Hello to all my darling beasties! Yes, your dear author-chan has finally managed to crawl her way out of the festering hell-hole she's been trapped in for the past little while, and is now finally ready to present you with a new chapter of this little story you all love so much! : )

And since there's a brand Vampair video that's come out recently, it's a great time for me to actually update! (Now to just wait for part six for another couple months..... *le sigh* But it's always worth the wait!)

(I had to fix a bunch of stuff in previous chapters referring to time(like how many years you the reader and Missi have been vampires and stuff like that), mainly because of the addition of Vanessa a.k.a Nessa, who's either Missi's friend or sister(really I'm not too sure), because I was a little worried that I was going to screw something up with the whole timeline of the story)

Quick notes:

f/f: favorite flavor

s/n: sister's name

f/c: favorite color

Anyway, before to start, just to warn you: There's going to be a bit of stuff in this chapter.

Mainly, some sexual antics (Duke), a few other lewd things (two unnamed female ocs of mine I haven't included in anything as of yet are going to make a surprise appearance, see if you can guess which ones they are....), also some over-indulgence in alcoholic beverages(by reader-chan.....), and things are going to get a little.... surreal during your song, if you know what I mean.....

And be on the look-out for a cameo by Daria and Mina in this! ; )

And there's also going to be a surprise appearance later in the chapter by a certain charming, green-eyed man  (you know who I'm talking about if you've seen the cover of my oc origins, if not, you're going to get an introduction to him in this chapter......), who is one of my very own ocs.....

Anyway, hope you enjoy beasties!

Y/n's P.O.V

Okay, Duke could move one hell of a lot faster than you expected, that was for certain. Whether it was his overly long legs, or the fact he didn't seem very fond of you in the slightest, he seemed to be determined to leave you in the dust- You could tell he was enjoying to see you struggle to keep pace with him, occasionally glancing backwards with an overly satisfied smirk when he noted you lagging behind, your f/c locks in disarray, occasionally stumbling over the tattered train of your gown - so he could go and plan whatever this "Showdown" business was alone, and without you.

And that smug bastard seemed to be enjoying your discomfort, of all things. Every bump, cut, or scrape you received only seemed to be bringing that infuriating smirk right back upon his stupid face.  

Yeah, he was probably punishing you in some way for everything you'd done-and really, you'd tried to help him by bringing him back from the dead, you intentions were as pure as they came, but he seemed to not want to hear any of what you had to say about that- before he found the perfect place to "settle down temporarily before the Showdown".

And why weren't you exactly keen on following Duke?

Because you had no idea what the hell Duke was planning for you and Missi in the slightest.

No clue whatsoever.

Apparently, Duke wasn't going to give you any hint to what this "Showdown" would bring, why he'd been so interested in that poster, or even what would happen to you and Missi after this hypothetical showdown (He wouldn't do anything to the two of you, would he? Would he?).

Nothing. 

Was this another way that Duke intended to make you miserable? If so, it was working all too good, you thought bitterly, glaring up at those lean shoulders from your viewpoint behind him.

Duke had been cryptic at best to what was going to happen, merely telling you that you had to come along with him (much to your obvious horror at that, for you barely wanted anything to do with him as of now), and he'd tell you what he was planning......

Eventually.

Or as you read it, not ever. Guess he really did hate you then.....(Not that you cared about what he thought of you, the feeling was mutual in both of your cases)

 Yeah, he still didn't trust you after you'd resurrected him and basically gotten kicked out of the castle by one of your former friends, and he still blamed YOU for getting him in this whole position in the first place, but maybe, just maybe, he'd stop treating you like trash if you showed him you were a person worthy of his trust.........

At that thought, a scowl came over your face.

What the heck was wrong with you? Were you some dewy-eyed nymph that you'd mocked so relentlessly in both movies (mainly the girls who stuck with their asshole of a boyfriend in the horror film, or Ariel, the girl who literally decided changing for her man was worth sacrificing her entire underwater world for a pair of legs)  that was so delusional, she believed that every man with an asshole complex was somehow redeemable?    

No, no, no, no way in hell.

You, y/n l/n, the tough as nails bad girl of your school - you didn't really do anything that bad, except for not pay attention in class(too busy reading), give attitude, and watch terrible horror films- as you liked to imagine,dark fantasy and horror nerd, was not going to let yourself go soft so easily over this perverted vampire bastard so easily.  You were made of much stronger stuff than Ariel, that was for sure. So, you tried to focus on the task at hand, rather than the man you despised ahead of you.   You hated him, and you were pretty damn sure that the feeling was mutual for the two of you.....

After all, you wanted to make Missi regret that she hurt you......

You really didn't give a shit what this bastard was planning ( and frankly, it was his doing that caused everything over the past year and a half to happen to you and Missi. And look where he'd gotten you. Hungry, sore, and not to mention a vampire to add insult to injury, while Missi was possibly losing her sanity, and had turned into- you were still extremely pissed off at her, so you didn't really care about being "the mean girl" again- a huge bitch.  And it was all his fault.....), but nevertheless, you had decided to follow him, through the darkened forest, past the stretch of trees near the highway, and into town. Which was where you were as of the moment, and the place was all too familiar to you.

After all, home is where the heart is, as the old saying went. And the sight of home, the place you'd spent your entire seventeen years and three months of mortal life, stirred up some all too painful memories for you, making your unbeating heart ache.

You'd grown up in this place after all, attended the local high school, bought f/f ice-cream at the local ice-cream shop with your two best friends (Would you ever be able to think about them without feeling like whatever was left of your soul was being crushed? Missi and Nessa.....), read Stephen King and Sarah J. Maas at the local library, and auditioned that one time at your school's theater for the big musical, one of your favorites, Carrie the Musical (the first and only time you'd actually taken part in a school activity willingly).... You shook off the memory.

God, it even was the same musical. There it was, the same post, it was almost as if you had walked right back into that very day, where you stood in the shadows of the wings, blinded by the glare of the stage lights, clutching script in hand, equally thrilled and petrified about what you were about to do.......

No, you couldn't think about that now, not at this moment. It just hurt you too much to do so... You just needed to push down the bad memories, push them back into the already very cluttered vastness of your mind, along with all the other memories you couldn't bear thinking  THAT whole incident that had happened a year and a half ago, the one that lead you and your ex-friend to venture towards the mysterious castle you spied in the distance, clueless of what would soon befall you......

Ignoring that though, you called out to Duke. "Do you actually have any idea of where we're going? Because news flash: I'm pretty sure that we're going nowhere fast." And it was true.

Were you even going anywhere of importance? So far, all that you'd accomplished by trailing after the tall vampire like a needy puppy, was just making you dislike him even more than you already were if possible, and making your poor feet scream in agony from walking such a distance in your black leather hooker heels.

Guess not everyone could pull off those sky-high black boots (really, they were just as ridiculous as your own pair of boots, if not more so. Just how tall was he with those things? Seven feet or something?) as well as Duke could, you thought sourly. He didn't even seem to struggle or show any signs of pain of walking in them....

Just another thing to add to your list of why you really didn't care for Duke of Vaults in the slightest, along with:

Pervert

Full of himself

A sleaze ball

Smirks far too much(what, were you in some bad fanfic? Why did he have to do that so damn much? It was too infuriating....)

Ignorant

And not to mention, totally skeevy.

Really, the list was going to be a million miles long if you kept adding to it....

God, what you wouldn't do for a pair of your old black converse sneakers, or failing that, a good pair of boots. Without heels. Or really, just anything that was comfortable and looked nothing like something a hooker would wear.

Was it possible to hear someone roll their eyes? Because from your position, you were certain you could hear Duke rolling his.

And to add insult to injury, he didn't even turn around to acknowledge your annoyed expression.

"Look doll, you seem to have nothing better to do with that pretty mouth of yours with you constantly asking me questions, so I'd invite you to shut up, if you're able to....."

At that, it was your turn to roll your eyes, but not before something else he added made your blood boil.

"...or, I think I might be able to put that mouth to some better use, if you're interested...." Those sly tones that entered his voice made you realize with no small amount of disgust, what exactly he was implying......

"No way! If you haven't forgotten, it was THAT sort of stuff that got us into this mess, so I'm going to have to take a raincheck on your offer, until..... I don't know...... maybe the thirty-first of Nevervember, if that's cool with you?" Dear god, your face felt like it was on fire. Were you blushing? If you were, it was because of the ludicrousness of the offer itself.

Why would you even dream of doing anything sexual to that bastard who chased you through his house and tried to fuck your friend?

Duke merely shrugged at that. "Your loss."

Good, thankfully, he was going to do the sensible thing for once, and just leave the subject alone......

But then:  "But your friend sure did seem to enjoy my company at first. " He gave a little sigh at that. "It is sort of a pity that she was only tricking me...."  He gave another shrug. "Ah well, at least she's not the first crazy bitch I've encountered." And with that, he gave a small glance backwards to you, a tiny smile playing upon his lips at your horrified expression as you realized he was including you in the "crazy bitch" category.

Okay, now you really were going to strangle this bastard, even if you had to use a stepladder to reach his neck to do the deed....

And with that, you continued on. 

Thankfully, you were saved from strangling the man in front of you by a small crowd of kids, dressed in their trick-or-treating best, jabbering about the candy they received and whatnot.....

I was alone and I needed a date

Wait, trick or treaters? That meant..... it was Halloween, one of your favorite holidays from back when you were still a child. God, the nostalgia that flooded your mind......

Trick or treating with Missi at age eight, Dressed as Belle and Lucy Pesneive respectively(Missi was obsessed with Narnia back then).... 

Shouting things at the characters on screen with Nessa, while you laughed and watched Freddy Kreuger stab another helpless teen with his finger knives as you went through your candy.....

Last year's costumes, where you'd dressed up as Carrie(complete with fake blood drenching a thrift-store prom dress), Missi as Bella Swan, and Nessa as Harley Quinn(she'd put the red and black wig on crooked, so she looked slightly demented, which gave you all a laugh at that).....

Then, a tiny voice broke you out of your reverie.

"I like your costume, lady! You're really pretty..." Glancing to the side, you spied an adorable seven year-old girl, gazing up at you in wonder.

She was rather cute, with her pink hair cascading from under her witch's hat, her big blue eyes, and her little black and pink witch's dress, reminding you of your younger sister: s/n, when she was seven. S/n was thirteen when you left, she'd probably have celebrated her fourteenth birthday by now, and you wouldn't have been there to tease her about how you were going to have to spy on her future boyfriends to keep her out of trouble....

As for the pretty thing? You certainty didn't feel all too pretty at the moment, that was for sure, with your torn dress, bird's nest of hair, array of bruises and scrapes, and face that was still kind of flushed from Duke's lewd commentary.

And you weren't exactly wearing a costume either.....

But never the less, you gave your best smile to the little girl.

"Thank you! I love your costume too!"

The girl gave a wide smile. "Thank you, my momma made it for me!" She gave a little twirl, her skirts swooshing around her as she did so, and you applauded approvingly.

Just then, another little girl, this one with curly dark hair, a darker skin tone, and dressed in a little purple vampire dress, came over and tugged the pink haired girl on the shoulder.

"Mina, come on!"

The little girl giggled, linked hands with the other little girl, and away they went, hand in hand, crossing the street to a nearby house, belit with pumpkins and other Halloween decorations.

Aw, those two little girls were really cute together, they must be best friends or something.... you thought to yourself.

Just then, you realized something. You were completely alone on these brightly lit streets.

Where was Duke?

Then the thought settled over you like a cloud.

Oh no, Oh no.......

He'd left you behind, the smooth bastard........

Cursing your stupidity, you gathered your skirts in one hand and dashed towards the very tall, receding figure of Duke in the distance.

Somehow, you managed to reach him, panting and gasping, your feet burning from your dash in heels.

Jeez, you didn't know you were going to get exhausted this fast. Maybe you were a little bit more out of shape than you originally thought....

"D-don't say anything....."  You managed to wheeze out.

