BLOODLUST

PROPHECY

The room was mostly soaked in darkness. The only light shone with brilliance from the black candle at the front of the room in which a dozen silhouetted figures stood as still as statues. They all faced the same way, not moving. A feminine figure slowly moved through the icy – stillness of the young people around the room. As she made her way forwards two more black candles were lit, showing a black alter at the front, stained over the years with the blood of the innocent. Suddenly her voice rang out like a big brass bell:

“So mote it be, ‘till the end of all days, where the good and evil shall be separated. Evil shall walk the earth on two legs. The Black – Man sits tall and proud on his fiery throne, sceptre held high, laughing at the destruction his servants have caused. The four skull riders glide through the air, whilst Death swings his scythe high over his head, claiming the souls of the good and innocent. The Thirteenth pentagram shall bring about the Apocalypse and at this time the innocent devils shall help to bring the world as we know it in to destruction. Then, My brothers and sisters shall be honoured and will walk the earth as vampyres in the world they called….The New Hell!”

The voice stopped. The candles went out in a rush of ghostly wind. When they re-lighted a new figure had appeared. It looked like a bundle at first; just lying on the altar, but then the small pink thing opened its mouth and squealed in delight at the new toy it had found. A chubby pink hand clutched tightly at a cold, sharp object. A human bone. The crowd began to hum and chant as one. The baby was placed on a mesh table with a huge, grey bowl underneath. The weird contraption was then placed upon the altar. The infant cried as the fast knife cut its chubby hands, but was soon silenced by the boulder that crushed its feeble body into a bloody pulp. Drip. Drip. Drip. The blood flowed fast and easily and the bowl collected the blood of the innocent. The container was then passed around the room and the crowd drank down their grotesque cocktail of gore. The last thing the darkness heard were, “You shall be born again my child.”

DAI

Thaila James kept her eyes on the blue haired girl in front of her. She followed, pushing her way through the thickening crowd that usually congregated in Main Street.

Beth was Thaila’s best friend; she was tall and lithe with long blue hair. Thaila was more or less the same but with short, purple hair. People had often thought they were sisters. Thaila was about five foot and six inches high and exceptionally strong. She could handle anything and never seemed to get stressed out. If something did provoke her temper, then she was usually very quick to fly off the handle and lose her cool, but most of the time she was so laid back she was nearly horizontal! She was very slim and would have almost been shapeless if it wasn’t for her large, protruding hips. Thaila had always hated her hips, she said they made her look like her pockets were full of sweets. Beth secretly wished that she was as slender as her. At the moment, black contact lenses hid her green eyes from view and made themselves look twice as big as they should.

Beth on the other hand, was quite short, coming in at only five foot. This didn’t matter too much as she made up for it by wearing really big platform boots. Her body was really curvy which gave her the highly desirable hourglass figure. Although both girls were pretty good looking their alternative style was scare in Drudgeville and were seen as freaks rather than pretty. This meant that they had no friends other than each other and rarely had long term boyfriends. Unlike Thaila, Beth didn’t really agree with fighting. She always had something to complain about, but whenever Thaila pointed this out, she always retorted ‘Well it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t complain!’. Her Blue eyes had taken on white contact lenses, making her look like some kind of zombie.

Although they didn’t like to be categorised, if it had to be done then they would have been classed as ‘Goths’. In fact it would be stamped across their heads in bright red ink, although black ink would be more appropriate. They were so gothic that they could set off airport metal detectors from ten feet away with all their jewellery.

“Hey Beth, wait up will ya?” Thaila called out over the buzz of noise. It wasn’t a deafening noise, but the noise of hundreds of conversations all mingling together, a typical Saturday afternoon. She was being pushed and tossed all over in the sea of shoppers. There were all sorts of people, mostly local ‘Drudgevillians’, but also people from the nearby towns such as Payneton and Gibberhurst. There were all manners of shapes, sizes, colours and ages. Most people were doing their weekly shop, traipsing up and down the paved street.

A group of teens hung round ‘The Expresso Pump’, some were even seen (though they tried hard not to be) sneaking in and out of Drudgeville Library and museum, studying for exams, assignments and essays. Drudgeville was a small town, situated exactly in the middle of nowhere, a cosy distance in between the towns of Payneton and Gibberhurst and surrounded by more than its fair share of rolling green countryside. Drudgeville was always busy at the weekends, due to having lots of good quality shops in a small area. There was ‘The Gateway’ nightclub; ‘The Scarlet Moon’ Pub for weeknight entertainment, and rumours had spread that the construction at the end of Main Street was soon to be a new club. Main Street also had a ‘Mini Mall’, Greg’s Hardware store, ‘The ink Blot’ book and stationary store and a small market area which was open most days of the week. There also a small corner shop where Horton Street met with Trotter lane. It was run by a family of Turkish people, which seems to be one of the essential unwritten laws of corner shops.

The duo were heading towards Thaila’s house. They were going to collect her ‘Sleep out’ gear so she could stop at Beth’s that night. They crossed the road and continued down Main Street. Eventually Thaila caught up with Beth, but neither of them spoke. There wasn’t really much to talk about and it was much too hard to concentrate on a conversation with all the hustle and bustle of energy around them. They walked along, shoulder to shoulder, dodging the oncoming traffic of people.

Suddenly Thaila found herself face down on the cold, hard pavement. She had been walking along when a boy of about nineteen had smacked into her and knocked her to the ground. She recovered rapidly and proceeded to pick herself up, to see the guy stood looking at her. Thaila was in shock, she wasn’t sure what to say or what to do, she just stared back at him and expected him to at least apologise. If he hadn’t just knocked her over she would have thought he was a pretty nice looking guy. He had dyed, spiky red hair and matching goatee and was a little bit bigger than her. He wore a faded red t-shirt, desert camouflage pants tucked into huge army boots and a long, green trench coat. He had one brown eye and one blue one, a sign of intelligence in animals, both were fixed on her. Thaila waited for an apology, Beth stood there, not sure if what she had just witnessed had really happened, and not at all sure what to do about it.

“Watch where you’re going asshole!” Thaila spat, staring at his motionless face. She was on her feet and in fighting stance. Beth instantly knew that this was going to be one sorry little boy after wrecking Thaila James’ day. The boy just stood there, looking at her, not moving, just looking at her. His face was like a mask, showing no emotion, a blank canvas. The wind blew and time stood still. Thaila’s face was covered slightly by a veil of funky purple hair. The boys’ trench coat blew out behind him like a pair of wings on a giant bat, his spiked hair swayed backwards in the wind. Beth shivered, it was getting cold and the sky was greying. Then a noise. His voice, soft and husky with a dangerous tinge to it. Threatening but sexy:

“Prepare yourself,” he started walking backward, mismatched eyes still trained on Thaila, “The end is near!” He turned his back on the and began to walk away; “They are coming!” he called out over his shoulder. He melted into the crowd and vanished into the masses of people, fighting against each other in a desperate struggle to find shelter from the wind and rain, which promised to arrive shortly. Their minds on shopping and what they would wear to go out that night, thinking about themselves only. “Oh my God you FREAK!” Beth hollered into the crowd, hoping there was a slight chance that the boy had heard her. In fact she secretly wished he would come back so she could give him a piece of her mind. She helped Thaila brush her self off and then they set off walking in silence again, picking up the pace as to avoid the rain when it decided to call by.

Two blocks later they reached Thaila’s house. “Mom, Dad? I’m staying at Beth’s tonight!” She called upstairs whilst pulling her bag off the table; it was black and covered in patches and badges. Thaila ran upstairs, closely followed by Beth, who overtook her and pulled the loft ladders down to the floor. They climbed the ladders and Thaila began to pack her clothes, pyjamas and her new ‘Murder Dog’ Cd. After throwing her toothbrush and make up in the bag she zipped it up. “You forgot the kitchen sink,” Beth said sarcastically. She was sat quite comfortably on the edge of Thaila’s bed. Thaila made no remark as she switched on the CD player, music blared out from the last disk, which she had left in. It was the pairs all time favourite band, ‘Boiler Room’. The girls often dreamt what it would be like to be the front – woman of the band: Drusilla. She was their idol, she was pretty and independent with a bad attitude, and most importantly to them, she was a Goth. The girls would have given anything to see them in concert, but they’re gigs were hardly ever advertised. Beth sat admiring the new décor, only half listening to ‘Suicide’.

Thaila had recently had her room painted black and cream. The smell of paint was still lingering in the air. The headboard, curtain rail and candlesticks (which were attached to the walls) were all cast iron. The curtains were charcoal and so was the ceiling, carpet and bed covers. The rug and the door were a mixture of blacks, and the rest of the room was cream. It was nice. It had a kind of modern Gothic touch to it. When Beth dragged her thoughts back to this world, Thaila was stood in front of her in a new outfit; it was a lot more like Beth’s. Lots of black eyeliner, poker straight hair, a spiked dog collar and studded wristband. She wore a t-shirt (in black of course), a very short tartan mini skirt with a studded belt, fishnet tights – in electric blue for a change – and a pair of old, scuffed, knee high Doc Martins with skull patches on them. Beth wore similar accessories and make up, but her clothes consisted of a black, long sleeved, slit neck lace top, and a skirt which was the colour of congealed blood. On her head she wore a band decorated with skulls.

They both decided that it was time to go, but when they got halfway down the stairs Thaila’s dad appeared, “Your not going out like that missy” he started towards her but she carried on walking down the stairs, “I SAID YOUR NOT GOING OUT LIKE THAT!” he said, raising his voice to what he must have thought to have been an authoritive level. Thaila stifled a yawn and carried on out of the front door, calling over her shoulder as she went “Watch me!” She shut the door quietly and calmly, and walked down the garden path with Beth close behind her. Beth wondered what Thaila’s parents’ problem was. As a child she had been banned from watching any horror movies or believing in anything that was clearly imaginary. Thaila and Beth had been best friends since they met in reception class at the age of five. Beth could clearly remember Thaila’s parents punishing her for having an imaginary friend called ‘Witchy’. Thaila’s parents had gone through the roof thinking that their daughter was ‘weird’ and that she was getting bad influences. Beth later found out that they even tried to blame her. But the worst day of all was when Thaila turned into a Goth. Her parents were in despair, they tried putting her in therapy, they tried anti – depressants, the tried punishing it out of her. But Thaila was a tough nut to crack and she persisted with her Gothic phase. Her parents hated her for it, Beth really couldn’t see why they were so scared for her, Beth’s dad was a vicar and he didn’t mind his beloved daughter being a ‘Goth’. But then again people fear things they don’t understand; obviously Thaila’s parents were those type of people.

Ten minutes later they were in the suburban area of Drudgeville. Neat little whitewashed houses stood in neat little rows with expensive gardens and drives. Number ten. Beth’s house. They walked into the cosy peach coloured hall and down some stairs leading into the basement. At the bottom of the stairs stood a large green wooden door, it was arched shaped with iron bars and a large skull and crossbones painted at eye level upon its face. Beth opened the door and went in.

The room had a black and white chequered floor. The wallpaper was blood red, in the middle of the right wall was an exquisite Georgian style four poster bed with dark blue velvet covers and the curtains, which draped around the bed, were of the same colour. There was dark mahogany furniture around the bedroom, a wardrobe, two bedside tables and a large chest of drawers. All of the furniture was topped off with a spiky design. The walls were adorned with candles and posters. In the centre of the far wall was a glass topped computer desk with a large computer set in the centre. A pair of skull shaped candles, a human looking bone and a sheep skull were also adorning the table. In a glass cabinet next to the computer was a large looking albino snake called Rasputina. Behind the computer desk there was a life-size poster of ‘Boiler room’.

Thaila put her bag upon the bed. They both got on the bed and propped up the pillows against the headboard, switching on the television with the remote control. The night passed quite quickly after watching TV and listening to music. They played some games, had a pillow fight and Beth let Thaila play with Rasputina while she cleaned out her tank. They eventually fell asleep listening to MTV2.

N N N N N N N N

It was late at night. In fact it was early in the morning. Beth woke up. Thaila was still asleep on the other size of the king-size bed. It was cold and lonely in the depth of the dark night. In the distance she could hear an owl hooting, a dog barking. Outside the wind blew, something rustled near the window. Beth felt uneasy; as if she were being watched. She slid out of bed and put her red fluffy dressing gown on over her black satin pyjamas. Creeping silently across the floor, she made her way across the room towards the window, being careful not to wake Thaila. On her way she picked up the chair from in front of the computer desk and took it over with her. When she reached the window she put the chair on the floor underneath it, and sweeping the aqua hair out of her face, clambered up on to it.

She looked out of the basement window, the streak of light coming from the street lamp was frightening against the shadows, but darker shadows were moving just outside its warm, safe glow. Her face was just above ground level so it was hard for her to see much outside. Beth had nearly given up looking out of the window and trying to see where the sound is coming from and what the noise was that had woken her from her peaceful sleep, when a tall brown haired woman came into the glare of the street lamp. The light seemed to fade out for a split second as she stepped into its glow.

Beth immediately recognised where ‘she’ was from. ‘She’, ‘It’, was one of ‘Them’. Thaila and Beth had noticed them around town. They dressed funny (and that was a rich remark coming from a pair of Goths!) and were usually teenagers or adults in their early twenties. There wasn’t anything amazingly different about them, but there was something there, something that made them stand out, something Beth couldn’t put her finger on. The woman was wearing a ragged top with ripped lace sleeves, a pair of grey PVC hot pants and green tights with lots of big holes in them. After she appeared another five followed, making a group of six. Three girls and three boys. They all stood across the other side of the street and they all wore clothes that were equally as mismatched as the first woman. They stood for a while, talking quietly under the street lamp. Then the woman turned and pointed straight at Beth’s house. Beth felt scared; somehow they all seemed to be looking directly at her, feeling sick with fear she drew away from the window. As she turned away blinking, the crowd seemed to disperse into the night’s darkness. She knew it was absurd, they couldn’t possibly have seen her staring at them, it was dark and they had been a fair distance away from the tiny window. What was she so scared of? Just because someone pointed at her house it didn’t mean they were planning a terrorist attack on her or anything. She tried to convince herself that it was something silly like they were admiring the garden. But she knew that people outside her house that early in the morning had far from good intentions.

The next morning Beth told herself that it was no more than a bad dream brought on by too much candy the night before. She decided not to tell Thaila as she knew it would have sounded quite stupid, and Thaila would have thought she had been sleepwalking or something. After breakfast Beth’s mother knocked at the basement door and asked the girls if they would get dressed and go to the library for her.

EYEBALLS AND HANGING MAN

It was a hot, breezeless morning. The couple were walking down a now empty main street on a quiet Sunday morning. The shops and stores were all deserted. Beth happily chatted away while her friend kicked at an empty coke can. “Its so quiet! Like a ghost town or something!” Beth chattered, “Yeah, the end of the world.” Thaila drawled. They walked past the rows of stores and up the length of Main Street and up to the Library at the end. It was a cold and unwelcoming place, built of grey stone with lots of stones and steps for decoration. They entered the cool shade of the building and searched amongst the pine bookshelves and tiled floor for the reception desk. It was eventually found in the centre of the building.

The Librarian was just as cold as the Library itself, she resembled a horse and her hair was twisted into a grey knot at the base of her neck. As Beth handed the book over the woman glared icily before her eyes widened and her fingers stiffened on the edges of the book she had opened. She looked like she was going to die, her lips pursed and her nostrils flared as if she was unsuccessfully trying to breathe fire. “I suppose this is your idea of a joke you little sicko’s!” She screeched angrily and tipped the book over. Two large spiders toppled out onto the desk.

A scream rang out; it was from the other side of the library. The girls walked away muttering apologies and excuses, partly because they wanted to escape the Librarian and the mysterious spiders. The main reason was that their curiosity had gotten the better of them, they wanted to find out who had screamed and why. In the main hall blood dripped onto the tiles. A blonde woman in a grey trouser suit had fainted and now lay on a crumpled heap of the floor. The blood did not come from her.

The blood came from the mans limp body that was suspended from the ceiling by a razor wire noose, blood oozed from the slices in his neck and there was a large star carved into his pitiful face. The blood hit the floor with a soft, wet plop. The man’s face was badly mutilated, so bad infact that he was beyond recognition. The star on his face was a five pointed one, a pentagram; his eyes were pure red, filled up with blood. Beth and Thaila looked up in horror and disgust. The mans soft flesh was no match for the pointed, sharp metal around his neck. They watched in silence as the mans body fell to the floor in two separate pieces, the head first, went one way and rolled, then the limp body fell and landed not far from the head. The head had split open when it fell, then it rolled towards the girls to release a cold gooey, grey liquid onto Thaila’s foot.

They were scared and sickened. A door opened. Beth looked up quick enough to catch a glimpse of red spiky hair and a long trench coat. “That’s it, he’s done something!” Beth thought to herself, she grabbed Thaila’s hand and dragged her after him. Beth had an uneasy feeling about the boy who had knocked Thaila over the previous day. It was hard to explain, it was not fear, nor was it dislike but it made her feel uneasy all the same.

N N N N N N N N

A twist here, a turn there. They were hot on his trail. He knew they were following him but he just couldn’t brush them off, no matter which way he turned, they seemed to be there. He was slightly scared of them and the knowledge he had of them, but he knew they needed help, he just didn’t want it to be now. He ran his hand through his soft red spikes as he turned down an alley. A dead end. He would have to face them. They would want to know what he had seen in the library, and he decided to give them the answers that they sought.

N N N N N N N N

Thaila and Beth had cornered the guy in an alley and catapulted questions at him. His name was Dai; he was nineteen years and two months old. He had seen the man in the library and ran in case the police had thought it had been him, seeing that there had been no one else in the building except the girls and the Librarian, all of whom were accounted for. They were definitely shocked when he told them a lot more than what he had bargained for. He had told them what he knew, about the vampyres, (The Fishbone Clan). He told them about how to identify them other than by their weird clothes. The tattoo of the fish bones on their right wrist. What they believed in, about the apocalypse. The apocalypse shall commence when the thirteenth pentagram is viewed by the innocent devils. How he presumed that the innocent devils were infact the girls themselves. If his prediction was right then he would have to protect the girls with his life. He had ran because he wasn’t prepared to face them, but it had come down to now or never.

Once the girls had finally left, he took a small silver mobile phone out of his inside pocket and pressed in a few numbers. “Hiya Aider? Yep, its me Dai……uh huh....I found them…..”The innocent”…..yep….they have seen the first one……what? Yeah its two girls….pretty hot like….pair of Goths…..well can you wait until later for a full description….jeez I didn’t stand taking pictures or anything!...Looks like we will have to keep a close eye on them, the Fishbones are going to be after them VERY soon……Oh…right….6.30?.Oh….ok then….See ya later dude!”

N N N N N N N N

Beth and Thaila decided, after all that Dai had told them, that they could trust him. Even if he was just making everything up at least it would bring some interest to their otherwise boringly normal lives. On the way back to Beth’s they had a long discussion about everything he had said, Beth told Thaila about what she thought she had seen during the early hours of that same morning. Thaila decided that if Dai could come up with proof then he was trustworthy. Beth had asked him if he wanted to come back to her house, because Thaila had to get her things together and take them home. It had seemed like a good idea as Thaila clearly had the hots for him. But he had politely declined the offer because he was about to go and meet someone.

They had left him in the alley and were out off sight in a few moments. They were soon entering Beth’s house. The kitchen door framed Beth’s dad like a miserable portrait. He sat at the black marble breakfast bar with a cup of tea grasped in white, shaky hands. He had removed his dog collar and vicars garments and sat in his everyday clothes. “What’s up dad? You ok?” Beth said as she walked through to the kitchen. He looked traumatised as he told them about his day.

He told them how it began as a normal day, he had gone to church to perform Sunday mass and pay a visit to Mrs Brown, an elderly old lady who lived by herself. Halfway through the sermon when a ‘psycho’ stood up and pulled a machete out of his coat. He had been wearing a long coat, a wide brimmed hat and had long hair and a beard. The man in the front pew hadn’t noticed what was going on behind him until it was way too late and the flat side of the machete had hit him hard across the back of his head. It was terrible, the psycho had hit him so hard that his eyeballs had actually popped straight out of his head and landed near the alter. The veins that connected the eyeballs to the skull had been severed on impact due to the sheer strength of the blow. The back of his skull had shattered. The psycho had just turned and fled. Everyone was panic stricken. By the time the police and an ambulance had arrived, people were running out of the church, screaming and falling over each other to get out. Beth’s dad had to give a witness statement and a list of all the people who had been at the sermon. Mrs Appleton had been admitted to hospital, recovering from a severe panic attack which was a result of the incident. Beth’s dad had made a mental note to go and visit her.

Beth felt physically ill. How could someone do that? In the house of God too. She didn’t actually believe in God, but people respected the church and the fact that everyone went there to worship and feel safe. Then some weirdo does something like that and no one will want to go there again. Beth got a evil vision in her head and tried to stifle a giggle ‘what if the couldn’t find his eyeballs? Or worse still what if they found one floating in the wine?’ Thaila nudged Beth to try and stop her from laughing. She knew when Beth got the giggles she found it hard to stop. Mr Taylor didn’t notice, in fact he seemed in a trance like state. He got up slowly when he heard his wife calling him softly from the front room. He seemed to have aged since Beth had saw him in the morning, and he walked at a snail's pace out of the room with his eyes downcast.

“So what was so incredibly funny?” Thaila enquired “Nothing” sighed Beth There wasn’t actually anything funny about the situation, even if there did happen to be a gore covered eye staring up out of the wine glass next time a parish member (probably a little old lady) came to drink from it. There was nothing to laugh about either, what had happened was quite atrocious, two murders on the same day and roughly the same time. Well, no one was certain that the first incident had been murder, it may have been suicide, but murder just sounded better. There was a sick psycho on the loose. As the girls walked down the stairs they agreed that it would be a good idea not to tell anybody else about what had happened in the library. Neither of them wanted to speak to the police.

Beth walked into her room followed closely by her friend. There was dirty clothes on the floor and clean ironed clothes on the bed. A heap of yellowish coils lay on the pillow, when they were awake they were known as Rasputina. Thaila sat idly on the bed while Beth flitted around the room, placing clothes here, putting Rasputina there, re-arranging furniture and picking up last nights rubbish. A note. Thaila felt nosey so she picked it up and saw that it was written on parchment and felt rough to touch. This intrigued her so she carefully began to open it. The note smelled of lavender, the hand writing was neat and loopy and written in dark red ink. It read:

“Meet today@ 3.30pm

Bring Thaila,

I’ll be @ The Gateway Club entrance”

“Hey Beth! Dai’s left a note……on your bed?!” she waved the note in the air and read it out aloud. “How did he get into my room?” Thaila didn’t know but she wanted to meet him anyways. They decided to freshen up and have something to eat before they met him. Thaila made them a batch of her special fried egg sandwiches and they set off.

N N N N N N N N

The Gateway club was the best club in town. It had a lounge and separate dance hall. The lounge was very posh looking, all wooden floors and mirror tiled walls. Zebra printed ‘courting seats’ lay scattered about the room all paired up with glass tables. Outside there were two misshapen iron gates, one smaller than the other, with strobe lights that made the club stand out in the dull street.

LEARINING ABOUT THE FISHBONE CLAN

He stood outside. Thaila’s heart fluttered and skipped a beat. He was gorgeous. His coat trailed out behind him and his bright red hair was visible from a great distance. He wore desert camouflage pants, a black top with a skull print on it and a six inched spiked dog collar. Thaila looked like she did on any other boring day; in fact she was wearing exactly what she had worn yesterday. What was the point in making an effort? It was Sunday, a day of rest! Beth – as always – looked so Gothic. She wore a ripped black denim skirt with a diamante spider’s web near the bottom. Thaila also noticed that she had on a pair of Doc Martins similar too hers. She also wore a studded collar and matching wristband as well as other numerous pieces of jewellery, and a pair of black and fluorescent pink striped pop socks. Thaila began to wish she had made more of an effort. This thought ran through her head over and over and …. SMACK!

De’ja vu! The cold, hard pavement felt familiar against Thaila’s face yet again. “Why is everyone so obsessed with knocking me over? Grrrr!” She hollered as she rolled on to her back; they now stood over her looking down: Beth, Dai and a handsome but unfamiliar face. A brown eyed, baby faced boy had joined them. He looked similar to Dai, he wore the same clothes as Dai, they could have been brothers. His hair was dyed pine green and was somehow held into long thin spikes. Each green spike must have measured at least sixteen centimetres.

Dai leaned towards Thaila, “Are you ok?” he asked, she turned her head and replied, “Yeah, a little fuzzy, who the hell was that?” “That was Tapanga, she’s a Fishbone. This is my friend Aider, he’s here to help out, Aider this is Beth and Thaila,” he said turning to his friend, the girl who had knocked Thaila down was now a black spot in the distance. “Yo, Wazzup?” Aider said to both the girls, but they all noticed that he was really looking at Beth when he said it. They were all also aware that Dai was staring dreamily at Thaila. “We better get moving,” Aider interrupted, “Dai and me are gonna show ya the existing members of the Fishbone clan.” His voice was quiet and deep, almost angelic, but it had a devilish tone to it. His skin was a beautiful golden-brown, he looked almost foreign. Dai looked at Thaila a moment longer than necessary, she felt her skin glow red, he turned and started walking at a steady pace, closely followed by Aider. Beth and Thaila followed up behind, throwing each other nervous glances.

They walked for a few seconds until they were in the centre of Main Street, the shop nearest to where they stood was derelict. It was boarded up, all but a small window on the second floor which glared down like an accusing eye. The boys led them over to a small secluded door and shoved them inside hurriedly. After two minutes of darkness silence and walking, they reached the second floor with its eye like window. Aider reached the glassless hole first. He sat down, resting his back against the left side; Dai leaned against is right side while the girls sat on the ledge in the middle of the window.

