A/N: Hey there! I'm sorry, I know I've been taking such a long time. But it's been summer and now that the excitement has started to wind down, I'm going to be updating a lot more. And to all of those that I'm beta-ing for, I promise my responses and edits will be coming a lot faster! So without further ado, here's your next chapter!
I feel marooned in this body, deserted my organs, could go on without me. You can't fly these wings, you can't sleep in this box with me. I may never sleep tonight, as long as you're still burning bright. - 'Trade Mistakes', Panic At The Disco
"What're you smiling about?" Mika scowled as I walked in through the door, stringing my coat off of my arms and placing it down onto the bed. The sun had set a couple of hours ago, so I was surprised when I saw Mika still in the room instead of roaming the night along with Lare. I made my way over to the bathroom and slapped the light switch, fussing with my hair in the mirror.
"What do you mean, am I not allowed to smile?" I managed to sigh, the grin only slightly fading from my lips, but not completely.
"Well, you just fake died and had to lay in a coffin while everyone you ever met in your whole entire life wept over your corpse. Now you're living in a hotel with two strangers that turned you into a vampire, which in turn stole away all of your hopes and dreams." He smirked, as if the idea of my sorrow was appealing to him. I just stared at him for a second, blinking slowly and then did what I always did when I didn't know the answer to something- I completely changed the subject.
"Where's Lare?" I asked as I turned silver knob next to the faucet, allowing the water to flow from it's mouth.
"He's out." he grunted in response. I bowed down lower to the sink and allowed the liquid to pool up in my palms and splash it on my face.
"And why aren't you with him?" I called from my position face down in the porcelain sink, I could practically hear him rolling his eyes.
"Because, he's out doing something and he doesn't need his hand held to do anything unlike you." I flailed my hand behind me, trying to grab hold of one of the towels that hung on the walls. When I finally reached one I patted it against my face and stared at Mika who was leaning backwards in one of the chairs, balancing it on two of it's legs.
"You're lucky I'm in such a good mood, or else you'd be getting an earful from me."
"I'm terrified."
"Well, how does a girl get some money around here? I mean, I can't walk around in a funeral gown all the time, wouldn't that be suspicious?" I quizzed him, lacing my fingers through my hair so that it laid on top of my head in a loose bun.
"You ask, Princess." he mocked, giving me a fake smile that made it so hard for me to restrain slapping the look off of his face. Fumbling in his pockets he gave me a slim piece of plastic, score. A credit card.
"Thank you." I returned with the same amount of false kindness before sliding under the covers in the bed. "Hey, Mika?"
"What?"
"How long are we going to be here for?"
"Quite a while. We have a very nice set up here at the hotel, and have no where else we need to be. Therefore we will be staying here for the time being." I turned to my side and pulled the covers up to my chin, looking at the lights illuminated on the bedstand. 3:47 am, Ryan told me he'd meet me in the same spot at 7.
I jumped out of bed around nine, knowing that I had a lot to get done during the day. Mika was passed out in the bed next to me, and the top half of Lare's body was strewn over the mahogany table that was aligned with papers and accompanied with a bottle of Jack Daniels. I snickered to myself as I slowly opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight. I spent the afternoon shopping, choosing things that normally I would stay away from- but I wasn't the same person I used to be, so I was open to taking risks. But of course I grabbed a lot of things that the old Kat would be conformable wearing, jeans, v-necks, jackets, dresses and the usual sort of things. I kept it light, though, knowing that I would have to carry most of this from place to place when we did move. I checked my cellphone when the sun started to go down and smiled, 5:00. Right on time.
