“We will take no more of your time, dear.” Selene said, and now stood from the table. “We really need to get going. Matters are pressed with time right now, but I do thank you for your help.”
“You did not want any tea before you left? Or some sandwiches? I heard you guys made quite the trip all the way over here. I presume you guys are heading back?”
Food sounded good.
Food always sounded good to Fenrir. His stomach growled loudly at the thought.
“Yeah.” Selene noted, with a grin back at Fenrir. “I think we could use some food to go.”
◆◆◆
Within thirty minutes, Faye had already went inside because the chill was almost too much to bare. They must have harsher winters over here, because at home, she could be sitting outside for hours and hours.
After about an hour of just sitting there on the couch, dozing on and off, the door opened. Her head turned, and her eyes waited to see who was there. “Just hang your coat right here. The woman is mad strict about that.” She heard Roy say. His voice slightly echoed in the entry way.
“Alright.” The door proceeded to shut, and she heard wardrobe being rustled around.
Faye sat there on the couch, bundled up in her blanket, with her feet pressed into the cushions and her knees comfortably up to her chest.
Fen’s dad had finally arrived.
Roy came around that small wall, and he instantly spotted her. “Faye, this is Lothos. Fen’s Dad.”
He came into the living room, where she was, and Lothos appeared behind him. Lothos had hair that she knew once was the color of Fenrir’s dark, jet black hair, only now it had grayed as he aged. He didn’t look that old. He looked almost around the same age of Roy, if not just a tad bit older. His facial hair had more gray in it than the hair on the top of his head.
“Well look who we got here.” Lothos said, in a cheerful manner. It confused the hell out of Faye, because…why hadn’t he given her that look? The look of pure hatred and disgust, that she had been expecting? “Faye right?” Funny thing was, he didn’t even try to notice the obvious look of death all over her face.
But she nodded nonetheless, and gave a weak smile.
Lothos definitely had an accent. It was as southern as it gets, as if he were born bred in the heart of Oklahoma.
“I did just so happen to bring you some things.” Lothos said, and continued to make his way over to where she was sitting on the couch. She made herself sit up for straight, and one of his hands came out. “No no no. You just, sit there and make yourself comfortable. Don’t have to act all proper for old Loth.”
Loth…
What was in a name…?
His other hand came out from behind his back. Many different colored tulips were wrapped up in clear green wrap. She smiled softly. “These are for you milady.” And with that, he laid them right next to her on the couch. She went to reach for them, when she heard a bag rustling about. “I also picked you up some things.” He came closer to her. “I heard you liked to read.” He looked over his shoulder at Roy with a chuckle. “Boy you should have seen the look on the cashiers face when I picked these up.”
Roy shook his head, and actually let out a small laugh. When Faye opened up the sack, sure enough, there were four really decent looking romance novels. Now she could see why the cashier would give him a hard time. Each one had a half naked male model on the covers.
She flushed beet red. “Thank you.” With the bag in her hands, she cradled them to her chest. She was more than thankful for all of these things. Now she had something to keep herself occupied when nobody else was in the house - apart from a sleeping vampire in the back. But why had his dad done something so…tender-hearted? She thought he was going to be…scary.
“I’ll go put these in some water.” Roy said, and Lothos was quick to agree with that. Once Roy was out of the living room though, Lothos settled himself down on the couch with her. He leaned back as if he were comfy and laid back. “So how are ya holdin’ up?”
“I could be better.” She slowly nodded, and fiddled with the edge of the bag. “So you are…Fen’s dad?”
“I sure am.” He had a big smile on his face.
“Fen’s talked a lot about you.”
“Really?” He gave a sarcastic grin. This man reminded her of of Jack Nichols in The Shining. Weird, creepy, yet absolutely hilarious. It made her smile as well. “My. I feel like a celebrity.”
She shook her head, and looked down at the bag. She was still smiling.
Now, finally meeting Lothos, she felt a huge weight being lifted off of her chest. It was one thing that she had dreaded, since the night that she found out he’d be taking a visit here.
“Yo, man. We have a lot of fast food in here if you are hungry.” Roy hollered from the kitchen.
“Meh.” He shrugged one shoulder and sort of sat there as if he were in deep though.
“You want a beer, don’t ya.” Roy said, as if he were reading the old man’s mind. Slowly a grin played on Lothos’ lips. He shot up from the couch and headed straight for the kitchen.
Slowly, Faye gripped the edge of the couch cushions to give her some support to pull herself to the edge. Once she knew she had it, she slowly brought herself up into a standing position. Knees popped, and back ached. As if she really truly was some old-fart.
With her books in hand, she walked ever so slowly back to the bedroom to put her things away. Now that she knew that Fenrir’s father was not as she had expected, she felt like she could relax with ease. Truth be told, she was getting a little bit sick and tired of people treating her like she was a total inconvenience. As if being a human was just the worst thing that could possibly be.
