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Alien-Species
By : moviefan
Category: 1 through F > Alien (All Movies) > Alien (All Movies)
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Chapter List
- 12
- 13
(A/N: Another long one, but not as long. Wow, this story is really rolling. We're getting close to the climax. Now that Blair has what she needs to bring forth the Antichrist, our heroes are really pressed for time to stop the apocalypse. Will they be able to prevent the Antichrist's coming, and if not, is there any chance to stop it. Let's see what happens.)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 15: Follow That Star
“Bullshit!” Hansel declared as he paced back and forth. “Pure bullshit! I don’t believe it!”
Carl winced at the witch hunter’s furious profanity. “I’m afraid not. We were all played for fools.”
Letting out a sigh, Gretel fell into a chair and ran her hands through her wet hair. “So, to be clear, Renfield was working for Blair this whole time. On her orders, he put a bounty on her head to bring Hansel and me here, just so Blair could reveal herself and her intentions to us, all so Renfield could then contact Rome to have you and Van Helsing bring the Necronomicon here for me to decipher, but really it was just so she could get it for herself. That about sum it up?”
The friar nodded. “Yes, that’s about the long and short of it.”
“It’s utter bullshit!” Hansel said again. “No way in hell were we played like that. No fucking way.”
He let out an angry cry and turned the table over, making Carl flinch. Even though he knew Hansel’s anger wasn’t directed at him, he couldn’t help but feel responsible since the Necronomicon had been taken while he’d been here.
Ben nibbled on his thumbnail nervously. “Why go through all the trouble to bring us here? Why not just cut out the middleman and have Renfield contact Rome right away?”
Carl shook his finger at him. “Yes, I wondered about that too, and I think it was part of the ploy. All witches hold a grudge against Hansel and Gretel here, for obvious reason. So revealing herself to them and rubbing in their faces the fact that she was going to birth the Antichrist would make sense, which would then cause Renfield to contact Rome for additional help. It wouldn’t make sense for her to just randomly reveal herself to the historian of the town she had been feeding off of for years, especially when keeping it a secret would be to her advantage, so she needed a reason to show off her pregnancy, and that’s where you two come in. It would make sense that she would want to brag to you two, but it was all just an act.”
From the corner where he stood, Van Helsing caught on to Carl’s reasoning and glanced at Gretel. “And having the two of you here would give us a reason to bring the Necronomicon since you’re the children of a white witch, and so could read it. I don’t know if there really is something in it that would have helped us to stop the Antichrist’s coming or if that was just a ploy, but it would have been pointless to bring it unless there was someone here who could read it. Having you two here didn’t just make her revealing her pregnancy believable, it also provided a legitimate reason for us to bring the book.”
Carl gave the monster hunter a put-out look. “Just steal my thunder why don’t you.”
Hansel apparently didn’t like this explanation. He accepted it, but he didn’t like it, and he punched the wall in his frustration. “Fuck!”
Edward let out a sad grunt, his shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry. I failed.”
Van Helsing glanced at the troll. “It wasn’t your fault. You did your best. We put too much faith in Renfield.”
“I swear to God,” Hansel growled, “if I see that son of a bitch again, I’m going to put a bullet in him.”
At that moment, the black cat in question that Renfield had become leapt from the top of the book case he had been on. He looked up at the others and began letting out his all too human sounding meows.
Hansel seemed to perk up at the sight of him. “Well, speak of the fucking Devil.”
Taking out a pistol, he pointed it at the cat. Gretel’s hand shot out though, grabbing her brother’s arm and pushing the gun away. “No.”
He gave her a look of disbelief. “No? This bastard betrayed us.”
She nodded. “I know, and that’s the point. Don’t do him any favors.” She looked down at the cat in disgust. “He doesn’t get off that easy. Let him suffer.”
Having seen a witch’s pact that resulted in a person becoming their familiar before, she knew what it entitled. Sparing Renfield was no act of kindness on her part. He was now a human soul trapped in the body of a cat. And he had no control of the cat body himself. Aside from the cat having no choice but to follow a witch’s orders as best as a cat could, the same way trolls couldn’t refuse a witch, the cat would simply behave as any other cat would, and Renfield would be forced to go along for the ride, experiencing everything from humans’ perspective, with only the ability to “meow” on his own.
And with this pact came eternal life, meaning Renfield could only be freed from his fate if he were killed, regardless of what happened to the witch he had made a pact with. And anyone who saw such a cat would immediately shun it, knowing they were a witch’s familiar. He wouldn’t be welcome anywhere around people, but wouldn’t be able to decide where the cat body went or what it did.
Hansel knew all this as well, and seemed to think about it for a few moments before putting his gun away. “Fair point. I guess I can live with him being stuck eating raw mice, birds, and fish, and hacking up hairballs after licking his ass clean.”
