Meanwhile, back at Nick's room.......


The Escape....Jeannie


Screed takes a hold of the door and undoes the lock, "Ratsies, wot say we 
'ave some eats now, eh?"  Jeannie, back behind Cia, gives her a gentle push 
and Screed's arms go around her. 
  
Jeannie slips out to the side slipping the new cross from beneath her FK 
T-shirt for extra protection against unwanted rat eaters. She grabs 
NightAngel's hand and NightAngel grabs gersgal1 and they slip away as 
Screed makes for Cia's neck. Just then a sqeaker runs from the closet 
making his escape, Cia is forgotten as Screed gives chase to his 
favorite choice of meal..... the women laugh and race off to the 
stairs... 

*********

Beware a Sleeping NightAngel

   By NightAngel    
   
NightAngel hears chaos coming from the closet near hers and pokes her 
nose out to investigate. When she finally discovers most of the castle 
residents were in the closet <major snicker> including her friends and 
Screed once again tormenting everyone, she gathers her nerves and returns 
to her room. 
  
*A weapon... Any blasted weapon! I want him GONE!* She mutters a few 
colorful adjectives and metaphors as she finally finds an old wooden 
hanger and splinters it. 
  
"D***!!!!!!" She curses loudly as a small splinter embeds itself in her 
palm. "Looks like a visit to the coroner will be in order." Ignoring 
the searing pain, she takes her fashioned stake and stomps towards the 
melee. 
  
"SCREED!!!" NightAngel bellows and the group froze. She was standing in 
the door frame wearing an ankle length white nightgown, her dark shoulder 
length hair in tangles. It was well after sun up and she had to work 
that night. 
  
"Wot? Yew gots me a ratsie, me pretty 'un?" He drops Cia and NightAngel 
sees her scramble away into the closet, hiding under and shivering. She 
could hear Cia's heart pounding a mile a minute. "Too much caffeine 
today, Cia?" She joked and received a glare in return. 
  
"A kissy fer a pretty ratsie, luv!" NightAngel shuddered and brandished 
her makeshift stake. 
  
"I'm gonna 'ratsie' your hind end until the sun sets if you don't *get 
out of here*. I'm *sick* of being awakened by this. I sleep like the 
dead, but when you've got... " NightAngel stopped and noticed nearly 2 
dozen castle residents hiding in that closet... "twenty women hiding in 
fear and pounding on a shared wall to my room, how the heck am I supposed 
to *SLEEP?*" 
  
Screed stepped away from the closet and a collective sigh rose from the 
group. "Just 'un ratsie? I'll go... swears on me mutter's grave I's 
do... Just a itty ratsie.." 
  
Mustering up a lesson Janette had taught her long ago, NightAngel stood 
straight and tall, letting her eyes glow red with anger. "Just get out 
of here! There are no rats here!" She took a step toward Screed, also 
leaving the door open for his retreat. 
  
"Got 'a messy-age, Miss Night-Angle..." NightAngel got even angrier at 
his mispronunciation of her name. "I'll be gone at sunset I's 'ill.. 
I'll go stay in Teri's 'umble abode 'til den." He bade a hasty retreat 
muttering along the way. "Women.... Can't live wit' dem.. Can't drain 
'em..." 
  
NightAngel slammed the door shut and faced the many faces peering from 
the closet. "I have to *work* tonight guys. I may be immortal, but I 
need my sleep too!" She let the red glare fade from her eyes and dropped 
the stake, cradling her palm where the splinter was embedded. It really 
was burning and the skin was red and swollen. 
  
A few residents noticed NightAngel holding her hand against her, but said 
nothing until Gersgal came forward. The others probably wondered if she 
was incredibly compassionate or really dumb to approach a tired, angry, 
and injured vampire in the daytime. "That looks nasty, NightAngel. What 
happened?" 
  
"Splinter. Can someone call Natalie? I can't go back to sleep with this 
mini stake impaling my palm." 
  
She glanced at her watch and noted the time, and groaned: 10 AM. "I'm 
never going to get any sleep if this doesn't settle down. I have to be 
at work after sunset tonight." The burning in her palm felt like someone 
was taking a blowtorch to her skin and NightAngel fought the urge to cry, 
yet a few red tears fell unbidden down her face. 
  
