Curses and Cream Puffs

Damien stood there, looking at... himself? At least, it seemed like he was looking at himself. It made no sense, but it felt like an out of body experience where he witnessed Lena punching him in the face. Punching him so hard, that Damien's hand moved up to his nose and felt a twinge of pain. The man rolled over and when he did, his appearance was different. His hair had turned blonde and his face changed in shape.

"Shapeshifter," Damien mumbled after Lena introduced the man as Nikolaj Mortecombe.

Nikolaj tried to stand and stumble out the door with blood gushing from his nose, but Damien intercepted him and hit him again, this time knocking him unconscious. He fell on the floor again and Damien just stared at him, then looked back up at Lena. She smiled and shook her head.

"That confused and concerned look on your face is exactly how I know it's the real you," she said. "You would never come on to me as strongly as he did."

"Confused?" Damien frowned. "Uh, I mean I am confused... but... is that bad? What do you mean come on strong?"

"Help me tie him up," Lena said, ignoring his questions.

Damien reluctantly lifted Nikolaj and put him in a chair so Lena could bind his wrists and ankles. When the man woke up again, they had questions.

"Did he get handsy with you?" Damien asked.

"He tried to," Lena admitted. "Don't worry. He didn't get very far."

"Oh, okay," Damien said, shifting awkwardly. "But just so I know... how far? Exactly?"

"Damien. Please."

"I'm just wondering," he said, shrugging. "I mean, was it nice? Did you like it when he came on that strong?"

"I like you," she reassured him. "I like you and no one else. I don't want you to change."

This relieved Damien a little bit and he shut up, just as Nikolaj groggily woke up. The man looked down and saw the bindings. He angrily struggled against them, then scowled in frustration.

"Don't you dare try to shift again," Damien warned.

"He can't," Lena said. "He's not strong enough to do that."

"What are you going to do?" Nikolaj growled. "Kill me?"

"Not yet," Damien told him. "I'm seriously considering it after what you tried to pull. For now, I'll settle for answers. What are you doing here?"

"I'm not saying anything," he snapped. "I know how they train you hunters. I can resist it."

"Well," Lena piped in, "You don't know how I'm trained. You're not ready to resist that."

"So now I'm supposed to be afraid of a hunter's little bedwarmer?" Nikolaj smirked. "Right. You know what they do, right? You cried and begged for him to spare your life, and he came up with this little arrangement, did he? What do you think is going to happen the second he gets bored with you? He'll just off you like he meant to do at the start. It won't hurt him."

"It's my business," Lena insisted.

"Then my reasons for coming here are my business," Nikolaj said. "Now let me the fuck go."

Lena poked him and there was a static noise, followed by Nikolaj jerking lightly. Damien's eyes widened and he looked at Lena.

"You can electrocute people?" he asked.

"Sure I can," she said with a wink.

"Noted."

Nikolaj only got more angry and continued struggling.

"I didn't talk when the other one was here, and I'm not talking now either!"

"The other one?" Damien said. "Do you mean Louis?"

Nikolaj's face fell slightly when he realized his slip of the tongue.

"Louis was here," Damien repeated. "And you saw him. Talked to him, even. And he didn't kill you?"

"That sounds like something you should be asking him about," Nikolaj said. "It's not my problem."

Damien paused, then turned to Lena. She seemed about as confused as he was. They didn't get a chance to say anything else before Nikolaj took his opportunity to take what little energy he had gathered and shapeshift again. This time, to the form of a mouse. It was shockingly quick and he was able to scurry off the chair and out an open window before Damien could catch him.

Damien cursed under his breath and slammed the window shut before sitting down hard in a chair and burying his face in his hands. Lena slowly moved to his side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"The other two got away," she said softly. "I figured this one would, too."

"How many more are there?" Damien asked.

"Just the twins," Lena admitted. "Maria and Irina. One can see the future, and the other can see the past."

"Of course they can," Damien sighed.

Lena pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

"We'll be fine," she promised. "Just like we were fine with the rest of them. They'll give up eventually."

"It's not just that," Damien said. "What if they don't? Then we have to look out for them the rest of our lives. Not to mention you having to hide from everyone, and always having to worry about one of these people exposing us for-"

"Damien," Lena said firmly, "You're spiraling. You need to calm down. We'll be fine."

"I'm not spiraling," he said.

"You're not very convincing when you say it in that tone of voice."

Damien sighed and dropped his hands into his lap.

"What if we...," he started, then sighed and let his words trail off. "Never mind."

"What if we what?" she asked.

"What if we just left?" he said. "I've been hearing things about Isle Calinare."

"You want to move from a big city to a little settlement on an island?" she asked, raising a brow. "You hate heat and humidity. They have both."

"I know," he said. "You know what else is there? No witch hunts. They accept witches, even. We'd never have to hide."

She seemed to think for a moment, then shook her head.

"You'd leave your career and your family," she said. "You mother. You think your mother will let you go so easily?"

"I'd do it," he said. "I'd do it for you. For us."

