With a little effort I finally managed to push the shotgun into place on the new rack. It had been a bit of a pain, mostly since Merii knew next to nothing about carpentry and was useless. But the internet had provided where my sire had not.

And now I had the awesome decoration that was a crossed axe and shotgun on the black feature wall at the head of my bed. There was a little worry in my mind that they might fall off, but seeing as I used my nest now, I wasn’t too concerned. Well other than that I had decided to keep the shotgun loaded, supposedly a stupid idea, but it should be fine……. More worrying was the idea of an apparently near indestructible axe with a razor edge and a bunch of silver falling and punching through the bed. At least I would be asleep if it did take my head off.

The last two days had been relatively quiet, since our little “murder” spree had made the news, we had decided to lay low. I really wanted to get out and do something, mainly hunt and clear my head, but Merii was adamant we wait. 

Easy for her, she had Brewer offering blood and company on a regular basis. But I was hungry and bored, a terrible combination honestly.

 My boredom could be a dangerous and unpredictable thing. Even with Merii stepping up my lessons after I got beaten twice by humans. I counted the second one as a win but Merii apparently went by a point system, and by that logic I had been thoroughly beaten. According to her at least. But the extra exercise was honestly welcome, even if it normally ended with a blade stuck in me, it helped keep my mind fresh and clear of anything…. complicated. 

My sire had me doing boring stuff too. Like trying to fight blindfolded so I would use my ears, or trying to teach me to calm down once the real fight started so I didn’t run head first into someone’s fist.
The ears were easy enough, even if I suspected that it was only an excuse so she could torment and trip me. But a good fight just got my blood up, and I found it a challenge too shy away from conflict. It had been a flaw of mine as a mortal as well, not being able to back down from a fight.
And it was something that, apparently, and much to Merii’s annoyance, couldn’t simply be beaten out of me. Especially with her stealing my dinner and having me fight to get past her and reach it. The claw marks and bloody stains on the concrete could attest to that being a guaranteed way of seeing my feral side.

On the other front, Brewer, for her part, had been trying to teach me anger management techniques. She dressed it up as psychology lessons but, while I may have been stupid, I was no fool. It was annoying, since I didn’t actually have anger issues, mostly it was impulsive stuff. Like a cat seeing movement. I didn’t hate the things I jumped at and tore apart….. I just had a deep and instinctual need to see it dead. 

Surprisingly, and annoyingly, some of her techniques and ideas actually worked to keep me from leaping before I looked during training. Mostly the breathing and heart rate stuff. It seemed anything that made me feel more…. human, soothed my mind considerably, making me feel more relaxed and grounded.

The problem was the voice in the back of my mind always got louder the quieter my instincts got. Always whispering into my ear, plucking away at me, thread by thread, “monster”, “you didn’t deserve her”, “disappointment”, “failure”.....

I sunk one of my fangs into the inside of my lip. Wincing, but letting the pain drive away those darker thoughts as it focused my mind.
It was stupid to even consider the death of a human as murder, they were so far below us as to be nothing of note. Their death may be sad, yes, but I wouldn't let it get to me. Not when it had proven I was strong. That I wasn't like them. No, I wasn't, and would never again be, anyones prey.

I started packing up the few tools Merii had lent me and clearing my head. I was thinking about later, looking forward to training so I could lose myself for a while in pain, instinct, and adrenaline, when there was a knock at my door.
“Ellie dear?~” The tell tale sing song voice of my maker came from the hall “Are you done playing with your new toys?”

“Ha ha.” I swallowed the foul taste of my own blood. Not overly keen to either spit on the carpet or let Merii catch its scent. She didn't need to know about everything in my head…. Especially a weakness.
“You can come in, I’m dressed.”

Opening the door she stepped through and cast a criticizing eye around the room. Unlike the place I lived in with Jess, my room here was actually clean, not a crumb or cup in sight. There were the obligatory few clothes on the floor, tastefully kicked into a corner, but otherwise clean. Another thing she didn't need to know was that most of the mess of a wardrobe was under the bed, scattered around my nest in loosely ordered piles.

She huffed, that evil little grin on her face.
“As if that makes a difference, last time I was in here you were naked after all.”

I rolled my eyes and put the drill back in its box, I would have to note where I put it for later. If it could do to a person what it did to the wall, I might have a use for it…...
I shook my head, breathing deeply through my nose, slowing my heart, and focusing on packing.
“I was also recently awake, confused as all hell, and on the edge of passing out after being kidnapped by an evil vampire and taken back to her lair. To suffer saints knew what.”

She shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed and making herself comfortable.
“Personally I prefer the term adopted, rather than kidnapped,” Her grin only widened. “And this is more my abode, then my lair, that’s a different place…. maybe we should visit while we have the time?”

I paused, looking back at her over my shoulder as I put the last of the tools into the plastic container they belonged to.
“Should we be doing that right now? I neeeeeed to feed” I might be whining but I did need fresh blood, I could feel it in whatever darkness passed for my soul that I needed soon. Even putting aside how good it made me feel and how it kept my nightmares at bay, I needed it like a human needed air.
“And we both need to focus on catching the arsehole who shot me!..... Have we heard anything back on that by the way?”

All I got was a noncommittal wave of the hand.
“Not really, everyone’s being tight lipped after that awful Hunter on Hunter violence.”

At least that got a smile out of me. Merii may have been right to not let me feed on those men. As it was, the news was reporting it as an internal incident within the Hunters Association. And while I might not want to think too hard on the “murder” aspect of it, the thrill of knowing I had gotten away with something so insane was immensely gratifying. For both of us.
“Still can’t believe we got away with that.”

“We wouldn’t have if you had gone on your little feeding frenzy, but gunshot wounds and blades don’t lend themselves to the vampire theory.” She clapped her hands, “Anyway, we're going to be doing a few things this evening! Mainly, getting you that tattoo you were so against you nearly melted your brain.”

I chaffed at her characterisation….. but it wasn’t a bad idea. I still didn’t like it, but if it would work as camouflage as Merii had described, then I could definitely use it. Every time I walked past our makeshift evidence board the pictures of those circles sent a little shiver down my spine… Every time I saw that symbol in the center and knew what it was drawing here, to me, it sent me drifting into nightmares of blood and pain, feeling the ghostly sensation of a claws on my skin, of utter powerlessness and fear sweeping over my waking mind…..

Merii presumably noticed my mood change and the involuntary tremble rolled through me. As her voice softened and her smile turned soft.
“We’ll get him. No one hides forever, not from me. And then you can go all blood crazed on him and it will all be over.”

I swallowed hard. Moving things along in a more productive, if just as uncomfortable, direction.
“Should we not be concerned with my willingness to, you know, brutally torture and kill a man?”

Merii thought for a moment, tapping her chin.
“I mean, it’s not ideal for someone living amongst humans? And we should probably do something to desensitise you before the fact? But as far as our kind goes, it’s incredibly common for us to have deep rooted sadistic streaks. Not like yours….. But much like how those with poor home lives become bullies, we tend to be a little cruel.”

I hated that I didn’t even want to think of the greater implications of that statement. For her past or for my own forgotten time. I knew if I did then I would either have a nosebleed or a waking nightmare, already I could feel the throbbing in the part of my mind I so dutifully tried to ignored.
“So…….. the tattoo?”

“Someone’s changed her tune.~”

“If,” I scowled, “,you hadn’t fucked with my memories so freely, I would have accepted the first time.”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the window opposite her, setting my face into a stern if blank expression.

“Well yes, but if i hadn't….. Well we both agreed that it was for the best that I did.”
She shrugged again and looked up at the weapons now hanging on the wall. I hated it when she was right. And since it had become obvious I knew she had manipulated my mind, she was far more open about it. Even if the topic made us both uncomfortable. Especially the idea of what she might have hidden away in those memories of my time in captivity…...

“This going to be your emblem? Or are you just being creative?”

“Nice save” I commented dryly before following her gaze. Not overly keen to go down that line of thinking either. Maybe we were both cowards, but I refused to let the thoughts control me as they so often threatened to do.
“I don’t think so…. Do I need one? And emblem that is?”

“Not till you're a lady or if you were the monarch of a new house….. I just thought it might be on your mind.”

Now that she mentioned it. I wouldn’t mind some kind of emblem, something to represent me. An emblem to strike fear into my enemy and to offer protection to my allies. Maybe I could get a flag made up or something? I definitely had the money to have whatever I decided on embroidered onto things. Or I suspect, tattooed on my skin. Unless Merii was going to put whatever her symbol was on me, something I was ever so slightly uncomfortable about, though admittedly not as much as I likely should have been.
“Do you have an emblem?….. and should I be worried you want to mark me?”

Merii laughed, shooting me a smile and waving off my worries.
“I’m not branding you or anything. Besides, you, like us all, carry the mark that killed you. I can never interfere with that. No, I was thinking of your own emblem or something like that. As for mine….”

Instinctively my hand went to my throat, to the diagonal scar on my neck. One I seldom looked at, and thought about even less. But even after all this time it was the only new scar I had be able to find.