Suddenly, Faye felt like going back to bed.
◆◆◆
“I can’t believe we’ve been driving around for the past hour, and we still have not found this woman’s house.” Fenrir was getting agitated and anxious. He just wanted to get this done and over with, even if it meant there was absolutely no hope.
Such a selfish way to think of things. But he really had no other choice. It was a moment in time, that he would just have to accept his fate.
“Wait. That’s the house.” Sam pointed at a very run down, very old home. The lawn needed some serious maintenance and the house needed a lot of TLC. “Damn.” Sam spoke, and he parked the car. They all looked over at the house in unison, and contemplated on what the hell had happened. “Are you sure anybody lives here? I mean…it looks like it’s practically been abandoned.”
“Well. There’s only one way to find out.” He looked at the house once again. “Wait.” Fenrir said. He caught a glimpse of some form of movement behind a pair of white curtains. “Someone is there. I saw them.” With that said, he practically ripped the seat belt off of him, and stepped out of the SUV.
The rest followed suit, and he did not care to wait and tag along this time. This was the ultimate moment. The moment he would find out his fate. It took him six strides to get to that tiny house, and when he did, he knocked heavily on the door.
It took only a second for someone to get to the door. Fenrir could hear several locks being unlocked, and when it opened, it was only ajar because the chain only allowed it to go so far. Selene spoke through the door. “Are you Sarah Sunstorm?”
“I do not know of anyone by that name.” She said, and went to close the door. Fenrir knew the woman was lying. He could feel her nervousness practically radiating from her body. His hand came out, stopping the door from closing.
“We have something very urgent to ask of you.” He said.
“We are not…fanatics.” Selene stated, coming up closer to the door. The woman - in which her eyes could only be seen because the house appeared to be dark on the inside - eyed the both of them cautiously. “This is a life and death situation here, Miss. Please.”
Hastily, the woman closed the door. When Fenrir thought that she did not care to hear of their problems or to help them in anyway, that was
when he heard the lock sliding out, and the door opened much wider. There, stood a woman who would probably be brushing fifty at most, but she was frail. Her hair had lost it’s life and luster, and her face had fine wrinkles. Her eye lids were darkening, as if she weren’t taking good care of herself, or as if she were deathly ill.
The woman wore a jean skirt, and a matching jean jacket. Her shoes were moccasins. Finally, she turned, and walked straight into the living room. It was that simple of a house. “I do not know why you have come to me. I cannot give you what you need.”
“We understand that. But it is not you we need.” Selene mentioned. They all took a seat on the couches, that were not up to date at all. “Your mother was friends with a woman we just dropped by and seen.”
“And?” She said, and nervously rubbed her hands upon her lap.
“We heard that your mother and yourself are from the line of the Salem’s.”
“So you did come here. As fanatics.” It wasn’t much of a question. She observed as if she were used to this sort of thing.
Fenrir shook his head, coming around the couch. “Look lady. I’m going to be frank with you right now.” He paused a moment, and then began. “We’ve been traveling for nearly a day now, trying to find someone who could help us. We understand that the Salem’s are rare, if not long gone, but you are part of that line, and so was your mother. I’m stuck in a mating process that I can’t allow to happen. And on top of that, my mate is dying, and if she dies, then so will I.”
Suddenly, the woman stood up, and disappeared down a tiny excuse of a hall, and through a door. When she came back, she had a much much bigger book in her hand than that of which the lady before had. “I do not often allow strangers to come into my home. As you can tell...most who come here, know of my family history. And they are skeptics and fanatics who just want a taste of something that they just can’t get. Especially other witches.” She shook her head. “As you know, the Salem’s can manually put the gene within us, when we are born. That is how powerful they are.” She shook her head, set down at the couch, and placed the book upon the coffee table. “My mother never did that with me. She thought it to be unnatural.”
They listened to her carefully, and watched, as she flipped open the cover. Inside, there was…no book really. There was a big square in the center, that someone had put a box inside - more than likely her. She flipped the lid of the box, and pulled out some items. Mostly papers. “I did have…a daughter.” She said, and quickly closed the book. The paper work was laying on top of that book now. “And she had the gene.”
Fenrir swallowed hard and had eyes open wide. He felt…extremely happy. Sam must have picked up on that, because he was really trying to rush this. “Okay, so where is your daughter?”
“That, I do not know.” She spoke truthfully. “When I had her, and come to realization that she was naturally born with the gene…I did not want her in my care.”
“Why not?” Selene asked curiously, with a raised brow.
“Because people know about me.” She nodded her head. “They already expect things out of my family. I did not want that for her. People would, no doubt, abuse that. Not to mention…if one were to find a witch as powerful as she…is supposed to be, things could be just like they were in the fifteen hundreds.”
She had a good point. But could that truly happen?
