Chapter Twenty-Five: A Break from Training
"Adriella… I need to ask you a favor. I've already requested it of Nicodemus." Lincoln said, shivering slightly. Despite it being April, it was still quite chilly at night during Spring Break.
"Of course, Lincoln Loud. Anything you need, I'm happy to provide. Do you need an introduction to some other potential tutors in the city? Knowledge of choice hunting locations?"
"No. I need some time off. My girlfriends are home on Spring Break from their colleges, and I'd like to spend as much time with them as possible." Lincoln said.
"Oh, of course, of course. That makes perfect sense. You say girlfriends. How many do you have?" Adriella asked curiously, interested in Lincoln's life.
"Three." Lincoln said, not elaborating further.
"Three. And all three women are happy with this arrangement?" Adriella asked. She'd known many young people who became Vampires, and not many of them would have been satisfied with what modern people called a 'poly relationship'.
"Yes. All three of them are aware of the other two and are quite happy with the situation. Two of them are bisexual and were in a relationship with each other when they were younger. So they're dating each other as much as they are dating me. The third is straight. She had sex with one of my other partners once, but it didn't really do it for her as it were." Lincoln said.
"Very interesting. You are a very interesting person, Lincoln Loud. A mere 22 years of age, already a millionaire, you have three girlfriends and you're a Vampire." Adriella said curiously.
"What other secrets do you hide?"
"Well… They wouldn't really be secrets if I told them to you." Lincoln chuckled.
"Ahaha… Yes, I suppose that's true. Well, regardless, perhaps you'll permit me to continue our lesson for tonight and then I can let you go a bit early. Make sure that you continue to hunt at least once every other night. Given that you have allowed your body to continue aging, I do not want you to become Feral." Adriella said. Lincoln nodded and went back to the lesson with her.
Tonight, she was teaching him about the various gangs of Detroit and how they identified themselves to each other and amongst their own. Gang symbols, colors they wore, shirts that identified them. And weapons that they frequently carried. Many of the gangs carried the same types of weapons. Automatic firearms, knives, pipes, garrotes and sometimes even glass bottles. They then got down to sparring. Adriella was impressed by Lincoln's agility and strength, considering how young he was as a Vampire. He'd been one for less than a year and he was already showing impressive skill.
He claimed that he was at least black belt level in Taekwondo, and Hapkido and that he was skilled in Parkour. But he said it was hard for him to know his exact level since he'd learned not from a professional school, but from his sister.
"My sister is an Olympic athlete. She has performed in Triathlon, Track, Cross-Country, various biking, various swimming. You get the idea. She's really, really good." Lincoln said. Adriella smiled.
"Yes, I'm sure. I would be delighted to meet her. I imagine she would make quite a good Vampire as well, or maybe a better Culled, if she doesn't want the drawbacks of being a Vampire." Adriella said.
"If you even go near Lynn or any of my family, sunlight will be the least of your worries." Lincoln threatened. Adriella smiled condescendingly at Lincoln.
"Your devotion to your family is admirable. But misplaced. Wouldn't you rather have a family that lived forever? A family that could weather the ages even as you did? How old is Lynn?" Adriella asked.
"Twenty-five, almost twenty-six." Lincoln said.
"Exactly. She can make her own decisions." Adriella said.
"She's an adult and while she may not be over 400 like I am, she can make her own choices in life. If I choose to offer her to become a Culled, I will." Adriella said arrogantly. Lincoln glared at her.
"Trust me. You do not want to piss off my family. No offense to Lynn, her abilities are incredible. But compared to my younger sister's abilities, Lynn's are nothing." Lincoln said, referring to Lisa. Lincoln knew that Lisa was developing a line of inventions to combat Vampires.
She had even created a UV ray suit. It had LED lights along the entirety of the suit that would release UV light that was powerful enough to cause the Vampire attacking or attempting to attack to be immediately covered in burns and blisters. Lisa trusted Lincoln, but if Vampires truly existed, there was every reason to be prepared for them if they attacked.
