I sat, sunk deep into the passenger’s seat of Merii’s car, grumbling bitterly as we drove away from the scene of our recent fight, sticking to the main roads that would take us further from the city. The Guard were almost definitely going to respond quickly to that amount of gunshots at a recent crime scene, and the two of us had made ourselves scarce as quickly as possible. 
At least after I looted myself a few new handguns and an axe, all of which, along with the odds and ends Merii had taken, were now in the boot of the car. The shotgun though? That I kept with me, much to Merii’s amusement, as I had to sit with it between my legs in the tight confines of her old car. Something that and I'm sure it looked rather comical from her point of view, to see little old me cradling the massive weapon. 

But funny or not, I just liked holding it. It was a big slab of steel that could put holes in people and gave me a sense of security. What wasn’t to love?

The night had well and truly taken hold as we headed out of the city as any response would likely be from the interior, and we didn’t want to pass or be seen at all by guards until we were well clear of the area. 

Unfortunately, as in, the greatest injustice in the universe, I hadn’t gotten the chance to feed at all after the fight. After the use of blood to heal, and just being exposed to the thrill and the smell, I was damned near starving. Though Merii had mostly killed her opponents with blades, and head shots once the fight was over and she was done laughing at me, she had forbidden me from feeding on our recent victims. Given I was incredibly worked up and had already gotten a taste of blood, it took nearly everything I had to not drag one of the corpses up and sink my aching fangs into them.
But my sire made it clear that, lacking a spray bottle, she was perfectly willing to use a gun as a deterrent, so I went hungry and unsatisfied. Much to Merii’s further amusement. 

“So…..” Merii dragged out the word. Clearly building to something. “Did you enjoy your first ti- I mean, first fight to the death?”

Sighing, I hung my head.
“If I say yes, will you never mention it again?” 

She had kept that little smirk of hers ever since my little slip up.
“Hmmmm~Not likely!~” 

Resting my forehead against the cold metal, I closed my eyes and tried not to exist.
“I’m never living that down am i?” 

Merii laughed.
“One the joys of immortality.”

All I could do was groan and slump further in my chair. Trying to see the bright side of all this.
“At least I got a cool gun out of it…. And that axe looks fancy too, I guess.” 

She nodded in agreement as she carefully turned a corner, going out of her way to obey the traffic laws for once.
“Are you going to name him?” 

“The gun?”

“Yeah~” 

I was confused for a moment trying to think of both a reason, and an actual name. Incredibly I asked her.
“Why?....” 

Merii threw me that smirk of hers.
“A lot of young ladies name their favourite toys is all.~” 

I facepalmed, or rather, slammed my head into the barrel of the gun with a hollow thud. I wasn’t sure if undead could die inside, but I’m sure a little bit of me did.
“I hate you…… please drop it.”

With a little laugh she waved me off.
“Fine fine. On a slightly more interesting matter, did you look at that axe?” 

“Kinda?”
I hadn’t really studied the thing, given the speed of our exit and the need to carry everything I, hadn’t really been looking closely. All I knew was it had a highly polished head and a wooden handle with some kind of dark varnish on it. I also knew it was strong enough to have kept its edge, even after slamming into the concrete.
Not that it was much help to me, but there were a few runes here and there both on the handle and the blade. Of course I couldn’t read them, but I suspected they were mostly decorative or some kind of maker's mark.

Merii quirked an eyebrow and looked at me out of the corner of her eye.
“So no?” 

“Ummm…. Not closely?” 

“Well,” She licked her lips, “you probably should. Aside from the runes, I recognised a production mark. That blade is silvered with some kind of magic in it….. You’re so damn lucky he didn’t hit you.” 

“It- I’m sorry it’s what?!”
While my knowledge wasn’t great, Merii has stressed that silver was one of the few thing that was a danger regardless of the situation. That I had not only obtained, but almost been dismembered by such a thing made me worry deeply. If that man had just blown my head off then I would almost definitely have died for real, not great, but honestly better than being disembowelled and living for a week while I slowly healed due to silver in my system. A fate I suspected I would suffer given my lack of blood reserves and growing hunger.

