Vivienne

Crunching sounds of snow, sand and rock echoed from Vivienne’s boots as she slowly walked into the light green glowing tunnel. “Alas, Casey I am not fond of this approach either.”  Vivienne remarked and felt that the mist itself could collapse on her at any time. “You two be careful and be prepared to dart out at the first sign of trouble.”  Vivienne slowly picked up her pace and followed the open path nearly to the farmhouse.  “Mon amour, we are so close that I am sure you can hear me.”  Vivienne turned around and saw Casey and Sylvie a few steps behind. “I..we are coming for you, Faye.  Just hold out a bit longer.”

Taking a few more snow laden steps, Vivienne stopped when she felt a change in air.  Spinning quickly, Vivienne saw that the pathway back to the street had become blocked by the fog.

“I shouldn’t be shocked by the stupidity of you blood suckers anymore.”  Raollet’s slowly whispered from all angles of the soupy mist. “Just a few hours ago, I had the blessing of watching your creations melt and cry in much the same way.”  His disembodied voice called out. “The great queen is all alone.”  Raollet chuckled, “I can’t let you blood thieves stay as a group, what fun would that be?”  He laughed and the voice seemed to fade back into the fog.

“Viv?”  Casey hastily called out in front of her. “I am alone in this box.”

Sylvie glanced around her as well. “I can go left or right.”  Sylvie saw the wooden fence come into view on her right, “The right side looks more open than the left, but that is where the stink that made Casey sick came from.”

Vivienne felt the fog start creeping up behind her. “I am being pushed forward.”  Vivienne turned to the side and started walking so she could keep the cloud behind her in view as she pressed further up the pathway. “I see four directions now.”  Vivienne figured out instantly what was happening. “We’ve been entered into a maze.” Hearing the corn stalks start to waiver in the light foggy breeze, Vivienne weighed the different paths into the field. “Casey.”  Vivienne’s voice took on its controlling tone, “Do not panic.  Think about your decisions.  Fear is not an option, my ward.”

“Fear is not an option.”  Casey affirmed what Vivienne had said. “No panic.”  

Satisfied that Casey was comfortably numb to the predicament that the three were in, Vivienne stood and looked at the four openings. -You know there is no safe passage-  Vivienne told herself, and decided that the obvious way to the barn would be the longest and most treacherous. “Going to the far left path, deeper into this cornfield.”  Vivienne announced to her two companions.

“I only have one direction, Viv.  It is leading me to the farmhouse.”  Casey mentioned and started down the path that opened gently before her. “The mist is keeping about a five foot box around me.  As I move forward, it closes.”  Casey felt a cold shiver travel the length of her spine when a tree branch scraped against the siding of the house. “I don’t think I want to know what is in this house.”

Sylvie snorted and took the path away from the fence. “Perhaps it is a nice glass of peach tea.”  She tied her silky black hair up in a knot and walked parallel to the house. “I can see you, Casey.  Look to your left.”  Sylvie waved to Casey when the young ward turned in her direction. “On second thought..”  Sylvie pursed her lips in moderate confusion, “Don’t drink the tea…now how do I get to you?”

Inherently knowing that the path she was on took her further from her partner, Vivienne felt her hand start to twitch much as it had when she was trying to save Faye from the torture that Drake had inflicted on her. Vivienne felt her chest begin to ache and she stopped walking long enough to clench her fists in frustration. “I feel you so close.  Talk to me mon amour.”  

“Touching.”  Raollet’s voice teased from all directions. “Look at the great creator, the big queen.  Reduced to begging in a cornfield.”  Raollet laughed again, “Now you know what your kind has done to us.  Loss and agony.”

Vivienne pushed the ache in her heart back and thought about Faye’s tiger green eyes as they stared up in wonder.  She felt her hand stop shaking and was able to ignore the voice calling from the vile cloud. “Mon amour.”  Feeling better as the two little words as they escaped her lips, Vivienne kept walking through the densely packed cornrows.

When hissing sounds started, Casey stopped walking. “What in the…”  Corn all around the small box the ward was trapped in started to burn and start popping.  Casey gracefully moved to avoid the green tinged kernels as they fell into her little square. “Buried in corn?”  Casey muttered and kicked what she could out of her little zone. “Ugh, the smell.”  Casey held her breath and walked to the front step of the house where the fog lifted enough to reveal the porch itself.  Two oak rocking chairs slowly creaked with the light wind that moved the mist away. “I am on a porch.”

“Can you go inside?”  Sylvie asked as she jogged the open path for her. “I don’t like this at all.”  Sylvie slowed her pace then stopped and frowned. “My little trail here seemed to just open up.  I’m coming back.”  Sylvie made her way back to where she’d waved at Casey a few seconds before. “Casey..do..!”  Sylvie nearly screamed.

Shrugging and walking to the front door, Casey pulled open the screen door and reached for the knob.  When the door opened before she could grasp the brass handle, Casey looked up and into a set of eager and hungry eyes. “Brian.”

Vivienne heard the surprised tone come from her ward, “Brian?  Casey, I would advise not to…”  She stopped mid sentence as the small path in the corn opened to a large crop circle with a pile of dead cows and sheep in the center, pulsing with the green mist.  Vivienne walked into the fair sized ring of broken stalks just as another feminine figure appeared from the opposite side of the mist. “It would appear that I have company as well.”