It was a dark and silent night in a quaint town in Transylvania. A lone wolf, with apparently nothing better to do, dramatically howled at the full moon suspended in the black sky. The small roads were hollow and lifeless and only the crying wolf dared make a sound. A young man wandered in the dimly lit streets, wilted flowers in hand, and a broken heart stabbing into his chest. He tried to stop the stinging in his eyes, but it was rendered useless. He finally slumped against a wall, and weeped, his quiet sobs echoing in the brick alleyway.
A shadow swooped across the lamp post, stealing the flame from its spindly pillar. The young man abruptly stopped crying. Not wanting to guess what it could be, he ran. He continued to run down the empty streets, his echoey footsteps exposing him. As he ran, he noticed that all of the lamp posts he passed started to go out. Horrified, he started sprinting, but the darkness of the streets only got quicker. As he turned to another street, the darkness caught up to his heels, and he kept catching swift shadows in the corners of his eyes. He ran into an alley. The wrong alley. He slammed against a dead end. He whipped his head around to see the last of the light vanish. A towering figure of darkness delicately walked down the alleyway. The young man begged to be left alone but was interrupted when the figure lunged at him, pinning him to the floor. The young man stared horrified at the large iridescent eyes bearing into his soul. The young man begged even louder, warm tears streaming down his face. The figure opened his jaw and inched towards the young man's face. Closer and closer until… a small spindly tongue unwinded out of the figure’s mouth and found its way toward the young man's tears.
Shlp shlp shlp shlp shlp shlp shlp
The young man's screams rung across the entire hollow town.
✦ ✦ ✦
“A Butterfly Man?!” It's five days later, and a young woman walking out the train station shouts that on impulse, then shies back down when everybody stares. The young woman looks back at the newspaper with large print saying BUTTERFLY MAN STRIKES AGAIN.
This is ridiculous… Jacqueline thinks. Jacqueline Harker is a young English Lawyer fresh out of Law School. She was supposed to meet up with Count Julian for a financial proposition, but then she reads about this knock-off mothman that drinks human tears that might screw the whole thing over. She really can’t let the whole thing screw over, not this early in her career. She madly reads more of the paper until her eye catches a small article. Want to save a town? Han Velsing wants your help to catch the Butterfly Man. “Perfect,” she says.
✦ ✦ ✦
Jacqueline tentatively walks into a shabby tavern and walks up to the bar.
“Excuse me sir,” she says to the bartender, “I’m Jacqueline Harker and I was hoping you could show me where I can find Mr. Han Velsing.”
“Yeah. He’s jus’ over there miss.” He points across the room to a tall, burly figure with a strong jaw, and striking red hair, wearing a mysterious brown trench coat.
“Mr. Han Velsing… he’s perfect,” she says to herself, regaining confidence. But it was then a small skinny boy pops his head around the towering figure.
“Excuse me miss, did you just call my name?”
Jacqueline drops her jaw. The young man walks up to her. “Are you here because of the newspaper article? You’re here to help me take down the monster!” Han Velsing says, way too enthusiastically to be professional. Jacqueline considers lying but realizes that she doesn’t have many other options. She heaves a heavy sigh.
“Yes. Yes, I am.” She grimaces at how excited Han Velsing gets at her answer. What on earth have I gotten myself into?
✦ ✦ ✦
Jacqueline stands siff and unmoving in the entrance of a- disheveled room, to say it kindly. There’s miscellaneous papers crawling on the walls, heaps of junk on every possible surface, their grotesque shapes illuminated by the soft glow of a small fireplace. She only finds one area she can’t critique, and that’s the flooring- because she can’t currently see the flooring.
“Feel free to make yourself at home,” Han says, attempting to be a good host.
“Thank you...but- I’ve really just popped in to just ask some questions.” Jacqueline stares at the sheer mass of clutter in the room.
“Of course, yeah- well come in and I’ll explain everything.” Han starts to erratically search the room for papers which he starts to collect.
Jacqueline winces and starts to step and shuffle her way into the room. Somehow there’s only two people in it, and it still feels very crowded.
“Might I ask why you want to catch the Butterfly man?” Han says, still setting papers onto a board without looking in her direction.
“Is that really important?” Jacqueline really doesn't want to tell him what was going on in her business. She has this weird feeling that if she told him where she was going after he explained the Butterfly man thing to her he might… follow her or something? Like a lost puppy
“Well the last person who said they wanted to help was actually just trying to rob me, so if you don’t mind I'd really appreciate it,” Han says between a nervous chuckle.
Jacqueline exhales. Well, I’m not going to behave rude on my first job. “I’m a lawyer from England. I came here to help a client from my firm with a property transaction. ” Jacqueline folds her arms. “Well, the newspaper said that the Bug Man drinks tears right?”
“Butterfly man, and yes.”
“Well, one of my clients is coming over here from England to do the property transaction in person. The house was her childhood home so she wants to meet the buyer face to face to see if he’s a good man and whatnot.”
“Ok.”
“She’s pregnant.”
