"MERRICK!" Sakura Rose shrieked as she saw what the evil one, sitting so calmly before her did: so easily and so lacking in any sympathy or remorse.

She ran to kneel by her friend, faint traces of his blood staining her knees. She attempted to shake him vigorously with her hand that did not have the death grip on the candle. Damn, where is an ammonia popper or some smelling salts when you needed them?! "Supplies!" she implored the others. "He's not rousing, so he must be left here... whether we like it or not this is our chance to make the best with what we can find to prepare ourselves to escape and get help for him!"

Sakura Rose looked about the room. "The doorways are equidistance from each other except for where the stairs should be. That would be the South, then. That means..." Sakura led the way-counter clockwise until she reached the south where she found a fallen boy. "I don't know who you are, but unless you are going to end up unconscious like our other companion, come with us, for your own safety." She continued counter clockwise the next quarter of the circular room until she reached the East doorway. Taking a deep breath, with her candle held out in front of her, she entered.

She had not even noticed the boy who fell into the room. Too distracted by the girl covered in blood. Faith took a simple step back as the girl attacked Merrick. Blood spouted from his chest. Much like he had been shot from behind of something. He fall to the ground just a second after. Faith took a deep breath, looking down to the body.

"Are you-" Faith cut herself off. Knowing Sakura was not listening any how. She did not feel right just leaving him there. What if the child would eat him or something.

"This isn't right... " The artist said a bit louder this time. She painted about this sort of stuff. Even subconsciously when Faith had no idea. "its going against every human ideal I have gained." Although by that time Sakura had already entered one of the tunnels. Why did no one hear her.. your kidding me right? the voice in her head asked the stubborn woman.


((There!))

Appolonia looked from person to person, barely really able to register what they were saying. This was all too much, compounded with the fact that she was beginning to come down quite hard from her earlier high. She looked again at her friend's limp body and trembled. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She put her hand out, but recoiled. She couldn't even kneel down to him. No sound escaped her but a choked cry and then a breath. And then she ran after Sakura Rose, too terrified at the idea of being a lifeless corpse to even think things through.

On the other side of the doorway was a great winery filled with bottles and casks and fermentation vats and pressing stations. There was a blast furnace and an oven, bread, dough, many wheels of cheese, some burlap sacks, and lots of grapevines, somehow growing despite the complete lack of light. Their fruit hung heavy and rich from the branches and smelled sweetly. Appolonia was not present enough to think about any of it, however. Her feelings had gotten the best of her, now that she was out of the room of that freaky little girl, and the one that screamed the loudest now was guilt. She was guilty. She just left him to die.

She swallowed as hard as she could and pushed the thoughts murderer to the back of her murderer mind as well as she could.

When Sakura Rose entered the wine room, the first thing she did was use her candle and the light produced from the furnace to spot other candles in holders on the wall. She took down one, and tilted it into her own, handing a candle to each person in turn. "We're going to need light." she said. What they did with their candles, she couldn't tell as she took stock of the bread, cheese, and grapes. "I don't know how safe this food is, and I for one sure as hell don't feel like eating, but we don't know how long it will take us to find the exit."

She surveyed the room and found that some crates were tied with rope. Rope. Always handy... at least in movies and in theory. She knelt by one and used her candle to set the rope aflame. Before it could spread too far, but after it weakened she kicked the rope numerous times to put out the fire. The heat damaged the bottom of her shoes a bit. Setting the candle down gingerly against a place in the stone wall she wrapped a coil of rope over her right shoulder and beneath her left arm.

She quickly fashioned three more sets of rope this way. "There's some rope for each of you, don't know if we will need it or not, but you can wrap it around you to not carry it with your hands..."

The next thing she realized she needed was a sharp object. Walking over to some bottles of wine, not even checking the label or vintage, with a hefty swing, using the neck as a handle, she broke the bottle. A weapon and tools in one go. Score.