"I wasn't going to." He replied, still not even looking over in your direction. But you could hear the amusement that was present in his voice as he said that....

In your exhausted state, you noticed that you were near the black iron-wrought gates of your town's cemetery. How far had you run? Wasn't the cemetery in the center of town? And didn't strange things happen in that particular cemetery after the sun went down? Or at least that was from what you heard from one of the punk girls at school, who had apparently spent the night inside the iron gates after dark on a dare.....

But just what sort of weird things exactly? You couldn't really remember what the girl had said at the time, dismissing it as result of the giant amount of weed she'd done before going into the graveyard, because really: skeletons playing trumpets? Undead people?

What was this, the Corpse bride or something? Please. Even one who was obsessed with the dark and strange like you were knew the difference between fantasy and reality.

So at the time, you'd just laughed it off, but now, you weren't entirely sure the girl was lying about what she'd seen, considering what your year had been so far.....

But really, your exhausted mind wasn't really sure of anything right at the moment.

I was taking a walk past the cemetery gate

Nevertheless, you'd managed to catch up with the long-legged pervert, which added a bit of a silver lining to the whole situation you were in at the present moment.

Just then, Duke stopped in his tracks suddenly, causing you to nearly bump into him.  "Wait, why'd we stop......" Then you turned your gaze to what had Duke so interested all of a sudden....

A sign, made of mouldering cardboard, was hanging off the fence gate. It looked pretty battered, but you could still make out the writing, plus a very sloppy lipstick mark on the far corner.

When I saw a sign,

That said for a good time:

Take a left down at tombstone number eight

Naturally, you were confused. So wait, there was someone or something in the graveyard, and they wrote messages like one would see scrawled on the walls of gas-station bathrooms, detailing where you could go and fuc..... have sex with someone? You'd only heard of this sort of thing in bad teen books(one memorable one by Lauren Myrracle featured a mean girl putting the name of one of the main characters out like that as some sort of revenge ploy) and movies from the 1970's, and thought it was just an urban legend or something, but apparently it wasn't.

Also, who would be in the graveyard to do..... that. All there was inside those iron gates was a load of dead people, mouldering crypts and tombs, and not all that much else......

As you were pondering that fact, Duke cut across your field of vision suddenly, almost a black and red blur, opened the gate and slipped inside.

Oh no he didn't.

You could barely keep the outrage out of your voice. "Really? You're thinking of your dick at a time like this?" First he was keeping you in the dark, now he was ditching you to go off and screw some starry-eyed waif?

What a bastard.

Duke ignored you- of course he did. He was a dick thinking about his dick- merely holding up one hand behind his back to flash you a very inappropriate gesture, and continued into the vastness of the graveyard.

Okay, you really were going to strangle him now. But not before you ripped off his dick and watched in choke on it. Then you'd strangle him. Yes, that sounded good.

With that, you pulled open the gate (with no small metal screeching noise as you struggled with the rusty metal) to follow the perverted vampire......

Crap.

Where was he? Had you really lost sight of him that fast?

Cursing your luck, you closed your eyes, picked a direction at random, and headed into the cemetary, either to catch up to Duke, or strangle him, you weren't completely sure.....

Duke's P.O.V

He wasn't particularly worried about y/n. The girl could take care herself, she was... what? Seventeen?  With all of her eye-rolling and whatever that look she kept giving him (somewhere between rage, disgust, and utter hatred, which he definitely didn't deserve) meant, she was probably tough enough to handle herself while he went to..... put his charms upon the lovely wench that was awaiting him somewhere in the mass of gravestones.

And while he was at it, put that f/c haired girl out of his mind. She'd probably just pop into his thoughts like some sort of disapproving mental ghost, killing the mood entirely...

And besides, he wasn't thinking with his dick at all, after that crazy broad kicked him out of HIS castle, with HIS staff(okay, it really wasn't his at first, it had been a gift from a certain vampiress who he really didn't want to mention....), he needed to blow off a whole lot of steam.

And what better way to do that by taking the offer he'd come across on the cemetery gate?

It was just what the doctor ordered!

Hmmm....... No lusty wenches over here, just a bunch of boring graves, same as over there.....

Hang on! A rustling noise came out of a nearby dead tree, catching his attention.

Oh, so this mystery offerer was a shy one, were they? Well, that was interesting.... After all, wasn't it the shy ones that usually came onto you hot and heavy, filled with wild abandon after you whispered a few sweet nothings into their ear and turned on a bit of the old charm?

Mmmmm, he was liking this already......

Quick as a wink, he was over at the tree, giving a quick knock against the long decayed wood. Perfect. He could see a pair of eyes, liquid black and long lashed, gazing out at him from the darkened innards of the tree.

Almost instantly, his voice took on a more seductive, coaxing tone, hopefully getting whatever lovely creature to show itself- What would it be? Succubus? Patchwork person? Half animal? Already he was beginning to fantasize about the encounter that was just mere breaths away-, unless it preferred to stay in the darkness of the tree. If it did, well..... he could be pretty flexible if needed (those gorgon sisters in the Land of the Dead had enjoyed some rather.... interesting positions)......

"Now, don't be shy darling. I won't bite. Unless you want me to of course...."

Went through the gateway

And I'm pretty sure I saw some eyes poking out of the sepulture

At his words, the pair of eyes gave a little blink in response. Then several dozen other pairs appeared out of the darkness, all gazing back at him blankly.

Duke's smirk immediately faded. Okay, he'd been wrong, whatever was currently residing in this tree definetly wasn't the creature he was looking for, and from the angry chittering that soon followed, it wasn't exactly anything that he wanted to meet at this particular moment....

Shit, shit, shit..........

A swarm of overly large, agitated black bats rushed out of the tree where they'd been hiding, clawing at his face and clothes with their tiny claws as they made their escape.

Okay, so that wasn't maybe one of his smartest ideas, per say. And bleh, did he taste mangy fur upon his tongue? Had one of those flying rats gotten in his mouth? Ewwwww....

So far, this was proving to be a rather fruitless endeavor.

I took a step into the tomb of ill repute

Great, now he was no closer to finding whoever-

Just then, he felt a presence behind him. Whirling around, he was greeted with.......

A member of the undead. And a rather attractive looking one at that, with her green locks, extremely revealing blood-red top and skirt,  and her devil-may-care posture as she lounged against a nearby gravestone, blowing a cloud of smoke through her rotted lips.

She glanced over, her blank eyes fixated on him.

That's where I met her, the zombie prostitute

Hmm. Well, he didn't normally do anything with the members of the actually dead, to be honest, so this was sort of new to him...

And what was with that music he was suddenly hearing? It sounded slightly familiar, maybe vaguely Mexican, maybe probation era jazz..... 

Never mind, it was just those skeletons over there, who'd popped out of their graves rather suddenly, playing their instruments as if they were still just as full of life as they'd been however long ago they'd had flesh and organs stretched across their bony frames.

Wait, he was  getting distracted....

He glanced over at the undead girl. She noticed his gaze upon her, and returned it with a wink of her dead, onyx black eyes.

"Hey baby.... why... don't you... come up and try.... my new parts..." She had that same slow, almost methodic gravelly voice that most of the undead possessed, carefully grinding out each word.

Ah, what the hell, after all, you were only undead once.

Tuning on his charms, he gave her the old standby.

Finger guns. Chicks loved the finger guns. As they did the smoulder, something about dark and brooding Heathcliff types or something, he wasn't entirely sure.

With that he strode over to where she awaited him.

"Hey baby, are you trisexual? 'Cause I'm going to try and have sex with you."

At that, she gave a laugh that sounded like a creaky door hinge. "Trisexual.... ha... ha...  Aren't you... a charmer..."

Perfect, she was already responding to his charms! Now to get to the good stuff...

I grabbed her left breast, and I'm pretty sure I tore it

Okay, okay, maybe he'd misjudged how fresh this undead girl was, he thought to himself as he regarded the clammy tit he held in his hands. Either that, or he didn't know his own strength, because that was a pretty clean tear away, if he knew anything about that....

This was off to a rough start. And he thought he'd known rough after that merman who'd immediately tried to drown him as a sort of "foreplay".......

Maybe he could salvage this encounter by suggesting something else....

I said "go down", but she didn't have the stomach for it

Yikes.

That certainty didn't go as he'd pictured it, he thought as he gazed at her legless torso upon the ground.

It was.... a little less pleasure, more squishy.

In less then a few moments, he managed to get her back upon her other half-with no small amount of squelching and other nasty stuff- and hopefully, hopefully, that'd be the last of it.

But he was wrong, so very wrong.....

Her teeth fell out, and her tongue fell out to boot

Yeah, maybe he'd have better luck convincing one of those music-playing skeleton band members if they wanted to try anything. At least there wouldn't be anything that'd fall off them really....

Oh wait, they were mostly bare bones, so wouldn't that make them really uncomfortable when you'd..... He didn't allow himself to finish that thought.

After a few moments she'd gathered up her face, and other assorted squishy body bits, and Duke was seriously considering telling her-yeah, he'd forgotten to ask her name- that it wasn't going to work.

Or just make a "non-specific excuse", and head for the hills.

But all in all, she was a rotten kind of cute

Yet, if you ignored the rotting, and oozing bits, she was really attractive. That thick hair, those legs, that ass, those deep eyes.... this broad was a looker, even in death.

Despite himself, Duke felt a flush creep up his pallid cheeks.

Okay, maybe he was a sucker for a pretty face, as someone had once told him(an old friend, one he hadn't seen in sixty odd years, after a certain incident....)........

And he had certainly changed his mind about the whole leaving thing......

 Now I was tense, it was plain to see

Ordinarily, Duke would have scoffed at this.

Tense? Him? Never? He'd have deemed whoever suggested that notion completely insane any other time, shooed them away, and laughed at their expense over a glass of red with a few beautiful creatures.....

A sort of rigor mortis was coming over me

But yet, as she approached him, brittle bones creaking as she drew closer to where he was, back against the nearest gravestone, Duke did feel a little twinge of something he'd much rather not be feeling at the moment, when this broad was about to do unspeakable things to him....

He was nervous.

But he tried to will the feeling away as she approached him, rotted lips at the ready.....

I didn't want to see it, but I just had to believe it

Oh..... Now that was interesting.....

I had a stiffy for the stiff in front of me!

Seems like even if part of his mind wasn't entirely into the act itself at the moment, a few other bits of himself still were, most importantly, down below.....

If the undead had enough facial muscles enough to control their expressions, Duke was 99% sure this one right here would be smirking.

"Hold still.... I'm gonna... make you scream....."

And with that, it really didn't matter what happened in the next several moments, they were all cast in a pleasurable haze as she..... Well, he could definitely say he'd done it with this beautiful member of the undead.

Y/N's P.O.V

Was it past tombstone number eight, or tombstone number nine? You'd immediately forgotten what exactly the sign had dictated to you, and now, you were hopelessly lost.

In the graveyard of your old town.

Where your feet were killing you.  Why hadn't you changed into a pair of more comfortable shoes before you resurrected that bastard? (You mentally cursed past y/n for her stupidity in choosing to wear these ridiculous heels instead of )

And that wasn't even the worst part, mainly because of what you'd discovered this graveyard was full of.....

Zombie sex workers, and a few other strange creatures. (you'd seen a few other creatures go off into the distance with a few undead persons, most notably a dark haired boy with cat's ears who'd twined himself around a male zombie that looked like something out of a Calvin Klein ad.)

How'd you know you'd encountered zombie sex workers? Well, let's just say that while you were on your search for Duke, you'd received some propositions.

Eighteen of them to be exact, for every sexual act you'd read of, or seen briefly in a film, the most bizarre offer being from an amazonianly built zombie woman, clad in nothing but fishnets and a black leather corset, snapping a riding crop, and offering you a chance to try out some "role-play". And not the kind of Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying that you were used to......

At your question, she'd held up what appeared to be a leather dog harness and a gag.

