Flirting with Danger Bk 1

“Oh, he went outside.” Chase said calmly as he leaned back in his chair. I looked at him and thought, How stupid are you? Didn’t you hear me when I said that no one was supposed to go outside.
“What?!” I ran to the door, grabbing my jacket from Connelly’s chair as I went.
“Kota, what’s wrong?” Dale called after me but I didn’t answer and ran outside. Louis wasn’t anywhere in sight. I sighed in aggravation and dove into the woods. The thunder was louder and more frequent, but I continued despite the danger I was bound to encounter. Louis was just a human, and no matter how much I wanted kill him, I had to save him first.
I fought hard against the wind and the brush tearing at my dress. It was pouring buckets of rain, but thankfully the trees spared me the worst of it. I was fighting with one bush for my dress when I noticed a recently made trail. I ripped my dress out of the bush’s grasp and then hurried down the trial. This was much faster and I was sure I would catch up with Louis in no time. I heard some rustling up ahead and quickened my pace. I saw him wrestling with a particularly difficult and big bush.
“Louis!” I called and he whipped around to face me. I stopped in front of him and glared.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked.
“What are you doing out here? I told you to stay inside.” I said sternly.
“You can’t tell me what to do, and besides, I’m seeing what Connelly and Ivan are up to.” he glared back at me.
“It’s none of your business what they’re doing. Now come on.” I said, grabbing his hand.
He pulled out of my grip quite easily and said, “I told you in class, I’m not going to stop until I find out what’s going on here. And if you’re not going to tell me, then I’ll just find out on my own.”
“Didn’t I just tell you they left? Why would they go in the woods? What would they do in the woods?” I asked, showing him how stupid it sounded, to a human anyway, or an oblivious human since I too was human.
“Who knows?” Louis turned to continue but I spun him back around.
“Apparently you, because if you didn’t think they would be doing a certain something that involved being in the woods, you wouldn’t be in here — Now let’s hear it. What do you think they’re doing?” I demanded, hands on hips and my face telling him I wasn’t playing around.
“I—I don’t know, but I just have a feeling that they’re up to something.” he said, looking at me. I was just about to say something when we heard rustling behind Louis and then a growl. I jumped and instantly thought of Rudi.
“We better get back. That sounds like a bear.” I said, grabbing his arm again and pulling him with me.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let it hurt you.” he said, looking behind us and then smiling at me. I gave him a look and pulled on his arm again, him finally coming with me as we ran up the trail. I looked behind me one more time and saw Vincent’s smiling face looking after me. I smiled back and he winked before disappearing.
“Kota? Kota, where are you?” I heard two voices calling for me.
“Connelly!” I called and ran faster than I thought I ever could. I was almost out of the trees and could see the house. Then I saw Connelly walking just outside the trees.
“Connelly!” I called happily. He stopped in front of me and held his arms out to me. I ran out of the trees and into his arms gratefully.
“A little easy, Kota — I’ve been through a little ordeal.” he said quietly and winked at me.
“Sorry. Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’ll be fine — just a few scratches, that’s all. I’m glad you’re safe.” he smiled.
“I’m glad you’re safe. I prayed for you.” I hugged him again, not taking my arms from around him.
“I needed it. If it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t be here.” he said, smiling, but then looked up. I followed his gaze and saw Louis step out of the trees, his eyes on Connelly. Louis looked at him suspiciously, but I could tell he didn’t know what to say.
“We got some pizzas and drinks in the car.” said Connelly, not faltering once. I looked up at him and he slyly winked at me. Then I looked at Louis.
“You see, what did I tell you?” I said and he glowered at me. I ignored him and looked back up at Connelly. I heard the back door of the house open and close and we all looked to see Dale walking out to us.
“Hey Connelly, mind unlocking the car so we can get the pizzas?” he asked.
“Sure.” Connelly put a hand in his pocket, brought out a ring of keys, and hit the unlock button.
“Thanks. Come and help me Louis.” Dale smiled at Connelly and waved to Louis for him to follow as he turned towards the house. Louis stared at us a minute longer, but then followed after Dale.