Renfield’s legs moved of their own accord as they followed the cat body’s will, and he approached the witch hunting siblings, meowing in his human-like voice, and Hansel glared down at him.
“Fuck off,” he snapped, and kicked him.
Renfield let out a yelp as he flew across the room. He darted off after that, leaping up onto the windowsill and leaping outside, where the water from the flood had disappeared and the ground had dried up.
Hansel snorted in disgust. “Good riddance. Maybe if he’s lucky, a wolf or something will eat him.”
Van Helsing let out a frustrated sigh. He was aggravated about Renfield’s betrayal as well, and was kicking himself for not sensing the wickedness of the man, but he chalked it up to the veil of evil Blair had covered he town with, disrupting his senses. Or perhaps Renfield wasn’t necessarily evil, and was just willing to do anything his mistress told him, be it good or bad.
“We have more important things to worry about right now,” he told the witch hunters. “Carl, you said that Blair told you that she already gave birth?”
The friar nodded despairingly. “Yes, since before you and I even got here in fact. She’s simply been waiting to get her hands on the Necronomicon so she can bring her child to life.”
Ben suddenly gasped, his eyes wide with understanding, and he looked at Van Helsing and Carl. “That’s why she sent all those undead, and that golem of hers. She knew the two of you would be arriving that day. She sent them there to kill us and then lie in wait to ambush you and retrieve the book.”
His words made sense, and Carl began nodding and shaking his finger. “Yes… Yes, and when that failed, she sent that insect witch, but you all stopped her.”
Hansel and Gretel looked at each other. “It makes sense,” the former replied. “And since she already gave birth and could bring the Antichrist to life at any time once she got the Necronomicon, she wasn’t in any hurry.”
His sister nodded in agreement. “Then that attempt to recruit Mrs. Hendricks, it may not have just been for revenge, but also an attempt to break our spirits so she could send more of her servants to try and get the book while we were down.”
Ben hugged himself. “And when that didn’t work, she tried to make a deal with me to bring the book to her.”
“And then had Renfield retrieve it when you didn’t go through with the deal since we weren’t around to protect it,” Van Helsing grumbled irritably. “Having us fight that water witch was nothing more than a distraction.”
In a sudden display of anger, he grabbed a chair and threw it against the wall where it shattered apart. Carl and Ben jumped, but the witch hunting siblings didn’t so much as flinch.
“So,” said Gretel, looking from her brother to the monster hunter, “what do we do now?”
“Not much we can do,” Van Helsing growled as he began pacing. “We’re still stuck in the same boat as before. We don’t know where Blair’s lair is or how to get to it, and now she has the Necronomicon.”
Ben gave the monster hunter a questioning look. “Do you think it actually had a way to stop the Antichrist’s coming in it or would have told us what was going to happen so we could have prevented it, or do you think that was just part of Renfield’s ploy?”
Van Helsing let out an aggravated sigh. “It might have. At the very least, it may have told us what was going to happened and we could have tried to stop it. But it doesn’t matter now, because Blair has the book.”
Gretel scowled. “I’ll bet if I had found anything useful in that thing that he wouldn’t even have properly translated what I told him.”
Carl gave her a questioning look. “But wouldn’t you have known yourself? Having read it I mean?”
She shook her head. “It didn’t work like that. I couldn’t exactly… retain what I read. It was like waking up from a nightmare. You understand it while you’re experiencing it, but once it’s over, you forget and are just left with an impression. The experience stays with you, but the knowledge doesn’t. And I just wanted to forget about it anyway; it was disturbing stuff.”
Hansel leaned back against the wall. “So we’re completely screwed.” He banged the back of his head against the wall in frustration. “Fuck, that pisses me off.”
A feeling of helplessness fell over the group at just how stuck they were. It was almost as if they could feel the Antichrist coming, as if he were a physical force crushing down on them with his looming presence. It started to become too much for Ben, and he suddenly needed some air. He hurried over to the window, the same one Renfield had escaped through, and began gulping down large breaths of air. The growing dread of the Antichrist’s coming was coiling in his gut, making him feel as if he were going to be sick.
He breathed heavily as he stared out at the town. The dawn’s morning light was bathing everything red. That was a little unusual, but red sun rises weren’t unheard of. They were usually considered to be a warning to sailors to watch out for bad weather, but Ben had never seen this much red light.
That’s when he suddenly remembered, ever since they had arrived in this town, they hadn’t seen a single sunrise; the cloud covering always blocked it out. What more, now that he thought about it, it couldn’t possibly be morning yet; the sun shouldn’t be up for hours.
Looking up, he inhaled deeply. Over the forest, the clouds had cleared enough to create an opening, almost like the eye of a hurricane. The moon was clearly visible in the clouds’ opening, as was the night sky. And shining brightly from up above was a large, red star, bathing the land in a crimson light.
