Chapter Five - Part Three

She smiled at me from thin lips that were fuller when she was being honest, and when she took my hand, her grasp was the least sincere of the bunch.

"Naomi, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." Sofia said, in her soft, slightly Spanish lilt. "What a sacrificial choice you have made allowing Mr. Raines to become your Champion. Your grandfather has much to be proud of."

"Thank you." I replied steadily, but feeling sick. "That's what it's all about right? Making sacrifices." I said this last word with a sharp glance at Ethan, but he was paying me no mind. Instead, he stood off to the side, speaking animatedly with his father. They were ecstatic. In fact, I could feel Ethan's joy radiating a little more with each word.

"To be Supernatural is a sacrifice all in itself." Sofia purred. "And though it pains me to say it dear, not all of us have the stomach for it - and you happen to be looking very green right now..."

The look that Sofia gave me was significant enough to cause my grandfather to look, pointedly, the other way.

"Well, I may have grown up around humans, Sofia, but I'm still cut from the same cloth as everyone here." I said, giving her a stony smile. "I appreciate the concern though."

Sofia then offered me an elegant smile and a nod before mutely taking her leave. And as I watched her go, I wondered if the Leadership would be big enough for both of our attitudes.

"This may take some adjusting for the other Leaders, Naomi." said my grandfather, quietly. "I created the Leadership after your father died, so we're all still new to this. But as long as you put your best foot forward, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a way to win over the other Leaders - and you can start tonight."

"Um, tonight?" I repeated, experiencing awful cotton mouth, as the world tilted slightly.

"Yes, tonight." Charles replied, smiling amiably at a group of Pack members strolling by. "The Leadership always has dinner together after Pack meetings - it's a kind of unspoken tradition.

Over my grandfather's shoulder, I could see Ethan and his father staring at me. Mathew Raines beamed at me with all of this horrible, horrible expectation, while his son merely stood beneath his arm, looking guilty as sin. And my stomach rolled like the seas as I felt Ethan's overwhelming remorse in my heart.

I was going to be sick, I knew it.

"Uh, I can't, I'm sorry." I said, daintily mopping my forehead with my sleeve. "I... I kind of already made plans."

"You 'kind of' made plans?" He said in quiet severity. "Naomi, tonight you made history. And you took on a role that many of your kind would die for. This Pack expects reliability from you. And part of that commitment lies in being a team player... Naomi?"

"I'm sorry, Charles." I said, snapping back to attention. "I have to go."

And before my grandfather could further protest, I hurried from the stage and charged through the warehouse to escape from the Garou.

* * *

Somehow, I managed to stumble my way to a secluded clump of bushes, where I could vomit privately. With my hands grasping my knees, I allowed the food and liquid I had consumed throughout the day to make their way up in force.

"You're doing fine, Naomi. Just breathe through it - let it all up." said a kind, familiar, voice.

I retched and coughed more, gagging until I felt warm, comforting hands fall on my back. But I shrugged them off and lurched away, knowing that it was Ethan.

Breathless, I sagged against a tree, wiping sweat and tears from my face.

"I think you're experiencing vertigo." he said, looking for all the world as if he wanted to be closer to me, but not daring. "It happens to some people after they've gone through the ceremony." he continued. "I read in this book about how exchanging pieces of your soul can really fuck with your inner ear for a while..."

"How could you do this to me?" I said, through gritted teeth, before rinsing my mouth with saliva, and spitting. I was still shaking.

"Look, Naomi, I knew that if I told you the truth about what the Champion's bond would do to us, you wouldn't have agreed to it." Ethan answered, trying his best to be soothing. "But I want you to know that it kills me now, realizing I did it this way. I'm so sorry."

"So that's it?" I said, looking back at him, incredulous. "You think an apology is supposed to fix what you've done?"

"Naomi, we can get through this - it doesn't have to be the end of the world. All we have to do is take it one day at a time. You'll be ok -"

"Are you serious?!" I cried, forgetting the vertigo in my anger. "I've got pieces of you floating around in my head, Ethan! So you tell me, how are things ever supposed to be ok again?"