Merii didn’t mention the movement if she noticed it. Instead taking a moment, she wiggled her phone out of her pants pocket and scrolled through it, handing it to me when she reached what she was after.
On the screen was a rather ornate, if slightly abstract, depiction of a candle in bright silver on a pale background. Burned down, nearly to the point of being extinguished, it sat in a pool of wax that had spilled out wide. It was made up along the edges of small swirls of silver that were so fine it could never have been accomplished by a tattoo gun. With a tattoo in mind I looked a little closer to the background, pressing my fingers to the phone and zooming out.
“Merii?”

“Yes dear?~”

I let out a long breath before I answered, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Who’s arse is this?”

My sire kept her stupid, cocky grin.
“Two guesses?”

I hung my head. It was tempting to say hers, but I had a feeling there was a reason for two guesses.
“It’s Brewer’s, isn’t it?”

“Yep. ~”
She smiled, adding a loud pop to the word.

“I have so many questions…… mainly why this photo? But also why it’s on the back of her thigh?”

She shrugged and got comfortable.
“She’s my familiar, I marked her when we made our pact…. Well, I marked her the next time I fed from her anyway.”

 That checked out at least. I had exactly zero doubts about the nature of their relationship as it was, and that Merii would mark her familiar in such a place was hardly a surprise. But I hadn’t expected to be handed a phone with my teachers, admittedly nice, rear on the screen. I had no idea if the witch worked out or not, but she was my teacher and I was going to do my best to ignore her sculpted behind as much as possible.

Handing the phone back and keeping my face blank, I asked.
“So that’s a tattoo? Or did you magic it into being?”

“Magic.”  She took the phone, and gave the picture a look herself. Smiling widely before pocketing it again. “I didn’t actually know it would happen so I got lucky we were enjoying ourselves and it’s not on her neck. Of course it would blend in with all the other tattoos now but back then it would have been scandalous.”

“….. why doesn’t she ever offer her neck?”
It had occurred to me that on the limited occasions I had seen the witch offer her blood, it was always her wrist. Maybe it had something to do with the ritual of it, but I was still something worth asking about.

“Because even if someone knew what she was, two puncture marks on the neck are a dead giveaway to what company she keeps.”

“Ha….. “ No questions left and not wanting to be left alone with my thoughts I asked, “Ok. So about this tattoo?”

That got a wide, fanged smile out of her.

 

⁂

 

“Ngh! Saints! Fucking! Damn it! That hurts!”
I spat out between gritted teeth.

I was currently on my back on Merii’s couch, arms above my head, pants around my thighs, underwear ascue, and my hands holding onto the leather of the armrest with a vice-like grip that could have shattered bone. Brewer was currently knelt next to me, working on giving me a tattoo. I had, after some discussion with her, decided on an axe head design with a small bit of handle fading to nothing attached, dark red scroll work making up the body with black outlining it and making up the handle, I had asked her to somehow weave in a slash of silver too. The colouration seemed to raise an eyebrow, mainly from Merii, and as much as I found it distasteful to match so closely to the eyes in my dreams, it just felt right it should match my own.

With the description Brewer gave, it sounded a little like something the Northmen might make. And  apparently that description and mental image was enough for the witch to work with. Unlike with Merii, I trusted her judgment to be tasteful and was happy to let her go for it. 

The whole thing would only be around seven centimetres long, and she didn't really care where it went. So I opted for my hip, just to the left, roughly in line with my mid thigh, and just high enough that the top half would show if I wore my jeans low.

Apparently that was a mistake, a truly awful mistake, both in location and in letting her do it at all. Brewer was using some kind of brass mechanical pen looking thing, with a coil spring and large silvery looking needle, along with homemade inks that smelled suspiciously like blood. The ink was supposedly the special part of the whole thing, they contained whatever it was that would camouflage me from others of my kind. Not that I asked what was in them or anything. That would lead to a lesson in herbs and things that I really didn't care about.

“Oh stop being such a baby.”
Merii said from her spot on the other couch, where she was sitting back comfortably and enjoying her evening meal.

“You try it then!”
I hissed, throwing her a sour, if pained look.

She sipped her drink and gave that stupid fanged grin of hers.
“No thanks. I’ll leave that to the masochist of the group.”

Groaning, I tried my best to not thrash as Brewer started on another line. I had thought I was used to being stabbed by now, but this burned like demon fire every time she set to work. The witch had assured me there wasn’t enough silver in the needle to be anything worse than a regular tattoo, but I was very much doubting that as, not for the first time tonight, I bit back the need to cry and scream.

“Merii” Brewer didn’t look up from her work as she spoke, “Please don’t antagonize her while I’m working. She’s moving about enough as it is.”

