42. Ultimate Chaos

O ctavius stared at the door of the restaurant, trying to figure out if the phantom was nearby, but he couldn’t tell. In his hand he held a small and rather fragile jar, filled with the topical potion, as did everyone else. Hopefully, one of them would manage to hit the bastard with it.

“So,” Turney started. “The plan is to grab him and…” The zombie trailed off, probably not wanting to go into the specifics, in case the man could hear them.

“Don’t get stabbed,” Scarlett mused.

Min-ji chuckled. “Yeah, don’t get stabbed, pretty much covers it. Warning though for when we are able to touch him… Phantoms are very…”

“Slippery,” Octavius finished for her. His nose wrinkled. Though really, the more accurate term would be slimy …

“Joy,” Turney groaned.

He chuckled. “Indeed!”

“Is he by the door?” Turney asked.

Octavius shrugged. “Can’t tell.”

Min-ji frowned, leaning towards it, before saying, “No. Let’s hurry in. I’ll go last, as once I close the door, the barrier will seal again. At that point, no one except Theo and I will be able to leave, unless I let them, or they want to risk breaking the rune.”

“Fun times…” Turney sighed.

Smiling, he neared the door. “Let’s go!”

On the witch opening the door, Octavius hurried in, while the others came in behind him. His skin tingled as Min-ji shut the door, the barrier back in place.

Eyeing the entrance to the dining area, he slipped into ‘super vamp’ mode, hoping it would maybe give him some advantage in hearing the bastard.

Stepping forward, they all remained silent, just listening. It was quiet…so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Entering the dining room, Octavius’ nose wrinkled at the mess.

Aurelius had apparently had a fit while locked away. Broken tables and chairs laid everywhere. Some looked to have been shattered against the wall, based on the destroyed candelabras and where the wooden remains lay.

Carefully maneuvering around the mess, Octavius kept his senses open. But it was not like he’d be able to hear the fucker unless the phantom wanted him to… How annoying…

Min-ji remained tense as she trailed behind the others, listening intently. Not that she’d likely hear more than those who were with her. Her danger rune flared to life, and fueled by the silent but prevailing instincts that the rune magic gave her, she slammed the jar that was in her hand behind her.

At the sound of breaking glass, Octavius spun around, his eyes widening as he spotted the now coated Aurelius hanging upside down behind Min-ji, a knife in his translucent white-blue hand.

The phantom sputtered. The knife fell from his hand, while he tried to swipe at the liquid running down his form. Instead of wiping away, the potion seemed to cling to the man’s ghostly…skin?

“What the hell?!” the phantom cursed

“GRAB HIM!” Turney yelled.

Scarlett leaped, grabbing at Aurelius. She managed to get hold of him for a second, the man was clearly startled that she’d been able to touch him, but then the phantom snapped out of it and shot upward, wiggling as he did. Scarlett slipped off midair, easily landing on her feet.

Aurelius let out an angry growl before taking off, the man’s form disappearing as he did. The liquid that had clung to him and had now dried, however, remained completely visible.

Angrily reappearing, Aurelius snapped, “What did you?—”

Octavius, who didn’t care enough to wait for him to finish, leaped into the air, launching himself at the phantom. The man squeaked, but managed to fly backwards just in time. The ghostly tail slipped through Octavius’ fingers, his hand getting coated in nasty phantom gunk. The slimy substance instantly soaked into his bandages, and he really, really wanted to yank them off.

As he landed, his face twisted in disgust while he tried to wipe them off on the tablecloth of a nearby broken table.

Glaring up at Aurelius, he pointed, yelling, “GET HIM!!!”

They all leaped, except for Min-ji, who just followed on the ground. Letting out a yelp of fear, the phantom took off. Octavius kept jumping, as did the others, while they ran around in circles in the dining room. They were getting nowhere…because the ceilings were just stupidly high and well, phantoms could fly.

Skidding to a stop, Octavius kicked a table out of the way, as the phantom rose up above the stage, and cried dramatically, “BIG BAT TIME!”

Octavius transformed into the biggest bat that he could become, and had ever been. One that was his own height.

Aurelius gasped, his eyes looked to be practically bugging out of his head now as he stared. “WHAT ARE YOU?!”

Really…?! “I’m a vampire… Haven’t you figured that out yet?” His voice was still oddly high pitched—interesting. He got ready to leap.

“LIES! Vampires aren’t real!”

His wings flopped to his sides as he stared slack-jawed at the imbecile.

