Rare Blood

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Groundwork

Faye sat by Cyrus' lifeless body for nearly two hours, waiting for him to come back to her. All she wanted was to see the life in his deep blue eyes and hear his voice... the velvety timber of his voice.

"Come back to me," she whispered for the thousandth time, but there was nothing. She had gone from furious to sad, before finally settling on scared.

If there was one thing sitting by an unresponsive Cyrus had given her it was clarity. She would never let her presence be the death of him... or anyone that she cared about, for that matter. She would go back to Pennsylvania, but she needed to talk to Howahkan about what they were gonna tell Cyrus. They were going to have to lie to him, and she didn't know if she was skilled enough to get away with it. If it was going to work they needed to get the details in line before he woke up.

She leaned up on her knees and planted a gentle kiss on his cool lips before leaving his side to go find Howahkan.  He was sitting out by the fire in his back yard, talking with Elise, Bear, and Louis. She didn't wait for them to notice her she simply interrupted saying, "If we're doing this, we need to get our stories straight. I'm a terrible liar."

Howahkan nodded in approval, "Have a seat then," and Bear slid down to make room for her.

She parked on the log, as far away from him as she could, and Louis teased, "I think she's only got one cheek on there."

Elsie laughed and Bear said, "I make her nervous," trying to sound smooth, but Faye wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"This isn't funny. I'm about to let a group of Vampires, that want to suck me dry, have at it.  So can we cut the shit?"

Her words succeeded in ending the merriment. 

"You're doing a very brave thing Faye," Louis said, and everyone nodded. She didn't want to hear it, she wanted to get the plotting over with so she could get back to Cyrus.

"It may be hard to believe, but this is the only way you'll live," Howahkan said, which reminded her, "Did you actually see it, our deaths?"

He nodded.

She swallowed with a gulping kind of sound as her mouth went dry and the tracks of her throat seemed to be stuck, but she managed to ask, "How'd it happen?"

Howahkan was silent for a moment, and when he spoke he sounded slightly distant as if he were watching the events unfold in his mind. 

"You were twirling barefoot, under the sun.  It was beautiful, until the sky clouded over and everything turned dark.  Then Cyrus was running at you. He tackled you trying to shield you, but it was too late, the monster had you in his sights.  Cyrus told you to run, then his head was torn off, and you were drained right there by the falls, on our land.  It was over in the blink of an eye."

Faye's heart about stopped, "I had a dream like that," she proclaimed, and the reaction she got from everyone, but Howahkan, was a shocked stare.

Howahkan seemed to be studying her like her face was speaking to him, then he said, "I'm going to tell him you'll be safe here. I'll tell him that's what I saw."

She shook her head, "Do you think he'll believe you?"

"He trusts us."

"Yet we're deceiving him," Faye said, disturbed by it.

"It's the only way to save you both."

"I just hope he sees it that way when he realizes you're gone," Elsie interjected.

"He won't, but you'll be ok, and that's all that'll matter in the end," Louis said, then looked at Elise.

Faye could tell he was thinking about the situational shoe being on his foot, and she didn't like the look it left on his face.