“I am trying not to!”
My voice was strained and a little indignant at the lack of acknowledgement of my effort.

“I know you are Ellie, you’re doing quite well.”
It was always hard to tell what the witch was thinking, but she seemed to mean it. And I was happy to take support where I could get it.

“Fine, I’ll just enjoy the show.”
Merii muttered into her drink, that smile never leaving her face.

I wasn’t sure if I should be angry with Merii’s persistent teasing or happy that she had finally agreed to shut the fuck up for a minute. Luckily the whole thing was nearly done, as I felt like Brewer had been branding me with a hot iron for the last few hours. And, despite Merii’s insistence and jokes, I was not enjoying it nearly as much as she thought.

“Nearly done.”
Brewer leaned back, rewinding the spring on her little device.

Taking several deep breaths I centred myself, trying very hard not to let my claws out and ruin my favorite couch.
“Could you have not just turned off my nerves?”

The witch didn’t spare me a glance as she refilled her ink.
“A skilled biomancer certainly could, or you could if you had paid attention to any of your lessons on anatomy.”

“I did pay attention, but knowing what nerves are and how to actually control them aren't the same.”
I grumbled, tensing myself again as she got back in position besides me and readied to put the finishing touches on my tattoo.

Of course Merii couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
“You should have told her she can turn off the pain so it feels good instead, that would have gotten her to pay attention.”

Gritting my teeth again I could only hiss at her. But her quiet laugh told me she got the message.

Thankfully Brewer was quick to finish up her work, eventually letting me sit up as she wiped the site with a damp cloth. Admittedly it was hard to get a good idea of how it looked from above, but it seemed she had done a great job. The lines were near flawless on my pale, if reddened, skin. The axe and half handle looked perfect.

Oddly enough she had gone and put a silver rune on me, something we hadn't really discussed during the planning. The rune sat in the middle of the axe head, and looked similar to a simplistic fish, stood vertical and with two forward facing lines from the tips of its tail, a diamond where the two top lines continued on before kinking back down and out. I couldn't tell why, but I liked it.

One issue I did have was that it still burned and the area was red, very red, as though it were healing like a human would. Something I shouldn’t have to deal with.
“Thanks, it looks awesome….. Can you put that cloth back on? It still burns a bit.”

“Certainly”
The witch kindly held the damp cloth back to the area.

I signed gratefully, soaking in the cool relief it brought.
“Thank you….. what’s that rune you stuck in the middle of it do?”

“It's only a simple rune, it shouldn’t “do” anything in this context, but you can think of it as a representation of “heavenly” or “angelic” power made manifest.”

“Ok.” A little wild but nothing worrisome at least. “Well it looks really cool so thanks again….. why does it burn so bad? I thought I would heal in moments?” I said the last bit in a slightly higher pitch.

Brewer guided my hand to hold the cloth in place before going about packing her equipment.
“The actual wounds have healed, they did so almost instantly as I said they would. What you’re feeling is the effects of the ink I used. Mainly it consists of mage blood, some simple dyes, various herbs that are known to either repel the undead or confuse their senses, and a sprinkle of silver powder to stop your body simply destroying it.”

I stopped, my head snapping to the witch.
“Im sorry? Did you say you just injected me with silver?!”

“Hardly a harmful amount, and it’s not in your bloodstream. No reason for panic.”

“Is that why I feel like my leg is on fire?!”

Merii snickered and Brewer continued to speak.
“It will fade with time, I assure you. By morning it should be just an itch.”

That wasn’t exactly comforting, because right now it hurt like a bitch. Not that I blamed her for doing it, I should have asked what made the ink special before she started. It was exactly the kind of thing I had expected from a witch when first meeting her.

“At least we know it worked” Merii said, leaning forwards and sniffing the air. “I mean, you still smell a little of our blood, but mostly you smell kind of like a human….. or at least not like a vampire. It’s kind of spicy actually, it’s nice. If you were human I might even consider you a tempting meal.”

I sighed and very carefully pulled up my bottoms, before sitting up with a wince and whimper.
“Nice…. I smell spicy…. I’m going to go cry under a cold shower for the next few hours if anyone needs me.”

Merii rolled her eyes.
“It’s not that bad. But sure, go rest up. We’ll be out looking for our crazed cultist tomorrow so take the day to sleep.”

She didn’t need to tell me twice, I planned on sleeping for the next twelve hours at least after this, then going out for a night of fun, and hopefully violence. Where I intended to catch this arsehole trying to ruin my peaceful little life and finally be able to lay back and deal with the other issues in my undead world. Like getting a line to Jess….. and finding a good drink. Concerningly, I wasn’t sure which of the two was the more important at that moment.