The next morning, Miss Terwilliger insisted we come over as soon as she found out we were in town. Well, she actually insisted that Sydney come over, but we were included in the invite. Either way, there was no way we were holding Lissa back any longer. She bounced in her seat like a little kid on the drive over.
It was a short drive, thankfully, because all three of us were about done with car rides for a while. We climbed out in front of Miss Terwilliger's house and she came out to meet us, along with Sydney's old martial arts teacher. If I had to guess, I'd say they were living together now.
Since he was our tattoo connection, that made things very convenient. It also meant that Lissa saw absolutely no reason to wait.
"If those idiots at Court aren't going to move forward with this, we'll just have to do it without them," she announced, producing the vial of ink she'd stolen. "Now, who's inking me?"
I saw Miss Terwilliger giving Lissa a worried look. I wondered if she'd spent enough time with Adrian to recognize the effects that Spirit had on a user. Whether she recognized the cause or not, there was no denying that something was wrong with Lissa.
Sydney and I exchanged glances. This wasn't really the purpose of our trip, but I saw no way to explain that to Lissa without much drama and fighting. "Let's just get this over with," I muttered.
Sydney nodded and explained what we needed. Martial arts guy led the way around the house into a shed that looked like it had been put together by someone directing a B-rated action flick. There were all kinds of weapons hanging on the walls, some of which I'm pretty sure had blood on them. The tattooing apparatus was shoved over in a corner.
Martial arts guy muscled it out into the center of the room. Lissa happily climbed up, handing the ink over to Sydney as she did so.
"So, a nice simple cross like Neal's?" Sydney asked.
"What? No way!" Lissa cried as she wriggled out of her sweater. She pulled a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket. "I want this. Right here." She reached back to tap on her shoulder blade.
Sydney unfolded the paper and shook her head. I peeked over her shoulder and saw the Dragomir crest sketched out on the page. "I don't know if I can do this," she said. "I'm not really an artist."
Martial arts guy took the paper and studied it. "I could do this," he said.
Lissa gave me a wide-eyed stare, clearly not sure about this. Magically, there was no reason he couldn't do the tattooing. It was the ink itself that was imbued with power, not the person using it. But Lissa was clearly reluctant to let a man she'd never met before who looked like a cheap pirate give her a permanent tattoo.
"Do me first." The words were out of my mouth before I could think them through. Damn it.
"We don't have enough ink for both of you," he said, holding the vial up and eyeing it critically.
It was the perfect opening for me to retract my offer, but then Sydney was speaking up. "But Rose doesn't need the special ink."
I probably still could have gotten out of this, but Lissa was looking at me with such relief and gratitude shining in her eyes, I couldn't back down. Damn it, damn it, damn it. I was seriously the best friend ever.
"Yeah, just use regular ink," I told him. "It'll be like a practice round. And then Lissa can see how it looks before she goes through with it."
Lissa suddenly frowned. "But what if you don't like it?"
"What's not to like?" I asked her. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of having the Dragomir crest imprinted on my skin. Beyond any allegiance to Lissa, who doesn't want a badass dragon tattoo?
I stripped off my shirt and straddled the chair, presenting my back to martial arts guy. "Come on, ink me."
I had plenty of experience being tattooed, but I was still surprised at how much it hurt. And how long it took. Of course, this was bigger than my other tattoos, and a new design for the artist. The dhampir artists could probably draw a promise mark in their sleep.
I appreciated martial arts guy taking his time to do it right, but it still dragged on as I sat there. Sydney and Jackie got tired of watching and went into the house to talk. I knew Sydney had a right to take time to catch up with her teacher, but I hoped they discussed our problem with Lissa as well.
Finally, I was done. Martial arts guy produced a mirror so I could see what it looked like. He'd made it black, with little red lines here and there to bring out detail. My first choice might have been something with a little more color, but I had to admit that it came out good. It looked…dangerous. I grinned at Lissa as he taped gauze over my back.
"Badass, right?"
"Very," she agreed. As soon as I stood up, she was taking my place. "My turn!"
I would have liked to have joined Sydney and Jackie at that point to see if they had any ideas about Lissa's problem, but Lissa was nervous about her first tattoo, so I stayed with her.
She took it like a champ. I sometimes forget how strong Lissa can be. I'm so used to being strong for her, I don't give her enough credit for being able to stand on her own feet. She was sweating by the time he finished taping her back, but I was proud of her.
We trooped into the house to find Sydney and Jackie deep in conversation. Thankfully, Lissa had to run into the bathroom, giving me a moment to talk with Sydney.
"Jackie can give us a charm that will prevent Lissa from using spirit, but I don't see how we could get her to agree to that," Sydney told me. "Plus, the spell will degrade over time, and then it's back to where we are right now."
"How long would it take to make the charm?" I asked.
"It's a pretty complicated spell," Jackie said. "It's hard to control Moroi magic with human magic. Even with two of us, it will take most of the day."
"You stay here with Jackie and work on the charm," I told Sydney. "I'll get Lissa out of your way."
"Even if it works, how are we going to get her to wear it?" Sydney asked.
"Leave that part to me," I told her. Hopefully, I would be able to make Lissa agree that this charm was necessary. But one way or another, we were cleaning her up before we went home.