Katrina, The Beginning (18 page)

Then we turned the canter
into a full gallop down along the river and into the open. I could
hear Theo, breathing hard, closing the gap behind me. I knew there
was a well-traveled wagon trail through the forest nearby on the
left, so I reined Nulla that way and burst across the river to the
far shore and onto the trail.

Suddenly, I didn’t want
Nulla to run anymore. I wanted to be the one running. I wanted to
race through the woods on foot. With that thought in mind, I
started pulling Nulla back to a canter, then reduced her pace to a
trot. Damien had caught up to me by then and he stopped Theo next
to Nulla.

“What are you up to now?”
he laughed.

We led the horses to a tree
and tied them

“I’ll race you,” I shouted
so he could hear me over the hard breathing of the horses. “I
assume Ivan will take care cooling them down and watering
them.”

“Of course.”

Once Nulla was secured, I
turned to say I’d give him a head start if he wanted, but he was
already gone.

“When were you planning to
start?” I heard him challenge from the forest.

I streaked off, racing into
the forest towards his voice and using my gift to find him easily.
He smelled so good
. I turned up my speed,
so I could get ahead of him. He was so shocked when he saw me on
the path in front of him, he misjudged a low branch, and hit his
head. Whack! And down he went. First I started to laugh, but Damien
didn’t move.

“Damien, stop kidding.” He
didn’t get up, and I continued, “Well then, I win. I’m heading
back.” And I started to walk right by him. He grabbed for my ankle
and instinct took over. I twisted agilely away from him, laughed,
and continued running.

A sweet, salty smell came
to me on the air, fresh human blood and I slid to a
stop.

Damien came up behind me.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered already on his guard.

I placed my hand on his
chest to silence him. I had to find out where the scent was coming
from. What else could I ‘see’? Normally vampires can smell things
hundreds of yards away, but my gift was so strong I could smell
certain scents miles away.

“What is it?” he whispered,
urgent now.

“I smell fresh human
blood.”

“How far? Which
way?”

“That’s what I’m trying to
find out. Give me a moment.”

I took another breath.
“
Concentrate,”
I told myself.

Then I had it.

“The scent is coming from
location a mile and a quarter due northwest. “Let’s go!”

We both took off at top
speed knowing even through the thick forest, we would reach the
spot in mere seconds. We cut our speed as we approached. We could
hear voices now, and the see the source. Bandits robbing a coach!
The driver lay dead on his seat, mortally wounded. There were four
bandits, one holding the coach horses, one on watch at the rear of
the carriage, and two demanding jewelry and money from the three
frightened aristocrats inside.

“Which do you want?” Damien
whispered.

“I’ll take the
right.”

“Sounds fun. I’ll meet you
in the middle,” he drew his dagger.

With humans, we would use
no more than half speed. By scaling back our speed, we could
disguise our Vampire nature, thus protecting our secrecy. With a
mortal blow to his head, I knocked the bandit terrorizing the poor
passengers to the ground; then I took one leap and kicked the
look-out on horseback, squarely in the back, knocking him off his
mount. He landed with a thud and a groan on the road. Damien easily
dispatched the other two as well.

I approached the only
bandit left alive, and as the injured man lay moaning on the road,
I raised his chin with my sword tip

“This will be the last time
you and your friends terrorize these people. Do have any last
words?”

“Kill me,” he yelled
insolently.

“That’s up to the
authorities, but my guess is you’ll get your wish,” I tied him up
with rope from the coach.

“How can we ever thank
you?” I heard from a very large fellow inside the coach.

“No thanks are necessary.
It is enough to know these lands are safer than they were a few
minutes ago,” replied Damien.

“Do you feel safe enough to
continue on your way, or would you like one of us to escort you to
your destination?” I asked.

“We are not far from our
village; we’re just back from a diplomatic visit to the capital.
How is it you were here in this remote woodland?”

“We are guests of the Count
and Countess Daminov, and their estate is not far. Our hunting
party heard your distress and we immediately came to your
aid.”

They looked skeptical, but
then, as if on cue, Ivan came through the woods with the
horses.

“Can I be of any
assistance, my Lord?”

“Oh Ivan, good. Would you
please escort our new friends to the village and deposit this
bandit with the constable there?”

“Of course, my
Lord.”

One of the three gentlemen
traveling in the coach now climbed into the driver’s seat, moving
the dead man aside.

“Poor fellow, we’ll see his
family is compensated and he is buried. We’ll send back a cart for
this rabble.” The man indicated the dead bandits.

“Very good,” Damien said,
taking the reins of our horses from Ivan. “We’ll be on our way
then.”

“Thank you
again.”

With the bandit now tied on
his horse to the back of the coach, the new driver whipped up the
horses. Ivan followed to make sure no one else could cause these
travelers any further trouble.

I walked over to Damien to
retrieve Nulla. We took one look at each other and started to
laugh. “Next time let me explain ourselves; you’re really bad at
it. We’re too far from anywhere to be out here hunting, even with a
party.
And
you told them where we were
staying. Definitely
not
low
profile.”

“You think we’ll get more
practice doing this together, then?”

“You never know. We made a
pretty good team didn’t we?”

“I think you and I are a
fantastic team,” he said as he took a step towards me.

I knew I should turn and
go, but I couldn’t make myself. It happened so fast, I wasn’t sure
if he or I had initiated the kiss. It was so different from kissing
Quinn. With a different passion - harder, more lustful - his arms
pulled me closer and roamed over my back. My arms were around his
neck and into his hair, our tongues exploring each other’s mouths.
Then, as he felt me start to pull away, he broke the kiss, looking
deep into my eyes.

