"Idiot! You are gonna alert someone!" Vanilla yelled.
"It's alright!" Cookie grinned. She let the sledgehammer drop on the floor. "Look, it's the other side! There's no one in the yards." She showed her head out.
Sigh. No time to discuss with Cookie about her methods. "C'mon. Let's go." She launched her a hand sign to follow and walked to the door.
"I hope Bumbly won't take long." Cookie followed behind.
They advanced through the dark hallway once again. Many of the doors were as locked as Carol's jewelry safe would be. Some of them even had up to three locks and chains wrapped all over and wooden planks covering their windows. They could swear that crying sobs came out of them as if someone was mourning a death or begging for mercy.
They arrived at the end of the corridor. Rumbles came from the bottom door as if someone was kicking empty cans around. Cookie and Vanilla traded looks, and the latter unlocked the door, the light of Avrevm Bacvlvm going first.
It was a double-sized classroom. Not much could be seen, but there was a strong, penetrating stench emanating from it. They covered their noses with the collars in their witch costumes.
"The smell..." Rowie mumbled. "Wait. It's harpies!"
Vanilla pushed harder the citrine. At the left corner of the classroom, a dozen children laid in a row, making up almost half the distance to the right corner. Were they dead or asleep? Rowie mentioned something human and alive before and was now smelling harpies. Whatever he meant, they found what they were looking for.
"Vanilla..." Cookie whispered. Gargling screeches rumbled everywhere. Red eyes glowed in the dark. First two, then four, then eight, then sixteen. Growls echoed and blended with each other in a distorted melody of death.
Vanilla didn't hesitate. She pressed the Ruby and shot bursts of fire around. The winged beasts that hanged from the roof revealed themselves, with their mouths and arms covered by stains of blackened blood. They screamed. They winged dusty and moist air away.
"Those things!" Cookie screamed.
Their feathered hands illuminated the bloody floor below as they summoned fire. Twin orange fireballs lighted below each one of the dozens of monsters, intensifying and swirling as a cluster of stars in space.
'Vanilla blindly tried to reach for the Diamond. If she didn't press it in time, nothing would remain from them besides a pile of black ash and carbonized bone fragments.
The hybrid children-eating monsters screeched and unleashed their fireballs. If there was any god or something above that being that revived her, Vanilla prayed to them that she did press the white gemstone.
She failed to press the diamond, but before they could consider themselves dead, something different happened. A black sphere, surrounded by a smoky, purple aura attracted the fireballs to the tip of Avrevm Bacvlvm.
She must have pressed the Onyx! the only gem on the golden stick left yet to sort out.
Guttural yellings filled the room. The stinking hybrids flew everywhere like a disturbed cauldron of bats, shooting more fire. Rowie furiously barked. Avrevm Bacvlvm vibrated and felt heavier than typical. Vanilla gripped it with both hands and pressed her teeth. The black hole grew up to be the size of a basketball, swirling at supersonic speeds.
The harpies continued screaming and bombarding fire, but their magical attacks kept getting suctioned to the void at Avrevm Bacvlvm's tip. "It's gonna explode! Run!" Cookie cried and jumped back.
Vanilla could not hold the trembling pole anymore. She released the Onyx. A charring burst of fire blazed and cleansed the whole room, exploding and charring the walls, floor, and ceiling above. The windows on the other side shattered and thousands of crystals flew away to the night outside.
The harpies fell to the floor, twisting and screaming in agony as the purifying fire destroyed their feathers, skin, nerves, and finally their bones. It stank like charred flesh and burned hairs, so penetrating that someone that was not used to those smells would vomit.
Vanilla looked at them, and then at Avrevm Bacvlvm. Such power... And it was all on her hands. Custos Apes arrived buzzing through the broken windows. The harpies stopped agonizing and perished.
"You killed them... They are gone..." Cookie shook herself and got up.
"How many?" Rowie asked.
"...Many. Two dozens at least..." Vanilla said, with a euphoric grin formed on her lips.
"Stupid things! Take that!" Cookie raised her fist and hopped.
"Wait, the kids!" Rowie said. "Oh no... Vanilla... you killed them!"
