Monster of Monsters #1 Part Two: Mortem's Contestant

by Kristie Lynn Higgins

  "I see now," he spoke with a smirk on his face. "You hope to survive by presenting yourself as a way for us to obtain things. What makes you think we cannot attain these things on our own?"

  "This place is a prison. I don't imagine prisoners have it easy getting what they want."

  "Salt..." he spoke, then turned, and headed back the way he came.

  "Salt..? That's it? You don't want the Salt of Life or something unusually sounding like that?"

  "You asked a fourth question," he stated and then jumped into the water.

  She straightened and muttered to herself, "You'd think if the Residents wanted these things so badly, they'd allow me a few extra questions."

  Kein cautiously left the room, glanced at the bat door in the distance, then went to the door with the beaker over it. She opened the door and peered in. The purple haze was gone and so was the pungent smell, and the man wearing the white lab coat no longer wore a gas mask. He stood before a table lined with beakers and tests tubes full of a rainbow of different liquids. He appeared to be human with dark black unkempt hair, long sideburns, and a scruffy face. There was someone else in the room to her right. A tall man about eight foot tall with stitched scars all over his body as if he had been sown together. His eyes were closed, and he was strapped to an examining table tilted straight up at nearly a ninety-degree angle. There was a four foot by eight-foot shelf behind the examining bed, and it was about six feet from the side wall. The shelf contained clear glass jars of liquid. She glanced to her left and saw three fire extinguishers lined up on the wall near the door. She turned back to the eight-foot man curious as to why he was there and seemingly dead.

  "Frankenstein's monster..." Kein muttered to herself.

  "I am a very busy person," the man in the lab coat told her. "Ask me your three questions."

  "What are you working on?"

  "Something that you couldn't even comprehend. Ask me your next question."

  "Do you have salt or the Waters of Life?"

  "Salt I have, but technically you inquired on two separate items, meaning you asked a third question. Do you want the Waters of Life to be your final question?"

  "No, my final question is... what could I trade with you for the salt?"

  He looked up for the first time and stared at her as he said, "You appear to have nothing of value on you."

  "Maybe you want something that I can acquire for trade for the salt."

  "There is something, but I doubt you will be able to acquire it for me," he told her.

  "You won't know until you let me try."

  "Answer a question for me first," he said. "What is my name? I am very famous."

  Kein glanced back at the eight-foot man, then she moved closer to the table, and noticed that there was a curtain behind the man in the lab coat, and she noticed through the part in the curtain that a desk was back there.

  "Before I answer, may I go look at your desk?"

  "Another question, but I will allow it, that is the question and the permission," he told her, and then he instructed her, "Do not touch anything."

  Kein went to the desk and looked over a few notes he had strung all over the top. She didn't understand anything that was written down, and then she saw several bookcases, went to them, and looked over the volumes he had there. There were many many books on different subjects mostly having to do with science, but there were three books that caught Kein's attention, and they were: Multiple Personality Disorder, Genetically Engineered: Are Super-soldiers Possible?, and Examining The Dark Side of Human Nature.

  "I have my answer," Kein told him as she returned through the curtain and stood by the table so that she faced him. "You actually have two names. I believe I am talking to Dr. Jekyll, but you're also known as Mr. Hyde."

  He set down the test tube he had been examining and peered at her curiously. He turned, went through the curtain, glanced over his desk, glanced at the bookcases she was looking at, then returned to his table, and stared at her some more in amazement.

  Kein asked him, "Why do you have Dr. Frankenstein's monster?"

  "He does not belong to me. He was only in this room when I was put in here," Dr. Jekyll replied, and then he added, "I can tell you that he is incomplete."

  "What do you mean?" she questioned.

  "Pieces of him have been removed like his heart. The monster is still alive, but he has never awoken since I have been here," Dr. Jekyll answered, and then he asked, "How did you know my name?"

  "I know quite a bit about Dr. Frankenstein, and he had no interest in some of the subjects that are represented in your books."

