41. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Last chapter…

A series of unfortunate events unrolled at The Longhouse, culminating in at least one tragic death…what *was* in that cookie?!

Also Cassie had some emo-teenage moping time about Pili stuff, and Kenza had the least-hot awkward-sex of anyone’s life with the super ungrateful Wes (with extra chafing).

There were 2 sad kittehs weeping for Aten (and possibly Wes’s loss of virtue).

Onward!

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‘Dead…all of them,’ even precocious little Yaretzi, with her bright green eyes and mischievous smile.

‘Such a waste!’  The girl may have been an abomination, but through no fault of her own; why had the Goddess not spared the child?  Caris had been so certain that she would.

The excessive amount of appendages churned in her belly, and she faltered in her steps, barely catching herself from falling.

‘Too soon.’

Was Athena going to claim these ones as well?  It was not near enough their time to be born, the Shaman knew; if they came now, they would likely not live.  Did she want them though, these babes that had been all but forced upon her?

‘They would be useful,’ it was true, as descendants of Queen Bastet, even boys would be a prize worth having.

Caris wondered if she should have stayed at the longhouse; perhaps she should go back.

‘Too much death,’ by the time she’d stumbled out of her room to investigate, the place was a tomb.  The Shaman had always prided herself on being a hard woman, but she couldn’t help the odd feeling of remorse that assaulted her upon witnessing the devastation she’d wrought.

Truthfully?  The woman hadn’t thought it would work at all, half-remembered as it was, from a musty old tome full of what she had once thought to be utter nonsense.  But it had worked, better even, than she’d anticipated.

Caris knew she had created something far worse than she’d intended; it should not have killed the Idiot Prince, nor those who fed upon him…it was supposed to have been a remedy to vampirism!  Where had she miscalculated?

As for the girlchild, how had she fallen?  Yaretzi did not yet feed and had not been given the remedy…did that mean the Shaman herself was at risk somehow?  Her unborn babes began to writhe anew, as if in answer.

Caris: “Goddess, what have I done?”

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Pili: “Tem?”

The woman on the bed turned her head every so slightly in acknowledgement.

Pili: “Tem; Cassie is gone.”

Temulun: “They’re all gone, Pili…just…gone…my babies, m-my…”

Pili: “No, not like beams of light gone, er, well, at least…I don’t think so?”

The Scholar began to weep quietly again; the vampire sighed.

Pili: “I have to go find her, okay?  Nafi and Khep are all tucked into bed; get some rest if you can,” it was some of the saddest shit he’d ever seen; why would the Goddess permit a good woman like Tem to lose so much?  He didn’t want to think badly of Athena or anything, but damn, what the fuck?

The vampire followed the girl’s fading scent out beyond the borders of Osiris; he’d been getting a lot better at smelling people…blood too!  Not that he was going to get some smelling award or anything, but, whatever.

Cassie had definitely been in the pyramid when he’d gone to bed that morning, and she’d probably gotten up with the kids and made them breakfast?  Or maybe not; Nafi was a pretty good little cooker now…so really, Cassie could have split anytime.

Damn; he wished he was better at this kind of stuff; that Totec guy would probably have found her already, or Cassie herself with her ‘perp tracking’ skills.

Pili frowned, “why’d you take off, girl?”

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Corabella: “Dead, I’m afraid,”

Kenza nodded, “did she say anything?”

Corabella: “Nothing that made sense?  I mean she ranted about poisoned vampires, and a little girl…” the red head hesitated.

Kenza: “What is it?”

Corabella: “She also said something about Prince Aten.”

The warden’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline, “there’s a name I haven’t heard in ages; do you think she was just rambling, or–?”

Corabella shrugged, “I’d put my money on ‘rambling’, but I guess you never really know.”

Kenza: “A shame; she was a fine Amazon woman…do you know what killed her?”

Corabella: “She was burning up with some sort of fever, I think it was a taint of the blood?  Those babes in her are long dead; I’m surprised they weren’t expelled from the womb.”

Kenza: “An ugly way to go; burn her as soon as possible, Shaman Caris deserves to be with her Goddess.”

A sudden shriek caught their attention.

Corabella: “Go, bring her this; it should help,” the Artisan offered Kenza a vial.

Kenza: “It’s been 2 days,” the grief was evident in her voice, “Cora, what if she doesn’t make it through this?”

Corabella: “She will, Kenza, the Goddess is with her; now go.”

Kenza hurried away, grief and guilt heavy on her heart.

Corabella: “I’m so sorry, Caris,” she murmured to her friend, “but thank you for coming to us, and bringing us your satchel…your medicines may save the life of a Queen!”

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Cassie was pretty sure her feet had never hurt so much, like, ever; she was so done with walking.

Cassandra: “Fucking hell,” this running away business was not as glamorous as it sounded.

What’s worse, her supply pack was starting to feel unhappily light…had she not packed enough food?  Probably not, ‘I mean, it’s not like I’m some adventure savant or something.’

Out of nowhere, she heard a woman scream and dropped the bag; that was some freaky unexpected nonsense right there!  Who the hell–?  The teen moved toward the sound to investigate.

Up the next hill a small pyramid came into view, all lit up, and someone in there was making no effort whatsoever to contain her caterwauling.  A sudden noise behind her had Cassie spinning on her heel in fright.

Cassandra: “OMFG Pili!  What the fuck?” She gasped, “you scared the ever living shit out of me!”  Also he was probably the least stealthy vampire in the entire history of vampires, but she didn’t mention it.

Pili: “You’re asking me what the fuck?”  He gaped at her, “well what the fuck right back at you girl; you ran away from home.”

Cassie bristled, “you have to be home in the first place to run away from home, dumbass; I just left some place full of people who ignore me.”

Pili: “Yeah, I’m starting to get why some people beat their kids right about now.”

Cassandra: “Motherfucker, I am not your kid!”

She choked back a sob out of nowhere, “I’m not anybody’s kid…”

Pili felt his rage melt into misery in an instant.  Oh Goddess, not the tears…

Cassandra: “You don’t even talk to me anymore!”

Pili: “Shit, Cass, don’t cry…”

Cassandra: “I’ll cry if I want to!  If you didn’t want me to cry you’d t-talk to me once in a while!  I lost all my friends!  And Mrs. Scholar never leaves her r-room, and she won’t talk to me either…a-and that little kid is biting really hard these days!”

Pili: “I’m sorry, okay?”  He sighed, “I didn’t mean to be a jerk, seriously!  I just don’t know how to act around you anymore, you know?”

Cassie hiccuped and stared at him blankly, “huh?”

Pili: “Well, you’re not a kid any longer, now you’re a-a,” he gestured vaguely at her, as if that explained everything.

Cassandra: “A what?”

Pili: “You got stuff now, right?”  He cringed in discomfort, as though admitting something extremely painful.

Cassie glanced down at herself, then fixed him with an incredulous look, “I got boobs so now you’re scared to talk to me?”  She blinked, “but you’re a, you know, glowy-eyed person–how are you scared of teenage girl boobs?”

Pili: “Look, I just–” another shriek pierced the night air, catching them both off guard.

Cassandra: “Where the hell even are we?”

Pili looked over to the pyramid, as if noticing it for the first time, “Apep,” he breathed, “we’re at Apep…” suddenly he squinted, “hey, those bulbs of garlic…do those look like onions to you?!”

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Footnotes:

I didn’t think the confirmation of the off screen man-cave deaths quite warranted a sad kitteh…or the death of everyone’s favourite accidental-mass murdering Shaman (lol).

It’s almost over guise, I promise.

SimFroots: “This next one is a doozy; Happy Simming anyhow though?”