“You are so nice, Cire.” Heather plimented and shook her head. “I am alright. I would rather face this, it’s been too long…” Heather took a deep and anticipatory breath, “...that I have lived with this.” Heather closed her brown eyes, and steadily spoke. “The sed reason came down to fear.” She let the word hang in the air betweewo mages for a few seds, “Yes. Ultimately it was fear.” With an agonizing breath, Heather let out everything on her mind. “You see, I mentiohat I met their queen before, in med school. That was when I krue fear.” She looked down and fidgeted her fingers, “Cire, no matter what other vampires you see or e across, if you see the oh deathly beautiful blue eyes…” Heather stopped talking because she knew just from the numb feeling in her feet and hands that what she was about to say ointless. “...Try, promise me you will try to run…” Heather paused, “...though if you see them, it’s likely too te.”
“So it was this one vampire that kept you from hunting the others? The fear of running into her by act?” Cire paused and tapped her lip in thought. “Didn’t you say she was a friend at some point? Perhaps you use that bond if you have to.” Cire shrugged and pressed her hands into Heather’s lower back. “I get the feeling there is more than just the fear of this queen vampire.”
Thoughts of her former love, Derek, flooded Heather’s mind in a wave of guilt. “Derek. He protected me a on missions that I begged to go on, then got cold feet.” She looked down. “He always…always wanted me here anyway.” Heather smeared the tears from her cheeks. “It was my mission that got him killed. I was supposed to go out with Captain Kino and provide medical support and backup in case the ambush went wrong. He was in the darkrealm and found a small den of the blood-suckers close to that … pce.” Heather looked up and sighed. “Wendy went into the darkrealm as well, spying on the queen in her home…she’d found her.” Heather ran her hands through her hair, “I am not sure about the details, but I know that since Wendy broke protocol, all of the vampires in that deed the impending attad since Derek was in the drakrealm, he couldn’t talk…so he had to watch as they took their van, and killed him along with the rest of the team. Captain Kino took out five of them herself, before she ran out of stakes.” Heather half-smiled. “She said her magic ed them in pce..”
“That wasn’t your fault, Heather. Derek wao go, I suspect that he knew you were pregnant at the time.” Cire softly added. “If anything, it was Wendy’s fault. The element of surprise was lost.” Cire stopped her deft fingers work, and leaned dout her head oher’s shoulder. “You went on other missions? Ones where you didn’t have to actually fight?”
“Yeah.” Heather turned her head with a smile across her fad her heart beating rapidly. “Hello there.” Heather delicately whispered. “I went out there and patched up our people all the time, most of the time while a mission was going on…but I never killed a vampire.” With her blood pressure rising, Heather gave Cire a quick kiss. “Shielded them until I could get the bleeding under trol, I even had tee some body parts on the move.” Heather looked at her shaking hands once more, still trying to get past the anger and fear she was feeling. “A quiet enviro is the best pce to do any magical surgery.” Heather felt a wave of pride take over in her mind and she lifted one of her fingers. “I could create an OR from my magic, Cire. It was so fun.”
Cire scooted close and ed her arms arouher’s waist while still behind her. “I wouldn’t call that fear, Heather. I call that bravery on another whole level.” She id her head against Heather’s bad listeirlfriend breathe softly. “You are simply not a fighter.” She sighed, “That doesn’t make you a coward.” Cire had a random thought and chuckled. “Let me prove it further.”
“Okay.” Heather pyfully responded.
“You went into that den of Shadewraiths and took on the leader without any support whatsoever. You had a pn, you had the spells you wanted and even used some that did the opposite of what you were used to using.” Cire offered a Heather’s heart start beating faster. “Oh, that gave you a rush too.” She giggled, “You went toe to toe with the one creature that could have ended everything, without a sed thought.”
Heather shrugged, “I couldn’t leave Tatum like that. I was being merciful.”
“Ha. You were thinking. Plotting.” Cire took the opportunity to walk her fingers across Heather’s tummy. “It was more than merbsp; You wa Tatum babsp; That isn’t fear, dear.” Cire paused in her flirtation, “ I suggest something that you might not want to hear?” Cire nibbled on her lower lip nervously and spoke once she saw Heather shake her head, “I am fairly certain that you have no love for vampires, given your lovely names for them.”
“No love at all. If anything, I am repulsed and want them removed.” Heather’s voice came out sibint and dripping with pt. “Sorry, but it’s true Cire. I have lost people I love to those things and I have zero sympathy.” She waved her hand, “I will never have love for them.”
“I am not asking you to.” Cire reassured, “However, I suggest that we don’t go looking for trouble?” It was a sudden jerk of displeasure that told Cire she was at risk of losing all that she had worked for during the night. “I am no fighter. The best thing I have done is make one feed on its own cowardid it fled. Unharmed by me. I ’t say what happeer.” Cire felt Heather squirming like she wao get up, but held tightly tirlfriend. “No, you ’t just get away if you hear something you don’t like, Heather…” She kept speaking quickly and with a certain amount of desperation. “I am not saying we go for peace, but I am saying we don’t go looking for trouble. If they e here…sure we use all those horrendous runes and learn the spells that destroy…to defend, not attack.” Relieved wheher stopped trying to pull away, Cire eased her own grip. “Look at what hatred has gotten us.”
Reason and logic were things that Heather hadn’t fed from for as long as she could remember. Otle drama to another, she’d lurched until she fell into the myriad of lies a that Denise and Tatum offered in order to believe she was doing good by removing vampires and exposing their lies. “Aire militia of awakened mages didn’t kill all of them in the area. We only dehem and…and…” She rolled out of Cire’s arms and id in her p, “...it did no good at all. All pain, all suffering ah. War sucks.”
