Monster Mash: Dance of the Damned [Chapter 2]
Title: Monster Mash: Dance of the Damned 1
Characters: Alfred, Vash, Francis, Arthur, Matthew's coven
Rating: 15 for this chapter.
Warnings: Blood, violence, heavily implied child abuse.
Summary: Sequel to Monster Mash. Memories restored, Francis goes looking for his lost love, in the hope she too is looking for him. Elsewhere, Arthur learns more in a few months than he has in 500 years. And behind all this, Alfred F. Jones, serial killer extraordinare, remains at large.
Alfred F. Jones had never claimed to be difficult to please. He was a simple kind of guy, in his opinion, who enjoyed the little things in life. The sound of fireworks, the taste of a freshly cooked hamburger, the patterns a blood spray could make if you angled it just right. Nothing big or expensive. He would be content with the bare minimum.
But, when the maximum was offered, of course he was going to take everything he could.
They’d been so desperate to have him they’d promised him anything. He’d asked for a computer, internet access, a tv with an X-Box, Wii and PS3, a comfy bed, and his chainsaw. He’d been allowed all of those but the last one. They’d taken it away to bless it, and it’d been a month since then. He’d still not had his precious baby back. Didn’t they know how important it was to him? He’d named it and everything.
Still, being a hired killer wasn’t too terrible. He’d neatly beaten the shit out of two warlocks with his bare hands the other day for exercise, though they’d died way too easily. Warlocks were just humans, after all, and while Alfred simply loved killing, he also loved a challenge.
He’d been promised something bigger today. Something way bigger. So when the bolts on his 6-inch thick steel door groaned back, he sat up like an excited child about to go to Disney Land.
The man who ducked in through the door was becoming increasingly familiar. His blonde hair was trimmed neatly, uniformly straight under his beret. Alfred had originally laughed when he saw the Swiss Guard uniform, and still couldn’t fully suppress giggles even when he knew this particular guard had to qualms against shooting people who found his clown suit funny. Piercing green eyes tracked his every move. Did this guy ever blink?
“Hey there Hash!”
“It’s Vash.” the man said stiffly, lips pursed as he handed over a piece of paper. “I assume you didn’t kill your teacher before they taught you to read.”
“Your insults could use some work!” Alfred laughed, turning the paper over. He tilted his head, checked the back of the sheet, and raised an eyebrow. “And yeah they taught me to read, but not in Latin dude.”
“That’s Italian.” Vash corrected. “And there’s a summary in English at the bottom. Read the whole thing.”
“Blah blah blah...” Alfred mimed the guard talking with his hand. Let’s see here.
’Alfred F. Jones to accompany Gabriel dos Anjos, Ida Dusek, Heracles Karpusi and Lydia Biely to find and kill the Russian Werebear. Mission begins at 0600 Sunday 13th March 2011. Training needed and materials to be gathered before this date.’
The teen hummed. “Werebear, huh? What’re they like?”
Vash glared. “You should do your own reseach.” But after a moment he added. “A werebear is a human that can change forms into a bear-”
“I kinda got that.”
“- depending on how angry they are, the size of the bear changes. This particular werebear has been giving the Russian Branch trouble, so we’re sending you in to assist them.”
“Russia branch come crying to you for help then?”
Vash paused there, narrowing his eyes. “Yes.”
Alfred spotted a little white lie. “Really? Because from what I’ve heard, the Russian branch doesn’t seem the type.” he rose from his bed, approaching the guard and delighting in the way he tensed. “Aren’t you guys being kind of pushy, sending a team when they didn’t ask for one?”
Vash said nothing, but his hand was on his gun holster.
“Not that I’m complaining. A werebear sounds fun!” Alfred shrugged. “I’m just sayin’ that it’s really kinda rude.”
“Not that you’d know anything about politeness.” Vash growled. The American chuckled at him, a head taller and intimidating without trying to be.