"Do you ever worry that your girlfriends are only with you because of your wealth? Being a millionaire does tend to draw people who would never be drawn to you otherwise." Adriella said.
Lincoln chuckled.
"I was friends with Jordan and Stella long before I became rich, and Lucy, I grew up with. She's three years younger than me." Lincoln said. Adriella thought for a moment.
"Three years younger. Grew up with her. What is Lucy to you?" Adriella asked.
"My girlfriend." Lincoln said, getting the feeling that Adriella was starting to figure something out. Lincoln had been too open with her about his relationship to Lucy.
-0-
"Hey, this is a pretty cool trip. And I have a pretty cool surprise for you, girl." Luna said. Sam nodded excitedly.
"You said you wanted us to get complementary full body tattoos, right?" Luna asked. Sam nodded.
"Guess who I got to come and give them to us?" Luna said.
"Who?" Sam asked.
"Jane Zyrelli. You know her, right? Tattoo artist to the stars. Some of the finest work I've ever seen as far as tattoos." Luna said. Sam nodded.
"Does she have a parlor in Detroit?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. She has one in Detroit, amongst other places. She traveled to Detroit to be here to give us the tattoos personally." Luna said.
"In exchange, she wants the band's autographs on a poster.
"We'll take her to Royal Woods and introduce her and her niece, who she wants to be able to meet us and sign whatever it is she wants us to sign." Luna said. Sam nodded.
"And how much money do we owe her?" Sam asked.
"Depends on how much and how detailed we want our tattoos to be. Did you draw up your pictures of what tattoos you want?" Luna asked. Sam nodded. She spent a fair amount of time drawing up tattoos she might want to get, how they would look.
"Yeah. Helios and Sol, mostly. Their symbols and other things to do with the sun. Helios will cover one side of my upper body, Sol will cover the other side." Sam said, showing Luna the pictures of the various tattoos, which would cover her entire upper body almost. Luna showed her pictures. She had tattoos of the moon and Selene and Mani, the Greek and Norse gods of the Moon. Sam was awestruck by Luna's drawings. She had no idea Luna was such a talented artist. She knew Luna was great at singing, playing instruments and writing lyrics. But she had no idea Luna could draw and color so well.
The main tattoo was a mural that honored Selene that would cover her whole back. A gorgeous drawing of the moon with Selene's image inside it, shining down on a nearly glowing silver wolf, gazing up at the moon, howling at it and a ring of people dancing around the wolf by a lake. The tattoo was so detailed. Then on her arms and stomach, it mostly detailed Mani and his feats and honoring the moon in his name as well. Sam smiled. She loved learning new things about Luna. And there was always something new to learn. They went to a nice looking shop and went in. Luna handed Sam a pill.
"Don't worry, it's not a drug. It's something Lisa made. It will start working in ten minutes and will cause you to feel no pain for approximately twelve hours. That will allow us to stay under the needle for longer." Luna said. Sam nodded and popped in the pill, taking a drink of water.
"Luna, Sam! Come in!" Jane said, shaking their hands.
"Jane. Good to meet you finally." Luna said cheerfully.
"Just let me finish up this last bit of work. Then I'll be with you. We'll take a look at what you want."
Jane went back to work on their last client. Luna noticed gorgeous tattoos all across Jane's body. She was wearing a tank top and shorts and had short cropped hair, showing that there was barely a single inch of her body that hadn't been tattooed. Her low-cut tank top, which showed a good portion of her stomach showed that even her stomach and part of her chest was tattooed. She seemed to have favored Celtic. Luna planned to tattoo her legs eventually with tattoos of Cerridwen, the Celtic goddess of the moon. It was obvious to all who knew Luna that she loved the moon.
It had just been her parents' choice of her name. But she had always had an attraction to the moon.
"Alright, who's going first? Or I can take both of you at the same time. But one of you will have to allow yourselves to be tattooed by my assistant. Rest assured, I only take the best and most promising artists as assistants. So you'll be in fine hands. But you have to make the choice." Jane said.
