Once again I find myself apologising for my tardiness. Even though I have more than enough time to knock out a chapter a week, being unemployed and all, I find that my motivation to write, along with my motivation for many things, is very low. Coupling that with my current Loki/Tom Hiddleston obsession means I'm spending half my time online searching and applying for jobs and the other half scrolling through Tumblr. However, I'm trying to push myself to work more on this story, I'm constantly "writing" it in my head so the heart to write it hasn't gone, just my oomph. So, it'd really make my day if you would review, absolutely anything you've got to comment on be it praise or constructive criticism would be very VERY welcome. For now, enjoy chapter 20...

Chapter Twenty

Pygmalion

Paninya nursed the third cup of tea she had that morning in the hour she had been at Pinako Rockbell's. She had spent the majority of the last two days at Winry's grandmother's talking witch-talk and Pinako's ability to make the best cup of tea in Risembool was the one saving grace of having to listen to Pinako drone on about the responsibility of having magic.

"Was anyone you or I were descended from burned in the witch trials?"

Pinako chuckled as she took a deep gulp on her pipe. "No, the girls that were persecuted in Rush Valley were entirely innocent. You have to have more than ignorance to trap a real witch."

"How come our families have ended up in Risembool?"

"Both our families fled Rush Valley in the 1690s and settled here. Our ancestors lived in secrecy for over a century. It's important that we still do so."

"Everyone knows you're a witch though, Pinako." Paninya smiled slightly.

"They also know it's absurd, can't be true," Pinako emptied out her pipe and got out her little tin of tobacco to refill it. "I'm just a crazy old lady that makes Automail and has an interest in the occult, no one really believes. They just poke fun, and let them. Just don't let them know the truth."

Paninya finished her tea as Pinako relit her pipe. "So, where's the witchcraft? We've been talking history for two days, Pinako, I want to get to the fun part."

"It's not meant to be fun, Paninya," Pinako said, her voice losing its usual care-free jaunt and becoming suddenly solemn. "It's real and its serious, and you must understand it before you practice it. Now, aren't you going to be late for college?"

Paninya followed Pinako's eyes over to the grandfather clock in the corner of the dining room.

"Crap!" Paninya yelled as she grabbed her bag from the table, hurriedly thanked Pinako for the tea and rushed out the door, leaving Pinako to enjoy her pipe in peace.

Mayor Bradley returned his telephone's receiver to its holster in such a calm manner it belied his foul mood. His good eye was drawn to his office door as his wife entered the room. She was the one person he permitted to enter his private office without knocking, and he did not really need to even look at her to answer the question he knew she would ask.

"That was the coroner, Kain didn't have it," he said, leaning back in his leather chair and entwining his fingers. Mrs Bradley simply nodded; husband and wife were both silent for a while, almost as if unsure what to say. The mayor finally broke the silence.

"We should never have trusted that Kain... weasel with the watch."

"How many are we dealing with?" Mrs Bradley asked concerned.

"Well, the coroner thinks one. Something about the wound radius and the jaw pattern."

"Are we in danger?" All of sudden, Mrs Bradley's demeanour changed from mildly concerned to almost full-blown panic as she sank into the chair opposite her husband. "I mean if it found the watch, then it knows we know, and could it come after us? A-and should I even be saying 'it'? Is it a he or even a she?"

"If it has any historical knowledge of the town, then it'll know where the watch came from, so yes, my dear, we could very much be in danger."

"So what do we do?" Mrs Bradley wondered anxiously.

"Just keep it quiet." Mayor Bradley finally shifted his position to return to the paperwork on his desk. "We can't have the entire town aware of this; we need to find him before he finds us."

Paninya just got to her English lecture by the skin of her teeth, sinking into her chair as the teacher began his lesson. Elicia, sitting two seats across from her, gave Paninya a where-have-you-been look, Paninya mouthing "tell you after" in response. The lecture passed with Shakespearean monotony, and as the bell sounded to end the class Elicia jumped Paninya with both unwanted enthusiasm and an unwanted bag.

