Authors: Cameron Jace
Axel woke Loki from his trance, tugging at his arm. Loki breathed steadily, and gazed at Dum and her friends, wanting to stop them, but he was too late. They were already inside the Schloss.
Loki looked up again for Snow White, she was gone.
He pulled out his Alicorn, gazing at the front door of the castle, now slightly open. Walking through the thick snow that started falling in front of him slowed him down. Axel panted behind him.
Donnie and his friend’s flashlights shone from inside the Schloss, sending thin beams of light toward the walls and windows. Their shadows looked tall and scary behind the curtains. Some of them were on the second floor already.
“Is that the moment when another shadow suddenly pops up and devours Dum or Dee?” Axel wondered.
A cold breeze whirled into the pants legs of Loki’s jeans, spiraling right through his underwear. It felt ticklish and was extremely cold. Loki uttered a painful chuckle.
“Why are you chuckling?” Axel wondered.
“Funny how pain and laughter sometime sounds the same,” Loki said, adjusting his jeans.
“Keep mocking me like that, and we both die tonight.”
Loki saw Big Bad’s silhouette, pulling Dee into a room and kissing her while forcing his body against hers, causing her to draw back.
“Why do they always have to make out in haunted houses?” Loki mumbled.
“Is that Dee?” Axel asked.
Loki nodded.
“Isn’t Dum Big Bad’s girlfriend?”
“What do we care?” Loki responded.
A denser mist orbited slowly around the Schloss. It started whirling upward, picking up speed as the midnight-sky above faded to a dark-purple that looked like a bruise meshed with a faint brush of yellow and orange. The mist dwelled up high enough for Loki and Axel to lose sight of the castle.
“Hey,” Axel said. “I just remembered I forgot to lock the house,” he was trying to avoid the mist by standing in Loki’s shadow. “I’ll go back and make sure it’s locked.”
“Be brave,” Loki said.
“I’m
brave
enough to admit that I’m chicken.”
Loki stepped through the mist, pulling Axel along, now seeing the castle again. Big Bad and Dee were still making out. Dum showed up a couple of windows away, fiddling with her hair and staring at something inside.
“Let’s go back, Loki,” Axel said. “If we look at her eye to eye, we will die.”
“I already did. I saw her in the window,” Loki said, wondering if she’d done it on purpose. Was she playing Loki, daring him to see if he had the guts to come closer and try to kill her? Did she know about Loki’s weakness for demon girls? “Count me cursed already. Besides, I need to do this.
I need to
,” Loki held Axel by the shoulder.
“I don’t think you’ll get cursed,” Axel said. “You’re the handsome dude. In the movies the good looking guy always lives. On the other hand, I am the nerd. I can’t afford to let her look at me. I have ‘
first victim to go
’ written all over my forehead.”
“Does that mean you’re going to chicken out now?”
“No, I’m coming with you,” Axel shouted against the increasing wind. “Because even if I’m not a handsome dude, I have another power that you don’t have,” Axel placed his hand on Loki’s shoulder. “I have nothing…to lose!” he said as if he’d just discovered peanut butter.
One of the Tweedle girls screamed suddenly behind the mist. The unspeakable was already happening.
“Listen to me, Axel,” Loki shook him, feeling guilty about bringing him along. “You don’t want to go in with me. This is
my
thing. I have to do this. You have a sister who needs you. She doesn’t have anyone else but you. You’re stupid thinking you have nothing to lose. You’re
stupid
, Axel. Do you hear me? You have
a lot
to lose. You have a family and a home, something I don’t remember I ever had. If Fable were my sister, I’d slay dragons for her. Go back now!” Loki pushed Axel away then turned back to the castle, taking a deep breath as the lights in the castle all went out.
“It’s true that I want to take care of Fable, but she never thought of me as a hero, so now there’s a possibility I could be her hero,” Axel said. “If I die, tell her I was a hero. Tell her good things about me, Loki. Tell her that I died fighting a nine-headed lion, not a fifteen year old vampire. I could be Fable’s role model. In fact, if I die and she thinks of me as a role model, I’d like it.”
“Just go, or I’m going to punch you in the face!” Loki pushed Axel away.
Axel took a moment, trying to figure out if he had the guts to stay, but Loki’s stare was strong and Axel thought he’d better go back to his sister. “Can you at least spare me a flashlight I can use on my way back?” Axel said.
