Fire Weaver (Fall of the Fey #1)

Chapter 13

The Draco returned to their lair after it became clear that the Necromancer was gone for good and the vampire population returned to normal. Zereth had been busy helping his people get settled and Tharoe had taken it upon himself to help to endorse goodwill between the Dir'dre and the Draco in case their help was ever needed in the future.

Carmel stayed at Deadly's Sin because where else could she go? She was no longer welcome at her own home. So she spent her days walking around Damnati city and moping at the bar in Deadly's watching Faux spin and toss bottles as he filled drinks for the steadily growing clientele that had started coming back.

'You need to cheer up.' Faux told Carmel after a week of putting up with her. 'Find a hobby.'

He was leaning against the bar because at the end of the night only the hard-core drinkers were left sitting in their regular tables.

'I don't know what to do with myself.' She told him and rested her head on the bar. She just seemed tired all the time now that she didn't have a direction to go in. But she couldn't sleep because every time she tried she could hear the screams and smell the scent of burning flesh. She wasn't ashamed to admit that she had started leaving a candle burning at her bedside so she could see every corner of the room.

'I know what I would do if I was you.' Faux said he paused as if waiting for her to ask what but when she didn't he continued undaunted. 'I'd go to Obikwa and find out what's happening there for a Necro to come here and recruit a whole bunch of demons.'

'Maybe it was just chance. There are demons everywhere.' She responded glumly. She didn't particularly want to travel across the ocean to the south. Even if it was for a good reason.

'Yes, but the Draco, Fey and Dir'dre are regional. Lekinya did say that the Necro tried to recruit them.'

'So I should just go down there and burn them all?'

'It's what I would do.' Faux responded and she looked up at his smiling face.

'No, you wouldn't because you would get nothing out of it.' She told him.

He nodded, conceding the point and said: 'True. But if I was you that's what I'd do. You care about people; you can't pretend that you don't.'

'I care about people that I know.' She responded darkly. He stared at her a moment his facial expression could only be described as disappointment and she wished that she could take back what she just said. 'I just... I...'

He raised his eyebrows in question as she stammered into silence. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'Would you come with me?'

'Um...' He said.

'You don't have to. I'm sorry I asked. Forget it.' She stood up but he grabbed her arm as she turned away. He searched her face, his own unusually serious.

'Do you want to go south and find out what is going on knowing that you may have to kill living people this time?' He asked her.

She thought about it and nodded silently.

'Was that why you didn't want to do it? Because you didn't want to go alone?' He asked her still serious.

'I've never been alone.' She told him and his eyes coloured with understanding before he gave a nod. He grinned like a Cheshire cat and gestured broadly.

'Well fear not, my lady, for Faux is at your service.' He bowed like a prince and she couldn't help but smile at his antics. 'I shall speak to Deadly and we will leave at dawn.'

She opened her mouth to protest but he had already vaulted over the bar and run up the stairs.

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