|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Chapter Seven: Haunted House | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Richard LeBlanc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Calloway staggered around as he fought back the voices that were screaming inside his head. He had survived his run in with the ghouled squid that had been lurking in the pool of blood in the ball pit - and his deeply troubled mind almost shuddered to ponder what dangers he might yet encounter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "The Big top looks like an interesting place to kill some time," the Setite ghost suggested. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Shut up - all three of you," Calloway slurred as he stayed near the wall of the ball pit - using it for support. "Must go back," he muttered. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Back as in out of here? Good luck. The way is barred remember?" the ghost reminded. Calloway stopped as if to recall. He tapped his head against the wall. His clouded mind did recall something along those lines. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Don't care - something tells me - not ready for whatever in there," Calloway slurred as he hugged the wall. As they made their way back towards the entrance to the strange circus - Calloway stopped and gazed at the mural on the wall of the haunted house. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You want to check that place out? You must be loonie tunes," Luther remarked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Something - in there," the deranged vampire strained. The images on the mural seemingly began to talk and move. He shook his head - it was back to normal. "I have to go there," he said quietly as he walked over to the mural and traced his fingers over some of the disturbed images. "Got a problem?" he began as he looked for the ghost that bothered him so - yet - the ghost seemed to be gone. "Good riddance," he muttered as he hugged the wall - slowly making his way to where the entrance was. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He looked to the entrance to the Haunted House and backed away. It was shaped like a clown's face - and the door was through the mouth. He tried to shake off the sense of lunacy that the tainted blood he had consumed was causing - but nothing worked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It took all of his focus to survive what he had encountered in the ball pit - how was he going to endure whatever lurked before him if he could barely tell what was real or imagined. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He shook off whatever feelings of doubt he had and pushed his way into the clown's mouth. The door seemingly gave way causing him to fall awkwardly in. once inside the door slammed shut. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For a few long moments - all there was - was darkness. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It was then that a brief flicker of red light shattered the darkness. He staggered with each uncertain step - it was almost as though the floor was moving. He braced himself against the steady walls and realized that the floor was moving. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "One sick mind made this place," he muttered. He waited until the lights flickered again and then made his way forward. The floor beneath him gave way. He fell a few feet and ended up trapped in some strange rope. He tensed up as he noticed the design! It was a web. "Big web bad," he muttered. He heard a hiss. He tried to untangle himself from the web as a cow sized spider slowly lowered down to the web and hovered a few inches away from him. "Huh?" he muttered. He reached over and poked the spider - it swayed back and forth. "A fake - that bastard is playing with me," he muttered. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He took a few moments to untangle himself. He looked down at the pit below the web. He squinted and saw that it was littered with bones - lots of bones. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "If the toy didn't do this - what did?" he muttered. It was then that a fist sized spider scurried up his leg - he looked around the walls and saw dozens of spiders beginning to come out from hiding. "Ghouls - I just know they be ghouls," he remarked as he hopped up onto the fake giant spider. The one that had been on him bit his neck. "Off!" he shouted batting it down to the floor below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Calloway looked around for a way out. He looked to the way he had fallen in - bars slid across - he looked down by the floor - below the web - there appeared to be a small exit. He looked at the spider horde that was slowly zeroing in on him. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "My choices are slim - down it is," he remarked. He began swinging the large fake spider back and forth. As he did he could hear the roof creaking. "Don't like that? Good!" he spat. It was then that the spider and its rider came crashing down through the web to the unforgiving floor below. He ran towards the exit. Luther jumped out! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Booga-booga-boo!" he exclaimed. Calloway screamed as he staggered back - falling into a large pile of bones. When he realized who it was that scared him he growled. "You should have seen - the look on your face," he mused. Calloway batted a spider from his shoulder as he ran through the ghost and into the tunnel that was four feet tall. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He ran through an archway - just then a large blade slammed down on where he had just been. Calloway looked up and saw that - this side of the door had been decorated like a guillotine - complete with falling blade. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I do not like this place," he muttered. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I think it has a certain kind of charm," Luther said. Calloway looked over and saw the ghost perched atop an iron maiden. "I mean - these places are designed to scare humans. They pay - to be scared. And this place - it is designed to kill you - with confusion. And in your fucked up state - I doubt you will see it coming," he pointed out. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I am getting better," Calloway pointed out. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Oh really? There's a spider on your shoulder," Luther remarked. Frantically - Calloway batted at his shoulder. Only when he heard the ghost laughing did he realize he had been had. "Oh yeah - you are doing super," he mused. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "This entire place is a trap. It is designed to play on fear," Calloway stated as he made his way over to a rack that had a skeleton strapped to it. He tapped his fingers on it. "Seems real," he added. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "A lot of things seem real - but are they?" Luther rebutted. Calloway got a grip on two fair sized rib bones and broke them loose. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Since when did you take up philosophy?" Calloway rebutted as he began filing the end of one bone into a sharp point. Luther looked down and shook his head. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You would have to make a weapon out of that. I am sure that you could have used other things - like that row of weapons over there?" he suggested. Calloway looked over and saw the assortment of medieval weapons that were positioned there. He focused his eyes and then saw the bloodied corpses on the floor near and around them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "It is a trap - a stupid one. They fell for it - I'm not," he stated as he managed to get a nice point on one bone. He then began working on giving it a cutting edge. