The Death of Suhaylah
The night had been long, exhausting, and full of conflict. She had led the group out against the Misfits. Stabbed, fooled into believing she was on fire, Suhaylah had never expected the fight to come to this conclusion.
"Take me to Kira." Drave demanded again.
The others were looking at her, waiting for her answer. Her eyes were on Ibrahim. He stood unmoved, as if he had not noticed the Gangrel's words. She pulled her eyes away, and nodded.
******A short time later******
Suhaylah stood behind the hand-cuffed Gangrel, paced behind him, as he had his first audience with the Prince.
"Just think," Alex said with a cold smirk, "how much it would hurt Kira if I had to do these things."
The Beast clawed up her throat as she glanced at Ibrahim. Why wasn't he moved? Why did he continue to look impassive, as this Kindred, this man calmly proved his love for his mate by being unmoving in the face of torture. She managed to bring herself down again, then felt the unnatural calm descend upon her as the British Kindred, she couldn't remember his name, spoke to her. Her eyes followed the Gangrel, and the Prince, and she managed to calmly suggest accompanying the man out to the car, to wait for Kira when she returned from the hunt.
Suhaylah, Ibrahim, and Drave waited patiently by the car until the moment they saw Sombra and Kira arrive. She had moved to talk to Kira, following the woman back into the Elysium site and as calmly as possible trying to prepare the Gangrel for what was to come. Kira followed beside her until they came in view of the car and she could see Drave. Ibrahim stood a few feet away.
Suhaylah wept as the two Gangrel embraced. She wept to watch them tenderly speak to one another. She wept to see them weep. Love. They had it, the real thing. The thing that transcended everything else.
Through her tears, she looked at the man that she had once felt her dead heart beat for...and he just looked at her. Impassive. Calm. Unmoved...uncaring. Empty.
A rage that made her see red passed through her eyes, and with a barked order, "Ibrahim, watch them." she had fled. She had walked to the gazebo and begun to sob.
Everything in Suhaylah's life from the time she had found Ibrahim had been for him. She had felt true love for him and he had left her due to her committing amaranth with no conscience. When she found him gone, she had left everything behind to follow him. Suhaylah had left the Mountain, she had joined the Camarilla when she had heard that he was with them. She had turned her back upon the Path of Blood and re-embraced her humanity for him. She had loved him with the passion that can only come from an immortal heart, and he...he had felt nothing. He had been blinded by her blood and nothing more.
It Was A Lie
She had walked back into Elysium a creature defeated. Looking around at the neonates that surrounded her, she found herself hating them for the emotions they still felt so strongly. Mustering up the energy to try, she watched the new Ventrue do his little experiments, and she had made the best decision she could through the fog she was walking in. She had watched as he rather rudely approached Ibrahim, who was furious at the intrusion. In a voice as cold as she could make it, she affirmed that it was her order that allowed the Ventrue to act. And it was, it was not a request. It was an order, and as she stared into Ibrahim's furious, defiant eyes, she willed him to accept it, as if that would somehow make a difference. When he finally stood in a fury, grabbed his coat, and walked away, she felt everything fall apart.
Burnheart sat nearby as she collapsed into a chair. The relentless shink of his sword as he pulled it from the sheathe, then let it drop, became unbearable, and she called the silence around her. Head dropped into her hands, she watched as Wolfgang approached with his little black binder thing, and she knew she had to continue playing along...
****Later that night*****
Suhaylah had made it through the gathering, and was heading back to her Haven... the Haven she had shared with him. She had come outside only to find he had taken the car and gone. It took her an hour or two to get back to the abandoned farmhouse, and when she arrived she fell to her knees in the earth and let out a scream that startled roosting birds into flight.
He had burned it.
He had burned it all. The farmhouse was a smoldering hulk that still glowed. The underground Haven that had been the safest place in Galesburg had been blown out of the ground with the force of the munitions that had been hidden there. Small fires still burned in the grass around the place, but there was not enough of it to create a real hazard. The kine authorities had not yet noticed the place, it seemed, for when she managed to stumble to her feet and examine the wreckage, there was no sign of interference. The entire Haven was destroyed. Her priceless books, the journals in which she had painstakingly recorded the knowledge of Clan, Kindred, and the rest of the secret world were gone forever. The cheaper swords and knives were twisted, melted ruins. The sword she had been presented by the Camarilla, etched with the words, "For Honourable Service" was blackened with the heat.
