Midnight Solstice

Chapter 32

Picture: Alucard VonHeusen

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Waiting...that was what we did. Andi, Brynn, Demetri, Felix, and I all stood by the front entrance waiting for everyone to arrive. In all of my immortal years I have never felt as nervous as I did in this moment. The tension between us was so intense. I could feel it radiating between us. No one said a word, as we were all fearful of what is to come. Now that Michael has began his grand finale no one wants to think about the outcome.

     Lorne and Katerina were the first to arrive. Lorne looked enraged, and Katerina was angry but she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her face. I wondered if he ever got the chance to tell Katerina the truth. He certainly didn't get to tell Gracie. When they got close enough Katerina threw herself in my arms.

   "This is it...isn't it?"

   "I fear that it is. Are you alright?" She was quiet for a moment.

   "Did you know?"

   "Did I know what?" I asked. I knew what she was talking about, however to engage it at a time like this could only lead to conflict. She shoved me away from her.

   "Don't play dumb Alec. You know exactly what I'm talking about." The veins popped out under her eyes and her irises faded into red.

   "Woah Kat, calm down..." Brynn said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Katerina looked back at her and growled, causing Brynn to jump back with her hands up in defense.

"You knew didn't you?!" She shouted at me.

"Kat don't..." She shot a dirty look at Lorne.

"Don't what?! Don't be angry that my sister and her friend got taken my god awful fath..." she cut herself off.

"Okay someone's got to tell us what's going on because whatever beef you have with each other right now needs to either be resolved or thrown away because we have bigger problems than this!" Andi shouted.

"No, we don't. All of this messed up crap goes hand in hand." Katerina sneered. I sighed.

"I'm sorry Katerina. I wish this was different. I wish that I could have told you because it killed me to keep it from you. However, I didn't know for sure and it wasn't my place to tell you anyway." She walked up to me and stood face to face. (As close as we could get anyway, since she was a lot shorter than I was.) Demetri and Felix moved forward to stop her, but I held my hand up to stop them.

"So you knew this whole time...and didn't say anything until now!"

"No, I got a call a couple days into our trip."

"We didn't believe it at first either." Felix said, speaking for him and Demetri. She glared at them.

"So you knew too?!"

"Okay hold up! Remember a couple seconds ago when I asked if we could know what's going on? Can we get back to that and CALM THE HELL DOWN?!"

"What's going on?" Fred and George asked in unison as they walked in, followed by Adeline and Caleb.

"Why don't we wait until everyone is here and then you and I can tell them together, okay?" Lorne approached Katerina and pulled her into a hug. She stood stiff, but I closed my eyes and could feel how Lorne's embrace comforted her. Sometimes the bond we shared wasn't as bad as it would seem.

"Did she lash out at you for knowing?" Caleb asked me in a whisper only I could here.

"How did you..." I forgot about his gift. "How long have you known for? If you knew for too long, she might kill you." He chuckled.