Han pauses what he’s doing for a moment. “Oh.” was all he could mutter.
“Yes, the bug boy isn’t the best thing to have around your very emotional, very pregnant, first client,” she says, uncomfortably shifting her weight. Han stops fidgeting with the papers on the wall, apparently done setting up whatever he was setting up.
“Ok, take a seat.”
“No.”
“Um- ok then. ” He grabs the end of a cloth covering a large span of the wall. “Lady and gents, I give you, The Butterfly man!” He proceeds to rip off the cloth dramatically. Ripping off half of the stuff he set up on the wall with it. “OH! Oh I’m so sorry, um-” He desperately picks up the papers back onto the wall.
This was a mistake. Jacqueline thinks, eyes wide.
“Um- there! The butterfly man.” He gestures to the wall covered in nests of red string and blurry photos and sketches. “The Butterfly Man, Transylvania's most notorious monster. Sucks the tears of the innocent, and will do whatever it takes to get it. Including multiple accounts of vandalism and breaking an entry.” He points to a small photo of a humanoid shadow with huge wings crashing through a window towards the screaming crying woman sitting at a dining room table. “From my research he’s a humanoid creature about the height of two and a half meters tall.” (that’s about eight feet tall for all of you dysfunctional Americans.) “He has huge butterfly wings on his back, and two iridescent eyes. Some reports even found sightings of atene and thin grey hairs on his skin. My theory-” He dramatically pins another paper onto the wall with a picture of a man turning into a sort of animal.
Wow, he’s explaining this really well. Jacqoline thinks. Almost as if he’s practiced this to himself multiple times. Perhaps in front of a mirror too?
“I’m pretty sure- no- I’m positive that he’s a Lycrothomic creature that turns to man and lives within this town.” He sits onto a desk and starts to chew on a pencil that he fabricated out of nowhere. “Now, I have no idea why we sucks tears- my guess is to live forever or something- and I still am not sure why he is the way he is. My theory is since no one that got ‘slurped’ is a Butterflyman he was either cursed, or born this way. There could be little Butterfly Man larvae for all we know…”
As Han sat on the desk with a quizzical expression, Jacqoline was now wondering why he was the way he was.
“So, why haven't the police done anything?”
“They all say he just isn’t worth the trouble to catch because his crimes are so minor, but I think they’re scared ”
She takes in the information. So- It’s a strange creature that’s never been clearly seen, the police don’t bother with, and does the equivalent damage of a group of teenage boys, in a town full of crazy people. Thank goodness, The Butterfly Man doesn’t exist!
“Well if The Butterfly Man doesn’t do much damage then I agree with the police. ” Jacqueline starts shuffling back to the doorway and waves her hand. “Thanks for everything, have a good life.”
“Wait!” Han grabs her by the arm and pulls her back in his direction.
“I beg your-”
“This isn’t just about the property damage, ok?” There was a new tenderness in his face when he spoke. He quickly takes his hand off her and shoves it down his side. “No one wants their tears to get ‘slurped’, so everyone tries not to get sad. Everyone in this town ignores their feelings now and- it’s really hurting them. I can see it.”
“So?”
“Um-what?”
“Did I stutter? I think keeping your emotions in check is good, necessary even at times. I wouldn’t be a lawyer right now if I let my emotions get in the way.
“For example, do I look frustrated to you?” She said with a sweet smile.
“Um- No?”
“Exactly.” Jacqueline starts to make her way back out, when Han speaks.
“My dad died eight months ago, and I wasn’t allowed to cry.”
Jacqueline pauses her movement towards the door. “Oh.” was all he could mutter. She looked back expecting to see watering eyes and scrunched eyebrows, but she was chilled to see his face completely emotionless. It was like trying to capture the expression on a stone statue.
Oh goodness. These poor people really are hurting… With that realization, Jacqueline breaths in a deep, deep, breath.
“Ok Hans, who do you think The Butterfly man is? Let's catch this pest.” Han’s face immediately snaps back into enthusiasm and he almost goes in for a hug, before quickly realizing his miscalculation and reverting to a handshake.
“Team?” he offers.
“Temporary team,” she confirms with a small smile.
Good. I’ll help Han as far as he wants to go. Then we can prove The Butterfly Man doesn’t exist, and then this town won’t be held back from a hoax. She thinks, feeling once again, very sure of herself.
✦ ✦ ✦
Jacqueline and Han Velsing sit squished together in a rocking carriage. The carriage would’ve actually fit them both comfortably, if Han didn’t insist on bringing a ludacris amount of rogue papers and lopsided copper contraptions.
“I still don’t understand why we have to visit your client first,” Han says.
“Well, my client is why I'm in town in the first place and if you want my help you’ll stick it out and do this first,” Jacqueline retorts. She can’t help but be cranky. She rubs the headache that started to form the moment Han climbed into the carriage. Han, according to himself, had the ability to invent brilliant machines, conduct extensive research, and calmly interview panicking witnesses. What she has observed is that he was also incapable of shutting up. He repeated the plan to catch the butterfly man over and over again and had repeatedly said she had not made a mistake to hire him, which she was beginning to disagree with. Just survive a couple more hours with him, she says trying to comfort herself, then this whole headache will be over.