Ben stared at it for several long moments, his mouth hanging open. Unable to tear his eyes away, he held out his hand and began waving at the others to come over. “Guys, come over here. You really need to see this.”
Gretel let out a frustrated groan and got to her feet. “What, Ben?” She made her way over to the window and froze. “Guys, you really need to come see this.”
At her insistence, the others made their way over to the window as well, gathering around her and the witch hunting apprentice. They looked outside, seeing what the two of them saw, and became fixated by it as well.
Carl slowly raised a hand and pointed. “Is that…?”
“The Morning Star,” said Van Helsing. He glanced at Gretel and she looked at him as well. “The coming of the Antichrist will be marked by the moon going dark–”
“And the light of the Morning Star bathing the land in red,” Gretel finished for him.
Hansel looked at the two of them. “Where’d you hear that from?”
The two exchanged a look as they realized that they hadn’t actually told everyone about what Gretel had read in the Necronomicon about the signs of the Antichrist’s coming. It hadn’t been anything useful, and a lot of other things had happened after that.
“Right,” Gretel muttered, “so I found a passage in the Necronomicon that said that the Antichrist’s coming will be indicated by Venus glowing bright red and a lunar eclipse.”
Carl pointed at them. “Yes, I remember you mentioning that.”
Hansel looked confused. “And when was this?”
“Just before we went after the wood witch,” Gretel replied. “I meant to tell you, but I forgot.” She nodded to the outside. “And now it looks like it’s happening.”
Carl shook a finger. “Well, not quite.”
Van Helsing glanced at him. “How so?”
It was Edward who answered. “Moon not dark.”
The monster hunter glanced at the moon. They were right, the moon was still shining brightly. “Yes, you’re right. There’s no lunar eclipse. We must still have time. The eclipse will probably happen when Blair brings the Antichrist to life.”
Hansel impatiently drummed his fingers against the windowsill. “Ok, so what is she waiting for?”
Ben gave an uneasy shrug. “Maybe the process takes a while. She could be making preparations. Or maybe she still needs something else.”
Van Helsing and Gretel exchanged another look. “A host,” Gretel answered. “The Necronomicon said the Antichrist would need a host.”
Her brother scowled. “Anything else you forget to mention?”
“That was all I dug up.”
Carl tried to make sense of this. “So she has what she needs to bring her child to life, now she just needs a host for him.”
“At which point the moon will turn dark and the fucking apocalypse will begin,” Hansel growled. He motioned out the window. “In the meantime, we’ve got the evil, red version of the Star of Bethlehem hanging in the sky. That’s fun. I bet astronomers will love that. You think three wise men will follow it with gifts of flesh, blood, and bone?”
At the witch hunter’s words, Van Helsings felt as if the answer had suddenly been dropped into his lap. His face lit up and he grabbed the witch hunter, shaking him with enthusiasm. “Hansel, you’re a genius! That’s the answer!”
Ben gave him a confused look. “Flesh, blood, and bone?”
“No!” Van Helsing exclaimed. “It’s just like the story of the three wise men, how they followed the Star of Bethlehem to Jesus’ manger.” He pointed at the star. “We don’t need to find Blair’s lair. We can follow the star to it!”
Gretel’s face lit up with understanding. “That is fucking brilliant!”
“It wouldn’t matter if Blair moves around the forest,” Ben realized. “She can’t move the stars. As long as we continue following it, we’ll find her lair.”
Hansel was immediately onboard as well. “Everyone, grab as many weapons as you can, we are heading out now.”
They immediately scrambled around to get ready, loading up with as many weapons as they could carry. Edward was the only one who would be unarmed, as he relied on his strength. Ben only had a pair of pistols, but it was at least some weaponry, whereas Carl simply carried a bag full of ammunition for them to use.
Most of the weapons the hunters settled for were their standard weapons. Van Helsing had his buzz saws and his pistols, in addition to his mini-stake crossbow; he was dealing with a vampire after all, and he knew what worked. A bottle of holy water and a sack of garlic powder were also being brought along in the bag Carl carried. And if they did have to face the Antichrist, then he had a nice little surprise for that.
Both Hansel and Gretel rummaged around in their wagon of weapons, loading up with their favorites. Hansel decided to bring his shotgun, along with two pistols. He also brought along an axe for when he ran out of ammo, and his cross-embedded brace knuckles. And now that Carl had repaired it, he could bring his flame gun as well.
Gretel went for a more hand-to-hand approach, as opposed to her brother’s long-range weaponry. In addition to her sword, she also brought her daggers, and her own pair of pistols and the crossbow for some long-distance offense. She was also bringing something new this time, something she had been practicing with that she thought would be useful, a bullwhip. It made for good use to keep witches at bay and pull them off their rooms when she managed to snag them with it when they tried to fly away.
