✧ 16 ✧
"Are you full yet?" Anne asked Ilya.
"Yes." He wiped his mouth, then stared awkwardly from the corners of his eyes. "Th-thank you for a lovely meal."
Something didn't feel right. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't hungry anymore, but a gut-wrenching fear made him closer to vomit.
Anne's eyes weren't friendly no more. They were evil. And she didn't try to hide it this time. It was so obvious, it scared Ilya to the point where the color was drained from his face.
"Good," Anne began. "Because we have one more surprise for you, dear John." She stretched his name with a malice tone.
"Honey." Anne rested her chin on her hands and asked Maggie, "Would you be a doll and grab the shackles for me?"
"Shackles?" Ilya gulped.
"With pleasure, Mommy dear."
Maggie stood up and glanced at Ilya. Her smirk sent chills down his spine.
Ilya then noticed how the white of Anne's eyes gradually turned red with visible veins.
It was time to leave this mad house.
After filling his empty stomach, Ilya found the strength to face the deadly blizzard outside. Anything was better than staying here. He pushed the table from his seat and got up. With clumsy panicky steps, he retreated.
"What's going on?" Holding his hand forward to block any sudden move from the ladies, Ilya asked, "What are you planning to do with me?"
"Oh, nothing." Anne looked at Martha then back at Ilya. "Just making sure my sweet little Martha gets enough food until the storm passes."
Anne's fangs came out when she cackled like a big bad witch—No! A vampire. Anne was a vampire. She was leaning forward on the table ready to pounce on him.
Then flop!
Her head hit the table, face-first. Anne was out cold.
Thick dark blood trailed down Anne's face and stained the dining table. Then Ilya noticed the person standing behind Anne. It was Maggie, with a hammer in her raised hand.
Maggie's expression was blank as if she didn't just kill her own mother.
"Jesus Christ!" Ilya yelled and pointed a shaky finger. "You killed your mom!"
"Oh. Right." Maggie chuckled, then made the cross sign. "Forgive me, Jesus, for I have sinned."
She snorted and followed it with a crazy high-pitched laugh.
Martha, on the other hand, was barking insanely loud at both of them. The Hammer's blow and the smell of blood coming out of Anne's head caused her to go berserk. She howled, growled, and almost broke the chain that held her far from them.
Until Maggie roared at her, "Oh, shut the fuck up, you disgusting corpse!"
Martha whined then went back into her hiding place, that dark corridor.
When Maggie turned to Ilya, her fangs were visible.
Ilya gasped and quickly grabbed a knife from the table. He backed further away, gluing his back against a wall.
Maggie strolled around the table towards the boy, leaving her hammer next to her mother's head.
"Don't worry. I didn't kill anybody... yet."
Even though she approached him unarmed, Ilya had a feeling she didn't need a weapon to kill him.
"Back off." He pointed the knife at her with a shaky grip. "I'm warning you."
"Or what?" She scoffed. "Just put that thing down and listen to me."
She got closer and stretched her arms towards Ilya's shoulders for a grip.
Ilya attacked out of fear. He closed his eyes and swung the knife at her arm, slashing her elbow. When he opened his eyes, he saw that she still reached for him. The wound on her arm didn't bother her.
"I'm gonna need you to calm the fuck down." She gripped his shoulders and shook him. "Do. You. Understand?"
"Let me go!" Ilya shouted and attacked again, shoving the knife right into her thigh.
"Ugh!" Maggie recoiled, letting go of Ilya with a grunt. "You piece of shit!"
She looked down at the knife stuck inside her, then up to face Ilya with an angry snarl. That attack didn't stop her. It just made her angrier.
"I'm sorry." Ilya panicked.
"Aw, now look what you did." She changed her expression to a crazy smile, showing how big her fangs grew. "You ruined my dress."
"I'm sorry." Ilya covered his mouth and quivered. "I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry."
In the back of his mind, he was screaming, Please, don't kill me.
"It's OK." She shrugged it off and played chill. "It was an ugly dress anyway."
She removed the knife with a swift motion, splattering her blood across Ilya's new clothes.
She threw the knife away, then ripped her dress horizontally piece by piece until both her thighs were showing.
The Gothic maxi dress turned into a mini one.
She wore dark tights covering her legs from the top to the middle.
Black leather boots took care of the bottom half.
Ilya placed a hand over his chest where his heart was beating chaotically out of rhythm.
Maggie got a little too close to Ilya, raising her palms to calm him down.
"Are you chill now?" she asked with a concerned look on her pale face. "I'm trying to help you before Mom wakes up and makes you live food for my zombie werewolf sister. So, snap out of it!"
"She—" Ilya's heart jumped "—What?"
He wanted to ask about the feeding thing, the zombie thing, and the werewolf thing. Oh, and the vampire thing. But fear scrambled his brain to the point he couldn't say more than two words.
Maggie noticed how badly Ilya was shaking, so she decided to explain things to him before he cracked.
"I'll explain everything later. Now, come on."
Maggie, who was a couple of inches taller than Ilya, grabbed his arm and dragged him with her to the back of the house.
Ilya couldn't break free from her firm grip. She wasn't just too strong for a girl, she was too strong, period. Maybe as strong as big ol' Charlie.
Ilya calmed himself down reminding himself that if she wanted to kill him she would've done it already. Maybe everyone here was a little unhinged, and this weird forward approach was both Maggie's and Charlie's way of showing that they care.
"OK," he said as he was forced to follow her.
Ilya couldn't pin it on something specific, but he was starting to trust Maggie despite her odd behavior and her scary fangs. He also felt a little sorry for Charlie; maybe he wasn't a bad person after all.
"Where are we going?"
Maggie answered, "Anywhere but here."