Chapter 154: Revenge Plot
Fifteen minutes later, Sylves is feeling a lot better. She’s still a bit woozy, but I’ve managed to neutralize most of the poison.
[Biological Restoration 22 > 23]
There was a lot of trial and error involved with that. Poisons are troublesome to deal with, since each of them interacts with the body so differently. I leaned heavily on[Intuition], intertwining it with my archive to search for solutions. Jean’s healing skill serves as a major source of inspiration, amusingly.
I can also feel a level approaching for the skill. [Intuition] is sitting at the breaking point, just ahead of the first threshold, and this could have tipped it over the edge, but I try to hold it back. Restrain it. There’s a plan slowly taking shape in my head, something I want to try, so I keep the skill below where it could go, while still practicing my mastery of it.
[Suppression 28 > 29]
The mindset of holding back seems to be good for my highest skill, too.
Sylves smiles at me, brushing some hair from my face gently, as she whispers. “Thanks,” she says, and I feel a bit of fairy magic coiling around the word.
With a small giggle, I wave it away. “No debt between friends,” I tell her. She looks aghast for a moment that I’d discovered her little trick, then puts on a pout. Sylves is silly like that. She feels she owes me for being her friend. For caring about her. Maybe, someday, she’ll learn to love herself, too.
“The person who stabbed me,” she starts, but I hold up a hand.
“Let’s wait. Just a little bit. Until the others are here.”
That makes her smile a little again, and she nods. Then, we settle into companionable silence. I look at her, and she looks back at me, and with a soft sigh, I pull out my phone. Its battery is hanging on by a thread, and I still haven’t decoded enough of Bay’s skill to recharge it. But, despite that, this is a good time.
So, I place it on the table, and play some music for us. Sylves hums along quietly, closing her eyes, and mine settle on the wound, then drift to the stump of her arm.
Slowly, a breath escapes my lips. While we wait, I practice again. I need to get better, to learn to heal a limb. I’ll bring her arm back. No matter what it takes. No matter what.
- - -
Another twenty minutes pass, until Inu, sighing and complaining loudly, wipes the bloody tears from my face. “You really have to stop doing that.”
“Isn’t your new heart epitaph meant to stop that?” Opal asks with a snicker, crossing their arms behind their head. The lackadaisical calm betrays them, because I see the iron in their eyes as they look at the scarred over gash in Sylves’ side.
Shrugging faintly, I smile. “It lets me push further before it happens.”
Thatch presses his face into his hands. “And since you can press further, of course you’d instantly go to the limit again.” He sounds frustrated.
“Yeah, of course,” I reply, tilting my head in confusion. “It’s just efficient.”
That makes Sylves laugh so loud, she has to hold the healed wound again. Richard tries to feed her, but pauses when the girl laughs too loudly. “You’re impossible, Snow,” she says with a quiet smile, shaking her head, then takes another bite of food.
As she speaks, our eyes settle on her. Thatch is the one who asks first, his fists clenched. “So, what happened?”
“Nothing much,” Sylves said with a shrug. “Apparently, my sales were encroaching on some gang’s bottom line. My tailor master wasn’t paying enough, or something, they weren’t getting priority cloaks anymore… and so, since I was the worse tailor, they wanted to make an example of me. Send a message, and all.”
Richard looks between us, seeing the sparks. “You are thinking of escalating this?” the hiy’ht asks, raising an eyebrow.
Opal nods first. “Yeah,” they say. “Yeah, I think I’m feeling rather angry.”
With a small smile, Thatch pats them on the back. “Opal is a petty person, you see, Richard? They’re unlikely to let this go. In fact, I’m almost surprised. Sylves usually is even more petty.” He gives the girl a raised eyebrow.
The faerie snickers at his look, and for just a second, I see the mask crack. The joviality is replaced with the penchant for sadism she usually tucks away. “Naturally,” she says slowly. “I feel rather offended, you see? That I’d be marked as an easy target. But in the interest of hiding, well, I’ve been doing my best to keep it low.”
Gently, I ruffle her hair. “No need for that,” I say. “Don’t bottle up your feelings. If you wanna hurt someone, that’s okay.”
She bares her teeth. “I do,” she says.
With a loud clap, Inu chimes in. “Then it’s decided,” she says, though out of all of us, she’s the most conflicted. “We can’t just let this go. Who’s our target?”
Sylves sighs, acting as if it would hurt her to betray the ones who stabbed her. “My master’s shop is two islands south from here,” she says. “That’s also where the gang has an outpost.”
