Before Kate realizes it, she and Yelena become… friends?
Every night they meet in the forest. Yelena teaches her how to deal with vampires and other hostile supernatural creatures. When fighting with Yelena, Kate manages to get out of Yelena’s grip by shifting into her human form, which makes Yelena pretty impressed. It stops working as Yelena notices that Kate shivers very slightly when she shifts, and she warns Kate not to rely on it to avoid being caught by experienced vampires. Kate pouts for a while, but Yelena admits it could be a good tactical advantage (“Huh! I knew it! It’s a good one,” Kate says proudly, and Yelena rolls her eyes).
They meet, they fight, they run in the forest, and they talk in between those things. Yelena asks Kate what it’s like to have a tail. Kate says she thinks her tail never listens to her. Kate braces herself to ask what Yelena had done to her after they left the werewolf bar, and Yelena does explain to her about the pheromones. Kate can’t help but wince over the alternative use of pheromones (not because she was afraid of what Yelena might do to her) and says, “Thank God I’m attracted to you, I don’t know what I would have done otherwise (though it’s dark in the forest, she’s sure that Yelena’s vampire eyes have seen her redden ears). Yelena tells Kate about other supernatural creatures she had met all over the world, and Kate is fascinated by her for knowing so much. Not“She’s a vampire villain, and I have to stop her evil plan against humans” kind of obsession, but a softer, more sincere, non-invasive kind of obsession. When she’s sparing with Yelena, she looks at Yelena’s fangs and fierce eyes, fascinated, and no longer feels instinctively disgusted. After all, she is just another supernatural creature, just like her. Besides, a lot of people would say werewolves are horrifying.
Ever since they meet in the forest, Yelena has stopped taking humans to the bar where Kate works. Kate likes to think that they’re past the hostile phase, though Yelena doesn’t stop visiting Kate at all. No, she just comes by and orders an overpriced drink she never drinks, keep enjoying getting under Kate’s skin, but there’s a lot less aggression in her tone.
For Yelena, her feeding sessions return to pure business. She pays humans, humans supply her. The thought that the mortal she’s feeding on is not Kate bishop makes Yelena feel unappetizing to eat. Kate’s scent fills her nostrils as they fight. She wonders what Kate Bishop would taste like and if she is as delicious as she smells.
They never talk about Yelena’s feedings. Yelena never says, Kate never asks (though Kate is certainly curious).
Two weeks after practicing, Kate improves significantly. Though the vampire gently mocked Kate’s abilities, Kate is a werewolf. Werewolves are natural hunters, and it’s easy for Yelena to notice the difference between Wolf Kate and Human Kate. In her human form, Kate is a literal sweet golden retriever puppy, she’s brave and determined, but the Wolf Kate is more… primitive, though she is still the sweet Kate Yelena knows, the wolf was fiercer and wilder. However, Kate manages to maintain the essence of the exercise without actually biting Yelena once. Looking into Kate’s golden eyes in her wolf form, Yelena finds herself drawn to Kate’s duality.
One night, they fight together, as usual, the werewolf put the vampire down on the ground, so that the vampire can not move. The werewolf is more skillful now, the huge paws step on Yelena’s pressure points, making her hard to counter her. Yelena grunts under the werewolf and throws her off with brute force.
Yelena overdoes a little. The werewolf is thrown into a tree.
“Oh, shit. Kate Bishop, are you okay?” Yelena stands up with her vampire speed and simultaneously appears next to Kate.
Kate, already in her human form, groans and touches her back. Both of them suddenly freeze.
She must have scraped it when she crushed into the tree, and Kate sees red on her hand.
Yelena feels her fangs growing longer.
Kate, obviously aware of this, looks up at her.
Yelena exhales deeply and keeps calm. “Are you all right, Kate Bishop?”
“I’m fine, it’s just a scratch,” Kate says, standing up and staring at Yelena.
She accepts Yelena’s hand. Kate isn’t scared, but she does worry that Yelena would lose control or something like that.
“Let me see,” says Yelena.
