Katie opened the door to the surveillance room, her mind paying no attention to the inhabitants of the room while she answered her friend, "No, we did not plan anything out. Guess it was a blessing he was in a helping mood."
"Hello, Boss, well for today that is or at least until seven in the evening," Kenneth spoke up.
"Hey, Kenneth, how are things going on here?" she asked him and watched the man smirk from behind his container of popcorns. Two hunters sat in chairs watching the monitors while he reclined in his eating popcorn and oozing laziness.
"How can you ask me such a question? I am on top of things. Besides, I don't see anything going wrong today. There is no rogue that is capable of even thinking of coming close to this place with the rogue killer still around," he said.
"How do you know that? I captured one just yesterday," she said.
"Yeah, you did. That speed of yours makes the night patrols seem useless. Anyway, Frost and Jackeline put that rogue you brought in last night through the wringer. He spilt what they could manage to get out of him. He said the rest were too scared to come here and for good reason too. Even after what those two put him through, he seemed more afraid of you. Just what did you do to the rogue?" Kenneth asked.
"Well, he was quite skilled, so when I showed him how useless his skills of stealth evasion and combat were against me, his resolve sort of crumbled. He tried running away, but got many of his bones broken instead, so it only stands to reason that he would be that scared of me," she said.
"Well, his physique did show that he'd been put through some intense training, but that can only get a low ranking werewolf so far. He was able to at least describe what his experience against the Rogue killer was like. He was warned about getting three miles within the town, but he'd never thought that there was a place that guaranteed your death once you were within three miles of it. Finding out that this was true was what scared him the most. Finding a hunter that he couldn't escape from or at least give a hard time had not been part of his experiences and he got cocky," he explained.
"That sounds terrifying indeed… I'm not that scary, am I?" Katie asked. Sandra took a step away from her friend.
"I sometimes find myself thanking Prometheus and the moon goddess that I was not born a rogue, just because of how hopeless you make them look," Sandra sighed, nodding her head in disbelief at her friend's question.
"Same here… When Frost let the rogue continue ranting about how scared he was of you, the torture methods that were left had no effect and they left him delirious. Well, some of his bones that healed… well the ones that had minor injuries, but from the way he acted, it was like he was from hell. He wasn't even supposed to be feeling pain from those injuries after the anaesthetics that were used on him," Kenneth said, his hand failed to make the trip to his mouth with the next shipment of popcorns.
"Let's change the subject… I am not that scary. Well, I'm okay with being that scary to the rogues, but not humans and werewolves," she said.
"Talk about the partner you had during your speech," one of the hunters who were watching the monitors spoke up in reply to her request.
"I walked right into that one, didn't I?" Katie groaned, the rest laughing at her antics.
"Come on, tell us what's going on. I know there is nothing he's supposed to know with the moon goddess blocking the connection for now, but the boy seems drawn to you either way," they began. Sandra put her hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter and breathed in twice to block her emotions.
"Sandra, save me," Katie begged the junior hunter.
"I know nothing of what you speak of. You don't seem to be in any trouble," their eyes simply wouldn't meet while she spoke. For some reason, all these computers were starting to look very interesting. Katie was being abandoned but her sole best friend.
"Sandra…" she called, "In that case, I won't be quiet about your affair with…"
"Fine fine fine, it's been nice knowing you boys. Let's get going. Everything here looks fine and moving smoothly. We have no more reason to be here. Katie, why don't we go check on the outdoor patrols, okay? Good, thank you," the girl started ranting while she pushed her friend out the door until they were out of the room and the door shut. "Hey, nothing's going on between me and whoever it is your mind is pairing me…"
"You mean Jason…"
Katie was speechless after that, "Why did you choose him? You didn't even see us together which we haven't been."
"Well, I do notice the way he's always sending you winks and small gestures of the sort. That boy cannot keep such to himself," she said, "He's just too obvious."
"Yes, that is true…" it was Sandra's turn to groan this time as they walked on. The two were stopped at the staircase by a voice they knew of all too well.
"If it isn't Hunter of the month," Dexter said out loud. They turned to see the Beta crossing his hands with a smirk on his face, his normal escort next to him humbly, "Someone's got their hand wrapped around a Royal. I never thought you were that type of girl."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katie asked the werewolf.
"Nothing much… just an observation made by me and my boys," he replied, raising his hands up innocently. Katie couldn't think of him in his stubborn moods since he'd stood up for her during her speech, but his attack this moment had something else behind it. Maybe it was just idle chitchat, but she knew something that might have helped her uncover what was going on behind his mind.
"Don't you have someone else whose life you'd rather make miserable?" she asked him dismissively. Sandra always loved to watch their exchanges. The two weren't friends but took pleasure at jesting jokingly even though every now and then, Dexter would break the rules and have to be put to a stop, a painful process.
"No, not really… Of late, I am taking pleasure in poking at couples. Our moon goddess is taking her sweet time in giving me a mate," he said.
