IPLAY HALLOWEEN PARTY
Your are hereby invited to
A live Iplay Halloween Party
To be held at the Morose Mansion
NomaVille, Texas
From Noon - 6:00 a.m. c.s.t.
Can you make it to 6:00 Nov. 1?
(Driving directions on reverse)
This invitation has been sent out to ALL the people who grace Iplay
with their presence. Whether you are a newbie or a grizzled old veteran, you
too can attend. Want to send a friend instead? That's ok too. One thing is
for sure, all that enter alive, will NOT exit that way. So the story begins,
how it ends is up to you, you see this story is a work-in-progress. You
supply the nicks and choose their fate. Choose wisely, for the dead seldom
remains dormant in Morose Mansion.
Early on Thursday morning October 31, 2002, the party hosts began
to arrive. Paragod had the key to the front door and had arrived at 6:00 a.m.
Dave, Snickers and DeShadow all arrived together, these four along with
BedrmiiZ were to host the shindig and were looking forward to setting up
tricks and booby traps for the guests who would be arriving starting at noon.
Just as they were about to explore the house, BedrmiiZ and St Joe arrived
together. Below are the results of the house exploration:
Top floor
Bottom Floor
Dave, Snickers and DeShadow began decorating the upstairs, while
BedrmiiZ and St Joe began decorating the downstairs. Paragod stocked the
downstairs bar and the bar in the upstairs ballroom. (In between nips that is.)
The house was completely decorated by 11:30 and everyone assembled in
the main foyer except BedrmiiZ who had come up missing. For a half an
hour they searched the house, but to no avail, BedrmiiZ was no where to be
found. Assuming that she had taken a walk around the grounds the
remaining hosts assembled in the main foyer and greeted the caterers and the
disc jockey. It was 12:15 when the guests began to arrive.
(To be continued)
If you'd like to be a guest or would like to send a friend to the party, send
suggested nicks to [email protected]. Story will be updated every three
days from now to Halloween.
Ruready1 and her daughter, Heather, were the first guests in the door.
They entered to a receiving line of Dave, DeShadow and Paragod. After
saying hello to the black paw crew they made their way into the social room
where everyone was gathering prior to going to the party in the ballroom.
Heather excused herself and went to the bar to get a drink, StJoe was
greeting people at the door of the bar and as Heather entered, Pammie, Seco
and ERF were already there. Each spoke pleasantly and Heather couldn't
help but notice Pammie was appearing to stand-guard over an enormous
blender filled with Daiquiris. There were two bartenders, who were part of
the catering crew, serving the drinks.
"I heard this house was haunted." Seco was telling StJoe and ERF.
"I heard that the last people who lived here claimed their blenders
kept coming up missing." StJoe agreed loudly as he grinned at Pammie.
"This blender comes up missing there won't be a house left, because
I'll tear it down till I find it." Pammie responded from across the room.
"Are you going to share the Daiquiris, Pammie? Or are you going to
hog them all for yourself?" ERF asked jokingly.
Pammie asked the bartender how much Daiquiri mixture there was
before replying, after being assured there was plenty of Rum, "Yeah, I'll
share, just make sure you have a small glass."
Heather had gotten her Long Island Iced Tea and was heading back to
the social room when; Fallon992k2 greeted her. When she told him that she
wasn't really in costume, she actually was a prison guard he decided to
mosey on into the bar, the thought of having a nightstick in his ear wasn't
very appealing.
The group in the social room had grown from Snickers and RuReady1
to now include King Arthur, SCL_Stormy, SCL_StormyBexty, Yoni and
Lace. King Arthur was decked out in a Medieval suit complete with crown,
without a doubt the most eye-catching costume to arrive so far. The
conversation in this room was of the disappearance of BedrmiiZ.
"How long has she been gone?" Scl_Stormy asked.
"Since we all gathered back in the main foyer, at about noon or so."
Snickers responded.
"Maybe we should go look for her?" RuReady1 asked with a noted
touch of concern in her voice.
"Deshadow, Joe and I were planning on it once the arrivals settled
down a little bit." Snickers was also visibly concerned.
It was Lace who noticed the blonde woman in the back of the room at
that point. "Who is that?" she asked.
All heads turned. "Oh my God, its Beddy!" Ruready1 spoke up, as
BedrmiiZ joined the group of people standing in the center of the room.
"Hi everyone." BedrmiiZ greeted everyone. As RuReady1 went to
hug her, Beddy spoke again, "I'll be right back, need to go and get a drink."
She quickly walked out of the room.
"Well, geesh, I didn't even get my hug." RuReady1 said in a
downtrodden voice,
"I know, I was hoping to grope her as well." King Arthur mused.
Everyone was laughing as StJoe, WmShakespeare and David entered
the room. "We're going to go look for Beddy, anyone else want to join us?"
StJoe asked.
"She was just in here" Yoni responded, "you should have went past
her, she said she was going to get a drink."
"Oh?" StJoe questioned. "We just came from the bar to here, I didn't
see her."
"Maybe she went to the bathroom first." David added.
"That's probably it." WmShakespeare agreed.
"I'll go check" StJoe offered, "just to make sure she is ok."
With that StJoe left the room and WmShakespeare and David joined
the rest of the group in conversation.
The group that had originally been in the bar was now gathered in the
Library. Pammie had brought her blender with her and was sitting on the
desk. The group in the Library now consisted of Seco, Pammie,
Fallon992k2, ERF, LilMissDoNoWrong, TweedleDee, TweedleDum and
McGowan007.
Each had been told different tidbits about the house and was sharing
it with the others. "I heard back when it was built in the 1800s that 1/2 the
construction crew were killed in some freak accident." Pammie shared with
the others.
"I read that the original owners were found dead in one of the
bedrooms by a servant." Fallon992k2 added.
"All I can say is, if I see anything that doesn't resemble a human
being, I'm getting the hell out of here quickly." LilMissDoNoWrong joked.
"Just don't be in my way, because I'll knock down a wall getting out
of here if I have to." ERF voiced his agreement.
"Anyone in here seen Beddy?" StJoe had came in the doorway.
"No" was the resounding response.
"Ok, thanks" as quickly as he had came in; Joe vanished back out of
the doorway.
After thoroughly searching the main floor of the house he went
upstairs. He investigated both of the branch hallways, all of the rooms still
had open doors and she was nowhere to be found. He noticed that the
middle bedroom door above the left side above the main foyer was closed.
He knocked on the door and was relieved to her BedrmiiZ's voice
from the other side.
"Sorry this room is occupied" the voice from the other side of the door
said.
"Didn't mean to disturb you, just wanted to make sure you were ok."
StJoe replied.
"Come in here Joe, you have to see this."
Joe opened the door and Beddy was standing by the window. "Close
the door and check this out."
Joe turned and closed the door. As he turned back, BedrmiiZ was
gone. "Beddy?" He was completely puzzled, as there were no places to
hide in this room. He made his way over to the window and glanced up at
the full-length mirror beside it, as he did so, he immediately realized
something was awry. He turned to face the doorway and there was no
longer any door. Just a plain wall, there were no exits from this room of any
kind. After moving his hands along the wall and finding no hidden doorway
he saw something flash in the mirror. Rattled he approached the mirror with
caution as he looked into it, there was Beddy standing behind him, only she
was now taller than he was.
"Welcome to my side, Joe." These were the last words Joe heard
before he turned to see that Beddy was now floating a foot off the floor. He
had no chance to scream, no time for sound; he was no longer among the
living.
Back down in the main foyer Paragod stood staring up at the bedroom
door in the hallway above. "Dave, I just saw that bedroom door disappear
and reappear.
Dave began laughing, "Sure Para and that's your first drink too, bud."
"I'm serious, it was gone, then it was there again."
"You didn't know I invited David Copperfield to the party? It was just
an illusion, Para." Dave was still chuckling as he greeted the crew from
SFE, BlazingRose, LadyD, Jamie, KronicFlirt and Blackrose.
Paragod shook their hands and greeted them while still staring at the
bedroom door. He knew he hadn't had that much to drink yet, but at the
same time was thinking he would cut back on the scotch until later that
evening.
It was 2:00 p.m. now, still early in the day. The party had broken into
three small groups, one group in the social room, one in the library and a
third group in the spare room near the bar where snacks had been placed.
Two of the guests had decided to become adventurous and scope out the
house on their own.
Serendippity and Seco were checking out the second floor, both were
astonished at how well furnished the house was and at how clean things
were. There were scattered cobwebs here and there, but for the most part the
furnishings didn't even appear to be dusty.
Serendippity had excused herself to use the restroom located in the
right hallway while Seco waited in the upstairs Den. When Serendippity
returned a few minutes later, Seco was nowhere to be found. She went back
out and leaned over the railing above the main foyer.
"Have any of you seen, Seco come down the stairs?"
Dave, DeShadow and Paragod looked up. "No, last we saw he went
upstairs with you." DeShadow responded.
"Maybe he went into the disappearing doorway." Dave couldn't resist
saying as he once again busted out laughing.
After a quick "Go-die" look in Dave's direction Para looked up
towards Serendippity, "Last I saw you two had walked over that direction,
never seen him come back across."
"Ok thanks." Serendippity walked back down the right-side hallway
and checked in every room, after no luck, she searched the left side rooms
and once again her search came up empty. She shrugged and went back
downstairs to join the group in the library.
"Where's, Seco?" Pammie asked.
"I have no idea, I went to the restroom, he said he would be in the den,
I came out went to the den and he was gone."
"Guess he and BedrmiiZ are hiding somewhere, I know those guys are
up to something." ERF did not believe that anyone had disappeared, rather
they were going to hide and scare everyone.
"You are probably right, they are going to try and scare us all later."
BlazingRose agreed.
Snickers and LadyD then excused themselves from the group and
went unnoticed down the left hallway on the main floor. Both ladies had
worn the same costume; they had come dressed as witches. No one saw
them walk into a secret passage at the end of the hallway and adjourn
themselves to the house's huge cellar.
In the center of the cellar there was a huge table, filled with jars and
two large books of witchcraft and black magic. As the two took up positions
on each end of the table, Snickers turned her book to the section on hypnotic
spells. LadyD, on the other hand, turned her book to the section on
sacrificial rituals. As the two began to work on their ingredients, the looked
at one another and smiled evilly, Snickers eyes had now turned a glowing
red.
Current guest list:
Dave
Paragod
DeShadow
BedrmiiZ StJoe
RuReady1
Seco
WmShakespeare Fallon992k2
ERF
StormyBexty
Stormy
Yoni
Lilmissdonowrong Lace
McGowan007
TweedleDum
SFE_BlazingRose
SFE_Blackrose
SFE_KronicFlirt
Serendippity
Sharon2001 Jeans_n_Pearls
Stormyblueii
WhiteMagicWoman
NuttyJazzy
Mortician Zoie
Furby59
Snickers
Pammie
KingArthur
David
TweedleDee
SFE_Jamie
SFE_LadyD
Janelly
BuyMeaRose
Nutty_Medic
Omasue
The flow of arriving guests had settled down and only DeShadow
remained at the door greeting people as they came in. Dave had called
everyone into the social room to lay out the night's events.
"Where is BedrmiiZ, Snickers and StJoe?" Dave noticed three of his
setup crew was not present.
"I don't know, Seco disappeared also." Zoie, a recent arrival, added.
"LadyD is also not here." Blackrose spoke up.
"Ok, once we are done here we'll go look for them, I'm sure they are
fine." Dave wanted to get the schedule of events laid out while he had the
majority of the people here. As he noticed Paragod walking out of the room.
"Para? Where are you going?"
"I need a drink, I'll be right back."
"Yeah well make sure the door doesn't disappear on you."
Para looked back and gave Dave another "go-die" look before
continuing to the bar.
Once everyone had stopped laughing, Dave began with the evening's
festivities schedule. "Welcome all to Iplay's 2002 Halloween Party. The
Morose Family has generously allowed us to use this house for this
evening's festivities. Please respect their property, all of the rooms have
been cleaned up and if you feel the need feel free to use any of the beds you
wish." Dave realized what he had just said as there was a unified chuckle
from the crowd. "Let me rephrase that, should you get tired or you have had
too much to drink, there are plenty of beds for you to sleep in. This room,
the Library, the Den upstairs, the bar and both of the extra rooms located on
either side of the dining room are at your disposal. The ballroom upstairs we
will open up for everyone immediately after dinner and we have a DJ that
will be playing music until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow or until everyone has passed
out, whichever comes first. We will have a catered sit-down dinner at 7:00
p.m. Until then there are snacks in the extra room beside the bar and of
course, the bar is open."
Dave took a break from speaking as NuttyJazzy, Furby59 and
Nutty_Medic approached him. He nodded his agreement to them and then
continued. "It has been brought to my attention that out behind the house is
a hedge-labyrinth. Jazzy, Medic and Furby will be out there for those who
wish to get lost in the bushes. Upstairs on either side of the ballroom are
two unfurnished bedrooms. The SFE hosting crew, BlazingRose,
KronicFlirt, Jamie, LadyD and Blackrose have graciously agreed to run
some party games in one of the rooms and SCL hosts, Stormy, Bexty, Blueii
and RuReady1 and her daughter Heather will be running games in the other
one. Just a hint, I've been told that the SFE room will have drinking games,
so be prepared. Feel free to venture around the house and look it over, it is
truly a beautiful home, built in 1834 and housed three generations of the
Morose family. It has stood vacant for nearly 25 years now, I won't get into
why, you guys have come up with enough reasons already. Ok, everyone
have a great time and if you need anything, feel free to ask myself, Paragod
or DeShadow."
Dave was done speaking and was in dire need of an ice cold Busch.
But, Paragod stopped everyone before they could leave. "Before we leave in
here, I'd like to do a head count to see who is missing. Make it easier to
search for people if we know who we are looking for. There should be 41
people here." After counting, the tally came to only 36. "Ok, so the five
missing are BedrmiiZ, St Joe, LadyD, Seco and Snickers. If any of you see
these strays be sure and tell em to join the party."
Paragod, ERF, Zoie, Sharon2001 and WhiteMagic_Woman went to
search the upstairs of the house. Janelly, BuyMeaRose, Pammie,
Fallon992k2 and Dave began searching the main floor. Furby59,
Nutty_Medic and NuttyJazzy lead a group of people out to the back lawn,
perhaps one of the missing people were in the maze somewhere.
The SFE crew went upstairs into the unfurnished bedroom to the left
of the ballroom. David, Lace, TweedleDee, TweedleDum,
LilMissDoNoWrong and Mortician joined the games in their room. In this
room, they were set to play four different drinking games and an interesting
game of truth or dare.
In the room to the right of the ballroom were Stormy, StormyBlueii,
RuReady1, McGowan007 and King Arthur were preparing for some new
Halloween games. Heather and Bexty joined them after a quick stop off at
the bar. Heather was now carrying a 16-ounce glass filled with Long
Island's best tea.
WmShakespeare, Serendippity, Omasue, Jeans_n_Pearls and Yoni
joined NuttyJazzy, Nutty_Medic and Furby59 in the back yard to check out
the large maze.
The group searching the upstairs floor stayed together from room to
room. After a complete search ending in the den the group decided to join
the various party groups, Paragod and ERF joined the drinking games, while
WhiteMagicWoman and Zoie joined the festivities in the non 100 proof
room.
Sharon2001 became fixated with a collection of knickknacks from
around the world and stayed in the den. As she was browsing she heard the
door go shut behind her she turned to see that Seco was standing behind her.
"Hi, I'm Sharon2001, who are you?"
"Well hi Sharon, I'm Seco. Did you check out the secret panel in
here?"
"Seco? We were looking for you. Have you seen BedrmiiZ, StJoe,
Snickers or LadyD anywhere?" It finally dawned on her what Seco had
asked her. "Secret panel?"
"Yes, all of us are down in the cellar, come here check this out." Seco
pushed on a paneled portion of the den wall and it opened to expose a dark
hallway.
Sharon walked over to the opening and stopped. "I'm not very
comfortable in the dark so I'll pass on the cellar. I'll just go tell the others
that you are ok."
Seco smiled, "I'm afraid that's not going to happen. On the bright side
though you won't be afraid of the dark any longer."
"What…" This was all Sharon was able to get out before a force from
behind grabbed her throat and squeezed the life from her.
"Well done, Joe. Wonder how long these people are going to stroll
through the house one by one."
StJoe dropped Sharon to the floor. "Doesn't really matter, Snickers
and LadyD have plans for the group later."
BedrmiiZ appeared at the passageway, "If you two are done with the
idle chitchat it would probably be a good idea to get the body in here and out
of the den, don't you think?" As quickly as she had appeared, she was gone
once again.
"Bossy little thing ain't she?" Seco piped up.
"Yeah, that she is, had to kill me so that there was someone for her to
rule over in the afterlife. Heaven forbid I actually enjoy life without her."
The two dragged Sharon's body into the passageway and closed the
panel. Within seconds the door to the den swung open and it was as if no
one was ever in there.
