A Helping Hand.

Title is self explanatory.

It was a normal morning after, Puella was sitting at the dinner table with his father across the table. He was reading the Sunday Newspaper, and Puella was staring down at her toast, thinking all about what she did last night. She knew that it probably wasn’t real, but if felt real. Killing that poor creature, being hit by it and flying into the wall, even the pain felt real. She was trying to come up with other possible ways that could make since.

“Hey Kiddo, are you okay? You haven’t said a thing to me all morning, you haven’t even said ‘Good Morning,”’ My Father said as he folded his Newspaper up and set it next to his plate of Sunny Side up Eggs. Puella snapped out of her trance, and tried to smile at her kind hearted father.

“I just had a pretty weird dream last night, you don’t need to worry about it,” Puella said trying to speak up even though she had a sore throat.

Puella’s dad was a nice man, he had a landscaping business and a part time job on the weekends. He had a flammable bug spray accident at one of his landscaping jobs before Puella was born. Which caused him to go bald. He technically still has hair, it’s just very thin, so you can still see his bald head. He has this tan that makes him almost red, on account that he has a landscaping business, and he’s out in the sun all of the time. So he had all of these wrinkles and bags under his eyes too.

He nodded, and he went back to eating his eggs. And Puella went back to worrying about herself. She was contemplating if she should do nothing for the day, try to organize a D&D campaign, or just check up on Amelie if she needed anything. Other than that, she wasn’t sure what’d she’d do.

Puella managed to finish her breakfast and she drove over to the old windmill, there were still those vultures on top of the roof. Puella felt kinda scared to approach the door, she was afraid that she had taken a victim to her place and started to feed. She still didn’t know how vampires worked, so Puella just wanted to be careful when she’s around Amelie. Amelie has talked about drinking from animals, but she didn’t tell Puella how much she needed and how long she would last without blood.

Puella got out of the car and locked it behind her, she walked up to the door and knocked. She heard rummaging and moving from the inside, it seemed like she was just waking up even though it was noon. The door opened, her hair was very messy, but she had a lot of paper tubes under her arms. Her eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh hey! I was about to run over to your place, I need your help with these posters I scored at a thrift store,” Amelie said as she grabbed Puella’s hand and lead her inside almost like a dog. “Wait, what? Why Posters, this building needs more improvement that that. And for that matter, what posters did you even get,” Puella remarked as she looked around the circular room. The windmill looked much more comfortable from the inside, there were wooden stairs that seemed to wrap around the walls until you got the the hatch that lead to the roof. The part where the wheat was usually grinded was broken off due to wood rot. But there was a hammock that was tied from hooks from both sides of the wall that was probably 30 feet up in the air. There were two posters already on the walls. One was the Queen Band Logo, and there was one beside it was a poster of the Blue Oyster Cult of the album ‘Fire of Unknown Origin.’

Puella liked these bands, she was more of an old fashioned girl herself. She didn’t know why she liked older bands, maybe it was because the pop and hip hop these days was lacking originality. That, or she was a metal head on the inside.

“I’m going to be honest, living in abandoned buildings suck. And maybe it’s my way of making it feel more like home,” Amelie said with a huff, unraveling one of the posters and having a look at it. It looked like all of the band members in Boney M. posing for a music video. Puella looked up, there was still that gaping hole in the ceiling.

“I don’t really have much going on, I could get my tools and run over to the lumber yard. Then try to fix that hole,” Puella offered as she pointed up at the giant hole. Amelie looked up from her poster, and shot her gray eyes to her. They were filled with a small glimmer of happiness. She dropped her posters to the wooden floor boards, and gave Puella a big hug, lifting her off the ground. “Thank you so much, It was raining for a few nights and I’m way too lazy to do it myself,” Amelie thanked gratefully as Puella heard her back crack several times, it was actually beginning to hurt.

