Ch. 8


"School starts tomorrow," complained Kat as she leaned against the edge of the table.

"Shush, can't you see it's my turn?" Damien replied, eyes never leaving the chessboard. He had his elbows on the table, fingers tented before his face. His eyes suddenly widened and a smirk graced his face before he moved his knight piece.

"Check," he said smugly.

"Are you even paying attention to what I'm saying?" Kat asked exasperated.

"Yea, something about school," he responded flippantly leaning back into his chair, "Now, move, it's your turn."

"If we don't finish this silly game, you and I won't be able to have a decent conversation, will we?"

"No, and must I remind you that chess isn't a 'silly' game?"

"No," she huffed before giving the board a quick look over. The corners of her mouth curled upward a tiny fraction before she moved her bishop into place.

"Checkmate."

"What?" he exclaimed, "How the hell is that possible?"

Kat leaned back into her chair and mimed one of his smirks. As Damien looked at the board one last time, he realized he committed a vital error sometime in the middle of the game.

"Stupid mistake," He looked up at her and found himself intrigued, "Smirking doesn't suit you."

"Oh and why is that?"

"Not unless it's the result of making me cry out your name in the troughs of passion," he said bluntly.

"My god," Kat said incredulously, "What is it with you and sex?"

"Well, what can I say? I am a sexy beast."

"I think I've told you this, but in case I haven't, let me tell you that-"

"That you want me to ravage you? Or-"

"No," Kat said rolling her eyes, "That you are the most arrogant, self-absorbed prick that I've ever met."

Damien smiled at her and winked at her comment.

"You know that you wouldn't want me any way else."

"That's true," she chuckled as she stood up and walked over to the window, "I hope we'll still be able to see each other."

"Me too," came his soft reply.

Ever since they'd met, they'd been seeing each other twice a week; specifically every Friday and Saturday night. Over the course of their meetings, they had become good friends. In the various meetings that they'd had, the two had been able to deduce that they were in fact, meeting in their dreams, but the cause for it still remained a mystery. It turned out that even though they could not recall certain information, such as names, other things could be easily recalled; like what they had for dinner and when school started. After their discovery, they had both enjoyed the amenities that the dream world provided. The reading material available provided much entertainment. They found several books that spoke of various concoctions made with fanciful ingredients; eye of newt, wormwood, unicorn hair, aphosphodel were some of them.

The one thing in the room that both teens found peculiar was the large map of Europe. The countries with the most flags were Bulgaria and England and every time they met, more black flags appeared. Now and then blue flags would appear, but overall, the black flags were dominant. Eventually, Kat and Damien had come to ignore the map completely.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked.

Kat turned around and found him lying down on the sofa, looking up at her. Frowning in thought, she walked over to him. She sat on his stomach when he wouldn't move to let her sit.

"Oy!" he cried, "Get off of me you heifer!"

"What?" she asked in disbelief, "I am not a cow!"

"Can't breathe," he choked out, "Life…flashing…before…eyes!"

"Shut up," Kat responded, flicking him on his forehead.

"If you don't get up willingly, in the next three counts, I will be forced to take matters into my hands."

Kat looked at him expecting to find humor in his eyes. Instead, she was met with an impassive face and his eyes, which were usually sparkling, had turned into cold silver chips. His expression coursed a shiver to go down her spine. Recognition, anger and fear could be seen in her eyes.

"Three!"

Kat let out a yelp in surprise as she found herself lifted from her position by strong arms and placed on the backrest of the furniture; behind sticking up in the air. She felt the blood rushing to her head, but try as she might, she could not touch the floor. Damien was kneeling behind her, holding her legs firmly, and halting her movements.

"Pull me up!" she cried, squirming.

"And let you hit me again?" he asked, "Never! Besides, I believe it is high time that you got your just reward."

"For what?"

"Why for all those times that you've hit me of course," he replied.

"Don't you dare."

"Oh, but I do!"

"If you so much as- Ahh!" her retort was cut short as Damien landed three quick strikes on her posterior. After the initial surprise wore off, she found herself able to move. Scrambling down onto the floor, she quickly stood up. Kat felt her cheeks burning with anger and embarrassment as she turned toward her friend. Damien was still kneeling, clutching the backrest as he was beside himself with laughter.

"Nice to see that someone found that amusing," she said narrowing her eyes.

"That's right."

"Well then, goodbye and have a wonderful school year," she said curtly before turning.

"You know you can't leave yet," he said.

Kat paused.

"The moon hasn't reached the ridge yet."

She stood indecisive on what to do.

In the time that they'd met, they found out that the position of the moon determined the time that they would stay together. Once the moon reached the far mountain ridge, they had the ability to awake at will.

"Listen, about what happened…I'm sorry," he said, "Besides, it isn't like it was completely my fault. I did after all warn you that I've be forced to do something if you didn't comply."

"I know," she said softly, "You must think of me as uptight, but-"

"Well, the thought did cross my mind several times…"

"Never mind, forget I said anything."

Damien stood and walked towards her, with bother annoyance and concern in his eyes.

"You can't begin to say something and then suddenly decide not to," he said, holding her shoulders, "Come on, pretty please?"

"When I was sitting on you and you told me to get off, there was something in your eyes," Kat finally said.

"What was it?" he insisted.

"I don't know!" she said finally, "but it caused me to momentarily…"

"What?"

"Listen, can't we just forget any of this happened?" she asked nervously, biting her lower lip, "How about another game of chess?"

Damien narrowed his eyes, seeing her fidget under his scrutiny. He could tell that she really didn't want to tell him, but didn't want to lie to him. Knowing that she'd tell him eventually, he decided to let the matter go, for the moment. Damien grinned at her and placed an arm around her shoulders, walking towards the chess table.

"I'll take you up on that offer, only if-"

"For the last time, I will not strip if you win!"

"Kat, will you please get you mind out of the gutter?" Damien asked, acting shocked, "I was going to say 'only if by forgetting everything that had happened does not include the slaps you got.'"

"Oh," she said blushing slightly, "Fine."

"Good," he said sitting down, "Now, let the game begin!"