“You sound like a guy I know. Green eyes just like you. Is it just a thing for people with green eyes to have sticks up their asses?” Alfred grinned, leaning down to Vash’s eye level. “Bet you want to know how much I already know about the other Branches. You guys really need to teach your agents to keep their mouths shut.”
“All our information is handled with the utmost care-”
“Buuuuuull~shiiiiiiit~!” Alfred sing-songed. “A 14 year old in his bedroom could hack into your files, Jesus! Never mind how much gossip flies around the mess hall.” He tilted his head. “Is it true someone in the Asia branch invented a blade that can cut though souls? Can I mod that onto my chainsaw? And by the way,” a step forward made Vash take two steps back and draw his gun. “Where is my chainsaw?”
“Get back in bed.” Vash growled, pressing his pistol between Alfred’s eyes. “Now.”
“You’re not gonna shoot.” Alfred rolled his eyes. “After all that trouble of finding me and training me. Betcha I’ve got some useful intel that I could pass to my friends on the other side too, if you kill me. Straight to hell in a hand basket for me, and I know a demon with a penchant for deals. You know how much your information is worth? Probably about the same as the price for my soul.”
“I said. Get back. Into bed.”
Alfred let him sweat a little longer, before straightening, walking back to his bed, and plunking himself down on it with his hands up. “Happy?”
“I’m never happy.” Vash grumbled, turning on his heel and slamming the door behind him. The locks groaned back into place.
The younger blonde chuckled. “I figured as much.” He flopped back on his pillows. “And I still want my chainsaw!!”
---
Francis stopped the car and knew he wouldn’t get any further in this. The endless country road wound on into the distance, grey clouds casting shadows intermittently over the fields and occasional trees. From here, Poland didn’t look all that different from France, but it was a bit colder, which is why the body Francis was possessing at the moment was wrapped up warm. It would likely help them once he left them behind here. There was a barrier in front of him now, invisible to human eyes, but passing through it while possessing a human would likely set it off. Now, going under the barrier by phasing through the floor, that would be safer. He’d prefer not to give this Feliks person time to prepare before he made his appearance.
He pulled himself out of the body he was in with the same level of difficulty one takes off a shirt that’s a size too small. The young man slumped back in his seat, breathing softly, for all intents and purposes asleep. He’d probably wake up in a few hours. Francis would be long gone by then.
With no solid form, Francis simply had to will himself where he wanted to be. He never really liked being intangible. Granted it gave him the ability to go where he wanted to, but being deprived of his senses was a disturbing thing. He was deaf and blind, he couldn’t feel the wind that rustled the trees, he couldn’t taste the chill on the air or smell the flowers blooming on the shrubs. What he did have was an innate sense of his surroundings, of sound on another level, of light from beyond the visible. It was disturbing and reminded him too much of a place he didn’t want to be - a place he’d erased from his memory along with Jeanne a long time ago and still didn’t like to dwell on.
Speed was nothing when he was like this. He could go anywhere as fast as he wanted, but long blank distances were confusing to travel through; disorientating. So when he found the first human spirit for miles, he emerged, observing him. And it was a him, despite how gentle the spirit was. He was feeding something horse-like and supernatural. A unicorn? He’d definitely arrived at the farm. This had to be either Feliks, or one of Feliks’ helpers. Either way, by poking around in his mind, Francis would be able to find the information he needed.
Entering the body of an unwilling person is much more difficult than that of a weak-willed, hopeless individual like Francis’ usual choices. He stayed out of sight for a while, thinking how to approach this. It would probably hurt, both himself and the potential vessel, and he could get kicked out of the body at any time. If this helper had any training in dealing with the supernatural, there was a chance of receiving a psychic shock too.
Here goes nothing...
---
There was toilet paper hanging from the chandelier.
Arthur observed this and the carnage that had befallen the rest of the room with a kind of weary nostalgia. It seemed that, when you got down to it, kids would be kids no matter which coven they belonged to, or what species they were.