"I've got your costume," Elicia grinned as she pulled a fancy dress witch's costume from the bag which left little to the imagination. "It's all here."

"Seriously?" Paninya looked at the outfit with barely concealed disdain. "It looks like you left half of it at home!"

"Come on, Paninya!" Elicia crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip in a well-practised pout. "Can someone please be excited it's Halloween? I just want to have fun! Just some silly, fluffy, Edward free fun."

Paninya, rolling her eyes, grudgingly took the costume from Elicia and noticed a necklace as it caught the light. Examining it more closely she realised she had seen it before.

"Hey, isn't this the necklace you got from Edward?" Paninya asked as she held it out to Elicia, who looked at it with resentment.

"Yep," she said non-chalantly. "Wear it, toss it. I don't care. I just want it gone." Elicia changed the subject and her voice returned to its usual care-free lightness. "Hey, have you seen Winry? Do you know what she's wearing? I don't want a repeat of last Halloween."

Paninya shook her head. "I was with Pinako all weekend, I haven't talked to her. Maybe she's with Alphonse?"

"Riding to his castle on his white horse," Elicia said sarcastically.

"Don't be bitter," Paninya smiled as they walked off down the hall. "It promotes wrinkles."

"Coffee is our friend," Alphonse said entering the dining room with a mug of the magical liquid for Rose. "It's the caffeine; it circulates through our veins, and it warms our bodies so we're not cold to the touch."

Rose took a sip of the coffee, not ungratefully, but a part of her was not happy with the whole vegetarian vampire thing.

"What if I want to drink human blood?" Rose asked as Alphonse sat next to her, Winry sitting across the table feeling like the ultimate gooseberry in this odd situation.

Alphonse sighed, "You're going to have to learn to live with that urge and fight it on a daily basis."

"Oh god, don't start with that whole twelve steps thing! School counsellor has been down that road, and it doesn't work for me."

"It can work. It's your choice Rose."

"So you've never tasted human blood?"

Winry shot a glance at Alphonse, whose face had suddenly gone paler than usual and for once he was not quick to answer.

"Not in a long time," Alphonse spoke quietly.

"How long?" Rose continued, unaware of Alphonse's discomfort.

"Years and years," Alphonse swallowed, looking at Winry who saw the guilt in his toffee eyes and began to feel just a little bit sorry for him again. "I'm not proud of my past behaviour."

Rose took another gulp of coffee before mercifully changing the subject and embarking on a full blown rant. "God, it feels like I've got a massive hangover all the time! Does that feeling ever go away? And this daylight thing is a bitch. I need more blood. Where's your bathroom? I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead."

Rose scraped back her chair and went off in search of the Elric's bathroom without waiting for directions from Alphonse, who turned his attention to Winry, slightly unsure what to say.

"I'm going to, uh..." Alphonse spluttered, rising from his chair, Winry raising her eyebrows at him. "I'm going to get her some more. Blood, that is, get Rose some more blood. All right, I'll be quick."

Alphonse practically fell out of the room and the tension that had been building all morning left with him. Winry sighed and began massaging her temples. She couldn't believe what was happening; just a few weeks ago she had nothing more stressful to worry about but her design for her latest Automail assignment. Now here she was, sitting in on an "introduction to vampirism" lecture and trying to prevent a friend from feasting on her brother! Winry had always thought she'd like some excitement in her life but this was beyond a joke. Winry opened her eyes as Rose came back into the dining room.

"False alarm," she almost sang, pulling out her mobile phone. "My body's feeling really funky. It's a good funk, but it's weird."

"Hmm, who are you calling?" Winry enquired as Rose put the phone to her ear.

"Ling," she answered simply.

"Rose, you can't see Ling anymore," Winry said as if she were stating an obvious fact.