The crew searching the main floor decided to split up. Dave, Pammie
and BuyMeaRose searched the left side while Fallon992k2 and Janelly
searched the right hallway. Room by room they searched thoroughly,
nothing was found, not even a trace of the missing people. While Janelly
used the bathroom, Fallon leaned against the wall at the end of the right
hallway.
The next thing Fallon knew he was falling backwards into a hidden
passageway. As he stood up the passageway closed and there was complete
darkness except for a flickering light coming from the bottom of a stone
stairway. He made his way cautiously down the stairs, keeping his hand on
the wall and walking very slowly. Once he was at the bottom he saw LadyD
standing by a long table.
"Hi." He nervously spoke. But the woman totally ignored him and
continued her work at the table.
"You're LadyD, right?" He moved closer to her. Still no response
was received. As he moved closer to her he saw someone moving towards
him from the right side of the room. He turned to see it was Snickers, only
something was very wrong with her eyes.
"Snicks? Are you ok, hon?" He smiled.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." These were the words Fallon heard
from Snickers lips before he burst into flames and became nothing but a
mound of ashes on the cellar floor.
Snickers moved beyond Fallon and up another set of stairs to a
passageway that led to a panel in the social room. Dave was relaxing in a
leather chair and enjoying a Busch when the panel opened.
"Shit! Snicks? Where have you been? What happened to your
eyes?"
Snickers raised her left hand. "Silence!"
Dave tried to speak again, but his mouth would not open, he tried
using his hands to pull apart his lips but to no avail.
"Today my Army begins to grow, you're the first with me you'll go."
Snickers said the words in a low tone and as she spoke the final word she
turned and went back into the passageway. Following behind her was a
newly deceased being that once was Dave. After the two were inside the
passageway the panel closed behind them.
Pammie, Omasue and BuyMeaRose were sitting in the bar after
completing their search of the house. Pammie had polished off her first
pitcher of daiquiris and was now beginning to work on the second.
"By the time dinnertime comes around I should be feeling no pain."
Pammie informed the small group.
"If you are still conscious by then." Rose responded.
"Well, if I'm not maybe I'll get lucky and some gorgeous hunk will
take advantage of me." Pammie laughed.
"If it works I may have to pass out too." Rose agreed.
"I think I'd rather be conscious, hate to miss out on anything good."
Omasue added.
Janelly entered the bar. "You guys seen Fallon?"
"Nope, last time I saw him he was with you."
"He was supposed to wait in the hallway while I used the bathroom.
When I came out he was gone."
Pammie chuckled, "Should have taken him in with you, that way he
couldn't run away."
The four laughed and Janelly joined the other two at the bar. "You
guys going to join the games?"
"We're going to check out that maze when we finish our drinks."
Rose answered. "Wanna join us?"
"Sounds like fun to me." Janelly ordered a pina colada and settled in
at the bar.
Outside in the maze Jeans_n_Pearls was maneuvering her way
through the task had become harder as vines had grown through the paths.
As she turned down a pathway she saw someone standing about 20 feet in
front of her. As she got closer she recognized her friend right away.
"Sharon? What are you doing in here? I thought they said only one
person at a time."
Sharon2001 smiled, "There is a tunnel that leads from the house to
here. Wanna see it?"
"Cool, yeah where is it?"
"Right down here." Sharon pointed to a corner of the dead-end path.
Jeans followed Sharon down into a dark tunnel beneath the ground.
Just as the two had gotten in there, the ground closed above them and it was
pitch black.
"Sharon? Where are you, I can't see you." Jeans_n_Pearls pulled a
lighter out of her pocket. Just as the flame flickered and her eyes adjusted
Sharon blew it out.
"Trust me Jeans, you're not going to be at all worried by the darkness
in just a few seconds. Take my hand, I'll lead you down the tunnel."
Jeans lit her lighter once again. "Why'd you blow…." Before she
could finish the sentence both her light and the flame of the lighter went out.
"Who is in the maze?" Serendippity was anxious to take her turn.
"Jeans_n_Pearls is in there right now." Furby59 responded. "It's
starting to cloud up, why don't you go ahead and give it a try, Serendippity."
"Great!" Serendippity went into the maze hurriedly.
As she disappeared from their sight it began to rain lightly.
"Let's head up to the patio and keep try." Nutty_Medic suggested.
"I'm all for that, standing out here in the rain isn't my idea of fun."
Furby59 agreed.
After the group retreated to the patio, everyone went inside the house
except NuttyJazzy and Nutty_Medic.
Furby opened the patio door after she went in, "either of you want a
drink or something?"
"Yes, please. I'll have a Screwdriver." Jazzy placed her order.
"Thanks Furby, I'll take a jack and coke, please." Nutty_Medic had
been without a drink for nearly an hour and he was dying for one.
"Coming right up." Furby smiled and closed the door behind her.
It had now begun to rain just a bit harder. "I'm going to go through
the maze from the end to the beginning and help those two out. Be right
back." Nutty_Medic made his way into the exit of the maze.
After twenty minutes Serendippity emerged from the exit and
Nutty_Medic came out through the entrance. Both were soaked, as the rain
had intensified.
They made their way to the patio where NuttyJazzy and Furby59 were
now sitting on two lawn-chairs. Jazzy had retrieved some towels from
inside the house and handed Medic and Serendippity one each.
"Jeans_n_Pearls come back out through the entrance?" Medic asked
as he dried himself off.
"I didn't see her, but she may have. After you went in the maze I went
inside to get blankets." Jazzy answered.
"I never passed anyone in the maze except Nutty_Medic, but there
were several holes in the outer part of the maze. She may have just given up
and went out one of those. The back part is really hard to get through."
Serendippity spoke while drying.
"One thing is for certain, she's nowhere inside that maze, I checked
every path to make sure." Nutty_Medic had wrapped the towel around his
neck now.
"Ok, well, don't know about the rest of you but I'm going inside. I'll
look for her in the house." Furby59 turned and opened the patio door.
Everyone was in agreement as they all went back into the house. No sooner
had they closed the door, bolts of lightning began appearing outside and
thunder began to rumble through the air.
It was now 5:00 p.m. and the partygoers had broken into two groups.
Stormy, StormyBexty, StormyBlueii, RuReady1, Heather, WmShakespeare,
Yoni, King Arthur, DeShadow, Lace, Furby59, Serendippity, McGowan007,
David and Zoie were now longing in the Library and chatting. One of the
catering crew was taking names for the table assignments for dinner.
In the social room were BlazingRose, Jamie, KronicFlirt, Blackrose,
ERF, Pammie, Janelly, BuyMeaRose, Paragod, NuttyJazzy, Nutty_Medic,
TweedleDee, TweedleDum, LilMissDoNoWrong, Omasue,
WhiteMagicWoman, and Mortician each working on a future hangover and
chatting amongst themselves.
Now at the door was two of the catering crew and inside the walls was
an ever-growing crew of ghosts and zombies. At this point no one was even
aware of or speaking of anyone missing in the house.
It was now 5:30 p.m. and outside it appeared as if it were midnight.
The moon was hidden behind ominous clouds and only a single pole-light in
front of the house allowed anyone to see anything. The guests had steadily
continued to arrive and the two members of the catering crew, who were
now at the door, was taking names for the dinner list. In the past 30 minutes
Loco7, TriviaQueen, FireCardinal, FireDude, Kim_ct_42, LateOne,
MsLateOne, Selena_S, LittleJoe1315, RagingThunder, Irish_Eyes,
HollyKnows, Jezzebelle, Kdawg, WPCStrohs and three more members of
the SFE club (TxChaser, LucyK, Salina) had arrived for the party. The tally
for the numbers of guests had now climbed to 59 including the six hosts.
Also arriving during the 1/2 hour was a cute little girl dressed as a
princess named Adrienne. She had come trick or treating and had certainly
hit the jackpot at this house. She went from one room to the other and
everyone had found something to place in her candy bag. From money, to
pieces of cake and cookie wrapped in cellophane, to candy bars and bubble
gum. By the time she had made it back to the front doors, her bag had gone
from near empty to nearly overflowing. TriviaQueen had been her escort
through the rooms to keep her safe and both of the catering crew at the door
had also sent for desserts wrapped to give the little princess as she left.
"Wow, barely any room for me to put this pack of cookies in there."
One of the catering crew told her.
Adrienne had a huge smile on her face. "I know, everyone filled it
up." She was bursting with joy.
"Well, here are two more packages of goodies for you to take with
you." The other catering crewmember placed a wrapped piece of chocolate
cake in her bag.
"Thank you all very much." She told the people who had followed
her to the door to say goodbye.
After several hugs and kisses she left the house. For a brief period it
had gone from a house of doom to a house of sunshine. But, nothing-good
lasts forever, now aligning the foyer near the ballroom upstairs were five
particularly unhappy spirits.
"What are we going to do now?" Sharon2001 asked BedrmiiZ.
"There's too many people here. We can't just sit back and wait for them all
to use the restroom."
"The numbers are growing nearly exponentially now. We're going to
have to pick and choose. Each of you pick two people you want to bring to
our side. We'll work out a plan to lure them away from the rest and take
them out. I want to go from five to fifteen by the time they have dinner."
"You mean any two we want, we can take out?" Seco was excited at
this prospect as he watched Serendippity go from the Social room to the bar.
"Yes, that's what I mean, Seco."
"What about the two that are down there in the bedroom?"
Jeans_n_Pearls asked.
"There's another force at work in the house that has plans for them.
We are to leave them alone."
"Can Joe and I go down and watch?" Seco asked smiling.
Joe was standing on the other side of Beddy and his eyes became as
big as saucers when Seco mentioned that. Beddy looked at Seco
menacingly, "If I catch Joe anywhere near that room, I'm turning his soul
over to Snickers and LadyD." She looked the other direction towards Joe
who managed to give a "I have no idea what he's talking about, dear" look
for her. Joe had seen what Snickers had done to Dave. He didn't want any
part of looking like that for eternity.
"So I can go down and watch?" Seco was excited now. "I may be
dead, but damn if I want to pass up a chance to see Pammie naked."
"Seco, focus on the guests downstairs. You see those two figures
down at the end of the hallway beside that bedroom door?" BedrmiiZ
pointed down the hallway to her right.
All eyes turned and now standing in the darkness were two huge
seven-foot figures. "Aren't those the two statues that were on the pillars in
front of the house when we got here?" Joe asked.
"At that time they were, not anymore, darkness has brought them to
life."
"Oh shit, those are real gargoyles?" Sharon2001 was dazed.
"They certainly aren't figments of your imagination." Beddy replied.
"So why are they interested in taking Pammie out?" Seco was
curious. "What did she do? Or do they just attack those who are having
sex?"
"All I know is, something about their king has given them orders
specifically for Pammie." Beddy was getting bored with this conversation
now, too much talk, not enough killing.
"I never would have believed that they existed." Jeans_n_Pearls
added.
"Probably didn't believe in witches, ghosts or zombies either before
tonight, did you?" Sharon asked her.
"Point taken." Jeans ended her part of the communiqué.
"Ok, has everyone picked out their victims?" Beddy was anxious to
begin.
"Can we choose from anybody or are there plans for some of them
already?" Joe inquired.
"Only two we can't touch. DeShadow and that one right there."
Beddy pointed at a man standing beside the library door.
"Why can't we have him?" Seco didn't want to kill that person, but
wanted to know why.
"You didn't inherit any extra perception when you died, did you Seco?
That man is already dead."
The group looked at the tall slender man. "Guess that's not makeup
that's causing his face to be so white then." Joe remarked.
"Everyone have their victims chosen?" Beddy asked one last time.
After everyone sounded off in affirmation, Beddy concluded the
conversation. "Ok, let's get to work."
DeShadow was very concerned now. He hadn't seen Snickers in
hours and decided to take a look around to try and find her. Room after
room he checked, as he came to the bedroom at the end of the left hallway it
was locked.
"Snickers, are you in there?"
An out-of-breath voice answered from the other side.
"No….she's….not….in…..here." This was followed by a loud moan.
Deshadow laughed when he recognized the voice, "Ok, thanks Pammie,
carry on."
He continued his search of the house and as he entered the upstairs
Den there was Snickers sitting in a leather chair near the back of the room.
It was dimly lit, but he knew that it was Snicks. As he walked closer to her
an ominous red glow reflected from her eyes.
Once he could see her plainly he took a 1/2 a step backwards.
"Sweetheart? Are you ok, you look like hell."
Snickers stood up slowly and approached him. As she was face to
face with him she smiled. DeShadow now could see that the red glow
wasn't light reflecting off her eyes, it was her eyes glowing.
"Honey, if you think I look like hell, wait until you see yourself in a
few minutes." Snickers voice was deep and eerily calm.
DeShadow wanted to run, not the first time he'd wanted to run from
Snickers, but it was the first time he feared for his life. Unfortunately, his
legs were not cooperating and he was frozen.
"Till death do us part was the original plan, now for eternity I will
have my man." Snickers eyes grew brighter and the entire room had taken
on a red glow. Bright enough that Paragod, who had been coming out of the
social room to go get another drink, looked up and saw it. He shook his
head and looked back up, still the glow was there. He turned back his head
back into the social room and whispered to McGowan007. "Look up there
into the Den and tell me if you see anything."
McGowan007 looked around the corner and up to the den. It was a
dimly lit room, just as all the other rooms upstairs were at this time.
"Anything in particular I should be seeing?" She asked.
Paragod turned and looked back up, the red glow was now gone.
"Shit, not again. Nevermind Mc, thanks."
McGowan007 laughed. "Sure thing Para anytime."
Paragod made his way to the bar. "Make this a double please. If I'm
going to be seeing things, maybe I'll get drunk enough to see Julia Roberts
twins standing upstairs."
The bartender laughed and filled Para's glass with a double scotch on
the rocks.
With the increasing numbers the party expanded from just the social
room and library to include the two spare rooms on either side of the dining
room and two tables with four people at each were set up in the bar. Games
of spades, canasta, pinochle and euchre had broken out to kill time before
dinner.
As RuReady1 and Furby59 were making their way from the library to
the social room the saw Beddy standing at the top of the stairs.
Beddy smiled at them. "Come here you two, you gotta see this." The
two climbed the stairway and followed Beddy into the ballroom.
"What's going on, Bed, where have you been all day?" RuReady1
asked.
"Oh pretty much the same place you two will be the rest of the night."
Beddy answered as the doors went shut behind them.
Seco wanted badly to make his way down that hall, but every time he
would attempt to go through one of the walls to edge closer to the bedroom
he heard the distinct sound of a growl and one of the two monstrosities
would be looking at him.
Finally he gave up and decided to get his two victims. He wanted
badly to take out Serendippity who had left him in that den to perish. As he
made his way invisibly through the lower part of the house he spotted her in
a card game inside the bar with three other players. He mumbled to himself
in frustration as he made his way to the social room where people were
standing watching games. As he looked over the extras he noticed ERF and
David standing alongside the wall near the doorway. He moved out of the
room and once visible again walked around the corner and glanced into the
room.
"Pssssssst." He quietly got the two men's attention. "Come on, there
is a secret room down at the end of the hallway and a party going on."
"Outstanding!" David replied as the two men followed Seco down the
corridor and into a secret passage. Down a dimly lit stone stairway they
walked and as they reached the bottom were met by LadyD.
She glared at Seco. "You dare bring these two into our lair?"
Seco began stammering nervously; visions of Dave's greenish tint
with his mouth sewn shut flashed through his head. "I uh, well, I thought, I
was gonna, uh." Was about all Seco could manage.
"LEAVE!" LadyD screeched loudly.
David and ERF were thinking this was part of the party up until that
point. When Seco vanished into thin air, they began to think differently.
LadyD looked at the two men. "Enter my lair without permission,
now bound to a lifetime of pain and submission." She bellowed in a
screechy high-pitched voice.
As the two men looked at each other they had a split second to be
horrified at the vision before them before they became fully undead.
Seco came across BedrmiiZ on the opposite end of the cellar.
"So, lost your two to the witches, huh?" Beddy looked at him.
"I'll go and get two more." He answered nervously.
"Nope, you blew it, we can't have everyone gone before the dance
begins. We have big plans for that party." Beddy was visibly irritated.
"Don't get in anymore mischief and stay away from that bedroom."
Seco was about to respond when Beddy vanished. "Great, don't get to
kill anyone, can't watch Pammie having sex, this afterlife is just as boring as
life was." He mumbled to himself.
Sharon2001 and Jeans_n_Pearls had decided to work together. There
were four people sitting in the spare room beside the bar as they entered and
the door shut behind them.
LittleJoe1315 was the first to look up. "Hi there you two, where have
you been?" StormyBexty, TweedleDee and LilMissDoNoWrong were also
seated at the table.
"Joe is mine." Sharon spoke up and started towards him.
Before she could get to him though Jeans_n_Pearls flew across the
table and knocked him to the floor. As she was taking Joe's life Sharon
screamed and snapped the neck of TweedleDee out of frustration.
