Giving Carrie a loving kiss and nuzzling their noses pyfully, Cire set Carrie ba her crib and waved her hand so that the infant would rex. “What do you mean? You are a fantastic mother. I am learning from you.” Upon seeing the fused look iher’s chocote eyes, Cire smiled and walked over to Heather. “You’ve never been with another woman, have you?”

  Shaking her head nervously, Heather responded almost in a panio, I didn’t know I was…” She cleared her throat. “Promise me that we will try and it’s just us? I want this for Carrie and myself.”

  “Heather, we will do whatever you are fortable with.” Cire walked behiher and slowly pulled the elder woman into her and ed her hands arouher’s waist once more. “No more magic, your pad I am not leaving no matter what. If anything, I will sleep in the barn forever.” Cire whispered into Heather’s ear. “You and her will have me for as long as you want me.”

  Awash with another small wave of relief, Heather sighed heavily and got fortable on the couch. "Thank you for the lovely kiss and being so uanding, Cire...really." She gnced over at Carrie who'd fallen back to sleep with a few seds of Cire's little wave. "Carrie responds to you well. She also seems to enjoy this pce even if there are ghosts."

  A little frown crossed over Cire's face wheher pulled away and sat down. Digging through the box of Tatum's leftover belongings, Cire found a set of polished wooden hair sticks with fairies imprinted on them and folded her hair up. Once Cire had her hair tucked the way she wanted, Cire turned and faced Heather. "How do I look?" Cire posed for a moment then asked the question on her mind. "You just said ghosts. I doubt you meant those shade things out there...So what happened here? All I ever did was take pictures of the sheer number of people that came to the farm."

  "You look lovely, Cire. I'm not really sure why Dusty picked those up...but you look natural using them." Heather reassured."No, I wasn't talking about the shadewraiths."

  It took a few seds after her pliment of Cire's hair before Heather found her words in order to speak about her time with Denise. "What we did here is a plex set of both good and bad. Illusion and omission.". Heather saw the look of fusion in Cire's eyes. "The illusion ere doing good by hunting vampires. What was omitted was that Denise fed from both. It was only ter that I guessed that 'The Loved One' was in name only."

  "I'm starting to uand, please Heather..." Cire walked over and crawled onto the sofa aed on her knees. "...don't stop."

  "We were doing as good mages should, we hunted our enemy and they hunted us. A very dangerous hunting game, where we were frankly losing." Heather paused, "Then our numbers just spiked. I never knew why or how."

  "Tatum." Cire said solemnly. "Denise and Tatum talked at length when they met. Aside from their small talk, everything they traded was in runes. Tatum put it in the papers, made the fliers, brought the others in." Cire paused and took Heather's hand into her own. "Denise was trapped close to the farm. Tatum did her leg work."

  Weighing what Cire had revealed to her, Heather linked everything she knew in a tidy package and smiled. "I was pletely fooled then. I thought Denise was the ao every vampire. I've not been a fan of them since I saw their queen."

  "Their queen?" Cire shivered. "Denise always talked about someone she loved and missed dearly. It's why she never left the farm...a dy she called...Marion?"

  fused, Heather squeezed Cire's hand, "Wait you just said she was trapped at the farm,not that she wouldn't leave. I was in the barn wheacked that den of sin they called Phantasmagoria. I watched Denise leave with all of her awakened, I was ordered to stay back." Heather sighed, "I don't call that trapped."

  "Phantasmagoria is not far from here, really no further than the diner." Cire shook her head to clear her mind. "No, none of this is important. That's history. What went on here. Everyone knows what happened during the attack..." Cire cupped Heather's cheeks gently, "What happened here?"

  "Yeah, okay." Heather turo kiss both of her new girlfriend's hands. "The ones she awakened worshiped her like a prophet. They were devoted to the point they sacrificed themselves to her. I simply didn't say anything."

  "It's not like you could have stopped it, Heather." Cire took a deep breath and pressed a fiving kiss oher's quivering lips. "So the cover was to kill vampires, but all it really did was increase her power?" She poi the ics upstairs. "None of those that I saw admitted that. I wonder why?"

  "We could alull up the past and look." Heather blurted without thinking about it.

  "I am enjoying the personal touch..." Cire ran her hands over Heather's shoulders massaging out the stress in them. "I know what happened here, I don't know why you came here. You aren't one of her followers, your rune isn't bck reen. Which means Gaia gifted you beforehand."

  "Right after graduation from medical school." Heather purred tently and slowly turned around so her back was fag Cire. "A vampire named Vivienne...she thought I didn't see." Heather ughed, "I almost didn't. Gaia opened my eyes first. Outlihe ones she'd fed from." A tiny cute sound came from Carrie's crib aher smiled at her sleeping daughter. "Anyway, she's this superstar heart surgeon now. It was that disgusting hate that made me seek out Denise. I wao hunt vampires."

  Eager to hear more about Heather, Cire pressed her fingers a little firmer and waited until she felt Heather lose most of her tension aled more fortably into Cire's chest. It was only after hearing the adjoining sigh that Cire spoke. "Did you?" Cire posed and finished her question. "Did you hunt vampires?"

  This was the one question and topic that Heather had avoided for her few years within Denise's little cult. While she felt hatred for vampires like her fellow mages, Heather's passion was in healing, providing relief just like Cire was doing for her. "That is a tough question to e face to face with.". Heather mumbled, her voice full of shame. "No. I've never hunted a vampire. Two reasons really."

  "Oh?" Cire quickly added, “I would love to hear the reasons..." She paused, "Only if you're fortable doing so."

  "No, no...I'm fine." Heather assured Cire and tinued. "First was the most important. Teically I wasn't 'allowed' to be out there unless one of our people was down and uo get back to the farm." Heather half-twisted, "You should have seen me, Cire. I felt like a real bat medic, it ges the way a doctor thinks and acts."

  “I bet it does.” Cire curred. “So we have you here in the barn, or was it the farmhouse itself? I saw quite a few bedrooms that could easily have been hospital rooms.” Cire leaned forward and kissed Heather’s cheek lightly. “I don’t mean to ighe whole field medic thing, but you are already twisted up about this part of the versation…” Cire patted Heather and she turned back around so Cire could keep w on her shoulders and begin w down her back. “...It’s that you tightened up when you came to this topibsp; I offer some support if you want.”