Taking a fairly large and decent looking piece of jagged glass she cut the burlap sacks into smaller pieces... four to be exact. Then, one loaf of bread, broken into four. One wheel of cheese, once the wax was removed with a swift slit of the makeshift knive, into four. A small handful of grapes, for four. After tying the food sacks for everyone, she took hers and tied it to the rope at her waist. "Light. Rope. Food..." her eyes looked back down to the handle of the wine bottle and the many jagged edges it produced "Weapon." She broke three additional wine bottles, praying that the Marques will forgive her wasting his supplies but she is on a mission to deliver her friends to safety.

With the dusty rope around her torso, the rucksack of food at her waist, the re-acquired candle now in her left hand and the makeshift glass weapon in her right, she looked as ready as she was going to be.

"You're right, Miss Faith, this isn't right, but we are not going to escape and get help for Merrick by standing around and looking at him unless you are holding out on me with some ammonia poppers or smelling salts on you."

[imgleft]http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm422/kingpooky117/667492f56746c6629d84c74d5fd83364-1.jpg[/imgleft]

~Gui~

"Jesus H. Fucking Christ", yelled Gui as he narrowly evaded the sword of one very angry count who seemed to be reciting bible verses at him about walking in the shadow of something or other. What the hell was going on here? The Count was a regular old human well in his 70s and supposed to be infirm and crazy! Hell, he walked with a cane, for christ's sakes! Then again, it was a sword cane. Gui jumped back. There was no way to get close to the guy without taking a serious blow, and so he decided he was going to have to be clever. Not exactly his forte, but hell, he was willing to give anything a try, even his brains.

He sank into the floor and swam through the earth, grabbing the old man by the ankle. Somehow, it burned to touch him, but he held on anyway, dragged him through the ground and threw him to one of the lower levels. To hell with dealing with him. He'd starve on or break his back or something on his own. Fuck it.

Gui emerged and stared at his hand before walking down one of the many hallways in the catacombs beneath the Domingo Estate.

Alfred had simply stared into Marques Phillipe's eyes before shaking himself and chuckling saying, "Ah yes, my lineage is... my... attention? Yes, you have my undivided attention Master-er, Marques... Phillipe... yes you have my attention Phillipe. I do hope you'll forgive me sir, I'm feeling slightly... dizzy." Alfred's words trailed off as stared into the Marques' eyes and mumbled, "My... undivided attention."

Faith watched Apple quickly follow behind Sakura. Now was her choice.. go? or stay.. She looked down to Merrick, then over to the small bloody girl. The girl still had her eye fixated in their direction. She shook her head, glaring in the direction of the girl.

"I refuse to leave. He could die just laying here." Her voice was very quiet now. She looked back to the others who had not made a move just yet. Suddenly she felt a strong tugging. Was it the girl? No, she made no movement. It was in the direction to the West. What was down there?

come closer.. Someone, something beckoned in her mind The vision of a rotted body filled her mind. This of coarse had nothing to do with the girl, or even the place. Faith at times got so fixated on one specific thing, her body acted on its own. Or maybe she was controlling.. but she wasn't. no. Faith slowly took a step to the west. But stopped, shaking her head and staring at the blank wall in front of her. Looking back to the girl, and to Merrick, Faith finally went towards the winery.

Once entering the room, she felt nearly sick and confused. So sudden too.. Hearing Sakura's word, she nodded. Not feeling up to argue anymore. They did not need that any how.

"Very good", said the Marques. The door closed and suddenly, the shadows grew quite long, and one would almost have the feeling of being moved, as if in an elevator. The air became progressively cooler and more stale. The smell of entropy a heavy miasma clinging to everything. When the shadows cleared, the Marques and Mr. Churchill found themselves in a comfortably furnished room far below the manor itself, farther even than the catacombs. Around the room, there were naked bodies, dead, drained of their blood, empty vessels. Mr. Churchill may even have recognized a few of the faces as peers and fellow aristocrats.

"What I am offering is more than a legacy. I am offering life everlasting and power that no other can hope to possess", he paused and looked at the bodies around him and looked back at Alfred as if he'd found something to be quite humorous indeed, "Some are... not so accepting of such gifts. Are you?"