“If that bat bitch tries to fly away, I’ll coil this around her and yank her out of the sky,” she said, lashing out with the whip, and it made a loud crack in the air.
Hansel grinned. “Or you could whip her ass. I’m sure she’ll love that.”
Gretel smirked and wound up the whip before attaching it to her belt. “Yeah, but she’s probably into that hardcore sadomasochism crap, especially if she’s been fucking Satan.”
Her brother laughed. “Well, don’t worry, we’ll send her rotten ass right back to her master, and their bastard child along with her if she does manage to bring it to life.”
As they continued to prepare for what could possibly be the biggest fight of their lives, the Morning Star continued to shine its red light, growing bigger and brighter than ever before. The moon had yet to eclipse though, and as long as it continued to glow, it wasn’t too late.
But as they got ready, Hansel began to feel it, the effects of the sugar sickness. It was hitting him hard and fast, and he wandered if it was a result of what was happening. Fatigue and dizziness were already hitting him, and his vision was starting to become blurry as a headache started to come on.
“Guess it’s a good thing this is happening now and not during the fight,” he muttered.
Gretel glanced at him. “What?”
He shook his head. “Nothing, I just need my…”
He went searching through his supply of insulin. He took out a syringe, but found it empty. That was strange, he usually separated his used ones from his ready to use ones. Had he put one in the wrong spot? That wasn’t like him; he must be under a lot of stress.
But then he found another empty one, and then another. Growing frustrated, he turned the box upside-down, but only empty syringes fell out. Confused, he grabbed the box he kept his used ones in, but they were all empty too. At least those were supposed to be empty though.
“What the hell?” he grumbled.
“What’s wrong?” Gretel asked.
“Where’s all my…?”
He went straight for the source, his bag full of boxes of jars of insulin. But as he opened up one, he found it empty. Growing a little concerned, he began opening one after another, but finding nothing. All his insulin was gone.
“Shit,” he whispered.
“What?” his sister asked for the third time.
“My insulin, it’s all gone. Where the hell did it go?”
“It’s what!?” Gretel exclaimed, and hurried over to him. She looked and saw that his supply was indeed gone. “What the fuck? Carl!”
A few moments later, the friar scurried into the room. “Yes, what is it?”
“Where’s my brother’s insulin?” she demanded, holding up the empty box. “You were doing all that… chemistry stuff with it.”
Carl shook his head. “I don’t know. I only used the one jar he gave me.”
“Well, it’s gone. All of it. What happened to it?”
Overhearing the ruckus, Van Helsing marched into the room. “What’s going on?”
Feeling lightheaded, Hansel walked over to the witch hunting siblings, and Gretel held the empty box out to him. “We had several jars in reserve. I don’t know where it could have gone.”
He took the box from her. She may not know what happened to the insulin, but Van Helsing knew that that was just because she was panicking, though she hid it well. To him, it was obvious where it went.
“Renfield,” he growled, tossing the box to the floor. “That traitor must have gotten rid of it before he handed over the Necronomicon.”
“He must have been trying to get him out of the way,” Carl reasoned.
A humorless laugh escaped Hansel. “I swear, if I see that cat again, I’m going to break its legs.”
“Ben! Edward!” Gretel shouted.
A few moments later, the troll and apprentice entered the room, pushing past Carl. “What’s going on?” the latter asked in concern.
Ignoring the question, Gretel immediately began barking order. “Edward, go look through all our supplies for any spare insulin. Check the whole damn house if you have to. Ben, go find the town doctor and see if they have any. I don’t care if you have to kick down their door and drag their ass out of bed. Go now!”
Ben nodded urgently and rushed past Carl and out of the room, Edward heading out after him. The friar appeared thoughtful for a moment before snapping his fingers and hurrying out of the room.
Hansel was breathing heavily, his eyes fluttering, sweat beading on his skin. “Shit, this sucks. Of all times.”
Gretel took his hand, gripping it tightly. “It’s ok, you’re going to be fine,” she told him, unable to keep the concern out of her voice.
Van Helsing went to his other side, crouching down and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Hang in there, you’re too stubborn to go down like this. I’ve only known you a few days, but I can already tell that.”
Gretel nodded. “And I can confirm it. Come on, we beat that bitch when we were kids, don’t let her magic candy get to you now.”
He let out a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, it would really suck if I died from this after all these years just when we’re about to face the big, bad, witch-bitch queen herself.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Carl said as he hurried back into the room. “I have this.”
He held out a syringe, only this one was full. Gretel let out a sigh of relief and reached for it. “Oh, thank God.”
She took the syringe from him. He made a sound of protest, but she ignored it as she made to inject it into her brother’s arm, but Hansel’s hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
“Wait,” he said suspiciously, and glanced at the friar. “Is that your miracle cure?”
