Three days before fullmoon.

The story hasn't always been written in blood. There were days were the siblings' life was strangely comfortable and somehow magical. That city survived because of the unyielding bond that tied all of these crumbling houses together in unity. The losses they suffered were shared equally among them, and although life in this city had become a death sentence,  the distance between the hearts lessened.

I. What needs to be done.

Carvo laid with his back against the wall and his bloody head in his palm. He wasn't at peace, his mind was fetching all those good memories to kill his urging suspicions against his sister. He wondered if he was taking the wrong path, and if Abigail was no longer the big sister he had. These thoughts were backed by evidence, her growing violence against him, but, although Carvo was hardly driven by emotions in his long life, he drowned these thoughts and shook his head, letting his suspicions dissolve into his crowded head. "It was me who provoked her." He justified. "I am the one who called her a monster." He said in disappointment as he got up.

The clock ticks captured Carvo's stray brain, he was alerted by the fact that Abigail must have reached Brando by then. He was sickly worried and started going in circles. "I can't even interfere!" He cried at his powerlessness. "Calm down, old boy, calm down." He breathed slowly. "Abigail can surely handle it." He convinced himself as his eyes fell on the calendar. He was visibly irritated and even more worried. He had forgotten what time of the month it was, and what inevitable procedure he needed to fulfill.

Carvo must operate on Abigail before the full moon. There was no other option. All those years of research would either resurrect his sister or kill her once and for all. Carvo couldn't run away this time.

Back in Brando's cave, Abigail had stood still in terror as she watched Clyde, strapped into a chair with blood dripping into the ground and only his muffled moans could be heard from his injured mouth. He had muttered few words once Abigail arrived, those words alerted Abigail of what was about to happen. A bargain.

"Well, well..We finally meet! I didn't count that meeting at the market." Brando said, Abigail tried to tend to Clyde's wounds but it was in vain, he needed to see a doctor immediately or he would bleed to death.

"I don't understand, why involve innocent people in this when I agreed to meet you in the first place?!" Abigail shouted in a building rage that made her blue eyes slowly burn in red.

"Innocent?" Brando frowned, "The legions are innocent?" He continued, walking closely to her. All that time, he spoke in lady Maria's soft voice in order to lure Abigail, but as soon as she spoke, his tone grew hoarse and rough, revealing his true self residing in that rotting body.

"Whatever you're planning, I won't be a part of it." Abigail stated, walked backwards away from him. "Is that so? You're abandoning your kind?" Brando replied, "My kind? We are not a fucking specie, don't group us together." Abigail murmured. "Then what are we?" Brando walked closer, Clyde's cry was fading, time was running out.

"I thought I was here for you to answer this." Abigail glared at Brando, "You know the answer, but you're too scared to admit it." Brando said in a mocking tone, "Your answer isn't the right one then" Abigail sighed as her back hit the counter behind her. She realized that she either fights Brando or convince him to retreat from attacking her, she felt that the later was much more effective as there was no way she would win against that creature.

"Do you have any idea how many battles I have fought? How many comrades I have lost to them? They are the ones who did this to us!" Brando shouted, "Do you have any idea who woke you up, Abigail?" Brando stirred a locked thought in Abigail's head that slowly poisoned her clarity.

"Who..Who did it?" Abigail's face turned blue, hardly remembering any thing before arriving at Carvo's door and the atrocities committed against her. Brando knew everything, and it was time for him to reveal everything to her, only if he lets go of his bitterness against Abigail's human self.

Brando didn't reply, instead, he moved closer to Abigail, enough to be able to hold her arm which he hesitantly pulled away from him till he used Maria's charm to lure her into believing there was no ill intention on his part.

"An arrow that could destroy the insides of any living being, right inside your arm. You're an unstoppable force, you were his favorite." Brando said as he looked at her arm while Abigail's erratic breath got louder. "We were all jealous because he chose you. You were the youngest, and this somehow made him feel ..Sympathy. The monster himself felt sympathy towards you, Abigail." Brando said in an envious tone as his coarse finger stopped at a certain point, looking at Abigail in a strange way, a mixture of assurance and challenge. "Its all up to you now." Brando whispered as he came closer to her ears and still held her arm.

"I don't understand anything.." Abigail trembled, "Severe your ties." Brando softly whispered in a commanding tone, lifting her arm up towards Clyde while holding the button in Abigail's arm, the one she investigated before.