After what seemed like an eternity Aider spoke, “We know who the Fishbones are and of their plans because we used to be Junior Fishbones” “What do you mean, Junior Fishbones?” Thaila said, she felt startled, they were with the enemy, ‘What if this was a trap?’ she thought, ‘What if a dozen of those people jumped out of the shadows and tried to slit their throats?’ “Junior Fishbones are like part of the clan, but not in as deep, they do not have very important roles, like beginners.” Dai explained to them, “We left and betrayed them,” he continued, “Half of them were killed before we joined, some ran away like us, but the eleven that were recruited at the same time as us are still alive.” At this point Aider continued, “They always gather in the town centre, keeping an eye out for potential new recruits, that’s why we are here now.” His voice had almost dropped to a whisper; his eyes had taken on a sorrowful look, “When they join they are brainwashed and their families are killed right in front of their eyes, they always make it look like a terrible accident so that the police don’t bother too much. But me and Dai were strong minded, we had no family, we weren’t afraid”

N N N N N N N N

7th May – A broken Deserted Factory Lucias moved through the factory without fear, followed closely by the eleven new recruits to add to himself and his mistress. The factory was dead; it was the perfect home for the clan. It had been swallowed up years before when the grounds of Drudgeville had opened up and consumed the majority of the downtown area; hundreds had been killed in the earthquake. The public had no idea of what really cause the so called ‘natural disaster’, Lucias knew better. The elder ones of the Fishbone clan, many years ago, tried to bring about the Apocalypse, only to fail and create a major earthquake that had destroyed the once beautiful village of Drudgeville.

The factory was one of many that had been submerged underground. It was dusty and still had machinery in it, some of which had been used in the past to punish disobedient clan members. Lucias led the eleven shivery teens past cracked walls, broken ovens, blood stained conveyor belts, graffiti laden pieces of metal and other numerous, unidentifiable pieces of machinery. A small animal suddenly scurried and slithered across the floor. It was a mutated lizard, with only two front legs. It ran towards the group making one of the girls screech in disgust. Its small body crunched and bones shattered as Lucias brought his foot down, leaving it as a pile of blue twitching goo on the floor. “A few minor……problems, with radiation” he sneered. A few faces in the group scrunched up with repulsion, some turned a bit green whilst others just laughed nervously. Walking through into a dimly lit room they could see that the walls were heavy with faded graffiti. A woman in her twenties stood in the centre of the chamber. She was tall, with brown hair and piercing hazel eyes. Sallow, pale skin was stretched over a thin, bony face with high cheekbones and a long nose. Her brown hair framed her face with tight curls. A pair of black rimmed glasses perched themselves on the end of her nose. She looked thin, frail, as if the blood had been drained from her body. But her weak looks were deceiving as, grabbing each person by the wrist and dragging him or her into a line, she introduced herself as Yalheya Notserp, the leader of the Fishbone clan.

Then it was time for the teens to introduce themselves, before a brief speech about why they were here. First was the girl who had been disgusted by the lizard thing, she was a philipino girl of seventeen called Tapanga. She was a portrait of true beauty. She looked like a super model, having long silky hair, full of body and shine, which fell in long delicate curves to her hips. Her body was extremely curvy and well proportioned; her eyes were big and brown with long black lashes. After she had introduced herself, her full, highly glossed lips returned into a sexy pout. Lucias liked her; she would indeed prove useful for luring young men into their lair.

After Tapanga, there was a pair of albino’s, they were brother and sister, twins. They were both around the same height and they both wore pure white clothes, which made them look like ghostly apparitions. The boy, Rasheen, was thin and weedy; his sister - Nuala – was quite plump. Both had pure white hair and milky white skin with pale freckles dotted about their faces. There eyes were a haunting pink colour. Both spoke in shy, quiet voices when introducing themselves. Next was a girl, a sixteen year old red head, Nadja. There was a tall dark skinned boy, Tyrine. A baby faced boy of fourteen, with shoulder length dyed green hair and big brown eyes, his name was Aider and his best friend, a smart assed, sly boy of the same age with dyed red hair, Dai. The last girl in the group was Tia, a skinny blonde. Her hair was cut into a bob; she was muscly and physically fit. There were only three members left now, an eighteen year old boy with brown spiked hair and rugged looks. A fifteen year old boy with hair that hanged down like curtains over eyes which stood out like a frogs. He wore thick glasses which looked like milk bottle bottoms. The last person in the group was a tall boy with blonde spiked hair; he was quite chubby looking too. These members were Draven, Devon and Mikhail.

Yalheya stepped forward and Lucias moved menacingly backwards into the shadows. “You have been brought here today because you are being given an opportunity. Over the past few weeks, Lucias, my faithful servant, has been keeping an eye on you, you have been selected to join the Fishbone clan. An ancient clan of vampyres. I have already given you too much information, so if you refuse to join, you will be killed…and questions?” No one moved or spoke. “So no one refuses to join?” Silence. “Good…Lucias take them to the chamber!” Lucias stepped out from the shadows, and started to lead the crowd towards the main chamber, where the slaughter would begin.

SLAP! CRUNCH! WHOOSH! THUD! FLOP! The kids stood pale, shaking and crying. It was part of the entering ritual, the killing of the recruit’s families. Twenty five people were killed, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters… Their screams and cries of pain would haunt the memories of the teens for the rest of their lives.

PANTHERINE

An inhuman growl sliced through the air. A half human, half panther beast hung from one of the two crosses in the middle of the room. On the other cross, next to the were – panther, hung his best friend, the boy with the red hair, Dai. Both were struggling against the thick, rough ropes that bound them. They were tied to the massive wooden crosses, ready to be crucified. It was in early hours of the morning that Aider’s still sleeping figure had begun to twist and ripple with pain, his clothes ripped and his muscles grew. His skin began to prickle and form soft black fur. He had slowly changed in to Pantherine. Dai had been punished too; he was a friend of the beast after all. Two figures moved towards them, they were cloaked in heavy black cloaks. They were Yalheya and Lucias. They moved towards the doomed pair, sacrificial dagger held high. The beast that had once been Aider began to flex it huge muscles, began to struggle and pull at its restraints with all his might. The thick ropes began to loosen and eventually gave way with a quick snap under the immense pressure from the huge beast. Pantherine was free! Without hesitation the gargantuan monster moved towards Dai and ripped the ropes from his arms and legs. Throwing his friend over his shoulder he kicked the new recruits out of the way and ran. He ran towards the far wall, but instead of hitting it and rebounding, he tore right through it, leaving a big monster shaped hole that led out into the night. Lucias made to chase them, ready to follow and kill like the faithful servant he was, but Yalheya put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. “Leave them; they will pay the price later!”

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A shiver ran through both Beth and Thaila. Dai threw a stone into the corner, Aider flexed his hands. “So that’s them down there?” Thaila asked “Yeah. The philipino is Tapanga, the albinos are Rasheen and Nuala, the ginger is Nadja, the black dude is Tyrine, the other girl - the blonde - is Tia, Aider fancied her!” “I did not!” he protested “Yeah right! Anyways the guy with the brown hair is Draven, the one with black hair and glasses is Devon and the flabby git down there is Mikhail!” It wasn’t a very nice thing to say but it was certainly true, Mikhail was the size of a baby whale, his skin was very pink and chubby, his blonde hair was combed over in to a Hitler style quiff. He resembled an over grown cabbage patch kid.

When Beth and Thaila looked up, Dai and Aider were getting ready to go. “Hey wait up! Where are you two going?” Beth said a little louder that necessary, this was a mistake, she realised, as all of the vampyre worshippers standing below turned their attention to the window, where five adolescents had stood watching only minutes earlier. “Run, now!” Aider ran forwards whilst Dai grabbed both girls and dragged them down the dark stairs and out of the back door. They ran and ran, Dai dragging Beth and Thaila behind him as they went.

Eventually they came to a halt outside a familiar building with misshapen gates and strobe lights that cut through the dull light of the street. “We’re never going to get into there; we have no money for a start.” Beth said, even though she really wanted to go in. “It’s ok, watch this…” Aider whispered and held them both back. Dai had walked up to the bouncer who stood by the gates and was now whispering something in his ear, and then he turned round and beckoned to the other three. They all walked inside, Dai turned round and patted the bouncer on the back before following the others in the lounge of the Gateway club.

THE GATEWAY CLUB

The club was jam – packed with people. Thaila was surprised that the club was even open on a Sunday, she figured it must be some sort of annual holiday or something. Dai lead the girls across the highly polished floor while Aider fetched some drinks. Thaila glanced at the mirror tiled walls every now and then to make sure her hair was still in place. Dai lead them through the masses of squirming bodies; it appeared that all sorts of people had gathered at the Gateway club. There where plenty of metal heads, a few Chavs stood shiftily by the bar, then there were nerds and jocks and ‘The popular people’, Thaila and Beth were the only ‘true’ Goths in Drudgeville. There seemed to be plenty of skater kids and the like but only Thaila and Beth were completely passionate about standing out from the crowd and constantly showed their love for all things gothic and strange.

Dai lead them to a glass and chrome table in front of a zebra print ‘Queen Anne’ style courting seat. He threw himself down onto one of the soft, comfortable settees, Thaila sat next to him and Beth next to her; Aider soon appeared with four cokes. Thaila and Dai began to talk quietly. Beth picked her drink up and began to do what she did best – Talking. She asked Aider about Pantherine and the Fishbone clan and why they needed protection of himself and Dai. After a short while Dai and Thaila left them and went to the other side of the room where they disappeared through two big, wooden, double doors. On the other side lay a huge dance floor and a stage for a live band. Once the doors had closed, the loud music which had blasted out when the had entered, disappeared with Dai and Thaila.

“So” Beth began, “Are you going to answer my questions then?” “What questions?” Aider replied, both playfully and innocently. The he started his story anyways.

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On the 30th of October, Mary Anne Melrose went into labour. She lived in a small dirty house in the middle of nowhere. She lived alone, and that was the best way. On the 31st of October, the pretty blonde haired woman died giving birth to her first child. A boy, Adrian. That night as the house was cloaked in shadow, the small child lay screaming next to the body of his mother. No one was around, no one heard, no one cared.

Samhain. Halloween. The feast of the dead. Some say it is the only night of the year that the ghosts and ghouls and witches can walk the earth unnoticed. Others say that the monsters got bored with all the commercialism and have the night off instead. In the nearby towns of Payneton, Drudgeville and Gibberhurst, children were trick or treating. People held parties, Pagans danced around a fire and an ancient group of Vampyre worshippers sat at a long table in complete silence. A small creature crept into the room where the baby Adrian lay, it was a mischievous Imp. A servant of higher evil that very few people believed in anymore but was all too real. It cheekily prodded and pinched the baby, trying to work out whether it was food or not. Adrian screamed and began to cry. The Imp jumped, and in its startled state, it cursed the baby with a blood moon curse.

“YECHOVINC VEBLESBO ORIANCHO DURINA CEST SAMHAIN YODEST DU PANTHERINE!”

If someone who could translate Impish had been around to hear then they would have understood the curse as: “I curse thee by the blood moon, Child of Halloween, You shall be a Panther beast!” With those words the baby’s body began to twist and contort, slowly it turned into a half human and half kitten. The Imp made a dash for it.

It was by pure luck that the local vicar had called round the next morning. He was one of the few people who had known about Miss Melrose’s pregnancy. He turned pale with the shock of seeing Mary’s still, lifeless body and blood soaked sheets. The shock was replaced by utter disbelief when he saw that baby Adrian was still alive. He had taken the baby and alerted the police so there could be an inquest into her death. Baby Adrian was dropped off at Gibberhurst Orphanage, considered by some to be a one way ticket to a meaningless life of misery and failure. Five years later, a child – who had been renamed Aider, cried at night, for something he could not see, or touch and wondered why he was in Gibberhurst Orphanage, alone and scared.

After years of being bullied and crying alone, Aider finally snapped. It was his tenth birthday. He had been put in an isolated room for hitting an older boy for bullying him. That was the day he had discovered who he really was. He felt the pain rush through his body, through his veins, his blood surged, his bones crack and began to weld together in a new shape. Fur pierced his skin and spread all over his growing body. Aider was scared, so very, very scared, what was happening to him? Why was it happening to him? He needed to get out and escape before somebody saw him. Suddenly he became very claustrophobic; the room was so small, so quiet, so scentless. Something inside took over, some sort of strange instinct. He ran towards a wall as fast as he could. It was the wall where a window should have been in any ordinary room. He put all his strength into breaking through the barrier, and it gave way with little effort. Soon Aider was running across the moonlit lawn.

Aider had spent two years on the streets, dodging death, paedophiles, drunks and junkies. It was a hard life, but he’d managed to get by so far. Until today. His luck had finally ran out. He had no money, no food and no one to turn to. Alone in the world he walked slowly down a cold, dark, wet alley. Seeing a pile of dirty newspapers he decided to have a nap and collapsed on top of them, but as soon as he touched them he jumped back up to his feet, startled by the yell of pain coming from underneath his. It was Dai.

N N N N N N N N

Beth sat in silence, stunned by what Aider had just told her. The settee moved slightly back as Thaila and Dai returned and sat down beside them. “Tired already” Thaila panted, she looked hot and sweaty, her pigtails were falling out. Music blared out as the double doors opened once again. The Chavs by the bar grimaced at the heavy death metal music that was playing but Beth thought it sounded good. “What band is playing tonight? Are they any good?” Beth asked, “They are ok, newbies though. I think they’re called Fallen Chamber, they’re not as good as some of the local bands but they’re ok. Aider and I are thinking of going to see Boiler rooms next concert, have you heard of them?” Dai chatted happily, “Yeah! They’re like our favourite band in the whole wide world! We’ve been wanting to see them for ages but we never know when the concerts are on.” Beth replied, “Man, that’s crap luck. If you wanted to you could both come with-"

Dai didn’t finish his sentence; the harsh, thunderous roar and a ground breaking wrench of an earthquake interrupted him. A shiver ran through the ground as a noise – ten times louder than thunder – sawed through the air. The lights flickered a few times before cutting out completely. There was a split second of silence and stillness before all hell broke loose inside the club. The whole place shook from side to side, the ground roared and moved like an angry beast. The lights flickered on and off, on and off. People screamed and the mirrors began to shatter, shards of glass falling onto the cracking floor tiles. The lights buzzed and let of a dim glow. Beth wished the dim glow would go away, the scene before her made her wish she could rip her eyes straight out of their sockets.

The club had changed in just a few seconds, from a friendly meeting place for the youth of Drudgeville, to a violent and frightening mosh-pit of chaos. People were running, screaming and climbing over each other to try and escape. They didn’t care about each other anymore; they just focused on finding a way out. Thaila and the others were still sat down, the earthquake had happened so quickly there had been no time to move. The seat below them lurched forwards as the ground moved once again. They jumped to their feet as one. People were pushing them, forcing them apart. Beth grabbed on to Thaila’s arm whilst Dai grabbed the back of Aider and Beth’s clothes. Beth averted her eyes to the floor and saw more than one lifeless body that had been trampled to death long ago. Breathing faster and sweating hard, Beth felt the panic in her rise above a

ll other emotions. The club quickly got darker and quieter as she passed out. Beth was not quite sure how she had gotten outside, but she woke to sounds of fire engines and police cars. She was being supported by Thaila and Dai, with Aider not too far away. The gang stood at the side of the road opposite The Gateway Club, trying to keep out of the sight of blundering cops.

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Yokoami had only been in the town for two hours, but she was happy with the destruction around her. The earthquake had only really affected Main Street; it was nothing more than a tremor as far as earthquakes go. No buildings were damaged from the outside, though inside there were plenty of cracked walls and floors, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a hard days work. The only signs outside were a few cracks in the road, which seemed to glow a slight red, maybe from the friction… Yokoami walked away and seemed to disintegrate into the shadows.

N N N N N N N N

“Are you ok now?” “Can you walk?” Aider and Dai were now helping Beth the best way they could. She was silent from the shock of the earthquake. Outside the street was littered with people. Ambulances attracted crowds of injured bodies and the police were solemnly covering still bodies. They decided it was time to head home. It was then that Thaila noticed the gargantuan cracks in the road, deep cracks that glowed eerily and snaked across each other to form a familiar symbol, a sign that they had seen elsewhere, a Pentagram. Thaila directed the attention of the others towards where her eyes were resting. A piercing, chilling, evil howl broke through the air. No one else around them seemed to hear it. It rang out again. Dai looked agitated, “Did you two study Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ in school?" Coz ‘something wicked this way comes’ so run home and don’t look back!”

Aider grabbed Beth and started running, Dai and Thaila soon caught up. Moonlit streets and alleys flashed by until, breathless, they came to Thaila’s house.

“Will someone please explain what’s going on?” Thaila was exasperated, “I’m sorry Thai’, but we’re not quite sure ourselves…yet. All we know is that this is more serious than we first thought, more dangerous, just be careful.” Dai leaned forwards and lightly brushed his lips against Thaila’s, she could feel herself blushing as if she were a neon light. “Be careful…for me.” With that the three turned and walked away, leaving Thaila alone on her front step. A shiver ran through her as she entered the house and locked the door behind her.

The other three walked quickly in a line, the howl from earlier echoing in the air more frequently. Dai was on his guard whilst Aider was tense. Once or twice Beth swore she saw his skin ripple, as if Pantherine was moving just below the surface. At Beth’s house Aider stood feeling awkward as Dai left him at the gate. Should he kiss her like Dai had dared to do with Thaila? What if she didn’t want him to? What should he do? Beth saw him looking flustered and flung her arms around him, the embarrassment he had felt earlier instantly faded and he fiercely pressed his lips against hers. It felt so good kissing her; he had wanted to do it all night. He parted his lips and their tongues met. He never wanted to stop, but he felt Dai’s presence and pulled himself away. He blushed slightly as they said goodbye, then he was walking alone next to Dai, walking home again. Thaila and Beth, both on different sides of Drudgeville, both lying in bed awake, both daydreaming about Dai and Aider.

PASSION AND MAYHEM

The shrill ringing of the alarm clock broke Thaila’s dream of Dai. She blindly hit out at it, and missed. “Ok! Ok! I’m getting up!” she yelled at it, as if expecting it to stop at her command. Angry about the still ringing clock for disturbing her, she picked it up and violently threw it at the wall. It was time for college once again.She dragged herself to the bathroom and had a nice hot shower. She had practically forgotten about all the trouble that had been happening. She put on a knee length purple, velvet dress. It was straight cut with short sleeves and a spider web on the front. Then she applied plenty of black make up, heavy pewter jewellery and big platform knee boots with ten buckles on the side.

Five blocks away Beth felt the deep blue velvet duvet caress her bare thighs; it was hot weather now so she just wore her panties and tank top whilst in bed. She wished Aider was there with her. Jumping out of bed she realised that it was Monday and she had to meet Thaila for college. She woke up almost immediately after splashing her face with cold water from the bathroom. After squeezing herself into a tight micro mini skirt and black steel ribbed corset she began the never ending chore of applying make up. Beth’s theory was that you could never have to much make up, even though she mainly stuck to black she lots of loud colours in her make up kit. A few gems were her ‘slime green mascara’, her ‘electric shock blue lipstick’ and her ‘nervous breakdown pink’ eye shadow. Then she realised that there way no way on earth she would be able to bend over to lace up her boots whilst wearing a steel ribbed corset. So she took her corset off then did up her boots. The she put her corset back on. Glancing out of the window Beth had the foresight to see that it might get a bit cold later on in the day. So she grabbed a red lacy top out of the drawer and hooked her thumbs into the holes she had made at the end of the long sleeves. Then she wiped off her black lipstick and replaced it with a deep red colour.

There was still half an hour to go before the girls had to meet up. Beth searched around in the top drawer of the dresser for some fake eyelashes. They were extra long forest green ones, she peeled of the back which held them in place and applied them to her lash line. Quarter of a hour to go. Beth took some fake animal claws out of her jewellery box and began to attach the long black nails over her real ones. With only five minutes to go, Beth grabbed her bag and long PVC coat of the bed. This particular bag was her favourite, she had always been very fond of it, she had gotten it for her last birthday of her cousin in Paris. It was hard and shaped like a leather bound coffin with a little cross on the front. The inside was lined with red velvet and the straps were made out of chains. She had loved it the moment she had seen it in a small Paris shop whilst they were visiting her auntie Zsa – Zsa. It was small but still very heavy since it was filled with all of her college stuff. With only three minutes to go now she was on her way out of the front door. One minute to go she walked into the corner shop on Horton street and came out with a bag of cheese and onion crisps, a limited edition banoffee pie flavoured milkshake and three chocolate bars.

Thaila was outside waiting when Beth emerged. The clouds had gathered over head, smothering the sun and a few heavy drops of rain were starting to fall. “Hi, how are you this morning? Did you get home OK last night?” “I had a brilliant night! I snogged Aider!” “Woo-hoo! Way to go!” “Oh he’s so sweet and cute and-“ “Ok, ok! Stop it your making me feel nauseous!” Thaila cut in. Beth abruptly stopped talking.

They walked along the various roads to college, Hall Street, Carrington Street, Barnington Road and Main Street. That’s when they heard a strange sound break the silence. A wail. A howl. It wasn’t human, yet no animal could have made such a chilling sound. It pierced their ears and shook their bones. It was the same one they had heard last night. The pair just looked at each other. The sky went dark as the heavens opened and the rain hit the floor with a soft tapping rhythm. Over the steadily growing beat came the howl once again. As if sharing the same thought, Thaila and Beth broke into a sprint. Odan Street went by with a flash and they were soon tearing down Salem’s pass with their hearts pounding and feet racing. It was when the reached the graveyard halfway down the Pass that two odd things happened which indicated the start of their new problems.

Firstly Beth and Thaila heard a snuffling, scraping noise over the sounds of their heavy footfalls, as though a dog was following them. The noise soon stopped but the pair kept on running. Ahead of them an old man crossed the road, it was the old man that was the second of the strange happenings. He was old and crooked; his twisted body was nearly bent double. He crossed the road and headed towards the big white wall that lay all the way round the graveyard. Thaila and Beth said nothing; their lungs were burning from all the running. They felt the tension and fear within each other, they still fled from the thing which they were sure was chasing them. They only stopped when the little old man walked straight through the wall, leaving only a smoking, charred mark on the whitewash. Once this incident had registered in their minds they ground to an abrupt halt. They couldn’t believe what they had just seen, was it a trick of the light? Both girls were sure that the old man had been real. Open mouthed they started at the black circle with smoke still curling up it.

Suddenly the mysteriously frightening noise came back and Thaila remembered why they were running. She looked behind them and saw what appeared to be a deformed hound. It was a big as a human and seemed to be walking on its knuckles bent over double, like a gorilla, but it face portrayed pure evil. Its snout was long, wrinkled and hairless, like a dogs only longer. Its eyes were small and beady and glowed like hot coals. Its rugged ears stood straight up on top of its head, its lips were drawn back over long glistening fangs that seemed to fill up its entire mouth. Its body was covered entirely in thick, shaggy brown fur.

A scream escaped Thaila’s lips; Beth spun around and saw it too. The creature lunged forwards to attack; both girls screamed simultaneously then turned and ran faster than before. Then tore down the remaining bit of Salem’s Pass, Down Rating Road and into Drudgeville’s college yard, the beast snapping at their heels and grunting all the way. They didn’t stop until they had closed the main buildings doors behind them. The dog like creature paced backwards and forwards for a few seconds then dived into the bushes and was soon nothing more than two red pinpricks staring out of the shadows of the bushes that lined the yard. Cold, wet and scruffy they made their way to form.

The rest of the day was pretty normal. Thaila and Beth relaxed a little once they realised that the watchful pinpricks had eventually faded in to the bushes before disappearing all together. They had science with Mr Dewsinski. Then English and history. At break time they stayed in the library, too nervous to go outside.

They had P.E next. They went to their lockers and changed into their tracksuits, which of course were mainly black, but with grey stripey bits to make them more interesting. They entered the sports hall and helped to set up the trampolines with the rest of the group. The pair liked trampolining, it was the best unit they had done so far and anyone who said otherwise was either dumb or scared of heights. It was such a exhilarating experience to momentarily feel like you were flying. After three quarters of an hour they had packed away again and both Beth and Thaila had taken a hot shower and re-applied their make-up. At the sound of the dinner bell, Beth picked up her coffin bag and Thaila swung her badge laden backpack onto her shoulder, then they set of at a brisk pace to beat the canteen crowds. At their two-seater table they had cleared of a plate of chips each and then proceed to finish the day off with maths and Latin classes. Just another normal college day. But the memory of the morning still lurked in the back of their skulls.

On they way home Beth invited Thaila to stay at her house again for a ‘Film-fest!’ Thaila agreed, so they marched home to get her stuff for the next day and to tell her parents. This rose to another big argument with her dad, who didn’t like her ‘gothic phase’ and hoped she would grow out of it very quickly. Thaila just couldn’t get through to him that she liked herself just fine as a Goth and wasn’t going to change her ways, and if she was he wouldn’t be alive to see it. The walk down Main street was…as it always was, some things just refused to change thought Thaila.

