MOONLIGHT LIPLOCK

I sat stock still in the bed for a few moments, not even daring to look over the edge at the still figure that I knew lay there. My heart was racing and my breathing had become ragged. I guess that's what happens when you're awoken, only to come face to face with a stranger, who seems intent on assaulting you.

I ran my hand through my hair shakily, trying to regain my composure. Glancing out of the window, I remembered that I was in Italy, in a giant beautiful castle, with Paul, Father Dom, etc. Paul!

His bedroom was next door, I could go to him for help. It wasn't the most appealing of ideas, but I doubted I would be able for the stairs again.

Ripping off the sheets which had become entangled around my body, I hopped off the end of the bed, ignoring the body, yet hoping he was okay. The last thing I needed was to be tried for murder. I have enough on my plate as it is.

Candles glowed in lanterns that hung from the walls, creating an eerie glow that really didn't help calm my tattered nerves. I nervously tapped on Paul's door, hoping against hope that for once he wouldn't pull his stupid arrogant jerk act and instead grasp sympathy and help me.

My first tap had been pretty soft, so I knocked a little louder this time. I was just about to turn around and return to my room when the door opened. ' What? ' Paul stood in the doorway, rubbing at his eyes, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. I can't deny that my eyes may have lingered on his abs a little too long, but that is neither here nor there.

His eyes suddenly focused and spotted me standing there, still wearing my icky traveling clothes. A smirk tugged at his full lips, and he casually leaned one arm against the doorframe. 'What do you want Simon?'

'Well….uh…you see, the thing is…' I began, avoiding his eyes, feeling once again so inferior, as he stood there like an Adonis, confident and glorious.

'There's this guy in my room….' 'Oh, moved on from DeSilva have we?' he taunted, enjoying every minute of this. 'NO!' I insisted, my feelings swaying from decreasing self esteem to being plain old pissed off.

'He came in while I was asleep and then woke me up, and was pushing me against the bed,' I said, all in one breath. 'And, so, I got freaked….and….headbutted….him.'

A looonnnggg silence followed, during which my cheeks started to burn again. You'd think they'd have some kind of foundation that prevents that kinda thing from happening in this day and age, but nooooooo.

After an eternity of waiting, I finally glanced up at Paul, who seemed to be processing the information. He looked at me again….and immediately burst out laughing. 'Wait a minute, let me get this straight,' he said between gasps. 'You headbutted some dude who came into your room!'

Wow, when he put it like that, I really did suck. Forget self defense, it was just stupid. And yet, I wasn't about to claim another defeat at the hands of Paul Slater.

'Shut up laughing,' I said in a low voice, hoping it would, I don't know, intimidate him or something? Ha, as if it's even possible to intimidate someone like Paul.

'Let me show you.' 'Show me what?' he asked, quirking his eyebrow suggestively. 'Where they may have possibly left your brain!' I snapped, turning on my heel and storming back to my room.

Not exactly into my room, but just to the entrance. Moonlight spilled through the large window, making everything appear slightly blue-ish in colour. Reluctantly, I took a peek at the body, which was still deathly still. Only, I hoped without the deathly bit.

'Look, I'm sorry for laughing at you, but you gotta admit, it was kind of funny,' Paul said, as he came up behind me. Suddenly, the body let out a groan and we both jumped. Yes, that's right, Mr. Paul Slater himself jiggled when we heard the noise. Don't deny it, I felt your chest heave a little against my back. So there. Blagh.

I threw a glance at Paul, as if to say, 'What do we do now?' He put a finger to his lips, indicating that we should remain silent. He probably shouldn't have emphasized the prescence of his lips, because um, YUMMY! I ripped my gaze away from them, despite my heart's protestations to the contrary.

The man slowly began to move his legs, and rubbed the back of his head. He was still facing away from us, which was to our advantage, but I didn't know at that time how powerful this man could be or even who he was, so nobody had any upper hand really.

'Merda,' he groaned, rolling onto his back. Grabbing an antique clock that was on top of my chest of drawers and had to weigh at least five pounds, I stepped forward and brandished it over his head. 'Who the hell are you?' I demanded.

'S-Suzah?' He asked groggily, squinting his eyes up at me. 'How do you know my name?' I replied, frowning. 'Me, Marco,' he answered, sitting up, which caused me to step away a little. 'Emmm….dinner?'

'Shit indeed,' I murmured, realizing my little mistake. I heard the deep rumble of Paul's laugh and shot him a dirty look over my shoulder, which only made that jackass laugh even more.

'Mi dispiace,' I said, offering a hand and helping Marco stand. I replaced the clock and then stood there awkwardly. Crap, I had only bothered to learn a few phrases in Italian before I came and 'I am very sorry that I thought you were a rapist and consequently headbutted you, causing you to fall unconscious before you awoke again to find me holding a clock that weighs several pounds over your head,' was not one of them. But I kinda figured that he got the general gist.

We stood there in silence for a few seconds before I squeaked, 'So….dinner you said?'

We descended the many stairs, before turning into a grand room, again with a chandelier and a really long table, with every place set.

The crystal glasses glistened, and the chink of china moving filled the air. A low murmur of conversation glided about, but immediately stopped as soon as the three of us entered.

'Marco!' Pamela said, getting up from her chair. 'Che cos'è successo?'

'Suze is what happened,' Paul drawled, taking a seat. I threw him a withering glance and took my own place. 'It was an accident, and since when is your name Marco? He can answer for himself.'

