Chapter 17 - Knowledge
Submitted April 17, 2009 Updated June 22, 2009 Status Incomplete | After getting kidnapped, girl finds herself in world where the supernatural exist and to find that she's not human, but a sorceress I don't have a title for my story yet Be harsh on the comments y'all cos i'm thinking of getting this published x
Category:
Fantasy |
Chapter 17 - Knowledge
Chapter 17 - Knowledge
Kerri waited till Arik was asleep before she snuck out of her room. She wandered down the corridor, wondering which flat was Drake’s. It was a good thing they were at the very end, otherwise she’d have to check both ends of the corridor. She stopped at the end of the hall. There were two doors. Which one was Drake’s? Dammit. She usually chose the wrong door. She looked at the two doors, wondering which one to choose. She chose the left one. Then she turned and knocked on the door on the right. She received no response.
She twisted the doorknob to see that it was unlocked. She crept in, and she was about to enter the bedroom when she heard creaking bedsprings.
And other noises.
Oops, and ew. She just walked in on people…trying to make new people. That means that Drake was in the other apartment then. She was about to leave when she thought of something. The man in the bedroom could be Drake. Then she remembered that if the man in the bedroom was Drake, then the other person in the room also had to be a man. Which in this case, it definitely wasn’t. Right, okay. Leaving. Now. She closed the front door behind her quietly, went across the corridor and knocked on the other door.
Drake answered it. “Kerri? What are you doing here?”
“Hey, are you alone?” She certainly didn’t want to interrupt Drake if he was trying to make new people. Not that he’d be able to, unless he or his partner suddenly grew a womb.
“Uh, yeah. Do you want to come in?”
“Yes, please.”
Drake led her into his condo. It was quite similar to hers, but the colours, the patterns, the materials and the positions of the furniture were all different while the shape and size of the rooms were the same. “How did you know that this was my place?” he asked her, offering her a soda, which she accepted gratefully.
“Well, Arik told me where it was. And to be honest, your door wasn’t the first door I knocked on.”
Drake raised his eyebrow. “Across the hall?”
“Yep.”
Drake burst out laughing. “But…you know they were…you know, right?”
Kerri sighed. “Well, I did after that. They didn’t hear me and the door was unlocked, so I just went in. Thank God I was quiet. Anyway, I was just about to walk into the bedroom when I heard them uh…when I heard them, so I left.”
Drake grinned. “You should have gone and joined in.”
“I’ll leave that for you to do,” she replied drily.
Drake waved the remark away and cracked open a can of beer. “Not really my kind of thing. Anyway, what are you doing here?” He sat down on the bed, and motioned for Kerri to sit next to him.
She obliged, kicking off her shoes. “Well, I was just wondering…did Arik have a girlfriend?”
Drake snorted. “Try asking whether he had about five thousand.”
“No, I mean…a serious one.” Kerri changed her position so that she was sitting cross-legged and balanced her soda on her knee. “Like, one he really cared about. One he loved.”
Drake looked down into his beer. “Yeah, there was one. Why do you want to know?”
“Well, because…I just want to know more about her.”
Drake frowned at her. “Why?”
“Because I saw Arik crying over her in the bathroom before bed.”
Drake sighed. “The poor guy.”
“So? Can you tell me about her, or is she like, a banned topic?”
“Her name’s Sitara, and she’s half Indian. An exotic beauty, they say. I think you’re prettier, though.”
Kerri grinned. “Thanks.”
“Anyway, she was…they were good together, and I guess everybody just thought that they’d end up...well, everybody just thought they’d stay together, y’know?”
“But they didn’t.”
“Well, obviously.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know whether they were any problems with them…personally, but she turned to…another company.”
“The C.E.? Arik told me about them,” she explained when Drake looked surprised.
“Well, yes. She turned to the C.E.”
“So she turned willingly? She wasn’t captured or enslaved or something like that?”
“Silver was involved. Werewolves can’t resist silver.”
Kerri’s mouth dropped. “Sitara was a…werewolf?”
“She is a werewolf.”
“So do they all…go weak at the knees at the sight of silver?”
“Well, not exactly.” Drake lowered his voice. “Rumours are that one of the other werewolves from the C.E. seduced Shyam and tricked her into joining them.”
