Disclaimer: I own nothing! And, I blame YOU for reading this! It's rated T for a reason, don't get too excited about it :P

Author Note:

Alrighty! Here we are, Chapter 2, didn't expect it to come so soon, did you? Haha! A few things I wanted to quickly address about how this new fic will go down:

1) I use italic quotes to signify that an inanimate object is speaking (right, psycho, I know) you'd probably already noticed this in the previous book, but since a lot of my characters are paintings, flowers, and bodyless articles of clothing, it makes things easier for me. Just thought you might like to know :P

2) I promise I'll leave specific disclosures on chapters containing higher rates of profanity and/or gore or horror themes, that might make a few of you feel safer reading this, eh?

3) I'm not quite sure how I'm going to deal with the release dates of chapters, I'm thinking I'll try to post two a week at the moment, one on Friday and one on Sunday every week. This allows me a lot of buffer time to make sure the content isn't terrible. I'm also trying to write longer chapters so they don't seem too short.

PM me with any questions you might have on plot, mechanics, or scenery (I actually research my scenery a fair amount, so if I made a big blunder, I'd like for you all to point it out ;3 )

Thanks guys, sorry this Note was so long, here's the chapter!

Chapter 2:

"I'm not sure, so stop asking already," The cat murmured to the over-talkative blue daffodil. "Nobody really cares what you think anyways, God, you're too pretentious, really." He snickered, his bright yellow eyes never leaving her blue, thick petals. "And no, I don't know how she got here, it's strange really, she's not from our dimension. If I had to put a birth date on her, I'd say it was today, but what human develops at a pace that quickly? I'm pretty sure she's human, anyways... she smells human. She leaves too many unanswered questions; plus, she doesn't have a soul, only some cheap fake that's supposed to provide her the capacity of human emotion, honestly I have no idea what we're dealing with."

"Oh won't you shut up for just one minute and let me speak? You pompous old cat, trying to avoid the matter at hand with trivial questions about our new house guest," The daffodil retorted snottily, "I do wonder, why you're in such a foul mood all the sudden? Don't tell me you grew attached to that two braided cutie Viola... how scandalous! Demons aren't supposed to get touchy-feely with their prey."

"Disgusting! As if I'd ever be interested in a mortal, they're my playthings, they have no real value in this dimension anyways. Human souls just happen to taste better when they've been put through terror and trials, it's like smoking your meat before eating it. How could you see such a mundane act as romantic?"

"But with Viola, didn't it go further than just aging a wine or culturing a ham? You seem to have been upset when her father-"

"Don't presume to insult me, flower," he was angry by now. "I must be off, the little girl seems to be making progress, we'll see whether or not her soul is worth my time after all, if it can be salvaged." I'm sure I'll be able to find a way.

"Ah, well good luck to you with that, if you're not willing to admit the fact, I guess you can just keep walking your own naive path, I'm not going to stop you." He sighed, trotting off down the garden path, through the bush and back into the house, calmly making his way towards the dining room area of the house, where he could hear the cook preparing the evening meal and the young blonde traipsing around. Feelings, for a human? That's as ridiculous an idea as a human falling in love with a beetle, how rude of her to assume... But there was a sadness somewhere in his heart, it wasn't as if her soul hadn't tasted good, it was rich and soft to the palette, a nice meal after a 5 year anorexic period. It was the aftertaste that burned in this throat, a dark kind of 'what if?' that haunted the demon and made him feel queasy.

What if? Viola, what if?

"Cat? Is that you?" Mary nervously peered into the darkness, the steps were getting closer and closer. "Answer me!" But she really required no answer, for the moment the utterance left her lips, two white shoes, one splattered with red, appeared. They were quite nice little shoes, which seemed to be enjoying their stroll up the staircase, they stooped just next to Mary, and turned towards her.

