VII ||| Blood for (dr)Ink

Sleep is boring and overrated, in my opinion.

There are better things to do with your night time instead of laying down on a bed while unconscious. And I have a lot to say when it comes to laying down with my body unconscious. But story cut short: I hate it. Even more if we are talking about laying down on a coffin. Anything but that.

Or getting buried. Or being locked in a tight space.

That aside, I acted cool and pretended to be a human the second my boots touched the ground of the village, that according with the almost unnoticeable seven meters tall and five meters large sign in the entry of it, is called Pamulaparthi Village. Putting on my ear buds and choosing Pretty Poison by Nessa Barrett to play while I scouted the village after Abellona's place.

Well, it didn't take me too long. Especially when the 6th house from the entry of the village is entirely black and screams "I am a vampire" to anyone who knows about the existence of supernatural races.

Not to mention the stench of blood and the electric scent of thunder magic in the air. It's also the only place emanating any kind of magic.

And you know what's more (un)surprising? There's a graveyard in front of the house. How ironic is that? No shite humans have so many absurd tales of vampires. They don't even help themselves.

What? Are you going to tell me that they sleep in coffins too? Ugh. Just the idea gives me the creeps. To think anyone would be insane enough to sleep in these death claustrophobic boxes willingly. I could never. I mean, not anymore.

Though it remains, because my situation was never willingly.

When I knocked on the door three times, Stay Alive by Jung Kook played softly on my ears. No one came, so, I knocked again, and again, and they only came to the door on the 6th time I tried. Instantly, I swallowed my annoyance, but before I could even say a word, the female vampire with messy short crimson red ran to me and hugged me tightly.

"Shayanne, Crone's above, don't fucking do that ever again," I froze when she called me by my mom's name. "Fuck. I've searched for you for centuries. For more than two thousand years, and you never came back," her voice was heavy with sadness and I gulped. "Why?"

"I…" I coughed.

In a second she pushed me away, eyes wary, full on guard, "You're not a dragon. You're not her. You… who are you?"

"I'm Wilhelmina Rosalind Miralanthor. Shay's daughter." Taking a deep breath, I looked into her eyes, "Can I come in?"

She gasped, "Her… her daughter? But she was supposed to be born two thousand years ago. You look like a mere teen."

"It's a long and unpleasant story, but if you let me come in, I can tell you. Though you will have to keep it a secret because telling you this might get me, literally, a ticket straight to the 9th circle of hell," I grinned. "So, can I?"

Clenching her jaw, fangs in display, she opened her door wider, letting me inside and I entered without a second thought. "You look identical to Shay, except your hair."

"I had black hair, but some shite happened and now it's like this," I pointed at the top of my head. "And I'm sorry to tell you this, but mom died two thousand and forty years ago, Abellona."

Her eyes widened and she let out a squeak, "What? How?"

After sitting down, I explained it all to her, after all, I can trust her if both mom and Naël did. I only emitted Meredith's name and title, and called her grandma dearest the whole time. When I was done, she her skin had gotten ashen pale. "I was only able to leave about two hours ago, and they threw me here using a magical portal. But I have two weeks-"

"Before having to go to Belladonna Academy in the phantom island of the north pole," she sighed. "Fuck. It was the Supreme Queen, wasn't it? The whore who did this to your mother and to you?"

"I can't tell you. If I do, she'll know, and will send me to Hell."

She growled, "You don't have to tell me, I know it's her. Naël was captured by her, and was never seen before. If you met his spirit in this crypt then it was definitely the Supreme Dragon Queen's sacred crypt." Abellona passed her long fingers through her short hair, messing it more while trying to fix it, which kind of looks good on her. "So, Shay's spirit is still up there in the lair?"

"Yes. I was able to even touch her because we have an emotional connection. All thanks to my spiritual ability. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be able to learn all mom and Naël told me. Neither would I know how to find you, or that I needed to find you."

Getting up, she walked in circles around her living room, then to a kitchen. "Do you drink vodka, kid?"

"Yes. Grandma dearest made me drink since I was seven, every time she fed me the potion. So, yes," I leaned back on the couch. "Is it okay for vampires to drink alcohol?"