"Oh come on, don't you start," Rose complained, hanging up the phone only because there was no answer from Ling. "I'm going to see whoever I want to see."

"Even though you could hurt him?"

Rose looked affronted. "I would never hurt Ling."

"I know you think that Rose, but I'm not willing to take the risk." Winry crossed her arms and shook her head in a manner that meant the discussion was over, but she was about to find out how bad an idea it is to aggravate a newly transitioned vampire as Rose let rip.

"Oh. Oh really? And how long have you been preparing a 'you're not good enough' speech? I'm presuming it pre-dates the whole vampire thing."

"All I'm saying is Ling is not getting involved in any of this. I mean it, Rose."

Winry immediately wished she hadn't pushed it, as Rose jumped out of her chair and grabbed Winry by the throat and not realising her new strength had her pinned against the wall.

"Or what Winry? You'll use one of your little wrenches on me? Let's get one thing straight you perky little bitch. I don't like you, I never have, whenever I look you all I see is some spoilt little brat who got whatever she wanted from mummy and daddy whenever she wanted. And when one bad thing happens to you the whole town fawns over you; I've had to deal with that kind of shit all my life without getting any sympathy from anyone. Now, finally, there's Ling actually treating me with some respect and you have the audacity to tell me I can't see him? Well, let me tell you Winry, I'm going to see Ling whenever I want to see him, because I have some fun new toys to play with, and I won't think twice about ripping your little head off. Understand?" Rose finished jauntily, releasing Winry from her iron grip and waltzing out of the room.

Alphonse returned moments later to find Winry clutching her throat and coughing.

"What happened?" he asked concernedly, rushing to her side.

"She threatened me," Winry gasped, waiting for Alphonse's inevitable excuse.

"I'm sorry, Winry," Alphonse led Winry back into a chair. "She's on edge. Imagine every sense in your body operating at super speed. I mean, she's uncomfortable in her own skin. And then when you throw in her other issues..."

"How long before it settles?" Winry interrupted. "Hours? Days? Weeks?"

"There's no rule book," Alphonse shrugged.

"Well, how long did it take you to learn to control it?"

Alphonse looked haunted, before answering quietly. "A while. But I didn't have anybody helping me. I had to do it on my own. The thing is it's hard to resist certain people, especially when you're new, it's difficult to separate your feelings. Love, lust, anger, desire... it can all blur into one urge; hunger."

"What does that mean?" Winry had a horrible feeling she could answer her own question.

"It means that Ling can't see her, not now. She might not be able to resist him, and she could hurt him."

Winry swallowed. "Or worse."

"I'm not going to let anybody get hurt, Winry, I promise you."

Even though Winry could sense the sincerity in Alphonse's voice, somehow, given everything that had happened, she didn't have the faith in him he wanted her to have. Winry suddenly felt a need for some fresh air; to get out of the house, and excused herself.

"I need to get going."

"Winry..." Alphonse tried to stop her, grazing her arm with his hand.

"Please, Alphonse," Winry melancholy brushed him away. "There's only so much I can take."

Heavy rock music blasted from the speakers in the guest bedroom that Rose had claimed; she listened to the melancholy lyrics as she sat on the floor, her back against the bed and her knees drawn up into her chest. She spun her hair in her fingers as she gazed absent-mindedly out of the window; the moon staring back at her. Rose didn't so much as blink to show she acknowledged the fact that Edward had just walked uninvited into the room. She'd heard him walking up the stairs and along the hallway anyway.

"What are you doing?" Edward asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust at Rose's taste in music.

"Just contemplating the next hundred years," Rose sighed dramatically before turning to Edward. "Why did you do it?"

Edward scratched his head as he tried to think of an answer. "I was... bored."

"You did this to me out of boredom?" Rose said in disgust.

"Its one of the pitfalls of eternity," Edward shrugged.

"Well, now I'm bored," Rose sighed. "All I can think about is blood... I just want some blood. I... I can't think about anything else. What is that about?"

