NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23: Unchained Love – Part 7.
Thousands of memories scrolled through Vivienne’s mind. Opportunities that she’d missed along the way, the feeling that she could have loved before. The few faces that stopped to give her consideration, merely floated away having felt like the piece didn’t fit the puzzle. -Mon amour, the puzzle is complete. I am complete.- Vivienne felt the burn in her throat recede when the memory of the bronze bowl touched her lips and she was able to taste and bond with the last vestiges of Faye’s living body. -Love drove us both from dreams into reality.- Dreams and memories stopped passing through Vivienne and she slowly came back to the feeling of Faye wrapped tightly in her arms. “Faye.” Vivienne lightly breathed and brushed the hair from her lover's green eyes. “Mon amour, I am with you.” Vivienne pressed her to Faye’s relishing their softness against her own. “Forever.” Vivienne let herself meld into Faye. “I have been with you, even when you hid behind your glasses but didn’t want to.”
Clutching Vivienne tighter, Faye nuzzled herself between Vivienne’s small bare breasts. “You saw me and I saw you.” Faye turned and kissed Vivienne’s neck gently. “Thank you.”
“I hate to break up the moment.” Casey slowly walked up while rubbing her head. “I feel dizzy and ache all over.” Casey slowly stretched and cracked her neck. “Whatever that last thing she did, I am not able to recover fast. It was like she drained me.”
Faye turned in Vivienne’s arms, keeping the ancient vampire covered by her own body and then looked at Casey. “I felt it as well. I just feel like I used a lot of blood really.”
A light chuckle escaped Vivienne’s lips as she enjoyed Faye’s body blocking her nude form. “Being modest for us both, Mon amour?” Vivienne draped her arms over Faye’s shoulders and pulled her tight. “I will find something to wear.” She kissed Faye’s neck. “That means you have to turn me loose.”
Casey sat down on the corn and tried to rub the ache from her muscles. “I could have sworn I was on to something.” She watched Vivienne start looking around in the barn. “My mother is just like Denise. Obsessed with art. It's both a blessing and a curse.”
Faye admired Vivienne’s nearly bare ass with a sigh, before helping Casey back to her feet. “Help me out with what you are thinking.”
“It is something that I have seen from the few artists I have seen.” Casey hesitated, “I mean there are varying degrees to this, but overall there is always a piece that they create which is the most valuable to them, and would die to preserve it.” She pointed to the barn, “After seeing the studio, I could have sworn we could have used something in there to give us leverage against Denise.”
Faye pointed to the tattered remains of the barn. “Could it have been in there?”
Casey shrugged and kicked a few ears of corn, “No telling at this point. I guess it’s possible.” She paused, “I felt like after seeing and hearing her a bit, I might have gotten a feeling of what it was.” Casey heard a little tweet from a bird and looked up to see a bluejay circling around her and Faye. “Welcome back.”
Flapping her tiny blue and white wings, Sylvie finished her playful circle around the two and then seamlessly shifted from the small bird into her Native American form. “Thank you, Miss Casey.”
“I smell blood.” Faye immediately chimed. “Please tell me that you have it in your pack there.” Faye sniffed the air hungrily.
Nodding and smiling, Sylvie flipped the rucksack from her back and set it on the ground. “Lot’s to go around, Help yourself.”
Casey glared at Sylvie, “You just took off.” she exclaimed in a huff, “While I was talking I might add.”
“I followed these.” Sylvie held out the dog tags she’d found on Captain Kino’s body. “It’s a small but strange story if we still have time.”