Merii rolled her eyes. 
“Oh calm down. It’s only silvered, not pure silver. It would just burn like a bitch and take a long while to heal…. and leave a nasty scar given your youth.”

I huffed, putting on a pout and crossing my arms.
“He was trying to kill me, you know? What if he hit my head or took an arm? Then what?”

She shrugged.
“Death and pain. In that order. You’d lose the arm for a bit while it regrew, six months given it’s a silvered weapon? Maybe a year with how little you have in reserve? But yeah, like I said, you're lucky.” 

She was being awfully casual about it, as she was about most things. Using humour to help me handle the situation. It was kind of her, and a pattern I had come to appreciate as much as it annoyed me. Though personally, I was rather fond of my arms being attached to my body. And knew full well Merii would likely use any limb I lost to do a “stop hitting yourself” skit. 
“Why did some guy have a silvered weapon anyway? Aren't they, like, super restricted?” 

Merii drummed her fingers on the wheel.
“Hunters get special permits and licenses. Given their work it makes sense, but I suspect this one was given as some kind of award or gift. Given the quality of the rest of their kit, I doubt they could afford good silver like that.”

Again I internally cursed the universe. Not only had it put me in the path of hunters, but specifically the biggest one it could find. Then it gave him a shotgun and a silvered weapon. Why couldn’t I get one of the skinny guys Merii had so easily butcher while I was getting thrown around by my hair? I mean yeah, it was fun, but I would have happily taken one of the little guys instead.
“Does fate hate me?… and why is silver so dangerous anyway? Is it just random magic crap again?”

“In order?” 
She asked, not waiting for a response.
“Yes, like humans and flying you seem to have a knack for getting into trouble. And silver? It cuts through magic, so the very thing that's keeping you and me from being regular corpses. Werewolves, undead, griffins, those creeping dog things in the south, even mages and their spells…. mostly it’s the last one the powers that be don’t like.” 

That at least cleared that up a little, I never fully grasped why people got so mad about silver. It was pretty, Merii’s and my own pupils were evidence of that. But no one had taken the time to actually tell me…. Or more likely they had and I wasn’t paying attention.
“So….. silver kills magic? Good to know.”

 “More than that, it absorbs magic. Cutting us will heat it up a little as proof of that, same with most magic creatures. The problem is that it also grabs the magic in the air. Little Johnny might be a genius who lights a candle from a foot away, but give him his mother’s silver pendant with the right runes and suddenly he’s lightly people up from across the street.”

“Oh…. Ok yeah, I see why they don’t want people having this stuff.”
If a little silver and some talent could do that, then I shuddered to think what someone with an ingot and fire could do, or worse, some kind of mind mage.

“Yep” Merii said, shrugging and taking another corner that had us headed back towards the lights of the city. “Sometimes it’s not just governments being arses… sometimes.”

 

⁂

 

That pretty much ended the conversation till we got back to the apartment. I spent most of the time ignoring Merii and contemplating what to do with my shiny new toys. I had to wander if Brewer could tell me what the enchantments actually did, seeing as Meriis translate skills were next to useless….. also if maybe she could enchant a shotgun.

Speaking of the witch, she was waiting for us when we pulled up, a large duffel bag in her hands. I was slowly starting to doubt my views on telepathy, as I was damned sure Merii hadn’t called her. So unless she knew in advance that we would need a bag to carry our loot there was definitely some strange bond thing going on here. 
Or it could just be that she had enough experience with Merii to know we would need something to carry evidence or other items. It didn’t explain how she knew when we were arriving though….. I would need to ask later if it was something to do with the familiar magic that they were using. 

