Alright here you go. The second Fearscape Chapter for y'all. Sorry this took so long but I've got writer's block something fierce. There won't be any humor in the upcoming chapters but at least it's actually exciting now. Oh well, R&R please and carrots. Constructive criticism is always welcome but no Flames or Trolls or anything of the sort. Flames will be used to burn all the goats to a crisp and the trolls will have no food and will starve. Bye trolls! Damn, this story got hella dark didn't it? Sorry all of this took so long. Had a move that was incredibly hectic.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Hotel Transylvania or any of the characters therein. I do not own the Vours either. I own my OC's Inmoon, Viore, Lorelay, Zeyphx, and Isobel but feel free to play once you get a feel for them if you want.
The deep breath did little to stabilize Mavis' mind as the strip of carpet squished beneath her feet and seeped blood onto the stone. The place reeked of decay and death. The very warmth of her blood seemed stolen away in the sheer silence that surrounded the pair. Mavis shivered at the thought of what awaited her within this place, this mockery of her home and her father's sanctuary. The images depicted on the walls of the temple flashed behind her eyes and she winced at the idea of her father rejoicing upon a field of slain foes. Her father was kind and nurturing but she was discovering the forgotten darkness that lurked within him.
The pain in her leg had faded to a mere ghost of what it had been before and she was no longer hindered by a limp. She took another look around her and felt tears prick her eyes at the sight. The carpet beneath her feet lay in tatters, the photos and decorations lay about the hallway crumpled, torn, and shattered, and deep claw marks bore into the stone. Splatters of deep scarlet adorned the smooth grey stone in smeared streaks and the tang of blood filled the air with them.
She braved another step and prepared herself for the battle she now faced within the warped prison the Vour had created to house Dracula. A sense of determination struck her in those moments and she felt strength and courage surge through her. Fear faded to the back of her mind and her footfalls were no longer hesitant. She stood tall and ready for the next inevitable attack with hardened eyes that gave no hint at mercy. Within her veins lurked the blood of both demons and angels, for she was a Dracula and Inmoon could see her bloodline taking hold. Pride surged through the silver she-wolf at the grand sight of Mavis, unwavering against such horror, and she silently congratulated Dracula for his daughter's actions that night.
"The Courage of your father has found you at last little one." She said with a sad smile. "We had hoped it never would have to, but I am proud."
Mavis looked to Inmoon with a questioning gaze.
"You look so much like him. Standing proud and regal amidst the terrors we have strived to keep secret from the world. It was only ever him who had the courage to do what was needed. There is a difference between strength and courage Mavis. Strength is continuing the fight even though it is hard, courage is doing so even when your own strength has failed you. Vlad is the most courageous person I have ever known. It is good to see he passed that on to you."
"Thank you, but save your words for when this is over. I may yet disappoint you." Mavis responded as she turned and continued her way down the hall.
"Your father's daughter." Inmoon chuckled quietly before catching up to the vampiress in two strides of her powerful legs.
A chorus of shrieks sounded above them and a swarm of bats descended from the shadows that hid them. Inmoon snarled as they bit into her and shook her massive head from side to side. Mavis lifted her arms and swatted them away but just as suddenly as they appeared the bats had vanished down the hall. Mavis felt the ground shake beneath her in a steady rhythm as something heavy rounded the corner behind them. A wheezing groan echoed through the hallway and Mavis turned to face whatever thing the Vour had concocted to torture her father. As she drank in the sight she did not allow the fear to take her, or the shock and she simply readied herself to fight.
Rounding the corner was her uncle Frank, but the creature before her could no longer be called that. He was bigger within the Fearscape and his limbs hung disproportionate from his body. One shoulder began in a massive bulge and descended into a much too small arm. His fingers were mismatched and the other arm was far too long for his body and the hand too small. His legs were put together in much the same manner of inordinate patchwork as the rest of him. His eyes were milky and yellowing with decay while a foul black substance leaked from his mouth and trickled down his chin in thick strands. His stitches tore at the surrounding grey and black flesh, puss and old blood seeping through them. Chunks of his flesh had tumbled away and his clothes hung from his mangled frame in tatters.
