That night, Esmeralda can\'t sleep inside her room. All she can think of is how to resolve her dilemma. She desperately wanted to get out of the castle by any means possible, but now that she was presented with an opportunity to do so, it\'s even more difficult to decide because her freedom would mean the death of two innocent people, it\'s against her principle in life!

She released a deep sigh. "W-what to do?" she groaned in despair.

The vampire brothers haven\'t discovered yet that the blood of the sisters is the only thing they needed to escape the castle alive! Because if they did, they should have done it a long time ago, Ivy and Kate should have already been dead by now.

It looks like destiny was trying to help her this time so that she can flee from the castle to undo the stupid decision she made centuries ago.

This is a fantastic opportunity!

She never expected that such a unique opportunity would exist and she was the only one who discovered it. The girls were sent purposely to her side so that she can use them as a sacrifice to regain her freedom.

But deep inside her, she was still hesitating to do the unthinkable. She still can\'t bring herself to be the cause of the girls\' ultimate demise.

She lambasted the vampires in front of Ivy, saying that she\'s a better protector of them than the vampires and yet she will become their downfall. Those where just lies!

The tree\'s suggestion created a disturbing picture on her mind and she can feel pricking on her conscience as the endless sea of guilt is making her edgy.

It\'s hard to swallow the truth that beneath her kind exterior is a devil in disguise, just the thoughts of killing the girls is making her shudder in repulsion. She had accepted long ago that she developed a fondness for Kate, that girl is like a family member to her!

How can she possibly end the innocent girl\'s life like that?

She is evil!

The guilt is stabbing her conscience right now and it\'s too much for her to bear!

She needs to get out of her room!

She needs someone to talk to as the conflict in her mind and heart grow massive, it\'s tampering her peace of mind at an alarming rate.

If she can\'t control this madness in her mind she might end up killing the girls in the end.

She rose from the bed and exited her room, she tiptoed, passing the girls sleeping soundly in the tiny living room going to the door, she opened it slowly careful not to make any sound. She finally made it outside without waking up the girls.

She went straight to the tree. "Friend, I can\'t sleep!" she said.

"Me too! I can\'t sleep either! The thoughts of our impending freedom thrilled me. It\'s the only thing that I can think of right now!" the tree enthused.

"Let me in! I need someone to talk to," said Esmeralda.

"Alright, let me open my trunk for you..." said the tree.

The trunk opened up and Esmeralda entered quickly, she disappeared inside the tree.

The tree transformed into his human form and joined his friend in the chair facing her.

"What\'s bothering your mind, Esme? You looked like a wretched old woman," he commented in a joking manner. "You don\'t look like someone who is interested in attaining her freedom, why? What\'s wrong? I thought you already made up your mind that we will flee this castle in any means possible. How come you\'re still hesitating to offer the girls as a sacrifice?"

Esmeralda stared at the wall with a preoccupied mind.

The tree sighed heavily. "In this world, all good things come with a price. You can\'t obtain something without giving up something in return. That\'s how life works. This world is governed with a give and take cycle..."

Esmeralda looked at her friend\'s face. "We are sacrificing two lives in exchange for our freedom. Is that satisfying and rewarding in the end?" she asked him.

The tree raked his hands through his hair in frustrations. "Don\'t start attacking me with guilt lady! I\'m not buying it!" he protested.

Esmeralda sighed. She can\'t blame if her friend is acting like this. He is a tree after all and he has no human compassion, he doesn\'t have a heart organ, to begin with.

"Common, why are you making everything complicated? We already have the remedy to our problem, why can\'t we go ahead with our plan and just do it!" he retorted.

"B-because I\'m not as heartless as you!" replied Esmeralda.

The tree throws his hands in the air in exasperation. "That\'s what I been telling you...your weakness is your emotion! I already offered to kill the girls, didn\'t I? All you need to do is stand there in front of the scene while I\'ll splash their blood to the barrier and when the gap starts to take place we will flee outside before the opening starts closing in again. That\'s how simple it is!"

"You are making me a murderer!" Esmeralda shouted.

"Duh! It\'s not like it\'s the first time you killed someone. You killed many in the past!" he reminded her.

"I do, I didn\'t deny that, but everyone I killed in the past are bad creatures and bad people. I don\'t kill innocent people, it\'s not in my vocabulary at all!" she defended herself.