Carl nodded. “I’m sorry, it’s all we have. And I’m sorry to say that unless someone else who actually lives in this town had the sugar sickness, the doctor is unlikely to have any insulin.”
“Cure?” Gretel repeated, looking from her brother to the friar. “You actually managed to make a cure?”
Carl hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Yes, I’m fairly sure it will work.”
Gretel pinned him with an inquisitive look. “What do you mean, you’re ‘fairly sure’?”
Hansel let out a laugh. “He’s seventy-seven percent sure it will work and twenty-three percent sure it will kill me.”
“What!?” Gretel shouted, pulling the syringe away. “You were going to let me inject that into him when it might kill him!?”
Carl winced. “Well, I was going to say something, but then you snatched it out of my hand.”
“Carl!”
“I am seventy-seven percent sure. Maybe seventy-eight.”
Gretel looked as if she were ready to hit the friar, so Van Helsing spoke up on his friend’s behalf. “I trust Carl. He knows what he’s doing. If he says it will work, then it will work.” He glanced at the syringe. “In this case, with a seventy-seven percent chance.”
Gretel glanced at him, still looking angry, but now a little unsure as she held up the syringe. “So would you use this on yourself?”
“That depends,” the monster hunter replied. “I’m not in your brother’s situation. But if Carl said there’s a seventy-seven or seventy-eight percent chance, then yes, I believe him. In which case, this simply becomes a matter of playing the odds. So, the question is,” he looked at Hansel, “do you want to take it based on those odds?”
Hansel glanced up at the monster hunter, then at Carl. His gaze then moved to his sister, then to the syringe in her hands. While the odds were in his favor, he still didn’t like the idea of taking such a risk. This was different than facing off against witches where he might die, this was something out of his control, something more or less left up to chance. He didn’t want to leave his life to the chance of whether the cure worked or not. But then again, it seemed that they were out of options.
“Fuck,” he growled. “Give me that damn thing.”
Without waiting for her to get a word out, he snatched the syringe from Gretel’s hand. Ignoring her cry for him to wait, he stabbed it into his arm and injected the friar’s supposed miracle cure into himself.
“Hansel!” Gretel protested.
“We’re out of time,” he told her as he tossed the empty syringe aside. “We both know Edward’s not going to find any spare jars, and the town doctor isn’t going to have any either. At least this way I have a chance. And hell, if I survive, I’ll be cured.” He looked at the friar. “How long until we know it works?”
“Oh, almost instantly,” Carl replied. “If it worked, the symptoms you’re experiencing right now will vanish. If it doesn’t…” He wobbled his head. “Well, we’ll find that out in a few minutes too.”
Gretel glared at him. “If he dies, I’m going to kick your ass all the way back to Rome.”
Carl swallowed. “Fair enough.”
Hansel let out another humorless laugh as his head pounded and more dizziness ran over him. “God, will you all please just be quiet for a minute.”
Bending over, he put his head between his knees to help with the dizziness. Gretel rubbed his back while still glaring at the friar, who shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably, and they waited.
A minute ticked by, then two, and no one said anything as they waited in anticipation. Finally though, Hansel sat up, taking a deep breath while facing the ceiling, and Gretel looked at him in concern.
“Hansel?” she asked worriedly.
He lowered his head, blinking a few times, then wiped his sweaty face. “Holy shit. I feel great.”
Gretel relaxed a little, but still looked concerned. “You’re ok?”
“Better than ok. That stuff really worked.” He looked at Carl, giving him a grateful smile. “You, my friar friend, are a fucking genius.”
Carl looked bashful at the praise. “Well, you know, I’m just doing what I can.”
Van Helsing smiled. “Told you Carl knows what he’s doing.” He clapped Hansel on the back. “Glad you pulled through.”
“Not as glad as I am,” the witch hunter replied. “And now I’m finally done with all those damn injections for good.”
Gretel suddenly threw herself into her brother’s arms, holding him tightly. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, you hear me! You’re the only family I have left, I can’t lose you.”
He let out a chuckle and gently patted her back. “Come on, now. You know you’ll never lose me. It’s always been the two of us, and it always will be. Hansel and Gretel.”
The moment was suddenly ruined as Ben came bursting into the room, holding up a small jar. “I’ve got it! The doctor did have some!”
Everyone looked at him, then turned back to Hansel. The witch hunter looked surprised for a moment, but then burst out laughing. Ben slowly lowered the hand holding the jar of insulin, not sure what had happened during his absence.
“Did I miss something?” he asked.
Still laughing, Hansel shook his head and got up. “Nothing you need to worry about. Now come on, let’s go get that bitch.”
(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)
A short while later, the three hunters, along with Ben, Edward, and a very uneasy looking Carl, stood at the entrance to the forest. Up above, the red light of the Morning Star shined brightly as it hung over their destination. But still, even though they now had a way to get to where they needed to go, that didn’t lessen the danger of entering Blair’s domain.
