Catalyst (12 page)
Authors: Shelly Crane
“I hated them already, e
ven before I met you. You’re not changing anything.”
“And I’m not telling you anything. I don’t want to relive it. Please, stop.”
He put his hands on his head and leaned it back to gaze at
t
he ceiling,
clearly frustrated and angry, m
aybe even a little at me. I thought it was probably healthy for us to finally have some kind
of
feeling other than crazy need for each other. Maybe I should do so
mething to really piss him off, s
ee how he’d react then.
I giggled a small chuckl
e at the thought. He always let
me get away with everything. I couldn’t picture him angry with me, unless I looked back on the time when Polly’s compulsion made hi
m hostile with me, but that did
n’t count. That wasn’t really him.
“What’s funny? I don’t see anything funny about this,” he said softly.
“It’s not funny. I was thinking that I’ve never seen you angry at me before.”
“I’m angry at them. I’m not angry with you. ”
“Not even a little?” I quirked my eyebrow and dared him to lie to me again.
“Ok. Yes,
I’m angry. I’m angry that you’re being stubborn for no apparently good reason. You don’t need to protect me, I’m a Keeper. I’ve dealt with Lighters for centuries. You aren’t going to tell me anything I didn’t already imagine anyway. I’m sure the things I thought were a lot worse. Especially since you’re in one piece.”
“I’m not trying to act superior. I just don’t want to talk about it.”
“You are so impossible,” he groaned, took a deep breath and then placed his hands on my waist again. “Alright
my little silent martyr, fine, b
ut just so we’re clear, I completely disagree and think you should be forced to tell us what happened to you. If for no other reason, research purposes.”
“I agree with that
and I acknowledge that you disagree...but I’m still not telling you. But I do love you.”
“I love you, too, frustrating as you are.” He hugged me and I felt his warmth seep into me and his anger creep away. “You really do look great,” he whispered.
“Thank you. I feel great, even better now that I know I can fight with you and not suc
cumb to your commands so easily
anymore. I kinda like it that I can stand on my own,” I said with a smirk.
“Let’s not make it a habit, ok? I’m not thrilled with this discovery of yours.” He cracked a playful smile. “I much prefer to order you around and you just do whatever I say.”
“Your high handedness is impressive,” I mused. “Don’t worry, I promise to let you boss me around sometimes.”
“What about right now, when I say that you’ve been standing up too long and you need to go relax for a while?”
“Yeah, I guess.” I turned back to the counter and grabbed my mug. “My tea is cold now.”
“I’ll warm it. Please, go sit on the couch. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Yes sir,” I said
and saluted
with enthusiasm.
“That’s more like it,” he said amusingly satisfied.
I kissed him before I walked off. He released me quicker than I liked. Then I knew. I knew he didn’t want to try to do too muc
h before I got all healed up,
to his standards. T
his was t
ypical Merrick behavior.
“You’re not gonna touch me for a week are you?” I said, letting him know I knew what he was doing.
He turned to look at me poignantly.
“Absolutely not.”
I nodded, expecting this answer.
“We’ll see about that,” I countered.
“Sherry, you need time to
heal
-”
“Oh no. I’m going this way and not listening.” I pointed toward the commons room. “In my book, you just issued me a challenge, buster. And I accept.”
I turned without looking back, but not before I saw his obvious look of worry and then a small smile on his lips, no doubt imagining the possibilities of such a statement.
No Bloody Smooching
Chapter 6 - Cain
Things were quiet and boring, j
ust the way we like
d
it around here. Sherry was recuperating nicely. Danny was helping Celeste grieve and she seemed to be
taking it b
etter than before. Lily was as happy as pie that everyone was back and she made her rounds, begging us all in turn to do all her favorite things.
And Lillian. We’d been
wholly absorbed in each other; n
apping, playing with Lily, washing cl
othes, training, a
lways together.
I had realized something. A very important something
,
but couldn’t quite bring myself to
tell her. I wasn’t sure how it woul
d be received. It was very unlike me to be so em
otionally worked up over a girl or pretty much
anything. I was usually laid back and nonchalant
,
but I couldn’t be that way with L.
The thing I realized wa
s that I love
d
her.
