One hour ago
Kayla lay on their mother's thighs as she stroked her hair, humming a soothing melody. Nearby, Harley played with Lucky in the middle of the room while Alice knitted beside him. "Alice, dear, could you please get me some water?" their mother asked. "Yes, Mother," Alice replied, setting aside her knitting and heading to the kitchen.
Knock knock knock
Just then, a knock at the door echoed through the room.
"Hmm? Arthur's back!" Harley exclaimed, excitedly moving towards the door.
Alice's brow furrowed in concern. "But I didn't hear any noise from the shed."
Her eyes widened as she noticed their mother's frowning face. "Harley, wait!" she cautioned.
The boy halted, confused. "Hm? Why?" Suddenly, Lucky began barking and growling at the door, his fur standing on end. Kayla's eyes fluttered open, groggy from her sleep.
"What's happening?" she muttered, rubbing her eyes. The sound of Lucky's growling and the knocking grew louder, and she sat up, her gaze fixed on her mother.
Knock Knock Knock
The knocking persisted, growing more insistent.
"I know you're in there, Edna," a man's voice called out.
Alice's eyes widened in shock; it wasn't hard to understand who he was referring to. She had asked her mother about her name before, but she'd refused to answer, saying it wasn't important. Now, hearing it from this stranger, Alice felt a shiver run down her spine.
Edna's voice barely rose above a whisper. "I need all of you to get out of here." Alice's gaze snapped back to her mother as her words cut through the tension. "They're after me, and I won't let you suffer because of my past." Edna's hands trembled, her knuckles white as she grasped the armchair. "Go through the back door and take the path I showed you." She tilted her head slightly, her gaze unfocused, before her attention refocused on her children. "Now," she urged, her voice cracking.
Alice's mind reeled as she watched. She clenched her fists, tears swelling in her eyes.
Knock knock
"Dammit," she cursed under her breath as she moved. Grabbing Kayla from her mother's embrace, she held firm despite Kayla's struggles. "Nooo, mommmmm!!" Kayla wailed.
"Let's go, Harley," Alice instructed. With a nod, he followed, Lucky trailing behind him.
As her children left the room, Edna remained still, her expression unreadable. The knocking ceased, and an unnatural silence fell. "Viktorr," she called out, her voice steady.
The response was immediate. "Ahahahahahhahahahaha, you remember me!" The voice boomed behind the door. Before Edna could react, the door burst open, splintering off its hinges. A man stood in the doorway, his left foot bare and outstretched from kicking the door down. The cold winter air swept into the room, carrying an eerie chill.
The man towered over Edna at 6'5", his thin eyes and lips giving him a menacing appearance. His sharp nose and scruffy beard framed his face, and he wore nothing but a pair of pants, seemingly impervious to the cold.
Edna remained still, her posture firm as she sat. "Why have you come, Viktorr?" she asked, her voice calm yet sharp.
Viktorr's eyes twitched, his expression contorting into a furious gaze. "Do not dare feign ignorance. You abandoned your mission and fled. As the rule states, you are to die." His words were loud and daunting, but Edna's poise remained unshaken.
"Even after all these years, how relentless," she replied, facing the man looming over her. Viktorr's gaze softened, a hint of affection flickering in his eyes.
"Edna, why did you betray us? Why did you leave?" His voice, once grating, now held a calm tone as he bent down to her level.
"Look at you now," he continued. "I know you're aware this sickness isn't natural. It's poison. You must have known we'd be coming soon. Why didn't you run?"
Her expression finally shook, her brows knitting into a frown as she held her hands together. "You know I hated that life. The pointless killings, assassinations, torture. Do you know how many lives we... I ruined?" With a deep breath, she composed herself once more.
"And besides, the moment I got poisoned, running became pointless. At least my final moments were peaceful."
Viktorr scoffed as he stood once more, looking around the house. "You became a mother, as you wanted. Did you enjoy it?"
"Yes," she replied with a single word, a smile spreading across her face as she remembered the time she spent with her children.
Viktorr's gaze drifted upward, his eyes closing as if lost in thought. The silence was palpable. With a deep breath, he refocused on Edna, his expression unyielding. "Edna, I'm going to kill you."