“Must I really come along?” Carl asked, not even bothering to hide how frightened he was. “I’m fairly certain that I’ll be more of a liability than a help.”
Van Helsing flashed him a smile. “Come on, Carl, don’t you remember how we fearlessly stormed Dracula’s castle together?”
The friar gave him a pointed look. “Um, no, I actually tried to go back at that time, but the doorway sealed itself.” He wobbled his head. “Glad it opened again after you killed Dracula, otherwise that would have been one long walk back.”
Hansel clapped him on the shoulder, giving the friar an encouraging shake. “Have a bit more confidence. You did cure me after all.”
“Yes, but that’s my point,” Carl argued. “My place is in the workshop. That’s where I shine. Not in the field.”
Van Helsing rolled his eyes. “We’re going to need your help in there. You’ll be fine. Think of this as a simple walk in the woods.”
Having said this, he stepped into the forest. The witch hunting siblings entered after him, followed by Ben. Carl glanced at Edward behind him, and the troll gave him a curious yet expectant look. Carl returned it with a nervous smile before heading in after the others.
“That was a horrible joke by the way,” he muttered.
The party made their way through the forest, guided by the red light of the Morning Star. The forest had changed around again since they had last been in it, but it didn’t matter since they were able to follow the star’s light. They could just make it out above the treetops. The moon as well; it still had yet to turn dark.
“What if we run into something dangerous out here?” Carl asked worriedly. “The last time you came into this forest, you had to fight a wendigo. What if we come across something else?”
“Then we’ll kill it,” Gretel replied simply.
“And anything else we run into,” her brother added.
Carl cut his eyes at them, dissatisfied with their answer. “Well, as long as there’s a plan.”
He let out a frightened whimper a moment later and looked up as a whoosh sound was heard from up above. This was followed immediately by a second whoosh, as if something were speeding by above the trees.
Hansel and Gretel recognized the sound for what it was and exchanged a look. Gretel detached the whip from her belt and pulled out a dagger while Hansel took out his shotgun. Van Helsing wasn’t as familiar with the sound as they were, but he too pulled out his pistols.
The whooshing sound was heard again as the source of the noise doubled back. The trees rustled up above, and a moment later, two witches on broomsticks flew down and landed a short distance from the group, dismounting their brooms. And neither of them were Blair or the wood witch that had tried to convert Mrs. Hendricks.
The first of the witches was a beast of a woman, quite literally. She had pink skin, almost as if she had a horrible sunburn, and blue lips that curved into a grin, revealing sharp, disproportionate and misshapen, yellow teeth, her jaws slightly jutting outward, almost like an ape, and as she opened her mouth to let out a hiss, a black snake that served as her tongue briefly slithered out and flicked out its own tongue before slipping back into her mouth, a mouth that seemed to have been torn open ear to ear. She had no nose, and instead a small horn, about an inch or two in length, grew out in its place like a rhinoceros, and she had large gray eyes with blood red pupils and irises, her long, thick, black eyebrows growing in a manner that made her look like she was permanently scowling, and in between them on her forehead was a vertical slit. Enormous long, pointy ears curved upward on the sides if her head to resemble horns, ending just above the top of her head. Instead of hair, she had long, brown, ruffled feathers that ran down her back, nearly to her waist, and mixed in with these feathers were several long scorpion tails, complete with stingers, that hung limply from her head.
On her forehead just beneath her hairline, she had what at first looked to be black goat-like horns that ran, around her ears and down the side of her head, settling on her shoulders, only they were leathery and moved slightly, suggesting they were more along the lines of tentacles than horns. Instead of a left arm, she had a gray elephant’s trunk in its place, complete with elephant tusks growing out on either side of her armpit, the pattern of a diamondback rattlesnake going down its length, and what seemed to be six blood-red spikes that resembled the horns of a gazelle running down the top of it within the yellowish diamond-shaped markings, and on its underside were the legs of a centipede. She wore no clothes since she was covered from the neck down in shaggy, light gray, curly hair, like that of a West Highland Terrier. This hair ended at her wrist and ankles, revealing feet that were an eagle’s talon and a goat’s hoof, and her fingers seemed to be that of a sloth. A long flap of hairless skin hung from her hairy arm down to her knee, almost like that of a flying squirrel, making it resemble a long open sleeve. Three shark-like fins ran down her back, and on either side of them, long black tentacles with barbs at the end waved about in the air.