There was silence a Ethan turned his face away from me, closing his eyes and biting his lip as he dealt with his own suffering.

"Just tell me one thing, Ethan." I said, softly. "Did you do this just to get back at me in some sick, twisted way for what happened last night?"

"What?" he said, looking at me with genuine disbelief. "No! No, Naomi of course not! Look, I know it doesn't seem that way right now, but I didn't do this to hurt you. I asked to be your Champion before we went to the party, remember? Tidus Romaine had nothing to do with this."

"Well, it might make you feel a little better in knowing that I believe you." I said quietly. "I know you mean it, and I can literally feel your pain, but that still doesn't excuse what you did."

I made to walk past Ethan, but he grabbed me roughly by the shoulders, forcing me to turn around and look at him.

"Stay. Don't leave." he begged. "Naomi, please, please, let me help you through this -"

"Ethan, right now, you are the last person that I would ever want help from." I replied, pushing him away. "I don't even wanna know you anymore."

And this time when I walked away, he made no move to stop me.

* * *

Adelle did her best to console me with shots from the Blue Moon. But no amount of alcohol could numb the loss that I felt on the inside. It was as if a part of me had died and then had been replaced by prosthetics that didn't quite fit. And I honestly didn't think that I would ever get used to it.

"Naomi, I still can't believe what Ethan did to you." Addy said, looking just as miserable as I felt. "And I feel terrible that I didn't know what you were really agreeing to, otherwise I swear to god that I would have stopped you from going through with it."

"No, really, it's ok Addy." I assured. "I should have known that I couldn't trust Ethan. I let my guard down, and this is my... punishment."

"I'm sorry for ya kid." Lucas said, with somber sympathy. "I knew the Raines' were capable of underhanded methods, but I didn't think they would take things this far. But it's definitely got Mathew's stink all over it. I just don't see his son coming up with this all on his own."

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it now." I said gloomily. "He won this time. Ethan got exactly what he wanted, and it's purely because I let him."

"We are gonna fix this shit, ok?" Adelle consoled dutifully. "And no matter how long it takes, we are gonna find a way to reverse what Ethan did..."

Lucas opened his mouth with an expression on his face that was already regretful, but Adelle immediately silenced him with a single, murderous look. And to avoid further damage, he gave me an apologetic shrug before retreating to tend to another customer.

"Hey, on the bright side: I know another person that shares in the misery about your blood bond with Ethan." Adelle said, with a sly, amused look upon her face.

"Oh really? Who?" I asked, trying and failing to hide my disinterest.

"Eve Arling," Adelle replied smugly.

"Who?"

"Eve Arling! Ethan's ex? You should have seen her face when Charles announced Ethan was gonna be your champion - she he almost died! Didn't you hear her scream?"

"Yeah, I remember." I replied dully, hearing the echo of it rattling around inside my already full brain. "She must have really loved him."

"Clearly the girl still does." Adelle crowed. "After all they were 'soul mates' before Naomi Noble got to town..."

If I closed my eyes, I could imagine how Eve must have felt - hurt, betrayed, enraged beyond all reason. Sure, she may have been the one to call off the relationship, but what if that had all been nothing more than strategy? What if it had simply been a part of her ploy, to let Ethan dangle a while? Perhaps she hadn't really expected him to jump off the line and become bait for some other girl.

"You know what? Most likely, none of this will even matter after tonight." I said, morbidly. "Who knows - maybe Tidus will take pity and just put me out of my misery..."

"Don't say that!" Adelle said, dramatically plugging her ears. "Tidus is not going to kill you, ok? His little witch friend obviously made a mistake. Besides, none of this makes sense anyway."

"Yeah, well, I hope you're right, Addy." I replied with a heavy sigh. "Tidus said that she's never been wrong about a vision before..."

"Listen, Naomi. You are in control of your actions - not some testosterone-pumped, egotistical vampire or his crazy witch-bitch either. And even if that vision is true, you definitely have the upper hand in the situation, right? You kill him, remember - not the other way around."

"I guess you are right." I replied, perking up a little.

"Duh."