Chapter 8

Rule number one of fleshcrafting; Don't get distracted by the possibility…unless you're me. Fleshcrafting is the use of magic to alter the living, manipulating flesh to the caster's whims.

It's an art. 

That's what I initially aimed for when I started playing around with Aimee's corpse. Small changes like lightening her skin tone before bringing it back to its normal color, smoother skin, wider hips. Small stuff. 

Somewhere along that line, I pushed further. Maybe it's my dislike for being pushed but that was channeled into my work. Missing out on a full night's sleep had consequences but in this case, I reaped the rewards of my hard work. 

Biomancy; a few steps above simple fleshcrafting. To put it in perspective, fleshcrafting is more cosmetic while Biomancy is the actual manipulation of organic cells and structures using magic. 

Inducing cellular regeneration, augmenting biological functions, altering appearances and more. Biomancy is what fleshcrafting aspires to be. 

Did I get distracted while fixing up Aimee's body? Yes. That would explain why she looks a bit curvier than she already was. I didn't make any outrageous alterations but I changed enough small things to make a big difference. 

I'd be aroused if she wasn't a corpse. Thankfully, it's time to change that. Resurrection, take two, action!

-[Stefan]-

"What are you doing here, Damon?" He asked his brother who was lurking in the parking lot. 

He failed to get anything from Damon the previous day. If Damon's satisfied look didn't reign alarm bells, the fact that he was lurking around, looking for something. 

"What? I can't see my little brother off?" Damon asked, evading the question. 

"No, because you don't do that. What did you do, Damon?" Stefan asked again. 

He had definitely done something stupid. Despite the fact that he was a vampire, he could already feel a headache setting in. 

The older Salvatore just smirked. "Did you know that Nathan is going out with that chick in his class?"

"Damon." He warned. 

"Come on. You can't tell me you aren't even a little curious about what he's hiding." Damon said, with a knowing smirk. 

"What did you do?" He questioned , glaring at him. 

"I may have paid her a little visit on her way to his house. It's a shame, she was tasty."

"Are you insane?!" Stefan growled, grabbing him by the shirt. 

He didn't even know why he was surprised anymore. Everytime he thought Damon couldn't surprise him, he managed to do it.

"Relax, she's over there." Damon said, gesturing past him. Turning around, he saw what he was referring to. 

Nathan and Aimee walked together into the school building, chatting away like nothing was wrong. 

"She looks more alive than she did when I left her on his porch yesterday." Damon said, confirming what he alluded to. "I told you there was something fishy about him."

Stefan could only turn to his brother with a flabbergasted look on his face as he let him go. "You're unbelievable."

That was the last thing he said before walking away, out of the parking lot and into the school. 

-[Nathan]-

Legilimency is useful for many things, one of which is finding secrets. You'd think that vampires have some sort of mental defense or something but Damon and Stefan's minds were completely open. 

One peek was all I needed to confirm my suspicions. Damon is the target of my ire and Stefan is tired and frustrated with his brother's recklessness. Sibling squabble, yuck. 

As for Aimee, as far as she remembers, she came over last night and we talked for a while until she fell asleep. Interestingly enough, she didn't see Damon's face when he killed her. He was being cautious in the event that he was right about me raising the dead. 

Curiosity killed the cat. In this case, the witch will punish the vampire. I already have a plan in mind. 

I see Stefan and Elena watching me closely as I walk into class. Suppressing the urge to give a classic revenge smirk, I simply take my seat. 

Xx-Xx-Xx 

I'm starting to think this school is my tinker room. Why is that? That's because every time I get bored during classes, I end up delving into new theories of magic to explore. 

This time, I focused on something different. 

Every living thing has energy within them, their life force. It always peeved me how witches couldn't sense vampires without physical contact or how vampires couldn't sense other vampires. 

That is why I spent the whole day focusing on one thing; sensing the energy within all living things. It's much less complicated than logomancy and projection magecraft so it barely takes me one period to get the basics down. 

I have to say, it's amazing. It's like they're a sea of tiny embers. Some people have more than others but they're mostly around the same range but that was for humans. 

It would be pretty hard not to notice Stefan within that sea of embers, his own energy being dark and tainted. If I had to use a word, I'd use necrotic. That twisted energy should be the magic that enables vampirism. 

The feeling was…much older, for lack of better words. I expected to feel something in Elena but it wasn't any different from the other students. I guess being a doppelgänger doesn't really offer her much in terms of mysticism. 

