Chapter 222: Mirror Thief

Ezra stepped into the shop, the bell above the door jingling. Gen followed behind him, her white hair bound in a ponytail.

"Mr. Living Ink." Ezra nodded to the tall thin man that stood behind the counter. The artist was a subject of the City Lord and wouldn't be involved in the war. Besides, he would know what the tattoos are but wouldn't be able to tell what they actually do.

Living Ink smiled politely, returning the nod. "Welcome. What can I do for you today?"

"The usual." Ezra answered. "New tattoos. Same price."

"Ah." Living Ink nodded. "It is with great regret that I inform you that the price has increased."

"Increased?" Gen turned away from where she had been examining the inks. "Why?"

"It's a matter of demand and supply, ma'am." Living Ink nodded politely.

Ezra's eyebrows rose. Was this how it was? Now that there's a war and it's currently in the resource gathering stage, the demand for new tattoos would increase, which meant that the price would too.

"That's fine." Ezra nodded to the artist. "We'll take it."

"Very well." Living Ink nodded with a pleased smile. "Right this way."

As they all walked to the seat, Living Ink asked over his shoulder. "Do you have the necessary vitality needed for activation? We offer blood wine packages for a very affordable rate."

"No thanks." Ezra smirked. He knew when a business man was trying to make some extra bucks. "We're good."

"Very well." Living Ink nodded, waving to the chair.

"Me first." Gen grinned, taking a seat in the comfortable chair.

Living ink turned away, mixing the blood with the ink and adding his vitality to the mixture. He busied himself with filling the needle and gathering any needed instrument or tool.

"Do you have any images in mind, ma'am? Or would you like to see our catalog?" Living Ink asked.

"No need. I want number six fifty two." Gen answered. "Always wanted one of those."

"Six fifty two?" Ezra asked. "What's that?"

"Take a look, sir." Living Ink pointed to a thick tome.

"That's the catalog?" Ezra grabbed it off the nearby table, flipping through the gorgeous images of the different, numbered creatures. When he got to the page, he frowned.

"This is a cat." He turned the page over to show Gen.

"I know." She answered.

"A normal cat." Ezra emphasized.

"Like I said, I know."

"I see." Ezra placed the catalog back on the table. "So, you've always wanted to be a cat lady?"

"What can I say? A dream's a dream." Gen chuckled.

"Let us begin." Living Ink said and began drawing on Gen's forearm. The needle glided over her skin and slowly, the ink began shimmering as the cat took form.

The cat's fur was a beautiful gold, patterned with black streaks running down its length. Its eyes were a bright blue and with every second, became more real. Ezra could almost swear he saw the tattoo blink once or twice.

Finally, the tattoo was done. "There you go." Living Ink stepped back. Ezra could clearly see the pride in his posture. This was a man that loved his work. "All that's left is to infuse it with vitality and activate it."

"No need for that." Ezra said, both vampires in the room turning to look at him. "We'll be activating them in private."

After a short pause, Living Ink answered. "Very well, sir."

Gen stood from the chair, examining the tattoo. "Now, what do I call you?" She grinned at it. "Murder machine? Bazooka? Genocide?"

Ezra and Living Ink exchanged a disturbed glance. "Err... let's leave the naming for later. When there's a lot more people to bounce ideas off of." Ezra said to her.

"Hmmn." Gen thought about it. "That's a good idea."

Ezra and Living Ink heaved silent sighs of relief.

"Your... your turn, sir." Living Ink gestured, turning away to remix the inks and clean the used instruments. "Do you have any images in mind? A drawing or from the catalog?"

"I have something in mind." Ezra dipped his hands in his pocket and brought out a page. "Here." He handed it to Living Ink.

"Now you're making me more curious." Gen grinned.

Living Ink took the page and studied the picture. "I see." He commented. With a final nod, he handed the picture back to Ezra and turned away to continue with his preparations.

Ezra tucked the page back into his pocket and sat in the chair. After multiple upon multiple tries, he'd finally gotten the image generator to produce a picture of what he had in mind.

His mind flickered to the guardian of the abyss and he suppressed a shudder. Sometimes, he could still feel the being's Aura, assessing him. Judging him. He sighed, putting it out of his mind.

