A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Confronted for the first time with her big sister's corrupted brutality, Emma covered her mouth and sank to her knees as she trembled. "E- Emily," she whimpered.

Meanwhile, Emily noticed none of her little sister's struggles. Under the vampire's agonised screams, she prepared to continue torturing the man as if having lost all connection to the outside world. More and more corrupted red flickers appeared in her eyes.

Naturally, Erik could not allow this. Setting aside that he didn't want Emily to lose herself, he also needed more answers from the man, who was already not long for this world, judging by the blood flowing from his leg.

"Oh no, you don't," he growled.

Before Emily could sink her claws into the vampire again, he grabbed her by the throat and pulled her up with one hand while quickly immobilising her arms with the other.

Emily struggled and screeched, "Let me go! I'm gonna kill him! Slowly!"

But it was useless. Erik was far too strong for her.

He frowned as his piercing amber eyes locked onto Emily's black and red ones. Unlike two weeks ago, when he at least still saw a struggle in her eyes, he didn't notice any of that now. She seemed all too ready to lose herself to hatred.

It didn't appear like Emily had learned much control over the past two weeks. Perhaps it was time for him to take a more direct hand in helping Emily control herself.

But first, he had to deal with the current situation. "Calm down," he said in an authoritative tone of voice.

The symbol on Emily's hand flashed, and like magic, unsurprisingly, the covenant kicked in and forcibly calmed Emily down, just as it happened on the boat a few weeks ago.

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The corrupted red disappeared, and soon, her eyes were once again like pools of midnight. Her face went slack, and her struggling ceased.

The first thing Emily noticed when she got her senses back was the sound of Emma's whimpering and slight sobbing. She quickly remembered what she had just done and realised why Emma was upset.

Her eyes went wide, and she began to struggle again, trying to turn her head towards her little sister. "No! E- Emma, I-" But Erik still had his hand around her throat and wouldn't let her. He snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Hey! Focus here! You can explain yourself to Emma in a moment. First, thanks to you, we have limited time with this guy," he pointed downwards, "so quickly enslave him and tell him to answer my questions."

Emily gulped as she saw the anger directed at her in Erik's eyes. She knew she had screwed up. So she nodded meekly, causing Erik to let her go.

Emily turned towards the groaning man on the floor who was close to fainting and felt intense hatred and anger burning below her own surface. Yet, Erik's order to calm down still affected her, so she had no change in expression.

It was a strange feeling, but not a feeling she hated. She felt more in control of herself than she had in a long time, except when Erik did this to her before. She knew she shouldn't like this. It was not really her control, after all. It was Erik's. And yet, she did like it.

But before she could think more about what this meant, she focussed on the vampire man instead.

A black magic circle appeared on her hand, and she bent down to force a connection between her and him. Soon, the man's eyes went a little dazed, but after hearing Emily's order to answer Erik's questions, he focussed on him.

After she was done, she quickly turned to Emma. She felt like a knife had stabbed her heart when she saw Emma's kneeling position, wide-open eyes and terrified expression.

Emily took an uncertain step in her sister's direction, "E- Emma, I-" but her heart nearly broke when she saw Emma scramble backwards a little, fear in her eyes.

No matter what may have happened since then, the way Emily treated her during the last few years still left a scar on Emma's mind. And, in Emma's eyes, it was the Emily she had grown so scared of over the years that now approached her.

Seeing this interaction, Erik sighed. He looked over at Elora, who had been looking at all this with a half-smile and a curious twinkle. Clearly, if she had some popcorn and a chair, she'd be lounging back as if watching a drama show.

Erik waved his hand towards the now quiet but still quickly dying man on the floor, "Elora, could you please…?"

Elora knew what he wanted and rolled her eyes, "That damn bleeding heart of yours." But she still did what he asked by stomping her foot on the vampire's bum leg and sending healing energies into him, quickly stifling the blood flow.

If the man still had his own mind, he would have surely groaned heavily from Elora's treatment.

Her healing wasn't nearly as good as Emma's would be in the future, but it still bought them some time.

Using this time, Erik turned towards the Ashcroft sisters, who were now awkwardly looking at each other from a distance. Emma with fear and apprehension, Emily with sadness and regret. Emily stood while Emma sat and hugged her knees. They both trembled a little.

He stepped closer to Emma, who didn't take her eyes off Emily but quickly latched on to him despite the cold black armour he was wearing. "S- Sir, I- S- She-"

Erik crouched down and patted Emma's head with a caring look in his eyes. "I know, Emma. But I'm here. You know nothing will happen to you."

His patting and words quickly calmed Emma down. She looked up at Erik with somewhat terrifying amounts of trust. She smiled. "I- I know, Sir."

Erik nodded. "Good. Now, listen. I tried to keep you out of this situation, but you refused. You wanted to see what effects the corruption still had on your sister. Well, here it is.

Are you going to run away now?

Are you going to ruin what little chance your relationship with your sister still has because you decided to see something you couldn't handle?"

Emma opened and closed her mouth a few times. His words seemed to have reached her, but she still seemed uncertain, and fear quickly returned to her gaze when she glanced at Emily.

Erik pushed on. "Think about your years in London when Emily was corrupted. She mistreated you, tied you up against your will, and fed you barely enough to survive. But did she ever hit you? Physically hurt you in any way?"

Emma hesitated but eventually shook her head, "N- No."

Erik nodded, "Right. She wouldn't do that to you because even in her corrupted state, all she wants is your safety. Do you really think she would harm you now?"

Emma looked at the floor. "N- No." She looked back up at Erik with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry for being so weak, Sir. For constantly needing your help." Whether she was referring to the fight, her capture, her fear of Emily, or all of the above was uncertain.

She tried to steel her gaze, "I- I'll try to be better in the future."

Erik cracked a reassuring smile, "Don't worry too much about it. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. You may not be a fighter, but trust me. You have plenty of power all your own." As he said that, he thought about Elora's slowly increasing care for the girl and grinned.

Emma now looked at Emily more bravely and seemed ready to talk. Erik stood up and walked towards Emily. Tears were in her eyes as she looked at Erik with immense gratitude, "I- I- T- Thank you…"

But Erik ignored her words and gave her a harsh look. "Listen closely. Today you fucked up, and I'm unwilling to wait and see if it happens again. You are clearly failing to control your corruption, so I'm going to help you.

But first, the moment we find a place to rest, I will be punishing you for your actions today. Then, I will begin to teach you some much-needed discipline. Understood?"

Despite his harsh words and her previous aversion to Erik's control, Emily's face still overflowed with gratitude over his words to Emma, and she quickly nodded, "Y- Yeah. Absolutely."

Erik nodded contently, "Good. Now go make up with Emma." Before Emily could run off, however, he stopped her. "One more thing. It's time to tell her we didn't manage to remove all of your corruption.

At some point, simply saying your behaviour is a leftover scar becomes unfeasible."

Emily's face turned sad and unwilling, but she nodded anyway, "I know…"

Erik nodded again. "Good. Go."

Emily walked with a hesitating gait towards her sister, sat down in front of her, and hugged her knees in the same manner Emma was doing. It was time for a difficult conversation.

Erik had no time to listen to them, however. He turned to face a dying vampire and an impatient Elora, ready to get a few answers about exactly what the situation was in his old homeland.