“A-Amelie, sorry to ruin this moment. B-but your C-crushing my spine,” Puella managed to say through the pain, Amelie let go. Puella dropped to the ground like a rag doll as she gasped for air. “Oh Jesus, sorry about that! I have some trouble controlling my strength still,” Amelie began rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “So what now?” Puella stumbled to her feet and stretched her arms. “I think I should go back home and grab the tools I might need, and we’ll start by measuring the hole and seeing how much we need to cover up that hole exactly. Then I guess we’ll run over to the lumber yard,” Puella said as she began to walk towards the door. “Wait, I have to ask you something,” Amelie said quickly, worried that Puella was just going to work for her for no reason as it seemed. “Why are you doing this, I thought you hated work,” Amelie said with her hands on her hips. Puella knew why, and she just didn’t want to worry her about it. “No reason really, I just need something to do,” Puella lied shamelessly, Amelie gave a cold glare. “I don’t need my mind reading to tell in your lying. So what’s up,” Amelie said with sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Puella couldn’t tell her, she’d think she was crazy. Even though her life was pretty unbelievable at the moment, it didn’t feel right to tell Amelie about this new part of her life. “I-I just had a weird dream last night, and I kinda just wanna forget about it,” Puella said in a white lie with a small stutter. Amelie crossed her arms and she tilted her head. “And you don’t wanna talk about it,” Amelie asked with wonder in her eyes. Puella nodded and started for the door.

It was maybe 2:30 PM, Puella was getting the wood from the lumber yard, and Amelie was doing the measurements at the windmill. Puella was walking around with a man that was completely bald, and had a thick German accent. He had a huge bushy beard that reached his chest that made him look like a lion.

“It is very good that kids ‘zheese days are bothering to ‘verk on any sort of project zhem zelfs,” He said, with Puella barely understand what he even said half of the sentence. “I vill take you to our zew employee, he will help you with the type and size of vood planks vou zeed,” He announced as they turned a corner to see a middle aged man that was 6’4. He had a strong irish jawline, a Aquiline nose, the largest buggy eyes Puella ever did see, huge muscles, and a unibrow that made him look more like a caveman. “Dis is Böcek, he is quite a charming van when you get to know zim. Now V’ll leave vou to it then, you two,” He said as he walked back towards the exit of the warehouse, and back to the main building. The man with unpronounceable name walked up to Puella and eyed her from head to toe. His large nose started to twitch as he inhaled her scent, Puella was extremely weirded out by this man already. He stopped and he turned towards the hall before them. “Follow me, I overheard that you were working on fixing up a roof,” Böcek said with a sigh as he began to walk, Puella followed close behind. Cautious about everything around here, she looked around. It was like any other warehouse really, racks filled with planks of wood all different shapes and sizes. They didn’t seem to be in any particular order, Puella was just looking for a weapon to protect herself with.

“So then… Bucec? How long have you worked here,” Puella asked, attempting to pronounce the name and falling miserably. “It’s Böcek, I’ve been working here for a few months. It’s just that guy you came in with has short term memory loss, I don’t even think he’s German,” Böcek replied as he chuckled a little bit. “So then, how long have you been hanging around the Flying Devil?” Puella jumped. She had no clue what he was talking about, the only thing Puella can guess is Amelie. “You mean Amelie,” Puella asked, slightly confused.

“Ya, maybe I should fill you in on how much s**t you’re actually in,” He sighed as he turned down a few racks to the end of the warehouse and started looking at all the different boards. The wood looked a lot like snake wood to Puella, but she wasn’t completely sure.

Puella had already knew what she had gotten into, the new danger in her life that was already changing her life.

“She is one of the most feared vampire on the east coast, and most of them are mobsters, and criminals. She’s a young vampire luring in kids that don’t know any better. And most of em’ are Criminals, and Mobsters,” Böcek began as he grabbed one of the boards and observed it. “I work for one of those mobsters, and I would rather be torchered by him than her. The top Mobsters are plotting to kill her. So I suggest that you leave before you, or your family get involved.” Puella felt a chill run down her spine, and her muscles twitched. She couldn’t let her family get involved with something like this. Her Mother was sick for a while, and her Dad was a good man. They were good people, and she didn’t want it to be because of her own stupidity. Puella couldn’t see any other way out of this, other than ask Amelie for help.

Here’s a little something about Puella, she doesn’t like asking anyone for help. Regardless of who it is, and how well they knew her. So she tried to avoid it as much as possible, she just liked the feeling that she did things on her own. And she didn’t need anyone to rely on for anything. It was quite addictive actually. But she knew that she had to suck up her pride for this one.

“So then sir, how many days do I have to get out of here,” Puella asked, with a fearful tone in her voice. Böcek scratched his powerful chin with thoughtfulness as he set down the plank. “48 hours, and no extended days. I’ll make sure to pulverize your family while you bleed out slowly into a bucket,” He said with a menacing tone as his voice rolled and rumbled. Puella was hoping that none of what he had just said, was going to become a harsh reality.

