Chapter 47: One's Past Actions Will Always Have Consequences

Unlike the thunderstorm near Valentine Academy, the cloudy skies near Vincent's abode are only shedding moderate rain and blowing light winds. The constant pouring rain has been forcing the shishi-odoshi to strike the rock a bit faster than it normally did.

Inside of the Japanese house, Rosa is currently in an unused room. She's sitting in a chair in front of a floating elliptical-shaped mirror, on it displays a scene of her second eldest brother and one of his friends. A teen with pale blonde hair and another with long red locks just fled.

"Tch, damn it," Rosa pouts leaning back and crossing her arms. Thanks to Ingrum casting a concealment spell prior to entering the room, Yuna and Edward have no idea that she's here, let alone back at home. The man then left since she told him that she could take things from here on her own, appearing strangely eager too despite not having a visible face to show it. She could practically feel the emotion he was giving off. "Oh well," she says shrugging. "They most likely aren't even his friends anyway." She looks at the teen with healthy blonde hair gaping in disbelief at Craig. "But he is." She giggles evilly.

"You're gonna regret this, kid."

With an annoyed frown forming on her face, Rosa first watches her insane brother create a big icicle in one hand, and hurl it at the blonde. He summons a shield made of water to take the hit for him, freezing upon impact then shattering. Craig then creates a sharp sword out of ice, and tries to cut the blonde with it, who dodges and only tries talking some sense into Craig. Rosa becomes even more annoyed now that she has to miss the action to address the voice behind her, she turns around in her chair locking eyes with a pair of glaring lavender-colored ones that are glowing eerily in the dark corner of the room. He's sitting on the floor. "I'm not gonna regret shit, it's you and that other friend of yours that are gonna regret being friends with Craig," she retorts. "You two are just as messed up for hanging out with a murderer."

The intensity of the vampire's scowl softens a little. "What he did was wrong, me and Butters both know that, but he didn't do that because he wanted to."

Rosa hardens her glare. "What the hell do you know? You weren't there when he told our parents that he wished he was born a human! He fucking killed our mom because he thought she was the reason dad became weak, then he killed him right after!" Rather, Craig slaughtered their father. It's a memory that will haunt not just Rosa, but her siblings as well for as long as they live.

Rosa's constricted sobs, and the battle raging on from the mirror fills the tense silence of the room.

"Do you remember Craig holding a knife?"

Rosa wipes the tears from her eyes. "What?"

"If you remember all of that, then surely you remember the weapon he used to kill them with."

"..." Rosa thinks back to the moment a knife appeared right before her father's throat. It didn't look ordinary, and it exuded an ominous aura, grimacing when she recalls her father's hand turning black when he touched it. She shakes her head. "I don't care what that knife did to him to force him to do what he did, I only care about making him pay." She refuses to let this chance go by, she will avenge her parents. She turns back around to see what's going on in the mirror, realizing that the fighting sounds had ceased. Craig is now choking the blonde by the neck, his feet dangling in the air. Ice is starting to form and spread around his neck.

"If Craig kills Butters, I'll kill you."

Rosa contains a shudder at the teen's threat, but she doesn't have to worry about that happening. "You try to move even an inch, and you'll be brunt to a crisp." Ingrum had placed personalized silver handcuffs around the teen's wrists. He reassured her that if the boy so much as twitched the cuffs would react instantaneously, and scorch his skin. It would not stop until he kept still.

"Well, if these cuffs don't kill me by the time I break free, then..." An orangish-red glow extinguishes the darkness. Startled, Rosa spins around in her chair to see the teen moving his arms behind his back, his eyes turning blood red. "You're fucking dead."

*Back At Valentine Academy*

Kyle and Tweek reduce their fast pacing to walking once they're far enough away from Craig and Butters, but Kyle suddenly stops. He turns to face Tweek whilst letting go of his hand, and hugs him.

Tweek blushes, raising his hands up to the redhead's back. "W-what's wrong?"

Kyle doesn't say anything for some moments. Tweek easily discerns the emotions he's undergoing, and he feels bad for worrying him. Kyle pulls back slightly, a frown on his face. "You almost could've gotten yourself killed."

Tweek copies his expression, but of guilt. "B-but he hurt you, and I got angry...then...my mind went blank."