N N N N N N N N

The young guy in the video shop had not stopped watching them since they had come in. He looked familiar but neither girl knew how. He had brown hair and rugged looks, he was at least eighteen. Beth picked up the DVD’s they had chosen after quite a long debate: A comedy, two horrors a big bag of popcorn and a packet of assorted sweets. Then they took their goodies to the boy at the counter. He wore a loose black shirt with a silver and blue dragon on it and a pair of black jeans. His nametag read ‘Draven.’ Draven…Draven? Thaila recognised that name from somewhere, but a sideward glance at Beth told her Beth was either blissfully unaware or playing it cool. They guy behind the counter scowled sourly at them whilst he scanned their films through. Thaila happened to glance at his arm whilst he did so and there on his wrist was tattooed symbol that she recognised, the Fishbone clan tattoo! He was a vampyre! “They’re to be back before seven tomorrow night.” He said in their general direction. Shakily snatching up the purchased items in the plastic bag, Thaila ran from the shop, an angry Beth hot on her heels.

“What the hells wrong with you? Why the major freak out?” She spat violently at Thaila, “Oh God Beth…” Thaila started, she was shaking really badly now and her eyes had gone wide with fear, “Oh God did you not see his wrist?! He had the Fishbone tattoo on it! Did you not see it? Its Draven; he’s one of them! Oh God…” It took a while for all the babbling from Thaila’s mouth to register in Beth’s head. Then she suddenly realised they were both in danger, “Let’s get out of here, now!” Thaila did not need telling twice, she was off already, walking at a quick pace to the safety of Beth’s house. All the way there a deep paranoia had set in both of them. Where they being followed? What would be round the next corner? A horde of thirsty vampyres? Or the ghost like man? Or maybe the dog-beast that had followed them earlier in the morning? They only calmed down once they got to Beth’s.

N N N N N N N N

They had eaten their sweets as well as everything they could find in the entire house. They had watched two of their DVD’s and were now on the third. The comedy was crap, Beth couldn’t even remember what it was about. The horrors where so-so. The first one had been about a murderer in a small village. The one they were currently watching was about some students on holiday in a log cabin which was under attack from a werewolf.

Halfway through a particularly gory attack, Beth paused the film. “What’s the deal? I was watching that!” Thaila complained, it was only really a half-arsed complaint. “Look! Look! Isn’t that werewolf familiar?” Beth voice was torn between fear and excitement, “Yeah, it looks like you in the morning!” Thaila quipped, “Oh har-de-har, no seriously, where have we seen that before?” She was demanding a serious answer now. Thaila thought hard, “Um…last time I was in a big log cabin in the mountains?” She ventured, knowing the answer was wrong, she just couldn’t think. “No you dick!” Beth insult was as half-arsed as Thaila’s earlier complaint, “It looks like whatever was chasing us this morning! Look! It walks and runs on all fours using its front arms like a gorilla, it has a dog like face with an elongated snout, it has lots of scratty brown fur and red glowing eyes!” Beth was getting more and more excited by her prediction, but level-headed Thaila burst her bubble, “So you think we got chased by a werewolf? Right, now please come down off cloud nine and into the REAL WORLD! EARTH TO BETHANY JAYNE TAYLOR…IS THERE LIFE IN THERE?” “Hey look, you’re the one who had a bad case of paranoia because ‘The guy in the shop is a vampyre!” Beth said cruelly mimicking Thaila, but a silent agreement was made that now they had both got an insult across and they were both even, for now. “Shut up. Anyways lets not make rash decisions until Dai and Aider get back in touch…whenever that will be.” It was true, both girls longed to see their mystery men again, but they had no way to get in touch with them, they just had to wait for the guys to show up and tell them what was going on. They went to bed early in the hopes that the next day would be an improvement. It wasn’t.

SUICIDES, STRANGE GOINGS ON AND ANOTHER DATE

The day had begun bright and cheery, the sun had woken up early and now beamed down with full force on Drudgeville, half of which was still sleeping and did not really appreciate it trying to peek through the gap in the curtains. Beth and Thaila had washed and dressed as normal. They applied their make-up listening to a Gothic band called ‘Kitty killers ball’. Beth’s mom had actually decided to wake up early for once and cook them both breakfast. Beth assumed she was trying to appear motherly in front of Thaila. After they had finished eating they set off once again towards the never ending battle that was more commonly known as college.

Not wanting to take the same roads as yesterday in case the dog-beast was lying in wait, they walked instead down Mannahan Road, planning to go under the bridge, past the bus stop and cut through Mr Johnstone’s field. They walked along at a normal speed chatting happily about how crap the films had been and how Mrs Taylor had offered to take the DVD’s back, much to the relief of the girls. It wasn’t long before the bridge could be spotted in the distance. A police car was parked on the other side. “Must have caught some little joy boy speeding,” Thaila said absent mindedly. But behind that car was another, and behind that another and a group of police officers were looking worriedly up at the bridge, one of them had a megaphone.

The man that stood on the bridge railings looked old and worn. He was probably only in his early thirties but he looked as old as the forests that surrounded Drudgeville. His hair was unkempt, it was clearly not brushed. He still wore his pyjamas and dressing gown, the first were old and green, the latter was old, bobbly and red. His eyes were hollow and were red rimmed and surrounded by huge black circles. The officers had been trying to coax him down for the past fifteen minutes, to no avail. As Beth and Thaila drew closer they wondered if they should take a different route. They couldn’t, the usual route still made them feel uneasy and turning back would take too long anyway. The police didn’t look like they were going to attempt to stop them, infact they hadn’t even noticed them. There was nothing else to do so they just crossed over to the opposite side of the wide road. They walked as quickly as they could under the sheltered shadows of the bridge, expecting one of the officers to say something. As they neared the other side one of them did, but not to the girls, “Sweet zombie Jesus in a cobweb cot!” he cried. Beth guessed that he wasn’t a very religious man but her train of thought was interrupted as the man on the bridge hit the ground with a dull thud, a slight crack and a bit of a squishing sound. ‘Oh my God’ Thaila thought, she looked sideways at Beth who was staring in silence.

It was not the shock of the man committing suicide only yards away from them that had disturbed her, the shock had not quite registered yet and it just felt as though she had watched it in a film. The shock came from the shape the man’s crumpled body now lay in. He was flat on his back, lifeless eyes staring up into the sky and beyond. He was spread-eagled on the road, a pool of blood forming a splattered shape of a circle around his body which now looked like – “A pentagram” Thaila whispered, half in shock. With a sickly feeling they left unnoticed as the police officers scurried like giant ants around the body. The walk to college was the quietest walk in the entire history of teenagers walking to college.

N N N N N N N N

First lesson of the day was music. This was usually an instant cheer up as ‘Music Lesson’ to teens roughly translates as ‘Time to piss about and do nothing for an hour’. It generally involved gossip, pranks and pen fights. But today everyone seemed too tired to even think about messing about. They just all sat there and listened to the tutor, for once. Today they were learning about different chords on the piano. Each person had a keyboard and a set of headphones in front of them. Most people had their headphones on and were pretending to be listening whilst really they were messing around on the keyboards.

The tutor began to prattle on about the Augmented 4th otherwise known as the ‘Devil’s chord’ . She explained that because of the unusual and haunting sound, monks of the early ages forbade this chord to be played as they thought it would summon the devil himself. That was all Beth and Thaila heard as they decided to join the rest of the class in staring out of the row of windows at the other end of the classroom.

How peaceful it seemed out the, it was sunny and windless, the trees were a vivid emerald green and the grass sparkled with diamond like dew. A white cloud raced low in the sky. As it came closer the cloud took the shape of thirty or more brilliant white doves. Beth rubbed her eyes, she wasn’t daydreaming as the doves were still there ‘They must belong to someone who is training them for shows or something,’ she thought. They flew gracefully round and round, over the yard outside, over the rooftops, occasionally disappearing from view behind some trees.

“Now let’s hear the dreaded chord!” the tutor mocked, she went over to the piano and played the chord once. As it sounded out Beth noticed that the dule of doves did a sharp turn. Then the tutor played the same chord consecutively. The flight of doves whirled in the air at breakneck speed as though being chased by an invisible force. Suddenly they were heading towards the row of windows through which Beth was looking at them, but now she was not the only one looking. By now the doves were so close that they had captured the attention of the entire class. As they came closer and closer the class burst into an uproar. There were cries of ‘Oh wow!’ and ‘Look at that!’ The squawking and flapping sounds grew louder and louder until… THUD, THUD, THUDTHUDTHUD, THUD…

The doves were now hitting the windows and sliding down. It was revolting to watch. The doves were flying as such a speed when the hit – head first – the neck and skull shattered and their bodies burst open, splattering blood everywhere. The blood was running down the window when the last dove flew to it’s death. Some feathers, once white, were stuck in place, others had gooey red clots sliding down the smooth glass. All the gore seemed to trickle together to form the five-sided star that was all too familiar with Beth and Thaila, but no one else seemed to notice. This was because the classroom had become a pit of chaotic terror. Most pupils were green, some were silently gob smacked, others were crying or screaming hysterically, large number were vomiting freely on to the desks and floor, a few of the girls had fainted with shock or disgust. The tutor was frozen to the spot for a few seconds before she grabbed the phone and punched in the number for reception. Suddenly Beth and Thaila found themselves being carried along in a stream of people outside the building, past the headless, broken, gore covered bodies of the doves and into the main hall.

An ambulance service had been called and the majority of the class had been loaded into the back or sent home. Mr Clarke had asked Beth and Thaila if they were alright or if they would like to take the rest of the day off. They reassured him that they were fine but he offered to write them each a note to give to their tutor if they felt the need to leave. They declined, insisting that there was no need and that they were perfectly fine. Shaking and sick they made their way to the science room.

They sat at the back near a window, the would be no doves hitting this one as the outside area was full of trees and bushes, which fought against each other to get next to the glass. They where listening to Mr Dewsinski babble on about the breeding habits of ostriches or something like that. Something moved in the bushes. Beth looked out, ‘Oh my God’. It was them! Aider and Dai were crouched uncomfortably in the shrubs desperately trying to get one of the girls’ attention. She tapped Thaila on the shoulder and motioned for her to look. They had to get out and see them, but how? Beth regretted not accepting the letter of Mr Clarke earlier, but she quickly came up with a foolproof plan, she motioned for Thaila to follow her lead.

Mr Dewsinski was a small, ratty looking man, he was quiet spoken but had a tendency to babble and forget about the world around him, and today there was nothing in the world more interesting than ostriches. Therefore he was thoroughly shocked when his talk about ostrich nests was interrupted by two girls who had quite suddenly burst into tears and started sobbing hysterically. He stopped dumbstruck. “Those poor, poor birds!” Beth wailed, Thaila got the idea and reluctantly began to do the same. Seemingly hysterical and deeply disturbed by what had happened, the pair were escorted out of the classroom and told they could take the rest of the day off. Just as planned! Mr Dewsinski watched them walk out of the building, then he straightened his tie and marched back into the classroom, it was time for the second half of his nesting theories!

The girls walked out of the main gates and were greeted by Dai and Aider, “We will get in to so much trouble if they find out we were faking it!” Thaila chattered excitedly, “We were just wondering if you…erm…wanted to go on a…um…da- get some coffee…maybe?” Aider stuttered and stumbled over his words, “Of course we will! We cant exactly go anywhere else can we?” Beth smiled at him. Her positive reply made her feel so much more confident.

The foursome walked down Rating Road, the guys listening intently as the girls went through everything that had happened since last time they had seen them. They walked down Salem’s Pass, seeing the black mark on the wall and the set of huge claw prints in the mud. “We have some new information on the situation,” Dai sounded like a police officer as he pointed to the bag on Aider’s back, “We’ll explain when we get to the café…”

A good ten minutes later they arrived at ‘The Expresso Pump Café’. When they were all seated Aider removed the bag from his back and placed it on the table. On opening the bag, he pulled out a heavy looking, dusty, leather bound old book and put it on the table in front of them. “This,” began Dai “Is a book about vampyres and the apocalypse that I stole from the library the day you saw me there.” Beth burst into laughter, shortly followed by Thaila, “What’s so bloody funny?” Dai asked, Beth managed to reply through her laughter, “You stole from the library? You loser! Library’s are those places that let you borrow books for free, ya know?” “Piss off, we’ve been trying to keep a low profile,” Dai muttered as he realised how stupid he sounded. Aider was flipping through the pages of the hefty volume, “Its really hard to understand most of this as it written in what appears to be Latin riddles, there’s a whole section on the apocalypse but only some of it has been translated, I’m pretty sure it full of useful information,” “Beth and I are both learning Latin at college, we could attempt to translate some of it if it’s really important? Just leave it with us for a few nights,”

Aider stopped on a particularly decimated page, crammed with translations. It was entitled ‘The Thirteen Keepers of The Pentagram’, He pushed the book towards the girls so that they could read it:

The Thirteen Keepers Of the Pentagram

The beginning of the apocalyptic ritual will begin when the blood of the innocent is spilt and drank by the dark worshippers. Each time a pentagram is viewed by both of the innocent devils a keeper is set free. When the Thirteenth Pentagram has been viewed, Wendall, vampyre king, shall be released and the thirteen keepers shall bring about the apocalypse.

KEEPERS

ALCUNA – the wolf man, keeper of the moon and ruler of canines.

OMIFEI – The ghost of the forgotten

SAKACHI – Keeper of the flames and shadows

QUIQUE – Keeper of water and Ice

ARANMANTAE – Seducer of the brave and noble.

IMI-ESO – Stalker of the night, eater of flesh

MARGUA – the two sided beast, keeper of stone and cats

BOBAQA – the living dead, keeper of the dead

KESENTA – Queen of mourning, taker of souls

PEICOS – King of seas, oceans and lakes

GREGORY – Son of evil

CHANTELLE – Queen of evil

WENDALL – King of darkness and evil, Keeper of the dark ways and ruler of all vampyres.

Then scribbled underneath was a messy handwriting which looked like it had been written in a hurry.

DESCRIPTIONS

ALCUNA – (Al – Coo- nah) – Werewolf

OMIFEI – (Oh – May – Fay) – Ghost

SAKACHI – (Sack – A – Chee) – Fire sprite

QUIQUE – (Qwee – Qwey) – Ice demon

ARANMANTAE – (A – Ran – Man – Tay) – She-Devil

IMI-ESO – (I- Me – Ess – Oh) – Ghoul

MARGUA – (Mar – Goo – Are) – Gargoyle

BOBAQA – (Bo – Back – A) – Zombie

KESENTA – (Key – Sent – A) – Banshee

PEICOS – (Pee – Cos) – Sea Monster

GREGORY – (Greg – Oh – Ree) – Vampyre child

CHANTELLE – (Shan – tell) – Vampyre Bride

WENDALL – (Wend – All) – Vampyre King

“So these things have been let loose before?” Beth was puzzled, “Nah, that was one of the elder Fishbones doing some serious research,” Dai explained “This book has been passed down to every leader of the Fishbone clan for them to add their knowledge to it, after the earthquake it was discovered and put in to the library’s voodoo and dark arts section. Yalheya thinks its all rubbish anyways, she believes she already knows it all, that’s why she never bothered to get it back. I reckon there’s about four of these monsters free,” “Yeah we’ve seen wolf guy and ghost guy so far,” Thaila commented, “So,” Beth continued, “How are we going to get rid of them because I have a feeling there will be a lot more arriving…”

The group sat in silence for a moment, pondering how on earth they were going to get rid of these paranormal guests, when a stranger’s high voice broke the silence. It was a girl’s voice with a very strong accent, “Kill them all, find them and slay them, I can help.” A tall, fair skinned Japanese girl stood at the end of their table, it looked as if she had been stood there throughout the entire conversation. “Who the hell are you and why are you spying on us?” Dai looked tense about this new characters arrival, the voice again, feminine but powerful,

“My name is Yokoami Darke, My friends back home call me Vein. I am from Tokyo. I have been led to believe that I am an angel of light, keeper of justice and slayer of beasts that are otherwise unknown to this world, without me you will surely fail and perish, it is inevitable.” Her English was shaky and her accent was very strong. After a long and thoughtful silence Beth decided to speak up, slowly at first, “Well, she sounds genuine to me, I mean, if she wasn’t then how would she know so much about what’s going on?” she sounded confident and the group regarded the newcomer for a few more moments.

She was tall and skinny with fair skin and dark brown eyes. Her slightly wavy hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and clipped up roughly with a large, black crocodile clip. Her hair had red and pink streaks through it which were struggling to be seen in the blackness. Her eyes were heavily lined with black and she wore luminous green eye shadow which flared out to her temples. Her features were thin and pointy. She had lipstick to match her eye shadow and nail varnish of a similar colour. The girl wore a red mesh top with a black bra, which Thaila cattily noticed had absolutely nothing in it, and stone coloured bondage pants with a pair of moon boots. Thaila had a feeling that if the girl – Vein was it? – took off the latter she would be, more or less, a midget.

Eventually but warily Dai spoke, “Ok then Vein, you can join our group for now, but don’t blame us for being too careful, we will be keeping a close eye on you.” As he said this his eyes flickered to her wrists, searching for a telltale sign. No longer like an outcast, Yokoami – Vein – Pulled up a chair, turned it around and straddled it to face the group. “So…your sent by the powers of the unknown” mused Dai, “And who are they exactly?”

Vein claimed that she had been adopted by a wise man as a child. He had taught her an ancient and forgotten form of martial arts, as well as some more modern ones and taught her how to make her own weapons. He showed her the importance of using her senses in tight situations. Her home area of Tokyo had a vampyric clan similar to the Fishbones and she took it upon herself to constantly battle them an drive them out of Japan. Until one night she had a vision. She was dressed in white armour and carried a long sword, upon her back was a pair of angelic wings. She remembered walking through a sea of monsters, killing them all with the pureness of her light. Once she had reached the end of her subconscious crusade, a mighty voice told her of the future, about the group she currently sat with. The group sat in enthralled silence throughout her story, until something drew their attention by disappearing.

The TV which had been blaring out the news was suddenly silenced. Ok, so it was not a major issue but the change of volume in their environment attracted their attention. It was when they looked up at the small TV on the café wall, that they wished they hadn’t, for there frozen on the static ridden screen was a bright red pentagram. All was silent, all eyes were glued to the screen, “It is time to go now, Aranmantae is free… she is very dangerous.” Yokoami sounded mournful as she stood up and put her chair back in its original place. “Hang on!” Dai cut in, “If you’re here to help us then help us already, we’ve got lots of evil shit running around, they’re not causing trouble yet but my bet is they will soon start and I also reckon they’re gonna be releasing their buddies for some extra help!” Vein turned back towards them with a slight smile on her face, “Meet me tonight at seven by the gates of the cemetery on Salem’s Pass, we shall hunt with the moon…” and with that the new member left leaving them all speechless. “We hunt with the moon? You mean we’re going killing?Cool!” Thaila felt a kind of nervous excitement, “This sounds dangerous, I suggest you both get your strength up, Aider and I will meet you at Horton Street tonight, its not safe for any of us to be alone,” Dai instructed them, then he and Aider left the café.

The pentagram on the TV burned brightly on the screen, the waitress smacked the TV impatiently, she swore under her breath before switching it off. Nothing worked properly in this stupid café, not even the staff, she carried on wasting her life making coffee.

HUNTING WITH THE MOON

Beth lay on her bed, basking in complete relaxation, her mobile phone on one side, empty packets of energy food on the other and the pale body of Rasputina slithering up her arm. Dressed in comfortable gothic gear she could fight in, if in fact they were going to fight. She wore a ‘Boiler room’ T – shirt , a pair of black tracksuit pants and black trainers, she tied her blue mop of hair into a loose ponytail.

N N N N N N N N

Thaila had been peacefully napping with Lil Thaila, her black and white cat, curled up by her side. When the alarm went off she was fully energised. She threw on a top with a devil on it and climbed into a dark green pair of combats. She struggled and succeeded in wrestling her short hair into pigtails. Lil Thaila stood impatiently by the door, meowing, ready for action. Thaila knew that as soon as she opened the door her faithful cat would shoot out and try to follow her wherever she was heading. “Sowwy Thailee but you cant cum wiv me,” she always talked to her cat the way she would talk to a baby. Lil Thaila gave a questioning meow and cocked her head to one side. The look on the cats face told Thaila that she thought it was grossly unfair that her owner could go gallivanting about without her. She put her back on the bed and stroked her head in apology. The apology was accepted as Lil Thaila purred and lay back down on the still warm bed.

N N N N N N N N

On the corner Dai and Aider looked like twins, hair spiked, baggy jeans and plain hoodies, Dai’s navy and Aider’s a congealed blood colour. Beth and Thaila met the guys at half past six outside Horton Street Stores. They walked up the usual streets, Mall, Carrington, Main, Oden then up Salem’s Pass and toward the shadowy figure at the gates. Vein greeted them and handed them each a special rucksack of weapons. Dai went through his bag and set them out on the pavement, a silver stake for the werewolf, a flame thrower for the ice demon, a small fire extinguisher for the fire sprite, a water pistol filled with Holy water for the ghost and a variety of swords, knives and guns. “You do realise that if we get caught with this crap then we’re more than likely to get arrested?” Aider reminded Vein, “At least prison is safe,” she retorted then turned into the cemetery. The others entered too and the group began to walk along the gravel path and then off into the trees and shadows. Vein whispered to them that they were most likely to find the monsters somewhere that no human would go at night and scarcely visit during the day. Bodies tense they stalked around in their group, keeping low. It wasn’t long before they found something.

There was a shimmer of light coming from up ahead. They kept low and moved with complete silence which was a feat to truly be proud of considering all the dense shrubbery surrounding them. The closer they got the cooler the air around them felt, Aider noticed small traces of frost on some of the leaves. He also noticed that it was getting lighter as the trees overhead grew more sparse. The shimmer grew with every step dancing on the bushes as though the light of the moon was reflecting of a outdoor pool. It made patterns in the shadows and pretty though it was Aider felt the tension in the group rise. Up ahead of them lay a clearing which seemed to be the source of the dancing light.

A human shape moved into the clearing, so close to their hiding place. Due to it’s body shape and lack of hair Aider assumed the figure to be male. His skin made him resemble a corpse, it was almost white and tinged with blue. It was also very wet and slippery looking as though he had just got out of the water and it was this that had caused the shimmering they could see pirouetting for leaf to leaf. The man was not quite facing them but if they squinted into the darkness they could make out his features, they were jagged, pointy, angular. In his hands he held the remains of some small creature which he was still eating, it seemed to be a large rat but Aider couldn’t tell whether the long pink tail was actually an intestine.

This man was not human, he was ice. Vein signalled for the group to spread out and surround the demon. Once they had formed a rough, tight circle they crept slowly inwards, weapons at the ready. Dai clutched his flame thrower, he was moving faster than the others. He was now directly behind the ice man, who was still blissfully unaware of his fate. He saw vein hold her hand up and silently signal to the count of three. On two, Dai sprung from his hiding place behind the demon and – flame thrower roaring – launched himself at it with all his might. Quique the ice demon desperately tried to fight against the red hot flames that skimmed across his cold body and distorted his frozen form. It screeched and spat shards and icicles at its attacker, who swiftly dodged every single one. The ice missiles flew of in to darkness or slammed and embedded themselves into trees. Wherever the ice landed the immediate area around it froze. Soon whole trees were frozen solid, icicles hanging from their branches. The girls and Aider had retreated further back and hid behind a particularly large oak. The blazing fire continued to eat away at the ice as Dai found that with a twist of a nozzle the flames spurted white hot and three times as powerful as before. Soon the almighty Quique was nothing more than a puddle of water soaking into the ground. “Well done Dai, but to succeed you need teamwork, wait for my signal next time.” Vein had come out of the shadows, followed by Beth and Thaila, who were gob smacked. Aider approached from the other side, “One down, four to go.”

As they walked around the graves they talked quietly amongst themselves, little did they know that Yalheya, leader of the Fishbones, was perched in a tree watching them. The other members sat in their underground chapel on the other side of town, preparing for the chaos that would soon come. After a while Vein suggested that they should split into two groups to cover more ground. Dai and Aider went one way whilst Vein, Thaila and Beth went another.

As they walked along Vein told the girls more about herself and Tokyo. She would be joining them in college very soon, she was also a Goth as that was the big fashion in Japan at the moment. Dai and Aider hoped that the others would be safe in the hands of Vein. It was Thaila who heard the weeping sounds first, looking ahead she saw only grave stones. Then a dark grey cloud appeared over one of them, it seemed to be constantly changing shape. Looking closely Thaila could see that the mist was made up of dozens of different faces, swirling about, talking in silent voices to no one in particular. The mist began to change into human shapes for its own entertainment. A young woman, a big man, a little girl, a baby, a boy and then the old man that Thaila and Beth had seen earlier on in the week. Vein instructed them once again to form a circle around their target and to this time fire at it with the water pistols. If this was successful then the ghost would be burned by the Holy water and ‘die’ again. Beth hid on the left, Thaila on the right, whilst Vein moved around what she assumed to be the back for a clear shot.

N N N N N N N N

Dai and Aider trudged slowly along, unaware that they were being stalked by Yalheya and her new ‘pet’ Aranmantae. She had sought out the She-devil and ‘brainwashed’ her using various electrical implements and torture methods. The She-devil was now closely behind her on a long, rope leash which was attached to a collar. The collar was made out of metal and could give the wearer a powerful electric shock if the mistress so wished.

N N N N N N N N

One. Two. Three! A jet of water hit Omifei from three sides and burnt its surface, breaking up its ‘body’, the tortured souls that had been collected over the years were set free and at peace and Omifei was reduced to nothing. Vein knew that they would meet the weaker beasts first but this was proving far too easy.

