Chapter Twelve

(Part 2)

You got me love shot, honey

Right in the head

Love shot, honey, I'm a living dead

Don't know if I should hide

You got your target set

Love shot, honey, pump me full of lead

Release me; give me all your steam

Control me, like a love machine

—The Blue Van—

A Few Days Later…

Cassie awoke to the soothing sound of something that reminded her of the strings of a harp being plucked. She opened her eyes slowly, as they adjusted to the abnormally bright room. Bemused, she felt an unfamiliar warm body pressed against her, but somehow she knew that nothing was wrong. She rose from the bed and rubbed her eyes with a sigh. Turning around, she found the source of the heavenly sound that awoke her. Sunlight filtered through the window and lights a fire upon the naked flesh of her companion's chest.

Sleeping peacefully, her chest rose and fell, her full lips parted just a bit. Dark mahogany hair and limbs sprawled along the pillows and tousled sheets they shared. Outside a pair of blue birds were perched up together on the branch of an oak tree, singing a lovers' song. A smiled formed on the blonde's own lips as she watched the brunette sleep.

She wanted to reach out and touch her, but she shouldn't and she knows that. Faye was asleep, and it wasn't fair to take advantage of her; it's probably the worst thing she could do to someone who's was vulnerable as Faye was. Yesterday, the whole incident with saving the trigger-happy girl from the destruction caused by her own hands; Cassie took note that Faye, despite her rigid breathing, was calm until she showed up. She remembered having a conversation about the brunette with her grandmother a few days ago.

According to Jane, Faye never liked feeling vulnerable, especially when it involved her being in the presence of others. The old witch had experience with a person like this when she once babysat Amelia, Charles and Faye's father, Thomas; they were practicing magic and Faye's father got frustrated extremely quickly when his magic wasn't up to par with theirs. She thought oh, maybe that one incident was because of Thomas' hotheadedness.

However, when the coven began to delve into magic completely, these incidents started to happen more frequently. It wasn't until he experienced a narrow escape with death that it all started to make sense; he had what was seemingly a phobia when it came to vulnerability.

After that, Cassie slowly understood as to why Faye was at times, hell bent, on doing things on her own. The only problem was that she would take them to an extreme and her risk-taking; thrill-seeking tendencies would come into play. Making the lives of everyone around her become at stake; nevertheless, Cassie didn't hold that against the brunette who currently looked so tantalizing in the sunlight.

However, as the urge of touching the sleeping girl increasingly grew, she was reluctant to do so even as her hand found its way onto her midriff; making small, tentative circles with her fingertips. God, Faye is so warm, so soft…Cassie thought as she nuzzled the brunette's shoulder, finding bare skin under her lips, placing kisses there lightly. She shivered, thinking of what she would like to do to Faye, what she would like Faye to do to her.

Cassie was still stroking Faye's belly, feeling the muscles there move easily with Faye's breath. Her hair was incredibly soft, tickling the blonde's face with each breath. After a while, she glided her hand over to Faye's side, not in the least surprised that the curve of the taller girl's waist matched the natural curve of her hand so perfectly. Cassie softly placed a butterfly kiss on her neck.

Lying back to her previous position, she laid her head back on Faye's chest, her ear on the sleeping girl's heart. It wasn't until she looked up; resting her chin on the brunette's chest, that she pulled the stray strands of hair out of the girl's face that she softly spoke.

"You're so…" She trailed off; gently tucking a strand of hair behind Faye's ear, before said girl suddenly grabbed her wrist startling Cassie.

"Mesmerizing—I know," Faye smirked as she opened her eyes.

"H-How long have you been awake?" Cassie asked as Faye's hold on her wrist softened.

"Longer than you have, that's for sure." Faye said as she silently searched Cassie's sapphire eyes for probably an explanation as to why they were still doing this…this thing.

A moment passes before the blonde can speak again, "You stayed this time…"

"I stayed the first time."

"But you left the minute you woke up," Cassie said, her tone coming out more harshly then she would have intended.

They stared at each other, it seemed liked the world had stood still. The silence in the air was deafening, it was strange and yet, it was too expected. Both Faye and Cassie never really talked about anything especially after the deed was done. And now here was their chance to talk, and neither was grasping for it. It wasn't until Faye, whom couldn't take the silence anymore spoke.

"What time is it?" She asked looking over at the nightstand beside the bed for the alarm clock that never went off. It read 11:46 p.m. and Cassie immediately scrambled out of bed, grabbing the sheets, pulling it around her naked body and running into the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" The brunette asked with an eyebrow raised, as she heard the shower turn on.

"Getting ready for school!" The blonde yelled from beneath the running water.

Faye got up out of bed and followed the blonde's lead, grabbing the remaining bed sheets on the bed and wrapping it around her before entering the bathroom. The small room was filled with steam as she walked towards the bathtub, making out the smaller girl's naked silhouette from behind the teal curtains. With a smirk, she grabbed the curtains and yanked them to the side, Cassie yelped at the sudden action.

"Scared you, didn't I?" Faye grinned and Cassie simply scowled at her. "Oh, c'mon it was funny."

She grabbed the curtains and pulled them into the bathtub to cover herself from Faye's hungry gaze. Even if she was doing the same. "No it wasn't, you could have given me a heart attack! And aren't you supposed to be getting ready for school?"

