With careful steps backward, the couple stood by the gate of the old mausoleum when Skylar's hand was pulled closer to Vincencio's chest, then jumped back. There was a sudden air that could cut anything without being noticed, but not as long as her husband was around.
"Thanks." Skylar thanked her husband, who was standing protectively in front of her, guarding her sides.
"Are you okay?" Vincencio asked without looking.
"Yeah, and it's the odd energy among the wandering spirits around here." She answered, informing him about what had attacked her earlier.
"And butchers?" he wondered as his skin perked up.
"Doing the same but very cautious." She replied sternly before she walked back inside the mausoleum.
"Why, I've got the feeling they didn't want us to leave…" He guessed, closing the gate before following her tracks inside.
"Because they are." She confirmed firmly before sighing. Then she picked up her phone, dialing her mother's number. "I have to ask Mom about this perimeter."
"And please do include the ground. It's getting on my nerves again." He added, making Skylar giggle.
"I'll try to remember." She said when somebody picked up her call on the second ring. "Mom, we've got entangled with oddities around here."
'What type of oddities?'
"She's not even surprised, but she's curious about it." Skylar thought carefully before giving her mother answers, "Five butchers and uninvited energy blending among the wandering spirits here."
'The five butchers? You mean the five Frankensteins there?'
"Yeah, them." She answered with her eyes narrowing, watching the movement of the butchers from the mausoleum's dusty window.
'Don't worry about them. They've been in that lot before the house was even built. And they were very pleased when the mausoleum was established and became the couple's house guardian ever since, but since you're seeing them now, it means there are plenty of wandering souls there, am I right?'
"Yeah, but what do you mean by that?" She wondered, frowning.
'Sophia has been sustaining them, giving them offerings, since they were sharing a home with them. It was a give-and-take deal, and since Sophia or Rudolf weren't around anymore. They were going to collect debts from those who tried to live there, renters.'
"I see." She muttered, but her eyes never left the butchers' way. She was guarded, studying their repeated butchering.
'They might be calm despite how disgusting they looked, but don't be deceived. Once they decided to collect debts from the renters, you either pay or you'll be butchered. Always be on guard around those spirits. They were soul debt collectors.'
"Soul Debt Collectors..." She repeated, making her mother on the other line chuckle.
'Sophia, called them like that.'
"Okay, then, do you know anything about the odd energy lurking around here?" She asked about another bothersome issue in the area.
'No. When I'm creating that mausoleum, there's no such thing lurking around there unless it came from you.'
"From me?" She asked curiously, making her glance over Vincencio, who was sitting by the marble graves.
'If not literally from you, then maybe a soul followed you there.'
"The only souls I've collected were Rudolf and Sophia's...wait...don't tell me..." She answered and realized something about what she had done before they came onto the property.
'What? What is it?'
"Sophia's soul. I divided it into two." She answered as she began channeling her bloody crystallized jade.
'And why would you do such a thing?'
"Malicious soul isn't needed for the pure ones during the cultivation period." She answered flatly, checking the jade and plucking the malicious soul that she had taken a few hours ago.
'Maybe that's the case. And Skylar, handle it before those collectors do something about it, and it might get nasty.'
"Sounds like you're afraid of them." She grinned teasingly, but there was no lie in her mother's tone.
'Indeed, I am and not because of how they look but of what they possessed.'
"Death." She finished before her mother could.
'How did you know that?'
"Seen and felt before, or better to say, I'm closer to Death than you think." She replied coldly as she analyzed the dark and malicious orb above her palm.
'If what you were saying is true, then they might be able to hear you.'
"I'll check it when it's time." She said before adding Vincencio's problem. "And Mom, Vince is asking how to deal with your magical ground inside the mausoleum has been an annoyance?"
'HAHAHA! I wish I could have seen it. It could have been very funny. But anyway, just sincerely say please.'
Then her mother hung up, making Skylar look at her phone in disbelief, sighing, before putting the phone back in her pocket. She even informed Vincencio what her mother told her about the magical ground in the mausoleum before focusing on the dark orb floating above her palm.
"What are you doing?" Skylar muttered, and a loud crash echoed outside, alarming the couple.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Vincencio exclaimed after calming the magical ground and went to his wife's side.
Before Skylar could say anything, her right eye burned and turned into a dragon's eye, making her see the hysteria among the wandering souls. They were panicking, passing each other, not doing their usual routine. However, one thing caught Skylar's attention.
"Butchers." She mumbled weakly, sweating a little because one butcher alone could release toxins and eeriness in the air, but three, that's haunting. "This is not good."
"I could tell." He agreed before sharing what perking up on his skin, "The air outside is turning upside down."
"Hubby, I need the Mutualist Protector now, but you don't have to shift unless it's needed." She commanded quickly and firmly before asking, Are we clear on that?"
"Crystal." He nodded, and Skylar pecked his lips before she sat by the marble graves of the couple.
"Help me with this one." She said softly, requesting the couple's orbs as soon as she released them above her.
The two orbs glowed, signing an agreement before Skylar released her bloody-crystalized jade at the center of the mausoleum, making the dark and malicious orb float beneath it. She did some hand gestures, extracting the darkness and separating malice from the same orb, expanding the jade. It released bloody and crystallized strings with sharp edges, securing not only the area but the orb that Skylar has been extracting.
