[center][h3]The Demon of Crassus Manor[/h3][/center]
[center][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v252/HlySd/GillesIvanArach_zpsakmcabuz.png[/img][/center]
[center][i]From left to right: Gilles de Rais, Ivan IV Vasilyevich, and Corpseater.[/i][/center]
[center][b]Date:[/b] [color=yellow]Day One[/color] / [b]Time:[/b] [color=yellow]Evening[/color][/center]
[center][@duskshine749][@vosendich][@TheWizardLizard][@ShaggyDoo0][@AdobeFlash][@Framing A Moose][@Buddywazzizname][/center]

Gilles and Ivan were quiet and careful as they moved. Leo was like a limp doll in Ivan’s arms, his one dangling arm swinging, and knuckles red from abuse. His head hung back over the overseer’s arm as the two briskly made their way down the corridor into the kitchen. When they entered the kitchen, both men stopped as Gilles quickly swept the area with his eyes. He hadn’t seen anyone not even the boy behind the stove [[color=yellow][b]Bram[/b][/color]].

“What is this Corpseater?” Ivan asked curiously.

Gilles pressed a finger to his lips as he harshly shushed the man, “SSSH! Do not speak its name here. Even the cracks have ears. Come, I will explain.”

The two went into the cellar and Gilles once again looked over across the massive barrels of wine that had kept the manor well-supplied. Strangely, no servant was present, but then he assumed that they had all been tasked to clean the banquet room. The feast had barely been touched by the visitors and knowing the starving slaves, they would probably try to violate a law. It just meant more food for his pet.

They descended the wooden and creaky steps and traversed the dusty stone floor over to a shelf lined with bottles, chemicals, and other concoctions a chemist would probably recognize. Walking next to the shelf, he pressed his shoulder against it and pushed it aside, leaving just enough space for him to slip into the mysterious passageway that had appeared. Ivan handed Leonidas off to Gilles and then slipped through before he slid the shelf closed behind him.

The passage was dark and smelled of mildew. Unbeknownst to Gilles, Ivan could see through the darkness just as well as he could through a lit room, and he found a torch and some matches on the ground that he figured Gilles had left for his return trips.

“There should be some matches and a torch at your feet,” Gilles informed, confirming Ivan’s speculations.

Ivan bent over to pick up the torch and matches and lit the torch, holding it aloft as they continued their journey. 

Ivan frowned when he remembered that Gilles still hadn’t told him what this [i]Corpseater[/i] was. “Well?”

Gilles rendered an excited smile to Ivan, his eyes twinkling with a withheld secret. “Just a little more, and you’ll see.”

When they neared the end of the tunnel, a thick darkness overwhelmed the other end, and from it, they heard the hiss of a metal chain. The chain rattled and clanked and then the low moans of a creature (or had it been a human?) were heard. The creature moaned and groaned as though it were in pain, and upon noticing the light of the torch, it released bone-chilling shriek:

[color=red][h3][b]EIYAAAAAAAAAAAAH![/b][/h3][/color]

The noise startled Leo awake, and fearfully, he glanced about, peering up at Gilles, who had been enough of a reason to escape. He squirmed and kicked in the overseer’s arms, forcing Gilles to hug him against his chest to hold him still.

“You little devil!” Gilles growled. “Ivan, get over here and help me with him!”

Ivan set the torch down and quickly strode over to Gilles to help him subdue Leonidas. He grasped the boy by his arms, while Gilles clutched his ankles until a heel struck him in the gut. Gilles folded over with a [i]girk![/i] as Ivan grasped Leonidas by his throat and kept a vice-like grip on his bicep. Leo froze as he dangled an inch off the floor in Ivan’s grip. His hands felt so cold and he could feel the iron-like strength he had on him. With eyes wide in fear, Leo didn’t move as Ivan smirked.

“That’s right boy, I’ll snap your little neck,” he threatened.

Gilles was still leaned over, clutching his gut and through the brown strands of his tousled hair, he was glaring daggers at Leonidas.

[color=red][h3][b]EIYAAAAH! EIYAAAAAAH![/b][/h3][/color]

The shrieks came again and Leo glanced into the darkness as chills raced up and down his spine.

“I’m going to enjoy watching Corpseater feast on your bones,” Gilles hissed before he painfully walked over to the torch and picked it up to shine its golden light over the darkness.

The darkness fled, revealing a creature who was pale and thin with elongated arms and legs that bent outwards. It was a woman, easily told by her exposed breasts. Strips of clothing that had once covered her were at her hands and feet like bedding as she stared through white and shrunk eyes at the men and boy who stood before her. Her long, black hair veiled her face, parting around a single unblinking eye. Her abdomen had transformed into an enormous black bulb, similar to a spider’s backside.