Bexty and LilMiss tried to run for the door but both were grabbed
from behind. As the two were moving the bodies out of the room and down
to the cellar Sharon was visibly aggravated. "I wanted to take Joe out."
"Yeah and I wanted to live. So now we're even." Jeans responded.
After they had moved their victims into the same private room that
their very own bodies were lying in they made there way to the top floor of
the house to watch StJoe do his work. "You know, LittleJoe is going to be
extremely pissed at you now." Sharon spoke up.
"What's he gonna do? Kill me?" Jeans retorted.
"Oh yeah, forgot for a second." The two watched as StJoe had enticed
WhiteMagicWoman and Lace down the corridor to the right of the top floor.
Watching very closely was BedrmiiZ as they entered the end bedroom with
StJoe.
As the door went shut to the bedroom, two seconds later BedrmiiZ
appeared in the back corner behind StJoe's victims. She crossed her arms
and glared at him.
"What are we doing in here Joe?" Lace was puzzled he had told them
there was a hidden room up here filled with all kinds of jewelry.
Joe was looking past them at BedrmiiZ, "Well, this is the easiest place
for me to take you ladies. If I killed you on the other side of the house I'd
have to drag your bodies all the way over here."
Both of the women laughed, thinking he had played a joke on them
and was still doing so.
"What's so funny?" StJoe was puzzled slightly now.
"You are, 'drag our bodies all the way over here'" WhiteMagicWoman
mocked in a deep voice.
"Oh, I see, you think I'm kidding."
The two looked at one another and back at StJoe. "Exactly what are
we doing up here?" WhiteMagicWoman asked.
Joe reached out his hands and grabbed both by the throat. Clawing
and fighting became apparently useless when their efforts to make contact
with him missed and seemed to just be flailing at air. It was long after there
efforts to live subsided and their bodies fell lifelessly to the floor.
"Bringing them to a secluded bedroom at the back of the house?"
Beddy asked him.
"Like I said, that way I don't have to lug their bodies all over, I'll just
throw them down the stairway now." As he moved towards the panel that
led to the passageway, it opened.
Snickers walked out into the room. "You called?" She looked at
BedrmiiZ.
"Nevermind Snickers, StJoe behaved like a good little boy after-all."
She smiled at Joe.
Snickers gave Joe a glance. "You do realize that if I remove certain
parts of your body downstairs you will be a falsetto for eternity, don't you?"
Joe didn't answer he just grabbed the bodies and pulled them down the
stairway leaving Snickers and BedrmiiZ behind.
"Where the hell is everybody?" Paragod was standing in the dining
room looking perplexed. He had just done a head count from room to room
and had come up over twenty people short.
A voice from the back corner of the room responded to his question.
"Well some are upstairs in the bedroom and some are playing a big game of
hide-and-go-seek."
"Oh, ok, should've figured the bedrooms would get some use."
Paragod was saying as he looked towards where the voice was coming from.
When he saw no one there he looked all round the room and realized he was
alone. "I hate this house." He muttered to himself.
"Now that's not nice." A voice answered him.
"What are you the voice of Christmas Past, Present or Future?" he
sarcastically asked.
"Actually I'm the voice of TxChaser." The voice retorted.
Paragod looked around to where this voice was coming from and saw
that seven members of SFE were now standing there. "Hi guys." Para was
surprised to see he wasn't alone this time.
"Hi Para, have you seen LadyD?" Blackrose asked.
Para thought for a minute and shook his head. "No, she's one of the
MIAs I guess."
"MIAs?" Salina was puzzled at that response as were the rest.
"Yeah several people are having a secret party somewhere evidently.
I'm thinking it's a case of 'if you find us you can join'." Para was trying to
sound unconcerned.
"Cool, we'll have to look around the house and find this party."
BlazingRose was excited at this idea.
"NO!" Para shouted before he could stop himself. As all seven
people were now looking at him like he was crazy. "It's 6:45, we'll be
having dinner in 15 minutes. If they aren't at dinner we'll look for them."
Everyone seemed to be in agreement as the SFE group found their
table and sat down. "I'll go and get everyone else." Para left the room and
went from one room to the next announcing it was nearly dinnertime and
everyone could take their place in the dining room.
"Everyone is seating for dinner." BedrmiiZ was addressing her now
13 member strong ghostly crew in the recesses of the cellar. "We will have
to attend. Remember four important things. One, you will appear
structurally solid but you are not. So absolutely no contact with anyone. If
someone tries to touch you they will only touch cold air. Two, needless to
say you have no stomachs now, so I wouldn't advise eating or drinking.
Three, communicate as little as possible, that includes you Seco." Beddy
looked over at her mischievous ghost. Seco looked towards BedrmiiZ and
pretended he was paying attention.
"You said there were four things? That was only three."
WhiteMagicWoman pointed out.
"Lastly, if any of you are found out for what you are our plans for the
dance this evening will be ruined. Snickers will be very unhappy if that
occurs and she will deal with whoever ruins her evening."
Beddy could tell by the looks on their faces that the last point got
across very well. "Everyone ready to make a public appearance?"
After nodding in agreement the crew made themselves visible upstairs
and worked their way downstairs in small groups.
BedrmiiZ and StJoe entered the dining room and said hello to those
who greeted them but quickly found their seats at table #1 to avoid any
possible contact. As Beddy sat next to Paragod she noticed his eyes were
nearly as red as Snickers was.
"Enjoying the scotch tonight, Para?"
"Very much so, going to take a break from it until after the dance gets
started though. I can't find Dave or DeShadow so I need to stay sober just in
case." His words were slurred and blended together as nicely as one of
Pammie's daiquiris.
"Staying sober huh? That's a good idea Para." Beddy turned towards
StJoe. "Too damn late for that one." Joe smiled and nodded in agreement;
all that was in his mind at this point was how much he wanted his corpse to
remain intact.
At their table were six place settings it was for certain Snickers, Dave
and DeShadow were not going to be making an appearance.
BedrmiiZ watched her crew closely as they entered and took their
seats. At table #2 to the right of them were three of the revenants,
WhiteMagicWoman, Seco and Lace. Serendippity, Yoni, and Zoie
accompanied them and the conversation at that table was livelier than it
probably should have been.
"What happened to you? Where have you been, last time I saw you,
you were in the den upstairs." Serendippity was grilling Seco.
"He was in the secret game room upstairs." Lace was trying to cover
for him.
"What secret game room?" Zoie was curious at this one.
"There is a hidden room upstairs that has a pool table, dartboard, card
table and a bar." WhiteMagicWoman added to the cover-up.
"You have to find it yourself. That's part of it being secret." Seco
pitched in before the inevitable question of 'why didn't you take me' came
up.
"Is that where all of the missing people have been?" Yoni was hoping
this would clear up all of the mystery.
Seeing a window of opportunity all three of the specters replied in
unison, "Yes".
Seated at table #3 just to the left of Beddy's table was one more of her
crew, SCL_StormyBexty. She was seated with two other SCL members
Stormy and Stormyblueii, as well as, KingArthur, Omasue and
WMShakespeare.
"This house is exquisite." Stormy addressed the silent group.
"Yes it is, I took a brief look around when I arrived and was
fascinated by how well kept it is." WMShakespeare agreed.
"I find it hard to believe no one has lived here in such a long time. It
would seem the house would be falling down by now." Stormyblueii was
unconvinced this was an abandoned house.
"I think that they probably have a crew of people who take care of the
place. This house has to be worth a fortune, a person would be crazy not to
protect such an investment." KingArthur had spoken with Dave earlier and
that was the conclusion they had both reached.
"I wonder why no one lives here though? It has electricity, running
water, it's well heated seems such a waste for it to sit empty." Omasue
added.
"This house hasn't been empty since it was built in 1834. Just because
you can't see the occupants, doesn't mean they don't exist. They say
whenever you move from a house part of you stays behind, that being the
case this house probably has 100s of residents." StormyBexty stared into
space as she spoke.
After everyone delved into the subject of it being a haunted house the
conversation returned to normal and pleasant. Bexty added no more to it.
At table four 8 settings were placed to accommodate the SFE group.
Seated there were BlazingRose, Blackrose, Jamie, KronicFlirt, TxChaser,
LucyK and Salina, there was an empty chair at the place labeled "LadyD".
"Not like LadyD to get us all here and vanish." Salina was saying. "I
haven't even had a chance to meet her yet."
TxChaser and LucyK were in agreement with her, they had arrived
and she was nowhere to be found.
"She's probably having a private party somewhere with liquor swiped
from the bar. Dave and a few others have been gone all day also." Jamie
volunteered.
"Maybe she's getting lucky." BlazingRose laughed.
"That'd be my luck, she gets lucky and I get dinner. Just not fair."
Blackrose laughingly agreed.
"Someone said that there was some people in one of the bedrooms
upstairs with the door locked. Maybe it's her." LucyK had overheard people
talking, but wasn't certain if it was true.
"Hey, that's where I wanna be before the night is over." Added
KronicFlirt.
Seated at table 5 were more phantoms RuReady1 and Furby59 were
seated there with Heather, LateOne, MsLateOne and WPCStrohs.
"Mom, you aren't looking very well, you feeling ok?" Heather asked
RuReady1.
"I'm fine, just this old house, giving me the creeps I guess."
RuReady1 smiled.
"I think this place is haunted, Paragod saw a door disappear earlier."
Furby59 added in. "Of course, I think he's seeing pink elephants about now,
also."
"I'm surprised he didn't see two doors disappear, if I had that much to
drink I'd certainly be seeing double." Strohs laughed. "Of course by the
time the night is over I'll probably be in as bad a shape as he is."
"I have a feeling that by the time this night is over, everybody will be
three sheets in the wind." LateOne mused.
"As long as I don't see any sheets floating around the house, I'll be
happy." MsLateOne was sharing RuReady1's opinion that this house was
creepy.
When Snickers and LadyD entered the room and took their seats all of
the ghostly crew became extremely quiet. LadyD hugged her group and
smiled and laughed heartily with them all. After apologizing for her
disappearance she assured them she was fine and that she and Snickers were
planning something special for later in the evening. At table #1 however,
Snickers wasn't quiet as talkative.
"Where have you been, Snicks?" Para asked. "Have you seen Dave
or DeShadow?"
"Hi all, I was outside towards the back of the property with LadyD
working on a party surprise for later. Dave and DeShadow drove into town,
they will be back later this evening." Snickers responded.
"So, they left me in charge? They must be out of their minds."
Paragod joked.
"Out of their minds would be a good way to describe them. You will
need to steer everyone upstairs after dinner, Para. We'll all be there shortly
after the DJ gets started."
Para set up straight in his seat to try and act like he was capable of at
least looking like he had his motor skills still. "I can do that, no problem at
all. I got everyone in here for dinner."
Snickers turned and looked around the room at everyone. "Bunch of
lambs brought forth for the slaughter." She thought to herself.
Seated at table 6 were NuttyJazzy, Nutty_Medic, RagingThunder,
Kdawg, Irish_Eyes and McGowan007.
"We have been wanting to meet you two for a long time. It's great
that you could make it to the party." Kdawg addressed Jazzy and Medic.
"You two are crazier than we are on Iplay and that's no easy task."
Medic laughed. "They don't call us nutty for nothing. We almost
didn't make it here, Jazzy was worried she'd have to sacrifice a night or two
of sex."
RagingThunder polished off their drink before speaking. "Giving up
sex for two whole nights is a problem? No wonder you two are the nuttiest
people on Iplay you are oversexed."
"Medic is full of crap. He wishes that he were getting it every night,
lost in a dream world. The real reason we almost didn't make it was because
Medic was going to suffer from Iplay withdrawals." Jazzy had to clear the
air on that one. "For the record though, the craziest person on Iplay is also a
club admin op, but it's not us." She laughed
"You have to be talking about GK," McGowan007 volunteered. "He's
from another planet." McGowan007 laughed as Jazzy was nodding her
agreement.
"I thought about joining club admin before." Irish_Eyes was talking
while laughing at the thought of GK. "But I just don't have the time to put
in."
At table #7 were a group of hospitality ops, FireDude, FireCardinal,
Selena_S, Jezzebelle, HollyKnows and an empty seat that was awaiting
Pammie's arrival.
"Ok, where is Pammie?" Holly asked the group.
"She went upstairs a couple of hours ago with some guy." FireDude
answered. "Nobody knew who it was though."
"Only a couple of hours?" Selena laughed, "If she doesn't kill him she
won't be making it to dinner."
"I can't wait to find out who it was." Jezzebelle added. "I wish I
knew everyone who was here so I could figure it out."
"I'm sure we'll know when they show up." FireCardinal was still
laughing. "That is if they are able to walk."
The entire table was laughing loudly as they continued to try and
figure out who Pammie's mystery man was.
At table #8 were two more ghosts, TweedleDee and
LilMissDoNoWrong who were seated with TweedleDum, Mortician, Janelly
and BuyMeaRose.
"I'm really looking forward to the dance. The DJ was telling me
earlier he had pretty much every song imaginable." BuyMeaRose beamed.
"Fortunately there are plenty of good sheep, or uh, men here to dance
with." Janelly added.
"I'm not too concerned about dancing, but I am certainly looking
forward to the ballroom." TweedleDee spoke softly.
"Yeah, it should be a real blast." LilMissDoNoWrong said. She
smiled at Dee and looked back at the rest.
"It's a shame Loki couldn't make it, LilMiss he would have been a
blast at the dance." TweedleDum was commenting on the non-appearance
of LilMiss's husband. "I haven't seen you around Iplay much, Mortician, are
you new?"
"Yes." Mortician quietly replied as his gaze was across the room.
At table #9 were the last three apparitions, Sharon2001 and
Jeans_n_Pearls and LittleJoe1315. Seated with them were Loco7,
TriviaQueen and Jim_ct_42.
"I wonder why that table is empty." Loco7 pointed to table 10.
"They were probably expecting more people and they have it there
just in case." Jim_ct_42 offered.
"That's probably it." LittleJoe1315 was trying to take attention away
from the fact there were people missing.
"There's a lot of people here tonight. The later events should be a lot
of fun." Sharon told everyone.
"I am amazed at the body count." Jeans had no sooner spoke the word
when Joe and Sharon gave her an extreme look. "I mean head count." She
corrected.
"I wish, Adrienne, that little girl who was trick-or-treating earlier
could have stayed for dinner." TriviaQueen thought aloud. "She was
adorable in her little princess costume."
Table #10 had nameplates at one time, but BedrmiiZ removed them
before anyone had come in. The seats were reserved for David, ERF and
Fallon992k2. BedrmiiZ knew that if any of those showed up not only would
it be a miracle, but also everyone else in the room would be leaving quickly.
The catering crew brought out the entrees and announced that the
meal for the night would be steak and lobster. What everyone didn't know
was it was originally going to be just lobster, but the chef had found a cow
tied up outside and decided to include steak on the menu. Fortunately, Seco
was in no shape to complain about his butchered Hereford.
Upstairs, a bedroom door opened and a man stepped out. Two large
figures moved towards him in the darkness. The man saw the two large
figures and nodded, he then turned and went down the stairs and out through
the front door. The two creatures entered the bedroom and stood alongside
the bed. Pammie, who was asleep from sheer exhaustion lied there, her
naked body 1/2 covered up and 1/2 exposed to the two figures.
As the two were about to attack her, Pammie stirred and woke up.
She looked at the two figures and shook her head, she knew she couldn't
possibly be seeing what she was seeing. She wiped her eyes and looked
again, but they were still there. Pammie pulled the blankets over her body
and tried to muster up a scream, unfortunately nothing came out.
The figures stood motionless as she lied in bed looking up at them.
The stone gargoyle statues that had been on the two pillars out front were
now standing beside the bed looking down on her. They were both seven
feet tall, with enormous heads and bodies. Their wings were folded inward
and they had the most menacing looks imaginable.
Pammie decided to try and make a run for it, she jumped up and
started to run down the bed. Her efforts were in vain; the creatures grabbed
her before she could get off the bed.
"You are Pammie." Grunted one of the creatures. "We have been sent
for you."
"Lucky me." Pammie whispered. "Does that mean that you are going
to let me live?"
"No." grunted the other gargoyle. As the wings expanded on the two
creatures Pammie felt as if the air was being pushed from her body. She
could not breathe and her gasping was useless. Deep within her body, her
lungs had been completed deflated.
One of the gargoyles lifted her now dead body and the two figures
moved back to the hallway and pushed open the door to the passageway.
After tossing her body down the stairs the closed the door and went out
through the bedroom window. Only one remained for them now, they
would retrieve her later.
Pammie was pissed off. Dead as a door nail but still pissed off. After
the power of the house pulled her spirit from her dead body she stood
looking at it. After the toss down the stairs she had been mangled pretty
badly, but the thing that had her more ticked off than anything else was, she
was naked. Since she died that way, she was going to spend the afterlife that
way.
