Knowledge is Deadly: Book 1: The Azuran Series

Chapter 9

In her dreams, knives thrown by Kile and Kilin were flying towards her, whizzing past her head.
"We would've killed you already, but we thought it'd be more fun to kill the rest of your family first." They said in unison, smirking.
Just as one came straight at her chest, she woke suddenly and sat up with a scream. She wiped away tears that were falling down her face.
The door opened quickly.
"Are you ok?" Aspen asked meeting her eyes. His hand was on his sword although he hadn't pulled it out.
"I'm fine." She mumbled as she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, still crying.
He walked into the room, closing the door behind him. His dark brown hair was a mess and his blue eyes showed how tired he really was. He walked towards her calmly.
She shook her head, not looking up.
'It was just a dream.' She told herself, but still she felt terrified. He stood beside her now.
"Katelyn.." he said softly.
She glanced up.
"Nightmare." She said simply.
He sat on the edge of the bed beside her.
"Are you ok now?" He asked.
She shook her head.
"But I will be."
"You want to talk about it?" He asked but before she could answer the door swung open quickly. Jackson stood in the doorway, clearly panicked.
She looked up at him and wiped her face with the backs of her hands,which were shaking badly. He walked into the room.
"Katelyn, are you ok? What happened?" He asked.
"I just had a nightmare." She said, her voice breaking.
"I can handle this Jackson, go back to bed." Aspen said more as a command than a suggestion. Jackson shot a glare at him.
Katelyn kept her eyes on Jackson.
"I'm alright, really..."
"I'm worried about you." Jackson said looking softly at Katelyn.
Aspen sighed and stood up retreating away from Katelyn.
Katelyn only glanced at him as he backed away.
"Don't be. It's a normal thing...but this one-" she bit her lip.
"What? What happened?" He asked.
"I'm not sure I can explain.."
"Back up. Don't get to close to her she need space to breath." Kilin said standing in the doorway.
Katelyn froze, her eyes trained on Kilin. Her nightmare came back to her all over again. "You-"
Kilin started towards her. "Just breath slow. Like normal."
"Stay back!" She demanded, her eyes widening with fear. Kilin froze, her eyes clouded with hurt.
"Kay-Katelyn?" She asked confused. Jackson watched the two.
"You're with him, aren't you?" She said, her voice quivering.
"With who?" Kilin asked taking another step towards her.
Katelyn backed up on the bed. "Kile! Don't act innocent.." she said. The only thing she knew was fear and hurt.
Jackson clenched his teeth.
"Kile went home. You know this."
"He was here?" Jackson asked surprised. Kilin ignored him.
"He wouldn't hurt you. I wouldn't let him." She said
"But you did! You both did.." she said, tears springing into her eyes again.
'The dream..' Kilin thought. She stood at the end of the bed. 'I shouldn't have told her.' She thought.
"Gather your head Katelyn. I wouldn't do that." She said calmly.
Katelyn looked away. "Just get away from me Kilin!" She said in a low, dangerous tone. She was blinded by what she had seen in her dream.
"Katelyn, please." Kilin pleaded still not moving.
"Please what?! I don't have anything to offer you." Katelyn said, looking at Kilin.
"I wouldn't hurt you." Kilin said clenching her teeth.
"Kilin just go." Jackson said.
"You don't tell me what to do, Jackson!" Kilin snapped, letting out her built up anger on him.
     "Stop! Please, just go." Katelyn said to Kilin, tightly shutting her eyes to hold back her sobs.
     "Fine!" Kilin said, finally snapping at her. She turned and started towards the door. She looked back at Katelyn. "Don't talk to me until you are actually sane." She said, the harshness in her voice coming easily.
     Katelyn glared at the ground and clenched her jaw, not daring to look up at her.
     Aspen clenched his teeth and looked from Jackson to Katelyn and left silently. He wasn't needed anyways.
     Jackson looked at Katelyn and placed a hand on her shoulder gently.
     Her lip quivered and she put her head in her hands. "I thought we were friends.." she mumbled.
     "You are." He replied softly.
     "No... didn't you see what just happened? I thought I could trust her." She said, her eyes filling up.
     "She is just tired and so are you. The morning will be better." He said.
     Katelyn wiped her face and looked up at him.
     "Can you forgive those people?" She asked.
     "I can't even forgive myself." He mumbled.
     "What do you mean?" She asked curiously, her voice cracking.
     "I did something that lead to someone leaving..." he said. "I lit a building on fire, by accident." He said and swallowed before continuing. "I didn't want to get in trouble for it so I planted all the evidence on-" he starts to say a name but stops. "on my brother. He got in lots of trouble. He was only eight.. I should have taken it for him but I didn't. Then he left, ran away.." he said looking at the ground. "He's already forgiven me but I haven't.."
