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

by Kristie Lynn Higgins

  He laughed at her reply for it was so unexpected, and then Labaron said, "Vampires might be in harmony with their virus, but with my kind, it always comes down to family," he spoke with a little bit of frustration. "All I ever wanted was to live a carefree life of wine, women, and indulges of dance and fine food." He looked down at his thin pale body and muttered, "Who wants to live forever as a corpse who has to feed on others to survive? I would prefer to be merry with others."

  Kein wasn't sure what to say to him, so she remained silent.

  "Look at what I have done," Labaron spoke up as his demeanor brightened. "I have cast a shadow over our joyous encounter. You wanted to know about the Atlantian."

  He left his coffin and shut it so that he could sit on the couch. Labaron sat, crossed his legs, then patted the seat next to him as he said, "Come... Come sit with me and enjoy these cherries."

  She looked to the bowl of cherries, tempted to take him up on his offer as she was still hungry from the night before, and she asked, "I see that the bowls full again. It was half gone the last time I was here."

  "It was one of my rewards," Labaron told her. "I was told that I could have anything, and I wasted my wish on something so..." he began as he stared at the cherries, then grabbed one of the dark red fruit, popped it in his mouth, and pulled the stem off the cherry. "...delicious, and they're seedless, but still a waste of a wish. I receive a new bowl of them every day whether or not I eat of the previous one. I do love them, but I really should have requested blood. You should really have some. They will only go to waste if you don't."

  Kein thought once more of walking over to the coffee table, but she decided to remain where she stood.

  "I don't understand why you do not come over here," he spoke. "It isn't like I can't come to you."

  "I know," she spoke. "Staying by the door is my way of getting used to new environments. Fear and shyness must be taken into consideration."

  "Shyness, I do like that in a woman, but to use it as an excuse..." Labaron spoke and then dropped the matter as he ate another cherry, and once he finished it, he sat up, touched the red button that was on the coffee table, and then he sat back.

  Kein diverted her gaze, so not to drool all over the place as she said, "Tell me about the Atlantian."

  "He's knowledgeable about many things," Labaron told her. "I heard he's even older than the mummy. His civilization was destroyed long ago, but a few of his people survived. I don't know why he's here. I'm guessing he's after something. Why else be here? He also has an obsession with playing games of all sorts."

  "I thought this was a prison. Why would anyone come here to acquire something?"

  "I think you misunderstand the Mortem. Not all Residents are prisoners and not all Coaches are willing participants."

  "I really don't understand the Mortem, but I need to win it, so I can leave. I can't be here. A week may be too long."

  "A week..? You really don't understand the Mortem," he laughed. "Who else should we talk about?"

  "King Ammon."

  "He doesn't talk much," Labaron laughed to himself, and then he said, "You could say that the cat has his tongue. No, really... that is the rumor. His tongue is in a canopic stone jar with a cat's head on it."

  "Have you spoken to him?" Kein asked.

  "Have you not been listening?" he questioned. "The mummy has no tongue."

  She thought about her question carefully, and then she said, "So what you're saying is that you haven't talked to him and he hasn't talked to you?"

  "I've only heard him scream, and the one time I did go into his room, he shoved his left fist through my chest and had his insects start gnawing on me. I was a mess after that. I couldn't show my face for weeks. You see my face had been nearly consumed, and I needed to wait till it regenerated..."

  "Enough," Kein spoke up. "I don't need to hear any more about your injuries. Why did he attack you?"

  "I was having a one-sided conversation with him. I had gotten bored and wore out my welcome at Shukujo's lair."

  "How do you know that name? I don't remember telling you," Kein spoke.

  "There isn't much that goes on within the Basement Level that the other Residents don't know about," he told her as if she should already know the answer to her question and that it was so obvious. Labaron observed her confused reaction, and then he said, "Back to what I was saying. I was telling the mummy about a time when I was younger, and I mean before I was a vampire, when I seduced a rival tobacco baron's daughter. I was poking around his tomb while I was telling him the tale, and I should tell you that you can get lost very easily if you go too far into the tomb on your own. I was getting to the best part of my story when he attacked me and nearly had his insects eat my face completely off."

  "You're like me," she told him.

  "In what way?"

  "You can be very observant, but still miss the simplest things."

  "Explain this to me, ma chère."

  "King Ammon is a father, and he loved his daughter very much, and he lost her in a tragic way. I also get this feeling that somehow she was taken from him long before he lost her to death," she told the vampire, then paused, remembering the feelings behind the images she saw, and then she asked, "Don't you think he would get upset at hearing how you tore a daughter from her father? I'm surprised you're still alive."

  "I never realized," he said.

  Kein's stomach grumbled for lack of liquid and food, and she ignored it as she said, "Tell me about Dr. Jekyll."

  "He is very interesting, mad, but very interesting. He has some sort of large contraption hidden in the depths of his lab. He won't let anyone go near it, but I had one of my familiars get quite close to it," Labaron spoke, then paused, and questioned, "Do you know what a familiar is?"

  "For vampires, it's usually a bat, wolf, or rat that is in service to a vampire, and they do the bidding of that vampire."