“Which gang is it?” I ask.
“Bloodstain’s,” Sylves says. The name comes from her lips with seething anger, and I frown upon hearing it.
She’s strong. And dangerous at that. Hearing the name, I nod. “What’s the plan?”
Opal sighs, then crosses their arms. “We form a rival gang,” they say simply.
“Snow can’t lead, obviously,” Thatch says. “We do still have to hide a little. Which one of us will be the head?”
At that, we all, instantly, look at Thatch. The young man shrinks back a little, then frowns. “Now hold on a second.”
Inu claps him on the shoulder in camaraderie. “Well, to be fair… your build is among the less known of us. Opal, Snow and Sylves are too distinctive, your powers changed the most from gaining authority. So it’ll be easier to hide.” Which is true. After all, I’m Ion, the monster rookie. Opal caused havoc on the first floor, and Sylves is the wraith of the third.
“Well, that’s fair, but…” Thatch protests weakly, looking down.
“You’re also our best speaker and biggest extrovert,” Opal adds happily. “You’ve got that unfairly handsome face too.”
“So unfair,” Sylves adds, which makes him blush.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I assure Thatch. “We’ll not force you into it.”
Then, after about two seconds, he shakes his head. “No, no, I get it,” he says with a sigh. “I am the best man for the job. I’m not bothered, just a bit embarrassed.” With a faint blush, he scratches the back of his head.
Inu gives him a bright smile. “You’ll do awesome, Thatch.”
“So,” Opal grins. “Time for us to finally set up crybaby guild, huh?”
Thatch snickers, then nods. “Sure, alright. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 155: Check-In
/Bloodstain, eh? A mean fuckin’ bitch, that one. Ye don’t wanna cross her, lest ya get reduced to a smear on the floor. Been around longer than most, and earned her reputation from the ground up. With blood, I mean.
Her gang’s flobs, yeah, but they’re also a Bloodline. That’s the gang’s name. Their leader, Bloodstain, is… well, as you’d expect, she’s a blood mage. She infuses others with her blood, a powerful contract-type skill, which gives ‘em powers at the cost of exploding if they betray her.
Yeah, exploding. Turning them into a smear against the ground. That’s where her name comes from. People who betray her, and people who stand against her, that’s what she turns them into.
Stains of blood./
-Zinc, level 44 Heathward, innkeep on the fifth floor.
- - -
Anna stares at me. “You… fucking what?!”
“I’m engineering a gang war,” I inform her.
“Engineering?!”
For a moment, I tilt my head in thought. Then I nod, agreeing with her. “You’re right, engineering is too generous. Let me try again. I’m starting a gang war.”
The girl stares at me, then stomps a leg. “Fucking… how!? You don’t even have a gang!”
“Yes,” I nod sagely. “That’s why I’m starting one.”
“Why are you starting a gang?!” she screams
Once more, I tilt my head, as if it were obvious. “Because I need to start a gang war.”
“Why?” she demands, grabbing her face with her hands, exasperated.
Smiling softly, I reply. “Oh, that’s easy. One of my friends got stabbed.”
She stares at me. Then she grasps her face again, groaning, leaning against the wall and sliding down until she’s sitting on the ground. “That’s fucking it? Someone got shanked? Did they survive?”
I nod. “She did.”
“Which gang shanked her?”
“Bloodline.”
Anna stares at me one more time, eyes wide. “Holy shit. You’re gonna fucking die,” she says.
Slowly, I shake my head. “No, I don’t think I will.” A small smile spreads on my lips.
A long silence hangs in the air, the girl too stunned to even swear. “You’re insane,” she eventually concludes. “You’re delusional.” She throws her hands into the air. “Completely off your rocker. You’re gonna falling die.”
“Nope,” I wave her off. “I’m not even leading my gang.”
“But you’re starting it!” she demands.
I nod. “That’s correct.”
“Then who in the Tower’s name is running it?” she finally asks.
This time, I just give a shrug. “Another friend.”
“You’re gonna die,” she says again, exasperated. “You’re gonna die, and then my brother will die. Why are you abandoning us like that? I know I haven’t paid, but I-” Her words break off, tears pricking at her eyes, and she hides them behind her hands.
Very slowly, I sit next to her, then tap Kuro. The black shadow slithers off my back, shapes themselves into a cat, and purrs softly, rubbing their head against her legs. Anna looks at Kuro in surprise, and slowly reaches out to pet them.
