Oleander swiftly grabbed Ellie's arm and jerked her back behind him. "Get behind me, that's a Sorrow." He stared straight at its red eyes glowing through the darkness.

Skully pushed Oleander aside and scoffed at him, "I fudging know that it's a Sorrow. Do you think I was born yesterday?" He pushed the skull into Oleander's hand, clenched Ellie's hand into a fist, and lunged forward, punching the Sorrow with everything he had. 

The Sorrow flew back, landing on the cobblestone with a thud, groaning and hissing. Skully didn't wait around, leaping after it, giving it a kick straight in the guts while it was down. The Sorrow whimpered, trying to scurry back to its feet. 

"Ellie. What?" Oleander stood dazed and confused as he watched. Why did she suddenly seem like an entirely different person? 

"Stay down," Skully growled and landed another punch in the Sorrow's face, and then another, and another. One punch turned into ten, its face full of blood. Better safe than sorry. "What a pitiful existence," Skully mumbled through the punches.

Oleander suddenly grabbed Ellie's hand, "Enough. Punching it won't do much, and I don't have a weapon. Do you?" 

Skully stopped and stared at Oleander, the grip on Ellie's hand was firm, not human. His eyes narrowed as he realised what it was about Oleander that he had been sensing; he was a vampire. Skully jerked back the hand and let out a huff. 

"I have a pocket knife," Skully grinned and plucked it out from Ellie's pocket. Sometimes he wished Ellie would carry some kind of proper weapon, at least for her own safety.

Oleander's eyes widened. "I don't think that's gonna do much… I mean do you intend to cut off its head with that tiny thing?" He questioned, gritting his teeth as he glanced down at the whimpering, bloody Sorrow. Wasn't it a life too? He always wondered if more could be done for them. After all they had been human once, they were just unlucky, being turned into a vampire was not the same for everyone.

"Well, now that you mention it… Are you sure you don't have anything bigger? I don't wanna let this fudging menace go into the night, doesn't seem right…" Skully grunted, kneeling on the Sorrow to make sure it didn't try to run off. 

Oleander opened his mouth but nothing came out, of course they couldn't let it go, it might kill someone. He bit his lip and glanced around the street, everything seemed abandoned, desolate, no sight of anything that could be useful as a weapon. 

"You don't have any useful powers?" Skully added, prodding at Oleander to see what kind of vampire he was. 

"Powers?" He swallowed hard and looked at Ellie. Did she know? 

"Fudge it. I'll just use the knife," Skully sighed and placed it at the Sorrow's neck. "Sorry about this." 

Oleander turned away, closed his eyes, not wanting to witness such brutality. He could smell the blood, hear the Sorrow's cries. What kind of person was she? How was she able to do this? His mind raced with questions. This didn't seem like her at all. 

Skully got back up on his feet, staring down at the Sorrow turning to dust. The severed head made him feel all too many things. He clenched his fists and looked down at the cobblestone street. Had it not been a night much like this? One a street much like this one? He stumbled back, feeling the cold metal at his neck like it had happened yesterday. 

"Fudge this," he muttered and dropped the knife, grabbing the skull before he started walking away. 

"What?" Oleander followed behind. "Ellie… Ugh. No. You don't seem like Ellie. Who are you?" He grabbed Ellie's shoulder. 

Skully turned around with a furrowed face. "What the fudge do you want? Of course I'm Ellie. Who else would I be? The great god of calamity?"

"You talk different. You walk different. You killed that Sorrow with just a pocket knife. I might have only known Ellie for a short while, but you're not her," Oleander exclaimed and stared back at Ellie's face. 

Skully sighed, "I- You're right. I'm not Ellie. But you're not who you say you are either, vampire." He was impressed that Oleander noticed, Ellie's dad had never noticed a thing, but then again he was not very observant, was he? 

"Uhm… Vampire? Me? Of course not." Oleander bit his lip. "But wait, if you're not Ellie, then who are you?" 