  "You do know more than I thought some regular human would know, well anyway, I had one of my familiars that was a rat make its way to the contraption. The rat got a pretty good look at it before dying."

  Kein asked, "What did the rat see?"

  "It was like a clear tube coffin but stood straight up. It appeared to have someone floating within. I'm guessing that the doctor or Mr. Hyde might have someone in there that they're experimenting on."

  "Tell me about Shukujo."

  "She isn't speaking to me anymore. She got very upset the Opening before when she walked in on me with three of the female contestants I had turned into Sklabos."

  "I've never heard of that term. What is a Sklabos?"

  "They're like vampires and yet they are more like familiars. They will do anything I tell them. They have the urge to drink blood but have none of the strengths or abilities of a vampire. They're created when a vampire drinks their blood but does not kill them, and the vampire also does not offer them their own blood to make them one of the kindred," Labaron told her.

  "You're saying you created a few dolls to play with, a few slaves," Kein spoke with anger thick in her voice. "Just when I was starting to like you. I even thought about taking a few extra steps into the room today, but I think I'll retreat by one," Kein said as she did so. "Vampires can be so cruel." Her anger grew the more she thought about what he did to those women, and she said, "Vampires are nothing but bloodsucking narcissists, and I don't think I want to talk to you anymore today." She turned and started for the door when she remembered something, then sighed very deeply, and mumbled, "All I do anymore is sigh." Kein faced him and said, "There is something I want from you before I leave."

  "You insult me and then you ask me for a favor."

  "Yes, I did insult you, and I won't take it back," she told him. "And yes I do need something from you. Will you hear my request?"

  His eyes flashed red, but then they quickly returned to normal as he said, "I should send you scurrying away, but I'm in a really good mood today. Go on... I will hear your request."

  "I would like s
ome of your..." Kein started as she opened her mouth and pointed inside it.

  "You want some of my teeth?"

  She shook her head.

  "You want to make out with me?"

  Kein flushed as she shook her head again, and then she said, "I want some of your spit."

  "What will you give me in exchange?"

  "I should say that I'll give you nothing for the spit," she replied as the more she spoke the more Kein got upset. "I should say that I'll find another way to find vampire saliva and that I don't want to see you again, but I can't." Kein thought she could hear their screams as she questioned, "Did you really turn those women into slaves, so you could have your way with them?"

  Labaron felt a smidgen of guilt for his actions as the seemingly ordinary woman glared at him with disgust and outrage. He hadn't felt this way in a very, very long time, and it caused him to pause before answering, "I did, and I would do it again. I will do it again."

  "What happened to those women?" she questioned him. "Where are they now?"

  "They're..." he started to answer, but as he thought about it, he realized he didn't know. "I discarded them when I was done playing with them. Why do you ask? Would you like to become one of my dolls?"

  Kein didn't answer him as his parlor started to suffocate her as if she felt the veiled pain of those women trapped in their own bodies. She wanted to bolt from the room and never return, but if she ran away from the grotesque and shadowy world of the Mortem, she would never win.

  "I don't ever want to be anything of yours," she told him. "I would sooner be dead than be anything of yours," she replied, then turned, and started to leave.

  "You never did answer my other question," Labaron spoke after her as the red button on the coffee table buzzed, signifying the end of the half hour. He glanced at it, turned his attention back to her, and asked, "What will you give me in trade?"

  Kein paused, wanting so badly to say she didn't need him, that she'll never need him, but she did, so she reluctantly replied, "I will owe you some blood later."

  "What if I want a little something from you now?"

  "It will have to wait till later or there can be no bargain," she answered, not understanding his implications. "I guess I can wait on your spit until I have what I will trade in return."

  "Come... Come, and I will give you some," Labaron told her. "I will give you some of my exquisite saliva."

  Kein walked a few steps into the room to stand where she stood the very first day she came into his parlor, then she stopped, removed the jar from her backpack, and then rolled it toward him across the carpet.

  "I meant for you to come all the way to me," he told her.

  "I also said I would need to take baby steps, and I've lost a little bit of the security I had gained, so this is as far as I come," Kein replied.

  Labaron stood, took a few steps to the jar, then bent, and reached his hand for the jar. In an instance that it took Kein to blink, Labaron was standing beside her with his mouth to her ear. The force behind his run caught up to him and blew her hair she had pulled back.

  "I don't know if I can wait for you to take your baby steps," he told her. "Maybe we will touch lips, and I can give you some of my saliva now." Labaron faced her as he put a gentle hand to her chin, then turned her head, so that she would look at him, and he said, "Come... Be one with me."

  Kein felt the magnetism Shukujo had spoken of as they locked eyes. She peered into his as he dove into hers. He dove deeper and deeper as if he could swim freely through her will and make it his own. She felt compelled to do anything he told her... no, she would do anything he told her... She would... He leaned in to give her the vampire's kiss just as the burning fear started at the middle of her back and rose all the way up her spinal column until it reached the base of her neck. His lips had nearly met hers when Kein cried out in pain as she grabbed the base of her skull in agony. She put her hand to his chest and pushed herself away from him.