“Does Arik know about these rumours?”
Drake looked at her. “Why do you think he was crying?”
“Oh.” So that was what Arik was talking about when he said it hurt. The realisation of betrayal.
“Sitara was…stubborn, though. She was also fiercely loyal—that is, as loyal as a werewolf ever could be. It was so obvious that she and Arik were perfect for each other, and she could resist silver if she tried, so nobody will ever know why she actually turned to the C.E. Maybe it’s true that werewolves can’t resist temptations, that they’ll never be faithful.”
Kerri sipped at her soda, deep in thought. “So did Sitara train here at the Sterling Silver?”
“Yes.”
“So she was one of the first werewolves to ever be trained here?”
“Yes. It’s actually because of Sitara that the boss noticed that all of the werewolves that trained here betray the Sterling in the end. And so werewolves were banned.”
“Oh, wow.” Kerri let out a low whistle. “That must have…really hurt Arik.”
Drake finished his beer and tossed it into the nearby bin. “Yep.”
“Was…was she generally a good person?”
“Sitara? Oh, yeah. She was nice, funny, caring, all that stuff. She was Arik’s one true love, apparently, according to him.”
“One true love?” Kerri raised an eyebrow.
“Love works…differently with us immortals. Well, maybe it doesn’t work differently, but no one will ever know. Anyway, with us immortals, we all have one true love. And usually, if they’re our one true love, then we’re their one true love too. Usually.”
“So it was different in Arik’s case.”
“Either that, or Sitara wasn’t Arik’s one true love. Kerri, just because we have that one true love doesn’t mean we can’t fall in love with someone else. We can, but only before we meet our true love. When we meet that one true love, then it’s impossibly to fall in love with anyone else, because your love for her—or him, in my case—will be…so deep. Deeper than anybody you’ve fallen in love with.”
“So you’re saying Arik’s love for Sitara may not be...that what he felt for Sitara wasn’t actually true love?”
“It’s a possibility. But if it’s true, then I really don’t want to know what happens if Arik’s true love leaves him.”
“Do you know that the person’s your true love when you meet them?”
“It’s obvious...for some.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll tell you something, but only if you promise me not to hit me or hurt me afterwards.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Just promise, woman.”
Kerri sighed. “Fine, I promise.”
Drake looked away. “We...we all think that...maybe...you’re Arik’s one true love.”
Kerri stared at him. Then she burst out laughing. “I wish,” she said, thinking that she really did wish. “Who’s ‘we’?”
“Carter, Joshua and I.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Joshua thinks that?”
“Well, Carter and I.”
“And why do you think that?”
“Because…Arik’s so different than he was before. He behaves differently.”
“What do you mean differently?”
“Like when he’s with you, it’s like it was when he was…with Sitara. But not really. In a different way, but a good different.”
Kerri stared at him. She couldn’t believe this. “You’re comparing me to Sitara.”
Drake’s eyes widened slightly in alarm when he sensed that he was in hot water. Kerri had to admit that he was quite good at sensing these things. Then again, he was gay, so that’s probably why. “No, of course not. Why would any man with the right mind compare you to another woman?” Drake hurried to explain. “You’re all…unique and different…and special…” he trailed off.
Kerri narrowed her eyes. “Keep going.”
“And…so one of a kind and…” clearly getting no where, Drake decided to try something else. “I mean, if one of my boyfriends compared me to another guy, I’d get pissed off too.”
“Huh. I’m curious. Would you?”
Drake wrinkled his nose. “Hell yeah. I mean, who’s he to judge me?”
Kerri grinned. “Now you’re getting it.”
Drake sighed in relief. “So…you’re not going to kill me?”
“Not today, buddy.” Kerri’s stomach growled.
Drake grinned. “Are you hungry? You and Arik skipped dinner.”
“Yeah.”
“Wait, I’ll pop something in the microwave for you.”
“Thanks, Drake,” she called after him as he went into the kitchen and rooted around the fridge.
“So, why did you guys skip dinner?” Drake asked when he came back with Kerri’s food.
Kerri dug in. “Well…I don’t know, but I think it’s because I accidentally shifted over to the C.E. this afternoon…”
Silence. “Are you kidding me, woman?”