"You... can call me... mistress..." She purred.

At that, you stammered out a "no thanks", and hurried off in the opposite direction, the zombie's mocking laughter on your heels.

Where was Duke? You weren't sure that you'd be able to take much more of this propositioning without either punching someone or collapsing into a embarrassingly flustered puddle......

Just then, sounds of giggling caught your attention, coming from a very old, very ivy-covered crypt.

So that's where Duke and this mystery person had gotten to, doing who knows what sort of sexual acts inside this crypt. Well, Duke would be in for a surprise, when you burst in.....

Giggling slightly at the thought of his embarrassment, you edged towards the crypt....

The sounds of making out caught your ears, as well as a few gasps.

Throwing open the crypt door, you announced: "Oh hey Dukie, sorry, but I couldn't-" The next few words died on your lips as you took in the scene.

Crap.

Unless Duke had gotten a sex change and grown fox ears and a tail- no, more like tails. Nine busy ones to be exact, keeping the owner of the tails propped against the nearest wall- in the last little while, there was no way that the girl in front of you, with her bleached blond hair, wide brown eyes, and small curvy body could be Duke. And most notably, she wasn't wearing any sort of top at the moment, save for a black lace pencil skirt that was still on her lower half, giving you full frontal view of her rather pale, yet somewhat large, pair of breasts.

Oh look, she's a kitsune, a fox demon, your mind replied, more notably a demon trickster.... immediately you told your mind to shut the hell up, this was no time for random monster facts....

The girl yelped in surprise, covering her breasts-with no small amount of flushing red from both you and her- making a second girl turn around in surprise from where she'd been lavishing a series of kisses upon the other girl's pale neck.

This girl was much less pale, her skin a toasty caramel brown, and she looked more normal at first glance.... at least from her face.

Her hair was a wild mass of textures and colors-brown and curly, blonde and straight, purple, black...- done up in a Mohawk of every conceivable color and texture known to man. And her torso and legs.... they were a mass of flesh, from the palest white to the darkest brown, stitched together with black thread.... even her eyes were strange, one gold and cat-silted, the other a piercing shade of sky-blue.... And her legs, one was pale white as the freshly fallen snow, the other, furry and almost goat-like; complete with a cloven hoof.....

She was the most colorfully assembled human girl you'd ever seen, and she was extremely pretty to boot.....

Your face instantly bloomed another shade of red as you thought this. As a human, you really didn't get much of a chance to explore your own sexuality(You were basically undecided, or questioning, as some would call it, though you never told your mom about your feelings), and seeing her in front of you was giving you some really conflicted thoughts at the moment.

God, she was so pretty................

And thankfully, she was mostly covered up top by a rather worn looking grey bra, an still wearing a pair of electric pink jean shorts on the bottom.

The first girl gave you this looks, a combination of hate and confusion, and you immediately wilted under her gaze.....

"I'm so, so, so, sorry! I was looking for someone else, I thought he was in here, I didn't mean to intrude...." You tried to avoid her gaze unsuccessfully, but there really wasn't much anywhere else you could put your gaze, other than upon the other girl, who was most unfortunately, topless, and trying to cover herself with her arms.

Thank goodness for that, the sight of her bare breasts had stirred some..... puzzling feelings inside of you.

The colorful  girl waved off your apology. "Easy, easy, it's fine. Everyone forgets to knock at times." Then she gave a multi-colored eyed glance back at you.

"You said you were looking for someone?"

"Y-yeah, a vampire, about seven feet, top hat, cape, pair of ridiculous heels....."

The girl gave a glance back at her partner. "I think I know who you're talkin' about, he went down near the suicide graves with Gen  not that long ago. It's a little to the left of here."

You nodded your thanks, and made your move to leave, but not before you called something out to the girls. "Oh, and by they way, you guys make a really cute couple!"

As you fled, you heard one of the girls speak. "Stitch, I thought you said we wouldn't be disturbed here..."

"Hey, I'm sorry. Next time we'll find someplace more private."

"Next time? There's going to be a next time?"

"Well, what do you think?" Someone gave a little laugh at that, you weren't entirely sure which girl.

Any other conversation turned into a dull murmur as you soon left the crypt behind, now more focused on your mission.

Okay, that girl said it was to the left, so if you went off that way, you'd probably come across Duke in no time at all, right?

Or at least you hoped that you would.....

Just then, something caught your attention. Wait, what was with these brightly colored, tube-top like clothes just strewn over the graves?

You moved closer.....

Well, it was safe to say that you weren't prepared for what you saw there, to say the least.

"Oh hey doll, glad to see you could join the party." He smirked at you, blowing a cloud of cigar smoke your way, making

Normally, you would have had something especially nasty and cutting to say in response to what Duke had just said to you, but in this moment, you were speechless.

First, at the fact that there was a partially naked zombie girl lying underneath the makeshift blanket-his cape, you realized- either exshausted from God-knows what they'd been doing to one another, or.... you weren't really sure. Did zombies get tired even? 

But you weren't particularly concentrated on that fact at the moment.......

Morally I'm destitute in a tomb of ill repute

Mainly because a certain vampire was practically naked, save for the cape covering his lower parts.

How could you even begin to describe it? He was just so..... weirdly lean in some places-mainly around the chest-, bony in other places, and unnaturally thin in most other places. And that waist, it was the kind of anorexic thin that most models would have died to achieve, so concave and unnatural..... 

But yet, why on earth did you feel of all things, a flush of red creeping up your cheeks?

No, no, you scolded yourself. You were definitely not going to start fantasizing about HIM, of all people, and especially not at a time like this! Just try and think about something else, anything else, really....

Your expression must have clearly amused Duke, because his grin widened even more. "You've got a little something on your face there."

Wait, what?  Reaching up with one hand, your fingers soon came away tinted a darker shade of red.  Apparently, you'd had a nosebleed without you realizing, and HE of all people had.... GAAAHHHH....

Whhhhyyyyy......

"You know, this broad here is pretty tuckered out, want to see if we can get a round in together?" He raised an eyebrow in your direction, making you flush even deeper when you realized what he was talking about.

Oh no, no way. You couldn't even stand Duke, let alone imagine screwing him! "N-no t-thank you...." You managed to squeak out, aware of how ridiculously high-pitched your voice sounded as you spoke.

Duke shrugged. "Ah well, your loss." Then he looked down at his hat, lying just a few feet away, getting an idea.

"Here, keep this safe for me." Before you could protest, he'd shoved the brim of his hat on top of your own head, nearly knocking you backward at the speed he'd done it.

She's a rotten kind of cute for a zombie prostitute!

Somehow, you managed to duck yourself behind the nearest gravestone, out of the sight of Duke and the zombie girl, face still burning with.... embarrassment? Rage? You really had no clue what you were feeling at this particular moment. Lust?

No, no, no, you weren't feeling anything like that, you told yourself. You were just embarrassed you'd walked into him like that, that was all, nothing more, nothing less....

From where you lay hidden, you could make out a few snippets of conversation, mainly between Duke and the zombie girl.

"Who... was.... that....."

"Oh her? She's nobody, my darling, just another one of my many admirers, follows me around everywhere if you can believe it. Such a needy little thing too!"

"Admirers... Well... Mr. Popular.... mind showing...me what you..... do to... your admirers...."

"For you baby, anything."

Oh god, you could hear them beginning to go at it, from where you sat, and you really preferred not to hear any of.... whatever was currently going on from behind you.

Burying your face in your knees, you tried to think of something else, anything else, to take your mind off the current situation. Almost instantly, an image of Duke shirtless popped into your mind.

Your face never felt warmer at the moment, as you desperately tried to think of.... non-sexy things, to try and get the image out of your mind of that pervy vampire(this time accompanied by a bunch of roses and a pink-tinted screen like something out of an anime romance cartoon).

No, no, no, why were you fantasizing about HIM, of all people? There must be something seriously wrong with you for you to even be fantasizing about somebody like him......

What the heck was up with tonight that you were finding Duke, of all people, weirdly attractive....

No, no, no! He wasn't attractive, you tried to convince yourself, he's a pervert, a bastard, and besides, you weren't exactly sure that you were attracted to that particular type of body he had...(What was that even? It was so... skinny.....)

Maybe if you just thought of the least sexy things possible, you'd stop.... whatever it was that was going on with you at this moment.

The Candarian demons from the Evil dead(the really gross old woman one to be exact, where she just grabbed onto Ash's foot with her nasty-ass teeth), rotting maggots, that one scene in Beetlejuice where the ghost couple just stretched their faces into works of unspeakable horror..... anything, anything that'd get you calm enough to think logically about this whole situation!

Alas, it didn't work. For whatever reason, you couldn't stop thinking about him. Dear god, were you.... fantasizing about Duke?

At that thought, you felt something spurt out of your nose, running down into the collar of your dress.

Great, you were having another nosebleed!

You covered your face in your hands and screamed in rage....... only for something to tap on the foot of your boot.

" 'scuse me.... but some....of us... are trying to sleep...." Looking downwards, you were greeted with a rotting face peering up at you from near your boot, looking at you with annoyance.

"Didn't... young people... know... it's rude.... to stare...." At that, it opened its mouth in a rictus of a grin, and a swarm of ugly brown cockroaches flooded out, making a beeline towards your skirts.

Needless to say, you probably disturbed quite a few other resting bodies in the graveyard, with the sound of the horrified screams that came out of your mouth.....

Time skip.

Dear god, how long had you been waiting from this gravestone where you were perched? It was probably less than a couple of minutes, but it seemed like a couple of hours. At least you didn't have a nosebleed anymore.....

Finally Duke came past you, and snatched the hat from the top of your head. Which was good, you didn't really want to wear his stupid hat anyway...... You regarded him with an icy coolness in your voice. At least you were feeling well enough to give him the same regard you'd always given him, which was, of course, none.

"Are you quite done yet, or are you going to "say goodbye" to your little darling again?" Were those.... hickeys on his neck? They were vaguely purple enough to be considered so.....

Duke rolled his eyes. "Yes I'm finished, MOM." Now it was your turn to roll your eyes. Oh please. You weren't acting like anybody's mother, you just happened to have more of a head on your shoulders, so to speak, than this sex-crazed vampire ever did.

Fumbling with the clasp on his cloak, Duke noted your disapproving look.

"Oh don't give me that look doll...." Ignoring him, the two of you continued into the graveyard, but not before Duke had something else to say.

"You know, I figured out what your problem is."

Glancing at him from the side, you responded cooly. "Oh really. And just what might that be exactly?"

Paying no mind to the coolness of your tone, Duke continued. "You see, dollface, you just need to lighten up a little! Let yourself have some fun! Take that proverbial  pole out of your ass and live, so to speak! And while you're at it....." He trailed off, giving you another one of those stupid smirks.

Oh no, he didn't. He didn't exactly say it outright, but you knew what he was going to have called you, from that self-satisfied grin upon his face.

"Oh yeah? Well I may be a prude, but it's much better than being what you are! A perverted man-slut!"  Wow, that wasn't even one of your more creative insults, but it still seemed to hit its mark none-the-less.

Duke's eyes narrowed, and the two of you traded insults for a moment.

"Frigid."

"Bastard."

"Stick in the mud."

"Sicko."

"Crazy bi-"

Wait, what? One minute, Duke's head was there, the next.... a weirdly blank expanse of space, devoid of any blood or any other sort of fluid leaking from the space where his head had been just moments before. Also, he was missing his arms, you noted after a minute.

People just didn't suddenly fall apart at the drop of the hat, there was nothing that you knew that would cause that, you told yourself as you stared in mute shock, completely and utterly baffled at what had just happened.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made you look down. It took a moment to spy Duke's head, lying less than an inch away from your feet, and he was looking more than a little sheepish under your gaze.

"Hey doll, a little help?"  

Okay, this wasn't even one of the strangest things that had happened to you in the long run, but somehow, you managed to pick up Duke's...... head.

The completely baffled look upon your face brought the barest hint of a smirk to his face as he noted your expression.

