Dance with the Devil

Chapter Six

   There wasn’t nearly as much blood loss this time as the surgeon stitched up my wounds for the second time in so many days. Mostly because they were not as open as they were in the last instance, my skin having already begun to knit itself together almost miraculously. But also because the pressure of the corset inside my dress had helped to stem the bleeding from the bullet hole, the worst offender the last time around.

   Of course that didn’t save my dress. Despite Logan’s offer I was hoping to salvage the garment rather than be faced with endless fittings for a new dress. I easily could have easily repaired the tear in the shoulder, even the dirt and grime would not have been noticeable once it was washed as the dress itself was already a dark brown, but it was neither of those that destined it for the fire. No it was the blood that had seeped through all four layers, including my undershirt, to stain the outside of my dress.

   Like the surgeon’s instruments, any garment stained with blood, either our own or vampire was boiled to remove all traces of the smell. But that was not an option with my dress. To boil it would mean to shrink it, and with the stitched in bodice already sized to a woman it wasn’t even passable to a younger girl.

   It looked as if I would be taking Logan up on his offer after all.

   I had another option though, the surgeon’s wife. Upon seeing the state of my dress after being called by her husband to assist him she offered to darn a new one for me. She loved her boys this was true, but as a woman she had yearned for a daughter to dress in frilly gowns, and should I let her, she would be more than willing to take her only opportunity to fulfill that dream.

   In truth it did have its advantages. She would work at night with me so I would not have to give up my days of rest, and it would keep me behind the walls of the Hunter’s compound and away from those eyes that still searched for me.

   It was a fatal flaw in Logan’s arrangement to have me assist him in his lesson. Neither of us had taken into consideration the wanted posters that still bore my face. Posters that had begun spreading like the plague from that village, showing up in bordering towns and cities, including our own. And at the Master’s orders we had sent a discontented group of men into those towns, men who knew exactly where to find me to earn their reward. A reward that no longer required my heart to beat in order to redeem.

   Only time would tell if it would prove an obstacle for the Hunters Society as a whole, but certainly it was going to render clearing my name that much more difficult.

   It was her voice I listened to, the surgeon’s wife, as the surgeon himself finished his work on my leg again, listened as she and Macario argued with the surgeon over what had just transpired.

   And to their horror I had sided with the surgeon.

   Both Macario and the surgeon’s wife thought Luke should be brought up on charges, that he should be suspended from duty if not demoted for harming one of his own in that way. It was the Master Hunter’s duty to look after those in his personal clan, and for me to be someone he claimed he loved, well that seemed to worsen the offense.

   But my question to them was, taking away the affections Luke had for me, if I had been a man would they still feel that way? Would they still be so adamant to stand up for me, or would they dismiss it as just actions between men?

   I had fought so hard for equal treatment amongst the ranks, and both the surgeon and I agreed to bring up this matter would only make it seem the opposite, that I was seeking preferential treatment. In the heat of the moment Luke’s actions had appeared quite severe, but given time I could see his measures truly weren’t cruel, that it was as he had said, he was simply trying to illustrate his point.