“Let me be clear,” I say softly. “I’m not leaving. I’m not abandoning you. I will live through this.” The words come out calmly, as they always do, but I hope it has a reassuring tone to it now. Before, I was definitely bullying her.
She opens her mouth, but the words die before they leave her lips. She curls up her knees and buries her face in them, Kuro’s fur trapped gently in between her thighs and torso. “Falling hell,” she eventually says. “Fuck.”
Anna takes another few minutes to compose herself, then finally looks at me. Her eyes are irritated and grey. Which makes sense, since that’s the colour of feryran blood. For a long second, she just looks at me, then bites her lip. “Damn it all. Why do I believe you?”
“Can I touch you?” I ask.
She nods.
I reach over, and ruffle her hair. “Cuz I’m telling the truth. Not gonna abandon you.” I look to the ceiling, wistfully. “This’ll be dealt with before you know it.”
A small laugh leaves her lips at that. “You even believe it,” she says, reaching out and squishing Kuro to her face. “You really do.”
This time, I don’t grace her with a reply. Instead, I settle in next to her brother, then hover my single hand above him. Anna gets some more time with Kuro, and I patch her brother back up. “You know,” I say quietly, “you never told me his name.”
“Yeah,” she says, muffled by Kuro’s fur.
“Would you like to?” I ask.
Slowly, she nods. “Trey.”
“Mh. I hope Trey’ll be in good health again soon. Did you notice he’s been improving?” I ask.
Her eyes glisten and she stares. “He… has?”
Smiling softly, I hum an agreement, then focus. Twisting my healing skill to take as much of my mana and as little of his energy as possible. She’ll still have to feed him for a little while, of course, but that’s fine. Anna’s a good sister. Far better than any of my siblings ever were.
Eventually, I am done with my treatment.
[Solidification 21 > 22]
[Job up! Core Controller 0 > 2]
More points go into my vessel and I quickly adjust my attunement loop, before it cracks again. The needles are denser than ever before, ready to fuel the enchantment for even longer than usual. This way, he should make it through four, rather than the usual one-and-a-half or two before I need to check in.
Slowly, Trey stirs awake, and I rise to my feet. “He’ll be scared to see me first if he wakes up,” I tell Anna, encouraging her to look after him.
Her face turns to me, calmer now, and she slowly shakes her head. “I don’t think so. You’re really pretty without that cloak on.”
A small snicker escapes me. “Usually I’m told my face is infuriating.”
“It is,” she nods. “You’re handsome and pretty at once. And when you stare with that deadpan expression it’s scary. In an aggravating way.”
Slowly, I tilt my head. “What do you mean?”
“That,” she says, then snickers. “That expression. Though with the tilt it’s kind of cute.”
As my revenge, I reach out and ruffle her hair again. Kuro uses their chance to liquify, flowing up my arm and settling into the usual cloak and hood, hiding my missing arm and the half of my face that has the handprint on it. It’s a scar, even after I healed the skin, though with each session, more of it fades.
When I mess with her, Anna laughs, just a little bit. Her eyes follow me, even as she shuffles over to her brother. When the door opens, and the wind and rain whistle into the small, run-down hut, she turns away and whispers. “Please, come back, Yuki.”
“Snow,” I say quietly. “You can call me Snow.”
Her eyes crinkle. “That’s the same word,” she says slowly.
A small smile spreads on my lips. “It sure is, isn’t it?” I ask, then step outside, and let the door shut.
My smile vanishes, slowly but surely. I step down the street, my mana already filling back up. I breathe in, then out, weaving it into needles that I carefully stash in my coat for now. Step by slow step, I walk to the street, putting my regenerating mana into preparations.
Thatch waits outside the inn. Inu, Opal and Sylves are all there, too, draped in heavy cloaks. Even Richard has her own, tailored by Sylves and enchanted by me. “Ready to go, Snow?” Thatch asks me with a small smile.
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “Let’s show them what we’re made out of.”
“These crybabies are gonna make some fools cry,” Opal says with a grin.
And then, all at once, we set off with the intent to kill.
Chapter 156: Gang Fight
Bloodline is a gang, yes, that much is true. But in a way, they’re also a family. A really fucked up, abusive sorta family. The kind that kicks you out and kills you if you fuck up even once. The kind that explodes you if you spill a secret you shouldn’t have.
They also have a centralized hub. Usually people aren’t stupid enough to go there.
