In an instant, before Dick Grayson could even straighten up, the Cross in his hand was snatched away again, then mercilessly plunged downward into his back.
Searing flames burst forth, and Dick screamed in agony, but Shiller yanked the Cross out and kicked him in the shoulder, sending Dick crashing into the corner of the room.
The reflection of polished shoes appeared before his eyes, as a silhouette crouched down before him, the screaming abruptly stopped, with the still-bleeding end of the Cross shoved directly into Dick's mouth.
The red glow in his eyes flickered twice before it was forcefully extinguished, turning the ferocity into fear.
"Shhh..."
Shiller, squatting in front of him, made a shushing gesture with his hand.
There's a difference between being able to touch the Cross and having it pierce directly through the brainstem.
Dick dared not move, because the other end of the Cross was in Shiller's hand, and with a simple forward thrust, his end would come no differently than committing suicide by shooting himself.
Shiller retrieved the necklace, then waved it in front of Dick, the angry red glow reemerging.
"Not even the most foolish person would turn his back on the enemy," Shiller said with a smile. "Do you admit your stupidity, or do you admit that a mere necklace from Batman laid bare the greatest vulnerability of your life?"
Dick instinctively kicked out with his leg, but Shiller saw this as resistance, and with a harsh upward flick of the Cross, Dick let out a pained sob, blood flowed from his mangled upper jaw, dripping down from the corner of his mouth.
With a bang, the door was thrown open, and standing outside was Batman.
With a bang, the door was closed again, Dick retracted the hand he had just raised, looking at Shiller with a gaze that was almost pleading.
"Don't come in yet," Shiller said to the outside. "I won't harm him. If I had wanted to kill him, his head would have rolled the moment he bowed."
What really stopped Batman were the last words—"To him, you coming in now is worse than killing him directly."
No further sound came from outside the door.
Dick squeezed a few syllables from his throat; it sounded like "let me go," but clearly he held no such hope.
"Don't rush," Shiller said, looking straight into Dick's eyes. "The fangs, show them to me."
Dick glared at him in response, his hands grabbing the Cross, trying to pull it out.
But before he could exert any force, Shiller pushed harshly again, blood gushing into Dick's throat like he was biting his tongue off, leaving him convulsing on the spot.
Luckily he was already a Dead Man, otherwise just that blow would have sufficed to make him pass out.
Dick dared not move anymore, for even without needing to breathe, the sensation of blood choking up his trachea was unbearable, and more importantly, the look in Shiller's eyes suggested that another push would nail his head through.
The acid in his jaw pulled on his neck muscles, and the fangs uncontrollably protruded. Shiller seemed fascinated, observing the unique retraction structure, suspecting that a gland might be hidden within the upper dental arch.
"You can use Magic, right? Fetch me that box," Shiller said to Dick.
Dick could not deny it, as he had just closed the door with Telekinesis. He did not know what Shiller intended, but with the Cross pressed in his throat, he had to comply.
The box flew over but rolled a few times on the ground before settling by Shiller's side, Shiller frowned but did not touch the Cross again.
Dick looked at him again with triumphant eyes.
This triumph lasted only until Shiller opened the box, which contained an array of surgical instruments glinting coldly.
"Boy, you now have two choices," Shiller maintained that proper smile, and even in a crouched position, his clothes had not a single wrinkle.
"First, you can extract the two fangs yourself. Second, I can do it for you."
Dick's eyes widened in horror as he sobbed and shook his head, but Shiller had already taken out a pair of pliers from the box and held them out in front of him.
Seeing no movement in Dick's hands, Shiller opened the pliers.
As the well-maintained fingertips lifted up the lip, Dick broke down, desperately shaking his head and trying to pull Shiller's wrist away.
But with the Cross in his mouth, he had no room to maneuver. Tears streamed down as he gasped for air, trembling hands stroking forward along Shiller's hand and grasping the pliers.
His hands shook so badly he could barely aim at anything, so Shiller had to guide his wrist to the spot and Dick clamped the pliers over his own fang.
"Good boy, it won't hurt much."
"Arrrgghhhhhhhh!!!"
As a fang hit the floor, Dick arched weakly, like a fish out of water; blood was pouring from the right corner of his mouth, and it seemed that more than just a tooth had been extracted, as the red glow in his right eye faded to half its brightness almost immediately.
"Enough, Shiller, let him go."
Batman reappeared outside the door, his voice trembling slightly, repeating, "Let him go! Shiller!!"
This time, Dick turned with all his might, gazing pleadingly at Batman, sobbing continuously, while Batman's hand also touched the Batman dart.
Shiller stood up, turned, and coldly, almost devoutly, looked at Batman.
"Either receive a lamb, or get a corpse... Choose, Batman."
Watching Shiller's arm bend slightly to tense up, Batman's fingertips quivered, confident that any further move would make the opponent instantly drive the Cross through Dick's brainstem.
Then Shiller turned back, lowered his head to Dick and said, "You have 30 seconds to deal with the other fang."
In the instant Shiller turned his head, a dark shadow lunged, as Batman slammed into Shiller, sending him flying into the bedpost where his head bled profusely.