Loki grabbed a spare flashlight from his bag and handed it to Axel.
Tick Tock. Tick Tock.
Axel turned the flashlight on and off. “Just checking,” he looked embarrassed as he stared into Loki’s blaming eyes. “Rule number seven in surviving a horror movie: Always check your flashlight’s batteries before you use it because they usually don’t work when you need them.”
Loki was about to smile. If he didn’t make it today, if he died trying to kill the vampire princess, he thought he might miss Axel, even though they’d spent so little time together.
“I found her!” Donnie’s voice echoed from inside the castle.
Loki turned around and heard the sound of separate movements. Big Bad and Dee must have still been alone. He heard Dum accusing Donnie of being like the boy who cried wolf, pulling pranks on them.
“I’m not joking,” Donnie shouted nervously. “She is—“his voice echoed like he was in an empty room. “I can’t believe my eyes!” he yelled hysterically.
Alert, Loki stood with his Alicorn ten feet shy of the castle’s entrance, trying to figure out what was happening inside. He turned to see if Axel had changed his mind and decided to stay, but he was gone. Loki felt lonely again, just like he’d always been in the Ordinary World.
“What is it?” Big Bad yelled at Donnie from somewhere in the castle. “Where are you? I can’t see anything.”
It was obvious that most of them had split up in the castle, and that Donnie was alone somewhere. Loki was unable to locate each of them.
“I’m coming, too!” Dum cried out. “I can’t find my flashlight. Wait!”
Loki was still watching, fixed in place, confused about who was who. It was all happening very fast, and death was inevitable. Something bad was going to happen. If Big Bad was climbing up the stairs, why couldn’t Loki see his flashlight shining against the windows?
“Oh my God!” Dee shrieked. Her tone implied fascination rather than fear. “I found her glass coffin just like in the fairy tale. It’s so beautiful.”
“Found the damn flashlight,” Dum cried out. Light showed through the window on the first floor. “I’m on my way. Where are you Donnie?”
Loki saw her climb up the stairs, jumping two steps at a time. Before she reached the second floor, her flashlight spotted Big Bad, standing frozen atop the stairs.
“Here you are, baby,” Big Bad said.
Loki knew that if Axel was still here, he’d want to expose Big Bad for cheating on her.
“What coffin?” Donnie cried out.
“We‘re coming,” Dum said, panting next to Big Bad. “Where are you?”
“I don’t know but I see a faint light coming out of one of the rooms in the corridor,” Dee said. “Is that you guys?”
“What damn light?” Donnie asked. His sound was a bit muffled. Loki wondered where he was, too. Didn’t he just say he saw her?
“It’s our flashlight,” Big Bad said. “Where are you guys?”
“The coffin is empty,” Dee said.
“Of course it is—” Donnie shouted.
“Where are you guys?” Big Bad and Dum were furious.
Loki understood now that Dum and Big Bad thought Dee and Donnie were in the same room, while they apparently weren’t. Loki knew from their voices.
“—it’s after midnight. Why would she be in her coffin?” Donnie said with a trembling voice. “She is right in front of me. That’s what I’ve been trying to say from the beginning.”
“
Where are you?
” Big Bad pleaded for the last time.
“I’m in the cellar!” Donnie screamed in pain.
Big Bad and Dum hurried back down the stairs. Dee dashed out of the coffin room, which Loki saw was on the second floor now.
“Stay put,” Big Bad yelled. “We’re coming for you. I have my stake.”
“Don’t bother,” Donnie said. “You can’t save me.”
“Hang on,” Dum yelled.
“She is so beautiful…I don’t mind dying in her arms…” Donnie said and let out a final moan.
This last sentence made Loki curious. What did Donnie mean when he said he didn’t mind dying in her arms?
Loki rushed into the castle with his Alicorn in his hand. Inside, he bumped into the three of them in the hall.
“Who the heck are you?” Big Bad groaned at Loki with a stake in his hand. It was a plastic stake, meant for kids. Loki couldn’t believe his eyes; a light saber from Star Wars would have been better.
Big Bad decided that waiting for an answer might not be a good idea, so he raised his plastic stake to kill Loki.
“I’m not the vampire,” Loki screamed at him. “Do I look like Snow White to you?”
