Can feel it like a fire in my blood Who: Faith and Mrs. Lademann (NPC) Where: Her home When: 2:00 a.m. or so
Faith was dying.
Okay, that may have been an exaggeration, but it seemed perfectly reasonable and well-thought out when one took into consideration what Faith was currently going through. How many people in the world could say that they had stretched out on their couch - because the bed was too far away and she doubted she could climb into it - after getting bit by a poisonous lamiae whose snake form had to be some sort of a rattlesnake without going to the hospital? Faith was pretty sure that the answer was no one. And if anyone else had done it then she was also pretty sure that they would end up dead. Now she knew, quite well, that she was not going to die from that bite she had gotten from that snake the previous night, but that did not mean that it was lacking in pain. It was actually really very painful and it felt like fire was slowly burning her up from the inside out. The worst part was where she had been bitten. Faith was used to her wounds healing fairly quickly, but with a snake bite it was always a little harder. Her natural ability to heal fast was trying to keep up, but it was a little hard when the venom was countering it by thinning out her blood.
Sometimes Faith wished that she had gone into a different field so that she did not have to know exactly what the venom was trying to do to her insides. But only sometimes. Usually right after she had gotten bitten by a lamiae. Like now. Regular snakes could be bad, yeah, and that taipan bite was still one of her worst memories, but lamiae were just that bit worse. They were bigger for one and that meant they just had more venom and form two it was just downright weird to get bitten by snake fangs when the thing attached to the other side happened to look really very human. Except for the tail in place of legs, the scales and the funny eyes of course. "I'm thinking too much. Not enough? No, too much." Faith really wished that she could have risked going to the hospital, or even her lab at the university, for some sort of anti-venom, but she just knew how bad that would be for her. Police would find that body come morning and they would no doubt be looking for people who had been administered with large snake bites. Plus she wanted no record of her taking any anti-venom near the same time as that event. Not connecting herself to what people might consider a crime - she considered a service to humanity and just plain good times - was the better way to go.
Even if it meant that she needed to suffer the consequences. This right here was yet another reason why she needed, yes needed, Frankie with her. With the other were there she may have never gotten bitten, and if she had then Frankie could have helped her out with getting through suffering the after-effects that made her wish she could change form and just curl up in a ball. But that would have been an even worse idea than just taking a lamiae on without knowing the area, him or really anything about what she was going to do. This body could handle that amount of venom. Her mongoose form? No way, far too small for what was racing around in her veins right now in an attempt to ruin her body from the inside out. More than a little part of her wished that she had Frankie there to hold her, stroke her hair and assure her that of course she was going to be just fine. She had lived through worse than this and by tonight she would be able to make them dinner. Or maybe lunch time if she was lucky. Except no one was doing any of that because the only other living thing in the house was Sonic. While he could nuzzle up to her neck and make his little whuffling noise it was just not the same. That and she was pretty sure that he was fast asleep inside of his cage for once and like hell she was going to let him out so that he could make mischief while she was out of commission and unable to stop him.
Just as she thought that she was going to be able to drift off to sleep, Faith heard her phone go off. She was one of those people who gave specific ringtones to all of the important people so she knew who it was without reaching for it. And while she was not answering Frankie's calls, and had not been for a few days, there was no reason to punish Mrs. Lademann for her daughter's bad behavior. Groaning, Faith reached behind her head and groped around on the side table until her fingers closed over the phone. Bringing it down next to her head she hit 'accept' and then 'speakerphone' so that she could drop her arm back down. "Two in the morning, mom, really?" She had been calling Frankie's mom that since the second day she had met her, at the older woman's firm insistence.
"Oh is it that early? I forgot about the time difference." That happened often enough that Faith believed her. "You don't sound so good, sweetheart, are you okay?" Oddly, it was comforting just to hear that familiar accent that she was used to getting every day courtesy of Frankie.
No. I got bit by a lamiae and your daughter still isn't here. How do you think I am? "Took on a lamiae. It got my arm." All she wanted to do was roll over and try to sleep, knowing that was the best way to recover even if she could only sleep for little bits before the pain drove her back awake, but she had never once hung up an Aleida and she was not going to start now. The woman was too nice for that even if there was a perfectly good reason.
The radio silence she got made her think that maybe she should not have said that. "Are you in the hospital?"