Chuckling a little, Kyle gives him a sweet smile. "I could tell thanks to that punch you gave him." He hugs Tweek again. "I should apologize for worrying you, I just didn't want to hurt Craig."

"Even after he broke all your fingers and kicked you, I could definitely tell."

After hearing the bitterness in Tweek's voice, Kyle pulls back again to grab both of his hands. "Vampires may have great healing, but there are some injuries that will take awhile to recover from, depending on the severity. So, for example, Craig breaking my fingers...I was only able to heal quickly thanks to Luke's soul." Tweek appears shocked. "His soul is linked with mines so no matter how serious the injury, I'll heal from it faster than the average Pureblood and Mixed Blood."

Now that Tweek thinks about it, it makes perfect sense. Both Kyle and Luke are vampires, Purebloods even, thus is the reason why Kyle's regenerative ability is twice as fast. "Even so, I never wanna see you get hurt again..."

Kyle gently touches Tweek's cheek, both blushing, but Tweek's cheeks are redder. "I never want to see you get hurt either, nor for you to risk your life for me." Kyle's eyes travel down to Tweek's pale but faintly pink lips. He wants to kiss him...and without any hesitation, he does just that, gently pressing his lips against Tweek's. Tweek stiffens, but a second later, he feels himself kissing back. This was something he wanted to do deep down, unbeknownst to him. Kyle doesn't think it's strange to have followed through with this urge, perhaps it's because of their bond plus the fact that he fed Tweek blood that time. Even then, he didn't think nothing of it, he just wanted to speed up Tweek's healing process. He never wants to see Tweek injured like that ever again.

"Oh my."

Kyle and Tweek separate, more startled by the deep, masculine voice than the clap of thunder. They look towards the individual, who laughs a little at their reactions. But then Kyle gives him a fierce glare.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Ingrum?"

The man raises his hands slightly. "I apologize for ruining you lovebirds' moment if that's what you're so angry about."

The blush returns to Kyle's cheeks against his will, Tweek is still too shocked to have heard him. "S-shut up... "

Ingrum laughs at his embarrassed face, then looks at Tweek. "Hmm, seems Tweek has been rendered speechless. Just as I expected."

Kyle stands in front of Tweek protectively. "Don't you fucking think about it."

"Oh?" Ingrum's narrowing eyes begin to glow yellow. "Think about what exactly?"

Kyle produces a fireball from one of his palms, and throws it at him. Ingrum stands perfectly still, the moment the fireball is an inch away from hitting him, a clear transparent shield shaped like an oval protects him. All of a sudden, it starts to highlight in the same color as Kyle's fireball, then the very same projectile shoots out of the shield.

Greatly surprised by this, Kyle grabs Tweek and they quickly jump out of the way. Once they land back on the floor, Kyle looks at Tweek. His shock has now change to fear. "Tweek-"

"It's not wise to turn your back on your enemy, Little Kyle."

Gritting his teeth at the closeness of Ingrum's voice, Kyle brings forth the fiery aura around his hands that are curling into fists, and turns around with a punch. The man dodges by jumping back a meter or two, Kyle rushes at him forcing him to resummon his shield to block his barrage of punches. Each strike cracks and breaks it, but it will always quickly materialize back in front of Ingrum.

The man lets out an ebullient laugh, pissing Kyle off even more. "Good, good! This is the kind of burning vigor I was hoping to see from you!"

Kyle is too furious to cringe at his lame pun. "Grr, fuck you!" He puts his all into his next punch. When his fist connects with the shield, breaks it with ease, and manages to continue towards its target, Ingrum vanishes.

Kyle stumbles forward, falling to the floor on his hands and knees. "That was a bit too close there." With another growl, Kyle gets back up turning around to see Ingrum standing behind Tweek. His fury dissipates in an instant. "What a shame, you almost had me." Ingrum reaches into his hoodie pocket, taking out a pocketknife, and holding the small but sharp blade right near Tweek's throat.

Fear paralyzes Kyle in its clutches, a similar, frightening scenario flashing before his very eyes. "N-no, d-don't you dare!"

Chuckling menacingly at the desperation in the teen's voice, the glow from Ingrum's eyes fade away as he slides the knife across Tweek's neck, producing a long, thin line of blood along his skin. "Oh, I would dare."

