I stared confused through the window, surely there must have been a mistake. I looked back to Carrie.

"Perhaps there's been a mistake. Take me to Misses DeRais please." I requested.

She nodded and lead me back out, throught he countless rows of books and again I walked into the dining room. My next thought was to inspect the kitchen, Perhaps Oldrey had taken a rest from his reading for a mid day snack.

My stomach too growled with hunger. It had been some time since I departed that tiny villaige of Veros and enjoyed a meal. I pushed open the door and looked around. Well organized pans, pots, and whatnot hung in neatly arranged rows. I should commend Mrs. D'Rais or perhaps it was Carrie who kept such an orderly home. Stepping through I passed the wood burning stove. It was a black pot bellied style, with a pipe leading up to remove its smoke from the home, and in addition a tinwork hood hung over the stovetop to remove even the smoke of cooking food. I must say the D'Rais are clendly types. The walls were perfectly white as well.

I took a look around spotting shelves full of spices, jars filled with preserved fruit, piles of potatos, and freshly baked loaves of bread laying on a table dead center of the room. Someone must have just been here. Carrie took notice of an audible rumble from my stomach and giggled childishly.

"Mr. Shnei...er Reinhardt. Are you hungry?" She asked pretending she hadn't noticed the noises my guts were emitting.

"A slight bit." I admitted.

She proceeded to go among the things of the kitchen and slice a good chunk of cheese and a pair of thick slices of bread, assembling a sandwich, for me, which I greatfully accepted and consumed in less than a minute.

At least partially satisfied and having not found any sign of Oldrey here I decided to return to my search. When I returned to the dining room planning to continue into the hallway and explore the remainder of the villa I found someone already there. Oldrey perhaps I thought. I was wrong however. This man was too young, and not nearly bald enough to be Oldrey.

"Excues me sir, but who are you?"

I stood on my guard as I noticed Carrie did not recognize this individual. He turned around and looked at the two of us. His face was incredibly pale, in fact far too pale to belong to any healthy human. His skin was almost blue in fact. Like an animal he snarled at me baring his teeth. They were gleaming white and all too familliar. Those same sharp elongated teeth I'd seen in that horrific nightmare that had raged through my mind.

I reached my hand to Carrie's shoulder and jerked her behind myself. This person was aparently ill both physicly and metally. Utterly off his rocker as the saying goes. Or at least that was my first suspicion. However when I happened to glance over his shoulder I noticed the mirror behind, in which reflected was the whole room, myself and Carrie, but not the man who was baring fangs at us.

Now I knew I'd begun my real work. This was no madman this was a creature of the darkness. He dashed forward with inhuman speed, crossing the room in the blink of an eye. On reflex alone I acted swinging my right hand punching him in the jaw. The man, or monster, or whatever it was reeled back grasping its face.

I reached for a chair nearby and lifted it. While the monster was still dazed I brought the chair down smashing it into his head. I brought the chair back up soon after and down again, pummeling the monster until the chair was nothing but a pile of broken lumber.

The monster cralwed a short distance away as I reached for another chair. However I heard the kitchen door behind me. Aparently while I'd been using the methodology of brute force Carrie had retrieved a weapon for me. A rather large kitchen knife with a sharp point which she handed to me.

The monster pulled its self up rising legs first and torso following in a monst unnatural manner. Again it lunged as I pointed the knife forward and lunged myself. As I rammed my shoulder into the creature to off ballance him I forefully rammed the knife with both hands punching it through his chest and shoved the creature backa gainst the wall. I could feel the knife get stuck on the monsters ribs but I couldn't relent. Ramming it with all my weight I felt bone shatter and the knife plunge deeper and hit the wall on the far side pinning the creature to the wall. It struggled veinly but its strength had left it. In a moment it ceased its struggle and hung limp.

I found it odd though that not a drop of blood was on my hands from the brutal slaying I comitted. As I glanced back at Carrie to check for her safety I heard a loud hissing noise. I looked back to the creautre who's body was emitting smoke. More and more engulfed the body of the monster until it was totally obscured. The smoke then faded away leaving nothing behind but the imprint of a man on the wall and a pile of ashes on the floor.

I breathed a sigh of relief, having defeated the creature though relief was short lived as I knew that there must be more behind this.

"Carrie, are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm not hurt. What was that thing?" She replied.

"A demon of some sort. I'll have to consult my books to learn more. But first we need to find the others here and insure that that no one has been harmed. Where is Mrs. D'Rais, The boy malus, and any other servants?"

It was a mouthfull and Carrie had to think a moment to cover everything. Though I give her credit for remaining so calm in such a situation. I'd heard Gypsies were very supersticious people. In spite of this or perhaps because of it Carrie didn't seem that much afraid of demons and monsters. Was it a logical mind dismissing fear, or things of mystical origin giving her confidence. Whatever it was she soon came up with an answer to my previous questions.

"The misses I last saw going into the hedge maze. Malus was with her. There's one other servant here. Victor the gardener. He's usually in the hedge maze so he's probably with the Misses and Malus."

"You'll have to guide me through. But first I need to get my things. It's now too dangerous to go anywhere unarmed."

Carrie nodded and we made a quick pace back down the hallway. My pack was where I left it in the guest room. It was filled with far more than travel suplies, it also contained the tools of my trade, and an assortment of weapons.

I drew from a sheath along the side of the pack one of these weapons. A very large knife. Reffered to as a Bowie knife, originally an american design but its sheer size and effectiveness of the design made it popular world wide. I gave it a twirl for the sake of readiness then held it firm as we continued.