Confrontations between holders of authority, generally, go violently. That’s why Raven sticks to the den, to the aviary, and Bloodstain sticks to Bloodline. They’re too likely to incur the Tower’s Wrath for killing too many flobs, and no one wants to be sent back to the fourth. That place is a shithole and a nightmare to climb out of solo, even with an authority.
So, they keep it peacefully. They move, and spy on one another, but generally, there’s places to find them. Which makes it pretty simple for us to go to the hideout of bloodline. It’s two floating islands south of where Sylves’ boss sits, so we focus on the island between the den and the boss.
Well, that’s where most of us are. Opal and Sylves have the tougher job, since they’re reasonably mobile. Which is attracting a bartering party for us to cause trouble with.
After all, I’m still in hiding. I have become a person of peace. Which means no big showing of healing, or mass [Suppression] arrays. Those are too commonly associated with Ion. No, today, my job is a shadow mage!
Which means… manifesting a dark mask for myself by [Solidifying] some shadows, then make menacing hand signs while Kuro does the fighting for me. Truly, my bravery is unmatched. My spirit powerful.
Will I be sabotaging people with [Suppression] and throwing out mana needles cloaked in darkness? Why I’d never. Surely not me. Yuki the enchanter is entirely different from Kuro the shadowmancer, after all. Yes, I’m shamelessly stealing my companion’s name.
Thatch stands there nervously, but Inu and Richard keep him company. The two women are very powerful in terms of their emotional support capabilities. In fact, Inu might be our top ranked emotional supporter, shortly followed by Kuro, of course. Who is wonderfully calming when they try.
Richard is third, though her meals do a lot of heavy lifting. I smile at my silly thoughts, and even that small gesture seems to reassure Thatch. The hiy’ht looks so small and harmless next to him, yet I don’t dare underestimate her. I still have no idea how she earnt her authority, after all.
She didn’t kill anyone with one, and she didn’t go past level 100, either. She’s in her mid-80s, right now. Higher than me, yes, but I have more vessel. Slowly, I breathe. I prepare the mask that I’ll keep on my face for the fight - a simple, blank one, woven from pure darkness. Sylves even made me a whole new outfit to really complete the edgy goth persona.
A heartbeat passes, and [Observation] triggers. Opal has reached my sphere of influence. A small smile weaves itself onto my face, and Kuro pools off me, the cloak disappearing as the little critter settles into the darkness beneath me. Two heartbeats later, Sylves enters my area, chased by a handful of attacks.
I tilt my head. Is it a probing force, meant to intimidate us? Most of these people are probably flobs… but all the gangs have multiple people with authority. That’s just what it takes. They have to compete with the guard, after all.
Five full seconds more pass, until I feel one of the enemies step into my field of mana-detection. “Large,” I say. Instantly, Thatch nods. He sees them, too. Inu and Richard turn to listen. “Dragging an axe, or a cleaver. Berserker-type, I assume.”
Thatch shakes his head. “Regeneration-brawler,” he corrects.
Again, I tilt my head, double-checking, then nodding. “Right.”
A moment later, a dozen more presences enter my sphere of observation. Opal appears next to me with a soft pop, blood coating their blade, dripping to the floor. There’s no rain tonight, but the wind is terrifying, gales streaking between the buildings.
“The lead guy’s a lieutenant,” Opal helpfully provides with a grin. “Authority. Over 150. Name’s Cleaver.”
I breathe, and nod. Sylves appears in the air behind us just a moment later. Her mossy mantle weaves around her shoulders, and a moment later shifts colour to wrap her in a grey cocoon, almost invisible against the backdrop of Downpour. Cleaver steps into the little alleyway with great, confident strides.
There’s a ton of scars covering his face. Jagged, pale lines, criss-crossing over his nose and lips. His tongue flickers out, tasting the air, and it, too, is scarred, somehow. My eyes focus on him, and he grins. “Who’s youse leader, cowards?”
Thatch rapidly steps forward. “Me,” he says.
“Name?” Cleaver asks, his voice ragged, like gravel under boots.
“Hush,” Thatch replies.
Cleaver’s eyes narrow. “Youse telling me to shut it?”
Smirking, Thatch shakes his head. “No. That’s my name. Hush.”
“Kinda pathetic,” someone mouths to the side.
The scarily handsome man tilts his head, and I feel the anger slowly flooding him. His expression makes his face go from scarily handsome to plain scary. “Really, now? Want a demonstration?”
