Rare Blood

Chapter Forty-Eight: What Goes Up Must Come Down

Faye woke looking up into the blue of Cyrus's eyes. She smiled and lifted her arm intending to touch his face only to realize something was shockingly amiss. Her arm moved... right out of line with her body, and kept going. In one silent shift, she stepped right out of herself just as Cyrus fell to his side taking her vacated form down with him.

"It's time, my child," a voice that was warm yet commanding spoke from all around and before she could freak, Cyrus was gone, and she was inside a room with a man staring up at her from a floral armchair. He was a stranger in the sense that they had never met, but she knew him, his face. He had hazel eyes, golden blonde hair bound back at the nape of his neck, and he was wearing a fitted black suit with a plum dress shirt unbuttoned casually at the top. He had subtle creases across his forehead, and at the corners of his eyes, from years of the same smile he was treating her to now.

"You look so much like your mother," the man said, then a plush, rose-colored carpet was suddenly under her toes and a couch with the same dated floral pattern from the chair appeared followed by an entire living room. It was magical to watch and she couldn't help the smile that formed as the pieces just started appearing out of thin air.

"What's happening," she questioned looking all around, feeling delighted for some reason. "Where am I?"

The man smiled even wider, "You're here, with me. Your body, however, is in the back of a stolen town car being driven safely away from that Vampire nest."

That caught her attention, but instead of fear she felt amused and questioned, "What'd you mean, my body?"

"Your physical form, my child," the man replied as if it were obvious.

"Well what form is this," she asked, looking down the length of her body.

"Not your physical one."

She didn't understand, "Who are you? What happened to Cyrus?"

"Cyrus is with your body."

"Am I dead?"

"No," he replied, laughing at her.

"Why won't you tell me who you are?"

The man didn't answer, he simply held his palm up which seemed to fill her with that comforting warmth she felt when she sat out in the sun. Her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure it out, but her brain wasn't working, like there was some kind of block keeping her from formulating any real thoughts. The man stared right back at her and after a moment he finally said, "You are with me only until the transformation is complete and we are here, in this room, because it belonged to your mother. I want to give you something for all that you have lost. Now have a seat. Let's get this started."

She was too stunned to do anything else. As soon as her butt touched the floral couch cushion the scent of fresh vanilla and tea roses filled the room and image after image of the woman from her vision at Howahkan's, her mother, started flashing through her mind.

It was like watching a slide show of her mother doing everyday things. The images weren't of someone posing to have their photo taken, they were of someone who had no idea their image was even being captured.

So beautiful, was all Faye could think as she watched her mother planting flowers, shopping at a farmer's market, and staring up at the sky. Then there were ones where she sat on a big porch surrounded by a beautiful garden with rose bushes and daisies and lilies... It reminded her of her vision for Cyrus's cabin. 

In the next series of images her stomach started to round, and she cradled her belly in every single one.  She had a sweet smile and Faye knew that she was happy, and that she had been... loved.