamed as the purple and black toy bit her fingers hard, blood trickling from a breach in her skin making her instinctively slam the toy against a wooden pillar as hard as possible breaking the dragon's jaw. It gave a whine of pain and ran away. Chris was on the floor trying to keep the demon spawn attacking her from trying to crush her nose. She got a moment of leeway and took it, chucking the dragon off the second floor to its mother below.
"Why do you run from Mama? Mama will protect you. Come out, come out wherever you are."
The girls spotted an open window above the wall and they silently agreed to go for it. Using the hay bales, they reached their exit only to find a large drop on the other side which Chris almost fell off of. She moaned, keeping her balance before halting her sisters.
"What's wrong?" Cat whispered.
Chris shook her head in worry, "We're too high up. We'll break our legs if we jump. But we can reach the roof from here. Mama can't climb...I don't think."
Cade frowned, "And then what? We get trapped until Max comes for us? Nice plan."
"You have a better idea?"
The two sisters remained quiet and watched as Chris stood on the window's edge, groaning in discomfort of the situation. She timed a jump to grab the edge of the lowest part of the roof and climbed up before signaling Cade. Cade did the same and Chris helped her up.
Cat, on the other hand, was about to when something grabbed her leg and she wailed terrified. A baby dragon was latched onto her pant leg trying to pull her down into the barn.
"No! Bad dragon! Let go!" She screamed.
"Cat, jump!"
She saw more babies running up towards her so with little choice, she leapt towards the roof. She managed to grab the ledge but the baby dragon was still attached. Desperately, she tried kicking it off with her other leg as her sisters held onto her wrists to make sure she didn't fall. With one harsh kick to the head, the baby dragon let go and fell two stories to the ground, the plastic shattering upon impact.
"Well, there goes that one," Chris mused.
They pulled up Cat and all three panted as they sat on the roof. Cade grimaced, "This night sucks. Why did we do this again?"
"Because we're idiots," Cat snarled.
Chris rubbed her cheek, "And we're not cut out to deal with this yet. I underestimated how knowledge doesn't equal experience. I thought we could take them on just like Max does because we know what to do, but it will never be the same as learning through the actual encounters."
"Then again, he has no clue we're even out so if Mama follows us home, we can claim it was a security breach and he'll deal with it. The events of tonight won't leave this barn. No one will ever know!" Cade smirked alongside her sisters who agreed.
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that."
All three froze looking out beyond the trees before slowly turning to look behind them. They saw familiar armored boots and trailed up to a very unpleasant expression on their brother who was in his uniform pants, weapon belts and poet shirt but didn't have his normal red pirate coat, his tricorn hat, or the remainder of his armor which gave the solid impression he had rushed over to them. His crimson red-frosted short black hair that was disheveled from sleep was a rarity to see but it reflected well on the rage Max felt on the seriousness of the situation.
Beside him, Kia growled. That was rare too. The dementor looked like she was all but about tackle them from a lack of rest.
"So, girls, you want to explain to me why you're out here past bedtime...wandering on other people's property!?" He coldly spoke.
Cat, Chris, and Cade began simultaneously trying to explain their reasoning which led to Max becoming very irritated, rolling his eyes before running them. He heard the mention of Mama Lamia and held up a hand. They shut up on cue.
"So, you decided to investigate this barn with one of the most relentless demons on planet Earth inside and you thought that was smart? You realize she kills children, don't you? You endangered each other by going into this situation blindly!"
"It wasn't our most intelligent decisions," Cat mumbled.
Max sighed, "Words cannot express how disappointed I am in you. I know you look up to me, want to do the exact same things I do but you have to realize you're still children and no amount of training is going to make you as strong or as fast-paced as me as long as you're this young. Your bodies are only meant to take so much. When you get older over time, you will develop those skills and be better than I am but you guys are six. You need to understand that!"
"We're sorry, big brother," Chris sniffed.
"I think the only fair punishment I can give you is that you are grounded...give or take, a month."
"What?" Cade whined.
