Devil's Luck

It was broad daylight. Varna snuck into an empty room, only intending to take a breather. He was contemplating on who he should target next. Taking his pictures, he crossed out Ophelia and Erin, considering he took care of them a few days ago. Just when he could take a smoke, he overhears a conversation not far from where he is standing

Sneaking around, he spots a girl with ginger hair, tied to a chair and with a piece of cloth wrapped around her mouth, as well as a muscular man with his hair cut in a flat-top. Though he couldn't discern anything about the man, he recognized the young girl through the pictures he happened to keep. A sinister smile formed within his mask

Rather than swooping in, he decides to listen to a bit of their conversation.

The man grinned at his captive "I have you now, Emma Davenport. Now then, let's see about getting a hefty ransom from your wealthy relatives…"

Varna expressed disgust listening to the conversation. He didn't think he'd walked into a very clichéd situation: Man abducting rich girl for ransom. It was very detestable from his point of view. Nonetheless, he's very elated to hear the word 'Davenport' out of his mouth. It seems like he just caught gold. Having heard enough, he decides to butt in. Sizing himself up against the man, he immediately concludes that it will be fine for him

"Hey, do you have a light on you?" He politely asked, feigning ignorance on what was going on

The man had not expected company, but one look of Varna made it clear that he wasn't looking for trouble.

"Sure thing, man." He replied, offering up a lighter.

Meanwhile, Emma gave Varna a frightened look. Who was this newcomer?

As soon as the man gave him a light, he grabbed the arm and delivered a kick below the right knee, causing him to kneel.

"What the" the man exclaimed, caught off guard.

Panicked, he blindly delivered a backhand fist, only to be intercepted by Varna's hand, who then proceeds to deliver another strong knee to his back. As a finishing touch, he lands a strong elbow blow to his face, momentarily stunning him. Varna picks up a wooden plank and beats him with it several times before he whacks him unconscious, breaking the plank in the process.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she would be rescued. However, Varna stared at her

"Don't even think about being safe just because I knocked his light off" He told her

Emma's eyes widened. She thought Varna had come here to rescue her... Turns out she had just exchanged one captor for another... and this one seemed way more scary!

"Plmmsse Lhmmmt Mhmme Ghmo." (Please let me go.)

Hearing her pleas, Varna instead bursted a maniacal laugh. He laughed at the idea that she thinks he was her knight in shining armor

"Haven't you heard from Jules about who I am?"

Emma had heard about what happened to Jules, who had been kidnapped and taunted by a masked man.

She had heard about Erin, who had been beaten into a pulp by the same man.

That same man had blinded and cut up her cousin Ophelia as well...

And that same man now stood before her!

"Yhmm..." (You...) She whimpered.

Hitting her with the realization of his identity, Varna snickered at her state. He then realizes he's in the premises of their campus and finds something that gives him an idea.

"Gotta ask, Emma, do you know a thing or two about baseball?" he asked her, who's still oblivious of his intent

Emma gave him a questioning look, then shook her head, she didn't know anything about sports! It was then she realized what he was about to do that made her blood run cold. He picked up a baseball bat he found in a pile of sports equipment, dragging it across the floor to make an ear-splitting sound that terrified Emma, who immediately started to scream once she saw Varna approaching her with the baseball bat.

"Nhmm! Dhmmt Hmrrtt Mhmme Phlmmse!" (No! Don't hurt me please!)

Ignoring all of her pleas, he took five steps backwards, creating a gap between them. This gap is just a quarter of the usual distance between the pitcher and the batter. Emma was thrashing around when she noticed Varna holding a baseball.

For Varna, it feels like he's been hit with a case of deja vu. He vividly remembers how he tormented Rebecca D' Anjou with an apple to her head. This time, it was Emma who's the main target. Throwing the ball as high as he could, he swung the bat using his full strength and hit the ball. It nearly hit Emma's head from the side. Emma screamed every time the ball passed near her head.

"Phlmmsse, Stop this!" (Please, stop this!) She pleaded.

"Don't thrash around or else you'll get hit by the ball" he warned.

He did the same action again, this time the ball hit Emma's chest, causing her to wince in pain.

"What a hit" he mused to himself, fairly satisfied with the second hit

Now down to the last ball, he swung again. This time with full force. The ball finally hit Emma in the face, more precisely in her cheeks.

"STRIKE!!! or a hit, whatever" He declared victoriously to himself.

With no more balls left, Varna threw the baseball bat away and approached Emma, who's drifting in and out of consciousness from the blow of the ball

"You have Jules to blame for this, not me"

After that terrifying statement, he pulls out a pocket knife and stabs her in the shoulders. Pain brought Emma's eyes back to life, though in a wrong way

The hit from the ball had already left Emma dazed and drifting away into unconsciousness. But the pain from the stab would bring her right back, and she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Yhmm Bhmmstrdd!" (You bastard!) She cursed.

