Chapter Four:

As a Hunter, Maria rarely got to sleep in a bed that could be considered comfortable. Though considering that she preferred to be out in the field having an actual bed to sleep in was basically never available. Years of experience as a Hunter in the field had drilled in the ability to be on high alert even while resting, constantly being ready for action, regardless of whether or not there was a comrade nearby to watch your back. Which caused the Hunter to snap her eyes open and quickly turn around towards the young Blood Mage on the other side of the bed, who had started thrashing rather violently and talking in her sleep at some point.

"Please stop. It hurts. Don't notice me. Don't notice me. Pay me no mind. Get away from me." This was among just some of the things Elizabeth said in her sleep before Maria decided to take action. Carefully getting out of bed and walking around it to the side of the bed where the young Blood Mage was, while avoiding accidentally stepping in the muddy footprints of her boots which had started to dry up, and as gently as she could give the girl a small shake. Which caused Elizabeth to wake up with a slight startle. "Uh. Good morning?"

"Good morning. How are you feeling?" Asked Maria calmly, deciding not to mention that she heard the young Blood Mage talk in her sleep, considering what she was saying.

"Rather well. Still in slight pain, but nothing I'm not used to. Though the new lack of half an arm has me feeling rather underhanded." Replied Elizabeth rather jovially as she sat up, giggling slightly at her joke at the end.

"Heh. You know, I think I have something that can fix that pain of yours."

"Oh?" Elizabeth watched Maria pull out a goblet and a small vial containing a red liquid from… somewhere, before emptying the contents of the vial in the goblet. "That's blood isn't it?"

"Yes. Healing Blood to be more specific. While drinking it isn't as effective as injecting it directly, it doesn't sting as much. And it has a rather pleasant taste, though that opinion might be because I've been drinking it on occasion after particularly stressful hunts for quite some time."

"Meh. I'm not judging. I find the taste of blood quite pleasant myself." Stated Elizabeth with a shrug as she accepted the goblet of Healing Blood, taking an experimental sip, finding herself enjoying the taste and feeling the pain in her stub of a left arm fade away. Before she could take another sip Maria put her hand in the way.

"Don't lose yourself to the blood. Fear it, respect it. But do not embrace it. Resist the temptation for more." Stated the Hunter ominously before leaving.

Some time later Elizabeth asked Maria what she meant, to which the Hunter revealed that she had seen many members of Cainhurst, many of whom were Blood Mages like Elizabeth, lose themselves to the blood due to giving in to the temptation. To most, the act of drinking blood was usually a sign of insanity, but to a Blood Mage it was a chance to become stronger, absorbing the strengths in the blood. Something that's quite easy to become addicted to. The only reason that Maria wasn't was mostly out of sheer willpower and stubbornness. Something that definitely earned the Hunter Elizabeth's respect.

While Maria was busy trying, with admittedly little success, to repair the Church Pick she found in the shed along with Elizabeth, the young Blood Mage was occupying herself by exploring the mansion and making the acquaintance with the various ghosts who haunted the place. Most of whom were rather nice people, if not a little quirky. Said exploration of the mansion eventually made Elizabeth end up in a rather large room with a lot of strange stuff inside. But one object in there in particular was actually something that the Blood Mage brought back with her when she finally returned to Maria.

Said object was something that looked like a metallic left arm attached to a harness of some kind. More specifically the lower half of a left arm that was for some strange reason pretty close to her size. But seeing as how old the leather of the harness probably was she didn't bother trying to put it on, seeing as it probably wouldn't be able to remain in one piece and getting it on was something that probably required the assistance of at least one more person. So she simply settled on dragging the metallic arm after her, absentmindedly noting that it was surprisingly light for something that was made of metal. The fact that there was something that was either a rune or a crest of some kind carved into the back of the arm's metallic hand completely escaped Elizabeth's notice.

When the young Blood Mage returned to the room where Maria had tried to repair the Church Pick, said weapon was found buried in a nearby wall, presumably because the Hunter had thrown it in frustration. Indicated by the handle of the weapon in its untransformed state sticking out of the mentioned wall.

"Stupid. Complicated. Piece. Of. Junk." Muttered Maria in clear frustration as walked over to and removed the Trick Weapon from the wall, which she herself put in there when she threw out of frustration, either not noticing or simply ignoring the fact that Elizabeth was back. Compared to the Rakuyo, a dual wielded saber-like-sword-and-dagger-combo that could interlock via a mechanism in the handles to form a twin-blade, the Church Pick was a rather complicated weapon, a rather heavy sword that transformed into a warpick.

"Technical difficulties?" Asked Elizabeth somewhat sarcastically as she entered the room, dragging the metallic arm behind her.

"That's certainly one way to put it." Replied Maria as she turned around to face the young Blood Mage, once she finally managed to dislodge the Church Pick from the wall. As soon as she did turn around, her attention and eyes quickly landed on the metallic arm. "Okay. I've seen more than my fair share of weird things over my career as a Hunter, but I can't help but ask. What the fuck is that and where the hell did you find it?"

"It's obviously an arm made of metal, which is actually rather light for its size. And I found it in what appeared to be a storage room among various pieces of junk in this mansion. Also I just noticed that there's a symbol on the back of its hand."

"Okay? Care to show that symbol?"

"Sure."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Maria?"

"That's no ordinary symbol. That's the crest of Cainhurst."

"Which means?"

"That this thing is originally from Yharnam and that it is probably meant to be controlled via Blood Magic. I think you might have found yourself a new arm."

"Cool."