Bram's Hollow

Tobias slept late into the next morning. Even the sound of Rotigan hammering a piece of wood over the broken window failed to rouse him. It seemed that Bram’s Hollow as a whole had a late start after the zombie invasion from the night before. Beasts and monsters alike were repairing damage dealt to their homes and checking with neighbors and family to be sure no one was hurt in the attack.

The low hanging fog of sleep began to lift in Tobias’s mind. Though he was waking up he kept his eyes shut and pretended to still be sleeping. It was easier for him to be asleep then it would for him to face his mother and Rotigan after being expelled from the beast guild the night before. It was because of his father that he no longer belonged there. He was a Dhampir and that made Tobias one quarter Vampire. Tobias lay in bed with his eyes shut and tried to make some sort of sense of what he heard last night.

Lycos had mentioned that Tobias’s father might be near Bram’s Hollow if not here already. Was his father involved in the zombie attack? What if he was the hooded man he saw at Isabelle’s house just before he fought Docherty? He knew so little about his father that it seemed possible that he could have been the Necromancer.

Tobias finally allowed his eyes to open, admitting to himself that he had to face the day. He delayed his morning routine as long as he could. Taking an extra-long shower not wanting to have to talk about what his expulsion means for not only himself but his mother as well. As he stood in the hot shower he reached back and tried to feel the gash from his fall down the well. He felt no trace of any sort of wound, not even a scratch. It was healed completely.

It took almost an hour for Tobias to clean up and get dressed. Just as he was tying his shoes he heard his mother calling from down stairs.

“Toby, can you come down please?”

He was afraid of talking about, well everything. Twenty-four hours earlier if you asked Tobias if he wanted to know everything about his father he would have been quick to say yes. What a difference a day makes. Now he didn’t want to know, he was scared of what he would find out. He had held on to the possibility that his dad left for honest reasons. Maybe not good reasons, but surely nothing that pointed to him being some sort of vampiric Necromancer. He headed downstairs to answer his mother’s call. When he walked into the living room he saw why his mom had been calling him. Standing just inside the front door was an emerald skinned dragon man.

“Toby this is Snide.” Vivian introduced the guest but Tobias already knew him. He was with Dr. Donavan in the castle kitchen the day he had accidentally snuck in through the Den of Souls.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Tobias.” Snide said as he extended his reptilian hand.

Tobias examined the strange appendage momentarily then returned the gesture, shaking Snide’s hand. “Thank you. Are you with the monster’s guild?” He asked but he already knew the answer.

“As a matter of fact, I am.” Snide turned to Vivian and smiled with his scale covered mouth. “Can’t put anything past this one can I?” he said jokingly.

“Not a boy as clever as mine.” Vivian responded as he ran her hand threw Tobias’s hair.

“Well, I’ll get right to it then.” Snide clasped his hands together looked at Tobias with his striking red eyes. “I’m the assistant to Doctor Donavan. She has asked for your presence at her laboratory for a little chat.”

“What about?” Tobias asked remembering what Dr. Donavan looked like. Wondering what sort of things she actually practiced as a doctor.

“Well,” Snide spoke carefully not upset anyone. “As you are shall we say without guild representation, my master has taken it upon herself to offer you membership in the monsters guild. She would just like to speak with you about some of the finer points of the guild.”

Tobias looked at his mother who looked a little put off by Snide’s presentation. “What do you mean by finer points?” She asked.

“Just some of the ins and outs of the guild.” Snide said defensively. “She would like for young Tobias here to be an upstanding member of the monster community, that’s all.”

Vivian cocked an eyebrow at the dragon man. “I don’t know, maybe I should come along?”

“I am sorry Mrs. Gates, but the guild labs are off limits to non-monsters. I hope you understand.”

“I’m not sure about this.” Vivian said.

“It’s fine mom.” Tobias said attempting to reassure his mother. “I really don’t have much of a choice do I. Lycos was right, I’m a monster.”

