Vivienne

“You already owe me a story about a key or something.”  Casey offered and crossed her arms defensively. “Yet you went and flittered off before you finished that.”  Casey wiggled one of her hands like a little bird flying off. 

Faye turned in a circle looking around at the edges of the woods that surrounded the farm. “You know, Vivienne forgets what she is going to say as well.” Faye stopped turning and pointed across the street.  “I hate to be the bearer of bad news..”  Faye reached for her second bag of blood and drained the contents dry, licking her lips afterward. “..But I think the witch went that way.”

“Please, my love.  Refrain from telling our friends that I have issues with recollection.  I am very aware of the conversations we have had.”  Vivienne calmly called out with her light accent from within the barn. “What is surprising is that you haven’t figured out that I answer questions put to me in my own way and in my own time, Faye.”

Sylvie followed Faye’s finger and laughed, “I think that is the section of woods where Vivienne charmed the dog.”

Casey and Faye started giggling and looked at the barn  as Vivienne spoke. “I would prefer  we not speak about that little song and dance.  I assure you the dog is resting comfortably.”

Walking down the path towards the street, Faye looked over her shoulder to the others. “You were saying key?”

Following suit, Sylvie first picked up the rucksack and then trudged down the rocky path in pursuit of Faye. “Oh, right.  The key.”  Sylvie giggled, “That is easy.  You heard the explosions, right?”

“Who didn’t?”  Faye responded.

Casey wrapped her arms through Sylvie’s and kept pace, “Um, why are we leaving without Vivienne?”  Casey looked back at the barn when she heard a few pieces of wood breaking. 

“I am aching to hunt something since I have been laying in place getting somewhat abused for the last few hours.”  Faye marched to the edge of the woods and sniffed the air before crossing into the darkened forest. “Besides, the faster we catch up to her, the better.”  She looked back at the other two women following her. “Let’s not give Denise time to recuperate.”

Sylvie stopped for a moment and took both of Casey’s hands into her own. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”  Her irises phased into half-moons when she continued. “First, the key and string..that was an indication of electricity.”  Sylvie hopped in place playfully for a moment, “That was how I knew how to use the cluster bomb thing.”

Faye traversed through the trees not leaving a sound as she passed, “That is a strange gift, it would drive me crazy.”  Faye turned as soon as she heard crunching of leaves and sticks behind her. “Casey, you are like a herd tramping through here.  Be a little more quiet.”  She winked and smiled.

Pulling her hands free from Sylvie’s light grip, Casey looked up at the sky and started rubbing her temples lightly trying to fend off the growing headache she was getting. “Unreal.”  Taking a deep breath, Casey stopped short of screaming at her two companions. “How the hell are any of us not batshit crazy right now?”  She stomped her foot and then pointed behind her, “Bombs, strange bubble white stuff, a fucking honest to god necromancer just tried to kill us with walking dead..”  Casey started breathing faster and her comments came out faster, “..Vampires fly away and come back, blood in tow..”  Casey stumbled and leaned against a tree for support. “..You three, meaning Vivienne included are acting like it’s a normal fucking afternoon in the park.” Sliding down the length of the tree, Casey slowed her breathing and tried to calm down. “Human?  Is it because I am the only living person among us?”  She wiggled her finger, “A dangerous situation, I am aware.”  She started tapping on her ample chest. “Painfully aware that I could be early morning breakfast.”

“Drama queen.”  Faye laughed and kept her steady pace through the tall pines. “My motive is good old-fashioned revenge.”  Faye deftly marched past a low branch and continued, “When I used to do my whole Cyberlily thing, I would get angry and then I would calm down.”  She stopped and looked up at the stars to get her reference point before she kept walking. “Then I would design the means to overcome what my opponent had created.”  Faye pointed in the distance, “If what I saw on that T.V. was right, then we have about a mile or so remaining before the mine entrance.”  Faye heard a small creek and kept to the left, “God knows I love having my memory back, stay to the left here and we follow the creek.”

Squatting down beside Casey, Sylvie gave the young woman a brief hug. “I didn’t think about how this would look to you, Sorry.”  Gripping Casey’s hand once more, Sylvie continued. “When I flew off, it was because I knew we needed blood.”  Sylvie stopped and pondered momentarily, “I mean I knew I needed it, I also needed more clothing.”  She pointed at her new set of military clothing, complete with green and beige digital camouflage. “You didn’t even ask where my dress was.”  Sylvie added, giggling lightly.

