(A/N): Leo and Jerremyah talk about how vampires get tattoos... among other things. Some small (well, maybe not so small) foreshadowing included. My first split POV chapter in a while.

Leo

Jerremyah didn't seem all that surprised at the turn my questioning had taken. In fact, he seemed almost... excited?

"Tattoos in general, tattoos for vampires, or tattoos in my life?" I blinked.

"Um... For... For vampires, I guess?" He nodded firmly, and stepped forward, in order to be able to push the bagged lunch into my chest. The second he saw that I had a hold of it, he stepped back- seemingly just so he could talk with his hands.

"So, as you know, vampires heal very, very quickly- much too quickly for regular tattoo practices to be viable. Even if we didn't heal as quickly, our bodies are hardwired to reject things that are introduced to it-" He grimaced here, but I had no idea why. After a second or two, it had disappeared, anyway. "So, we need to find a way to convince our bodies to accept the ink- as if it had always been a part of us. Can you guess how we might go about doing that?" I felt my eyebrows furrow, and I hesitated briefly, before shrugging.

"I mean... we're vampires, so... blood?" He returned my shrug.

"Yes and no. Blood, specifically human blood- animal doesn't work- helps your body not want to reject it, but it goes too far. Blood isn't just food- in the sense that we don't have to eat it in order for it to be of use to us. It's a source of energy, and as such, if a vampire is, say, injected with human blood, it will sustain us-" I perked up.

"Does that mean-" He cut me off.

"No." He couldn't possibly know what- "Injecting yourself with human blood isn't a practical alternative to drinking it." Or maybe he did. "Trust me, I tried to make it work-" Oh. Right. I wasn't the only one with self control issues. "It hits your system too quickly- makes your head spin like a top, and you're out of sorts for days." Still... maybe it would be worth- "And that's before you start to come down. The cravings get worse- much worse- and it takes months of regular feedings for you to feel like you're not constantly on the edge of starving." Well... there goes that idea.

"If it makes your feel so awful, why use it for tattooing? Even if it's the only thing that works-" He shook his head.

"The amount used is so minuscule- even if I got every inch of my body covered in ink, there'd still be half a syringe left. At best, it gets you a little dizzy, a little giddy- it's really not the main concern after you finish getting a tattoo done." So, what was?

"You said, 'yes and no'- so, if blood isn't what makes it possible, what is?" He winced.

"Have you heard of something called 'spharmus'?"

Jerremyah

At the mention of spharmus, his face dropped. Clearly, he had heard of it- and just as clearly, his experience hadn't been good.

"I- I've heard of it, yes." He wasn't going to just come out and say it, was he?

"Your reaction betrays you- it's obvious you've more than just 'heard of it'." He grimaced, looking almost pained.

"Last Christmas, when I boarded the train to go back to school, I wasn't... myself." Oh? "One minute, I was leaving the house- the next... I woke up in the Hospital Wing, in the middle of having my system flushed." Oh. "The theory that was presented to me was that it had been my mothers doing, but... over the summer, when-" He cut himself off, taking a second before continuing. "My uncle-" His- Oh. Right. Jonothan. "He made it clear that he had been the one to... control me." I felt myself wince.

"I've never been fully... under the influence, with spharmus. A little in a bottle of alcohol, a tiny bit in a joint, sure, just enough to make those substances take hold, where they usually wouldn't- but never to the point where I could have been... Influenced, I guess." Was that too much to admit? Would Lisbet be upset with me for mentioning drugs, or even alcohol? ...What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. He's a teenage boy, I'm sure he's well aware of illicit substances already.

"It's not..." He hesitated, and I waited patiently, until he felt comfortable enough to continue. "The school nurse told me that spharmus works differently on me- because I'm only half vampire, It's much more... effective." That... made sense.

"Sounds about right. If you were going to use it- for whatever reason, be that for tattoos, or- or recreational means- you would probably just have to use less of it. Maybe even just dose up once, and let it carry you through, rather than having to put it in everything, every time you... imbibe." He frowned.

"I'm not... not exactly eager to try it." I nodded, and shrugged.

"I can understand that. Still, if you ever feel the desire, I'm sure Lisbet would be more than happy to watch over you, and make sure nothing happens that you don't want to." His face screwed up.

