sanctifieddream

Late Wednesday, a new Mercedes rolled into the driveway of Faith's home. Out stepped Faith, paler than normal, and Cassandra. The vampire continued into the house as the ghoul gathered luggage from the trunk. She gazed blankly at the foyer of the house, not noticing its elegant furnishings or the pile of mail sitting on the entrance table. She paused for a moment, then made her way upstairs to her room.

Shedding her deep red blouse and black slacks, she climbed into the bathtub, pouring rose-scented bath oil into the running water. A small sigh escaped from her pale lips, a sigh that quickley turned into a choked-back sob. She lay back in the water, letting her memories of that weekend well up in her mind. The plane ride to the Cardinal's estate, Teirnan waking him... the fight between Puck and Shin. His death. The scene replayed over in her mind again. John-Michael shooting him in the back of the head, Shin crumpling to the floor, once again in torpor. Teirnan handing her the sword. "This will stregnthen your faith, my child."

Faith stepped out of the bath, drying herself off with a large towel, shaking her head to stop the thoughts. I just want to forget it all, she thought. But I cannot. I never will. The guilt and pain will stay with me for centuries... it seems God has dealt me another curse to live with.

A hesitant knock on the bedroom door shook her from her thoughts. "Que-ce que c'est, Cassandra?"

The door opened, and the ghoul appeared, looking frightened. She held out a letter. "This came for you in the mail, my lady."

Faith took the letter, read the return address. A letter from Shin, written when he was last in Japan, judging from the post mark. The last shreds of her control failed as she dropped the letter, her legs giving out beneath her. The ghoul barely caught her mistress' body as the vampire began crying again, sobs shaking her body. Mumbled words, mixed French and Japanese, could be heard, but the ghoul could not make any sense of them. Unable to think of anything to do, Cassandra held the crying vampire until the sun rose above the horizon, sending Faith into a troubled death-like sleep.