It was perfect.

The painting that Dolly gazed upon was perfect. She had her own reminder of the events of the previous night with the picture of her and Polly dancing. Dancing and officially becoming a couple.

"Oh Polly," Dolly went to run a hand on the picture but stopped herself. It wasn't dry yet. "Last night was everything."

She felt something on her lap. The artist chuckled as she looked to see that Coopy had jumped on. Dolly petted him on the back.

"I wish you could have been there," Dolly told her cat. "But it was my first date and I didn't want any distractions. You understand right?"

Coopy let out a meow. Dolly continued to pet him with a smile.

"That's my boy," She said. A thought then came to her. She had wanted Polly to stay the night with her but Polly told her that she needed to sleep at her own place because she needed to focus on talking to Matteo who would be getting out of the hospital today. "Why don't we go see Ethan? I have a feeling we're going to need him today."

She set the cat down and it ran out of the room. She followed him.

NNN

Once Dolly got to the basement door, she saw that Fred was already making his way down there. Coopy was beside her and tilted his head at his owner. Dolly made her way down as Coopy hopped on her shoulder. The sounds of meat being devoured had come to her ears as soon as she reached the floor.

Fred looked at her. "Good morning, Dolly! I was just feeding Ethan his breakfast."

"Thank you, Fred," Dolly said. "I think it's going to be a big day for Ethan today." She walked to the big cat and petted him on the head. "There's an old friend of his who might need another visit."

Fred raised an eyebrow. "An old friend, Dolly?"

"Nothing you have to worry about, Fred," Dolly chuckled.

Fred nodded and then smiled. "Rylan told me that the night with Polly went very well."

Dolly sighed happily. "It was the best night ever, Fred. I can't thank Rylan enough for doing his part to make it so special."

"So glad to hear that you had a great time," Fred replied. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Pancakes should treat right about now," Dolly told him.

Fred nodded. "Right away." He then made his way back up the creaky stairs.

Dolly's expression then turned serious as he turned her attention back to the cat monster. "Ethan, as you just heard, last night with Polly went very well." She smiled briefly. "She and I are together now." The serious question look returned, "As her girlfriend, it's my job to protect her and make sure that life is perfect for her. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

She continued. "No more people treating either of us badly because of how we look. From now on, we are going to run this city. And it starts with-"

She stopped when she got a text on her phone. She took it out. It was Jasper. She smirked when she saw what he was texting her about.

"Well, well," The artist said. "That's very interesting." She decided to call him up.

"Hello?" Jasper's voice was heard after he picked up on the other end.

"Jas, what you just sent me has made me very happy," Dolly sat on one of the old chairs nearby as Coopy went to play with Ethan.

Jasper let out a chuckle. "I figured it would. Who never would've thought the same chick who was the bitch bartender at my favorite bar would be the chick who hated so much."

"Funny how things work, right?" Dolly laughed. "I knew today was going to be a big day."

"So what's the plan?" Jasper asked. "You gonna go after her?"

"I'm going to do more than that, buddy," Dolly said. "After the way she's treated my girlfriend, she has everything come her way."

"Girlfriend?" Jasper asked. "Didn't know you had one."

Dolly leaned comfortably into the chair as she let out another happy sigh. "Yeah. It's Polly."

"That's great! Congrats!" Jasper said.

"Thank you," Dolly said. "Now about Daphne, I've got big things in store for her. Her boyfriend gets out of the hospital today, you know."

"Things seem to be getting better and better for you, huh?" Jasper asked.

"Seems so," Dolly got up from the chair and started walking up the stairs. "Coming Coopy?"

Coopy followed after her. The artist continued talking. "I'm going to need you to head to the hideout. Get the boys ready."

"Got it!" Jasper said. "Also wanted to let you know that a couple of Laura's old rivals have been giving us trouble."

"Oh have they?" Dolly asked. "Looks like they'll need to be dealt with as well."

Having numerous ideas and not sure which to go with, Dolly decided she was going to do a couple more paintings to help her decide what she wanted to. Sadly, it couldn't be Daphne in the paintings, at least not obviously her, but Dolly knew who it was supposed to be and that's all that mattered.

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"Send the boys to take care of them first," Dolly said. "I should be able to put that to good us."

Jasper chuckled. "Gotcha. I'll call you when it's done."

"Good," Dolly said before hanging up. Before she could continue on her way to work on her newest painting, the smell of pancakes came to her nose, and she grinned. A big day needed a big breakfast.

She started making her way to the kitchen, Coopy on her side. The two of them soon arrived at the kitchen.

"Hello again, Dolly!" Fred greeted. "The pancakes will be done soon."

"Take your time, Fred," Dolly said, taking in the smell. "I can tell they're going to be just perfect."