"Take a herb that alters my ability to control myself, around the closest thing I have to a legal guardian? That doesn't exactly sound like my idea of fun, sorry." Oof. Hearing him call Lisbet his 'legal guardian' made something in my chest ache, but I hid it as expertly as I always did.

"Still. You know she would keep you safe... right?" To my immense relief, he nodded.

"I know my safety is very important to all of my clan members." I waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

"Only your safety? You know-" He cut me off.

"We should get started. We've wasted enough time already." I paused, taking a second to weigh up whether it was worth it to try to fight him on this. In the end, I decided that, given our relationship- or lack thereof- I would most likely end up doing more harm than good. I'd have to have a conversation with Lisbet about it later, and leave it up to her whether she saw fit to address the issue- directly or otherwise.

"...Yeah, alright. How do you want to go about this?" He shrugged.

"There are questions I need to ask- I don't want you to think that I'm doing so to hurt you, or offend you-" I huffed out a laugh, and his eyebrows twitched upwards briefly, as he stopped talking.

"Has anyone ever told you you're too nice?" He blinked.

"I- What?" I felt my lips curve into a smirk, and made a conscious effort to soften that smirk into a smile- I'm not sure how convincing that smile was, though.

"You worry too much about other peoples feelings, when you should be worrying about your own." His eyebrows furrowed.

"What, like you do?" My smirk- smile- whatever, intensified.

"It's going to take a lot more than what you're willing to dish out to offend me, Kiddo." I could tell the term 'Kiddo'- or maybe just my use of it- rankled him a bit, but he didn't protest.

"But not to hurt you?" What?

"What?" He crossed his arms over his chest, and jumped as the once again forgotten sack lunch hit his arm, but he pushed forward as if nothing had happened.

"I said I didn't mean to hurt or offend you- you only addressed the offense, not the potential of me hurting you." How was I supposed to explain this without giving the whole game away?

"If I'm hurt by something you say, that's my own problem." He opened his mouth, but I cut him off before he could actually speak. "No. People have pasts- they're unpredictable, because they have different experiences. That is especially true when it comes to vampires- older vampires, even more so. You can't be expected- you can't expect yourself, to be able to go through life without accidentally hurting people. The fact that you don't intend to inflict that hurt, is more than enough for me." His mouth clicked shut, and we were both silent for a second, as I let him digest that.

"That- I- Okay." Good. "Um, so... what sort of... issues, are you having?" Oh, how to put this delicately...?

"I have other issues, but I suppose they're mostly normal vampire things, besides being a bit more severe. The biggest problem is that once I start feeding, it's almost impossible to get me to stop." He winced, which I thought was odd- maybe he was thinking about how I had turned Jo and Danniel. "It's... now, you can't tell Lisbet about this, but-" He straightened.

"You want me to hide something from her?" The thinly veiled outrage in his voice made something in my chest glow, and I hesitated.

"...No. No, you're right, that's not a good idea." He seemed relieved. "She thinks she knows how I'll react to things- because that's how I used to, but... things have... things have changed." His eyebrows furrowed at my vague statement.

"What do you mean, 'things have changed'?" I winced, and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly- or, as close to sheepish as I could get, anyway.

"Before I met Lisbet, things were bad." I said, rather simply. "After Lisbet accepted me as her mate-" He seemed to take note of this. "-things were better. My cravings were less intense- that hungry voice a little quieter- and she learned how to handle me. Grey taught her a few methods he picked up from dealing with Sidonie's newer recruits-" His brows furrowed even further, at the mention of Greygorry's sire. "-that he knew from experience worked on me, but Lisbet... her presence has always... affected me. Soothed me." He jolted, but I couldn't discern any reason why he might have done so. "Being without her, not knowing if I would ever see her again- if she would ever want to see me again... it made things more... difficult."

"That's why you didn't want me to tell her- You don't want her to know she affected you as much as she did." I snorted, and an ironic sort of smile graced my lips as I shook my head.

"She knows exactly how much she affects me. I didn't want you to tell her because I'm ashamed." His eyebrows shot up- clearly, he hadn't been expecting me to admit something like that. "I didn't think I could get any worse, but... fate does so love its surprises."

(A/N): Jerremyah: 'If you want to get high, I know a guy.'

Leo: 'Uh... maybe later.'

also

Jerremyah: 'I hid it as expertly as I always did.'

Jerremyah: *Holds up neon sign that says, 'I'm in pain.'*

Leo: 'Huh. Something tells me that Jerremyah is in pain.'