"This is going to be..." She muttered coldly, but seeing how the dark orb shifted into something serene, Skylar smirked, adding, "...interesting."
The dark orb became a serene night color while the malicious one became the pitch black smoke representing either offensive or defensive malice. Witnessing the shift in both dark energies, Skylar infused them together. And with her jade's power, one tiny drop, and it began to be wrapped by a bloody and crystallized orb. However, the orb wasn't hard but a fluid, flexible, and unbreakable orb.
"Obscure." She whispered, and like stating a name, the smoky orb reacted, not only by glowing but by moving. Then she added a soft command, saying, "Call the rest of you."
As the dark orb began collecting its remains, the noise outside became intensified. The clashing sound escalated and became clearer as the last remaining dark energy flow inside the mausoleum. Vinceincio quickly did a backflip, morphing into his guardian mode - the Mutualist Protector, growling defensively at the broken gate.
'They're coming.'
"I know." Skylar said coldly before contacting her other side, Rose, asking, "Rose, would you like to meet the butchers in here?"
'Pretty please. I want them.'
"Be my guest then." She agreed, letting Rose take over her body, turning her skin pale, and her hair became blood red.
'Whoa, that's nice morphing.'
"I want it dramatic like superheroes." Rose grinned mischievously.
'You're a slayer, not a superhero, mate.'
'I agree with Vin.'
"At least I'm not the villain." Rose retorted, making the rest laugh, but when the dust cleared, three huge butchers stepped inside. "Hm, they're disgusting."
'Suck it up, Rose. You said you want them.'
"I know what I said, and I'm holding onto it." Rose responded, cracking her fingers before smugly grinning, saying, "Don't worry, I'll make them pleasing in no time."
'Are you-'
"Don't finish it, Vincencio. I'm not here for that." She said quickly, cutting Vincencio's attempt before continuing, "Like them, I'm here to collect, and I'm here for them."
'What do you want me to do then?'
"Just do your job, Vin, and I'm expecting you not to let them escape," Rose commanded sternly, making his wolf snuggle over her crook affectionately.
'On it.'
'Have fun, my wives.'
'Correction, ours.'
'Same thing.'
"Boys, focus." Skylar and Rose warned them in unison as the wolf vanished like air passing the five unshaken butchers. Rose grinned, but secretly snapped her fingertips, positioning her blood strings around the ground before whispering, "I hope this is going to be fun."
The five butchers encircled Rose. They were not hostile, but they were carefully studying Rose, but she was unreadable. She was cold as ice but lethal as blood, yet nothing was written in her expression or on her aura. There was no malicious intention coming from her, confusing the butchers. They were cautious about Rose's existence because they hadn't met her except for Skylar, and her presence was nowhere to be found, which bothered them.
'Where's the human, vampire?'
"Human? Which human?" Rose asked obliviously, pretending to check her nails.
'The human with the eye who could see us.'
"Oh, inside me." She answered, shrugging her shoulders.
'Inside you?'
"Why do you need her?" She asked them with calculating eyes, but piercing their souls.
'She has something that belongs to us.'
'The dragon's eye. The only dragon's eye that can see beyond a soul.'
"Oh, about that, it can't be bargained or bought with. It had chosen her unless you work for me." She responded, grinning sinisterly, but the five butchers didn't like her sound.
'Insolent vampire. We're ancient beings and...'
"I'm not telling you. I'm commanding you." Rose said not only with firmness but with burning intention that could eradicate them completely.
The five butchers suddenly stiffened in their places, and their movements or powers were prevented by the bloody strings wrapped around their entire bodies. And it hadn't stopped from crawling, consuming their beings until it struck their cores.
"You said you're ancient, but I am more." She said sinisterly as she made a step closer to them, forcing them to their knees before adding, "You're just servants, and servants need to follow their superior."
'WHO ARE YOU, VAMPIRE! I DEMAND AN ANSWER.'
They tried to break free from what was binding them on their spots, but the more they did, the more the blood strings tightened around them. They were grunting, kept their pace on, trying to break free, but it was not happening, not in the slightest. However, Rose, on the other hand, flick her fingertips, making the string stung deeper into their core, making them cough blood despite of being bodiless. The five butchers looked horrified at each other before looking one more time at Rose. They were looking at her in disbelief, mixing up relief and horrify.
"You already knew who I am, as I'm the one who gave you that job." She answered colder than Skylar could ever muster.
'Whoa, I didn't see that coming.'
"Quiet down there, Skylar." She replied internally, adding a sigh, "You're awake, makes mine as well."
'No...it can't be...you died...'
"How can I die if I can't die in the first place?" She responded sarcastically before snapping her fingers, magically pulling out the five butcher's soul cores - their essences. "Do you believe now?"
'We do, General...'
'Then, let's stay here. Let us continue our work here.'
"No, it's time for you to be separated. You've collected enough debts to be transferred and relocated to a perfect land to be possessed by death." She said coldly, checking their soul cores.
'Name it, and it will be done.'
"Good. That's a good response." She grinned darkly, before she let their soul cores, collected them into orbs, whispering, "It's time for a new home."