Ibrahim had destroyed her utterly in this final move. In the vast game that they had played from the night when she had begun hunting him in the wild scrub-lands of the India-Pakistani border, the nights had sped towards this conclusion- Ibrahim had killed her.
With tears streaking down her face at the loss of it all, Suhaylah walked to the tree which Kira had once marked in anger, and dug a small hole. She wiped her blood on the tree, knowing that the Gangrel's keen senses would recognize her smell and unbuckled her belt, sliding the sheathe that held her kukri off of the belt and dropping the priceless, ancient blade into the hole. With one hand, she swept the dirt over the weapon, tamped it down, and wept upon it. Lifting her head, she looked around one last time, then stood and began walking.
*****Monday evening*****
With clever use of her ability to obfuscate the mind, Suhaylah had smuggled aboard a plane to Egypt in the cargo hold, choosing a flight carefully so as to arrive at the beginning of the night. Once she had arrived, she used stealth and supernatural speed to run into the desert.
It had taken hours, but finally the Assamite stood in the desert dunes, staring at the sky that was growing bright in the east. She was too far away from any town to get back to them in time, and the dunes were constantly changing shape beneath her feet with the wind, so there would be no digging to safety. Staring at the empty landscape, Suhaylah took the desert wind deep into her lungs and let it out in a long sigh. The scents were familiar to her as the fingers on her hand, and when she lay down on her back, the feeling of sand shifting beneath her reminded her of the gentle rocking of her long-forgotten mortal mother. Centuries had passed for her, had carried her to every part of the globe that Kindred feet could safely tread, and now she was back where it had all begun- the shifting desert dunes. Calmly planting her sword as deeply as she could so it stood upright beside her, Suhaylah lay quietly, blue eyes clear of tears, and said a soft prayer in Arabic that Ibrahim and the others could one day forgive her. The last sibilant words left her lips as her eyes caught sight of the sun cresting the horizon.
Suhaylah Mahum, born Asmara, allowed the sun to claim her at approximately 6:30am on Monday, April 9, 2007. Truly, though the sun claimed her body, she died of a broken heart.
"Take me to Kira." Drave demanded again.
The others were looking at her, waiting for her answer. Her eyes were on Ibrahim. He stood unmoved, as if he had not noticed the Gangrel's words. She pulled her eyes away, and nodded.
******A short time later******
Suhaylah stood behind the hand-cuffed Gangrel, paced behind him, as he had his first audience with the Prince.
"Just think," Alex said with a cold smirk, "how much it would hurt Kira if I had to do these things."
The Beast clawed up her throat as she glanced at Ibrahim. Why wasn't he moved? Why did he continue to look impassive, as this Kindred, this man calmly proved his love for his mate by being unmoving in the face of torture. She managed to bring herself down again, then felt the unnatural calm descend upon her as the British Kindred, she couldn't remember his name, spoke to her. Her eyes followed the Gangrel, and the Prince, and she managed to calmly suggest accompanying the man out to the car, to wait for Kira when she returned from the hunt.
Suhaylah, Ibrahim, and Drave waited patiently by the car until the moment they saw Sombra and Kira arrive. She had moved to talk to Kira, following the woman back into the Elysium site and as calmly as possible trying to prepare the Gangrel for what was to come. Kira followed beside her until they came in view of the car and she could see Drave. Ibrahim stood a few feet away.
Suhaylah wept as the two Gangrel embraced. She wept to watch them tenderly speak to one another. She wept to see them weep. Love. They had it, the real thing. The thing that transcended everything else.
Through her tears, she looked at the man that she had once felt her dead heart beat for...and he just looked at her. Impassive. Calm. Unmoved...uncaring. Empty.
A rage that made her see red passed through her eyes, and with a barked order, "Ibrahim, watch them." she had fled. She had walked to the gazebo and begun to sob.
Everything in Suhaylah's life from the time she had found Ibrahim had been for him. She had felt true love for him and he had left her due to her committing amaranth with no conscience. When she found him gone, she had left everything behind to follow him. Suhaylah had left the Mountain, she had joined the Camarilla when she had heard that he was with them. She had turned her back upon the Path of Blood and re-embraced her humanity for him. She had loved him with the passion that can only come from an immortal heart, and he...he had felt nothing. He had been blinded by her blood and nothing more.
