AN: Yay for long chapters. I'm drifting back into BSB mode but, I'm getting the urge to write a Chris fic. Let me know what ya'll want to see genre wise for him and after I finish this or 'Blindsided' or 'Nightmare of a Lifetime' maybe I'll start one. =) inspiredthoughts@hotmail.com ************************ Curiosity Killed... Chapter Seven ************************* I can’t help myself, I really can’t, I howl with laughter as Kevin sits back, disgruntled. “You?” I gasp between hiccups, “you want me to be YOUR girlfriend? What is it suddenly socially acceptable to slap around your significant other or did I miss that particular memo?” Kevin frowns severely. “You don’t get a choice in this…” I roll my eyes. “No, I’m sure that I don’t. Would you at least care to explain the reasoning behind this idiotic idea?” “Its not idiotic,” he snaps acidly, “it’s the only logical option. I don’t trust anyone else to keep you in line. I’ve spoken to Marquis. You’re a dangerous woman to have around. You have your share of enemies, despite Dracula’s intervention, and the current estimate by the Council is that you’ve killed some three dozen Vampires over the years. Half the Council would gladly forfeit a fair share of power to see you dead, several supernatural species have you marked as well and that doesn’t include the bounties placed on your head by different identities. “To top it off you’re arrogant, manipulating, and powerful in your own right. Nick doesn’t have the patience, Brian has too much, and Howie and AJ are halfway to infatuated with you. Our very existence depends on gaining your support by the means left to us. We’re running out of options. You’re the only one I know that the Council hates more than us. I will not see us die because of the stubbornness of one single girl.” “You know what?” I ask, “I don’t like you very much.” Kevin laughs low and hard in a voice that makes me chill. “You don’t have to like us child, you simply have to love us.” I snort. “Its not the others I have an issue with. You’re the ass.” He bows ironically. “And you’re the ass’s girlfriend.” Charming. ****************************************************************************************** I ignore the bloodsuckers following me around my motel room. Dracula gives me a rather generous allowance but I usually don’t use much of it. I tend to prefer self sufficiency, which usually comprises of renting dirt cheap hotel rooms when I travel. I can be showy when I want, but I usually prefer subtle, as funny as that may seem to some of you. I’ve been told that I don’t do subtle well but that’s not true. I do subtle very well, I usually just don’t care. Laziness and inability are hardly the same thing. I grab my stuff as I see it. I didn’t unpack much before I went Backstreet Boy seeking so it’s not difficult to gather my meager belongings in the large backpack I have carelessly slung over one shoulder. There’s comfortable clothing, a stray book or two, and toiletries to be picked up. “Do you mind not touching my stuff?” I ask Howie, annoyed, as I attempt to grab a picture frame from my bed out of his hands. He’s not a tall man but he’s taller than me by a good head and grins as he holds the frame out of reach. “I’m holding it hostage,” he says, handsome face serious even as his eyes twinkle from beneath the brim of his baseball cap. I sigh. “And whatever shall I have to pay to get it back?” I ask in a bored voice. “Humm, a kiss would do it…” “You already got a kiss,” I snap crossly, immediately regretting the words as I sense Kevin still and glance over at us from the window, face shadowed by his own baseball cap. What brilliant disguises. They wouldn’t do shit either but all the blood suckers have to do is twitch their metaphorical noses and play mind tricks on some unsuspecting fans for them to be forgotten with ease. An older vampire wouldn’t need to bother with disguises at all but the Boys are only old enough to cloud the tiny minds of the masses, not completely change them. Dracula could slaughter in front of a hundred witnesses and walk away untouched and unremembered. After a certain age marker Vampires are pretty much invincible for everything save stupidity and boredom. The world’s oldest Vampires have died from some of the stupidest accidents, not that I’m complaining. Immortality tends to warp even the best of the bloodsucking community after a few centuries. They’re usually not bright, happy, shiny people. “But that was hardly a real kiss,” Howie says, voice low and throaty as he steps closer to me. I hold my ground because, well, its usually a stupid idea to run. “Felt real enough to me,” I grumble as I watch him warily. I’ve been playing this game with Dracula for years. I know how seduction’s done. I know how its avoided too. Howie laughs, the sound clear and beautiful in a way that sends shivers down my spine. They all have voices to die for. Unfortunately, I may just do that before this is all said and done. He lowers his arm as the other one reaches up to stroke my cheek softly. His eyes are warm and brown and fixed on my own and dammit he is good. Good and real and, well, sort of dead, not that that’s stopped me before. “Want to try again?” he asks as his fingers dance along my arm. I swallow, take a deep breath, and snatch the picture frame from his startled grasp, scooting out of his reach as fast as I can. I grin in triumph and Howie laughs good naturedly. I can feel Kevin watching us, a frown on his lips, but I don’t care what his problem is. I like Howie, he’s fun in a tiny bit of danger way. I’m not ready to throw myself at someone and blow my protection with Dracula. I have a lot to think about before I get temped into anyone’s bed, Backstreet or otherwise, but