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "So? Just because they couldn't make it - you think you couldn't?" the ghost taunted. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "It isn't worth the devotion of mental energy," he began as he admired his handiwork. Clearly not the best weapon he had to craft - but under the circumstances it would have to do. "Those are props just for show to lull fools into believing they stand a chance," he added as he started to repeat the process on the second bone. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Oh - so you have a chance?" Luther mused. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "So long as I don't think like a normal person - I should get along in here - just fine. This place is designed to confuse - to make you careless," he said as he started working on the knife's edge. "Then when your guard is down - wham!" he added. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "So - you are going to out-think the Malkavian who made this place?' Luther asked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "No - I have to think like him. that fucked up lunatic is a doctor. He studies people - behavior," he began. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Whereas you just kill people like a good little soldier," the ghost rebutted. Calloway finished forging his makeshift weapon and then looked to the exit that was up a staircase on the south wall of the room. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Okay - person escapes spiders - avoids this blade," the vampire rationalized - fighting back the insanity. He looked around at the room that was looking overly animated. He shook his head to remain in control. Sees weapons - goes for the rack," he began as he cautiously made his way towards the weapons. He stopped before he got too close. He looked at the floor and saw that it had many holes - deep ones. He then focused on the wall behind the weapons and saw that there were matching holes there too. "Smart person sees it?s a trap - wants to walk away," he began as he remained perfectly still. He looked over his shoulder - nothing - slowly panned up and saw a wobbling pendulum that was precariously balanced. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "And then gets skewered?" Luther asked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Sees the trap is about to go off - has a few seconds to think," he continued. He squatted down. The pendulum released - a rack of long spikes began to arch down towards him. he leaped up - as the rack of spikes slammed into the wall. Calloway sighed for a moment as he held onto the death causing devise. "Looks to exit room thinking danger averted," he said as he climbed down and walked back over to where the guillotine blade was. "But - that - is the punch line," he added as he looked a little higher up the elaborate beheading machine. There - was another way out. "And there - is the way out," he concluded as he hopped up and made his way through the tunnel. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Show off," the ghost muttered. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A short while later - the two ended up on the other side of the spider pit they had escaped earlier. Calloway looked down and saw that the ghouled spiders were blissfully unaware of his presence - and that suited him fine. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Where to now leader?" the ghost mocked. Calloway ignored him as he made his way through the unlit hallway. He moved only when the lights flickered on. As he stepped on one panel it creaked. "Bad move?" the ghost asked as the place shook. The hall fell down until it sloped. Calloway began to slide down towards an open furnace! He reached out to slow his fall - but the walls were greased! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Snake and bake," Luther taunted. Calloway drew his daggers and stabbed them into the wall. The ghost sighed as the weapons slowed him down. Calloway gasped as he looked at the wall of flames that was only a few feet away. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "It's fake," Calloway muttered as he slid down the rest of the way and punctured through a thin gauss-like screen. On the other side of the room was a projector. "But the next one isn't," he muttered. The room tilted ninety degrees. Everything that wasn't bolted down began sliding down towards another room of flames. Calloway quickly tied the rope he had acquired from the previous trap - to the dagger he had made and flung it at an item that was clearly bolted into place. The rope coiled around a table leg and held him up as everything else fell into the flames below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You so sure it's fake?" Luther asked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Not willing to see if it isn't," Calloway said as he slowly climbed up. he leaned against the wall and looked down at the trap that almost got him. had he gone here first - he wouldn't have had the rope and he would have went into the furnace. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "So how does the educated corpse get out of this place?" Luther taunted. Calloway sighed as he tapped his head against the wall behind him. it made a hollow sound. "You must be joking," he added. The vampire took a deep breath and jabbed his elbow into the wall - a secret compartment popped open. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Exit stage left," he remarked as he carefully slipped out of the deathtrap - after retrieving his rope and weapon that is. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After navigating through more narrow tunnels - the Setite found himself in a room that was decorated like a graveyard. The place was littered with crosses and every other imaginable holy symbol. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "This place is made to find weaknesses and exploit them," he said as he walked through the room. As he did - various fake corpses would pop up and try to scare him - the odd one was armed and would try to hurt him - all in all - the room was deceptively safe. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A short while later Calloway fumed. Luther was rolling on the floor laughing as they stood before what appeared to be a tribute to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I am so - not amused," Calloway muttered as he knocked the head off a blow up doll that looked like Buffy. "I mean - some of what I have seen was twisted - but this is just sick," he complained - unaware that he was being watched. The person scurried away into the shadows. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Oh no! It's Buffy! Run!" Luther gasped between laughing fits. Calloway shook his head as he made his way for the exit. He didn't care if it was a trap - anywhere and anything had to be better than there. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moments later - Calloway and Luther found themselves in a room that was all too serious. It showed scenes from the Inquisition. Scenes from the past that started the holy movement and more current ones that reminded Calloway why the Masquerade was so important. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Okay - I'm dead and even I am getting freaked out at this place," Luther admitted - seeing some horrific sights that were done in the name of the god of peace. Calloway held his weapons ready as he cautiously made his way through the unnerving room. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After a short walk through another thin hall - Calloway found himself in a room that had a floor coated with ash. The walls looked like that of a cave. He looked up and saw a sign labeled exit in the far corner of the room. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Exit - is not an option for one who walks a trail of darkness - and damnation," a voice stated. Calloway looked over and saw a cloaked person sitting on a ledge. "Only through salvation - redemption - can be found," he continued. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "How poetic. Let me pass - and I will let you live," Calloway rebutted - holding his daggers ready in case his foe opted to fight. The person quietly laughed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You seek conflict where a fairer heart would run. I have stood with the prophets - listened to the angels - and done his bidding in cleansing the stain of darkness from his holy lands," the person stated. Calloway looked up and saw that the person was playing a guitar as he spoke. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You want to kill me with a song?" Calloway mused. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "No - music helps to quiet the voices that torment me," the person replied - as he put the guitar down. Calloway watched as the man gracefully landed several paces away from him. He wore a ceramic mask that covered the top half of his face. And by the weapons the man wore all over his person - it was clear what he was. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Vampire hunter," Luther and Calloway said as one. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I have hunted many who have walked as you have. Some have sought redemption - others forgiveness. In you - I doubt any of these can be found," the hunter stated seriously. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Boy has your number," Luther remarked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I have been hunted by many and none have been able to claim my undead life. You talk to me of redemption and salvation? What hypocritical bullshit. You bring judgement - hatred and death," he rebutted - weapons ready. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "And - here we are," the hunter rebutted - drawing two special daggers with runes carved on them. "And though - in this moment there be we - in a moment - there shall be only me," he concluded as he raced at Calloway. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The vampire blinked his eyes were golden and hypnotic - and were having no effect on the hunter! He rolled to the side as a blade slides his arm. He cursed out as he gripped the burning wound. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "How the?" Calloway began as he focused on the face of the hunter that was charging at him again. He looked to the eyes and saw - they were covered. The hunter was either blind or very proficient in fighting blind. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He dodged the hunter's attacks and landed a potent punch to the hunter's face. The mask shattered as the hunter was sent soaring back. Yet - majestically the hunter landed gracefully on the wall and pounced back at him. Calloway rolled to the side as the hunter slashed where he had been but a second before. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You are far craftier than others who have traveled this far," the hunter stated. Calloway remained silent - doing his best to make no sound as the hunter tried to zero in on where his prey was. "The mouse is silent? Forget the stench that your kind bodes?" he asked as he pounced! Calloway grabbed the wrists of his attacker and head-butted him repeatedly. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The hunter fell down and was motionless. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Smart ass hunters," he muttered. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Think you that the battle is done? The war has just begun," the hunter remarked as he tripped Calloway - cutting his leg with his dagger. The vampire cried out as pain worse than what he felt before all but exploded from his leg. A savage backhand sent the bloody hunter rolling across the ash covered floor. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "That - fucking - hurt!" he shouted as he limped up and prepared to finish off the arrogant and seemingly insane hunter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Followed you and watched you as you meandered through this entrapment maze. Behold - what fate comes to those who cross an agent - of god!" he said as he took out a cross. Holy light began to glow as the power of the hunter's faith began to fill the room with an unnatural light. Calloway gasped as he found himself backing away. "Stay you to the shadows you may wish - but to eternal shadow and darkness - I shall deliver!" the hunter proclaimed. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You are so fucked," Luther remarked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Faith - keeping me away - can't get to him - yet he advances," Calloway strained. "One chance," he muttered. He took out both his knives closed his eyes. "I will send you to ever lasting hell!" he screamed as he threw his weapons at the hunter. One missed - the other made a sickening thud as it found its mark. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The light began to dim. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Calloway looked over and saw the hunter standing with his knife embedded in his chest. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I have failed?" he muttered in disbelief. He staggered - and fell to the floor. Calloway growled as he raced over and began to feast on the dead vampire hunter. As he fed - he concentrated on the aggravated wounds he had taken. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Within moments - the hunter was completely drained. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "A blind hunter with true faith. I wonder how many kindred fell prey to him?" Luther remarked. Calloway sighed as he picked up the weapons the hunter used. They burned his hand just touching them. He dropped them and then wrapped the handles with cloth from the hunter's clothes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Quite a few by the look of this floor. I wonder how many Setites died here - trying to paralyze him - or - others with their powers of domination," Calloway said as he picked up the daggers again - this time they didn't burn. "I have a feeling these will serve me well," he said as he picked up his bone daggers too. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Where too next?" Luther asked. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "I think," Calloway began as he looked at the daggers he had taken from the hunter. "I think I want to see what is in the Big Top," he replied as he looked up at the exit. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Well - if you were able to survive happy the hunter - or squishy the giant undead squid - I am sure that nothing will compare," the ghost reassured. Calloway put the weapons away and shook his head. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "You are just trying to get me killed," he said as he made his way for the exit. The two continued to argue as he left the last chamber of the haunted house. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To be Continued... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||