Catalyst Read online

  “Then you’ll know that I’m not,” she said and winked at me. And I could tell. She did think I looked great which helped my fears about my facial issues. “Come on. Jeff has been worried sick about you.”

  Marissa however did not look great. Mean, I know, but this was like she was sick or something. He eyes were very dark with big rings underneath and she was so pale, almost yellow. Maybe she hadn’t been sleeping well.

  Jeff jumped off the couch and pulled me into a bear hug. I hugged him back with enthusiasm. He held me for a long minute, patting my back.

  “Thank you guys for coming to get me, and taking care of Lily. She loves you guys.”

  “She loves you. She’s been worrying like a pro. She must have picked that up from someone else I know.” He smiled. “And don’t thank me. We weren’t about to just let you get away from us.”

  I made sure to find Ryan and Miguel as well and thank them for my rescue. They were both equally embarrassed by my hugging and praising and willing to throw the heroism on someone else. The girl who we brought had still not stopped following and clinging to Ryan. I basically had to pry him away so I could get my own hug. But Ryan didn’t seem bothered by it. In fact, I think he liked it. He liked to feel human and have someone want comfort from him.

  But then I saw Polly coming my way. I made a scampery move to get away, but wasn't fast enough.

  "Sherry, wait." She looked at my face for a second before saying, "Is there something I'm supposed to be doing?"

  "Uh…no?" I said in confusion.

  "Nothing you need help with?"

  "Nope. I think I'm good."

  She nodded and walked away. I shook it off as bizarre and tried to help in the kitchen a little, but not too much. I still felt not quite tip-top, but needed to at least act normal.

  I made some hot tea and waited for it to steep in the kitchen at the counter. I felt Merrick put his arms around me from behind.

  “Sneaking I see.”

  “You can’t keep me locked up forever, warden.”

  He chuckled slowly and squeezed me.

  “Do you feel ok?”

  “Yeah, I feel pretty good.” I turned to face him and rub his scruffy chin with the back of my fingers. “Really. Please stop worrying about me. I promise not to overdo it today, but I’m fine.”

  “Ok. I won’t say a word.” He looked me over, head to toe slowly. “Except you look...hot.”

  I laughed and felt it all the way in my stomach.

  “Cain and Danny have got to stop teaching you lingo.”

  “What? You don’t want me to think you’re hot?”

  “Oh, I do. It’s just strange to hear you say it.”

  “How about gorgeous. Does that work for you?”

  “Yes. Perfectly acceptable,” I answered amusingly.

  “Good. As long as you’re happy.” His smile was huge. “So, what’s on your agenda for today, gorgeous?”

  “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

  “Even better.”

  “What’s on yours?”

  “Well, we’ve bumped up the training sessions for everyone. Two hours of training instead of one, three days a week. I’m sure you can understand why. You, of course, don’t get to practice yet, but in a week or so you need to start again.”

  “That’s a good idea. And I’m looking forward to training actually. I did get to use a move that Miguel taught me at the facility.”

  “Did you?” he said but looked none too happy about it.

  “Yes. I thought that was the point, to teach us to defend ourselves. Why are you upset?”

  “It’s different pretending in practice. When it’s real, I don’t want to think about you actually having to fight someone.”

  I sighed but knew enough to leave it alone.

  “So, are you going to tell me what happened?” he asked meaningfully.

  He was talking about the facility. He had waited and not asked me any questions about it, until now.

  “Nope,” I said firmly.

  “I can handle it,” he assured me, his hands on my waist flexing.

  “Uh, no, you can’t. You can’t even handle me telling you I fought back, once. I’m not about to tell you what they did.”

  “I think it would be useful for us to know.”

  “Ask Billings. You can speculate as to what actually happened and what didn’t. I’m not telling you anything specific.”

  His look said I was being stubborn and he was not pleased about it. I stood my ground.

  “How did you hurt your head? It was something hard enough to cause a concussion. Do you remember what happened?”

  “I remember the Lighter elbowed me into the window in the backseat of the car on the way to the facility. Then I woke up in the room.”

  “And then what?”

  “I sat there, waiting and trying to block my thoughts. I sang 80’s ballads.”

  He nodded but didn’t smile like I’d wanted.

  “Nobody came to talk to you?”

  “Not for a long while. Then Daniel came in and gave me some water and a granola bar. He told me he’d help me all he could and that I should keep blanking my mind or singing. He blocked my thoughts for me while he was in the room for me.”

  “He did? How did you know he wasn’t just saying he was?”

