The vampire reached out and grabbed my arm before I could react. His fanged teeth were bared at me, and flicker of fear was at the back of my mind. But I felt like I was drugged with confidence. I could feel the anger and swagger of my meal racing through my limbs and through my tails. I could feel words on the tip of my tongue, but I realized they were not my own. I rubbed my tongue on the roof of my mouth, dislodging them, and let myself relax in his grip. I didn’t show him my fear, but I gathered magic in my tails in case he tried to hurt me.

“You can’t just kill the Queen’s guests and expect to walk away.” He growled, and I could hear his confusion even as the words were spit at me. His scent surrounded me and I realized it didn’t smell of predator to me. Instead it smelled of rot. Decay. Disease. I couldn’t help my reaction to the realization and he growled at me.

“DongGeun...” the little witches hands were on his forearm, and he turned, blocked my view of her, but releasing me. The two began to talk. But my attention was drawn to the vampire woman who had stood and was trying to collect herself. I watched as she kicked the husk twice, the first almost reflectively and the second with more deliberate action. The second kick and a crack of bone in the husk’s leg was heard.

Her eyes shot to us at the noise, and the almost couple didn’t react, but our eyes caught. I took her in. Her long black hair was tied in a braid, and her reddish brown eyes caught mine without flinching. The hunger that had been there before had disappeared, instead now there was a curiosity. She took a slow step closer. The couple didn’t acknowledge her, so she came closer and closer.

A few paces away, the couple stopped talking and turned to look at her. She glanced at them but her eyes were on mine. She bowed “Thank you for the meal. One day, I hope to repay the favor.” Instinctively, I reached my arm out, and she took my hand. I pulled her close and rubbed my jaw against hers. She blinked in confusion, but I could smell my mark upon her. I smirked at her, but was yanked back by the fucking vampire. I turned to snarl at him then looked back to see her already walking away. I snatched my arm from him and turned back to the throne room.

I could feel him less then a hair behind me, and could hear Jessica following behind us. As we walked back, I realized how far we must have moved, or that some kind of magic was in the walls, because we could suddenly hear snarls coming from the throne room.

As I turned into the doorway, it was to see the Queen. She stood in the center of the room, three bodies at her feet, and a head in her hand. She threw the head at someone in her court and turned back to her throne. The crowd muttered to themselves, and a being rushed past us clutching the head. Our eyes met, theirs of pitch black, but then they pushed past us and out the door. I realized that there had been no scent. Not of blood. Not of being. Not of rot, or predator. It was as if the being was simply not there.

“Fuckin death lions...” I heard the vampire mutter and felt my confusion multiplies. Whatever that thing had been, a lion it was not. But then I could figure that out another time. Now I had to figure out how to cross back into the room. The bodies still lay there, must as the fox blood from the first night I had been here. No one appeared to clean it up, and it blocked the only clear path back to the queen.

I considered pushing through the small crowd to go to her side, but then I caught her eye. She was sitting on her throne. Her head resting on her fist, her pelt cascading in the light. Nervous pressure began to press down on me. I could walk over the bodies, potentially breaking some courtly rules; but showing I would return directly to her. I could make noise and make her people clear the way, but that felt like too much power for something like I who was her pet. Or I could gently push my way to the crowd, in a sense, groveling. None of them appealed to me.

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The longer I stood there deliberating, the more the crowd realized the queen’s attention was fixed on me again. The scent of the queen predator and her flock, the scent of weres, and more mixed together. The confidence I had felt earlier seeped from me, and my instincts flared up once more. This time causing my fear to grow. There was no tree to climb, no burrow to jump into, or forest to race through. I was in a box, in a cage. It felt like my paw had been caught in a human trap and I had to wait for my death.

But then I felt Jessica’s hand on my back. From where she touched, it felt like ice flooded my body, similar to how the old woman’s magic had. I stood tense, my magic hovered at the ready, but Jessica didn’t try to touch my core. As it filled me, I realized that the icy sensation was just the feeling of calm that she was pushing into me. As it touched the edges of my panic it felt like ice on my thoughts.

Eventually I was able to unclench my jaw and my shoulders relaxed. I realized I didn’t know how much time had passed since we had walked in. Everyone was in the same position, but I knew that vampires could remain still for hours at a time without issue. Somehow... but I shoved my confusion at the new information away and turned my full attention back to the main issue. Getting to the queen.

The vampire had called the bodies “death lions” and the priestess had called me “Death’s blessed.” With the help of the little bloody plant, I could see the black ink of death that clung to hearts. If anyone had the right to step over the bodies of the dead, this kind of death... it should be me. Clinging to this logic, I began to walk forward. Those gathered seemed to tense as I approached the bodies. I glanced down to see that the bodies had been ripped to pieces, and yet didn’t bleed. Instead, darkness seemed to gather at where they had fallen. I slowly stepped into that darkness, and felt nothing around my toes. The blackness was immaterial.

I looked up at the Queen and continued forward stepping toward the Queen, and I heard mutterings from those in the room, but didn’t care to listen. As I reached her throne, her eyes turned to my feet and so did mine. Although I could not feel the darkness, it had clung to my skin like blood could. My hackles raised and I turned from the queen and shook the darkness from my leg. It slipped off easily enough, but then fell to the air as though made of feathers. I repeated it with my other foot.

I turned to the queen and she held out an arm that was coated in the same substance. Unsure, I took her hand, and watched as the darkness slipped from her hand to mine. I looked at her and she smiled just a bit. I then knew my task. I was to groom her, clean this off of her. So I knelt at her feet and began to do so. I scooped clumps of the darkness off, and flicked it to the side. Those gathered fled the general area, but I could see from their expressions it was from disgust and not fear.

The Queen’s business continued as usual as I slowly cleaned off first one arm, then another. When I finished, she had lifted her leg into my sight, and I found her black pants and shoes stained with the same. While it took more effort to pull it from the fabric, I focused and continue to work at it. The repetitive nature was relaxing, and I let my my mind wander. I had so many questions about myself.

The biggest was a matter of skill. What could I do? What was specific to me, and what could other beings do. Obviously, language was unique to me. But was the other forms of my magic mine alone? My ability to bind hearts, to grow greenery around me, to enhance my senses... I knew that Jessica also had magic, but hers was done in words and circles. Then there was the bloody plant, I eyed it and it sat there, almost blending into the stone around it. Was the ability just mine? Or did it come from the plant? I had grown it with my magic, but the grass and vines hadn’t had similar effects.

I knew that I was physically weaker than a vampire, but perhaps my tails were not? Because of the magic? I vaguely remember hitting the vampires hand with it, and his reaction. That seemed abnormal of one who had been able to grab and throw me easily in the past. Not to mention my capture.

Why had that human’s organ called to me so. Why did it feel like the only food I wanted. I could still taste the flavoring of his anger on the back of my tongue. And yet, when we had had raw food before my long sleep, it hadn’t had emotion, and it hadn’t had the right texture. Did I only eat human? Was it only that organ? Was it the blood?

My thoughts were stopped when the Queen, who had been been gently scratching my scalp as I worked. Instead now her fingers and wrapped around my hair and my head had been yanked painfully up. I turned to see the vampire and Jessica standing in front of her. This must be about my meal. I turned my watery eyes to the Queen who was looking at me with rage. Oh... Oh no...