After hearing the news, that her mother had reached out to her, even if it was probably just to scorn her Beatrice felt this strange twist of bittersweet happiness. She had always yearned for her parents' affection. Always fell short.
Hands shaking, she had grabbed her phone and composed the number. No one answered and she was torn. Part of her was relieved when no one picked up and there was no expected confrontation.
Part of her was even more tensed for leaving something like that hanging, like a Damocles sword, with no control as to when her mother would reach out again.
She felt awkward leaving voicemails; she knew she'd trail off or babble. At least she felt like she was. In this particular situation it was probably for the best. She had opened her mouth, ready to just leave a number but the words remained stuck.
In the end Beatrice had agreed with Mother Superion. If, or when, her mother was to call again, she'd be given a cell number, untraceable, so she could reach Beatrice but not find her.
It was nerve wracking. Beatrice was walking down a corridor nervously; scratching her thumb bloody with the nail of her index finger. Knowing that she could have to deal with her patents at any given moment was driving her up the wall.
It didn't help that she couldn't really work out or fight to relax. Even if she wanted to, she was always followed. And she was going from anxious to angry at being treated like a child. She was responsible and could make her own decisions. She took a deep breath in.
She couldn't be alone, and sometimes she really needed to be alone.
On that particular day it was the smaller one, Katya, who was shadowing her. She had a lot of energy and many questions. As opposed to most of the sister who had kept a watchful eye on her, Katya didn't try to hide. She was unapologetic.
Talking led them to a common ground, a common passion. Martial arts and combat.
Katya was very frustrated by Dora. Not by her as a person but because she always won. Katya had never managed to take her down, and she was always so stoic. She didn't even gloat; Katya would have.
"Could you show me some of your moves? Maybe I could help." Asked Beatrice. This would be a welcome distraction, and Katya was more than happy to show off, demonstrate.
It only took a few punches in the air for Beatrice to move in and correct her posture. "That should be better. Again." Katya redid the combo but Beatrice wasn't satisfied. She moved in front of her. "Okay, come at me."
Katya froze and looked at her belly before glancing around. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."
"Do you want to learn or not? I can teach you." Beatrice could see Katya was about to break.
"Fine, but let's start slow." Katya moved once more into position and started to throw a few punches. They were easily avoided or deflected by the former nun who started to smile as Katya was growing annoyed as she went faster, harder; she wasn't pulling her punches anymore and still couldn't land a hit on Beatrice. Without thinking Katya raised her foot in and went for a round house kick. Beatrice grabbed her foot and used the blonde's motion against her, making her loosed her balance. This was when the real sparing began.
They had chosen a remote part of the garden for their activity, but they still managed to draw some attention from a few nuns.
"Elbows tucked in." Repeated Beatrice. She just hoped Katya could hear and listen to her while she seemed determined to win.
And she did it again, wrong posture. Beatrice sighed as she grabbed Katya's arm, move swiftly on her feet as she moved around, behind her, while twisting the limb. Beatrice kneed her on the side of the thigh as she moved, hitting the nerve, then kicked behind the knee. Beatrice's hand slid down Katya's arm until she reached her wrist and bent it to an awkward and painful angle then pushed, making the other girl fall flat on her face.
Katya grunted but got back up as soon as she touched the ground. She was very impressed. While she was sweating and breathing hard Beatrice looked as collected as ever. She had heard things about the former nun; she had simply thought most of them had been grossly exaggerated. She was wrong.
Katya was not one to give up, as long as she could stand, she could fight. She decided to attack with a twisted kick, she had to be fast. Then her world exploded in a flash of light. The little audience they had gathered shared the same fate as they were all violently pushed back.
Beatrice was the only one left standing. She lowered her fighting stance. She knew what it meant. She turned and here she was, very mad Ava.
"What do you think you're doing?!" But she wasn't glaring at Beatrice, her eyes were locked on Katya and that annoyed Beatrice.
Katya was oblivious to the danger she was facing, her ears were ringing, everything hurt. She could only groan at that point. Beatrice stepped in front of her, stopping Ava's threat.
"I was just teaching her a few things."
"Couldn't you do it without putting yourself at risk?" Half yelled Ava. She was angry, but most of all she had been scared.
Beatrice huffed, looking like she could be a little offended. "She has some solid foundations but she is like a kitten, very eager tiny limbs but no real control."
