Chapter 9: Another Arrival


    ir knew that the hell hounds were down in the caves. She''d heard him mention something to the one


    named Beta about taking things down there. The hell hounds had eaten everything left in the kitchen


    now that they had no humans to snack on. ir was d for her small stash that she had.


    She moved toward the left wing where she hadn''t explored much. Here she found many more


    bedrooms than actual rooms of use. This was why he stayed toward the right side of the house. Not a


    lot on this side it would seem.


    ir went down a short set of stone steps and a stretch here had only windows. She looked out at the


    day and touched the ss. Snow wasing down. It wasn''t sticking to the ground yet but it was so


    soft and pretty. It made her feel a kind of bubble inte in her chest. Today wasn''t such a bad day, she


    just needed to keep Isaiah ignorant of her being alive. It wasn''t so bad then.


    She found a kind of greenhouse as she opened a ss door at the end of the stone hallway. ir had


    on a tighter fitting turtleneck that she had found. It was a dark red color and made her hair appear


    almost ck. She still wore the pair of jeans that fit her as well. She was hoping to find a better bra


    though. This one wasn''t doing the job all that well anymore. It was hard to run and do physical activities


    when you had arger chest. Not that she was huge, but she had enough there.


    She looked at the nts growing in here. They were all different shades of green with some reds and


    purples, one nt was hot pink. Flowers of every color were in here, and she instantly wanted to draw


    it. She looked at the hot pink nt with its spade shaped leaves and the dark red veins that it had.


    "Beautiful." She didn''t touch it, probably poisonous.


    ir moved on though and felt the temperature drop as she left the green house. Along with the


    humidity. She went down the hall here looking for anything that might be an art room. She went down a


    flight of stairs and was growing discouraged until she opened the second tost door at the end of the


    short hall.


    The room wasrge and square with a huge table in the center and stools. There were easels against


    the wall and what looked like closets. Along withrge filing cabs and drawers built into the walls.


    She stepped into it and was in awe of the supplies here. Anything she could possibly want to work with


    was here. Once again she wondered at this ce. She went to the cabs in the wall to see what was


    in there. Three were drawers with different types of drawing paper. Special types of other paper for


    different media.


    She moved to the next set of cabs and opened the top drawer. All different types of pencils,


    depending on hardness or softness. They were covered by a sheet of ss that popped up when


    pressed. There were also colored pencils here and from lead to charcoal. The next drawer down held


    contie crayons,pressed charcoal, and oil crayons. She looked down the next three drawers and


    was amazed at the things in here. It reminded her of her case, but on a bigger scale. She thought


    about this, there was no denying magic ran through the house. Could it create things once it made


    contact with them? Refresh them or make a room with them? The one thing she noticed didn’t


    regenerate was food. This ce was wild.


    No way that someone just thought to stock something like this. Not to mention the shape that they were


    in. Perfect like no one had ever touched them. If she were going to have a studio it would be this one.


    She grabbed an easel and stool and then pulled a little cart to her to grab what she wanted. Before


    sitting, ir checked the hall and locked the greenhouse door. All was silent.


    Heading back to the room she looked at it. She was going to draw, it kept her mentally sound. Today it


    would be charcoal and some white contie crayon. With nothing else to do, and no where to really go


    she pulled up a seat. She felt pretty safe, this part seemed very neglected.


    “If Anyone is listening.” She stared up at the ceiling feeling a tear try to escape. “Let me just have this


    one moment. This one space.” She looked back at the items she picked. She sighed, and for a moment


    she thought the room might feel warmer but she ignored it.


    ir started in on the picture and worked for a good amount of time. She was coated in charcoal by the


    time she felt that she was finished and set the picture aside. It looked excellent, one of her best she


    thought. It was the image she''d memorized from the Piano room.


    Isaiah and the three hounds. She moved forward and fixed a couple things and yed with the gum


    eraser in her hand cleaning it. She was inspired now and wanted to do a second one. While it was


    going to be a bit darker she still wanted to do it. The image was burned in her head.


    She started to draw and everything else fell away from her, dangerous considering where she was. Still


    she felt that this part of the house was extremely neglected and unused. So it gave her a bit of security.


    She worked through the night on the images and set them next to each other looking at them.


    She tipped her head. Her hair was pulled back and bits falling around her face. She kept going up to


    them and fixing things or adding a bit to them. In the end she had two very life-like pictures. One that


    gave a calm and peaceful look, the other anger and terror.


    The second drawing she''d done was of the hell hounds as they really were. Moving around Isaiah as


    she figured he must be the thing from the three nights. In the picture were the humans, James holding


    the weapon up and the other two in poses ready to flee.


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    Normally one would think this picture with the man facing down the demons and would want him to


    triumph. But the picture was dark and gave a feeling of helplessness as well. That created a kind of


    sadness. As if you knew the end was not a good one.


    She found some fixative and thought perhaps she shouldn''t use it as it smelled a bit. She shrugged,


    why not? She sprayed the two pictures and then put them in the empty closet space to hide them but


    kept them so they would stay t.


    ir cleaned up and left the room making her way back to her home in the walls and crawled over the


    nkets and grabbed her pillow falling asleep as the first rays of light came over the mountains.


    The next four or five days, ir was losing count now, she made her way down to the art room. She


    would lose herself in drawing. This was her escape. This was her haven in the house, Isaiah and the


    hounds had the other side.


    She''d taken her music yer with her. She had a plug for it and it was in her smaller bag of art


    supplies. She drew the house, the gardens. She drew the green house and different nts. Sometimes


    she would paint or use acrylic crayons.