"Don't give me attitude or we'll go two. Now, Kia is going to escort you home and you will go to your rooms. I will stay here and deal with Mama Lamia," Max scorned. "This isn't the end of our talk, mind you. Go!"
The girls obeyed and went to the ladder on the side of the barn close to the backside as Max jumped down, presumably through the same window they climbed out of. As they walked back towards their home with Kia in tow, they could hear a commotion in the barn, thuds and demonic roars. Either Max was struggling or Mama was getting her plastic ass handed to her.
They remained silent for the rest of the walk with a grunting Kia walking beside them.
Two hours later...
All three couldn't sleep and at least one was crying though the darkness of their room made it hard to tell which triplet between them. It was almost four in the morning and they were restless from their failure.
The door slowly opened and the light of the hall made Cat turn away in her bed so she wasn't blinded by it. Max came in and looked between all three-bunk beds stacked on top of one another made from Cybertronian metal he had salvaged. He made a small smile remembering how they begged and pleaded with him to have a triple bunk bed despite there was plenty of room for separate beds. He built it regardless.
The girls, two of them droopy eyed, stared at him as he approached Cat before peering to the top bunk where Chris was. Cade was the middle and she was practically face to face with him. He could see they didn't take his fury of the situation well or didn't see themselves in the wrong.
"Girls, I'm sorry for raising my voice but you have to understand my point of view from this before you blame me for being restrictive or unfair."
Chris was near the edge of the bunk now and peering down with caution. When Max offered to hold her, she hesitantly climbed into his arms. He offered Cade the same but the girl was already on the ladder going down. He sat on Cat's bed with Chris in his lap, Cat beside his left arm, and Cade plopped down on his right.
Chris noticed his hand had a little remnant of blood and grew concerned, "Did you get injured?"
"Ah yeah, little demon dragons. One snagged my knuckle and caused the skin to rip. Nothing bad. I kicked out Mama and her babies, sent them back to the Devil's Den."
Cat smirked and held out her fingers, "You and me both."
Max examined them with slight remorse, "Cat, wha-? Are you okay?"
"Plenty fine, just stings every time I flex them."
He scoffed with a smile and continued. "Listen, the reason I got snappy is because from my perspective, you three are young and my sisters so I'm obligated to protect you. Searching for danger makes me upset because if something goes wrong, I may lose you and I can't live with the fact that my sisters died in a single moment because I wasn't paying attention and keeping them safe like I promised...Mom when she held you three in her arms right before she passed."
Cade held his arm and leaned against him, "But you can't protect us from the world forever."
"No, I can't, but I can teach you to understand that a responsible person doesn't go looking for danger. If that barn was such a concern, you should have gone to me first not head out together...alone...and at night where you can't see your surroundings well. I let you use rifles and other guns because those are distance weapons. You're safer than being right in the middle of the battle but you still help me in that way which I am grateful for. You see what I mean?"
Cat nodded, Cade glanced to the side, and Chris eyed him unsure. "I guess."
"Better than nothing, I suppose," he laughed. "But what can I expect for little sisters as stubborn as I am? Promise me you'll at least consider what I said the next time you decide to go out on your own?"
"We can't guarantee anything but we'll try," Cade said.
Max kissed Cade's cheek and stroked Cat's hair playfully before getting up off the bed. "Okay troublemakers, go to bed. Tomorrow, I'll go over the smaller details of being grounded. Yeah, no, you guys aren't getting out of that."
He kissed Chris on the forehead and lifted her up to her bed on top before peering down to see Cade wanting to be given a free ride up as well this time. He gladly picked her up and swung around as she giggled before placing her on the middle bunk. Cat was already underneath her covers and max tucked her in before giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Sleep tight, girls. Good night."
He heard them yawn "good night" back and he could only smirk at that before closing their door. Above all, he was just glad they were safe.
AN: Lamia is a real demon of certain mythologies if you were unsure if I was bullshitting this. She's a fun character to read up on and one of the more disturbing demons known. But I figured she fit well in description to what the game Tattetail was perceiving the monster as.