Felix clashed the Fang against the wrist gauntlets of the puppet with the ‘deep voice’, at closer inspection he could see that it had a crudely engraved face with narrow eyes, a frowning mouth and a moustache.
It knocked him backwards with a sudden wooden knee to his gut, letting him stumble back without bothering to pursue a follow up.
“Mr. Trilo, it's not nice to play with your food.” Ven echoed from his spot on the log.
“Shaddup you dork! You’re not my dad!”
‘Mr. Trilo’ shot back, shaking his fist back towards his puppeteer, who in response, bit his lip in nerves like one would do saying the wrong thing to a bully.
Felix couldn’t fathom what he had been witnessing, was Ven getting some sick pleasure out of this song and dance? Or more concerningly, was this an act at all?
Dinah suddenly flew into him, knocking them both to the ground. She had been tangling with the puppet that had the higher pitched voice, a ‘Ms. Quist’ that had an engraved face with lipstick and mock strands of hair.
“Why is this so hard? They’re just dolls for fucks sake. I should be turning them into scratching posts easily.”
Dinah huffed, clearly growing increasingly frustrated with how their opponent seemingly wasn’t even treating them as a threat.
“Those aren’t normal wood puppets, they’re enhanced by his magic, energy all humans have, but some have weaponized to great effect against us Monsterkin.” Felix explained while wearily returning to a vertical base.
Dinah rolled her eyes while joining him on her feet.
“Yeah I know, the curriculum on humans at our Nightshear isn’t that different, I was being rhetorical, or do you vamps not get the concept?”
“Take this seriously! We’re going to die if this keeps up! Stop with the sarcastic bullshit and focus!”
Felix was ordinarily fairly calm with others, but unreasonable and uncooperative people tended to get under his skin, Dinah beating the tar out of him earlier was just a bonus in this regard.
“Ooh a lovers quarrel! How dramatic! Unlike me and my darling Trilo, it’s clear you have no chemistry.” Ms. Quist’s voice echoed.
“Got that right babe, we’re the it couple around these parts and no shaggy dog and her pale bat comes close.”
Mr. Trilo now held his fellow puppet’s hand while lightly caressing her splintered cheek.
It would almost be a touching display if they weren’t inanimate objects being humanized by a deeply disturbed man.
Dinah looked like she wanted to retch, although whether from what Ven was making his companions do or from the insinuation she was involved with Felix romantically was hard to tell.
Felix for his part hadn’t let himself be distracted by the provocations, he had thought it over in his mind, they didn’t necessarily have to overpower the puppets to win, they just needed one clean fatal hit on their master to put them all down at once.
This was easier said than done however, for the past few minutes they’d been fighting, the pair of Trilo and Quist always made sure they stood in the middle to intercept any attacks that may be aimed Ven’s way.
Running wasn’t an option for survival either, while Felix wasn’t against the idea if things got critical, Dinah’s fierce werewolf pride he had seen her display made it unlikely she’d follow him.
Even ignoring that, the trees were lined with Ven’s strings which would slow a fleeing foe enough that they’d be wide open to being taken down by his wood friends.
The more Felix ran through game plans regarding their scenario, the more he realized that Ven had displayed a way to counter them all. While he was clearly insane, he wasn’t stupid and definitely had experience cutting Monsterkin like them down.
“Think fast beasties.”
Ms. Quist’s arm opened up once more and fired a blast of energy at them, Felix rolled to the side while Dinah leaped upwards to avoid the attack which scorched the ground where they had been standing.
Dinah was only a few feet off the ground when Mr. Trilo smashed her back down to earth with a mid air heel kick, pieces of loose dirt flying from the impact she made with the soil.
With blistering speed the puppet returned back to solid ground and rushed Felix, slashing at him with its wrist blades. While he managed to parry each one it was Trilo that had the last laugh.
Going completely limp and falling to the ground, it avoided the beam of energy its body was obscuring heading their way. Felix had no time to react to Quist’s surprise attack, the beam colliding with him and sending him flying backward.
His back collided with the strings surrounding the exits of the clearing, they dipped slightly backward before propelling him back to the ground like a slingshot.
“My Trilo, it's almost like you know what I’m going to do!”
“Of course Quist my dear, we’ve always been on the same wavelength after all!” Responded Trilo, reanimating his slack limbs and jerkily standing up again.
Something had to change, at the rate things were going they’d be overwhelmed by the double teaming while they continued working as individuals rather than a pair. On a knee, Felix realized what had to be done if they wanted to live.
Wiping a trace of blood leaking from his mouth with his forearm, he focused his mental power.
“Can you hear me?” Felix’s voice echoed in Dinah’s mind.
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She looked at him in surprise as she reoriented herself, taken aback by the communication without words leaving his mouth.
“I’m speaking to you telepathically, we need to cooperate with our attacks and battle plan this way to match the human and his dolls.”
“Thanks, but no thanks, I would rather lose a limb than cooperate with your kind.”
Dinah scrunched her face when looking at him as she responded mentally.
“Look, I just want to live through this. To get a chance to see the ones I care about again. You feel the same right? So please…work with me.”
Felix couldn’t hold back the emotion even in thought, the images of his mom, of Leo, of Emily passing through unabated.
Felix’s pleading caught Dinah off guard, her own eyes reflecting something resembling a recollection of a similar feeling to him.
“…alright just this once let’s work together. I have someone I need to see again no matter what as well, she’s my only purpose to keep living.” She looked pained, as if recalling a piece of herself she lost.
