AUTHOR’S POV
It can't be, Tyler thought in disbelief. It can't be her...Tyler refused to believe it was Katherine Scott's scent that he smelled on the crisp autumn wind - refused to believe that she had invaded his home as she had been invading his mind all day. She'd even made him lose it so much that he'd kissed her!When Katherine hadn't shown up to her next scheduled class, Tyler had been strangely worried, though at a loss as to why, so he had asked the teacher for a bathroom pass and made his way to Giselle's office. He had been furious when he'd heard that Giselle had suspended her, even if it was only for two days. After how bravely Katherine had stood up for that spineless geek she deserved a medal, not a suspension on her record. Giselle had explained her reasons for the suspension and how well Katherine had taken it, but that had only made Tyler even more furious.He hadn't stopped thinking about Katherine since. It seemed as though nothing coulAUTHOR’S POVTyler was taken aback by her sudden switch from deer-in-the-headlights to raging, ticked-off female.Maybe it was the fire in her eyes or the way she jutted her chin out rebelliously, or even the way she stood on her tiptoes to get in his face, but at that moment she was the most exquisite creature he'd ever laid eyes on.After some time Something inside him snapped, and his blood was like fire, releasing the animal within him.He picked Katherine up by the waist and threw her over his shoulder, caveman-style. Had he been more in control and in the mood for humor, he might have uttered an, "Ug!" but as it was he was barely sane at the moment."What the hell do you think you're DOING!?" Katherine screamed, hitting his back with her fists, surprising him when it hurt a little.When she started kicking, Tyler secured her legs by putting his arm around them. "Taking you into the house to wait for Giselle. She can deal with you," he said,
AUTHOR'S POV"Okay, let me get this straight: You want to be a professional writer, a career choice no one in your family supports, your parents are borderline abusive, your sister is a trampy diva, and your brother, who is away at college and only calls once every blue moon to vent about how crappy his life is and make sure your parents haven't driven you to insanity is your best and only friend. Have I got everything?" Sofia asked, sounding absolutely livid on Katherine’s behalf."Well... when you put it that way, it sounds kind of bad," Katherine said meekly."Oh, does it now?" Sofia said, rolling her eyes sarcastically, her bejeweled hand on her hip. "And don't think that I don't know you glazed over some stuff, because I do."Sofia raised her eyebrow at Katherine, silently daring her to deny it, but she couldn't."Look, it's not quite as bad as it sounds. And I'm okay, really. My life could be way worse," Katherine said, trying very hard
AUTHOR’S POVAll three looked up to see Giselle standing at the doorway, much as Tyler had been, though looking anything but put out. In fact, she looked decidedly pleased to see Katherine and couldn't be bothered to take her eyes from her as she walked more fully into the room. She walked right past her other two favorites and wrapped Katherine in a motherly hug.This is getting to be a really bad habit with these people, Katherine thought wryly, never the one for much human contact."Hello, Katherine. How have you been since we last spoke this afternoon? Not upset, I hope?" Giselle asked, releasing Katherine and looked at her with a concerned expression."Um... I'm fine, I guess," Katherine said, looking bewilderedly between the three people in the room, who were, in turn, all staring at her.Tyler was the first to speak again."Giselle, have you gone mad? You know that she can't work here!""I believe it would be good for us
Katherine's first few days had gone smoothly. Tyler had been very relieved but he still believed it was only a matter of time before something happened.Giselle had been going to stay home from work to show her around the first day but Tyler had volunteered on the excuse that he really needed a day off from dealing with the "mindless, soulless corpses that walk the halls of Northview High," to which Katherine had replied with a sarcastic remark that made everyone but him laugh.Surprisingly, Giselle hadn't protested, and, though she seemed a little surprised, she also seemed pleased at his willingness to help Katherine. Sofia had wanted to stay home as well but Giselle had said that Tyler should be the one to show Katherine around, looking at Sofia with meaning that the younger woman seemed to understand immediately. Sofia and Giselle smiled conspiratorially at one another, and then looked at Tyler and Katherine. Katherine seemed creeped out, while Tyler was just irrit