  "You resisted my first attempt," he spoke to her, not so much amazed, but that a challenge had been set before him.

  Kein started for the door, not sure what had just happened as the burning in her neck lessened, and she told him, "If you can't abide by my fear and shyness, I won't come back here."

  Labaron grabbed her wrist, and she stopped, but she didn't turn to him.

  "I will abide by them for now, ma chère," Labaron told her. "Something tells me there's more to you than you let on, that there's more to you than one can see on the surface..." He leaned in and took a deep breath, taking of her scent, and then he added, "There is more to you than even I can detect beneath your skin."

  Kein pulled her hand from his grasp and started for the door again.

  "Wait..." Labaron called after her, then he turned once she paused again, moved over to the jar where it sat in its original spot, picked it up, and put some of his saliva in the jar. "Here... as you requested."

  Kein refused to look at him and focused her gaze on the door. He approached her and noticed a burn on the back of her neck where she still rubbed it. He also noticed some sort of mark or tattoo in the shape of a circle.

  He repeated to himself, "There is so much more to you."

  She glared at him real quick, took the jar from him, looked away, and then asked him a question, "Have you ever had someone force something onto you that you didn't want? You did that to me. You just did that to me, and I don't know if I can ever forgive you for that. Why did you think I wanted that? Or is it you don't care what others want?"

  "I'm more of a leaper than a thinker," he told her. "But you're correct, I have been an improper host. I will make it up to you. I will tell you something I don't normally talk about. If you survive the others' questionings today, I will tell you a little about myself when I was still a human. Return, and I will tell you a bedtime story."

  She started to say no when he held up a folded paper and told her, "I'll only give this back to you if you agree."

  Kein put a hand to her pants' back pocket as she realized he had taken the invitation from her, and then she told him, "I won't be blackmailed into returning."

  "I'll just have to read this then," he said, unfolded it, and read out loud, "You are cordially invited to attend a gathering of the quick and the dead to participate in a get-together like no other. Wealth, power, glory, prestige, revenge, and a few other incentives entice many to come. I will entice you with your own heart's desire. You already know that a father is strong and wise and will sacrifice himself for his children. A mother is caring and nurturing and denies herself for her children. A brother is knowledgeable about many things and is playful. A sister can be a sibling who is both reliable and trying. A friend is an ear who listens and a mouth in need of listening to. A lover is..." Labaron paused, and looked to her, and said, "The sentence ends right there. No matter, I can teach you what a lover is. I do find this invitation very interesting, but there is still more. I do find it odd that what I just read was typed out, but this next part is handwritten, and it reads, "Six complete the mold. Five you will immediately behold. One will defy the grave for one is strong and wise and will sacrifice for their children, and one will deny love for revenge for one throws away care and nurture and denies their children for themselves. Two will be the one who follows madness and rage to attain what love could never let go. Three will quickly turn their backs when everything is bleak and dire help is needed. Four seek revenge, and three it is their only purpose. Two were together and now are apart and ultimately will be together again. And last and most important, one is not as they appear." Labaron turned the paper over and noticed an address and said, "This location isn't the Knecht Ruprecht Corporation."

  "No, it's the location of Brown Deliveries. I went there yesterday and wounded up getting a job as a delivery woman, and the Knecht Ruprecht Corporation was my first stop." Kein let out a frustrated yell, "Ahh... I bet my delivery truck got towed. I was parked in an unloading lane. I'm going to get fired."

  He q
uestioned her, "After everything you've gone through, do you believe you had a real job to begin with?"

  "I guess not, but I was really looking forward to working for them. It sounded like I'd really like it, going to different places and meeting different people."

  "You will definitely see different places down here and meet all kinds of different people for as long as you survive," Labaron spoke, read the invitation to himself one more time, and then asked, "Are you looking for your family?"

  "I have no family," she told him. "I have no one that wants me."

  "And yet you came, my poor ma chère. I'll be your family," Labaron told her as he took her hand and placed the invitation in it. "I can be the only one you need."

  Kein wanted to tell him, no, but instead, she said nothing, took the invitation, and headed into the empty hallway. She replaced the invitation in her pants' back pocket, walked to the door with the beaker on it, and she glanced up at the image and felt heartache caused by separation. Kein entered to find Dr. Jekyll at work, writing in a black leather journal of some sort. She remained silent as she glanced at Frankenstein's monster. Dr. Jekyll didn't notice her, so she took the opportunity to take in everything that had happened in the vampire's parlor. She thought she had found an ally in Labaron, but he was too self-centered. Kein let about ten minutes go by before she walked over to the table, and she stopped a few feet away from it, waiting to be acknowledged.

  Dr. Jekyll peered up from the black leather journal and stated, "Has a day gone by already? I didn't think I would see you again."

  "I have the saliva you requested to trade for the salt," Kein told him as she lifted the jar and shook the jelly-like substance within.

  "Set it on the table. I will retrieve your salt once I finish here."

  She did as instructed and then waited for him to finish, and once Dr. Jekyll completed his current task, he grabbed the jar and examined the substance within.

  "Would you lie to me about what this substance is?" he questioned her.