Edna's smile was enigmatic. "I know. But it won't be easy." As she spoke, knives flew from the kitchen, surrounding her. An ethereal glow emanated from the blades as they levitated around her, their points gleaming in the night.
Viktorr's gaze never wavered, his eyes locked onto Edna's. His body began to shift, patches of scales sprouting from his skin like dark, glistening armor. His eyes narrowed, becoming serpentine slits. Fangs erupted from his gums, and his tongue darted in and out, forked and sinister. His hands morphed into whip-like snake tails, coiled and ready to strike.
She struck first, unleashing three knives that sliced through the air with a deadly whoosh, aimed squarely at Viktorr's heart. He reacted with supernatural speed, his body contorting unnaturally as he dodged the blades. Simultaneously, he launched his right whip-like hand forward with neck-breaking force, the sound of cracking air accompanying the motion, only to be met by a makeshift shield formed by seven knives that hovered around Edna. The blades clashed with a metallic ring, and for a moment, they were at a standstill. Then his eyes widened, and he suddenly recoiled backward as the knives from earlier threatened to pierce his back, their whizzing growing louder as they closed in.
Without a second to spare, he ducked, his body slithering across the floor with an unnatural fluidity, his snake-like arms rippling beneath his skin as he moved. He sprang to his feet, creating distance between them.
"Even with the poison, you can do this much," he spoke up, his voice laced with intrigue. "It's no wonder 'they' scouted you." Edna's silence was palpable, her gaze never wavering from Viktorr. She commanded the knives to move once more, and they spread out, spinning in unison as they aimed at Viktorr's chest.
"Tch." Viktorr's eyes locked into the spinning blades, his gaze intense as he prepared to dodge, his muscles tensing like coiled springs.
He jumped, narrowly avoiding the knives as they wedged into the wall behind him with a loud thud. He stuck to the ceiling above, his body slithering across with an unsettling fluidity as he made his way towards Edna. Raising his neck, he aimed at her, squirting venom from his fangs with a soft hiss.
Edna's face twisted in a mixture of fear and determination; she brought the blades back towards her, making them spin in a fan shape that cast ominous shadows on the walls, scattering the venom's trajectory. The places the venom hit began to corrode, releasing hazardous fumes that filled the air with an acrid smell.
"Haa, haaaa"
Edna's breathing became laboured, her chest heaving with exertion. Her fever, already raging, seemed to surge to new heights, weakening her further with each passing moment. Blood trickled down her nose, mingling with the sweat dripping from her forehead. The vessels in her eyes had popped, and blood fell freely from them like tears, painting her face with a gruesome mask.
"Give up, Edna," Viktorr spoke up once more. "There's no point in trying to buy time for them to escape; I didn't come alone."
His words hit Edna hard, her face contorting violently. "Don't you dare touch THEM!" she spat out, her voice loud and deranged. Her blades became faster, every attack driven by a singular intent to kill.
In her mind, only one thought played: "I have to save them." She manipulated the blades with desperation, trying everything she could to pin down her foe.
"Cough, cough." Blood trickled down the side of her mouth as she forced herself to keep going.
Viktorr smashed one of the blades flying towards him. "You've grown weak, Edna. You've gone too long out of the frontline; you've gotten soft." His voice rang out once more. "Give up."
The air was thick with tension as the back door swung open with a loud creak. A towering, beastly figure walked through it, holding Alice, Edna, and Harley in his grasp, draped over his shoulder like lifeless puppets. The figure was covered head to toe in fur, resembling a bear-man hybrid. His eyes gleamed with a feral intensity as he boasted, "Ahahaha, my nose can pick up anything," his voice like a low rumble of thunder.
Edna's eyes shook as the knives in her control fell, and despair filled her, suffocating her like a shroud. Her gaze dropped, staring blankly at the floor, her mind reeling with hopelessness. Viktorr glanced at her before focusing his attention towards his partner, Hector, who stood at an imposing 6'8" with a robust frame made even more prominent by his transformation.
