The Keeper's Vow (46 page)

“You know, it is going to be very difficult
for you to continue your schooling here at Hamilton,” Henrietta
said. She looked the same as when Katie first met her almost a year
ago. When Katie’s life had changed. Here she was again at the other
end of the pendulum swing.

“Life is hard outside these walls too. I
can’t run from that,” Katie said, looking into her stark blue
unblinking eyes.

“We will not look highly on ill-behavior,”
Jim said. He looked appalled when Katie confirmed the “rumors” of
her being half-vampire. There was no need for a meeting. It was a
show. It was a warning to them. Tristan had still yet to say
anything.

“And I do not look highly on your bigotry.”
Katie said, staring Jim down. He had not expected that.

“Do not wrap yourself so tightly in your
woven web of victimization. You will end up suffocating only
yourself,” Henrietta said. “What Mr. Heckler means to say is, you
will still be expected to follow all school rules, which may or may
not come into conflict with your new self-discoveries. Going to
Gray City unattended is still forbidden.”

“Even if all of the students do it?” Katie
argued. Tristan put a hand on her shoulder.

“The rules are for everyone, regardless of
those who break them. Though, I would like to thank you for
bringing that to my attention.” Henrietta said. She dismissed Katie
and Tristan to go back to their class.

“She’s right,” Tristan said as they walked
down the hallway. “You can’t let people like Heckler turn you into
a victim.”

“I only spoke the truth,” she argued.

“Yeah, you did. But it’s only been a few
weeks since we’ve been back and you already have a chip on your
shoulder. You attack anyone who looks at you, and you wear
what
you are on your chest like it’s
who
you are.”
Tristan held her hand. “I never wanted this for you.”

He was right. But, she was just trying hard
to be herself. Whoever that was. When she was with Allison and
Tristan she never thought about
what
she was. Only here at
school with everyone reminding her. Asking her questions, not
looking at her, whispering when she wasn’t looking.

It was harder than she thought.

“You’re strong,” he said, pulling her
closer. “Even stronger than me.”

It was a normal day. As normal as it could
be. It was the first week of summer vacation and Lucinda watched
them practice in the backyard. She was still tip toeing around
Tristan not sure how to apologize, if she should, or what needed an
apology. Tristan made it awkward because that was always his way of
doing things, but none of them expected Brian to walk out of the
door and into the backyard. Even Tristan, who was great at
pretending Brian was nonexistent, stopped what he was doing and
looked.

Will was right behind Brian and from the
look on Lucinda’s face she had no idea they were coming. She moved
to hug Brian but stopped as if somewhere along the road she’d
stopped being his mother and maybe he had found a new one. Brian
filled the gap between them and hugged her first. Will put his hand
on Lucinda’s back and she started to cry.

Katie wiped her eyes and let Tristan take
her from the backyard to the front. Practice was over. A family was
reshaping itself and hopefully for the better.

They went to Tristan’s room. Tristan took a
deep breath and sat on his bed. Katie moved to sit next to him, but
he pulled her on his lap.

Katie blushed. They had never talked about
that night at the hotel and nothing had happened ever since. They’d
been better about keeping their thoughts to themselves, but more
often than not they were lazy and shared most things.
He,
the mysterious Tristan, shared things with her freely. That was as
close to the night he said,
“I love you”
as they got.

“What are you thinking?” he said, placing
his head on her back.

She burned. There was no way he couldn’t
feel how hot her skin felt now. Why did she feel so shy? As much as
they’d been through, as many times as they’d seen each others raw
naked thoughts, she should feel…open.

It was because up until now, they had been
busy. Always battling one thing after another, test, the school,
the past, themselves. Now—now everything was quiet except for his
hands starting to travel up her back.

“Is this how you’ve always felt? Going crazy
with wonder. Hating silent answers?” he said.

She laughed and leaned into him. It was
Tristan. Why be guarded now?
Because he’s a boy and you’re not
good at this. Last time he touched you he left and pretended his
hands had never touched your body the way they did.

Katie sighed and started to stand up. They
needed to talk this stuff out. Figure out what they were doing and
what his intentions were.

He pulled her back to him and kissed her.
The more they kissed the more his hands touched her like they might
never get to again. He pulled her onto him and touched more. His
hands rolled down her back and back up with her shirt.

What were they going to do? She looked into
his eyes. Blue. He kissed her and she melted into him. He kissed
her neck and—stopped. He started to move her off him.

This!
This is why she was guarded
because he was always doing
this
.

“Tristan, I swear—” she started.

“Katalina. Turn around,” he said, not
looking at her, but her shoulder.

“Why?” Did he want to bite her? Like in
those romance novels—

“Don’t be a pervert,” he said, turning her
around and looking at her back. His fingers were soft on her skin.
She felt naked.

“Did you know you have the tattoo?”

“What tattoo—
the
tattoo. Like yours?”
Katie craned her neck but couldn’t see it. Tristan traced it with
his finger. Under her shoulder blade. It was small he said. He
kissed it as the door opened.

“Tristan—Oh my god. No. Not in this house.
There are
rules
. Katie put your shirt on—
What is that on
your back?”
Lucinda’s face turned red. Katie slammed her shirt
over her head, but as soon as Lucinda was done lecturing them and
shaming her out of considering sex for at least another ten years,
she went to the bathroom with a second mirror and looked at her
back. There it was. Faintly glowing a little silver. Just like
Tristan’s.

