Jupiter couldn't understand it. She just couldn't.
Mars had never been able to fully understand Master Cyrus' preferences, and yet she managed to get a hold of what was now Cyrus' favorite blood. And Mars boasting about that at any given occasion was starting to really get on her nerves.
She couldn't also understand why of all blood types her Master had drank, this one was his favorite. Jupiter had studied the woman before her attacks, and she was far from being emotionless, controlled; she was almost the opposite of what Cyrus usually preferred.
It had never occured of him to like a certain blood so much to want it repeatedly from the same person, yet there she was, observing the blonde for the fifth time in two months, waiting for her to lower her guard to strike.
That was proving to be an increasingly difficult task though.
"What? Are you serious?"
Cynthia sighed at her laptop screen, nodding: "Yes, Steven. It's been two months already, and it seems like twice a week I get attacked by some bat Pokémon! It's getting to the point where I'm avoiding exploring as I used to, and almost never leave my windows open. For Arceus' sake, I'm not even sure if that's enough; once a Noibat just crashed through my closed window as I was sleeping!"
Jupiter wing-palmed at the mention of her colleague.
"Well," said the Hoenn Champion, his voice showing obvious concern even through the Skype call: "maybe you should start considering leaving your Pokémon out of their Pokeballs, so that they can keep a watch?"
"I've thought of it, but my Pokémon need some sleep, too." affirmed Cynthia closing her eyes and lightly shaking her head: "But I've been considering leaving Spiritomb out, yes. She seems most suited for this kind of task. I just would like to know why the behavior of those wild Pokémon and how to deal with it without actually hurting them, you know?"
Steven chuckled: "Yeah, that's my Cynthia, always such a goody-goody! Come on, I know too well how strong and dangerous you actually are~"
"Should I be flattered or offended, Steven?" inquired the blonde raising a brow, but a playful smirk on her lips. "But yes, if it comes down to it, I will have to get rid of the issue. I just have too many things I already preoccupy myself of, crazy bats don't need to be one of them." she concluded, softly tapping one of her Pokeballs laying on the desk.
And she sure meant it: in the following three weeks, the bat trio managed to get her blood only twice, and that was starting to unnerve Cyrus.
On one of the silent, post-failure evenings, Cyrus stared pensively at Mars in her human form as she tended to Saturn's injured wing. It seemed that as of recently they came back injured more often than not.
"I'm very sorry for the failure, sir," muttered Saturn, staying as composed as he could.
Cyrus shook his head and rose from his armchair, folding his arms behind his back and starting walking down a hallway, wordlessly.
Mars quickly perked up from her mending and looked at him, tilting her head: "Wait, where are you going, Master?"
The vampire stopped a moment, his face briefly looking back: "I'll go get it myself."
At that everyone, Jupiter included, gasped; Cyrus loathed with every fiber of himself hunting, it had been more than a decade since he last had directly bitten a human!
Taken aback, they could only mutter a "B-but Master..?!" before he disappeared.
Silence followed.
"He's sooo going to be pissed once he comes back." finally said Mars, taking her Noibat form and trying to hide in Saturn's neck fluff.
"You know, as crazy as that sounds, I think they're always the same Crobat, Swoobat and Noibat." said Cynthia nodding at Steve through one of their Skype calls.
"As if being constantly targeted by bats doesn't sound crazy enough," chuckled Steven: "but how can you be sure?"
"They're kind of peculiar, you know? The Crobat, it's got this longer fur on her head that's seemingly tied in two buns, and the Swoobat has some fur sticking out of his head that looks like horns, or an extra set of ears, and such a serious look for its species. And the Noibat it's the most recognizable: other than the pointy fur on its head it's of a brilliant red color, and that's not Noibat's normal or even shiny coloration."
"Mmh, you may be right then," agreed the young man, turning serious: "but it sounds like they may belong to someone, then. I mean, I really can't imagine a wild Crobat tying up its fur in buns all by itself."
"Perhaps." simply stated Cynthia, apparentely lost in thought, the earlier attack from the Swoobat still fresh in her mind.
Suddenly though, the call screen glitched out, and all lights in her house went off. The young woman felt a chill from behind her -but wasn't her window closed?- and suddenly felt paralyzed, as if an unseen force was preventing her from moving.
"You foolish human,"
The voice was so deep, and seemingly coming from directly behind her, that Cynthia couldn't help but shiver against her invisible binding, surprise and, for the first time in a while, fear taking control of her body.
"you really thought you could escape my will, and treat my servants so unappropriately?" continued the voice, and she could feel it drawing near, although she couldn't hear any steps or other movements.
"Now…" an icy finger touched her neck, the voice now breathing directly against her soft skin, and she would have jolted and punched whoever it was if it weren't for her paralysis.
"...you will feel how futile it is to go against me."
Of all things Cynthia could have expected, feeling teeth sinking in her skin wasn't one of them. She gasped, the shock and paralysis taking a hold of her voice as well, as her mind rambled on and on, incoherently, and she couldn't focus on anything but the burning sensation on her neck.
As she somehow gained some lucidity back, her thoughts ran to her Pokémon, but she didn't expect to a second attack on the same day and they were all already asleep, safe in their Pokeballs. The blonde tried to reach for one of them on the desk, but it took all of strenght to even bend her fingers; even if she had enough focus to try and move some more, she was definetely lacking it now because of the bite making her numb.
After what felt like an eternity, the mysterious man let go of her neck, blood trickling down from it. Cynthia shivered, and was suddenly aware of the acute pain the bite had inflicted her, but as much as she wanted she couldn't even touch her aching neck, or spin around to give some to that psycho intruder.
"It's been so long, my skills have become rusty." murmured the man, mostly to himself: "But worry not, next time it won't pain you...not that you will remember any of this."
Cynthia opened her eyes to the blinding morning light, her mind groggy, like under a thick fog. She mentally questioned if she had been drinking the night before but no, she remembered only talking with Steven over Skype...and she wasn't much of a drinker anyways.
For how much as she tried, he couldn't remember much, even as she instictively passed her fingers on her neck, feeling two small holes that were already healing up.
Maybe she had passed out from exhaustation? The League was keeping her incredibly busy and...wait, was it really already 10am?!
Leaving her wake-up confusion aside, Cynthia screamed and jumped off the bed, releasing Garchomp from her Pokeball and instructing her to fetch her some clothes while she buried herself in toothpaste, perfume, and a late morning shower.
She didn't even question why her laptop was neatly closed and set aside on the desk or why she was tucked in her bed, if she really had passed out during the chat.
As soon as Cyrus had set foot on his mansion in Distortion world, Mars, Saturn and, at a certain distance, Jupiter, hurried to him, seemingly concerned.
"Are you alright Master? Did everything went well? How was it?"
Cyrus merely glanced at them, aiming to his chambers: "Successful as planned. Oddily satisfying."
Mars stared at his disappearing figure in the darness of a hallway: "So….guess he's not so pissed... Cupcake time then? I'm rather hungry~"