"You!" He roared and his voice was a wretched bellow formed in the back of a torn throat. His lips refused to work for him and only served to distort his words. "Monster! I'll kill you!" He thundered before running toward them with an enraged scream.
Mavis pushed away her terror once more and leaped over Frank as he charged.
"Not Frank." She thought to herself. "That thing is not Frank."
Inmoon barreled into the creature's chest and knocked them both to the ground with an echoing thud as they collided with enough force to shatter bones.
"You deserve to die!" Fearscape Frank yelled as he grappled with Inmoon. "Horrible, evil, monster!"
Mavis snarled and ran forward. She smashed her foot into his head with all the strength she could muster and nearly screamed as his skull gave way beneath her foot and her boot plunged into his brain. She yanked and tugged but she was caught and worse, the creature still moved. He let loose a roar that rattled Mavis' bones as the vibrations traveled up her leg. He began to climb to his feet and Mavis hung by her foot from his head as she tried to break free. She cursed loudly as she tugged and let out a cry of pain as a large hand wrapped around her and wrenched her loose.
"You want to protect us?!" He roared in her face, thick black gunk splattered on her cheeks. "Then die and free us from you!"
He pulled his arm back to throw her but Inmoon's skeletal jaw clamped down above his elbow and tore the limb from his body. The hand clenched tighter around Mavis and she wrestled to free herself as Inmoon clashed again with Frank. She gave a yell of her own as she tore fingers off of the hand that trapped her and stood to her full height again.
"This way Inmoon!" She yelled and ran down the hall away from Frank.
She heard the soft rhythm of Inmoon's paws as the she-wolf ran to catch up to her. She did not slow down and the fearscape Frank fell behind. This version of her uncle was nothing more than a lumbering beast and speed was an impossible feat. Its roars ricocheted off of the walls and struck Mavis to her core. She pushed away the fear and kept running. Her one focus was reaching her father and only once she had done that would she begin to open her heart again.
"Where do we go?" Mavis asked Inmoon as they slowed. "The hallways don't make any sense in here."
"We find something that does make sense." Inmoon responded. "This is still your father's mind. There will be something for us to follow."
Inmoon shook her head and the two paused in thought as the hallway branched off into two paths. She took a deep breath before trotting down the left hall. Mavis followed behind her and everything fell silent. They walked over the wrecked decorations and torn, blood-soaked carpets without paying heed to the gutted remains of the once sanctuary.
"Are we going the right way?" Mavis asked.
"Yes." Inmoon answered gruffly.
"How do you know?"
"I can sense it."
"Wait, wait, wait." Mavis spluttered as she jumped in front of Inmoon. "We're traipsing through here on a whim?"
"Of course not." Inmoon growled. "That would be foolish."
"Then how do you know this is the right way?" Mavis flinched under the intense glare of the magnificent silver wolf.
"I told you, I can sense it."
"How?"
Inmoon's form seemed to deflate as she realized that she was not being insulted.
"The fearscape is within the mind Mavis." She sighed. "I can sense that he has been this way. I sense the fading signature of his mind. The feeling grows stronger as we go farther. That is how I know. It is a sense gained from many journeys through the fearscapes of my closest friends."
"How many times have you done this?" Mavis muttered, eyes wide.
"I have lost count." Inmoon said quietly as she pushed past Mavis. "I have personally seen the fearscapes of my entire family."
"The Pillars?"
Inmoon stumbled to a halt.
"How do you know that title?" She snarled.
Mavis took a surprised step back as the monstrous silver she-wolf rounded on her in a flash. Her eyes flared brightly and a feral snarl ripped it's way from her skeletal maw. Mavis' vision was filled with nothing but those teeth, as long as her forearm as Inmoon's growl rumbled in her chest.