AUTHOR’S POVKatherine catching the plate had caught McDuffie by surprise, and now he no longer cared how loud he got."Now go and get me another sandwich, you worthless little chit," he shouted, rising in his seat a little to get in her face as much as he could.Katherine stared down at him calmly and coldly. The tension in the room rose as everyone waited to see what she would do, most of the guests hoping that she would just get him his sandwich rather than face him off. A great many of the guests had been won over by Katherine's easy smile and hard work, honest ethics, and nearly everyone in the room knew what McDuffie was capable of. Even the ones that didn't like her didn't want to see her blood spilled.No one noticed when one of the guests left the room.Someone called into the silence for her to just get him the sandwich, but she didn't seem to hear. All she did was stand... and stare, right at McDuffie. The silence loomed over the r
AUTHOR'S POVFuzzy. That was the word Katherine would've used to describe her current state of mind as she laid on an uncomfortable surface of some kind. She couldn't remember getting into bed though -then again, she couldn't remember much of anything.Katherine's eyes snapped open as- in flashes -it all started to come back to her: The Haven, McDuffie, Tyler, wings, claws, fangs... And then that sickeningly sweet smell of blood in the air...Panic rose in Katherine's chest. She had to get out of there, she had to warn someone, do something!Katherine shot up on the bed, taking in her surroundings with shock. At first glance, she was in what appeared to be a shiny, metal room. At second glance though, it was very obviously a laboratory of some kind.Directly in front of her was a metal workbench piled high with books nearly in the middle of the room with a desk chair, while to her right was a door, a metal cabinet of some sort, and just beyond that
When Katherine woke up she was surrounded by the people she had come to know Over the last few days people she had come to consider her friends: Giselle, her teacher, mentor, friend; Sofia, the sister Katherine had always longed for but never had in Melody; Ray Stalls and Tracy Adams, the Couple who couldn't stop fighting... or stay away from each other either; Moonbeam, a vegetarian, earth-loving girl whose voice was always soft and kind, never a harsh word escaping her lips, and her boyfriend who was the complete opposite, Jamie Madison. The list went on and on, but the face that stood out the most to Katherine was Tyler's. His handsome features seemed so calm, yet Katherine could see turmoil in his eyes. There seemed to be some sort of war raging within him. She had come to know him so well, and yet not at all, over those last few, perfect days of blissful ignorance. He had always been standoffish with her, as though he was afraid to get too close. Their arguments didn't
“You're insane. That's the only explanation that I can come up with that makes any sense," Tyler said, tiredly collapsing on the comfortable armchair in Giselle's private office.It had taken Tyler nearly half an hour to get Giselle alone to talk to her about this outrageous scheme, which was obviously just a cheap attempt at matchmaking. How could he pretend to be Katherine's boyfriend when they couldn't even be in the same room without nearly killing each other? No one in their right minds would believe it for a second.Giselle had explained earlier to Katherine and the others that it would only be temporary until the buzz about McDuffie died down. Tyler couldn't believe that Giselle was actually taking advantage of Katherine's life being in danger to find him a girlfriend. How low could a person go?Katherine's reaction had been silence and then fury, along with screaming. yelling and ranting. Having to pretend to date Tyler had obviously just sent her
The hothouse air was warm and comfortable to Katherine as she lay atop Tyler who was stretched out on the large stone bench that Tyler had placed there after he had first encountered her there. Her cheek rested against his chest as his left arm encircled her waist possessively. His other hand was occupied with stroking her hair, which he insisted remained loose as it was so much easier to run his fingers through it that way.They had been that way for hours but it seemed only moments to Katherine.“Katherine?" Tyler said tentatively."Hmm?" Katherine asked lazily.When he took too long in answering. Katherine opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at him resting her chin on her interwoven fingers.“What's wrong?" she asked softly. "Am I too heavy?"Concerned that she was crushing him, she began to move off of him."No!" Tyler said, crushing her back to his chest as though the thought of her leaving him was unbearable.
