The Price of Desire

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious

A/N: Excellent, at least Karatequeen knows Cold Case. Does ANYONE ELSE know Cold Case as well? I'm strongly considering using Detective Scotty Valens in the upcoming sequel, as a mentor to Trina. Don't want to do that if there aren't a whole lot of people who know him.

Chapter 18 (House of Horrors)

The next morning, close to noon, the group was already on the road. The night before had been an emotional one indeed. Andre was concerned about that wheelchair, but his family swore they would take care of him and be there for him no matter what, loving him despite his wounds. They suggested he express himself on the piano, and it actually made him feel better. Towards the end of the emotional reunion, he turned to Trina and he told them to make the gang pay for what they did, to suffer for paralyzing him.

Oh, they would do just that.

Once they parked next to the horror shop, Dr. Richards was ordered to stay in the car and not draw attention. Jason grabbed his trusty shotgun, not taking any prisoners this time. Of course, the bullets were blanks, but strong enough to knock someone off their feet and perhaps even unconsciousness. Christy had her sword, as usual. Trina clenched her fists and with a powerful shout, kicked the doors wide open. "Mortimer and Morgan! Get your sorry asses out here! I know you're working with the Assassins, surrender or we kick your fucking asses!"

"Aren't we going to do that anyway?" Sikowitz asked, still standing beside the van. He was to guard it in case anyone tried to attack Dr. Richards. Trina glanced back and shrugged her shoulders, then glanced back in the shop.

"Oh yeah! We're going to do it anyway! You want the damn necklace, come get it!" Out of nowhere, several bats started flying from the door. The trio ducked and looked up, where the bats real or fake? When they checked the door, they saw a pale faced girl with two daggers in her hands and a wide grin hidden behind her hair, which covered her face like the girl from The Ring. "Oh shit!" She lunged towards them and the trio rolled out of the right. "Scatter!"

The girl giggled as the group ran in different directions. The girl giggled and started charging for Sikowitz, who was sipping his coconut milk and not even watching. Trina started to call out for him, but just as the girl closed in on him, she was struck down. In a blink-and-miss moment, Sikowitz didn't even move from the milk, he swung his right arm and slammed his cane into the girl's neck, snapping He moved his eyes towards the shocked trio and smirked subtly. What a great bodyguard he makes. "Now my students…get moving. If this one gets up, I'll deal with her. Or any other horrors that come out of that door."

"You think he's got a handle on it?" Christy asked with a mild twitch. Trina chuckled nervously, she'd already learned never to mess with Sikowitz, he could kick your ass.

"Yeah he's got this." Once they entered the shop, they heard a familiar music box playing. It took Trina a minute to decipher what exactly the music was, but still she wasn't sure. "Son of a bitch, one step in here and I'm already freaked." The others nodded in response, saying nothing.

The place was dark and bleak, the walls were painted black and the floor was nothing but blood red carpet. There were aisles upon aisles of horror goods, and with the Ring girl that just jumped them, they knew that any decoration in this place could come to life and try to kill them. It was best to expect anything. "If anyone's got a faint heart," Jason said with a low chuckle. Trina rolled her eyes and smirked as she continued to listen to the music. "I'd run…" Suddenly a loud clatter rang through their ears, when they turned they saw someone that looked like Frankenstein running towards them. "Holy shit!" Jason tore his shotgun from the strap on his back and fired it off at the monster. Frankenstein fell back and moaned. With that, Jason slammed the blunt end of the gun into the monster's head, knocking him unconscious.

"Cheap ass jump scares," Christy muttered. Trina wagged her eyebrows and huffed. She could swear she heard Jade's voice somewhere. She paused and squinted her eyes in thought. The music was the same music that played in that music video audition that Jade made! The people were replaying the video! "Trina, is it possible to be so freaked by something that it makes your ears bleed? Because I'm sure that's what's happening here."

"It's Jade's audition tape. For some reason, they're playing it here." God let Jade not be dead, or worse, let her not be a part of this. Something was wrong, though. The video was different than how this sounded. The music seemed so real and the screaming little girl sounded more mature than the four-year-old girl. In fact, Trina would wager the girl was closer to seventeen. If so, then they weren't playing a video, they were reliving it! "Crap. Jason, Christy, try and find Mortimer and Morgan, I'm going to follow that music and the crying."