“Is there somewhere we can be alone?” asked Connelly and I looked up at him. His face seemed a little pained.
“Uh, yeah, come on.” I said and we went inside. Connelly was slightly leaning on me, but I didn’t say anything. I just wanted to get alone with him so I could assess the damage.
“Hey, thanks for the food Connelly.” Chase said when he saw us. Connelly nodded his welcome and continued down the hall to the second door on the right. This was a guest bedroom decorated in greens and blues. I helped Connelly to the bed and then shut the door and locked it.
“Okay, now what happened?” I asked, sitting beside him.
“Well, that bastard vampire showed up and followed Sue to the clearing. If Ivan and I hadn’t turned up right then, she would have been either dead or a turned vampire. He was really sharp and very fast.” he said, trying to shrug out of his jacket.
“Here, let me help.” I said and I softly pulled off his jacket. Underneath the jacket he had on his vest and a white shirt and I could see blood splotches on the shirt.
“Connelly,” I said as I unbuttoned his vest and took off his shirt. There was a huge gash in his side and numerous smaller cuts and slices all over.
“What did you do to him?” I asked.
“I killed him.” he looked at me, his eyebrows raised.
“Oh, um how do you kill them again?” I asked as I examined the gash. It was already healing. I looked up at him and sighed, a smile on my face.
“You either have to suck them dry or rip them apart and burn the pieces, though the burning is really just so no one sees a dead vampire body.” he said.
“Oh — ewe.” I said, sitting up straight again. He chuckled.
“So doctor, how am I?” he asked, a smirk plain on his face.
“You’re fine — already healing.” I smiled at him. He made a mock surprised face and I pushed him. He laughed and then stopped.
“Oh — still hurts.” he grimaced at me.
“Well duh, it’s all the way down to the bone.” I said and he smiled. He laid back on his jacket and patted the bed beside him. I laid down on my side so I could see him better.
“You just wanted to get your shirt off didn’t you.” I said, a smile on my face.
“Never.” he said, like I should have known better. “But since we’re on the subject, what’d you think?” he asked and then smiled when I laughed.
“I think you’re the sexiest thing on the planet, but that’s just me.” I said, smiling at him.
“Ditto.” he said, and then tried to kiss me, but I leaned away.
“If you took care of Rudi, does this mean I should wait until you brush your teeth before you kiss me?” I asked, half joking.
“You’re funny.” he said and then kissed me. As it turns out, he didn’t have to do anything after all.

After the wake, Connelly and I went back to his house, but Ivan stayed with Sue. Except for Ivan, the whole family was there and I was grateful to see that they were all okay, despite minor cuts and gashes.
When Connelly and I walked through the doors, Mathias and Moran came from the kitchen, but I had the feeling that we had just interrupted something. Their eyes wore the slightest of tension and something of sadness. Connelly and I exchanged a quick glance, agreeing that there was something going on.
“So, how is everyone?” I asked, looking at them all.
“We’re fine, nothing that won’t heal in a matter of hours.” Vincent said, who had a large gash on his head that had already scabbed over. Aubrey was holding her wrist with a napkin while Mira and Alister had the least amount of injuries of them all.
“We just came to get Kota’s things.” Connelly said, still holding my waist as we started walking towards the stairs.
“You mean she’s not staying?” Aubrey said, a hurt look on her face, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of her wrist or not.
“Well, since Rudi’s gone, there’s really no reason for her to stay.” Mira said, but she looked sad about it too.
“Don’t worry. I’ll still come over a lot.” I promised and they smiled small smiles. Then I let Connelly lead me up to his room.
“What’s going on with Moran and Mathias?” I asked when I closed the door.
“I don’t know, but I’ll find out soon enough.” he said, looking angry about something. We packed all of my things and then went back downstairs, giving goodbye hugs before leaving.
After that day, everything seemed to go back to normal, except for Sue being sad about her mother, and Connelly acting a little odd. I tried to find out what it was several times, and had even begged Ivan to tell me, but neither one let on to what was wrong or if there was anything wrong.