Alfred looked at the bodies, his face an emotionless mask before he turned back to the Marques with a grin and a dark look in his eyes as he said, "Well good sir, how could any sane man say no to that?" He reached up and took off his tie before unbuttoning his vest and shirt to move the clothes from his neck as he said with an almost manic grin, with what seemed like hellfire in his eyes, "Turn me into a dark creature, and I will be yours to command, my liege. Take care not to get blood on the clothes though sir, the local tailor charges an arm and a leg."

Apple looked at the supplies long and hard before she decided to do anything, and then her first thought was how damn much she needed a drink. Immediately, she ran to the wine bottles, grabbed the nearest one, wiped off the dust and removed the cork. She kept a decorking/bottle-opening device with her to all parties and, luckily, this was no exception. She was sorely tempted to take another hit of blow, but things were exciting as is. Instead, she peeled open a bottle took a swig and came back to grab the makeshift supply bag the little girl had put together. Already she was feeling a bit easier, like she'd already put it at an emotional distance. Somehow that fact made her feel dirty. And so she took another swig and said, "Nice job, Nancy Drew", and pet the little girl on the head. Apple was obviously not all there, at the moment, but she was trying.

Actually what was catching her attention at the moment was... something was moving against the walls... was it... it looked like the plants were... creeping. That was impossible, right?

Alessia stood behind her mother, not wanting to interrupt her conversation. When neither parent took notice of her, she spun on her heel and slid from the parlor. She was determined to get down to the other youth.

As she walked down the hall, she pushed the doors open, searching for anything that would allow her to get down there. Most of these doors lead to guest rooms with elaborate, beautiful antique beds. "Come on, Lessie, you can find them." she mumbled to herself. She'd always wanted an adventure, now she was getting it.

It seemed as if an eternity had passed before she came to a slightly ajar door. The foreboding feeling pulled at the back of her mind. She ignored it. The scent of burnt wood lingered lightly in the air. Again her eyes moved around her surroundings. Carefully she ran her fingers over the cross burnt into the wood. She took a deep breath. "What is going on here?" she asked the silent air.

Sakura Rose was taking stock as the others, to varying degrees, followed her lead. "Does everyone have everything they might need, or want?" she asks the youth in the room. "I notice that most of you haven't touched the rope... you should definately at very least make sure you have a candle if you don't have a better lightsource of your own, a bottleneck-stabbing weapon, and to tuck the food her later."

She does smile as she gets a pat on the head. She has confidence that together they can accomplish something useful. However, her gaze follows Apple as she seems to be transfixed by the grapevines. She stands, candle in her left hand, makeshift pointy object in her right to stand diagonal behind the older girl. "Apple? What is it?" she stopped speaking when she saw movement where there should not be any movement. "Kuso!" she swore under her breath.

The vines seemed to have sprung to life, slithering and spreading out like a large net in order to capture and smother their victims. Strange pods unfurled and opened, revealing horrible little mouths that reached out for the children slowly, like the eye stalks of a snail...

((Quick post to get the story going))

Sakura Rose stabbed, jabbed, sliced, skewered, and damn near did everything except make julianne fries with her razor sharp makeshift weapon at hand. "Let's get out of here!" She said as soon as she enough space between herself and the monstrosity, hoping that the others had, or were going for, their weapons and candles. Physicality is not a strength of the little girl, and she knew that in order to survive and continue, she had to flee and leave the room. All of the others are twice her size, more physically fit, and are armed with both fire and sharpness if they followed her instructions.

The darkness was a thick smothering blanket over, and the candle's light seemed barely able to fight it. Once again her gun was gripped tightly in her hand. In the dead silence, she could almost hear her heartbeat echoing off the stone walls and back at her. Thank goodness Grandfather taught me to move silently, she thought.

Expecting another step, Alessia stumbled forward, cursing the noise her heels made. Seconds later she regained her balance. With a few deep breaths she moved through began walking. Like a cat, she slinked through the darkness.

Her foot caught on something, sending her sprawling. "Shit!" she growled when the candle went out. After taking mental note of herself, she pushed herself onto her knees and searched blindly for what she'd fallen over. A foot? She crawled, groping blindly in the darkness until she found the hat. "Oh god."

As Sakura Rose tried to run, a plant tendril wrapped around her ankle and pulled her away towards the wall, her tiny frame a mere play thing in its deep green phalanges. The plant seemed to respond with excitement, as its meal came closer and closer. The mouths opened and closed with greater regularity and speed, the vines went wild, and the whole room shook and swayed.

