Heads or Tails Victoria crawled out from her hiding spot behind the bar and surveyed the mess that had become of her café. There were several bodies lying on the ground, the tables where scattered here and there, and the front wall was totally destroyed by the creature as it left the building. She tiptoed through the rubble till she came across Elizabeth buried partly under a table. "Elizabeth, are you alright?" Victoria whispered, not sure she wanted to know if the woman was alive, or undead for that matter. She had already watched Charles walk out of the café not that long ago and she was not sure she could handle if another of her friends came back from the dead. Elizabeth lifted her head slightly, "All right, as I will ever be, considering." She remarked as she pushed the table off her legs, "How is Samuel? Is he alright?" She inquired anxiously. Victoria shook her head, "He... is dead..." She answered taking a glimpse back at the bar where she spent the past few hours with the dead painter, "I do not think he will be getting up either." She tried to shake the horrible image from her mind. "Where is Charles?" Elizabeth asked as she got to her feet and scanned the café in search of her friend. "He walked off muttering something about needing a new suit and tie." Victoria stated as she stepped towards the large hole that used to be the front door, "How am I going to repair this?" She asked herself, still baffled by all that had happened. Elizabeth stepped through the opening to get a better look when she spotted Jamie's headless body laying on the road, "Oh, no.... Jamie... love..." She started to stagger towards the girl when Victoria grabbed her and pulled the sobbing woman into her arms. "Don't look." Victoria commanded, "Just hope that she didn't suffer." Elizabeth glanced into the landladies eyes in horror, "How could this happen?" She demanded frantically, "Don't you even care?" She weakly punched at Victoria's chest and let out another sob, "First, Charles, then Samuel and now Jamie too. I can't stand it anymore." Victoria held the woman tightly and let her cry upon her shoulder, "Just let it out." She soothingly said while rubbing the woman's back, "Don't think of her as she is, but how she was." She glanced up at Jamie's dead body one more time, deciding that she would use that gold coin Jamie gave her the other day to give the girl a proper burial. As her mind rushed over what she should do she noticed Jamie's hand begin to twitch, "Oh no.... Jamie..." She put a hand to her mouth as she watched the body begin to push itself out of the pool of blood it laid in and into a seated position. "What is happening?" Elizabeth demanded. She tried to turn around, however Victoria had a strong hold on her and forced her face into her shoulder. "You don't want to see." Victoria explained horrified by the sight. She, herself, could not take her eyes off Jamie's body as it tried to get to it's feet then fell over for its leg was slightly twisted, "It will only make you cry." The body grabbed hold of the deformed leg and snapped it back in place, and then did the same to its arm and popped it back into the shoulder socket. Victoria cringed at the sound the echoed in the cold silent night, closing her eyes at the sound of snapping bones and grinding cartilage. When she opened an eye again she saw the body was getting to its feet. It had found it's hat and placed it upon the stump of its neck then faced left then right, almost as if it was looking for something. As if it had made up its mind the body plunged its hands into its pocket and started down the road. Elizabeth finally freed herself from Victoria's embrace in time to watch the corpse walk off into the distance. Her eyes grew wide and she shook her head violently, "No no no no no NOOOOO!!!!" Her screams could be heard through out the quiet street that dark afternoon, however very few seemed to care. ***** Alex glanced upon her wristwatch and frowned, "Odd, it says that it is only four o'clock and yet." She glanced up at the sky, which was pitch black, making it feel more like night then mid day. "I think it is neat, Lady Alexandria." Alice exclaimed excitedly, "All spooky and grim. The perfect kind of day for a killing." "She is right on that account, dear sister." Alison chimed with a swift nod, "It is a perfect night indeed." "Do either of you not find this a little unusual?" Alex inquired scanning their surroundings. Alex was usually the one to notice things that were out of place before the others, hence her being the leader of their little group, "I mean yesterday Amanda's body walks off and today the sky is black as night. Plus we have not ran into a soul in hours." "Well there is someone, Lady Alexandria." Alice pointed across the road at Jamie's body trudging along the sidewalk. It stopped for a moment and fixed its hat revealing the bloody stub of a neck then started on its way again, "Now that is a sight. I've never seen a headless person before." Alex was slightly startled by the sight, "Maybe we should try to get some answers. This is beyond anything I have ever encountered before." "No really? We see headless people walking around everyday." Alison stated sarcastically, "So genius, who do plan to get answers from? Our dim-witted father, or perhaps our half brained sister, or did you plan to ask that nitwit of a butler? Hmmm?" She inquired with a smug grin. Alex ignored her sister and turned to Alice, "What about your Aunt? She studies witchcraft and the like, does she not?" Alice nervously ran her toe in a circle on the ground and looked down, "Well, the problem is she does not like you noble types." She was embarrassed to say, "She seems