N N N N N N N N

‘The bitch will die…I’ll get her…rip. Tear. Kill! Die…’ Aranmantae had been tracked down and tortured by the woman who was now dragging her along in such a humiliating way. No one could ever know how degrading it was for a powerful creature such as herself to be lugged along and held prisoner by this collar and leash in the hands of a puny mortal! Aranmantae had long, black hair that fell in thick curls to her waist. Her body was thin and curvy with thin leather straps for clothes. She had come through to this world naked and that’s the way she preferred it. But that bitch had clothed her, for being naked in this world was some kind of offence. Her eyes, fire red, glowed in the darkness and could see deep into the shadows. Long, white, smooth fangs slid over her bottom lip and from her shoulders sprouted huge, black, leathery wings. A long black tail flickered around her legs, its arrow head point slicing the ground as an angry cat would flick its tail. Yalheya came close to the beast behind her and carefully whispered her instructions, “Hurt them both,” Then she slipped off the rope leash and in a flurry of black wings, claws, teeth and flesh, the She-devil vanished into darkness.

Dai didn’t have a chance to grab a weapon, all he saw was a black shape that hit him and clawed at his flesh. He glimpsed a face with fiery eyes for a split second before he raised his arm and lashed out blindly. The long fangs wedged deep into his forearm then withdrew, he cried out in pain and fury. Aider was frozen for just a few seconds before scrabbling in the bag Vein had given him for a weapon. A short sword was the first thing to hand. Running towards the monster he swung the sword round and round in an effort to at least scare her away. He sliced her shoulder and thigh and put a large gash from the top right of her collar bone to her left breast. Pain seared through her, she was immortal but still damaged badly, she turned around and vanished just as quickly as she came. When she got back to her mistress she spent ten minutes writhing on the floor in pain as electricity seared through her body and tormented her tender cuts. Yalheya would punish her properly later. Next time she would not fail.

For Vein, Beth and Thaila the rest of the night was uneventful, nothing strange happened at all and boredom had set in. At half past ten Aider showed up supporting a fatigue Dai who was quite battered and torn. On the way home he told them his story.

The next day at college was normal. In form the class was told that they would have a new member on Monday. Thaila and Beth knew that it would be Vein and that she was obviously taking the same course choices as the rest of the class. They had trampolining again for P.E, A Latin test, A poem contest in English and double maths revision. Thatnight something evil stirred impatiently in the earth. Thursday and Friday flew by with complete normality. Soon it was the glorious weekend once again.

N N N N N N N N

Everyone in the chapel wore blood red and black robes. They sat in rows in a lotus position to aid concentration. At the front of the room, candles burned and a map was pinned up on the wall. A giant map of Drudgeville hospital that lay on Parkington Avenue, north east from Thaila and Beth’s houses. Pathways were marked out in different colours and a red ring lay around the maternity ward. The people sat and stared, studying its every detail, etching it into their memories.

FIGHT LIKE CAT AND DOG

Thaila woke up bleary eyed and woolly mouthed. At the bottom of the bed, Lil Thaila stretched and stood up. She dragged herself to the shower and stood under the hot jet of water to wake up. She got out and towel dried her hair, then carefully applied her make up.

Thaila loved the weekends it was the only time other than holidays when she could really take the time to do fancy things with her make up, today she decided to mix a few different colours. Some eastern religions believe that the eyes are the windows to the soul, if this was true then Thaila wanted huge stained glass windows with intricate curtains and wrought iron curtain rails! She started of with the usual line all the way around each eye with a flick up at each far corner, then she drew a curling, pointy tipped pattern starting from the flick of the right eye. Four curls branched of like brambles, one spread out to her temple, one curled round the top of her eye brow, one glided to her ear and the fourth cut down her cheek bone. She highlighted the pattern in places with a silver eyeliner pen and used a third pen in red to add random dots around her pattern. She put on a long, ripped bottom skirt and a black and silver corset, then she heaved on her knee high pixie boots and brushed her hair. She made her way downstairs, her parents had obviously gone out without telling her. She poured herself some cereal and fed Lil Thaila. It was after she had finished her breakfast and washed her dish out that heard the knock at the door. She ran through the narrow hallway and pulled the white door open. Vein stood there, “Come on, the weather is nice, we will get Beth now!”

N N N N N N N N

Beth woke with a start when she heard the knocking at the basement door. Across the room Rasputina stirred too. “…Mnff…come in…” Beth mumbled into the pillow. Vein and Thaila entered the room. Beth sat up an looked at them with and expression of mild surprise, “Wada want?” she mumbled whilst wiping the sleep from her eyes, “Its time to wake up and greet the sun Beth!” Yokoami sounded cheery. Thaila – like Beth – did not look happy about being woke up this early on a Saturday. Reluctantly she swung her legs out of bed and sat up.

She made her way to the bathroom and re-appeared a few minutes later, she was wearing a black T – shirt with a luminous green skull and crossbones printed on the front, a red and blue tartan mini skirt with a blue studded belt wrapped loosely around it, fishnet stockings and purple ankle high platform boots with three buckles. Her blue hair was in long pigtails which sported little skull bobbles. She had hurriedly pushed forty-something bracelets on to her right wrist. The only make up she wore was a thin line of eye liner, mascara and bright red lipstick which contrasted with her shiny azure hair.

“Ok then what’re we up to?” “Today we train in the woods” Vein replied “Let’s do this shit!” And with that they turned and left. Instead of walking through all the usual boring streets, the trio walked to the corner where Suburban street joined up with Horton street. They walked through Mrs Browns garden, round the back of the house and out into the field beyond. Mrs Brown was an elderly lady who was partially blind and deaf. The only visitors she had was the nurse and the vicar who came on a Tuesday and Sunday. Today being Saturday there was no chance of getting shouted at.

Once they were in the field - which luckily was empty – they headed north to the smaller part on the woods. The trees loomed before them like a giant wall. They grew close together and there was not much light to see by, so it wasn’t a great surprise when they found themselves stumbling through the dense undergrowth. After a brisk and noisy ten minute walk they found themselves in an area where the trees were more spread out, giving just a little more light to see by. Turning to face them Vein said “Surrounded by trees we find good karma, now just copy the moves I show to you.”

It was all going to plan. She needed to destroy the Keepers that were already free before moving along in her plan. After finding the whereabouts of the werewolf she had left an anonymous message with the Fishbone symbol at the end on the panther-like one telling him when and where Alcuna would strike. She had slipped it into his hoodie pocket whilst helping him support his stupid friend last night. If he took heed then there would be one less keeper to worry about.

Yokoami was currently taking up residence in an old abandoned house as there seemed to be an abundance of these in Drudgeville. The house lay on Carrington avenue and was rather small but it served its purpose. The plan was going so well, she hoped to God it would work.

Aider had found the note in his pocket before putting it in to wash. It read:

Alcuna will attack 12.30pm in the woods TOMORROW

I suggest that you go if you Wish to save you 3 friends

DO NOT BRING DAI

Beth and Thaila had copied all the moves shown to them by Vein and had begun to learn them off by heart. There was lots of different kicks and punches and they had to remember which places to do which punch for the most effect. They had also learned a few different blocking techniques and were carrying most moves out with ease. They had sat down for a bit and Vein had produced a big bottle of orange juice and some biscuits from her rucksack, which seemed to be filled with everything from swords to clean clothes. Once their breathing had regulated and they felt refreshed they stood up to leave the darkening woods. Once again they heard that chilling howl, now more chilling than ever. It sounded close, too close. As Thaila suggested that they left, Alcuna attacked.

It all happened so quickly. The large dog like creature sprang out from behind a sycamore tree, but it was stopped suddenly by what at first appeared to be a large, black shadow. Once Alcuna had plummeted to the ground, the girls could clearly see their hero. He was terrifyingly breath taking.

A mass of short, sleek, black fur and rippling muscles. The body – apart from the fur – was just like a human body builders. The head however, was that of a red eyed, sharp toothed panther. Even after the detailed descriptions Beth had never imagined Pantherine to be as spectacularly magnificent as this. She caught a glimpse of razor sharp claws as they pushed themselves from his fingers. Alcuna gave off a wolf like howl that sounded mournful and haunting, before launching itself at Pantherine. They bit and scratched and used their weight to slam each other before it came apparent what Alcuna’s strange howl had done.

Suddenly the woods were alive with movement as twenty dogs tore through the undergrowth behind them, yellow eyed and clearly possessed. All of them were foaming at the mouth, tongues lolling around and eyes burning out into the darkness. A German shepherd, a Jack Russell, two Rottweilers, a Yorkshire Terrier, some mongrels, three sheepdogs (one of them Thaila recognised as Mr Johnstone’s) and a whole range of other breeds had now created a dog army, all launching themselves at Pantherine, intent on bringing him down.

Beth, who had hidden behind a tree screamed and ran to Vein’s bag as the dogs tore at Pantherine’s flesh, he was clearly outnumbered. She pulled out a powerful looking short samurai sword with an ivory and gold handle. Making her way around the chaos she crept up behind Alcuna. Directly opposite her, Vein and Thaila watched open mouthed and helpless. The German shepherd stopped dead and sniffed the air, Beth knew it had sensed her motive. She drew the samurai sword and took a running jump at the werewolf. She landed on his hairy, smelly back and made a stab as quick as she could, she missed.

The werewolf span around trying to displace her, but Beth hung on tightly with her free arm and legs. The dog army were snarling below and now jumping up and trying to grab her legs, she kicked out at them. Alcuna was getting more and more violent, trying to throw her off, Beth glanced Pantherine stumbling to the floor, she gripped tightly with her legs and used both hands to drive the sword through the top of the writhing bests head. It died almost instantly. As soon as the creature hit the floor the dogs were released and back to normal, no longer having a taste for blood and looking very confused. But Pantherine was gone. All that remained was the crumpled, torn heap that was a barely conscious Aider.

Beth ran over followed by Thaila and Vein. Vein tried talking to him but his eyes were unfocused and watering. They tried to stand him upright but he just fainted. Finally the decided to carry him out, Beth took the shoulders, Thaila the feet and Vein the middle. “Where can we take him? We cant take him to the hospital.” Cried a frantic Thaila. “My mom is out, he can stay at mine, I’ll dress his wounds and see to him, mom wont be home until tomorrow night.” Beth plotted, so they made their way back across the field to Beth’s house on quiet Suburban Street.Vein and Thaila had left in search of Dai to tell him what had happened as soon as they had reached Beth’s front gate. By that time Aider had regained consciousness and managed to drag himself down the driveway and into Beth’s room.

N N N N N N N N

Aider had gotten up before Dai and disappeared. Dai had checked all his favourite hang outs and old haunts but to no avail – Aider could not be found. Dai was beginning to worry about his friend but there was nothing he could do. He made his way into the centre of town. The abandoned buildings eye-like window watched him. He entered the empty shell of the remains of the house where they had taken Beth and Thaila.

N N N N N N N N

He lay on his side on Beth’s dark, velvety four poster bed. She had fetched the first aid kit from behind the best china in the far kitchen cupboard and was now rolling him on his back and stripping him down. Once he was down to his plain black boxers she returned to the kitchen. She re-emerged five minutes later with a bowl of warm water - in to which she poured a liquid antiseptic – a small towel and a flannel. Aider was wounded but no too seriously. A thick cut ran down his left cheek, his arms and legs were covered in bites and scratches from the possessed dogs, his chest bore the marks of Alcuna’s claws.

After cleaning the cuts, Beth sprayed a disinfecting spray and bandaged Aider up the best she could. She gave him some pain killers and phoned for a pizza. Aider was awake now and was returning to normal. He told Beth that as he was a supernatural being he could heal very fast and without scarring. She could see this was true as the un-bandaged cut on his face was already beginning to knit itself back together. Aider lay under the covers still in just his boxers as his clothes were torn and covered in blood. Beth turned the TV on and joined him. She had changed into her grey summer pyjamas, a strappy top and hot pants.

They watched TV for a while before Beth felt an arm slip slowly around her waist. She looked over at Aider, he was looking back, “You saved my life today you know,” “Yay for super Beth!,” it was supposed to sound slightly sarcastic but her voice came out weak and shaky. His head moved towards hers and their lips met. At first the kisses were gentle but soon he was pushing against her. One thing was leading to another. Soon he was pushing against her naked body, how had that happened? Very soon he was everywhere. It was all happening so quick and Beth didn’t want it to end, she wanted them to stay in her bed forever.

N N N N N N N N

Vein had gone, Thaila was now walking down an empty Main Street by herself. The sun was setting, casting shadows everywhere, “You shouldn’t be out on your own after dark!” Thaila’s heart jumped and she whirled around ready to try out some of the moves Vein had showed her earlier in the day. It was Dai, “What the – you scared the life outta me!” “Sorry…” but the smirk on his face suggested otherwise, “C’mon let’s get outta here while we still can, you haven’t seen Aider by any chance have you?” This was her cue to tell him all, she explained all that had happened. He was completely shocked by it all. “I cant believe that he just left without telling me anything,” “He’s at Beth’s now but its too late to be calling round there,” “So what do we do?” Thaila looked up with a grin at the Gateway Club before holding his hand and walking inside.

Music bashed her eardrums, alcohol burned her throat on its downward journey, before she knew it, it was three o’clock in the morning and the bouncers were kicking everyone out. Giggling and holding on to a manically laughing Dai, Thaila made her way along Main Street. Soon Dai was leading her along what she thought to be Burlington Street. Suddenly everything went black, when light finally arrived with day break Thaila realised why.

She was squashed into a small single bed with Dai – they must have fallen asleep straight away as they were almost fully clothed – and the room was completely black and dark red. Infact if she had taken the time to look around she would have found that the entire house was decorated in black and red. She got up and went to the bathroom (which took some finding!) to freshen up. By the time she got back Dai was also awake. They decided to go to Beth’s now and get everyone together. It took longer to get there than they had expected, they were still tired from last night. The sun poured down on them and they sky was full of fluffy white clouds. What seemed like hours later they knocked on Beth’s door.

They heard movement inside and then heard the lock being drawn back and the door opened to reveal an already dressed Beth. “Hi guys, I thought you two would be round sooner or later,” She wore a smile like a boomerang. As they walked into the front room they could see that Aider was healed and looking healthier than before. His cheeks were rosy, his eyes gleamed and his smile showed more teeth than what a crocodile had in its entire mouth. The only evidence that yesterday had taken place was the rips and tears in his clothes. “Wow Aider man, you need to get back to ours and get some more clothes!” “I will do but first Id like to have some breakfast with my new girlfriend-“ “-Drop a little hint why don’t ya, man” “- and then I thought we could go to the library and do some research on our two new friends. It was strange how everyone looked at everyone else with raised eyebrows and skull like grins. So they did exactly what Aider suggested.They had eaten breakfast together, just Beth and Aider, whilst Thaila and Dai went to get Aider some clothes. Once he was changed they made the long journey to Drudgeville library.

The girls lovely friend the Librarian did not look pleased to see them back. In fact she looked at them as if they were a couple of cockroaches that needed to be exterminated as quickly as possible. But much to her annoyance they just smiled sweetly and set up residence at a table near the back. They found the section they were looking for then circled it until they got dizzy. Then they read until their eyes felt like bleeding and flicked pages until their fingers blistered. But they didn’t get as much information as they expected, what they did get appeared in Beth’s notepad like this:

SAKACHI

Made up from Fire and shadows Nocturnal – Hates light Roughly human shaped Is attracted to flame Starts fires

ARANMANTAE

Well figured, good looking woman Wings and Tail Seductress Devil like Violent Anti-social

Ok, it was fairly important information, they just wished there was more of it. “The library is closing, please leave.” The Librarian gave them a snotty look, they packed up quickly and smiled sweetly once again. They were heading to Dai and Aider’s house when they noticed smoke rising from the park at the end of the street. Walking over as quickly as they could the made their way to the bowling green where flames of a foot high were dying down. It was another pentagram.

“Great, now we have three cute, fluffy monsters running around, something tells me that their not going to be running around throwing confetti and sniffing flowers!” Now Thaila was really annoyed.

It was Lucias who had taken the time to draw the pentagram in the grass with petrol. He knew that the fire sprite would be attracted to it, due to the intense flames and the lack of people. What he wasn’t expecting was the small Japanese girl that hid in the shadows behind him with a long curved dagger. Now he was cold and dead, no use to anyone.

At that moment Sakachi was just a faint and slightly glowing shadow, but it could feel an irresistible pull inside drawing it towards the fire. It was like a fish that had taken the bait and was now being pulled towards the land. It was an urge it could not resist: to dance among the embers and celebrate the night. It crept up, warily at first, then when it was certain it could not be seen it ran in its frenzy and danced madly around the glow.

Thaila noticed it first. ‘It’ was roughly human shaped, but a bit jagged, as though a craftsman had been on a pub crawl and then drunkenly whittled a doll. It figure flapped about on its spindly legs and waved its arm about like an ostrich with its bum on fire. It cart wheeled, danced and catapulted in between the flames as a madman would, it had not yet noticed that it had attracted a small audience of four. This was it! But how were they going to get it and kill it? All of a sudden their questions were answered. It was like watching a big TV screen. Vein hurtled out of the bushes, sword brandished high, and dashed towards Sakachi. It did not notice her until she was upon it. With one clean sweep she decapitated it and its body turned to flames. Vein hadn’t noticed the others, she made her way back to the shadows.

NEWBIE

“Settle down, settle down” Mr Clarke called over the thunderous roar in his classroom. The students broke away from their social groups and slid down off the desks and into their chairs becoming silent.

Mr Clarke was quite young for a tutor, he was only 28. He was short and broad with green eyes and brown hair. He was trendy, funny and easy to get on with, so naturally his form loved him. He walked around the room humming a tune with a little more noise and emphasis than needed. That was another good trait that made Mr Clarke such a loveable tutor, he had bags of energy and emphasis, which showed as he bounced and hummed around the class and quite suddenly jumped into an air guitar pose to conclude his song.

“Ok, ok guys shaddap! Johnny boy, get yer feet offa the desk! Sammy, you better have that work in today or yer dead meat! Beth, Thaila,” He threw them the devils horns sign and yelled “Go, go, gothic!” That’s all it took from Mr Clarke to get everyone happy. “Ok guys, notices,” He ripped a piece of paper from the register and began to read:

“Baguettes from the canteen have increased to 80p, Drudgeville College won 4-0 in football against Gibberhurst, Can Johnny Boy, Walschy, Kimbob and Bernard see Miss Lueta at break, and we have a new member of our form today, please welcome Yokoami Darke from Tokyo!” All heads turned to look at Vein and the noise started again, “The Gothic trilogy continues…now lets take the register, Benson?” “Yeah” “Bryant?” “Yep” And so it continued: Burns, Croyden, Dempsy, Darke, Finn, Heaton, James, Johnston, Long, Mc Quisten, Morris, Moyde, Parkinson, Preston Russland, Sanderson, Seward, Silver, Storey, Taylor, West.

Finally the girls got to talk with Vein. They pretended the previous night hadn’t existed. Halfway through form time the receptionist came to deliver a letter that had been posted to reception. Thaila was shocked when Mr Clarke handed them a big beige envelope which read:

To Beth Taylor and Thaila James Group 6B URGENT ATTENTOIN!

“Oh no!” groaned Beth “I hope this isn’t bad news!” She snatched the envelope from her friend and tore it open. Inside was a large A4 piece of paper which read:

Hiya girls! Here’s something to cheer you up: 4 Tickets to Boiler room’s gig in Payneton Tonight Dai has ‘Acquired’ a car We will pick you up at 7.30pm xxx

“Oh my God!” Thaila’s hand went to her mouth. “That’s exactly what I was thinking, I also think you should be getting your ass to my house tonight about 5.30 so we can get gothed up!” “Hooray! Boiler room here we come!” “Hope its not bad new girls?” Mr Clarke said with a knowing smirk.

N N N N N N N N

Thaila came around at exactly 5.30pm bringing with her a big bag of things. “Let’s get gothy!” The black candles were lit, music pounded through the room. Everything was strewn across the bed in an untidy pile. The girls entered in big, black fluffy towels, soaking hair stuck to faces. Soon after the roar of the hair dryer struggled to make itself heard over the banging music. The heat steamed up the mirror and glass table, Rasputina lounged in the humidity.

Once the hair was dry it was time to style. Beth got the straighteners to work, then pulled her hair into a high ponytail then slicked it down with UV reactive hair gel until it was smooth. She put a dark blue hairpiece bobble around it and decorated the flat bits of hair with spider and jewel encrusted Kirby grips. Thaila decided to mousse crinkle her hair, which donned skull decorated ribbons and UV reactive streaks. Black eye shadow, thick black eyeliner and black lash lengthener. Beth chose a ruby red lipstick whilst Thaila stayed with the traditional black. Then it was time to move Rasputina from her lounging spot, back to her tank.

Beth was now in black lace underwear and Thaila chose ‘Raunchy’ reds and began to dress. She pulled on some tight black leggings with a thick lace inset running down each side from top to bottom. Then she tied a black lace train around her waist and adjusted it so that it fell down to her knees round the back. She took a pair of black fishnet tights and by cutting of the feet and putting a slit in the crotch, she made a long sleeve ‘V’ necked t-shirt.

Once she had struggled into her skin tight creation she wrapped herself in a black PVC corset and buckled it up. Next came the black, pointy, knee high, suede stiletto heeled boots. When she turned around to add some finishing touches (extra eye liner and nail varnish for one, then she had to pack her corset shaped bag) Beth was already dressed.

Beth’s dress had many complicated layers. Firstly there was the top half, a short sleeved black velvet top, with a red silk inset covered with black lace. Then the skirt. A short red silk skirt with a foot of black lace at the bottom and a shorter, lace skirt over the top to create a handkerchief bottom. Her small coffin bag was already packed.

At exactly 7.30 there was a knock at the door, it was Aider. The girls were so excited, especially when they saw the car. A black Mk1 Golf 1.8 GTi, with blacked out windows and chunky bumpers and a little skeleton hanging from the mirror. They only knew this because Aider bored them with details on the way to the car, something about an old friend willing to lend them cars. The new Daywalker album was blasting out of the open window. “Oh my God this is so incredibly…awesome!” yelled Thaila over all the noise. They climbed into the back and fastened their seat belts. Dai was wearing a long sleeved black ‘bondage top’ with plenty of straps and pvc ribs and matching pair of pants .

Whereas Aider wore a black vest top and a pair of dark cargo jeans, over the top he wore an ankle length leather coat. Both boys wore black nail varnish, black eyeliner and black lipstick. With a rev of the engine Dai set off at break-neck speed., music blaring out of the jumping speakers. Twenty minutes later the arrived outside Pandora’s Circle in Payneton.

Pandora’s Circle was an old gothic church that had been converted into a club. The outside had been kept the same but inside all the wall had been knocked out and new gothic toilets put in. There was also the biggest carved mahogany bar Thaila had ever seen. Dai bought the drinks, two Jack and Cokes, a baileys and a white wine spritzer. The found a small cluster of tables next to the stage and sat at an empty one. The place was teeming with people, mostly Goths, all exciting and different. Soon after they had settled down the band took to the stage, greeted with a roar of approval. Firstly came the front woman Drusilla leading on the rest of her band. T

he singer resembled snow white. She had milky white skin like a porcelain doll. Her big, full lips where dark red and her eyes were like two big brown whirlpools. Drusilla’s dress was long and ragged, it’s sheer whiteness contrasted greatly with her ebony hair. The guitarist; Coby, followed her out. He was very big, well built and wore lots of black. His bald head shone under the stage lights. The excitement grew as the last three walked onto straight. Raven. The keyboardist with her short platinum dreadlocks. Loki, the tall, lanky bassist and Tony the stocky black haired drummer. They took their positions on stage and introduced themselves and their first song ‘blazed and dazed’.

The music started and Thaila and Beth sat in awe. Neither could believe that they were sat watching their favourite band. Drusilla’s voice sounded out over the music, sweet and loud, high and hypnotising, girlish but tinted with a beautiful insanity. Her voice went from a singing to a rasp without any noticeable strain as she thundered through the song, accompanied by the pounding instruments of the band behind her.

‘I’m burning, burning,

Burning for you,

The flames last forever

And I cant get through,

I cant stop this burning!’

The chorus blasted out in all its gothic fury, soon everyone was up and dancing to the songs, ‘The Darkness in you’, ‘Black cats and Witchcraft’, ‘They are in the shadows’. It was near the middle of the set when the four teens got the shock of their lives. Drusilla had taken a quick break to guzzle down a shady pint. She was now primping herself on the stage. After satisfied that her dress looked tatty enough, she grabbed the microphone and announced that the next song ‘Immortal’ was dedicated to Beth, Thaila, Dai and Aider, then she asked them to stand at the front where a bright light was directed to shine down on them.

The drums thundered in and the guitars began to wail a haunting, chunky tune and the voice of Drusilla sang and rasped in the deranged, childlike tones.

‘In the shadows Of the night

Here I feed Here I hide

Watching, Waiting, Stalking, Hating,

Can you hear me?

Coming to get you, Coming to take you,

You’ve been trying to take me but I’m

Im-mor-tal,

Your lying and crying,

your trying and dying,

It’s too late now you should have left it alone,

Left us alone…’

When the song had finished the group looked happy enough to die, especially when Drusilla smiled and winked at them. They slowly made their way back to their seats. “You didn’t have to get them to do that for us’ Thaila gushed, “Um…we thought you asked them?’ Aider puzzled, The smiles faded. “Well it doesn’t matter lets just have a good time!” Yelled Beth over the next song, ‘I’ve created a monster’, Thaila agreed. The evening was just too good to be ruined, even the Fishbones were just a black smudge in the distance.