"It is. We can drink water and tea, but they don't taste so good for us. Now, aside from blood, obviously, the drink that we drink the most is alcohol. Vodka, whiskey, bourbon, gin, and other sprites. No wine or coffee though, it causes digestion. And don't even think about food. I mean, we can eat foods that are made of blood, but anything else is a big no," then she came back with two glasses of crystal and a liter of vodka. "I have the vodka you need to take the academy, I can give you three bottles. One for the girl and two for you to take with you."

That's amazing. "Really?" A nod. "I'll be thankful for that."

"Are you really the winged serpent from the legends, Hel?" She pressed her lips together. "How did that even happened?"

"According to mom, her bloodline began with a black dragon mated to a winged serpent on the old world, so I think the gene was always there dormant. Until I came," I shrugged, taking the glass of vodka. "I would shift for you to see, however, I'm currently 17 meters tall and 3 meters large, without counting my bat-like wings. I would end up destroying your home."

"Was the crypt that big?"

A nod, "It was. And grandma dearest had many handcuffs ready to lock me even in that form. I have scars from the shackles. Wrists, ankles, and waist. My body is covered in scars," I turned the glass in one go. "But you will see it when I strip to get the tattoos." Then I whispered the magical word and I chose the weapons that were in the ring with the clothes to materialize, piling them on the side of her living room. "How much will it be for each tattoo?"

Her eyes widened, "There are about 100 weapons there, Hel. Are you sure you want to tattoo it all?"

"106 weapons. Plus the others 3 tattoos I want you to make. Yes, I want to make it all at once. But don't worry, they will all mostly be small tattoos, and I have all the drawings mom made ready," after materializing the jeweled box, I handed it to her. "Here. You can use now, but I want to keep them with me afterwards."

If possible, her eyes widened even further, "100 gold coins for each tattoo." Isn't that too cheap? "Which would be around a thousand euros per tattoo. So, it's quote pricy."

"I have no problem with money. Mom left me a billionaire," then I took 6666 gold coins from my necklace and put it in the table in front of her. "I noticed you like the number 6, so, there's a satisfying number in here," then I played with one of the daggers. "Do you have any guns in here with you?"

She nodded, still staring at the small pile of gold, "Six short pistols, four snipers, two long guns, three longer pistols, and five poison pistols of long range. All with silencers and packed with bullets than had harm supernatural beings. The only ones that can kill are the poisoned guns. I'm a appreciator of them. Why? Want it?"

"I can pay for them. How much?"

Abellona gasped, "This will be more than enough for all of your mom's weapons and the guns, Hel. Beyond enough. In fact, I kind of feel like I'm stealing from you."

Now, that's adorable. "This isn't even 0.0000001% of the riches mom left me with, Abellona. Don't worry. Besides you were mom's friend and Naël's. You deserve a fat payment. There's absolute no reason to feel guilty." She filled my glass again and I thanked her, drinking from it right away. "Besides, your tattoos are magical and worthy."

She grinned, snapping out of her money-awe. "Indeed, I'm talented. And you will be able to conjured the weapons by simply calling for them while you press your thumb on it. If you, perhaps, wants to present someone with one of the magical weapons tattooed in your body, you can do so, and then you can put another thing of your choice into the tattoo. If it's entirely different from the original one, the tattoo will modify itself to match the new kept object. But if you are simply making use of them, and happen to lose them for a second, they will be conjured into your tattoo again."

"Like Thor's Mjolnir from Norse mythology?" It was one of my favorite mythologies when I studied about it with Cosmos.

"Pretty much. But you won't need to call them back to you, they will instantly teleport into the tattoo if you take time before taking them again. All because when you tattoo a weapon in the way we'll be doing, it's the same as binding them to you," makes sense.

"So, what will I need to do?"

She grinned, "Give me about a liter of your blood for me to mix it with the special magical ink I made." Ugh?

I raised my eyebrows, "You know you can't drink my blood no matter how tempting because it's toxic as hell, right? And extremely heavy with poison. So much that it can kill a vampire that tries to take a full from me," and I have no desire in killing her.

"Don't get me wrong, Hel, but you're not my type. I only drink O- and you are an AB+. Besides, I got that on the first second you told me. I had read once that drinking from a winged serpent would be deadly for a vampire, so, yes, I love my life. I have no desire in dying when trying to feed," she chuckled, turning her glass. "The blood is necessary for the magic to work and to bind the weapons on you. Plus, it's the only way to make a tattoo stay tattooed in your skin, given your high healing quotient."