Fred smiled and continued cooking. Dolly went to the living room and turned on the TV. She sat down and got comfortable again.

NNN

Later that day, Daphne was getting ready to head out to Matteo's place. He had made his way back home from the hospital. She had to do some things first before she could go see him but she wasn't going to let anything hold her from saying her Matteo any longer.

She walked out of her place and got into her car. Starting it up, she pulled out of the driveway and drove off, not noticing the other car following her.

As she made the drink towards his boyfriend's place, Daphne thought about the big hug she was going to give him. She then thought about how she may have to slap him. The jerk almost died on her.

The wooded area she was now in showed no sign of other cars coming in her direction but the car that was following her was still there, and she still had not noticed it.

The other car was soon beside hers. Daphne paid it no mind as she focused on her drive. Then, suddenly, she felt the other car ram into hers a bit. She gasped but then turned to give a glare. She opened her window and yelled out. "Hey, you asshole! Do you have any idea how much this car costs? Keep driving like that and you're gonna-"

She didn't even finish her sentence as her car was sent crashing into a tree. Daphne practically felt herself having a hard attack from the sudden impact. She was alright with a couple of minor bruises but she was breathing heavily. Her car was no doubt a wreck but she was going to okay.

She tried the door on her side but couldn't open it. She went to the passenger door and was able to open it without a problem. She crawled out of the car and was instantly grabbed and thrown into the door of the other car.

Daphne groaned in pain as two figures walked up and stood over her. She looked up to see two pumpkin monsters looking down at her manically. She started to let out a scream but was struggling for a breath moments after as one of them had grabbed her neck.

The monster that had grabbed her threw her into the car of the car.

"Hey, what's going on?!" A voice yelled. The two monsters looked to see a man getting out of his car with a gun. A woman was on the passenger's side and looked terrified at what she saw before her.

"The hell are these things?!" The man asked, holding his gun up to the monsters. "Okay, you freaks, let the lady go!"

The two monsters just ran at him. The man fired his bullets but the monsters were able to avoid them and before he knew it he was letting out a horrifying yell after having his hand bitten off by one of them. The other one then hit him and sent him flying into the front of his car window. The two monsters then got into the car with Daphne and it sped off soon after.

NNN

"W-Who are you?" Matteo's pained voice asked as he lay down on the floor. Unlike his last attack, he wasn't bloody, but he was still in a lot of pain. He also wasn't home. Where he was he didn't know. But that wasn't what he needed to know right now. "Why are you doing this?"

After a couple of groans, he was able to look up. Tons of pairs of eyes stared back at him from the darkness.

A sinister chuckle also came from the black void that surrounded Matteo. "Oh, Matteo," The person the chuckle belonged to began, "Poor, helpless, pathetic Matteo. It must be a shame. A man who obviously thinks of himself as superior to others who are different than him, yet can't seem to ever defend himself when the time calls for it."

"Just answer the question damn it!" Matteo yelled out. "Who are you?!"

"You don't want to hurt yourself even more by pushing too hard now do you?" The person chuckled again. "As I said, you'll get answers when our other guest arrives."

"What other guest?" Matteo asked. His eyes then widened when he heard a familiar voice.

"Matteo?!" Daphne's voice came as a door was heard closing. "Matteo is that you?!"

"Daphne?!" Matteo looked around frantically for his girlfriend. "What have you done to her?! If you hurt her I swear to god I'll-"

He would be shut up by a kick to the face. He groaned once again. Daphne was thrown down to him, tears streaming down her face.

"Matteo! Please get up!" She cried.

"It's okay," Matteo looked up at her as couple breaths escaped his mouth. "I'm here."

"Oh, but for how much longer?" The woman who kicked him asked.

The couple's eyes went up to see Dolly looking down at them through her pumpkin mask.

"Y-You!" Daphne exclaimed. "I know you! You're friends with Polly!"

"I shouldn't know that freak had something to do with this," Matteo growled. That earned him another kick to the face.

"Matteo!" Daphne yelled, crawling other to him again.

"Don't. Ever. Call her that again!" Dolly growled. "You!" She pointed to Daphne. "Get away from him!"

"No!" Daphne snapped at the artist. "You're a fucking psychopath! What are those things that brought me here?!"

"Oh those?" Dolly tilted her head as she put her hands behind her back. "Those are my pumpkin buddies. But why talk about them now?" She kicked Daphne in the face, stepping on it afterward and keeping her front there.

Matteo started crawling over to help his girlfriend but then froze when Dolly took out a gun and pointed it down at her.

"One more move and I blow her brains out," Dolly said.

Matteo stayed where he was, his eyes not leaving his girlfriend. "Please....don't hurt her..."

