"Kylie? Whoa, Kylie, why the rush?" Eric caught her wrist as she dashed past him.
She skidded to a halt because he was holding onto her and she turned to face him with a casual smile. "Hey, Eric. I'm heading over to the elementary division."
"Oh? Why?"
"I'm on duty over there to help out because of my break out."
"Well that's certainly a shame, I was thinking that the two of us could hang out."
"Sorry, but a punishment's a punishment."
"I didn't think that you were a good girl."
"I'm not, usually, but I like the kids there so I'm not going to skip out on it."
"Is there no way I could convince you to just leave the duty be?"
"Not a chance, Eric." I shook my head and made sure that I avoided making direct eye contact with him. After the conversation I had with Drew, even I knew to keep my guard up around this Moroi regardless of our agreement earlier today.
"Then what about later?"
"Sorry, I have plans with the girls for tonight." I shook my head.
"Are you trying to avoid me, Kylie?" he asked and I was fairly sure that there was a hint of amusement and also irritation in his tones.
"Not at all, do you usually demand spending so much time together with a girl you're seeing right from the start?" I retorted with a similar tone of voice. I didn't know whether he was trying to dominate my life on purpose or whether he was doing it subconsciously because it was in his nature but I sure as hell didn't like it regardless of the reason. I didn't particularly like the way he kissed me in front of everyone after the tattoo ceremony but that was relatively understandable since he wanted to let everyone know that there was something going on between us.
"Is there anything wrong with that? I just enjoy spending time with people I like."
"No, there's nothing wrong with that, but you can't talk me out of going to the elementary division either." I told him simply. "Could you let me go so that I won't be later than I already am?"
"In a moment," he whispered and before I knew it he was kissing me.
I gasped as he drew my body close and I could feel every inch of him pressing into me and I could tell that he was aroused as well. He pressed me up against the wall and slipped his leg between mine so that there was no space between us at all. Wincing as I felt a fang cut my bottom lip, I pressed against his chest to let him know that I really didn't like the idea of sharing my blood and he pulled away slightly. I saw the blood that was on his lips and my eyes followed the movement of his tongue as he took a taste of my blood.
Something flashed through his eyes. I didn't know what the emotion was but deep down my instincts were telling me that whatever it was wasn't something good. Before I could say anything, he moulded his lips over mine once more and he sucked on my lower lip to get whatever blood he could from the small wound. His hands held my hips firmly and so tightly that I thought bruises were going to form. He pressed so firmly against me that I was having difficulty with breathing and when I thought I was going to suffocate I shoved against his shoulders and pushed him away.
"Stop…" I gasped as I tried to gather my wits.
"Embrace it, Kylie. Embrace the feelings that my touch can offer you," he told me with a low, husky voice.
I wanted to snap back telling him that right now whatever emotion he caused to rise up in me, it wasn't anything pleasurable but I couldn't quite find the voice to say it. I simply caught my breath and turned away from him. I felt him shift towards me again and I held my hand up.
"No." I told him with a shaky voice. God what the heck was wrong with me? Why was I so out of breath and so affected by a simply kiss? Granted it was a kiss that involved blood but it was just a kiss. There was nothing more than that, so why was I so damn shaken?
"Kylie, stay with me."
"No." I repeated with a firmer tone this time.
Before giving him any time to speak again I ran off as fast as I could but no matter how fast I tried to get away from him, I could still feel his piercing gaze on my back. It was as though he was trying to call me back to him with a mere gaze. I shook off the feeling as I neared the guardian on duty at the entrance today and I gave him a small smile as I passed.
Soon enough, I found Ali and he smiled as soon as he saw me.
"Calmed down completely now?" I teased as I neared him.
"As calm as I can be with you around," he joked. "So, you've spoken to Martin."
"How'd you know?"
"I got a call from him pestering me not to pressure you too much into things."
"I did tell him that I agreed with you and that you did give me the choice to say no." I sighed.
"You know how that man is. Over protective as ever only he's the more silent type about it."
"Well then, I guess that's one thing you two share in common."
"Hey, I'm nothing like him in that respect."
I thought about it for a moment and realised that he was right. "You're right." I agreed. "You're a whole lot worse."
"Hey!"
"Kylie!" a bubbly voice shouted and a small body crashed into me.
I grunted from the force of the crash and picked the small kid up into my arms. "Hey, little Trace."
"How is your wound?" he asked worriedly.
"Basically as good as new," I told him reassuringly and kissed his forehead. "Have you been nice and good for the guardians?"
"I've been a good boy, just as I'd promised."
I gave a pleased smile and ruffled his hair. "Then here's a treat from me." I held up a piece of wrapped chocolate. The young boy beamed up at me and his eyes gleamed with delight.
"Kylie, you're the best!"
"Aw, Kai, you're stealing the kids away from me?" Ali complained playfully.
"Just this little one," I teased. "I seem to have developed an attachment to Trace."
"Just don't go kidnapping him."