The second witch was truly grotesque in appearance. She was very tall, possibly eight feet in height, taller if she actually stood up straight, but her limbs were twisted and crooked, forcing her into a crouching position, her spine horribly bent out of shape as well, forcing her to remain bent over. She was extremely skinny, as if she had never eaten a day in her life, almost making her resemble a skeleton that had slipped on a skin suit that was as shriveled as a raisin, and there was no muscle or meat of any kind beneath it, with the exception of the potbelly she had, and her long drooping breasts that stretched and fell down past her knees. Her entire body was deformed, her features misshapen, and her upper body seemed to be twice as long as it should be, as if she had twice as many ribs as she should, her shoulders growing far too close to her neck, and her arms were abnormally long as well. She had big hands, her fingers nearly twelve inches in length, a branch of sinew seemingly growing out of the middle of each finger to connect them together, and out of the tip of each finger, rather than nails, grew the claws of a cat.
She was covered entirely in rashes, poxes, sores, boils, infectious blemishes, and every kind of growth imaginable, her whole body seemingly ravaged by every kind of disease there was, and her torso actually had three gaping holes in it that could be seen around the torn-up rags she wore, with black veins clearly visible over her yellowish-green skin. She was practically bald, nearly all her hair missing, but a long black tongue, nearly three feet in length, had long strands of hair growing out of it. This long tongue permanently hung out of her mouth that she couldn’t seem to close, as if her jaw were broken, wiggling around like a worm on a hook. Her nose seemed to be permanently pushed up and back against her face, almost making it look like a snout, and most of her teeth were missing, but those she still had were brown and rotten, each one filled with cavities. Large bloodshot eyes, ten times larger than normal eyes, stared unblinkingly out at the hunters.
An annoyed growl escaped Hansel as he looked at the two witches. “A beast witch and a plague witch. Just what we need right now.”
The beast witch sneered at them as she stared at the group hungrily. “Well, well, what do we have here?” she asked in a voice that sounded more like a growl. “An unexpected surprise, I would say. Don’t you think?”
“Indeed,” the plague witch agreed in a raspy voice that was barely more than a whisper, drool pouring from her wide open mouth as she spoke. “A very nice surprise.”
For all intents and purposes, Van Helsing appeared completely calm and collect, but he was fully on guard, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. “Are you here on Blair’s orders?”
The snake poked out of the beast witch’s mouth, flicking out its own tongue again before recoiling back into her mouth. “Ignorant fool. The star called us here.”
She stretched her trunk-arm up to the sky, looking up at it almost fondly. Carl hesitated for a moment before commenting, “Technically, it’s a planet.”
The plague witch ignored him as she kept her unblinking eyes on the group. “All witches know the meaning of the star’s light. They will be coming from lands far and wide to witness the coming of the Antichrist.”
The beast witch looked back at the group, only she wasn’t smiling anymore. On her forehead, the slit on it opened to reveal a third vertically position eye, three times the size as her other two, darting from one party member to the other. “We know who you are as well. The witch hunting twins. You’ve killed many of our sisters. And the Vatican’s top monster hunter. You’ve causes no end of trouble for all the forces of darkness.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere with us,” Hansel told her.
“You will pay for all of our fallen sisters,” the plague witch hissed. “The Antichrist will make you suffer.”
A throaty chuckle escaped the beast witch. “Now, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Remember why we doubled-back. They will make fine gifts for the Antichrist. But I don’t think they deserve the honor of laying eyes upon him. I say we kill them now and present him their heads.”
Gretel’s grip on her whip and dagger tightened. “I wouldn’t try it if I were you. You say you know who we are, but it seems you don’t know what we’re capable of. So here’s a one-time offer. We’re in a bit of a hurry and don’t have time to deal with you, so if you fuck off right now, we’ll let you live.”
The beast witch let out an arrogant laugh as she took out her wand, which seemed to be a branch with teeth and claws of different animals embedded into it. “I have a counter offer. Lay down your weapons, and we’ll make your deaths quick and painless.”
“Mostly painless,” the plague witch remarked.
Gretel inclined her head. “Well, we warned you.”
The beast witch raised her wand, and Gretel lashed out with her whip. It struck the beast witch’s hand, causing her to cry out and drop her wand. Gretel then threw her dagger, and it embedded itself in the beast witch’s chest, causing her to stumble back. Van Helsing then open fired on her, and the beast witch toppled over.
The plague witch let out a furious screech and reached into her robes for her own wand. Hansel fired his shotgun. The plague witch jolted back and he fired again and again, blasting more holes in her body than the ones she already had. Gretel lashed out with her whip, and it coiled around her feet. She gave the whip a yank and the plague witch fell over as her feet were pulled out from under her.
Rolling onto her stomach, the beast witch tore out Gretel’s dagger and snarled like a rabid animal before pouncing. Van Helsing fired at her as she soared through the air. He leapt back as she landed on all fours in front of him. He kept firing, riddling her with bullets until his guns clicked empty. The beast witch snarled at him and pounced once more. Van Helsing caught her, but was still tackled to the ground with her on top of him.