  “When they came to talk to me way later, the other Lighter was mad. He said all the rebels they’d taken were blank and not taking the compulsion. He wanted to know why.”

  “Hmm.” He stretched his neck to the side and I felt bad for putting him through so much lately. “Then what?”

  “Nuhuh.”

  “Honey, I need to know-”

  “You’re just like Danny. You just want to know so you can be bitter and even more angry than you already are. I don’t want to be the cause for someone else’s hate.”

  “I hated them already, even 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 the ceiling, clearly frustrated and angry, maybe 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 something to really piss him off, see how he’d react then.

  I giggled a small chuckle 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 him hostile with me, but that didn’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, but 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
succumb 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 much before I got all healed up, to his standards. This was typical 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, just the way we liked it around here. Sherry was recuperating nicely. Danny was helping Celeste grieve and she seemed to be taking it better 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; napping, playing with Lily, washing clothes, training, always together.

  I had realized something. A very important something, but couldn’t quite bring myself to tell her. I wasn’t sure how it would be received. It was very unlike me to be so emotionally 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 was that I loved her.

  I know, it had only been a few weeks. I know I just got over Sherry. I seemed fickle and unstable and flippant, but I wasn’t. I knew what I wanted and went after it. And I wanted Lillian more than I ever wanted Sherry. I could say that with full truthfulness.

  Like I said, I couldn’t read her as easily as I’d like, so I wasn’t sure how she would take it. I had a feeling she may have felt the same but I didn’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 met him.

  He’d tried 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 until I’m back to smelling like any normal person. Then what’ll 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 what 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 anything. And I didn’t take down the enforcer either, just surprised him was all.”

  “I think you’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 here anyway? No practicing for you,” he commanded.

  “I’m just observing.”

  “Well go observe 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 everyone had listened. Everyone was there 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, don’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.”

  “I guess they do. So, your turn. Stab me.”

  She took a deep breath and got into the cutest ‘staking’ position, trying to look serious and tough. She turned and twisted to come around get me from behind, I stopped her. I started thinking maybe this wasn’t so fair. I’d been in the military, had lots of hand to hand, she’d had none. Was it better to let her get some hits in? Or make her work for it so she understands how hard it would be in real life?

  If this had been a man, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. I decided to not cheat her out of the experience. It would be better for her that way, safer for her to not get too excited and cocky. Plus, she’d probably know I let her and be upset with me.

  She tried again and again with the same results. I tried to assure her that it took time, that she hadn’t been to that many sessions and she’d g
et better. She got me in the arm once but that was out of sheer hysteria. She was so mad and frustrated she just started swinging just to hit anything.

  I eventually just grabbed her, turned her and muzzled her neck playfully to tease her and hopefully calm her. She giggled and squirmed.

  Then I told her the hit didn’t count. She agreed and we started again.

  When we were taking a breather, Sherry moseyed over.

  “Hey. You guys look...tired.”

  “And sweaty. I don’t think I’ve ever been this sweaty. Except on the tennis team,” L said fixing her ponytail.

  “You played tennis?” I asked, surprised.

  Most preppy dance squad girls I knew weren’t into other sports.

  “Yes. And the track team and golf and debate. I was a busy girl all year round my four years of high school.”

  “Huh.”

  L in a tennis skirt...I cleared my throat.

  “So, where’s Danny and Celeste? His lazy butt shouldn’t get out of this. I’m surprised Merrick hasn’t gone to get him yet, actually,” Sherry said and bit her lip, thinking.

  What? Merrick didn’t tell her about Margo?

  “Sherry, Danny is with Celeste.”

  “I figured that,” she said with a ‘duh’ face.

  “No, Celeste is...grieving. Danny is with her.”

  She made an ‘o’ with her mouth, but no sound came out.

  “Margo. I’d forgotten. How selfish of me,” she whispered with obvious distress.

  “It’s not selfish. You went through a lot.”

  “Merrick didn’t tell me. I wonder why. I would’ve-”

  “And that right there is why Merrick didn’t tell you. You’re no good to anybody if you’re not well. You can’t be everywhere and do everything. Danny had been with her, she’s handling it. Get Merrick to tell you the story later. It’s actually pretty amazing.”

  “Yeah, I will.” She looked pained, but put on a smile and turned to L. “So, how’s the training coming? Cain isn’t letting you win is he?”

  “No. He’s whipping me at every turn and thoroughly enjoying it, I think,” L said and poked me in the ribs.

  “Hey! I’m taking it easy on you. I could be slamming your cute butt to the floor, you know.”