"Okay, I know what you're going to say, sugar, so I'll answer your questions for you. One, I'm still as charming as ever, so don't you worry about that." You managed to scoff at that statement. "Two, it's called the Rots, and this kind of thing happens when you've got it. As long as I don't lose anything of... importance, I should be fine.  And three, it only lasts a couple hours from what I've read, so it's not permanent."

Now I'm falling apart from my head down to my toes,

I don't know which of my organs is the next to go

One of those sentences managed to click in your brain. "Wait..... that sounds like an STD or something....... don't tell me...." Duke said nothing, but you put two and two together. "Oh god.... you really are a bastard."   And that he was. Who else would just go out to fuck a zombie prostitute in the middle of the graveyard, and wind up getting some sort of rotting disease from it?

Duke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, could you just put my head back on where it's supposed to go? Unless you're interested in putting it on your lap......" At those sly tones that entered his voice, you immediately averted your gaze, suddenly more focused on getting the pervy vampire's head back on his body.

And it totally wasn't because your face was once again red as a beet at his comment that you couldn't look him in the eye.....

Eventually, when you were sure that Duke was completely put back together, you drew your gaze back to him.

"Okay, so are you going to tell me about this showdown thing or-"

Great, he was gone again. Seriously, did you have to put a leash on this man to keep him in one place for more than three seconds?

Thankfully, you managed to spy him, off in the distance, close by a set of mouldering graves.

How in the hell was a man in heels that high so fast?

"What are you doing now?" The ire was completely visible in your tone by now, as your patience was slowly but surely, beginning to run out with this man.

"Well, since the lovely lady a few gravestones over "shared" the Rots with me, what better way to spend a few hours than by.... assimilating myself into this lovely culture?'

I've been such a sleaze since she gave me the disease

At that, you couldn't help but mutter under your breath: "Oh really?" Because if anyone asked you, you thought that wasn't the case with this man at all.......

Now wouldn't you know

Now I'm a zombie gigolo!

Somehow the little pose he struck on those gravestones made a tiny smile appear on your face. God, he really was completely ridiculous, wasn't he?

"Oh my god, you're incorrigible."

"Considering it isn't the worst thing you've called me, I'll take that as a compliment."

Okay, now that made you actually laugh a little, before you could cover it up with your pale, lace-gloved hand.

Seriously, what was up with tonight that was making you act like this?

At least you were broken out of your thoughts by Duke tapping you on your shoulder. How had he managed to get behind you without you hearing him? Guess you'd never know for sure....

"Come on, I've got something to show you."

Allowing yourself to be dragged along through the graveyard(apparently "it was the only way he wouldn't lose you or have you wander off" and you scoffed at that), you listened as Duke continued the conversation from back at the gravestones.

"I was thinking you and me could go and pick up a few potential clients, stop for a drink or two-there's a little place here that serves the best bloody nightmare with those little eyeballs on a stick-, then we could head to my old crypt to get ready for the showdown...."

Wait, he was actually considering including you in his plans? That was... kind of amazing, coming from him. But as for what he just said......

"No way, I'm not..... interested in demeaning myself for whatever beast walks by......"

"Oh don't give me that look, doll. With your face and your..." Instinctively, you covered your chest from Duke's gaze. "... other assets, you'd probably make a killing! And besides, I heard a few "Does" saying that they found you attractive. I'm sure you could..... work something out with them."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm serious. They actually seemed to find you attractive!"

Okay, that did it.  How on earth did this man manage to even consider THAT as a possibility.....You really were going to strangle him!

Thankfully, before you could reach out and throttle the unlife out of Duke, you felt someone tap you on your shoulder.

"Excuse me..."

Turning around, you were faced with a girl who was all too familiar to you. Those same brown boots, the same green "mod-style" dress, the same haircut-short, with slight bangs of her black hair over her brown eyes-, the powder-pink painted nails,  the same sliver bangle bracelets and necklace that spelled out her name.....

God, she really hadn't changed a bit, you realized, as you gazed into the face of Nessa, your old friend. A year of being apart hadn't brought on any significant changes, she 

She hadn't changed that much, but you, on the other hand, with your f/c hair, your dress that resembled something like a Disney princess who had visited Hot-Topic, and.....

Well, the fact that you weren't exactly human anymore. Would Nessa even recognize that it was you?

You waited a moment with baited breath......

No dice. Either you had changed too much for Nessa to recognize, or it'd been so long since you'd been in town that Nessa didn't even remember you, for there was no tell-tale glimmer of recognition in her eyes, no sign that she even recognized that it was you......

Without missing a beat, Nessa continued, not even giving you a second glance(yay, another thing to put in that little closet in the back of your mind where you tried to not think about thing), her words nearly stopping your heart from the shock. (Well, your heart didn't exactly beat anymore, but if it did....)

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you'd seen these girls anywhere......" She held up a flyer from the stack of papers cradled in her arms, giving you a chance to look it over.

Oh no, oh no....

Well, that really just added insult to injury, didn't it?

It was a picture of you and Missi, from the school pictures over a year ago. Before that whole.... incident had happened. There was Missi, glasses, striped sweater, and brown hair, grinning up at you shyly from the captured moment in time. And there was you, with your old h/c hair, black and red plaid shirt over a tee with a rose decal, doing a little goofy wink and holding out your hand in a "rock-n-roll" sign.

Why hadn't you ever considered this before? You and Missi had left rather suddenly, after all, so there'd be people looking for you, search parties, people being worried about you......

Like your mom, and your younger sister. God, the weight of that thought settled over you like a choking shadow. They probably thought you'd left like your dad, or that you were dead(real dead, not undead).........  Your mom had probably moved on by now, like she'd done after about a year or two when your dad hadn't come back, but what about your sister?

How had s/n handled your disappearance? She'd been nine when your dad had left, and even then she really hadn't understood why he wasn't coming home, but she was so little at the time. And now, she was a teenager, growing up without you, probably thinking that you had abandoned her.....

Tuning back in to what Nessa was saying, you managed to catch the next half of her sentence. It was sounding mostly rehearsed, though she stumbled through a bit-probably nerves-, you managed to get the gist of what she was saying.

".....They're my friends, and I was hoping you could tell me anything you would know, um.... about where they were last seen, where they might have went-" Nessa trailed off suddenly, her brown eyes moving over to.....

A blush instantly appeared in her cheeks- very nearly obscuring her freckles-, and her eyes grew round as she gaped at the tall figure behind you.

You didn't turn around to see what Duke did in response to her gaze, but whatever it was, it only made Nessa blush even deeper

Great, you knew that face, and a little too well for your liking. Nessa was..... a little boy-crazy, to say the least, especially for those "handsome and dark villainy types". Honestly, she cared more about the "crushes" she developed on dark and brooding dudes than her own hobbies of practicing makeovers(She'd tried to get you to undertake a "Nessa special" before, but you politely refused), watching obscure yet beautiful films with titles like To Foo Wong: Thanks for Everything and Viy(the second was a spectacular Russian horror film that featured witches, monsters, demons, and other assorted nasties. And it was amazing.), and sketching her own costume designs.    With no small amount of dread, you remembered a few of her more memorable crushes:

Heathcliff, from Wuthering Heights(after she read the book, she said she hoped to marry a man like Heathcliff one day. You really didn't want to be THAT person, so you'd said nothing about the fact that if you really thought about it, Heathcliff was an asshole......)

A total mopester sad-boy type, who constantly spewed gloom and doom poetry lines like: "My heart was a canker-sore, I placed in the syringe" or whatever. Honestly, you'd stopped listening to him the moment he started spewing out that garbage.

A boy called "Romeo", who wore all black and brought her roses(she was head over heels for him by that time), and wound up dumping her at the school dance, because guess what? He already had a girlfriend.(You'd wound up getting kicked out of the dance for "instigating a scene" shortly after. Hey, you couldn't help it if your fist had somehow managed to hit him in face when you were dancing.......)

Dr.Facilier from the Princess and The frog.  And Graverobber from Repo! the genetic opera.(Okay, maybe not all of her crushes were that bad. Dr.Facilier was pretty hot after all.... Same with Graverobber....)

I took my first client on a date

Nessa could not go with Duke, he'd literally chew her up and spit her out like a wad of old gristle! If that sicko laid one finger on the hem of her green dress.......

Through your rage, you almost missed the two of them walking off, Duke's arm casually draped across Nessa's shoulder, Nessa gazing up at him with a totally love-struck look in her eye, and another annoyingly smooth grin upon Duke's face.....

We took a walk to the cemetery gate

Nessa's P.O.V

Okay, this man was definitely in three of her favorite categories: long, tall, and handsome.

Or was it tan? She couldn't exactly remember where she'd gotten that category selection from (something about a dimly lit memory about a yellow square and a pink star flitted through her mind from her childhood), but nevertheless, this was so exciting!

She was on a romantic stroll with a handsome, well dressed man, who of all things, appeared to be perfectly witty, charming, and very, very attractive. What was not to love?

It brought her the same warm, bubbly champagne feeling that she got when she first read Wuthering Heights, when she'd first kissed a  handsome black-wearing boy, finishing a new sketch....

A feeling of good things to come, brought by this handsome man who was smoother than a Disney villain, more charming than any gothy boy, and handsomer than sin itself.

Oh, what a feeling it was!

It was better than swallowing her guilt about her two missing friends while she trotted around town, trying to hand out flyers(that few even bothered to look at, or take anymore, now that it had been a full year since y/n and Missi's disappearance) to streets that were mostly deserted by now(it was close to eleven by now), on the night that had been all of their favorites: Halloween.

Y/n's sister, S/n had volunteered to help out with the flyers(so Nessa only had half as much to give out, instead of the nearly two armfuls full she'd been originally tottering around with), even going as far as to take the other side of town while Nessa took the area near the graveyard......

S/n had changed a lot since the disappearance of Y/n, the sweet, happy girl who had worn pink with practically every outfit and wanted to be a pop singer when she was older was now sulky, withdrawn, and hanging around with the creepiest group of creeps Nessa had ever seen (Were they secretly Satan worshippers or something? Or maybe they were just regular punks, Nessa had never bothered to ask).

And what had happened to y/n and Missi anyway? Some said they'd died in the forest, and that they'd be finding their bodies any day now. Others said they'd run away to New York, and were secretly working in the adult film industry, baring their breasts on web-cams nightly to pay for whatever hovel they ended up in. They'd become stars in Hollywood, with y/n having her own film(horror, of course, and rumored to be so good it rivaled Guillemillo Del Toro.) and Missi with a book deal set to come out any day now. A suicide pact. Prostitution on the streets of Vegas. The underage girlfriends of some famous rock god. They were lesbians, and ran away together and now live in a little brownstone apartment with two cats and have wild, lesbian sex every night. They'd been murdered, and had their bodies cast into oil drums. It was all a huge prank, and they'd show up at graduation in the back row, laughing at everyone. They joined a cult......

Really, the list of rumors was a mile and a half long, and only got more ridiculous from there. Nessa tried to pay no attention to whatever rumor was cooking about her two friends at school, but with some of the darker ones......

Well, Nessa was a pretty good actress.

Yeah, it seemed like the two of them were going through some pretty unpleasant stuff since the mysterious disappearance of Y/n and Missi, S/n's more outward, and Nessa's more inward as she stewed over the guilt of what happened before the disappearance of her two best friends....

But enough of that gloomy thoughts! She was on the arm of the most delicious looking guy she'd seen in basically ever, and he was so charming and witty, and the best part of all.....(He was like several of her

He was a vampire.

Nessa was absolutely sure of it. (Or, since he was so pale and thin, a tampon, as y/n would have joked.)

Who else would have such perfectly pointed teeth when he flashed her a smile that made her insides turn into a puddle of goo? The perfectly alabaster skin that glinted in the moonlight? The beautiful ruby-red eyes that gazed into her soul?