Kate is still a little sore, and she stands still, checking her bleeding side. Does either of them bring any medical supplies? Kate doesn’t anyway. She also doesn’t think that Yelena, a pocket enthusiast, would carry medical supplies for mortals, even though she carries tons of weapons when she is even in civilian clothes.
Yelena rolls her eyes. “I don’t bite. Well, at least I’m not going to bite you. Not today anyway.”
Looks Like they are going to call it a day. “What, are you going to… bite me the other day?” Kate jokes as she’s sure there are no broken bones or internal injuries.
Yelena rolls her eyes again and does not condescend to answer Kate.
“Let me see,” she asks again.
Kate obeys. She turns around so the vampire can see the wounds on her lower back.
Yelena is actually shocked by the fact that Kate has exposed her bleeding back to her without any resistance.
She doesn’t know whether to be upset that Kate trusts a vampire so much, or be glad that Kate trusts her. She smiles wryly, but soon turns her attention to the wounds she caused.
Once she has cleaned the wounds to make sure they are actually that bad, she bites her finger and applies her own blood to the area where Kate has been injured.
Kate shudders at Yelena’s touch. Yelena holds her breath and watches the broken skin heal.
The last cut was healed by Yelena’s blood and she lets out a sigh of relief. Damn, Kate Bishop smells really good.
“What is that? Do you have magical fingers? It’s that another vampire power?” Kate, realizing that wounds have healed, turns around and jokes.
“It’s my blood,” Yelena explains. “I don’t know if you remember, but vampire blood has amazing effects. Apparently, it can also heal wounds.”
“Wow,” Kate says in surprise. She must have slept through her vampire culture class. “Can it cure cancer? It’s hard to imagine it’s not a big hit…”
At some point, Kate realizes that Yelena is not responding.
“Are you okay?” Kate asks.
Yelena snaps out of it and looks at Kate suspiciously. “I threw you into a tree, and you’re asking me if I’m okay?”
“But they’re completely healed now!” Kate twists her hip happily, as if she’s wagging an invisible tail.
Yelena raises an eyebrow and looks at Kate, amused. Kate suddenly realizes that she’s not in her wolf form, but in her human form. OH DEAR LORD, Yelena definitely sees her trying to wag her tail.
“Anyway,” Kate said, changing the subject real quick to avoid mocking, “When you’re upset you doing this thing every time-”
“I do what?” Yelena suddenly becomes very defensive.
”- more like doing nothing. Not doing anything. You’re just, like, totally still. Like a statue. I don’t know if it’s some kind of vampire power, but I’ve never seen mortals can stay still like that…” Kate gushes.
With a half-smirk, Yelena picks up Kate’s clothes and throws them into Kate’s face. “Kate Bishop, just because you can’t stay perfectly still doesn’t mean other mortals can’t do it.”
“Hey!” Kate exclaims, offended. “I’m sorry, I CAN stay perfectly still! It’s not my fault my tail accidentally sweeps something else!”
Yelena was teaching Kate how to be stealthy to avoid being discovered by vampires the other day when Kate’s performance was not quite meet up to Yelena’s standards, but in her defense, wolves have always been trackers, they are not stealthy hunters like cats.
“Last time I checked, your tail was still very attached to you. There wasn’t a living tail dancing here, right? You’re so bad at being stealthy,” Yelena teases gently, pretty amused by the werewolf.
“Whatever,” Kate said, waving her off. “Werewolves are impulsive creatures, which makes us better hunters. We’re the best trackers. We don’t do stealth.”
Yelena rolls her eyes. “One day you’ll need to lay low. You don’t want to mess it up, do you?”
“I’m improving!!” Kate whines.
Yelena laughs. “No, you’re not.”
Seeing Kate pouting, Yelena laughs even harder.
The laughter dies down and Kate decides to try again.
“Do you want to… talk about It?” Kate says softly, carefully moving to her side.
Watching Kate approach slowly and carefully, Yelena is awed by Kate’s golden retriever type of friendliness and curiosity. She has never met anyone like Kate Bishop.