    She tried all the media, all the different paper and styles. She kept everything neat and tidy in arge


    drawer with different separatingyers. Every time she left and came back it seemed that the room


    cleaned itself and renewed the media. Everything was spotless and replenished.


    There was a calm and weing air to the room. As if it was happy to be used, like being neglected for


    so long had caused it grief. She felt safe down here, and she had yet to even see Isaiah move in this


    direction. She did spend a few hours everyday watching him. Making sure he wasn’t doing anything


    she should worry about.


    He was growing a bit lethargic, the color of his eyes slowly turning cker. They were nearly solid


    ck now. She thought that perhaps she should hold off going down to the room but she just couldn''t


    help it, she kept going. She also kept a closer eye on his movements.


    "I''m running low on food." ir said to herself. She took a bite of her gran bar and took a drink of


    the water looking at the hell hound picture she had just drawn. She had done one for each of them.


    Learning their names from the conversations that Isaiah had with them.


    She kept Beta''s a bit more calm and subdued. His was a side profile with his head down as if he found


    something very interesting on the ground before him. He was simply moving through a rather


    nondescript room. Keeping him the subject. Keeping the feeling that he was the calm center.


    Next was Zeta, and from what ir had seen she was fierce and had a temper. Hers was a side profile


    as well, but the hair on her back was raised slightly and her head was low and looking at the viewer. A


    great deal of work had been put into the eyes. To make them intense, her jaws slightly agape with


    something dripping from them.


    Alpha camest, he had a regal air about him. The way that he sat there a three quarters view. His


    head turned toward the viewer but not so focused as she''d made Zeta''s. His gaze was more general as


    if he was taking in the viewer and all that was around him. Hisrge tail wrapped around his side and


    his body was stiff and straight.


    "Perfect." She said to herself. All of the hell hounds had rather nondescript backgrounds too. When


    looking at it, it felt as if they were nowhere, but somewhere at the same time. Just where they should


    be. Herst hanging there was Isaiah. They were after all her main subjects in the house besides the


    house itself, and she was slowly drawing different rooms.


    Isaiah she had a harder time with, unsure of how to portray him. She picked a side profile for him. He


    stood looking out a window and his front was easily illuminated. She had caught the casual look of how


    he wore his clothes, the way that he stood. At first nce there was a rather thoughtful expression on


    his face, but it was the eyes that changed that.


    They were very focused on something, like he knew exactly what he wanted and was fixed on it. His


    gaze was at odds with the uncaring way he held his body. She kept the hair unruly as he seemed to


    wear it. A bit more tamed in this picture to give a refined grace about him as a few locks fell over his


    forehead.


    "There''s something messed up with a person who drawers their killers." She gave a smile and then a


    bow to the pictures. "I do say that I am quite talented. why of course you are." She spoke to herself.


    ir put the drawings into therge cab in the closet. She''d missed this one the first few times


    she''d been in here. It pulled out sideways and had separatepartments that snapped together to


    hold the art work up straight and t. She had the drawings and paintings separate in each section and


    then by subject. They werebeled, greenhouse, general house, I.Z.A.B.


    She put her things away and thanked the room for the good session and left. She was almost up the


    stairs when she felt a shiver go down her spine and a warm sensation rush over her skin. Someone


    wasing, she didn''t know how but she knew.


    ir ran to the front of the house and tried to look out the front. It was a few minutes before she saw


    several cars pulling up. She tried to move forward but there was an invisible wall there, she touched it


    and it was solid.


    She moved to a different part to get past but couldn''t, she was trapped in this part of the house. She


    couldn''t go near the front entrance. She circled back to the kitchen area and found that she could get in


    here, and that it was freshly stocked.


    She grabbed a cloth bag left behind and could see someone walking away from the outside door. Their


    back to her. They must have just been in here restocking...her panicked shoving of things into the bag


    slowed.


    "Others areing." This hit her and she swallowed, but deep inside she felt this was a good thing.


    She wouldn''t have to be so on her toes. She could be a little less terrified that she would be found by


    Isaiah and torn apart or drained dry.


    ir stuffed her bag and opened the fridge. Fresh fruit was there and she needed that, needed


    vitamins. She''d found a bottle of them but this was good. She grabbed a peach and ate it and then


    grabbed an apple eating that too.


    ir hadn''t realized how starved for good food she was. She rummaged through the fridge and


    grabbed some of the deli meat and then bread and made herself arge sandwich. It was going to be a


    while before she got this again. She also continued to nce at the doors and feel around her. She


    wasn''t going to be caught when she made it this far.


    The sound ofughter and arger crowd came to her. She moved toward the kitchen door and peaked


    in. The dining room table was gone and instead the room was set up for what looked like a gathering of


    some kind. Not a party per say, but then she noted the stuff on the tables around the room.


    "Drugs?" She said to herself in shock. There was definite drug paraphernalia. While she''d never


    touched the stuff, there was enough there to tell her that a small fortune had been spent on it. She


    wasn''t going to waste her breath on them. One it would go unheeded and she''d expose herself to


    Isaiah. She moved back and took her bag of food, eating her sandwich and holding a container of


    orange juice. Honestly she needed to slow down, her stomach hurt. However it felt so good to be full.


    As she came to the hall that connected to the main staircase she heard Isaiah''s voice. A different man


    too, she nced around the corner. Isaiah it seemed couldn''t reach the man but it was clear that he


    wanted to. She''d never seen such a feral look as right then and there. She listened only for a moment,


    before slipping away unseen.