Innocently Evil (A Kitty Bloom Novel) (19 page)

“Aww,” I whined, unsympathe
tically as I walked over to him. “But I was just getting the hang of it.” I stopped by his shoulders with my hands on my hips and tilted my head to the side as I peered down at his face.

His response was a condescending expression of disbelief
and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay, okay,”
I said, trying not to laugh. “So, maybe I’ve already got the hang of it.” I released my hands from my hips, dropped to my knees and then arranged myself so that I was lying on the thick, green grass alongside Sam. I wrapped my hands together behind my head and stared off into the sky. “I never thought I would have become this good this quickly,” I whispered inquisitively, mainly commenting to myself.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam turn his head to face me and I felt compelled to mention the obvious.
“Not to say that it’s truly me,” I said, quietly. “I realize that it’s her, well, her skill and I’m just using it, but I thought she would have fought against me more—or something.” My voice trailed off as my train of thought continued internally and I started to consider all the possible reasons why my other half may have let me get away with controlling her and stealing her abilities.

I started to become
suspicious of an ulterior motive, when I felt Sam’s arm brush the side of my stomach and an electric shock from his touch on my bare skin ran through my body. I turned my head to face him and lay my cheek on the soft grass. I smiled apologetically and rolled my eyes to excuse the seriousness he must have seen on my face moments before.

Sam’s fingers reassuringly caressed the small space of bare skin on my side between my singlet and shorts, and his considerate frown showed me that his thoughts had mirrored my own. He was suspicious of her, too and that scared me just a little.

I
took my eyes back from Sam’s and gave them willingly again to the sky and its fluffy, puffy clouds. I hated that the fact there was a part of me, completely separate from my consciousness that was thinking and planning and scheming things that I could have no knowledge of or control over. It made me wish once more for the normal life I’d seemed to have before I came to Saint Jean and before my birthday, even if it was all a lie.

The
re was just one problem though. I wasn’t that person anymore and even if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t be doing anything more than delaying the inevitable and stopping myself becoming the person I was meant to be. I just had to come to terms with it. I was different now and the world and my life would never be as simple as they had once seemed before.

I moved my eyes back to look into Sam’s and I smiled, silently thanking destiny for putting us together.

Sam raised an eyebrow at my odd smile and narrowed his eyes at me. “What,” he asked, sounding a little apprehensive.

I grinned and moved my hand from under my head, down alongside his arm and took his hand in mine.
“Nothing,” I said as his fingers wrapped securely around mine. “I was just thinking how lucky you are to have me.”

Sam’s grin matched mine in intensity and he shifted slightly closer to me.
“Very lucky,” he said.

I lay there for a moment bathing in the sincerity and serenity of his violet-eye-stare. Then
I inched my head closer to his until my forehead rested against his cheek and, happily, I closed my eyes. We lay peacefully for a moment until our breathing synchronized and the depths of sleep began trying to pull me in. Then I opened my eyes and raised my head up enough for my lips to reach Sam’s cheek and I kissed him softly. I released my hand from his and pushed myself up until I was in a sitting position and I looked off into the distance. Soon, Sam was sitting up beside me and we were both looking towards the fiery colors of the late afternoon sun.

“I guess we should get
going soon,” I said regretfully, breaking the calming silence.

“Yeah,” Sam breathed in half-hearted agreement
.

I looked over at him as he frowned unhappily and reluctantly got to his feet. As
soon as he’d dusted a few stray broken blades of grass from his clothes, he reached a hand down to me. I took it gratefully and batted my eyelashes at him girlishly as his fingers closed around my palm. He grinned mischievously and pulled me up so fast, as if I weighed nothing at all, that the motion propelled me forward and I slammed into his chest. His arms locked gently behind my back and I glared at him and hit him lightly as he chuckled at my misfortune.

Then, finding it too tempting not to give in, I placed my hands around his neck and pulled him closer. Sam lowered his head nearer to mine and I leaned my forehead against
his and rubbed my nose along the side of his nose in my own version of an Eskimo kiss. He returned my loving gesture with his own proper Eskimo kiss and then let out a deep sigh that I took for contentment. But, when he pulled his face from mine and looked down at me with trouble and worry filling his beautiful eyes, I knew I had read him wrongly.

“Don’t go to
Welcome Ball tomorrow night,” Sam said, quietly.

Surprised by his request, I stared up into his serious expression and couldn’t deny how much the worry in his eyes tore sharply into my heart.
“Why,” I found myself having to ask, even though I thought I knew the answer.

“
It’s a trap, Kitty,” Sam sighed. “And I know you think it is, too. Please, just promise me you won’t go.” Sam’s gentle eyes pleaded with me for the answer he so desperately desired, but it was already too late. I’d promised someone else the opposite.

I frowned at him and took a little step back out from his embrace until I felt his arms
fall from behind my back. “I can’t promise that,” I said, unhappily. “I promised my mum that I would go and there is no way I am letting her go alone.”

Sam’s expression hardened and his eyebrows drew tightly together. If it wasn’t for the sharp, glittering fear in his deep, violet eyes, I would have thought he was angry at me. But, I knew better. I reached a hand out to him and rested it softly against his chest. I could feel his heartbeat racing beneath my fingertips,
a product of the adrenalin pumping fear fuelling his overactive imagination. Almost instantly, Sam’s right hand covered mine and gripped it tightly where I held it against his chest. His face softened slightly at my touch, but his rapid heartbeat didn’t subside.

“I’l
l be fine,” I whispered, smiling reassuringly, even though I knew it was probably a lie.

Sam mimicked my smile and shook his head.
“You won’t,” he said, in an agonizingly unhappy voice that was in complete contrast to his smiling face.