N N N N N N N N

Unfortunately everything good must, at some point, come to an end. Soon the four were back in the car. They turned the music up as loud as it would go and were soon back on the familiar, empty, tree lined road that lead back to Drudgeville. Dai was feeling uneasy, as the only one with a driving license he was their official designated driver, that is to say he was less pissed than the rest. It was as if he could sense something moving behind the trees. He didn’t say anything to the others, there was no point in worrying them he was probably just paranoid. T

hey were halfway down the deserted road when suddenly there was a huge ‘THUMP’ on the roof. “What was that?” Beth cried after letting out an involuntary scream. Suddenly something was on the bonnet, the something was Aranmantae. A smile played across her full, red lips as Dai swerved the car partly out of instincts, partly to try and throw her off. But instead of losing her balance she just nimbly hopped onto the roof and began the tear at the metal with her long, sharp claws.

Occasionally she peeked through the holes she was creating and laughed at her trembling victims. All the while she sang a familiar tune, Boiler room’s ‘Immortal’. It was then that they realised it was her that had asked for the song to be dedicated to them, they went over the lyrics and realised why. Dai swerved the car from left to right in an attempt to throw her off of the roof, while she continued to peel it off and snatch at the hair of the others. Thaila and Beth were screaming and ducking out of the way of clawed hands, while the monster above them cackled madly, bat-like wings outstretched to keep her balance.

It was then that Dai came up with a brilliant idea. If it worked then Aranmantae would wind up dead or seriously injured. If it failed then one or more of their gang could die at the claws of the terrible demoness on the roof. Dai grabbed his seat belt and fastened it as quickly as he could with one hand, he indicated to the others to do the same. Once he had seen that they had done the same, he began to drop his speed. 60, 50, 40…30, he kept to the same speed even though he could hear the screams in the back getting louder and more frantic. It was the longest two minutes of his life.

He waited, checked the mirror, waited some more and checked again while the girls ducked further and further down in their seats. Then he heard the sound of hope, a noisy rustle that told him Aranmantae was closing her wings to make a more violent and deadly move. 10, she stood up carefully, her inhuman powers allowing her to balance more effectively. 9, she flicked her tail and shattered the windscreen making them all jump and cry out. 8, 7, 6, she flexed her muscles ready to go in for the kill, 5, 4, she tensed, 3, 2, she moved in to seal their fate, 1. BRAKE!

Dai did an emergency stop and the monster flew off the roof, hit the floor and rolled to a stop a good few yards ahead. “Is she dead?” Thaila asked. Her question was soon answered when the She – Devil shakily tried to get to her feet. “Too fucking eager bitch!” Yelled Dai as he slammed his foot down with all his might on the accelerator. The impact was bone shattering, and just in case it wasn’t Dai reversed back over the body and went forwards again. Then he jumped out and set the body alight as quick as he could. The demons body burnt up quickly and soon the four were staring at a pile of smouldering ashes. “Damn now I’ll have to ask Joe for a new car” Dai muttered to himself, “Wahey, one more to go!” Beth said in an all but happy voice, “Yip” Thaila sighed, “Now we’ve just got that ‘I’m-an-asshole’ left” “Erm…Thai? That’s supposed to be I-me-ess-oh?” “Same difference…” and she headed back to the car.

A POUND OF FLESH

It had been a quiet week in Drudgeville. The girls had gone to college everyday with Vein. After college the trio had been meeting Dai and Aider at ‘The Expresso pump café’. Each night they talked like normal teens and had done a ‘little’ bit of research on their new monster. Beth had been writing the notes on her special bat shaped notepad. The boys had been going to the library to loan books. The information was written down like so:

IMI – ESO

A GHOUL

Ghouls eat flesh. They disguise as humans until they need to feed, then they shed their skin and turn green and scaly. The best way to kill a ghoul is Holy water. Can seduce members of the opposite sex to prey on.

“But where will we find a ghoul?” Thaila said to no one in particular. The next morning Beth and Thaila did their normal morning routine, with the addition of meeting Vein on Carrington Street where she had a flat. It was a chilly day. The wind bit at their bare bits of flesh. They entered the noise of the main corridor and noticed that most people were talking about the same thing, A big poster on the wall. It advertised the opening of a new gothic club. The grand opening was tonight and a band called ‘Siren’ was playing. It was decorated with Gothic angels and cherubs with slit wrists and bleeding eyes. Excitement bubbled up inside the girls, the Vein pointed out a disappointing patch of writing in the bottom left hand corner:

MASQURADE BALL 8PM TONIGHT! DRESS CODE Outfits must be elegant, dresses and tuxedos, Masks must be appropriate, no tacky or Halloween style ones, Masks must only reveal eyes and mouth or lower face. NO DRESS CODE NO ENTRY!

“Sweet, we have double art lesson first thing, Do you think Gibbons will let us make some masks?” Thaila wondered as she bought a glimmer of hope, “Maybe Mr G will let us do clay work early or something?” Vein hoped he would this night looked too good to miss. Mr Gibbons was one of the kinder tutors so maybe if they caught him in a good mood… The bell rang to announce the beginning of the first two lessons, Art. And so the begging began.

To keep their identities a secret the girls decided to cover their vibrant hair, they also decided that all three of them should go as dragons. Their deadline was just after dinner. They had to have all clay work finished so that it could spend the day in the kiln, Mr Gibbons had told them that he had a meeting after college which would last for about an hour. He said it they came to collect their masks after last lesson they could paint them and finish them of until it was time for him to lock up and go home. So they grabbed a table in the corner and got to work on their clay creations. Skinny faces and long snouts began to take shape. Scales rippled, teeth shone, eyes glared.

Thaila’s mask had a large, sharp beak like nose came down to the bottom of her throat. Long, thin antenna – like horns protruded from the top of the head and wormed their way skywards. The ears were three webbed spines with a claw topping of each bone. The eyes slanted evilly upwards and flicked out on the outer corner.

Beth decided to make hers appear less lizard – like than Thaila’s. It had protruding, pointed cheekbones and a long pointed snout with pointed out over her chin at an angle. Thick ram’s horns stuck out of the top of its head and curled round behind Beth’s ears. Underneath the defined cheekbones where two spikes that that went just underneath her ears. A ridge of bumps ran down the centre of its face. A row of sharp, curved fangs ran mouth length down the underside of the snout.

Vein’s mask was very impressive for the amount of time she had to make it in. A tooth filled mouth gaped wide, revealing a long snake – like tongue. The cat like eyes were squinting, giving it a permanent vicious roar. It possessed no visible ears but had an impressive pair of antlers. A razor sharp ridge of spikes ran down its nose. At three o clock they went to collect their works of art. They began to paint their beasts. Vein painted her malicious beast earth brown with shiny black antlers. Thaila painted hers in different shades of red, from fire engine red to congealed blood colours. Beth chose a camouflage pattern out of cream and white. She painted the horns silver and put a silver line around each eye. Once they had finished they arranged a time and place to meet. They could not contact Dai and Aider. They were to meet at half past seven at the bottom of main street.

N N N N N N N N

Vein entered her flat. It wasn’t much but it served its purpose. A mattress and duvet lay in a far corner by the window. The kitchen was messy with food wrappers which were strew everywhere. It was dark and dingy And covered in mildew. Half of the appliances didn’t work, but Vein didn’t care. The bathroom tiles were all falling off and the toilet wobbled dangerously when sat on. The lounge, however, was a different matter. Weapons covered the floor like a grotesquely sharp metal carpet. Swords, Daggers, Axes, throwing stars, crossbows…the list was endless. On the wall was a list of the keepers, with Alcuna, Omifei, Sakachi, Quique and Aranmantae crossed off with a thick red line of pen. On the floor below it was a brown leather volume with a copper pentagram embedded in the front – The unholy bible. Vein had a shower and went to the bedroom. She pulled a big holdall from a surprisingly full wardrobe with a grunt. There would be no need to apply make up, she would not be taking her mask off. She pulled a bundled up dress out off the huge bag and took it to the ironing board. ‘Now what about the hair?’ There was £3.50 on the kitchen side, she snatched it up and set off to the shops at a brisk walk. N

N N N N N N N

Beth pulled the dress out of her mothers wardrobe. It was beautiful! Ok, so it wasn’t very gothic, but who cared? Tonight she was going to be an anonymous princess. The dress was white and pink. Firstly there was the white corset top that came to a point at the waist. Each of the corset bones was covered with a baby pink ribbon. The corset then attached to an ankle length skirt which consisted of many different layers of pink lace. On each side of the corset was a silk, puffed out, off the shoulders sleeve in the same baby pink as the skirt. Last but not least were the shoes. Her precious, precious porn shoes. The shoes had been named that due to the fact that mostly strippers and porn stars wore them. Basically they were a six inch high, spike stiletto platform shoe. The heel and sole were made of clear plastic, giving them the ‘Cinderella’s glass slipper’ look. The strap over the foot and ankle were white PVC. Beth’s favourite part (if all went to plan) would be the hair, it would definatley shock everyone! She hoped Aider would be there to see it.

N N N N N N N N

Thaila lay on her bed. She really couldn’t be bothered moving yet. There was a knock on her bedroom door and her mother entered with a dress hung on a coat hanger. “You’d better hurry up if your going to get ready.” Thaila just grunted a reply. Her mother hung the dress from the black picture rail and left the room. Thaila stared at the dress from her comfy dip in the mattress. It was a long, straight silk dress. It had straps and a low cut front with an even lower cut back. The silk was pure black and reflected every ray of light. The dress was fitted at the waist to make Thaila appear more curvaceous. A split ran all the way from the ankle right up to the top of the thigh on the left hand side. It was an elegant and sexy outfit, perfect for an old dragon! Thaila eventually decided it was time to move, she picked up Lil Thaila and retrieved a towel from underneath her. Then she picked up the packet of hair dye and headed to the bathroom.

N N N N N N N N

The baby blue gown looked out of place in the rundown flat. One thing that Vein had an abundance of was expensive clothes, of course she had brought them all with her from Japan. The top was like a laced up corset and the bottom had a crinoline ‘bell’ from which hung many ribbon decked layers and made the dress stick out like a ball gown dress belonging to a fairytale princess. Veins hair was now all black and sported tight, shoulder length ringlets which fell and cascaded in gentle curled waves around her pointy face. Vein crawled into the dress and put on her mask, no one would ever know it was her. Good.

N N N N N N N N

Beth’s father nearly dropped his cup of tea. It was a good job he didn’t as the laptop may not have appreciated it. His daughter stood in front of him. She was absolutely beautiful. The dress clung to her, showing and enhancing curves in all the right places without being obnoxious. Her legs looked out from under the pink lace, shaped by the high shoes in which lay her dainty feet with toenails painted in shimmery silver. Pearls hung round her neck. Her make up was natural shades. A flawless complexion, quite tanned, long black lashes, a hint of colour on the eyes and cheeks giving her a fresh, rosy complexion, and a shiny, pinkish lip gloss. Her mask was in one hand. But what finished the look was the hair, it was shiny and full of body. A perfect ice white, reflecting all the colours of the light and highlighted with baby pink streaks. It had taken her ages to dye and straighten to perfection. Then she had used to straighteners to flick out the ends. To finish the look she had sprayed the whole ‘do’ with ultra shine hairspray. “Hold it just one moment,” said Mr Taylor “let me get my camera!” he began to rummage around in his bag which was next to his laptop. After Beth’s dad had taken loads of pictures she said goodbye and began to walk to Main Street.

N N N N N N N N

It was a good job that Thaila was quick at getting ready because it had taken hours for her mother to braid her newly dyed ‘flame red’ hair into tiny plaits all over her head. She adjusted her dress, sprayed some perfume, said goodbye to her mom and Lil Thaila then walked out of the house, pulling her mask down over her face. It was eerily quiet walking up Mall Street. Beth felt as though she was being followed so she speeded up her steps. “RAAAAAAAAAAAW!” “Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrggghhh!” Thaila grabbed her from behind, giggling like a hyena, “You bitch! You fucking little bitch!” Beth screamed lashing out unsuccessfully at the red dragon. Once she realised that Thaila was dodging too quick for her she turned around and stormed off. Thaila matched her pace. “Come on B it was just a joke!” “Well it wasn’t very funny, what, with all this shit happening?” Beth retorted back to her. “Sorry B, it seemed funny when I thought about it.” They walked along in silence for a while.

Once halfway up Carrington Street they saw a brown dragon in a blue Cinderella dress. “Hi Vein.” Chirped Beth on their arrival, “Hello” “I like your dress,” commented Thaila, “Thank you” The trio proceeded to walk the rest of the way down Main Street. There was a faint noise from a building. It sounded like music, they headed towards it.

Six stone steps led up to a grey building. Framed by a grey stone pillar on each side. ‘Elite’ was carved into a plaque above the door, or where the door should have been. There was a wall, and in the wall there were four coffins, embedded into the wall. That was it. Thaila walked up to a coffin and opened it. Inside was another door, she opened that door too. It lead into the club. The three girls took a coffin each and entered into the newly opened club. The band was not on stage yet but there was still loud music blaring out from large speakers at the far end. Everything was white, the wells, the floor, the spindly tables and chairs, the ceiling, the stage, the speakers. Everything. The overhead lights shone with brilliance and helped to illuminate the room like daylight. It was dazzling. In the left hand wall was half of a giant chrome ball. It was like a metal ball had been thrown at the wall and gotten stuck. It stretched from floor to ceiling and warped the dancers reflections like a fun house mirror. The girls span around slowly in a circle, back to back. The place was packed. Thaila noticed a bouncer by the coffin ‘door’ looking them up and down to make sure they fitted the criteria given by the posters. Meanwhile, people danced.

Dresses, gowns, corsets, skirts, suits. There were goblins, birds of prey, faeries, cherubs, monsters, dogs. There were masks that resembled humans, some resembled animals, others were mythical creatures. Feather and ribbons and sequins and glitter. In fact once Thaila looked down she could see the whole floor was covered in a thin layer of gold glitter, being kicked up in little storms by the dancers. A handsome looking crow in a tuxedo and black and red dreadlocks brushed past Beth, followed closely by a wolf with black spikes. Everyone was beyond recognition. The was a multitude of colour, in hair, masks and garments, all reflected in the white room creating a rainbow of colour out of an otherwise plain interior. A silver curtain fell down in front of the stage. The music howled on. Beth lead the way to a well polished, marble bar, in white of course.

A curvaceous gold hawk glided across the floor to serve them. She had wild brown hair and a low cut bronze dress which showed more milky skin than was necessary. Beth shouted her order over the now thumping music. A Bailey’s, a Dooley’s and a Malibu and coke. The hawk nodded and rushed off to get them and Beth pulled a small drinks menu towards her.

NEW POISONS

GOTHIC DELIGHT (per glass) £1.80

SPIDER OF DEATH (per glass) £2.50

RAINBOW JUICE (per jug) £8.00

SPOOKALICIOUS (per glass) £1.80

THROAT FREEZE (per shot) £1.00

SCORCH (per shot) £1.00 Dare you try?

The hawk was back in front of them, patiently waiting for her money. The girls put their money down on the bar, it was snatched up quickly before the hawk disappeared. Now Vein was leading the way. She pushed through the throng of dancers towards the semi-sphere mirror. In front of it was an empty, spindly table. She placed her drink on a glass coaster and sat down. The others followed suit. A crow passed by with a pint.

Just then four small round platforms were lowered from the ceiling by four chains each. On each platform was a figure shrouded in a silver cloak. A larger platform was lowered into the centre. On this platform a figure too big to be human rested. The suspended platforms came to a halt about a meter above everyone’s heads. Suddenly everything happened at once, just to dazzle the senses.

The curtain lifted revealing the band, who obviously aimed to appeal more to men. All three of them were curvy, blonde, tanned and scantily clad. The stage instantly lit up and the band began to play. People spun from the ceiling of chiffon scarves and began an aerial ballet. The shape on the middle platform threw off its cloak to reveal a juggler on a uni – cycle. The other four platforms moved and the cloaks were shed with a blast of fire from each mans mouth. The song went on, as did the entertainment. The girls sat in awe. The song thundered to an end. It was rare to get such good entertainment in such a small town.

The band onstage introduced themselves and the next song, when Thaila actually listened to the lyrics she realised that they were very rude and suggestive, so she decided to concentrate on her drink. She stared at the fizzing surface until she got bored and knocked it back in one. Then she rose out of her chair and found a space to dance. The songs seemed to go on forever. Thaila noticed that there was only men at the front of the stage, they stood there transfixed. As Beth made her way towards the bar again she was intercepted by a crow, who spun her around and danced briefly with her until she walked away bored. She wondered where Dai and Aider were, surely they wouldn’t miss something like this? After grabbing hawks attention and ordering a jug of rainbow juice she made her way back to Vein. Vein wasn’t there. Beth dragged Thaila back to the table, after all, she couldn’t drink that jug all by herself could she?

N N N N N N N N

Behind the locked door was a pretty collection. Severed limbs, gnawed bones, dried blood, chains and an unconscious boy. The hem of her dress dragged through the gore, her stilettos crunched on the bones that covered the floor. Vein tugged at a bow on the side of her dress, it was disguised perfectly. She had stabbed a dagger through the dome of the skirt and tied a ribbon around the handle so it looked like the pattern on the rest of her dress. This was the changing room. It really was just a room. It was probably supposed to be a storeroom but now all it contained was the gore which was the ghouls previous meals.

N N N N N N N N

‘So close I can taste you, Feel you heart, So close I can smell you, Smells sweet.’ They were getting really boring, really fast. The Rainbow juice had turned out to be a shot of everything mixable in a jug.Nevertheless Beth didn’t feel pissed, just warm. She glanced across at Thaila who was intently watching a fire breather. Most of the girls in the room were dancing or gathered round tables. Hawk was polishing the bar down. The guys were all stood at the front watching the band. Typical, show a guy a bunch of pretty girls and that’s it! Beth hoped the pretty girls were really men! Ha! The final song ended and Siren thanked their audience for listening. They men all looked disappointed and everyone made their way to leave.

“I wonder where Vein went to?” “I dunno, I need the loo, I’m not gonna be able to hold it all the way home.” “Come on then.” The toilets were finally found in the corner which also lead onto the stage. What a contrast to the main room, everything was black with mahogany bathroom suite. Thaila went to the toilet whilst Beth checked her make up. Then they made to leave. Thaila held the door opened for Beth and happened to glance at the doorway to her side. On the floor of the long dark passageway was a baby blue ribbon.

It was most definatley Vein’s, there was no doubt about it. Beth saw it too and there was a silent bond between them. Thaila entered the corridor first, it was long and dark with a left and right turn at the end. On instinct Thaila took the right turn. Three corners later she was at a dead end. Stupid instincts! She turned around walked back to take the left route and heard a muffled shouting. It came from behind the door they had just passed. Thaila motioned for Beth to listen, Beth pressed her ear to the door. She could hear girls giggling, probably the band, and she could hear the frantic muffled cries of…Dai and Aider! Thaila must have heard it too or guessed by the worried look on Beth’s face, because she began to run down the corridor.

She burst out into the main room to find it completely deserted. Running to the nearest table, she tipped it over as quietly as she could. The stiletto would be useless but if she tucked her toes up...she tried. Bringing her foot back she aimed a kick at one of the table legs, it snapped with ease. She broke of a second one and handed it to Beth. There as fury in her eyes. She whizzed around to head back to the room when Beth stopped her. “I have an idea, follow me,” “Beth they’re in trouble!” “Just follow me, this may help” Beth urged her raging friend. She ran quickly and vaulted over the bar. The were bottles that were nearly empty. Beth grabbed them and emptied the contents on the floor, but not before taking a long and hearty swig. She gave Thaila strict instructions not to break the bottles until they had entered the room in case the band heard them. They headed for the corridor again when Beth decided to grab the fire extinguisher. In just a few minutes they had found the room again. Thaila signalled to Beth, counted to three and turned to door handle.

The three girls whirled round in surprise as the door was flung open and the bottles were smashed, temporarily forgetting their victims. Dai and Aider were chained up and gagged against the far wall. They too looked surprised at the sudden rescue. Then the band revealed their true faces. The human flesh began to shred away as though being torn by an invisible cheese grater. As the pinkish flesh melted away, the ghouls ugly identities burst out.

Green scaly skin poked through the gaps and their eyes began to redden and turn snake – like. The peeled away completely, a flat, mongoloid face with no nose, just slits of nostrils took its place. The once beautiful blonde hair fell out of the head with the human scalp and was replaced with long greasy strands of black mess. Nails switched for claws. Now all traces of clothes and flesh had vanished, leaving just green scaly women. The three ghouls began to tense their bodies and growl as one. Then one decided to take the lead. It moved forwards leaving the other two to guard the prey. The creature did not seem at all threatened by the slight problem. Until Beth stabbed it in the cheek.

The glass bottle slid in easily and the beast recoiled, leaving a circular gash laced with shards of glass. Black blood began to ooze its way slowly and lazily out of the wound. Once the reality of the damage had set in the ghoul projected itself forwards, claws aimed at throats. Thaila was once again amazed at how easy the situation was turning out to be as she side-stepped the attack and bopped the ghoul on the head with the table leg. The ‘bop’ produced a sick thud. Ghoul one fell to the floor and scrabbled around to pick itself back up. Beth connected a stiletto with its skull. Again. Again. Aga… the stiletto went straight through this time. It was like putting your finger through a weak point in an egg. The ghoul howled. WHOOSH! It was dead and gone just like that. But being evil and all it had to make a respectable sized mess. That’s why its whole body decided to turn in to goo first, then hover in mid air, and then finally spladoosh all over their beautiful ball gowns. "Great! How am I going to explain this one to mom!" Beth said out of pure anger, but by that time the other two ghouls were already advancing.

They attacked as one monster, moving with accurate timing. Ghoul one lashed out at Beth, tearing both her dress and her shoulder. She aimed a kick at its stomach, but she was not nearly quick enough. The enraged ghoul batted her leg away causing Beth to lose her balance and fall in a most ungraceful heap on the slime covered floor. Meanwhile Thaila fought like a cornered rat. But even her efforts proved too meek for the ghouls unearthly strength. She soon ended up backed against the wall. Beth scrabbled backwards, towards Thaila’s direction, if they stood side by side against the wall then at least then they could be protected from every way except the front. They huddled up close.

The two big green monsters loomed forwards towards them, eyes glinting, strands of toxic saliva dribbled and wormed its way down pointed, scaly chins and then dripped off into the abyss. Surely there was some way of escape? Both girls looked around desperately. The ghouls were taking great delight in being menacing and were now watching their victims squirm with great pleasure. Dai and Aider were now making muffled noises through their gags and trying to break free of their chains. Aider looked pale and sweaty. Beth thought he was going to faint, although she wasn’t particularly bothered, as at this moment in time all of their futures looked pretty bleak. But the more she looked the worse he was becoming.

His head started lolling around, he was having difficulties in controlling it, his eyes began to flick backwards back into his head and his stomach was beginning to convulse. Thaila made one last feeble attempt at an attack. She picked up the long forgotten fire extinguisher and threw it at ghoul two's flat face. It connected with a thud, but the ghoul only looked mildly surprised, a look which was quickly followed by a look of compete indifference. Well, if the prey was going to keep fighting back...a split second after their advance, their was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Vein leapt down from her hiding place, dagger clutched tight. She couldn’t let them die, because she was growing to quite like them now, such a shame. She hit the floor and ran towards the ghouls without a pause. The dagger was raised high in her hand, it came down in a swift arc and sliced a diagonal gash down the second ghouls back. Funnily enough the ghoul did not appreciate this. Vein did not hesitate in striking again and slashed next at the ghouls forearm. Unfortunately she did not keep an eye on ghoul number one, who seized the chance to clout her around the head, which in turn knocked her into the side wall and left her crumpled in a dazed pile, not a very good state to be in this sort of situation.

That was it they were doomed now, for sure. They faced the two pissed off ghouls. Beth shot a glance at each of her friends, Thaila's eyes were brimming with tears, Dai's head was hung in despair, but Aider was shaking wildly and foaming at the mouth. He looked up at her and Beth was overjoyed at what she saw.

Aider was rapidly a soft black beard, which was moving up his face to join his eyebrows before continuing to invade his face and neck. His nose began to shrink inwards and his cheeks thinned and pushed out whiskers. Soon the hair on his face had completely blended with the hair on his head, which had also morphed itself by shortening and turning completely black. His eyes began to redden as if being filled from the inside with blood and his pupils changed to cat – like slits. The fur was now all over his body and a pair of ears and a long tail had joined it. His body twisted and his muscles grew as though he were an inflatable toy being blown up. He was no longer Aider, he was just another monster. But he was their monster and that’s what made the difference, and now the ghouls were the prey.

All it took was a flex of his wrists to break the shackles that held him. No time was wasted in breaking Dai’s restraints. Whilst Dai headed to pick Vein up off the floor, Pantherine headed toward ghoul number two who was already wounded. The second ghoul swung around to attack this new challenge, but with anger boiling the blood in his veins Pantherine proved to be too strong. He screamed, it came out human and the curdled into a panthers roar. It turned the very atmosphere to ice. With his head bowed, he charged at number two. There was no time to think about what to do as the panthers huge head rammed into the ghouls chest, crashing it into the wall. Then a hand was clutching at it’s throat, crushing its windpipe while the other fist pummelled into its stomach. Ghoul one decided to step in and pounced on Pantherine’s back. Not that he noticed, he just shrugged it off and continued to break bones with his first choice.

In retaliation ghoul one decided to bite the incoming hand. As quick as lighting Pantherine extended his fingers into the slimy mouth, hooked his fingers in and pulled down with all his strength. The ghoul howled in pain as it’s jaw was ripped off it’s face. Thick, black blood spurted in all directions. Its eyes rolled wildly in its head and its tongue dangled loosely out of the top of its neck where its mouth uses to begin. The Pantherine grabbed its arm and swung the helpless creature over his shoulder at the other oncoming ghoul, shattering the limb in the process. One was knocked to the floor again whilst two whimpered in pain. Beth almost felt a pang of sympathy for it as it suffered, then she remembered what the beast’s plans were and willed more pain on it.