Cleaver grins a ragged grin, and tosses the one who just yapped ahead. He picks the zoof up by the scruff of his neck and tosses him to us. “Why yea. Have at ‘im. Show us why we should be scared.”
Breathing in, Thatch gathers his [Rage]. I see the way he remembers, the way Inu pours it into him from her [Reservoir]. One moment to another, he is flooded with it. He closes his eyes, and when he opens them, his irises have gone from emerald to deep red.
He reaches out. He [Channels]. His rage transforms, red haze turned physical. A monstrous claw appears above his hand, and with a brutally violent punch, he cuts the gang member’s head off. The body tumbles to the street, and instantly, the small laughs quiet.
“See,” Thatch growls. “Hush.”
At that, Cleaver’s ragged face pulls into a grin. “Well, I’ll be falling damned. Maybe this’ll be mighty fun after all.”
His authority washes over us like a ragged wave of red. It smells like rot and iron, and I can feel it pulling at me. Making me reckless, aggressive. It fans rage inside me, but at the same time, it makes it feel like I’m wading through muck. Almost happily, I examine that emotion, then dismiss it as tragically foreign, and let it fall into the void that rests inside.
Cleaver moves forward, drawing up sparks as he grins. Then, he explodes in a swift motion, and chaos breaks loose.
Another dozen of the gang members comes from their hiding holes. There must be roughly twenty, and I feel… three of them, with authorities crushing in on us. A few probably have internal authorities, too, so there’s that to be wary of.
My own efficiency sparks to life, and I withdraw my mana needles. The shadows around me start bubbling and boiling, as Kuro’s mind connects with mine even deeper. With some surprise, I note that they’re drawing on my mana pool, and I easily let them access.
In fact…
A brawler comes close to me. His fists are wreathed in streaks of red, and his footwork is shuffling and quick. He steps in as if I’m some nobody, someone he can floor quickly. And then I drop my first suppression loop.
Not the one on my mana - the one on my body. The cruncher. That I keep active to train my physical stats.
Suddenly unchained, I slip back with new dexterity, avoiding a blow. There’s surprise written on his face, and he steps in for a follow-up. The boiling shadows reach up, tentacles wrapping around his leg. For a moment, he stumbles, then three of my mana-needles pierce his leg, stabbing through the other side.
I keep them solid on purpose. He probably thinks it’s the pain disrupting his skills, but it isn’t. Another fighter comes for me, a rogue, daggers drawn, appearing behind my back. She’s swift, her crystal wings covered in light webbing. I step through the muck, efficiency driving each movement, and shift away from the stab. She’s still too fast.
[Suppression] brushes her. A gentle touch of mana that is so faint, but makes all the difference. Again, she stumbles, and then, Kuro writhes. Their main body coalesces, insectile limbs stabbing up from the shadow.
A fireball flies at me, the light pulling at the darkness, until Richard simply swallows it. “None of that,” she says elegantly, adjusting her tie, then darting off into the fray, her small form biting at ankles. She spits fireballs.
Opal teleports next to me, and someone follows them, sword swinging at their neck. Rolling my eyes, I help them out. Dark needles shoot past their parry, and the woman clashing with them has to contort to avoid them, giving Opal ample time to riposte, taking control of the fight as they blink again.
Another authority slams into me, this one cold and dark and hungry. It’s testing, as if asking where my depths lie. Its grasping fingers make me stagger, and a rapier sinks into my waist, just above my hip. The swashbuckler before me withdraws it in a swift motion, trailing motes of silver light.
Light that feels responsive to my essence. Moonlight, then? I tilt my head as I stare at it. The zoof, taller than any other I’ve seen, gives me a smug smile and steps in with another thrust. I observe, and follow my [Intuition], feeling the skill tug at a level, but refusing to let it advance.
The shadows around me writhe, boil upwards, and consume the motes of light. Darkness wraps around him. He blinks, and then, three more stygian needles pierce his torso, one through his waist, another glancing off a rib, the third sinking deep into his shoulder before returning to my side.
He grimaces and slinks back, mist drifting from his footsteps as yet another goon is upon me - this time thwarted by silvery winds. Sylves hovers above me, summoning a storm as I retreat, slinking through the rubble, into a building.
Without hesitation, one of the ruffians follows me inside. A large feryran woman wielding knuckledusters. She grins at me. “Trapped little rat?”
