Adela Augusta Blood Famine

Chapter Six

Chaise

Chaise shut the door behind him and leaned on it. He was back in Reaghan village. Neither town nor  house was large, or glamorous but it was home. It was also one of the most southern establishments in the province of Teyrnon, the grandest of all the vampire territories. His village may have been ruled by the Agustuan house, but he was as far from the vampire capital as he could get.

Chaise had arrived only last night and was still tired. He had ridden from the country of Crichton as fast as he could, and to his immense relief had found his father in a stable condition. If he'd returned to find Henry Comfert in any lesser condition he'd never forgive himself.

It made him feel selfish for thinking it, but he couldn't help but wonder about whether or not the lives he saved that night would've been worth the final moments with his father. Chaise shook the thoughts from his head. He couldn't think like that now. His dad had held on this long, demonstrating strength. It was time he did the same. Besides he knew he did the right thing. He didn't need his dad to tell him that, though Henry did.

"By the Sun! Chaise your back? How's the old man?" A familiar voice called out.

Chaise looked up from his thoughts to see a balding man. The clothes he wore were stained with dirt. A farmer if Chaise recalled correctly, and a fairly successful one judging by the size of him.

"He's breathing. Well enough to bark orders at me anyways." Chaise offered. His father wasn't doing well, but what he said wasn't untrue and he didn't want to hurt his pride.

"Well, your old man was always a tough old coot. I'm sure it will break. May the sun warm his soul."

"Thank you..."

"Hey, I'm headn' down to the village square. By the sounds of it, they caught a witch. Good thing too. Not sure my crops could have taken much more." The plump farmer absently rubbed a hand on his gut. There's gonna be a burnin'. Why don't the lot of you join me."

"We'll pass." Chaise answered, quick enough to earn him a suspicious look. "Still a little tired from the trip home." Again, even though it may not have been his actual reason for declining the invitation it wasn't a lie.

"Right then. Your loss." And with that, the man waddled down the dirt road turned behind a cobblestone building and was out of sight.

"You should go." His father coughed appearing in the now open doorway.

"And you should be in bed." Chaise answered, trying to lead Henry back inside. He weakly shook his son's hands-off, and returned to the humble dwelling. "Bull's spit I should. What I need to do is get back in the field."

"You'll never heal that way."

"Better than this. You have me locked up in here, I swear I'm paler than one of those vampires."

Chaise bit down on the side of his tongue. "That's the sickness."

"That's the lack of sun! Let me bathe in her rays. None of that healing saved me. I'm in Solange's hands now."

Chaise narrowed his eyes. He hadn't been the religious type for a little over ten years now. He aggressively pushed open a wooden board revealing a window in the wall.

"There. There's your sun."

"What am I? Your father or your prisoner!" He coughed.

"Right now? Both."

"Bah! You should still go see about that witch. Too many innocent girls murdered that way."

Chaise couldn't argue with that. He'd battled werewolves, and fought a vampire even. He'd been trained on witches, but had never actually faced one. Even so, he knew what his father said to be true. It was all too easy these days for a person to be accused of witchcraft, especially women. That's why he had to sneak his father out to the forest in the first place. Chaise reluctantly grabbed his gear and headed for the door. With any luck, this wouldn't turn out like his recent trip to Crichton. He paused for a moment as his father called out to him.

"And if it's a real one then you best make sure we don't have another Mallory incident."

Chaise didn't say anything. Instead, he exchanged gruesome expressions with his father. Silently, he reached a hand for his compact crossbow, better safe than dead.

**Author's Note**

Made it to the end of another one. Twasn't hard when it's barely pushing 700 words. Chaise keeps getting snuffed wiht these short chapters. How do we feel about that. Do we like following Chaise or Adela more? I love responding to comments, so any other thoughts or complaints are appreciated.  All right we'll catch you in the next chapter!