"Do you like my shoes?" A voice echoed in Mary's head, sending tinges of pain down her spine, like a headache. "I've gotten them dirty, how sad for me." At this, they turned back on their path, and moved on. Mary watched them progress down the hallway, before entering the room she came from, the door slammed shut behind them. How odd... She rubbed her temples a bit, before strengthening her resolve and pushing forwards. I can't let myself be distracted! This is a time for action! Oh how the Lady in Yellow would scold me if she saw my present attitude, papa would be angry with me. She shook her head, taking slow steps, since the staircase below her was too dark to see. Step after precarious step, deeper and deeper into the house. Around the time she was six steps down, the door to the staircase slammed behind her, encasing her in palpable darkness so thick and oppressive her breathing became shallow and forced. I don't like the dark, I'm scared. Calm down, calm down. Her shaky steps continued, the staircase felt like it went on forever, the heavy silence only made her more acutely aware of even the tiniest sounds her own presence was making. Just make it to the bottom of this staircase, come on Mary, you can do this. "I'd watch your step if I were you," a faint giggle followed the eerie voice's return in Mary's mind. "It's slippery."

Just at this very moment, Mary did, indeed, slip. The fall was short but hard, her skin split open on her knee, beginning to bleed badly. "Ah, I'm so stupid." The pain had cleared her head, and since the voice was gone, she was feeling refreshed, like someone who'd just had a gallon of ice water dumped over their head. She had fallen onto what appeared to be a landing where the stairs continued downwards, but she could see a faint trickle of light to her left, under what seemed to be a door. She tried the knob, but it appeared to be locked, her key didn't fit either. My only option is down, right? She thought to herself as she looked back up at the way she came, where fits of giggles seemed to be emanating from. Taking another deep breath, she descended the steps a lot more confidently than before, at the bottom, a glowing light appeared, this room was in much worse condition than the first had been, with rips in the floors and chairs strewn around. A large dining table resided in the center, with a long red table runner spread across it. Two places were set, shining china and crystal clear glasses, with a fork, a knife, and a spoon next to each. The glasses held an odd, grayish liquid, and the tips of the silverware were covered with it as well, all was illuminated by a bright, large candle in the center, surrounded by leaves and other fall themed decorations. There was a chopping sound coming from behind a door on the opposite side of the room, and the smell of something roasting teased Mary's nose, it didn't smell right though, something was off. Whatever had been leaving the red trail seemed to have gotten desperate by now, splatters of it were everywhere, Mary bent down to examine it, dipping her finger into one of the pools. It tasted nothing like paint. She looked around the room again, noticing an unlit fireplace which was bestrewn with cold, dead ashes.

"Pretty nice place, don't you think, little girl?" He said, in that same annoyingly superior voice.

"Ah, it's you again, how unpleasant." She smiled a bit as his ears flattened with annoyance. "What's up, were you looking for me?"

"Not particularly, you were just making so much noise I had to come by and see for myself what was going on," Mary flushed at his comment, looking down at her bare feet. "So uncivilized you don't even wear shoes? You're going to ruin our carpets!"

"Why are you so abrasive, anyways?"

"Why indeed..."

The couple settled into silence, and just stared at each other. "You don't even have a reason? And you think I'm the stupid one," Mary retorted softly, looking down.

"I guess I didn't really have the right," the cat said brusquely, as he jumped onto the table and began to groom his sleek fur. "You ought to fix yourself up, you know, dinner will be ready soon. The cook doesn't like it when his guests don't even have the decency to be dressed properly for the dinner table. Mary scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. "Think of it as a little quest to keep you preoccupied, here, I'll draw you a map to where we'll have you stay, you should be fairly comfortable there," the cat smiled. "I've got my own duties to preoccupy myself with until the meal, hurry there and get yourself done up nicely, meet me back her in a half hours time for the meal." Mary nodded reluctantly, afraid to be left on her own to wander through this giant house of horrors. The cat's map was simple enough to understand, however, and in no time, Mary was on her way.