"I'm not going to school today and neither are you."

"But—" All thoughts were soon gone when the taller girl removed the bed sheet around her body and entered the steamy shower. Attacking the smaller girl with kisses.

Faye Chamberlain was nervous, and that is definitely not a natural expression on her. Strange to see her this way, to know that probably none of the others ever have. The usually abrasive and vulgar brunette looked uneasy and was acting very timid about just spending a day with her. "Faye…"

"I have something in mind," Faye said, but wouldn't give her the specifics. Cassie simply followed her to a grocery store a couple of minutes away from home, where Faye orders them both sandwiches.

It's not too hot out, just warm enough to make them grab of a sweater or a light jacket, and Faye leads her into the deserted park and up to the pond. They eat sitting close together on a park bench, watching the water, and Cassie smiled as she recognized the two shapes that dropped down in front of them.

There were two ravens, one black and one white. They stood by the edge of the pond , it wasn't until they started to hop around that Cassie noticed the white one had an injured wing. "I didn't know there were ravens in Washington, but don't they fly south during this time of the year?"

Faye swallows a bite of pastrami and spicy mustard before answering. "Normally they do. But one of them got injured—got hit by the windshield of a car or something—and now it can't fly."

Now the blonde understood. "Their mates and they mate for life, don't they; so the other one won't leave even though it can."

"Exactly, unless something happens to it, then the other one will go off and find another mate during the spring. They can live here year-round, as long as they have food; it's not the cold that makes them fly south, it's the hunger." Faye said taking a piece of bread from her sandwich and throwing it at the ravens, who hungrily ate it up.

Eventually the two witches were done with their sandwiches and all that was left were the bread crumbs on their wrappers. The bigger of the two ravens, the black one, flew onto the back of the bench beside Faye; its gray eye stared into her own. It was a majestic creature, and more than a little intimidating. It tilted it's head before picking at one of it's wings and then moving forward towards Faye. It's plumage shining underneath the sunlight in bluish-purple.

"I think you just made a new friend, Faye." Cassie smiled, finding Faye's reluctance to touch the bird cute.

"You know, in Diana's book of shadows it states that ravens are harbringers of darkness, an omen of death." The brunette said as she edged away from the bird, involuntarily moving closer to Cassie.

The blonde rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. Don't tell me you believe in superstitions do you? Just touch it, it won't bite."

Suddenly, the injured white raven flies onto Cassie's lap, she was startled at first but when the bird simply rested on her lap, she started to pet it's feathers. Seeing her friend act so calm with the wild animal in her lap, Faye turns to the black raven still awaiting her to pet it. She reaches out and softly pets the bird on the back, it's feathers are like velvet to the touch.

"See? It's not so bad, now is it?" The smaller girl said until suddenly, the bird in her lap lets out a shrill cry and quickly flies away, it's mate does the same and follows suit.

"What was that all about?" She asked until a pair of strong arms reaches around her.

A man dressed in black from head to toe, roughly grabbed her golden tresses and pushes her to the ground as he backhands Faye. The man then pulls out a white cloth and places it to Cassie's mouth and nose, suffocating her. It wasn't until that she managed to get away that Faye sends a vortex of water from the pond tackling him.

It wasn't until another assailant appears and before the brunette is able to register, a shock of electricity courses through her back and she collapses onto the ground.

"Faye!" Cassie screamed, before the two men dressed in black pin her to the ground. The white cloth and the strange scent coming from it fills her nose and soon she too falls unconscious.

Red.

All Thomas could see was red, hell he didn't even need a mirror to know that his face was now marred by a monstrous visage with crimson irises. The face a monster from the depths of Hell itself.

His chest rose and fell rapidly as though he had just run the 100-meter dash, he could hear his heart beat ringing in his ear like an annoying song that just won't leave his mind. Blood covered his beaten body from head to toe, the days old smell of it was beginning to nauseate him; he was ready to succumb to unconsciousness. Nevertheless, he held on.

"Do you like the taste of your own blood?" The livid witch hunter standing before him angrily grasped Thomas' jaw in his hands and forced his face to meet his.

Using what little strength he had, he spit some of the blood that had pooled in his mouth in the witch hunter's face. The witch hunter wiped the blood of his face and punches Thomas square across the face, a grunt rumbles from deep within his throat. There was the sound of a door being thrown open and the witch hunter before him spits at the demon's face before leaving.

In the single window the old room held, he saw that dusk was starting to settle in. Beaten and near blood loss, all Thomas could do was bide time. Hoping he could stay awake or alive, whichever situation presented itself first, long enough to hatch an escape plan.

"Thomas!" Weakly, the demon raises his head at is name being called and sees Lee briskly walk up to him, a wrapped up package in his hands. "I've found it!"

Lee unwraps the package and in the dim lighting of the single faulty light bulb above, a dagger as big as a butcher knife shines. The intricate symbols on the blade indicate that the boy had in fact found the blade he had been searching for all these years.

"Where...was it?" He asked.

"Buried beneath the coven's abandoned house, now you can kill Cassie and destroy the prophecy..." The teen trailed off when the witch hunter's hideout was filled with an unknown presence.

"Well would you look at that?" They Isaac say in a jovial tone, "Bastards finally manage to kidnap all of those damnable witches!"