Kyle feels his legs getting weak. He...doesn't know what to do. He can't fire another fireball at Ingrum otherwise he'll hit Tweek. He tried his damnedest to keep that bastard away from Tweek, but he failed. Just like how he failed to protect Luke. He collapses onto his knees, feeling hopeless. "Your fire has burnt out already, Little Kyle?" Ingrum asks, the disappointment evident in his voice. "Oh right, I do recall doing this to Little Luke all those years ago. No wonder you look so traumatized." His sympathetic tone wasn't sincere.

A pang of sadness and guilt pierce Tweek's pounding heart as he looks at the sheer despair in Kyle's dull eyes. He has no one to blame but himself for ending up in this situation. After recalling being stabbed repeatedly in the stomach, Tweek couldn't help but be terrified at the sight of Ingrum again. This time, in reality.

"So, you've finally come to your senses." Tweek tenses. "I'm sure you know why I'm here, don't you?" Tweek refuses to answer him, despite knowing the reason. "Upset that Little Luke couldn't stall me long enough?"

And that's when Tweek remembers Luke's last words to him. He vowed that he would stop Ingrum once Tweek revealed to Kyle everything that occurred in his dream, even putting his life on the line. So, does that mean he's...If it's as Tweek dreads, then the last thing he wants is to let Luke's sacrifice be in vain. "I-I need to get away from this guy." He tries to teleport to Kyle's side, but doesn't go anywhere. He is left very confused.

"It's useless," Ingrum says waving his weapon dangerously close to Tweek's face. "That surge of magic you felt earlier disabled you all's teleportation and telepathic abilities."

Well, that's just fucking great...Tweek is left with no other options then. Fueled by a boost of determination, he slips from under the pocketknife, and runs to Kyle...He honestly can't believe that worked.

Ingrum is just as surprised before he goes into a fit of laughter. While he's laughing, Tweek tries to bring Kyle back to his senses. "You never fail to amuse me, Tweek, and that's good. Because now..." Ingrum charges at them with his pocketknife, Tweek reacting fast enough to push Kyle out of the way and taking a stab right in his chest. "You're going to entertain me for a bit."

The momentum of Ingrum's speed sends Tweek falling and skidding backwards, he eventually comes to a stop. Coughing up blood then groaning, he cracks an eye open, but closes it again when a hand roughly grabs him by the hair. Instinctively, he clamps his hands around the man's wrist as he's being lifted up until his feet are inches away from the floor.

"Aaalright," Ingrum says yanking his pocketknife out of Tweek's chest. He grunts. "Now I can continue where I left off the last time. After I'm satisfied, I'll behead both you and Little Kyle, stab the hearts of your bodies, then give your heads to Lord Vincent. " He chuckles evilly.

Tweek once again opens one eye. "W-what? L-Lord...Vincent?"

The rapid falling rain overlaps the silence until Ingrum heaves a sigh whilst shaking his head, ashamed of himself. "How embarrassing, to get so carried away that I reveal something I shouldn't have," he mutters to himself. "I suppose I can tell you my true motive for having you go against Lord Vincent since you're no longer of value to me." He starts twirling his weapon. "Let me first say or rather remind you that prior to our meetings, Little Luke turned you under my orders. You see, I wanted another underling, and I'd figured you were gullible enough to obediently obey me." Ignoring Tweek's glare, he continues speaking. "Turns out I was very wrong to assume that. The reason Little Luke was unable to go against my order is simply because I'm his benefactor, I'm the reason he's alive again." Tweek's mien of anger changes to that of shock. "However, he's only able to appear in the real world by taking over Little Kyle's body, though throughout the years, Little Luke's soul somehow made itself into a body. It's still very strange..." Ingrum muses as he stops whirling around his weapon, clutching its handle. "Now, back to the main topic. Believe it or not, I went out of my way to warn you about the vampire hunter and Lord Vincent so that I didn't lose you so soon. I mean you were my new lackey after all. So naturally, I wanted to see you prove your worth, that way I'd know if you were worth keeping or not. Needless to say, had you just cooperated a bit longer things wouldn't have turned out like this."

Tweek lowers his arms, a blank look on his face. He should've known, he should've known that Ingrum only saw him as a pawn, and nothing else. It was the whole reason he was turned into a vampire in the first place, as Ingrum had stated during their last meeting. Fully comprehending the full extent of Ingrum's intentions, Tweek experiences another burst of anger however he remains conscious as he utters two words in the coldest tone he can muster, "Fuck you." Then he kicks Ingrum in the stomach. The man doesn't budge, and he stifles a laugh.