The man in question looked back and forth at us, frowning slightly, looking maybe a little concussed. I can't even call him a man though, at the most he was nineteen.

Pamela ushered him into the kitchen, being the big mother hen that she is. Father Dominic looked at me questioningly, but settled for grilling me about it later. 'Let's begin, I'm starved,' he said, picking up a bowl of peas.

'Suze, do you always have such a painful effect on men?' Paul whispered out of the side of his mouth, almost snarling, instead of the usual smirk. 'I don't know, you tell me Slater,' I replied, scooping some mashed potatoes onto my plate. Nice that they welcomed us with some good ol' American food.

That seemed to shut Paul up, ha! I looked around at the occupants of the table and saw the usual, Isabella, Benjamin, Father D, Paolo, but there were also four new people whom I didn't recognize.

'Who are they?' I asked the devil's spawn who was chomping away. Not that Paul chomps really, way too ungraceful for someone as dignified as himself. Grrrrr.

'That guy on the left is Pierre Mesereau, the French shifters mentor and the woman beside him is Jasmine Contreau, the Aussie's mentor.' 'There's Australians?' I repeated, surprised. It's a long way away!

'I just said it didn't I?' He answered snottily. 'The guy is Josh and the girl is Grace.' He then turned away from me and started chatting away to Isabella. Good, those two deserve one another. Imagine all the little evil children they could have together.

'Hi,' I smiled at the girl named Grace. 'Hey,' she said in like the cutest accent ever! 'I'm Suze,' I continued, munching away, but not showing my food, because that would be way gross.

'Grace,' she replied, pushing her food around on her plate. 'What's the matter?' I asked, looking at her curiously. 'Well, I'm a vegetarian, and this isn't really my sort of yummy,' she answered, standing up. 'I think I'll see if they have an alternative.'

As soon as she had left, the guy named Josh leaned toward me and whispered, 'She only eats baby food, you know, that gooey crap? Don't ask her about it though, she'd rather die than admit it.'

'Um, k,' I nodded, realizing for the first time that I may not be the biggest freak in the room. There were a few others who qualified for citizenship of Crazy Town.

I finished my meal in silence, safer that way all round. Walking into the kitchen, I found Marco sitting on the countertop holding a packet of frozen corn on the cob pressed to the back of his head. I smiled sheepishly as I scraped the remnants of my meal into the garbage and then muttered, 'Sorry again,' before making a hasty exit.

I was at the bottom of the stairs, thinking I was home safe and dry, when someone called my name. Reluctantly, I turned to face Father D. 'What do you want?' I asked, feeling all tuckered out.

'An explanation,' he said simply, fixing me with his alert gaze. 'Okay. Marco woke me up, I freaked because I didn't know who he was, headbutted him, and then he came round, so it's all good.'

'Susannah!' he gasped, looking more than a little shocked. You'd never swear this was a man who dealt with ghosts on a regular basis, judging by his reaction.

'Good night Father,' I said loudly, before taking two steps at a time. I heard him call after me, but conveniently ignored him. That's a plus of being a teenager, you can suffer from selective hearing, whenever you choose.

I finally reached my room and shuddered slightly, remembering my major faux pas with Marco earlier on. Ah well, I can never be blamed for letting people walk all over me, or get on top of me either. That one time in Paul's bedroom was the exception, so no smart comments!

I was about to drift off into another snooze, when I heard yet another person calling my name. However, this time was different. Way different.

'Jesse!' I gasped, sitting upright. Then, remembering that I was supposed to be pissed with him, I folded my arms across my chest and pouted. 'Why didn't you come to say goodbye?'

He ran a hand through his shiny black locks and took a step closer. 'Querida,' he said in a quiet voice. 'I am so sorry, I came across an unexpected guest. I can't apologise enough.'

'Who was the unexpected guest?' I questioned, my anger melting away immediately. As if I could ever stay mad at Jesse for long, impossible.

'That's irrelevant,' he responded, pulling me to a standing position. 'What's important is that you and I are together Susannah.' Now, that made a lot of sense.

'I know it's been less than twenty four hours since we last saw each other, but I've missed you so much,' I gushed, leaning against his hard chest. You have no idea how good it felt, to turn to mush in his strong, capable arms.

'As….have….I,' he said, pecking me on my cheeks and forehead with each word. 'Um, excuse you, aren't you forgetting another place?' I demanded, looking up into those amazing yet unreadable eyes.

'Oh, of course,' he smirked, before lifting up the bottom of my tank and blowing a raspberry on my stomach. 'Jesse! Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?' I asked, swatting at his head, while giggling.

'Your boyfriend is right here,' he replied, wrapping his arms around me. I couldn't help but love how the moonlight danced across his features, making him even hotter than ever.

'You sure?' I said, hugging him tightly. 'If you don't believe me, then I'll just have to prove it,' he declared. He leaned down and kissed me with the usual passion and love that still got me every single time.

I pulled back, to take a breath, and felt grateful that he was holding me so firmly, as falling would have been an option, considering how Jesse makes me weak in the knees every time our lips touch. Not even that, every time he even so much as looks at me. Some would feel sorry for me, but they would be the ones without a certified hottie to liplock with!

This time Jesse pulled back and was about to open his mouth, but I stopped him by placing a single finger on his lips, 'Don't,' I shushed. 'Just kiss me.'

Oooh, deja-vu….