Brotherhood

Feeling like a Badass

I was sitting on the couch reading when I heard a noise outside the apartment door. I got up to open it and saw Levy standing with two big black sports bags.

I smiled as soon as I saw him. "Hi! Nice to see you. Were you waiting outside for the right time to ring the bell?"

He smiled back and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Busted."

"Come on in. You can put those near the couch,"  I said, trying not to laugh,

He raised an eyebrow. "Have you been training?"

"Yes, Sir!" I saluted him.

"I'm glad to hear it soldier!" He chuckled.

Suddenly he started to look pale and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"What is this horrendous smell?!" He said with a disgusted expression as he started looking around.

"I don't smell anything ba-"

"Those flowers. Are those wolfsbane?!" he asked, pointing at a closed transparent jar with flowers in it, placed on my kitchen countertop.

"Hmm yes... My mom gave that jar to me when I moved here, but it's clos-"

"Throw it away! I can't stand that awful smell! And open the windows, please. This whole room smells!" He cut me.

"Certainly, your majesty," I said trying to hold my laugh. "I will put it on the balcony though, I promised my mom I wouldn't throw it."

I put the jar on the balcony, closed the sliding door and then opened the windows that were on the opposite side of the balcony to let in some fresh air.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about it," I said, still laughing internally.

You're not a good person Lisa. Karma will get back at you someday.

His face was slowly turning back to normal. "It's ok. I just wasn't expecting it. And it has been years since people used those plants to keep werewolves away so I'm more sensitive to it. It still smells though."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh cry me a river princess."

"You were the one who told me that no one in your family was trained to be a hunter since your great-grandfather!" He scowled playfully.

"Great-great-grandfather," I corrected him. "And it's the truth, but we still have some traditions."

"Couldn't you have kept other traditions than the wolfsbane in a jar?"

"Nope. As the saying goes 'A home with wolfsbane is a home with no fangs'."

"I've never heard that."

"Well, now you have." I smiled at him. 

I was too excited, almost jumping in place to restrain myself from jumping straight to the point.

"What weapons will I use?"  

He raised an eyebrow. "What's the hurry? Now I'm not sure I want to give you weapons..." 

"Ok ok, take your time!" I raised my hands up in mock surrender.

"Good girl." He patted my head with a smirk on his face. "Ok first take these."

He just treated me like a dog didn't he?

My thought was interrupted when he gave me three black leather things. It took me a while to understand what they were. One knife holster belt with a leg strap, one ankle knife holster, and a tight-hip bag belt. As soon as I realized that I put them on.

Oooh, I like it! I feel like Lara Croft!

"You'll have these two silver stakes and this iron knife. Put them in your knife holster."

"Am I not getting a gun?" I cut him.

"Of course not! We can't give guns to civilians, especially civilians that don't know how to use them." he looked at me as if I just said the most stupid thing ever.

"Hunters instinct?" I said, trying to convince him.

Of course, that excuse wouldn't work, but hey, at least I tried.

He looked at me with an amused expression. "No."

"Now, put this silver dagger in your ankle knife holster and the taser and the two flashlights in the bag," he continued.

"Why do I need two flashlights?"

"The black one is an average flashlight but the silver one has an intense UV light to be used against vampires."

"But vampires can be out in the sun like us, the stories about them burning under the sunlight were just myths."

"You should know by now that every myth has some kind of truth behind it. Like you said vampires can be out in the sun without burning but they are still sensitive to it, some more than others, that's why you see a lot of them wearing sunglasses even when it's not sunny."

"I've never realized that."

The corner of his mouth quirked upwards.

"This lamp is a concentrated UV light making it three times more intense than the sun's light. It will not kill the vampire, but it will hurt them as much as pepper spray hurt humans."

After I was fully equipped we trained a little bit so I got used to the equipment. After that Levy started packing everything to leave and I felt my stomach growling.

"I'm famished with all the training. I'm going to cook something or else I'll die. Do you want to eat with me?"

"Who's the princess now? Or should I say drama queen?"

"Oh shut up! In my defense, I haven't eaten anything since lunch."

"Yeah sure... you're just voracious." He chuckled.

"Well, in this case, I guess you would not want to steal my food?"

 He smiled. "On the contrary, I would love to."

The dinner was great. We laughed, and we got to know each other a little bit better. I discovered that he had a mate, but she died a long time ago. He said she was the most caring and beautiful person he ever met. She was delicate but strong and she had a great sense of justice. The more he spoke of her the more I wished I had met her.

"She was the reason why I've joined the Order."

"She must have been really special..."

"She was! She was my mate!" He said smiling but I could see the sorrow in his eyes.

"You still love her?"

"No, I don't think so, she will always be special to me, but I've moved on. My wolf, however, is still quite attached to her."

"What's his name?"

"My wolf? Connor."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Connor," I said looking at Levy's emerald eyes.