Blood Lust

Chapter Fourteen: Cutting Ties and Butterflies

She wasn't sure if she fully believed him. It couldn't have been that easy, but then again, she's never received help prior to this.

After dinner, she crawled into bed, replacing her sweatshirt with a white t-shirt. She was growing irritable, the room feeling scorching. It reminded her of when she was branded Isaiah's Blood Bride, the heat that boiled in the veins.

Her fingers traced over the faded puncture marks along her neck.

She felt nothing, the link between she and Isaiah diminished. It didn't give her shivers anymore. It was numb. Her heart still ached for him, but if his heart could beat, would it have beat for her? She couldn't say it would.

"Tobias?" He sat close, just as he did in the hospital. He was fooling with his phone when he snapped up his eyes.

"Hmm?" Joy dropped her hand, her dreary gaze staring off into the dirty streets of her neighborhood. The filthy and aged buildings were her only view.

"You think I can get a tattoo tomorrow?" Tobias set his phone down on the nightstand, giving Joy his full attention.

"Why not? If you want one, get one as you wish. It is your body. It belongs to you."

"Yeah, no shit, but I'm broke so you gotta come with me." Joy ignored the goosebumps that prickled her skin beneath the thin sheet. She had never truly seen her body as her own. It was always everyone else's. To gawk at. To touch. To take advantage of. It was weird to hear him say that. As if he was reminding her that her body was not in his custody like it had been with Isaiah and Sam.

It was her own.

"That won't be an issue. What do you plan to get?" Tobias woke her from her thoughts, Joy turning into her back.

"A butterfly. Maybe a moth. I haven't decided yet." He had asked her where she would choose to place it, and she directed over the mark.

"I want to cover it up." Her fingers found their way over her skin, tracing over the many ink creations she portrayed. "Just like I've done with the rest of my scars." He was silent for a moment, peering at her tattoos that poked from beneath the covering.

"Butterflies and moths seem to be a common theme of your choosing. Is there a reason? Do you just like them?"

"I envy them." She softly said, meeting his gaze. "They can go anywhere they want. Anywhere at all. I yearned for that freedom." She drew back the sheets, sitting up in bed to motion to her tattoos. "Each butterfly covers a scar. Something pretty and filled with hope. One day I hoped I'd be able to go anywhere I'd want, away from all of this, and seeing them every day constantly reminded me that I've gotten through tough times before." Along her wrists a collection of little butterflies painted bright colors dotted over her olive toned skin. Along her thighs a mixture of butterflies and moths swarmed, all the way to her ankles. "And they're such intricate and beautiful things. They make such pretty coverings."

Tobias frowned, his brow creased when he motioned to the large black butterfly on her midsection, its wings exposed from beneath her shirt when she moved.

"What happened here?"

Joy laughed, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"I was trying to run away from home again and climbed over a fence. I tried to jump over with my backpack when I got to the top, but the fucking thing weighed a ton and I tipped over. It was one of those chain link fences, so when I fell forward it cut me open." She lifted her shirt and allowed him a clear view. "It was actually pretty deep. But they did a good job, didn't they? It was the first one I got."

Tobias' eyes widened.

"Didn't that hurt? To get such a large tattoo as your first in such a sensitive place?"

"No more than the stitches did." Joy's story was imprinted on her skin. He was sure that if he asked her about every butterfly, she'd remember each and every event that led to them. There was so much pain she endured, but still she wished to fly. Like a butterfly with injured wings.

Or maybe a caterpillar, one who has yet to find its wings.

Yes, that was more fitting. A youthful woman constantly attacked and probed at by predators, but still she fought, her will to fly pushing her forward so that she may cocoon and blossom into a beautiful butterfly.

And certainly, she currently was. Morphing and changing before his eyes.

Soon she would fly with the rest and be anywhere she desired.

~.~.~

Joy was reclined in the pristine leather chair, her countenance unresponsive to the gun constantly prickling her neck with ink.

The following night before her departure, the two had gone to the tattoo parlor downtown, Tobias tagging along silently while she spoke the artist about her design. She told him she settled on a bat, a golden brown one. To Tobias, the choice was odd, and he was going to ask her why she was settling on a bat. It was an ugly choice, and wasn't suitable to the pattern she coated her skin in, but nonetheless, it was her choice.

"Why don't you get one?" She had opened her eyes now, Tobias met with a genuine smile sparkling her hazel irises.

"I don't wish to have one. It would look silly-"

"So you think I look silly?"

"N-No! Not at all." He became flustered, trying to explain that his appearance at his master's side was very important. She became amused, watching him fumble for words.

"Then get one...unless its 'cause you're scared."

"Joy, you will not bully me into getting one of those-"

He couldn't even remember finishing the sentence before he found himself beneath a tattoo gun at her side.

By the time he realized what had happened, the both of them were finished, Joy examining what appeared to be fruit bat. It wasn't too big, small enough to cover the teeth mark and hide behind her short hair. It hung upside down on a branch, its wings folded over itself. She couldn't have chosen any bat to paint her wound, she had to choose a soft breed. One with large, kind eyes. Just like his. One that was as warm as the daylight is spent its days under despite being in a family of nocturnal creatures. One with a softness that no other of their kind had.

Tobias in turn examined his middle knuckle that was stained black, a little butterfly Joy insisted he get.

"This is by far the most profound thing I've done for anyone." He muttered under his breath, examining his fist.

"What do ya think?" Joy moved her hair aside, Tobias raising his brow.

"It's...unique, I'm just not understanding why you chose a bat as opposed to a butterfly or moth." Joy thanked the tattoo artist, slipping into her coat and gloves.

"The same reason I made you get the butterfly." Joy strode passed him, pressing her gloved hand to the sticker-covered door. "So I will never forget you."