Vampires – especially widows – live a life of blood and violence. They are literally born from death. Vampires who live in groups are even more violent. And humans are no better. Even humans do have beating hearts, they are just as cruel, if not worse. She has met so many creatures, and hunted more, but she has never met anyone who is this sincere and willing to get close to her. Apart from Natasha and her parents, she has never run into someone who cares about her. But their concern always annoyed her. Most of the people she met wanted to kill her. Well, to be fair, she did kill most of the people she met, but the point still stands.
But the same thing can be applied to her. Now here she is, befriending a werewolf, caring about her, teaching her how to deal with her own kind.
Yelena sighs and lays down on the grass.
Kate lays down as Yelena does.
At first, none of them speak, and they look at the forest above them in comfortable silence.
“There was a girl, she was only 19 when she was turned. She was sold to a drug dealer. That dealer specializes in selling our blood. Although vampires are naturally strong and difficult to catch alive, once trapped by silver, we are just as vulnerable as humans. She became that man’s money-making machine, silvered. He only fed her once a week. Sometimes only fed her once in two weeks. But made her keep supplying,” says Yelena suddenly, after a long silence.
“That’s so fucked up,” Kate whispers.
“That drug dealer obviously was very proud of owning a vampire. He decided his clients can drink blood directly from her as long as they paid enough. didn’t care how his asshole clients hurt her with silver.”
Kate was horrified by the cruelty of the human race. “Fuck,” is all she can say.
“Apparently humans have a sick obsession with immortals, even though they hate vampires,” Yelena says in disgust. “They cut her with silver just to enjoy watching her heal.”
Kate’s stomach is twisting uncomfortably. Waves of anger flares up from the bottom of her heart. She wants to hurt him badly. She wants someone to punish that man.
“When I found her, she had fainted. I removed silver chains,” Yelena gritting her teeth as she continues her storytelling. “But I had to make her drink my blood to wake her up.”
“Did you kill the drug dealer?” Kate asks softly, turning her face to look at Yelena.
Yelena refuses to respond to Kate’s gaze, only shaking her head slightly. “That’s not my place. I gave that dealer to the girl, Alex. It was her revenge. She drained all of the dealer’s men dry in front of him, kept the dealer as a blood bag ever since, and hunted down every man who ever tortured her.”
Kate squirmed uncomfortably. It’s cruel and bloody, but after all she had been through, Kate feels she had no right to call her cruel. What’s more, Kate now knows that an eye for an eye is a vampire culture. Besides, who is she to judge vampires for being cruel when one of the wolves must die during the challenges of the alpha wolf the alpha must die in her culture.
“And what about you, Kate Bishop?” Yelena asks suddenly, turning her face to look into Kate’s eyes. The green-hazel eyes meet the blues, she looks deeply at Kate without blinking. “If it were you, what would you do?”
“I-I-” Kate stutters. She’s never a fan of cruel traditions, so she never has a pack. Her mother had people murdered and collaborated with the mob, so she chose to turn her mother over to the police. But the police can’t stop Kingpin, and she doesn’t think the human authorities care about vampire rights. Shit, Kate knows that Bill intents to protect vampire rights didn’t pass in many states (unlike other supernatural creatures, vampires are basically dead people, so vampire rights are one of the most controversial topics in America). She hunts vampires and other supernatural creatures to protect humans. She may even have killed a couple of tracksuit guys in Christmas. But, in this case, she really doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t think a bullet to the head would calm her anger.
“I’ll shoot him like a target,” Kate says, “until he’s covered in arrows like a hedgehog.”
Yelena smiled sadly.
“No, Kate Bishop, you won’t,” Yelena says. “That’s not who you are.”
Kate doesn’t know what to say. Yelena loses interest to speak again, the two of them quietly lying on the grass, thinking in each other’s silence.
It takes forever for Yelena to stand up. Kate sits up in surprise and looks at Yelena. “You’re leaving?”
“No,” says Yelena. “Enough of brooding, Kate Bishop. Are you gonna spar with me?”
Kate grins and shifts into her wolf form.
Notes:
Blood incident but they are both totally in control!
They are getting closer!!!
R. H. Felidae Athena 