“I just wanted her to be safe. So. Within that day, I put her up for adoption. From what I heard, she is somewhere in the United States.”
Fuck…He thought to himself. All the way back over there? That just made time completely stand still for him. Time was so precious, and this is what he had realized in the past couple of days, more than anything. “What was her name?”
She looked down at the paper work, and buried within it, is what appeared to be a birth certificate. “Her name was Lilian Sunstorm at the time. But over time, I realized I could no longer find her records. She goes by an entirely different name now, I would imagine.” She shook her head, but then suddenly looked over at the entire group. Her gaze was stern. “I’m going to be honest with all of you. I loved my daughter. More than anything, and I did what was right for her. But if you do anything to put her in harms way…there will no doubt be hell to pay. I want to make myself clear on this.”
“She wont be in any harm. This is for the greater good. This is to save lives.” Selene mentioned. Once again, she pulled out a note pad and a pen. She proceeded to write down the name that was written on that birth form. She also wrote down the date of which she was born, which would make the girl 23.
Fenrir wondered if the girl would even notice she had such power. The girl was literally right at Faye’s age. Selene had quickly asked for a phone number of the woman, in which shockingly, she did have. At this rate, he was wondering why the woman didn’t just disappear off of the face of the planet.
“Wait.” The woman said, when all of them began heading to the front door again. They all turned to look back at her. “When you find her…” She appeared to be pondering how to word what she was about to say. “Will you…tell her about me?”
Any other time, that sounded like the worst idea possible. Selene though, nodded with a warm smile. Her hand reached out, and rested against the woman’s fragile looking arm. “I will most definitely, let her know.”
The woman seemed to be pleased with that, and finally let them go. In the mean time, they knew where they were headed, back to Selene’s house, while Selene did her best work. Research.
◆◆◆
Faye fell to the floor, in the kitchen, after simply placing her clothes in the dryer to warm up a bit before she wanted to take a shower. “Ow!” She hissed in pain. Her hips hurt. Her back hurt. Her knees…did not hurt. Sitting on her bottom, with her back pressed against the now rumbling dryer, she allowed her hands to run over her knees. When she pressed there was…absolutely no feeling, whatsoever. Worry seeped in, as she rubbed at them vigorously. The only feeling in her legs, was halfway up her thigh.
Roy and Fenrir’s father were outside, and she could hear from even where she sat, Lothos’ barreling laughter at something very funny, apparently. But nothing was funny to her. Any other time, she’d probably hear the joke and laugh along with them, but something was wrong now. Something serious. This was serious. She slid herself towards the island in the center of the kitchen, reached up and attempted to pull herself up from one of the bar stools. One leg seemed much more wobbly than the other, yet one leg seemed to at least…try.
She failed miserably. Oh so very miserably.
She fell back to the floor, but her head hit the wooden corner of the counter. The bar stool itself, fell and rolled onto its side.
With hands pressed to the cool tile of the floor, she lifted her head to peer into the living room, and the entry way. It took all of her strength, to put herself back into a sitting position, and scoot back against the counter.
Sweat collected all over her face, and she reached up to press her hand against her forehead. When she brought it down, her hand was covered in blood. “What the hell?” She asked, and looked over at the corner of the counter, where she had hit her head. Touching it indicated just how sharp edged it was. That must have done it.
Suddenly, Roy walked in through the front door. “Faye? You alright?” He called out, attempting to look around that small wall, and into the living room. When he didn’t see her in there, his gaze went to the kitchen, and automatically fell, to where she was on the floor. “Oh shit. Faye.” He made it to her, like the star running back of a football player. “Goddamn it. Faye. What happened?” He dropped down to her level, but not for very long, when he noticed the injury to her forehead. Quickly, he left, and she could hear water running at the sink. No doubt, he was bringing her a wash cloth.
“Tell me what happened?” Are you alright?” He asked, and brought the warm cloth to her forehead. He dabbed at the tender spot repeatedly, until it appeared to be coming clean. “I need to find some bandages, so
that this stops bleeding.” With the cloth pressed firmly to her forehead, he took her own hand, and replaced his with hers. She held it there. “Tell me what happened.” He repeated.
She sat there, and shook her head, looking up at him in disbelief. She wanted to laugh and cry. But the latter suddenly came rushing out. “I can’t even walk. For some reason.” She tilted her head back, leaning it against the cabinet. She let out a tired breath.
“Did you trip?”
She shook her head. “No. It just suddenly happened.”
He muttered a curse word, before coming around to her side, and bringing his arm under her legs. “Let’s at least get you into the living room.” He said, and finally hoisted her up into his arms. “Keep that on your head alright?” With that said, he walked towards the living room, and gently settled her down onto the couch. She leaned into the pillows. “I’m going to try and go find some bandages or something.” He immediately disappeared from the room, going out for his search.
The Call of the Moon Page 17