I sat down at the long table next to Alexandria, she had been very quiet and I figured something was bothering her. But what bothered me wasn't the fact that I sitting right next to Doctor Frankenstein to keep her and her creature apart. Or the werewolf sitting across from me, it was the fact that the host of this event was the daughter of Jim Moriarty. I knew all about him because of how much I read about Sherlock Holmes, and even before that Alex was also going on about it. How she was amazed at how clever Moriarty could be but still be crazy, the complex story, and her obsession with the Holmes and Watson ship.

Speaking of Watson, if I was Sherlock Holmes where was my Watson? Did he or she not exist in whatever this was?
"You look troubled," Doctor Frankenstein said pulling me from my thoughts. "What's on your mind?" She asked. I didn't expect her to make any contact with me as I had only heard her yell at her creature. It was unlike the relationship I read about it in the book where the doctor was terrified of their creation.
"Just trying to figure out our host," I answered. "She seems different than I expected."
"We are all different Ms. Holmes," she answered. "It's why we are here, we want to feel normal."
"Right umm Doctor..." I began but she cut me off.
"Kelly is my name no need to call me doctor." she answered.

I didn't say anything and I remembered how she said that she had tried to bring her husband back. A sudden thought came to mind when I looked back at the creature and then at Kelly. The two obviously couldn't stand each other, so maybe he had once been her husband but she learned the hard way. That no one should have control of life and death. I kept these thoughts to myself and stared down at the note with my name on the table. Well not my actual name, the person I was pretending to be at the moment. I gulped and saw that everyone had their name on a note at a different seat. What was I going to do if princess Moriarty figured out that I wasn't the real Sherlock Holmes.

"Wonderful you've all found your seats,"  Marina said. "I hope you all enjoy the wonderful meal I've prepared for you all," she continued. "My servants and I have worked hard on it, and most likely you have noticed the notes," she kept going and my skin began crawling. I couldn't help but feel like I was looking into the cold unblinking eyes of snake, watching my every move. Whenever she looked in my direction, and it was pure torture for me to hide it when I knew she was looking at me. "I only have one rule regarding them only you may read them not share them." That was a suspicious rule but I obviously couldn't say anything out loud, so I picked up the note and decided to follow what everyone else was doing.

My old friend at this point you've most likely figured out who I really am, and why I brought everyone here. If you recall I told you in your invitation I would give you more information, well I'm giving it to you now. In ten days all but one of the guests will either be dead or cured, depending on your choices. If you don't figure it out by then you will end up just like your friend.
-Professor Moriarty >:)
P.S I know who you really are Clara, and if you want me to keep quiet you'll do what I want. My heart stopped and I almost dropped the note in my hands. How could she have figured it out when I was from a different time? It was impossible unless Marina knew something I didn't. She clearly knew more about all these guests then I did and was holding this against me. No one would trust me if I tried to tell them I was from the future, and I had to help them.

I didn't know how but she had something bad planned and I had to stop her from killing them.
"Is everything alright Ms. Holmes?" Marina asked coming over to me and placing her hand on my shoulder. While the gesture was meant to be comforting I know that her intention was to scare me off. And I wasn't going to let her push me around, but I couldn't do that as Clara. If I was going to outsmart the precious of the psychotic Moriarty, I had to be Sherlock Holmes.
"Yes I'm sorry about that, I just sat down too fast," I answered. "But don't mind me, we should get this celebration started." She stared at me for another minute before letting go and becoming excited. I couldn't tell if the brief pause was because she was disappointed that I wasn't scared or that she was planning something else.

Either way I needed to stay two steps ahead of her and to do that, I needed to play her game and get to know the guests. Each one of them obviously had their own back story which turned them into who or what they were today. But knowing that Hyde had been right earlier, I decided that I would spend the next ten days finding out all I can about the so called monsters among me. Marina clapped her hands and a bunch of her servants came out pushing a cart of food, even though there was some food on the table. A fruit basket that was full of apples, pears, berries, and some weird purple thing that English people considered food. It looked tasty and so did all the trays of food on the carts, everyone seemed to have a specific order, but it all looked delicious. Trays of fresh ham filled biscuits, soups, roasts, salads, baked beans, and crumpets.

Psychotic or not I had to hand it to Marina, she sure knew how to attract a crowd of people. Everything looked delicious and after living off hardly anything beside fruit, nuts, and carbs for the past two years. I was desperate for a decent meal and I gladly took a piece of everything. And clearly I wasn't the only one as everyone even Dracula grabbed some food. I had always figured that vampires didn't eat but I was wrong as Dracula had the plate with the most food. It creeped me out a little bit but at least he wasn't drinking blood.
"Eat as much as you want but save room for dessert, I'm bringing out the Christmas pudding." Marina said.
"That's my favorite." Alexandria commented and I swear I almost saw Marina smirk when she responded.

"I know dear one, I made sure to pick a favorite of everyone's," she said. "And don't you worry Count I've arranged a meal specifically for you." She snapped her fingers and one of her maids poured a red liquid into Dracula's wine glass. I didn't need to ask to know what it was, it was blood and he needed it to survive. This might be harder than I thought, but I wasn't going to stop me.
"Oh Sherlock can you believe it?" Alexandria asked whispering into my ear.
"What?" I asked.
"It's like Paradise, I think our host might be an angel." She responded and I almost rolled my eyes, the Moriartys were anything but angels. And while I had unfairly judged the guests earlier, I don't think the story about Jim Moriarty being an evil genius was wrong. And I wouldn't be surprised if his lovely little girl was attempting to serve us on a silver platter to him.