By the time the final bell for the day rang, I was just itching to move. I'm already out of the door and out of the school before Stefan can catch up to me. 

He can't exactly vamp run in public. I keep my metaphysical sight on him, sensing him as he follows me from a distance. 

Turning a corner in an alley, I'm thankful that it's deserted. With a chant, a cloak of invisibility covers me moments before Stefan moves into the same alley, confusion on his face. 

He wants to talk, to apologize for Damon's actions but I'm not taking apologies. I'm quite petty when I want to be and right now, that's cranked to the maximum. 

I've been practicing my magical telekinesis so it only takes a moment before my feet leave the ground and I ascend into the air. Soon, I'm high enough that my reinforced eyes have a good view of the town. 

Was it terrifying being so high up in the air? Very much so but that's a trauma for another time. 

Between my sensing abilities and my enhanced sight, it doesn't take me long to find other tainted life energies. There are quite a number of them. 

I can see a house that's just full of people with tainted energy. That should be where the tomb vampires are, though there's a few stragglers roaming about. 

Taking a mental note of them, I continue my search and it's not long before I find Damon's in the Salvatore boarding house. He's the only vampire other than Stefan that'd be there so I'm pretty sure it's him.

Lowering myself in front of the door, I almost scoff. It's not even locked. Of course you wouldn't be afraid to leave your door unlocked when you think you're the big bad vampire. Why fear humans?

It seems Damon heard my arrival. I conclude that based on the fact that his energy signature was now heading in my direction. 

"You're back early, Stefan. Don't you have a few more hours of brooding time before you come home?" He called out. 

Ah, he thinks Stefan's home. A few moments later, Damon walks into view, frowning as he sees me. 

"Well you're not Stefan." He muttered with a smirk. 

I returned his smirk. "Not quite." A sharp gesture of my hand forced his neck to snap to the side with force, the sound of his neck breaking ringing loudly. 

I rub my palms together as he falls to the ground, temporarily dead. Time to get to work. 

-[Damon]-

'I'm going to get that son of a bitch.' He thought as he finally regained consciousness. The kid just came in and snapped his neck, it's only right he returned the favor. 

As his eyes opened, he was greeted with agonizing pain. 

"What the hell?" He muttered, feeling for his ring finger. His daylight ring was still on so what was that terrible pain he was feeling. 

What was that terrible sound? Putting his hand to his ears as he grit his teeth, he found that it didn't help. With each second that passed, the sound continued and the pain grew. 

'What did he do to me?!' He screamed internally. 

"Why don't you take a look in the mirror and find out?" A voice said. Recognizing it as the bastard's voice, he finally focused on something other than the pain, barely. 

He was on the floor in the living room. Nathan sat on the couch with a glass of bourbon in his hand.

"I got tired of waiting for you to wake up so I helped myself to your stash. I'm sure you don't mind." The boy said, taking a gulp from the cup.

"What did you do to me?" Damon growled out. The sound refused to stop and it was taking all that he had not to scream. 

"Oh that sound you're hearing is the sound of your tumors growing." Nathan explained like it was completely normal. 

"Tumors?" Damon managed to ask, heaving in agony. 

"You see, I don't like people messing with me. I have a tendency to retaliate and sometimes I go overboard." The boy said, kicking his feet up. "In this case, I'm not fully satisfied but this'll do for now. What you're feeling is stage 10 cancer. It's never been heard of before but thanks to your vampire healing, you're the lucky winner."

"The tumors are going to keep growing and the pain is only going to get worse. Once again, you're a vampire so it won't kill you."

How was that even possible? He didn't know but he had only one thing on his mind besides the pain. 

"I'm going to rip your little head off!" He sneered, causing Nathan to scoff. 

"Good luck with that." The boy mocked, downing the alcohol and rising to his feet. 

Summoning every ounce of strength in his body, he pushed himself up only to fall back down as he realized something terribly wrong. Since when were his hands so wrinkly and shriveled?

"You might want to take a look in the mirror. You've been a wonderful host but I have other places to be." Nathan said, making his way out of the boarding house, Damon powerless to stop him. 

Pushing through the pain, he forced himself to move. It felt like hours before he made it to his room, writhing as he moved. 

Walking into the view of the mirror, he gasped in shock. His beautiful skin was gone and wrinkled, so was his hair. Not even a single strand sat atop his now bald head. 

None of his vampiric youthfulness was on display. He looked old and felt like hell. If anything, he actually looked 169 years old. 

Before he could begin cursing the witch for what he did, another round of pain wracked his being, sending him into unconsciousness.