Abigail understood Brando's game. For him to reveal her past to her, she must join him and to do so, she must destroy everything her human side longed for so she can never have something to return to, but, Brando didn't understand. Abigail's lust for revenge was not that intense, her curiosity was what got her here. Would she have the guts to shoot down Clyde mercilessly and go on the pass that everyone in this city paved for her? Would she be that monster Carvo spoke of?

Abigail breathed loudly but Clyde's pain was louder. The look of hopelessness on his eyes was slowly arising, his trust in Abigail was inconsistent. The doubt in him was frequently clouding his vision, but at that moment he wished he was wrong. "D-don't" He struggled to cry, Abigail's aim was shaking, her head was not at ease.

But a choice must be made.

II. Trust.

"There shall be no faltering when your eyes meet your prey

There shall be no thoughts when mind locks on your enemy

There shall be no hesitation when the decision is made

And most importantly, mercy shall never be shown."

These were the tenets carved somewhere in Merit's mind, a place she has never entered. They were like a foreign script written in a language she didn't understand yet she'd utter the words instinctively as if someone else inside of her deciphered it skillfully.

To mercilessly shoot a man, and to kill one's kin, a switch inside Abigail must be turned on. Brando played the strings of her victimization, and fiddled with her curiosity. He presented himself as an enemy and then attempted to lure her to believing in his sincere alliance that could be done his way. He knew Abigail was a child, and no matter how many years passed by in her slumber, her mind still functioned like one. She was afraid to hurt a fly, but she wasn't scared of avenging her lost life. Her mind was like clay, easily shaped by who she trusted.

"If you let him go out alive, he will tell everyone about us." Brando whispered in her ears as he steadily aimed her arm at Clyde's head like a shotgun. "They won't hesitate to burn you on a stake." He spewed his venom, "They are the ones who approved of our creation." He continued. "My brother-" Abigail cried, "Your brother killed many of us just to see what our insides are!" Brando shouted nervously, making Abigail's body go tense. "You killed people too!" Abigail justified, "They are the ones who started the cycle." Brando glared at Clyde.

"Come on, god damn it! Make a choice, Abigail!" Brando grew impatient, "Or should I call you, number thirty one?!" He continued, and as soon as he uttered that number, hell broke loose.

It was like a curse, spoken to enrage a monster. That number was not meant to be called in public, it was never meant to be mentioned. Brando's inexperience and hastiness crippled him in his own game, he had just awaken the monster.

III. Payback.

Light flashed in the room like fireworks, a violent fountain of blood gushed at the walls, a heat wave hit the room and the candle lights grew as smoke blinded the living. The smell of grease and molten iron with blood infested the deadly room. As soon as the smoke faded, a massacre unfolded.

Maria's body lied, dissected into two halves. Abigail had fired her incineration arrow at his stomach unexpectedly just like he showed her. Her eyes were burning red, her face covered with the remains of Maria's body and a vicious look decorated her bloody face.

"We must go." Abigail spoke in a strange voice, one that definitely didn't belong to the young girl. She untied Clyde as she looked around her in anticipation. "T-thank you.." Clyde trembled as she held him, "You are not as bad as I thought you were-" Clyde lost his consciousness in the arms of his savior. Abigail felt a wave of electricity hit her entire body making her fall down with Clyde in her arms.

It was like a system being activated, a very rusty one. That arrow, and the courage to fire it. "It feels..different." Abigail struggled as she got up again, realizing all of her makeover is gone and Clyde's breath is hardly audible. Her rage was still beating inside of her, but the vicious eyes faded once Clyde spoke to her. However, number thirty one unlocked something new her, and that was the only thing Brando gave her.

"He's alive, hiding here." Abigail said, carrying Clyde and looking for a back door as she wore a black cape and a mask to hide her jaw. She walked around breathlessly, looking for the exit without any plan in mind.

"I can't afford fighting him again, this thing..It hurts to use." Abigail spoke to herself, but as she carried Clyde in his terrible condition she realized she can longer play the hero, and that she must pay the price of her choices.

She carefully tended to Clyde's open wounds and ran towards the phone. She dialed the police and gathered all of the strength she had.

"How can I help you?"

"There's a dead woman and a dying solider in house number 10A in Neo-avenue, please hurry. A Mooncaller is on the run."

//

Look, I am really not satisfied with how this chapter turned out, but the writer's block took so long and I had to get over it. Any suggestions/thoughts about this chapter would be appreciated.