When I arrived back in the hotel room, Mika was still asleep and Lare had made his way into the bed that had become vacant after I had left. I quietly turned on the shower and hopped in, making it quick because I didn't want to be caught in the nude by Lare or Mika. That'd just be awkward and something I wanted to avoid at all costs. I reached for another towel and wrapped it around my body, and rubbed another roughly against my hair and parted it with my fingers, allowing it to dry into it's usual short waves. I slid on a blue skirt high waisted skirt, along with a white v-neck, which I covered up with a long black cardigan. Finally I put on my make-up, taking a little extra longer than I normally would and tip toed over to where my old black flat boots were sitting, right by Lare's sleeping figure. I grabbed them and slid them on my feet, smiling giddily as I made my way towards the door.
"Well, you look nice." A hushed voice greeted me, I almost jumped out of my skin, but I calmed down when I saw that it was only Lare.
"Uh," I started, looking down at myself as if I was unaware of the extra effort I had put into myself, "thanks?"
"You're going to meet a boy." He didn't say it as a question, it was a direct statement.
"Yes, well... how'd you know?"
"I smelt him on you when you came back, and I smell him now. This can be very dangerous, Katherine. And it never works out, ever."
"I'm not in love with the kid, Lare." I sighed, "I'm not going to fall in love with him either. Can't I just have some fun while I'm here?" God, it felt like I was talking to my father.
"You haven't fed in quite a while."
"I'll feed when I get back! Can I please go before Mika wakes up? I really don't want his version of this conversation."
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
I felt like a bat out of hell when I finally got out of the hotel room. I bounced in the elevator, as if the more I moved around, the faster I would get to the ground floor. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him. His thin figure was covered in a thin black jacket and he paired it with a pair of faded, tight, jeans. Once again, totally not my type- ever. I was always the girl who accused the boys wearing tight jeans of being complete flamers. But there was something about him, and I wasn't going to ignore that. He flicked through pages on his phone and looked up at me, and back down at his phone. Once he realized it was me, he looked up again, smiling and making me almost pass out from how dizzy he made me. I walked up and smiled shyly, his dark eyes connecting with mine.
"Hey." He smiled once again, placing his hands in his front pockets.
"Hi." I answered lamely, feeling as though I was in elementary school again.
"You look nice." He said, the smile still present on his pleasantly pink lips. I could feel the blush creeping up on my cheeks.
"Thanks, are you ready to go?" I asked, not knowing exactly where we were going, but making the offer anyways.
"Yea, but you have a choice to make. Chinese or Italian?"
"That's not even a question, Italian!" I answered, my stomach rumbling with hunger. As we walked, we talked and we laughed, of course. I couldn't keep my mind away from how in awe I was of him. I kept trying to figure out what made me so attracted to him, but it just came down to that he was special to me. He was so lanky, when the breeze came I was afraid he'd sail away with it. But I still felt safe with him next to me as we walked through the dark streets. I was captivated by the way he walked with his hands in his back pockets and looked up at the sky when he spoke about things that were pleasant or complicated and it sent shivers down my spine when he would tilt his head back and let out melodious laughter. It seemed like I was the wrong person that he should be spending his time on, because I knew that eventually I was going to have to leave him, and I wouldn't want to. I knew exactly how this was going to end up, but I didn't care. Throughout dinner we ate, and ate, but for some reason the hunger that settled deep in my stomach wouldn't go away. No matter how much I ate, or drank, the hunger was still there. Ryan chuckled each time I would grab for a piece of bread, and I was surprised at how someone as skinny as he was ingested as much food as he did. After dinner we walked slowly towards the hotel. I tried walking as slowly as I could, because I didn't want the time with him to end and my heart ached at the thought. My hands hung softly at my sides and I almost jumped when I felt contact with one of my fingers. I smiled to myself as I felt Ryan lace his fingers through mine, I held onto it tightly and my heart did flips inside of my chest. My ribs threatened to break against the hard contact of my heart pounding in my chest. I hoped that my hand wasn't cold or clammy, or that it didn't start to sweat. Oh my god, what if I was one of those people with over activ-
"So, why are you staying in the hotel?" Ryan asked, smiling softly at our intertwined fingers and then looking into my eyes. Throughout the whole date I had managed to answer every single question he had given me. Who I was staying with, where I came from, every single one had a logical answer except for this one. I looked down at out feet, listening to the steps as they chimed in perfect unison.
