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The first thing FWhip did for Halloween was scare Sausage.
“Aaagh!” Sausage screamed, dropping to the ground as fWhip laughed from his position above the doorway. That laughter soon ended as Gem ended the levitation spell holding him up. FWhip fell face first as Gem laughed on. Pearl, still standing in the doorway from when she entered with Sausage, simply stood shaking her head.
“Well, if that series of events doesn’t explain your dynamic perfectly, I don’t know what else does.” She chuckled as she helped Sausage up. Gem offered his hand to fWhip but he swatted it away in favor of getting up himself. He shot a quick glare at Gem, who stuck her tongue out in response.
“Okay, I haven’t ruined my costume. We’re good!” Sausage smiled. He was dressed as Bruno from Encanto, complete with a rat statue on each shoulder. “By the way, this is Señora Negra on the left and Señora Blanco and they’re spies that hate each other but I also think … they’re lovers.”
“That’s great, Bruno.” FWhip said as he patted Sausage’s back. “And we’re never going to talk about you again.” Sausage laughed at the comment.
“What are you dressed as, Gem?” He asked when he calmed down.
“I was curious about that too, though seeing Pearl in the same dress I have some ideas.” FWhip commented. Both Gem and Pearl wore matching blue dresses with a pink bow tied across their waist. At the question, both girls looked at each other with a knowing look.
“Pearl, if you don’t mind.” Gem smiled. The girls held hands and closed their eyes. “Pulchritudo.” When they opened them, the eyes was pure white.
“Come play with us.” They spoke in unison. Both the boys freaked out, clinging to each other.
“Aaaah! Stop stop stop!” FWhip cried.
“Don’t kill up pleeeeeaaase!” Sausage pleaded.
The girls snicker at the response as Gem dropped the glamor spell for their eyes. “We’re the twin girls from The Shining.” Pearl clarified. “Relax, you two. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it in an arena in a fair fight.”
“That’s true. Pearl would kill us all if we tried to challenge her.” Sausage stated, finally letting go of fWhip. “What are you, fWhip?”
“I am Tuxedo Mask, or better known as the guy from the ‘But you didn’t do anything meme.’” FWhip grabbed the edge of his cape and brought it around like in the meme as if he was making a dramatic exit. “Gives me an excuse for the cape and to have a hat as tall as Gem’s hat is big.”
“My wizard hat is a perfectly normal size for a grand wizard.” Gem protested.
“FWhip, if you really wanted to do that … you should have gone … as Doug Dimadome!” Sausage added in between giggles. FWhip laughed at the suggestion, which only seeped the pout on Gem’s face.
Pearl rolled her eyes, used to all their antics by now. “Alright, enough with the hat jokes. I got fake Wither Roses for you guys to wear if you want.” She handed everyone a rose, painted black with the thorns cut off.
“Gracias, Pearla Renia.” Sausage said as he took the rose and slid it behind his ear. “Ahora, ¿dónde está la comida?” Pearl chuckled as she followed Sausage into the crowd of the annual Eastvale Halloween Masquerade Party. Gem turned to FWhip as he was sliding the rose into his suit pocket.
“Be careful tonight.” She said.
“I always am.”
“I mean it this time. The rumors have been spreading and I’m afraid one of these years someone’s going to take you down.”
“I’m hoping that only becomes a risk when the people I’m targeting are less dangerous than I am.” He looked out into the open entranceway, as more citizens continued to flow in around them. “They’re not idiots; they have to see the pattern of who I’m targeting. And I wasn’t as good at doing this in the first few years. I was most certainly caught several times. If someone wanted me dead, it would have happened already.”
“Just … don’t get overconfident about it.” Gem reminded him, putting a hand of his shoulder. She felt warm against his cold skin. “You just never know if the next person is going to see you as a savior or a monster.”
“I know, sis. I know.”
Midnight. The moon, a waxing gibbous, stood high in the sky. Very few were out in the streets, most either in their homes retired for the night or safely partying away in the walls of the Count’s Workshop. FWhip was surveying the area from the roof of the blacksmith’s, looking for the person he wanted. A criminal, long escaping the justice of the land though loopholes and general intimidation. He had gotten away with his heinous acts far too many times. Tonight, he would be met with justice.
There, several blocks away, near the southwest tower. He looked impatient, tapping his foot as he glanced at a note in his hand. FWhip smiled to himself. The fish took his little bait to meet. Not all of them do, but it makes a lot easier for him. He transformed into his other form, using it to quickly fly into a nearby dark alleyway before changing back. He smiled, staring down his prey before it even knew it was being hunted. Beads of sweat were already dripping down his forehead as he fidgeted in the silence of the night.
“Why so nervous?” FWhip spoke, his words echoing off the walls of the alley. The man jumped, quickly pulling out an iron sword from his belt. “After all, we’re just doing business.”
“You better be who you say you are or I swear … tonight’s not the not the night to be messing around!” His gripped tightened around the iron sword. FWhip remained in the darkness as he smiled.
“What’s with the hostility?” FWhip let every question hang, giving his words time to dig their way into his victim’s skin. “As I said, I’m here to help you leave. To never have to worry about another cop or judge again.”
His stance relaxed as the sword fell to his side. “I know it’s just … the time and the night and all … I get it’s the perfect cover but … all the rumors.”
“Duratas.” The man’s whole body stopped, his face the only part of him still able to articulate. His eyes darted everywhere as fWhip stepped out of the shadows finally. A small gasp escaped his lips. “Of course I know the rumors. After all, I am the rumor.”
“You liar!” He spat, struggling against the freeze spell. “Fight fair if you want to kill me, coward!”
“Oh, fight fair?” FWhip snickered. “Like every single one of those girls you had your way with was allowed to fight fair?” There was a brief silence that fell between them, but that’s all fWhip needed. He smirked as he grabbed the man’s neck. He dropped the spell as he threw his victim into the stone of the wall. He could feel it crack under his force but his didn’t care. He could easily replace in the morning.
“You little …” He began to pick himself up but fWhip shut it down, pinning him against the wall by his shoulders. He applied enough pressure for there to be pain, but not enough that he would snap his arms off. He didn’t need to do that again and lose some of what he was truly after.
“Now, I meant what I said in that letter that I wanted to help you leave.” FWhip stated, watching the man squirm in his grasp. “I just didn’t specify that it was going to be from this mortal world. Silentium.”
With the spell cast, fWhip finally started what he came here to do. He dug his fangs into his prey’s neck, sucking out all the blood he could. The man screamed but no sound came out thanks to the spell Gem taught fWhip. He continued to struggle and fight, punching and kicking and pushing fWhip in an attempt to escape. But the Count was too strong, and he became too weak with all the blood being siphoned out of his neck. He was soon just a lump body, nothing more than a vessel that was slowly being drained of one of its most vital resources: blood. FWhip took a small break and smiled as he became unconscious, usually a good indicator that he was about halfway done with his meal. It also was a good time to move his blood bag to a secure location to savor it more later when the sun came up. After all, a meal like this is meant to be savored, not drained in one bite.
That was no fun, was it?
As the sun rose, fWhip began to change out of his costume. His clean white shirt was now soaked with blood, a casualty of his lifestyle as usual. The body of his victim lay empty and devoid in the town square, left for the morning groundskeepers to find and further spread the rumors. He smiled, imagining the people whispering and talking about a vigilante Dracula draining escaped criminals of their blood on Halloween night.
Well, they’re half right. They just thinking of the wrong Count.