True, she never knew vampires could be nearly seven feet tall(and he was one tall boy, that was for sure), or had pointed ears, and since that they didn't have a pulse, their hands were more than slightly cold to the touch, but what did she know?

Maybe there were different types of vampires out there than the brooding Anne Rice characters, and the old black and white Dracula types, and regular humans hadn't bothered to discover them....

Nessa was broken out of her reverie by Duke's- yes, that was his name, he'd introduced himself to her as that- next few words.

"Say, have you ever done it in a graveyard, by any chance?"

Woah, he was actually going there? This was so fast.... It was kinda romantic in a way, but yet, why did Nessa feel so nervous?

"No.... Can't say that I have...." She tried to make her voice come out more coquettish, hoping that it masked the bundle of nervousness and excitement that was currently building in her core.

Well, it wasn't exactly how a girl pictured her "first time", but Nessa wasn't one for the conventional.

So she said nothing as he lifted her up and perched her on top of the nearest gravestone, her insides already turning into champagne fizz at the thought of what was about to go down. Heh. Go down. Was she already thinking in sex puns?

"Don't worry, I'll go gently on you..." At that oh-so smooth grin, any worry that Nessa had left inside melted, much like her heart.

Then, they were making out, all hot and passionate- wait, was that his tongue in her mouth? That was... interesting. (At least he wasn't like "Romeo" who'd thought that pawing at her breast like a demented dog was romantic) Closing her eyes and easing into the kiss, she felt the faint sounds of him fumbling under her skirt, and he eased into her as he began to straddle her thighs....

I got under her slip, but then I heard a rip

Wait, what was that? At the suddenness of the sound, Nessa's eyes flew open. It didn't sound like the proverbial "cherry popping" she'd heard about. One, the sound had been rather sudden, and two: it wasn't exactly a pop she had heard......

Duke seemed rather surprised as well, and following his gaze downwards, Nessa was presented with.....

...........

Nessa didn't know too much about anatomy, other then when she was making a sketch, but she was pretty certain that his... thing, wasn't supposed to look like that....

I pulled it out and said....

Next thing she knew, Duke pressed something into the palm of her hand, and was off in a flash, but not before offering a few parting words:

Baby keep the tip

Wait, did he just say.... Unfurling her hand, Nessa was regarded with...... well, something she didn't exactly expect to find in the first place. Mainly because of the possibility that such a thing could end up in her hand was so alien to her, until now....

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

Now she knew what she meant by the whole "keep the tip" thing....(At that thought, she immediately flushed red)

Just then, a flash of f/c hair crossed her vision, making Nessa nearly fall backwards off the gravestone in surprise. Without thinking, she jammed the.... thing into a pocket on the side of her dress. Why she did it, Nessa wasn't entirely sure. Did she want to hide the little gift or something? Why did she hide it? She'd have to figure that out later, mainly because of the person who'd stepped in front of you......

 It was the f/c haired vampire girl that had been with Duke earlier, and she looked very disheveled, very out of breath, and very, very pissed off.

There was something very familiar about this f/c haired vampire girl, almost if Nessa had seen her, or know her before somewhere, but that was impossible, they'd only met this night, hadn't they? But yet, why did this girl remind Nessa of somebody?

She couldn't put her finger on it......

Her train of thought was broken by the girl's next few words.

"Are you okay? Did that bastard hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine...." Nessa continued uncertainty, noting the girl's worried expression and sharp tone was striking a chord with her somehow. She DID know this girl, that was certain. But from where?

The girl breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Good. Oh, and you'd probably want to get home soon."

"Why?"

"Trust me, there's things in this place just as nasty as the guy you were with."

"But he wasn't-"

The girl turned around, heading in the direction that Duke had gone, paying no more heed to Nessa. As Nessa smoothed her skirt and lowered herself off the grave, she heard one last thing that caught her ear and nearly made her gasp aloud.

"Okay, Duke, where are you? I've half a mind to strangle you right now!"

Those words, she'd heard them before, or at least, something akin to them....

"Okay, who did this to you?"

Nessa decided looking up wasn't going to be the best of ideas for her. If she did, she'd probably just start bawling all over the floor like a cartoon character. It was probably better if she stayed with her face covered by her sea-green silk skirts. That way, nobody would be able to tell she was crying....

"Nessie......"  The voice trailed off, noticing her pain.

After an agonizing moment, Nessa spoke. "Romeo..." She choked out.

A moment of silence.

Then, she felt somebody pulling her upwards, off her knees and into a standing position. A package of tissues was placed into her hand.

"Thanks...." Nessa choked out, smiling a little at her friend's kindness.

"Okay, clean yourself up, because one: you look too amazing in that sea-green dress to be crying on it, and two: I'm going to be right back. I've got a jerk to teach a lesson to."

The sound of footsteps tapered off, heading back inside the gym.

Nessa looked up for a brief moment, seeing the flash of h/c h/l hair and red plaid enter they gym.....

No way. No way. No way....

Nessa could hardly dare believe it, but the evidence was right there. Why hadn't she seen it before?

Y/n, one of her two best friends in the whole world, was a vampire.

Nessa took a moment to think that particular fact over, before another thought intruded her mind, and this one? Oh, she really couldn't make sense of that one.

But why was she dressed like a gothic Disney princess?

Your  P.O.V

Okay, not did Duke manage to try and seduce one of your friends, he'd taken advantage of Nessa and her villain obsession! That was so sleazy, it was practically unforgivable!

When you caught up with him, you'd kill him. Then resurrect him. Then chop off his dick and choke him with it. Then kill him again.

Honestly, it was one of the more tame punishments your mind had devised as you tromped through the graveyard, in search of the perverted vampire.

"Hey doll, looking for me?"

Whirling around, you coldly regarded Duke, peeking out from behind a particularly large gravestone, an annoyingly mischievous smirk plastered upon his pallid face.

"I was wondering when you'd show up....."

Letting out a shriek of rage, you reached your hands for his neck, but still smiling, he merely stood up to his full height and danced out of your reach, laughing at your attempts to catch up with him.

"Whoa, somebody's gotten up on the wrong side of the coffin...."

Sidestepping his way over to this.... wait, was this the EXACT same castle you'd just been thrown out of not even a few hours before? Had you been....... going in circles this whole time?

Your eye twitched in annoyance. You could have put all of this behind you HOURS ago, but NOOOO, SOMEBODY had to go and screw some busty hookers........

Regarding you with an easy smirk, and a flip of his cape, Duke removed the key on his clasp, and with one final grin your way, opened the door.

Morally I'm destitute in a tomb of ill repute

She's a rotten kind of cute

For a zombie prostitute!

By the time you'd managed to reach the marble steps of the castle, the wooden door had long since slammed shut, leaving Duke safely inside.............

And you locked out.

Gritting your teeth with frustration, you banged on the door. "Duke! This isn't funny! Let me in!"

No response.

"Is this about the whole strangling thing, isn't it?"

Still nothing.

"Look, I'm really sorry, but could you please open the door? Please?" You were starting to get desperate, desperate enough to warrant giving an apology to the sleazy vampire in hopes of him to open the damned door already.....

Nothing. It figured.

"Fine! Don't open it then! See if I care!" God, you sounded like a child whose favorite toy had been taken away. Duke was probably laughing at you right now, the bastard.....

Tuning around in a huff, you sat down on the marble steps, somewhat grateful for a chance to sit down.

It was such a lovely night in this necropolis, you had to admit. If you took away the rather sleazy inhabitants, it was quite a sight to behold, with the watery moon at its peak, the elegant mouldering graves, and the faint sound of smooth jazz echoing in the wind......

Yet, why couldn't you enjoy this time of solitude?

Maybe it was because of everything that had happened over the course of what seemed like the lengthiest night you'd ever lived through? That your best friend was probably not your friend anymore and probably slowly going insane? That your other friend hadn't even bothered to give you a second glance? That you'd left your old life behind rather permanently, and couldn't even return without some sort of monster hunt? That there was some sort of one-sided weirdness going on between you and Duke? (Seriously, what was up with tonight?) The fact you'd spent over a year hiding in dark corners and between the pages of books like a scared little mouse?

So much pain, and no matter what you did, you couldn't manage to bring yourself to forget any of it.

Oh, how you wished that you could just sleep, and forget everything that had happened to you, waking up a hundred years later a blank, innocent slate of a girl....

A/N: Okay, Now's the time for your song!

https://youtu.be/wzsP1WFaJGQ

But before we continue, I'm going to take a moment to introduce you to some ocs that will be appearing in this chapter, specifically your song and the scene that follows it! : )

This is Curtis. If you're not that familiar with my OC Origins or my OC stories, you probably won't recognize him(if it helps, He's in my Missi x reader). But don't worry, you'll be getting an introduction to him here(along with a few other details I haven't included as of yet)!

And here he is, the charming monster himself(He'll get a few lines of a song in this, mainly because I want to introduce his voice to ya'll):

You're probably wondering what connection he has to the story, and I don't blame you darlings! But don't worry, your questions will be answered soon enough....

And I'll be introducing another oc in this chapter! Her name's Veronica, she's a witch, demisexual(that means that she doesn't really experience sexual attraction until she's developed a strong emotional connection with someone), and kind of a pastel-goth party girl:

Anyway, you'll be seeing quite a bit more of these two, so hope you like them! Now, back to the story......

But this was reality, stark and cold as it was, and wishes only came true in stories....

Letting out a sigh, drew your knees up to your chest.

Baby I've been stomping around in these heels for all the goddamn day

I've got aches and annoyances, from living to earn my pay

Honestly, you really hadn't expected to start singing of all things. For Duke and Missi, it'd just seemed so natural, like there was a song inside them and on cue, it'd just came out of them. How they made it look so easy! You hadn't really sang since that time in the theater when you'd decided to go against your former friend and resurrect Duke yourself.....

Ugh! There you went again! You immediately swore that you'd give no more thought to she-who-must-not-be-named and you-know-who.

All they would do would be just bringing you more pain......

Glancing back you offered one final glare back at the crypt.

Yet some peace and quiet from you would really go a long way

So ease it down.....

As you finished your next line, another voice, beautifully deep and growly, entered your ear. It was vaguely rencimescient of all those singers you and your friends had listened to in the playlists on your phone, Terrence Zdunich, Tom Waits and....... that guy from Sister act who'd played that mobster, what was his name? Not the name of the character, the actor..... Chris something-or-other.........

Well, whatever that voice reminded you of-one or all of the people you'd thought of- it sounded awfully close to you....

Hey there little red riding hood

You sure are looking good

You're everything a big bad wolf

Could want.....

Instantly, you sat up straighter, feeling the gaze of someone on you. Wait, someone had been watching you? Great, with everything that you had to deal with tonight, you were completely and utterly DONE with all this shit.

"Ha ha, very funny. Whatever asshole who's playing a joke on me better come out right now...." It had to be some sort of a joke, because there was no way on this mortal plane that you looked anything but a mess right now....

"Easy, easy, girl. I ain't messin with ya......"  Looking forward you were brought face to face with....

Well, if anything, this guy was hot, like extremely so. The type of deliciously handsome that made normal virgin girls like yourself begin to have some rather.... racy thoughts about, even if the limit of your sexual experience was just kissing and reading about sex scenes in books.  Yeah, your jaw had probably long since hit the ground by now, and really, who could blame you?

You'd been expecting some sort of sleazy graveyard creepazoid, rotting, with thinning hair, a lecherous grin, the whole nine yards. But who came out of the shadows instead of the creep you'd imagined nearly drew your breath away.

If anything, this man was practically the polar opposite of Duke. Warm caramel skin instead of marble pale. About six or close to six feet tall instead of towering over you at seven feet. Long, very thick black hair. Very warm, emerald-green eyes.  Vaguely lupine facial features. A goatee, but slightly scruffier than you-know-who's.  Lean, but not crazy-thin like you-know-who, more filled out and with what looked like actual muscle mass, like he bothered to work out more than once in a while. 