"How?!"
"M-my father's journal, and a letter from my mother!" Mavis blurted.
"Your father did WHAT!?" Inmoon roared and snapped her jaw loudly.
Mavis cowered away from the enraged she-wolf as a burst of power flowed from her.
"He led me to his journal." Mavis whimpered as Inmoon's hackles raised.
"We took an oath Vlad!" She bellowed to the empty hallway. "Tell no one! It was your oath!"
"This needed explaining." Mavis said as she stood again.
"This!" Inmoon snarled, drool falling from her teeth. "Was to remain a secret for all time!"
"We had a right to know!" Mavis shouted as she found her courage.
"Your rights do not matter! He should not have broken the oath! He should not have told you! This secret is too dangerous!" She clawed the ground in rage, leaving wide gashes in the stone with her claws.
"He didn't tell me." Mavis said. "The words never came from his mouth. I found his journal and read it."
"Curse Vlad and his thrice be damned loopholes!" Inmoon roared before turning around swiftly, the sharp ends of her tail catching Mavis across the face and leaving bleeding scratches.
Mavis gave a surprised yelp of pain and Inmoon stopped and turned her head back to look at Mavis as she held her hand out, examining the blood on her fingers. Inmoon stared intensely at her for a few moments before snorting angrily and continuing down the hall.
Mavis glared at Inmoon's back before walking after her and the two continued on in silence. Their footfalls bounced off the ruined walls. Tears pricked her eyes as she really took in the sight around her. This place was her home and there was no way she could look upon it as anything else. This blood-soaked, ravaged, empty place had been her home. She remembered nothing before the hotel and within these walls she had lived her life. It was sheer torture to look upon the place as she saw it now and she couldn't even imagine the horror such a thing must have wrought upon her father. This wasn't simply his home but his sanctuary. He made it to keep monsters safe and happy and now it looked like the aftermath of a war zone. This once beautiful place was now soaked to the bone in death and destruction. It was depraved, it was wrong, and it defiled every happy memory she had of the place.
She ground her teeth, swept away her tears with the back of her hand, and kept moving. The silence consumed her and the echoing footsteps sounded like an ominous drumbeat around her. Inmoon stood tall and regal before her without even a flinch as she walked over the destroyed decorations her father had worked tirelessly to erect. Mavis found anger filling her at Inmoon's callous behavior and she clung to that. It was better than the despair that had plagued her previously.
The pair walked confidently through the halls and Mavis allowed Inmoon to take the lead. She followed her without a word as she twisted and turned through the maze of hallways. Mavis' head lifted as a sound broke through the beat of their footsteps. She stopped and focused in on that sound as she creased her brow in confusion. Ahead of her, Inmoon came to a halt as well and listened intently.
It was a quiet sound and it played on their curiosity too expertly to resist. They simultaneously turned to find the sound for it was in the nature of the pair to see the danger that laid before them rather than to wander in blindly. They turned a corner and the sound grew louder. There was a wet squelch accompanied by a dry crunch. A suckling noise followed only to cycle back to the quiet squelch. They tracked the sounds to a hallway of open doors and cautiously continued on. Mavis peered into the doorway that proved to be the source of the noise and wrinkled her brow in confusion.
Inside she could she the form of her Aunt Wanda as she nursed a young pup in her arms. The rocking chair she sat in was moving faintly as the pup suckled on her exposed breast. A sense of dread filled Mavis as she remembered where she was. Inmoon took a cautious step back as Mavis took a step forward.
"Mavis." Inmoon whispered. "We have to keep moving."
The low whisper was enough to disturb the babe in Wanda's arms and the child looked up to stare at the pair with eyes still sealed shut. It opened its mouth and a shrieking howl tore its way from the pup's underdeveloped throat. It wriggled free of the limp grasp of its mother and tumbled to the floor in a splatter of blood. With the babe gone Wanda's gnawed upon form lay in full view and the writhing actions of the child caused her head to flop and her empty gaze bore into Mavis.
