Part 2

"OH GAWD!" several of the five princesses with their heads still attached screamed.

In their panic to distance themselves from the severed head of their blonde friend, the box was knocked off the table and onto the floor. Tipping over, Cinderella's head rolled out and made a wide semi-circle in front of the horrified young women before finally coming to a stop right between Jasmine's feet.

As the princesses all stood and stared in shock, a deep grumbling voice startled them from behind...

"Hello ladies."

All of them turned and saw standing in the rear of the room a large man dressed in black and whose face was covered with a hood. Just as frightening as his appearance was the fact that he had a large dog next to him and the animal was growling menacingly.

"I see you got my gift," he said calmly, leaving no doubt this man was a threat and had killed their friend.

Before any of them could react, the man lunged forward. Anna was the closest to him and the first he encountered. Her eyes, normally twice the size they should be, swelled to double even that as she saw the hulking figure bearing down on her.

WHAM!

The hooded killer slammed his fist into the delicate jaw of the princess and sent her spinning to the ground with a single blow. Anna crumbled like a heap of rags to the floor and lay there limp obviously unconscious.

Seeing this and suddenly being overcome by terror, the remaining four princesses scattered..."RUN!" Belle screamed as they did so, needing no encouragement to flee.

While Rupunzel, Tiana, and Belle made it out of the large dining room through the wide arch that led to the hallway, Jasmine as she turned to run found herself face to face with the killer. She tried to dodge him but the man slammed his shoulder into her and knocked her to the ground. Before she could recover, he took her slender ankle in his hand and began to drag her behind him.

"HELP! HELP ME!" the caramel princess screamed towards her friends but if they heard they did not seem to care as they disappeared around corners and down the hall.

The man approached a china cabinet and reached up. Touching a metal decorative hook, he pulled and the hook tilted forward. When it did there was a 'click' and the cabinet detached from the wall and swung out on hinges on the opposite side. Behind the secret door was a long dark tunnel covered in cobwebs and other filth.

The man began to stride into the hall, still dragging the flailing girl behind him. As he did he paused and looked back into the dining room at his large hound who had not moved, apparently waiting for the command to attack.

"Well? What are you waiting for?"

That was all the dog needed as he sprinted off following the trail of the running princesses. As the dog disappeared from sight, the man turned and kept walking down the hall. Jasmine was squealing and thrashing, determined not to be taken as she was sure her fate would be the same as Cinderella's. She grabbed the edge of the door frame and held on with all her might.

"PLEASE! NO!" she screamed as the man, realizing she was holding on, grabbed her by the ankle with both hands. Setting himself, he jerked hard and ripped Jasmine's hands free, tearing two of her fingernails off and leaving them imbedded in the wood of the wall as he did.

Jasmine wailed in both pain and terror as the cabinet swung closed behind her and silencing her screams from the castle.

Belle and Tiana had been running as hard and fast as they could for several minutes. They had not thought of where they were going, just to run and try to get away. Unfortunately the two young women ran deeper into the maze that was the massive castle and never reached and outer door. Finally, they calmed down enough to stop running.

Leaning against a wall, both girls were panting and sweating. As princesses they were not used to exertion and running for even a few minutes had left them near exhaustion.

"Wh-who was th-that?" Tiana asked while Belle simply shook her head and gulped in air.

"I-I don't know...he...oh god...he killed Cindy!" Belle replied as tears welled in her eyes as she thought about seeing her friend's head.

"Look that doesn't matter..."

"Doesn't matter?" Belle replied in shock.

"No, we've got to get out of here. Then we will find our guards and come back and make this fucker pay for what he did."

Seeing the reason in Tiana's words, Belle nodded in agreement but then her face seemed to change. First the color drained from her skin, leaving her pale and then her lisp began to quiver. Tiana could tell something was wrong.

"What is it?" she asked as she turned and saw what Bella had seen a few seconds before. Standing in the middle of the hall about fifty feet away was the large canine that had been with the killer in the dining room. It was standing silently but its back was arched and it was staring intently right at the two girls.

"oh fuck!" Tiana muttered quietly.

"Nnnngggghhhhhh!" Jasmine's eyes flickered open and she moaned as her head ached horribly and she felt groggy.

Suddenly, her situation hit her and she immediately came too. She could not remember exactly what happened. She recalled being dragged and then suddenly a sharp pain in her side and everything going black. And now she was here.

Jasmine tried to move but found she could not. Looking around frantically, she realized she was in one of the massive hallways of the castle. A long rug ran down the center of the wood paneled hall. Lining the walls were more than twenty polished suits off armor, all ornate and gleaming. The princess started to struggle as she looked down and saw that she was encased on one of the metal suits.

The joints had been riveted and would not move, holding her like a prison and restraining her. The only part missing was the helmet. She could not even scream for help as a piece of cloth was tied around her head and between her teeth, gagging her to no more than muffled grunts.

Hearing a noise, Jasmine's heart sunk as she turned and saw her attacker, the large man in the hood who had knocked her unconscious, standing only a few feet away. He approached as her eyes were wide in terror as she stared at him as he closed on her. Jasmine's eyes fell as she saw he was carrying the helm that went with the armor she was encased in. It was large and metal with a moveable visor.

The man in black lifted the helm, seemingly oblivious to the princesses terror. Jasmine struggles continued as he lowered the helmet over her head, sealing her in darkness.

Stepping back, the killer examined the armor as it seemed to shiver and shake on its own and small grunts could be heard coming from within. Reaching up, the man took the front and back of the helmet in his massive hands and with a hard but quick turn, he twisted the head of the armor, turning the front all the way to face the wall behind. As he did, there was an audible...CRACK!...with a metallic tinge as the sound of Jasmine's neck snapping echoed within the armor.

Turning the helmet back to face forward, the man lifted the visor and peered inside as Jasmine's now slack face stared forward with her head tilted slightly to the side and against the inside of the helm. Pausing for a second, he reached out and ran his thumb over the beautiful young woman's lips and seemed to be savoring her stillness. After a few more seconds, he slowly lowered the visor and turned to move down the hall, leaving Jasmine's corpse encased in her metal tomb.

Anna's eyes flickered open. She was on the floor of the dining room and the events that led to her being here slowly filled her head. Rising to her feet...

"BELLE?! JASMINE!?" she called out but got no response.

Terrified, she looked around trying to figure out what to do. Just then her eyes focused on a china case against the back wall. The large piece of furniture was slightly askew as if it was pulled out from the wall. Moving closer she pulled it and it swung towards her.

"A secret door?" Anna muttered.

Looking down the hallway lined with torches but still filled with shadows and god knew what, she was terrified.

"You can do this Anna," she told herself, "We need to find our friends and get out of here."

Taking one of the torches from the sconces lining the walls, she began to move down the hall.