Yeah, all of the weirdness you'd experienced with Duke had completely been pushed to the back of your mind. 

But yet, something nagged at the back of your mind. There was something..... a little odd about this guy. He appeared to be completely and totally normal, but there was something..... more than slightly off about him, even if you couldn't exactly put your finger on what.

First off, wasn't he a little overdressed for just wandering around in the cemetery? You really didn't think the red button-down, black pinstriped jacket, matching pants, and shoes really suggested "casual walk into the cemetery". It was almost as if he'd gotten dressed up on purpose for something(you had an inkling of an idea, considering what had been going on around you all night...)...

And right over his left eyes, starting from the brow and ending slightly underneath the eye itself, ran a scar. It wasn't particularly large or anything, but it still drew your attention nonetheless, making you wonder for a while where he'd gotten the scar in the first place, and who'd given it to him.....

Sweet zombie Jesus. This guy was hot.....

Seemingly not noticing your stupefied expression, the man continued. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing all alone in a place like this?"

Jeez, what was with his voice? It was almost the same growly purr you'd heard from before, but his normal speaking voice was just as wonderful as the rest of him. He had some sort of accent, you'd heard it in his voice before, but for the life of you, you couldn't place it. It was seemingly the result of living in many different places over the course of his life, you supposed. London Cockney, Chicagoian, the smooth tones of New Orleans, even the way that gangsters talked in those old movies. Those tones were all present in his voice, making what exactly his accent was hard to place, but maddeningly interesting to wonder about. Because damn, he had one of those voices one wanted to hear a phone book read to them in.

Coming back to yourself just enough to process his question, you managed to respond. "Nothing much. Just that some jerk keeps ditching me." You gestured to the castle behind you. "And what're YOU doing here, I thought anyone who was in this graveyard was just interested in going at it with busty zombie trollops or whatever."

The man pretended to look horrified for a moment, then let out a low chuckle at that. "Sorry girlie. I may be into many things, but necrophilia isn't one of them."

Now it was your turn to laugh. "Well good, because it isn't mine either!"

You see I'm tired (She's tired)

I'm spent (She's spent)

I'm really feeling my age

You know life is twice as hard

When you're living half on the stage

Offering you a slow smile that turned your insides to mush(yeah, you were completely smitten by this point), the man held out his hand to you.

And I barely have the energy to sing you this song

"Why don't we blow this shithole and do something else?"

God, how tempting that sounded!  But for some reason, you hesitated. What about Duke- No! You wouldn't give that bastard another moment of your thoughts tonight. And besides, you were taking his advice in a way. You were going to have the time of your unlife with this gorgeous guy, and to hell with Duke of Vaults!

You smiled back. "I'd love to. But I really don't think there's anything that's open this late...."

Another smile, this one fully liquifying your organs into a pool of pure lust. "I think I know a place."

So let's get some cartoons and vodka and do 'em all night long!

Time skip brought  to you by Francesca the zombie prostitute, she'll do you for a dime, she'll do you anytime......

If you weren't smitten with this guy already, you were certainly now.

Who could blame you? He hadn't made one lewd comment towards you, he'd expressed a genuine interest in what you had to say, shared your fascination with horror films(yours was more Tim Burton and Guillermillo Del Toro, his leaned more to classic horror and b movies), was modest, and when he noticed you shivering in the cool autumn breeze, he'd taken off his suit jacket and laid it across your shoulders. So chivalry wasn't dead after all.....

A/n: because some of you beasties will probably be wondering this. Curtis isn't going to show any interest for you, mainly because he's mostly into women who're a little more *ahem* mature....  Let's just say if you'd been a couple years older, the two of you would have been having a MUCH different conversation.... *heh*

Also you're going to be introduced to three different sides of my oc's personality, and very soon, because you've already seen one side: Absolute charmer.   The other two sides? Well, stay tuned, it's going to be a bit of a wild ride......(His other two personality sides are: kinda a complete goofball, and my personal favorite...... HOLY SHIT HE JUST SLAUGHERED ALL THOSE PEOPLE IN COLD BLOOD, which is basically his villain side.)

God, he was so cute. Even if you weren't entirely sure that Curtis-he'd introduced himself shortly after you'd taken his arm- would be interested in you like you were with him. Or at least that's what a small, still reasonable part of your mind was telling you. Even if you were eighteen now, he looked to be about in his late twenties, maybe earlyish thirties, and who could guarantee that he'd be even interested in a battered looking girl who'd been a vampire for not even a year..... And besides you weren't even sure how the age thing worked when you were a vampire......

You pushed those thoughts away. No, no more second guessing tonight, none whatsoever. You were going to enjoy yourself, no matter what.

The two of you stopped in front of one of the larger crypts, making you a little confused. Wait, you thought you'd be leaving the graveyard, what were you doing here, at one of the crypts that you, Missi, and Nessa, when you'd hung out in the graveyard that one day, trying to guess what was inside the crypts. To end your guessing, you'd taken a photo of what was inside(by using your phone camera's zoom setting on the bit of space you could see underneath the stone door.

And as for what you'd seen? The three of you weren't exactly sure what it was you'd taken a picture of, just that for all reasons unknown to you, it appeared to be a staircase, leading down seemingly nowhere. And why had the stairs been covered in red velvet? And what was that second door-this one made out of gilded wood- doing down there? But, the three of you soon forgot what was down in the old crypt, moving on to other things like obsessing over boys(Nessa), re-reading the Twilight series(Missi), and reading the latest instalment of the Court of Thorns and Roses series(you).....

Curtis turned to you with a smirk. "Watch this." He knocked three times on the stone door, and after a moment, the door slid open.

One of the most beautiful people(you weren't sure if they were a man or a woman, they had that sort of strange beauty found on those that didn't seem to be one gender or the other, those who were of the more.... what was the word? Oh yeah, androgynous. That was it.), pulled open the door, seemingly recognized Curtis, and with the moonlight glinting off their neck scales, offered a fanged smile.....

"Ah, Mistah Jackson! So nice of you to visit us on this lovely Samhain's eve! Please, come in, come in!" Waving a webbed hand, they beckoned the two of you inside....

Now, you weren't exactly expecting anything out of the ordinary inside the crypt, maybe some sort of seedy dive joint with more of those zombie prostitutes serving drinks to equally zombified patrons, but when you arrived at the bottom of the stairs, well, the sight nearly took your breath away.

How could you even begin to describe it? The room at the bottom of the stairs was certiantly larger, and nicer than you expected:

And everywhere you looked, there was something amazing to see or hear or experience...

Gaggles of girls with bird's wings and taloned hands clutching brightly colored drinks, uttering laughter that sounded like the crash of waves at the beach.

A boy with delicate horns on his temples, playing with a tiny purple flame that was doing a cha-cha in his outstreached palm, much to the amusement of the assembled crowd of creatures around him.

A man, dressed exactly like how David Bowie was in that Labyrinth film(tight pants, coat, and eighties hairstyle and all), whispering in the ear of a willowy girl with hooves peeking out underneath the white skirts of her dress.

A gorgeous black blonde with nine fluffy fox tails in a Marilyn Monroe inspired gown that shot you a wink the moment your eyes fell upon her.

Music, ethereal, yet some sort of synthetic jazz, echoed over the various conversations, pulsing within your core.

A faun, large horned and pale(he looked like the one from that Pan's Labyrinth movie you loved), sipping a muddy colored drink in the corner, glowsticks twisted around his horns and arms.

A room on the other side, partially covered by a velvet curtain, with a stage where skeletons danced, doing some sort of vaudeville routine, accompanied by..... most ironically, the faint sounds of "Spooky Scary Skeletons".

A man, broad shouldered, smoky-skinned, and flame haired, winding his arm around a shorter Grecian looking girl, and as she told him something, he threw back his head, laughing and showing off a row of sharp white teeth.....

Wait, that last guy, he looked sort of familiar, almost as if you'd seen him somewhere before, like in a movie or something, but something more animated or something..... Then you realized it with a start. No way, no way.... That guy was a Disney villain for cripessake, he shouldn't be real, and yet, here he was.....

And you wouldn't be surprised if that guy you'd seen with the girl in the white skirt wasn't doing a random cosplay of a Labyrinth character, but the actual Goblin King, in the flesh...... And that faun, who was to say he wasn't the same one that lead Ophelia through all her trials in the labyrinth.....

Curtis seemed to notice your shock at your surroundings. "Wow..... you really don't get out much do you...." It wasn't a jab or anything, it more sounded like he understood your surprise and confusion in some way.....

Well, he was right about that, before tonight, you hadn't really left the castle much before, and if you did, it was to fetch something for Missi......

Just then, at the onyx bar, a voice called out, over the music, a voice called out:

"BIGBY! Over heeere!!!"

It was a girl, looking to be about your age, maybe slightly older, hair colored a dusky pink, dressed to the nines in clubwear, a white rat with a little black bow around its neck perched on her shoulder, a wide grin nearly splitting her cherry-stained lips in two, waving to the two of you with both hands in that sort of goofy way that was only seen with young children.

Curtis rolled his eyes slightly, and put a hand across your shoulder. "Guess we better head over there before Veronica gets bored." Veronica. So that was that girl's name? She kind of looked like a Veronica to you, but really, who could say?

"What's with the nickname?"

"Apparently she said I remind her of a character in a comic she read once. Fables or something like that...."

At the bar counter, the girl enveloped Curtis in a hug. "Bigby! It's been forever! I missed you!"

Curtis gave a little chuckle at that. "Girlie, two years isn't forever, believe me."

"Yeah, maybe to a wolf like you Bigby...." Then she noticed you, seemingly for the first time. "Who's your friend?"

At her bubbliness, you were kind of shocked into shyness at how friendly she was. "I'm y/n...."

Veronica gave a little squeal and gave you a hug, nearly crushing your ribs with the suddenness of her hug, she began shooting you a series of rapid-fire compliments.

"Oh my goth! I love your hair! And your dress! It's very distressed chic if I don't say so myself...."

You let out a smile. "Thanks...."

Unwrapping herself from you, she gave you the once over. "You're so cute! I know! I'm gonna call you baby vamp! Mind if I call you that?"

So you'd gotten a nickname, all within the first three seconds of meeting this girl. Your gaze drifted over to the rat on her shoulder, who gave you a little shrug, as if saying: "Just go with it."

"Sure!"

After a few moments of small talk, the three of you pulled up a stool to the bar.

"So girlie, where have you been these past two years? I'll take it you've gotten your Dark Baptism....."

"Yeah, it was mostly to get my dads of my back, because of the whole "every young witch has already pledged themselves to the dark lord, including that Sabrina Spellman girl, who didn't even want to do it in the first place, but look at her now! She'd the sword of the dark lord or whatever" speal but I actually really enjoyed the whole thing..... But enough with that! You'll never guess what happened! "

She looked to you expectantly, as if seeing what you'd do, so you responded: "What happened?"

After looking extremely excited for a few moments, she responded. "I moved out! Yay me!"

"You're kidding. Don't yer dads know about it?"

"Aw, what they don't know won't hurt them, besides, I love Lalotai too much to move back home."

That response took your breath away. Lalotai? As in realm of monsters, under the sea, steal Maui's hook Lalotai? Veronica continued, ignoring your stupefied expression.

"I mean, it's so gorgeous down there, I don't have to worry about being woken up by any annoying neighbors, and I've got the coolest roommate. He's a bit full of himself, but he's a collector, like me; and he's got this amazing singing voice-"

Any other conversation between your two new friends was drowned out in a roar of confusion. Wait, so creatures other than vampires existed? And those worlds you'd seen in films like Moanna were real and completely accessible? God, your head hurt just thinking about this stuff.....

Either you'd been thinking too long, or not paying attention hard enough to your surroundings, because both Curtis and Veronica were placing their orders with the bartender..... who was a vaguely humanoid spider.

"Plum wine and pomegranate fairy cakes! Oh, and a thimble of chocolate milk for Stormfly over here." She gestured to the rat perched on her shoulder, who gave a little nod.

