Surreptitious

Chapter 13: Interruption Part I

“I’m not even kidding! He leaned in for the kiss, eyes closed, and I just… I ran!” Josie was laughing as she shared a funny childhood story with Jade, who was grinning from ear to ear as she couldn’t seem to remove her eyes from the witch walking beside her.

They had been dropped off at the gates of the school by their transport a few minutes prior and were leisurely strolling through the gardens as they chatted. There was still a little bit of time left before curfew, so they milked the moments they had together before having to say goodnight. While Jade was on cloud nine, having pulled out several tricks from her hat to keep Josie entertained and impressed during the evening, Josie herself was rather chipper. She had been, without a doubt, enjoying her time with the vampire. They shared several interests and had a fair amount in common. When they chatted, their words came with ease and the silences, though short and far in between, never felt uncomfortable.

Josie couldn’t lie about it – she liked Jade. She really did like her, and she could picture the two of them spending more time together. Jade made Josie feel lighter somehow, allowed Josie to simply just be whoever she felt comfortable with being in the moment, and let Josie shed some of the burdens she usually had weighing down on her. It didn’t hurt that Jade seemed to think Josie was hilarious and laughed at her every stupid little joke and gesture. She honestly just made Josie feel good.

“So how long did it take him to notice you were gone, do you think?” Jade grinned at her companion as she tried to imagine a panicked Josie bolting at the first time a boy tried to kiss her.

“I don’t know, but Lizzie said he had looked pretty heartbroken when he realized.” Josie pouted at the memory as if she now felt bad for what she had done back then as a mere 12-year old kid.

Jade slowed their pace a little as they started rounding the building to the back entrance by the kitchen – the preferred portal for Salvatore School teenagers trying to skim some time off of curfew on school nights. “I would have been pretty heartbroken too.” She teased as her voice dropped a little lower and she turned to face Josie, her one hand reaching for the witch’s as she slipped her fingers through their counterparts, entwining the digits firmly.

Josie blushed hard as she looked down at their entangled hands, that familiar flutter spreading through her stomach again. Being with Jade was just so easy, so simple, so relaxed. She had no idea what was really going on between her and Hope, especially with Hope not even being aware of the fact that there was a Josie-Hope situation even to start with. Why couldn’t the siphon allow herself just a little bit of happiness?

It didn’t have to be serious.

It didn’t really have to mean anything big in the greater scheme of things.

Jade was right there, with her. Completely with her. While Hope was off doing god knows what.

Josie lifted her eyes to those of the vampire. She had beautiful eyes. They were such a steely blue that they almost seemed translucent.

She unwittingly wet her lips as she then glanced down at Jade’s mouth.

Jade took the hint. She leaned into Josie. Slowly.

Josie could feel the warmth of Jade’s breath on her skin.

Suddenly they stopped dead in their tracks with fright.

There was a loud and deeply threatening growl coming from a few feet away. Both Josie and Jade snapped their eyes to the side where they could see an extremely aggressive white wolf snarling at them, made to look even bigger than usual as her fur bristled and stood on end. The usual golden glow of eyes had a near red tint to them as they focused on the vampire with unbridled fury.

It was what seemed like a mere split second before the wolf lunged at Jade and there was no doubt within Josie’s mind that this time Hope would definitely kill the vampire.

The witch stepped in front of Jade, bursting with anger and frustration herself – “NO!” She shoved her hands in the wolf’s direction and a blast of magic threw the animal onto its back with a bit of a squeak. The wolf was up again in two seconds though, not about to be deterred that easily.

“Hope. Andrea. Mikaelson.” Josie growled out, her eyes illuminated by a bright golden glow. “Don’t you dare!” She pointed her finger at the wolf, almost as if she was scolding a naughty puppy. Hope stopped dead in her tracks when she absorbed the clear display of dominance from Josie.

“Sit!” Josie barked and the wolf whined like a naughty youngster, but sat down anyway.

“Jade, you better go. You know what can happen.” Josie didn’t dare take her shining eyes off of Hope as she spoke to the vampire that was still standing behind her, a little dazed. And a little turned on, to be frank. “I’ll sort this out.” Josie’s words were curt and firm, though the tone she had adopted was rather for Hope than it was for Jade.

Hope whined and yelped again in protest, but didn’t dare move as the vampire disappeared inside the building.

Once Josie heard the door click shut behind her, she stepped closer to the wolf and crossed her arms angrily over her chest, judging the animal with her eyes still supernaturally illuminated. “You can’t just go around trying to eat my friends the whole time, Hope!” The wolf moaned and yipped, then flopped over onto the ground comically and rolled onto her back. Exposing her fluffy tummy to Josie, she wriggled around like a worm as she continued to whine. A very sorry worm.

“No, Hope. That’s not going to work. I’m really mad at you right now!” Josie ground out between her teeth, her eyes finally darkening into their normal rich coffee color. She sighed in agitation and dropped her hands to her sides.

Wolf-Hope rolled her body back over and leopard-crawled towards Josie until she was laying at her feet, continuing to whine and whimper apologetically all the way. She then pushed herself up into a sitting position once more and brought a paw up towards Josie, yelping a little.

Josie could feel her resolve start to crack, but she remained firm as she ignored the paw and instead placed her hands on her hips. “You need to go change. Now. You can come find me when you’ve regained your ego-senses.”

Josie arched one brow as she stared the wolf down, making sure it understood exactly what she wanted, and when it reluctantly got up and started trotting away, Josie finally let out a deep sigh, shook her head, and headed inside.