Death and slight gore

.

.

.

Louis dozed off into a light sleep. His mind was full of worry. Nightmares of Harry leaving him played in his head like a horror movie. Louis tossed and turned in his sleep. He woke up when a hand touched his face. The moment that he saw Harry next to him, his agitated heart settled down to a normal pace.

"Bad dream?" Harry asked. Louis nodded. Harry rubbed a finger across Louis' cheeks. Louis realised that his eyes were wet. Harry planted a kiss on Louis' forehead.

Both Louis and Harry closed their eyes. "You would never leave me, right?" Louis asked Harry. When he did not get an answer, he realised that Harry had already fallen fast asleep. Louis sighed. He tried to relax so he could go to sleep.

Hours into the night, Louis began to stir again. He felt an absence on the bed. Louis moved his arm over the empty space where Harry once lay. Louis opened his eyes to find that Harry was missing. Louis could barely see but he was sure that Harry was gone from the bed. Louis sat upright quickly in the blackness. His eyes darted around the room quickly, searching for Harry.

Louis noticed the bedroom door, slightly ajar. A thin sliver of light peeked into the room from the gap. Louis came to the conclusion that Harry had gotten out of bed and went outside.

Louis' head was swarmed with thoughts. He wondered why Harry had left the room without informing him. Louis quickly glanced at the floor. Harry's bags were there, reassuring Louis that Harry had not bolted in the middle of the night to get away from him. He still had no information on why Harry left nor a clue to where Harry went.

Louis sat alone in the darkness of the night. The air was still. The halls were silent. Throughout the castle, not another soul was awake, or so Louis assumed.

A shrill cry pierced into Louis' ear. The shriek came from the corridor outside Louis' room. It was a feminine voice so it could not have been Harry's. However, Louis was not absolutely sure as he had never heard Harry scream.

Louis scrambled out of bed, throwing his blanket to one side of the bed without care. He flung the door open. It swung and slammed against the wall behind it with a loud boom. Louis stepped into the corridor and ran towards one end of the hallway. He came to a halt when saw two eyes fixated on him. The eyes glowed bright red in the dimly lit hallway. The eyes were sunken into the skull, with no sclera present. Louis tried to shout for help but he choked on the scream, unable to make a sound. His heartbeat drummed in his ears.

The beast was in the castle. Its face was covered in blood, matching the colour of its eyes. It ran its tongue over its lips, getting a few licks of the fresh blood left on its cheek. Under its foot, it had pinned down a woman. She was a maid, evident from the uniform she wore. Her clothes had been shredded. Pieces of fabric remained in the demon's mouth, lodged between its fangs, like a part of a popcorn kernel.

The monster had lacerated the maid. Her skin was torn open. Blood oozed out profusely. The blood had not started clotting, indicating that the wounds were freshly opened. There were multiple gruesome slashes on the maid's abdominal area. Internal organs spilled out of the corpse and onto the ground. There was blood on the wall that dripped down slowly, collecting as a puddle at the corner between the wall and the floor. The tears in the wallpaper made it clear that the maid put up a scrimmage before she was killed. She was obviously no match for the monster. No unarmed human could possibly compare to the monster.

There was still no sign of Harry. Louis did not know that Harry was safe but at least he could not confirm that Harry was in danger.

Louis quivered in fear. He tried to withdraw himself from the hallway slowly so that he would not provoke the monster into attacking him. The monster already had its gaze locked on Louis. Louis' skin went pale, like the colour of plain flour. His eyes bulged out of their sockets. His breathing was audible even though he tried to do it quietly. Beads of sweat formed on the temples of Louis' head and trickled down the side of his face.

Louis took careful steps, landing lightly on the toes of his feet, ensuring that he did not make any loud noises. He really did not want to agitate the beast into a fight when he did not have a weapon on hand. Louis possessed incredible skills in fencing but without his sword, he was left helpless. The monster exhaled sharply through its nose. It inched towards Louis.

"This is just a dream, nothing more than another nightmare." Louis muttered softly to himself. He tried to believe that he was still in bed, sleeping like a log. He had been getting awful dreams the whole night. This could very easily be another one. However, Louis just could not fall for his own lie. It felt far too real to be a dream.

Louis took a step away from the monster. The creature took a step towards him. Louis tried to widen the gap between them. The beast tried to get closer to Louis. Louis was caught in a dance that he did not volunteer for.

The monster was a couple metres away from Louis. It stopped abruptly. Louis did the same out of shock. Louis stared at the monster and the monster stared back. Louis froze in his tracks.