That Katya heard. She wanted to object and defend herself but she couldn't speak. She was so stiff. She tried to sit up and barely got her shoulders off the ground.
"She is a warrior nun. I know it requires some badass skills. She is dangerous." Said Ava.
"Don't you trust me to know my own limits?" Beatrice asked and thought it was mostly rhetorical at that point. They had after all pretty much assigned her body guards, or babysitters.
"You are pregnant."
Thanks for the reminder. Beatrice refrained herself from being sarcastic and chose to argue. "I'm not made of glass."
It turned into a staring contest and neither moved as they were joined by running footsteps. It was Camila and Father Vincent with a few warrior nuns, weapons ready.
"What's going on?" Asked Camila as she quickly lowered her crossbow.
"We felt the blast from inside." Added Father Vincent as he kept on going, walking up to stand next to Ava and Beatrice.
"Ava over-reacted to a tiny sparing session."
"Beatrice likes to put herself at risk."
They both replied simultaneously and the tension comply dropped for the new comers. They were not under attack, so Camila told the other nuns to go back to their previous occupations.
Father Vincent moved closer to Beatrice, "This little miracle," as reached out his hand. Beatrice was about to slap it away from her when he stopped and frowned. He couldn't move his hand any closer to Beatrice's belly. He really tried, he pushed. Nope. His arm dropped, defeated, before he took a step back.
"See!" Beatrice might have been a little self-satisfied about it. "She has her own protective shield."
"It doesn't work all the time." Ava reached out for her child to make her point on placed her hand flat on the little bump. She could immediately feel Eve's energy. She was okay.
"It's not random. She trusts you." Father Vincent's face dropped a little at Beatrice statement.
"Maybe we should test it properly." Suggested Camila.
Lilith appeared in a burst of flames. "I agree with Camila. We should learn more about her abilities."
"And where were you?!"
Lilith pointed with her index towards the roof of the closest building.
"You were watching!" Ava couldn't believe it, if there was one person she didn't expect it from.
"I can cleave her in two in the blink of an eye. The only risk Beatrice was really facing was blood spatters."
"You were spying on us? One babysitter isn't enough?" Beatrice crossed her arms.
"I was not spying. I was meditating, with you in my line of sight." Argued Lilith.
"You meditate?" Asked Camila, surprised.
"Of course. Don't you?"
Camila tilted her head slightly to the side as she thought about it. "I pray."
"Could we get back to the matter at hand?" He paused until he had the girls' attention. "Maybe the baby can feel whenever Beatrice is fighting and becomes defensive." Suggested Father Vincent.
"We can't know that for sure." Said Ava.
"That's why we should test it." Affirmed Lilith. She turned to look at Camila, then Ava did the same. The smaller nun took a step back before looking down at Katya.
"The best way to know if she would have gotten hurt," Camila walked up to Katya, grabbed her arm and started to haul her up. "is to try again with the person she was fighting."
Katya grunted as she was pulled up, feeling nauseous, and not just because she felt so far away from the ground. She glanced worriedly around her as she straightened up. There was Camila, the one just under the boss, was looking at her expectantly. Lilith had her usual closed expression on her face, she was in a category of her own. The halo bearer was still glaring at her.
"Maybe…maybe I should just go to the infirmary?" Proposed the blonde hopefully. Her heterochromatic eyes, one blue one green, going from one woman to the other pleading with big watery eyes.
"You're just fine." Said Camila as she put a comforting hand on her back before shoving her slightly forward.
Ava was instantly by the blonde side to help her remain steady on her wobbly legs.
"Don't I have a say in this either? It's still my body." Beatrice was getting annoyed at being overlooked.
"Don't you want to know more about what she is capable of?" Asked Lilith as Ava stopped in front of her girlfriend, with a tight grip on Katya.
"Of course I do. Preferably once she can speak." Beatrice looked into Ava's eyes. "Fine." She raised her hands before letting them drop by her side in defeat. It was just Katya anyway.
Ava encouraged Katya to reach out, which she did, hand shaking, wondering what was happening. Her hand moved slowly towards the pregnant belly until it stopped. Katya's eyes widened; her fingertips had come in contact with a smooth, warm surface. It was so strange. Katya's moved until it was laying not exactly flat, it had a small curve to it, on a surface she could not see at least 15 centimeter away from Beatrice's actual body.
"What is it?" Katya asked amazed when she looked up in Beatrice's eyes.
"She is Eve." Simply introduced Beatrice.