"All right, be careful Trina."

"You guys be careful too. A creepy place like this, god knows what'll jump out at you." Jason and Christy agreed and started off to the left while Trina ran towards the right. Her heart started racing as she started running through various aisles and sections in the shop. Various hands were reaching out for her, but no one was chasing her. So much so, she was questioning just how many humans there were in this place. "God, I hate this house of horrors."

Finally she'd reached a black door with a crimson doorknob, the cries were coming from behind there. She recognized the voice now. She narrowed her eyes, let out a terrible yell and kicked the door open. As she stepped in, she saw a woman fully dressed in black with black lipstick and mascara, her hair was completely black and fell neatly over her long black dress. "Get away from Jade, bitch!"

Jade was tied to a chair beside the bathtub, her purple mascara was running down her face. She looked up to Trina with wide eyes as the woman in the tub slowly rose, still playing the music. Trina's eyes widened as this woman seemed to continue rising, she was almost seven feet tall! "S-She's been playing nonstop for the past day…I'm hungry…I'm tired…I'm-"

"Silence!" The woman hissed. Jade whimpered and closed her eyes, turning her head away. The woman chuckled sinisterly and stepped from the bathtub. Who was this woman that she had such control over Jade? If she had to guess, this was Morgan. "Let's make a deal, Miss Vega."

"Sorry, I don't deal with psycho freaks." The woman laughed as Trina flexed her body. She was ready to bring this giant woman to her knees. She put her hand over her necklace when the woman's eyes fell upon it. Her eyes narrowed and her fist clenched. "This is what you want, isn't it?"

"Yes, and if you give it to me, I'll release my child over to you." Jade whimpered and Trina's eyebrow arched. Release her child, what did that even mean? Trina looked to Jade for answers, but the poor girl had nothing to say. "If you refuse, I will kill her." Her eyes flicked over to Morgan and a scoff left her lips.

"You said your child, she is not your child. Her family is waiting for her safe return, they all want her." Jade gasped and her eyes flooded with hopefulness. "So, Morgan, please explain to me what your crazy mind is telling you right now?" Morgan laughed once more and reached down, caressing Jade's chin. Jade flinched and pulled away from her. Poor girl was scared to death of her!

"She was our child. Until the child protective services took her from us!" Trina's jaw dropped and Jade slowly closed her eyes, trembling violently. So that video wasn't just some creepy thing from Jade's imagination? It was something from her actual past? A memory she was reliving? "But now our baby's back with us. She left her adoptive family behind. My dear, dear Jade, Mortimer and I will take care of you."

"I don't want you!" Jade screamed at the top of her lungs. "I want my family!" Jade turned to Trina and released a sob. "When I was four, they would beat me day in and day out…he would get mad and she would…do this…constantly. I'd beg her to stop playing the music, but she wouldn't! She would never stop! Make her stop, please, oh god make her stop…" Jade wept bitterly and hunched over while Morgan continued to let the music box play. "Please…"

"Oh Jade…" Trina shook her head and narrowed her gaze onto that infernal box that Morgan held. She didn't enjoy listening to it either. "I will gladly make her stop." She charged forward, anger and hate rising inside of her. This bitch was going down one way or another! Morgan moved her upper body backwards as Trina quickly swiped her leg through the air. She may have missed Morgan, but she hit the box dead on and sent it crashing into a wall, shattering it into a million pieces. Jade gasped and Morgan screeched, throwing her black nails into her hair.

"No! The music is gone! God no! What have you done you little wench!"

"Oh it was just a stupid music box."

"You…you…Bitch!" Morgan slashed her nails at Trina. Trina quickly leapt backwards and growled. "I'm going to kill you! That was an expensive music box! Worth more than your life!"

"Oh, really now?" She smirked and sidestepped yet another slash made by this woman. She ducked down and studied Morgan's abdomen, she was so skinny that it wouldn't be hard to snap this crazed woman. Once she crouched low, she thrust her leg forward, hitting Morgan's ankle. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"Ah!" Morgan fell forward and put her hands on the ground, catching herself. Trina grabbed the back of her hair and groaned, the hair was so greasy and oily that it felt like she'd just stuck her hand into a pit of old disgusting jelly. Morgan growled as Trina slammed the woman's head into the floor.