Matthew had dashed upstairs with Kimi in his arms, leaving Arthur to stare at the chaos of the front room. There was a large television with a remote sticking out of it that fizzled slightly, blood all over the carpet, ripped up magazines and what looked like a chess set had been over turned. In the midst of this were two young children, wrestling and clawing and snarling. It was a play fight, sure, but it wasn’t exactly helpful to the damage that the room had already taken.
Arthur cleared his throat, and the children froze, looking at him.
“Hello Edward, Albert.” he said with raised eyebrows, folding his arms. The young vampires scrambled off each other. One had short, red hair and blue eyes, blush almost obscuring his freckles. The other sported brown locks that were staring to grow out, grey eyes, and ears that always looked a little big for his head. If Arthur recalled correctly, the former was Edward, and the latter Albert, though if Matthew kept expanding his coven at the rate he did Arthur was fast going to lose track. “Is this your doing?”
“Grand-sire Arthur!” They cheered, jumping to their feet and racing towards him, bouncing up and down in place. “We didn’t know you were going to come visit!”
Arthur raised his eyebrows. “Really? Matthew sent a letter.”
The covenmates shared a look. “We didn’t get it. Jaques had something but he burned it. And then Oswald got angry at him for burning it and they broke dinner and messed up the room.” said Albert, pointing at the blood on the floor.
“They were beating each other with the legs!” added Edward. “We had to go use the reserves instead of catch more dinner.”
“Well that was good of you to restrain yourself.” Arthur commended, picking up the chess table and dusting it off. “Why hasn’t it been cleaned up yet, though?”
The children shuffled sheepishly. Clearly they’d not even considered cleaning it up. Arthur sighed. “Alright, where are the rest of them.”
“Umm, Green and Tory are upstairs doing girl things.” Albert pulled a face. “Tonic was talking to Mate in the kitchen and Frogger’s outside.”
Arthur stared blankly. Matthew had warned him about the nicknames.
“Who?”
“Oh!” Edward grinned. “Green is Anne, like Anne of Green Gables. Tory is Victoria. Tonic is Regina - her name was Gin but then it was Tonic like gin and tonic. Mate is Oswald because it sounds like Oz which is like Australia and people in Australia say mate so his name is Mate.” He babbled. “And Frogger is Jacques’ name because he speaks French so he’s a frog like you said and also because Oswald calls him Fucker and we’re not allowed to say that.”
“Oh.” said Arthur. “You know, people in England say ‘mate’ too.” and for some reason that was the only response he could make to that.
“Yeah but his name is Oswald not Engwald.” Albert said pointedly, and then his eyes lit up. “Hey, we should call him that...”
“Where’s Matthew?” Edward cut over him, peering behind Arthur in an attempt to catch a glimpse of his sire.
Arthur glanced behind him just in case Matthew had appeared. He did tend to do that without people noticing. “Oh, he brought home a new covenmate for you. They’re upstairs.”
“Did someone say new covenmate?” chirped a girl, poking her head around the door. Her reddish-brown pigtails swung over her shoulders. “Oh! Hello Grand-sire!”
“Hello Anne.” Arthur smiled. “Yes, a young girl called Kimi.”
Anne’s green eyes lit up. “A girl! Hah! We equal the boys now!” She stuck her tongue out at Albert and Edward, and ran up the stairs.
Edward rolled his eyes. “She’s been waiting for a girl ever since he brought Albert back and made it uneven.”
Albert scuffed the floor with his bare feet. “She still kinda hates me.”
“Nonsense.” Arthur said, pushing the sofa back into place with one hand. “I’m sure it’ll be fine now she has someone new to focus on. Now, are you going to help me clean this up before Matthew sees or are you going to make your Grandsire do all the work for you?”
The two shook their heads frantically. “We’ll help, we’ll help!”
Chapter 3
Notes:
- Yes, all of Matthew's coven are based on the provinces of Canada. Who's who is often obvious, sometimes not, but take your guesses.