it doesn’t mean I can’t play some games with them all. I want Howie like half the women in America want him. I’m allowed to indulge in fantasies for a bit if I wish. Especially if Howie chooses to indulge me back. And AJ, I like AJ too, but I’m going to be jumpy around him for awhile. Stupid panic attacks. I would have vastly preferred to have AJ and Howie go with me but Kevin, Kevin’s very serious about his “protect the big bad Vampires from the threat of Catherine Roberts” idea. I’d strangle Marquis for that if it would do any good. I pause and stare at the picture in my hands. There’s a little girl with big blonde curls and brown, brown eyes. Her two front teeth are missing and she’s laughing for all she’s worth in her a woman’s arms. The woman is short and slender and attractive in a nondescript sort of way but when she smiles her brown eyes shine. My mother’s eyes shined. She died when I was six, two years before I realized that things really do go “bump” in the night after I got a chunk taken out of my neck. I’m glad in a lot of ways she didn’t live to see the woman I’ve grown into. I’m not all that sure she’d be super proud of me. I know my father isn’t. We haven’t talked since I was sixteen. But I miss her, terribly, and treasure every scrap of memory I have left. Not that I particularly want to share my sob story with my captors. I don’t handle pity well and the last thing I want is another bonding session with Kevin. I carefully stuff the picture frame in my backpack under Kevin’s scrutiny. I stick my tongue out at him, mostly because I can. There’s other reasons that Marquis finds me rude aside from my nationality, mostly because I am. “I need to make a phone call to someone.” “You already made a phone call to Dracula, who else could you possibly, need to call?” Kevin demands mildly. I roll my eyes. “Well my fiancée tends to worry about me when I disappear without a word for extended lengths of time.” Oh boy, that gets their attentions. Howie and Kevin are both staring at me incredulously. “You have a fiancée?” Howie squeaks, looking ill. Seems like someone is feeling guilty about his kissing… “Is that really so hard to believe?” Kevin snorts. “Giving your oh so endearing personality and stunning looks of COURSE not,” ouch, “but is there a reason you didn’t mention this, say, several hours ago?” I shrug and grin, unrepentant. “I forgot.” “You forgot your fiancée?” Howie asks weakly. “Hay,” I reply, sounding wounded, “it could happen to anyone.” Kevin curses colorfully and hands me his cell phone since mine was confiscated. “Make it short and watch what you say. Dracula never said we couldn’t hurt you.” Yipee. “Yes dear,” I snap dryly as I dial the number of the man who’s been with me to hell and back, literally. The phone rings once before he picks it up and I flinch, knowing that he’s been waiting by for my call. “This had better be you Cat or I’m calling You Know Who and the Council AND the freaking FBI.” I sigh as Stephen’s low voice rolls over me. I’ve always been a sucker for low voices, well, some low voices. Kevin excluded. “Its me baby. I’m okay, I’m so sorry I didn’t call sooner but I was sort of, umm, held up.” There’s a fine quality to the silence at the other end of the phone. “Held up how?” Stephen asks delicately. “Umm panic attack and Vampire held up.” “I see.” Unfortunately, he probably did. Stephen often knows too much for his own good, and safety. “Are you all right?” I smile, suddenly weary. “Isn’t that the $64,000 question? I think so. I mean I’m not hurt, I just, hate them and being vulnerable when I have them, you know?” I trail off, not wanting to go into specifics in front of two very curious bloodsuckers. His voice drops half an octave. “I know baby Cat. I know.” “There’s more,” I whisper. Stephen chuckles. “I figured. And not good more with the way you’re hedging around it. Spit it out Roberts.” “I… I can’t come home anytime soon.” “How in over your head are you?” Stephen asks quietly and I wish, fervently, that he could be with me. I don’t love him and he doesn’t love me as anything more than a sister and him a brother. We’ve been best friends since we were born. He got me through my mother’s death, and stuck with me when I let my world go to hell chasing Vampires and Ghosts and all the other things that shadows hide. We’re engaged because Stephen has commitment issues and, it’s doubtful I’ll live long enough to really fall in love. Not that kind of love anyway. We date other people, see other people if we want too, but we’re together. If we both make it to thirty without falling in love with someone else we’ll get married. But, Kevin and Howie hardly need to know all that, even if Dracula does. If he was here he’d scoop me up in his five foot six frame that tops me by six inches. He’d squeeze me until I couldn’t breathe and kiss my cheeks and tell me that everything would work out, even if it wouldn’t. “I…” Kevin grabs my free arm in a steel grip and I swallow at the warning in his flashing eyes. Stupid Vampire hearing. I take a deep breath and continue, carefully censoring myself for Stephen’s sake, “I’m in over my head but I’m not drowning yet, okay? Just, don’t believe everything you may see, keep your fingers crossed, and I’ll call you twice a week and check in, okay?” “Catherine…” “Trust me Stephen. There’s no way in hell I’m disappearing and leaving you all alone. You’re gonna have to suffer with me for awhile longer.” Stilted laughter flows from the other line and he sighs, deeply. “Okay baby Cat. I love and miss you. Take care of yourself. Call me or I’ll hunt you down myself.” “I know… and I love and miss you too.” The phone clicks, leaving me alone with two very curious Vampires. Yipee skippy.