********

Searching the Shadows in the Closet,
(a consolidation!) <snicker>by Teri

Teri was still wandering the halls in search of somebody, anybody, who might 
have seen El Thwapitan. Steph hadn't been able to offer any suggestions, 
since she'd been holed up in her room all weekend reading her favorite type 
of fiction (which squicked nearly everybody else out). With another 
frustrated sigh, she turned back toward the new, unfinished Vaquera Wing. 
Maybe Tab could help. She should be in her quarters still.

Suddenly Teri's listmother ears twitched at the sounds of multiple tortured 
screams coming from the opposite direction. That sounded like it was coming 
from the Knightie Wing! What was going on? She raced back down the hallways, 
almost tripping over her own feet in her haste. She skidded to a halt at a 
intersection of passageways. Which way had those screams come from? She 
listened carefully down both ways, thinking she heard hurried footsteps and 
hushed voices from one direction.....and was that NightAngel's voice? She 
should be sleeping right now! Then she heard very clearly what was 
unmistakably Elise's voice raised in anger coming from the other passageway.

"Okay," Elise was shouting, "whoever you are, play time is over!  You should 
know that El Thwapitan belongs to Teri...." Part of what she was saying was 
muffled by distance but Teri caught that much. El Thwapitan??? Someone had 
found El Thwapitan??? Teri rushed down that hallway toward Elise as the 
shouting continued. She rounded a corner at full speed and almost blundered 
right into Elise who was helping an obviously under-the-weather Nick Knight 
hobble painfully down the hall. Nick was holding the back of his head and 
wincing at the volume of his beloved Knightie's bellowed threats.

Teri automatically helped support Nick from the other side, although Elise 
made it very clear she had things well under control. "What happened??" 
demanded the concerned listmom.

"Oh, some brilliant prankster thwapped Nick with your maghogany El 
Thwapitan!" snarled Elise, venom and sarcasm thick in her voice. It was 
obvious she'd better not ever catch who had done it, there would be bloodshed 
in the Castle for sure!

"Did you see who had.....Wait! Did you say 'Mahogany' El Thwapitan?" she 
asked Elise. "El Thwapitan isn't mahogany, it's a rubber polo mallet!" Teri 
pried Nick's fingers away from the bloodied lump on the back of his head so 
she could inspect it, inspite of the possessive glare she received from 
Elise. "El Thwapitan couldn't *possibly* have done this much damage to him!" 
She caught an aggravated look from Nick.

"It's always nice to be talked about like I'm not standing here," he 
complained, pulling his hand away from the Vaquera and pressing it back 
against the swelling.

"Uh...sorry." Teri looked down the hallway in the direction from which they'd 
been coming. "Where were you guys?" Elise looked at her very pointedly as if 
to say it was none of her business. Teri sighed in mild aggravation. "I'm 
only trying to figure out what's going on around here. Maybe he fell against 
something and bashed his head after he got thwapped?" Teri offered as a 
possible alternative. "...and do you have any idea where everybody else is??"

Elise looked a little mollified, since Teri no longer had ahold of Nick. 
"Well, I don't know about everybody else, but there were a bunch of Knighties 
hiding from you in Nick's closet a few minutes ago." She suddenly had an evil 
gleam of amusement in her eyes as she snickered,"We sicced Screed on 'em!"

Ahhh...so THAT's what those screams were, coming from that direction! "Hiding 
from *me*??? Whatever for?"

Elise shrugged. "I don't know. Ask GersGal."

"Maybe later," answered Teri. "Right now, I think we need to get Nick some 
medical attention. 'Nay should be around here somewhere. We could use her 
nursing skills."

"I can take care of him." "I'll heal", Elise and Nick answered simultaneously. 

"Well, nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt you to have somebody look at that," 
insisted Castlemom #2. Just then GersGal came around the corner leading a 
whimpering NightAngel.

"Did I hear someone say they were going to call for Nurse 'Nay?"

********* by NightAngel

*Grrrrr* NightAngel grumbled and bit back a yelp as she had tightened 
her fist unconsciously, only succeeding in driving the mini torture 
device further into her hand. 
  