"I am going to get even for this is it's the last thing I do." She
screamed at the top of her lungs. Didn't do any good here in the cold stone
cellar, the only ears that could hear her were Dave, DeShadow, ERF and
David and none of them cared.
"I may be naked, but at least I don't look like you guys." Pammie
jabbed. "I do like the lips sealed shut look, that's the way all men should
be."
She disappeared from view and poked her head in the dining room.
"Damn it, I didn't even get dinner." Then she thought for a second, "Least I
got something one last time that these people won't get."
BedrmiiZ saw Pammie peeking in the room. Fortunately, she thought,
no one else could. She excused herself from the table and exited the room.
It was getting boring watching everyone else eat anyway.
"Welcome to our world." BedrmiiZ told Pammie.
Pammie turned and looked at Beddy. "Gee thanks, but with all things
being equal, I'd rather be in the Bahamas."
"Wouldn't we all." Beddy replied. "You seem just a tad more agitated
than the rest of us, did the gargoyles make it painful?"
"No, they just suffocated me and tossed me down a flight of stone
stairs."
"Were you dead before they threw ya down the stairs?"
"Yeah, I guess I can be thankful for small favors, huh?" Pammie
paused. "I don't know, just the thought that someone had those goons do
that to me."
BedrmiiZ knew who had done it, but since he wasn't in the house
there was no need to upset Pammie with that information. "They probably
acted on their own, drawn to you by all that sexual energy."
"Maybe, maybe not." Pammie was calming down a little. "So how do
I go about getting some clothes on? You are a ghost too and you are
dressed."
"Well, you have for eternity what you were wearing when you died."
"You mean to tell me I'll be naked for all eternity? What if I'm visible
to others?"
"You'll appear naked."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Everyone in the dining room stopped eating and began looking
around. "Uhm ok, did anyone hear anything?" Paragod asked his table.
"No, I didn't." StJoe responded.
"Nor did I." Snickers answered.
"Ok, just checking, I didn't either." Para went back to his dinner.
Everyone else was having similar conversations. The scream was
unmistakable as it echoed through the house, but at each table where
revenants were seated they assured everyone else they hadn't heard anything.
At table 7 everyone was in agreement. "That sounded like Pammie."
Selena_S spoke.
"Yes it did, her man must've told her he couldn't go on anymore."
FireCardinal joked.
"That would do it for sure." HollyKnows agreed.
Snickers heard the discussions from table to table. There were those
who were about to go and investigate. She would have to end the panic now
and deal with Pammie later. She stood and walked to a long table in the
center of the dining tables. "Can I have your attention, please?" As she
hoped all conversation stopped.
"On this table are 60 prizes, we have one-year memberships to Iplay
tee-shirts, hats, mouse pads, key rings and coffee mugs. Each table is
numbered 1-10, I'm discarding #10 since no one is sitting there and #1 is out
also since Para wouldn't be able to walk this far to get a prize off the table."
Everyone laughed when Snickers made this statement and looked over at
Para who hadn't been paying attention.
Para looked around the room. "Ok, what did I do now?" He asked
puzzled.
"Go back to your food Para." StJoe told him, "Snickers was just
introducing you."
"Oh, ok." Paragod continued with his meal.
"Inside this box are poker chips with the numbers two through 9 taped
to them." Snickers continued. "One chair in this room is brown while the
rest are black, will the person in the brown chair please come up here and
draw the chips?"
Everyone looked down at his or her chairs. This in itself amused
Snickers, "observant bunch I have here" she thought to herself. Omasue
made her way out to the table to join Snickers. After greeting her and
allowing her to pick the first prize from the table, Snicks held out the box
and Omasue began drawing. Eight, four, nine, two, six, three, seven, five
were the order the tables were drawn. A pattern that meant nothing to
anyone in the room, anyone that is, except for Snicks and LadyD. They had
decided to use the door prize drawing to determine and order of death for
everyone later as well as the means of disposal.
Once everyone had picked up their prize Snickers thanked everyone
for coming and excused herself from the room. She walked to the end of the
hallway glanced behind her and disappeared behind the panel in the wall.
As she reached the room at the bottom of the stone stairway she made her
way over to Pammie's corpse. With the precision of a surgeon and nails as
sharp as scalpels she removed the voice box from the corpse. "I've been
wanting to do that for years." She lamented as she made her way to she and
LadyD's lab.
Now on the second floor Pammie was panicked she had been
conversing with BedrmiiZ about the evening's plans and now suddenly she
couldn't speak.
BedrmiiZ calmed her down. "Think what you want to say, we can
communicate telepathically. You don't need your voice except to
communicate with the living."
"What the hell happened to my voice?" Pammie conveyed to Beddy.
"You remember that scream earlier?" Beddy watched as Pammie
nodded. "Well, Snicks removed the larynx from your corpse."
"That little bitch." Pammie thought. "I'll get her ass for that."
"Uh, first of all, Snickers is a witch, secondly she is the third most
powerful force in this house and lastly, I find it rather amusing myself."
Beddy laughed.
"You would." Pammie was screaming with telepathy. "When do I get
to kill somebody? I want to kill everyone in the house."
"In time, we have to wait until all of the sheep are in the ballroom.
Only one exit and no window, that's when our party will begin."
McGowan007 excused herself from her table and walked up the
stairway towards the restroom. As she walked back the dimly lit hallway
she opened the door to the unfurnished bedroom at the end of the hall by
mistake. Standing within the room were two massive figures, neither looked
surprised to see her.
"I, uh, was looking for, uh, sorry wrong room." McGowan007
couldn't focus well based on the absolute terror that was now gripping her
body.
"McGowan007" boomed one of the beasts with an extremely low and
powerful voice. "Come in, we're expecting you."
McGowan007 tried to close the door but it wouldn't go shut. She
released the doorknob and started to run down the corridor. She made it to
the stairway before she was picked up from behind and carried back into the
room. She was thrown against the back wall and the two figures were
towering over her.
"You are gargoyles, aren't you?" Mcgowan007 stammered.
"Yes" Was the response.
"So, you are protectors? A friend of mine said that you don't harm
innocent people, you protect against evil." McGowan was in tears now.
"We have orders."
"Orders? What kind of orders?"
"Two are to die by our hand, you are one."
"I don't suppose there is any way to talk you out of this?" She was
now curled up against the wall on the floor. "Wait, who gave you orders to
kill me?"
"I sense you know the answers to both of those questions, already."
The wings on the beasts began to expand and as they did so
McGowan007 couldn't breathe, gasping for air and grabbing at her throat it
was as if she were choking to death. Within minutes she lie on the floor
lifeless. The two gargoyles leaned down to her body.
"This one we can eat." One spoke to the other.
"Not her head, another force within the house has need for it."
Responded the second.
With a quick move her head was removed from her body and placed
aside. The gargoyles then feasted on the remainder of her body and left the
house to resume their post outside.
Moments later LadyD entered the room and carried the head down the
hall to the ballroom. After placing it under one of the tables' centerpieces
she made her way down to the lab to join Snickers in preparation for the
night's festivities.
As people were finishing up with dinner, three more guests arrived for
the party. AintnoTellin, BigHeart and Diablo entered the house.
Aintnotellin sat in the chair that was originally meant for Pammie at table #7
and BigHeart pulled a chair up to that table as well. Diablo entered the
dining room briefly and then went to the bar for a drink. BedrmiiZ watched
with special interest as these three entered the house. "This night is going to
be even more enjoyable than I had originally thought." She told Pammie.
"Just wish I had clothes." Pammie whined mentally. "Going to be
embarrassing even as a ghost to appear naked in front of all these people."
"Your embarrassment will last a shorter time than the pain these
people will be enduring. Consider yourself blessed that you were eaten like
McGowan007 was."
"You mean consider myself blessed I wasn't eaten by the gargoyles."
Pammie thought to herself with a grin.
"I heard that." Beddy told her.
Dinner was over and people had begun filing into the ballroom. The
house demons and witches were now preparing for their moment. The bar
had been emptied out and moved into the ballroom and the DJ had begun to
play CDs. Two wayward individuals had made their way to one of the
bedrooms without anyone noticing; at least that's what they thought.
"Those two are going to delay our plans." Seco asked as he watched
them go into the room and shut the door.
"BedrmiiZ is not going to be happy about this." WhiteMagicWoman
added.
"We took some out two at a time before, why don't we just go in and
kill them?" Sharon2001 asked.
"I guess we could do that, let's give them a couple minutes first." Seco
responded.
"You just want to see her naked." LittleJoe1315 spoke up. "Wait,
that's not a bad idea."
"You two knock that off. This is serious, we have to do something
before they start in the ballroom." Lace was trying to rationalize what to do
next.
The five of them stood invisible in the hallway in front of the
bedroom door. "This is crazy, we have to kill these two, BedrmiiZ would if
she were here." Sharon2001 was getting edgy they had all heard about
Pammie's larynx being removed.
"She told us to check the house while she was making preparations for
the dance." Lace was also getting edgy. "But unfortunately she said not to
disturb her."
Before they could decide the bedroom door opened and a man walked
out, closed the door behind him and went into the ballroom. "Uhm, there's
no way they could have." Sharon2001 paused, "It hasn't even been five
minutes."
Four of them were laughing hysterically. "Ok, guess that solves our
problem." Seco said. They moved on through the house, not noticing that
WhiteMagicWoman had entered the bedroom.
Once inside the room she made herself visible to the woman who was
putting her clothes back on. Startled, Serendippity looked up at
WhiteMagicWoman. "What are you doing in here?"
"Just saw someone leave from in here and came down. I didn't realize
he was in here with someone."
"May as well not have been, we didn't even get to do anything, he was
done as soon as I was undressed."
WMW laughed, she couldn't help it. "You must be either very good at
foreplay or very bad at picking men."
"Wasn't any foreplay, he hadn't even come out of his pants yet. Guess
I was lousy at picking men, fortunately nothing had happened yet, I would
have been extremely pissed if he had started and quit after 20 seconds."
Seren laughed.
WMW walked over to the dresser in the room and picked up a mirror
that was lying on it. She turned around and it fell to the floor and broke into
several pieces. "How clumsy of me. I guess that's seven years of bad luck
for me, huh?"
Seren walked over and bent down to help WMW pick up the broken
mirror. "That's just superstition, there's no basis for it."
"You think so?" WMW asked. "I think that bad luck does happen
when a mirror breaks."
"You know what they say, it's all in what you believe. Superstitions
are like ghosts, they are all in people's minds."
Suddenly WMW vanished from view, she was only a foot away, but
she was no longer there. Seren looked up and around the room. "Ok, that's
a neat trick, where are you?"
A piece of the broken mirror levitated from the floor and was now
inches away from Seren's face. "I'm right here." WMW's voice answered.
"Ok, what's going on, why can't I see you? All I see is that piece of
broken mirror."
"I have no idea, Seren, it's not like ghosts are real. I guess it must be
psychosomatic you're mind has blocked from view the person who is going
to kill you."
Seren stood up and took a step back. This couldn't possibly be
happening, she thought to herself. "Ok, whatever game you are playing, I've
had enough. I'll see you at the dance." She turned and walked to the door.
She reached down and was about to grab the doorknob when she felt a sharp
pain in her hand. She raised her hand and blood was pouring from a huge
cut in her palm.
She staggered back into the room holding her profusely bleeding
hand. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in her leg she looked down to see
that it was also bleeding. She fell backwards onto the bed and was about to
scream when a pillow was placed over her face.
"Repeat after me, 'There's no such thing as ghosts, there's no such
thing as ghosts, there's no such thing as ghosts.' But unlike the Wizard of Oz
hon, you won't magically be whisked away to you nice cozy little bed. No,
you are getting a one way ticket to reality."
Serendippity struggled and was almost lifeless when the pillow came
off her face; she gasped for air her eyes were wildly looking at the pillow
with no body attached to it floating in air.
"I'm just kidding, I'll let you live." The pillow moved farther away.
Seren was starting to feel a sense of relief as the oxygen was returning to her
lungs. "On second thought, I'm dead you may as well be too." The pillow
went back on Seren's face and this time stayed there until there was no life
left within her body.
"The best part is, I don't have to lug your ass down the stairs, I can
just leave you here. All the fun of killing without the work of disposal, I
think I'm going to like this afterlife bit." WMW made her way towards the
door. "Oh by the way, I'll see you in about ten minutes or so, I sure hope
you don't hold a grudge." With that she was gone from the room and joined
the others in the cellar.
In the cellar BedrmiiZ had her whole crew together for the final
preparations. "Snickers and LadyD are already in the ballroom. Once we
enter the door will be locked behind us and one of the gargoyles will be
standing outside of it."
"I hate those damn things." Pammie interrupted.
"Well, DUH, I wonder why?" Beddy addressed her as the group
laughed. "Now as I was saying, one gargoyle will be guarding the front door
and one at the ballroom door. No one will be getting in or out of this
house." Beddy stopped when Serendippity entered the room. "Something I
should know?"
"I kinda added Seren to our group before I came down." WMW
spoke nervously. "I figured the more the merrier."
Beddy glared at her and then turned her glance to Seren, "welcome to
the afterlife."
Seren walked over to WMW and swung at her, unfortunately she only
made contact with air. "Shit! I can't get even? This bites."
WMW was smiling at her. "Once you get used to things, you'll thank
me."
Seren was about to let loose with a string of expletives when Beddy
interrupted. "WMW, you will have to fill Seren in on what I have covered
so far. Now, once the doors are shut and locked two of you will stand beside
it on the inside of the room. The rest will take posts in the corners and
around the room. I'll instruct you as to where once we are inside."
Beddy paused as she looked at Pammie, "You and I will be needed for
the first sacrifice, the last guest to arrive will be offered to the house in a
form of ritual slaying."
Pammie was smiling brightly at this thought.
"We will all enter invisibly and make ourselves visible once the
zombie squad have entered. That being Dave, DeShadow, ERF and David, I
strongly advise you keep away from these four. Their souls have been
removed and what remains is pure concentrated hate. They may look
harmless with their mouths sealed but with one touch they can remove your
soul and make you one of them. Yes, they can do that to you also once you
are in the visible form."
"You mean if one of those freaks touches me I'm going to become a
Zombie?" Seco was panicked.
"You do catch on quick, Seco. Yes, they touch you and your ghostly
form is gone, what you are now is your soul. If it's taken away your body
will become mobile and you get to walk around the house bumping into
things."
"Ok if there are no further questions, let's proceed." Beddy waited a
few moments for any questions and vanished and reappeared upstairs.
Slowly her minions joined her. "One last thing, two forms of evil will be
presenting themselves once this sacrifice is completed. I have no idea what
to expect when that happens so don't come to me."
"Can't be any worse than Snicks and her zombie squad." TweedleDee
observed.
"Don't bet on it." BedrmiiZ replied.
One by one the ghosts entered the ballroom invisibly everyone was
dancing and drinking, no one was paying any attention to the door.
Suddenly everyone slowly stopped what he or she were doing and turned
towards the doorway all eyes were turned that way and moved slowly up the
room. Seconds later whistling burst out from the men along with catcalls.
The women were laughing and some had their hands over their eyes.
"WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO Pammie! Strut baby strut." KingArthur
yelled.
"Pammie, something tells me you forgot about entering invisible."
LilMissDoNoWrong whispered.
"You mean all of these people are seeing me naked?" Pammie asked
telepathically to the rest of the ghosts.
"You bet that cute ass we are!" TxChaser yelled out.
"Can I go ahead and kill him?" Pammie asked her thought addressed
to BedrmiiZ.
Beddy looked towards the door and noticed that the zombies had now
entered and were standing alongside the wall. "Ok everybody, so much for
the element of surprise, go visible, time to get this party started."
Simultaneously fourteen figures appeared in the room. Suddenly the
laughter and whistling became absolute silence.
"Ok damn it, anybody else see those people along the wall?" Paragod
asked loudly.
There was no answer. "How about those four things back there?"
Para pointed at the zombies. "Dave, DeShadow? Is that you guys?" He
walked towards them not realizing no one else in the room was taking their
eyes off the ghosts.
Para stopped six feet away from the four zombies who were staring at
Snickers and LadyD on the other side of the room. "Guys, I hate to tell you
this, but you look like shit." As he turned back towards the group in the
room he saw Snickers eyes glowing a bright red. "That's that red glow, I
knew I wasn't seeing things." He yelled out and pointed at Snickers. "Wait,
how are you doing that with your eyes, Snicks?"
"SILENCE!" Snickers screamed. Para stopped talking and glanced at
SCL_Stormy who was standing a few feet away. "Damn she's a forceful
thing when she gets wound up." He whispered.
People finally realized it was time to panic and started for the door.
Screaming was intense and the room resembled a bunch of rats scurrying to
avoid a fire. Snickers and LadyD raised their hands into the air and muttered
an incantation. Once again silence filled the room and everyone turned
slowly to face the two witches in the front of the room. Paragod was the
exception; he finally succumbed to the scotch and passed out underneath a
table towards the back of the room.