She hissed down at him, opening her mouth, and her snake tongue shot out, striking at the monster hunter. He held her back, and her snake tongue fell just short of biting him. It retracted back into her mouth, and the tentacles on her back rose up, the barbs on the ends poised to stab.
As she stung at him, he dropped his guns and his hands shot out, grabbing the two tentacles before they could sting him, and he stabbed them into her. She let out an eagle-like screech and he twisted his body and flipped them over so he was on top, pushing his weight on her tentacles so she couldn’t remove them from where they were embedded in her.
Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a buzz saw. He activated it and thrust it at the beast witch’s head. Her hand came up to grab his wrist, holding it back, and she swung her trunk-arm at him. He grabbed it with his free hand, holding it back as he pushed the buzz saw closer to her throat. Ordinarily, a witch should have been able to overpower him, but he was still sitting on the tentacles, pushing the barbed ends deeper into her.
A short distance away, Gretel pulled on the whip, dragging the plague witch closer. Hansel proceeded to shoot her with his shotgun every time she tried to get up, knocking her back down.
“Edward!” Gretel called.
The troll stalked over to her and she handed the whip off to him. He gave it a yank, dragging the plague witch across the ground as Gretel pulled out her other dagger and charged at her. Hansel held off on firing again, and the plague witch sat up, pulling out her wand, which resembled small feathers and bones bound together. She pointed it at Gretel, and that’s when Hansel fired again, the gunshot blowing apart the plague witch’s hand, making her screech.
Gretel leapt at the plague witch and brought her dagger down, driving it into the top of her head down to the hilt. Her screech died in her throat as black blood poured out of the top of her head. Gretel ripped the dagger out and then, just for good measure, swiped at the plague witch, slitting her throat, and the plague witch toppled over and remained unmoving. Hansel then walked over, pointed his shotgun at the plague witch and blew off the top of her head, just to be sure.
Van Helsing was still struggling with the beast witch. She continued to hold the buzz saw at bay as he did the same with her arm-trunk. She opened her mouth and her snake-tongue shot out, just missing the monster hunter’s face as it snapped at him. Van Helsing pushed down harder on her tentacles, driving the barbs even deeper into her, and the beast witch eagle-screech cried out, her strength faltering.
It was enough for Van Helsing to shove the buzz saw into the beast witch’s throat. A gurgling cry escaped her, all three of her eyes bulging out of her head as her entire body shook under the painful onslaught, sending blood flying, and Van Helsing turned his head away to avoid the spray. After a few seconds, the beast witch’s head was severed from her body and she went still.
Van Helsing let out a sigh and deactivated his buzz saw. He reached up and wiped his face of the blood that had sprayed him. Getting up, he stepped away from the beast witch’s body and made the sign of the cross, then glanced at the others, seeing that they had dealt with the plague witch.
Gretel unwound her whip from around the plague witch’s feet, then nodded at her brother. He swapped out his shotgun for his flame gun and shot a stream of fire at the plague witch’s body. Gretel cleaned off her dagger before sticking the blade into the flames to burn off any possible contamination the plague witch’s blood may have contained, though that was unlikely, despite her disease-ridden appearance. Hansel then made his way over to the beast witch’s body and set it ablaze too. He knew they were already dead, but it was always best to be absolutely sure.
The group came together, watching the witches burn. This may have been a small delay, but the implications of it were telling, and they all came to the same realization.
“You know what this means, right?” Gretel asked.
Hansel nodded. “Yeah, these two were just the start. That damn star is going to attract a lot more witches. If we don’t deal with this fast, more are going to come, and we’ll soon be overrun.”
Van Helsing looked up at the red star in the sky. “We’ll already have Blair and most likely the wood witch to deal with. We can’t afford to have more coming down on us. Especially if Blair brings the Antichrist to life.”
Carl looked increasingly uneasy. “Can we handle this? Maybe we should reconsider our plan.”
“There’s no time,” Gretel insisted. “Right now is our best chance. Hopefully we can stop Blair before she brings forth the Antichrist. If we can’t, then it’ll be better to fight him without a big crowd of witches getting in the way.”
“Then let’s get back to following that star and give Satan’s bastard a present,” Hansel replied, cocking his shotgun. “And it ain’t going to be gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

(A/N: Ok, so, finally some good news for our heroes. They finally have a lead on how to get to Blair's lair. Now they're just in a race against time. I guess it's a good thing they managed to take out the wendigo earlier so they don't need to deal with it now. Although they did have the beast and plague witch to deal with. Hopefully they won't run into anymore. And on another good note, it looks like Hansel has been cured of his sugar sickness for good thanks to Carl. So at least there's that. Now all they have to do is stop or prevent Blair from bringing forth the Antichrist. There's still more to come, so stay tuned.)
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Alien-Species	By : moviefan Category: 1 through F > Alien (All Movies) > Alien (All Movies) Views: 2131 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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