Skylar knelt down and carefully watched him sleep until she noticed his swollen eyes and dried tears on his face, making her sigh sadly since she knew it was her fault. She was about to touch him, but decided not to; instead, she went downstairs to prepare a midnight snack for them. She might not be good at preparing a serious full-course meal, but her cooking was edible enough for them.
"I hope this one is edible for our stomachs," Skylar muttered as she finished cooking. When she narrowed her eyes, feeling the familiar eyes amusingly watched her. "Wanna try?"
"Sure, but am I forgiven?" Vincencip skeptically asked, stepping forward near the island counter table.
"As long as no secrets anymore." She smiled daringly, making him sigh in relief.
"Deal." He agreed, and Skylar pushed his plate filled with slightly burned scrambled eggs and three strips of bacon.
"But you're still not excused from being punished." She winked, stating a promise.
"I hope you didn't put my punishment on the food." He chuckled teasingly, making Skylar playfully frown at his comment.
"I'm not that stupid. I'm not a very good cook, so why would I do that and send you to the hospital because of its taste?" She defended quickly.
"Fair enough. Let's eat." He chuckled, and they both started digging their late-night snack.
"I'll punish you after the game." She said, munching her portion before adding, "Well, maybe after I had my fun with my brother for using you and made me feel my old heartache."
"Can I watch when you do it?" He asked teasingly, making her grin.
"Of course, front row is perfectly reserved for you." She chuckled slightly, winking at him.
"Great." He amusingly responded before they finished their snack and cleaned their mess. However, both of them felt something lurking in the perimeter of the woods in their backyard.
They didn't say anything and just had their usual banter before heading to bed. But instead of retiring for the night, Skylar opened her secret compartment beneath their bed. Vincencio sighs while shaking his head in disbelief.
'Wifey, how many secret storage spaces do you have in the house?'
"More than you can count," Skylar responded through their telepathy, picking up her old but second edition pair of guns from Joey's creation and a dual sword. "I always made sure I had these sections in case our house got raided by unwanted guests."
'Fair reason.'
"Why are you talking to me through our telepathy?" She asked, giving her old guns.
'Rogues, and it seems to me they were one of those who were manipulated.'
"If so, why did they start to get obvious than before?" She wondered as she took mags for him before closing the secret compartment beneath their bed.
'Perhaps trying to anticipate what Fredric might have under his sleeves.'
"Hm, I see…he's trying to outsmart my brother without realizing he's dealing with two heads." She agreed, but grinning devilishly since Rudolf Strange had no idea that he was fighting two intelligent Halfling vampires from the Saison family.
'Seems like it.'
"Let's head to bed." Skylar winked at him before sinisterly adding, "And let's have fun, hunting together."
'If we do that, he'll notice.'
"Who said us?" She grinned deeper, making Vincencio think carefully before grinning.
'Ohh, it's still dark.'
"Let's finish it before the sun peaks in the sky." She said, tossing her chosen Vincencio's dark suit for him before gearing herself up till she was done. "All set. Ready?"
'Lead the way, my love.'
***
It was nearly twelve when the couple slipped into the shadows, unnoticed by the night creatures watching them. They carefully glided through the darkness of their backyard, which connected to the woods, creating eeriness. The unsettling feeling, however, didn't come from the rogues lurking nearby. Instead, it came from the two dangerous individual who love to play at night - it was their time to hunt.
"Hm, I think I'm going to start to love this kind of night with you." Vincencio amusingly said, wearing his dark, sophisticated suit, showing his usual mysterious mafia façade due to his full mask.
"You're being cheesy." Skylar refuted teasingly as she leaned by the tree, wearing her hunting dark gear, looking mysterious as well due to her lace mouth mask.
Both of them became the person they are during night hunt; Vincencio as the Midnight Mafia boss, the Night Hound, and Skylar as the infamous killer, the Rose Slayer, and together, this will be their first hunt on the field.
"Cloak your wolf scent and no transforming." Rose Slayer commanded firmly but softly as she fixed his collar. "You need to be a dangerous human before them. You know to state the difference between the Vincencio they were watching and the Night Hound of MG."
"If you wish so, then it'll be done." Night Hound scoffed, smirking beneath his mask.
"Good." She responded amusingly before adding the coordinates of their targets, "They were on three and still watching our old house."
"I'll start on your right." He whispered, leaning his head on hers before running to her right, to start doing his night hunt.
Meanwhile, Rose Slayer began hopping like a cheerful child before stopping to tap certain trees like she was admiring them. But that was the only thing she was doing; she was activating something before dashing like a madwoman around the woods. She made sure her lunatic laughter echoed in the area, ensuring they would hear her. By catching their attention in a split second, Night Hound plans to play his game as a sharpshooter. One silent silver bullet landed over the chest of a rogue before it could notice his presence, and tucked the body silently behind the bushes before slipping into the shadows again.
"I saw that." Rose Slayer suddenly commented through their telepathy, making Night Hound feel proud, but didn't say anything. He just went to the next target.
Once Night Hound hit a perfect shot on the head, the two remaining rogues got alarmed and began growling. They were about to attack him as soon as they saw him kill their colleague, but instead of fighting them, Night Hound sprinted away, as Rose Slayer mentioned before.
"Jump on your left at three o'clock before climbing up to the tree on your twelve." Rose Slayer instructed while her husband ran in the shadows. "Don't worry, I've got you covered."
As soon as Night Hound did what he was instructed to do, Rose Slayer amusingly appeared, clapping her hands, making the two rogues look at her, growling. She was sitting by the huge rock, surrounded by trees and a great moonlight shining above her, making her look like a dark huntress.
"Who are you?" One rogue asked nervously because Rose Slayer's aura was lethal, and they smelled danger.
"Me? Someone you shouldn't cross with." She tauntingly replied, watching them carefully, reading their inner thoughts, and compelling them to speak a simple truth.
"Let's go. Our targets are sleeping." Another rogue whispered in his scared tone, but cleared enough for her to hear.
"They saw us, and you know it's not good. We're going to die either way, so let's face them." First rogue argued and was ready to fight, but Rose Slayer sighed loudly, catching their attention.
"Are you done whispering?" She asked calmly but filled with danger, making them gulp.
"Who are you?" The frightened rogue asked carefully, making Rose Slayer's eyes fixated on him, luring him in, hypnotizing him.
"Like I said, I'm someone you shouldn't cross with." She playfully chuckled as she responded before adding a warning, making them flinch, "And besides, you're in my playpen. Whoever dares to step around here without permission only means death."
"No, we weren't. We're just being lured…ahm, we're leaving." The frightened rogue quickly answered, stopping his friend from saying another word to trigger her.
"Sorry, you can't." She said, shaking her head before approaching them with a question, "You said someone lured you here…tell me, who is it?"
"We don't know. We're chasing it when you appeared." The mad but nervous rogue answered her this time, making her smirk. She could feel their honesty finally drawn out from them.
"Really? I don't believe you." She scoffed, walking, circling around them, carefully watching them before adding, "I mean, I could, but why in the first place you two were here, because if you weren't, you won't be chasing whatever you were saying you were chasing."
"We're watching the couple over there. Our boss told us they were a hindrance and assigned us to watch them, and that's all." The frightened rogues responded honestly, making her nod and decide to play a game with them.
"Oh, that couple? I heard they were having a little difficulty around some business with SaiRus Corp, causing some projects to be pending…" She said, implanting in their mind misleading information before giving them another warning, "Well, I don't care about it, but next time you step in here, I won't hesitate to kill you on the spot. Do you understand?"
"Crystal clear." They both answered quickly.
"Good, make sure to tell me what your boss is up to whenever he sends you here." She commanded firmly, compelling them to their binding soon before waving her hand, dismissing them. "Leave before I change my mind."
When the spies left, Rose Slayer tapped the tree beside her, and a flock of small bats began chasing them, hurting them in the process. Night Hound came out from the shadow and jumped off from the tree before standing beside his wife.
"Why did you have to do that?" He curiously asked, watching the bats taunting the rogues until they were gone.
"To make him believe that they encountered something they shouldn't have stepped into." She answered, waving her hand, making the bats go back to their nest before adding, "Also, to be able to track where he is."
"You trickster." He amusingly chuckled, grabbed her hand, and walked back to where they had emerged from.
"Nope, but our daughter is. She'll be the trickster once she reaches her maturity." She corrected him.
"And know this because?" he wondered, grinning.
"She's mine – our daughter." She replied, grinning, and entered their old house again without being seen.
"By the way, do you think he'll take them seriously?" He wondered as soon as they got back inside the house. They didn't open the lights and just went back to their bedroom by body memory.
"Nope, but maybe he'll listen to the information I said." She replied, removing her mask and gear before adding, "We'd better make him believe that Fredric is losing clients."
"But we also needed to act worry about finding our baby." He reminded her, making her sigh but nodding.
"True, and it's going to be hectic drama code tomorrow." She agreed, giggling because they need to act believable, and Skylar has the biggest part to play. "Everything is in my hands to make it work."
"But you're not doing it alone. We're here. I'm here." He assured her, and Skylar believed him before they rested for the rest of the night.
But tomorrow is indeed a big day filled with drama and action just to manipulate Rudolf Strange out of the shadows.
***
Frantic. Frustration. Uneasy worries. Everything was falling as the lady CEO released an uneven winter storm in the company. Everyone was at the edge, working their butt off to deal with her temperament just to ensure all projects were meeting the deadlines on or ahead of time. However, it was not easy when the CEO's patience was running low from finding her daughter's whereabouts.
"What did the police say? Did they find her?" Skylar quickly asked her husband as soon as he entered her office.
"Sadly, no. They are still searching, tracking their tracks, but it's hard since it happened where no CCTV around the area." Vincencio sighed sadly as he answered his wife's worries.
"Dammit. Did they try checking the cars around the area? It might have captured the scene." She asked again, making him nod.
"They're working on it and they'll find her." He answered, but it snapped Skylar.
"THEY'VE BEEN SAYING THAT BUT STILL NO NEWS ABOUT HER WHEREABOUTS!" She shouted, crying, making him hold her, securing her.
"Calm down, wifey." He said, calming her down before reassuring her, "I'm not stopping contacting them."
"You better be because once I step in, no one can stop me." She spat madly before adding a deadly warning, "I'll kill anyone who's in my way to get my daughter back…"
"Ssshhh, I miss her too." He said, calming her sitting on the couch.
"Want her here. With us, in my arms." She cried as she snuggled more in his warmth.