LadyD went to a small table in front of the long 8-ft table she and
Snickers had been standing beside and removed the centerpiece. She
chanted a mantra and sprinkled Fallon992k2's ashes over the head of
McGowan. The eyes opened on the head and looked around the room.
Mortician then walked to the right side of the ballroom and after
breaking the neck of the DJ, took his position behind the microphone. "You
are fortunate individuals, this night you will witness the rebirth of a great
power. This power has lied dormant for decades and tonight you have been
chosen to regenerate it. Do not attempt to run the door is well guarded, your
attempts to scream will be futile as Snickers has taken your voices. My
name is not important, you may think of me as Mortician, for it is I who will
be delivering you to the hereafter."
The tall, pale slender figure then moved through the crowd and took
Diablo by the arm. "Last to arrive, first to die." He said as he ushered
Diablo to the table by which Snickers, BedrmiiZ and Pammie now stood.
He picked Diablo up and placed him on his back onto the table. Then
removed his clothing and prepared him for the sacrifice. Pammie couldn't
help but chuckle, "Is that supposed to be his manhood?" She sent through
telepathy to BedrmiiZ and Snickers.
BedrmiiZ wanted to laugh as well, but maintained composure and
whispered back, "More like boyhood."
Snickers used her mind to send them both a message. "Almost a
waste of time removing it, such a small price to pay."
The three of them laughed inside while they watched Mortician place
straps around Diablo's neck, stomach and legs. Once he was fastened into
place Snickers restored his ability to speak and move.
"Ok, enough of this bullshit, untie me and I may leave without kicking
someone's ass all over this room." Diablo yelled.
"I liked him better silent." Pammie thought.
Snickers picked up a pair of grips and a knife that were lying on the
table beside Diablo along with six small daggers. She grasped a hold of
Diablo's tongue and cut it out. She placed the instruments back down on a
white sheet and held the tongue above Diablo's head.
"This tongue you have used to defame, now you watch as it turns to
flame." Diablo watched in horror, as did the rest of the room as the tongue
burst into flames and within seconds was gone. Unable to scream as he was
busy swallowing the blood in his mouth. He tried to free himself, but it was
to no avail.
While LadyD and Snickers chanted a mantra over the sacrifice,
Pammie left the table and returned with a butter knife. Snickers lowered her
head and stared down at Diablo, "so shall it begins" she said in a deep tone.
Pammie began cutting off Diablo's manhood, instead of using the
knife Snickers had chosen she decided to go with a duller one to make him
suffer more. It was her one chance at redeeming herself for all the
frustration she had endured the past couple of hours. She smiled as Diablo
whined and tried to scream, slowly she cut until it was removed. She laid
the knife down and used his dismembered body part to draw a pentagram
surrounding his navel. She then dropped his organ onto the floor and stood
on it, smiling cheerfully.
BedrmiiZ picked up the six daggers and one by one inserted them into
the points on the pentagram. She then stepped back from the table and
Snickers placed her hand in the center of the pentagram. Smoke billowed
from his stomach and small flames arose around the outline of the drawing.
As Snickers chanted in a language indistinguishable to everyone in the
room, the crowd was entranced and unable to move or speak. The head of
McGowan was keeping them that way while the witches worked the magic.
Suddenly Snickers hand plummeted down inside of Diablo as the flames
burnt in the shape of the pentagram and the portion within gave way. Blood
saturated the table and the floor around it. Diablo's now lifeless body laid
motionless on the table having gave way to a greater purpose.
LadyD began to chant in a high-pitched shrieking voice. The room
grew brighter and brighter, the walls seemed to come to life and take on a
3D effect. Then the lights dimmed back to normal, but the walls continued
to look very much alive. LadyD moved to the end of the table as Mortician
undid the straps from the body of Diablo and carried it to the corner of the
room where the bodies of the DJ and catering crew laid piled one on top of
the other. A pile of bodies that would never again see life in any form, they
had been killed by Mortician finality came to those that perished by his
hand.
Snickers looked around the room menacingly and pointed out the next
victims to Mortician who slowly made his way to the first of them.
Jim_ct_42 was taken to the front of the room where Snickers awaited
him. BedrmiiZ and Pammie had left that area and were nearing the back of
the room. The remaining sacrifices for the ritual were to be done by
Snickers, Mortician and LadyD. Jim stood in front of Snickers now his
mind racing with fear, but his body unable to react to it. Mortician returned
to the crowd and escorted Loco7 and AintnoTellin to the front and placed
them alongside Jim_ct_42. Snickers tore the shirt off of Jim_ct_42 and with
the blood of Diablo marked points on his chest in the Language of the Dead.
"To sustain life, first it must be attained." Snickers said in a low voice
followed by an indiscernible chant in a language long forgotten. She
plunged the first of six daggers into his chest and chanted once again. She
continued to do so until she plunged the sixth dagger just above his heart.
As her hand pressed against his chest Jim could feel his life slipping away,
fire came from the areas in which the daggers had been placed and just
before he fell to the floor lifeless, he saw his heart still beating in Snickers
hand.
Mortician dutifully picked up Jim's body and carried it to the corner of
the room that had now become a disposal area. LadyD had gathered three
victims of her own and had stood them in a row on the opposite end of the
table in the front of the room. She stood now in front of TxChaser with six
daggers in hand. Mortician made his way over and stood behind TxChaser
and slowly lowered the victim to his knees.
"Destiny chooses not your death's course, you life is exchanged for a
higher source." LadyD's voice shrieked through the room. The daggers
were then thrust into their assigned points. Each hitting the mark of their
ancient symbol painted on the man's body in Diablo's blood. One each was
inserted into the man's shoulders near the arm. Then one each found its
mark on either side at the base of his neck. With Mortician holding the body
in place, LadyD inserted the final two daggers one in each hand into the ears
of TxChaser. Life had now left his body; his full weight was now supported
by Mortician's hands under is arms.
LadyD then placed her left hand on the top of TxChaser's head. A
line of small flames began encircled the sacrifice's head, with an ear piercing
shrill LadyD removed his scalp and with her right hand reached in and
removed his brain.
The walls began to move inward and outward as if breathing the life
out of the room. She held the brain high above her head; simultaneously
Snickers raised Jim_ct_42's heart into the air. The room once again took on
a bright white glow, it was nearly blinding and the brain and heart exploded
into flames and was gone within seconds.
The light grew dim and in the course of the motion a chandelier began
to come loose from the ceiling. This went unnoticed by all as Mortician
carried away the remains of TxChaser. Snickers stood in front of Loco7
now as LadyD moved in front of KronicFlirt, they placed their hands on
either side of the heads of their victims.
This time a menacing darkness swept across the room. The bodies of
the two sacrifices glowed with a fiery red tone. As Snickers and LadyD both
chanted in unison and applied more and more pressure to the sides of the
heads of the two unwilling participants a stream of yellowish light arose
from their bodies and into the ceiling.
As the chant continued the room began to tremble, it was as if the
house was under siege from an earthquake. The steady stream of yellow
continued to exit the bodies and enter the ceiling of the ballroom. Slowly
the heads of Loco7 and KronicFlirt began to push inward the eyes freed
themselves from the sockets and were now dangling in front of the faces of
the oblations. Louder and louder the chants streamed from the mouths of the
dark witches as the last of the yellow light arose out of the bodies. The
heads exploded and as the witches' hands smacked together large balls of
flame appeared where once a head resided.
The room continued to tremble, the walls moving inward and outward
at a more torrent pace. Slowly the lighting in the room went back to normal
and as the darkness faded the scene at the front of the room was now more
gruesome than ever. Blood now saturated both of the witches and the walls
behind them. At their feet lie the headless bodies of their latest offerings. A
smile was now on the lips of both women, it was perhaps the most evil of
smiles ever. Snickers eyes were glowing fiercely and LadyD's countenance
had become increasingly pale behind the veil of blood. The guests were
frozen in the room, all but their minds and their eyes. As their minds took in
what they were witnessing everyone's eyes had now become wild with fear.
All of them now knew they too were going to die and they were helpless to
stop it.
As the carnage before them grew increasingly worse it was the head
of McGowan007 sitting on the small round table before them that now
caught everyone's attention. The eyes were now white and glazed over, but
still a glow emanated from them and across the remaining survivors. But
now the mouth began to move and a low deep voice came out. It was slow
and monotonous, repeating the same line over and over again, "Et pluro dem
hiate mus." The voice continued on for several minutes before fading
slowly and then stopping as abruptly as it had started.
As the voice grew silent, Snickers turned AintnoTellin towards the
crowd and positioned herself behind her. LadyD did the same with Jamie
the two faced the rest of the crowd with wild terror in their eyes. As the two
sorceresses began to chant once again a metallic object came protruding
from the stomachs of AintnoTellin and Jamie. The two women stood before
everyone, powerless against the evil that was controlling their fate. The
metal rods that now stuck through them began to move on their own, carving
through their midsections the unmistakable form of reversed triangles. Long
before the slow moving rods had finished their work, the life had left the two
offerings but their bodies remained standing through the alchemy of LadyD
and Snickers.
As the rods had neared their final points the room was trembling
ardently, high above the room the chandelier broke loose from the ceiling
and fell. It landed directly on top of the head of McGowan007, in the split
second it crashed down, the spell that held everyone captive was now
broken. Panic erupted in the room as screams broke out, people began
running for the door. But Dave, ERF, DeShadow and David were positioned
there.
TriviaQueen and HollyKnows reached the door first Dave stretched
out his hands and grabbed them by the throat. Their bodies began to tremble
as their life force was abruptly being pulled from within. When the last of
their souls had been removed they stood in front of him, now walking dead,
just as their creator was. No more conscious thought remained only the
desire to remove life from those who were still in the room.
ERF had taken hold of WmShakespeare and just as Dave had done to
his two victims, he removed the soul from the fleeing man. David had
grasped NuttyJazzy and Nutty_Medic, one in each of his now powerful
hands, they tried as hard as they could to fight free from his grip, but it was
useless and they two were now reduced to mere shells of their former selves.
DeShadow had gripped the throat of Jezzebelle and as LittleJoe1315
had moved in front of him to ward off would be escapees he too had found
himself in Deshadow's grasp. As the souls emerged from within the still
breathing body of Jezzebelle, LittleJoe1315's spirit evaporated into thin air.
Snickers and LadyD had become momentarily surprised by the events
at hand and before they could get things back under control the swarm of
people overran the zombie squad at the door and broke through and into the
rest of the house. The fleeing mob stopped at the stairway when they
noticed the two gargoyles now standing inside the front door. Even in their
terror they realized to try and get past the two massive creatures would be
futile.
They spread out through the house trying to find a viable exit. Before
they could achieve this goal however, Snickers and LadyD use their
sortilege to barricade the house, all windows were now impenetrable the
doors became as steel. No one was leaving the house, the crowd had
escaped a room of carnage, but it was not going to escape this house of
doom.
Standing alongside the left wall of the ballroom were BedrmiiZ,
Pammie and RuReady1, they watched as all hell broke loose, knowing that
against all of these people they were powerless.
"Well, that went very well, don't you think?" Pammie relayed to the
two women with her.
BedrmiiZ was watching Mortician calmly standing in the center of the
room. "Somehow I have the feeling that you won't want to be in his way
now." She directed the other two's attention to the tall figure.
"Who is that guy?" RuReady1 asked.
"He's someone you don't want to know. When all of this is over, if
anything in this house is left to carry on, you can bet he will be."
"You mean if I'd slept with him instead I may have gotten out of here
alive?" Pammie mused.
"If you'd slept with him you wouldn't have gotten out of the bed.
Chances are you wouldn't have enjoyed it for more than the two seconds it
would have taken him to break your neck."
"No thanks, at least I enjoyed myself for a couple hours before I bit
the dust."
"Wait a minute. You got laid before you died? Damn you Beddy, the
least you could have done was let me get some before you killed me."
RuReady1 chimed in.
"Never too late, we may be ghosts, but doesn't mean we can't still
have sex. Why do you think I took Joe into the afterlife, you think I'd want
my husband alongside me if he wasn't good for something?"
Pammie's thoughts grew noticeably excited, "I can still have sex?"
She thought for a moment, "I want to get that son of a bitch that I was in bed
with before I died. He may have set me up, but at least he was good in bed."
"Reality check Pammie, he was gone out of this house a minute after
he was finished with you."
"I can't go hunt his ass down and bring him back?"
"You are sequestered to remain within the walls and grounds of the
Morose Mansion."
"I'm sure there's got to be someone worth sleeping with once everyone
in here is dead and joins us." RuReady1 tried to shed a positive light on
things.
Before any of them could say anything else Snickers voice rang
through their heads. "If you three are quite finished, we have work to do, it
is up to you to bring me the remaining lives needed to complete the ritual, I
need them alive."
"Gee such fun this afterlife is, Snickers changes the first letter of her
title from a "b" to a "w". Come to think of it, she always was a little of
both." Pammie thought.
"I HEARD THAT!" Snickers voice boomed within Pammie's head.
"Ouch, damn no need to shout." Pammie looked over to where
Snickers was standing and could see it wasn't a smile on her face. "I think
we need to get going."
BedrmiiZ and RuReady1 were in complete agreement as they took
invisible form and began to move through the house in search of potential
sacrifices.
"What shall we do with him?" LadyD had come across Paragod lying
under the table unconscious.
"The force will need a body to possess when the ritual is completed.
Strip him and hang him above the main doors by his hands and feet. Tie
them tightly so he will be unable to get free is he wakes up." Snickers mind
was preoccupied Paragod was the least of her worries.
"I will ensure he doesn't get free." LadyD began stripping Paragod as
Snickers left the room. Once done she exited the room and sequestered the
assistance of one of the gargoyles. The burly creature picked him up and
tied him tightly above the main entrance.
"I'm getting hungry." One of the gargoyles spoke to the other.
"We can not abandon our post here." Responded the other.
The two of them then watched in shock as two soulless beings, ERF
and WmShakespeare approached them.
"These two can't possibly think their magic will work on us." One of
the beasts boomed.
"Either one of them touches me, I won't be hungry anymore, because
they will have become dessert." The other mused.
Both zombies continued closer and closer. ERF reached out to take
away the soul of the creature on the left as WmShakespeare went for the one
on the right. As their hands touched the two massive beasts the gargoyles
began to feast each eating their would-be assailant within a matter of
minutes.
After they completed their meals there was nothing left but blood on
the floor. "Ok, I'm set for the rest of the night."
"Yeah, only two more hours until dawn, I can hold out until then as
well."
"Maybe we'll get lucky and more of those zombies will come down
here after us."
"Personally I'd rather eat that witch."
"Which one?"
"I don't care, either one would be fine by me."
"If they don't finish that ritual by dawn, it's going to be 'bon appetite'
time on them."
"What about those bodies in the cellar? We get those to hold us over
in the nights to come?"
"No, we eat those the ghosts are gone, the house needs those. But that
still leaves us with those zombies, they'll last a couple nights anyway."
Throughout the house small groups of people were cowering in hiding
places. Unaware that the spirits within could sense their presence. Only six
remained on the upper floor, three were in the closet of the bedroom at the
end of the right hallway and three were hidden in the den.
In the den, MsLateOne and LateOne were hidden behind the massive
oak desk. Behind three rows of file cabinets was WPCStrohs. The three of
them had now managed to contain their breathing and were completely quiet
when they heard a door to the room open. All were mystified at this since
the main door had been barricaded with chairs and other heavy furniture.
"Fe fi fo fum, I smell the blood of my next victim." A male voice
called out through the room.
"Slightly over-dramatic don't you think?" A female voice spoke.
Seco and Serendippity stood at the open passageway from the cellar.
"Hey, I was a ghost first, you zip it."
"Age before beauty definitely applies in that situation." Seren laughed.
"Well if you hadn't had that uncontrollable bladder I would still be
alive."
"You know, I've been thinking about what. Did I tell you to stay in
the den and wait for me? No, I did not. You have no one to blame but
yourself so quit crying about it."
"You're as much a pain in the ass dead as you were alive. Why don't
you go play with Dave, I think you need to join his squad."
"You mean the one standing right beside you?"
"WHAT!" Seco jumped and ran towards the back of the room. When
he stopped and realized that Dave wasn't there he looked down at
MsLateOne and LateOne. "Can you believe she did that to me?"
Seren was laughing hysterically. "You should have seen your face,
good thing your bladder doesn't work anymore or you would have pissed
your pants."
Seco glared at Seren then turned his glance behind the desk. "Your
presence is requested in the ballroom. Shall we do this the easy way or the
hard way?"
MsLateOne and LateOne both sprang towards the door, but then
realized it was still barricaded. Serendippity was standing in front of the
open passageway they were trapped in the den.
As they stood looking at Seren, Seco approached them from behind
and smacked their heads together. The two fell to the floor unconscious. "I
guess it'll be the hard way, I always wanted to do that."
"Way to go genius, now we have to carry them."
"Is there anything that pleases you?"