"That's not what I heard considering you won't be eighteen until later next month. I heard some other piece of information from someone else. Were you dumped, dear Dexter?" Katie smirked as she finished her taunt.
"What gave you that idea? Nothing of the sort…"
"Well, I heard of the reason you attacked Ash that day," she said.
"Ash was just getting himself, or herself in this case, into something that had nothing to do with her," he retorted, going on the defensive.
"Well, who was the girl?"
"That doesn't matter anyway. Let's change the subject. I'd actually come looking for both of you and not just the hunter of the month. I saw the person that Sandra couldn't take her eyes off and the way she reacted to him," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Wait, really, but Sandra is barely expressive…"
"What seems to be going on here?" someone's voice cut through the air, silencing Katie and sending shivers through her body. This reaction was noted with clarity in her mind as an overreaction on her part, 'Celeste, what the hell did you do to me?' the cursed the moon goddess. Cole was behind them staring at the odd confrontation. "Is something wrong here?"
"No, there is nothing wrong," Dexter broke through the silence to answer the Royal and turned to leave winking at the hunter just before he looked away.
"Hey, Jason," Sandra said, clearly noticing her friend's state of 'thought.'
"Hey Sandra, good morning," he replied. She greeted the rest while Katie also got out of her trance to greet them. The three of them looked very much like the time when they first appeared on the first day they showed up at the school.
"Katie, are you okay?" Cole asked, having forgotten to greet Sandra all at the same go.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'd like to thank…"
"Don't mention it," he stopped her, "To be honest, I was having fun with that speech. You handled yourself well for a suspected murderer."
"It was terrifying actually…" she replied, chuckling, "If anything had gone wrong, there was the option of everyone advocating for my direct imprisonment or death sentence."
"That's not something to say so lightly," Cole said. "Okay, now that we have the greetings out of this, we were actually looking for you guys."
"Anything specific you had to ask," Katie asked.
"Yes, we have never been to this Founder's Festival thing and we're hoping to get the best guides in the school. We were told the two beauties usually walk together and are almost impossible to miss because one has strikingly blue eyes," he carefully voiced.
Katie felt her cheeks start to heat up and answered him quickly in an attempt to distract herself from the compliments, "Well, you found them and they are currently unoccupied."
"Wonderful," with that said, the five friends were on their way to the lower floor to start the tour of the entire festival. Katie couldn't help but rub her cheeks when the boys weren't looking. 'Is this a good thing or a bad thing?'
Katie took the werewolves through the student's projects first marvelling at the flashy ones. The projects that were presented by the students from higher classes were always better than the ones that were from the lower classes. Ranging from robotics in computer studies to biological innovations that yielded incredible production, the projects that were on display were a sight to see. Katie and Sandra took turns in taking control of their group.
While Katie didn't show that she wanted to move through the festival with Cole alone or at least that's what she thought she did, Sandra made it quite obvious by leaning more to Jason when she wasn't the one explaining what they were looking at. And this message was inevitably reaching Caden's ears.
"Hey Sandra, what's that supposed to be?" Jason asked, pointing to a photo booth.
"Oh, I see what you're doing. Come on, let's take some," she rushed the guy into the booth that had been set up by students from the middle school section. The kids got to work taking the pictures of the two who were now getting carried away. Katie couldn't help but notice Caden's silence. There was tension between him and Jason. She didn't want to pry, but Sandra and Jason's current situation provided her with the perfect opportunity.
"Hey, Caden, are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Loving how chummy those two are getting," he said.
"Oh yeah, I'm not talking about them…" she smiled, deterring the distraction Caden had tried using. Caden's eyebrows scrunched close in frustration raising alarms in Katie's mind. She backed off immediately retreating to Cole who'd let her approach him. Well, he hadn't had any progress since they'd woken up that morning.
"Thought you could get through to him, he's been getting more distant even with us," Cole said.
"I'll just leave you guys to your double date. Don't worry about me. I'm going for a run," he said. Cole stopped her from calling him back, a somewhat knowing expression on his face.
"Let him be, Katie. Something is bothering him, but it's something we don't know about. If it was somewhat related to what was going on right now, he would have said so already. He's quite straightforward," he said.
"So what are you trying to say? That he is worried about something that is completely unrelated to people coupling right in front of him," she asked bluntly, taking a gamble in the name of answers.
Cole bit back his reply trying to disregard what she'd just said, "Who, might I ask, is 'coupling up' at the moment?" he asked, his voice steady.
"The two in the booth…"
"Don't say that. Not one word," Cole had his hand on her mouth to stop her from saying more. He took her around a corner and into a classroom, "We don't know if those two are meant to be mates. Jason doesn't have it in him to fall for anyone else, or at least that's what I know, but he says he doesn't know what it is he feels towards your friend. How old is Sandra?"
"She will turn eighteen in a month and a half. Are you under the impression that the two could be mates, but not know just because Sandra is not yet of age," she asked him, thoughts taking over her mind.