The constant uncanniness of the resident spooky lady aside, we quickly loaded our things into the bag with very few words exchanged, and took the elevator. The occasional quiet snicker and sidelong glance from Merii telling me well in advance that she was thinking of telling Brewer of my little slip of the tongue the moment we crossed the threshold. 
So instead of waiting for her to say something, like I normally did, I decided on a preemptive strike. I snatched the axe from the bag and handed it to Brewer the moment we stepped through the door. 
Putting on my best set of doe eyes for her, I asked.
“I don’t suppose I could ask you to please look at this for me?”

Her eyes met mine for a moment, unfeeling as always in their assessment of me, before running over the weapon briefly.
“I most certainly can.”  I thought I saw a brief shine in her eyes as she carefully took it, letting the weapon slip a little as she took its substantial weight. I hadn’t realized it was that heavy whilst I held it, but Brewer seemed to be having some trouble with it.
“While I work on a quick translation, I’m assuming neither of you fed during your “outing”?” 

Both of us shook our heads. Given what we had clearly been doing, I was surprised she bothered to ask. My guess was that Merii didn’t often feed from victims of a fight…. Something that I found infuriatingly stupid…. If quite intelligent as a way to stay hidden.
“Drink then. You especially Ellie dear. I would rather you not keep staring at my neck as though I were some fine dish.” 

Even in undeath that made me blush furiously. I had thought I had better control over myself and the growing thirst.
“I haven’t been, have I?!”

The witch gave me a blank look for a long moment. 
“No. But if Merii’s habits are anything to go by, it will happen soon enough.”
Having said her peace, at my expense, she turned on her heels and walked into the lounge  

Merii laughed and led me to the kitchen. “I love it when she does that.” She smiled to herself as she poured our glasses and handed one to me. “But she is right. You’ll find your gaze going all kinds of wonderful places if you don’t do something about your urges.”

Looking down at my glass I raised an eyebrow.
“I am? Or are you finally going to let me feed on you?”

“Ha!” She sipped her drink and smiled.
“Not likely. And I was more talking about getting laid.”

I felt my eye twitch, lowing my drink before it even reached my lips.
“Where is that coming from?”

She shrugged, grinning like an idiot.
“Mainly from your little “accident”.”

“Oh shut up. It’s not my fault being a vampire fucked with my brain.”

“True” she nodded solemnly.
“Sadism is a common thing in us. But when was the last time you actually got any action?”

I flinched, not from the question. No, what made my body jump was the vision of black and red that seared through my mind. I didn’t need Merii’s compulsion to tell me not to think about it. I didn’t want to anyway, having done my best to banish those particular nightmares to the back of my mind.
Swallowing, I looked down at my drink.
“Can we not have this talk right now? I’m pretty sure if someone tried to touch me I’d kill them out of hand.” 

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes, but I could see a hint of understanding in them all the same. It was her who found me after all, had seen the condition my body must have been in..... 
“Don’t think about it.”

“All the same though. Human contact does us good. Settles us down as it were.” She sipped her drink, a smile forming as she looked at where Brewer was working on the couch. “You should consider getting yourself one.~”

“When I find an extremely powerful and morally gray witch of my own I’ll consider it.” Of course, I downed my blood down one gulp, making sure to give Merii a side eye as I did. She shook her head in mock disapproval of my still untamed eating habits and continued to sip her own drink slowly and deliberately.

Putting my glass aside I let out a content sigh. It wasn’t nearly as good as the fresh stuff, but blood was blood when I was hungry. And if it kept the constant tingling itch that was the thirst at bay, I was happy enough to have it. Especially as it lifted my mood so well.
“Odd question, do you have anything that would work for mounting a gun on the wall? And maybe an axe?” 

Merii raised an eyebrow. “I literally have exactly that, big stainless steel hooks with foam rubber on the inside for mounting swords and things.” 

“Cool” I nodded “I need a bunch.” 

That made her laugh again. 
“Easily done. I’ll grab them and a drill for you to use later.”