The sight of chomping mouths attached to grapevines did little to calm the already on edge Appolonia. But strangely, instead of screaming and running away, she chugged some of the wine, tried to slip out of her heals as best she could and ran headlong at the bush waving the bottle of wine around like a maniac while one of her more stubborn shoes hung wildly to her foot by a strap causing her no little bit of stumbling. The plant easily avoided her fairly misguided attacks, but seemed to be particularly interested in what spilled from the bottle itself, as she had forgotten to cork it. In fact, the vines seemed to follow the drink as it poured out.

"Give me your hand", yelled Apple, making a dive for Sakura Rose. But how was Faith? Where was she?

The Count lay unmoving, having fallen through a rather weak and ancient stone slab that had previously held a body long since dust. Some many things were surely broken or out of place, but, even so, at the word "god" his eyes flittered open and he let out a moan.

"Am I dead", he mumbled to whoever was there, but then found a little more vigor, "it feels like I'm dead? Am I? Answer me!"

He rolled over and let out what sounded like a short bark. It was actually the cry of a broken rib. Ribs. Many ribs. He rolled slowly against the wall and tried to get himself into a sitting position, groaning all the way, especially during the sitting. Well, at least he knew he wasn't dead... or worse, undead. But then again, who knows how long he still had? He spit some blood out of his mouth.

The embrace of Mr. Churchill was quick, and thoroughly enjoyable for the both of them, and when it would be over, Mr. Churchill would find himself in a guest bedroom with a glass of peach schnapps on the rocks on the end table next to him. He'd wake feeling a little groggy, but otherwise no different. There would be no wound, no strange rush of power, nothing except perhaps a hangover.

Sakura Rose sat up and tried to BURN the thing off of her ankle, but unlike the rope it was far too moist and too alive. Just as she let out a shriek of terror, she heard Apple, transferring the bottle neck to her candle hand so she is holding two things, she streches her arm out so desperately she feel she might pull it out of its socket as she holds her open, waiting, right hand to Appolonia.

Kataro seemed a bit shaken up from it all, but when Merrick was attacked and the others moved on he was not going to stay for idle chit-chat. He moved forward quickly catching up with the girls. The youngest being attacked by a plant, he almost freaked out at the sight. He drew his gun, a .45 magnum, from the back of his pants having hidden it beneath his suit jacket. He had to move for his shot as another girl moved forward wine bottle in hand. It was then he noticed the plants reaction to the wine, its ‘heads’ weaving the path of it as it spilled from the bottle. He moved to the wine rack and grabbed a few bottles. He threw them forward towards the plant-like beast. He fired a round into one of the bottles that didn’t smash on contact with the floor then turned his gun to the vine enveloping the young girl’s ankle. Releasing another round into its appendage he hoped it would free her. He wondered who some of these people were but now was most likely not the time to ask. He dived forward to pull the two woman he could see away from the plant hoping he was right about the wine.

In the hullabaloo, Faith, who had been quiet, up until this point, found herself set upon from behind by a very large collection of vines that carried her off almost immediately and soundlessly. Where she ended up, one could only imagine. Hopefully she wasn't skeletonized by the hundreds of mouths hungry for her blood. Meanwhile, the rest of the plant attacked the spilled wine with a savage vigor.

Apple grabbed hold of Sakura Rose's hand and pulled hard. Strangely, the plants seemed less than interested, distracted even by some other even taking place behind her. And then she heard the gunfire. She didn't look back. She didn't want to see, if it was anything close to as horrible as everything else in this place. She braced against the floor with her feet and redoubled her efforts, and the vine seemed too distracted to care about the two girls, overmuch, and let her go. Apple tumbled backwards against a table, hitting her spine, but ambled forward, a little too drunk to care and said, louder than she intended, "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Everybody! Out!" Sakura Rose was reduced to few words in the panic of the situation. Luckily the vines didn't seem to follow the threshold into the circular room. As her pounding heart raced and her breathing struggled to return to normal, she slipped the bottleneck weapon back into her right hand, and looked around the room... twice because she didn't believe the input that her eyes were giving her. "Merrick." another heavy gasp of air, and a bit louder her voice echoed "WHERE'S MERRICK?"