The tree can only shake his head in absolute irritation.

"Oh, why it has to be the girls\' blood? Why of why? I\'m willing to kill and sacrifice monsters not innocent girls!" she lamented.

They were shrouded with thick silence for a few seconds.

Three minutes later.

Esmeralda looked at the tree. "How about we continue with the Plan A?" she said.

The tree shook his head. "No. Plan A only looks doable if we don\'t have any means of escape. It\'s risky to you as well, there\'s a big chance you will die in the process and worst we fail to escape this castle, all our efforts are wasted!" he objected. "Now that we have a new brilliant method, the girls\' blood is the real deal! It\'s better than anything else that I can think of!" he insisted.

Esmeralda is not fully convinced yet. "There\'s got to be another way..." she said trying to think of another method, instead of sacrificing the girls\' lives.

The tree shook his head. "Here we go again! We\'re just going in circles!" he whined. "There is no other way than the one we are presented with. Why don\'t you just accept the fact that for our freedom we need to pay a heavy price? The girls are not even your immediate relatives! Why are you so protective of them?"

Esmeralda bit her lower lip. "I already considered Kate as one of my family members," she said in a low voice.

The tree looked at her and laughed. "You are such a silly woman, Esme. Jeez...why women are so emotional?"

Esmeralda glared at the tree. "Don\'t ridicule me! You have no idea how I feel!" she sneered at him.

The tree continues his laughter.

While Esmeralda was bombarded with complicated thoughts running in her mind.

"I find it funny that the vampires that are holding the girls captive at some point in time failed to identify or discover the powerful components of the blood of these girls. Good thing they were dumb! Or else they already escape a long time ago before we got hold of the girls!" the tree muses.

Esmeralda was smirking, with her sudden discovery, she\'s already far ahead from the vampires. But then her mind wandered back to the thoughts of sacrificing the girls, it dampens her good mood again.

The tree was no longer laughing, he was preoccupied as well.

A few minutes went by.

The tree cleared his throat and glanced at his friend.

"Our time is running out, Esme. Once the poison is activated in Ivy\'s body, you only have one choice, return her to where she comes from to save her life or sacrifice her? Since it\'s very hard for you to kill Kate, then we will just kill Ivy instead. We will bring Kate along with us outside. What do you think of my new plan?" he suggested.

Esmeralda brows furrowed. The tree\'s suggestion sounds a bit a lesser evil compared to killing two girls at the same time. They will kill only one and the best thing about it, she can bring Kate with her outside to safety!

Of course, Kate will not agree to it, she won\'t allow her elder sister to be killed just to save her own life. Well...she doesn\'t have to know.

But what if Ivy is willing to sacrifice her life to save her sister\'s life?

Hmm... if that is the case then...sacrificing Ivy\'s life will no longer bother her conscience because she can attribute it to Ivy making her own choices to offer her life for her younger sister\'s freedom!

Now what is left to be done, is to convince Ivy to offer her life and blood for the good cause, willingly! She thinks the girl will do so on her own accord.

That\'s it!

Problem solved!

The tree eyed Esmeralda\'s face closely. He noticed her brightened mood. "What you\'re up to, lady?" he asked.

Esmeralda smiled for the first time since she entered the trunk of the tree. Her smile was genuine this time. "I agree to sacrifice Ivy!" she finally said.

A dazzling smile broke in the tree\'s face. "That\'s awesome! We shall do it as soon as possible! How about tomorrow?" he suggested excitedly.

"Nah, not tomorrow. First, I need to convince Ivy to offer herself willingly, this way I won\'t be tortured by my conscience after we left this castle. How can I enjoy my life outside if I\'m guilty of killing an innocent life?" Esmeralda reasoned out.

The tree scoffed. "Duh...you and your conscience again!"

"Just shut up and don\'t do anything bad to the girls without my consent, okay?" she warned him.

The tree shrugged his shoulders. "Alright. Whatever...you\'re the Boss... I always follow your command," he said.

"Good! Just wait for my signal. I have all the time in the world to convince Ivy tomorrow," she said.

"Okay, as you say so," replied the tree.

"Our meeting is adjourned. I\'ll take my leave now..." Esmeralda said.

"Adios!" the tree said and opened up his trunk.

Esmeralda exited and went back to the house to retire for the night.