Pantherine walked over ghoul ones back and kicked it square in the face, snapping its head backwards. Then something took them all by surprise. The second ghoul was on its knees, a pleading look in its reptilian eyes. As Pantherine towered over it the creature saw that there was no hope, just pain, and so it drove its fingers into its own chest. The green skin ate the hand right up to the wrist, the ghouls eyes widened and when the hand withdrew it was grasping a still beating heart. It promptly melted into goo the same as the other one had, though slightly more respectable and with less mess. The animal which was once a human called Aider rounded up on the last ghoul. He played with this one just like he did the other, breaking bones and causing vast amounts of pain. They he twisted its neck so hard that he tore its head clean off. Now there was just goo left. Beth and Thaila were huddled in a corner looking slightly green, as was Dai who had a semi conscious Vein draped over his shoulder. He let out a small cough to clear his throat, but now all eyes were on Vein.

Vein wasn’t supposed to have been here. If she had known about the monsters then why did she pursue them alone? Something was not quite right anymore. But for now they needed to take Vein somewhere. Home would have been a good idea but no one knew where she lived. They decided she should stay with the boys as both Thaila and Beth’s parents were at home.

N N N N N N N N

Yalheya had sent Tia for the job. She was stealthy and strong and no one would expect anything from her. She blended right in. Tia walked down the clean, white hospital corridor of the maternity ward. A shiver ran through her as she walked past an air conditioning system. She wore a black, tight top and her stone beige combat pants dragged along the floor. She wished she had stolen a bra. She would have to put that on her to do list, for now her breasts proudly displayed her nipples through her top.

The Fishbones stole everything. They had money to buy things with, but stealing was preferred. Each member had their own personal stash of items, Fishbones hardly shared their belongings. Tia was one amongst many that stole from shops. She had started of with nothing except one set of clothes and eighty pounds in her pocket. Lucias had already made a washroom for them out of things he has stolen or found. He had also split a large room into twelve sections with chalk lines. Each section would belong to one of the new recruits. It would be their home, their space. The rules were simple, a member could not enter another members section unless they were invited. If someone was found stealing from another member they would be severely punished.

They had to get their own belongings. The first thing Tia did was buy a mattress and a small chest of drawers for her space. With the help of Nadja and Rasheen she managed to put the furniture inside her invisible walls. She was already making friends, Nadja shared all her interests and was great to get along with. She felt sorry for Nuala and Rasheen, so she often went out in the daytime to shop for them. Tia and Nadja had gone to an Army Surplus store and bought and an army issue sleeping bag and fold away stove. Nuala and Rasheen had managed to scrape some money between them for two sleeping bags and a stove to share. A rucksack also proved to be a good investment as Tia started to earn money through means which would soon become a part of her everyday life.

Shoplifting. Sometimes it had been easy. Sometimes she had to run and fight. If she liked the stuff she kept it, if not she sold it on to second hand shops. There was one shop she was a regular seller at. It was a ‘dodgy dealings’ shop in a dim back alley. Everything accepted, no questions asked. Tia always went there whenever possible. After she had sold her first load, Tia had gone and filled her rucksack with all sorts of food and drink. The she filled her pockets, then Nadja’s. She had thought that no one else would have any food, she predicted correctly. That night they had feasted, all thanks to Tia.

A faint smile played across her lips as she remembered her first day underground. Her parents had been the cause of her departure, or more correctly the lack of them. Her father was in prison and her mother was a trailer trash booze queen who spent her days in front of the mirror drunkenly applying her make up and then going to complete dives of pubs trying to pull fat, old men, not realising her eyeliner was halfway down her cheeks. To pass time Tia pushed weights, all day, everyday. She built up her body for no reason other than boredom. She had dropped out of high school at the age of fourteen because her grades were so low. It felt good when she had joined the Fishbones. Felt good to watch Yalheya drag her drunken mother in by the wrist. The stupid old hag was so drunk she didn’t even know what was happening, she had thought she was at a party and started laughing and dancing. It had felt really good to watch Yalheya blow her brains all over the wall with a shotgun. Now she was free, she could start a new life.

Nadja was different by far. She had attended a boarding school and had just happened to be in Drudgeville the weekend the Fishbones were recruiting. They had selected her to join them. She had always been bullied for her good grades and her parents were way too strict. She had attempted to commit suicide twice. Nuala and Rasheen were just outcasts at everything due to their strange appearance. Tapanga’s parents were Catholics and wouldn’t allow her to model. Aider was a runaway orphan. Tyrine was a thug. Dai was homeless. Draven was a rebel. Mikhail was a victim of bullies because he was overweight. Devon was a geek with no life. All pretty good reason’s to run away, and now here they were, one big happy family.

Tia stopped outside the baby unit. Through the glass in the door she could see the rows of babies in their cots. There was a lock on the door but she tried pushing it anyways. “Can I help you madam?” Where had the nurse come from? She had been completely alone a few seconds ago. “Yes I’d like to get into this room please,” “Do you have a baby in there?” “Erm…no…” She had been cornered and blew it. Oh well at least she had found the place. The lock on the door looked quite weak… “I’m afraid I will have to ask you to leave miss… Miss?” Tia aimed a kick at the door, the wood shattered, the nurse screamed, Tia kicked again, the lock snapped and she ran for the nearest exit. By this time another doctor had appeared and had called security.

Tia had ran for a good five minutes before the guard had appeared. Her blonde hairs were sticking to her with sweat now. He grabbed her and spun her away from him so he could wrap his arm around her neck. But Tia remembered her defence moves and used a method that never failed. She brought back her elbow and winded him, stood on his foot so he bent over, punched him in the nose causing a fountain of blood and then kicked him hard in the groin. It was a great success as he landed in a bloody heap on the floor. Tia ran all the way back to the factory without stopping.

N N N N N N N N

“So do you care to tell us why you were hiding up there and why you didn’t step in earlier? Were you even going to step in at all?” Vein had woken up, she was fine, just a little bruised. Aider was left to question her whilst Dai had gone to get some milk. “I did not know you were going to get captured like stupid gullible men! I was too dangerous to bring Thaila and Beth! I went to kill monsters, the ghouls would have been vulnerable just before they ate, that was going to be when I would have struck! But the Beth and Thaila, I thought they would have managed by themselves but they didn’t so I came down from hiding!” Vein shouted angrily, her accent thicker than usual. Aider looked puzzled, the excuse made perfect sense, which shocked him. Now what was he to do? “Erm. Ok then. As long as we know you weren’t up to anything…erm…yeah.” That was all he could manage. He sat in his chair in his red and black room which was identical to the rest and waited for Dai and his opinion.

It turned out that Dai’s opinion was the same as his, confused. There was nothing really to be said to that. It was completely rational. It was slightly embarrassing facing Vein after they had been such judgemental pricks. “Am I free to go yet?” Vein mused, “Or am I still classed as a traitor?” They were so easy to fool. Idiots. “Erm…I…I guess so…” Dai stammered. Vein turned and left with an exasperated sigh. Dai and Aider looked at each other in silence.

CHASING GRAVEL

Beth had woken around eleven, her eyes blurred and her body aching. It had been a tough night for them all. Outside the sun must have taken the wrong turning on the way to Africa, as it was scorching hot. She shocked herself with her new vivid hair and remembered everyone else’s new styles with a smile. Today she was going to do bugger all, evil or no evil. Today she was going to relax. After her shower she applied some shimmering pink summer make up to compliment her streaks and put her best black bikini on. Then she slipped on her other pair of ‘Porn shoes’, a black pair.

Breakfast came in the form of a cereal bar. Then she filled a huge jug with orange juice and ice cubes and grabbed a sun lounger so she could sit on the front lawn. It was so hot that she decided to bring Rasputina out. She loved the feel of the smooth, cool scales on her skin. Around one o’clock her mobile rang. It was Thaila. Beth put another sun lounger next to hers. When Thaila arrived it was obvious that she had also felt summery. She wore dark denim hot pants, a black halter-neck bikini top with grey spider prints and a black studded pair of vamp mules. They sipped cold orange juice and chatted all afternoon. That’s when Thaila had the most perfect pampering idea ever!

Thaila’s mom was at home today and Thaila’s mom was highly into aromatherapy., reiki and massage. Plus Thaila had a hot tub! It was a plan! Beth packed all the stuff away and forced Rasputina back into her tank, knowing fine well that she would be wrapped around a bedpost or similar later on. On the way to Laketon avenue – Thaila’s street – they bought a cheap bottle of bubbly from Horton Street Stores. Divine!

The girls had spent three hours drinking champagne in the hot tub, then Thaila’s mom had given them a massage with relaxing lavender oils. Beth had taken a taxi home. When she entered her large basement room she noticed that her mom had changed her bed sheets to black satin ones. She sank into her bed and prayed for the alarm batteries to die in the night. The worst thing about Sundays is that Monday followed them.

As soon as they entered college on Monday they were attacked by Vein. She was still fuming about being suspected as a traitor. Thaila and Beth apologized and tried to explain things from their point of view. Once they got to form Vein was beginning to forgive them. They strolled into the noise of their class, people were throwing things and shouting as usual. Everyone was gathered around the tables in their social groups. The three new arrivals made their way to their usual place at the far back corner of the classroom and put their bags on the table.

First lesson was double personal and social education. As boring as it was it was considered a necessity by the college principal. That mean Mr Clarke would be teaching them as he was their form tutor. It was an easy and fun lesson, in fact it was classed as a fly by lesson as time just flew by so quickly due to everyone having so much fun. Mr Clarke strolled in fifteen minutes late. He took the register, did a little dance for everyone’s entertainment, read out five notices (‘Drudgeville college Eat Healthy week’ all next week, football match on Friday, Gymnastics club cancelled, Trampolining club starts on Friday as well as all weekend clubs and last but not least, Mr Clarke is the best teacher in the whole wide Mooniverse. The class didn’t think this was an official notice.

Mr Clarke announced for the class to get into groups of three or four and he would give them an envelope with a ‘situation’ in it and the group could have an hour to make up a short play about it. It should be a proper play with music and costumes, Mr Clarke told them that they had full access to the music and textiles room as long as either Mrs O’Conell or Miss Threemy was present. He handed out five white envelopes. Beth, Vein and Thaila had decided to group together with the addition of Copper West, Copper was a quiet, bright girl. There was nothing special about her but she was strangley pretty. Sometimes she was rather stuck up, like now. She wasn’t very happy about being in this group.

Once the envelopes were handed out the groups began to open them. Thaila tore through the white paper and produced another A4 piece, she turned it over and opened her mouth to announce their scenario. A scribbled pentagram stared up at her like a big red eye. Vein’s hand flew to her mouth whilst Beth’s jaw dropped wide open. Thaila just stared, livid.

“Which little fuck-up did this?” She bellowed into the noise. The class turned to look at her as one. Copper gave her a most disgusted and snooty look. “God Thaila, it’s only a stupid picture don’t you think your over reacting slightly? Now everyone’s staring at us, I’ve never felt so embarrassed…” Thaila was on top of her like a pile of bricks in a split second. “Over reacting? Let’s see who’s over reacting when I put my fist in your face you snotty little cow!” Thaila raged as she began to rip into Copper. Beth tried to calm her down, as did Mr Clarke,

“Who did this? Who the fu-“

“Thaila come on sit down, it’s not a big-“

“Thaila if you don’t sit down you will be staying-“

“If I find out who did this then I’ll-“

“Shh! Thaila come on just-“

“Kick your fu-“

“THAILA JAMES! I will not have that kind behaviour in this group! I want you to stay behind at three!”

Thaila was seething with rage, Copper was smirking under her hand and everyone was staring and whispering amongst themselves. Her hand found the back of a chair, which suddenly took impromptu flying lessons, it hit the wall narrowly missing Copper’s head, it wasn’t good enough for Thaila. Her body tensed as she prepared to launch an attack. And a bloody good attack it would have been too, if Beth hadn’t of grabbed her by the arm and dragged her outside. “Thaila, for god’s sake, calm down! Remember we’re up against the Fishbones here! If they want this damn apocalypse to happen then we’re just going to have to go with it until we have a clear opportunity to stop it! So just calm down, we’ve got Aider and Dai, we’ve got Vein! So just chill, we can do this!”

Thaila was still shaking but noticeably calmer when she re-entered the classroom, Vein came over and whispered to her, “Are you OK Thai?” She nodded a response. She could see that Mr Clarke was also making his way over and he was looking very disappointed. “Thaila, your behaviour today was completely inappropriate, I’m going to have to ask you to stay behind tonight, is that clear?” Again Thaila nodded her response. She dropped into her chair and spent the rest of the afternoon moping around.

Beth had tried to reason with Mr Clarke, she explained how stressed Thaila was and blamed it on ‘Home problems’ but he said it was no excuse. Three O’clock came and Thaila went to see Mr Clarke, Beth waited outside. She couldn’t hear anything of what was being said but when she looked through the pane of glass in the door she could see that Mr Clarke was being very serious. She let out an exasperated sigh and turned away. After a few boring minutes she ambled up the corridor and peered out of the window. The sky outside looked dark and ominous, it promised a storm or at least a bit of rain. Beth stared out of the corner of the window, in a trance like state, her eyes fixed on middle distance.

As soon as she began to glance away she saw a large, dark shape skitter across the murky clouds. Beth did a double take, but the shape had gone as fast as it had appeared. It was too big to have been a bird…As Beth began to wonder, Thaila came out of the classroom. “Hey Beth, thanks for waiting.” Her voice sounded sad and weak. Beth looked at her with eyes full of pity. “Its OK Thai. Hey, listen, I’m not too sure about this but I think I’ve just seen our new monster going on an outing.” Thaila’s heart sank like a boulder thrown into quick sand, “Oh. And what is this lovely little beastie then? Best start researching to keep ahead, eh?” “Margua the Gargoyle. I’ll have a look on the internet when I have some free time and see what I can pull up.”

The walk home was a quiet one. Halfway home it started to rain and soon the thunder was rolling, lightning quickly followed. Not long afterwards the girls were grateful to be safe and warm in their own homes. They hadn’t seen Vein since the incident that morning, she had seemed pretty disturbed. At that particular moment in time she was wrapped up in a duvet trying to keep warm and block out the sound of the drips from the ceiling hitting various pots around the room. Although she hated her leaky home she was glad to be out of the main storm.

N N N N N N N N

Father Jefferson was in a rather bad mood as he fumbled for the key to lock up the church doors. The icy wind tore straight through his garments and straight through his bones, and what’s more he had to walk home. Aha! He found the evasive little key! But a sudden noise made him drop them. Damn! It sounded like something big crashing through the bushes, he turned around to look, but it was just a cat trying to avoid the rain. Annoyed, tired and wet he turned around to pick up his keys.

Nothing could have ever prepared him for the monstrosity that hung before him. Its taloned feet gripped the inside of the arch and made it so that the creature hung with its ugly face level with his. Its whole body was lumpy and grey. Its face was hideous and yet strangley beautiful. It had the ability to look both happy and sad, and still truly frightful. It had a big bulbous nose and huge flaring nostrils, bulging eyes that looked so full of pain. Instead of pupils it had holes. Its ears were animal like and pricked straight up, the mouth was cat shaped with a cleft lip. And then there were the teeth. They were the last thing that Father Jefferson saw as the creature ripped a claw across his eyes and blinded him with one quick swipe. Row upon row of sharp, serrated teeth. Blood streamed from his face as he clutched his ripped eyeballs and fell about shrieking.

The priest blindly tried to stumble away. He fell to his knees on more than one occasion but he dragged himself back up. All the while he muttered the Lord Prayer under his breath. He couldn’t see the gargoyle as it crept noiselessly up behind him, but he sure as hell felt the hard, heavy blows it deal him as it started to beat him to death. It wasn’t long before the damage was fatal, his ribs shattered and shattered and impaled his heart and lungs. He fell into a broken pile of tender flesh on the floor.

The monster was upon the body in no time, tearing off huge chunks of flesh and stuffing it into it into its stony mouth before it got cold. The brown and black tabby had seen it all. The beast before it was extremely frightening but on the other hand the cat hadn’t eaten in days. It bounded through the rain towards the body, hoping to get a scrap or a titbit. The gargoyle stared at it for a while, then with one huge hand it reached out and stroked the cat, its face broke into something like a smile, then with the other hand it ripped off a huge chunk of flesh and laid it down in front of the stray. Once the cat was full it ran off to curl up under the church porch and soon drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

Dawn was drawing near, leaving the remains the gargoyle flew high onto the church roof and struck a pose. As soon as the sun poked over the horizon the gargoyle’s skin crackled and set into stone. In the shadows of the arch the cat felt ill, maybe there had been something wrong with the meat. It woke up and stretched in the morning sun. All that blood had made him thirsty and there was plenty of puddles left over from the storm last night. It found itself a particularly clean one and lent over to drink. Whoa! What the hell? The cat sprang back and then edged up to the puddle to peer in again Yes, he wasn’t imagining things. He had really big fangs, extra long whiskers, huge claws and a pair of bloody big furry wings! How the Hell did this happen. This want good. He was sure the sexy lilac point Siamese down the road wouldn’t go for it! Bloody Hell!

He didn’t know where to go, so he just ran and ran and ran, right under the wheel of a Fiat Punto and even then he still kept running. The driver had got out but it was too late, she cried all the way home. The cat was definatley beginning to feel the pain now, it would have to stop and rest soon, it just had for look for a suitable –Ow! He didn’t see the step, oh well since he had collapsed here it was as good as any. Slowly the world became black and it shut its eyes.

N N N N N N N N

At half past ten Aider woke up and traipsed downstairs to the kitchen. It stank of last nights fry up, if he didn’t get some fresh air soon he was going to puke. He opened the back door and sucked in a huge breath of clean air, Then he heard a soft meow – barely even a whisper – from down by his feet. There on the step was the body of a crushed cat, barely breathing, eyes just yellow slits trying to look up at him pleadingly. Aider’s heart broke instantly and a tear rolled down his cheek as he began to cry softly. He crouched down and tried to comfort the dying animal with a soothing voice and a gentle tickle behind the ear. He didn’t know what to do, should he kill it quickly and put it out of its misery? It was well beyond saving. The cat took a deep rasping breath – which didn’t stop. Aider cocked his head to one side in puzzlement.

The cats body began to push itself outwards into the shape of a normal cat, then all the split skin began to pull itself back together. Aider gawped as the cat opened its eyes and stood up and began to wind itself around his legs meowing. Aider giggled, obviously there was something unnatural about this animal, but he was used to weird things now and he felt an instant bond with it. He poured some milk into a bowl and put it on the floor. The cat ran over and Aider plonked himself down next to it. Its fur was soft as he ran his hand through it. “Bloody mental! What shall we do with you then buddy boy?” The cat meowed quizzically at him and then continued to lap up its milk. “Hmmmm…Well, I guess you need a name…How about Dog?” He joked. The cat finished its milk and gave him a dirty look about the name, “Sponge?” Still not impressed, “Erm. How about…Deeli?” Reaction. The cat began to purr and fuss around him. “Deeli it is then! I better go and buy some food if your staying here bud!” Deeli purred and rolled onto his back. Upstairs the floorboards creaked, indicating that Dai was now awake. Aider decided that he was going to keep Deeli, Whether Dai liked him or not. How could he not love his shiny brown and black stripes, white goatee and pupil filled eyes. He was gorgeous. The cat definatley liked it here. It was war and dry with clean water and food, and now he had two humans to fuss him. There was plenty of comfy places to sleep and he felt strangley close to the human who had found him.

N N N N N N N N

‘What was a Haiku?’ Two hours into her English assignment Beth still didn’t know and still didn’t care. Today’s headlines had told of Father Jefferson’s tragic and untimely death. Apparently he had been ‘mauled and half eaten’ by some ‘wild animal’. Beth Taylor knew better and had begun researching in between writing an assignment and being bored.

‘Gargoyle. Made out of stone. Used on churches to ward off evil. Represents two sides of everything.’

Nothing wasn’t particularly helpful and most of it said the same thing anyways. At seven it turned dark.

At seven Dai’s problem began. “Just leave it alone!” Aider shouted, “No! Catch the little fucker! Quick!” Dai was running around madly. When the shadow had crept into the house the cat had changed. Now it was being chased and was probably going to get killed. The panic was back again as the cat did the ‘wall of death’ around the black and red living room. Aider was all for the devil cat, after all he had taken it in knowing it was a freak. Dai, however, was as cautious as ever and demanded that it be captured until it was proven to be no threat. The was turning out to be easier said that done as Deeli did not want to be captured. Aider was not helping matters much. In fact he was just standing in the middle of the room flapping his arms like a nutter and being as useful as a gay mongoose. Then Deeli had a good idea! He ran through an open door. Straight into a cupboard. Dai shut the door and with a flourish, span around to face Aider. “And don’t let it back out until I’m back!” “What do you mean? Where are you going to?” “I’m going to see Beth! She has the net!” “But…” But that was as far as he got, for Dai was out the door and off up the street.

Aider didn’t feel like taking Dai’s shit, not again. After all it was still only a bloody cat. He walked over to the cupboard and slowly opened the door. Aider had expected the cat to shoot straight out but when this didn’t happen he opened the door fully and let the light shine in. Deeli was cowering in the corner behind the mop bucket. Aider knelt down, trying to make himself as small as possible and appear less threatening. “Here boy, C’mon here,” he said in as soothing a voice as he could. This seemed to work as Deeli crept out from his hiding place and let Aider stroke him. Aider yawned at the cat, which was supposed to show that you mean them no harm in cat language, but then who believed TV? Anyways, Aider thought it was worth a try. Strangley enough it worked, Deeli started fussing around him and purring.

N N N N N N N N

As soon as Dai had set off it had started raining, which was typical. The walk to Beth’s house was a tense one, shadows seemed to be creeping up on him, stretching out their long black fingers to engulf him in their depths. He broke out into a run and was soon stood outside Beth’s house. Lights and silhouettes in the front room told him that Beth’s parents were home. Didn’t Aider mention she lived in the basement? He walked off the path to one of the windows at ground level and bent down low to peer through. Beth sat with her back to him at her neon glowing glass desk. An albino snake was wrapped around her neck, its head resting on top of hers. She was doing something on her computer. Dai tapped loudly on the window and she spun around and gasped in horror, then laughed nervously as she realised it was only Dai. She got up and opened the window, “What are you doing here?” “Can it wait till I get in? Its pissing it down out here!” “Yeah OK sorry.”

He slid through feet first, ripping a ‘Boiler Room’ poster off the wall and leaving a big muddy trail in its place. “Oh great, I hope your going to clean that up!” “Sorry, but we have another problem.” Dai explained everything that had happened and everything that Aider had told him. Beth had scoured the internet for any relating myths or legends but found nothing. Dai was about to give up when an idea popped up in the back of his mind. “Hey, do you remember that book I stole from the library?” Beth suppressed a giggle, Dai took that as a ‘yes’ and carried on, “You told me that you and Thaila were studying Latin and would try and translate a few pieces of it about the Apocalypse. Leave the window open, I’ll be back!” And he leapt from the chair and scrabbled out of the window. Beth stared at the muddy wall, ‘typical’ she thought as she grabbed a dirty T-shirt of the floor and began to wipe away the mud.

Dai burst in through the front door to see Aider and Deeli rolling around on the floor with each other, “I told you to keep that stupid thing in the Goddamn cupboard!” He fumed, “Sorry but I just couldn’t do it, he’s no threat Dai, honestly” “Ok whatever, I don’t care anymore, just don’t let him get in my way! Where’s that bloody book?” It was a rhetorical question, as soon as he had shouted it, he triumphantly retrieved it from behind the settee and ran out of the door back to Beth’s.

Dai’s second visit was just as short and sweet. He had bent down through the basement window, passed Beth the book, wished her luck and left. Beth scanned the clock, it was ten o’clock. After she had pushed Rasputina back in her tank, she sat down in bed with the book that Dai had given her and a notepad and a pen. She flipped to the page entitled ‘Bobaqua’, there was no point in researching the dead monsters.

At half past eleven Beth had attempted to translate the first paragraph which consisted of forty-four words. So far it looked like this: The keeper of _____ _____ _____ rise _____ _____ _____ ____ is _____ by _____ _____ devils. He will _____ a curse and raise _____ _____ _____ _____. If Bobaqua’s _____ _____ _____ from _____ _____ _____ then _____ _____ shall feed and _____. So that was a good start, she should have really be looking for information on Margua but she had found Bobaqua first. She would search for the gargoyle and finish this paragraph tomorrow. The next day before college Beth scanned Bobaqua’s page into her computer then found a few paragraphs on Margua and scanned those in too before printing both pages off. She stuffed the paper in her bag and went to college.

On the way to the everyday toil, Beth told Thaila what she had found, Thaila offered to read through the rest of Bobaqua’s page. Beth worked on Margua’s. Luckily enough the first lesson of the day was Latin. To make it less obvious that they weren’t paying attention, the girls wrote down the words they needed to find on a spider chart. They began to whisper to each other and completely ignored the worksheet they were supposed to be doing. They were also completely oblivious that their Latin teacher was looming above them. “What s this then?” she boomed, snatching up the piece of paper, Beth let out an involuntary gasp.“Extra homework? Well it’s nice to see you girls taking an interest but you look a bit stuck?” Both girls nodded, “Well, if I tell you the answers will you please do the worksheet you have been given?” There was nods again. After five minutes the girls had all the words translated and halfway through the worksheet.