"Nothing you have would." Seren moved towards the file cabinets.
"Ahem, are you going to come out of there or make me come and get you?"
WPCStrohs moved slowly from behind the cabinets and ran through
the open passageway and down the stone stairway.
"Well, that was swift of you."
"Shut up, Seco and carry your guests to the ballroom. I'm going to go
find the runner."
"Why do I have to carry them?"
"Because you knocked them out, genius."
Seco grumbled as he moved the furniture from in front of the door.
"Carry the bodies, Seco, move the furniture, Seco, we enjoyed eating your
cow, Seco. I'm so respected."
Serendippity made her way down into the cellar but was not amused
that she couldn't sense any living presence. She began searching blindly to
have allowed one to escape would cause her grief for certain.
Inside the closet of the bedroom were Janelly, BuyMeaRose and
BigHeart. All were trembling severely with fear and wanting desperately to
be somewhere else.
They listened as the door to the room opened, "Ok folks, out of the
closet so we can get you back to the ballroom." A voice rang out in the
empty bedroom.
"Somehow I don't think that's going to work." A second voice spoke
up.
"Hell with it." A third said just as the doors to the closet were ripped
away and thrown into the room.
Janelly looked into the room and saw no one. She jumped and started
for the open door but was knocked to the ground by something unseen.
BuyMeaRose and BigHeart just sat watching and staring at the bloody
nose Janelly suffered from a collision with air.
"Did you see that? She ran right into my arm." Sharon2001 said as
she appeared in the room.
"Might have had something to do with you being invisible."
Jeans_n_Pearls responded, as she also became visible.
"I kinda like being invisible. Pretty neat to be able to walk through
things." A third voice belonging to invisible Lace chimed out.
Sharon turned her attention to the two remaining conscious women.
"Are you two going to make a run for it also?"
Both BigHeart and BuyMeaRose shook their heads with a resounding
negative response.
"Good, let's take a stroll to the ballroom then." Lace's voice
suggested.
BigHeart and Rose stood and walked out of the room with
Jeans_n_Pearls in front of them and an invisible Lace behind. A few steps
behind them were Sharon2001 carrying Janelly. As they reached the
stairway they saw Paragod's naked body tied up above the main doors and
the two gargoyles still standing guard.
BigHeart and Rose ran down the stairs in an attempt to escape
returning to the room of death. They ran into the social room and saw an
open corridor through a piece in the wall. They both went down the stone
stairway and into the cellar, both were happy to be escaping even if only
briefly.
"What do have we here, visitors?" Snickers turned to face the two
fleeing women.
The two tried to continue running but were stopped by a force neither
could see or feel. Their bodies froze in suspended animation. Snickers
moved her hand and the two turned to face her. "Go upstairs and wait for
me in the ballroom."
Without any fight the two started up the stairway and vanished from
Snickers sight.
"Such competence from the specters in this house." She relayed to
LadyD.
"Now everyone can be a witch, we just have to tolerate these fools a
little while longer until the ritual is completed."
"Just wish BedrmiiZ would have them more organized." Snicks
growled.
"I think BedrmiiZ is a little preoccupied at the moment."
"Yes she is. If she doesn't conclude soon, I'll intervene and rap things
up for her."
"She and StJoe have only been in that room for 20 minutes or so, let
them enjoy. We only need four more humans for our ritual, her minions can
gather them." LadyD had entertained thoughts of engaging in sexual
congress herself, but hadn't seen any man she deemed worthy.
From her hiding space in the dining room SCL_Stormy sat looking at
the naked body of Paragod strung up above the doors. She could see him
through the small space within the two tables in front of her.
Across the room TweedleDum was hidden amidst a large pile of
tablecloths. She had buried herself amongst them with none of her being
visible.
"You know it's not nice to stare at male genitalia while they are passed
out and unable to do anything." A voice spoke into the room.
Stormy's eyes went back and forth through the room, she saw nothing
at first and then Bexty appeared just four feet in front of her. From across
the room another voice rang out. "You know the say a sister can sense when
the other is in trouble."
TweedleDum through off the tablecloths at the sound of Dee's voice,
she knew it was useless to hide and didn't want to be taken out without a
fight.
Stormy came out from her hiding place as well and she and
TweedleDum stood side by side facing Bexty and TweedleDee.
"Bexty, I don't know what happened to you, but I know you can help
us get out of here." Stormy reasoned.
"I'd have to agree. Come on sister, why would you want to kill me?
Help us get out of here." TweedleDum spoke up.
"Ok, there is only one way out of the house. It's through the ballroom.
Follow us up there." Bexty sighed.
"Let's go sis" TweedleDee agreed with Bexty. "Let's get you out of
here before Snickers finds out."
Stormy and TweedleDum looked at one another doubtfully. This was
two of their most trusted friends standing before them. They put aside
concerns and decided to follow the ghosts.
Bexty and TweedleDee walked out of the dining room and up the
stairway and Stormy and TweedleDum followed behind. As they entered
the ballroom, Stormy and TweedleDum proceeded cautiously, they looked
around the room first and once they saw no one else in the room they
entered.
"Behind that wall where the clock is there is a passageway. You can
get out through there. Go quickly." Bexty pointed to the far wall.
"Thank you, Bexty." Stormy spoke quickly and hurried towards the
clock.
TweedleDum had tears in her eyes as she thanked her sister and went
along with Stormy.
Stormy and TweedleDum's elation faded quickly when the panel
opened and LadyD emerged from it.
"Thank you for joining the party." LadyD spoke, "You are two of our
very special guests." Before Stormy and TweedleDum could turn to run
they fell to the floor unconscious.
"Very well done you two." LadyD congratulated Bexty and
TweedleDee. "Snickers will be pleased."
Snickers entered the room behind them. "Very pleased indeed." She
agreed. "I have to wonder though, how did you know LadyD was coming
up those stairs?"
TweedleDee stammered a second before retaining a steady voice.
"We, uh, were just sending them down to you, Snickers."
"Interesting, evidently you don't know the layout of this house. That
particular passageway would have given them the opportunity to escape.
But I know you couldn't possibly have known that."
"We didn't know that, Snickers, sorry." Bexty responded.
"Nevertheless, I think you two need a nap." LadyD's voice spoke out.
"Placed at rest your spirit remained, now until we're through it shall be
detained."
TweedleDee and Bexty vanished from the room as the words
concluded.
"Almost enough in here to proceed." Snickers remarked.
"The remaining souls are all found except one who has found his way
into the cellar. But it's only a matter of time, we'll find them also."
It was now 4:30 a.m., an hour and a half before dawn. The time had
come for the house to begin taking it's own prisoners. Within each of the
rooms where the remaining living people were hiding, the door disappeared.
They were seemingly trapped, not knowing that there were hidden
passageways in all of the rooms.
RuReady1 and Furby59 were about to enter the library when the door
disappeared.
"Did you two see that?" A voice came out behind them.
They turned to see Paragod had awakened and was hanging casually
above the main doors.
"See what?" RuReady1 asked.
"That door disappeared." Para responded.
Furby decided to play along with RuReady1. "What door?" She
inquired.
"The one that used to be right there." Para used one of his fingers to
point.
"You mean this doorway right here?" RuReady1 walked through the
wall and then back out as if to show there was a doorway.
"I need a drink", Para muttered.
"You need some clothes also." Furby answered. "Looks like it's cold
up there."
Para glanced down. "Any chance you two can get me down from
here?" He then noticed the gargoyles standing below him to his right. "I
guess you don't see those winged guys there either?"
"What winged guys?" RuReady1 asked. "Think you are losing it,
Para. But just to help you out a little bit, wait right there." She went into the
dining room and walked back out, as she neared him she began floating
higher and higher off the floor. She used the tablecloth in her hands and
covered him up below the waist and then floated back to the floor.
Para, not wanting to sound crazy again by mentioning her floating,
thanked her for covering him up and then watched as the two walked
through the wall that used to be the door to the library.
He looked down below him, "It's a good thing you guys aren't real or
I'd be in trouble huh?"
One of the beasts glared up at him. "Go back to sleep before I decide
to have one last snack." He boomed in a very deep voice.
Paragod decided that'd be a good idea, he'd just go back to sleep until
they came and cut him down. Hanging him up here while he was passed out
was a very clever joke, he thought to himself.
RuReady1 and Furby59 began laughing heartily once inside the room.
"He's so much fun." Ready1 mused.
"Good thing he's not going to survive or he'd think he's losing it."
Furby added.
"One thing's for sure, he'll never drink again." Both were in
agreement on this.
They then turned their attention to the two people the gargoyles had
told them had entered this room. "Paging Kdawg and RagingThunder, your
table is waiting." Furby announced into the room.
There was no response the two people were hiding behind a bookshelf
in the far corner.
"You two can come out, it's safe now." Ready1 tried.
Still there was no response there wasn't a sound in the room. Kdawg
breathed heavily and looked at RagingThunder, "we're not going to get out
of here." Came the whisper.
RagingThunder jumped and ran leaving Kdawg hiding. Before
Kdawg could figure out what had happened there was RuReady1 and
Furby59 standing directly beside them.
"You're gonna have to come with us." Furby59 said just before she
hit Kdawg in the head rendering them unconscious.
RagingThunder was pounding on the wall where the door once was
trying to find the opening. RuReady1 came behind and knocked them
unconscious also.
"Ok, now how do we make the door reappear?" She asked Furby.
"It's not like we can drag them through the wall."
"Furby glanced over to RuReady1 after she had lifted Kdawg. "Look
behind you, Ready1."
RuReady1 turned around to see the door was now there. "Oh, that
was easy." She lifted RagingThunder and the two walked back into the
corridor.
"What happened to them?" Paragod asked.
Neither answered him as they carried their two victims upstairs and
placed them in the ballroom.
Inside Snickers and LadyD were continuing the ritual with LateOne
and MsLateOne. Mortician stood nearby, as did all of the remaining
zombies.
Neither of the witches was enjoying this quite as much as their victims
were unconscious. But they carried on dutifully. They used the blood that
had come from the bodies of Jamie and AintnoTellin. The letters painted on
the chests of these two sacrifices were indistinguishable to all but LadyD,
Snickers and Mortician. On the chest of LateOne the symbols spelled out
DUOS and on the chest of MsLateOne BETIOUS.
Snickers pressed the edge of her two-sided ritual knife into LateOne
just below his neck and sliced downward to below his navel. She used her
bare hands to open him up as the sound of ribs breaking echoed through the
room.
"I've seen enough", RuReady1 whispered to Furby. "I'm out of here."
Furby nodded and followed Ready1 back out of the ballroom. "Guess
I'm not much of a ghost if the sight of kidneys being removed grosses me
out, huh?" Ready1 asked as they went back down stairs.
"That's why we leave that part to the witches." Furby responded,
"They are under the spell of the house and are therefore without a
conscience."
"Have you seen Beddy?" RuReady1 asked.
"She and StJoe are still upstairs, last I heard."
"Nice to know we can still have sex after death, not that I had a lot
before death." RuReady1 laughed.
Hidden in the kitchen were KingArthur, Yoni, BlazingRose,
Stormyblueii, Omasue and FireCardinal. They had moved everything that
wasn't stationary in front of the doorway and were feeling relatively safe
inside.
"What the hell was all of that?" Blueii spoke half out of breath.
"Had to be some kind of hallucination, there's no way this could be
real." Omasue responded.
"Yeah, ok, hallucination, that explains it." Yoni agreed not wanting to
think of the other option.
"If that was a hallucination, they must have placed some damn good
drugs in our dinner." FireCardinal thought aloud.
"Well, no matter what it was, they won't get in here." KingArthur
spoke assuredly.
"Yep, we're safe in here." Pammie agreed.
KingArthur turned around at the voice that had come from behind
him. "Pammie?" He looked around. "I don't see you."
"I'm sure you're just dying to aren't you? Pervert." Pammie's voice
leaned toward hostility.
"You still bitter about being naked?" WhiteMagicWoman's voice
sounded out from the other side of the room.
Before they knew it the six people, who were feeling safe only
moments before, were now surrounded as LilMissDoNoWrong and
Serendippity also appeared in the room.
The six of them formed a circle back to back and were preparing to try
and fight their way out when the three phantoms, that were once visible, now
became invisible.
As they were preparing to do battle the lights in the room went off and
it became pitch black. There was a panic throughout and a scuffle took
place. In the dark fighting was intense, no one could see their aggressor.
As the lights came back on the scene within the room was brutal.
Piled one on top of the other were six dead bodies, all with broken necks and
various other bones broken.
"What the hell did you three do?" Pammie asked as she stared at the
pile in astonishment.
"I didn't do anything." Serendippity answered. "I was just standing
here."
"WMW? LilMissDoNoWrong, did you do this?" Pammie asked. But
she could sense they weren't in the room.
Pammie walked to the opposite side of the room and then back
towards the opening in the wall behind the huge refrigerator.
"We're in trouble Seren." She was very worried now.
"But we didn't do anything." Seren reasoned.
"Let's see, 'Well Snicks, you see we were in the room about to take the
six of them to the ballroom, the lights went out and when they came back on,
all six were dead.'" Pammie uttered.
"We're in deep shit." Seren now agreed.
"But where the heck did those two go?" Pammie questioned thinking
of WMW and LilMiss.
"Everything was a blur when the lights went out, all I saw were bodies
flailing everywhere and then the lights came back on."
"We need to go get BedrmiiZ, something's not right. WMW and
LilMissDoNoWrong couldn't have done this either."
"Looking for me?" BedrmiiZ's voice rang out into the room as she
appeared through the wall adjoining the hallway.
"We didn't do this?" Serendippity spoke up as BedrmiiZ looked at the
bodies piled in the center of the room.
"Nope, you sure didn't." Beddy assured her. "Snickers and LadyD
now have enough to complete the ritual. These were no longer needed."
"Damn nice of someone to tell us." Pammie chimed.
"You wanna go tell Snicks and LadyD that?" Beddy asked.
"No, I think not." Pammie mused. "So they are completing their
ritual now?"
"Not until we are all there, they need our presence."
"Will these six be joining us?" Serendippity asked. "I mean will they
be ghosts now?"
"No, these six have no souls remaining." BedrmiiZ noticed.
"Do you know who killed them?" Seren asked
"Yes, believe me when I tell you, you don't want to know." Beddy
retorted.
As Seren, Pammie and Beddy were back in the main foyer they
noticed that Paragod was no longer hanging above the doors.
"Where did he go, I wonder." Beddy thought aloud.
"What was he up there for to begin with?" Pammie asked.
"He was to be the human form that the house was to take when the
ritual was completed." Beddy answered
"Ladies and gentlemen step right up, all hell is about to break loose."
Pammie spoke sarcastically.
WPCStrohs had found an exit, the stone doorway was open and
freedom was just a step away when suddenly all went black. As the stone
door closed again the body of Strohs was lying inside on the stone floor his
head had achieved freedom and lay outside the house in the back yard.
"Imbeciles" Mortician muttered to himself. As he picked up the body
and carried it to the room in the cellar where the rest of the bodies were.
He climbed the stone stairway to the main floor and used the
passageway in the social room to re-enter the main part of the house. He
glanced around the room as he sensed a presence, after standing motionless
for two full minutes the presence was no longer detectable.
He entered the main foyer and looked at the gargoyles that were still
in their positions. "Almost let one get out. Bad doggies." He uttered.
"Go back upstairs before I use your finger to pick my teeth." One of
the gargoyles blared.
Mortician chuckled to himself and walked up the stairway and into the
ballroom. The lights were extremely bright and standing at the head of the
room was Paragod. His eyes had turned as black as coal and his faced
emitted a faint dark glow. In front of him Snickers and LadyD were
awaiting two more victims to be placed upon their altars by Mortician. The
bodies of LateOne and MsLateOne lie on the floor beside the sacrificial
tables now mutilated beyond recognition.
"Looks like we are nearly all here." Mortician announced. There
seems to be a life-presence still in the house.
"They are of no consequence at this point, we will take care of them
after the ritual, we are running out of time." Snickers answered.
Mortician looked again at the form that used to be Paragod as he
nodded in agreement. "As you wish." Mortician answered and closed the
doors to the ballroom behind him.
Blackrose, Salina and LucyK had managed to find a passage to the
cellar located in the bar they made their way down into the depths of
darkness and through maze of rooms that lied beneath Morose Mansion. As
they slowly moved up a corridor a light flickered in a room ahead. They
neared the room cautiously and as they reached the entryway to the room the
flame providing the light went out. Once again they were in total darkness,
quietly they leaned against the corridor wall listening. After several minutes
of silence they proceeded to enter the room as Blackrose was getting her
lighter out all three tripped and fell to the floor in domino fashion.
Rose, who was in the back of the three when they fell stood up and
with a single flick of her lighter brought the room to life. It was LucyK who
initially screamed followed promptly by Salina and Rose. For lying beneath
Lucy on the floor were the bodies of people they had just seen less than an
hour before in the ballroom. When they realized the noise they were making
they all became deafly silent and moved quickly out of the room in horror.