All of a sudden, the monster pounced towards Louis. Louis ducked, curling into a ball. He protected his head with his hands and squatted on the ground. The feet of the creature brushed against Louis' hair as it leapt over his head. Louis crouched on the floor, screaming hysterically. His voice echoed loudly. Louis squeezed his eyes shut. Torment and fear was written all over his face.

The creature tried to hold onto the floor to steady itself but its toes slid. It finally manage to pull itself to a halt. It puffed viciously.

Just when Louis thought the creature would lunge at him again, the monster took a turn. It climbed up the wall and crawled upside down on the ceiling. The strip of hair protruding from the centre of the demon's head scratched against Louis' head as the monster ran over him.

The monster made a dive out of the open window. Louis got onto his feet and rushed to the window. He leaned on the window sill, looking out. The monster landed on the ground with a thud. The beast fell from a height of at least ten metres and sprang to its feet instantaneously. Louis did not think any creature could fall from such a height and even survive, let alone get up with no sustained injuries.

Louis squinted, straining his eyes to see in the dark. The monster lurched towards the forest. Louis watched as the tall figure staggered away.

Louis stood by the window. He was knocked senseless. His body quivered. Louis was overwhelmed by encounter. The breeze from outside blew into the castle and brushed past Louis' cheek with an unsettling coldness. Louis flinched at the uncomfortable sensation.

A hand was planted on Louis' shoulder. He turned to find Modeste. "What's going on?" She asked. Louis pointed down the hall. The body was still, lying lifeless on the floor.

"What happened?" Modeste asked Louis, moving towards the corpse. She had not seen the demon in the castle before it left. Louis told her about the beast. She placed her hands on her hip. "Someone is dead. Please, your majesty. Quit pulling my leg." Modeste said.

"I'm not lying. There was a demon here!" Louis insisted. "I saw it with my own two eyes. It was a hideous beast with pig ears and sharp teeth."

"Wait, where is Harry?" Modeste asked, out of nowhere. Louis wondered how she knew Harry's name. He did not recall that he had told Modeste. She also should not have been aware of Harry's absence. However, Louis was too concerned about Harry's safety to bother interrogating Modeste.

Louis zoomed through the castle calling out Harry's name. Louis crashed into his father. King Niall had come out of his room, dressed in his night robe, to see what the commotion was about. Louis cast Niall to the side and sprinted down the corridor. Niall huffed, smoothing out his clothes.

"What is he so riled up about?" Niall asked Modeste, referring to Louis.

"Don't bother about him. He's just looking for that boy he met at the party." Modeste said, making Niall frown. "Come with me." Modeste showed Niall to the body of the dead maid.

Louis checked every nook and cranny of the palace, only to find that Harry was sitting outside by himself. From the spot where Harry sat, there was a full view of the town.

Louis approached Harry. Louis had an expression full of worry. Harry turned back to look at Louis. Harry had dark circles under his tired eyes that could barely be kept open.

By this time, the sky had brightened from jet black to amber. The birds awoke and began to sing in the trees.

Louis smiled when he saw Harry, knowing that Harry was not hurt. He slipped a hand around Harry's waist and leaned on Harry's shoulder. "Were you here this whole time?" Louis asked.

Harry choked, then answered, "Yeah. I think I'm homesick."

Louis sighed. "It's already morning. You might as well go." Harry sensed sadness in Louis' voice as he spoke. Harry stroked Louis hair and kissed Louis sweetly.

"Sorry," Harry apologised. "I know you'd rather I stay here."

"There was a death in the castle." Louis told Harry. Harry did not utter a word and let Louis continue the story. "A maid was killed by the beast that I saw the time you ran away. That time, it was in the woods. Now, it has gotten into the castle."

Harry bit his lip. He did not know how to respond to Louis.

Harry left the castle and headed home with promise that he would see Louis again. Louis was not sure when Harry would be back.

Investigations of the killing of the maid ensued. Louis was questioned. He told the investigator what he had seen in the wee hours of the morning. The investigator laughed sarcastically at him.

"Your majesty, tell me the truth." The investigator said.

"I am telling the truth. Why does nobody believe me?" Louis cried out. "There was a monster in the castle."

"Only you saw the creature?" The investigator clarified.

Louis pondered over the question. He had not see anyone else around, other than the dead body of the maid, when the monster attacked him. He nodded in response to the investigator. Louis was not sure if the investigator believed his recount.

.

.

.

Hi, I hope you liked this chapter.

How do you think Modeste knows Harry?

Do you think the investigator believes Louis? Do you believe Louis?

Vote and comment. Thanks