After Latin came maths, where the girls had a chance to slack off and put the words together, the information looked like this:

BOBAQUA

The Keeper of the dead shall rise when the eighth pentagram is viewed by the innocent devils. He will cast a curse and raise the long dead villagers. If Bobaqua’s reign lasts through from dusk till dawn the dead shall feed and multiply.

“Oh dear this doesn’t sound good” Beth sighed, they began to scribble out the meaning of Margua’s paragraph,

MARGUA

“The hideous beauty sleeps by day, He thaws out when the sky turns grey, In the sunlight hours he sits alone, For in daylight hours he is nought but stone”

They spent all of their maths lesson trying to figure out what these two pieces of information meant. When break time came they both had headaches and were thankful that they could share their information with Vein. “Margua is easy to understand, Bobaqua is a little more complicated, do you not have a translator on your computer Beth?” “Um…no, but I might be able to find one on the internet,” “Ok, find what the rest says and I will try to understand it, meanwhile we will spend every daylight hour we have to spare looking for Margua,” “Why?” quizzed Thaila “Because in the daytime Margua turns to stone, as soon as night falls he becomes a threat again.” “Of course! That’s what the riddle means? So all we have to do is find his as stone and destroy him then?” “Yes Thaila, that is correct!” Now it Beth’s turn for a brainwave, “He must have somewhere safe that he returns to every morning, if we can catch a glimpse of him leaving or returning then we can get him during the day!” “Then we begin tonight! We will meet at half past six and walk around with our eyes peeled!” “What are the chances we will see him though?” “We may not, but we may try.”

That night Beth and Thaila power walked home. At exactly 6:30pm Vein and the girls met up on Horton Street. They walked along Mall Street, alert and ready. They talked quietly about college, boys and shopping. Apparently a new Goth shop had opened in Gibberhurst. They agreed that they should all go there for a makeover sometime. On Parkington Avenue Vein spotted a huge flying shadow. She could not believe how incredibly easy this whole thing was turning out to be. The gargoyle was now flying though the air after taking flight from the church roof. “There!” Vein shouted, “He is hiding on the church roof! That was too easy, we can go home now. Meet me at the church before college tomorrow,” Then Vein left. Margua had seen the girls watching him, he knew that they were the ones.

N N N N N N N N

Thaila had made a rash decision. At the last minute they had decided to brave going to the video shop. Bobaqua was a zombie, so they decided that getting a few zombie movies might help them out a bit. They were either being very brave or very stupid, knowing that Draven, a member of the Fishbones worked at the shop. Beth was feeling cocky and by the looks of things so was Thaila. It was getting dark outside. The girls swaggered into the brightly lit shop.

Draven looked up from the counter with a scowl that made his two thick eyebrows come into a monobrow. Beth strutted down the left hand side of the shop whilst Thaila took the right. They picked up their videos. ‘Night of the living dead’, ‘Dawn of the dead’, ‘Zombie high’, ‘Children of the night and one that Thaila had found about a gargoyle ‘The church of evil’. The girls continued to strut up to the counter where Draven looked like he was about to stab them. They slammed the videos down and Beth placed her hands on the counter and leant forwards. “We want to rent these.” His eyes flickered to her cleavage, “I’m up here deadbeat!” She hissed in what she hoped to be a menacing tone. He glared back up at her face with a look that could wilt roses and began to scan the videos in.

Beth leaned over so her face was a little closer and hissed again, “Oh yeah, and we’ll take any more videos on gargoyle and anything to do with what’s being released next, we like to clean up the scum fast, keep o top of things. Oh, and tell your buddies that we’re not scared of them, there’s more than the two of us and we’ll fuck you guys up!” He snarled viciously at her and made as if to lunge forward, when another member of staff appeared. He looked sourly at the new arrival and then finished putting the videos into a bag. “That’s ten pounds, they’re to be back on Friday before seven” Beth began to pick the change out of her purse, making sure he could see the abundance of ten pound notes sticking out. Once she had a fistful of shrapnel she smiled sweetly and said a sweet thank you. She went to put the change in his hand and released it just short, dropping the change all over the floor. She turned quickly and left..

Once outside the pair broke into giggles. “Oh God Beth, I cant believe you just did that! We’re probably going to get murdered now!” Thaila was laughing hysterically, it was cut short. “Uh-oh, I smell trouble,” Muttered Beth, outside the new club Elite was a gang of Chavs messing about. “Just walk past and ignore them” Thaila tried to mutter back.

The gang consisted of five Chavs, three tall, weedy boys and two fat, spotty girls. Then there was the dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier on a chain lead. How Thaila despised Chavs, with their nasally whine and their stupid way of talking. Apart from being as thick as two short planks they spoke how they wrote, in ‘text speak’ with plenty of ‘Ohmigod’ and ‘plz, diz and lyk’, it was like trying to understand a seriously brain damaged and verbally dyslexic four year old.

The boys all wore navy tracksuit pants with white stripes down the sides. The pants were tucked tightly in to their socks and their trainers were clean, white and probably stolen. They all wore stripey jumpers, infact they looked as if they all went shopping together. Stupid sheep, too afraid to be different. Their Burberry or NY caps were set on their heads at jaunty angles and they wore a ludicrous amount of fake gold chains, bracelets and rings. In short – they looked like twats.

The girls were obnoxious and fat. Their skin was pallid and spotty. Their hair was pulled up tightly into ponytails and slicked down on their fat heads. They both wore white tracksuits with black stripes, gold hoop earrings and to much fake gold jewellery. From their stance and body language they obviously thought that they were Gods gift to men and sexy as hell. The truth however, showed them as fat, ugly and easy. Beth and Thaila kept their heads down.

“GOFF! HEHE! FOOKIN’ UGLY, STUPID GOFF!” One of the lads shouted at them, the rest sniggered as though he was the wittiest person ever. “Shut up you Chav knob head go get a life, an education and a job and stop infecting our streets!” “Shh, Thaila don’t!” “Wot choo call meh ya fookin’ silly goff biatch?” Thaila kept on walking, the Chavs shouted abuse and she just her middle finger up at them. “Go on Tyson son, go get em!” The staffie came charging towards them yapping and gnashing its teeth. It ran for Beth first, she booted it in the face and it ran away yelping. She silently praised heavy platform boots.

This action caused an uproar from the group and the skinnier of the two Chavettes rushed towards Beth and pushed her to the floor, “Ere wot choo fink yer doin’ yer fookin’ goff slappa?” She brought her foot back to kick Beth in the stomach and forgot about Thaila who promptly broke her nose. As blood gushed down her white tracksuit the four remaining Chavs rushed to their friends aid whilst the dog cowered. Beth jumped up as quick as a jack-in-a-box, hitting the first lad in the kidney and kicking the second one in the groin. The girl whose nose was still intact had grabbed hold of Thaila’s hair and was punching her in the side of the head. They were out numbered. It seemed like they were about to get their heads kicked in, until Vein appeared out of nowhere! Now they stood a chance. Vein kicked and punched with expert ease whilst Beth and Thaila got their payback.

Soon the Chavs were running off, battered and bruised and in some cases broken, followed by their stupid cowardly dog. “Vein, what the hell are you doing here?” Beth’s lip was bleeding slightly. “Just preparing for the morning,” She grinned and pointed at the sledgehammer that lay on the floor a few feet away, “Why the hell didn’t you smack the shit outta the Chavs with it?” Thaila said, rubbing the side of her head. They all giggled and began to walk home.

N N N N N N N N

“A new leader will be prepared to take their masters place, the master cannot stay forever. Many Disciples shall be slain in the bloody war of Good and Evil, but the new master shall lead the chosen few, the survivors, to victory.”

Yalheya quoted the Unholy Bible once again. Draven had warned her of the knowledge the girls possessed. She was vulnerable now that they were ‘wising up’ and must pick her successor as soon as possible. She needed someone who was smart, fast, strong. Someone who would be a fair judge and a merciless enemy. Someone who would lead the Fishbones to their rightful place in the new Hell. That someone was Tia. She now sat on a ‘throne’ crudely crafted out of bits of metal. She was draped in red, gold and black chiffon robes, made by Nuala. Her short blonde hair was now in pin-curls and she w lots of fancy jewellery which Tapanga, Nadja and Yalheya herself had stolen.

The other Fishbones were dressed in black robes. They queued up to offer their gifts to their Mistress-to-be. Tyrine was first, he lay three new outfits at her feet, “You are my Mistress, I am the slave, long live Tia” Each member had to say this after presenting her with an offering, it was part of the ceremony. Nuala was next, she lay a box of expensive perfume at Tia’s feet, “You are my Mistress, I am the slave, long live Tia” Tapanga offered stolen platinum jewellery, Rasheen offered expensive champagne, Mikhail offered a bag of luxury foods, Devon brought forwards the latest handheld games console, Draven offered her five pairs of silk pyjamas. Then it was Nadja’s turn, she offered her a cardboard box. Tia gave her a quizzical look and silently picked the box up. She opened it slowly and then beamed at her best friend as a tiny, black Chihuahua puppy tried to jump out at her. Nadja had know that Tia had never been allowed any pets and had always longed for an animal companion.

Yalheya interrupted her happy thoughts, “And now for my offering, the blood of the innocent!” She walked behind Tia and poured a basin filled with blood over her head. It ran though her hair and down her face, staining her features and soaking into her clothes. Since Lucias had been…disposed of, the whole clan had been on their best behaviour, sucking up to Yalheya in the hopes that one of them would take his place. So far no one had been picked to be her new right hand man.

The older films had been a bit cheesy to say the least, they all had really crappy special effects. ‘The Dawn of the Dead’ remake had been pretty creepy though and definatley gave them a feeling of hopelessness about the events that were sure to come soon enough. Beth was now trying to find an English to Latin translator on the internet. After searching for a few minutes she found one that offered a full text translation as opposed to a single word one. Then she really wished she hadn’t, infact she really wished that she was someone else and not Beth Taylor.

The reason for this stared up at her from the glowing computer screen. The text in the translation box read as:

“Grey matter is how they survive, Those who are neither dead nor alive, That of others makes theirs thrive, But they cannot feed until it is time, They only ‘think’ they are alive, If they cannot think, they die”

Suddenly it all clicked into place, “It’s a good job we watched those movies or else we wouldn’t know what’s to come,” Beth jumped at Thaila’s voice being so close to her ear. She had obviously been reading over her shoulder the full time. “I think we better warn Vein and the guys as soon as we can, this is going to get serious.” It was like they had found the last piece of the latest puzzle, as if they knew what the future was going to bring.

‘Grey matter’, that was another term used to describe brains. ‘Those who are neither dead or alive…’ the living dead, ‘…they cannot feed until it is time’. The other translation had given them a time limit, if the curse lasted until dawn then the zombies would kill everyone. ‘If they cant think, they die’. It seemed as if they would have to follow the instructions from the movies and destroy their brains.

Sleep didn’t come easy that night. The girls were dreading seeing the five pointed symbol that was slowly wrecking their lives.

The next morning they got up to meet Vein before college. They arrived at the church together and on time, eating their goodies that they had bought from the corner shop. Vein stood outside like a dark angel, the sledgehammer hanging loosely from one hand. “Good morning” she chirped happily, “That’s what you think” frowned Thaila “we translated the rest of Bobaqua’s text last night, things aren’t looking good.” They began to tell Vein what they had found as they walked round the back of the church, “This does not sound good at all, we must arrange for our protection, we must tell Dai and Aider too!” “Yes, we know” They had stopped at a ladder, obviously placed there by Vein. They slowly began to climb up it. Vein was first, followed by Thaila and then Beth.

The roof was mostly flat with a wall of spikes going round the edge. The most noticeable thing about the roof as the complete lack of a gargoyle shaped statue. “Where is he?” muttered Beth as they searched around, “Over here!” shouted Vein, there was no gargoyle but there was a big patch of roof that looked different from the rest, it was quite evident that something big had been resting there for some time. On further inspection the group noticed a small collection of bones, strewn here and there. The monster had definatley been here, but where was it now? The group climbed cautiously down the roof and made their way to college buzzing with frustration.Meanwhile, Margua’s still, stone form sat safely under a railway bridge.

It didn’t take long to fill the guys in. It was after college hours and all five of them stood outside the old abandoned building on Main Street. How could they possibly protect themselves from zombies? Dai forbid them from walking or going anywhere alone, they all needed constant protection. It was decided that Dai would acquire a new car from his friend. Apparently his ‘friend’ owed him a lot of favours and also happened to have a dad in the car dealership business. He and Aider would pick them up everyday and take them where they needed to go, college, shops, anywhere. Dai even gave the girls a number to contact them on. Beth was going to see if her mom would let Thaila and Vein stay for a while, there was definatley safety in numbers.

The next day at college was normal, that is until Dai showed up afterwards. The ‘friend’ must have owed him some pretty big favours. The rest of the students walked past gawping at the huge, shiny black Hummer H2, with its chrome fittings and searchlights. The girls ran towards the vehicle after hearing the pounding death metal and seeing Dai waiting patiently behind the wheel. “This is so cool!” Thaila jumped up and opened the door. As she jumped in she noticed two big boxes, but Beth and Vein were already trying to scrabble in behind her. “One zombie killing machine, four inch steel reinforcements, bullet proof glass, panic locks, and if you look in the boxes you’ll find a very cool array of zombie killing weapons, let’s hope we don’t get pulled over.”

There were sniper rifles, grenades, a whole load of powerful looking firearms, long bladed swords, flame throwers, everything! But they would still have to track down Bobaqua and kill him before dawn, they would make sure it was a painful death too after them through all this hell! And when they defeat him the Fishbones had better hope their God that they wouldn’t be found, because they were next on the hit list. Dai dropped all three girls off at Beth’s house so that they could arrange accommodation, he would pick them up later so that they could get their stuff.

Finally, some of the mystery was wearing away, they could contact the boys and they knew where Vein lived. It didn’t look like a very nice place, staying with Beth would probably seem like a holiday. Back at Beth’s, Dai and Aider came in to meet the parents along with Vein. It seemed like the polite thing to do as they were all going to be spending a lot more time there from now on. Beth’s mom was busy as usual. She didn’t pay much attention when her daughter introduced her new friends, she even called Dai ‘Bri’. She did however, notice they all had odd names. She also kept giving Vein evils, she didn’t like ‘foreigners’ which meant she never when to Horton Street stores.

Beth’s dad was the exact opposite, he shook all of their hands, commented on their ‘beautifully uncommon’ names, offered them a cup of tea and a piece of cake and then looked very disappointed when Beth began to usher them down to her room. It would be their base from now on, it had few windows and one door, it was below ground level, it had everything they could possibly need with the added bonus of the internet. It was a perfect place to hide away from zombies. For three long days and nights All was quiet, peaceful and zombie free.

At dinnertime on Tuesday, Thaila got a call on her mobile. It was her dad saying that she had to come home tonight for dinner with him and Auntie May who was visiting. Once again Beth started to wonder about Thaila’s family. It was obvious that her friend hardly ever saw her mother, that was hardly surprising considering that Thaila’s dad was the biggest bastard there ever was. Thaila’s mom was actually a nurse at Drudgeville hospital, so she was always busy with work. Beth could still remember trying to comfort her buddy through the divorce when they were just nine years old.

When Thaila told the group about having to go home they all looked worried. It was risky but there was nothing she could say to change her dads mind. After college Dai came to collect them, he dropped Thaila off at home. Vein also made her excuses reassuring them all that she would be perfectly fine in her flat and she would see them all tomorrow bright and early. Beth went back to her house. Her mom was away again which was no surprise. Beth and the boys had the run of the house, yet they chose to stay barricaded in the basement with a food supply, just to be safe.

Thaila was dreading college. She had had a restless nights sleep and not done her assignment. It had to be in today, what was worse is that she had already had a fortnight in which to complete it. After showering she began to apply her makeup, she looked in the mirror and sighed at her red hair wishing she could be purple again. She pulled back her short hair into two stubby little pigtails so that her intricately excessive red and black makeup was perfectly displayed. She applied her red lipstick and hurriedly dressed into a black lace up corset top and small, red ‘Lolita’ style tutu. She pulled on her black and white pop socks and put on her biggest pair of ‘New Rock’ boots on.

Breakfast consisted of slightly burnt toast and dry scrambled egg. It stuck in her throat on the way down and made her feel ill. Mr James was bustling around the kitchen and living room trying to get ready for work. There was a knock on the door, Thaila dashed to answer it but her coffee fuelled father reached it first, “Hi Mr James, is Thaila there?” it was Beth. Mr James looked past her at the giant of a vehicle she had arrived in and the obviously reckless teenage boys in the front seat. “Who are they?” he spat accusingly, “They’re our friends” she replied in an innocent tone, “Byedadgottago” Thaila blurted out as she barged past him and ran with Beth to the waiting Hummer. Thaila had never felt so doomed. She would have to leave the safety of her bodyguards and stay back after college to finish her assignment.

At break they rushed out to the front of the college where the car sat like a big, patient Rottweiler. Dai and Aider were sat inside with a coffee each and a stack of magazines. They explained the situation to the boys and Aider offered to stay back with Thaila should anything happen. Vein was nowhere to be seen and although they were worried the girls just had to assume she was off ill until they had the time to check up on her.

Vein lay in her ragged bed with a tear stained face. If she had to die she wished it would be quick and painless instead of agonisingly slow. When she had brushed her hair this morning a clump had fallen out.

It began, as the girls knew it would, when they were apart. The Fishbones had spies everywhere, or so it seemed. Dai was sat inthe Hummer waiting for Beth who had gone into her house for a shower. Thaila and Aider were in college. Thaila looked out of the large classroom windows just about the same time as Beth trotted out of her front door and checked the sky for rain. An overwhelming nausea filled her whole body as saw something much worse than a rain cloud. Her knees went weak and her vision clouded over, she barely felt herself hit the cold hard floor.

“Buckle down kids, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride,” was all Thaila said, Aider stared open mouthed a the red cloud pentagram in the sky, it was impossible! It didn’t take him long to collect his thoughts and he rapidly moved around the room so that he could see the tutor who was in charge. She seemed to be slowing down to a halt as though freezing, she began to look up at Aider who was now joined by her regular student. She didn’t manage to get her head all the way up. It was as if she were a toy that had just ran out of batteries and the duo could just make out an odd blue glow coming from her skin. The curse of Bobaqua!

Aider ran as fast as he could out of the room and checked through each glass panel in the doors at the other people still in the college, they were all glowing blue. Infact the full population of Drudgeville was slowly freezing and glowing blue and people from neighbouring villages had a subconscious and inexplicable urge to stay well away. The only moving humans in the area were the enemies of the Fishbones: Aider, Thaila, Dai, Beth and of course the clan themselves.

Vein had been practising some very complicated martial arts when she had started feeling sick. She had thought it to b side affect of her medication and turned to sit down. She noticed her hands were an odd colour and were emitting a sort of pale light. By the time she had realised what had happened she had frozen.

Bobaqua had risen straight out of the dusty factory floor, much to the awe and disgust of the clan. Yalheya had set him free therefore she had some minor control over him. She told him her plans, how she intended to free Wendall, how they were slowly being beaten by a group of kids. And it was decided, the dead would feast on their flesh and the flesh of anyone else left unfrozen, until dawn when they would kill everyone. The Fishbones would stay under his protection as long as they stayed near him, if they strayed too far he would not be responsible for the consequences.

His deep, powerful and sexily husky voice was a stark contrast to Bobaqua himself. He was the most frightening of the beasts to be released so far. Bobaqua was at least seven foot tall and had very broad shoulders. His skin was grey and brown and rotting. Some places were completely missing skin. He wore a dusty old suit, probably a funeral garment. A quarter of his head was missing at the back were his hair should have been. His grey, exposed brain was mostly covered with writhing maggots, worms and bugs. He only had one eye and half a nose and his mouth and cheek had started rotting away on one side, exposing teeth like dirty, broken crockery. Worms and maggots poked through every available hole. Apart from a few missing apart from a few missing fingers the rest of his body appeared to be intact, but under his suit lay rotting flesh and exposed bones.

The whole factory smelt of death, even the Fishbones were streaked with fear and panic. A small incantation was all it took to freeze the town and raise the dead. The sky had become dark at an unbelievable speed and the ground itself had begun to creak. The race against dawn commenced.

The cleaners cupboard, full of chemicals and potentially dangerous tools and therefore having the thickest door and strongest lock. Thaila had wasted no time in locating the keys in the principals office. They had worked together in pulling a desk across the outside of the door before climbing in. Rotting flesh would surely have a hard time lifting or climbing? The inside of the cupboard was small and the air was stale, they had pulled a stack of shelves across the other side of the door. Aider had found a fireman’s axe which he gave to Thaila, it would definatley do some damage to a zombie brain. Aider now sat on the floor in his boxers concentrating on being Pantherine. Thaila had folded up his clothes and squashed them in her bag, there was no point in ripping them when he changed.

Dai had been shaking Beth for the best part of ten minutes but she wasn’t stirring. Something moved outside in the ever growing darkness and strange noises were coming from all around. Well, desperate times called for desperate measures, Dai raised his hand back and slapped Beth across the face with a little more force than necessary. She woke up with a start. “Ow! You just hit me!” she yelled at him “Well you wouldn’t bloody wake up!” “What’s going on?” A loud bang on the window made them both jump and answered Beth’s question.

A rotting, dead but walking corpse was pressing against the window trying to get in. It gnashed it’s teeth and head butted the window smearing it’s putrid death mush all over. The creature started hitting harder and harder on the reinforced glass. “Oh my God it’s happening!” Beth screamed, “Nice of you to join us!” Dai yelled back at her, “Just shut up and get us away from here!” Beth looked into the back of the car and realised that no one else was there. “Where are the others?” she panicked, “Vein is probably frozen with everyone else, Thaila and Aider are still in college, I hope.” Dai ha barely finished his sentence before Beth took her mobile phone out and punched in Thaila number. Dai swung around and fumbled to start the engine. More and more zombies were appearing, drawn by the smell of juicy fresh flesh.

Thaila had nearly had a heart attack when her mobile phone went off. Whatever was outside heard it too because it came closer, Aider could hear it grunting. Thaila checked the caller ID, it was Beth. “Oh my God, where are you?” “We’re right outside my house, where the hell are you guys?” “We’re in the cupboard near form, we’re locked in pretty good. I can hear something outside Beth, please come and get us, I’m scared.” Beth could tell by her friends voice that that last statement was very true. She looked at Dai who was already reversing out of the parking space, “We’re coming to get you both, hold tight” she ended the call with the push of a button and looked at Dai, “Let’s kick some zombie butt!” Dai nodded and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

There was a zombie walking down the middle of the road towards them. She wore a dirty, ripped silver dress and had dead leaves poking out of her tangled, once blonde hair. One decaying arm hung loosely at her side whilst the other one was clenched tightly to her chest. Her dry, shrivelled up lips were pulled back in a permanent grimace. Dai went even faster, “Let’s see what this baby can do!” he yelled. The zombie mounted the bonnet with pieces flying off in every direction. As her head shattered on the windscreen she disintegrated into glowing embers. “Woo-hoo!” Dai cheered, as long as they were in the Hummer there was no chance of them getting attacked. As Dai built up speed Beth gripped the edge of her seat. Adrenaline pulsed through her body, making this nightmare situation exhilarating and almost fun. It was just like a computer game. The speed of the vehicle caused Dai to power slide around the corner which only added to his excitement.

Horton Street was zombie free so they picked up speed and drifted into Mall Street and round Carrington Street. Main Street was a different matter. Frozen people were everywhere, caught mid-shop, there was also a lot of cars. But the worst part was there was also a lot of zombies. They had slowly made their way from Salem’s pass and their attention was directed at the only moving thing. They began to close in and from a barrier to hopefully trap their prey. Beth buckled her seat belt as they got ever closer to the flesh eating monsters. The Hummer collided with them in a shower of glowing embers. That was a few less zombies to worry about, but the car had slowed down to a crawl from the resistance of the bodies. They were everywhere and trying everything their lifeless forms could muster to get at the couple. The force of which they pummelled the windows and threw themselves at the vehicle damaged their paper thin skulls enough to destroy their brains.

“I want to hurt the bastards!” Beth glowered whilst jumping into the back seat. Dai kept a watchful eye on her and kept his foot on the gas. Beth had opened the window a tiny crack and poked the end of the flame thrower out. Then she cruelly waited for a zombie or two to get too inquisitive before letting rip. It had been a good move as not only did the searing hot flames fry their dried out brains, but the burning bodies became the second death of the dumber zombies. With their adrenaline racing, the seemingly fearless duo pushed onwards through the horrors before them.

The cupboard had gotten warmer since Aider had changed and it was definatley more cramped. Thaila had watched the familiar warping with fascination. A few months ago she would have thought such magical things were impossible. Any person trying to tell her differently would have quickly been dismissed as a total idiot. Now she looked at things with an open mind. Monsters and Magick existed.

The zombies brains didn’t register with pain and certainly didn’t understand the phrase ‘giving up and going home’. They continued to try and enter the Hummer, they even tried climbing on the roof in the hopes of finding a weak spot. “Well it’s not fair to let you have all the fun,” Dai said, “Pass me a grenade” Beth did so with a smirk on her face. Dai wound down his window down as far as he dared, pulled the grenade pin out with his teeth and threw the object upwards and outwards. He wound his window back up at top speed. The explosion rattled all around them as did the glowing embers resembling body parts. The undead were thinning out now, even though they were slowly turning around and following them. Dai sped up as much as possible and turned onto Oden Street.