"Do you ever clean your hair?"

"Every day, whore." Morgan grabbed Trina's ankle and started moving her head towards her, attempting to bite. Trina's eyes widened as she studied Morgan's teeth, they were all pointed, like tiny daggers. Did this woman get some sort of reconstruction surgery on her teeth?

"Get away from me!" She swiftly kicked her free foot forward, striking Morgan in the face. Morgan screeched and rolled across the floor. She figured it would be a grand idea to stay out of range of this woman's teeth and claws. "Freak, what did you do with your teeth?"

Morgan slowly pushed herself up and felt her jaw, blood was pouring from her mouth. "Years of surgery and patience." She held her hand out and spit up four teeth that Trina just kicked out. She screamed and staggered backwards. "No!" Trina chuckled and crossed her arms, shaking her head.

"It can't be good for your teeth, I bet you weakened them by doing that." It was the woman's front teeth that had been taken out. She adjusted her position into a firm fighter's stance. Jade watched her with growing fear and anticipation. Trina was standing directly in front of her, guarding her. "Come at me, beanstalk."

"What did you just call me?"

"You heard me." Morgan hissed and charged towards her. Trina took this moment to notice that the woman's eyes also had freakish contact lenses that made her pupils seem long and narrow, like a snake's. "God you are such a freak." The woman reached out and Trina grabbed her wrists. She threw the woman's wrists up, slammed her fist into her abdomen and started to push with that hand while pulling with her other, swinging the woman in an arc through the air. Morgan screamed as she sailed directly into the bathtub. Her mouth hit the edge and five more bloody teeth dropped out. "Thirty two teeth in the human mouth, you just lost nine." Morgan moaned and put her hands to the edge of the tub, shaking with rage.

"I had my wisdom teeth removed…"

"Oh twenty-eight then." Trina smirked and tilted her head, this meant the woman only had nineteen teeth remaining in her mouth. As blood poured from the woman's gums, Trina could see most of her front teeth were now missing. "Ouch. You see, that's why I don't deal in plastic surgery, too gruesome." Jade stared at Morgan with wide eyes, even she was getting grossed out. As Morgan stared down at her hands, her eyes widened tremendously, several of her fingernails had just broken off. Trina winced and shook her head, holding out her hand.

"My nails!"

"Fake nails are so bad in a fight." Morgan screeched and flew from the bathtub. She started swinging her hands. With each forward lunge, Trina backflipped out of the way. "My god woman, close your mouth! You're getting mouth blood everywhere!"

"Shut up!" Trina crouched down, then lunched forward, pounding her fist several times in Morgan's abdomen.

"One thing I hate worse than being covered in sweat, being covered in blood." Morgan groaned painfully and staggered backwards. "I'm really getting tired of you and this goddamn shop." Trina rose and spun herself around, lifting her leg and swiftly kicking into Morgan's head. Morgan fell backwards and collided hard against the floor. Thinking fast, Trina leapt for Jade, untied her while Morgan was still recovering from the collision. Jade rose and met her eyes, she was going to listen to Trina, if anything, just this once. "You, stay in this room and go to that far corner." She pointed to the wall and Jade quickly ran over, watching with wide eyes. Trina turned the wooden chair around and kicked the leg, breaking it from the chair. As she held it up in front of her face, she grinned, the break left a nice sharp point.

"Ugh…my head…" Morgan started rising, anger clear in her face. More of her teeth had been knocked from her bloody mouth. The blood already covered her face to the point that it was hard to notice anything. The woman breathed in and froze as her eyes widened. Trina watched her closely as Morgan started to choke, she swallowed one of her own teeth! "I-I…" Trina smirked and narrowed her eyes, running towards her.

"Get back down!" Morgan's eyes widened as Trina's foot collided with her neck. She collided with the wall, her tooth shot from her mouth, and her body sank to the ground. Her hands fell against the ground and her eyes stared without emotion at Jade across the room. Trina huffed and tossed the wooden stick to the side, Morgan was dead. "Looks like that's over, and knowing this place, if you even think about springing to life, I'm going to make sure Christy cuts you into a million fucking pieces! I hate this place!"