to think you are the reason for us living in the woods." Alex let out a frustrated sigh, "Then I guess we talk to our dim-witted father." She looked up to see Charles in front of a clothing shop trying to get the owners to open the door, "Or at the very least get indoor for it might be safer then staying out here." She admitted. The two other girls nodded in agreement as they got a look at the man's torn up chest and followed Alex towards Holland Manor. ***** Clara throw salt at the tentacle as it crawled further along the balcony, "It cannot be too much to ask for you to be related to a slug, now can it?" She pleaded as she tossed another handful of salt at the beast only to have the creature shake the salt off, "I guess that would be a no then..." "Ummm... Mother?" Maria walked along the balcony towards her mother, Jamie in her arms and Amanda close behind her. Maria eyed the tentacle strangely, "A new pet, mother?" She inquired amused by the prospect. Clara kicked at the creature then poured a line of salt across the balcony, "Just an unwelcome guest." She explained as she emptied the last of the salt onto the floor, "Hopefully that will slow you down. Now stay put." She demanded and clapped the salt off her hands then turned to her daughter and smiled at the teddy in her daughter's arms, "I see you are taking to Lord Tegoth." Jamie rolled her eyes, "My nam-" Maria cupped her hand over Jamie's mouth. "Mother... I... was curious." Maria said cautiously. "That is good." Her mother stated as she passed by her daughter, "Come with me and we can talk. What is it you were curious about?" She followed her mother down the stairs to the main hall, "It is... Tegoth." She explained, trying hard to sort her questions out, "I thought he was just a teddy bear but realized that he is much more. How did you make him?" She knew that her mother was always willing to explain her experiments to her daughter for ever since Maria was young her mother would try to get her daughter interested in science. Clara stopped in mid step, causing Maria and Amanda to stumble to catch their step, and she turned to look at her creation, "It is very interesting that you ask. It was not an easy task I can tell you." "What have you done to me?" Jamie spouted out, frustrated by all the stalling. Clara took Jamie from her daughter and held her high, "So you can finally speak. This is wonderful. I was not sure considering I had to graft your vocal cords with that mutts throat." "So you did use Anita's dog?!?" Amanda exclaimed aghast. Carla seemed startled by the girls out burst, "Well you see, I only had the boy's head to work with so I needed to find some internal organs and other important things." "That would explain why you didn't realize I am a girl." Jamie muttered under her breath. "What was that?" Clara inquired, "I will be your mother-in-law soon so I want you to treat me with respect and speak clearly when talking to me." She demanded. "And refer to me as Lady Greystoke or my lady from now on is that clear?" Jamie's eyes widened, "Are you really serious about this marriage thing?" She interjected. "Uhhh.. Lady Greystoke..." "Why do you think I brought you back to life?" Clara announced, "You are to wed my daughter here." She turned Jamie around the face Maria who gave the bear a timid smile. Jamie found the idea of being wed to such a lovely girl was more then she could dream possible, then her mind turned to the night before. How was she to be intimate with Maria in this form, "What about my body, my lady?" She inquired once again, "I am a bloody teddy bear!!!" She exclaimed frantically. Clara handed Jamie back to Maria, "I'm sorry Tegoth." She started to apologize when Jamie cut the woman off. "My name is Jamie, my lady." She snarled in frustration, if she was going to living this new life she, at the very least, would prefer to be referred to by her real name. "James..." Clara thought for a moment a muddled the name over in her mind, "What a noble sounding name." She turned and started down the stairs again, "Well, Young Lord James. You see we could only recover your head. I needed to work fast or I would never be able to restore you. You will find you can eat, drink and even bathe; I used the dog's internal organs, muscles and hide. Even improved things a little giving you a small thumb and even managed to hook up your nervous system properly. You should be able to do all the things you used to when alive." "Accept make love." Jamie muttered under her breath, quieter this time so Clara would not hear, however Maria did and her face went flush. Abruptly there was a heavy knocking at the door and Clara glanced upon the clock hanging on the wall, "Strange. I wasn't expecting any visitors." She turned to the girls, "I'll be right back." She quickly descended the stairs and cross the hall. Jamie crossed her paws and let out a huff, "This is a fine situation." "Jamie, she means well." Maria commented and leaned closer to the bear's ear, "There are other ways to pleasure each other." She stated mischievously, blowing on the back of Jamie's ear causing the girl to shiver, "Your senses seem to be the same as before." She noted with a giggle. Jamie felt herself flush this time, "You are evil, my lady." She stated to her lover. Amanda let out a small giggle, "I think you two make a cute couple." She explained with a grin. "What the hell!!!" Clara cried out from across the hall. The girls rushed over to the front door to see Jamie's body standing on the steps. It took off its hat and bowed upon the presence of Maria. "M... my... body!!!!" Jamie exclaimed in shock. **** To be continued...
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