#c!gem

Pearl looked up at the rotting mansion before her. It stood tall—at least three stories—and looked as if it was sagging forwards from the weight of time. The wood was weak and splintered, and she distantly wondered how it was still standing. The chimney wound up to the sky, and a flash of lighting illuminated the dark, cloudy sky. The skeleton of the house seemed to jump at her in the sudden light change, and it made it seem all that more imposing.

She liked to think herself a brave person, never shying away from a fight or challenge of any sort, but in that moment she wasn’t afraid to admit she was scared. The flashlight in her hand weighed like ten bricks and the rain falling around her seemed even more cold than it did when she stepped in her van to find Sausage.

Sausage.

That’s why she was here. The poor fool had gotten himself mixed into trouble again, and he was missing. Though, it wasn’t hard to find him. He’d left a note explaining how he found a cool, abandoned building in the woods—and if that wasn’t a red flag—and was going to go explore it. She knew, despite all his recklessness, that he wasn’t stupid and would probably be fine. But it had been three days now, and he hadn’t shown back up.

Admittedly, she was worried. So she tracked down the building, packed her van full of things she might need—a med kit, several flashlights and blankets, a tent, batteries, ungodly amounts of snacks and water bottles, and a few weapons of her personal choice for the worse case scenario—and drove off in the direction she knew he’d gone. It wasn’t a long drive, but every second had felt like an hour. Another second Sausage could be hurt, or worse. Another second he could be in danger. Another second he could be—

Boom. A loud clap of thunder had her jumping out of her skin and dragged her back to the present. Right. She was here now, equipped with a dagger at her hip, a flashlight in her hand, and her unwavering determination to find her friend. She took a deep breath and walked to the front porch, wincing and flinching at each creek and groan of the stairs and wood planks beneath her feet.

Now, Pearl was a pretty tall gal, but she felt puny next to the front doors. Two, dark, smooth oak wood doors stood in front of her, engraved with gold and silver—a stark contrast to the rest of the rotting house. Three words rested above the door, painted in gold, curly writing. From left to right, they read:

Villam est Arescet

She took a bit of Latin in high school, and from what she remembered, it meant The House Of… something. The last word was foreign to her. But she shook her head and moved on. Weird, old language or no, it won’t stop her from getting to her friend.

She took a deep breath, and pushed on the door. She sighed in relief as it swung open, unlocked. Stepping through, she was hit with a sudden chill and desire to run. It was… unsettling, and frankly very terrifying, but she pressed on. As soon as she made in last the threshold, the door swung shut behind her in a very cliché, horror movie manor.

She yelped a bit and stumbled forwards. It was unnervingly quiet. No wind, no footsteps of scurrying mice, even the rain was silenced. Her shoes echoed through the empty forum, the sound bouncing around the walls before hitting her in the face. The flashlight did barely anything to illuminate the dark house, the darkness seemed to swallow everything and, if she wasn’t careful, herself included.

Pearl swung her light towards a grand staircase in the middle of the room. It split off into two directions, each winding around a large pillar before stopping on the second floor. To the left was a large, grand statue of what seemed to be a rose. To the right was a large, empty cavern that looked like the void.

‘Probably just a wine cellar,’ she thought. Although the chances of that were slim, she held on tight to it. She’d rather not have to go down there unless she was positive Sausage was down there.

As she pointed her light around, she came to a very sickening and disturbing realization.

Everything was clean.

Normally, that be a good thing—a clean house was a happy house, after all—but in an abandoned mansion, it’s probably the last thing you’d want to see besides a ghoul or monster lurking in the shadows. Because a clean abandoned mansion meant it wasn’t abandoned. And that probably meant she wasn’t alone in the building.

Fear latched it’s cold claws into her brain as she continued to look around. No cobwebs. No dust. The candles were full. The floor was nice, almost new. The wallpaper wasn’t peeling. Everything looked nice and somewhat modern. If she hadn’t been here for Sausage, she would’ve turned tail and ran away by now.

But she couldn’t. Not when her friend was still in danger.

She was about to ascend the grand staircase, when a painful, grief stricken wail tore it’s way out of the wine cellar. It sounded exactly like Sausage. She immediately grabbed the knife in her free hand and—using the limited light of her flashlight—ran down the stairs as fast as she dared.

A weak, orange light started leaking through a corner which she had yet to turn and she flicked her flashlight off. The dagger felt heavy in her hand as she pressed herself against the wall and peeked behind it. Two, red headed people sat at a table. One female, one male. One of them flashed a smile and her blood ran cold.

Vampires.

Suddenly, she was very, very glad her dagger was silver. She turned back behind the wall and covered her mouth to stifle a gasp. Panic and anxiety flooded through her, but she couldn’t back out now. Her friend’s life was on the line, and if she didn’t act fast something was bound to happen.

So, pushing away her fears, she gripped the knife and jumped out, brandishing her weapon close to the monsters.

“Let go of my friend, you filthy bloodsucking—“

She cut herself off as she took in the scene. The two vampires hadn’t acknowledged her at all, and were arguing over… a card game? Sausage sat between them, snickering undoubtedly over their bickering. All at once, they turned to her, their argument forgotten.

Then Sausage smiled, got up from his chair, and ran to her, pulling her into a hug. “Pearl!” he cried happily. “So nice of you to join us!”

She blinked, taking in the situation before laughing. “I should’ve known you weren’t in any danger, you silly goose,” she said, hugging him back, careful of the dagger in her hand.

“Why would I be I any danger? Fwhip and Gem are very nice!” he laughed, letting her go and motioning to the two at the table.

The male—Fwhip, most likely—stood, put his hands on his hips, and pouted a bit, his fangs poking out. “Hey! We are very scary and intimidating vampires, thank you very much!”

The woman—Gem—rolled her eyes. “Who suggested we played Go Fish?”

Fwhip dramatically wilted and sat back down, the pout still resting on his lips. “It’s a fun game,” he mumbled, crossing his arms and slumping back into the chair.

Pearl cracked a smile. Leave it to Sausage to befriend a pair of vampires in the middle of the woods. “Care to deal me in the next round?”

Sausage beamed. “We just started, I’ll deal you in right now!”

He dragged her over to a chair and sat her down, between Gem and himself. He collected all the cards, shuffled them back into the deck, and dealt them out to the members for the table. Three games later, she nudged him.

“Sausage,” she whispered. “We ought to get going home. You’ve been gone for three days, and Bubbles is worried sick.”

Her friend suddenly stood up. “Oh my god, Bubbles! My girl! We need to get home, now!”

Fwhip raised an eyebrow. “Bubbles? Who’s that?”

He turned to the vampire as he dragged Pearl to the staircase out. “My dog! She’s probably worried sick for me! I’ll be back some day, don’t worry!”

With that, he was running up and out the door, into the rain and into the van. Pearl rushed to to driver’s side and he hopped in the passenger’s. They drove in silence for a while, Sausage’s foot tapping anxiously the whole time.

Pearl decided to break it. “Y’know,” she began, turning to him with a sly smile. “Next time you run off into the woods to hang out with your vampire friends, let me know.”

They shared a laugh, relieving some of Sausage’s worries. “I’ll do you one better, Pearl! I’ll invite you!”