Chapter Two; The Laugh Motel

It was then that she materialized, seemingly out of thin air. She was so...different, and yet so gorgeous at the same time. James looked upon her etheral beauty in awe as he took in her new look.

She wore a tight, revealing black dress that betrayed her every curve and crevice to any who looked upon her. Her feet were bare, barely grazing the ash as she levitated above the ground. Her eyes were red, a bloody red, full of pain. Her once vibrant crimson hair was now a raven black that fell well below her floating toes and folded into itself in the ashes she was over. Tearing from her back as they watched were a set of feathered wings, black as her hair and no less stunning then her eyes. She truly looked like an angel of death.

She looked over the distance as the town crumbled behind her, as if waiting for something. James looked down and screwed his eyes shut, not sure of what to do but overcome with feelings, foreign feeling, so mixed, so confusing. Then, the next thing he knew, he and Father Cassius were kneeling before the dark angel that was once his vibrant Jessie. He slowly rose his head to face her and as he did so found her gaze resting on him. She seemed to be glowing as he looked upon her and as she did upon him. But, though his eyes were full of love as he beheld her, he could tell something else was behind her gaze. And yet, he couldn't pull away, he was mesmerized, caught in her spell.

Music seemed to start playing around them as the scenery around them changed. It was a piano, and a beautiful male voice, no one that James had every heard.Then, Jessie disappeared as suddenly as she had come, leaving them in front of a hotel, The Laugh Hotel.

"Where are we?" asked James, almost afraid of what Father Cassius would reply.

"We are in the house of fear that she has built."

"It says its a hotel."

"I suppose this part of it is. It must be the entrance."

They went through the dark doors that bore a scary resemblence to the vacant looking building they had been in front of minutes ago. Once inside the entrance, it looked like a luxorious hotel. The male voice singing could now be heard clearly, though he couldn't be seen. There wasn't, in fact, anyone that could be seen. It was totally empty-except for the four primaves standing near the door way. They turned abruptly as James and Cassius entered.

"Who are you?" demanded Desiree.

"You fools! What are you doing here? You should have retreated to the temple of sin long ago! Now you two will go through our judgement." Said Dandre harshly.

James only glared at them as Father Cassius shifted nervously. Then, for a moment, the singer's voice paused, but the melody continued.

"Are you ready?" he could hear Jessie whisper menacingly, though he could not see her.

"I'm already!" sang the voice whitch had been previously singing."Will you carry me?"

An elevator door appeared out of nowhere and a bell rang, signaling its arrival. For a while, the group only stared at it, but it did not move.It took awhile, but James finally built up enough courage to go inside of it, followed reluctantly by Father Cassius and the Primave Elders. It closed immediatly, preventing any of them from having second thoughts. It oppened on the other side seemingly without moving at all, to a dark room. No music could be heard now, only laughs. But the voice sang out a few more times before the room became fully lighted.

"Poor souls, poor souls, poor souls..."

Once the room was fully lighted, the sights and sounds were immediatly appareant and and more shocking than anything James had every bore witness to, even in the Team Rocket tortues chambers.

Blood was splattered everywhere, trash bags of dead bodies and animals were being hauled out by shadowed faces. This place also had no artificial light, meaning that every inch of it was lit by torches, increasing the creepy mood of the place. Laughs were heard again, louder this time, followed by countless screams and zealous reading by five hairy monsters from five burning books in French words.

Then, they saw the source of the screams, as whips adorned with rose thorns tore into bodies that were already as corpses, as acid dropped from a small hole in a stell bucket just above the heads, slowly eating away at the skull of its victim, as huge needles were stuck into outstretched bodies, making them as pin cushions. Then, the singing voice began to chant again.

"There is no hell, there is no shame, there is no hell like that old hell,"

The monsters sprang upon their prey after they were no more than shells, wanting, praying, thirsting for death, draining the "purified" blood from their bodies before discarding them like candy wrappers.

James nearly threw up, and he might have, had the elevator door not closed. It opened on the other side to reveal another dark room.

The voice was silent now, as were the laughing voices that sounded hauntingly similiar to the Primave elders. The room bore its secrets to them as it became dimly torch lit, as the other.