The child squealed as it flopped and heaved its embryonic form toward the door. Mavis gasped and stepped back in shock as clumps of fur fell away in mangled bits, a string of mucus following in its wake. The babe squealed again and the hallway filled with the sounds of answering cries as more bodies hit the floor with echoing thuds.
Mavis darted back into the hall as ten of the creatures crawled from the surrounding rooms toward them. Each child was in a different stage of development but all had a gaping snout filled with needle-like teeth. Unbelievably, one launched itself at Inmoon who stood in shock at the sight. It latched onto her face and dug its teeth into her flesh with a snarl. Inmoon yelped and shook her head in pain to try and get the thing off even as she took care not to step on any of the little ones crawling by her feet. Within seconds they swarmed her and she howled in pain as they tore into her flesh.
Mavis gave out a yell and grabbed hold of the one on Inmoon's face. She threw the creature away with all of her strength and gave not a wince when the fragile form splattered against the wall from the impact. She reached out again and flung another one to bounce its way down the hall. Inmoon howled in pain and Mavis smacked her across the jaw.
"Fight Inmoon!" Mavis yelled. "I can't get them all off by myself!"
She roughly yanked another babe from Inmoon's flank and hurled it away to land upon a broken table. The large splinters of wood impaled it and the thing writhed and flailed as it squealed. Mavis never would have guessed Inmoon to be even faintly maternal, but that was the only explanation for why she was choosing not to fight. The little babes tore into her flesh and devoured what they could sink their teeth into. Blood ran down Inmoon's body in thick streams and Mavis began to panic.
"Inmoon fight! They aren't real! Fight!" She pleaded. "I can't reach my father without you! Please fight!"
Inmoon locked gazes with Mavis and saw the sheer terror in her eyes as what she said registered. She gave a roar of grief before slamming her left side into the stone wall and crushing the small pups that clung to her. She repeated the action on her right side and rolled on the floor to dislodge any her back. The pair ran as fast at their legs could carry them. Mavis looked up and saw a tiny arm impaled on one of those fierce spikes and she reached up with deft hands and removed it without Inmoon noticing.
They ran until another howl reached their ears and Inmoon was slammed into the wall by a brown blur. Mavis whirled around to see her uncle Wayne biting into Inmoon's throat. She roared in pain and spun Wayne into the wall, cracking the thick stone. Mavis began to run forward to help but was struck to the ground, wood splinters raining down around her. She lifted her gaze to find her foe but could see none aside from Inmoon and Wayne. She began to lift herself only to be struck in the face and slammed violently into the rock.
Hands grabbed at her hair and lifted her head up to pound her face into the floor repeatedly. She felt her nose break as her lips split and blood poured down her face. She pushed up with all her might and got herself to her knees. She reached back and grabbed the hands holding her and flipped her adversary over her head and into the floor. The stone cracked but her foe remained unseen. She now knew who she fought and a shiver of fear ran through her.
Ahead of the Vampiress Inmoon struggled with Wayne. The Werewolf was fast and his mind was gone, left only with a burning hunger for blood. He swiftly avoided her strikes and snapping jaws and landed hit after hit as he leaped around her. Inmoon roared in rage and pain as Wayne sunk his teeth into her flank, spikes piercing his mouth, and tore a chunk of flesh from her. With every successful hit his belly grew as it was filled. His clothes no longer covered him and were merely tatters of fabric hanging from his limbs. His eyes were golden and bloodshot, his fur tangled, and his breath wreaked of decay. Blood oozed from his shredded tongue and gums as he snapped at Inmoon again, who managed to dodge. She finally ensnared his back leg as he leaped again and slammed him into the wall, tearing the limb off with the force. His blood sprayed across her face and she gave a victory howl that shook the hotel to its foundations.