“Really? You died and came back, dug yourself out of a grave, have ‘lived’ hundreds of years, and you are questioning vampires being real?!” Turney snapped. “Literally, have you not ever questioned the fact that Octavius and Scarlett are still alive?!”

Aurelius frowned, as if their lack of dying of old age hadn’t been pointed out previously, or something that had ever made the man go…‘huh, that’s weird!’.

“Where you dropped on your head as a baby?” Octavius couldn’t help but ask.

The phantom flinched. “You…”

Okay…enough of this. Octavius leaped into the air. Aurelius squawked when he grabbed hold of him. The phantom spun, and as hard as he tried to hold on, the man slipped easily away. Flying off, Octavius grunted when his back hit the wall, hard. The lights on the wall were shaking from the impact, as he thumped to the floor.

He growled and glared up at the phantom. The stupid, slippery, goopy bastard!

“GET BACK HERE!” Octavius cursed, as he jumped into the air, flying after the phantom when he disappeared behind the stage.

As he flew around the curtain, he failed to clear it. The edge of his right wing clipped the fabric, and he squeaked as he began to spin out of control, until he finally tumbled onto the wooden stage with an oof. “Ow.”

Being a big bat is harder to navigate than being a little one, he thought with a wince. His eyes went wide as he came face…to face…with a guillotine blade. “Oh shit…”

Scarlett jumped onto the stage with the others, only to scramble back off it when Octavius came squeaking around the curtain, screaming, “RETREAT, RETREAT,” as a laughing phantom chased him with a guillotine blade.

“HAHA, RUN IF YOU CAN, WHATEVER YOU ARE!” Aurelius mocked. Octavius came speeding past them all, but the phantom did not seem interested in anyone except Octavius.

“I’m a VAMPIRE, you MORON!” the big bat squeaked.

“LIES!!”

Scarlett spun around, her eyes widening as she felt the fury that engulfed Turney.

“Hell,” she cursed, when her neophyte jumped after the pair, in pure mindless zombie rage.

Well, rage was expected when one healed from fire damage while living off of just zombie nummies for days.

“Min-ji, Theo, stay back!” Growling in irritation, she allowed the change to overtake her. Her body and joints stiffened up, as her skin paled and cracked, and then she gave chase.

Octavius, who was still fleeing from the blade, happened to glance back. The vampire’s eyes widen, going from her to Turney. But then the menace started to laugh evilly. “HEHEHEH! YES, TURNEY, EAT THE BASTARD!”

Hissing, she snapped, “As if I would ever let my neophyte eat someone so brainless!”

Aurelius glanced back too, looking like he was about to blow up at her, but his eyes widened instead as he stupidly tumbled to a stop in mid-air on spotting Turney. “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!”

“That…is a zombie,” she groaned.

Slowing, before stopping completely, Scarlett rubbed her face as she stood there to watch. This was now a disaster she had no way of stopping.

Just as Scarlett knew he would, zombied-out Turney leaped at the phantom, who had so graciously stopped moving for him.

“GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!!!” Aurelius screamed, as Turney grabbed hold around his waist and started biting into his side. The phantom flew around, banging her poor neophyte into the walls, trying to shake him off. Turney slipped more and more each time he hit.

Octavius took off after them, yelling, “STOP CALLING MY BOYFRIEND AN ‘IT’, YOU ASSHOLE!”

“HE’S BITING ME! WHY IS HE BITING ME?!” the phantom screamed. Turney was now holding on to the very end of the man’s wisp of a tail and did not seem to want to let go, which… Zombie rage and stubbornness usually went hand in hand.

“HE’S A ZOMBIE, YOU IDIOT! My zombie bun, in fact!” Octavius cried, before hissing, “GET BACK HERE!”

Min-ji and Theo came to Scarlett’s side, and Theo asked, “Should we…”

“Best not…” She narrowed her eyes at Min-ji. “You laugh and you’re sleeping on the couch.”

The woman’s eyes were shaking in her effort to hold back, her tears visible. “Understood,” she said stiffly.

Aurelius let out a wailing screech, before spinning out into the center of the ceiling, where he continued to spin.

Her eyes widened when wind started to flow down when his speed increased. Octavius shielded his face as he flew backwards and landed near her. The phantom was spinning so fast that their forms blurred, the two men almost looking like an upside-down spinning top.

“YOU—” Octavius hissed, looking like he was about to leap again.

“You will hurt all three of you. Keep your crazy ass grounded,” Scarlett growled.

When the inevitable happened, and the blur that was Turney flew off, Scarlett leaped after him, wincing when the man slammed into and through the floor of the stage.