Puella was back with the wood strapped to the top of the car, she was given a note to give Amelie from Böcek. Puella didn’t know what it read, but it seemed like it needed to be delivered. Amelie looked at it with her sharp cold gray eyes. She looked a little angry for a second, Puella was scared out of her mind. She crumpled up the note and threw it to the ground out of rage. She shot her gaze up to Puella, out of the times Puella has hung out with her. She was never this angry, it was like she was a different person.

“Look, I don’t know what I’m going to do for you and your family. But you need to bring your father here, your home isn’t safe anymore. You need to make up a story so he stays here as long as possible,” She said with a serious and cold tone, her eyes were almost empty. It was like her only emotion was anger now. “So what do you need to do then,” Puella asked out of curiosity, looking down at the crumpled note. Amelie stomped up to her hammock and she grabbed a small bag and came back down. She unzipped it and she went through the bag with one large hand, her eyes to the ground. She pulled out a shiny hunters knife that was the size of Puella’s forearm. It was like a dagger almost. The handle was the side of Puella’s hand, and there was a engraving on the hilt. Amelie put it in Puella’s hands.

“What is this,” Puella asked, unknowing where to start, because her girlfriend but a dagger in her hands. Amelie looked up to her face and pointed at it with one finger.

“That. Is a Silver Blessed blade, it is the only type of weapon that can hurt and kill vampires. It will be best that you protect your dad while I’m killing that psycho,” Amelie replied as she dug through the bag again and grabbed a dagger of her own. It had a twisty blade, almost shaped like a snake. The handle looked like a thorny branch, and the holy engraving was imprinted on the blade. She glared up to Puella, as if she was about to cut her. “Don’t just bloody stand there, go grab your Dad and bring him here,” Amelie demanded with a roar in her voice.

Puella was on her way back with her woodworking tools, and her Dad in the passenger's seat. “So your new friend, Amelie needs someone to work on her hole in the roof of the old windmill that she happens to live in,” Puella’s Dad repeated back to her, almost in a huff.

“Yep, her Aunt and Uncle are short on space. So they had to set her up in the mill, sadly she can’t help out because she forgot she was meeting up with her grandmother for a dinner at a fancy restaurant. So she’s gonna be a bit busy. But this will give us time to have some Father Daughter time,” Puella exclaimed while lying shamelessly. Thankfully, Puella’s Dad couldn’t see through her lie. So things were going well. She was on edge, she heard only from one crazy person of how much Amelie was feared. But she didn’t have a clue if she was strong enough to fight this guy. So she just had to hope that things will turn out well. She never stabbed anyone, let alone a vampire. And she only stabbed someone in a different world. She didn’t even know if she had the arm strength to swing to hit anyone. “What’s wrong kid, you look a little tense,” Puella’s Dad asked with concern in his old voice. “Oh, nothing I just hope that while I was other there I did the right measurements. I just don’t want to be inside right now,” Puella said, reassuring her father that everything was alright as they pulled up in front of the old mill. It was only a few hours until the sun was going to set, so hopefully they didn’t have to work in the dark. They did bring headlamps for just in case, but Puella wasn’t prepared if things were gonna go south. Sure, she had her dagger. But she wasn’t sure if things would go the way she hoped.

Puella’s dad got out of the car and looked up at the huge mill.  

“So, this is the place, eh,’” He proclaimed as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Puella got out and opened the door to the back seat. She grabbed the headlamps and the two boxes of tools. She started walking towards the Mill’s door. Her dad shorty followed.

Puella showed him the plans, and they were midway through the project. Puella was hammering down a nail into a plank to cover up some of the torn edges of the old wood. And her Dad was covering up some of the edges with scrap wood they cut off to get the right measurements. The sun was Fifteen minutes from setting, they knew this. But kept going. Because the one thing a Chase does is get the job done no matter what.

“So then,” Puella’s Dad began with a sigh. Puella looked up for a minute. His hair was matted to his forehead and neck, it was still hot from the New York heat near dusk. But that didn’t matter to him, he was grown up the right way. The American Way.

“Yeah,” Puella replied, she had no idea what he was going to ask. For most people, she can tell what they want. But she couldn’t tell, he had a hard life as a kid. He made himself hard to read, it was like a defense mechanism.

“You like this girl, don’t you,” He asked calmly as he continued working.

Puella froze, she didn’t know how he figured it out so quickly. She was almost shocked. If anyone knew, Puella wouldn’t here the end of it. She couldn’t lie to him about this,  Puella told him nearly everything. She really told her older sister that was in collage everything. But that wasn’t the point here.

