Cyrus’ heart jumped faster and faster as he walked up a flight of elegantly molded stairs. A carpet made of pink velvet material ran down each step and made a crinkling noise as he stepped on it. For some reason, it made him think of Rosemary and he felt unnerved again. None of the other Everbloods from Celine to Ayne to Bunting possessed such an uncanny feel to their nature. Rosemary had the face of an elegant woman, but it could change to something disturbing in a flash. Cyrus remembered being tied up and at the mercy of her shifting face and the way her sophisticated voice would drop to a guttural low.

When Cyrus reached the top of the stairs, his short breathes charged the frozen air and he prepared himself for his worst nightmare clad in elegant jewels and a cocktail dress as he pulled the icy latch of the final door. He opened the door and couldn’t believe his eyes.

Cyrus and his friends entered a ballroom filled with guests. Humanoid demons with blue and green faces and pointed horns stood at engagement tables, dressed in their finest tuxedos and dresses. They sipped wine as red as blood and chuckled to themselves as they watched a live performance. A skeleton played jazzy honky tonk piano on a large stage underneath a towering arched window. A burnt cigar in his mouth and a top hat on his head, the skeleton’s fingers deftly flew up and down the grand piano as he grinned broadly. Frozen temperatures made the arched window crackle and rattle as wind battered against it. A bone-rattling chill drafted through a large crack in the center of the window.

“This is not what I expected,” Cyrus said.

“Welcome!” A womanly voice greeted him with a lush demeanor.

Cyrus turned his attention to the figure standing in front of him. Pale as a cadaver with chilling purple eyes, Rosemary managed a small smirk on her blood red lips. Her body was draped in a black cocktail dress. It traced every curve on her body in truly elegant form. With one hand on her hip, she extended a manicured hand forward, it clutched a martini glass with an eyeball stuck into the rim like a lemon. She was flanked by two handsome demon men with chiseled features, purple tuxedos and bright red bow ties. “What took you so long? You’re just in time for my Red Moon engagement party. We’ve got dead entertainment, rotten food and even a special surprise at the end.”

Cyrus refused to meet her eyes--one of the scariest parts of her visage--and he shrank away. “I’m sorry, we’ve got to go. I have a promise I need to keep to Princess Trinity.”

“Nonsense,” Rosemary said, giving a cold giggle. “At least stay for the main attraction: Me! You know it took them 666 years to book me here…”

“Didn’t we just show up here?” One of the demon men asked, causing Rosemary’s eyes to flare with anger. They became white and pupil-less, and she cranked her head to the side with a sickening crack. A sharp tongue shot out of her mouth, impaling the demon. He dropped to the floor and Rosemary quickly retracted her tongue. She gave a sultry smile as her high flighty voice implored Cyrus. “As I was saying, at least stay for the encore. Then you can fight little old me if that suits your fancy.”

Rosemary strolled over to a table covered in a tattered gray table cloth. She brushed off some mold spores and gave a winsome grin. “We’ve even reserved a table just for you. It’s been 6 centuries in the waiting.”

Cyrus looked at his friends, but no one could manage an answer. Cyrus nodded. Everyone sat around the table and a demonic waiter with a green face, a widows peak and curly mustache dropped a plate full of blackened eclairs that oozed green and purple slime.

Cyrus took one whiff of the rotten eclairs and gagged from their nauseous fumes. He leaned on the table and Rosemary giggled.

“Bunting was the only one who could cook food for the living,” Rosemary said with a cold, sarcastic tone. “But you killed him. Nice job.”

She raised her neatly manicured but sickly pale hand. “Just try to enjoy yourselves. And DON’T think of trying to run upstairs. I’ve put two highly trained titans in front of the door. Unless you want every single one of these rotten eclairs crammed down your esophagus, I wouldn’t try to get past them until my encore is over.”

Cyrus looked at the exit and saw two orange and black skinned demons with bright red tuxedos towering in front it. His mind began to work overtime on how he could get past them. As soon as Rosemary headed towards the stage, Cyrus whispered to his friends. “Everyone, you see that window overlooking the stage? When Rosemary starts singing, I’m going to use my blaze-blast and shoot her through the window. That will be your opening to start attacking everyone. Sound good?”

“Wow, Big Orc Prince,” Oga started. “Did you come up with that right now? Unlike us real Orcs, you really know how to use your brain.”

“That is pretty clever, prince,” Van said. “It’ll give us the element of surprise to take on all these demons. Maybe it might draw those titans away from that door!”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” Cyrus said with a big smile on his plump face. “You guys will distract them and I’ll run up and save Trinity.”

“We got ourselves a tactical genius,” Antonio said, but Cyrus didn’t hear him. He was already daydreaming how he’d be able to save Trinity with his brilliant plan. He’d let her know how it was all his doing why she was safe. He prided himself in how far he had come. For the longest time, the biggest trek he’d take was when he’d walk down to the kitchen in his castle to remind the chef to use extra salt on his dishes. Now he had trekked all across the land and become a true hero in the process….or so he thought.

Startled by Rosemary’s chilling voice as it echoed around the ballroom, Cyrus looked up. All of the guests quieted down to avoid incurring her wrath.

“To conclude our Red Moon engagement party,” Rosemary said in her bubbly, sickly sweet tone. “I’ve got a little number for you and our special guests. It’s called Moonmadness.”

A demon on a drum kit hit the cymbals loudly and started tapping in an upbeat pattern. The skeleton on the piano rolled the ivories all the way to the top before playing energetically, and Rosemary started to wiggle her hips back and forth excitedly. Her voice was flighty and cute, oozing a poisoned sugar over every word she said.

“Feeling a bit hazy and a little bit crazy?

Head feeling like a freshly plucked daisy?

It’s Moonmadness, baby!”