Characters: Alfred, Vash, Francis, Arthur, Matthew's coven
Rating: 15 for this chapter.
Warnings: Blood, violence, heavily implied child abuse.
Summary: Sequel to Monster Mash. Memories restored, Francis goes looking for his lost love, in the hope she too is looking for him. Elsewhere, Arthur learns more in a few months than he has in 500 years. And behind all this, Alfred F. Jones, serial killer extraordinare, remains at large.
Alfred F. Jones had never claimed to be difficult to please. He was a simple kind of guy, in his opinion, who enjoyed the little things in life. The sound of fireworks, the taste of a freshly cooked hamburger, the patterns a blood spray could make if you angled it just right. Nothing big or expensive. He would be content with the bare minimum.
But, when the maximum was offered, of course he was going to take everything he could.
They’d been so desperate to have him they’d promised him anything. He’d asked for a computer, internet access, a tv with an X-Box, Wii and PS3, a comfy bed, and his chainsaw. He’d been allowed all of those but the last one. They’d taken it away to bless it, and it’d been a month since then. He’d still not had his precious baby back. Didn’t they know how important it was to him? He’d named it and everything.
Still, being a hired killer wasn’t too terrible. He’d neatly beaten the shit out of two warlocks with his bare hands the other day for exercise, though they’d died way too easily. Warlocks were just humans, after all, and while Alfred simply loved killing, he also loved a challenge.
He’d been promised something bigger today. Something way bigger. So when the bolts on his 6-inch thick steel door groaned back, he sat up like an excited child about to go to Disney Land.
The man who ducked in through the door was becoming increasingly familiar. His blonde hair was trimmed neatly, uniformly straight under his beret. Alfred had originally laughed when he saw the Swiss Guard uniform, and still couldn’t fully suppress giggles even when he knew this particular guard had to qualms against shooting people who found his clown suit funny. Piercing green eyes tracked his every move. Did this guy ever blink?
“Hey there Hash!”
“It’s Vash.” the man said stiffly, lips pursed as he handed over a piece of paper. “I assume you didn’t kill your teacher before they taught you to read.”
“Your insults could use some work!” Alfred laughed, turning the paper over. He tilted his head, checked the back of the sheet, and raised an eyebrow. “And yeah they taught me to read, but not in Latin dude.”
“That’s Italian.” Vash corrected. “And there’s a summary in English at the bottom. Read the whole thing.”
“Blah blah blah...” Alfred mimed the guard talking with his hand. Let’s see here.
’Alfred F. Jones to accompany Gabriel dos Anjos, Ida Dusek, Heracles Karpusi and Lydia Biely to find and kill the Russian Werebear. Mission begins at 0600 Sunday 13th March 2011. Training needed and materials to be gathered before this date.’
The teen hummed. “Werebear, huh? What’re they like?”
Vash glared. “You should do your own reseach.” But after a moment he added. “A werebear is a human that can change forms into a bear-”
“I kinda got that.”
“- depending on how angry they are, the size of the bear changes. This particular werebear has been giving the Russian Branch trouble, so we’re sending you in to assist them.”
“Russia branch come crying to you for help then?”
Vash paused there, narrowing his eyes. “Yes.”
Alfred spotted a little white lie. “Really? Because from what I’ve heard, the Russian branch doesn’t seem the type.” he rose from his bed, approaching the guard and delighting in the way he tensed. “Aren’t you guys being kind of pushy, sending a team when they didn’t ask for one?”
Vash said nothing, but his hand was on his gun holster.
“Not that I’m complaining. A werebear sounds fun!” Alfred shrugged. “I’m just sayin’ that it’s really kinda rude.”
“Not that you’d know anything about politeness.” Vash growled. The American chuckled at him, a head taller and intimidating without trying to be.
