The Hunters of Artemis

Chapter 13: AAAHHHH!!!!

Everyone gathered in Noah and Liam's room so I could tell them about the evening. We laid Liam down on his bed. I nearly vomit when Lyra said we had to take his shirt off so we could examine his cuts better. Sadly, as the daughter of Apollo, I knew the most about healing and was stuck tugging off the tattered shirt and cleaning his cuts. They were pretty bad. I think I went through three towels just wiping the scarlet red blood off his chest. He stirred a bit, but for the most part stayed passed out, which was fine by me. 

Lyra sat down in a chair next to me and watched me dab the worst cut; it had opened and had started bleeding again. "So, what exactly happened?" 

All conversation stopped. The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. 

"Well, first there was the awkward conversation I had with Jerome, then there was the fact that Liam had been hiding in the booth behind ours to spy, then Lycaon came and--" I started.

"Wait, Lycaon was there?" Hannah gasped.

I nodded. "Yeah. Him and a few friends. They terrorized some of the other patrons. Well, actually, all of the other patrons. Anyways, there was a fight, and--"

"You mean you fought all on your own?"

"Well, Liam fought mostly, but that's not the point." No one stopped me as I finished explaining what had happened. 

I may have accidentally dabbed a bit too hard on one of Liam's cuts because he jerked to the side. His eyes opened and glanced around. Oops. 

"What... what's going on?" he murmured. He tried to sit up but winced at the pain of his cuts. I had been pouring drops of nectar on them, and it seemed to be helping, but it would be useless unless he would stop moving around. 

Noah sat down on the other side of the bed. "You were cut up pretty bad. Kat's nursing you back to health."

Turning his head over to me, he squinted, like it was really bright. "Can someone turn off that light?" he asked, pointing a quavering finger towards the light on the bedside stand. I reached over and flicked the switch off.

He stared around the room. "How did I get here?"

I smirked. "I had to practically drag you from the diner back here." 

He tried again to sit up. "A little help here?"

I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. It was Rhea. She smiled at me, but with an I-have-a-secret-plan-that-you-don't-know smile. "We'll leave you two to chat." 

The others took that as their cue to leave. I narrowed my eyes as Rhea smiled at me. Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Liam, who was staring at me intently. Averting my eyes, I went back to cleaning his cuts, which he had opened in the process of attempting to sit up.

"So..." he said awkwardly.

I put the towel down. "Why were you at that restaurant?"

He smirked, but without humor. "I..." He slammed his hand against the blanket of the bed. "I was worried about you, okay?"

I froze. "Worried. About me."

He sighed and lay back. "Yes. I was worried about you. When you left, I followed you, to make sure you were safe. When Lycaon came in, and threatened you, of course I jumped to the rescue. It was kinda stupid in the long run, but I'm not sorry I did it."

Saying nothing, I picked up the towel again and wiped away some dried blood. I carefully dribbled some nectar into one of the cuts. I got up off the bed to change towels and when I came back, Liam was sitting up, with the biggest cut bleeding again. I rolled my eyes. "Seriously?"

He shrugged. 

I sat down on the bed again and wiped at the wounds. He winced, but I ignored it. 

"You aren't going to say anything?" I looked up at Liam. 

Sighing, I put the towel down again. The wound would be fine for a little bit. "What is there to say? I mean, of course I'm grateful to you for... for saving me..." I thought I saw a bit of hope glimmer in Liam's eyes. I continued, "And what's done is done. Now I'm here making sure you don't open your cuts again."

He sighed. "I thought you would be angry."

I snorted. "I never said I was happy about what you did. That was a pretty stupid move."

"But you would be with the wolves if it weren't for me," he pointed out. 

I nodded. "True, but still."

I got up to wet the towel; the cut was bleeding again, and when I came back, I saw Liam staring at me. I dabbed at the cut and Liam recoiled. I rolled my eyes and had to lean closer. Eventually, I was leaning so close, I had to put a hand on his bare shoulder to steady myself. He moved back again. "Would you stop doing that?" I requested. "You're just going to cause yourself more pain."

He gave me a half-smile. All his movement had opened not one, not two, but three of his cuts. I had to clean all of them. A small trail of blood was running down Liam's chest and I had to swipe it up. I dribbled a bit more nectar into the incision.

Two minutes later, I was finished wiping. I checked the clock. It was 8:52 PM. I got up and put the towel away in the dirty towel bin that was supplied in the bathroom. I had never seen a hotel with one of those. It was always, leave the towels on the floor, or bring the towels downstairs. 

I exit the bathroom and checked Liam's cuts again. Putting a finger on one, I could already see that they were getting shallower; the nectar had started to work. I decided not to use anymore of the precious liquid.  I began to rise when Liam grasped my wrist. I glared at him and tried to tug my hand away, but he wouldn't let go.

"Excuse me," I said.

He looked into my eyes and said, "I know you're a Hunter of Artemis, and I know you're going to hate me for this, but I had to do it at least once, while we're alone."

Before I could ask what he could possibly mean, he pursed his lips and pressed them against mine. I tried to pull away, but he used his free arm to reach around me and pull my head towards his. I tried to wrench away, but Liam was too strong for me, even when he was hurt. He pressed harder and I struggled and eventually broke away. My hair was now a tad bit straggled, and my cheeks were fiery hot. I was shocked. That hadn't happened in... well, in six years. And even then, it hadn't been that sudden. I stumbled out of the room without a single word and practically ran back to my own. I burst into the room to find Rhea lying on the bed, watching TV.

"Hey, how'd it go--" She saw my expression. "Kat, what happened?"

I tried to tell her but my mouth just wouldn't form the words.

"Kat." She jumped out of bed and rushed over to me. "Kat, what's wrong?"

I managed to croak out one word: "Kiss."