The previous captor awakens to Emma's scream. He was still feeling the aftereffects of that blow to the head, moaning and grunting in pain. He struggles to get up, using the discarded baseball bat as a support. Emma noticed her other captor from earlier trying to rise and screamed at Varna, making threats.

"Lhmmt Mhmme Ghmmo! Orhmm Yhmmll Rhmmgret Ithm!" (Let me go! Or you'll regret it!)

The captor lifts the bat and prepares to swing it on top of Varna's head, with killing intent.

"The only one who'll keep her is me!!" he exclaimed

That exclamation alerted Varna and instinctively sideswiped away from the bat. The captor instead hits Emma's right knee with full force.

"Why the fuck would you yell like that" he mockingly asked

Varna then disarms him and delivers a gut punch to the man, similar to what he did to Jules. He then picks up the two broken planks. He immediately impaled him in the stomach with one, causing him to cough up blood. He finally stares at him one last time

"What...are you?" he asked with sheer terror in his voice.

"I'm the devil, and you should've stayed down"

Without hesitation, he jammed the other plank deep into his mouth. Emma had to watch all of this monstrosity from her seat. She averted her eyes, trying to turn away from the carnage unfolding before her eyes. It was just too horrific to watch! Her phone suddenly rang, attracting Varna's attention. Picking it up, he learns that it was Jules who made the call. On the other end of the line, Jules' voice rang out.

"Emma? Listen, you need to be very careful. There's a man, Varna… he is targeting everyone close to me."

Varna picked up the line.

"Oh I'm sorry...Emma can't answer the phone right now... she's tied up at the moment."

There was silence for a bit, then Jules answered.

"You son of a bitch, let her go!"

The terror in Jules' voice was apparent, Emma was her favorite cousin and she didn't want her to get hurt.

"Why not come here yourself? After all, you're her doting niece." Varna answered back

"And before you go on ranting at me, at least be thankful I saved you the hard work yourself"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Jules demanded "Where are you, so I can come and kick your ass!"

"Maybe you're asking the opposite you blonde fuck. I just saved your cousin from a greedy bastard who wants your fortune cookie. Besides, we're just in the campus premises." he angrily answered

"So if you want her back, come get her yourself, or else you want me to bring her here in a far worse state than what I did with your sister"

The line went dead, and sure enough, mere minutes later, Jules showed up, ready for a fight.

"Let her go, Varna!" She yelled "This is between you and me!"

"I told you, come and get her" he replied, raising his arms as if he was giving himself up

Jules was cautious of his moves. She can't afford to make the same mistake again back in the warehouse. The two were still circling each other, keeping their distance between one another. Neither was willing to make the first move, not even Varna. He instinctively knew that she was training herself for this moment ever since they first met. Then...

"Are you going to save your nosy niece? Or are you going to let her bleed to death?"

Jules was shocked at what he said. What does he mean 'bleed to death'? He then throws her the key to the warehouse, imploring her to pick it up. Obviously, he gave her two choices: Fighting him means sacrificing Emma's life for the sake of revenge. Saving her would mean letting Varna go.

"Choose: Me or Her. Time's running out"

Jules hesitated. What would she do? What COULD she do? She didn't see Emma, she didn't know what had happened. What she did see was Varna, who would return and torment her, again and again... And in order to escape, perhaps he had made up some lie about Emma being in danger of bleeding out.

"I choose... to end you!" Jules screamed, as she lunged forward to attack Varna.

"You asked for it"

Varna immediately intercepted Jules. However, rather than giving her the same consecutive chest punches, he instead grapples her arm and throws away her center of gravity, causing her to roll over him.

She quickly landed on her feet and gave Varna a high kick to the head. He dodged the kick and gave a sweeping kick that knocked her into the ground.

"You've trained well"

"I have, and I've learned to kill as well!" Jules growled, lunging back at him.

"Not quite enough" he took back what he said.

Then, in a quick fashion, he intercepted Jules' low kick with his leg, wrapping it around hers and jerked it downwards, making her kneel. He then delivered an elbow to her face, stunning her and breaking her nose in the process.

Both were taken aback after that sequence, but Varna was the one standing tall, trying to regain his lagged senses. Jules could barely even stand up by herself.

"You learned to kill? Don't make me laugh. You can't beat me twice, you barely even lasted a minute with me and you're going to tell something absurd as learning to kill?" he ranted back, making her reflect at her own weakness.

"I'm true to my word, your cousin is in the warehouse, here's the key. The next time we meet you'll be handed over to me by whoever's going to beat you good"

And with that, he walks away as Jules looks on, dejected. She regains enough strength to get to the warehouse and open the door. There, she finds not only Emma, crying and whimpering with a wound to the right shoulder, but also the previous kidnapper's corpse, impaled with a broken plank. The horrific scene made Jules' throw up. This goes to show how beyond capable Varna is.

She unties Emma, who proceeds to hug her tightly. Noticing that Emma was shaking, it was clear to her that she was highly traumatized by what transpired today. Jules then called an ambulance for help, carrying a badly broken Emma, who was limp from the baseball bat to her knee.