Katrina, The Beginning (16 page)

“What do you two know, we
don’t?” Letta asked.

“You two have been getting
personal attention at snack time haven’t you?” Rosa said making the
connection. “It’s always the quiet ones isn’t it?”

“Is that true Katrina?”
Katherine said, her eyes widening.

“It’s true,” confirmed
Eleanor, “Thomas told me he suspected, because he saw cuts on
Quinn’s wrist and Quinn told him it was necessary.”

“Oh, please,” Rosa
groaned.

“It was, Rosa. The first
time I nearly went dormant from lack of blood, and then after I
fainted yesterday.” I defended.

“Very well, I’ll allow you
that one, but that’s not why you’ll do it next time,” Rosa
said.

“What do you mean?” Letta
asked.

“Because it’s as good as
having sex, that’s why.”

“Katherine!” we all
exclaimed.

“It’s true, and I’ll bet
you’ve compared the two. Am I right Rosa?”

Rosa nodded. “She’s
right.”

“So, I’m the only one here
who’s never fed directly from a human?” Letta frowned.

Kate laughed, “I guess so,
but the way you were looking at Avery and the way he was looking at
you, I doubt it will be long.”

“Well, I don’t have
anything to compare it to, not that I wouldn’t like to, but it was
amazing and that’s exactly what I was thinking when I was drinking
Quinn’s blood, that this must be what it would be like to make love
to him. What’s more, I could tell he was having the same experience
I was.”

“Really? So Thomas wasn’t
just doing it for my benefit, huh?”

“Yes, out of the goodness
of his heart,” Rosa scoffed.

“Well, he probably only had
Quinn’s word. It’s rather hard to explain to someone until you’ve
experienced it yourself,” Kate explained.

“I can see why it’s
forbidden though, can’t you? I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to
stop myself. It’s like a drug; one could become addicted,” I
admitted.

Rosa and Kate
agreed.

El looked around at all of
us, “Well, I think I’ll have to try a couple more times to make
sure.”

We all laughed
again.

We all were getting tired,
so Sarah helped us with our ball gowns, we combed out each other’s
hair and put on our nightgowns.

“Remember, we have to be at
the training grounds tomorrow just after dawn, so we’ll need to be
up an hour earlier.” Everyone groaned.

“By the way, Kate have you
been in training with weapons before you came here?”

“We did some fencing and
archery.”

“Well, you will find this
training will be a little more intense, but as you heard, it’s time
to take it seriously, and you never know when you’ll need to defend
yourself or those you love, right?”

I heard several voices
chime in “right” along with Kate’s. I was glad we were all in
agreement on this and suggested we climb into bed. I snuggled down
into my soft comforter and promptly fell into an exhausted
sleep.

I had the strangest dream.
I was at the ball dancing with Quinn, and I was so happy I gave him
a hug and snuggled my head into his shoulder. When I straightened
to resume my dancing form, I looked up expecting to gaze into the
beautiful blue pools of Quinn’s eyes, but instead the smoldering
dark eyes of Damien stared back at me. Strangely, I didn’t seem
shocked, but just laughed and kept right on dancing as if nothing
had happened, and then I woke up.

“What was
that all about?
”I asked myself. I sat up trying to figure
out what time it was. It was still dark. I flopped back down on my
pillow. I loved Quinn; there was no doubt in my mind about that; so
why had I dreamt about Damien? He was different from Quinn in
nearly every way. Of course there were the obvious differences:
Damien was a mature vampire, from an elite royal bloodline at that.
Damien was my equal; I wouldn’t outlive him, which was a problem I
would have to deal with eventually, because Quinn was
human.

The girls and I had
discussed the difficulties that came along with serious
relationships and the quandary falling in love with a human would
bring. We talked of this often and had decided, like many of our
kind, that the intensity of the relationship was the important
thing. Such bondings were so uncommon, that to deny one just
because the other party was a human was to deny ourselves the love
we desperately needed to make life bearable. We also understood,
just because you have a relationship with someone who lives as long
as you, doesn’t mean you will always stay together - or the
relationship would not end by other means. Vampires can be killed
or die too, for that matter. I didn’t want to dwell on the
negative. Damien and Quinn were utterly different. Their
personalities were different, and although they were both,
handsome, they were handsome in very different ways.

“This is ridiculous,” I
thought. “If Damien were here - which he’s not - I would still
choose Quinn, wouldn’t I?”

“Oh for
crying out loud,”
I told myself sternly
.
“Just get up!”
I threw off the down comforter and swung my
legs over the side of the bed.

Why did everything in my
life have to be so complicated?

I was glad to be training
this morning. The intense concentration and focus necessary to stay
ahead of my trainers always cleared my mind. During a session, I
felt complete and totally in my element, as if this was what I was
meant to do.

I dressed and headed to the
common room. The coals glowed in the darkness, giving the room a
warm orange hue. I knew I had at least an hour and a half before I
had to be at the training ground, so I headed down to the prep area
to find something to eat; no sense waking Sarah, when I was
perfectly capable of fixing something myself. There were two
Watchers in the hall, and one positioned at the bottom of the
stairs. Entering the prep room, I could see fruit and yesterday’s
bread covered with a towel. Good, I thought, something simple. A
jug of water was all there was to drink; it was too early for fresh
Crimson. I chose some grapes, a piece of bread and jam, and a slice
of dried meat to round out the meal.

Satisfied, I drank some
water and decided to go see Nulla, grabbing an apple for her on the
way out. I double-checked my sword and dagger, which now seemed
like part of my body and were never very far from my reach. Even at
the ball I had strapped a dagger to my thigh. Better safe, than
defenseless was my new motto. Maybe having to fight for my life
every other day, was affecting me more than I thought.