She got pulled out of her high and used the citrine once again. It illuminated what Vanilla thought was already saved. The row of children was now a piled mess of charred bodies, calcinated and blackened beyond recognition. Their peeled skin and bubbling sore spots fried with their own fat. It was impossible to recognize one from one another. Not even the boys from the girls.
"Oh no..." Vanilla mumbled.
"It... stinks so bad," Cookie coughed. She covered her mouth and nose.
No. Perhaps they were already dead. What was that feeling? A heavyweight compressed Vanilla's chest and shoulders. More deaths to her killstreak.
"No..." Rowie wailed. Vanilla's eyes watered.
No, No, No. They didn't deserve her pity. Those were the same animals that called her names, hit her, and threw rocks at her. Yeah. Some collateral damage. Some children less would not be much problem. And she had just sent many of those aberrant monsters back to hell. She was the victor.
But her book would demonstrate if she had taken more lives or not. More red points, staring at her in bitter red. "We couldn't do anything..." Cookie said. "Your barrier would have not worked. It was us or them..." Her enthusiasm was gone.
Vanilla didn't say anything. She just stared at the burned bodies for a whole minute before speaking. "Let's keep moving. More harpies will come." She said. There was no time for emotional dramas. They had to continue.
They strolled once again in the gloomy streets. That abandoned floor would soon get surrounded by people, the police, and firefighters. They would not find the cause of the explosion, though, and the harpies' bodies were already dust and ashes to be recognized, but they would find those kids dead. Rumors would spread all across Merry Oaths and more people would leave.
"Vanilla... about what happened in there..." Cookie mumbled.
"Let's not talk about that, Cookie. We need to concentrate." She kept walking. "Rowie... I'm sorry for that, but I promise you that we will stop them."
"...It's fine Vanilla. We could not do anything." Was his voice auto-convincing?
The idea of taking many human lives at once accident still made Vanilla feel something squeezing her chest. But the worst was Rowie's cries. His pain was something strange that her mind could not help but feel injured about. They turned right on the street, and another displeasing surprise appeared before their eyes.
"Vanilla! it's her!" Cookie yelled. It was the transformed harpy of wine-colored hair. A group of ten kids followed her, with their pumpkins full of candy and expressions of ignorance.
Both parties halted, and the harpy-woman petrified when she saw both girls. Cookie and Vanilla traded frozen looks. What to do? Those kids were watching. Some were still toddlers. They gossiped with each other in unrecognizable gibberish. The now human harpy paled harder.
"Hey, look kids! a plane!" Cookie signaled the black sky. The children turned around, and she plunged Avrevm Bacvlvm from Vanilla's pocket. She discharged lightning at the woman.
"Graaaaaaasghh!" She screamed and fell, twitching on the cracked concrete. The kids suddenly turned back. They left out hums of surprise and looked in confusion and fear at her, taking a step back.
They then stared at the witches and the wizard canine on the other side. Cookie hid Avrevm Bacvlvm on her back. "Oh no! She got struck by a lightning!" She exclaimed.
"Lightning?" A small girl in a mummy costume tilted her head.
"Yes! Go away, kids! Return to streets that have people on them! An ambulance will come."
"But what if-"
"The police will arrive and take all of you to jail! Now go!" She waved her hands away.
"Forget about it. I'm not a criminal!" A boy in a skeleton costume ran away. One The rest of the kids followed, sparsing themselves all across the streets.
Cookie coughed like a comedian. "Problem solved. Two gorgeous harpies left."
Vanilla swirled her eyes but grinned. Cookie's methods were so out of the blue and impractical on paper, but they always managed to work. She could annoy her sometimes, but she knew that tagging her along was not a bad decision after all.
They suddenly turned their heads. Childish screams echoed through the streets around the kids used to escape."I'm smelling them," Rowie cried. "Girls, run!"
Custos Aquilae and Custos Apes glided to their position. Winging sounds rumbled across the abandoned houses. Vanilla plunged Avrevm Bacvlvm from Cookie's hands and pointed it all around.
"Gwaaarhh!" A harpy circled in the sky. Vanilla shot it a discharge, but the monster shot another lightning back, and both attacks nullified each other. Damn. They were learning.