     Katelyn scanned his face sadly. "Jackson, have you moved on from this yet?" She asked.
     "I try. But I made him leave. Go find a new home.." he said biting his lip.
     Katelyn sighed. "You have to let it go... All that weight, it builds up. And it hurts. You have to fix things as well as you can, and then dump the past away. Otherwise you'll live with regrets, and then how are you going to be able to be ready for the future?"
     "The future sucks for me anyways." He grumbled. "But your right." He said looking over at her.
      His green eyes where close, Katelyn hadn't realized how close he was actually sitting to her. Her heart skipped a beat. "I had to figure that out the hard way." She said.
     He looked into her eyes silently, as if he was taking in everything about her light green eyes which where almost spotted with bright golden flakes. His eyes dropped down to her lips for a split second but when back at her eyes.
She bit her lip and found herself being drawn towards him. Her mind told her it was too soon, so sudden, but her heart said otherwise.
He leaned in and gently met her lips. It was short but met again by another, longer, kiss. Katelyn brought her left hand up to his cheek.
As she felt her heart expanding, she felt her energy levels drop. She felt as if she could fall out and go to sleep.
She pulled away with a small smile, her eyelids drooping low. He smiled and rest his forehead against hers. She allowed herself to lean against him, exhaustion taking over her body.
He placed a hand on the back of her head and laid her down against the pillow.
She reached up to caress his jaw gently before her arm fell back on the bed and sleep consumed her.
Jackson looked down at her sadly. He hated doing it but he had to. He ran his hand over her cheek before standing up.
He headed to the door and opened it, surprised to see Aspen standing there.
"Is she asleep?" He asked turning to him.
"Yes, yes she is." Jackson said crossing his arms.
Even though Aspen looked down on Jackson, him being around 6 foot, Jackson still stood strong, acting taller and bigger than he was.
Aspen crossed his arms too.
"That was faster than I had expected.." he said suspiciously.
"She was tired and rattled from her dream. What do you expect?" He asked simply.
"I expected her to be too rattled to get back to sleep. When she's stressed she doesn't sleep well.." He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Jackson, I told you I had it handled."
"And yet I handed it." Jackson replied coolly.
"You didn't have to is all I'm saying. I'm her guard. It's my job." Aspen said, keeping his tone calm.
"Your job?" Jackson asked raising an eyebrow. "I do believe your boss is dead. Your not her guard." He said with a smirk. "Plus, I can take over for you from now on."
Aspen stood taller defensively. "No, you can't. Is was his wish that I protected her, whether or not he was alive."
Jackson just looked at him with a smirk. "Guards, always so prideful. Let it go for once. I will handle her safety."
Aspen narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I do pride myself on my loyalty and my job. Therfore I will not give it up to some rude jerk like you."
"You don't have to give it to me. I already have it." He said and pushed past him.
Aspen spun around to look at him. "What do you mean, you already have it?" He said angrily.
Jackson stood and faced him. "Clearly she gave it to me when she saw me. You should have seen the look in her eyes." He said calmly.
Aspen felt as if something was wrong. "That doesn't change anything." He said in a low tone.
"I want her being protected by someone she trust. Clearly she trust me more. Seeing as she told me everything first." He said with a smirk. "Just give it up already. I don't care what you say, I'm going to protect her either way."
Aspen was rattled by his words. "Well, so will I!"
"Don't be disappointed when she actually wants me around." Jackson warned and turned starting down the hallway again.
Aspen watched him leave, fuming with anger. He shook his head once Jackson was gone and poked his head back into Katelyn's room, where she was still asleep. He stared at her sadly for a moment before sighing and shutting the door quietly. He felt someone behind him and turned to see Jackson once again.
He grumbled something under his breath and stood in front of Katelyn's door with his arms crossed. "What do you want?" He asked.
"You think I would just leave her after she had a nightmare?" Jackson asked. "That, would make me a jerk." He said.
"She's fine right now." He said calmly.
"Move." Jackson said sternly.
"Fine. But don't try anything." Aspen said with a harsh glare as he stepped to the side.
"I wouldn't. I'm trying to stop her from getting hurt." He said glaring right back at him. He reached for the door handle.
Aspen clenched his jaw to bite back a remark. 'Maybe leaving sooner isn't such a bad idea..' He thought.
      Jackson opened the door and stepped inside. He turned and looked back at Aspen waiting.
Aspen turned his back reluctantly and began walking towards his room, controlling himself carefully. The door to Katelyn's room closed slowly behind him.
Aspen stopped and looked back over his shoulder. With a sigh he forced himself to keep walking and entered his room, slamming the door behind him.