Chapter 22-
(Catarina)
"How long have you been here?"
"A while, I didn't want to disturb you. You need your rest," I respond. He rolls out of his hammock and reaches for his light blue tunic shirt. His light blue pants are already on. "Why are you blushing?" He doesn't answer so I stand up and stop him from putting his shirt on. I slowly slide my hand over some of the visible scars and burns, most all of them obtained from the Trials. In fact, his hair still has not grown back. I do miss it because I was fond of it but it doesn't bother me. I still love Shan more than anything in the whole world. "All vampires have scars Shan. It doesn't bother me at all. Does it bother you that I have scars?"
It took me a while to get used to the big claw marks across my back. "Of course not," he replies.
I kiss him and he kisses me back. We are making out when Harkat walks in. He does this to us a lot because of them sharing a room but I don't mind. I just pull away and smile. Shan puts his shirt on and then his long regal robe.
I bend down to Harkat. "How are your nightmares about the dragons?"
"Not so good," he shakes his head sadly.
I hug him. He is used to my hugging by now and so is Mr. C. When I first started it caught them off guard and embarrassed them.
I walk with Shan to the Hall of Princes. I am dressed in a red short sleeved tunic that is belted around the waist. Black leggings are beneath it and I have on my typical ballet flat type shoes I made. I am not the only one in red. Both Seba and Mr. Crepsley typically dress in red. Standing beside Mr. C with both of us in red it makes us look like we could be father and daughter. Our relationship is almost like that now anyway.
My long hair has been cut shorter so it rests just above my shoulders. I have a red ribbon in it today wrapped around my head like a headband. Many vampires have cut their hair short due to the recent outbreak of ticks.
Shan places his hand on the door and it slides open. He sits in his thrown. Usually I stand beside him when I am not hard at work with Mr. C and some other Generals. We are putting field reports together and building a clear picture of the movements of the vampaneze. A lot of generals are helping us but it is mine and Mr. C's job to take their findings, sort through them, pick out the more important ones, and make suggestions to Paris. We help with the maps. Blue flags mean vampires, yellow is vampaneze, green is vampaneze bases, white is where we won fights, and red is where we lost. Each flag has a number on it linking it to a report. Recently, Mr. C has been upset to see, that we are losing a lot of Generals in his original home town.
Today is an exciting day because Mika has returned after five years gone and he has news. He is dressed in all black like always. He smiles at Shan in greeting saying "How is the cub Prince and his young General?"
"Not bad," he replies and we all quickly take our seats. He sits in his throne and announces that the Vampaneze are using humans who learned their ways called Vampets to fight for them. They don't have the same rules as us or the Vampaneze so they are using guns. But many of the Vampaneze have died in the battle and they are considering surrender.
Cheering erupts through the hall and everyone runs away to celebrate, bringing Mika with them. "Go on you three, go celebrate," Paris tells Mr. C, Shan, and me.
"But-" Mr. Crepsley starts to protest.
"I order you," Paris tells him so he leaves.
"Are you sure you don't need help?" Shan questions.
"I am sure. I will be going to sleep now anyway. Go enjoy yourself with Catarina. Just try not to drink too much."
Shan and I leave now to celebrate with the others. Everyone is loud and cheery and there is ale everywhere. Shan and I drink a little but not much because we get distracted. I kiss his cheek so then he turns and wraps his arms around me, kissing my lips. Someone whistles at us and I giggle.
We are holding hands and on our way out when Mr. Crepsley asks us where we are going. "You have to stay here and celebrate."
"We will be back soon. Catarina and I just want some time alone together."
Mr. Crepsley looks at us kind of strange now.
"Please Mr. Crepsley. We haven't been alone together in a really long time," he whines. It's true. It's been two years.
"Okay, whatever," he shrugs and walks away to join the others. Shan and I go to my room. The mattress from my cot is on the floor because I fell off of my bed a few times the previous night. We sit down on it, both smiling, and then our lips collide once again. I lie on my back and he lies on top of me, bracing himself on his hands and knees. We make out as I tug his robe off. He lets is slide to the floor then pulls my shirt off. I pull his off, almost ripping it. I sit up a little, looking him in the eyes as I undo my own bra and take it off. Then I lie back down and smirk at him. He kisses my lips and down to my chest then down to my stomach and lower belly. I arch my back. He pulls my leggings off then kicks his pants to the side. I yank his boxers off of him and he slips my panties off. We make love, not too worried about being quiet because of all thee noise in the mountain already going on during celebration.
We lie together for a while, not even bothering to get dressed. Then finally we do and I fix my hair. He kisses me once more before grabbing my hand and pulling me to the hall with the others.
I drink only enough ale to put me in a funny mood. It gives me a strange feeling but it's not very bad. Shan and a lot of the others drink way too much and end up really drunk. Mr. Crepsley is dancing around singing loudly. I giggle. Shan grabs me and kisses me passionately on the lips in front of everyone. They cheer. I giggle again. "Stop it," I say with a grin.
He joins the others being obnoxious. He sings loudly some kind of funny song he made up and it goes on this way all night. Eventually I put him to bed and tell Harkat to watch him. Harkat things it's amusing and very funny. He laughs a lot and so do I. "It seems you were the only smart one," he tells me, his speech having improved very much.
I sleep well and when I wake up I don't feel really bad. I have a slight head ache but it goes away once I dress and have breakfast. Harkat tells me Shan was feeling horrible and took a shower. When he returns he says he is feeling better. Harkat wants to take a walk and explore so we go with him. I am wearing my dark red long sleeved tunic, leggings, and the shoes I made.
Our first stop is the Hall of Corza Jarn. Generals are trained there for fighting and it is very familiar to me. I have spent a lot of time in it myself. Vanez is wrestling three Generals, winning easily. Despite being blind, he hasn't lost his ability. "Hello Darren, Harkat, Catarina." He still has his keen vampire senses of smell and hearing. He doesn't need to see us to know who we are.
He tells us he heard Shan's singing last night and he laughs. Shan is mortified for acting so foolish but Vanez says he wasn't the only one who 'made an ass out of himself last night.'
He informs us also that he has to stay and train the Generals. Usually it takes 20 years to be declared a General of good sanding but it's desperate times and many young inexperienced young Generals are being thrown into battle. Though I haven't trained for 20 years as a General, I am pretty respected. I have proven myself in many aspects already. I am also a good fighter, smart, and brave so they want me to join in battle but they know they can't have me. They don't bother asking for me and they Especially don't argue about it. I hear them mumble complaints sometimes but Shan is a Prince and his word is final. It is respected. Even the other Princes don't bother to argue it because they know better. It's impossible to get Shan to let me go to battle. He has me doing jobs anyway so I am working but safely.
We visit Seba next. He says he wants to show Shan something in the tunnels. Many years ago Shan left Madam Octa down here because she was in love with another gray spider. Today Seba shows us they have babies who are equally as smart as Madam Octa but not as poisonous.
We leave Seba with the spiders then go outside for the first time in a very long time. The air is clean and good. The happiness is cut short because a man shows up and as soon as I see the heart shaped watch he has on I gasp. I know that it is none other than Mr. Tiny. Beside him are two little people in blue robes. Shan and Harkat look horror stricken.
[A/N- PLEASE don't forget to comment! Thank you!]