Ivan’s eyes were even wide with shock when he gazed upon the creature who nested amongst a pile of bones and torn clothes. She stank of death and feces. It was apparent that Gilles hadn’t been cleaning her.

“This is Corpseater,” Gilles introduced with a wave of a hand and smile. “Or should I say…[color=yellow][b]Arachne[/b][/color]…”

“EIYAAAAH!” the spider woman seemed to scream in rage at the name. She tossed her head violently her black hair whipping about revealing her mouth that was stained copper with old blood.

“She doesn’t really like that name anymore, so I call her Corpseater.”

Ivan blinked. “Where…where on earth did you find such a creature and…how…?”

“Corpseater was a servant here at Crassus manor. She was the most beautiful of women who spent her hours at the loom, weaving rugs, clothing—whatever you could think of she could weave it. She was quite the talented spinner…”

Gilles turned to the spider, his eyelids lowering and face softening as he recalled the intimate memory.

“We fell in love. I gave her my heart and soul…” His face then contorted with anger. “And this bitch dashed it all on the ground! I wanted her and she refused me. She fought me and then I forced her to love me! I told her that she would never love anyone else and so I locked her away here.”

Ivan stared at Gilles as though he had been much more of a frightening monster than him. To think a human could be so evil. He wasn’t sure if a human held the torch or was it a devil in disguise.

“You raped her,” Ivan accused with a sadistic smirk.

Gilles whirled on Ivan, his eyes wide in terror as though the man’s accusation had stabbed at a guilty gouge in his conscience.

“No! Never! She wanted it. We both wanted it. She just couldn’t make up her mind so I helped her. She then started to hate me…The ungrateful bitch…”

Gilles turned to Arachne and screamed, “I gave you everything!”

[color=red][h3][b]EIYAAAH![/b][/h3][/color]

Leo frowned and squirming in Ivan’s grip, he growled, “You’re just as much of a monster as she is. You’re the one who should be chained!”

Gilles threw back his head and rested a hand upon his hip as he laughed into the air. “Bite your tongue, boy. Don’t rush to your death.”

He continued his story after recovering from his emotional outburst, “I kept her chained here until I was able to come up with some sort of story about her disappearance. I told Lord Crassus that she had drowned in a river when attempting to flee from the manor and that had been enough to convince him. The lord doesn’t care about his slaves. All they are are commodities to him. Easily bought, sold, and replaced when broken. That’s why you’re here boy. When you lost that fight, you became worthless trash. It was Lord Crassus who ordered your execution.”

Leonidas was silent. He had no words to use as weapons to defend himself. Even if his adversary had been inhuman, the fact was that he lost and the loser often was executed. Frowning at his defeatist thoughts, Leo bore his teeth in anger at himself. He had made so many friends, and he had been hoping to at least spend more time with them a little longer. He wanted to grow up and become stronger so that he could escape the manor with everyone. Even in his last moments when his mind was swelling with negative thoughts, he didn’t cry. No; his nose wrinkled and he stared viciously at Gilles and the beast that he had on his leash. He was going to fight until the end. No one would know of his struggle, but that was okay. He was never really the type to imagine a pathetic death. No; he would make his death glorious!

Ivan remained silent on the manner about what Lord Crassus had actually said, and asked, “So she wasn’t always a monster…then how did she become this way?”

Gilles chuckled. “Well, I took a carriage to Aiwren when the food stores needed to be restocked. Let’s just say I did some shopping of my own and I bought a god fruit that was being sold by an old hermit. I was curious. I didn’t expect it to be real. I brought the fruit back here to test it on my dear. I knew that she must have been starving being alone and locked up here. I used her as a guinea pig to test whether the god fruit had been real or fake, and voila. Do you see? It had been real after all, and if I had eaten it, then I might have been transformed into such a disgusting beast.”

“Or a god like Caesar…” Ivan mentioned.

“Huh, I wouldn’t dare play with such a hope. Caesar was very fortunate….Now then…”

Gilles grinned at Leonidas and waved his hand for Ivan to bring him closer. “Bring him here, Corpseater is hungry. Aren’t you my dear?”

The spider woman grunted and panted, tugging against her chain and reaching out desperately with her hand claws. Ivan crept over with Leo who was squirming and shaking his head, trying to get his jaw free of the overseer’s icy grip.

Drool rolled in crystal rivulets from Corpseater’s mouth and parting her lips wider were two black appendages that unraveled from her cheeks like fingers. At the tip of each slimy finger was a fang that dripped with beads of yellow venom.