Chapter 38
Fire equals all
Grace was lying on her bed wearing just a short nightie. She was tired but before she fell asleep, Hope came in without knocking.
"Sorry", she said. "I forgot to knock."
Grace barely managed to raise her head.
"That's ok."
Hope sat on the bed next to her. She seemed very tense.
"Is everything ok?" Grace asked.
Hope bit her lip.
"I…"
Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed the water buckets and the melted ice bags.
"Oh…hot afternoon?"
Grace blushed.
"Yeah, kind of. Me and Kol…We…You know."
Hope looked surprised.
"Did you want to do that? He didn't pressure you or anything?"
Grace shook her head.
"No, I wanted it."
"Oh, ok then. So…did everything go ok? I mean, I just saw him so obviously you didn't burn him up but did you have a lot of trouble controlling yourself?"
Grace was starting to feel uncomfortable.
"No, I…I was kind of nervous, so…"
"You weren't on fire at all?"
Grace stared at her.
"No. Is that a bad thing?"
"No, no", Hope said quickly. "Well, not to him at least since you didn't burn him."
Grace tried to understand what she was saying.
"So…fire equals…what?"
"For us, it equals all the strongest emotions. Anger, fear, contentment…"
"Oh…so basically we can never be really content without burning the other person to death?"
Grace regretted her words immediately when she saw the hurt on Hope's face.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking…"
"It's ok", Hope interrupted her. "But you are partly right; we must always be careful."
Grace sighed.
"I don't get how dad dealt with it."
"He didn't."
"What do you mean?" Grace asked.
"He didn't have to deal with this because only women are affected to this fire thing. Men simply carry the gene, they aren't pyrokinetic."
"Oh. Well that sucks."
Hope smiled.
"Yes it does. But don't worry, if you want to have sex with him again, it'll probably become easier."
"But I still have to hold back?"
Hope tapped Grace's hand.
"That's your decision. I'm only saying that you should be careful."
Grace was quiet for a while.
"Can I ask…Do you have to be careful with Elijah?"
"No, but that's only because we haven't had sex."
Grace stared at her.
"You haven't?"
"No. To be honest, I'm afraid that I would hurt him."
Grace sighed.
"This really sucks."
Hope smiled and wrapped her arm around Grace.
"I know, believe me. We just have to try our best to deal with it. But fortunately we always have ice cream and Colin Farrell movies."
Grace laughed.
"That's true. He really is cute."
"Who's cute?" Kol asked. He didn't seem very happy.
"Excuse me, but this is a private conversation", Hope said annoyed.
"Really, how nice. Get out."
Hope stood up angrily.
"Who do you think you…"
"No", Grace said determinedly. "No fighting. I know that he's being a jerk but could you give us a moment?"
"Sure", Hope replied. "But only because you are asking."
She scowled Kol when she walked pass him and closed the door behind her. Kol smirked and moved on the bed with his vampire speed. Grace shook her head.
"Do you always have to be so rude to her?"
"She's being rude to me", he replied and started to kiss her neck.
"What are you doing?" Grace asked.
Kol pulled her closer and caressed her back.
"Take a wild guess, sweetness", he whispered and started to lift her nightie.
"Stop it, I'm tired", Grace said and tried to push him away.
"You can rest when we're finished", he said and kissed her.
"No, Kol, I mean it. Just stop."
"Oh come on, you're the one who said that we need more practice."
"Yes but not now. Please just let me sleep."
Grace saw a strange look in Kol's dark eyes. She couldn't interpret it.
"I say we practice right now and we are not going to stop before I see some flames."
Grace couldn't do anything but stare at him. Had he lost his mind?
"What…Are you insane? You want me to burn you?"
He didn't say anything; he just continued kissing her neck. Suddenly Grace heard a ripping sound. He had ripped her nightie in two.
"No, stop it", she tried to say but he didn't even seem to hear her.
Grace was starting to panic.
"Kol, stop. I don't want this."
"Sure you do", he murmured.
Grace felt her eyes filling with tears. Her mind told her to close her eyes and pretend that she was somewhere far away. Just like she had done with Kyle. No. She wasn't that helpless little girl anymore. All she had to do was unleash her anger. No one would ever hurt her again. In the next second her whole body was on fire. Kol was shouting before he managed to get off her. Grace stood up looking at him fierily. He didn't seem to be too badly burned. Pity. He was staring at her.
"Was that enough flames for you?" she shouted. "Get out!"
"Grace…"
"Get out!"
Surprisingly he actually left. Grace started to shake. Her flames were slowly fading away. She was completely numb. Never again. She suddenly felt very calm when she walked to her closet and started to pack her things. She would be far away from here before the morning.