Unfortunately for them, their screams were heard through the acute senses of
LadyD.
On the second floor LadyD looked at Snickers and received the nod
she was expecting. She quickly left the ballroom and entered the catacombs
below the house. With unmistakable precision she located the three lost
women quickly.
"It's not nice to sneak around the basement of other people's houses."
LadyD spoke from the shadows.
Rose released her thumb from her lighter and all stood in darkness.
"Who are you?" LucyK managed to squeak out.
"It's just me, LadyD." The voice in the darkness responded.
"Oh shit!" Rose exclaimed as she began to run back down the
corridor, the visual images of the terror in the ballroom fresh in her mind.
Salina also ran down the corridor, LucyK was bumped and knocked down in
the haste of the other two.
Before she could stand again a voice came from right next to her.
"Let me give you a hand Lucy."
Lucy began to sob gently and hastily tried crawling on her hands and
knees down the corridor away from the voice of the woman she once called
friend. She managed to get all of twelve feet away before she was lifted off
the ground by a hand grasping her hair.
She screamed in vain briefly before her soul was separated from her
body. LadyD lowered her back to the floor slowly, now a lifeless minion.
"Go to the ballroom and await my arrival." She commanded and then
proceeded down the corridor after the two escapees.
Rose and Salina had become separated and in her haste Rose had
dropped her lighter. Total darkness surrounded Rose as she had come to an
impasse, she felt her way along the walls but could find no opening.
Suddenly she was doused from head to foot in liquid that she quickly
identified. Before she could fathom what was happening LadyD's voice
sounded from directly behind her. "Need a light, Rose?"
With a single flick of Rose's fallen lighter she was engulfed in flames.
For seconds she screamed in agony before the flames took her life. LadyD
stood watching without expression as Rose went from standing and flailing
in pain to a large charcoal briquette lifeless on the floor smoldering.
"Say hi to Fallon." She smirked and moved further into the cellar after
Salina.
Salina had heard the agonizing screams of her friend and now was
cowering in a corner. Unable to see or hear anything due to the darkness
and the tears filling her eyes. She could only imagine what horrible fate had
befallen her friend and knew without a doubt that her time was coming soon.
It was seconds later when she heard a door creak and slam shut. As
she focused her ears to listen she heard the sound of water, then she felt it,
and the floor was covered in it. She stood and moved back towards where
she had came in this room as the water rose quickly. By the time she
reached the now closed entryway the water had risen to her chest. She made
futile efforts to get out, within minutes she was swimming to keep oxygen in
her lungs. LadyD made her way back up to the ballroom, secure in knowing
Salina's fate was sealed, before she re-entered the room, Salina's lungs had
succumbed to the water and she had drowned.
LadyD moved back to Snickers side and promptly proceeded with the
task at hand. Kdawg was now in a semi-conscious stupor and was bound at
the hands and ankles before LadyD. RagingThunder likewise was before
Snickers as the witches began to murmur in unison. As the murmurs grew
louder into a chant Paragod's newly possessed self began to smile, he raised
his hands into the air slowly. As his arms reached skyward the witches
thrust blades deep into the chests of their victims. The fatal blows were
delivered swiftly and with perfect precision. The two sorceresses then
turned the blade slightly upward while still in the chests of their oblations
and with swift hands and incredible force brought the blades straight up.
As the two bodies dropped to the floor the precision of the cuts were
perfect they had been sliced open from their chests up through their skulls.
As the blood flowed from the bodies to the feet of Paragod power surged
through the dark being. Once the blood had trickled and was no longer
pouring to the feet of the incubus he lowered his hands. He turned to face
Mortician "More" was the single utterance from the lips of pure evil.
Mortician took the bodies of the last two victims and moved them
over to the corner of death and made his way to the center of the room where
TweedleDum and BigHeart were sitting entranced. He guided them up to
the front of the room and positioned them directly in front of Paragod.
Paragod looked at his two power sources and back to Mortician.
"Now" was the only word he spoke. Mortician moved back from the altar
and approached Furby59 and Lace who were standing in their dutifully
assigned positions. He reached his hands out and grasped a hold of the two
specters to their surprise and moved them to the front of the room and stood
them directly behind the motionless TweedleDum and Lace.
"What's going on?" RuReady1 whispered to Sharon2001.
"SILENCE!" Paragod boomed as he glared at RuReady1 through
coal-like eyes.
Furby59 and Lace both stood in the positions they were placed in,
both knowing trying to flee would be useless.
Mortician placed his hands on the backs of the two spirits. They felt
as though their insides had turned to ice. Swiftly and without warning
Mortician shoved the two forward towards TweedleDum and BigHeart. All
eyes in the room opened wide with astonishment, as the two ghosts seemed
to disappear inside of the two sacrifices. TweedleDum and BigHeart
lurched forward towards Paragod and he placed his hands on their foreheads.
They began to convulse violently as their souls were being expunged from
their bodies. Along with their souls, the souls of Furby59 and Lace were
also being extracted, as the remainder of the ritual required the expulsion of
four souls simultaneously by the incubus.
Paragod's figure grew visibly stronger with each second that passed
the veins in his arms began to bulge as the dark blood course through them.
The bodies of the two sacrifices still convulsing as the life was removed
from their bodies along with their souls. Quickly he released their foreheads
and the two bodies dropped onto the floor in a heap.
Mortician dutifully removed the newly ordained corpses from the altar
and moved them with the rest. As he moved toward the three remaining
sacrifices he grasped hold of the first two he came to. Slowly he moved
SCL_Stormy and Janelly towards Paragod and placed them in the exact
positions that were previously occupied by TweedleDum and BigHeart. As
he moved towards the back of the room approaching a small group of ghosts
standing back watching now in fear themselves, he stopped in front of
Pammie and Jeans_n_Pearls. He stretched his hands out towards them; they
were to be the next bonus souls fed to Paragod.
"Oh hell no!" Pammie exclaimed and with lightning quick reflexes
flew out of the room.
Mortician stood astounded for a brief moment, more than enough time
for all of the remaining ghosts in the room to vanish out of site. Paragod
thrust his hands out in an effort to pull back the fleeing spirits, but it was to
no avail. Chaos ensued throughout the house as Jeans_n_Pearls and
Sharon2001 joined Heather and Irish_Eyes in their hiding space within the
back bedroom to the right side of the house.
Pammie, Seco, StJoe, RuReady1 and BedrmiiZ all took up refuge in
the cellar. WhiteMagicWoman, LilMissDoNoWrong and Serendippity went
upwards through the ceiling of the 2nd floor and into the attic of the house.
The fleeing spirits in the cellar had brushed FireDude and Selena_S,
although neither knew what was happening but both went on the move to
another part of the darkness.
Back in the ballroom Paragod's anger grew intense, "FIND THEM!"
His voiced echoed throughout the house. The zombies remained stationed in
the ballroom; Mortician, LadyD and Snickers vanished from the room to
now round up the already dead spirits. Paragod disappeared into the
passageway to the cellar to begin his own search.
Within all of the commotion the trance that held Stormy, Janelly and
BuyMeaRose was broken, they too fled from the ballroom following Stormy
down into the same passageway Paragod had gone into. She had
remembered it being mentioned that the exit was in this direction. The clock
in the main foyer chimed on the 1/2 hour, it was now 5:30, dawn drew near
and it was now a race for survival by all.
The minutes ticked off the clock as LadyD, Snickers and Mortician
began bringing back the spirits from their hiding places into the ballroom.
From inside the cellar where the bodies were strewn of the ghostly crew,
LadyD and Snickers used their powerful magic to displace four spirits from
their hiding place and contain them within the confines of the ballroom.
Seco was the first to be unwillingly pulled from his hiding place only
to suddenly appear in the room no one wanted to be in. As he was trying to
flee from the room he was joined by Pammie, Serendippity and StJoe all
were trapped within the walls of the ballroom with no power to escape.
BedrmiiZ watched as StJoe vanished from sight and knew instantly
who was behind it. She angrily placed herself within the walls of the
ballroom and tried to assist the others in their escape. Taking her crew in the
ritual was not something that she had been previously notified of and she
knew that the completion of the rite of darkness would not aid her in any
way. The five ghosts soon gave up on their escape attempts and gathered in
the center of the room.
"I realize that this ritual thing was on a need to know basis, but since
I'm about to give up what existence I have left in order for it to be
completed, could you fill me in?" StJoe asked BedrmiiZ
Before she could answer Seco added, "Who the hell cares what it is?
We're going to die, again!"
"Upon completion of the ritual the poltergeist that was built into the
house during its construction would be freed into human form." Beddy
ignored Seco's outburst "The power would be transformed into Paragod's
body. Once the ritual would be completed, LadyD and Snickers would no
longer be merely possessed they would become the powerful witches that
they seem to be."
"So, exactly what the hell was we helping for? Doesn't sound like
there was much in it for us." Serendippity asked.
"I was bound by duty to assist, you were enslaved by the hand of a
mortal, my soul was enslaved by the power of the house."
"I get it, technically speaking there wasn't anything in it for us, we
were just pawns." Seco whined.
"I had no idea that the ritual included the taking of any of your souls.
That was a information that I was not privy to." BedrmiiZ answered.
"So there was absolutely nothing in it for us?" StJoe asked.
"Only the ability to leave this house. We are trapped within these
walls for as long as the poltergeist is, once it is freed we will be also."
"Great, at least we're not giving our souls for nothing." Pammie
retorted. "We'd be making such a minor sacrifice so that the rest of you
could tour the world. So me a favor, visit Kevin Costner and make him
impotent, if I can't have him no one else will anymore either."
Serendippity chuckled she couldn't help herself even in light of their
current circumstances. "Add Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to that
list also while you are at it BedrmiiZ."
Beddy looked at her desperate crew trying not to look as terrified as
the actually were. "We're going to get you guys out of here, won't be any
touring the world for any of us we'll just remain trapped in the house
together." She encouraged. "If not, hell with making them impotent, I'll go
visit them and take good care of them for you." She glanced over at Joe.
"Just kidding, dear."
StJoe nodded, "Sounds about right, bring me into the afterlife to spend
eternity together and when that plan fails settle for Kevin Costner. I guess if
you have to settle for someone, he would be almost as good to have as me."
Pammie smiled, "Joe, you just keep telling yourself that. BedrmiiZ
told me you improved with death."
As the small group's hopes had been lifted and the fates briefly
forgotten LadyD and Snickers entered the room.
"So nice to see such smiling faces about to meet their doom." LadyD
spoke up.
"It's nice that you have accepted your fates and destiny." Snickers
added.
"Where's that white horse you rose in on?" Pammie addressed the
two. "Oh sorry, I forgot, where the white broom you rode in on?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, such hostility." Snickers smiled as she addressed
Pammie's remarks.
"When you fail to succeed in completing your ritual, I'll show you
hostility."
Before Snickers could respond the opening to the passageway creaked
and Zoie, Firedude and Selena_S entered the room followed by Mortician.
The three walked as zombies as Mortician lead them to three seats located
close to the altar.
"Just one more and we can complete this evening's festivities."
Snickers spoke.
Mortician left the room through the doorway towards the main foyer
without responding. As he closed the doors and turned around he noticed
that the gargoyles were no longer standing in front of the doors. As the
unmistakable glow of dawn shown through the windows he knew they had
returned to their stone perch's outside the house now. Mortician glanced
briefly at the huge clock in the main foyer as he made his way to the back
bedroom, 5:47, the night was nearly over.
As he entered the bedroom he was greeted by a crashing blow to the
head, the sound of wood breaking was loud and echoed through the room as
splinters filled the air. Mortician shook his head and removed the now
ruined hat from his head.
"Wasn't very nice of you." He glared at Irish_Eyes. "Come with me,
now, it's time to die."
As if suddenly willing Irish_Eyes left the room and started down the
hall towards the ballroom. Mortician looked at Heather and in the direction
of the two invisible forms in the room. "You can live for now, I'll be back."
He turned and exited the room closing the door behind him and with a flick
of his wrist locked the door as he made his way back to the ballroom.
Mortician entered the ballroom and closed the door behind him.
There were now all the required elements to complete this ritual in the room
except one. Paragod was missing.
Paragod stood at the opening in the back of the house and watched as
SCL_Stormy and BuyMeaRose fled into the morning air, they had narrowly
escaped. Within his grasp was the neck of Janelly, the last of the three who
was mere feet from freedom before she was killed quickly and forcefully.
Para closed the stone opening and started up the stairway towards the
ballroom. "Escape for now, you'll die soon enough." He spoke to himself as
he climbed the stairway.
He entered the ballroom to the chagrin of the awaiting victims and to
the sheer delight of LadyD and Snickers. "Bring forth the sacrifices." He
took his position upon the altar as Mortician took FireDude and Selena_S by
the arm and placed them before him.
"No longer willful and malcontent, hell awaits and you'll now be
sent." Snickers spoke in mellow terms as her eyes blazed fiery red.
Mortician approached the four spirits who were now defenseless and smiled
as he moved Pammie and Seco to their positions behind Selena and
FireDude.
Mortician placed his hands on the backs of Pammie and Seco as
Paragod placed his hands upon the foreheads of FireDude and Selena. The
time had come to finish the ritual and to ensure expediency Snickers and
LadyD moved StJoe and Serendippity to inches away from the altar.
"Let's get you out of here." Jeans_n_Pearls told Heather from the
back bedroom.
Heather looked at the now visible forms with skepticism. "Why do
you want to help me? You're one of them?"
"That was before we knew we were also on the menu." Sharon2001
spoke. "We're going to have to hurry though."
Sharon and Jeans moved to the door and began working the lock. The
passageway within the room was now sealed and they would not be able to
get Heather out that way. Seconds ticked as Heather stood inside the room
waiting for the door to open. "We can't get it Heather." Sharon's voice
spoke from the other side. "I'm sorry, Mortician has sealed it tight."
"Thank you for trying." Heather's voice was filled with disdain now.
The house was old but very solid and there was no need to even attempt to
break down the door. "Uh, yeah that'll work" Jeans_n_Pearls' voice came
from the other side.
Before Heather could ask what she meant the head of an axe came
through the door. Heather backed into the room as the axe continued
making contact until the door flew open.
RuReady1 appeared in the doorway, "You going to get out of here or
what?"
Tears welled up in Heather's eyes she was both thrilled and saddened
to see her mother in the doorway. "I wish you were leaving with me, mom."
"Get out of here, kid." RuReady1 smiled.
Heather went down the hallway and to the front doors. They were
now unguarded and also unlocked. She took one last look back at her
mother, Jeans and Sharon in the foyer. "Thank you all." She smiled and ran
out the door past the now stone statues that once guarded the doorway.
The three ghosts moved to the doorway and watched as Heather
climbed into her car and drove off. They closed the door and looked at the
clock.
"Something isn't right." Sharon2001 said staring at the clock.
Jeans_n_Pearls realized instantly what Sharon was making reference
to, as did RuReady1. "Let's go watch the ritual." Jeans spoke up.
"Should be interesting." RuReady1 agreed.
The three rose to the second floor and entered the room invisibly. As
they entered they became visible one by one. They looked at the altar where
Paragod had his hands on the foreheads of his next two victims and
Mortician was set to assist with his hands on Pammie and Seco.
BedrmiiZ looked at the three remaining spirits as they entered and
smiled. She then turned back to the altar to watch the grand finale.
"Our time is now." Paragod's deep voiced boomed and echoed
throughout the house.
Mortician shoved on the backs of Pammie and Seco with tremendous
force launching them forward towards the two sacrifices as he had done
before.
As the two visible spirits made contact with Selena and FireDude the
four fell forward crashing into Paragod and all went sprawling onto the
floor. Mortician stood looking at the scene unfolding in front of him with
widened eyes. Beside the altar both Snickers and LadyD also had surprised
looks on their faces. All stood in silence wondering what had gone wrong
when laughter erupted from Pammie, BedrmiiZ and the three late arrivals.
Pammie stood up and laughed heartily as she saw the stunned looks
on the face of Snickers and LadyD. "Tick tock, tick tock." BedrmiiZ
mimicked Snickers' voice, "Damn shame no one set the clock."
Snickers turned and faced BedrmiiZ. "What are you talking about?"
"All of you were focused and set on the single time piece within the
house. Guess what, it was five minutes slow." Beddy laughed.
Snickers turned back to the altar, lying unconscious from the force of
the contact were Paragod, FireDude and Selena. Seco was now standing
beside Pammie with a smile on his face. Snickers looked at the remaining
faces in the room and noticed all trances were now broken.
She walked past the altar and down into the passageway followed
closely by LadyD they closed the doorway behind them and disappeared into
the darkness of the cellar.
"The only two that have lost anything by the ritual failing were those
two." Mortician spoke.
The ghosts had now gathered into a circle away from the altar. When
they heard Mortician's voice they stopped speaking and turned attention to
him.
"What do you mean by that?" BedrmiiZ questioned, Pammie wanted
to know the answer to that as well.
