I know it's been really long, the days have flown by in my life. My parents are getting a divorce, and since I'm stuck living in the house with them until I find a place that will let me keep my cat, my muse has run away. But I managed to crank this out just for you guys
Chapter 11: Salus Mae
Days flew by in the company of her father and brother. The first night was spent laughing, drinking and catching up. She told her father what happened to her and the anger in his face wasn't something she had ever dreamed she would get the chance to see. The feeling that came with it was nearly unbearable, bringing tears to her eyes. He understood then why they had teamed up with vampires, and was completely in awe at how they survived their adventure.
They moved from town to town again, killing monsignors that deserve the taste of a blade. She worked her charms, she paid her dues. She was simply going through the motions.
A month later he was still on her mind. She had found him, the one person who, in her time of doubt, had caught her red handed questioning the church and said nothing to anyone. She wonders in those days if he had his own questions without answers, wondering how he had become what he was. Her life also returned to the normal routine of a rebel, though now her own training focused less on vampires and more on machines, in no way up to par with the church's own, but it was better than nothing.
On a cool dark night she sits perched on top of her bike in the middle of the wasteland, looking up at the stars, doing the questioning humans do when looking at the endless night sky. She has her hair pulled into a long tight braid with barbed wire laced through it and her whip rests around her waist. Through her deep thoughts of mostly him she hears a deep rumbling beginning from her feet and echoing around her. Suddenly the moon is gone and the only light she had was gone behind a stray cloud. It was unbelievably dark, her eyes unable to adjust and the rumbling grows closer and her instincts brought from training in the dark kick in. She climbs off her bike and pulls her whip from her waist, waiting. She feels the herd, they stop around her, she hears their breathing and odd screeches, and by the vibrations in the ground and the sounds of screeching she guesses the herd was 30 plus.
One steps forward that's much bigger than her, by the pulses in the ground, and she's alarmed by the fact that she isn't scared. She hears them breathing and communicating and her hand flies to the ring around her throat on a silver chain. She feels the heavy claws against the skin of her chest, going to the ring. The creature steps back and she feels the herd move, parting like a sea. The creature then pushes her back into her bike. She gets the hint and rolls her eyes.
"Okay okay, relax. Damn. I'm going." She mutters and climbs onto her bike. She kicks it on, and the light shows her the herd in front of her, much bigger then she had anticipated. She glances around for the opening, and she goes. She's not surprised when the herd follows, eventually leading her through the wasteland.
The wind whips against her skin, and pulls through her hair as she rides. Surrounded by vampire, she hears his voice. My heart is pierced by cupid. I disdain all glittering gold. There's nothing can console me, but my jolly sailor bold. His voice echoes through her mind. She had found many a song long forgotten in the village the train had left her at. She would sing softly and slightly off key when no one was around, feeling that it brought her troubled mind peace.
Two weeks before.
"On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone I walk with him till morning. Without him I feel his arms around me, and when I lose my way I close my eyes and he has found me." She walks through the town, away from the seedy club, blood on her hands with a book open between them, reading the song the Monsignor had wanted her to sing for him as part of their 'play time.' She scoffs slightly. A song of want, fully consuming obsession, he wanted to hear her sing these words to him to inflate his ego. She had promptly stabbed him in the heart, whispering softly "These words weren't meant for you."
Her leather pants cling to her hips and her coat blows in the soft wind. She decides to perch on her bike, putting off meeting her brother and the others just a little longer. "In the rain, the pavement shines like silver. All the lights are misty in the river. In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight, and all I see is him and me forever and ever." She had read the song a few times over, the words bringing bumps to her arms and a shiver down her spine.
"And I know it's only in my mind. That I'm talking to myself and not to him. And although I know that he is blind, still I say there's a way for us. I love him, but when the night is over. He is gone, the river's jusst a river. Without him, the world around me changes, the trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers. I love him, but every day I'm learning, all my life I've only been pretending. Without me, his world will go on turning. A world that's full of happiness that I have never known. I love him, but only on my own." She finishes softly, a single tear falling from her eye as she rips the page from the book and folds it, putting it into her bag on her bike. The song haunts her, reminding her of her own troubling mind.
It scares her how she longed to see him again, to have him close to her again. She knew not a thing about him, she didn't even know his name, and yet she thought of him more often then she thought about her brother. She clinches her teeth and shakes her head. She goes to turn on her bike when out of nowhere she's thrown off of it and into a building with a clicking writhing body on top of her. She stares, wide eyed into the face of the vampire, and before it opens it's giant jaws she yells.
"Wait! Wait!" it pauses, and tilts its head. "H…..he gave me this." Her heart pounds in her chest, hoping the ring would save her, if not she was defenseless. She pulls the chain from under her coat, and shows the creature the ring. It seems to glow in the darkness and the creature backs off, and runs away.
That had been the only time she had seen the vampire anywhere near a town since then. Now suddenly a whole pack had found her, and were leading her somewhere. Through the darkness she spots a light glimmer. Then it hits her, smoke and a heavy metallic smell of vampire blood. Her eyes widen and she speeds up, leaving the pack behind her.
She stops near the wreckage and the large vampire walks to her, then to her right. She follows, and it looks between her and a giant piece of metal. She understands and she tries to lift it, but it's to heavy. It's when she hears a deep groan that she begins to panic.
"Help me! I can't move it on my own!" she growls at the creatures. She feels the ring grown hot against her chest, and five of the creatures come and easily lift the metal. In the dirt he lays, bloody and bruised.
"Jesus Christ" she swears and falls to her knees, checking his pulse and breathing.
"He…doesn't….exist…." she smiles softly at his broken voice.
"Glad you're at least alive. Come on, we need to get you out of here." She slings his arm over her shoulder and, with trouble, hoists him up. "Holy hell you're fucking heavy" she curses with labored breath. He chuckles softly and buries his face in her neck as she pulls him over to her bike. She leans him against it, and he's able to barely hold himself up.
"You're a hot mess, you need rest and to get cleaned up." She states. He nods slightly, and stradles the bike, before reaching into his pocket. He goes to hand her something, but the exertion of moving was to much. He leans forward and rests his head on the bike, his arms going limp and a piece of paper falling to the ground. She bends down and picks it up, pulling out a flash light to read it. Her eyes widen at what she sees. A map, all across the sectors and beyond the giant walls at sector one. She looks between him and the paper and her eyes water.
There was no way, no possible way this was real. She pushes the thoughts aside and gets onto her bike behind him, carefully turning and going back to the camp, a dream in her pocket and a dream on her bike. She hears something over the roaring of the wind, something that sounds like 'Salus Mae. You deserve happiness.'