Want your help (Leslie) - Cabin in the Swamp

Chet sat in the rocking chair on the porch of his cabin, and waited for Leslie. He seemed rather morose, and the home had the appearance of being devoid of the sort of energy that makes a home a home.

Because he had called, of course she went. Getting out of her car, she tilted her head a bit as she approached.

"Hey Chet."

"Hey Leslie" he said with a forced smile

"Thanks fer comin'. Have a seat iffun ya want"

She strolled up and sat down, leaning back in her chair.

"Hey, no problem, Chet. You seemed a little down."

"Bethy done run off with some limp wristed rose"

She blinked.

"That's... odd."

"Childe o Victoria ash. Figger staking an putting him in a cement filled barrel do the job"

She blinked.

"Victoria Ash. The Prince."

"So? She ain't prince of here. Don't give her little fuck toy the right to steal ghouls "

"Doesn't give you the clout to be able to pull off staking her childe."

"Don't give him nothin neither. Iffin Ah wanted to live like Ah feudal peasant, Ah would have stayed in Nam "

She stared at him. Truly stared.

"Yes, it does. If his Sire cares about him at all, it gives him a hell of a lot, Chet."

"Yah mean all our vaunted traditions and social order really don't mean shit?"

She frowned at that.

"Taking a ghoul isn't against any Traditions, Chet."

"Neither be staking or enlightening someone sire be damned. Harpy said she shame him, but don't trust that "

She tilted her head.

"Why don't you trust the Harpy?"

"Torie on Torie action might be fun ta' watch iffun they both be hot, but ya think she gonna smack down one o' her own, 'specially iffun he be the childe o' some prince somewhar?"

"Ever love someone an' see 'em go off with someone else?"

She drew a deep breath.

"Yes. Yes, I have. And I know it isn't easy."

She tilted her head.

"And yes. I think she would."

"Yah evah want ta hurt em? Ah fuck it. Lemme borrow yer phone "

She frowned.

"Who are you calling?" she asked.

Then she hung her head a little.

"Hurt them? No... I got them killed."

"Bethy, she might not answer mah phone. 'Sposedly she had a vision whar she had ta' be apart, well ya know anythang 'bout quantum physics? Ah never mind, jest lemme borrow ya phone please?"

"An' yah see mah moral quandry here? Ah can stake the torie an' dump him offshore, an' it not be hurtin' mah feelin's none at all, even if ah know it be wrong."

She frowned, but she handed her telephone to him.

"I understand. I do. But sometimes, you have to learn to let go."

"An' sometimes yah jest want ta' know that yah can pick back up, rather than have it all fall ta' pieces. Yah let what ya love go?"

He took her phone and turned it over in his hands

"She'd come back if ah told her to. The bond do that if nothin' else..."

She nodded.

"Yes. I let him go. And he came back to me."

He stared at the phone some more

"Ya all bonded?"