Hector's gaze swept across the room, lingering on Edna's defeated form before settling on Viktorr. His expression twisted in annoyance as he questioned Viktorr, "What are you doing? Why is she still alive?" Viktorr brushed him off, his attention fixed on the children. "Mind your business," he replied curtly.
Hector clicked his tongue in annoyance before changing the topic, his voice dripping with sadistic curiosity. "So... what do we do with these little things?" Viktorr's response was detached, "We'll take them in, train them. They might be of some use to us." Hector's gaze lingered on Alice, his eyes gleaming with lust. "Makes sense. But can I have this one first?" he asked, his voice heavy with anticipation. "To pay for my troubles," he added, a sly smile spreading across his face.
Edna's ears perked up at his words, but she remained frozen, her mind racing with desperation. She knew she had no chance to kill them, not in her current state. But she had to do something. The thought of her children suffering at the hands of these monsters was unbearable. "Forgive me," she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible. A blade shot upwards towards the children, aiming to end their suffering before it began.
But Hector was too quick. He caught the knife in mid-air, his grip closing around the blade like a vice.
"Did you really think that would work?" he sneered, his mocking tone cutting through Edna's desperation. "Say, Edna, are you really that desperate?" Edna remained motionless, her last stand crumbling around her. She felt like she'd failed them as a mother.
But then, a sudden movement.
Shinnng!
Blood spurted as Alice, feigning unconsciousness pulled the knife from Hector's grasp and slashed at him . Hector stumbled back, his eyes wide with shock and pain, as he dropped the captives. Alice landed close to her step-siblings, the knife still clutched in her small hands.
She understood her mother's plan; she knew what she had to do.
"Please forgive me," she muttered, tears streaming down her face as she plunged the blade into their throats. The sound of the knife slicing through flesh was like a scream in her mind. Blood splattered, warm and metallic, hitting her face and clothes. She gagged, her stomach rebelling against the horror she'd committed. Her hands shook, but she knew she had to take her own life as well, to spare herself the unimaginable torture that awaited her.
With a quivering hand, she held the knife to her own throat, the blade glinting in the dim light. "I'm sorry Arthur," she whispered once more, as the blade pierced slightly into her flesh. But before she could complete the act, Hector charged towards her, his eyes blazing with fury. "YOU B*TCH! HOW DARE YOU!!!" His jaws opened wide, revealing razor-sharp fangs, and sunk into her arm and gut. Blood sprayed, painting his face red, her flesh filling his mouth. Her eyes widened in shock and agony, tears falling freely as she blacked out.
The air was heavy with the metallic scent of blood as Hector muttered,
"What a waste," spitting out the remains of Alice's flesh. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his gaze falling on Edna. She lay broken, tears streaming down her face as she stared blankly into the distance, her eyes red and puffy.
"Let's go; she's no fun now," Hector said, his voice dripping with sadistic pleasure. Viktorr nodded, his expression unreadable, his eyes fixed on Edna for a moment before he turned to leave. As they exited the house, the biting cold wind hit them, cutting through their skin. It howled around them, whipping their hair into a frenzy.
Viktorr pulled out a lighter and set the house ablaze. Flames crackled to life, consuming the walls and furniture. The heat from the fire warmed their skin, but the cold wind kept it from feeling oppressive. Hector chuckled, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Ah, a full moon. Beautiful, isn't it?"
As Viktorr gazed at Edna through the window, his hands clenched into fists. The weight of their circumstances bore down on him, suffocating him. He understood her, wanted to run too, to escape. But where could he possibly run to? He knew he'd be hunted down, just like she had been. It was pointless. He could not escape, so all he needed to do was follow orders, nothing else mattered.
With one final glance, he turned away, walking into the cold wind.
As they walked, Hector suddenly stopped, his nostrils flaring as he turned around.
"What are you doing? Let's go," Viktorr urged, annoyed, his feet continuing to move. "I'm coming," Hector replied, his gaze lingering on the horizon before joining Viktorr.
The night air was filled with the sound of distant thunder and the mournful howling of the wind. The smell of smoke and char mingled, a potent and primal scent.