“You want me as much as I
want you, and there’s nothing wrong with that, Katrina.”

He was right, I did want
him. Maybe it was the fresh blood smell in the air, or the
adrenalin rush from our defense of the travelers, but I was
definitely attracted to him.

“I can’t do this Damien.
This is pure lust, nothing more.”

“You can,” he
whispered

“You’re right, I can. But I
won’t.”

“This isn’t about that
Watcher? He’s just a boy, a first crush. He’s not worthy of you,
Katrina; it won’t last, you know that.”

“Maybe not, but I’m not
betraying him. I’m sorry, Damien - not for the kiss, but for not
being able to take it any further.”

“I’m sorry too.” He stepped
back now. “I want more from you, but I’m willing to wait until you
can give yourself to me without hesitation.”

“Well, thank you for your
understanding.”

“Oh, I’m a saint, haven’t
you heard?”

We laughed then, breaking
the tension.

“I don’t know about you,
but I’m starving.”

I took a breath and located
two stags between us and the river. With our quarry in mind, we
mounted and cantered off. When we got close enough, we tied the
horses, looked at each other, and nodded. It took only seconds to
down our prey and drink our fill. As we walked back to the horses,
I wanted him closer to me, badly. I really had a lot of thinking to
do.

Then it occurred to me, I
had my mother now. This was something she could help me with, I was
sure of it.

We arrived back at the
compound just as the training session was ending. Everyone looked
tired but satisfied. I had no doubt the girls would be successful,
and maybe now they knew it too. A lot of the delegates and council
members had left on their journeys home, so most of the palace was
empty. We would be leaving as well, the day after tomorrow.
“
Who knew our lives would change so radically in
such a short amount of time?”
I thought as we handed off our
horses to a groom.

“I’ll say goodbye here
Damien. I want to speak with my mother before dinner.”

“Let me know if you need
help saving the world again, Katrina. I wouldn’t miss
it.”

Father and Mother were
sitting on the balcony when I arrived. “Katrina, how nice; we were
just talking about you,” Mother brightened.

“Good things, I
hope.”

“Of course; we just haven’t
seen much of you.”

“Well, it’s why I’m here
actually. I’d like to spend some time with Mother, if you don’t
mind, Father?”

“No, not at all; In fact,
think it would be wonderful for the both of you. I’ll just be over
at the library, and we can meet later for dinner.”

He kissed the top of my
head as he passed on his way out.

“Mother, I need to talk to
you about something.”

“All right, Katrina. You
sound serious.”

She came in, sat on the
sofa, and patted the cushion indicating I should sit beside her. I
walked over and sat down, but found I didn’t know how to
begin.

“Men?”

“How’d you
know?”

“I’ve lived a long time, my
daughter, it’s obvious. Now tell me all about it.”

“I thought I loved
Quinn…well I
do
love Quinn. He’s
wonderful, and he loves me too, or I think so.”

Then I told her everything
- including Quinn’s feeding me and all about Damien. I thought I
would be too embarrassed, but as I talked, I could tell she was
listening to me with her full attention, without judgment. That put
me at ease, so that I felt I could tell her anything.

“Katrina, perhaps neither
Quinn nor Damien will be your one true love. One will make you face
mortality; the other may only be a passing fantasy. You’re so
young; take your time, it’s on your side. But know your heart will
tell you one thing, and your head something else, but it’ll work
itself out. I would caution you, don’t dally with others’ emotions,
but consider their feelings too.” She was silent for a few moments.
“As for Quinn, you did say it was necessary you fed from him. Have
you considered there may have been a bonding because of that?
Especially since the blood bond will grow with successive feedings.
I can see from your eyes, you haven’t. And it may be I’m wrong and
your feelings for him may not be a bonding, but a true love. I know
it’s a difficult thing, these very adult feelings, but I have faith
in you and know from my long experience, these things do have a way
of working themselves out. I hope I haven’t confused you
more.”

“I don’t think it’s
possible. Thank you, Mother.”

We hugged, I was comforted,
and it felt good.

“I’m so glad you’re here,”
I told her, “and I’ve never seen Father happier.”

“Well, I feel the same way.
It’s like it was when your father and I first met. Katherine was
right; it
was
time to come home. Now, do you feel
better?”

I nodded.

“Then go get cleaned up for
dinner. I’m sure the girls are dying to tell you about their
day.”

I gave her one more hug
before I left. As I was going out the door, I turned.

“Mother?”

“Yes, Katrina?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too,
darling.”

I met Avery on the
stairs.

“Back on duty,
huh?”

“Yes, and you missed a good
training session this afternoon.”

“I went hunting,” I said as
we passed each other.

Thomas was outside. He was
acting like a proud parent and couldn’t stop talking about how
great the girls were. I was glad to get back to our
rooms—
whew,
I reeked! Sarah confirmed that fact when she
helped me out of my clothes and into a bath. I was sure she had
kept a score of servants busy heating water all afternoon, first
for the other girls’ baths, and then for mine. I was the last and
with great contentment, I stayed in the tub until my fingers were
all wrinkled.

“Sarah, you’re going to
have to stop scolding me every time my hair is a mess. I can’t help
it, so unless you expect me to cut it all off, you’re just going to
have to deal with it.”