“You sound like a guy I know. Green eyes just like you. Is it just a thing for people with green eyes to have sticks up their asses?” Alfred grinned, leaning down to Vash’s eye level. “Bet you want to know how much I already know about the other Branches. You guys really need to teach your agents to keep their mouths shut.”
“All our information is handled with the utmost care-”
“Buuuuuull~shiiiiiiit~!” Alfred sing-songed. “A 14 year old in his bedroom could hack into your files, Jesus! Never mind how much gossip flies around the mess hall.” He tilted his head. “Is it true someone in the Asia branch invented a blade that can cut though souls? Can I mod that onto my chainsaw? And by the way,” a step forward made Vash take two steps back and draw his gun. “Where is my chainsaw?”
“Get back in bed.” Vash growled, pressing his pistol between Alfred’s eyes. “Now.”
“You’re not gonna shoot.” Alfred rolled his eyes. “After all that trouble of finding me and training me. Betcha I’ve got some useful intel that I could pass to my friends on the other side too, if you kill me. Straight to hell in a hand basket for me, and I know a demon with a penchant for deals. You know how much your information is worth? Probably about the same as the price for my soul.”
“I said. Get back. Into bed.”
Alfred let him sweat a little longer, before straightening, walking back to his bed, and plunking himself down on it with his hands up. “Happy?”
“I’m never happy.” Vash grumbled, turning on his heel and slamming the door behind him. The locks groaned back into place.
The younger blonde chuckled. “I figured as much.” He flopped back on his pillows. “And I still want my chainsaw!!”
---
Francis stopped the car and knew he wouldn’t get any further in this. The endless country road wound on into the distance, grey clouds casting shadows intermittently over the fields and occasional trees. From here, Poland didn’t look all that different from France, but it was a bit colder, which is why the body Francis was possessing at the moment was wrapped up warm. It would likely help them once he left them behind here. There was a barrier in front of him now, invisible to human eyes, but passing through it while possessing a human would likely set it off. Now, going under the barrier by phasing through the floor, that would be safer. He’d prefer not to give this Feliks person time to prepare before he made his appearance.
He pulled himself out of the body he was in with the same level of difficulty one takes off a shirt that’s a size too small. The young man slumped back in his seat, breathing softly, for all intents and purposes asleep. He’d probably wake up in a few hours. Francis would be long gone by then.
With no solid form, Francis simply had to will himself where he wanted to be. He never really liked being intangible. Granted it gave him the ability to go where he wanted to, but being deprived of his senses was a disturbing thing. He was deaf and blind, he couldn’t feel the wind that rustled the trees, he couldn’t taste the chill on the air or smell the flowers blooming on the shrubs. What he did have was an innate sense of his surroundings, of sound on another level, of light from beyond the visible. It was disturbing and reminded him too much of a place he didn’t want to be - a place he’d erased from his memory along with Jeanne a long time ago and still didn’t like to dwell on.
Speed was nothing when he was like this. He could go anywhere as fast as he wanted, but long blank distances were confusing to travel through; disorientating. So when he found the first human spirit for miles, he emerged, observing him. And it was a him, despite how gentle the spirit was. He was feeding something horse-like and supernatural. A unicorn? He’d definitely arrived at the farm. This had to be either Feliks, or one of Feliks’ helpers. Either way, by poking around in his mind, Francis would be able to find the information he needed.
Entering the body of an unwilling person is much more difficult than that of a weak-willed, hopeless individual like Francis’ usual choices. He stayed out of sight for a while, thinking how to approach this. It would probably hurt, both himself and the potential vessel, and he could get kicked out of the body at any time. If this helper had any training in dealing with the supernatural, there was a chance of receiving a psychic shock too.
Here goes nothing...
---
There was toilet paper hanging from the chandelier.
Arthur observed this and the carnage that had befallen the rest of the room with a kind of weary nostalgia. It seemed that, when you got down to it, kids would be kids no matter which coven they belonged to, or what species they were.