"I told you to hold still!" Gersgal muttered at NightAngel's gasp. 
  
"I don't need a nurse. If I wanted a nurse, I'd be fine. I *am* a 
nurse," she grumbled at waiting for 'Nay. "I need a surgeon like Dr. 
Lambert to get this thing out of me so I can go to sleep!" Her temper 
flared and she received a cool look from Mommie Teri. "I'm a night 
nurse, that's my job! That's what I *do* at night." Everyone took a 
quick note of her slightly irritable behaviour and silently promised 
themselves to leave the newest castle vampire alone during the day. She 
was down right grouchy! 
  
"NightAngel - your eyes..." She realized that she was broadcasting her 
condition all over the castle, but *crimeny* that log in her palm hurt! 
  
"Sorry." She damped down the yellow glow and watched Gersgal give a sigh 
of relief. "I'm hurt, I am tired and I'm hungry. I sometimes have 
control problems since I rarely am hurt." She bit back a half smile as 
the mortals near her unconsciously took a step away. All but Elise. 
  
***** by GersGal

Gersgal came to a screeching halt when she saw the pained look on Nick's
face and His owie. Someone or something had hurt Nick!! : (
Suddenly, Gersgal totally forgot about her friend NightAngel. As much as
she loved her friend, NightAngel,...gersgal loved Nick more!!!

Without even the shortest explanation, gersgal was off to gather weapons
and to search for whom or what had hurt her Nick.

Nick winced. He knew all too well that His gal would not hurt a
fly,...literally! But He also knew that the one way to bring out the
worst in His gal was to hurt Him. Nick wished He felt well enough to go
after His gal and try to calm her down before she really hurt the person
or thing that had hurt Him, but alas, He did not feel well enough and it
felt so good to lean on Elise. Nick almost felt sorry for the entity
that had done this to Him,...for He knew that the entitie's time left on
this planet was short,....very, very short!!!!!!!

"Isn't someone going to stop her?" Mommie Teri inquired.

"Whatever for?" snarled Elise, "They deserve everything she dishes out
to them and more!"

******* by Teri

"Yeah, but she's liable to get *herself* thwapped running off alone like 
that," Teri scowled after the vengeful GersGal in genuine concern. She 
turned back to Elise and Nick. "Neither of you saw *anything*?? No clue at 
all about who did this?" A growl from NightAngel's direction brought the 
Castlemom's attention back to the other injured vampire.

"Yes, NightAngel, I *KNOW* you think you need a surgeon right now, but Nat 
is still out of town for the holidays. Last I knew, she wasn't planning on 
being back for quite a while. Her Factions are keeping her busy. Dr. Deanie 
is still off being an intern, so you may just HAVE to settle for a nurse. We 
do have several to choose from here at the Castle."

"Yes,"growled NightAngel. "And I'm one of them!"

"Yeah, well it's a little difficult to perform 'surgery' on yourself, now 
isn't it?" snapped Mommie Teri, ignoring how quickly the vampiress' eyes 
flashed dangerously golden. "It's a friggin' sliver, for pete's sake! I'm 
quite sure it's within 'Nay's abilities to remove it for you. Er....unless 
you'd prefer to wait a few weeks until Dr Lambert returns?" She knew she was 
pushing her luck with that touch of sarcasm, but she was not about to be 
intimidated by anyone, Undead or otherwise. She shook her head, grumbling 
under her breath. "Vampires....grumblemutter ... such friggin' babies.......
mumblegrump...... Immortal, impervious to disease, Power out the wazoo, and 
they turn up their toes at a friggin' splinter!"

Elise and the two vampires stared silently at the Castlemom for a moment. 
"What's got YOU so pissy?" asked Elise.

"What has?" repeated Teri. "Nothing much. The Castle's in an uproar, the 
Knighties are hiding from me(GOD knows why), there's some idiot running 
around out there thwapping people with *MY* El Thwapitan, GersGal is off on 
a bloodhunt, and you have to ask?" She shook her head with an aggravated 
sigh. "Sorry, guys. I'm just feeling like the Castle Security System should 
have prevented this. Hey!" She snapped her fingers as the obvious hit her in 
the face. "ABRA!!!!! Her security cameras should have caught something! 
Maybe she can tell us what's going on!"