“No.”
“Why would you do something like that? Do you know how flipping dangerous it is?”
“I said I accidentally shifted, didn’t I?”
“Oh God, what happened then? Was Arik with you?”
“No. But he suddenly appeared next to me, grabbed me then shifted me back.”
“Just like that?”
“Yep. I didn’t even tell him that I was over there. Probably because even I didn’t know that I was over there, but still.”
“Did you feel any kind of…weird sensation before Arik shifted over to the C.E. to save you?”
Kerri frowned. “Well, something weird happened to my eyes before he appeared but that’s all.”
“Like someone’s watching what you’re watching?”
“Yeah. That’s it. How do you know?”
“Arik shared your vision to see what you were seeing so that he would know where you were, so that he could go and save you.”
“Oh wow. Is that like…a really high level of magic?”
“Not really. Only people with a special bond can do it, like between friends, or trainers and trainees...or true loves.” Drake yawned.
“Oh, sorry, am I disturbing you?”
“No, it’s just been a long day. Carter’s a dog to train.”
Kerri frowned. “You’re Carter’s trainer?” she asked, polishing off the last of her late-night meal.
“Yep.”
She laughed. “That I’d like to see. Is it fun, having a friend as a trainee or a trainer?”
“Hell no.” Drake shook his head. “When it comes to training, everything’s strictly professional. It’s probably the hardest kind of training to do. Ever. Well, I guess it’d be harder to train if your trainer was your one true love.” He shot Kerri a meaningful look, which she ignored. He yawned again.
“Wow. You’re really beat. I’ll leave now so that you can get some sleep.”
“Thanks. You’re welcome any time, you know that, right? Well, except when I’m…busy doing what the couple across the hall are doing.”
Kerri grinned. “Yeah, I know. I’ll show myself out. ‘Night, Drake.”
“Bye, K.”
Kerri stopped in her tracks when she heard her new nickname. Then she continued out the door. Any nickname other than Ree would do just fine.
“Oh, and Drake?”
“Yeah?”
“What we talk about at nights…they’re between us only, yeah?”
“Of course.”
Kerri left her plate in the kitchen sink on the way out.
***
Kerri had just climbed onto the bed when she suddenly heard a click of fingers and a flame lit up the room.
“Where were you?” Arik asked coldly.
She gave a small shriek and almost fell off the bed. “That’s none of your business,” she replied after regaining her composure, her tone matching his.
“Do you know how I worried when I woke up and found you were gone? Do you know how much trouble I’ll be in if the C.E. takes you?”
Kerri snorted. “As if they’re going to come in the middle of the night and just grab me.”
Arik looked at her. “Are you stupid?” he asked. “Of course they’d do that.”
That’s right. They would. “Oh. Sorry.”
“Where were you?”
“Not off to the C.E. getting the full tour, if that’s what you were worried about.”
Arik cocked his head sideways. “Either you tell me where you were, or I’ll read your mind and go over every single detail of what you’ve been doing for the past two or so hours.”
“I was over at Drake’s,” she replied quickly. “We were talking.”
“About what?”
“All kinds of things.”
Arik narrowed his eyes. “Were you two talking about me?”
Kerri shrugged. “We could have been.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“You know that I can always read your mind for the information, right?”
“You even try invading my privacy, and I’ll kick your balls so hard they’ll fall off,” she promised him.
He backed off immediately.
Then Kerri suddenly remembered something. “Wait a minute, don’t you have to go over to Mandy’s tonight?”
“shoot. That’s right.” Arik narrowed his eyes. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
She shrugged. “Girls talk. Now go.”
Arik frowned. “You actually want me to?”
“Oh yes.”
“Why?”
Kerri tried to come up with an excuse. “Well...all men have to get laid every once in a while. Now go.”
She could tell that he was tempted. “But…I can’t just leave you here.”
“Just make it quick. I’ll be fine. I just remembered that I haven’t showered anyways.”
“At one in the morning?”
“Shut up and go get laid.” She kicked him off the bed and headed towards the bathroom for her shower.