  "Your answer tells me how you knew I wasn't him, but I want to know how you knew it was me."

  "I only guessed," she said. "You're the only doctor I have studied about other than Dr. Frankenstein."

  "What sort of school did you go to that you would study about us?"

  "I really didn't go to school," she replied. "It was more like... I was taught things by different people," she answered, and then she questioned, "Do you want to trade?"

  "I was going to murder you and use your body in an experiment I'm conducting, but I can do that later. I will trade with you if you can bring me vampire saliva."

  Kein made a face as she stated, "I'll see what I can do. I'll need something to put it in."

  Dr. Jekyll handed her a small glass jar with a lid, and she pulled her single strap brown backpack to the front of herself and placed the jar in the backpack's small zipper pocket on the front. Kein spun the backpack back around, so that it rested on her back, then went to the door, peeked her head out, and saw no signs of the werewolf pup. She glanced at Shukujo's room, then decided she really needed to talk to the vampire first, so she went to his room instead. The male vampire was still lounging on his red velvet couch when she walked in.

  "Ma chère... You have returned. I thought I had scared you off. Come... Come closer or better yet come sit," the vampire told her as he patted the cushion seat next to him on the couch, and then he said, "Come sit beside me. We have much to talk about. Come... Come... We will be friends."

  The sensation of ease swept over Kein again within the light red mist, and she took a step to go to the couch and sit beside him, but fear spoke up and blazed alarm through her body, shaking off the effects of ease. She fled the room again without talking to him and headed for Shukujo's room. Whispers and images flowed down from the spider symbol above the door, but this time Kein forced herself not to listen as fear angrily shouted at her for doing dangerous things, then Kein entered, made sure to stay behind the white borderline, and called out.

  "Shukujo, I've returned. I haven't gotten eaten yet."

  "I can see that," Shukujo said as she spun down on a very large spider thread and landed on the floor about twenty feet away from the human. "I thought you would be very dead by now, but I hear that you survived Opening. Shukujo crawled toward the Kumo'sakai and stopped before crossing the boundary as she spoke, "It is ironic that a delivery woman, one who was never selected in the Draft, would be the one who was victorious."

  "I don't feel victorious," Kein told her. "I feel..."

  "I do not care, human. I have even forgotten your name, not that it is important to me, but I am still surprised... You seem so ordinary to me. No, you seem especially ordinary and yet..." Shukujo stated as she put a hand on the back of her own neck as if it hurt, and she continued, "I still feel as though you hold something dark and sinister over me like some long forgotten secret."

  Kein hadn't stopped talking when Shukujo interrupted, but mumbled to herself, "...isolated and afraid. I don't know how I'm going to survive here."

  Shukujo dropped her hand from the back of her own neck as she said, "Did you hear a word that I spoke to you or were you so rude as to speak while I was speaking?"

  "Umm... Wasn't I talking first?"

  "No matter," Shukujo snapped. "You have a new job in this Mortem. I suggest that you get on with it."

  "Right..." Kein sp
oke and then asked, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

  "Of course I mind. I would sooner devour you than talk to you, but Controller has told me I must answer three of your questions first and then I can devour you."

  "Whoa..." Kein exclaimed as she stepped back and put out her arm to steady herself. "I really need to sit down and rest first. I didn't realize how tired I was," she stated as she went and sat in a corner on her side of the white borderline. "Oh... That's much better. I thought being a delivery woman would have me on my feet all day, but I didn't expect to be running and screaming in terror so much."

  "I would like to thank you for that," Shukujo told her. "I did earn quite a few points off of you."

  "Must be nice. You know a lot about the Mortem, and I'm... I'm playing catch up to a speeding train."

  "It is nice," Shukujo replied as she spread her arms and motioned slightly with her head to her new clothing. "I was able to purchase this kimono that I am wearing."

  "Oh... wow..." Kein uttered as she looked to the red silk garment with white flying cranes and gold highlights, and then she said, "It's very pretty and suits you. I really like the pattern on this one. It makes me want to fly among all those birds as they soar freely about."