"Oh, well... when my dad broke up with my mom and we left, we came here. But my dad isn't too bright of a guy so we didn't have a house before we came here." I answered, Ryan nodded acceptingly. "Where do you stay? With your parents?" Ryan's smile faded from his face, but he didn't frown, only became emotionless.
"No, I live by myself. My dad was- is an alcoholic. We didn't get along very well when I was growing up, and now we've patched things up, but I'd still rather live on my own. Next time, I'll show you my apartment. It's a cool little place." He chuckled, swinging our hands back and forth and turning to me as we stopped infront of the door to the hotel.
"Well, this is my stop." I smiled softly.
"Could I see you tomorrow?" He asked sliding his fingers out of mine, I had to keep myself from wincing.
"Yeah, goodnight." I blinked, but didn't open my eyes. Because the second my eyes closed Ryan leaned forward and pressed his lips softly against mine, so softly that at first I could barely feel that they were there. Before he could pull back from his gentle peck, I leaned forward, pressing myself into him again and wrapping my arms around his neck. His arms slid around my waist and I felt the space between our bodies disappear as my stomach pressed against his. I smiled and leaned back, looking at him, not taking my arms from around his neck and the space between us staying tight.
"I really don't want to go inside," I giggled honestly, and he laughed in response the vibrations in his chest making me shiver.
"Well, no one said you have to leave just yet." I grinned and laid my head in the nook of his neck, I could hear his gentle breathing, and I closed my eyes, rocking back and forth as if we were dancing. It was silent except for my heart beat and another in unison with mine. His heart was beating quickly, which made me smile to myself knowing that I had the same effect on him. I felt the blood running through his veins, pulsing against my cheek. Then the hunger returned, unknowingly I leaned my head to the side and pressed my lips against his neck, kissing it softly, I heard his heartbeat race even faster, and the pulsing of his veins became stronger. My lips parted slightly- no! I jumped from Ryan's arms and turned my back to him quickly.
"Kat! Are you alright?" He asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.
"Uh, yeah, yeah. Sorry, I thought I saw a spider on your shoulder and it really freaked me out. But I'm super beat so I'm going to go to sleep now, I'll see you tomorrow." I laughed nervously, leaning forward and using all of my power to kiss him softly once more on the lips without lunging forward and ripping his throat out. How fucking sick is that? Once the door closed behind me, I leaned against it, breathing heavily and sunk to the floor.
"I told you it was a bad idea. I can't tell you not to see him- but next time, are you going to feed before you go?" Lare tsked, looking down on me.
"Yea." I grunted, frustrated. Mika looked down upon me also, I expected him to give me a lecture about how if I didn't feed regularly that I wouldn't be able to control it and I was stupid to think that I was an exception to all of the rules, and how I was a waste of vampire blood, blah blah blah, but instead he simply concluded.
"Katherine, that kid looks like a girl."
"Shut up, Mika."
"If I could trade mistakes for sheep, count me away before you sleep, I'll still wait till I trade my mistakes or they fade away."
A/N: I don't know how good of a chapter this was, but it was long! I was writing when my mom AND dad were in the house which is something I normally don't do because when I'm annoyed or people are talking and annoying my chapters are shitty and it's really forced. So I hope this chapter wasn't like that, I love writing this story and I wanted to write so bad, but I couldn't get myself to do it, but I did it because you deserved an update! Fun fact here, even though it really isn't fun, Ryan Ross (the love of my life who Ryan is basically, or 'based off of')'s dad actually was an alcoholic, so that's where that came from! Yay for truth in fiction! Not one of my best in my opinion but I hope you liked it! Review, and the next one will come hell of a lot faster! Thank RoxyPony for getting me pumped enough to get my ass on the computer and write this!