"That'll ease up. You've been cooped up all day, let's go."

"Go where?" Rose asked as she got up to follow Edward out of the room.

"Your life was pathetic," Edward turned to Rose and flashed his characteristic toothy grin. "Your afterlife doesn't have to be."

Rose smiled and almost skipped down the stairs behind Edward, her smile faltering as they met Alphonse in the hall.

"What are you doing?" Alphonse regarded his brother warily.

Edward continued to lead Rose toward the front door, dismissing Alphonse with a wave of his hand. "She's been holed up indoors all day, the girl's not Anne Frank!"

Alphonse's toffee eyes widened in horror, and moved between his brother and the door. "No, no, no. Ed, I don't think now's the time for this!"

"Al, if you're going to teach her, then teach her. Show her what it's all about."

"She could hurt someone, Ed."

"Al, relax, I'm not taking her to Disneyland. We're going to the front yard. Come on." Edward forced his brother out of the way and guided Rose out onto the front lawn, who was starting to get annoyed at being talked about as if she wasn't there.

"It's a bad idea Edward!" Alphonse warned as he followed the pair outside.

"She's a vampire, Alphonse," Edward condescended. "She should know the perks."

"Perks?" Rose asked, intrigued. "Like what?"

Edward grinned. "Like this..." And with that he seemed to vanish into thin air as he ran at full vampire speed around the manor house. Edward seemed a golden blur crossing Rose's vision before reappearing almost in the same spot, where he theatrically bowed to Rose who looked suitably impressed.

"Whoa. How did you do that? That is so cool!"

"Come on Rose, you try. Live a little. No pun intended."

Edward looked on as Rose flexed her arms, readying herself to run faster than she had ever run in her life... or death. Too late, Alphonse tried to stop her, as Rose sped off, unfortunately in the direction of town and not just around the house as he had hoped she would do.

"Oh no..." he breathed, turning to face his brother accusingly.

"My bad." Edward raised his hands in innocence, though the smile on his face told a different story.

After raiding his fridge for his last bottle of beer Russell slumped onto his sofa, completely exhausted. He had been out searching for Rose all day, and aside from the brief and not-at-all-comforting phone call he had received from her that morning he had not had any luck in locating her. Sighing he took a deep gulp of his beer and looked at his living room clock, which brazenly kept ticking away the minutes and hours that Rose had been missing. It was 10.30pm; he had been fruitlessly combing the town for Rose for almost fifteen hours. For the life of him Russell couldn't say why he felt responsible for Rose, why he felt he had to skip work and look for her all day; she was nothing to him, no more than an acquaintance. But the point was she didn't have anyone in Risembool to worry about her, and Russell couldn't bear the thought of someone having no-one to care for them.

Cursing his own selflessness Russell dug his hands into eyes, trying to wake himself up enough to go to bed. As he roused himself from the sofa he heard a knock at the door. Suddenly he was wide awake, hoping against hope that it was good news about Rose.

Opening the door he couldn't believe his eyes; Rose stood meekly on the doorstep before him.

"Rose?" he gasped, half angry at her for disappearing, and half relieved that she was safe. "Where the hell have you been?!"

"Hey, Russell. Sorry I caused so much..."

"Apologise in a moment, Rose," Russell put his arm around her and pulled her inside. "Just get indoors, its freezing out there."

"Its not that cold..." Rose began before stopping herself; she had already forgotten that as a vampire she didn't feel the cold as... humans did. Russell led her into the living room where she settled onto the sofa.

"Where have you been, Rose?" Russell asked again as he wrapped a blanket round her cold shoulders.

"Nowhere, Russell, just drop it please."

"Rose, five people were murdered in the cemetery. Five people you knew. The cops have been looking for you, they want to question you."

Rose waved the statement off. "They know where I live if they want to talk to me."

"Everyone was worried about you," Russell said quietly.

"Well, I'm back now," Rose said firmly. "Just let it go."