Snide’s grin widened and looked rather ghastly on the face of a dragon man. “I knew this boy had character.” He turned to Vivian. “Now don’t you fret one little bit Mrs. Gates. Tobias here will be the pride and joy of the monsters guild. I just know it.” Snide opened the front door and held it for Tobias.

Vivian gave her son a strong hug. “Be careful, and come back soon.”

“Everything will be fine mom.” Tobias said. “I’ll be home in no time.”

Both Tobias and Snide walked out of the stone brick house and into the cobblestone street. Snide placed his hand on Tobias’s back and started walking with him toward the Arcane Chamber’s castle. Just as they passed the house Tobias spotted Arthur walking quickly toward him, he waved with a friendly smile as he approached.

“Hey there Tobias.” Arthur said anxiously, “Is your mother in by chance?”

“Yea she’s in the house.” Tobias said as he did his best to grin.

“Great, thanks.” Arthur kept waking at a hurried pace past Tobias. He paid it no mind and continued to walk with Snide.

The first half of the walk to the castle was quiet. Tobias was too concerned with what Dr. Donavan had to say. He was a bit frightened of her. In fact he realized that every one of the three guild heads that he had been around were each frightening in their own way. Heck, even Faust from the spirit guild crept him out.

“So,” Snide was thinking of something to say to break the silence. “Have you ever been to the castle before?”

“Yea, I was there last night.” Tobias looked at Snide oddly, he had to have known about the conflict with Lycos.

“Of course, I apologize. I should have known better.”

“Can I ask you something?” Tobias said.

“I don’t see why not.”

“Are you part dragon?”

“You are quite observant, young Tobias.” Snide answered gleefully. “I am indeed part dragon.”

“Too bad you can’t fly.” Tobias said as he looked at Snide’s back noticing two long scars on either side.

“Now that you mention it, I used to.” Snide’s tone was less energetic.

“What happened?”

“Oh, it was a long time ago.” Snide looked up at the sky as they approached the winding uphill road to the castle. “I had an accident. I, I lost my wings.”

“Sorry, Snide.” Tobias said.

“It’s not your fault young Tobias. Like I said, it was long ago.”

Snide and Tobias walked halfway up the hill before Snide took Tobias off of the road and toward the cliff face along a small path. Tobias recognized the tunnel Snide was taking him to. It was the same Jerome used to lead him out of the castle once before.

“This way please.” Snide said to Tobias. “I think this is a better route. Less chance of running past Lycos and I think that might be for the best.”

“No argument here.” Tobias agreed, avoiding Lycos seemed like a smart move.

They ventured into the cavern, on the way in Snide took a torch stick off of the side of the cave wall and stuck it into his elongated dragon mouth. When he pulled the tip out it was on fire. Snide guided Tobias threw the cave taking a different turn than Jerome had a few days ago. This route was a bit farther and delved much farther into the mountain. Tobias had figured that they had walked past the castle by this point. Finally after walking up a long set of stone carved stairs they reached a locked wooden door adorned with all too familiar strange markings. Snide opened the door and turned toward Tobias.

“I guess we’ll find out if you are truly a monster.” Snide said and walked through the door.

Tobias took a few quick breaths and closed his eyes and walked through the door as well, emerging unharmed on the other end.

“What was that?” Tobias asked.

“It is a protected door, only true monster’s may pass through.” Snide said as he set his lit torch on the floor and stepped on it with his large, bare, reptilian feet.

The laboratory was immense and looked as if it were carved into the bowels of the mountain. The walls were carved straight and painted white. The ceiling likewise was white with thick electrical wires running like a spider web across the top of the lab leading to and from large tracked lights. There were several tables scattered about the lab floor, each with some sort of chemical experiment or dissected animal upon it. There were no assistants or crew in on the lab floor just Snide and Tobias. This gave Tobias a tremendous sense of unease as if he were brought in as Dr. Donovan’s next experiment. Three of the walls had doors, the one they came through, one that looked like the same kind of wooden monster protected door only larger on the adjoining wall and, on the far side of the lab was a glass door, “Dr. Evelyn Donovan PhD.” was etched across it.