Matthew had dashed upstairs with Kimi in his arms, leaving Arthur to stare at the chaos of the front room. There was a large television with a remote sticking out of it that fizzled slightly, blood all over the carpet, ripped up magazines and what looked like a chess set had been over turned. In the midst of this were two young children, wrestling and clawing and snarling. It was a play fight, sure, but it wasn’t exactly helpful to the damage that the room had already taken.
Arthur cleared his throat, and the children froze, looking at him.
“Hello Edward, Albert.” he said with raised eyebrows, folding his arms. The young vampires scrambled off each other. One had short, red hair and blue eyes, blush almost obscuring his freckles. The other sported brown locks that were staring to grow out, grey eyes, and ears that always looked a little big for his head. If Arthur recalled correctly, the former was Edward, and the latter Albert, though if Matthew kept expanding his coven at the rate he did Arthur was fast going to lose track. “Is this your doing?”
“Grand-sire Arthur!” They cheered, jumping to their feet and racing towards him, bouncing up and down in place. “We didn’t know you were going to come visit!”
Arthur raised his eyebrows. “Really? Matthew sent a letter.”
The covenmates shared a look. “We didn’t get it. Jaques had something but he burned it. And then Oswald got angry at him for burning it and they broke dinner and messed up the room.” said Albert, pointing at the blood on the floor.
“They were beating each other with the legs!” added Edward. “We had to go use the reserves instead of catch more dinner.”
“Well that was good of you to restrain yourself.” Arthur commended, picking up the chess table and dusting it off. “Why hasn’t it been cleaned up yet, though?”
The children shuffled sheepishly. Clearly they’d not even considered cleaning it up. Arthur sighed. “Alright, where are the rest of them.”
“Umm, Green and Tory are upstairs doing girl things.” Albert pulled a face. “Tonic was talking to Mate in the kitchen and Frogger’s outside.”
Arthur stared blankly. Matthew had warned him about the nicknames.
“Who?”
“Oh!” Edward grinned. “Green is Anne, like Anne of Green Gables. Tory is Victoria. Tonic is Regina - her name was Gin but then it was Tonic like gin and tonic. Mate is Oswald because it sounds like Oz which is like Australia and people in Australia say mate so his name is Mate.” He babbled. “And Frogger is Jacques’ name because he speaks French so he’s a frog like you said and also because Oswald calls him Fucker and we’re not allowed to say that.”
“Oh.” said Arthur. “You know, people in England say ‘mate’ too.” and for some reason that was the only response he could make to that.
“Yeah but his name is Oswald not Engwald.” Albert said pointedly, and then his eyes lit up. “Hey, we should call him that...”
“Where’s Matthew?” Edward cut over him, peering behind Arthur in an attempt to catch a glimpse of his sire.
Arthur glanced behind him just in case Matthew had appeared. He did tend to do that without people noticing. “Oh, he brought home a new covenmate for you. They’re upstairs.”
“Did someone say new covenmate?” chirped a girl, poking her head around the door. Her reddish-brown pigtails swung over her shoulders. “Oh! Hello Grand-sire!”
“Hello Anne.” Arthur smiled. “Yes, a young girl called Kimi.”
Anne’s green eyes lit up. “A girl! Hah! We equal the boys now!” She stuck her tongue out at Albert and Edward, and ran up the stairs.
Edward rolled his eyes. “She’s been waiting for a girl ever since he brought Albert back and made it uneven.”
Albert scuffed the floor with his bare feet. “She still kinda hates me.”
“Nonsense.” Arthur said, pushing the sofa back into place with one hand. “I’m sure it’ll be fine now she has someone new to focus on. Now, are you going to help me clean this up before Matthew sees or are you going to make your Grandsire do all the work for you?”
The two shook their heads frantically. “We’ll help, we’ll help!”
Chapter 3
Notes:
- Yes, all of Matthew's coven are based on the provinces of Canada. Who's who is often obvious, sometimes not, but take your guesses.