Shock took advantage to reverse their positions. She dug her knee into Carmilla's stomach and shoved it directly under her ribcage, making sure to hit points that already bruised before positioning herself. Shock adjusted her grip to be uncomfortable, but only loose enough to show Carmilla that this was the closest she'd get to mercy, that she wasn't going to outright break her neck and leave her to heal it for months.
"You should be afraid," Shock said quietly, "because the only reason your head is still on your shoulders right now is because it isn't worth the headache I'd get from Jack later."
She dug her knee in further and shifted her stance to ensure Carmilla's flailing wouldn't give her any advantage. She twisted the vampiress's neck both to cause her more pain, and to prove she was holding back.
"Now get the hell off my property, and stay out of my way until next week, or I might just decide that Jack's wrath is worth it."
Shock stood up, but kept her grip on Carmilla's neck. She lifted the vampiress by her throat and threw her towards the hill leading back into town.
~~~
Lock glanced to Lillith. He debated for a moment, as this was a personal secret, not only for him, but his siblings as well. And pondering on it, he decided he trusted Lillith.
"Nothing leaves these walls," he said sternly. "No one but Carver knows this, so if it gets out, we'll know."
Lock flicked his tail.
"No one in town is like us, Lillith. And I don't just mean different monsters. I mean that literally, no one else ages like we do. A lot of older monsters knew us when we were kids. That part's not really a secret. Ask Jack or Mayor or hell, maybe even your dad. We were little kids for most of our lives. Like literally, almost a full century. All of this--" he gestured to his body, and then around the tree house, "-- it's still kind of new to us. And freaky. And not in a good way."
Lock gently pet her fur again.
"For a long time, it was torture, knowing that things weren't going to stay the same. We didn't know what to do about it. We were growing up when everyone else we knew...weren't. We've come to terms with it, sort of, but having something that can grow with her, that doesn't change...it made the transition a little easier for Shock. It's one of the few things we still have from childhood that feels...untouched, I guess is a good way to put it. We've outgrown or had to get rid of so many things in what to us is a really short time. Destroying it is just a reminder that nothing lasts. That things have to change for us when they don't change for anyone else, and we can't stop it."
He gently nuzzled his head against hers.
"And the worst part is being in that stasis as kids for so long...I think it permanently did something to us. It feels like...like we should still be children. That there's a part of us that can't grow up, not really, and sometimes, that part tries to take over. So every day is sort of a mental battle between what we were as kids, and what we are now. We all just handle it differently."
Lock crossed his arms and settled back into the couch. He also listened carefully, as he didn't hear anymore screams from the fight. He specifically listened for the rattling of the bridge. If Shock was headed this way, he wanted to give Lillith time to either hide or take a window out, if they didn't just run for the slide and go down into the lair entirely to avoid the remnants of her wrath. He suspected Carver and Barrel already got the hell out of dodge, as he didn't see either of them when he climbed up.
"What Carmilla did was make that battle worse. Shock's off-balance right now, and it's going to take her some time to function again."