The Mark.

Katie was relieved to find out Lucinda
hadn’t called her dad and told him about her and Tristan. They
tried to tell Lucinda that he was just looking at her back, but she
wasn’t buying it and was a little insulted. She did threaten to
call her dad about the tattoo until Tristan showed her his. It must
have been the blood. It was the only explanation that any of them
could think of. Now that she was drinking blood it started to show
up.

Their theory proved right after a few days
it came in better and better. Katie always made it a point to ask
Tristan to look at it when no one was around. He’d always start
gingerly lifting her shirt, and it always ended with them
making-out on a couch. He was an addiction. But, in the back of her
mind something stirred.

Katie fumbled a set of key’s in her hand.
She finally knew what had been bothering her for weeks. She slid
the key into it’s lock and opened Larry’s ice cream shop for the
first time in months. Tristan put his hand on her back as they
walked into the dark cool shop.

Katie wandered through the shop silently.
Larry left it to her, along with a gross amount of money she’d
never be able to explain to her dad. What was she going to do with
an ice cream shop. She opened one of the casings. They were on a
timer and the ice cream was still cool and edible. The smell of
chocolate, cookie dough, mint, and vanilla, swirled in her stomach
and she closed it.

“What are all these?” Tristan said from the
back room. He was unfazed by all of this. He had rolled his eyes
when he found out Larry had left him the house in New York,
“As
if I want to go back to that prison cell.”

Katie took a deep breath and found Tristan
thumbing through a few dozen receipts. No they weren’t
receipts—they were stubs for paintings. She had one in her wallet
now for a painting she had to finish and pick up next door. The
shop stored paintings there until they were either finished or
taken home. It cost a lot to do that, but then again Larry was
loaded. Now she was loaded.

Katie grabbed some of the stubs and exhaled.
Keep it together.
“They’re stubs for next door. Let’s go,”
she said.

Katie held her breath with anticipation. She
needed to get out of the ice cream shop and she wanted to see some
of his work again. A pang squeezed her chest as she remembered the
way he’d instruct her on blending. The way his accent rolled
thickly off his tongue when he corrected the way she moved her
brush.

She handed the front desk clerk a few stubs
and was led to a room. “Actually,” the woman had been talking but
Katie only heard her just now, “all of his painting are in here. He
had so many we just stored them all in the same place. Is he all
right?”

Katie ignored the last part and stepped into
one of the many tiny storage rooms. There were dozens. All here
sitting, waiting. They were all organized by date starting from a
few years ago. Katie shifted through them looking for something but
never finding it. He’d painted pictures of castles, symbols, his
brother, her mother, but nothing of her. She didn’t know why she
wanted to see one of her—or why she wanted to prove that he
actually cared about her. Her real father. The one who never even
really said it.

“He locked me in a house for eight years
without uttering so much as a word. He’s not the sentimental type
of guy,” Tristan said holding her. She’d gotten her tears and snot
all over his shirt. Of all times for him to read her mind this was
the first time she really didn’t want him hearing her ugly
thoughts. The ones that meant she actually really cared. “If it
means anything,” Tristan started, “he moved here and watched you
grow up. He cared, he was just a coward and couldn’t say it the way
you wanted him to.”

Tristan pulled away from her, and pulled out
painting after painting. More than half were of Eshmael. They went
from his adolescents to a face speckled in blood. In all of them,
the over lapping letters
KV
were tattooed somewhere on his
body. Keepers Vow.

As they studied each painting, Tristan said
allowed what Katie thought. “He painted what haunted him. This is
borderline obsession.”

“We would be normal if they hadn’t ruined
our lives,” Katie said, looking at an unfinished version. What she
thought were symbols were just the letter K and V overlapping in
different angles.

“The vow ruled their lives. It drove them
crazy,” Tristan mumbled. Katie felt a wave of his fear and
uncertainty.

“No. It wasn’t the vow. They were selfish.
They never looked passed themselves to truly see the other person
for who they were. They couldn’t do what we did. What we’ve done,”
she said.

Tristan’s blue eyes linked with hers. He
understood without her uttering the words.

They loved each other.

Even if they were no longer together—even if
they’d settled on just being friends—they would always love and
understand each other. They had seen too much of each others soul
to let pride or irrational anger get in the way.

Tristan grabbed her hand and they left the
shop. The paintings could stay there until the shop got rid of
them. She didn’t want them. She didn’t need them.

They had each other and nothing could tear
them apart. Not even the Keeper’s Vow.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed,
The Keeper’s Vow.
I have
to tell you, I really love Katie and Tristan. Many readers have
asked: “What happens next?” Well, stay tuned because Guardian Book
Two is in the works! Will Katie and Tristan’s love conquer all? I
hope so.

When I wrote
The Keepers Vow,
I got a
lot of opinions about the characters and I loved the feedback. You
are the reason I write these stories as passionately as I do. I’d
love to hear from you. You can write me at:
[email protected]
and
visit me at
www.francinasimone.com
.

Finally, I need to ask a
favor. If you’re so inclined, I’d love a review of
The Keeper’s Vow
. Loved
it, hate it—I’d just enjoy your feedback. If you have the time,
here is a link to my authors page on Amazon, you can find all of my
books there:
B.F.
Simone’s Author Page

Thank you so much for
reading
The Keeper’s Vow
and spending time with me.

About The Author

[email protected]

www.FrancinaSimone.com