Mavis shuddered at the howl Inmoon released and her quarry slipped free in her distraction. She stood and received a heavy blow to the face. She swiped at the air in front of her and was struck in the back with a foot. She was lifted by her hair again and her face slammed into Griffin's knee with a brutal crack. She pushed through the pain and grabbed his ankle. She flipped him to his back and sunk her fangs into the Achilles tendon and heard him yell. She found his knee and slammed her foot onto it, gagging as she felt bone give way beneath her strength. She leaped upon where she guessed his torso to be and straddled his chest. Hands clawed at her arms and reached for her face. He ripped hair from the side of her head as she grabbed his neck and squeezed.
Terror took hold of Mavis as she began to realize the power that she held. She could break bone without the slightest of resistance and it sickened her. Her fear turned to rage as she recalled why she had to do this. Red ate away her vision and she barely remembered grabbing the sides of Griffin's head hand slamming him to the stone floor.
"I hate you!" She screamed to the Vour as she smashed Griffin's head to the floor. "I hate you!" She smashed his head again. "Give" Slam! "Me" Slam! "My" Smash! "Father" Smash! "BACK!" As she screamed the last words there was a sickening crunch beneath her and a splatter of red as the unseen form of Griffin lay still.
She gasped and promptly vomited on the bloody carpet as she looked down at her hands, stained with crimson. She could hear the sound of Wayne's flesh slowly knitting itself back together and she shuddered. Frank's voice thundered through the hall and shook the very ground she knelt upon. An equally powerful shriek answered his roar and Mavis turned to flee. Inmoon thundered ahead of her, well aware that the young vampiress was fast enough to catch up quickly. She paused and looked sadly down upon the crumpled form of Wayne. She squinted in the dim candlelight and saw something clutched in his broken paw. She pried his fingers loose and examined her prize.
It was a simple photograph, serene and calm and so very out of place in that twisted world. She gazed upon the smiling and happy faces of all of her relatives. Her aunts and uncles stood around a beaming Dracula in the lobby of his hotel. This was it. The second token and Mavis pocketed it as she had the last one before running after Inmoon as fast as she could.
She powered her way through the halls as the ruined forms of guests began to tumble their way from every crevice. They cursed her and screamed horrid threats of torture and death. They called her a true monster and a deceiver. She heard Wayne's howl as he arose despite his terrible wounds and felt the ground tremble beneath the heavy footfalls of her Uncle Frank and Aunt Eunice. She barely had time to dodge as Wanda lunged at her through a door with a belly split wide and gaping. The scent of blood and decay grew stronger and stronger until the pair could scarcely breathe, but still they continued to flee.
They wound their way through the passages and stone hallways. Their near panicked minds barely able to follow the trail. She caught a glimpse of Murray as he ran toward them and she quickly averted her eyes. Murray's jaw hung down, connected on one side by bandages and dried tendons. His eyes were a pair of empty sockets and there was no tongue within his mouth. Old blood stained his wrappings and they tumbled away from his mummified form as he ran.
The two ran from the mob of murderous creatures behind them and somehow, through the haze of terror, managed to find their way to Dracula's chamber. Inmoon nearly tore the door from its hinges in her haste to get inside. The room was dark and barren of any decoration and there was an empty spot on the wall where Martha's picture should have been.
In fact the only thing in the room happened to be Dracula's coffin and as the howling and wailing grew louder Mavis lifted the lid to reveal a stone staircase. She didn't wait for Inmoon and ran down into the enveloping darkness, but she heard the silver she-wolf's footfalls behind her. Everything grew deathly silent as they descended but the world around them grew oppressive and suffocating as they followed the stairs to the third level of Dracula's Fearscape.
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There you go. Second Fearscape chapter. Think I did a good job? Anyway, I am SO sorry this took so long. Had a move pop up that was one disaster after the next. Stayed with relatives for a while and even then I hadn't thought they were going to put me up. In fact they outright refused at first. Got a new place and everything worked out fine. Pulled out my hair for nothing.
* adjusts wig *