"We'll both go." Luna said. Sam nodded. Jane called out her assistant.
"Hey, my name is Sylvia Talos. It's great to meet you. I love your music." Sylvia said.
Sam and Luna laid down on the tables, handing Sylvia and Jane their drawings, which were labeled with the body parts.
"You're pretty good artists. Have you ever considered a side job drawing out sketches for people's tattoos?" Sylvia asked with a chuckle. Luna laughed.
"No. My passion has always been music." Luna said, stripping out of her shirt, bra and skirt to make plenty of room for Sylvia to draw.
"These are some samples of my work." Sylvia said, showing beautiful pictures of tattoos ranging from tribal ink to mythology to people and calligraphy. Jane wasn't kidding when she said Sylvia was excellent. Luna nodded and laid down. She pinched herself hard to make sure the pill was working. She felt nothing and prepared for the probable pinching sensation of being tattooed.
"How much of this do you want done today?" Jane asked the girls.
"As much as possible." Luna said.
"Well, it's just your upper bodies that you have drawn out. We can probably get everything done today." Jane said. They took out their instruments, sterilized them and studied the drawings. They then began working on the women, drawing out the outlines of the tattoos first. Fortunately, it was just a mild pinching sensation. It wasn't painful, thanks to a combination of the pill and their own bionic enhancements and nanomachines which largely shut off their pain sensors. The women laid there, able to tell when Jane and Sylvia started filling in the outlines.
Finally, after about ten hours, occasionally stopping to eat and drink, they stopped, bringing mirrors over to the two, showing off their tattoos to them.
"You'll need to wear light clothing for a while. You want to go easy on your skin." Jane said. Luna and Sam put their clothes on again and got ready to go back to Royal Woods.
-0-
*Sam and Luna meet Vampire Saoirse
Luna and Sam walked back towards the garage, where their car was parked. It was dark out and Luna was a little tense. Detroit was known for a pretty high crime rate. It wasn't as high as it used to be, but it was still well above the national average. Sam kept her eyes peeled, looking around cautiously as they neared the garage. There was a noise behind them. A person was following them, but clearly not making too much effort to stay hidden.
Luna started to walk faster, clutching Sam's hand as she rushed towards the garage, rounding a corner and looking over her shoulder, not feeling the footsteps getting any further away. Whoever this was, they were fast and they were actually getting closer.
"Wait, wait! I just wanted to see you again." A voice said. Sam gasped, her blood running cold as she heard the voice.
"S-Saoirse…" Sam breathed anxiously. It had been years since she'd heard the voice.
And she never thought she'd see Saoirse in a city like Detroit of all places. She was sure that Saoirse would carry on her father's business once she grew up or marry into another rich family and live a comfortable life not having to do anything.
"Saoirse? You know her?" Luna asked.
"Saoirse, you remember me telling you about her. She's the one who tormented me for half a year back when I lived in Columbus, Ohio just because I came out as gay." Sam said.
"Oh, don't exaggerate, Sammy. I bullied you a bit. I was a piece of work back then, I admit. But I'm better than ever now." Saoirse said, a predatory grin spreading across her face as she approached the two women. Sam pushed Luna behind her. Luna was in pretty decent shape, but she didn't keep up with martial arts and working out like Sam did.
"Stay behind me, Lunes." Sam commanded.
"Oh, please. If I wanted Luna…" Saoirse said, running past Sam at a breakneck pace.
"I'd have gotten her already." Saoirse breathed, biting down on Luna's neck, taking a little bit of blood from her. Luna yelped in shock. She was still numb to pain. But the shock of having teeth piercing her was still uncomfortable.
"Now, Sammy… You know… I have been given a… Rather special gift." She said, showing off her razor sharp fangs. Her father was sick currently and it was unlikely that he was going to recover. She was written into his will for a cool 8 billion dollars. Her fiancé, she'd left when she moved to Michigan.