I know, i
t had
only been a few weeks. I know I just got over Sherry. I seem
ed
fic
kle and unstable and flippant, but I wasn’t. I kne
w what I want
ed
and
went
after it. And I want
ed
Lillian more than I
ever wanted Sherry. I could
say that with full truthfulness.
Like I said, I could
n’t read h
er as easily as I’d like, so I wasn’t sure how she would take it. I had a feeling she may have fe
l
t the same but I did
n’t want to risk it.
So, instead, I told
her everything but.
“Mmm, you smell so good,” I told her, nuzzling her neck from behind at the training session. “How do you always smell so good?”
“Um, soap?” she said teasingly.
“No, it’s not soap. It’s something else. You purposely spray on something to drive me crazy. What is it? Spill.”
“Jasmine.”
“Oh, that’s right. I remember Daniel talking about it. When he was sniffing your neck,” I said sourly.
Daniel may have saved us
,
but he had a rotten start with Lillian when we first me
t
him.
He’d tri
ed to take Lillian to the Taker
to become one of his girls. Then he’d tried to take her for himself, so he said. Then L offered him a proposition to save me and trade herself and he thought about taking it before he got a freak bout of conscience and saved our lives instead, killing two Lighters.
“Oh, don’t be jealous of him. He didn’t know what he was doing. He was just curious.”
“Uhuh.”
“I don’t have that much jasmine perfume left actually. Won’t be long
un
til I’m back to smelling like any normal person. Then what’l
l you do
?”
“You’ll still smell good,” I assured her.
She smiled and leaned back to kiss my lips and-
“Hey! I swear,”
Miguel shouted and glared at us,
“I’m gonna post a sign on the door that says no bloody smooching once you cross that threshold.”
“Sorry.” I released L and moved beside her. “Continue.”
“Now, Sherry is a prime example of why we need to do this and not kid around here. She was defenseless and caught off guard. We can’t have that-”
“Uh, Miguel? I just thought you should know that I saw Sherry swinging out a few moves you taught her.”
“What?”
he asked, surprised.
“At the facility. I saw her practicing wh
at you preach. She got loose
a couple times
,
but was too weak to keep at it.”
“Wow.” He stopped and smiled. “I’m so proud,” he said sincerely.
“Don’t get too excited,” Sherry said from the door and came in to stand
with Merrick. She looked great, besides the huge bruise still on her face.
All that rest had done her good. “It was only an enforcer. I didn’t take down a Lighter or an
ything. And I didn’t take down the enforcer either
,
j
ust surprised him wa
s all.”
“I think y
ou’re missing the point, love
,” Miguel said and grinned at her. “
Sometimes a seconds worth of surprise is all you need. And what are you doing her
e anyway? No practicing for you,
”
he commanded.
“I’m just observing.”
“Well go o
bserve out of kick range
.”
She rolled her eyes and smiled tolerantly at him as she made her way over to the corner and sat down to lean against it.
Lily was chomping at the bit to go sit with her instead of practice but Merrick was firm. I knew he was thinking his girls needed to know how to defend themselves.
It was a full house today. The Keepers and Miguel were adamant about everyone training and apparently everyon
e had listened. Everyone was the
r
e
except Danny and Celeste.
“Ok, so first things first. Partner up and let’s work on some running-through strikes. I’d prefer you partner with a Keeper or someone who knows what they
’re
doing if you don’t. I’ve made some practice stakes out of old PVC pipe. Get one and start stabbing someone.”
I
grabbed two ‘stakes’ for L and me
and we moved to the back corner to have room.
“Ok. You
want to be the Lighter first?”
I asked.
“I guess. It doesn’t really matter does it? I’m gonna die anyway. I’ll never stand a chance against you.”
“Aw, d
on’t get down in the dumps. We’re just getting started.”
“Fine.” She raised her hand. “Lighter.”
She watched me carefully as I ran her through over and over again in all sorts of positions and scenarios.
She was intense about it. I had
to say, it was hot.
“I totally feel like Buffy right now. All I need is a girly leather jacket,” L said breathlessly.
“And some vampires.
Don’t forget that.”
“Lighters qualify.”