Hannah turned her eyes to the Master's new little girl smiled cruelly and said, "He's being attended to, your dear friend was very ill, but he's being cured of that."

Just at that moment, Apple stumbled into the room. She was freezing at this point in her dress and now without her shoes. Her stalkings were ripped to shreds and hung like a strange layer of skin from her legs.

Hannah's smile dropped again and she asked, "Who is next?"

Sakura Rose did not like the look in the evil one's eyes. Every time their gaze met, it was like a clash of willpower, like something you would see on Dragon Ball Z or Harry Potter... just invisible.

The child took stock once again of her supplies, her rope coiled around her reminded her too much of the vines, but there could be use for it. The sack of food was still tied tightly to the bottom ribbon of her shirt. She had her candle still, and the weapon. If she had not witnessed with her own eyes what Hannah did to Merrick, she would charge after the... thing with all six or seven so jagged edges of her makeshift weapon.

Instead, she went and gave a hug to Apple who actually looked like she needed one even more than she did at the moment. "What are we going to do?" she asks, her arms barely squeezing her after the ordeal and purposefully keeping the flame of the candle away from Apple's hair, held at a diagonal so the wax drips on the stone floor more quickly than it would otherwise.

We.

She disengages and asks "Where is Faith?... And that boy?"

Kataro sighed slightly, the two girls had run back into the room and he had to once again follow or be left alone with something creepy/dangerous. He sighed as he entered. The youngest girl asking where he was, or so he presumed from the fact a name wasn’t used. “My name is Kataro Sousuke, not ‘that boy’ and who the hell are you people?” He mumbled softly putting the safety of his gun back on and placing it back in his pants. At least he had been right back there otherwise he may have just angered the god damn thing more. Well it wasn’t his life on the line and he didn’t know her and he doubted she would have tried to save him if the need had arisen. He glanced at the other girl, apple, and sighing he shifted his jacket off his shoulders and thrust it in her general direction. "Here you will freeze to death like that..." She seemed tough but shaken and he couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. He hoped the lighting hid this much though.

Being spoken to with such disrespect seemed to make Sakura Rose's tongue come back "You will have to forgive my lack of formality due to our situation, or my ignorance of who you are Young Master Sousuke, but my family is relatively new to the town and I mostly study at home, anyways. I am Miss Sakura Rose Dawson, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Reginald Dawson III. This is Miss Appolonia, but she prefers to be called Apple."

Every few seconds, not unlike a nervous tic, the girl would cast a glance to the doorway waiting for Faith to come out... but she never did. "The Eldest Miss Bard... did any of you see what happened to her?"

Apple did indeed need a hug and took it graciously, embracing her with her whole body. She trembled a bit but remained composed. When she pulled away, she finished off what little remained in her bottle of wine. She had left the rest of her supplies behind her, in her rush to be out of there.

"What boy", asked Appolonia, at a loss. She hadn't seen any boy. Of course, not a second later, "That boy" came running through the door and finally addressed them. Kataro Sousuke was his name. She knew of him, though not many could actually claim to be his friend. He was an orphan and lived in a very large manor with a butler. That's about all she knew about him. She knew he didn't buy drugs from her. He offered her his jacket, so he was a gentleman. This was a good sign. He also had a gun. This was another good sign. She took it, and wrapped it around her bare shoulders, batted her eyes and said, "Thank you, Master Kataro."

She would have loved to have flirted with him a bit, except that her young friend Sakura Rose made their introductions for her. It was Sakura Rose's last comment that brought her back down to Earth. Faith was missing.

"I... I didn't see what happened. I was with you", she said. Her face turned bright red and then blanched completely.

Murderer.

She reached into her pocket and grabbed hold of her snuff box.

You left them to die.

She squeezed a bit harder.

Hannah, meanwhile, let out a very impatient sigh. Why did they always take so long? The obvious choice was Apple. She wasn't as resourceful as the kid, and she had no weapon, unlike the boy. They should have just left her behind and made a break for it.