But that one was different. Was she the double size than a common harpy? She had another pair of wings, and her head had goat horns, similar to the ones on the succubus. Three more like her arrived and flew in circles above them.
"Empress! Attack!" Vanilla ordered.
The giant eagle screamed and spread her machete-long claws. Her five meters long wings sent dust and rocks fly away, and she caught one of those buffed harpies like an owl to a mouse. The monster useless tried to escape, but she was trapped inside the true bird's mauling mechanisms.
"Graaaaaaasghh!" She screamed in agony. The giant eagle smashed her horny head and body to the sidewalk like a ragdoll. She then beaked her stomach and pulled her entrails out in a bloody orchestra.
The other double-winged harpies were too petrified to attack. They spread their arms and cast blue flames. Custos Aquilae screamed at them. Vanilla got on her way and pressed the Onyx. Come and take a sip of your own medicine, you sick beasts...
But the harpies hesitated when they saw that black hole in front of the human girl. They held their fire for a second. Custos Apes was sharp and keen. She showed her sting and buzzed harder than a train engine against them. She rammed. The harpies defended themselves by clawing her puffy fur, but the Sky empress rushed up.
"Look!" Cookie signaled. Other harpies were flying away with the kids that the transformed harpy was luring.
Damn. A distraction. "Bumbly! don't let them escape!" Cookie screamed.
"Strike, Empress!" Vanilla cried too.
Both animal spirits flew against the monsters, but their screams and buzz halted when they suddenly smacked their heads against an invisible barrier. They hit the ground and shook their heads. A white mist began to surround that lone street of whistling trees and eroded houses.
"What's happening?" Rowie concernedly asked.
"...They must be modifying the ambiance," Vanilla replied. More harpies crawled through the white fog. She kept the onyx up, ready to burn them to death with their own attacks.
They closed the distance against each other. The shining eagle and bumblebee got in front of them like guard dogs.
A silhouette unfaded through the white steam. A towering harpy of four wings of purple and blue decorations spreading to her neck and shoulders sauntered to them. A whole army of harpies appeared at every spot across the mist.
Custos Apes and Custos Aquilae rushed, but the towering harpy shot them a bolt of white lightning. They vanished in the air.
"Goddamned!" Vanilla pointed Avrevm Bacvlvm, but with a magical sweep, the decorated harpie snatched it from her hands, and pulled it back to her yellow claws. She swept up her other hand, and raised the girls and pup with telekinesis, stretching their bodies mid-air.
"You killed Bumbly! idiot!" Cookie's eyes watered. She tried to fight the magical force holding her, but it was useless.
"You are the idiot," The major harpy responded."You can't kill spirits," She played with Avrevm Bacvlvm on her hands, like a little kid inspecting a foreign object.
Through more telekinesis, she pulled out the plushes from their pockets. "Humans. Idiotic fools. You don't even comprehend these forces and yet you dare to abuse their powers."
She inspected the hand-sewed toys, squeezing and pressing them on her claws. Her harpies cackled and rattled, their malevolous yellow eyes fixated on them.
"But I must say that you impress me," Their leader continued. "You made us come to give you hunt. But I've got a better idea." The harpy army looked at her, ready to listen to her tricks."You are powerful. I can feel something different coming from your bodies. Especially yours, blackhead."
She grinned and approached. She put her claws on Vanilla's face. "You're gonna eat us? That's all?" She chuckled, not yielding towards the monster.
"We won't simply eat. We will delight ourselves in you. Even I can't know how much energy you're holding."
"Look, just because our boobs are flat doesn't mean we're kids. Let us go." Cookie argued.
"Kids, adults, It's all the same. It just so happens that children are easier to trap. And they taste better," She licked her sawed mouth. The harpies around giggled and cawed, winging in enthusiasm.
"Junior is gonna be disappointed that he didn't get to see action outside. I'll compensate him. Raphaela, put them to sleep. The dog will make the perfect side dish." She ordered and turned around.
"At your orders, Tabitha!" One of the Harpies of double wings and horns waddled towards them and tightened her claws. Light emanated from it.
"Go to hell!" Vanilla screamed.
"That's where I come from, honey!" She unfastened her hand and shot them a spine-freezing beam. Everything went black.