Katherine stood there for what seemed a lifetime, staring at the place where Convel had just stood.She forced herself to choke back sob after sob, holding her hand to her mouth, never letting a Sound of it escape her lips lest Convel hear it and come back. Katherine didn't know if she had the strength to tell him no again with the way she was feeling.But she had burned that bridge and it had to stay burned if she was ever going to have a normal life, or at least some semblance of one.Once Katherine had overcome her feelings and felt more in control, she forced herself to wipe the tears from her eyes and walk back toward shore. The fog wasn't quite as bad as it had been and seemed to be dissipating again,coming and going as though it couldn't make up its mind, allowing Katherine a clear view of where she had left her boat.The merman opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when they both heard the distinct Sound of a motorboat speeding through the
Katherine had no idea how she was going to take on thirteen well-trained lycanthropes, powers or no powers, but she knew she didn't have much of a choice.Katherine took several deep breaths, preparing for the next attack. The lycanthropes began transforming right and left, and the next attack came from behind, knocking Katherine to the ground.Oh God, no. No, it can't end like this, Katherine thought as she struggled to get the wolf off of her but more joined it, holding her down and soon Katherine had seven or eight lycanthropes' paws on her back, pushing her down.She felt like she couldn't breathe, and her breaths were forced and panicked, tears of fear forming in her eyes."Get off... of... MEP" Katherine said, screaming the last word in desperate hysteria.Suddenly Katherine felt the back of her shirt rip, forced open from the inside, and then the wolves that had been holding her down were flying off of her in all directions.Katherine
"I had hoped that we could share my vision and lead our race into a brighter future... together," he said darkly."A brighter future?" Katherine said in disbelief, anger overriding the warning her instincts were telling her.Get out of there, Katherine, the warning seemed to say. Get out of there now.."What brighter future? The one where you enslave all of mankind? You mean that future? Have you never even heard of The Ten Commandments? The movie where God sends Moses to free al the slaves because slavery is - you know-bad?""Katherinet, ye are young -far too young to understand all that is about to take place. I hope that one day we will stand side by side as father and daughter, fightin' for the future of our kind. But know that what I do now, I do for yer sake as much as for the sake of all our kind" Convel said, his voice heavy with regret."And what exactly is it that you're going to do ?" Katherine asked, folding her arms and glaring at Conv
The oars parted the water, forming small waves as Katherine rowed the small boat toward the island. Katherine had borrowed the rowboat from a closed boat rental business on the docks of Merytonburg. Not knowing how to drive a motorboat, Katherine had figured that the small wooden craft would have to suffice. She had thought that the work of the constant rowing would be tiring but surprisingly she found it easy, and she soon found herself within view of the lighthouse's brightly shining beacon.Somehow, Katherine knew that Convel had ordered it just for her, to make him easier to find.The closer each row brought Katherine to the island, the more she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Convel had already proven himself dangerous to her, even if only indirectly. Some part of her tried to hold onto the belief that it hadn't been on his order that those lycanthropes had invaded her home, yet the fact that he merely laughed at her when she asked him about it didn't b
Tyler quickly strode to the door leading to the hallway, nearly tearing it open in his rush to get out. Once in the hallway he Flitted to Katherine's door, and without even bothering to knock he opened it.Her bed was empty and still made even if a bit messy as though she had slept on top of the covers rather than under them.A laptop Tyler had seen her using before laid open on the messy coverlet. Tyler quickly exited the room, storming down the halls as he shouted at the top of his lungs."GISELLE!!!The coven started Flitting out into the hallway, most yawning tiredly with murmured questions of what was going on.Finally, after what seemed ages Giselle appeared in her white silk robe, hair sticking out wildly and a bemused expression playing across her half-awake features."Tyler, what in the world-""She's gone, Giselle. Katherine is gone," Tyler blurted out in an unusually panicked manner. "she took my keys, Giselle."Tyle
As quietly and quickly as possible, Katherine opened her door, peeking out into the hallway to make sure no one was up yet, and crept over to Tyler's door. She put her ear to it and could hear the distinct sound of snoring inside. Katherine's lips curled into an amused smile.I am definitely using that as blackmail material later..Slowly, careful to be as noiseless as possible, Katherine turned the handle to Tyler's door and tiptoed inside, closing the door behind her. Tyler was laying on his back, one arm across his chest, the other stretched above his head.He looked so beautiful with strands of black hair falling into his eyes.As though drawn by a magnet. Katherine stepped toward him. Another step... another... a fourth. And then she was beside him, staring at his peaceful face, her breaths coming short and ragged.He could wake up any second. You're crazy. Just grab the keys and go already. You've lost your mind. Katherine leaned down. This i
Fog surrounded Katherine as her feet sunk into the usual grittiness of the sand with each step she took.Katherine walked toward the bright flashing light that she now knew was a lighthouse."Father?" she called."Ye have been trying to contact me, lass? What did you need, me bonnie Bellet? Are ye in some kind of trouble?"Convel stepped out of the fog., his pace quickened by his obvious concern for her."I'm fine,"Katherine said stiffly.Her tone stopped him in his tracks a few feet away from her."What's wrong then? Have I done something to upset ye?"Katherine took a deep calming breath, inhaling the sea air, wet from the waves crashing upon the shore."You tell me. Why did you send two lycanthropes to my parents' house last night?"To Katherine's surprise, Convel's lips stretched out into a charming smile. He looked quite handsome at that moment and Katherine could see exactly why Giselle had fallen for him.
Katherine had been down to the Basement several times after Giselle had told her about the Clans, mostly so that Study could eagerly show off all of his very advanced computer equipment. Katherine could easily say that Study was the younger brother she never had and that she adored him as much as she would have if he had been her younger brother. He was always very open and honest in his own shy way so that Katherine had always felt that she could ask him anything.Which was why Katherine was walking down the halls as noiselessly as she could, making her way to the Basement. She had felt rather odd about asking the others about their powers and what vampire, werewolf and merpeople myths were actual reality. It would seem rude to ask