Chapter Text
Right off the bat, I didn’t like the look of her. She stared, her eyes so dark it was like someone punched holes clean through her head, like they were pulling you in, it felt like it took real effort not to stare right back. And the way she smiled once I managed. It didn’t quite fit on her head, too genuine and too fake all at once. I’ve heard stories about doppelgangers, changelings, things that pretend to be human but can never quite seem to get it right.
If I’ve ever met one, it was her.
I caught her mouthing along with what I said that first time, like she was reading a book she knew back to front, and I had the feeling if I said anything not on the script something would happen. I didn’t know what, and I didn’t want to find out.
She even moved oddly, she’d kick things like a kid who’s just gone through a growth spurt and doesn’t know how long their legs are anymore. But kids trip, she slid. Her foot would hit something and if it didn’t break, her whole body would just slide along the ground out of its way. If you weren’t looking close you wouldn’t even notice; but I’m a Hunter, I always watch closely.
“As you should.”
It got even weirder with Henryk, she found me in the Cathedral Ward, but that time she wasn’t looking at me. Those deep eyes were locked on something over my shoulder, but there wasn’t anything there when I turned to look.
That was the only time I’ve ever been able to get a real read on her, that was predator’s cunning. You see it on Beasts, and Hunters getting too close to turning; calculation cut with slavering hunger.
“Amygdala; she could let you see it too, if you like.”
I- well... Letting blood-drunk Hunters near one another is a bad idea at best of times, and I told her as such, told her to keep away from the tomb. Didn’t expect her to listen, especially not with how she looked at me, like she’d been expecting every word again and was far too damn pleased about it.
Seeing her fight though, that was pure calculation. It was like she knew all his habits, every little tell he had, and used them to draw out the perfect moment to strike. She broke him to pieces, threw him off balance and then tore out his heart. It happened so fast I barely had time to reach them.
That smile was still on, like shooting a man who’d barely even been able to fight back point blank and breaking through his ribs with her bare hands was something she expected to be praised for.
Forty years he’d been a Hunter, and she brought him down like a common animal. At least it was quick, far as I could tell.
“She does try.”
Well I wouldn’t know, would I? Tried to give her a wide berth after that, but I still caught glimpses. She fights everything like she fought Henryk, like something small and vicious waiting for its target to overestimate itself. A Hunter to the core, perfected in some strange, uncanny manner. I’d say I’m glad she’s on my side, but I couldn’t tell you if that was true. Seems fond enough of me, me and that poor blind wretch in the chapel, the man had no idea what he was talking to. I don’t know if he’s still alive, don’t know if she’s got something else planned for him, or if it might be worse.
She never spoke, I realized, not a word, but you’d just know what she meant. Don’t know how she does that, don’t know if I want to.
“She hasn’t quite figured the voice back out.”
Hasn’t- Wait- Where are-
“Shh, tell me what happened next.”
I fell.
It was that bastard from Cainhurst, he ran me through. I managed to pull myself out of the Cathedral to tend to myself, but it couldn’t have been five minutes before she was there. She just stared at me again, didn’t seem pleased this time. Then she knelt down and looked me dead in the eyes.
Those deep, dark eyes, I couldn’t look away that time, she was too close. And I saw something… moving inside. Dozens of little pinpricks, almost invisible in the black, but I knew they were looking back.
I tried to play it off, tell her not to worry about me so much, but I had a dreadful feeling in my gut. Somehow, for that moment I knew, if she looked away, that would be it, the end of me. I was so sure that if she wasn’t looking at me, I wouldn’t exist.
Then she told me not to worry, said she’d take care of it. Not said- well, you know what I mean. I told myself it was ridiculous, the way I shook when she started to turn away, and I’m still here, so I suppose I was right.
“Of course, she is not quite that powerful, not yet.”
Powerful enough. She killed him, I’m sure of that, the bloodiest I ever saw her after a fight. Whatever she did to him, unlike Henryk, she hadn’t felt the need to be quick about it. Then she looked at me again, looked into me. And I…
“Go on.”
I can’t see anything, where am-
“We are almost done, Eileen, just a little more, what do you remember?”
Why can’t I see anything?
“Listen to my voice, what do you remember?”
I- I told her I wanted to quit. Said I wasn’t cut out for this anymore. I asked her to let me rest- oh Gods.
“Shh, we are almost done, just a little more.”
She nodded at me, and looked away. Then the world went wrong. Her back opened up, and there was nothing inside, the opening kept going, down until the earth beneath me was yawning. I floated for a moment, but then she told me to rest, and I fell.
I know she kept walking, kept going until she reached the Oedon Tomb, then came back, and I was gone. How do I know that? Am- am I still falling? It doesn’t feel like I am.
“No Eileen, she asked you to rest. She brought you here to sleep. Open your eyes.”
They are open. I can hear- is that you? Little Doll, is that you?
“Open them again Eileen. Wake up.”