Rare Blood

Chapter Forty-Nine: Together Again

Holy shit... Cyrus couldn't think, couldn't even move. Faye was on her feet in front of him looking more beautiful than humanly possible. Her skin had maintained the subtle golden radiance that bloomed towards the end of her transformation giving a whole new meaning to the words sun kissed. She was breathtaking. All he wanted to do was reach out and pull her into his arms, but he was afraid to move, afraid this was his imagination at its finest. Especially when her dazzling hazel eyes fixated on his neck and her soft pink lips parted revealing two glistening white, perfect fangs.

"Faye..." he questioned, fully expecting her to ripple into nothingness, but she replied, "I'm gonna bite you," and with her voice came this surge of electricity that was no illusion.

She'd reached out to him using some internal frequency that was nothing like the nauseating link he once endured with his maker. The connection suddenly buzzing through him was like a high voltage charge that made him feel warm and alive. The way Faye always made him feel only magnified tenfold, and riding on its current was this intense desire for him, for his blood. It pulsed out of her and into him and he found it intoxicating.

Cyrus stood transfixed as Faye took his face into her impossibly warm hands, pulling him down towards her. He felt her lips brush against his throat, followed by sharp tips, and then she struck, piercing his vein like a pro.

When the first of his blood entered her mouth she moaned this sensual sound of gratification that nearly brought him to his knees. He wanted her to do it again, to bite deeper, to take more from him.

Faye felt her teeth break through a gummy substance that burst open in her mouth flooding it with a warm, sweet liquid. It eased the dryness in her throat, and the pounding in her head. It was thick, and so incredibly... satisfying.

It took a few frenzied mouthfuls before she realized she was actually ingesting blood, Cyrus' blood, and she had no intentions on stopping. She swallowed with greed, and Cyrus craned his head to the side giving her better access, urging her on.

He let her take from him until he started losing his footing.

"Faye," he said gently stroking a hand down her back trying to get her attention, it didn't work. If anything, she started drinking harder.

"Love, you have to stop," he said, but she didn't.

"You need... something else," he said and that's when he realized something was amiss within her. He could feel her unwavering need for his blood. It became apparent to him that she was drinking his blood the way a vampire drinks a human's, clearly confused by lust.

He gripped her shoulders firmly, but gently, and tried to push her back only to have her growl at him and reposition. He found her response amusing and smirked, "Easy Love," and then he tried to urge her back once again, but she didn't budge. She was a lot stronger now and he found himself smiling about that and put a little more force into prying her off.

Faye's teeth dislodged from Cyrus' throat and he forced her body an arms length away. She couldn't wrap her head around what was happening, and when she saw the bloody bite mark, she covered her eyes, horrified.

"It's ok," Cyrus said, but she couldn't respond because a memory flickered in her mind that didn't belong to her.

There was so much blood... it was everywhere and coming from a hundred metal rods sticking out of a chest that she was looking down the length of. It was Cyrus, this was his memory, and all at once a flood of them blocked everything out. She grabbed her head in an attempt to halt the visual assault, but the images kept coming.

There were gruesome deaths, many of them. Elsie chained to a wall, bloodied. And then... she saw her own lifeless body in the vampire Roxanne's arms. She felt like she was going to explode from the pressure of it all, but as quickly as the images came they were gone, leaving her on her knees with Cyrus on the floor in front of her.

His hands were cupping her face, and his hypnotic blue eyes were alive with panic even though he sounded calm as he cooed, "Easy Love. Easy. I've got you."

"Is this real," she asked on the verge of having a breakdown of epic proportions.

"Yes," he replied, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"Then I'm a Vampire...," she asked holding her breath.

He nodded yes, and then pulled her forward into his chest holding her there. It felt like years had gone by since she'd been in his arms last, and although there was no place she would rather be, Faye pulled back, asking, "The man... was he real?"

"What man?"

She remembered the transformation he talked about, the things he said about tricks and weapons.

"What man Faye," Cyrus questioned.

"I think... I think he was my father."

"Your father," Cyrus repeated, his eyes narrowing.

"I, I don't know," she said shaking her head, "I saw things Cyrus. I saw you, myself, Elsie... Oh! Where's Elsie? Is she ok," Faye questioned in a sudden panic for her friend.

"She's safe," he said, "I can't tell what's going on with you right now. You have to talk to me so I can help you."

"Help me..." she repeated, the words triggering yet another memory. "He said the old wolf will help me. He meant Howahkan... I need him, Cyrus. I need Howahkan."

That made him very angry, she could feel it swarm through him like tiny needles in his bloodstream and he said dangerously low, "You don't need anything from him."

"Cyrus..."

"You need blood," he stated, sounding certain.

"I just mauled you. I don't need more."

"You do. My blood doesn't count. You'll be alright after you feed. I have some here," and he let go of her to grab a plastic container from the corner of the room they were in. He opened the lid and held it out to her, "I can pour it into a glass for you, if you'd like."

The blood smelled like salted liquid rust and she didn't want it. It didn't appeal to her in the slightest.

"Drink it," he urged, but that wasn't happening, "It smells gross," she said.

"That's..." he paused without finishing his thought, asking, "But my blood doesn't?"

She shook her head, "No, far from it."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"You know what doesn't make sense," she said, "I can feel you Cyrus... I really can. It's like... an echo inside of me."

"It won't always be so prominent," he said. "You'll always feel me, but it'll mellow."

"This is all so strange."

"It is," he agreed.

"So all that stuff I saw... it was real?"

He nodded and she had to tuck her head between her knees to keep from vomiting.

Cyrus was doing his best to hide it from Faye, but he was scared. He didn't know what was happening with her. She was nothing like anything he had ever seen before. She was warmer than she should be. She looked ethereal, like a goddess, and smelled even better than she had before. She was saying crazy things and seeing stuff she shouldn't be able to, but most alarming of all, was the desire she had for his blood. It was very real, and had him questioning if maybe she needed to feed from Vampires...

"Cyrus..." she said, "I know you don't want to, but you have to take me to Howahkan. I have to talk to him."

And there it was... that look in her eyes that he couldn't refuse. He hated it, but he relented and reached for her hand to help her up saying, "Before we go, I need you to know that I've got you. I love you, and no matter what happened, or what's going to, you're gonna be fine."

The last part may have been a lie, but Faye smiled relieved knowing at least one thing was the same. Hearing Cyrus tell her that he loved her still made her insides flutter.