I strode confidently down
the hall. I didn’t see anything of Thomas, which was fine, since I
really wanted to be alone. The other Watchers had let me get this
far alone only because I had convinced them I was meeting Thomas at
the stables. As I headed across the courtyard, the sun was just
about to make its appearance. The air was crisp but still. I took a
deep breath and sighed;
mmmmm
, I felt good—strong, fit, and
ready to take on the world.

I had almost reached the
stable when I recognized his scent; Damien was close!

I swiveled and surveyed my
surroundings, then closed my eyes and tried to “see” where he was.
“Finding” him, I looked up and there on top of the wall in front of
me was Damien looking down at me. I couldn’t believe it; he was
here. He dropped off the wall to land gracefully at my feet. He
rose not inches from my face. My heart was racing, his spicy scent
filled my head.

“I missed you,” he
whispered.

And then I realized, I had
missed him too.

“What…how…when…?” I
stuttered.

“My father sent Ivan to
find me and relay that, thanks to your intercession, I had been
cleared. My father was so thankful at least one of his children
wasn’t to be hunted down and killed, he has arranged for me to go
with the others to the Americas.”

He took my hands in his,
raised them to his lips and kissed my fingers. Reminding me of the
first time, it felt like energy moved from his lips through my skin
and tingled up my arms. While doing this he never took his eyes,
those dark sexy eyes, from mine.

“Thank you for telling your
father I was innocent.”

“Believe me, Damien, you
have many traits but innocence isn’t one of them. We can say ‘not
guilty,’ maybe.”

He laughed, breaking the
sexual tension between us.

“I’m going to see Nulla.
Walk with me.”

He clasped his hands behind
his back and walked beside me.

“I hear you had a surprise
arrival this week. How are you?”

This stopped me in my
tracks. I turned my head to see a concerned look on his face, and
studying him for a brief instant I thought, “
I
really did misjudge him.”

I managed to reply, “Well,
now the shock has worn off, I’m glad to have not only my mother,
but my twin sister in my life, I’m fine. I think actually I’m
better than fine. And Father has never seemed so content. So we’ll
see what transpires, but for now we’re making our best efforts to
get to know each other, and make it work.”

We started walking
again.

“There have been so many
times I wondered about my mother, and if she would ever come back.”
Damien stopped walking, “Your mother being here gives me
hope.”

He sounded so sad, I turned
to look at him and after a few seconds reached out and gave him a
hug. He seemed surprised, but adapted quickly, wrapping his arms
around me and pulling me close.

“If that’s what you want,
I’m sure someday you’ll be together again.” I told him.

“There are many things I
want, that I’m willing to wait for,” he added, holding me away and
looking into my eyes passionately. Then he pulled me close again,
and his breath on my ear and neck made my stomach quiver. How could
I feel this way about two such different men?

He released me and we began
walking again. We reached the stables moments later.

“Well, we’re here. I’ve
brought an apple just for Nulla.”

He gestured for me to lead
the way. It was just after sunrise and getting light now and the
grooms were busy cleaning stalls and feeding horses. Nulla had had
her bath, her stall was clean, and she was happily munching on
fresh hay. How I loved the smell of fresh straw bedding and
hay.

“Nulla?” I called, and she
raised her head and whinnied in recognition. “Look what I brought
you,” I teased.

She reached her head out to
me impatiently.

“Very well, here you go.” I
laughed and offered her the plump green apple.

She snatched it from my
outstretched palm as if she hadn’t eaten in a week. I patted her
neck, scratched behind her ear, and stroked her beautiful
face.

“I’ll see you later,
girl.”

“Maybe we could take her
out later, unless you’re not staying. I know most people are
getting ready for their trip home,” Damien said. “I came back to
ready myself for the journey ahead, and then I’ll head to the port
with the others.”

“I’d like to go on a ride,
maybe this afternoon. Has there been any word of Luena?” I asked,
changing the subject.

“No,” he said angrily, “and
if I never see her again, it will be too soon for me; but I have a
feeling I’ll never be free of her. My participation in her plot was
only that I agreed to keep silent about it. I really had no idea
she could actually convince anyone to join with her. And when it
became apparent her plans actually had a chance of success, I vowed
to stop her. I only agreed to keep silent, because I sought to
protect my father. She told me she would kill him if I said
anything about her army. I’d grown to see how deep the level of her
evil ran, and believed her capable of actually doing harm to
Father. After she revealed her full intentions to me, I was able to
convince Father to resign, so she would have to change her plans,
expose herself and her army before it was too late. Of course you
know the rest.” He sighed.

“Well, all we can do is to
be vigilant. I, for one, am going to make sure the girls and I can
always take care of ourselves. Speaking of preparation, I have to
get to the training grounds. I’ll see you later, then?”

“Of course, I’ll meet you
at the stables for that ride.” he called after me.

I waved as I walked away.
The closer I got to the training grounds the more excited I
became.

“There she is,” Rosa called
out to the others. “Where were you?”

“I woke up early, so I made
a trip to the stables to see Nulla, and you won’t believe who I
came across on my way.”

“Who?” Letta
asked.

“Damien!”

“Really? Damien? When did
he
get back?” said a shocked
Eleanor

“Who’s Damien?” Kate
asked.

“You remember, Luena’s
half-brother,” Rosa provided.

“Oh.” Kate shrugged her
shoulders to show didn’t really know who we were talking
about.