"Those are your final words, I see. Understandable enough, I suppose."

Tweek gets one last look at Kyle before blood splashes into his field of view. Before long, every incision done to his body gets drowned out by the rain and thunderclaps. The aroma of his blood starts tainting the air within seconds.

"Kyle, you dumbass! Hurry up and save Tweek!"

Kyle jolts back to his senses, bemused as to why he's suddenly on the floor slumped against the wall. He doesn't dwell on the thought for long as a bittersweet scent enters his nostrils, getting up on his feet and looking towards the source. His heart drops at the grueling sight of Ingrum stabbing and slashing away at Tweek's limp body.

"N-no! Tweek!"

With tears in eyes, Kyle rushes to his part-no, boyfriend's rescue, channeling some magic into his fists. His hurried footsteps alerts Ingrum into halting mid-cut, cocking his head stained with blood back to see an enraged Kyle running towards him, the orange and red aura around his fists bigger than before as well as the ferocity in his tear leaking lime-green eyes.

"Damn, I was just about to get to the good part."

As soon as Kyle shortens the distance between them, Ingrum turns around holding Tweek's bloodied body in the redhead's face. Kyle skids to a stop, grimacing in both regret and indignation at the grim state Tweek has been reduced to.

In his moment of hesitation, Ingrum throws Tweek's body off to the side, aiming his pocketknife to puncture Kyle right in his throat. Kyle focuses just in time to catch the blade just centimeters away from his jugular, the heat of his aura too much for the ordinary metal to handle. It begins to melt. Ingrum tries to punch Kyle in the face with his other hand, but his fist gets caught as well.

The man's unseen eyes narrow in anticipation, unfazed by the intense heat seeping through his leather glove. "Knew you'd do that." His eyes begin to become visible in the color black, their glow perturbing from within his hood.

"Quick! Let him go!"

Kyle heeds his twin's warning, and leaps back a little. He is dumbfounded when he sees a pitch-black aura of fire dancing around Ingrum's hand. The man drops his useless weapon to the floor. "There's no need to look so surprised, all I did was make your flame as my own." Kyle raises the hand he used to thwart Ingrum's punch, his own aura had been stolen.

"You need to damage his eyes, they're his main source of power."

Kyle already knows that now. "That's easier said than done."

"You'd better figure out a way before Tweek dies, h-he won't heal fast enough...thanks to all the blood he lost."

Kyle frowns wiping his eyes and cheeks, noticing the pain in Luke's voice. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't die. You just focus on yourself right now."

In a dimly lit room, a bloody and bruised Luke is sat on the floor, the stone wall supporting him upright. He's in just as bad of a condition as Tweek. "Heh, gonna take me way longer to recover." Then he perceives an oncoming danger headed for his twin. "Kyle, watch out!"

Kyle quickly extends out a palm to bring forth a firewall, negating a dark fireball that was thrown at him.

"For a second there, I thought you'd given up again."

Glaring daggers at Ingrum from behind the protection of his barrier, Kyle rekindles the aura around the hand that had it taken previously. "You're gonna pay for hurting Luke and Tweek, I'll guarantee it."

"Oh, is that so?" Ingrum sneers. "Big talk from a brat that can't back it up."

Kyle places both palms against his wall made of fire, and in that instant, it explodes sending out over a dozen small fireballs in Ingrum's direction.

Astonished by the redhead's creativity, Ingrum expertly dodges most of them while absorbing the rest into his counterfeit aura. The evaded projectiles strayed further down the hallway until they extinguish themselves from existence. Upset that his attack failed to hit its target even once, Kyle is about to shoot a beam of fire at his adversary when-

"Kyle!"

Surprised at the sudden yet familiar voice, Kyle turns around unsure if he should feel relieved or concerned when he sees four males approaching him. "M-Mr. Thorn, and-w-what're you guys doing here?"

"We smelt blood coming from within this hall," Mr. Thorn replies, then he and the other three look towards where the smell is originating from. The body is laying near the wall.

Stan gasps. "H-holy shit..." His stomach churning at the large amount of blood Tweek is losing, he looks away covering his nose and mouth, and placing a hand over his abdomen. Markus just grimaces before looking away as well. Kenny can't take his eyes away from the poor teen.

