Commissioned [completed]

Chapter 41 - Makes me feel quite pretty

"Would you like to take your shirt off here or in my den?" Sunny asked.

You gave a high-pitched, "Hm?"

"I have to conduct a proper examination," she snapped on some black rubber gloves.

You looked nervously at Terzo; you could tell those buggy sunglasses had seen some shit.

"Not going to get me to bend over, right Doc?" You tried.

"Shouldn't need to," she was already bringing over a tray of sharp implements.

You swallowed. Maybe there should be witnesses. "Ah, here's fine; I vaguely remember getting drunk with everyone that one night...I'm a fuck the system, shirt-off kind of drunk. Nothing should be...." you flinched as she inspected a hypodermic needle. "Too surprising." You began pulling off your shirt; your chest was loosely bound up with bandages because there had been nothing else on the shoreline for you.

"Holy fucking hell, Pittore," Terzo gasped softly.

"Oooh, fuck yeah, bruising has really come in, huh?" You peered around at all the blotches.

"I'll make something...." Terzo began trying to get up.

"Not until your bag is drained," Sunny didn't look up, nor was her voice as chipper.

"Yes.. yes, of course, Doctor," his face pulled tight.

Was he scared of Sunny? Because it really looked like he was scared of Sunny.

"Okay, let's look at you," she beamed as she looked up from a checklist.

Tummy poked and pulled. Ribs checked and wrapped. Head, eyes and mouth examined. Cuts cleaned and dressed. Sodo's old stitches were pulled out, and his work on your hands was approved. Sunny was pleased to leave you alone to absorb your whole blood pack. You were beginning to feel more tethered to the earth, and though you were curled safely in the sun surrounded by chatting ghouls, you couldn't sleep without returning to that place.

From your armchair, you watched Terzo come back to himself. Rain appeared and gave you an earnest "I'm glad you're okay" before Terzo had him gathering herbs from the forest. He dealt out more orders before he had a small tincture cauldron on the fire. Mugwort, camomile, lavender, beeswax... entrails of an unfortunate road-killed crow, some crushed-up beetles, a bag of blood, what was surely ghoul's tail hair and just a smattering of soothing Latin words.

"Oh, Slappy, if you think I'm drinking that..." you shook your head.

"Relax, it's for your skin, should bring down the bruising," he sat on a stumpy chair by you and close to the fire. "It is fortunate we have the same blood type, huh?"

"That's not.." you pointed at the bag above you, "and that's..." you pointed to the little cauldron.

"Never skip a blood drive, especially if you're a cambion," he winked.

"But you said you'd never trust me with a bag of your blood."

"And I fucking stand by it," he chuckled, "Sunny, though, she knows what she is doing."

"I think you're still trusting me with it, a little bit of you and me; I could go off like a nuke any moment," you grinned. "We're not related now, are we? That could make things awkward."

"I actually don't know how that works.. the first part, not the second...."

You looked at him in false confusion, "so we are related, big bro?"

"Fff, not that," he looked away too quickly. "The uh, nuke thing...."

"Oh no, Terzo, no... not the not technically related but still a stepbrother kink."