It was nice to have something of a normal conversation over a drink. I found it relaxing, helping bring me down from the earlier thrill of the fight and rush to escape. Not that I really cared about the small pile of bodies we had left…. Well I did, or at least part of me seemed to. A small and frustrating part of me wouldn't shut up, as it constantly screamed and wailed in the back of my mind. Slamming imagined fists against the little corner of my consciousness I had shoved its annoying ass into, as it whispered awful things about what I had done, and what I would become if I forgot to be human……. 
But I learned to focus elsewhere, forcing my mind to obey and remain under only my control….. I was still annoyed that I didn’t get any fresh blood from them, that was what I should be thinking about. Especially that big guy. I fought him, and in my mind I had earned every drop of his life!

The reason Brewer’s “joke” got such a reaction out of me was that I was feeling the thirst more acutely than I had since my first drink, even with the bagged stuff Merii kept me plied with. Being forced to not feed had flicked some troublesome little switch that I would be thankful to turn off again. And instincts told me that fresh blood was the key to that, something I was curtain Merii knew.

With that in mind I crossed my arms and lent forwards till my cheek rested on the cool countertop. Praying silently that we could end this whole thing soon.
“What’s the plan with the fingerprints?”

Merii thought for a moment, sipping from her drink before answering. “Getting someone to check prints isn’t hard, the problem is knowing where to look. I’ll ask Hunter to get someone to put it into the system, maybe even the militia registry, given the boots and the obvious training.” 

“And if we get a hit?”

“Well….” She finished her drink and put it aside. “In that case you can have your revenge, after he talks. Obviously.”

“Obviously….” I was a little reluctant to ask my next question, but I went for it anyway. Ignoring the cry of dismay from the little voice in my head. “Am I allowed to make him talk? Or is this a senior vampire thing?”

“I’m hardly a senior!” She snapped, waggling a finger at me. “And I was going to just feed from him a little and then compel him to talk, maybe give him a little of my blood if he was being difficult ….. But sure if you want a go, you can have first crack at him……. I am going to assume I should grab some surgical instruments from work?” 

I was enjoying the nonchalant conversation, one that would have disgusted and terrified me as a human. We were talking about something terrible and evil, something disgusting to human sensibility, which should have made me want to run for the hills…. and I was loving every second of imagining what I was going to do to that prick to get back at him for shooting me. 

Like many things, I had noticed that my reactions were different than they were before…. before my death. I was at least aware of how I should feel, of the emotions struggling to make themselves known and gain some foot hold in my mind. But for some reason, when those thoughts bubbled through and tried to make me feel for the horrific thing I had done, I just didn’t. Even as the voice in my head grew louder, I just didn't let myself care.

It was strange. I had never been a "good person", but I was never needlessly cruel. If anything Ellie was an empathetic person at her heart.... No. I wasn't going down that path. I could feel the void calling me and that parasite of a voice in my head welcoming the introspection. And there was no way I was either prepared or qualified to deal with any of that bullshit right now.
So I put on my sweetest, fanged smile and pressed on with the conversation as though I was a perfectly mentally stable individual.
“If it's not too much trouble. ~” 

Brewer spoke up from the couch.
“If you’re both done encouraging your disturbing, and frankly psychopathic, little tendencies. I have a rough idea what this axe does.” 

Merii scoffed and nodded towards me.
“She’s the psycho, you should have seen her getting off to firing a shotgun through a guy.” 

“Merii!” I pushed myself up and forced the darker thoughts back down, glaring at her, forcing the blood from my cheeks to avoid giving her the satisfaction of a blush like earlier. 

Apparently that only encouraged her though as she chuckled and stared me down.
“Or was it being pulled about by your hair and thrown across the room? I was a little busy at the time to tell.~” 

“Oh? Scandalous.”
The witch said, lounging across the couch and gently resting her cheek in her palm.
“You simply must tell me everything.”

I dropped my head back down with a thud. At that moment I sincerely wondered what the barrel of the shotgun would taste like, and if now was a good time to find out.