Dick, released from his restraints, seemed to have not reacted at all, sitting there dazed, forgetting even to use magic.
The Cross did not fly out from his hand, Shiller, as he was knocked down, thrust it fiercely into Batman's waist.
A muffled grunt came from beside his ear, but Batman was not to be outdone. He grabbed Shiller's left shoulder and punched him in the right face, then Shiller reversed and pinned him down, plunging the pulled-out Cross back into his left shoulder.
Shaky, Shiller stood up, spat out a mouthful of blood, and turned to look at Dick.
"20 seconds."
Dick seemed to finally react, remembering he could use magic, his hand rising, but unsure who to target.
Clearly, his nemesis was Batman, who with two piercing wounds was close to certain death with one more strike; Dick's mission at Wayne Manor would then be complete.
But Batman had come to save him. If Batman died, what would they do about this devil named Shiller? Who else could stop him?!
In the moment of Dick's hesitation, Shiller picked Batman up from the ground, pressing the Cross against his neck.
"10 seconds."
"Leave this place, Dick," Batman gasped out, "Don't hurt your brothers and sisters, do as you wish with the rest."
Batman had never been so weak; the blow to his back might have already ruptured his kidney, and the wound on his shoulder was still bleeding profusely, making even speaking a struggle.
"If you dare leave, he will surely die," Shiller told Dick, "5 seconds."
Shiller's last words became the last straw that broke the camel's back—"Being Batman's dog, obeying all his orders, is that what you are supposed to do, Dick?"
"Don't listen to him! Dick! Leave this place!!!"
Dick breathed out shakily, taking the pliers with even more trembling hands, aiming them at his other fang.
"No... Dick!! No!!!!!"
"Aargh!!!!!"
As the pristine tooth fell with the pliers, Shiller tossed Batman aside and wiped the fresh blood from his mouth.
"Well done, boy."
Batman rushed over to embrace Dick, the strong scent of blood rushing to his nose, and Dick slowly wrapped his arms around Batman's solid chest, opening his mouth to bite into Batman's neck.
But he had no fangs left.
Tears mingled with the blood on his face, but before they could reach Batman, he passed out from his severe injuries.
"I didn't expect you to come." Shiller repeated the sentence he had said when he opened the door, but this time the true meaning was written all over his face, a kind of mocking filled with interest.
"I thought under such circumstances, you'd choose to seek Batman, or are you actually too scared to even face him alone?"
"Shut up!" Dick gritted his teeth furiously. He wasn't actually that badly hurt; he could even use magic to heal Batman's wounds, but was so weak he couldn't stand up and his voice was breathless when he spoke.
Shiller glanced down at the bloodstained necklace in his hand and said, "The prayer behind this object is commonly used by the British Church, whose holy artifacts are particularly potent. From the moment it appeared on Batman's person, you guessed whom he would give it to, signifying Batman's blatant favoritism."
"No one received it, but it disappeared, so you guessed it might be in my hands, therefore disrupting the original plan to come find me first. You wanted to know if Batman really gave me this most important protective object."
"What should I say about you, Dick?" Shiller said, caressing the necklace in his hand, "I really don't know if the vampire virus has burned out your brain. He gave me a protective object because he knew I would really encounter danger. And you, the little birds hiding under his wings, what kind of armor do you need?"
Dick opened his mouth to retort, but it seemed the pain in his mouth distracted him and he couldn't speak immediately.
He coughed twice, clutching his neck, and spat out a bit of blood, the pain in his gums shooting straight into his brain, leaving him dizzy.
Shiller suddenly dropped the mocking tone and said with a change of voice, "But I can still give it to you, you can brazenly wear it around your neck, showing it off to everyone, that you've garnered that favor."
Dick instinctively looked up at him.
Hopeless, he thought in despair.
Shiller approached him, tilted his head slightly and said, "How much you look like a little dog wagging its tail for mercy, do you often do this in front of Batman?"
The whistling sound of a thrown object halted as Shiller deftly caught Dick's wrist, then said, "Batman can give me a punch because he is a father worthy of respect, and I accept the fact that there's a price to pay for angering him."
"And you, Dick, if you had truly done what a son should do, you wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state."
Shiller took out the necklace again, waved it in front of Dick saying, "I'm just being kind so you can retain your last bit of dignity in front of them. Otherwise, you won't even belong to the same species as them. How could you compete fairly for Batman's love?"
Shiller dropped Dick's hand and said, "The moment you gave up resisting and willingly transformed into a vampire, any extra attention you got from Batman was merely because of your different body, not your soul—he's paying attention to a monster, not Dick Grayson, not his... child."
Dick looked at him, his face never looked so defeated, his pain-wracked brain felt as if it had been split open, but he still bit his lip tightly.
Shiller leaned forward, his eyes brimming with laughter as he asked, "Now, answer me, do you need this necklace?"
Staring at the continually flickering silver light, Dick looked at the necklace for a long, long time. He felt like he couldn't think, yet it was as if he had thought a lot. His eyes felt dry, but at the same time, it was like he was continuously crying.
It's vigilance, not favoritism, a monster, not a child.
After a long while, he numbly nodded his head.
Shiller smiled contentedly.
"Turn around, I'll put it on for you."