"Long pig fusion tacos. And whatever drink has the least amount of alcohol in it." At Veronica's eye-roll he shrugged. "What? I'm driving, and I can't be hung over tomorrow when I open the Magh Meall tomorrow for the Soulsfest party!"

Veronica scoffed. "Oh you and your nightclub....." Just then, your attention was driven away from your friend by the bartender clearing its throat.

"And what'll you be having?"

Crap. You'd never been to a bar before, let alone ordered something off the menu of one! And what was with all the food and drink names? Filet of Soul? Fried cockroaches? Blood Mary? Eyeball Chasers? You'd never heard of half this stuff before! But you guessed you'd better pick something, or risk looking like the inept, nerd girl you were, who barely could order off a menu to save her life......

"Um..... Pumpkin honey-toast and a....." Oh god, that name, even thinking it brought a nervous sweat to your face.....

"Demonic Orgasm." Yeah, your face was probably burning again.

The bartender gave a nod, finished writing down your orders and went to the back of the bar, immediately fussing around with drink glasses and alcohol bottles.

Letting out a sigh of relief, you turned to face your friends......

And you were immediately given the strangest look by Curtis, making you instantly uncomfortable under his gaze.

After a moment he spoke. "Girlie, I'll take it you haven't had much experience with alcohol, have you?"

"No.... why do you ask?"

He paused. "Because that drink.... is one hell of a lot stronger than you think it is."

Crap. "You mean...." You were clapped on the shoulder by Veronica. "Way to go baby vamp! I never knew you were a hard drinker!"

Wait, what? Before you could manage to formulate a response, your orders arrived. Curtis let out a sigh, and then began immediately.... ripping into one of the tacos. For a guy who appeared to be the perfect gentleman, he sure did like tearing into his food like it was some sort of small, defenceless animal...... And wait, what did you just see?  You weren't sure if it was a trick of the light or not, but you could have sworn that his teeth appeared sharper, and more wolf-like when he'd opened his mouth.......

And what was long pork anyway? You'd heard of the name somewhere before, but you weren't sure where, or what exactly it meant, just that from wherever you'd read about it, it didn't mean pork exactly.....

Veronica on the other hand, was crumbling off little pieces of her fairy cakes, feeding them to her rat, who looked very satisfied with itself.

Neither of them were paying attention to you at the moment.........

You turned your attention towards your own drink. It glowed a pale, electric looking green color, lighting up the greyish glass like a beacon in the darkness. And you were pretty sure that eyeballs weren't a normal garnish that was found floating around in alcoholic drinks

Okay, if the drink was hard alcohol or something(in your inexperience, you had no clue what hard alcohol was), it'd be better if you just took one sip, right? That way it wouldn't affect you as much and you wouldn't look like an inexperienced dork(which you were). And besides, what harm could a little, tiny sip do to you?

Bringing the drink close to your lips, you mentally prepared yourself for the acidic, burning taste of alcohol to flood your taste buds......

Oh. Oh my god. Your eyes grew round as the drink's taste flooded your mouth.

(Oooh Boy)

This was so good! If you'd known alcohol could taste like this, you'd have drank more ages ago! It was so smooth going down your throat, and the flavor...... One minute it was smooth caramel all buttery and warm, the next f/f, the next warm meat with thick gravy........ It was one of the best things you'd tasted in a long time.

After a moment, you threw your head back and tossed back the rest of your drink, much to the surprise of your two new friends. "Woooah! Way to go baby vamp!" Veronica cheered, seemingly excited by your sudden change in demeanor.

Are you ready for some fun?

"Wow.... That was something..... I'm gonna have another one...." You reached over to where Veronica's drink was, and downed it too, marveling at the burn of the alcohol and the pleasant bubbliness that was quickly forming inside you. What was going on? You weren't normally so bold, but something inside of you was loving this, this relentless display of drink guzzling, of wild abandon that you exhibited.....

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

oooh

Curtis on the other hand, seemed to be trying to keep his cool demeanor, but at the sight of you guzzling down those two drinks, he was appearing slightly more nervous with every "Drink 'em down". "Um.... Girlie....."

He pointed over to the mirror hanging above the bar area, and vaguely curious, your line of gaze fell upon the mirror.

Woah.... Your eyes weren't their normal ruby-red color, they'd changed in the few seconds you'd consumed both drinks, from red to.... multicolored, more specifically, one pupil was blue with a violet area around it, the other was switched. And they kept changing every time you blinked...

You giggled, pointing at your reflection. "Aw look, I'm a glowstick!" You giggled again at your own comment, not even bothering to consider that you were already very drunk by now, even after two drinks....

With no small amount of bravdo, you turned back to Veronica. "You wanna go cause some trouble?" You couldn't explain it exactly, you felt.... different somehow, freer somehow, less of a slave to your own logic........

And it was one of the most amazing feelings you'd ever experienced.

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Ooohh

With a big smile, Veronica grabbed your arm and pulled you into the crowd of beasts...... And well, that's where things began getting rather hazy for you. And what wasn't incredibly hazy only grew in increased strangeness.....

You see, you'd forgotten two things.

One, you never had so much as a sip of alcohol before, meaning your alcohol tolerance was basically in the negatives.

Two, you'd kind of forgotten about the whole "Drinking on an empty stomach" thing, and with the two very alcoholic beverages you'd consumed, you were already well on your way to becoming very, very, intoxicated.

And three. You'd just downed an entire glass of demon-made alcohol, one of the strongest alcoholic beverages known on this plane of existence. Symptoms after just consuming a single glass of the stuff included hallucinations, loosened inhibitions, skewed sense of time, increased risk taking.....

But of course, you had no idea.

And with that, time seemed to slow down to a veritable crawl, then suddenly jump ahead in one of those scene-change things in films where it went black, then slowly appeared in another scene....

You can call me juvenile

But I'm picky on how I spend my time

Cards for sorrow, cards for pain, cards for.... whatever. It didn't really matter, you had at least several aces in your hand(and more than a few sneakily placed up your sleeves), so that'd mean..... you'd win? You weren't sure. Furrowing your brow, you took a sip of the muddy colored drink in your hand, the sharp burn of the alcohol forcing its way down your throat. 

What was this game again? Poker? Craps? Go fish? You'd forgotten.

But in either case, you were clearly doing much better than your opponent, a stately Russian woman with golden eyes who looked like she was about to spit fire. A small crowd of vaguely demon looking things watched you interestedly.

"Ach, I cannot believe that a little tart like you is beating moi."

That brought a grin to your face. And beating her you were! So far you not only had taken a beautiful diamond collar as your spoils, but also her scarf(worn across your own neck), and her silver bangles, which made a faint tinkling sound as you shifted your cards.

"Please lady, if anyshhing, you've got more preservatives in your face than most school lunches." Vaugely pleased by her shocked expression, you threw down your cards. "Oh and looks like I win! Shorry not shorry!" Wait, you were speaking kinda funny there, your words sounding a little off.....

Don't you know it takes two crates of makeup to go out

Lookin' this fine

You downed the rest of your drink, placing the empty glass on the gambling table, and turned to leave......

But not before a meaty hand grabbed your wrist. All the cards up your sleeves fell out suddenly, blanketing the floor in a sea of kings, queens, and aces.

"You little cheat! You better give my girl back her stuff right now....."

I don't work these nails to the bone to hear you squabble and whine

so ease it down

You turned to your minotaur-esque captor, who yes, had an actual bull's head. And he was looking very, very pissed off.

"Or what? You'll sit on me, tubby?" You giggled at your own joke, not noticing the look of utter rage on his face. He drew back his fist........

Wow, you blinked and then the guy's head was just..... gone, a gory, gushing expanse of flesh, blood, and bone where it had been moments before. And what was that warmness on your face? And..... gasp!

Confetti! Brightly colored, in squiggles and curlicues, raining down all over the gambling table, the walls, the horrified blonde, everywhere..... and it was coming out of the guy's head space!

And there was a dog there too! Prancing around in the confetti, very big and dark furred, black eyes, his tongue lolling out as he shoved people aside with his strength, confetti covering his paws and wicked black talons....

Dogs didn't have talons, did they?

And wasn't it a little odd that the dog looked so worried about you? Maybe he was just a silly puppy, that's right, nothing but a big old silly doggy.....

You laughed at that, the room shifting upside-down and backways, frontways and sideways, the sound of your merriment.....

Then you blinked out of existence, the room disappearing like a picture when someone turned off one of those old televisions.

Lights, pulsing and changing color, blue and purple and pink, bodies writhing and crashing into one another as they moved to the song played on stage by a band of skeletons that glowed green in the dark.

And you were glowing too! F/c and s/f/c in the dark, and electric lily lighting up the romper-room valley, as all the dancers glowed around you, changing color with every pulse of the music, the floor as dark as the night sky beneath you....

You better believe that I'm hot (so hot)

I'm wet (Woo-hoo)

Giggling, you let the faun spin you around, marvelling at how soft the fur on his arms was. It was like the trim on a new pair of Uggs... And he was sort of cute.... Maybe he wouldn't mind buying you another drink....

And it's really not fair

Takes more than a tall cool glass of you there honey to

Bring me up for air

Them, he was gone, replaced by a lovely gentleman in a electric blue suit and a lovely squirmy beard of tentacles who grabbed your hand and whirled you around the dance floor, everything turning into a lovely multi-colored blur....

Takes more than a tall cool glass

Of you there honey

To bring me up for air

And his tentacles! They snaked away from his face, caressing your cheeks, turning the world more psychedelic at every beautiful touch....

And I've been too blown to rest these bones for a long country mile

Then, you suddenly stopped spinning. Your partner bowed, removed his head, and tied it to a string, giving you your very own floating head balloon and a bottle of vodka! Oh, he was so thoughtful.....

So lets get some cartoons and vodka

And put 'em on for a while!

Taking a generous swig from the bottle, the ground suddenly gave out from underneath you, casting you down, down, down, a hole in the ground.

Thankfully, your balloon and your fanned out skirts kept you floating at a very gentle pace....

And curious and curiouser! There were more drinks down here, floating past on little silver platters, end tables, in glasses, in bottles....

(OOoh boy)

Laughing aloud, you grabbed a particularly violent looking burgundy beverage with a very familiar scent, and taking a swig, you marvelled at the taste. Oh the sweet taste of blood!

Out of the corner of your eyes, you noticed another girl, dressed as a punk rock version of Alice in wonderland, sitting on a velvet futon, a black rabbit in her lap.

She gave you a wicked smile and a little wave as you passed her.....

Then you felt a pair of arms around your waist. "And what would a fine young woman like yourself be doing here?" That voice, you knew that voice from countless hours of watching that one film, listening to your dad's old albums......

Jereth grinned at you when you turned around, making your insides melt into mush.

"I really don't know, where is here exactly?"

"Well, I suppose no one really knows why one enters the downward spiral....." He gestured to the space the two of you were falling through.

"But I entered because...." You paused. Why did you enter again? You were angry at someone, or two someones, and you were getting ready for something..... that much you remembered........ Oh well, it probably wasn't important anyway..... "Eh, it probably wasn't that important, why're you here? And did you know that you look exactly like one of my dad's favorite singers?"

He laughed, a purely merry sound. "Oh, so you're familiar with my stint in the human world! Always happy to meet a fan. I was a tad disappointed when I had to fake my death to return to ruling the Labyrinth, especially after that whole Sarah debacle...."

"So Sarah and everything...."

"Yes, it was real. She's all grown up now, married and with a child of her own, teaches English literature, has forgotten about the goblins and me...." He looked a little sad at that.

"I've been trying to forget somebody too. And he's worse than your Sarah, always leaving me behind... but you know what? They're nothing without us!"

Now give me some of that smile

He laughed aloud and repeated. "Nothing! Nothing!"

Giggling, you responded. "Nothing, tra-la-la!"

The two of you dissolved into maniacal peals of laughter at that, the world whooshing by as you fell.

