Welcome back, my lovely reader!
It's been a while since Katrina had some time in the spotlight, hasn't it, my lovely? Well, my favorite blood magic-wielding black cat will get to strut her stuff in this episode! Speaking of magic-wielding, the new mage in Alice's life is still hanging about.
Katrina obviously has a thing for bunnies, and Alice puts no restrictions on her lovers, now does she? I think you can see where things are going already, but there's more than meets the eye with the aforementioned rabbit. All power comes with a price, especially for mundane...
Let's jump right in!
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Episode 4:
Katrina: Time Enough To Die
"I'm not going to lie, I think you're the most proficient mundane I've ever sparred with." My words came out in a hiss as the rabbit drove forward, his shortsword in both hands in a thrust.
Samuel grunted as I whistled and used my gun to catch the strike, letting the tip of the blade chink right into the opening of the barrel, offering him a smug grin, my sharp teeth on display as my tail coiled behind me lazily.
He clenched his teeth, the sword just stopping short as if he had thrust it into a brick wall. I watched him grunt as he tried to push, my arm unmoving as I offered him a sympathetic smile.
"Uh... right, super vampire strength, forgot about that," He withdrew it and sheepishly sheathed the blade.
"You're still very strong for a mundane, Sam, and fast too. Don't be ashamed of it." I purred as I put my guns away. It was very light work for me, but he was dripping sweat, a faint pant on his breath as his one good eye met mine before he gave a nod.
"Thanks for sparring with me, Countess." He turned and offered me a polite bow.
"I told you to take it easy on the titles, you can call me Kat or Katrina, okay?" My sharp teeth showed as I pressed both hands to my hips, looking him over. He was grizzled and tough for a bunny, with scars all over. I wouldn't lie, it was appealing and he smelled good, but then again that could be because he was mundane, it made me hungry in a lot of ways.
"So... you want to try slinging some magic around this time?" I offered him a challenging grin, then folded my ears as I watched him look away.
"I only use that in live combat, Katrina... my apologies." He wiped his brow of sweat and gave a winded huff. In truth, I wasn't used to this. I was used to supernatural weirdos like me that would just keep going, but he looked very fatigued, even though we'd only been sparring for three hours.
"Why is that if I may ask?" I folded my arms, cocking a brow. "I'm a trained mage, I'm sure we would be perfectly safe."
"You would be, I wouldn't." He gave me a sigh and put his own hands on his hips. "Katrina, I use time dilation spells, are you familiar with those?"
I widened my red eyes and gapped my mouth slightly. "Wait... I thought you looked a little more aged than you should... Sam, you need to lay off that!" My teeth showed as I offered him a glare.
"Hmm... better to have a short life and do good, than a long one of inept ability, yes?" He fired back, cocking a brow.
"Uh... sure, if you weren't Alice's now! You kill yourself using that shit, what do you think it's going to do to her?!" I hissed out, not bothering to hide my annoyance over it. Time magic was forbidden with good reason. It let you achieve near-supernatural feats of speed, but it also sped your own clock up so to speak. Using a haste spell for a minute would age your body up to a year, and the internal effects were even worse.
"Come here, let me feel your life force!" I snarled out as I stomped right over to him and grabbed his shoulder.
"K-Katrina, I am fine!" He grumbled and tried to jerk clear but it didn't stop me as I pulled him up and shoved my forehead right to his own, trying to sense his energy.
I felt him squirm a little in my grip, then opened my red eyes, seeing his own brown eye half-glaring at me before I stepped back and clicked my tongue. "Gods... you've been using it a lot, haven't you? Got a death wish, Sam?"
He sighed and shook his head, his ears flopping about gently. "Just doing what I can with the time I have, for Alice and her-"
"Cool, but stop using that shit!" I hissed out with a glare before grabbing his hand. "Let me taste your blood."
"Uh... is that okay?" He flinched as I just popped his finger into my mouth and took a nip. I watched his eyes shudder a little from the contact, but then I dragged my tongue over his finger, smacking my lips before nodding.
"Sam, I'm a thaumaturgist and blood mage. I know biology at its very core and yours is, well to put it simply, fucked." I sighed as I turned from him. I'd not drunk mundane blood from the source in several years now, even those few drops had the hunger begging for more as I pushed a hand to my cheek, a small pant on my lips.
"I'm not surprised... been through some crazy shit these last ten years." He shrugged as he turned away.
"No doubt, but you should lay off it, I don't think your body can take much more of it. Your heart is really weak." I looked over my shoulder at him with a snarl. Of course, I wasn't angry but I was very hungry now.
He glanced over his own shoulder and frowned as he saw me snarling, his small brown tail flicking with trepidation. I couldn't blame him, he was still a mundane in a house of vampires and he knew it. On a subconscious level, he probably realized he was prey to any of us if we desired it and no doubt could sense my hunger for more of his blood.
"Thanks for the advice, and thanks for the session as always. You're very kind Katrina, truly." He nodded and I watched him turn and slowly leave the training room.
My teeth snapped as I gave a hungry snarl, trying to push my demons down. I'd been sparring with him off and on the last few weeks since Alice brought him here, trying to make him feel at home. Every time, my body told me it was hungry. He smelled amazing with that heady scent of sweat and rabbit musk, not to mention, the sound of his blood pumping as he panted during our sparring. He looked, smelled, and now I had affirmed, tasted wonderful.
This time he smelled really good and I hadn't had anything in almost three days. That doesn't sound like a lot, but when you have all of Alice's mojo churning in you, it makes you crave it, it's one of the reasons our house is so lively with sex. You could say all of us have a little bit of sex demon in us these days, so we crave it quite eagerly, that energy pulled from sex had its own hunger just like the blood did. I was also Alice's first and most frequent lover, so I was rife with the influences of her power.
Sarnai and Elias had important council matters to attend to, Alice was away with Lorelai doing the gods know what. Alex was off with his pack on their monthly hunt, and I don't even know what Gloria was up to, but she said she would be away for a few days the last time she texted me.
"Gods damn it! Why does everyone have to be fucking busy!" I snarled and slammed my fist into one of the training dummies, giving an annoyed snarl, my eyes red as I smacked my tongue again, still faintly tasting his blood, my hips squirming a little. This wouldn't do, I liked him so far, and he did stand to protect Alice, even if she didn't need it. Still, it wasn't my style, I was no temptress and he seemed to only have eyes for her.
I wasn't sure if it were true, I thought I'd seem him staring a little too hard into my own eyes, and he'd wandered over my body a few times now. I did have a bigger chest than Alice after all and more ample hips. Maybe he liked curvy girls? Should I wear something more form-fitting?