Then
, almost as soon as he had finished his quick little statement, his fake smile was gone and replaced by a disapprovingly forlorn pout.

I
frowned grumpily at his decisively negative response, even though I somewhat agreed with him, and couldn’t stop myself from arguing. “I
might
be fine,” I said defiantly. “Besides, I’ll have you there to protect me, won’t I? I fancy you look pretty decent in a tux.”

I smirked, trying to improve his mood with a little poor
humor and take his mind off the serious danger that I knew I was willingly getting myself into.

“This is not a joke, Kitty,” he said, his face turning sullen.

Feeling a little scolded, I tried to pull my hand out from beneath his, but he held it firmly.

“I mean it,” he said, more gently
, as he gripped my hand tighter. “And what happens if I’m not there to protect you?”

I was just about to try and yank my hand away from his once more, when the
realization of what he’d just said hit me. I immediately stopped and looked up at him in disbelief. “What do you mean if you’re not there? Why wouldn’t you be there? Why wouldn’t you come with me?”

Sam clenched his jaw as he looked into my eyes. I was sure he’d seen the rejection I’d instinctively felt and the fear of having to face the night of horrors alone flash across my face.

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he said, talking quickly and taking a small step closer. “But that it would be safer for you if I wasn’t there.”

I stared at him unable to hide the fact that his comment had left me completely dumbstruck.
“Safer for me,” I asked in awe. “How could that possibly be safer for me?”

I tried once more to pull my hand from his, when Sam abruptly released it. He took a small step back from me and wouldn’t look me in the eyes. He appeared ashamed, but seemed stubborn enough to stand by what he’d said.

Sam crossed his arms over his chest and even though his head remained high, he focused his attention on the ground. “Trust me, it’s better for the both of us if I don’t formally attend,” he said, his voice going an octave deeper, like that of a parent’s voice talking to a disobedient child.

Unconsciously, I took a step back from him and crossed my arms protectively over my chest in an almost mirror image of his defensive stance.
“Why,” I said again, my voice turning flat, but agitated as I demanded an answer.

Sam looked up at me for a second, his eyes thoughtful and pained and then returned his eyes to the ground. He raised one hand to his head, while the other stayed tightly wrapped across his chest and he pressed his fingertips to his forehead.

After a tense moment, he shook his head and dropped his hand. “You have no idea,” he began, finally lifting his eyes to mine once more, “how dangerous it would be for a servant of light to enter the home of a dark leader, uninvited and on the arm of the leader’s intended new subject. There are rules, Kitty and although I don’t like them, I still have to obey them or risk getting you killed.”

Sam’s face was serious and fierce, but his voice betrayed his fear
and I was sure he was only trying to scare me into not going. So, still feeling insolent and ignoring his sharp stare, I felt my hands gravitate to my hips and I thrust out my chin at him.

“I can take care of myself,” I said, in a slightly more teenage tantrum-throwing voice than I would have liked.
I stared at him, my head tilted to the side and my lips pursed tight as I waited for a response.

Sam’s expression remained gruff and aggravated as he watched me and a part of me took pleasure in finally making him a little angry.
“You are in no way prepared to deal with a three hundred year old vampire, his two hundred year old vampire son and a room full of his evil, bloodthirsty cronies,” Sam said, clearly frustrated with me now.

“I to
ok you down, didn’t I,” I asked, my voice still sounding like a bitchy teenager from a cheerleading movie.

Sam’s face contorted into a look of disbelief and slight amusement as he shook his head lightly from side to side.
“Kitty,” he said, now almost smiling in sympathetic shock. “We have no idea whether the skills you proved you can use today even work on the other side. Sure you took me down, but was that because your skills were taken from the dark side of you, the side against me, or not? What if they don’t work as easily against the other side? What if the other half of you doesn’t want to fight against the side she’s on and makes it harder for you to use her skills around them? Then what will you do? Face it, Kitty; you’re not prepared to fight a whole room of bad guys just yet, okay? So, please promise me you won’t go tomorrow night. It’s for the best.”

I stared up at Sam, unable to hide the fact that I was a little shocked by his comments. I had, unfortunately
just for a moment, considered myself indestructible. I had thought that no one, expect maybe a god or goddess, could have taken me down. After all I had managed to beat the daylights out of an angel, so I assumed I was just being rational in thinking that my skill was way above average. But from what Sam had just said, I realized that I was far, far from it. Above average my ass, I was now back down to less than mediocre and that hurt my self-confidence just a bit.

I glared at Sam, who was still waiting for me to give him a positive answer that I wou
ldn’t go to the Tiennan’s Welcome Ball, and I couldn’t help but smile. I wasn’t sure whether it was the shock of it all or just the fact that I was now willingly going to put myself into a dangerous situation, without backup or without the self-assurance that I’d be able to kick a little evil butt if necessary. Either way, I just found myself having to smile. It was a crazy situation I was getting myself into, and I was doing it by choice.

I shook my head and raised my eyebrows just a bit as I smiled at Sam
. “No,” I said, firmly. “I can’t promise you that.”

Sam’s
jaw dropped at my answer and it was clear to see that he’d been sure I would have agreed with his sensible arguments. His arms dropped loosely from where they had been held tightly across his chest and he went to move a hand out to me.

I took a step back from him, out of his reach and I frowned apologetically.
“I should be getting home,” I muttered weakly, as I stared at the rejection filling his eyes. “I—I’ll see you later.”

Then, doing the only thing I could think
of in the awkward situation, I spun around and began walking across the courtyard towards the intricate alleyways that would lead me home. My chest grew tight and I felt my eyes burn with cruel tears. I had wanted to tell Sam
yes
, but there was no way that I could abandon my mum and he needed to understand that.