The Dove

The Blood Countess

Kid and I moved my belongings out of Brit's apartment, Brit was off doing paperwork to rent out the apartment to another student so we could get a decent income and keep the apartment livable while we were gone. At the Gallows mansion we carried a few boxes into one of the spare bedrooms, soon to be my own, and Kid helped me arrange family photos and other heirlooms on my shelves and walls. It wasn't symmetrical but for whatever reason Kid didn't seem to mind at all. I just assumed that he was planning on pretty much never entering this room again, because honestly, after about two months of me living here, it'd probably drive him to insanity. We put up my photo wall quite similarily to how it was in the apartment, except that bit Kid insisted on making symmetrical, he hung the lights carefully while I put one of the group pictures from the party into a small frame and placed it on my nightstand. Brit finally arrived and Liz helped her organize her room while Kid made dinner and I folded and put away my clothes neatly in my drawers. A pleasant smell slowly filled the room, signalling dinner was almost ready, so I went to meet everyone in the dining room.

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After dinner we all said our goodnights are were in bed at 8 o'clock sharp. Go figure. I slept well, pleasant dreams finally filling the void that was usually left overnight. It was thursday morning now and Kid knocked on my door to wake me up. At least he didn't just barge in. I got dressed in my usual clothes and brushed out my hair, styling it symmetrically again, even if it mostly fell that way. I put on some light makeup, a thin line of eyeliner on my eyelids and mascara carefully brushed on, and headed downstairs to find freshly cooked waffles with homemade strawberry sauce and whipped cream sitting on the table, at four different places, I licked my lips and Kid walked in with a fifth plate, setting it on the place at the end of the table, he smiled at me as I sat down next to him. "Did you sleep well?" He asked, carefully cutting a bite of waffle.

"Actually, yeah, greatest sleep I've had in months." I took a bite from my waffle and everyone else entered, Brit looked groggy but had her hair styled back and her makeup still well applied, how did she do it?

"Jeez, your beds are super uncomfortable around here, no offense." She stretched, obviously a bit stiff. "I barely slept at all! Again no offense." Kid's eyebrows furrowed, it was obvious that Brit annoyed him, but it couldn't be helped, she had literally no filter.

Liz sat next to Patty opposite me and Brit sat on my left, Brit poked a strawberry with her fork and stuck the red fruit on her tongue, eyes widening, was she impressed? Shocked? Surprised? "Oh my god..." she took a bite of the waffle, "this is delicious!" She began to wolf down the rest of the meal, Kid smiled in amusement but when he noticed her bad manners his eyebrow twitched in frustration, I would have been angry too, she made a terrible mess at her place on the table! As we were all finishing our meals she wiped her face with a napkin and took her plate to the sink, I used my napkin to wipe up the worst of the mess she made, sighing lightly. When Kid finished he stood and came over to help, when we were finished Brit apologetically cleaned the dishes and we got on our way to school, I took dove form and carried Brit in her knife form, while Kid agreed to carry my schoolbag.

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As usual the day carried on like it always did, eventually during our free block Lord Death called us to assign a mission. We were given a sheet of paper with the details and deep down I felt a bit worried for Kid and our weapons. We were to kill one of the most notorious witches on the planet since the defeat of the kishin. The Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory. She bathed in the blood of meisters and weapons she killed to keep her youthful form and has lived for god knows how long, thousands of years, for sure. She was one of the strongest witches on earth, right next to Arachne.

We got home and started getting ready for battle, I prepared my spells and we came up with a battle plan.

"What are your magical abilities, anyway?" Kid asked as he straightened the skull-shaped charm on his tie.

"I can instantly heal wounds and can manipulate the light around me, with a second wavelength I wan intensify the light to attack, hence I have Brit with me whenever I go somewhere. You know, just in case." I explained, not realizing I was thinking a little too much about the strength of the witch we were about to face and what could happen to us if we lost.

"That's good, it could come in handy." He turned to me, my hands were clenched into fists, my knuckles white with the pressure, I was staring at the ground, deep in thought, I felt the heat slowly drain from me, "what's wrong? You're shaking!" He approached me, placing a hand on my cheek, lifting my gaze to his eyes, his brows furrowed in worry.

"...I'm scared...Kid...what if...what if we lose...?" I could barely speak, tears perked in my eyes, I was embarrassed, he probably thought I was a crybaby now.

"Don't worry, Seikatsu, We're a team, my father picked us for a reason," he pulled me into a gentle embrace, "we'll be fine, okay? And even if we lose, we'll find some way out of it, promise." It didn't help, as much as he tried, I was still scared, but I pulled myself together enough to help him. As we flew to Slovakia to face the Countess, I shuddered, I had a bad feeling about this.