Felix raised an eyebrow, but didn’t press further. They had a far more important matter to settle now that they were somewhat on the same page.
“You guys are doing great! S-show those monsters who’s boss! Teach them a lesson!”
Ven was cheerleading, still sitting stone still on the log, his hands clutched around his control bars and occasionally twitching to relay his commands.
“No…you’re the one about to learn a lesson.” Dinah started, glaring straight towards Ven past Trilo and Quist.
He paused for a moment, a look of confusion now crossing the puppeteer's face.
“Huh?”
“For once I agree with her.” Felix stepped forward now standing shoulder to shoulder with the woman who had maimed him some hours ago.
“We’re going to show you the bond between two living beings working together, no matter how strained, is far more powerful than your one man puppet show could ever be.”
Something shifted in Ven’s posture, no longer the slouched timid figure he seemed before. He finally uncrossed his legs and sat up straight.
“I think that’s enough playing now Mr. Trilo, Ms. Quist, let’s turn these heathens into puddles.”
The puppets silently assumed battle stances, no longer continuing with the charade of silly voices and gestures they had been up to this point.
“Just so you know that was the corniest thing I’ve ever heard, but it’s got him heated, now we take whatever mistakes and openings we can get.” Dinah relayed in their heads.
Felix frowned, he meant what he said, earnestly as he was raised to be, and didn’t think it was corny at all. Alas that matter wasn’t important in the moment, already the wooden weapons were rushing forward with renewed intensity.
Felix intercepted Trilo once more, their colliding blades giving no ground to the other. Utilizing a similar trick from earlier, the puppets head tilted to an impossible angle, allowing its partner to throw a concealed punch where it had been.
This time however Dinah caught Quist by the jointed wrist, just before the blow landed square on Felix’s jaw. They stood there locked in a four way stalemate for a few seconds before Quist’s arm once again parted in preparation to point blank blast Felix.
“Now!” Felix commanded as he pulled back from his deadlock with Trilo while Dinah released the arm of Quist.
With impressive coordination they swapped targets, Felix lobbing off the blaster arm of Quist as Dinah put herself in position for a mule kick that sent the inanimate duo tumbling back together in a tangle of limbs.
Ven looked actually shocked, not mock play acting, but the genuine article. It was a shock that very quickly turned to fury.
“How DARE you cut off her arm! WE'LL KILL YOU!”
Ven was now fully animated, for the first time he started to wave around his control bars like an orchestra conductor instead of the lethargic twitches of before.
The marionettes responded in kind, unleashing a twin flurry of offense that would make an MMA fighter blush.
Felix and Dinah ducked, weaved and blocked kicks, punches and jabs for one another in sequence, keeping pace with their foes on equal terms.
The Monsterkin duo were starting to get tired, a hindrance the organ lacking puppets didn’t have to be concerned about, however the dolls were overextending themselves from their leader.
“Let’s end this!” Felix signaled, now ready to execute the plan they’d been setting up.
While the puppets had simultaneously reeled back for their next attack he leaped off the ground and did a small rotation, landing back to back with Dinah with his feet off the ground and hers firmly planted.
She then used her supernatural power to leap upwards, propelling Felix higher still into a perfect angle towards Ven. Putting it all on the line, he tossed The Fang straight at him!
Tchick! The sound of wood being pierced rang out in the clearing.
Felix’s eyes widened, the fang had run straight through Ms. Quist’s now airborne body, directly into the spot a heart would normally be. Ven had made Trilo toss her upwards to intercept the attack aimed for him.
“Sorry Ms. Quist, I’ll get you fixed up before tomorrow night’s hunt.” Ven uttered, a forlorn look on his face you’d see in people when their pet had to be taken to a vet.
“There isn’t going to be a tomorrow for you pipsqueak!”
Dinah leaped into the air again, grabbing Felix’s hand as he descended.
“Hit it with everything you’ve got Vamp!”
With that she used the momentum to propel Felix directly towards Quist’s body.
With his remaining energy, he drilled a straight kick into the hilt with such force it tore the puppet directly in two while re-firing to its original target.
Clack! The sound of the control bars bouncing off the log and landing in the dirt was deafening in the hush that followed.
Blood dripped onto the ground, staining it crimson.
Ven’s trembling hands hovered over the blade which had just rammed through his chest. He coughed up enough blood that the devastating internal damage was obvious.
“Is…this t-the pain you felt M-Ms. Quist? …I’m s-sorry I couldn’t…be a better…friend…”
With those dying words his body gave out, collapsing backwards over the log into a lifeless heap.
Without his master to hold him up, Trilo fell forward, lifeless once more. His wooden hand falling over and into the previously severed arm of his partner Quist one last time.
Felix walked forward towards their fallen foe, complex feelings warring on his face as he carefully pulled his weapon free from the dead man’s torso.
“Don’t tell me you’re feeling bad for the crazy psycho that just tried to kill us.”
Dinah exasperatedly sighed, confident that she had met the single most soft hearted Vampire that ever lived.
“No, we had to defend ourselves and I don’t regret striking him down. It’s just…humans supposedly are similar to us sapient Monsterkin, shaped by experience and struggle. I shudder to think what this man may have endured to become…like this…”
“I’m more concerned how many more like him may be on our tail at this point, we need to get out of this open area.”
He didn’t argue with her, retreating into the cover of the foliage while occasionally looking back towards the scene of the somber finale to Ven’s tragic play.