I laughed and held Trace a little closer. "I wouldn't dream of it."
For the next couple of hours, up until the kids' bedtime, I joined in with their games and even got involved in a beanbag fight. When it was time for bed, Trace insisted that I tucked him in like last time. As I glanced down at him, I began to wonder if this was what having a little brother was like. My thoughts drifted back to earlier that afternoon and I wondered again why the relationship between the Dragomir brothers seemed so bad. What could have happened to have caused such a rift? The twins, though a little devilish, were perfectly nice guys and Trace was an adorable kid. There didn't seem to be any reason why they didn't get along.
Ali had to finish his shift at the elementary dorm before beginning his patrol so we agreed to meet St. Vlad's statue in an hour. Thanks to our little escapade into the outside world, the girl's hadn't had the time to do their homework so we were all supposed to be gathering in Els' room to work on what we were behind on. I'd have to find some kind of an excuse to leave early. Maybe I could feign being tired and pretend to head to bed early.
When I got back to my room, I found a note taped to my door asking me to head to Els' room as soon as I got back. I yanked the note off and headed inside to gather my stuff before headed across the hall and knocking on the door of the room opposite mine. The door opened a moment later and I came face to face with a teary Ingrid.
"Kai!" she cried and wrapped her arms around me. "Save me!"
"Eh? What? What's going on?" I asked frantically, wondering what was wrong.
"I can't take it anymore! The equations are driving me crazy!"
I tugged Ingrid with me as I walked into the room and found that the two beds had been pushed together and there were books scattered all over. Roxy and Els had books on their laps and glanced up to give me a smile. "You're starting with maths? That's a stupid thing to do. You should start with something easy to get you going before diving into something infuriating."
"Come on, Ingrid, it's not that bad." Els commented, rolling her eyes at the girl.
"I can't understand it. You're a genius so you don't understand what it's like for those of us who can't comprehend that kind of thing. There are far too many numbers."
"You're a maths genius?" I arched my brows at Els as I dropped my stuff on an empty spot on the bed. "I am so copying your work."
"So there is something you're not good at!" Roxy pointed at me with a victorious smirk.
I scoffed at her comment and took a glance at what question they were on. "There are a lot of things I'm not good at. Budge over, Roxy, otherwise I'm going to fall off the bed."
She shuffled over and Ingrid took her place around the circle. "Els, please explain it to me in simpleton terms."
"Wait, before we continue," Roxy cut in, "Where were you at dinner, Kai? I didn't think you were the type to be able to miss a meal."
I glanced at the three of them and gave a shrug. "I didn't miss it. I was on my way there to find you guys when I crashed into Christian."
Els blinked in surprise and frowned. "Christian Chance? The one who always hangs around Nick?"
I nodded. "That one."
"What happened? Just bumping into him wouldn't distract you from dinner."
"He was being ambushed by a few seniors so I just helped him out a little. It was late so I decided to head to the home economics classroom instead to make something."
"Ambushed?"
I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should say anything. It wasn't really in my place to talk about it since I didn't really know Christian all that well but I knew that the three girls wouldn't say anything unnecessary to anyone else if I asked them not to. The three waited patiently as I thought about it and they all had a serious expression on their face.
"He was cornered because the seniors decided to bully him for being gay, wasn't he?" Roxy asked.
I was surprised that she knew. Christian really didn't seem like the type who flaunted his sexual preferences, even if he didn't hide them so I didn't think that other people knew about it. Not that I had anything against him being gay, it was his decision after all, but I never would've guessed that he preferred guys over girls.
"You know?" I tilted my head to the side in surprise.
Roxy sighed and put her pen down. "Pretty much everyone knows. At least half the school knows that the seniors love to pick on him for that."
"How long has the bullying been going on for?" I frowned, wondering why it hasn't been stopped by now if so many people know about it.
"About a year or so."
"With the exception of transferring the bullies out of the school, there's nothing anyone could do to stop it. There will always be at least one homophobe in a school as big as this."
"That doesn't mean they should just let it continue!" I scowled, furious at the fact that it'd gone on for so long. "If I hadn't stepped in, he would've been horribly abused! He's a perfectly nice guy. He shouldn't have to go through that sort of thing."
"He's a nice guy? When have you had the chance to talk to him for long enough to know that?" Ingrid asked curiously.
"Over dinner," I told them simply. "I made us dinner and talked it out since I was curious about the situation that I'd stepped into."
"What happened?"
"I'm not saying, but it was bad." I grumbled at the memory of what had almost happened to him. "Anyway, for a usually cheerful guy like him, I wouldn't have thought that he was going through that kind of thing."
"Nick keeps him safe, I think. If I remember rightly, that was the reason why the two became good friends."
I stared at them in shock at what I'd just heard. There was no way, absolutely no way that the bully I remembered defended someone else! "O'Connor defended Christian?"
"Yeah, I think so." Roxy nodded, in thought.
"That's kind of surprising considering how much of a jerk he's been so far…" I trailed off lamely.
