Bat Country

Matt had a stunned look on his face. They all did. Alexis had short cropped hair, she had cut it all as short as she could get it and it was growing quickly, past her ears then past her shoulders. It was dark, black maybe, but there was about half an inch or so of blonde still dipped onto the very ends.
“YOU SAID WE SLOW DOWN!” She yelled at Matt, her body was thinner and smaller than it had been since she was starving and she was almost tiny compared to Matt.
Matt was surprised she had enough energy to even regrow her hair and get in his face but he sighed and answered her. “You’re preserved the way you were when you died, Alexis. Your body is going to stay the same. If you cut your hair…it will grow back. Quickly. You’re going to stay the same.”
“Then how the fuck do they cut their hair like that?” Alexis gestured to pretty much the entire room.
Matt looked down at her and sighed again. Alexis’s face was hard and she was so hungry that Matt thought he was going to fall over. How Alexis managed was beyond him. “They cut their hair with silver. It slows the growth down.”
Pursing her lips together Alexis turned and threw the scissors to the floor, heading back to the bedroom.
Matt went to the scissors and bent to pick them up, but as everyone watched in shock, Isabel came up beside Matt and held out her hand.
“Let me get it.” She said softly.
Matt eyed her for a moment then gently laid the scissors in her hand and pat her back lightly.

Isabel raised her eyebrows when the door was wide open. She’d never been into Matt’s room, but all of the sleeping rooms were pretty much the same.
“Alexis?” Isabel called.
Alexis came out of the bedroom and wiped her tears away. “I’m sorry, Isabel.”
Isabel just eyed Alexis’s lanky body. She looked completely different with her dark hair and she had never stopped to think Alexis had just dyed it.
“That’s okay. Just let me get the blonde bits out.”
Alexis sniffed and nodded, heading for the bathroom again.
Isabel slowly came behind Alexis and grabbed at the blonde bits and cut them away, not bothering with being perfect because Alexis’s hair would grow back to the exact same way it was anyways. Dusting off Alexis’s back, Isabel finished. Alexis kept crying though and Isabel didn’t know what to say. Finally, she put the scissors down and turned Alexis around and grabbed a towel and wiped Alexis’s face.
“I’m sorry you have to do this.”
“Me too.” Alexis laughed through her tears. “I feel like I’m dying.”
Isabel pursed her lips, because Alexis probably was dying. Or at least on her way to unperfecting. “They won’t let you go much longer without food. They won’t risk going to war with the elves with you starving.” Isabel didn’t even know if she believed that, but she tried to.
Alexis laughed weakly through her tears. “I don’t even care if they do, Isabel. I can’t…I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to live if they keep doing this to me.”
Isabel tried being as blunt as she could. “You’ll feed one way or another.”
Confusion washed over Alexis’s face. “What do you mean?”
Isabel lowered her eyes and spoke in a near whisper. “You will unperfect if they don’t feed you soon. They can’t risk you feeding now and undoing all the work they did to get you here. But if you unperfect…they can’t contain you.” Isabel’s eyes came up to Alexis’s.

Training was hard tonight. Alexis struggled with all she had to stay focused. Thor was lunging at her, and 1 out of 4 times she could dodge him. Every part of Alexis just wanted to sleep. And eat. Thor tackled Alexis to the ground and tried to get his arms around her neck but Alexis was pretty good at avoiding this with minimal concentration. It was instinct, although Thor was disappointed that his tactics were still not working. Everything in Alexis’s body was on fire. Thor had wore himself out trying to get the rise out of Alexis he wanted, and didn’t even blink to think of what he was doing to Alexis or that one day he might regret what he was turning her into.

One more week and Alexis could barely move. Matt was so depressed watching Alexis struggle to make herself stand. Thor wasn’t in front of her this time which worried Matt, but he didn’t know what was happening. Thor paced away slowly and paused in a stream of moonlight for a moment. Turning his back he looked around then nodded. Everyone flew forward with the exception of Isabel and Brian. Matt’s eyes widened as he realized they were all attacking Alexis. He could hear her flesh ripping, but Alexis was too weak to even scream. He jumped to get everyone off, but in a second Thor had both of Matt’s arms pulled back and Matt couldn’t do anything but watch in horror.
“You’re going to kill her!” Matt screamed, fighting as hard as he could as he watched his mate being torn apart.
“We’ll stop before it gets there.” Thor said in a strong voice that irritated Matt so much he thought he was going to spontaneously combust.
It was like a sword cutting through him. Every bite, every tear they made in Alexis, Matt was feeling. He dropped to his knees and his green eyes became lined with scarlet.
Isabel covered her eyes with both hands and Brian looked down at her and almost immeasurably moved closer to her, but he kept his eyes down the entire time.

“That’s enough!” Thor called.
Everyone backed away from Alexis and the extent of her injuries made Matt cringe. Almost all of her clothes were shredded and she had gaping holes in her body from everyone’s teeth tearing at her. Blood pooled around her as well as coating her, and various scratches and wounds were etched into her flesh. Turning to her side weakly, Alexis looked up from the ground to everyone who had just attacked her. Most of them wore a look of shame as Alexis’s blood dripped from them, their eyes never met hers.
Callie was laughing, clearly pleased with what she had done.
“Kind of disappointing we couldn‘t just kill her.”
Alexis didn’t care, she was too numb for that. She was actually disappointed she was still alive.
“What the fuck are you looking at?” Callie snarled at Isabel. The older vampire female didn’t back down and instead shot a menacing glare at Callie. Even Brian moved closer to stand over them both as a warning to not take it any further.
Isabel didn‘t even move when Callie made a fake lunge at her. Isabel knew Callie couldn’t truly overpower her. Ignoring her Isabel looked back to Alexis who was slowly curling herself into a ball.
Callie muttered something else which she didn’t listen to and ran to Alexis who was groaning on the ground. Isabel kneeled besides Alexis and began wiping away the stray strands of hair that were matted to her face with blood. Alexis smiled weakly and Isabel felt like she would cry. Alexis was an original, she had two sets of fangs and she had used them on none of her nestmates, even when they were devouring her.
“I’m so sorry.” Isabel began crying and trying to help Alexis up from the pool of blood that surrounded her.
Callie and Miranda couldn’t control their laughter and bits slipped from their mouths. It was only when Callie spat a mouthful of Alexis’s blood at Isabel that Alexis’s face dropped. Her body contorted and tensed up, and she began pushing Isabel away. Brian’s face also dropped and his eyes became wide with fear as he flew forward and grabbed Isabel, stepping towards Matt. He assumed Alexis would not attack her mate and it would be safest next to someone she was bonded to.
Everyone but Callie stepped back, even Callie’s own maker, Zacky, who only made a slight attempt to pull Callie away before he knew better than to stay that close to her. Thor watched with pleasure, finally finding Alexis’s catalyst as a smile took over his face like a disease. Matt‘s tears stained his pale face. It had been a long time since he cried, but he couldn’t watch Alexis become a monster.
Alexis rolled onto her stomach and stayed crumpled there for a moment, all the wounds on her body sealing shut quickly. Laying almost on her stomach, Alexis slowly pushed herself up with her arms, then pulled her legs forward to stand. She stood only for a moment with her head down, but her head slowly turned and her gaze quickly caught Callie’s.