"Yes, that is what I am saying. It's not unheard of for a pair to have a sense of the bond before their time arrives. This usually happens if they won't be able to meet when the time actually arrives so that they aren't apart by then," he said.
"Are you trying to tell me that you guys won't be here in a month from now?" Katie did not like what she was hearing. She blocked the thoughts of the future from her mind, "No, never mind that. Let's enjoy the day, you still have a tour to finish."
Cole noticed the disturbance in what he'd said, but obeyed the lady in front of him. Now that he thought of it, that unexplained feeling that Jason talked of was similar to the first time he met this hunter. He'd felt drawn to her and she'd flipped him off immediately like he didn't matter one bit despite his blue eyes, looking back on it now, he chuckled at the awkward situation, "Very well, my lady. After you," he said.
"Perfect, now come on. I have to show you what happens outside of the science projects. No offence, they are fun, but there is a reason it's called a festival and not a Science fair," she reasoned, holding his hand and running back to the photo booth.
They searched the booth and found that the two were nowhere to be seen. Cole got his phone from his pocket and dialled Jason's number. Katie didn't know why it irked her that she might have to continue this tour with Sandra and Jason, that is if they found them. "Well, he said Sandra decided to give him a private tour or something regarding a giant fish tank that was supposed to be on the other side of the festival very… very far from where we currently are and that even if we tried to chase them down, we still wouldn't get to them because they are just so… so far … I'll stop lying now." It was quite obvious with the way he was mincing words.
Katie couldn't help the smile that came to her face, "That was a good try though."
"You think… I've been practising. Taking lessons from Jason… To tell the lie and make it believable, you must be the lie," he said, imitating his friend's voice in the silliest way possible.
"Yes, I'm sure you're making good progress," Katie laughed at her partner. They walked on, Katie leading Cole further from the school. The festival started to change from school projects to stalls from different vendors and different setups all engineered towards providing an interesting service.
"This is impressive, though it isn't as impressive as the Royal games. Now those are something else," he said.
"What are the Royal games?"
Cole stopped in his tracks to rub his temples. Never in his life had he ever thought he'd be explaining this to someone else. "It's only one of the most anticipated events in the world. The Sirius family competes with the Lycaon family in a series of games that determine who's stronger and more superior," he said puffing out his chest.
"I take it from the way you are acting that you won the last games," she observed the alpha.
"Yes, I did. Drake barely stood a chance against me…"
"Is that so?"
"No, he gave me such a hard time," he pouted, his mind floating back to the finals of the competition when he'd faced off with the oldest of King Davin's children. Back then, they used to compete in many things, but time weathers down a long-distance relationship.
"I haven't played many games in this life of mine unless you call the sparring with fellow juniors training," she said.
"What do you mean by sparring?" he asked.
This question sparked a whole explanation of the life of a hunter. She explained the different training regimens that the junior hunters were put through before they were allowed to pick mentors. Mentors were supposed then to train the juniors until Prometheus deemed them worthy of possessing a Prometheus gift. This was the hardest part though since Prometheus gifts were rarely offered and only given to those that deserved them in all ways.
For this reason, hunters possessed similar characteristics and the one sole attribute of being incorruptible. Cole stopped by an ice cream stand, forcing the storyteller to stop as well, "What is it?"
"What does it look like?" he asked as he checked the prices on the menu. A lady sat on a chair inside the stall reading a book, taking almost no notice of the people that had just come to tend to her stall. "I wouldn't ask you to do that. Ice cream is expensive in these parts."
"Have you ever had some in that case?"
"Yes, Samantha bought me some, one day when she was taking me through the festival. It cost her a sum but she did her best to hide the payment," she said. Ice cream was a rare commodity that was barely produced and even less transported because of the transport costs. As a result, it was very expensive.
"It's expensive here because of how remote it is, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying it," he said. The girl inside the stall finally took notice of them and smiled.
"What flavour would you like me to give you?" she asked him, winking at him as she finished the question. Katie narrowed her eyes at the girl but said nothing.
"I'll have strawberry for the lady and vanilla for me," he said to her.
She started getting their orders ready eyeing the Royal, "You guys look quite chummy. You chose the right event for a date."
"Don't get the wrong idea… this isn't…"
"You might not want to play that card," the girl stopped Katie. She handed Cole his cone and turned her eyes to Katie, "This one's a keeper. Don't let him slip away, Rogue killer." With one last wink at the girl, she turned retrieved her book and started reading again. Katie's cheeks were hot at the moment, her emotions pouring out of her in waves. She wasn't so used to this, but she didn't mind it either.
"So a date it is then…" Cole confirmed with a smug smile on his face. 'Was he doing something wrong? Yes, yes, he was. Regardless, he couldn't deny the pull he had towards the hunter. Her birthday was the next day anyway as he could recall. He pushed the dark thoughts that threatened to plague him and allowed himself to get distracted by her flushed face. Katie was definitely looking more expressive than she usually was.
"I guess so…" she replied, with a sigh.
"Eat up before it melts…"
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT