Rudolf stepped backwards, wary of what he suddenly saw over Skylar's eyes. He was trembling, shaking his head in disbelief as if he saw not a monster but something that made him weak and frightened.
"No…it can't be you…" Rudolf whispered, trembling because the Skylar he was facing was no longer the Skylar he knew and stalked before. "…impossible…"
Skylar's eyes narrowed, trying to read Rudolf's sudden gesture, but since Rudolf was too close to being a fallen beyond save, he screamed over the top of his lungs, shaking the fear crawling beneath his vampire skin. He turned it into something dark, malicious, and lethal, making his porcelain skin cracked and slowly falling off his body. Then, later, a sinister laugh, but a little disbelief laugh, echoed around the area. He had fallen badly.
"I hope it's not that late." Skylar thought softly, clenching her jaw from the falling soul of Rudolf.
"You're eyes might differ from each other, but I knew those eyes. They were the eyes of once I loved and the one I hated." Rudolf said, laughing maliciously, but it didn't creep Skylar at all.
Skylar's eyes were two colors: one was still bloodied from her mother, but the other was grey, which gradually turned white before morphing into a gigantic black wormhole, swallowing Rudolf's unyielding soul. It were reflecting Sophia's whenever she used her powers. And those eyes reminded Rudolf of the two ladies in his life, causing his spirit to darken. However, Skylar's task to complete remains unaffected.
"But one last chance, Rudolf, what's your true heart's desire?" Skylar asked one more time, but Rudolf covered his ears and laughed madly.
"You don't get to ask." He spat venomously before grinning darkly and moving from his spot, charging at her like a violent whirlwind.
Rudolf gave Skylar a very heavy strike from his right knuckle, which she quickly dodged, but he followed his strike with a roundhouse kick from the side, and Skylar blocked it. But the impact was severe, causing her to fly a couple of feet away from him. Skylar was ready to stand up when Rudolf reappeared in front of her and delivered another set of combos beginning with a pair of kicks before transitioning into a random series of punches that caused Skylar to stumble for another foot.
"Dammit. Who says this is going to be an easy task?" Skylar thought, gritting her teeth, and braced for another combo coming from Rudolf. "Right, me."
'That's funny side comments from you, wifey.'
"Shut up, and be my Mutualist Protector." She groaned, commanding telepathically her husband, who had been watching in the shadows about her progress, waiting for her signal. "Secure my perimeter and ensure nobody interferes with this task."
'As you wish.'
Skylar was annoyed, but she kept blocking or dodging his attacks, and she began to notice how heavy they were turning into. It was forcing her to secretly wrap her entire body with her bloody crystal jade's ability. Just like in her training, she used the newly discovered power carefully and precisely than before. She ensured that her skills were marked their respective locations, while others were draped protectively around Rudolf's body, allowing her to locate the soul core of his anguish.
"I'm gonna kill you." Rudolf spat tauntingly, grinning, but it was not affecting Skylar at all because she had been seeing Rudolf's soul ever since he showed up to her request.
"Do you ever think that your threat has been empty to me?" Skylar turned the tables and taunted Rudolf, which made him a little skeptical because it was true. Skylar felt nothing on his attempt, and realizing that, it annoyed him big time.
"DIE, VERMIN!" He snapped, but it still did not affect her.
"Hubby, he called me Vermin." Skylar groaned and complained telepathically to her husband, who had been busy securing her position.
'Well, to him you are.'
"Not helping." She groaned while dodging Rudolf's attack.
'Then quit whining.'
"I'm not whining. Just saying." She replied defensively, but Vincencio didn't believe it.
'Really?'
"Ergh, fine. I whine a little from being called like that. He's the first man who ever compared me to a vermin." She gave up and admitted how that address annoyed her.
'Then finish it. So you won't complain.'
"I will once I clearly find it." She sighed, but became serious when she saw the bleeding core deeply rooted in Rudolf's heart. "I think I already do…it's truly killing him from the inside out."
Then end his misery. Only you can do it.'
"I know, that's why we're here – I'm here." She responded sternly, cutting their telepathic conversation and focusing on Rudolf again.
She kept her pace, dodging and blocking, but whenever she returned the favor, it became worse contact for Rudolf. If he had not stumbled a couple of feet away, he would have clashed with a couple of trees, dug holes, or broken his bones, which took him some time to recover. He even coughed blood from the impact, where he thought he was already winning. However, Skylar was fully awakened, and whatever task was placed upon her, it would be done.
"I'll kill you…" He groaned with gritted teeth, trying to get up and hit her one more time. But his attack went lame, weak, and seeing that effect on his body, Skylar grabbed that opening.
"But one last chance, Rudolf, what does your true heart need?" She asked directly, which Rudolf couldn't block. Skylar noticed that and kept going, "Why, you're truly here, looking for me?"
With that last question, Rudolf's last punch never landed on any part of Skylar's body. It stopped in the middle, wavering him in the process. He was shaken all of a sudden as his fury shifted into something he could not understand anymore, and yet, she did.
"W-what's h-happening to m-me?" Rudolf stuttered, wondering what made him waver from hitting Skylar. Even though he tried, he could not make his body reach her anymore, like his body was draining, weakening even more.
It was that split-second gap that Skylar's crystallized blood strings showed up like angry veins on his body. But instead of red, they were black, which meant he's cursed. Skylar didn't hesitate and let the strings flow faster inside his body, striking every part that had been cursed, making his knees give up, and he coughed up blood.
"Answer me, Rudolf, and I'll give you what you need." She whispered gently, making Rudolf frown in a weakening state. He looked at her, confused and yet, somehow, he knew the answer but couldn't speak of them. "Just feel them."
Rudolf closed his eyes, making him throw up more blood, coughing again, but he didn't stop until his bleeding core made a beat. One beat, released everything that Rudolf hadn't touched for a very long time, and the rush of it made him recall everything – every fear he had faced, to the fear of losing Sophia.
"S-Sophia…" With a broken, weakening voice, Rudolf mumbled. He whispered them like a curse, but at the same time, they were the only thing that kept him breathing. Then he cried, remembering everything, triggering his guilt and regret before screaming, "SOPHIA!!!"
As soon as Rudolf screamed, Skylar saw a huge opening to his soul and shot it with her crystalized blood strings, calming him down until he became unconscious. She sighed and, with a snap of her fingertips, all scattered strings in the land went rushing into Rudolf's body.
"I think that will help him restrain from falling too much." She sighed and touched the old man's hair carefully before smiling, "She'll be pleased to meet you again."
Rudolf's face looked calm and at peace when a rustling sound echoed in the area, revealing her husband's smug look written on his face.
"Carry him. We're moving into the next phase." Skylar commanded coldly as Vincencio, the Night Hound, kissed the side of her head.
"You're fully awakened." He teased.
"As if you're not." She smirked while dusting her clothes.
"So, what could you do now?" He wondered while checking Rudolf's pulse.
"Hm…since I'm not hunting tonight, Sky or Rose would do." She replied coldly, taking a deep breath and looking at the moon despite the rain.
"Fair enough." He chuckled before commanding his men. "Guys, secure the entire area and inform me if something odd comes up."
"Noted, boss." They responded and went to their position, securing the area tightly.
"Whoa, he's light." He said as soon as he carried him on his back.
"He's dying, that's why." She replied coldly as they walked toward the Black Tower Prison.
***
They had to wear a façade as soon as they arrived at the prison's door. Vincencio, the Night Hound, needed to report a crime at his port, but Skylar stopped him. She sensed manipulation whirling throughout the prison's hallway. She closed her eyes and utilized her abilities to travel the whole perimeter of the prison to find individuals who had been deceived. She sighed and flicked her husband's temples.
"What's that for?" he whispered.
"A cloak." She only said and entered the prison without being detected.
Like her usual hunt, she waltzed through every blind spot scattered at every corner of the hall while they followed her tracks carefully. But it was not easy when some guards did their patrol and almost got caught when Rudolf stirred. Fortunately, the guards had not been extensively taught to be very sensitive to their surroundings, so they breezed through the hall until Silas received them personally.
"I thought you'd be late." Silas greeted them with familiarity and politeness which Vincencio didn't hesitate to return.
"He bit back, that's why we're early." Skylar responded coldly as they walked down the hall where desolate cells were before asking, "Is everything prepared?"
"All of it." He replied, giving the key to her old cell before wishing her luck, "Best of luck, General."
"Same to you." She smiled and patted the old man's shoulder before entering her old cell. "Let's begin the second pace."
***
Inside the cell, Skylar may have forgotten to warn her husband of what to expect inside her old torturing cell until it was too late.
"HOLY SHIT!" Vincencio reacted, dropping Rudolf in the process, stiffening a little before looking slowly and horrified at his wife, "Wifey, this is freezing."
"Hubby, you're being cute." Skylar laughed teasingly over his adorable but quivering reaction. Vincencio frowned at his wife's genuine and amused laughter while shaking from the cold.
"I'm not trying to be cute." He deadpanned, but Skylar's giggles didn't die down immediately, making his frown turn into a pout.
"Cute, but oh well, this temperature is milder than when I was detained here." Skylar giggled, stating the fact of what she went through inside the same cell. "It's freezing around here at that time."
"You weren't." He frowned deeply, looking at her in disbelief.
"I wouldn't lie to you about my past, Hubby." She grinned teasingly, making him shake his head before hugging her. He even sniffing her scent to calm his shaking body.
"True, but this is too much for the likes of me." He commented, followed by a sigh.
"There's no one like you out there." She corrected before adding as a matter of fact comment, pulling away from his hold, saying, "And besides, you're awakened too, and it's needed here."
"Needed here? Are you telling me…" He tried to guess, but Skylar put her index finger over her lips, grinning.
"Yes, so place him on the chair. Tie him up tightly." She responded, grinning darkly and commanding him before moving around the cell, saying, "I'll prepare something around."
"Will these rusty chains do the binding?" he wondered after settling unconscious Rudolf on the chain and checking the rusty chains scattered around it. "Will it hold him?"
"It might be rusty, but feel it and tell me your answer to your question." She replied, returning the question to him. Vincencio was confused but tried to check what she was telling, and he jolted as if he had been electrocuted without anything to start it. "Mom, made this. So, every wall from the ceiling to the ground is alive. So, be careful. It bites back."
"Now I understand where you're magical side came from." He sighed, surprised, but feeling proud, swirling around his chest to be married to her.
"We're not magical vampires. We're just blessed with elemental gifts." She corrected, grinning, but immediately turned dark when Rudolf slightly stirred. "Let's begin before he notices."