"Us," she repeated slowly. "So... there's an us?"

"Well, I thought there was," he said, feeling his face turn red. "If not, you can punch me in the face. You've already done it once today."

She just smiled and leaned in to give him a kiss.

"Come on, get up," she said. "How about we go for a walk? I think you need some fresh air to clear your head."

He reluctantly stood and she took his arm as they ventured outside. Damien couldn't help but be extra cautious as they walked, despite Lena's efforts to calm him. Eventually, as it got later and the streets began to clear up, he finally started to calm down. The Mortecombes wouldn't attack them twice in one day. From how it looked, the "twins" might not have been outright attackers either.

As they walked, he noticed a young teenager girl walking a little further ahead of them. She'd glance back at him suspiciously a couple of times, but he didn't think much of it at first. As she turned into a narrow, dark street to one of the homes there, Damien noticed she dropped a scarf that had been tied onto her bag. Damien picked it up and called out to her.

"Excuse me, miss?" he said. "I think you might have dropped this."

She turned and looked at him with slight alarm. He let go of Lena for a moment to give the scarf back to the girl, and only caught a glimpse of a blade for a split second when the girl suddenly plunged a dagger into his side. He heard Lena shriek and run over to him as the girl snatched her scarf back.

"Yeah, that's what happens hunter!" she said with a grin. "You got close to catching me this time, but not close enough!"

"Why did you do that?!" Lena asked her. "He didn't attack you."

"He was going to," the girl said stubbornly. "You better watch out, or he might attack you too. Or are you too dumb to see that he's a hunter and you're a witch? He's wearing the emblem right there on his chest."

"He's not attacking anyone," Lena told her. "He's with me."

Damien groaned and held his side, leaning on to Lena for support.

"I need to sit down," he wheezed. "I think I'm going to pass out."

The girl seemed to realize the situation and her mistake, but she didn't seem any more apologetic. She wiped blood off the knife and put it back into her back.

"Fine," she said. "Bring him inside. My house is right here."

Damien didn't want to go in the house of the girl who had stabbed him for no reason, but Lena guided him in that direction and sat him down on the couch. She lifted up his shirt to see the nasty gash there. Nasty, but nothing critical that threatened his life.

"I need to stitch it up," Lena said.

"No need," the girl said. "I can fix it."

Lena hesitantly moved aside to let the girl take her place.

"Well, look at this chiseled abdomen," she said, placing her hand over the wound. "This is going to leave a scar. It's okay, it looks like you already have a lot of them. It'll blend right in."

"Fuckofftwerp," Damien mumbled weakly.

"He's having a really bad day," Lena told the girl softly.

She just gave them a small "hmph" as a blue glow appeared out of her hand. Damien felt the knife wound get cold. It then stopped hurting, but he suddenly felt so exhausted that he couldn't hold his head up. When the girl pulled her hand away, the wound was gone.

"There you go," she said. "Good as new."

"I still feel like shit," Damien said.

"I used your own energy to heal it, rather than mine," she explained. "That's why you're tired. It's fine, sleep it off."

"You're a healer," Lena mused. "I've never met one before."

"She's not a witch?" Damien asked.

"She is, but a gifted one," Lena said, making the girl beam proudly. "Every magic user can assist healing in some amount, like what I did for your father's back. Something of this caliber is a gift that witches are born with. It's extremely rare."

"And I just used it to save you," the girl said. "My name is Vivien. You can call me Vivi."

"I'm Lena," she told her. "This is Damien. I know he wears an emblem, but you can trust him. He isn't out for innocent blood."

"I'll pardon him, but I won't trust him," Vivi said. "Two hunters in one week. It's two much."

"You saw Louis, too?" Lena exclaimed. "I mean, the hunter. Was he tall, dark hair? Looked a bit like Damien?"

"That's the one," Vivi nodded. "He was better looking. Those hazel eyes were to die for."

"His eyes are fucking brown," Damien grunted.

"Hazel," Vivi corrected. "Now stop talking so you can recover."

"Vivi, I really need you to tell me what you know about the other hunter who was here," Lena said.

"I don't know much," she said. "All I know is that he came here for a report on me, and then he got distracted by something else. Some blonde who was shaped like an hourglass. From what I can tell, he tried to kill her and it didn't work out. She must've worked out some kind of deal with him to get him off her case. Either way, he completely forgot about me. I assumed that was why you were here."

"He gave you this job to clean up after himself," Lena told Damien. "He messed it up and didn't want your father to find out."

"Sounds about right," Damien sighed. "Still, something is off. It's not like him to just... leave things."

"For the right amount of coin, you can convince a man to do anything," Vivi said. "Even a hunter."

"I don't know," Damien said. "Louis doesn't do this job for the money."

"We can figure it out later," Lena said. "Damien, you need to rest. Vivi, is it alright if we stay here for an hour or so?"

"Seems fair," Vivi said. "As long as he's less of a grump when he wakes up."

"You stabbed me."

"Oh, shut up loverboy."