“You’re the boy from the parking lot, Loki Blackstar,” Big Bad growled in the dim light. “Guess what? My name is Big Bad, and I’m going to kick your ass!”
“Seriously?” Loki frowned. “You’re stealing my line now?”
Before they got into a fight, and before the girls finished climbing down the stairs, something white appeared out of the cellar as if floating in an aquarium.
It was her.
Snow White, the vampire princess, glided like a ghost in the air, her white dress swirling around her body, reminding Loki of his mother.
Bite me! Why does she have to remind me of my mother? Do I need more reasons to make killing her such an impossible task?
The Tweedle girls screamed, dropping their flashlights. Their squeaky voices confused Loki, and he dropped his flashlight, too. Listening to it crashing to pieces against the marble floor almost took his breath away. Loki remembered how Axel had said that flashlights conveniently stopped working just when needed in horror movies. The whole place faded to darkness, except for the pale princess’s skin and dress.
Dum’s flashlight still flickered infrequently on the floor. It had fallen on Big Bad’s tool bag, ending in an awkward position that sent its round beam toward the stairs.
Flash on. Flash off. As if they needed more scare factors in the situation.
The impact of the moment left Loki paralyzed, scared to go pick up the flashlight from the floor. The vampire princess levitated an inch or two above the third step of the staircase while the light blinked on and off at her.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Next to the blinking, the flashlight also acted as a ticking clock. Loki hoped it wasn’t counting down their death.
The vampire princess’s white dress was spattered with Donnie Cricketkiller’s blood—Loki wondered if he should’ve been thanking her for getting the world rid of bullies like him. She continued floating above the stairs like a marionette, swinging loosely on the invisible threads that controlled her. Loki thought she was examining them, her prey, having had an appetizer in the cellar.
The mixing shadows in the castle prevented Loki from seeing the vampire princess’s face. He hadn’t seen her face clear enough when he was outside, and he was dying to see it now. He wondered what the sixteen-year-old goddess of scare looked like up close and personal.
The Tweedle girls shielded their faces from looking at her, knowing that meeting her eyes meant their inevitable death. Having already done that, Loki knew that if he wanted to go home, he’d have to look death in the eyes again tonight. He had to stake her to stay alive.
This annoying, blinking flashlight, now I see her, now I don’t.
Loki noticed her hair was combed neatly, looking as fine as nurtured silk cascading down her shoulders. Was she really a princess? That red ribbon in her hair made her look so innocent, if only she wasn’t spattered with red blood.
It was obvious that she was around sixteen year old. The fairy tale twisted demon princess was so young it was impossible to believe that she had been scaring this town for a hundred years. Based on her beauty, it was equally impossible to believe she was a vicious vampire. Seeing her, made Loki want to argue with his eyes. Something about her was beautiful in a wicked way.
S
top it, Loki. You know demon girls are your weakness. She uses her looks to kill the likes of you, the way she did Donnie Cricketkiller. Remember when he said he wouldn’t mind dying in her arms?
Loki had never analyzed a vampire he was about to kill, but he couldn’t help it. Her white dress looked royal, 18
th
or 19
th
century style; it was expensive, canvassing her body like angry ocean waves longing for peace, longing for a shore, and showing her bare slim arms. Her small figure added to her wicked innocence, and led one to believe she’d been a normal girl before she turned into a vampire, maybe centuries ago?
She was also wearing a pendant, the shape of a red, partially bitten, apple.
“Stay put,” Loki whispered to the others, not taking his eyes off the observing princess as she floated down a couple of steps. Finally, he could see the lower part of her face, from her nose down to her chin.
Blood was dripping from the corner of her lips, onto her dress, all the way down to her bare feet, finally landing on the stairs. It trickled down farther to the floor like red mercury. The flickering of the flashlight made everything look like a slow motion movie. Loki felt as if he were in a cheap vampire discothèque, dancing for his life.
Sometimes, Loki thought that monsters themselves weren’t that scary. What emphasized the scare-meter were the added effects; rain, storm, dark, screaming girls, trickling faucets, creaking doors, and certainly a flickering flashlight.
“Stay away, monster!” Dee screamed, flashing a digital cross she had on her phone app at her. “You horrible looking brat!”
“Seriously?” Loki gritted his teeth. “Stupid Minikins,” he wanted to advise her against being rude to the vampire princess, let alone flashing the cross-app.