“Oh good. We’re finally here,” she says. As she leaves the carriage, Han Velsing snaps out of deep thought and suddenly becomes uneasy.
“Wait, you didn’t tell me he lives in the Castle of Dark!”
Jacqueline stiffens.“Pardon me?”
“The Castle of Dark, the Haunted Mansion, call it what you will, it’s the one place that people have entered and have never come out.” While he spoke he slips on a strange backpack device with a sort of metal hose attached to its side and hastily grabs another. “I’m also positive this is where the Butterfly Man is hiding.” Jacqueline struggles to process what he just said.
“So you’re telling me- you're positive that my client Count Julian is the Butterfly man?”
“Whether he is it, or it’s hiding without his knowledge, I’m positive it’s in there,” he states with a deadly seriousness.
That's ridiculous… Jacqueline thinks. She starts walking up the large manor, but then suddenly feels unusually skittish. She quickly slips on the second ridiculous backpack device before putting on a brave face and heading through the gates. As the wind closes it behind them.
“So… what do these do exactly?” Jacqueline asks, referring to the backpacks.
“What are butterflies’ one weakness? Cold. These backpacks are filled with liquid CO2. We can freeze him using this tube and trigger.” Jacqueline furrows her eyebrows in curiosity.
“Where exactly do you get something like this?”
“Um, I didn’t actually- well it’s kind of my own design.” Jacqueline’s eyebrows shot up.
“You’re kidding? That’s amazing. It might even be impressive if it weren’t so ridiculous.” Han Velsing bashfully dismisses the compliment, and Jacqueline has the thought that perhaps… he’s not that bad? Sure he’s awkward and clumsy, but he seems to have a good brain.
Jacqueline opens the large heavy door of the manor to reveal its dark and hollow interior.
“Excuse me? Count Julian?” she calls. “It’s Jacqueline Harker, your lawyer. You wrote me a couple of weeks ago?” The lack of response makes her stomach churn. They start walking inside with no greeting but the echo of their footsteps. “I don’t understand, I-”
“Do you smell that?” Han interrupts. Jacqueline, despite better judgment, takes a deep whiff in.
“Flowers?” She doesn't understand what is so strange about that until she sees that all of the flowers, which there are a surprising amount of, aren’t potted. All surfaces are covered in actual dirt with living flowers growing from it. It's bizarre. Like if a plant creature had taken over the Mansion itself.
Well that’s… a little strange. She thinks
“It’s for the nectar,” Han states. “It means if we follow the flowers, we find the monster.” They press on to different rooms, each possessed by a different array of plants. Every time they pass a room, the knot in Jaqoline’s stomach sank deeper and deeper into her stomach. The idea of Count Julian being a bug monster; ridiculous. However, the idea of another creature of some sort existing; a bit less ridiculous. They go room to room until they stumble upon this one room, a bed chamber, that is bare and has no life at all.
“No plants, let's move on.”
“Wait!” Jacqueline pipes in. “Look.” She points at the grass-stained scuff marks on the floor. “This looks fresh.” her heartbeat thrums in her ears.
“It doesn’t make sense though, it doesn’t have any flowers. Or plants for that matter.” A cold shiver hits Jacqueline along with an idea.
“Han… If you were a starving monster, what would you be doing on a daily basis?”
“Well, probably not much. I’d most likely be eating, and when I’m not eating I'd be-”
Two iridescent eyes reveal themself on the ceiling in the darkness.
“Sleeping.” Jacqueline whispers. The moment the words leave her lips, the eyes immediately dive and pin Han to the ground.
“Han!” Jacqueline shouts as Han trembles in horror. Tears start to swell in his eyes. The creature opens his jaw and its tongue unwinds out his mouth. Like a serpent, the small pink tongue slithers up his face towards his eyes, closer and closer until it finally- Just then, Jacqueline takes her backpack, and wacks the creature with it, knocking it off Han. And without delay, he whips out the device's nozzle and shoots the creature with a freezing gust. Jacqueline helps Han get up and as the fog clears, her jaws drop at the sight of Count Julian completely frozen and covered in thick frost. The iridescent eyes closed as if asleep. Jaqoline remembers to breathe after a second, but has seemingly forgotten how to speak. They both stand awkwardly, processing what has just happened.
“So… want to grab a coffee and go get the police or something?” Han offers.
“Yeah. Yeah sure. That sounds like a plan.” So with an extra spritz of freeze on the Butterfly Man just to be safe, they head into town and allow the police to properly imprison the creature. The townsfolk were free and Jacqueline and Han lived happily ever after.
At least they would've.
Tiny circular forms rest under the sheets of the bed in the hollow mansion. The sheet starts to quiver in one area. Then another, and then another, until the whole bed was rattling like sand in the steady rhythm of an early earthquake. Then, a sort of slimy crack rings in the air.
The caterpillars want their papa back.