  "Thank you," Shukujo said. "I just happened to pick out this pattern for the freedom it represents."

  Kein sighed and said, "I need to make points. There are things that I'll need."

  "I noticed that you went to that deplorable vampire's room twice. I thought maybe you were already under his spell, but I see no puncture marks on you anywhere. Has he hidden the bite marks, so that I would not see?"

  "I never got close enough for him to bite me," Kein replied, and then she sighed again before adding, "I still have to go back. I can't seem to ask my questions, and I have to ask all five of you three questions before my day is considered done and over."

  "Your face is turning an interesting shade of red," Shukujo spoke, toying with her. "Is it because of the vampire?"

  "I think so," Kein answered as she put both her hands on her own cheeks. "Every time I go there I get this weird sensation. I don't know how to describe it. The red mist it's..."

  "Love," Shukujo told her. "You have fallen in love with him."

  "Really..?" Kein uttered. "I can't believe someone like me has discovered love, but... I thought there was more to it than being unable to talk and wanting to run away from the person in fear for one's life."

  Shukujo lifted her hand so that her robe covered her mouth as she softly laughed at her naivety, and then she lowered her arm and said, "I actually should say that he is using his vampire lure on you. Vampires can replicate human hormones that attract the opposite sex."

  "Vampire mojo," Kein uttered. "I have heard of that, and I was warned to stay away from vampires and their wilds."

  "Warned?" Shukujo repeated, scoffing her. "Most of your kind does not know that creatures like us exist, so how could someone warn you or do you speak of movies and books that glimpse into our world?"

  "Maybe I phrased it wrong," Kein answered. "I was warned that I should be wary of men who only have one thing on their minds. I wasn't exactly told what that one thing was, but I should be wary of it."

  "Baka..." Shukujo uttered in a hearty laugh. "I remember your name now. Baka..." she laughed again. Shukujo chuckled some more, and then she said, "You can make me laugh. I do not know if you are this naive or if this is some sort of act to lower my guard."

  "No..." Kein sighed for the third time. "This is me." She watched Shukujo for a while, and then Kein said, "Your entire being changes when you laugh. You look very happy when you laugh. It's like you're thinking of something or someone."

  "How did I look to you before?"

  "Angry, not with rage, but with... almost sadness, and this anger consumes you," Kein replied. "Is your happiness and your anger..? Are they over the same thing?"

  "I cannot deny what you have observed, but I still will not answer," Shukujo told her. "I do warn you not to pry too far."

  "I know," Kein replied, thinking of the lady and how little she knew about her. "Your kind like their privacy so much so, you only let family and friends into your lives." Kein thought about the spider symbol above the door and how she purposely ignored the visions that came with it as she stated, "I will respect your wishes."

  "You are wise to do so, baka," Shukujo told her, and then she said, "I do not believe you were this talkative with the other Residents."

  Kein thought about it, and then she said, "I don't know what it is, but I find it so easy to talk to you. I'm also not afraid here, so I can be myself."

  Shukujo grinned, and then she said, "I find our talks only annoying, and yet... there is something else about them that I cannot describe."

  Kein also smiled as she mumbled to herself, "A sister is..." She found some comfort sitting in the cold dungeon castle room, so she rested a few more minutes and then said, "I guess I'll get to asking you some questions now. Do you know where I can find the Waters of Life?"

  "I do," Shukujo replied.

  Kein waited for her to finish telling her, and when Shukujo didn't, Kein asked, "Where are the Waters of Life?"

  "In the middle of the swamp where that Atlantian lives."

  "If there was one thing that I could get you, what would that be?"

  "That one is easy, but that is your sixth question. I have been generous since you made me laugh, baka, but my generosity has limits."

  "Seriously! I can't seem to get my head in this Mortem," Kein scolded herself. "I should have asked for ten questions per Resident, so I'd have seven in reserve for stupid mistakes like this."

