Katrina, The Beginning (24 page)

“Maybe we should ask Mother
first, to make sure she’s on our side,” I looked at Kate for
agreement.

“Couldn’t hurt. Do you want
to go right before dinner?”

“All right,” glad for the
chance to talk to Mother in any case.

“I can’t wait to slip into
that copper bathtub,” Rosa moaned.

“Sarah is going to grumble
about our hair again,” El warned.

“What’s new?” I rolled my
eyes, “At least she’s letting your ladies maids help her more
now.”

“That’s true, but she’s
still rules the roost,” Letta chuckled.

“That’s never going to
change, but I can tell she loves taking care of all of us,” Rosa
added.

When we got back Sarah was
busy filling tubs. She grumbled about how bad we smelled and of
course how awful our hair was. There was the most amazing perfume
in the air from the oils and bath salts; it was exotic, with
lavenders and sandalwood, hints of vanilla and mint. I undressed
and dropped my clothes outside my door as ordered. As I walked
naked by the mirror, I glanced at myself. The girl I used to see
looking back at me was gone, and in her place was a strong, lean,
but very shapely woman. I sank into the steaming hot water, got my
sea sponge nice and soapy, and washed over my face and neck. It
felt so good, suddenly a smile came to my face—a devilish one at
that. Last time I was in the tub Damien was here with me, at least
in my mind. Why not try to contact him again? I closed my eyes and
tried to picture him, his handsome face, dark eyes, sexy smile, and
then I called out with my mind.

“Damien, are you
there?”

“I’m here.”

“What have you been up
to?”

“Oh I’ve been out every
evening with a different girl; I just hate to disappoint any of
them.”

“Glad you’re having fun.
We’ve been working hard, no spare time at all.”

“No time for your Watcher
boyfriend…or should I say no snack time?”

“Very funny, and he’s not
my boyfriend, just my friend. Once the blood lust wore off, we
realized that’s all it was.”

Silence…

“Damien, are you still
there?”

“I’m here; I’m just in
shock. No boyfriend?”

“Well I wouldn’t say that;
there is someone special in my life.”

“That
didn’t take long. You moved on quickly.”
I heard a
hesitation in his otherwise confident voice.

“Actually it took me a
while to realize how much I cared about him.”

“Does this someone, know
how you feel?”

“He does now.”

There was
a pause as the implication of my words sunk in. Then I heard, “Me?
You’re talking about me? Because I was convinced you were right,
our involvement was just in the moment. Wasn’t it
you
who said it was ‘pure lust’ as you aptly put
it.”

“So perhaps we should just
both move on then, I guess. Well, I better let you go; I wouldn’t
want any of your conquests to be kept waiting. Goodbye,
Damien.”

He laughed. “You didn’t
really believe all that did you? I swear I’ve been in love with you
since that first night.”

Then, as if on cue, Sarah
danced in to do my hair and I couldn’t concentrate enough with her
talking to keep “talking” to Damien. Damn. As soon as she finished
the washing, rinsing and complaining, I was alone again at
last.

“Damien?”

Nothing. He must have been
otherwise engaged as well. I sighed and reluctantly rose from the
tub.

“Katrina?”

It sounded as if he were
right next to me and I jumped.

“I’m here; Sarah came in
to wash my hair again.”

Then a wicked thought came
into my mind. I stood in front of the mirror once again; a much
cleaner image of me was there. I concentrated as hard as I could
both on my reflection and on Damien.

“Katrina! Did you just
send me a…picture?”

“Hope you liked the
reflection what you saw in my mirror.”

“How’d you do that? And
yes, I liked it, but I was surprised and couldn’t quite focus on it
because it didn’t last long enough. Try it again.”

“Sorry, that’s all you’re
going to get. When are you coming? I was hoping for a few extra
days before your meetings and our birthday dinner.”

“Only a dinner, not a week
of parties?”

“We decided going to Paris
with your group and staying a few days in Philepe’s chateau would
be more fun. The World’s Fair is there and we can shop.”

“Sounds exciting, I’ll
come as soon as all my plans are complete. There’s a lot to do;
money must be transferred and I am sending as much ahead as I can.
Maybe I can arrange some time in Paris as well. Our family has an
apartment overlooking the river.”

“That would be
wonderful.”

We didn’t need to say
anything more. We could be alone.

“Everyone is waiting for
me, I’ve got to go.”

“Soon then?”

“Soon.”

I dressed quickly and came
out to meet Kate.

Kate stopped in mid pace,
“About time,” she Kate impatiently.

“I’m ready now. Let’s
go.”

“I told the others to meet
us in the dining hall.”

We arrived just as Mother
was finishing dressing for dinner. Father was still in his office.
Perfect timing.

“Oh, girls, it’s so nice to
see you. We haven’t spent five minutes alone together since we got
back,” Mother smiled at us fondly.

“Sorry, Mother; we’ve just
been so busy,” Kate explained. “Can we talk to you about our
birthday plans?”

“Of course. I can’t believe
you’re going to be eighteen. After this landmark birthday, since
you won’t age much for several hundred years, others from now on
won’t have much of an impact. What do you have in mind?”

“We’d like to scale down
the party to a just a dinner celebration with all our families,
because we would like the real celebration to be in Paris. The
girls’ fathers will be traveling to Paris in order to join the
members of the envoy leaving for the Americas from there. We could
accompany them to Paris. It would give the girls some extra time
with their fathers before they board their ships. We would like to
stay in Paris for a few days to shop and see the sights,” Kate was
hopeful.