"I'm the one asking the questions here. You will answer them, and I will answer your questions, but first, Pizza." Skully grinned as he turned the corner, spotting a lonely Pizza Town across the street. 

Oleander reluctantly found himself sitting at a table in Pizza Town. At least there had been no hunters, though he did feel worried about Ellie. He glanced at her stuffing another slice of pizza into her mouth. 

"This pizza is the best thing ever," Skully said with his mouth full. "You're not hungry?"

"Ah. Not really, not after just now. I can't believe you are hungry after what you did to the Sorrow…" Oleander remarked, the place itself didn't exactly make him feel like eating there either, it appeared entirely forgotten, dirt and grime everywhere. 

"I'm always hungry for pizza. Well, let's not beat around the bush. I know you're a vampire, I can sense it, and you know I'm not Ellie." Skully picked up another slice and raised an eyebrow. 

Oleander swallowed hard, "I- Yes. Fine. I'm a vampire. But who are you?" 

Skully pointed to the skull on the table, "I'm the skull." 

Oleander's eyes widened, staring at the skull in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

Skully leaned back fully into the chair. "Exactly what I fudging said. I am the skull. She told you I talk to her, right? Well, sometimes when she's in extreme danger I sort of jump into Ellie's body…" 

"Jump into her body? Like possess it?" Oleander asked, puzzled by the whole thing, and also half-terrified by the idea of the skull actually being a vampire. 

Skully nodded, "Something like that I guess, except she doesn't know I do it, and I have no plans on telling her. Because if I do, Ellie will then try to put herself in all kinds of danger just to make it happen, I'm one hundred percent sure of it. I just wanna protect her." He glanced down at Ellie's hands, all he ever wanted was to protect. Not just Ellie. Someone else. Who? 

"S-so you're a vampire. A vampire skull. Where is your body? Who are you?" Oleander stared at the skull, still half-terrified. 

Skully chuckled, "I have no fudging idea who I am. No memories. Zero. Though Ellie seems to think I must be from before The Cataclysm. I have no idea where my body is, or if I even have one…" He grabbed the last slice of pizza and glanced at Oleander with a firm expression, "First of all, promise me you won't tell Ellie about this, second of all if you do I will tell her that you're a vampire." 

Oleander breathed out, "Fine. I won't tell her, at least for now. I'm more curious about you anyway right now. I've never heard of a vampire not turning to dust when decapitated. I'm certain you have to have a body somewhere. Though I'm not sure if you should find it because this means that you are more powerful than any other vampire." 

Skully fell silent for a moment, contemplating what Oleander had said. Surely Oleander didn't know everything, right? The last slice still rested in his hand. The blood stains from The Sorrow were still on his hand. If he closed his eyes he could hear the darkness of the Void call him to come back. The truth was that he enjoyed being able to eat and walk, and breathe, and have a pulse. 

"I don't know what it means, I don't really give a fudge. Do you? I wanna be alive again, in the sense of having flesh and blood in my body. Yes. I enjoy being alive. Being the way I am is… it's miserable. I feel myself being pulled into the darkness more and more. Into the Void of nothingness." Skully grumbled and slammed a fist into the table, "I wanna be myself again!" As he said those last words he felt the darkness pulling him away, his grip on the body slipping and the green tint in Ellie's eyes dissipated. 

Ellie fell onto the table, face onto the last pizza slice which had been in her hand. 

"Ellie? Mr. Skull?" Oleander questioned as he poked her head gently. "What do I do now?" 

He swallowed hard and looked at her, passed out, no idea when she would wake up. He simply assumed this meant the skull's spirit was out of her body. If only he had taken the driver with him… This place had to have a phone, right? He wandered over to the counter and asked the half-asleep boy sitting behind it. 

The boy pointed to a grimy payphone in the corner of Pizza Town. There was no choice, Oleander pushed a copper into the slot and dialled the number of his butler. At least he could get the driver to come there.