***
Arik came back half an hour later, bursting into the bathroom, where Kerri was clad in only a towel. He was grabbing at his crotch, his breathing ragged. Kerri grinned. “So are you feeling a little itchy? Or was her mouth a bit too spicy for you?”
Arik glared at her. “I knew something was up.” He pulled off his shirt and jeans.
Kerri grinned evilly. “So which one, itching powder or did she eat something really spicy?”
Arik pushed past her and into the shower. “Itching powder, dog.”
Kerri burst out laughing.
She twisted the doorknob to see that it was unlocked. She crept in, and she was about to enter the bedroom when she heard creaking bedsprings.
And other noises.
Oops, and ew. She just walked in on people…trying to make new people. That means that Drake was in the other apartment then. She was about to leave when she thought of something. The man in the bedroom could be Drake. Then she remembered that if the man in the bedroom was Drake, then the other person in the room also had to be a man. Which in this case, it definitely wasn’t. Right, okay. Leaving. Now. She closed the front door behind her quietly, went across the corridor and knocked on the other door.
Drake answered it. “Kerri? What are you doing here?”
“Hey, are you alone?” She certainly didn’t want to interrupt Drake if he was trying to make new people. Not that he’d be able to, unless he or his partner suddenly grew a womb.
“Uh, yeah. Do you want to come in?”
“Yes, please.”
Drake led her into his condo. It was quite similar to hers, but the colours, the patterns, the materials and the positions of the furniture were all different while the shape and size of the rooms were the same. “How did you know that this was my place?” he asked her, offering her a soda, which she accepted gratefully.
“Well, Arik told me where it was. And to be honest, your door wasn’t the first door I knocked on.”
Drake raised his eyebrow. “Across the hall?”
“Yep.”
Drake burst out laughing. “But…you know they were…you know, right?”
Kerri sighed. “Well, I did after that. They didn’t hear me and the door was unlocked, so I just went in. Thank God I was quiet. Anyway, I was just about to walk into the bedroom when I heard them uh…when I heard them, so I left.”
Drake grinned. “You should have gone and joined in.”
“I’ll leave that for you to do,” she replied drily.
Drake waved the remark away and cracked open a can of beer. “Not really my kind of thing. Anyway, what are you doing here?” He sat down on the bed, and motioned for Kerri to sit next to him.
She obliged, kicking off her shoes. “Well, I was just wondering…did Arik have a girlfriend?”
Drake snorted. “Try asking whether he had about five thousand.”
“No, I mean…a serious one.” Kerri changed her position so that she was sitting cross-legged and balanced her soda on her knee. “Like, one he really cared about. One he loved.”
Drake looked down into his beer. “Yeah, there was one. Why do you want to know?”
“Well, because…I just want to know more about her.”
Drake frowned at her. “Why?”
“Because I saw Arik crying over her in the bathroom before bed.”
Drake sighed. “The poor guy.”
“So? Can you tell me about her, or is she like, a banned topic?”
“Her name’s Sitara, and she’s half Indian. An exotic beauty, they say. I think you’re prettier, though.”
Kerri grinned. “Thanks.”
“Anyway, she was…they were good together, and I guess everybody just thought that they’d end up...well, everybody just thought they’d stay together, y’know?”
“But they didn’t.”
“Well, obviously.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know whether they were any problems with them…personally, but she turned to…another company.”
“The C.E.? Arik told me about them,” she explained when Drake looked surprised.
“Well, yes. She turned to the C.E.”
“So she turned willingly? She wasn’t captured or enslaved or something like that?”
“Silver was involved. Werewolves can’t resist silver.”
Kerri’s mouth dropped. “Sitara was a…werewolf?”
“She is a werewolf.”
“So do they all…go weak at the knees at the sight of silver?”
“Well, not exactly.” Drake lowered his voice. “Rumours are that one of the other werewolves from the C.E. seduced Shyam and tricked her into joining them.”
“Does Arik know about these rumours?”
Drake looked at her. “Why do you think he was crying?”
“Oh.” So that was what Arik was talking about when he said it hurt. The realisation of betrayal.
“Sitara was…stubborn, though. She was also fiercely loyal—that is, as loyal as a werewolf ever could be. It was so obvious that she and Arik were perfect for each other, and she could resist silver if she tried, so nobody will ever know why she actually turned to the C.E. Maybe it’s true that werewolves can’t resist temptations, that they’ll never be faithful.”