********

Shadowstalker...by Castlebrat


The figure hid out of sight watching the group who were discussing it. 
Unworried really. Then it saw its new victim stalk off. Slowly the figure 
followed, being sure to keep its distance but close enough that it could 
strike when the time was right. 
  
It wasn't long before Gersgal was alone and a good distance from anyone 
else. The figure was not about to pass up this opportunity. Quietly it moved 
up into striking range and thwapped, it wasn't a hard thwap just a light one. 
  
Before gersgal could whirl around the figure had taken off and all that 
could be heard was the Bwahahahaha that echoed throughout the halls. Poor 
Gersgal was left rubbing her stinging thwap mark, with steam coming out her 
ears. 

*********

Security Measures.....by Abra

Teri turned, and headed purposefully in the direction of Abra's main control 
room. "Come on guys," she said, when she realised that no one was following 
her. "Do you want to know what's going on or not?" 
  
"We were just coming!" Elise replied, and started walking down the hall as 
well. Nick followed with a slightly sheepish look on his face. After a 
moment, NightAngel followed as well. 
  
"Maybe *she* can locate a surgeon for me," she muttered. The quartet trooped 
down the halls until they reached the unassuming door that led to Abra's 
rooms. Teri knocked on the door. There was no reply. She waited a moment, and 
then knocked again. 
  
"Abra?" she called. "Are you in there?" An incoherent 'hn' was heard from the 
other side. 
  
"Can we come in?" Elise asked. Another 'hn' was the reply. "I'll take that as 
a yes," Elise said. Teri opened the door, and all four people walked in. Teri 
shut the door, and looked around, blinking her eyes to adjust to the 
darkness. The two vampires were aleady gaping, and when Teri and Elise's eyes 
adjusted, they blinked too. The room was *huge*. It was so high, that the top 
could not be seen, and so wide, the other end was obscured in darkness. There 
were flickering holographic displays on the walls that seemed to do very 
little to cut the gloomy atmosphere. Beautiful and catchy music filled the 
air. 
  
"We can't just stand here gaping," Teri said, after several seconds. "We came 
here for a reason. Now, where's Abra?" 
  
"She's over there," Nick said, pointing toward a very large... television 
monitor? What was Abra doing with a TV, when she had holograms? Teri walked 
over to Abra, and looked at the TV screen. She blinked. 
  
"A videogame?" she said. 
  
"Hai," Abra replied. "Final Fantasy IX." Little stars appeared in Abra's 
eyes. "Isn't it nifty?" she asked. Teri nodded. 
  
"Err, yeah, nifty... Say, you wouldn't happen to know-" 
  
"Security videos are through the third door on the left," Abra said, cutting 
Teri off. She pointed in the direction. "Don't get lost now," she said, with 
a strange smile on her face. 

*********by NightAngel

NightAngel took in the serious technowidgets and whatever else Abra had 
hidden in her dungeon. 

"Hey, Nicola, Larry Merlin and Aristotle would love to see this place." 

Nick only shrugged, leaving NightAngel to fume again. "Typical male..." 
she mumbled when she saw Elise's hand stray across his chest. No wonder 
he hadn't answered. 
  
*She'll be coming across one of these nights,* she thought silently. 
Elise was looking a bit paler than usual and her hands were shaking a 
bit. *Perhaps Sir Knight has been taking too much too frequently.* 
  
Her hand throbbed where that wood was embedded and she opened her fist a 
bit to see the red swollen area that completely covered the wood 
splinter. She had to get that wood out of her hand, no matter *Who* did 
it. Perhaps if she fed well beforehand, she could see Jeannie since 
obviously nurse Nay or any of the others were nowhere to be seen. 
  
"They're never around when I need them..." She snickered at the thought, 
how many patients had said those very words? 
  
"Teri - I've got to get this toothpick out of my hand. You don't 
understand what wood does to a vampire-" Just then, Nick and NightAngel 
both heard it. A distinct *THWAP* and a very angry female "YEEEE!!" 
  
The two vampires looked at each other and snickered. Everyone knew that 
Gersgal going off by herself was going to make her a huge target. 
Sounded like whoever it was had just struck again - literally. 