"T-T-Trina?" Trina turned to see Jade, shaking like a leaf in the rain. She eyed Trina carefully and took a slow step back. "You just…martial arts?"

"Every day, classes. Did you know Mr. Sikowitz would be a master of kung fu? He even beat me up!" Jade covered her mouth with her hand.

"Sikowitz is…"

"Just outside, he's with us. By that I mean, my best friends Christy and Jason." She snapped her fingers and looked to the doors. "Those two…I hope they're okay. If Morgan's a freak like this, then Mortimer-"

"Is even crazier." Jade fell to her knees and brought her other hand to her mouth, sobbing gently as she eyed the woman. Trina felt her heart sink and moved over, kneeling beside Jade and putting her hand to her shoulder.

"Hey, hey you're okay."

"Why would you save us? Why? We treat you so badly…what are you even doing? Why is this happening?"

"You guys didn't deserve this. This necklace…the gang put a chip inside, Tori didn't know…" Jade sobbed harder and covered her face with her hands. Trina slowly reached over to the wooden stake which used to be the leg and slowly tucked it beneath her. She continued to speak softly. "Don't worry Jade, everything's going to be okay. Do you know if Beck is all right? Beck and Cat…"

"I don't know. The gang sent me here because of my connection to these monsters. Trina, I'm sorry…that we treated you so badly. Just please…I really, really want to see my family." She sniffed and started rubbing her eyes with her arm. "Did you mean it when you said…they wanted me back?"

"Of course they do, Jade. I made a promise to them, I intend to keep it, and…" She flexed, narrowing her eyes and turning them over her shoulder. She'd been hearing a shifting noise. "I'm getting very tired of you!" She rose up with a sudden swiftness, swirling around and slamming the stake into Morgan's mouth. Morgan gagged on the stake and Jade's eyes widened tremendously. "I thought I told you not to come back to life!" She punched forward, hitting the stake and pushing it out the back of Morgan's head.

Morgan fell back onto the floor, her arms sprawled out and her knees crossing each other. The woman's eyes rolled to the back of her head as blood dripped from her mouth and along her cheeks. This room had enough blood smeared all over that it was truly going to be a horror scene when the Chiefs walked through it. She sighed deeply and helped the very shaken Jade to her feet.

"Well, I'd better start getting to work on that note."

"Note?"

"I leave one for Chiefs Warren and Michael." The door flew open and Jason ran inside. Trina flinched and looked over, stunned by the look of terror on his face. "Jason?"

"Hurry! We have to get out of here! Mortimer set off a bomb!"

"What?"

"Come on!" Jason grabbed her wrist and Trina took Jade's. The three of them started running towards the doors, thinking of nothing but escape. Trina looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened in shock as she saw a tall man with two tuffs of grey hair rising from his head like devil horns. His teeth were hanging from his mouth like vampire teeth and he wore a cloak much like Dracula. He had hole in his chest and a bloody line across his neck, but his eyes were still moving! Mortimer. Beneath his cloak, strapped to his chest, was the bomb. Enough to take out the entire building.

"Keep running, Jason!" As they approached the door, the bomb around Mortimer's body started cracking. Jade screamed in terror as the three of them bolted out of the building. Christy and Sikowitz were standing at the van, motioning for them to hurry up. The three jumped forward as the blast shot from the windows and doors. Trina fell towards the ground and somersaulted forward, Jason landed on his feet, crouching forward, his hand on the ground, and Jade fell into the arms of Christy and Mr. Sikowitz.

As Trina rose, she turned towards the smoldering building and cussed under her breath. The building was actually a crater, with just the left side left. Smoke rose into the sky. How the hell did they just narrowly survive that? "P-Pen and paper, Mr. S-Sikowitz?"

*whistles* Well, what did you think? Epic fight? Free brownie points to anyone that caught the "mouth blood" reference XD.

Oh, and again I'd like to ask as I did in the beginning author note, besides Karate Queen, does anyone else know Cold Case? I'd like to consider Detective Scotty Valens as Trina's mentor in the upcoming sequel. He's my favorite character, by far, and I don't want to use him if no one knows either the show or Valens