Hope After Eden (MALE DEPUTY X FAITH SEED)

Chapter 4: Bad Blood

"WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE DOING HERE!" Tracey screamed at Rook, throwing a plastic cup filled with water right in his face. Drenching the Hope County Deputy.

"Yeah, real nice Tracey, real nice..." Rook said sarcastically, rubbing his face off from the water that was all over in his face. Though he was expecting a harsh reaction from the former friend of at the time, Rachel Jessop.

"You bring the fucking bitch to this jailhouse fucking alive?! What the fuck is wrong with you! For all, we know she is spreading her toxic breath all over the fucking building! We'll all be her little fucking angels by tomorrow morning! At bare fucking minimum!"

Tracey was incensed with Rook, maybe rightfully so. The Deputy had heard it all and then some about the atrocities of the Henbane River, and had seen some of it first hand. The contrast between Holland Valley, the Whitetail Mountains, and the Henbane River was very stark. Rook felt a far greater sense of typical religious ethnostate dictatorship in John and Jacob's regions, but Henbane was different. There were the obvious cult outposts and patrols. But much of the inhabitants of the riverside of Hope County was a mess of some of the most ungodly things a human could ever see. For every cult outpost, there was a little secret cave filled with Bliss in the air and rotting with dead 'angels'. People, that had gone so far with Bliss that it had put them in a permanent comatose, laying there, until either dehydration or starvation took their lives away from them.

Rook could not defend Faith Seed's actions while she was acting as the Herald of the Hebane for Eden's Gate, but he knew that there was a new light at the end of the tunnel for Faith. He just had to find the most forward path to it.

"Listen, Tracey, I get that your ma-" Tracey slapped Rook across the face, scaring Faith as she buried her head into Rook.

"I ain't listening to shit from you right now Rook! There better be one reason, and one reason only that you brought this whore into the prison. So we can kill her right fucking now! And everyone here gets the satisfaction of seeing her dead body on the floor. It will hardly be enough still, for all the lives she destroyed!" Tracey snarled at Rook. Who was trying to build what little self-ego he had left after it was slapped from his soul. His pale skin was now red at the cheek.

"No Tracey! I brought her here because I fucking ended this! The Bliss is dead, and I pulled Faith out of it! I watched that imaginary garden turn into ash right before my eyes! I am trying to give her another fucking chance at life. She is just a fucking victim as the angels, you fucking know that deep down in your heart!" Rook snapped back at Tracey, trying to create some sort of authority in the situation.

"Listen to me Rook, you don't know Faith, I fucking know Faith, I also know Rachel, and what she became." Tracey then looks at Faith, who has her head still pointed right into the abdomen of Rook. "I know this bitch, I was friends with THIS bitch! She uses everyone, even if what you say is true, at the very least. She is still Rachel Jessop, and she can break you into a million pieces if it means getting ahead!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Sheriff White horse screamed as the conversation was not getting any better between Tracey and Rook.

"Rook has made a choice. And goddammit Tracey, all the choices he has made so far have turned out alright for us! We are still here. I know this whole 'saving Faith'...thing might sound like a bunch of hoopla and lost hopes but I trust that man with my life right now. And we need to give this a chance, despite your personal grievances with Ra-Faith...whatever the fuck you wanna call her." Whitehorse said as he put his foot down. Tracey may have been a longtime local in Hope County, but the Sheriff badge Earl Whitehorse adorned on his chest showed the rest of the resistance who was boss. Tracey didn't say a word, she stormed out of the cellblock, brushing past Rook's shoulder, and slammed the double doors shut.

"I am ruining everything" Faith murmured into Rook.

"Fai-" Whitehorse cut off the deputy.

"Listen, Faith, I am sure it means nothing coming from me, one of the people who helped bring Eden's Gate in the Henbane down. But I trust what the Rook is doing. And if he says there is good in you, then I trust his word. Tracey has been through a lot these past few weeks since we arrived here. I don't know if she will ever warm up to you. But she will become cordial, I know it, she's a good woman." The sheriff said in a reassuring tone to Faith, who finally looked in another direction, this time at the Sheriff.

"Thank you, Sheriff, I'm sorry for everything," Faith said, tearing up a little.

"Apologies are just words Faith, show me the side that Rook says you have, and I'll take the apology in full in the future." The Sheriff then walked out of the cellblock.

"Alright Faith, let's find you a room," Rook said as he held onto Faith. Walking up to the top floor of the cellblock. Cell #36 was open and seemingly unused. Rook walked in with Faith and the two sat down on the bed.

"Deputy, do you think this is right? I feel like I am already a burden on a group that I have already hurt more than anyone should forgive" Faith said, looking up at Rook, with a mopey look on her face.

"Faith, I will not ever be able to tell anyone what you did was right. But I do not blame you entirely for what happened. The bliss changed you, it made you someone you are not. I have faith that you will change, and become a better person. I truly mean that. I don't know what the days ahead will bring, but I will be here by your side all the way through it." Rook said, softly to Faith, who smiled back at the Deputy for the first time in a while.

"Can you stay with me in the cell, Deputy?" Faith asked Rook, a question that shocked Rook inside. 'She wants me to...SLEEP with her'. Rook was mentally wasted at that point but didn't want to stay silent for too long.

"Will it make you feel better if I stayed here with you?"

Faith nodded gently and wrapped her arms around Rook.

"It would be a blessing, though maybe I already redeemed a few too many blessings today from you" She giggled, trying to make light of the situation the best she could.

"Nah, you can get as many holy blessings from a Hope County Deputy as you want." Rook laughed back, hugging Faith. It was the first time the two had fully locked together in a hug. It felt warm, soothing, real.

"Deputy, I have one more question for you," Faith asked Rook, he headed laying on the Deputy's chest.

"Yes, Faith?"

"Where is the Marshal?"

Rook looked down at Faith.

"Faith, we need to talk about that."

//Hi! If you have made it this far I hope you are enjoying the story! This is my first published fan-fic ever and I would sincerely appreciate any comments and suggestions! Feel free to message me privately about how you feel about how the story is going!