Suddenly, Russell exploded. "Are you kidding me? I've been out looking for you all day, I've had a damn search party looking for you while you were off on your crazy little drug trip, and you want me to 'let it go'?"

Rose looked at Russell, shocked, before grimacing in pain and holding her head in her hands. "My head hurts, Russ."

"You think?" Russell said sarcastically, he was exhausted, and so was his patience with Rose.

Rose continued to sit there, massaging her temples and moaning in pain, and as quickly as it had come Russell's anger evaporated. Heaven knows what she had been through and now she was in pain; Russell opened his mouth to apologise but he was interrupted by the doorbell.

"Rose... I'm sorry. Just let me get the door and then you can tell me what happened."

Russell opened the door for the second time that night, and for a second time he was surprised by the person who was calling.

"Alphonse," Russell greeted him. "What are you doing here?"

Rose's head snapped up as her vampire hearing heard Alphonse ask if she was here, and wanting to keep one place where he couldn't reach her and get all preachy she rushed into the hall before Russell could invite him in.

"Yeah, Rose got here a little while ago. You been out looking for her too?"

"Yeah," Alphonse half-fibbed. He had been looking for her, but only in the last half hour. "Can I see her please?"

"Don't let him in!" Rose screeched at Russell, pulling him away from the door.

"Rose, did he do something to you?" Russell whispered as he struggled against Rose's surprisingly strong grip. He looked out accusingly at Alphonse who stood there with an expression of confusion and innocence. "Because if he did..."

"No!" Rose began to beg. "No, please. I just don't want him in here."

"Just let me come in so I can explain myself..." Alphonse said calmly taking a step towards the threshold.

"Al, I don't know what's going on but I think you should leave now."

"Russell..." Alphonse pleaded.

"Leave, now, Alphonse." Russell's silver eyes shone with determination; his priority right now was Rose, and she was clearly upset at having Alphonse near her. He would find out the reason later, but for now he just wanted her to calm down.

Grudgingly, Alphonse stepped back, promising to call another time to see how Rose was. Russell acknowledged him before shutting the door on the cold night, not noticing the evil smirk that crossed Rose's features, replaced by a look of gratitude by the time he turned back to her.

"I think you owe me an explanation," Russell said firmly.

Morning sunlight shone into the Rockbell's kitchen as Ling was pouring himself a coffee, and leaving his seventeenth message on Rose's phone.

"Rose, please just call me. I'm really worried about you, just call and let me know you're OK?"

He hung up the phone as Winry entered the kitchen, her blonde hair an ungodly early morning mess. She immediately headed for the coffee machine before turning to regard Ling.

"So, Ling, I was thinking, do you want to hang out tonight?" Winry's speech was still slightly slurred from having just woken up. "We could go to the college Halloween party tonight, huh? Could be fun, take your mind off things?"

Ling didn't even look up at Winry as he answered, too engrossed in searching the paper for any news of Rose.

"Yeah, sure," he answered absent-mindedly. "Sounds fun. Can't wait."

Winry huffed at the automated answer and sat next to her brother.

"I know you're upset about Rose, Ling. Russell told me she called him and told him she was OK, so can't be in any immediate danger. But you can't be with her, Ling. She needs to get better, and the best thing you can do for her is to let her go."

Ling looked at Winry, one eyebrow raised questioningly. "What does that even mean, 'Let her go'?"

"You just need to let her work out her problems on her own, there's no need for you to get involved," Winry looked at her brother in earnest. "I know you may not see it, but trust me Ling. It's for the best."

"Winry, for months after mum and dad died, I felt like crap, like 'nothing even really matters' crap. Now all of a sudden, I have these moments where things started to feel just a little bit better, and Rose was in every single one of them. So you may not see it, but trust me; keeping me away from her is not for the best."

With that Ling stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Winry desperate to go after him. But how could she stop Ling from seeing Rose without telling him the truth? How could she protect him without exposing him to the danger he faced?