There was a handful of zombies trudging mechanical like down the street. Dai pushed his foot down again and began aiming. The first victim was a rather large man in a suit that may once have been white. He raised his withered hands and tried to shout but his dried out tongue only let him make guttural noises. The noise was abruptly cut off as the car hit him and his head flew away in a separate direction from his body. Next in line was a small girl in a short black dress and white knee socks. Most of her face had rotten off, leaving just holes for a nose and a gaping smile, she was followed by a bizarre dog like zombie. She cried out as the vehicle pushed her into the floor.

But the dog zombie was different from the others, it was fast and vicious. It was a fairly large dog, its skin was saggy, wrinkled and dark brown. It was covered in large, ugly warts which ran in a thick line down its nose. Tufts of wiry grey hair stuck up of its head and its cloudy blue eyes looked like it had cataracts. Its snarling mouth was full of very large, yellow, broken teeth. The hell hound ran and landed on the bonnet in one deft move. It began to snap and snarl viciously as it smacked itself against the windscreen, hoping to break it d get at the hot flesh and blood inside. Beth let out a scream and threw herself backwards in horror. For a long dead creature, it had immense power. But Dai proved that the evil undead were no match for his new toy. He slammed on the breaks and the dog zombie flew over the edge of the bonnet with a soft thud. The thud was followed by a sharp crunch as Dai continued forwards again.

Beth was still shaken and closed her eyes as he ran over the last few zombies and turned into Salem’s Pass. The street that was home to the graveyard was surprisingly empty and they had a clear run to and down Rating Road. “Hold on to your underwear coz we’re going on a little flying trip!” yelled Dai. He skidded around into the college yard and headed straight for the front steps. Beth screamed again as the massive car ramped the steps and smashed through the front doors. As the Hummer landed Dai whipped up the handbrake sending them flying round to face the huge hole they had created in the college walls. Beth was shaking and gripping the seat tightly with both hands. “Grab some weapons quickly and show me where this cupboard is.” Beth nodded and quickly picked up a strange looking gun and a Samurai sword. Dai had two Uzis and a strap filled with ammunition. He jumped out and quickly shut the door after Beth had done the same. “Right, we don’t have a lot of time, they’re probably on their way here already, show me where to go.” Beth sprinted through a set of double doors and down a corridor.

She nearly ran straight into a zombie that was ambling out of one of the rooms. She let out a little squeal as it reached for her. There was a bang and a slight breeze as a bullet whizzed past her head and straight through the zombies forehead. The glowing embers that followed were joined by masses of worms and spiders. Beth continued running. They were nearly at the cleaning cupboard now. The turned the last corner and ran straight into a corridor of six hideous stinking zombies. Each one turned and held their arms out, ready to grasp them tightly and rip them apart limb from limb.

“THAILA! AIDER! WE’RE HERE! HELP US!” Beth bellowed. She lashed out at the nearest monster and severed its arm which continued to wriggle towards her. Dai let rip with the bullets but managed to miss every single zombie head. He was panicking now. After deciding that zombies couldn’t talk, Pantherine battered his way through the door leaving a splintered hole through which Thaila followed, axe held high. Pantherine ripped the heads of two zombies with ease. Beth sliced one zombies head in half whilst Thaila used the point on her fireman’s axe to smash through the top of one victims head. Dai took great delight in filling the last two with lead. “Quick! Let’s do one!” Dai yelled and charged back down the way they had come.

They were nearly back at their nice safe vehicle when a lone zombie jumped out on them. It grabbed Dai by thee shoulders and sank its rotten teeth into his arm, tearing away a noticeable amount of skin. Dai cried out in pain as his blood trickled down the creatures chin. It lunged forwards for a second bite, nearly ripping Dai’s arm out of its socket. “ARRRRGH!” Thaila yelled her battle cry as she came flying over her boyfriend’s shoulder. Dai felt the heat of embers on his face as Thaila pinned the monster to the wall by its head, the axe sticking out at an odd angle. “Let’s get a bloody move on!” Dai panted, clutching at his wounded arm. There was a mad dash down the corridor to the entrance hall where the Hummer was waiting for them.

The zombies in the yard were also waiting. The air smelt of death as they inched closer and closer. The gang literally threw themselves into the Hummer and Dai hit the lock down button to secure all the doors and windows. “Dai, your not going to turn into a zombie are you?” Thaila ventured, “No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my arm fell off from a nasty infection”, he plucked a shard of tooth from the wound as if to emphasise his last sentence. “Use my T – shirt as a bandage” Pantherine growled. Thaila set to work immediately. She pulled Aider’s shirt out of her bag and ripped a large piece off. She tied it tightly round Dai’s arm. The wheels spun for a few seconds before they set off at top speed. But the zombies has stopped and were now sniffing the air.

“What’s wrong? Why are they stopping?” wobbled Thaila “Blood” was the growled reply. The zombies seemed to be changing somehow. It was almost indescribable but it seemed their stiff joints were loosening up and their minds were getting sharper. All of a sudden one ran at an amazing speed and jumped onto the bonnet. Dai put his foot down again but the zombies had already given chase with their newfound speed. “A feeding frenzy,” Dai muttered “we need to find Bobaqua, and quick.” “If I know Yalheya Notserp then I know where he’ll be” Pantherine said in a voice like gravel being poured into a blender. “To the park” Dai concluded, “The park? What’s at the park?” questioned Beth, “The entrance to the Fishbones hideout, there’s no doubt that they’ve risen Bobaqua there.” “Let’s go then, chop chop!” Thaila yelled as the pursuing zombies began to bang on the boot and attempted to clamber onto the roof. The group were thrown back into their seats as the car lurched forwards again, getting faster and faster.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the park, but the zombies were still right on their tail, it was far to risky to go outside. They would have to stand and fight. The undead were crawling all over them in a matter of minutes. There was at least fifty of them, if not more. Beth slid her samurai sword through the crack of open window and began slashing and stabbing. She managed to get two particularly rotten corpses but the rest were too agile. Dai and Thaila had wound down their windows enough to allow them to shoot at the zombies. This also proved to be a difficult task, the zombies seemed to move just before the bullets hit them. Pantherine - fearless as ever – had wound down the window fully and was swiftly ripping the heads of any zombies who dared to enter.

They were slowly winning, the zombies were losing power, making fatal mistakes. Suddenly there was an ear splitting shriek from overhead and the Hummer shook violently as something flew past at a remarkable speed. Zombies were thrown in every direction. Margua rose up in front of them, stuffing the rotten flesh into his mouth. Clouds of ashes and embers puffed up as he swooped again and hovered over his next meal. The zombies lashed out at the stone beast, trying desperately to defend themselves. They bit and clawed at his, snapping of their teeth and fingernails and in some cases whole fingers.

Now that all the monsters were preoccupied with each other, Dai slowly moved his friends out of danger. “Let’s just drive right to the Fishbones door” he drove through the iron gates and straight across the grass to a large tree. The trees roots were raised out of the ground, as if years of rain had slowly exposed them. Dai and Pantherine jumped out of the car, the girls quickly followed with their weapons. They lead them into the bushes around the back of the tree, the was a huge hole leading through its massive roots and down into the ground.

On first glance it looked like an animals den, possibly a badger set, this obviously prevented any accidental explorer from venturing down. It was definatley big enough for an adult to crawl through on their hands and knees, but progress would be slow. “This is it”, Dai said “Let’s go.” He got down on his hands and knees and slid in, followed by Pantherine, Thaila gave Beth a worried look before they both slid down. The tunnel was damp and dark with no sign of any light at the end. The girls kept banging into each other and Beth kept getting hit in the face by Pantherine’s tail. “Is this the only entrance to this place? It seems an awful lot of hassle,” Beth whispered “No, there are at least two others, but this one is not only the closest but the least likely to be guarded” The growled reply was barely audible.

They crawled through the mud in silence for what seemed like an eternity before a dim glow began to illuminate the tunnel in front of them. “Be really quiet, they could be anywhere” Dai whispered, they exited the tunnel into a dimly lit corridor. Beth stood up and brushed the dirt of her clothes, “This place is like a maze so stay close” muttered Dai “Aider, can you find the Fishbones?” “I’ll try” he grunted then began to sniff the air, “This way” he said and bolted off down the corridor.

The factory really was like maze. It was dark in most places and graffiti laden walls seemed to twist on forever and ever. It felt like the shadows was creeping up behind them all the time, waiting for one of them to stray too far from the group. Suddenly they became aware of muffled voices up ahead. Aider crouched down low, the others followed his lead. Around the next corridor was the end of the maze – the main chamber. Inching forwards they began to peer inside.

The Fishbones sat in a circle in the centre of the main room. The rotting keeper of the eighth pentagram stood in the middle. He turned to where they were hiding, they all scrabbled backwards to hide but it was too late. “They’re here!” Bobaqua boomed out, “Impossible” he whispered to himself as all around him the Fishbones clambered to their feet. The group ran from their hiding place and into the chamber into battle. “Nuala, Nadja, stay with me. The rest of you, take what you can and retreat to safety. Barricade yourselves in, you will no longer be protected!” Tia turned to her enemies as defiant as ever.

Pantherine charged at Bobaqua with his head down. Dai ran at Yalheya, but instead of standing to face the challenge she ran away. Before they realised what she was doing she had ran and tackled Beth, snatching up her sword and swinging it round to keep them at bay. Dai pulled his sword from underneath his jacket and ran out of the chamber, luring her away from the others. Her followers couldn’t help her now, it was one on one, a fair fight to the death. Her deep voice echoed down the corridor, “Come and face me like a man you coward! It’s time to pay for your disobedience and betrayal all those years ago!” Dai just kept running. He stayed in her sight so that she would follow him. Now all he needed to do was remember his way around this goddamn hell hole.

Inside the main chamber it was a different matter. The three remaining Fishbones had acquired weapons which had been hidden all over the room under and between various pieces of disused machinery. Beth had found a long iron bar which she was now swinging madly at Tia and Nadja who had decided to gang up on her. Thaila lunged at the ghostly pale girl who had decided to attack her with what appeared to be a long pointy stick. Thaila would have thought this mildly amusing if it wasn’t for the fact that the albino girl was very talented in using it. The more Beth used the metal bar the easier it became to aim, she was having a harder time fighting with high heels and a corset.

“Nadja!" The albino girl called for her friends attention, she was slowly being beaten. Her white – blonde hair was sticking to her forehead and she was wheezing heavily. “Go and find the others, Tia and I will deal with these two!” Thaila did a little victory jump, one down, two to go, “Should have eaten less pies porky ass!” Thaila taunted, Nuala ran from the room ashamed and exhausted. Nadja spun around to take her friends place.

Pantherine was fighting a losing battle with Bobaqua. He hadn’t even got near to him yet, the zombie king had amazing powers enabling him to send curses at his enemies. Luckily the broken machinery had served the purpose of a temporary shield for Pantherine to hide behind. “Come out, come out wherever you are”, curses flashed round the room, damaging the machinery and limiting Aider’s hiding places. He dashed backwards and forwards, dodging the oncoming magick. “You cant run forever little beastie!” Aider knew this was true but he didn’t know what else he could do to stop him and the other being killed.

Dai was getting closer to what he hoped was another exit. Yalheya was hot on his heels, although she was silent now he could feel she was close. The corridor took a sharp left then began to slope upwards. He was near. Dai didn’t know what he would do if he ended up back in the midst of the zombies. They could be everywhere by now. Waiting. But it was a sacrifice he would have to make, his life for his friends lives.

“BETH!” Pantherine yelled a warning. Beth swung round to look at him, but she was too slow. The curse hit her mid-turn. Pantherine could do nothing but watch as her eyes went wide with fear and pain. Her body stiffened as she felt the pain searing down her spine. She tried to cal out but she could only whimper. Pantherine tried to dash towards her but she began to collapse. He leapt at her, arms outstretched. “NO!” Aider screamed and screamed. His arms finally reached her but she was terribly cold. Looking into Beth’s eyes he saw the last flicker of life fade before they glazed over. Pantherine howled a primitive cry and held on tightly to Beth, oblivious to his surroundings. Thaila had ran over and was screaming hysterically. Aider didn’t hear her. He just held Beth. He could feel the curses hitting him again and again, he could feel his flesh burning with pain, but he just sat there grief stricken. Thaila watched in horror as Pantherine was hit again and again, but he still didn’t fall. Whilst Bobaqua was pre occupied with him, Thaila hid. The tears in her eyes made it hard to see.

Dai nearly tripped over his own feet as he entered the abandoned air raid shelter. Rubbish littered the floor, crisp packets, syringes, beer cans. The place smelt like damp mud and urine. Dai briefly wondered what the Fishbones did to anyone caught in here, so close to the entrance of their hideout. Images flashed through his head of previous rituals, he tried to push them out as quickly as possible as he made his way out. Yalheya burst out behind him, tripping over and making herself as graceful as a one legged swan. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he spun around to face his advancing enemy. He risked a quick glance around, there was a few zombies nearby but they had lost their powers and were moving slower than before.

It was cool outside and a damp mist hung in the air. Dai turned to face Yalheya and immediately their swords met, sending sparks flying. Neither were skilled at using a sword but hatred spurred them on. They clumsily hacked at each other. Yalheya was strong for a woman and although Aider hated to admit it, she was overpowering him. He darted backwards towards the zombies, causing her to miss. The Hummer was in sight and Aider thought about using it to run her down. ‘No,’ he thought ‘I’m better than that, I’ll stand and face her like a man.’ She ran at him and began slashing and stabbing again. She thrust at his head and torso and tried to slice his legs out from underneath him. He deflected every blow, sometimes with enough strength to send her spinning away. Sweat trickled down his forehead. A noise broke the silence, but Aider didn’t care for what was making it, he just kept going. There was no doubt in his mind that he would eventually lose to this demon of a person, hopefully he had bought his companions some time.

A voice in the back of his head told him he may as well give up, they were already dead. Thaila was dead. ‘NO! I must keep going, I must see Thaila again!’ he told himself. A sound like a siren droned in the background, getting closer and closer. A soft blow struck the side of his head, but no from Yalheya. “What the hell is this?” she screamed, she had stopped fighting and was under attack from something else. Dai stopped, dazed and gasping for breath, trying to focus on the zooming blur. Yalheya screamed as the shape clung to the side of her head and slashed at her face, in its moment of stillness Dai could just about make out the cause of the disturbance. He dared not believe his eyes in case they were imagining things, but slashing away at Yalheya’s face and waving arms was Aider’s newfound friend, Deeli.

Dai looked around, this was his chance, the slow motion zombies were nearly upon them and Yalheya was distracted by the cat demon. Could he really do this? He didn’t give himself a choice or time to talk himself out of it. He just put his head down, pointed his sword out, shouted his battle cry then ran. Ran as fast as he could and bracing himself for impact. Deeli fluttered away seconds before Dai body slammed Yalheya. The sword must have pierced her, his stomach felt warm and wet and he could feel something pouring down his thighs and legs. He kept running, he could feel Yalheya twitching, screaming. He stopped dead and pushed her away with all his might. He watched with emotionless eyes as the once great leader of the Fishbone Clan stumbled backwards, his sword buried hilt deep in her chest. She reached out to his and tried to scream, then she realised where she was. She had stumbled into the midst of the zombies and they were closing in around her.

Yalheya tried to run but only stumbled more. She was covered in her own blood and the undead could smell how good she would taste. She gave Dai a pleading look as she reached her arms out to him again. Dai could only watch as the scene before him played in slow motion, a scene that would play over and over again for the rest of his life. Three of the faster zombies got to her first, one grabbed and bit into her outstretched arm, one ripped into her shoulder from behind and one tore at the raw, bloodied flesh around the sword. As they tasted the blood in their dead, dry mouths they began to pull harder and harder on her skin and limbs. Yalheya found her voice and began to scream, a piercing scream that made Dai step backwards. The zombies tore away more flesh, an arm, a breast, then one tore through her jugular with its teeth, spraying blood everywhere. The rest of the zombies arrived and soon she was engulfed under dead bodies. She had stopped screaming now, there was just a wet squelching and the ecstatic groans of ancient, rotting throats.

Dai slowly turned away and marched back towards the air raid shelter entrance. Deeli Demon fluttered alongside him at head height, clearly enjoying the thrills of his new form. “If it wasn’t for you Id be dead by now. Aider was right, you are good” Deeli replied with a soft mew which oozed ‘I told you so’. Dai trod through the litter of the shelter, not wanting to know what horrors awaited him below.

“I’m going to make you beg, I’m going to kill you slowly, tear you apart piece by piece.” Thaila cowered in the corner, tears streaming down her face. She knew he would catch her eventually, but she thought someone would show up and rescue her by then. But who was she fooling, she was totally and utterly screwed. Bobaqua raised his hand and drew closer. Thaila sobbed uncontrollably, covering her eyes with her hands. ‘Not long left now’ she thought. “LEAVE HER ALONE!” a voice hollered. Thaila looked up and screamed a cry of joy. Dai stood there, covered from head to toe in blood, sword held high and Deeli perched on his shoulder. “More games to play” Bobaqua grinned. In a fraction of a second Deeli leapt of Dai’s shoulder and landed on Bobaqua’s face, claws outstretched. The zombie God grunted loudly from pain and shock before seizing the cat demon, and in one swift move he threw Deeli at the wall. The cat hit the wall with great force and then slumped to the floor. Dai looked at the dead animal, at the nearly hysterical Thaila, and at his best friend slumped dead over the stiff body of Beth.

“Useless, all of you! Useless!” Bobaqua mocked “Shut up and die!” Dai screamed and ran at Bobaqua. The zombie chuckled a deep throaty chuckle, then held up both of his arms, but they were not arms anymore. He had somehow transformed them into long, thick swords. Dai didn’t care and carried on with the assault. Their swords met. Bobaqua easily deflected on of Dai’s swipes by swinging his arms round in large sweeping arcs. Dai felt utterly drained, his brain was almost on auto pilot. Each sweep of his sword was automatic, his mind was shutting down. So tired. He sensed Bobaqua over powering him and felt his sword being knocked away. He felt his body surrender.

“FOOLS! Did you really think you could beat me?” Bobaqua pointed one of his sword-arms at Dai’s head, ready to strike. “Such a pity. You have come so far, defeated many of us. But the others were weak, and now human, you shall tremble and cower as I show you the meaning of true power. I will show you –“ Bobaqua stopped dead, hand raised, quizzical look on his face. Dai also looked stunned, waiting for the speech to continue, fatigue forcing him not to make a move. But that was it. Bobaqua just stopped. But why? Dai asked himself, what’s going on? Suddenly the great hulk of death tilted forwards, falling like a dead tree. Because that’s what he was, dead.

The back of his grotesque head was smashed inwards and sticking triumphantly out of the mushy mess was Thaila’s axe. Once the nightmare creature fell Thaila stepped out from behind him and put her foot on his back, “ ’s easy when you know how,” she looked at Dai, he was pitted and bloodied, she was shaken and tear stained. Dai walked over to the bodies of his friends, Aider was still clutching Beth tightly to his chest. The tears wouldn’t come, although he knew they would later once he had rested. A strange cracking noise made the pair turn around.

Deeli demon’s body was cracking its ribs back together. They stared open mouthed as the cat repaired himself, woke up, shook his body and meowed hungrily. He flapped his wings a few times to see if they still worked, then fluttered up into the air and soared towards the body of Aider. Aider woke with a gasp and sucked noisily at the air as if he had just been holding his breath the whole time. Dai jumped backwards so fast that he fell over himself and landed on the floor. Thaila just laughed as Aider got up, shortly followed by Beth. They made it! They had beaten Bobaqua! They hugged each other whilst Aider and Beth explained that they weren’t dead, they were just paralysed. They could see everything that had gone on.

Dai told them how he had defeated and killed Yalheya with the help of Deeli. There was a small cheer from the rest of the group. They’re joy was soon curbed when they realised that even though they had defeated Bobaqua there was still consequences to be paid. There was blood everywhere, dead bodies excavated and strewn God knows where, and a rather large Hummer shaped hole in the college wall. They hurried out of the main chamber and began to navigate their way along the twists and turns of corridor to the outside world.

After a minute or so it became apparent that they were not the only ones who were a bit lost. Ahead of them the albino boy from the Fishbone clan was desperately trying to find his way to safety. He ran when he saw them but Aider quickly caught up to him and pinned him against the cold, damp wall. Dai soon caught up and watched as their find whimpered pathetically before them. He stared at the pale boy for a few moments before wiping his hands down his face and chest and smearing the boy with his blood. “This is Yalheya’s blood. I killed her. Go and tell the others that your mistress is dead.” Rasheen shook from head to toe but managed to nod his head and run quickly away from the group.They carried on walking as if nothing had happened.

Outside at last! Surprisingly everything looked normal, there was no zombie or any tell tale signs that they had been there. Dai ran over to where he killed Yalheya, there was no blood, no sign of a struggle, nothing. The ran to the Hummer and jumped in, Deeli was beginning to turn back to normal and the sky was getting lighter. It was only a matter of time before everyone woke up.

They drove through town, scrubbing furiously at their clothes and skin, trying to get rid of the blood. It was no good; they would just have to go home. Dai took the opportunity of the empty streets to drive like a maniac again. He dropped off a white knuckled Thaila and then hand braked all the way to Beth’s house. “Get changed and look normal,” he said before speeding off again.

The world slowly unfroze and the damage was recognised. The local papers went mad over the vandalism story and rumours were spreading that the local news channel were coming down to check things out. The Police were as baffled as the college tutors. There was no noise and no clue as to what made the giant hole and the rest of the destruction. Beth and Thaila lied to their tutor and told her she had sent them home early. And not too far away, in an old garage, sat the battered Hummer, patiently waiting in case it was ever needed again.

Result! College was cancelled for a week! It was time to kick back, relax and forget about everything. Vein had come round to see Beth and Thaila and the three now sat in Beth’s bedroom going over the whole battle again. Margua was still on the loose but at that moment in time they just didn’t give a damn. They just wanted to be normal teenagers. “It’s time for some maximum Gothin’ girls!” Beth concluded, “What do you have in mind,” asked Thaila, “Mary Gothins”

MARY GOTHINS

Outside it was a sunny, carefree day. They didn’t have to wait long at the bus stop, and they were soon on the bumpy ride to Payneton. It took them fifteen minutes to get there and another ten minutes to reach the shop that could fix their dark, depressive mood.

It was a bland, unassuming building with a small sign above the window. But inside it was the original all-in-one, one-stop-goth-shop. The trio savoured the neutral exterior, the disguise, for a few moments before entering the maliciously macabre Aladdin’s cave.

Inside was a small, dimly lit reception. An equally small member of staff came to greet them. She was short, skinny and pale, with short black hair and thick rimmed black glasses. “Hello! Welcome to Mary Gothins, my name is Michelle. On the first floor you’ll find ‘thINK tattoo and piercing studio’, ‘Dead girl’s hair and beauty’, ‘Sinderella’s Closet’ and ‘Strange Pets’. Second floor is ‘Kawaii frog’, ‘Punk Rock Domestics’, ‘Black cat superstitions’ and ‘Decadent Pages’. “Thanks”, Thaila smiled at her before turning to her friends, “Well girls, I say we start and the beginning and end at the end, whoever said it’s just pretty, blonde cheerleaders who can have group makeovers?”

The first stop was thINK tattoo and piercing studio. The girls thought about getting some tattoos, but in the end they all chickened out and settled for some more piercing. Vein didn’t really have many piercing so she went first. She got her belly button done and a few more holes put in her ears. Beth got herself a lip ring which was now gently throbbing away and threatening to swell up. Thaila, as ‘hardcore’ as ever, got one of her nipples pierced and was looking like she had some slight regret. The joked about getting an anti-fishbones tattoo, but this made them remember all their troubles so they quickly left for the next shop.

“Dead Girls hair and beauty” Vein read the sign. It was unlike any salon she had ever seen. The interior had been decorated to look like what could only be described as a giant spiders nest. The black silk that lined the walls was pulled out in odd places and over surfaces to create a dark, uneven surface. Over the silk hung yards and yards of fake cobwebs dotted with tiny white fairy lights. Each hairdresser chair came with the usual table and mirror, but each chair resembled a gothic throne and each mirror lay in a carved frame depicting dragons and monsters. The only bright light came from the spot lights above each chair.

The girls were greeted and each shown to a seat, where they had time to decided on what they wanted doing. After some considerable snipping and nose powdering the girls emerged like butterflies from a chrysalis. Thaila sported some of her original violet colour, but now there was a more pinker hue. Her hair was now shorter than ever, perhaps about a centimetre or two at the sides. It was longer on top and had been styled in to a Mohawk which pointed upwards and forwards, coming down to a point over her forehead. Her make up was immaculate and made her look like a rock star. Her eyeliner was and smoky and her eyelids sported a blue leopard print pattern.

Vein had her hair trimmed and curled and streaked with neon green. Her make up made her look like a pot doll. Her usually narrow lips looked pink, full and glossy. Her yellow toned skin looked flawless and fresh. She had obviously had some sort of lash lengthening treatment as her oval eyes looked large and innocent.

Beth’s hair was truly awesome. It had taken two hairdressers to install the synthetic dreadlock extensions but it looked fantastic. The top of the dreadlocks were jet black until about half way when they faded through different shades of blue in a spiralling pattern. They went from navy blue through to ice blue like watery flames. Her eye make up was dark, with black eyeliner and violet eye shadow. Her lips were bright, glossy red. The trio inspected each others new looks and whooped and chatted excitedly. They went over to reception to pay for their hot new makeovers. “Thanks girls, you all look really great. But Vein make sure you go to see your GP about that hair problem,” Vein looked away and blushed, “What hair problem?” ask Thaila, Vein now looked really worried “What hair problem?” the hairdresser replied “I only trimmed her hair but look how much of it’s on the floor, it was falling out all over the place.” Vein looked ready to die, Beth and Thaila turned to the chair where their friend had been sitting.