"A little miracle." Added Father Vincent as he led the warrior nun a little away from Beatrice who looked over her shoulder at Ava. "See. Perfectly safe." Maybe she was gloating, just a bit.
Ava frowned as she tried to recall who she had seen actually touch Bea's belly, and thought out loud. "Am I the only one allowed to touch her?"
Lilith snorted before rising an eyebrow. "I had hoped you'd have grown a little out of that idiot phase. If that was indeed a phase." Lilith joined Beatrice and easily put her hand on her bump. Ava opened her mouth, offended, but Lilith wasn't done. "Can you imagine one of our appointments with the OBGYN if no one could touch her?"
Okay Ava was annoyed that she couldn't feel that offended at the idiot comment when Lilith was actually right. Lilith being herself could be annoying. She was jealous too, her daughter's reaction to her godmother had been exactly like the one she had received, a small light and energy pulse.
"And that's enough for today." Beatrice gently wrapped her hand around Lilith's wrist and pried it away from her body.
"But Camila didn't try." Lilith motioned to the woman in question as she spoke.
"Camila thinks we should respect Beatrice's boundaries."
Ava's eyebrows rose. "Since when do you speak about yourself using the third person?"
Camila shrugged as she took a another step back as she went to see Katya, who was shaking.
Katya couldn't believe the conclusion she was reaching. "This child…" She trailed off as she glanced around her. Was she the only one thinking it? When her eyes landed on Father Vincent she knew.
Beatrice observed the shared moment and rolled her eyes; by the end of the day the whole church would be talking about it. "It's not what you might be thinking…she's just full of energy." Katya's eyes grew wide and Beatrice added. "Ava had a mishap."
Beatrice sighed once more; it wasn't over but at least the heat had been taken off of her as Katya twirled to gawk at the halo bearer.
Ava looked sheepish. She had no idea what to say that was serious. It didn't last long as Katya went to Beatrice and dropped to her knees before making the cross sign. Immediately Ava went and pulled her up. "It's not like that."
"It's not a miracle?" Katya sounded a little out of it and Ava wondered if she had not hurt her head in the fall.
Father Vincent clasped his hands together and opened his mouth but Beatrice glared at him.
"Let's not us that word." Said Beatrice. However, it was too late, the remaining nuns around them were already gossiping.
On that Beatrice was out. She huffed as she walked briskly back to the main entrance. Ava who had been calling her name caught up with her right as she started to walk up the few steps in. "Bea." She grabbed her arm. "Please."
Beatrice didn't even turn her head, she snuffled as discreetly as she could. "I need to be alone." She freed her arm and disappeared into the building.
Ava remained frozen for a second before she groaned. What as she supposed to do? She really wanted to follow Beatrice and be there for her in any capacity. Protect her. Then another part of knew she should give Bea some space.
She looked over her shoulder to see if some of the others had followed and jumped. Lilith was right next to her. "Fuck!"
Lilith gave her a look. "You really need to change your vocabulary if you don't want Eve's first words to be…well that one."
"It's not going to happen." There was a pause. "It might be funny though, to see all these people's faces."
"Beatrice would kill you."
"For that she'd need to talk to me." Ava sighed.
Lilith did understand the helpless look the halo bearer was giving her. "And you'd need to listen."
"What?"
"You might have been a little too much recently."
"You're the only telling me that?!"
"I don't smother, I hover." Stated Lilith. "And I'm going to mediate on that roof."
Ava didn't have time to respond that Lilith had already disappeared in a flaming flash. She wanted to say it anyway, maybe Lilith might still be able to hear her. "And by meditate you mean spy. Don't you?" She shook slightly her head as she stepped in. The church was dark as opposed to the very sunny day; it took a few seconds for her eyes to get used to it. She turned right to go down the corridor leading to the staircase and once again she jumped. "F…Fudge!"
Mary was standing very straight just around the corner.
"What's with today? I'm going to buy you lot tiny bells, like a horde of neutralized cats."
It didn't phase Mary. "You don't ring my bell so don't bother."
"I was thinking more about Lilith…"
"You'd be surprised, I'm pretty sure Lilith could move without making a sound; if she set her mind to it." Mary didn't stop Ava for that conversation. She didn't give enough time for Ava to digress even more. "What did you do to Beatrice?"
Ava was affronted. "Nothing!"
"Don't lie, she ran past me and she was crying. Beatrice never cries she is like a machine."
