Between Shadow & Ruin (Fangs & Fae Saga Book 2)

ninety-six.

At the end of the week, Bryn told me that the ink was ready. Steph, Nat, and Gavin arrived from California; Jason, Nicky, Anna and Sofia arrived from New York; Sebastian, Jacques and Alessia, Ray and Aria, Dylan and Zuri met all of us at my office. Bryn came in with a rolling case full of their tattoo materials and a backpack.

"Yeah..." they said, the second they walked in and saw everyone. "This is going to take two, maybe even three days." They plopped their bags down at the table in my office. "Well, I guess I'll start with the out-of-towners. But I need an hour to sterilize this environment. I know most of you are vampires, and don't really catch infections, but I'm not taking any risks. It's already one factor that I'm using an ink I've never used before, but I'd like to control as much as of this process as possible. And when I'm doing this, please, no more than three of you in here at a time, and that's already pushing it." They pulled out a bunch of cleaning supplies and began to wipe down the table and chairs.

"You're not doing this magically?" Val asked.

"There are some things I'd rather do by hand, and cleaning my work surface is one of them. My magic is good, but I'd prefer science on this one. Now, seriously, can all of you give me some space to set this up?" They started to shoo us towards the door.

"Okay, well, let us know if you need any help," I called out behind us. Bryn locked the door behind us, and I could hear them moving things around in my office. Most everyone went outside for a smoke except for Nicky, Aria, Val, and I. Skylar was asleep. The smell of everyone else smoking outside enticed me – I still hadn't had a cigarette since having Skylar.

"Liz... just go outside and have a cigarette," Val said. "I can practically hear you craving it..."

"It's just... Odette always wanted me to quit. And here I went nine months without one, and the second I smell one, I'm like a cat in heat. I didn't think it would hit me like this. And even if I'm not breastfeeding... Skylar still needs my blood, and I don't want to taint it for her..."

"Why don't you just put some aside for her?" Nicky asked. "There was one night I needed a drink bad when I was still breastfeeding Jade, and I pumped out as much milk as I could and had myself some Pitorro. I can't believe those assholes made me go back to work so fast – my first day back at that hellhole and I was a mess. I cussed out some old vieja and I punched some pendeja in the face who thought she was better than me because I was standing behind the register. I never went back after that..." Val, Aria, and I looked at Nicky a bit concerned. "Anyway, my point is, just put some of your blood aside and store it so that you can have that cigarette or drink and not worry about it."

"That's not a bad idea," I said. I went downstairs and grabbed something to put my blood into. I bit into my hand and let some blood drip into the jar, and then put the jar in the fridge. Then I headed outside to grab a cigarette with everyone else. The second I placed it to my lips, it was like I'd never tasted a cigarette before. It was so crisp in the cold January air that it felt invigorating. Bryn joined us a few minutes later.

"Okay," they said. "Who wants to go first?" No one answered. "Okay, well... Cali vamps. You traveled the furthest. So, let's get you three set up. Come on." Bryn nodded their head, and Steph, Nat, and Gavin followed them back to my office. I fed Skylar as we waited. I heard Bryn ask one of them where they wanted the tattoo, and after a half hour or so Steph and Nat walked out of my office. I could hear the buzzing of the machine going as Bryn tattooed Gavin.

"I don't know if I can do this," Nat said to Steph.

"Babe, seriously? You were all about it three days ago... What's wrong?"

"That noise – that buzzing is incessant. It's like my teeth are grinding against each other! ...And it looks like it hurts."

"You're afraid of the pain?" Steph asked her. "Really? You can't deal with a couple hours of pain for a lifetime of protection? Babe, we haven't even been able to go on a date because you're fucking terrified of someone coming after us! We have a solution, albeit temporarily, to alleviate that fear, and you can't deal with the buzzing?"