Kerri sipped at her soda, deep in thought. “So did Sitara train here at the Sterling Silver?”
“Yes.”
“So she was one of the first werewolves to ever be trained here?”
“Yes. It’s actually because of Sitara that the boss noticed that all of the werewolves that trained here betray the Sterling in the end. And so werewolves were banned.”
“Oh, wow.” Kerri let out a low whistle. “That must have…really hurt Arik.”
Drake finished his beer and tossed it into the nearby bin. “Yep.”
“Was…was she generally a good person?”
“Sitara? Oh, yeah. She was nice, funny, caring, all that stuff. She was Arik’s one true love, apparently, according to him.”
“One true love?” Kerri raised an eyebrow.
“Love works…differently with us immortals. Well, maybe it doesn’t work differently, but no one will ever know. Anyway, with us immortals, we all have one true love. And usually, if they’re our one true love, then we’re their one true love too. Usually.”
“So it was different in Arik’s case.”
“Either that, or Sitara wasn’t Arik’s one true love. Kerri, just because we have that one true love doesn’t mean we can’t fall in love with someone else. We can, but only before we meet our true love. When we meet that one true love, then it’s impossibly to fall in love with anyone else, because your love for her—or him, in my case—will be…so deep. Deeper than anybody you’ve fallen in love with.”
“So you’re saying Arik’s love for Sitara may not be...that what he felt for Sitara wasn’t actually true love?”
“It’s a possibility. But if it’s true, then I really don’t want to know what happens if Arik’s true love leaves him.”
“Do you know that the person’s your true love when you meet them?”
“It’s obvious...for some.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll tell you something, but only if you promise me not to hit me or hurt me afterwards.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Just promise, woman.”
Kerri sighed. “Fine, I promise.”
Drake looked away. “We...we all think that...maybe...you’re Arik’s one true love.”
Kerri stared at him. Then she burst out laughing. “I wish,” she said, thinking that she really did wish. “Who’s ‘we’?”
“Carter, Joshua and I.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Joshua thinks that?”
“Well, Carter and I.”
“And why do you think that?”
“Because…Arik’s so different than he was before. He behaves differently.”
“What do you mean differently?”
“Like when he’s with you, it’s like it was when he was…with Sitara. But not really. In a different way, but a good different.”
Kerri stared at him. She couldn’t believe this. “You’re comparing me to Sitara.”
Drake’s eyes widened slightly in alarm when he sensed that he was in hot water. Kerri had to admit that he was quite good at sensing these things. Then again, he was gay, so that’s probably why. “No, of course not. Why would any man with the right mind compare you to another woman?” Drake hurried to explain. “You’re all…unique and different…and special…” he trailed off.
Kerri narrowed her eyes. “Keep going.”
“And…so one of a kind and…” clearly getting no where, Drake decided to try something else. “I mean, if one of my boyfriends compared me to another guy, I’d get pissed off too.”
“Huh. I’m curious. Would you?”
Drake wrinkled his nose. “Hell yeah. I mean, who’s he to judge me?”
Kerri grinned. “Now you’re getting it.”
Drake sighed in relief. “So…you’re not going to kill me?”
“Not today, buddy.” Kerri’s stomach growled.
Drake grinned. “Are you hungry? You and Arik skipped dinner.”
“Yeah.”
“Wait, I’ll pop something in the microwave for you.”
“Thanks, Drake,” she called after him as he went into the kitchen and rooted around the fridge.
“So, why did you guys skip dinner?” Drake asked when he came back with Kerri’s food.
Kerri dug in. “Well…I don’t know, but I think it’s because I accidentally shifted over to the C.E. this afternoon…”
Silence. “Are you kidding me, woman?”
“No.”
“Why would you do something like that? Do you know how flipping dangerous it is?”
“I said I accidentally shifted, didn’t I?”
“Oh God, what happened then? Was Arik with you?”
“No. But he suddenly appeared next to me, grabbed me then shifted me back.”
“Just like that?”
“Yep. I didn’t even tell him that I was over there. Probably because even I didn’t know that I was over there, but still.”