He rolled up his sleeve, exposing his bicep. His chameleon was on the other bicep and this tattoo would be taking this space.

"Let us begin." Living Ink began drawing as Gen hovered there, watching the image take form. And the more Living Ink drew, the more she couldn't decide on what she was seeing.

The monster stood wreathed in darkness that was somehow shifting while still being static. Its four powerful sinewy legs ended in jagged clawed feet, each talon gleaming faintly as if catching stray beams of moonlight.

Its eyes burned through the darkness, a familiar gold shining through. The head was lupine in shape, with a long snout that dripped with what looked like dark ichor.

Gen would have concluded that it was a wolf but the darkness rippled and occasionally parted to reveal a scaled hide. Whenever she blinked, it changed to patches of fur. Sёarch* The ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

It was as if the monster was caught between forms, trapped in a state of constant transformation.

"What are you trying, Ezra Matten?" Gen whispered softly under her breath. So softly that not even the two vampires in the room could hear it.

After some time, the tattoo was complete. Living Ink stepped back, wiping imaginary sweat off his forehead. "Whew." He placed the needle gently where it belonged. "That is probably one of the challenging tattoos I've drawn so far. Now I wish I could know what it does."

"We'll see." Ezra examined the tattoo. A tattoo could be any creature but only the vampire that owned the tattoo could decide what power the tattoo would hold.

For example, a vampire could get a dragon tattoo and decide to give it an ability to belch water. However, some tattoos like the chameleon tattoos are publicly recognized tattoos in Vampire Society. You just had to have them.

"Thank you for your work." Ezra nodded. After paying, they left the tattoo parlor, heading for the nearest convenient spot to teleport back home.

A few minutes later, the Matten coven were all gathered in the large room that had been designated as the training room. Not that it was used much.

"I'll go first." Gen grinned, stepping into the middle of the room. "Can't wait to test Bloodpaw."

"Bloodpaw?" Red asked with a frown. "Are you really calling it that?"

"Well, I haven't settled on a name yet. I'm thinking Lady Murder or Mr. Killfang."

"Wait. Is it a Mr or a Lady?"

"Don't know yet. I guess we'll see." Gen grinned knowingly, winking at Red. With a deep breath, she focused and activated the tattoo. Everyone present could feel the twinge as the monster was brought to being. They all blinked as the monster slotted and settled into Gen's soul.

Gen's skin glowed golden for a moment before the light died down. "Alright." She turned to them, opening her arms wide. "Hit me."

Everyone paused. It wasn't a good sign when Gen asks for a punch.

"Do we have to?" Red asked. "You could just tell us, you know."

"The only reason we're not materializing the ability ourselves is that we're just being polite and waiting for you to use it first." Olivia said bluntly.

"Ah, come on." Gen grinned. "Are you guys scared?"

Ezra watched on in amusement. He definitely wouldn't be getting involved in this.

"Fine." Red stepped forward.

"Hit me as hard as you can." Gen said.

Red nodded, drawing her arm back and punched Gen hard in the stomach.

There was a small flash of golden light and Red jerked back, flying through the air. Ezra flashed and caught her, landing safely.

"What the heck was that?" Red groaned, holding her torso. "Did I just..."

"Yep." Gen said excitedly. "You just hit yourself. My new tattoo grants the ability to mirror your attacks back to you. Instead of taking the damage, the attacker does instead."

"That's..." Ezra nodded, impressed. This was a great defensive and attacking move in a single ability.

"Now, it's your turn." Gen grinned. "Show us what you got."

"Alright." Ezra set Red down and stepped away, concentrating. His vitality raged through the tattoo, bringing it to life. Ezra's body was wreathed in a darkness for a brief moment before it disappeared.

"Darkness? I'm sensing a theme here." Red exchanged a grin with Gen.

"At this point, we'll have to call him darkness instead of Ezra." Olivia commented.

"Was that a joke or..." Gen asked in confusion.

Ezra stretched his hand as the process was complete, materializing a dark fire that burned, sucking in the light in the room.

"That's cool." Gen whispered. "And what does it do?"

"With this...," Ezra looked up, meeting their eyes, "I can steal other vampire's tattoos."