********* by GersGal

Gersgal was not as upset at being thwapped herself, as she fully
realized the merits of pranksterism. However, gersgal still was lusting
after the castlebrat's blood! After all, he/she had hurt her Nick, and
that was inexcusable and totally unforgivable!! Gersgal began to plot to
herself how to catch the castle brat and do away with him/her for good!!
Castle brat! The nerve of him/her to hurt the love of her life!!!
Gersgal was off to gather her wares to snare the castle brat. While she
headed for where she had her wares stashed, she tried to decide which
weapons would be suitable to use on someone that had hurt her Nick.
"Hmmmm", gersgal thought to herself, "A very dull razor blade to start
with, then perhaps a very dull guillotine. And then, I shall roast them
over an open spit above a roaring bonfire......". Gersgal stomped off
gleefully, plotting the castle brat's doom with each step she
took....... : )

******** by Nay

THe door banged FURIOUSLY  against the stone wall as it was flung open By 
Knight Nurse Nay.  

"Ok, Ok, ok.  Here I am." She sprinted across the room in her fave comfy 
scrubs. "I was off work five days and I DON'T do first aid on my off days.  
Now, lemme see that BOO BOO, "Nay said with a smile, as she reached out to 
Nightangel with her right hand, as she concealed the HUGE pair of tweezers 
behind her back in her left hand.

******* by Nightangel:

NightAngel held her hand out tentatively, but thought twice about it with 
the evil grin that was spreading across her fellow professional's face. 
She was obviously concealing *something* behind her back. 
  
"Nay? What have you got?" She snatched her hand back as Nay's grin 
widened. 
  
"Nothing!" Nay slipped the tweezers into the back pocket of her scrubs 
and held out her hands. 
  
"Yeah, then what's in your back pocket now?" NightAngel knew all the 
tricks considering she'd pulled them on her patients as well. 
  
Nay wouldn't answer, but with both her hands free, NightAngel let her 
take a good look at her hand. That splinter was embedded pretty deep in 
her skin and the redness of her skin was getting worse. "Ew.. Wood does 
this much damage to vampires? It looks infected." Nay turned slightly 
and NightAngel could see the salad tongs outlined in her 
pants pocket. 
  
A mirthless laugh came from her throat. "Nay, I'm a vampire. We don't 
get infections. Get the wood out and I'll heal. But I still have to 
work tonight!" Nay started to reach for those tweezers that NightAngel 
had seen in her back pocket. 
  
"No Way!! You aren't using those on me!" NightAngel backed away and 
toward the door. She'd take her chances with the Castlebrat if need be. 
"You aren't digging into my skin with those huge things!" The other 
castle members took note of NightAngel's squeamish behaviour and Nay 
noticed that even Nick looked a little green. 
  
"What is it with vampires? You guys are raised in centuries past where 
leeches and blood letting are a common treatment," Nay shuddered at the 
barbaric thoughts, "and a simple pair of tweezers makes you run screaming 
from the room!" 
  
"Hey! I grew up in the last 20th century! I'm only 24. Nick's the old 
one!" She paled slightly at the offensive comment. And his darkened 
face. *Oh geez.* He wasn't too happy about the "old" comment. 
Swallowing his own squeamishness, Nick slipped around behind NightAngel 
and held her immobile, forcing her to bare her hand to the ruthless Nay.   
  
NightAngel shrieked and struggled, but the elder (I learned the first 
time) vampire's strength was too much for the fledgling. "Nicola!! Let 
me go!" 
  
"No way, NightAngel. That wood needs to come out. You know it. And I 
owe you for that Old comment. Do your worst, Lady Nay." 
  
NightAngel tried desperately to free her hand, but Nick wouldn't let go. 
Nay came closer with the tweezers and needle - (where did that come 
from?!) and NightAngel's struggles intensified. The other castle members 
were heading to the vault room and hadn't been paying attention to the 
antics of the three they left behind. Suddenly NightAngel wanted her 
mommy. But since her mommy wasn't anywhere around, she'd settle for her 
listmommy (well... The one *not* wielding the implements of torture). 
  
She took a deep breath and screamed again, deafening the mortals nearby. 
"Teri!! Jeannie! Someone! HELP!!!!!" 

*********

To be continued...