Surreptitious

Chapter 6: "And Then You Kissed Me"

"And then the Necromancer took the dark magic from you and disappeared?" Jade asked tentatively as she watched Josie closely where she sat across from her at the small table outside the coffee shop. They had decided that a short trip off campus for a milkshake wouldn't do too much harm, and Josie especially thought that it could help get her thoughts off of her wolfy problem.

However, considering the circumstances under which Josie and Jade had become reacquainted and everything that had happened since, it had been difficult to keep their conversation light.

"I don't even want to imagine the havoc he is able to create at the moment." Josie shook her head solemnly at the thought, though she was incredibly relieved to be rid of the darkness that had consumed her and, essentially, lead her to killing her sister. If it hadn't been for Hope and Landon...

No no, she had to derail that train of thought.

Jade noticed as Josie's face clouded over and reached her hand across the table to take hold of Josie's. The gesture was effective in that it did immediately pull Josie from her thoughts as her gaze shot to their joined hands, along with a small jolt of electricity that shot up her arm and into her chest.

"Listen...Josie..." Jade started then but paused as she wet her lips. She was clearly nervous. "I know the darkness you endured was terrible. I had a taste of what kind of damage such deep-seated darkness can do to a person's psyche. When you found me in that prison world I was nothing short of a monster..." Jade looked away, ashamed, and slowly pulled her hand back from Josie's in order to fold her arms in front of her in some sort of defensive stance, even though she knew she didn't need to. Josie was nothing but warm and comforting on all accounts.

"I was going to kill you..." She winced when she uttered the words and guiltily looked up at Josie, who in turn held no sign of shock, disgust, or even judgement. This girl was too good for her, and Jade knew it.

"You wouldn't have been able to." Josie smiled slightly and canted her head to one side. "The darkness never would have allowed it."

"That's the thing..." Jade jumped in quickly as if she had an epiphany that she wanted to share. "It was that darkness that enabled you to... I mean, I have no doubt that you're an incredibly powerful witch and all, but..."

"It's the darkness that gave me the power to flip your switch." Josie finished for her. Jade nodded.

"I owe you so much Josie. God knows what would have become of me if you hadn't done that. I would have probably stayed locked up there... or died, like Diego... or like Kai..." She shivered.

"You had sex with my evil uncle, you know that right?" Josie pulled a face then. The thought definitely bothered her and made her feel a little sick, but in all honesty she meant to say the quip as a joke to lighten the mood.

Jade, on the other hand, turned so red she looked like she might burst into flames. Burying her head in her hands, she groaned from embarrassment, which caused Josie to chuckle at her teasingly.

After a few mortifying moments Jade dared to look back up at Josie, and though her cheeks were still a deep rose color, her eyes were shining brightly. "And then you kissed me."

At this Josie twitched, brows furrowing in confusion. "I... - I did?"

"Ooooh ouch, was it that forgettable?" Jade bit her bottom lip and leaned back in her chair, feeling more embarrassment tightening like a choker chain around her throat.

"Wait!" Josie's eyes grew wide then as realization dawned on her. "That night... in the old mill... I thought I had dreamt that! Lizzie was even... uhh, making fun of me." Josie shook her head, choosing rather to not divulge how, according to her twin, she had been having a 'sex dream'.

"If it had been a dream, it was a dream we had shared, because for me it was very... very real...." Jade dipped her head a little shyly.

"I guess it was very real then..." Josie blushed in return. That familiar knotting in her stomach returned. It was bothersome. It felt amazing. It felt exciting. It felt enticing. It was annoying. It was distracting. It was confusing. It was...

"Come on." When Josie blinked her attention back to what was actually happening, Jade was standing next to her, holding out her hand for Josie to take. She did and allowed Jade's fingers to slip in between hers as they walked off. Josie swallowed at the warmth radiating up her arm.

"So what's next?" Jade asked as she easily guided Josie down one of the walkways that wound through the park.

"Wha... What do you mean? We, uhhh...." Josie stuttered, completely at a loss due to the sudden intense fluctuation of her nerves.

"I mean - " Jade giggled and glanced over to the witch next to her, allowing herself for a second to admire how beautifully the soft light of the setting sun caught the deep brown of her hair, illuminating the top of her head into a halo. How perfect, the vampire thought. "I mean. With what's going on at school... like... what's going on with Hope?"

At the mention of the tribrid Josie froze, her hand quickly releasing Jade's as she turned to face the other girl, her brows lowered concerningly low to match her sudden harsh tone. "How do you know about Hope?" Josie knew for a fact the Super Squad had been keeping Hope's condition a secret from the rest of the school. While they could not hide what had happened to Landon, they had thought it best that knowledge of the tribrid's current very vulnerable state was best kept from public knowledge.

"I... I'm sorry Josie. I didn't mean to... I just... saw some stuff... and you know, vamp hearing can be a bitch to switch off..." Jade looked somewhat mortified, like a child that had been caught with its hand in the cookie jar. She honestly meant no harm.

"You shouldn't..." Josie shook her head and folded her arms around her, then started walking again, causing a gap between her and Jade that the vampire had to skip through to catch up. It was amazing how quickly feelings of attraction and butterflies turned to stone at the mention of one name.

"Josie wait, I just..." Jade caught up and folded her fingers gently around Josie's shoulder to turn her back to face her. "I want to help. I owe you that much."

Josie stared.

Josie sighed and thought for a few long seconds.

No, rather not...

But yet...

Maybe...

"How good are you at doing head dives?" She finally asked the vampire, a glimmer of hope shining in her stormy eyes.