Ava raised her hand in front of her. "I didn't do anything wrong. We had a disagreement. I found her fighting Katya for God 'sake!" She made the mistake of closing her eyes a little too long when she blinked, well she made the mistake of letting her guard down while Mary was mad at her. She was hit in the middle of her forehead, hard. Whatever she was going to say died on her lips as she saw the cane handle. "Did you just hit me with Jesus?"
The cane handle was a bearded man's face in the front, looking like Jesus, while his hair was the actual handle, as if blowing in the wind. She smirked. "I'm pretty sure he was non-violent."
"Well some people still use him as a weapon, at least his representation. And I needed to get through your thick skull."
"I did nothing wrong!"
"You made Beatrice cry."
"Are you going to hit me anytime I might be the cause for her tears."
Mary nodded. "Pretty much."
Ava groaned once more, she knew she should have stayed in bed. She shivered. It was strange it was a pretty warm day. Then the hair on her body started to rise, goosebumps. She frowned as she couldn't find what it was. It was so familiar, but distant.
Then she heard that dreaded familiar sound, like the air itself was being ripped open. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at Mary. "Where…?" She didn't finish as she looked up; instantly she teleported to Beatrice' side. Of course, the Tarask was there.
Beatrice had to admit she was scared. She had no weapon. The Tarask was standing between her and the door, no way out. She looked around for anything she could use to defend herself without getting the creature out of her sight, then Ava was here too. Beatrice was frozen as she looked desperately into Ava's eyes.
No one moved. In fact, why didn't the Tarask attack her? It hadn't been there long, but long enough to kill her if it wanted to.
There was another flash; this time it was Lilith with a templar longsword.
"Wait!" Yelled Beatrice and Lilith stopped with her sword in the air, the Tarask had shifted to be able to look behind.
Lilith blinked a few times as she lowered her weapon and she could have sworn the Tarask was blinking back at her.
"Why isn't it doing anything?" Beatrice asked towards Ava.
"I have no idea." Said the halo bearer as she slowly walked towards her girlfriend. It did move, it wouldn't let Ava pass, remaining between the two newcomers and the cornered Beatrice.
"May I use violence now?" Lilith didn't like remaining idle.
"Fluffy?" Ava would recognize that broken horn anywhere. She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Fluffy?!" Beatrice couldn't believe it either. "You know it? And you name it Fluffy?!" She was screeching at the end.
"Doesn't he look like a Fluffy?" Asked Ava.
"How do you even know it is a he?" Lilith wanted to know.
"Females horns are curvier."
"Why hasn't he disappeared yet? Shouldn't he have disappeared?" Beatrice was getting terrified at the idea that it might not leave as they usually do.
"It felt to me like he had been summoned."
"I didn't summon anything!" Objected Beatrice.
Lilith tired, in turn, to get closer to Beatrice, taking slow steps. The Tarask stared at her but the only thing that moved was his dead, cocked to the side.
"That's not fair! Why isn't he stopping you?" Ava was annoyed.
"Well you just said he already knows you, maybe that's a good enough reason." Suggested Lilith as she reached her friend.
"You are armed!" Yelled Ava.
"You can bicker later, who summoned him?!" Beatrice took a step closer to Lilith.
"Well…Ava said she didn't, I certainly didn't, that leaves…" Lilith's eyes trailed down to Beatrice's stomach.
Beatrice put her hand on top of Eve. "Accusing a baby!"
"Bea, I think Lilith might be right." And Ava hated saying these very specific words.
"If none of us did it, how do we send him back?" Wondered Beatrice out loud.
Ava shrugged, if he wasn't a threat, and it didn't seem like he was, it wasn't that bad.
"I'm not the one asking Mother Superion for a new room."
Lilith rolled her eyes. "Maybe we could just ask politely."
"It's been…great." Beatrice smiled awkwardly. "Thank you for the visit, get home safely."
Lilith glared at Ava for a second, she had a bad influence on her friend, then kneeled in front of Beatrice, leaning on her sword. "Eve. Everything is okay. Would you please send…Mister Tarask home?"
"Please." Repeated Beatrice.
After a few seconds Lilith sighed, it was worth a try at least. She was getting back up when the Tarask was sucked back into its dimension.
Lilith grinned to Ava. "This is how you do it."
"It could be a coincidence." Beatrice had to be hopeful. "Right?" How could she raise a child who could summon a Tarask whenever she wanted to?