"They are now mortal." Mortician answered as he turned towards the
now open doors of the ballroom. Irish_Eyes and Zoie had not wasted any
time in getting out of the house.
"Mortal? You mean no power?" Beddy's voice was now peaked with
interest.
"Worse, they are among the living." Mortician answered. "Probably
the reason they are heading for the exit as we speak." Mortician turned
towards Beddy and Pammie. "Better hurry." He smiled and exited the
ballroom.
After closing the passageway door behind them Snickers and LadyD
hurriedly made their way down the steps. "We gotta get out of here."
Snickers whispered.
"Quickly." LadyD agreed.
As they neared the doorway both felt a great sense of relieve, the
ballroom had been filled with ghosts and although it didn't bother them
before it scared the hell out of them now. Their relief was short-lived as
they noticed Dave and DeShadow standing between them and freedom.
They stopped cold a foot away from the two lifeless forms standing
before them. Slowly they backed out of arms reach and then ran down the
corridor to their right. Through the room that once was their lab and back up
another stone stairway they fled.
They pushed open the doorway at the top of the stairs and found
themselves in the social room. No specters were in sight as they headed
through the door of the social room. Both were now smiling when they
entered the main foyer and saw the main doors standing open.
Both ran for the door and freedom, but as they drew near the doors
slammed shut. Neither former witch was able to stop their forward progress
and both slammed into the now closed doors. As they got back to their feet
the tried opening the doors, but they wouldn't open.
"Leaving so soon?" A voice spoke from behind them
Snickers did not need to turn around to know the voice belonged to
BedrmiiZ.
"Come with us." Seco's voice spoke up. "We're having a party just
for you upstairs in the ballroom."
Snickers and LadyD turned reluctantly to see that in front of them
were twelve ghosts. This was made worse as the noticed standing beside the
ballroom doors were nine zombies.
"Don't even think about running." StJoe spoke from the crowd.
"You'll just have to kill me here." Snickers responded.
"Wrong." Beddy answered. "Escort our guests to their private party."
Before Snickers or LadyD could move they were both picked up and
were now being carried up the stairs past the zombies and into the ballroom.
The ghostly crew moved their two guests to what was formerly an altar of
death and bound and gagged Snickers and LadyD. They then faced the two
towards the room in front of the eagerly awaiting formerly living partygoers.
"It may not have as much significance when we sacrifice you two, but
it is sure as hell going to be more fun." BedrmiiZ told them as she twirled
one of the daggers in her hands.
BedrmiiZ stood to the right of Snickers and Pammie to the left each
had a dagger in their hands. StormyBexty and TweedleDee took positions
on either side of LadyD.
"Remember us?" Bexty asked. "Guess you should have disposed of
us when you had the chance."
"The rest of you will count to three. When you reach three, these two
will be joining us." BedrmiiZ smiled.
The rest of the 12 ghosts began to count slowly.
"One…Two…Three."
When they reached three, four daggers were plunged into the chests of
the former witches, two into each. The two bodies fell forward face down
onto the floor.
As the ghosts stood looking at the newly deceased Pammie leaned
forward and rolled Snickers over. With the dagger still in hand she cut out
Snicks' larynx. "Payback's a bitch." Pammie emitted via telepathy.
The ghosts carried the bodies down into the cellar and placed them in
the same room with theirs. They stood gathered around waiting for the final
two victims to join their group.
Paragod sat up feeling completely out of sync. He had a splitting
headache and was looking down at his near lack of apparel. "Must've had a
great time." He thought to himself as he began to stand up. It was then that
he noticed the blood all over the floor. Quickly he jumped up and moved to
the doors of the ballroom. He threw the doors open and knocked over two
police officers as he entered the hall.
He picked himself to see that the foyer and the stairways were now
covered with police. Before he could say anything there were guns aimed at
him.
"Freeze." One of the policemen yelled out.
One of the two he had knocked over was now standing in front of
him. "Hands on your head." He instructed Paragod.
Para dutifully placed his hands on his head and was promptly cuffed
and red his rights. "I didn't do anything." Para shakily spoke.
Behind him the unmistakable sound of a man throwing up rang out,
followed by a man screaming. "There are dead bodies everywhere!"
"You're in deep shit son." The officer who had cuffed him spoke.
Two policemen escorted him out of the house and placed him in the back of
a squad car.
Para wearily looked back at the house as the police were pulling away
and couldn't help but notice that the two gargoyle statues that were on either
side of the entranceway appeared to be smiling.
"I have no idea what happened." Para spoke in the car.
"Better come up with something better than that, you have about 20
minute ride, I suggest you sit back shut up and enjoy daylight while you
can." The officer sitting next to him spoke abruptly. "Multiple homicide
and an eye witness. You're outta luck."
Paragod turned to take one last look at Morose Mansion, the house of
death. "Sure hope I got laid anyway." He muttered.
"I want to thank you guys for your hospitality." Paragod spoke to the
officer returning his possessions "Really it's been great, the four hours in
interrogation, the lovely smacks in the back of the head. You guys really
know how to treat a guest. Just one question though, ever heard the terms
brutality and lawsuit? Better familiarize yourselves with them, it may come
in handy someday."
"Have a nice day." Was the response given.
Para took his possessions and left the Police Station, waiting outside
was Heather. It was her recount of the night's events along with two others
that allowed for Para's release.
"I want to thank you." Paragod said.
"No thanks necessary, I just told the truth." Heather explained.
"What exactly IS the truth?" Para questioned. "What happened to
everyone?"
"You have a vehicle parked at the house?"
"Yes, I do."
"Let me give you a ride back to get your transportation and I'll tell you
what I know." Heather offered.
"That would be greatly appreciated."
They got into Heather's car and headed back to the house of death. As
they pulled up the driveway they had noticed the police were now gone and
several vehicles remained that would never be claimed by their owners.
"Thank you for the ride and the information, Heather." Paragod said
as he got out. "I am truly sorry about RuReady1, she was a terrific lady."
"Yes she was." Heather agreed. "I'm sorry about all of the friends
lost in that house last night."
Paragod nodded in agreement and closed the passenger door. He
watched as Heather drove down the driveway and then looked at the house
standing serenely. He saw the yellow police tape and before he knew what
he was doing, he moved under it and approached the house. "Hi guys,
having a nice day?" He addressed the two stone gargoyles as he walked past
them and up the stairway to the front door.
As he reached the doors he was expecting them to be locked or sealed,
but as he tried the doorknob it turned and he was able to push the door open.
"Ok, let's see what this place looks like when I'm sober." He walked into the
house and stood in the main foyer.
It all looked so peaceful in the late afternoon hours, all except for the
yellow police tape across the doors to the ballroom upstairs. He walked into
the library first and then across the foyer into the social room. No signs of
the horror that had taken place the night before existed in these rooms. He
continued back to the dining room, once again it was as if nothing had ever
happened. After stopping in the bar and downing a quick scotch that had
been left behind he made his way over to the kitchen. The door was open
but yellow tape was across the entry, he looked inside but saw nothing of the
carnage that had unfolded there.
After looking through all downstairs rooms he walked slowly up the
stairs and began looking through the rooms up there. He avoided the
ballroom; he had already taken in the scene from that room and continued
down the hallway. If it weren't for the ballroom this house looked
untouched by people just as it had when he had arrived yesterday. He
returned to the top of the stairway and was walking back down when he
noticed the doors were now closed. Much to his displeasure he also noticed
it was now dark outside. "Oh shit, why do I have the feeling I overstayed
my welcome." He muttered to himself.
"That's a good guess." A voice rang out behind him.
"Yes, very good guess indeed." Another voice agreed.
Para stood frozen, not wanting to turn around to see who was behind
him. "All in your head." He spoke allowed and continued down the stairs.
Quickly he started towards the front doors only to see LilMissDoNoWrong,
WhiteMagicWoman and Serendippity appear in front of him.
"Just when I thought of giving up drinking." Paragod joked. "Excuse
me ladies, I'll be in the bar if you need anything."
He turned and started back towards the bar, intending not to stop there
but to haul ass out the back door. As he made it to the hallway StJoe and
Seco were standing there.
"Hi Paragod." StJoe greeted.
"You're not leaving so soon are you?" Seco asked.
"Hi guys, no I was just going to the bar for a drink."
"Uhm you just walked past the door to the bar." StJoe pointed out.
"Oh, house is confusing." Paragod turned and as he entered the bar
heard the unmistakable sound of a blender. He looked at the bar where it
was evidently running by itself. "Hello Pammie, wherever you are."
"Hi Paragod." Pammie's voice seemed to come from within his mind.
"Why can't I see you?" Paragod asked.
"Because I'm naked."
"In that case I need to have my eyes checked." Para joked. "Now I
can't see naked women. Wait, I vaguely remember you being naked in the
dining room."
"Figures, too drunk to remember what happened, crazy enough to
come back in the house, but you remember me being naked." Pammie's
voice rang within his mind again.
Para grabbed the scotch bottle off the bar and poured a drink. "I'm
going to die aren't I?"
"We'll see." A voice behind him spoke up.
"Hi BedrmiiZ." Para responded without turning around.
"So, why exactly would you come back in here?" Beddy inquired.
"They filled me in on all that happened last night." Para answered. "I
guess I couldn't believe it and was trying to find some affirmation of it all."
"Why are we wasting time?" Snickers asked as she appeared behind
the bar. "Let's just kill him and get it over with."
"I thought you were a witch." Paragod spoke puzzled.
"Were, is the operative word in that sentence. These guys wouldn't let
me leave once I was no longer possessed. Is there any chance of finishing
the ritual now that Paragod is back?" Snickers asked BedrmiiZ hopefully.
"Get over it." Beddy responded. "You had your chance you blew it."
StormyBexty and TweedleDee pushed open a section of the wall and
entered the room. "Hey, those gargoyles are downstairs getting ready to eat
the zombies." Dee spoke up.
"Look at the bright side, they aren't eating your body." BedrmiiZ
answered. "That brings me to your options here, Para."
"Options?" Para saw a glimmer of hope in that word. "I have
options?"
"All of our bodies are in a room in the cellar. While they remain there
we are in danger of losing our afterlife. If the gargoyles eat us, we're gone.
At this point they are feasting on the Dave crew, but when those are gone it
leaves us."
"What do you want me to do?" Paragod asked nervously. "If you
think I'm going to take on two gargoyles you are not only dead, you're also
crazy. By the way, gargoyles? You mean the big scary winged creatures?"
"Yeah those." Snickers answered.
"They exist?" Para was amazed.
"Yeah and so do ghosts." Pammie's voice rang through his mind
sarcastically.
"Good point." Paragod retorted.
"No, we don't want you to take on the gargoyles. We want you to
bury our bodies." BedrmiiZ spoke up.
"Bury you where?"
"Just outside would be fine. They won't consecrate a grave." Beddy
continued. "If you get us buried, I will allow you to leave here alive."
"You will allow?" Snickers asked incredulously. "Who died and
made you boss?"
"We all died and since the house created me, it made me boss."
BedrmiiZ responded. "Any problems with that I can always go down and
take out your tongue."
Snickers glared at Beddy and then disappeared from the room.
"Don't mind her, she's PMS'ing in the afterlife." Pammie's voice
laughed.
"Will you do it?" BedrmiiZ asked.
"In exchange for surviving this nightmare house twice, yeah I can do
that."
"Dee and Bexty will show you to the bodies and the shovel
downstairs. They'll also make sure you don't try anything stupid."
"Stupid? Let's see, got drunk, passed out, briefly possessed, arrested
for multiple homicide and then came back in this house." Paragod mused.
"What would possibly make you think I'd do anything stupid?"
Paragod stood up and walked towards the opening in the wall. He
stopped and turned back in the room. "If I do this, do I get to see Pammie
naked again?"
"Don't push it, pervert." Pammie's voice answered.
"Just asking." Paragod laughed and followed Dee and Bexty down
the dark passageway.
The two gargoyles had just finished off their fourth zombie and were
now standing out in front of the house. "Those guys are good and all, but a
little on the tough side." One spoke to the other.
"Not quite as much light meat as the live ones." The other answered.
"Can't wait until the next party."
"What do you say we go out and find some live food?"
"Good idea, very little chance anyone would be stupid enough to
come here tonight. Let's go."
The two of them took flight and headed west in search of wrongdoers
to fill their stomachs.
Paragod entered the room with all of the dead bodies and gagged. "I
don't think I can do this." He looked around at the people he had once
known; one was covered with a tablecloth. "Why is that one covered?"
"That's Pammie, she died naked." Bexty answered.
"Oh" Paragod responded as he made his way to her body and knelt
down.
"Lift that tablecloth and I'll remove your testicles." Pammie's voice
boomed loudly in his mind. He thought twice about it and stood up.
"I'll go dig, can you guys carry these bodies to me?" Paragod was
nearly begging.
"Ok, we can do that." Dee answered. Paragod took the shovel in
hand and followed them up the stairway and into a short hallway. An
opening appeared and Para was happy to see it led outside.
"Please don't run off." StormyBexty pleaded. "I don't want my body
becoming food for those beasts."
Paragod lowered his head, now ashamed that he had thought of it. "I
won't let you down." He muttered as he exited the house.
"Ok Pammie. Inquiring minds want to know, who were you in bed
with?" Seco asked as the ghosts gathered in the library.
"Yeah, who was it? Are they ghosts now?" Serendippity asked.
"Would be nice to have a real man here in the afterlife."
"What am I chopped liver?" Seco asked.
"I would say more like beef cow-boy."
Seco glared at Seren and turned back to Pammie. "Ok, fess up who
was it?"
Pammie thought back to her hours in the upstairs bedroom before she
was killed and smiled. "I'll never tell."
"BedrmiiZ, do you know who it was?" WhiteMagicWoman asked.
"How would I know?" Beddy answered.
"Answering a question with a question." LadyD mused. "You must
know something."
"No, I don't know who it was, let Pammie have her privacy."
BedrmiiZ replied. As everyone turned away Beddy winked at Pammie and
smiled.
"Privacy? I'm naked to all of you. I have to stay invisible so Seco
doesn't get any crazy ideas." Pammie chirped.
"Well you know that last man on earth thing?" Seco spoke up. "That
would be me now."
"There is StJoe." RuReady1 offered.
"AHEM!" BedrmiiZ said loudly, "I don't think so."
"Ok, we gotta kill Paragod then." Sharon2001 thought aloud.
"Hey, don't worry, I'll work you all into my schedule ladies." Seco
smiled.
"Eternity with the only possibility of getting laid being Seco."
Serendippity added. "I think I'm going to tell Paragod to leave my body
down there, think I'd rather be eaten by the gargoyles."
"Me too!" RuReady1, Sharon2001, Jeans_n_Pearls, LadyD and
WMW all agreed simultaneously.
"No respect alive, no respect dead." Seco whined. "Least some
things don't change."
"Beddy? How is it possible to have sex dead anyway? I can't exactly
strip off my clothes now." Sharon2001 inquired. "Pammie would be easy."
"Like Seco said some things don't change." Snickers added as she
entered the room.
"No you did not just say that!" Pammie's voice shrieked.
Everyone in the room was now laughing except BedrmiiZ. "The
secret to having sex in the afterlife is." Beddy started. "Something I am not
permitted to tell any of you."
"Oh no way!" Jeans_n_Pearls screamed.
"Sorry, house rules." Beddy smiled. "However, if it makes you feel
any better, there will be other men to come along."
"I have a question." LadyD started. "Where are the other ghosts? I
mean are we the first ones to die in this house?"
"The house consumed the others." BedrmiiZ answered.
"So is it going to do that to us as well?" RuReady1 asked worriedly.
"No, it has achieved the level it needs."
After five long hours Paragod shoveled the last bit of dirt on top of the
mass grave. He was now worn out physically and psychologically. He
walked around to the front of the house Dee and Bexty had closed the
nearby passageway after he had taken the last body out. He climbed the
stairs and reached the door when it opened slowly.
"Leave, Paragod." BedrmiiZ was standing in front of him.
"I can't come back in?" Paragod asked.
"You won't leave alive a third time." Beddy assured him. "There's no
one left to bury your body so you would be food for the gargoyles."
"In that case. Enjoy your afterlife, if you ever need anything, please
hesitate to call." Paragod started to walk away and turned around.
"Just one thing before I go?" Paragod spoke to BedrmiiZ.
"You don't want to know who he was." Beddy answered before the
question was asked.
"I'll take your word for that." Paragod responded. "If I don't want to
know that one, can you tell me who got to lay Pammie at least?"
"Get out of here, pervert!" Pammie's voice echoed through him.
Paragod began laughing even though he was saddened deeply at the
loss of his friends. "Goodbye." He said to BedrmiiZ as he walked away.
"GOODBYE!" Several voices responded.
THE END
BG
Locke
Digitally signed by BG Locke
DN: CN = BG Locke, C = US
Reason: I am the author of
this document
Date: 2004.02.16 09:47:46 06'00'