It Was A Lie
She had walked back into Elysium a creature defeated. Looking around at the neonates that surrounded her, she found herself hating them for the emotions they still felt so strongly. Mustering up the energy to try, she watched the new Ventrue do his little experiments, and she had made the best decision she could through the fog she was walking in. She had watched as he rather rudely approached Ibrahim, who was furious at the intrusion. In a voice as cold as she could make it, she affirmed that it was her order that allowed the Ventrue to act. And it was, it was not a request. It was an order, and as she stared into Ibrahim's furious, defiant eyes, she willed him to accept it, as if that would somehow make a difference. When he finally stood in a fury, grabbed his coat, and walked away, she felt everything fall apart.
Burnheart sat nearby as she collapsed into a chair. The relentless shink of his sword as he pulled it from the sheathe, then let it drop, became unbearable, and she called the silence around her. Head dropped into her hands, she watched as Wolfgang approached with his little black binder thing, and she knew she had to continue playing along...
****Later that night*****
Suhaylah had made it through the gathering, and was heading back to her Haven... the Haven she had shared with him. She had come outside only to find he had taken the car and gone. It took her an hour or two to get back to the abandoned farmhouse, and when she arrived she fell to her knees in the earth and let out a scream that startled roosting birds into flight.
He had burned it.
He had burned it all. The farmhouse was a smoldering hulk that still glowed. The underground Haven that had been the safest place in Galesburg had been blown out of the ground with the force of the munitions that had been hidden there. Small fires still burned in the grass around the place, but there was not enough of it to create a real hazard. The kine authorities had not yet noticed the place, it seemed, for when she managed to stumble to her feet and examine the wreckage, there was no sign of interference. The entire Haven was destroyed. Her priceless books, the journals in which she had painstakingly recorded the knowledge of Clan, Kindred, and the rest of the secret world were gone forever. The cheaper swords and knives were twisted, melted ruins. The sword she had been presented by the Camarilla, etched with the words, "For Honourable Service" was blackened with the heat.
Ibrahim had destroyed her utterly in this final move. In the vast game that they had played from the night when she had begun hunting him in the wild scrub-lands of the India-Pakistani border, the nights had sped towards this conclusion- Ibrahim had killed her.
With tears streaking down her face at the loss of it all, Suhaylah walked to the tree which Kira had once marked in anger, and dug a small hole. She wiped her blood on the tree, knowing that the Gangrel's keen senses would recognize her smell and unbuckled her belt, sliding the sheathe that held her kukri off of the belt and dropping the priceless, ancient blade into the hole. With one hand, she swept the dirt over the weapon, tamped it down, and wept upon it. Lifting her head, she looked around one last time, then stood and began walking.
*****Monday evening*****
With clever use of her ability to obfuscate the mind, Suhaylah had smuggled aboard a plane to Egypt in the cargo hold, choosing a flight carefully so as to arrive at the beginning of the night. Once she had arrived, she used stealth and supernatural speed to run into the desert.
It had taken hours, but finally the Assamite stood in the desert dunes, staring at the sky that was growing bright in the east. She was too far away from any town to get back to them in time, and the dunes were constantly changing shape beneath her feet with the wind, so there would be no digging to safety. Staring at the empty landscape, Suhaylah took the desert wind deep into her lungs and let it out in a long sigh. The scents were familiar to her as the fingers on her hand, and when she lay down on her back, the feeling of sand shifting beneath her reminded her of the gentle rocking of her long-forgotten mortal mother. Centuries had passed for her, had carried her to every part of the globe that Kindred feet could safely tread, and now she was back where it had all begun- the shifting desert dunes. Calmly planting her sword as deeply as she could so it stood upright beside her, Suhaylah lay quietly, blue eyes clear of tears, and said a soft prayer in Arabic that Ibrahim and the others could one day forgive her. The last sibilant words left her lips as her eyes caught sight of the sun cresting the horizon.
Suhaylah Mahum, born Asmara, allowed the sun to claim her at approximately 6:30am on Monday, April 9, 2007. Truly, though the sun claimed her body, she died of a broken heart.