“Did you feel any kind of…weird sensation before Arik shifted over to the C.E. to save you?”
Kerri frowned. “Well, something weird happened to my eyes before he appeared but that’s all.”
“Like someone’s watching what you’re watching?”
“Yeah. That’s it. How do you know?”
“Arik shared your vision to see what you were seeing so that he would know where you were, so that he could go and save you.”
“Oh wow. Is that like…a really high level of magic?”
“Not really. Only people with a special bond can do it, like between friends, or trainers and trainees...or true loves.” Drake yawned.
“Oh, sorry, am I disturbing you?”
“No, it’s just been a long day. Carter’s a dog to train.”
Kerri frowned. “You’re Carter’s trainer?” she asked, polishing off the last of her late-night meal.
“Yep.”
She laughed. “That I’d like to see. Is it fun, having a friend as a trainee or a trainer?”
“Hell no.” Drake shook his head. “When it comes to training, everything’s strictly professional. It’s probably the hardest kind of training to do. Ever. Well, I guess it’d be harder to train if your trainer was your one true love.” He shot Kerri a meaningful look, which she ignored. He yawned again.
“Wow. You’re really beat. I’ll leave now so that you can get some sleep.”
“Thanks. You’re welcome any time, you know that, right? Well, except when I’m…busy doing what the couple across the hall are doing.”
Kerri grinned. “Yeah, I know. I’ll show myself out. ‘Night, Drake.”
“Bye, K.”
Kerri stopped in her tracks when she heard her new nickname. Then she continued out the door. Any nickname other than Ree would do just fine.
“Oh, and Drake?”
“Yeah?”
“What we talk about at nights…they’re between us only, yeah?”
“Of course.”
Kerri left her plate in the kitchen sink on the way out.
***
Kerri had just climbed onto the bed when she suddenly heard a click of fingers and a flame lit up the room.
“Where were you?” Arik asked coldly.
She gave a small shriek and almost fell off the bed. “That’s none of your business,” she replied after regaining her composure, her tone matching his.
“Do you know how I worried when I woke up and found you were gone? Do you know how much trouble I’ll be in if the C.E. takes you?”
Kerri snorted. “As if they’re going to come in the middle of the night and just grab me.”
Arik looked at her. “Are you stupid?” he asked. “Of course they’d do that.”
That’s right. They would. “Oh. Sorry.”
“Where were you?”
“Not off to the C.E. getting the full tour, if that’s what you were worried about.”
Arik cocked his head sideways. “Either you tell me where you were, or I’ll read your mind and go over every single detail of what you’ve been doing for the past two or so hours.”
“I was over at Drake’s,” she replied quickly. “We were talking.”
“About what?”
“All kinds of things.”
Arik narrowed his eyes. “Were you two talking about me?”
Kerri shrugged. “We could have been.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“You know that I can always read your mind for the information, right?”
“You even try invading my privacy, and I’ll kick your balls so hard they’ll fall off,” she promised him.
He backed off immediately.
Then Kerri suddenly remembered something. “Wait a minute, don’t you have to go over to Mandy’s tonight?”
“shoot. That’s right.” Arik narrowed his eyes. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
She shrugged. “Girls talk. Now go.”
Arik frowned. “You actually want me to?”
“Oh yes.”
“Why?”
Kerri tried to come up with an excuse. “Well...all men have to get laid every once in a while. Now go.”
She could tell that he was tempted. “But…I can’t just leave you here.”
“Just make it quick. I’ll be fine. I just remembered that I haven’t showered anyways.”
“At one in the morning?”
“Shut up and go get laid.” She kicked him off the bed and headed towards the bathroom for her shower.
***
Arik came back half an hour later, bursting into the bathroom, where Kerri was clad in only a towel. He was grabbing at his crotch, his breathing ragged. Kerri grinned. “So are you feeling a little itchy? Or was her mouth a bit too spicy for you?”
Arik glared at her. “I knew something was up.” He pulled off his shirt and jeans.
Kerri grinned evilly. “So which one, itching powder or did she eat something really spicy?”
Arik pushed past her and into the shower. “Itching powder, dog.”
Kerri burst out laughing.
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