“How did you figure it out,” Puella asked, almost scared to hear the response.  he

twisted behind him as he grabbed a few nails. “I liked girls before your mother, I’m not an idiot,” He said as he finished one nail and

“So, your okay with me liking girls,” Puella asked, almost with surprise. He stopped for a moment, as if he was remembering a different memory from long ago.

“No, I’m not like the rest of this godforsaken village. I actually have an open mind, it's like trying to teach quantum physics to a monkey to get them to understand. So I advise you don’t tell anyone about this,” He said with a sigh, as if he heard this all before.

There was a loud thump that came from inside the mill, Puella almost jumped at the sound. “I-I’ll go check that out, I think I need a short break anyway,” Puella said as she left her ball pein hammer close to the hatch as she jumped through and onto the small platform before the stairs spiraled down towards the floor.

It was dark, Puella had the headlamp on her head so she turned it on. She lifted her shirt and pulled out the dagger from its sheath. There was rummaging coming from the floor, someone was there. She pointed her head lamp down towards the noise. There was a large, hairy, winged figure. It looked towards her, the creature had huge orange eyes and a long shout like a horse. The fur was a creamy brown. The creature seemed to resemble a monstrously sized Gambian epauletted fruit bat. It was seven feet tall, and its teeth were all bloodied. “I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE, YOU STUPID HUMAN,” It exclaimed in a terrifying roar that shook the entire mill. Puella was shivering with fear, but she knew that she had to protect her father from this. She could only guess that this was Böcek, she had no idea vampires could look like just giant bats. But the more you know I suppose. Böcek used his talons at the edges of his wings to crawl up the wall towards Puella. Puella readied her dagger, keeping her light on him. “You told me I had 48 hours, what happened to that offer,” Puella barked back with anger. His head peered from the stairs as he pulled himself up to gaze down on Puella. “Let’s just say I changed my-,” He began But Puella grabbed the dagger with two hands and swung the dagger directly down on his left eye. He screeched in pain and stumbled back a little, he almost fell off the stairs, Puella went in to thrust into the gut. He grabbed the daggers blade with his left bunch of talons and he lifted her up. He lifted her up above the floor below, if he dropped her from there. Puella would surely break one, or both of her legs. Her left sleeve began to slip, her mark began to show. It was glowing, as if magic was still with her in the real world. It was pulsing with energy. Suddenly a strong force drew itself from the mark forcing Böcek to let go, and Puella ended up to the stairs that was lower than them before and across from them. Puella was fine, she staggered up to her feet. She looked down to her wrist again, it seemed the green energy was moving from the mark to the dagger. The Dagger was almost expanding, growing 3 times it’s normal size, the size of a short sword. Puella held the sword in her left hand, then she transferred it over to her dominant right hand. Puella looked up to Böcek, he was looking at Puella’s surprise power in horror. “Y-you, it can’t be, it couldn’t possibly be,” He stuttered, quivering in fear at the sight of Puella. Puella started to walk up the stairs towards him. He was looking from left to right, not knowing what to so. He pinched his left eye shut, making sure the oily blood wouldn’t get to his eye. “W-wait a second here buddy, y-you don’t wanna mess with us! Ya, our gang is the strongest in Upstate! Y-you wouldn’t wanna kill me,” He pleaded, holding his talons together as if praying. Puella grabbed his stretchy neck skin and held him close while holding the dagger up to his face. Puella chuckled and stared at him with her threatening icy blue eyes.

“Your right, I won’t kill you. I’ll just have you send a message to your little gang,” Puella began, growling through her teeth. Bringing the Dagger closer and closer to his long face. “Your going to tell your gang leader what happened, and tell him that I said. ‘Don’t f**k with me, or we’ll have some problems,’” Puella said angrily while trailing the blade from his nose to in between his eyes, this vampire was on the verge of tears. He was praying to whatever god he had to save him. Puella let go and he jumped down and bounded towards the door, he opened it and he ran out. Thumping from outside was approaching the door, Puella ran down towards the door. There in the doorway was Amelie, one of her wings had been bitten a chunk out of by Böcek, her oily blood was dripping onto the door mat and evaporating. She was looked at the mark on Puella’s wrist, the dagger that was reverting back to it’s normal size, and the small vampiric blood splatter on Puella’s face. Amelie looked up to Puella’s face and gasped, covering her mouth with her clawed hands.

“Oh God, y-your a-,” Amelie almost said with a stutter, as if she was face to face with death, but Puella finished.

“A Marked Apprentice?”

Author's Note

I may or may not have misspelled a few things, and one of the characters has a German ascent, so it isn't miss spellings. It's just the way he sounds.