“It’s magnificent, don’t you think?” Snide asked he looked around the lab.

“I guess so.” Tobias didn’t want to admit that it chilled his bones to be in there.

Snide guided Tobias to the glass door and opened it for him. “Go ahead and have a seat. The doctor will be with you shortly.”

Like the laboratory the office was also painted white. Tobias sat down on one of two cushioned chairs in front to the metal desk. Snide quietly shut the door and walked away leaving Tobias alone in the doctor’s office. It was cold both in feel and in temperature. There were no personal objects that Tobias could see on the desk or on the walls. Instead he saw charts and mathematical formulas scribbled on poster paper hung on the walls. File folders crammed with notes covered the desktop, for a doctor she did not seem very organized.

The doctor kept Tobias waiting for about ten minutes, it was a chunk of time that he spent wondering how many of the dissections on the tables outside were for science or just revenge. His imagination was clearly running away with him, he hoped. At last the glass door opened and Dr. Donovan entered. She was wearing a white lab coat and a pair of glasses. The glasses were strange however since they, like the doctor’s face, were split and pieced together from two separate halves.

“Good afternoon Mr. Gates.” Dr. Donavan said in her eerie, two tined voice as she removed the glasses and slipped them into her top coat pocket. Tobias got a good look at her face or at least the two half faces stitched together to make one twisted, scarred face.

“Hello.” Tobias said as he did his best not to stare.

The doctor walked around to her side of the desk and sat down. She flipped threw a couple of the file folders strewn on her desk and slid them all on a messy pile on one side.

“So,” The doctor said. “I hear that you are in need of a new guild.”

“I guess so ma’am, or doctor.” Tobias stammered.

“Either one is fine.” She crossed her arms on the desk. “We are unique Mr. Gates. Can I call you Tobias?”

“That’s fine. It’s what everyone else calls me. Well except for my mom, she calls me Toby.” Tobias was rambling a little, he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“Well, Tobias. Like I said we are unique. That is why I feel the monster’s guild is just the right place for you.” Dr. Donovan tried to look Tobias in the eyes unsuccessfully since he found it hard to look at two separate eyes on the same face. “The other guilds are too particular for my taste. Faust is all things no corporeal while Richter has the charge of everything else that doesn’t have a heartbeat. Then there’s Lycos, so infuriated by the thought of crossbreeding.” Tobias found the ability to look the doctor in the eyes. “I guess that is what brings us to you isn’t it?”

“But why does Lycos seem hate me so much” Tobias asked.

Dr. Donavan leaned back in her chair. “Oh, it’s not that he hates you Tobias. He’s afraid of you.”

“Afraid? Why would he be afraid?” Tobias found all of this confusing.

“As unique all of us monsters might be, you are in a class by yourself. You see I’ve seen crossbreeding before but never between undead and beast.” Dr. Donavan stood from her chair the level of excitement was painted on her face. “And one more than that you father is a cross breed himself, half human and vampire respectively.”

“I don’t understand. Why is that so rare?”

“Ahh, rare is not the word. You are one of a kind. Your parents weren’t the first Wolfkin and undead to marry. But, they were the first to have a child.” The doctor stepped behind Tobias and placed her hands on his shoulders. Tobias noticed that her hands did not match in skin tone or even exact size. “I wonder if the human element was the key?”

“The key to what?” Tobias asked.

“Well, my theory is that your father-” The doctor was unable to finish her thought. Snide was urgently knocking on the glass office door and let himself in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt doctor but you are needed in the infirmary right away.”

“What’s the trouble Snide?” Dr. Donavan asked.

“There was an attack in town and we have three in severe condition.” Snide looked down and spoke slightly softer. “T…Tobias’s mom was in the attack.”