  "I will answer this seventh question of yours for I do want you to know the answer."

  "Thank you," Kein replied as a warmth she hadn't felt in years filled the large empty space in her heart.

  Shukujo noticed the human looked at her as she did when they first met, and she wasn't sure that she liked it, so Shukujo told her, "If there was one thing that you could to for me, it would be for you to cross the Kumo'sakai and be standing beside me on this side."

  "You don't mean standing beside you in a good way, do you? You don't need to answer that one," Kein told her as the small comfort she had found trickled away, leaving the large space hollow and void, and then she stated, "It seems all Kumovons like to talk to their food before they devour it."

  Her cruelty had its intended effect, and the human's expression became one of despair as Shukujo replied, "Not so much for me, but in this case, it would seem that I have to wait, so I might as well talk."

  Kein remembered the lady had told her something similar in the past, and every time she thought of the lady, she couldn't help but feel love and heartache all at the same time. Her treasured past filled her with so much joy, and yet it also caused her so much pain to remember how it all ended.

  "You have that stupid grin on your face again," Shukujo told her.

  "Sorry, I can't help it," Kein told her as she smiled even bigger, but that smile only masked her loneliness. "You just remind me of her so much."

  "Her..? Your Kumovon lady..? She must have really wanted to devour you."

  "I guess," Kein replied as her smile vanished. She thought about Head Mistress Blindheart's words about clans and houses, and then she stated, "I thought so... but I'm not sure anymore."

  "How many days did you know her?" Shukujo questioned. "I will be surprised if you say past three."

  "Over seven months," Kein replied. "I'm not very good at math, so you'll have to figure out the days for me."

  "What was wrong with the Kumovon? I cannot stand being in the same room with you for over two minutes, how did she go that long without killing you?"

  Kein thought about it; she didn't really understand the danger she was in when she was a child, but thinking back now, she wanted to know why the lady never ate her.

  "I will answer you if you will answer one more question for me," Kein said.

  "
A bargain has been struck," Shukujo stated.

  "Huh?" Kein replied.

  "You must also say a bargain has been struck, and then our deal has been made and neither of us can go back on it."

  "Oh..." Kein spoke, and then she said, "A bargain has been struck." Kein then began her tale, "The Kumovon or the lady as I called her was injured as if she had been in a fight. She never went into great detail as to how she got hurt, and as to why she never devour me, she said I wasn't big enough. She said that I was a little morsel."

  "You were a child then. You still must have been an annoying child," Shukujo stated.

  "I probably was. I wanted her to constantly teach me new things and tell me about your people. She taught me a lot about the world and a little about herself and your people." Kein mumbled, "I think I was naive back then. The lady was never going to devour me."

  "I would say you were naive since you are very naive now," Shukujo told her, overhearing her whispers, and then she inquired, "What is your final question?"

  "Tell me about your family."

  "What sort of question is that?"

  "It can be any little thing," Kein told her, and then she asked, "Do you have brothers or sisters? What was your mother or father like?"

  "What do you think is going on here? Do you think by asking me such a question we will become friends somehow? I will not answer it. Our kind can only be enemies," Shukujo yelled at her, and then she hissed, "The name I picked out for you does suit you."

  "Shukujo," Controller spoke over the intercom. "It looks like you will be penalized for refusing to answer a question you know the answer to. It might not be of the original three, but a bargain was struck."

  "What do you mean?" Kein asked.

  "He means..." Shukujo seethed and then screamed at Controller, not in anger but more out of terror. She took a few steps back into her lair as she answered Kein, "He means that a punishment is coming."

  Shukujo turned to run deeper into her lair, but metal chains shot out of the walls and grabbed hold of each of her eight legs.

  "There isn't any running from punishment," Controller said. "I do enjoy it when all of you try, but there isn't any running from punishment. Now... I only need to select your penalty. Let me see... I used fire last time, so... What about scorpions? I know how you really love scorpions."