Choices, Love, and Magic (Complete)

chapter 27

If I'd expected a quiet dinner, as was normal for me, I would have been disappointed. As it was, I was glad I had enough brains to prepare myself to be swarmed. It was tough to even find my friends and harder to talk to them. Everyone finally fell silent when I stood on my chair and looked out over all their heads.

I could tell that they were waiting for me to say something, so I commented sassily,"You know, I think that it will be easier for you people to eat your dinner if you weren't interrupting mine. I'm just me, so GET OVER IT!!" Then I sat down as the confused crowd dispersed. I sighed in relief along with a chuckle of amusement at the frazzled looks on my friends' faces.

"And they were swarming you because...?" Cora prompted, and I remembered that most of the people at the table didn't understand the mobbing, so I explained my afternoon in as little detail as I could.

Surprised was the understatement of the existence of anything for their reactions.

"You fought Tristam?" Olivia questioned, and I nodded,"And it was a tie?" I nodded again, and she settled into her chair, chuckling,"And here I thought the old Kath was gone. Nope. Violent tendencies are still intact."

"Are you trying to test them?" I questioned, bristling at her comment,"Because I'd be happy to give a demonstration." I was halfway standing at this point and Olivia looked appropriately afraid, until I felt a small hand on my arm and looked down to see Clarissa with a worried expression. That knocked me into sense, and I jerked my arm away and stood fully in my almost-floor-length red dress and hurried up to the room I shared with Clarissa. She appeared a minute later and curled up quietly on my bed next to me, giving me the comfort and silence she knew I needed as I thought.

Why did I go after Olivia? I wondered, What was I so mad about? Maybe I was just on edge... My thoughts quieted as I fell softly into sleep, the guaranteed balm to troubling reality.

The next day, I didn't bother going to breakfast. I just asked Clarissa if she wanted to go for a run. She accepted and we dressed both in green before walking easily into the forest that made up much of the grounds. Then we became wolves, her cinnamon-coloured and me black and silver, and we ran for hours, catching wayward bunnies when we got hungry. By the time the sun was above our heads, we were tired, but happy. I felt like my heart hadn't been this light in years.

My heart was heavy again when we returned to see Antonio waiting. We shifted, and Antonio requested,"Katherine, may I speak with you? Without the young one?"

I started to bristle when he called Clarissa 'the young one', but Clarissa nudged me and told me with her eyes that it was alright with her if she had to go. "Don't go far," I sighed quietly. Then to Antonio I replied,"All right. But make it quick." Clarissa walked softly away, and I waited nervously for Antonio to speak. He didn't.

He kissed me instead.

I froze when he strode forward and pressed his lips to mine. Then I pulled away, staring at Antonio before I fully realized what was going on. When it hit me, Antonio was looking at me with hurt in his eyes. Then I lost track of what was in his eyes. I forgot to pay attention when I kissed him!

It was rougher than our kisses before. It now had an edge of wildness that I liked, even if I didn't expect it. Antonio seemed nervous about this new kind of kiss, but it soon dissolved in the heat of it. It took a while before he broke away to breath, but I continued, suddenly realizing how starved for him I was. I roughly kissed along his jaw before he gently grabbed my chin and pulled my lips back to his. I didn't want to stop. I wasn't going to stop.

Of course, that was before Antonio was torn away from me and thrown into a nearby tree by a vampire I'd never met in my life. I immediately attempted to swerve around the vampire and get to the tree, but he quickly blocked my path, making little tsking sounds as I snarled at him with all the rage and fear I'd been bottling up. The kiss had unlocked that door, and now this stupid vampire had thrown it wide open.