“Red Moon cutting across the sky

Peeking from the clouds like a demon’s eye

From your deepest insanity, there’s no place to hide

When that moonmadness starts to fly!”

Cyrus watched Rosemary’s hips as she continued to dance to the jazzy music. He felt a lightheaded from her performance, but he quickly reached into Archibald’s suitcase and pulled out the dragoon water and dragon powder. He sprinkled the powder on his hands and held the bag of water up to his mouth. Rosemary began to scat on stage and Cyrus quickly readied his aim. He had one shot but he was confident he could do this. “For Trinity,” he said to himself.

Rosemary stopped dancing as the music continued. She raised her hand right to the red moon. It now reflected through the window. “To our special guest, Prince Cyrus…” Her face changed from pale white to a demonic blue and her eyes rolled back in her head, revealing the veins twisting through her eyeballs. “May he forever lose himself in his dreams. May the red moon guide him to nowhere. May he never see his sweet princess ever again…”

Cyrus’ nostrils flared as he snorted the dragon powder and drank the water. He ballooned himself so large, he flipped the table causing all the rotten eclairs to tumble off it and his friends to jump back. He unleashed a blast of circling fire and water so hard, Rosemary didn’t have time to return her eyes back to their normal state. With a crash, she flew out the window falling into the ocean below.

Demons surrounded the Prince and his friends. Even the two titan bouncers lumbered over, ready to fight the interlopers.

“Ok my friends,” Cyrus said. “Battle on!”

Cyrus quickly slid underneath a lava titans thighs and bolted towards the door He moved as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. He heaved open the door and started running up a tight spiral staircase. The adrenaline in his legs made it so even if he was tired, he couldn’t feel anything but the impetus to save his dear Trinity.

He reached the top and bolted into an antechamber. There was nothing in the room but garish hot pink wallpaper and a pair of large wooden doors. He ran through it into another antechamber with the same wallpaper and another set of doors. He made his way across and entered a third one. It was all the same, except this time, the wallpaper was red and shifting in weird blurs. Weird moans were coming from inside the walls like they were living. Cyrus shook his head. Hazy and uneasy feelings came over him, like he was looking at the inside of a human body. He slowly made his way to the door in spite of a pounding headache. He opened the door and found himself in a monastery.

Inside, there were rows of wooden pews and a lengthy carpet leading up to an altar. Large stained glass windows overlooked it with images of a magnificent lady with lightning yellow hair, wielding thunderbolt in her hand and a figure shrouded in a dark cape and hood. Through an enormous crack in the window, the red moon shone bright red beams onto a coffin in the middle of the altar. “Trinity,” Cyrus cried as he dashed towards the altar.

Cyrus lifted the lid of a black coffin and saw Trinity laying with her eyes closed and her sweet lips pursed and gently breathing. Her blonde hair was strewn in curls and flowed across the inside of the coffin like honey. She was a ghostly pale, half way between living and dead. “Trinity…” Cyrus said softly.

Suddenly, Trinity’s bright blue eyes shot open. “Cyrus, you saved me!” She said while looking pale and trembly. She rose up quickly, lifting up the legs underneath her frilly pink dress. “Let’s get out of here before she comes.”

The princess started down the altar. Cyrus was relieved but strangely disappointed by her reaction. He didn’t even have time to tell her about all his miraculous feats of strength and wit. Cyrus cried, “Trinity wait!”

But the princess made her way to the door. Much to his relief, she waited for him by it. Cyrus, nearly breathless from all that running spoke between breaths. “Trinity, don’t worry. I’m going to protect you until we get out of the castle.”

Trinity turned her head around. There were dark circles under her eyes but she smiled. “Thank you my prince,” she said with a nod, and entered the door.

Cyrus sighed and responded with a nonexistent muscle. “Anytime, m’lady.”

They entered the third antechamber and dashed across it. Cyrus wanted to make small talk with the princess. He hoped to get on her good side. “So how’ve you been making out in this castle, Princess? I’m so happy you managed to survive.”

Trinity turned her head around again, this time, her eye lids drooped slightly over her eyes. She had a far away smile, but spoke with a light bob of her head, “It was scary but I managed to survive. Just for you.”

She turned around again, and they came to the second antechamber. Cyrus wished to continue the talk. “How did you survive all this time?”

Trinity turned around again. Her eyelids drooped further over her eyes and the smile on her face remained hazy. Her face was unusually pale. “By thinking about you.”

Cyrus’ cheeks turned a shade on crimson. It distracted him a minute from her drooping face. Trinity turned around and they entered the third and final antechamber. At last, Trinity stood by the stairs with her back turned. Cyrus put his hand on her shoulder. “Trinity, Trinity. Are you ok? Why did you stop?”

Cyrus turned Trinity around to see that her eyelids had fully drooped over her face, and her mouth sagged in a frown.

“Trinity what’s wrong,” Cyrus said feeling very uneasy. “Why can’t you open your eyes?”

Trinity’s voice was stern and serious for the first time. “Actually Cyrus…you didn’t save me. I died tonight…”

“Wh-what?!” Cyrus exclaimed. He reached his fingers onto Trinity’s face and opened her eyes. Two shriveled eyes hung out of hollowed out sockets. Maggots were crawling on them and her face stretched into a wrinkled toothless smile. Cyrus screamed as his legs wiggled and completely gave out as fell to the floor. His whole body was numb and jellylike. He watched helpless from the floor as Trinity fell backwards as an empty corpse.

Her form started to morph on the floor until it shifted into a grown, voluptuous woman. Her dark bob was perfectly cut and her purple eyes were as cold as frozen muscatel. She let out a cruel laugh. “Happy to see me, my baby boy prince? Perhaps you’ll think twice before disobeying the words of the dark dame!”