Chapter 19

(Catarina)

"Mr. Crepsley," I bow to him.

"You do not need to bow to me Catarina. You are the General now."

I smile.

"I'm proud of you and Darren," he tells me.

"Thank you. How are you feeling?"

He thinks about it for a moment. "I am doing well. I miss her but I feel happy about everything."

"Me too."

He nods.

"Mr. C, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"It's something very important. You might need time to think about it."

"Just ask me Catarina."

"Prince Mika told me that because I am so young I need a guardian, a mentor. He told me that one of the Princes needs to agree to it and then it will be final. I've been well aware of the fact that I needed a new mentor. I have had someone in mind for a while now."

"Okay," he nods. "Who is it?"

"You."

"Me?" he is surprised.

"Yes sir."

"Why me? Is it because of Darren?" he looks confused.

"Partly," I admit. "But there are other reasons too. You have been a good teacher to Darren to the best of your ability, you care for the both of us and we care for you. Despite your few flaws, you are a good vampire and a good person. They all respect you as do I."

"You have thought a lot about this?" he questions.

"Yes I have. When I was being mentored temporarily by Arra, she spoke very highly of you. By that time you were already in my mind as the person I wanted."

"I promised Arra as she was dying that I would watch over you and protect you," he says. "If you are very sure, and it would seem that you are, then I will agree."

"Thank you Mr. C," I hug him tightly. He is caught off guard but when I sniffle back tears he hugs me too.

"Are you alright Catarina?"

"I apologize. There's just so much...it's overwhelming. I'm very glad that you agreed. I don't know what I'd do without you and Darren. I care about you very much Mr. C."

"I care about you too."

We hug for a while and then I finally let go of him, calming myself.

"You are a very exceptional young woman Catarina. You are brave, smart, loyal, honest, trustworthy, and kind. You will become an excellent full vampire and a great General. I am honored to be your mentor."

I smile. "Will you help me be a General?"

He grins. "Of course."

I go find Shan and Harkat to tell them the good news. Shan is in the dining hall with people gathered all around him. Vampires have started to go home but some are still here. I walk over to him. He turns when he notices me. "I have something to tell you," I lean in close so he can hear me. "Can we go find Harkat?"

"Sure," he nods. He says Goodbye to everyone then walks with me through the halls. We go to his room and Harkat is there.

"I have found my new mentor," I announce.

"That's great! What do you have to do now?"

"One of the Princes has to agree to my choice also. I was hoping that maybe you could..."

He shrugs. "I guess so. Who is it?"

"Mr. Crepsley."

Shan's jaw drops in surprise. Then he smiles amusedly. "Really?"

I nod.

"That's awesome. Are you sure?"

"I've been sure for quite some time now. Do you approve?"

"Yes of course," he hugs me happily. I hug him back. Then I turn to Harkat.

"Will you stay with us at the mountain?"

"As long as...you both...want me...then I will."

I kneel down and hug him too. He is embarrassed but I know he likes it.

Shan and I spend the rest of the day going over business with the Princes. Some people are surprised that I chose Mr. Crepsley, but some are not. Vanez isn't at all. Seba finds it kind of funny and amusing. Shan is a Prince now and the whole thing is confirmed. The Princes and generals spend a lot of time with us going over basics and touring us through tunnels. At some point during the day, I miss Gavner. I would have liked it to have him help me learn how to be a good general but at least I have Mr. C.

We are both exhausted and I go to my room to sleep, not even bothering to change my clothes. I know I have a long drawn out process of initiation in front of me and a lot of training. Shan will be by my side for much of it and so will Mr. C.

The next day I shower in the water fall then put on a black and red knee length dress with red lace up ribbon tie heels. I curl my hair, again wishing for Arra. Then I pull some of it into a clip. I dust on a bit of eye shadow and lip gloss. I am walking in the hall when Mr. Crepsley stops me. "You look beautiful today Cat."

"Thank you."

"There is something I have for you."

"What is it?"

"Some items Arra wanted you to have."

He hands me a few old books and a garnet necklace. And then before I can protest too much he places the diamond studded tiara I wore during the festival on top of my head. "I can't take these."

"You can and you will," he insists.

I nod then hurry down the halls to the hall of Princes for the beginning of our initiation. Afterwords, we celebrate in the dining hall. It's fun. Some one plays some music and everyone starts dancing. Shan grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet to dance with him. I giggle and smile. He grins too.

I get passed around a few times. Some people want to dance with me. I end up dancing with Vanez and Mr. Crepsley both at different times. Eventually, I go with Shan to his room. He wraps his arms around me and kisses me. I kiss him back, wrapping my own arms around him. We are making out when Harkat walks in. "Sorry," he quickly turns away.