Els gave a small smile and shook her head. "He isn't always like that. Even that guy has his moments of being nice to people."
"I'll take your word for it. So, maths, huh?" I commented, trying to bring out attention to the work we had to do rather than about Christian's situation.
Ingrid moaned and ran her hands through her hair. "Save me!"
I grinned at Els, giving her an expectant stare and opened my books. "Els, take the stage."
For the next hour, the four of us struggled through our work and when the time came, I made up an excuse to head back to my room early. After dumping my books on my desk, I looked out of the window and looked for a safe way to get out. I grabbed a pair of gloves and put them on before opening my window and jumping out. Hands outstretched, I clung onto a thick branch and using that as leverage I dropped down onto a lower branch and continued until I landed on the floor. I made a mental note to ask someone for a long rope or something that I could hang from my room so that it'd be easier next time I snuck out before lights out.
I headed to the statue and waited patiently for Ali to arrive.
As I waited, I began to feel the morning chill and wondered if it might have been better if I'd remembered to bring a jumper with me. I jumped and whirled around on instinct with a fist when I felt something drape over my shoulder. Just short of smacking my fist into his face, I managed to stop myself and glanced up at him sheepishly.
"My bad… habit of mine." I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Don't worry about it, I get it." Ali bent down and picked up the jacket that had slipped off my shoulders. "So this was how you used to survive out there, by being one edge all the time."
"Not all the time. I did know how to chill you know."
"Just joking." He ruffled my hair before draping the coat around my shoulders again. "You look a little cold."
"I should've worn a jumper." I admitted and tugged the jacket on properly instead of letting it drape over my shoulders.
"Sorry I'm a little late. One of the kids woke up and wouldn't stop crying so I had to stay with her until she fell back to sleep."
I smiled up at him "That's alright. I figured that it might've been something like that. Is the kid alright now?"
"Yeah, she fell back to sleep after I read a storybook to her for about ten minutes. Successful escape?"
I arched my brows at him at the stupidity of his question. "Who'd you take me for? I was taught by the best."
Ali chuckled and ruffled my hair again. "Well, let's hope that Martin's job will run smoothly now that you're back."
"I think things will be lively enough without any pranks being played." I scoffed. "Let's get this over with. The longer I wait, the worse my reaction's going to be."
"I'll be by your side no matter what happens, Kai. The one thing I won't let you do is let you run away."
"I know, Alster." I sighed.
At first, we just walked side by side in silence, but as we got closer and closer to the home that I could still remember so well, my heart began to quicken and my hands felt clammy from anxiety. I jumped when his hand grasped mine in a firm and comforting manner. We didn't look at each other, didn't say anything, but simply carried on walking. No words needed to be shared. Being Ali, he would know how I was feeling. Despite how much we'd both changed, it seemed that there were still some things that remained the same and I was immensely grateful for that.
Birds chirped all around us through the woods and their music echoed in our silence. I smiled wryly, finding it a little strange that I was awake so early and yet at the same time so late. Following the human schedule, this would be considered incredibly early, but according to the vampire time table, this was incredibly late. I was thankful that my body adapted to the change of routine so quickly, otherwise I would've crashed out by now.
As soon as I saw the house, I froze and my brain ceased to function. My body hit fight or flight mode and seemed to choose flight. I turned on my heel, fully intending to run away from the small clearing surrounding my old childhood home, when Ali yanked me back to his side and wrapped his arms around me, preventing me from being able to run away. I'd forgotten that we were still holding hands. For several moments, I simply stood there in his arms, completely immobile.
"Kai," he whispered with a steely voice. "Face it. Confront it. Don't let it consume you forever."
"Ali… I don't think I can do this…" I choked out, suddenly finding my throat dry.
"You can, Kai. You can," Ali reassured me. "You've told me already a million times. You're much stronger than you used to be. It's time you believed in your own words."
"I hate you for doing this to me, Ali."
"You can hate me all you want and beat me as much as you need to, later. But first, you've got to do this. You've had your chances to say no, it's too late now."
"It's not too late, it's never too late." I murmured lyrically.
Ali stiffened before he gave a somewhat dark but amused chuckle. "Don't you go throwing song lyrics at me, Kalster. It's not going to work."
"A girl's gotta try, right?" I retorted with a snigger.
"I could easily throw you over my shoulder and carry you into the house, if you'd prefer."
"Ali, that's the most humiliating thing anyone has ever said to me!" I squealed and pulled away so that I could hit him. "Seriously, throw me over your shoulder? That's just mean."
"Whatever works, and clearly my suggestion worked." He smirked at me and I realised that he was right. His offhanded comment snapped me out of my frozen and stunned state and I was thinking relatively rational thoughts again.
"You've gotten smarter." I teased him.
"Now, now, no insulting your elders."
"Sure thing, old man." I saluted him in mock seriousness, earning me a light shove in the shoulder.
I let out a heavy breath and my expression became somber once more. I turned to face the house and prepared myself as best as I could for what was to come.