Ingrum observes the four newcomers. "This man managed to slip his group under my radar. How intriguing." Accomplishing such a feat tells Ingrum that this 'Mr. Thorn' isn't someone he should underestimate.

"What...the hell happened?" Kenny asks, still staring at Tweek.

Frowning deeply, Kyle faces Ingrum again. "This bastard was the one who did that to Tweek, and...it's my fault..." He tightly clenches his fists. "You guys take him to the nurses office, I'll handle him."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Mr. Thorn walks closer to Kyle, who looks at him in disbelief at his refusal. "You and the others will take Tweek to the infirmary," he looks at the man in all black. "While I deal with this guy."

"No, I-"

Mr. Thorn places a hand on Kyle's shoulder. "I know you want to get some payback, but you'll eventually end up just as badly wounded as Tweek or worse, killed. I can't allow another one of my students to get hurt."

Kyle eyes his teacher with wide eyes. He may be childish and immature most of the time, but when it comes down to it, he knows to act his age. But even still, Kyle is very reluctant to leave. The least he wanted to do was avenge Luke. Gritting his teeth, he stops transferring magical energy to his auras and they soon disappear from his hands. "O-okay..." He turns away. "I'll count on you to avenge my brother for me."

Mr. Thorn gives him a sad smile. "Of course." Then Kyle walks over to Tweek's unconscious form, tearing up again. "Tell me," Damien says in a serious tone of voice, addressing his opponent. "How long does the interference spell lasts for?"

The man shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. I'm not too knowledgeable in witches magic." Damien appears dissatisfied with his answer, but he was telling the truth. To some extent.

"I have a way of teleporting us to the infirmary," says Kenny as he nears Kyle and Tweek with Stan and Markus right behind him.

"How so?" Kyle asks him, not taking his saddened gaze off Tweek.

Kenny's hazel eyes begin to glow a bit as well as the marking that can be partially seen on his collarbone. Then they are gone as if they were sucked into a different universe.

"So, he was a victim of theirs as well..."

Damien turns back around raising an eyebrow. "Do you also know of this secret organization that used to experiment on vampires?"

"Yes, but I cannot disclose the information I've obtained to my enemy."

Lowering his eyebrow, Damien laughs a little. "I understand." Then he looks serious once again. "Let's get this over with."

His black eyes narrowing smugly, Ingrum raises his hand with his palm facing upwards, a dark aura of fire erupting around it. "I couldn't agree more."

*Ten Or So Minutes Earlier*

"I'm gonna go out and look for Kyle and Tweek."

It's been nearly over ten minutes now, and during that time Kenny had been feeling restless. Mainly because he couldn't contact his friends/roommates through telepathy.

"I'm gonna come with you," Stan said.

"I might as well tag along too," said Markus.

Kenny frowned at them. "All three of us don't have to go. It could be dangerous out there-"

"And that's exactly why," Stan said. "Gregory, Pip, and Ike are most likely together, but Gary could be by himself."

"And I don't wanna be in here by myself in case the vampire hunter comes down this way." Markus shuddered at the thought of facing him alone.

Kenny sighed, they each had a point. "Alright, fine. Let's go."

They got up from the beds, and exited Markus' room, taking off straight ahead.

After running for awhile, they heard a collective amount of murmuring in another hallway. With Kenny in the lead, they stopped and peeked behind the corner where they hear the voices coming from, seeing four members of the Student Council Committee struggling to ease everyone's agitation to no avail. The teachers and staff weren't providing much help in calming each other and the students down, rather they all seemed to be arguing about something.

"I don't see our friends among them," Kenny said in a low voice.

"Seeing as how they're all just standing there arguing about where to go, I'd say that's a good thing," Markus commented.

Kenny and Stan nodded their heads in agreement. "Let's move on," Kenny urged.

The trio hurried straight down into the other hall, the large group was so focused on one another that they didn't notice them.

They eventually ran into Mr. Thorn and Mr. DeLorne, and after explaining to them their reasoning for being out in the halls and telling them about the four members of the Student Council Committee having trouble getting their massive group under control, Mr. Thorn suggested he and Christophe split up. He would assist Kenny, Stan, and Markus in finding their friends while Christophe would go and help the Student Council Committee, much to the Frenchman's dissatisfaction.

Once Damien and his group ran off and were out of sight, Christophe went to go search for the vampire hunter instead.