Am I Too Early to Die?

Disclaimer: YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SAY IT! Okay, I guess you can….Sigh, eye twitches I. Twitch Don't. Twitch Own. Twitch Alice 19th… BUT I WANT IT! Cries, laughs manically, falls over

Chapter 1: Blood and Jam

Frey returned to his home sanctuary from Japan in the dead of night, knowing exactly what awaited him. But as the towering building came into view, he knew something was wrong. Glaring out into the night, a light shone from the center room. Alarmed, he picked up that pace, rushing to the door. Pushing them open, he nearly stumbled into the room as they gave out, clearly unlocked. Expecting a bloodbath, he was shocked to find the room spotlessly clean. Kneeling at the front of the room, before the altar, was a small figure.

"What are you doing here?" he said, a bit too loudly, and his voice reverberated through the room and came back to him several times. The figure jumped several inches off the ground, fell backwards, then hastily stood, revealing that it was a young woman.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said, hanging her head. Her accent was nowhere near Norwegian, but somewhere between American and British. "I didn't realize that there was anyone left! Forgive me for intruding! I'll leave…" She took a step toward one of the doors leading from the hall.

"What? No, don't go! I just wasn't expecting anyone to be here!" He paused, realizing how pretty the girl was, and decided to wait to make a move on her. "Where..? Where did all the bodies go? Aren't they all dead?"

She hung her head again. "Yes. I came to see the sanctuary and when I arrived, there were bodies everywhere. I cleaned the hall and took the bodies into a different room so I can bury them tomorrow."

"You moved them all?" He looked her up and down; she was petite, about five feet, and some of those men were pretty heavy.

"I'm not as fragile as I look," she replied, pulling the collar of her thin coat higher. When her sleeve fell, he saw the Lotis bracelet dangle on her arm.

"You're a Lotis Master," he announced, pointing out the obvious. She looked at him dubiously.

"Do people other than Lotis Masters normally come here? At my branch we don't normally give tours."

"No, it's just we weren't expecting anyone. At least, I don't think we were. I've been in Japan, so I wouldn't know." Her entire face brightened, and her head shot up. He could see her face clearly. She had shining blue eyes, wide with something he couldn't quite place. Her hair was dark blonde, but he had seen that already. Her mouth curved up good naturedly, but that could be because she grinned when he mentioned Japan. High cheekbones and a small delicate nose completed the angelic image.

"Oh, you were the guide sent from this branch? Did you see Billy?" As she said his name her eyes seemed to sparkle a bit.

It was his turn to be dubious. "You know Billy?"

"Of course I know Billy. He's from my home branch. We're pretty good friends. Nice guy." She seemed to let her guard down when he revealed he knew Billy. "It is kind of cold out there. Do you mind closing the door?" He turned around, realizing that he had left the door open in his haste to find out who was in the sanctuary. He closed them and walked over to her. She lowered her head again.

"Don't be shy! I think you're just my type!" he exclaimed.

Her head snapped up. "What?" He began to circle her, and he noticed a notebook on the floor beside, but she kicked it shut before he could see what was in it.

"Nice figure, good bone structure, quite pretty!" She blushed, but looked up at him defiantly.

"I happen to have a boyfriend, thank you very much!" She said, trying to cool the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"Oh, well then, I'll just have to steal you from him!" He stroked her cheek. She half laughed, half snorted at the remark, pushing his hand away.

"I'd be funny to see you try!" She paused. "Don't even think about it!" He laughed and in a few seconds, she was laughing with him.

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Two days had passed. Her name was Catalina Cantolini. Frey found out that she was traveling to many of the bigger Lotis branches, doing research on different styles and uses of the words. She was apparently working on a project for her home branch that she wouldn't tell him even the smallest bit of information on. Over the past two days, they had managed to give each of Frey's fellow neomasters a small burial and they settled down for a bite to eat in the dining hall. Frey had been trying to convince her to sit next to him, but she still insisted on sitting across the table, and several seats away.

"You still won't sit next to me?" Frey whined. Correcting his voice, he tried to seduce her into it. "Please? I thought you just said you were cold. I can keep you warm."

"Not going to work, Frey. I have another page to do to meet my deadline, or you should call me Dog Meat." She propped her notebook up on a jug of water and quickly began writing.

"I like meat. Meat tastes good."

"Still not working. And ew." She didn't even bother looking up form her work.

He shrugged. "Worth a try." He dug into his food. Steamed vegetables and bread with jam.

"You definitely make the best jam in the world," she muttered after the first bite of the bread.

"Yes, don't I? If you'd join me in the kitchen tomorrow, we can make some more. We could heat things up!"

She looked up at him. "A) I am not 'heating anything up' with you, as you so quaintly put it. B) You do not want me anywhere near the kitchen. Unless you want your beloved sanctuary to explode."

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a fact. I'm a horrible cook. I will blow something up."

"We'll see about that!" Then he decidedly ate his food.

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Frey managed to drag Catalina to the kitchen the next morning. He had been up since dawn, rummaging through the stores for fruit he thought she would like. Luckily, it was only fall, and none of them had been dried of made into jam yet. He even picked a bushel of apples from the orchard. When he pushed her into the kitchen around 10 o'clock, almost all the surfaces were covered with baskets of fruit. A sight that caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Now, I know that was not here yesterday!" she marveled.

"No, it wasn't. Now let's make some jam!" She grimaced, but allowed him to direct her through the motions.

When they were finally finished, it was nearly 3 o'clock. They had apple preserves, strawberry and blueberry jam, and grape jelly. The apple preserves were the first to cool entirely. Frey fetched a spoon, dipped it into them, and held it in front of Catalina's face.

"Open," he demanded. She shook her head furiously. "Come on! You followed my recipe! It's fine!" She shook her head again. "EAT THE JAM!" She just shook her head again. This time, he grabbed her chin, forced her jaws apart and stuck the spoon into her mouth.

"That… was actually good!" she said, as he ate a spoonful himself.

"See! I told you it was fine! What was all the fuss about, my little one?"

"A) Don't call me that! B) I've never made anything actually edible before!"

"That explains a lot." She glared at him and bother were silent until the blueberry jam was done. This time, she grabbed a fresh spoon and took a bite. "What? Too prim and proper to use the same spoon?" He held it out.

"You ate off it. I am not putting that back in my mouth." She said, after swallowing. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to try it, and when he didn't, she took another. As soon as the she swallowed and opened her mouth to ask him why he wouldn't eat anything, he kissed her. She pulled away, just a bit, shook her head, then broke into a run out of the kitchen.

Frey followed her to the door, but she was already out of the hallway. He leaned against the doorframe and muttered, "I'm not that bad of a kisser, am I?"