Once Carver started running, Barrel ran after her, initially more to try to throw her behind him when he realized that they had managed to get far enough away that neither Shock nor Carmilla acknowledged them. He trailed behind her, up the hill and into Halloween Town proper. He followed her to Jack's house and quickly realized what she was up to.

It would be to both of their relief that Sally was the one to open the door.

"Carver!" she said, and quickly picked up on the pumpkin creature's distress. "What's wro--?"

Sally saw who had accompanied her, and who looked just as much, if not [i]more[/i] frantic.

"Barrel?"

It was unusual for any of the tricksters to be at Jack's doorstep, which meant this was likely gravely serious.

~~~

Barrel was bigger and stronger than Shock, yet it said enough that the youngest trickster rarely started a fight with her. Shock was only too happy to teach Carmilla why. She didn't fight with brute strength alone. She strategized, and looked for any opening her opponent left her.

And decades of two-on-one fights gave her [i]plenty[/i] of practice.

Shock took the hits and threw Carmilla to the ground. She might have missed the kick, but that hardly deterred her.

"I should thank Lock," she sneered, "for giving me a [i]warm-up[/i]!"

She pounced at Carmilla, aiming to get the vampiress before she could completely get back to her feet. She grabbed for her arms to twist them behind her back.