Carrie lead me through the hallway and through the furhtest door. Here I found a den of sorts. Windows on one side showed me the rather overcast day outside. On the far side of the room was a set of double doors which Carrie directed me to. Opening them I found a large, room mostly of cut granite and marble. Down a long set of stairs that curved around the room we went eventually ending up back at ground level. On either side of the outer double doors I sighted midieval suits of armor plated in gold and carrying long halberds. They, like everything here, were well kept, freshly pollished. They almost looked alive. Though there was no time to dwell on that as I pulled open a door and stepped outside.

On either side of the outer gate of the garden were two statues of enormous dogs. Strangely they looked as if they'd been moved recently despite how incredibly heavy they appeared to be.

Fumbling with a set of keys Carrie eventually found the one she was searching for. She inserted it into the keyhole of the gate and wrenched with both hands to turn the lock. Its internal mechanisms creaked and groaned as if to protest being put to work once again. I shoved the iron gate open once it was unlocked and stepped into the hedge maze. Immediately I could tell this was a true maze. The rows were much higher than any man's view and the shrubbery far too thick to see through or even force one's way through. I was immediately thankful for my little guide who began to lead the way.

"I think they're in the rose garden in the far end of the maze. Follow me."

She lead the way around the winding corners, and we spent quite a time navigating the estate. I wasn't even aware that the D'Rais estate was so large. My ears picked up something in the distance. A woman's scream. Carrie aparently heard it as well and broke into a run toward it. I did my best to follow which was quite difficult, as despite Carrie's shorter legs she was a good bit faster than I. Still I managed to keep her in sight and reach the source of the scream.

There I saw the rose garden, and stood shocked at what I saw. Mary stood before a child I clearly recognized from the painting as Malus. She gazed in horror as an enormous man growled in an unearthly tone and shook the iron gates of the rose garden she'd locked herself in. It seemed as if he would tear the gates from their hinges at any moment. This drove Carrie to cry out.

"Victor no!"

This gained the mountain of a man's attention. He was clearly over seven feet in hight, and his muscles barely contained by his shirt. Yet his skin was pale, almost blue, just like the monster I battled earlier. He let out the same growl as before and bared a set of pointed teeth just like the creature from before. Whatever had transformed that man had infected this one as well.

He turned away from his original targets and pointed his wrath toward Carrie and I.

"Victor what's wrong?" Carrie asked him not fully grasping the situation.

I put my hand in front of Carrie to nudge her back and put myself between Victor and her. I drew my knife and prepared for what would be the fight of my life. Carrie pleaded with me however.

"Victor's a good man. Please don't fight him."

I had little time to argue though as Victor lunged at me with alarming speed for his size. wrapped an arm around Carrie's waist, lifted her up and dove out of his path. I rushed past Victor to the gate of the rose garden, lept up, grabbing the upper portion of the gate and gave Carrie a boost over the top. She acted quickly and climbed down as I threw myself over the top and to at least temporary safety.

"The evil your husband feared has overtaken him. I'm not sure if he can be cured, but we need to escape quickly. When the gate breaks I'll attack him, while everyone runs for safety." I said to Mary. Malus quietly.

Carrie interjected quickly however. "I'm staying with you. You'll need someone to guide you back out."

She was right about that, though I had no desire to endanger a child for my own safety. But again Victor left me no time to debate as the gates gave way. He charged into the rose garden, while I dashed toward him. Mary and Malus hastily made their way out of the rose garden. Carrie however waited just behind me. As the distance between us rapidly closed, I reached to my side grabbing a heavy stone base. I tossed it toward Victor, and as I planned the surprise threw him off ballance. Though he made no attempt to catch it he only let it hit him square in the chest. While he staggered Carrie and I rushed past him.

We quickly cought up with Malus and Mary. Our feet pounded the dirt as we raced back toward the villa but to my surprise and dismay I saw standing before the outer gate the same two statues of giant dogs. No longer were they inanimate, the stone moved as if living flesh, their teeth of solid rock bared at us. I turned back, It would be a hard fight against Victor but to face these dogs was certain death. Worse yet they might be faster than us. In which case I knew we were as good as dead.

Thank God for Carrie I thought as she said "Follow me" and rushed around a corner we had not taken before. Mary aparently realizing what she was thinking followed quickly as I followed last in the group to draw the attention of our persuers. I waved my knife at the stone dogs, in spite of knowing it would not harm them. Yet they jerked away from it as if real dogs. Whatever black magic animated their bodies aparently made them think just as real wild dogs would, and I worked that to my advantage, I followed at the back of the group trying to keep the monsters at bay.

I heard Carrie call my name, thus I abandoned my fight and came as quickly as possible. Carrie was holding an old wooden door for me, through which I quickly ran. She pulled it to behind me and pulled down a crossbar locking it.

"There's a longer way around here from there. I know a hiding place. Come on."

Her knowledge of the maze and quick reactions had made Carrie our defacto guide aparently. We ran along a shallow stream and passed underneath an arcing bridge. Carrie climbed up followed by Malus like any children climbing trees as they do. I followed hoisting my girth up, and extended my hand pulling her up. Carrie without a word waved ahead and guided us into a clearing. There I saw a doorway much like the one we'd just passed through only smaller. In fact it was obvious why she thought it safe. The passage looked as if it would barely fit me through, and those stone monsters or Victor wouldn't possibly pass. Carrie and Malus were first through followed by Mary. I removed my pack and kicked it through the entrance and finally squeezed myself through.

I sighed in relief as I found myself in an underground chamber. The stone walls seemed far more ancient than the rest of the manner. These must be ruins of the old castle that once stood here I thought.

I looked to the rest of the group. Malus was on the verge of tears while Mary attempted to console him with motherly words. Carrie meanwhile was still panting from the run and aparently too involved in the moment to consider the larger spectrum of things. For now we were safe, but heaven help us we were trapped.