Grim Echoes

Chapter 77 - Maeve

With a lopsided grin and he slid the flannel off and pushed his long sleeves up, his marks on full display. Maeve wasn't even aware she'd leaned toward him until her fingers rested on his arm. Did she need to touch him because friendly contact was foreign to him?

"Isn't that better?" her voice sounded alien to her, it was too silvery.

His grin shifted to the smile that showed his even teeth. She blinked and felt the pulse in her throat.

"Yes, it is," he replied in a throaty voice.

No idea how much time passed as she held his arm in a parking lot until the music changed. Her eyes darted to the dashboard. The radio had been on the entire time? How could she have not heard the music? She sat back, but didn't remove her hand from his arm. "Will you tell me about your tattoos? I know what some of them are, or I think I do, but the others I've never seen." she rushed through the words. Needed them to talk, to act normal. Well, normal for them anyway.

"As you like. Where do you prefer I begin? The front? Back? Or my arms?" his tone playful.

Her face flushed, and she slid her hand away.

Ander eased it back. "It is fine. I do not mind. It helps," he said with sincerity.

"Ok," she replied breathy "your back," and fought the urge to touch his shoulder.

"The shield knot was a gift from Mason several solstices ago. She created the design, selected the artist and paid for it as well,"

Maeve's eyes widened. What a strange gift.

"She also preformed the protection ritual. That was the worst part. It took hours because she casted both mine and Will's at the same time," he chuckled. "She was furious when we fell asleep." he broke out into laughter. "To our defense, Will's cross took forever to finish even though he had the outline, and some shading done previously. The lengthy ritual in addition was too much, even for me and I tend to enjoy those,"

"How long did it take? I mean to finish the tattoos and the ritual?"

Ander sat back in his seat, his expression changed to thoughtful. "My estimate would be around nine hours."

"Nine hours!" Maeve gasp.

"Rituals always take time," he responded matter of fact.

"I guess. So your tattoo protects you?" Her understanding of magic still wasn't great.

"Yes. The design is intentional and the ritual binds the symbols or words to the wearer. If you are using tattoos, you must cast the ritual when the tattoo is fresh and your skin is still broken and bleeding."

"Why?"

"Because you need blood."

"Oh,"

"It is not as terrible as it sounds, nor as exciting as most humans think when they hear the word ritual,"

"But what does the medusa tattoo do for you then?"

"Oh, that," he grimaced. "That was an intoxicated night with Will. We both chose something off the wall and had it added,"

"Well the artist did a good job, she's beautiful," Maeve wanted him to take his shirt off so she could look at his tattoo again but didn't move or tell him that. When the thought crossed her mind, she felt weird about it.

"Indeed. However it is not entirely accurate,"

"What do you mean not entirely accurate?"

"We have not encountered a gorgon yet, but the research suggests they are not beautiful. They are more akin to demons than snake women. Over the centuries the public has mixed the lamia with gorgons and made them less terrifying,"