I shake my head, turning my voice distorted with the shadows. “I go where the night is deepest.” Inside, the edgy line amuses me, but I hold it in as Kuro boils upwards.
Massive jaws manifest, and for a moment, the feryran’s eyes widen. She jumps, smashing into the ceiling, and the jaws lock around one of her legs. A titanic amount of mana drains from me as Kuro twists, slamming her into another wall, sending rubble cascading downwards.
Hurriedly, I step backwards again, the ceiling collapsing in on me. The rogue is behind me, though, knife waiting, and I just barely twist out of sight, remembering her patterns. Again, there’s a tug from my skills, but I hold steady. Not yet.
My needles dance forward, blocking three of her slashes, splintering and cracking in response. I feed them more mana, keeping the constructs stable. Blood drips from my stab onto the city, but the rogue holds her leg just as well, giving me a ragged grin.
Authority bubbles forth from her, and crashes into me. And then, authority spills from my shadow, too, crashing into her, making her step back with dread. My eyes bore into her from the featureless mass, and I drag against the freezing fingers that dig into me. Instead, I step forward, coating my hand in freezing darkness, grabbing her head, and smashing it into the floor.
It feels almost nostalgic to the beginning of this all, when I killed my first goblin.
A brutal blow smashed into my spine, the armored feryran with the knuckle dusters spitting blood, sending me ragdolling, crashing through another wall until Inu catches me. I feel Kuro explode with anger, pulling on my mana, and finally, I drop that second suppressing loop.
Mana floods outwards from me. The strain takes all my focus as I feed Kuro a torrent of power, my vessel creaking and straining. Blood pours from my wounds, pain arcs through me - but I don’t break. I don’t crack.
All at once, the darkness turns deeper, darker. And a heartbeat later, with a brutal screech, needles rise from it in a wave.
Cleaver staggers, his feet pierced. Thatch, fully monstrous, lands a brutal blow on his chest, and I can see his ribs cave in as Inu places me back down. She casually reaches out and stops a sword swing, the momentum disappearing as she touches it. Then, her fist crashes into the weapon, wreathed in her authority, shattering the feeble metal.
“Halt!” a new voice calls, her voice ringing loud enough for all of us to hear. Instantly, the fighting stops. Cleaver drags himself up in a pile of blood, his bones snapping back into the place. The feryran with the knuckle dusters spits to the side, dragging her cloak over her bite wounds. Kuro rushes to my side, weaving around me in a protective formation.
Bloodstain herself steps onto the field.
She’s tall, every bit as elegant as I was told, and her movements are filled with a sharp, bitter violence. Her brand, a rune of bright-red scar, criss crosses her forehead down to her eye. Raven hair spills down her back in thick curls. Her tan skin shines bronzen, with that telltale metallic sheen of a feryran, and her blood-red eyes sweep across us.
Thatch breathes. His authority triggers, and he returns to his human shape. The rage retreats back into him as if he’s an endless void, and within a single heartbeat, he finds peace. For another moment, he wrestles with the monster, with who he is, but then his eyes open, emerald, and he smiles.
“Bloodstain,” he greets her, arms wide. “So glad to meet you.”
The woman smiles, but it’s not a kind expression. It’s the kind of feral hunger of a serial killer. The kind of look that says she sees Thatch as a delectable morsel, something she can snuff out at any time. Despite that, she very gently reaches a long arm to her chin, tilting her head slightly.
“My, I didn’t expect you to be so handsome,” she says. Opal looks at me and smirks. Sylves lets out a soft huff. Thatch groans slightly. Her eyes narrow at the noise, but none of us interrupt her. So, she continues. “You’re…”
“Hush,” Cleaver supplies raggedly, his voice dry and cracked. He spits again, two of his teeth clattering to the side. Blood flows down his face, and he still grins.
“Hush…” Bloodstain says, tasting the words in her mouth. Her lips curl into a smile, and she steps closer. “We can work with that. I do so sincerely apologize for the trouble my kids have caused,” she says without an ounce of sympathy, “but given the stains, I’ll consider it a paid debt. Which makes us even, yes?”
Thatch frowns, but nods. “Sure, even. Blood for blood.”
“A man of so few words,” Bloodstain says dramatically, but her frown only lasts for a moment. Then she grins again, stepping yet closer to Thatch. She even reaches out, a single, long nail hovering just an inch above his skin, right where she might carve a bloodrune on him that’d mirror hers. “I heard you wanted to speak to me, though.” She tilts her head, smile unwavering. “So speak.”