Chained to the wall were children and strong-looking young adults, each one of them looking so scared that they could hardly breathe. Among them was Jessie. James immediatly picked her out of the hundreds that adorned the walls. He ran to her, but a moment too late. The were-wolf-like monsters emerged from nowhere, each taking a wall as the largest one stood in the middle, seemingly oblivous to James' presence.

The monster who had taken the south wall had immediatly gone to Jessie, young Jessie, seven years old, dressed in rags, her hair tangled, her eyes screaming out for help, blood drippping from her mouth as she bit her tongue to keep from crying out.

The monsters suddenly all took human form as they began to torture their victims in their own way. It didn't take long for James to realize that these were the embodiements of the Primave Elders standing behind him. Delilah was on the north wall, sticking the large pins from the previous room all around the heart of one of her victims, licking the blood as it dripped from his bare, muscular chest, ignoring his pleading for mercy.

Desiree took the east wall, cracking her rose-thorn wip accross the same man countless times before he became a bloody pulp. It was then she began licking up the blood that he had spilt. She then kissed him passionately.

LaDominique took the west wall, an acid bottle in hand. He looked at a young woman, a terrified young woman and asked her,"What is wrong, dear lady?""You, killed my husband, you...will...kill me!""Don't be silly you daft woman. You are much to beautiful to be wasted like that. You shall be the servant of our house, our town, along with everyone else here. But first,, you must go through the ritual, my ritual. You will be mine." With that, he sunk his teeth into her neck, biting off much of her flesh and leaving a gaping wound whitch he poured a bit of his acid on, enough to eat away all the surrounding skin as well as the muscles and tissues under it, until it came to the bone. The woman screamed in agony as he repeated the process. James cringed at the sight before turning his focus to Jessie.

The man was the same who had been looking at them that morning. He focused his wild gaze on the scared little girl just before ripping her clothes off and violating her, as he released blood from her body, letting it run along the ground. Jessie cried out,

"Help me Help me! Please help me! Don't please, mister, it hurts, it hurts, Mommy Daddy..." She screamed, tears flowing from her eyes.

James ran to her, trying to fend off the monster, trying to kill him for all he was worth, but to no avail. He looked helplessly at Jessie as he stood behind the monster. Her eyes were wide open, never blinking as tears escaped them. For a moment, he thought she saw him, but no. She was whispering something over and over to herself, her drenched lips scarcely moving."I'm in a happy place, with Mommy and Daddy, I'm in a happy place, with Mommy and Daddy..."

James fell to his knees, screaming as he tried to fight off the man.

"Jessie! It'll be OK! I'll save you! I'll save you! I'll kill him!" He clawed at the man, his hands going through him. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Stop, child. It is no use. This is only a shadow of things past." He looked up to see Desiree's sympathetique face, twisting in disgust as it watched her brother ravaging the little girl."I had no idea we were such...monsters." she said, self loathing in her voice.

James pulled away from her, and reached for Jessie one last time, this time catching her.

She immediatly shifted back into the Aphotic Angel as he held onto her waist with both of his hands, kneeled before her, his head resting against her stomache, sobbing.

The illusion vanished and the party were back in the dark, though they could see each other quite well. They watched as James clutched onto the Aphotic Angel's legs, hugging her as if she would float away, crying profusely as he professed his love for her repeatedly and how he would never let her go through that again.

She only stared blankly ahead, seemingly unaffected as he gushed out his emotions.She put out her hand and beconed them to follow, seemingly dissolving from James' arms as she began to lead them down what was now a hallway. Father Cassius helped James to his feet as they began to follow her.

"I can't believe it! I just, can't see how anyone could go through that and live." Sobbed James, looking at the figure leading them down the hallway."Poor Jessie!" He began to weep again. As Father Cassius comforted him, he looked back to see a sign above a door that they had all been lead through without even realizing it.

"Now exiting The Laugh Hotel" it read.

Note: this particular chapter was inspired and based largely on, you guessed it, some DAVID BOWIE songs called "The Hearts Filthy Lesson" and "The Motel". Kind of twisted when you really listen to the lyrics; I thought, what better way to enter a house of judgement than through the place where Jessie first became what she was? I didn't really mean it to come out as it did, but here it is; I hope it interests you enough to keep readping! Also, please note; many chapters in this particular fic will be based on or inspired by songs, though not neccessarily DB songs.