Dolly smirked. "Now then. Shall we get to the old friend? Oh, Ethan!"

Hearing his name called, the cat monster walked out of the shadows, a look of hunger in his eyes.

Matteo's eyes darted towards Dolly. "Y-You! You were the one that sent that thing after me!"

Dolly clapped her hands and a chair was brought out to her by one of the pumpkin monsters. She took a seat as she stared a hole into Matteo through her mask as she still had the gun pointed at Daphne. "That's right. You wanna know why?"

"That's what I've been trying to find out!" Matteo snapped.

Dolly took off her mask, giving Matteo a perfect view of her angry face. "Because you dared, you had the audacity to show nothing but cruelty and hatred to the woman who's only ever wanted to help you and the rest of the ungrateful people in this town!" Her voice softened up with what she said next. "And for what?" She put a hand on her scar. "Because of a horrible scar she has that she didn't ask for." Tears began to stream down her face as she growled. "Both me and her have had to deal with that our whole lives. People like you judging us over something so stupid! Treating us like garbage and dirty when it's really you all who are the rotten filth in the world!"

She moved the gun away from Daphne. She grabbed her hair and held her towards Matteo. "Such a pretty face, right? A beautiful woman. One who deserves nothing but the best, right?! Simply because she's "beautiful"?! No. No, no, no, no, no. She's not beautiful. She's ugly where it really counts and I'm going to show that to you." The artist gave a sinister chuckle before screaming, "Get her Ethan!"

The large car pounced on Daphne and raised its claws up. Matteo went to stop it but he ended up being held down by two pumpkin monsters.

Ethan let out a vicious roar before he started using his claws to rip into Daphne's face.

"No!" Matteo yelled out as he listened to his girlfriend's agonizing screams. The man was hit in the face with drops of blood. "Make it stop! Please!" He begged as tears came to his eyes.

For the moment, Dolly said nothing. She just watched on as the attack continued, only stopping to look down at some of Daphne's skin that had been ripped off. The other woman's screams were still the loudest sound in the room. After what stepped like an eternity for the two victims, the artist walked up to Ethan and placed a hand on his shoulder. "That's enough."

The monstrous cat stopped its attack and looked at Dolly, who started to pet him gently as she gave a soft smile. "Good boy."

Matteo was a wreck. He looked over at Daphne and watched his girlfriend's hands twitch. She was still alive. But he knew she was in bad shape. Blood was all around her. Pieces of what was once her face were also around the floor.

"You monster... You fucking monster!" He cried out at Dolly.

"No," Dolly glared at him. "You're the real monsters." She looked over at the mess that was now Daphne's face and turned back to Matteo. "And now you have no choice but to look at it."

"So what, are you gonna kill us now?!" Matteo demanded.

"Kill you?" Dolly asked. "After this, I don't think so. This was too much fun."

She pulled out a brush and dipped it into Daphne's blood. She then made her way over to Matteo and ran it over his face.

"I have to say," Dolly said. "That's the best your face has looked so far. But it'll look better soon. Because it'll show the real you, just like your girlfriend over there."

She looked at the pumpkin monsters that held Matteo down. "Take him." She looked at all the eyes in the dark. "One of you take her too." A sinister smile came to her face. "We've got a lot more work to do."

NNN

Polly found it weird that she hadn't heard from Daphne today. She knew they weren't close but she figured after their last conversation and her making it clear she wanted to help that the other woman would have at least try let her know that Matteo was doing well and adjusting back home. She would've gone over there to check but she wanted to let Matteo have his peace for a bit. In the meantime, she wasn't on the portal this time while she was out. She was on the hunt. She wanted to see if she could find what attacked Matteo. She wasn't doing it alone, however.

"So I heard the news from Filbert," Henry smiled at his friend. "Congrats Polly."

"Thanks," Polly said. "That means a lot."

"I kinda thought you two would be a good fit for each other," Henry chuckled. "Megan's happy for you too."

"Again that really means the world to me," Polly said. "And I know Dolly will be happy to hear that too."

The two of them would soon hear crying. The woman who was in the car in the woods earlier that day was walking along the sidewalk as she wept. Polly got out of the car and walked up to her.

"Are you okay?" Polly asked.

The woman looked up and, realizing who she was, backed away terrified. "P-Please! Leave me alone!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," Polly held her hands up to show the woman that he meant no warm. "I just want to know what's wrong."

"M-My husband," The woman rubbed her tears. "He was attacked."

"Attacked?" Henry had gotten out of the car and walked next to Polly. "By who ma'am?"

The woman had trouble trying to muster up what she was going to say next. She felt like she was crazy but she had to say it.

"M-Monsters..."