“The World’s Fair is there,
Mother, and I just know Philepe will let us stay at his chateau,
and Gerhardt can show us around,” I said pleading our
case.

“And you want me to help
you convince your father to let you go, is that it?”

“Would you, Mother?” I
asked, now sure we had her blessing.

“You’ve been working very
hard, as you said, and have proven you can take care of yourselves.
I think I can persuade him. He’s already let you drop your personal
Watchers; but I’m sure he’s going to insist you take some with you
on this trip, so you’ll have to be ready to agree to
that.”

“We won’t need them, but
that’s fine by me, and I’m sure it’ll be fine with everyone else
too,” Kate willing to make this concession in order to gain her
mother’s support.

“Very well, then. I’ll
speak with him and find the date for your celebration
dinner.”

We both hugged
her.

“Thank you, Mother. We knew
you’d understand. Are you meeting Father over there, or is he
coming back here?”

“He’s coming back to escort
me. I’ll wait; you go ahead. I know you probably can’t wait to tell
the others your news.”

“Thanks again,
Mother.”

One last hug and we were
out the door. We hurried over to the dining hall, where the girls
were waiting for us outside.

El couldn’t contain
herself. “Well, what did she say? Is she on our side or
not?”

“I’m so sorry,” I said,
with an exaggeratedly sad face, “but I think you’re just going to
have to pack
for Paris!”
I threw my arms
up over my head and laughed.

We all squealed and jumped
up and down like little children.

“She’s going to talk to
Father, but if she’s happy about it, he’ll be fine with it. We’ll
have to take Watchers along, but that’s no problem,” Kate
said.

“She’s also going to find
out what date we can have our celebration dinner,” I informed
them.

“You don’t think your
fathers will have a problem with it do you?” asked Kate.

“I don’t think so,” Rosa
agreed.

“Definitely not,” Letta
added.

“My father might need some
convincing,” El was apologetic.

“Well, when everyone
arrives, we’re going to show them our training progress. If that
doesn’t convince them we can take care of ourselves, nothing will,”
I was emphatic.

“It’s not that,” groaned
El. “I used to go to school in Paris, an all-girl boarding school
for our kind of girls, vampires and witches. I was fifteen at the
time and shy; I was popular enough, but I kept to myself, which
made me an easy target for a group of girls that supposedly ran the
place and who, for some reason, decided I was a threat. Since their
group was a combination of witches and vampires, they terrorized me
in different ways, like spells for spiders in my bed, or chasing me
and roughing me up. The leader of the group, Marna, was the
daughter of headmaster, so no help there. Finally, when I’d had
enough, I begged Father to let me come home. Those girls must be in
their last year now.”

“Well it’s obvious to me
they were jealous of you, and we all know bullies are cowards when
they’re by themselves. Maybe we’ll just look them up when we get
there,” I was serious.

“I think I know this Marna.
Is she tall, thin, flat-chested, with black wavy hair?” Rosa
asked.

“That’s her,” El
confirmed.

“Whenever my father has
business in Paris we attend parties and help raise money for these
private schools throughout Europe. She would be at the
get-togethers, trying to impress the boys and insert herself into
our conversations, and it turns out she did become quite popular
with some of the boys, if you get my meaning.”

We did.

“Let them see you now,
El—beautiful, strong, and confident,” I told her.

“With four sisters who have
your back,” Kate said with an evil smirk.

“Thanks. There’s something
else I’ve been meaning to ask you. I need to practice my healing,
and I heard the local mission has a hospital. I’d like us to
volunteer there a few hours a week. What do you think?”

“I’m in,” I
said.

Everyone else
agreed.

“Father sends food once a
month; we might as well take it ourselves,” I suggested.

“You all are so wonderful.
What would I do without you?”

“You’re not going to get
the chance to find out,” Letta, put her arm over El’s shoulders.
“Now let’s eat. I’m starving again.”

At the table my father
smiled at Mother, “Your mother has informed me I am allowing all of
you to make the journey to Paris with the Americas envoy—of course
pending the approval of
your
fathers. You have made
excellent progress in your training, and Gunter assures me your
fathers will be very impressed when they see for themselves. You
will have to take Watchers with you, but they will be discreet. I
want you to have a good time, and even though I know you can take
care of yourselves, I’ll feel better if your Watchers are there
with you. They have been around for centuries for a reason, and
they see, hear, and watch in a different way than we do. Are we all
agreed on these terms?”

“Yes,” all five of us said
at the same time.

“Thank you, Father,
Mother,” I said, exchanging a look with Kate.

“Now, it has also been
decided the Council will begin on the twenty-second of June, so
your father and I thought the party could be between your birthdays
on the nineteenth. Meetings are to end on the twenty-fifth, with
preparations to be completed no later than the twenty-eighth. You
should be on your way to Paris then.”

Father laughed, “I’ve sent
a message to Philepe, asking him if he can accommodate all of you
at his chateau, and I expect he will reply tomorrow. Gerhardt will,
I’m sure, be very happy to entertain all of you with parties in the
evenings and tours and shopping during the afternoons. You may look
forward to your training after this trip; it will seem much less
tiring.”

“I think we’re up to the
task, Father, and as long as we’re taking our Watchers, I see no
reason not to fit in some training while we’re there,” I
conceded.

With our plans complete, we
finished our meal and headed back to our rooms.

“We need to go to the
library tomorrow. We need to study,” Kate said.

“Considering what El told
us of her experiences with witches, it appears we will have to know
how to counteract spells,” Letta added.