I smile and pull away from Shan. "It's okay Harkat," I tell him.

He nods quickly. "You look...happy...together. I could...get a new room...ad give you...privacy."

"We are happy but I don't want you to go Harkat. You're practically family now," I kneel down and hug him. A lot of people don't understand how I am so close to Harkat, how I could hug him and care for him. They just see a hideous looking gross creature. I don't see that at all. I see far beyond appearances. One day Shan says to me that it might be funny to see how Mr. Tiny would react to the way I treat his little person. After all I have heard about Mr. Tiny I am not sure it would be 'funny'.

Shan and I are busy for quite some time but in the process, people do find out about our relationship. Most people found out accidentally but I did tell some people with Shan's permission. He said I could tell whoever I wanted when I wanted. "I am not ashamed of our relationship," he said, lying against me in his hammock.

"Nor am I," I replied and then I kissed his cheek. He turned and kissed my lips. I kissed him back and we make out. In our attempt to be affectionate we end up tangled in the hammock. I roll onto the floor and laugh. He untangles himself and laughs too.

Mr. Crepsley did find out but it wasn't because we told him. I told Vanez and Seba. Neither one of them were surprised. Seba said I should tell Larten because he should know his assistants are romantically involved. I was going to tell him eventually but I never got to it before he found out himself.

Shan and I had been training in combat a lot. My personal favorite is always of course the bars. At first Shan goes careful with me as if he is afraid he will break me. I insist it is okay but when he pushes me on my back on the skinny bar, he immediately becomes worried and comes over to help me. I jump up and push him off the bars so he hits the floor hard. He winces. "OW!"

I grin and jump down gracefully. "I told you not to go easy on me."

He frowns. I laugh and grab his hand, pulling him to the dining hall with me. I am thirsty so I drink two glasses full of human blood. Shan stares at me with slight disgust. "Don't look at me that way Shan! You know you like it too." He has no response for that because he does.

At the table I say to him "I don't want you to go easy on me because I am a girl. I am a vampire the same as you and I am strong. I have proven it more than once. I will continue to prove it like Arra did. No one should ever underestimate me because if they do, I assure you they will suffer for their mistake."

"I know you're strong Cat. You're an amazing vampire and woman. I love you. If you want to fight tough-"

"I need to. It's dangerous in this world and I need to be prepared."

"I will train with you and I won't go easy," he promises.

From then on we fight tough. A lot of people find it amusing to watch us. Either one of us could hurt each other easily but we don't because we are both strong.

The day that Mr. C finds out about our relationship we were training on the bars. No one was there. It's just the two of us. He is a great competitor but he is yet to beat me. All my training with Arra paid off. I knock him down off the bars then I jump down with him. He lies on his back. I crawl over to him and sit on him, straddling his waist. I smile and he smiles too. "You're too good," he tells me.

"I know," I giggle then I lean down and kiss him. I sit up and poke him playfully in the chest. He rolls us over and we begin to wrestle. It starts off playfully but then becomes more serious. He wins this match. He pins me down on the floor beneath him and looks into my eyes.

"I win," he says.

"Shut up and kiss me."

He does and I kiss him back. We are making out passionately when Mr. Crepsley walks in. "Darren, I-" he stops in his tracks and looks at us with wide eyes, shocked. We jump to our feet and I wipe my mouth on my hand. It only takes me a moment to regain my normal calm, brave composure and stand straight, my hands clasped behind my back. "What's going on here?"

"Ummm..." Shan shifts uncomfortably. "We...I...umm..."

Mr. Crepsley curses. "They warned me this might happen."

"I love him," I say simply.

"Darren?" he questions.

"I love her too."

"When did this happen? How could I have missed it?"

"It started slowly. We had become quite close in friendship. That is most likely why you did not notice it."

"When?" he repeats.

"During his trials I kissed his hand and his cheek but nothing else happened. When he failed his last trial and I thought he might die, I kissed him. He did not kiss me back until we were with the wolves. I had not been awake for too long but he saved my life and I cared very much about him. I kissed him and that time he returned the favor. It became official around then," I explain.

"Have you two...I can't believe I'm asking this. It's crazy. I should have knew this was going to happen eventually. Damn it," he curses again.

"Mr. Crepsley?" Shan looks worried and nervous.

"Just tell me, have you two...you know...done anything beyond kissing?"

Shan blushes bright red. I just nod.

"What?"

"We had found our way back to the mountain and told Seba everything," Shan explains quickly. "We were going to expose Kurda the next day and we both knew we were probably going to die."

"That's the only time?"

"Yes."

"If this all happened every time you were on the brink of death, then you are not together now?"

"We are," I answer. "I love him," I repeat.

He nods. "And I love her."

"We'll discuss this later, privately. I have more pressing matters to attend to."