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Oooh

Wow.... You weren't expecting that, but suddenly, Jereth's lips were on yours and the two of you were kissing, your arms wound around one another....

And who knew the Goblin king was such a good kisser?

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Ooohhh.....

A brilliant flash of light.

The next thing you knew you found yourself in a narrow room, perched on a puffy violet cushion, creatures in various states of intoxication sipping at.....

What appeared to be large, floating amber bubbles of various sizes with crazily bendy straws.

Someone nudged you and you turned around, presented once again with Veronica's smiling face.

"Baby vamp, isn't this exciting? I've always wanted to try magical liquor...." And with that, she poked her straw into the nearest bubble, a completely blissed out look spreading across her face as she sipped at the alcohol bubble.

Picking up your own straw, you looked for the nearest bubble, and spied your reflection in one of them. Wow...... your face was flushed, your hair a mess, your eyes still doing that weird thing, and your various stolen baubles glittered off you like a beacon. Your balloon was missing, sadly.

And you never looked more beautiful, you thought to yourself.

Your reflection returned the smile, and beckoned to you with one finger., holding up a bottle of blood wine with the other hand. Looking around and seeing that nobody was paying attention, you stood up from your cushiony footstool, and let your reflection pull you inside......

Time jarred once again, than skipped with the accuracy of a record scratch.....

(Oooh boy)

Are you ready for some fun?

God, you were feeling extra giggly tonight at someone else's expense as you looked up at the bizarre friezes on the ceiling ahead of you, depicting a strange creature slaughtering and maiming children, torturing.... "Oh my god, he's a pervert. Only a pervert would decorate like this....." You said aloud.....

"Ssshhh....." Veronica replied, inching her way over to the creature at the end of the sumptuously laden table, with its blank expanse of face and tiny silt of a mouth, unmoving and unaware of your presence here.

You rolled your eyes. "Please, he's not going to wake up or anything. You're going to have plenty of time to do your selfie. It's something to do with the table, not how much noise you make that wakes him up. I saw the movie, I know everything, all the time..." You giggled again.

Veronica ignored you, fumbling with her cell phone, eventually getting it into the proper position. When she'd done that, she wound a arm around its sallow shoulders, winked and stuck out her tounge, snapping a selfie with the unresponsive host.

You laughed at her goofy pose, then an idea came over you. "Hey, Veronica...."

She was already making her way over. "Yeah baby vamp?"

You grinned at her mischievously. "I've always wondered what those pastries taste like, and I could really use another glass of wine....." You pointed to the heavily laden table.

It took her a moment, but an equally devilish grin spread across her face. "Mhmm, and I've always wondered what gooseberries taste like...."

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

Ooohh

A plan immediately formed without the two of you needing to say a word.

Yeah, it was probably a extremely stupid idea to be stealing from the one creature that had haunted your dreams for nearly a week after you'd watched the film at the tender age of thirteen, and if the piles of shoes at the sides of the room and the seriously disturbing ceiling art, one would have to be deaf, blind, or seriously intoxicated to commit something which you'd dubbed a serious: "Horror no-no" in the past.

Drink  'em down

Drink 'em down

Drink 'em down

But, with the amount of alcohol you'd consumed in the past.... however long you'd been here, reason was just yet another thing to wave away in this night of wild abandon....

Grinning, the two of you rushed toward the table, grabbing anything you could carry, gulping wine, biting pastries, snatching gold dishes and crystal goblets to carry in your greedy hands....

Yeah, the two of you could already hear the thing at the table draw in a rusty gasp of breath, the bloodstained claws scraping over the table, the tell-tale squelchy sounds of... well, you'd seen Pan's Labyrinth about eight times, you already knew what was transpiring.

You could see Veronica instantly tense up, but the two of you waited, waited until the shuffling of footsteps drew closer, and closer, and closer......

When you could practically feel his rancid breath on the back of your neck, you whirled around, face to face with the creature of your childhood nightmares.

"Oh heeyyyy.... We were just leaving....." And without warning, you dug your fingers into the squelchy grossness of his palm, and threw his eyes across the room.

"This bitch empty! YEEET!" 

Ooohhh...

As you ran down the winding hallways you could feel Veronica roll her eyes. "Really? What are you, an implant from 2013? Vine's like as dead as those mural kids, and besides, you used it wrong-"

"Hey, do you want to keep running, or stay here and argue until Mr.Creepy back there collects his eyes and comes for us?"

"Okay, point taken."

So this was what outrunning the devil felt like, danger at your back, possibility at your front, it was more amazing than reading about characters in books who did it......

Then, time skipped forward again.

Laughing, your hand on a tall frosted glass of alcohol, you weaved your way through the shifting crowd....

The next thing you knew, the ground was coming up rather quickly to meet your face....

A pair of strong, well muscled arms grabbed you, pulling you to your feet. 

"Don't ya think you've had too much?" Oh you knew that incredibly sexy voice anywhere, it was Curtis!

Turning around, you giggled, wiggling your fingers in his face. "Nah, I don't think you've had enough!" And planting a big Looney-tunes style kiss right in the middle of his stupefied face, you slipped out of his grasp, picking up your skirts as you darted(none too steady), through the crowds of beasts......

Time made an unexpected shift once again, this time finding you running through....

Gasp! The Scooby doo mansion, you dressed as Velma, Punk-rock Alice as Daphne, Tentacle guy as Fred, The Faun as... well, still a faun, and Veronica rounding out the group with her rat, the group of you being chased through the many rooms of the place.

And by who other than the Russian lady from before, and a couple dozen more bull-headed assholes?

"Get zem! Don't let them escape!"

But as everyone ran through the various rooms, it was becoming very clear that nobody was getting any closer to escaping, or getting caught, due to the increasingly cartoonish ways you all were appearing from the rooms......

Getting turned around, you opened a door....

OMG. A paradise! Fluffy white clouds with little decapitated stuffed animals lounging around on them, lollipop trees, dancing wine gummies, and far below, a shining azure pool beckoned you.

Taking the plunge downward, you barely noticed the gummies that appeared for all the world, a purple-haired girl and a very tall man, but who they were, you couldn't say just that they were waving to you as you plunged ever closer to the pool of water.....

Oooh drink them down

drink 'em down oohh

drink them down

Barely making a splash in the pool of water, you floated there, suspended luxuriously for a moment, marvelling at the Swedish fish that swam by.

A glint of gold caught your eye, in the murky reeds of the deep. Treasure! And it was all yours in this beautiful candy-coated world.......

Swimming downward, you were presented with a chest, but it wasn't a chest, no.... it was a velvet lined coffin, full to the brim with amber-filled bottles....

Oooh drink 'em down,down, down, down

down, down, down

Oh, oh, Ooohh

With a smile, you noticed the cartoonish alcohol symbols scrawled on the labels, and without a moment's hesitation, you dove right into the coffin, a comical "do not disturb" sign appearing on the outside much to the pleasure of the nearby gummy fish.

The world shifted again, finding you dancing on top of one of the craps tables(along with two small creatures of purple flame that mirrored your every move), twirling, shaking, vamping it up, just dancing and singing manically(still fully clothed), much to the amusement of the bar patrons, who threw jewels, coins, tiny bones, even tiny travel bottles of alcohol at you for your lovely performance. And you were lapping it up, basking in the warmth of their attention......

You were a star, they loved you, they really did love you, not like old whatsisface with the stupid hat and the uncontrollable libido....

Oh everything was drowning you in its glitter as their applause grew louder by the second, blotting out the world in a sheen of sparkles....

You were now a star yourself, a comet piercing the outer limits, shooting across the night sky in a rocket bound for Venus....

Drink 'em down

Hmm... you felt... sleepy. Weird, you'd been so full of energy before, maybe it was the wine coolers that the harpies had that was finally effecting you. Or the bourbon, or the blood wine, or....

You crashed down on a velvet fainting couch, laughing to yourself as your hair fanned out on the smooth cushions.

Drink 'em down

And with that, the rest of the world dissolved in a flurry of violet champagne bubbles and you remembered no more.....

Duke's P.O.V

Okay, as much as he'd enjoyed watching y/n squirm(and he'd REALLY enjoyed it), he supposed it was time to actually bring her inside. Which was where he'd been relaxing for the past couple of hours, enjoying one of the vintage bottles of blood wine he kept down there(in case of emergency, or a creature he wanted to impress).

Sad to say, he was actually going to need the hot-headed little minx for his big showdown with that crazy bitch who was living in his castle...... He brushed off that thought. He'd get to the other one later, right now, he was more concerned with the girl that was currently locked out of his little sanctuary.....

After all, she'd probably cooled off that hot temper of hers by now, so it'd be probably safe to let her inside his crypt. And he was totally going to make her night after all, she'd probably been waiting on the stone steps after him like a lost little wolfhound puppy, the needy little thing she was.....

With a audible creak, he opened the door.

"Okay dollface, if you've cooled off enough, I might allow you-"

Wait, where was she? She definitely wasn't waiting on the marble steps of the crypt, that was for certain......

A seed of panic blooming in his core, he began a frantic search of the surrounding area. She wasn't crouched behind a gravestone, or behind that hollow tree, or inside that  coffin......

Wait, why  was he getting so worked up over HER, of all people? Maybe the fact that she was missing was a demonic blessing in disguise, because he wouldn't have to listen to her curse him out, or have to avoid her trying to wrap her fingers around his neck(he really didn't know what he'd done that deserved THAT, she was probably overreacting), he'd be free to take back his castle in peace....

At least that's what Duke tried to tell himself, trying to dispel the troubling feeling. It didn't work.

Was he getting..... worried about y/n, that crazy broad? Sheesh.... what was with tonight? It wasn't that, it was more...... His mind whirled around desperately for an explanation.

If she's gotten herself killed, he'd never have enough firepower to reclaim his castle and cane from her friend! Yeah, that must be it, it wasn't like he was worried about her or anything, just that he was trying to protect his investments......

Now to just find that broad from whatever hole she'd fallen into.....

He paused. What was that smell hanging around his crypt? His vampiric senses were already going crazy trying to name it.

Part of it he knew to belong to y/n, but the majority.... What was it? Rot, mixed with the odor of death, a very familiar smell, even if he hadn't smelled something like that in about.....

Sixty or so years.

Oh, he recognized it now, for sure, and the memory made him curse under his breath.

How could he have forgotten? If she was with.....him she'd be in a world of trouble sooner or later. She'd spent a year cooped up in his castle, not actually going out and experiencing things, so she didn't even know the first things about dealing with the forsaken! And the girl didn't even know what the forsaken did to people around them when they were hungry.....

That troubling feeling surged through him again at that thought, but he brushed it off.

It'd be fine, he was sure of that, he'd just find wherever it was the two of them had headed off too, collect y/n, maybe grab a bite, and be on his way. It'd be as simple as that!

And hopefully, Curtis had forgotten about the whole "I'll kill you on sight" thing..........

To be continued.......

Well, I finally finished this chapter my darlings! Sorry if it's a little rushed....

But anyway, how about that? There's going to be a second part!*yay* And we'll be delving into more of my oc's and Duke's relationship, maybe some shippy stuff between Duke and you, and.....

I think it's high time a certain pale haired vampires rejoined the land of the living, don't you think.....

But that's all stuff for another chapter! Right now, I want to ask you beasties this:

Who wants to vote on your outfit for the eventual showdown?

Okay, here's your outfit choices:

Outfit one

Outfit two

Outfit three

Outfit four

Outfit five

Pick any outfit that your dark hearts desire, and write which you'd love to see in the place where you comment about things! 

Now, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be seeing you soon my beasties........

Okay, sorry. One last note. I realize that yes, I did get the detail wrong that it was Duke's HOUSE key around his neck, not whatever I currently had it as in this chapter. So, you could probably imagine how stupid I felt once I realized that..... But I've fixed it now!

Anyway, peace, love, and baby bats to all my beasties, and I'll hopefully see you when the showdown comes out!