Faith snorted, and regretted it when her throat put up its objections. It took her a moment before she could managed to say anything, a moment in which multiple 'are you okay's?' came across the line. "Can't go to the hospital or they'll figure out it was me."
"But you're going to be okay?"
"Totally. Don't worry about it, mom, I've lived through worse. Remember when that inland taipan got me? That was sheer hell, this isn't anything compared." Her body was arguing with that statement and she arched her back as a shudder ran down her spine. Curling up was a very good idea and she did that, phone nestled near her head so she could still hear and speak. The last thing she needed to do was freak Aleida out. Then she would call her mom and Faith knew that woman well enough to know that she would be on the next flight out of New Mexico.
"Yeah, but isn't it worse when it's a lamiae? They're much larger."
"More venom, yeah, but it was just some sort of rattlesnake. Judging off the pattern-" Faith had to stop talking when her body stiffened again, biting at her lip hard enough that she tasted blood. Great, now that was going to take something like a normal amount of time to heal too. "I'm going to say it's a massasauga, eastern. I think maybe two people have died from bites without attention. And they weren’t like me.” That had to be added before a freak-out happened since she was not getting medical attention.
A pause. Faith was almost certain she knew what was going to be said next before it happened, and yep there it was. “Have you told Frankie?”
Faith’s fingers tried to squeeze together, but it did not work all that well. “No.”
“Faith...”
“Why would I?” There was a petulant note to her voice, like a child who was sulking over something.
“Have you talked to her at all lately?”
Faith shook her head before realizing that was not really giving an answer since Aleida could not actually see her. “No.” A long silence. “I’m mad at her; I don’t want to talk to her right now.” Partially true and also partially a lie. She was mad at Frankie and she did not want to talk to her, but at the same time she really did. She was only so mad at her because she missed her after all. “Silent treatment won’t work on me, I’m not calling her.”
“Would you answer if she called?”
“No.” It was hard, but she had managed to not automatically answer the phone every time she heard the familiar tone. Oh she still picked her phone up and stared at it, but she did not answer. Faith had always been better at self-control than Frankie. "I text her every time she leaves a voicemail to let her know I got it, so I'm not totally ignoring her, I just... can't talk to her." Faith highly doubted there was anytime she wanted to have this conversation less than right now when she was lying on the couch doing her best not to let her human side tell her that oh yes, she was going to be dead by the time the sun came up.
There was that heavy sigh that she had not heard too many times, but she definitely knew. "Faith, you know that I love you... and you know that Frankie does too. You just, you know how she can be."
"And you know that's why I'm worried. Mom, you know I love you, but this isn't what I want to talk about right now."
"She's got to be so worried about you."
"Yeah, well, she knows I'm not dead. And where I am. That last bit's more than I can say about her." Another spasm made her go rigid and she completely missed what was said. "Sorry, missed that. My body's sort of freaking out right now."
"Do you need to go?"
"No... I don't know, it's been forever since this happened." It happened a lot less often with Frankie there. Two were's going after the same target made it way easier for both of them to avoid getting bitten. "I'm not scared because I'm going to be fine, I just don't like it. That's all. I should sleep."
"Then you go sleep. But call me and let me know that you're okay. Or I'll call you." A pause. "And your mother."
Faith winced. "Low blow."
"Well, she can get there easier than I can get here."
"I don't need either of you here."
"I know, I know. You need Frankie."
"I didn't say-"
"Don't have to, I know it's true. I'm going to tell her what happened to you."
"Mom, you don't-"
"Still going to."
"No, really, she doesn't need to-"
"Go to sleep, take care, call me, and we love you." Before Faith could insist that she not tell Frankie, the line went dead. She could have called her back, but something told her it would be a pointless argument. Plus she did not want to expend the extra effort of punching the numbers in or even just scrolling through her contact list to find the right 'mom'. Rolling onto her stomach, Faith pressed her face into her pillow and tried to ignore the pain.
God, she needed to get better at watching their mouths when they were in their death throes instead of just getting that rush out of the look in their eyes. "Or," she told the pillow, voice muffled even to her ears. "I just need to stock the anti-venom." Yeah, that, she was going to start doing that somehow. But right now she was just going to pass the hell out and not wake up for at least twelve hours.