"You see, I've gotten something greater than money. Power. The beauty of this power is that it can't be taken away from me. And frankly, I never liked daytime anyway. And when I heard that you had moved to Michigan, I said… I have to see her, see how she's doing. I did her wrong in the past. And I'd like to give you a gift, if you'll accept it from me." Saoirse said to Sam.
"What kind of gift?" Sam asked suspiciously.
"I'm glad you asked. You're open to the possibilities of life. Immortality." Saoirse said.
"I want to give you immortality. And are you Luna Loud by any chance? I knew that you and Luna were in a band together and that you'd garnered some success in said endeavor. But are you by any chance dating?" Saoirse asked, a malicious glint in her eyes.
"Married." Sam said proudly. Saoirse clapped.
"Married. Wow. Well, congratulations. I'm glad you two are happy. No, really. I am." Saoirse said.
"We all grow up eventually, and bullying you for such petty reasons was wrong.
And in our world, the world of Vampires, nobody will put you down for being gay. You can be as gay as you want and nobody that I know will care." Saoirse said cheerfully.
"Do I really have a choice whether or not to become a Vampire?" Sam asked.
"Of course you do. I would never force you to become a Vampire. However… It's a choice between becoming a Vampire and dying of blood loss." Saoirse said.
"I thought you said that you didn't hate Sam anymore!" Luna protested.
"Oh, I don't. But her blood smells delicious." Saoirse said.
"Trust me, this is nothing personal." Saoirse said with a bright smile.
"Hey, hey… Why don't we all take a step back and think about this?" Came another familiar voice.
"Lincoln! Get out of here! She's not human!" Luna protested. She didn't want Lincoln to be hurt or die just to protect them. Lincoln chuckled.
"I know. Your name is Saoirse, right? These girls are under my protection." Lincoln said.
"You hurt them, then you've made an enemy of me." Lincoln said. He'd met Saoirse before when he was training with Adriella. He never liked her. Adriella said that she and Nicodemus had Nicodemus' great-grandsire in common and that Saoirse had been Embraced by Nearra's grandchilde, Mason O'Connell. Mason O'Connell was sweet on Saoirse.
"What do you care if I Embrace one or both of these girls? They'll still be alive." Saoirse said.
"Yes, but have you asked them if they want to be Vampires?" Lincoln asked.
"Well? Do you?" Saoirse asked.
"Possibly. But not if you're my… What was it? Sire?" Sam asked.
"See? They don't want to be turned by you." Lincoln said. He'd just been walking past on his way from Nicodemus' house, having taken a break from him as well when he happened on this. It was a pretty big coincidence. But he was glad it happened. He didn't want Sam and/or Luna to go through the same thing he did, being turned against his will by a Vampire without any concern for their wellbeing.
Saoirse glared at Lincoln, but then became all smiles.
"You don't want this fight, Loud." Saoirse said simply.
"You're right. I don't want a fight. I want you to leave before I have to get in a fight." Lincoln said. Saoirse smiled.
"You know, I admire your bravery. I wouldn't want you to think poorly of me. So I'll leave for now. But I hope that you and Sam will both come around to my way of thinking.
"For now, have a good night." Saoirse said, glaring furiously as she turned around. Lincoln walked Sam and Luna back to their car.
-0-
"What were you doing in Detroit at night?" Lincoln asked.
"What are you doing not telling me you were a Vampire?" Luna asked.
"You first." Lincoln said.
"Sammy and me were getting tattoos." Luna said, showing off her back and arms to Lincoln. Lincoln whistled in admiration.
"Nice. I love your tats." Lincoln said. He'd been considering getting some ink himself.
"Now you, Bro." Luna said.
"Well… I didn't want to trouble my family. And you can't tell anyone that I'm a Vampire either. Vampires are supposed to keep themselves secret from humans." Lincoln said, worried now. Luna and Sam nodded. They were fine with not telling anyone.
"We'll keep it secret." Luna said.
Lincoln walked them to their car, wishing them well as they got in and went back to their home. Lincoln then went hunting and then went to his own car and went home.