“Sorry.”  Casey muttered and leaned against Sylvie resting her eyes. “I have been a bit preoccupied given Denise just had me pretty much frozen on some loveseat, then tried to kill me.”  Casey sighed, “I apologize for not noticing that you’d joined the army.”  Poking at Sylvie’s cargo pocket on her pants, Casey added, “The dog tags?  You were going to tell us about the tags?”

Sylvie stood up and pulled Casey to her feet and pointed to Faye who was fading in the distance. “Yes, I will.  We have to keep up with her though.”

Sighing as she walked, Casey nodded. “I was comfy, damn it.”  Casey raised her voice a  bit so Faye was sure to hear it. “We should wait for Vivienne, you know.”

“She can track us easily enough.”  Faye’s answer lightly echoed off the trees. “It’s also keeping my mind off the fact she is naked and I can’t get her image out of my mind.”  Faye felt a little twinkle-twinge pulse from between her legs. “It is taking all that I have not to go back and jump all over her.”  Suddenly overwhelmed with the scent of rosemary, Faye stopped marching and doubled over like she was in pain.  Images of Vivienne’s sculpted legs flexing and relaxing as she walked in the high-cut white thong made Faye reach out and grip a pine tree until the bark and wood shattered in her hands. -Have mercy.  I can see her and feel her now.-  Desperately trying to fight the erotic heat swelling within her, Faye pushed herself hard from the tree and resumed marching.  Walking oddly for a time so she could attempt to dry the wetness that had covered her inner thighs, Faye barely registered that the tree had snapped and crashed with a loud bang.

“How’s about keeping the noise down, Faye.”  Casey laughed then turned to Sylvie. “I think we all know what just happened to Faye.”  Casey touched her nose and then winked at Sylvie. “So you were going to tell me the story?  I need the distraction to keep me sane.”

Reaching into her pants pocket, Sylvie pulled the small metal tags free and dangled them. “I picked them up just before we finished things with Brian.”  Sylvie shrugged, “I didn’t know what they meant at the time so I just wrapped them around my wrist.”  Flicking her wrist and hand, the tags circled and tightened around Sylvie’s wrist and she palmed them. “You headed up towards the barn and I flew off.”

“Yes.”  Casey sarcastically commented, “You mentioned it was a blood thing before.”

Nodding in agreement, Sylvie picked up the pace so they two would eventually catch up to Faye. “My initial thought was to head to the closest hospital and raid their trauma reserves.”  Whirling her finger to simulate an emergency light, Sylvie took a breath and kept talking. “The closer I got to Petersburg the more lights I saw.  The effects of the attack were still being dealt with.”

“That bad huh?”  Casey quipped.

Nodding in agreement as her eyes shifted to the blackness of a new moon, Sylvie squeezed Casey’s hand tight. “The fallout from it will be monumental.”  Sylvie stopped for a split second looking into the distance, then shook herself free. “Anyway, I knew that going anywhere near a facility in the city would likely be overrun.”  She flipped the tags from her hand once more, “So I remembered the small base on the outskirts of town, Fort Gregg.”

Raising one of her light brown eyebrows and shaking her head, Casey responded, “I don’t know what you are talking about, I don’t know the area really.”

Sylvie laughed, “That’s fine, it's all just part of the story anyway.  The important thing is to know I went to the base.”  She tugged on her own clothing. “I knew from just basic conversations that the base is a quartermaster school, so while I was searching for blood, I knew I could also find clothing to wear.”  Catching the scent of lilies mixed with chai, Sylvie pointed in front of her. “We are almost to Faye.”  She paused, “I found a small warehouse that had most anything you’d need to outfit a soldier.”  She pointed to her boots. “I quickly grabbed things I knew would fit myself and Vivienne, then headed out of the building.”

“That doesn’t resolve the blood?” Casey added.

Sylvie chuckled and slowed down to match Faye’s pace. “No, it doesn’t.  But this does.”  She pointed to the name on the tag, ‘Kino’. “Imagine my surprise that the street I was standing on was named Kino Way.”

Faye stopped walking and looked at the elder vampire. “You have got to be kidding me.”  She shook her head in disbelief. “Again, that would drive me crazy.”

“Oh, it gets better.”  Sylvie quickly added and nudged the group forward. “I followed the sign for the hospital and found that it was nearly empty and who it was named after rooted the feeling in stone.” 

“Which was?”  Casey asked.

Sylvie dropped the dog tags on the ground and kept walking, “The Reverend Derek Kino Memorial Hospital.”