AN: So, how about it, a brand new chapter. I like inspiration, until it abandons me crying in the corner. Enjoy it while it lasts... LOL inspiredthoughts@hotmail.com ********************* Curiosity Killed... Chapter Eight *********************** “Are you going to talk about it?” Howie asks as I slump lower in the backseat of the cab. He’s on my right, Kevin on my left. It’s a little cramped but Kevin isn’t about to leave me alone with Howie and, well, me and Kevin alone are probably not a good idea all around. Thanks to a few mind tricks with the cab driver, we wouldn’t be recognized, but I wish, really, really wish that I could be as clueless as the poor man up front. “I’m not having this conversation.” “You’re like engaged. Catherine, this isn’t a small thing. What in the world were you doing poking around with Vampires?!” I sulk and try to sink lower. “Its not like I’m pregnant or anything like that. So what, I’m engaged?” “Does Dracula know?” Kevin asks suddenly, breaking the brooding silence that he has maintained since I hung up with Stephen. “Does he know you have a fiancée?” “He sent us an engagement present,” I snap, reveling in that truth. It’s nice when I can piss the bloodsuckers off without trying to lie. They could taste it and well, that just takes something away from the fun of it. “I find that hard to believe,” Kevin says dryly. “Am I lying?” I demand, peeved despite my urge to be ‘better’ than him. I’m not known for my maturity though. Actually, I’ve always been older than my age, I just don’t always act like it. People who never get a real childhood don’t like to act as grown up as they are, we’re bitter about it. “No,” he replies, suddenly infuriatingly calm, “but that doesn’t mean you’re telling all there is to this story. You’ve been around enough Vampires to learn how to play with truth.” “It’s called self defense.” Kevin snorts. “It might be a form of self defense but I’d bet money that you enjoy playing mind games for more than their protection properties.” I growl as Howie chuckles. “I don’t think I’d take that bet,” he says with a grin. Men are jerks, all men, even the undead. Especially Backstreet undead. ************************************************************************************* “That’s all you have?” Nick asks as he lounges insolently on ‘my’ bed, which is actually a couch in Kevin’s suite, set in the living room part of his hotel room. It folds out into a bed somehow but damned if I know how to do it. I chase monsters, not machines. I’m little though, I’ll fit on it without folding it out. Nick’s too blue gaze is fixed on my small backpack like it’s a foreign concept and I shrug. “I didn’t think I’d be here longer than a week; I didn’t pack much.” “Where are all your clothes?” he asks and I sigh. “In the backpack,” I reply slowly, wishing the blonde wonder would get bored and go stare at a wall or something. “You have an entire week of clothes crammed in there?” he demands as he picks the bag up and unzips it curiously. Apparently I’m not the only one with that deadly disease. “You don’t want to look in there,” I caution and bite back my smile as Nick Carter ignores me and continues to paw through my things. He squeals suddenly and up, dropping my backpack like a cold body. It lands with a thud and half my meager belongings go flying across the room. “Kevin!” Nick screeches. Kevin whirls in with Vampire enhanced speed, his eyes flaring from green to midnight, his fangs extended like silver knives with worry. He pauses for a moment to assess the situation and I roll me eyes. Oh, a frightened Nick Carter, small female hostage, and oh no, gasp, an open backpack! The horror. Kevin takes a deep breath and I watch, fascinated despite myself, as his fangs retract. I may be juvenile but I never get tired of seeing that. “What is it Nick?” Kevin asks, and I can see his temper is hanging by a thread. Oh poor super star, is someone stressed? I snort at the though and flop onto the couch gracelessly, tired and grumpy with everything that had happened in the last few hours. Taken hostage by the Backstreet Boys. I am seriously loosing my touch. Nick points at the jumbled belongings on the floor. “She has stakes in there.” Kevin raises dark brows and looks at me, gaze hooded, silent question clear. I shrug carelessly. “Yeah, I have stakes. Your point? Did you really think I would be so idiotic as to go anywhere near suspected Vampires without some kind of protection?” “You brought stakes here?” Kevin asks, tone mild but in a way that makes me tense. Shit, shit, shit. The shit is going to hit the fan. I sit up slowly and fiddle with my hands as I answer. “It’s nothing personal. I mean, its just a safety precaution.” Kevin takes one large, intimidating step forward and I can feel my shoulder tighten with tension. “You brought stakes here?” I swallow and suddenly feel very small, young, and breakable. I hate that feeling. “I… I’m not going to use them or anything. I’m sorry if I’ve been attacked a few dozen too many times to trust a Vampire I haven’t met. Not that I trust those I have met but, well…” Kevin’s eyes flare darker and his fangs slowly slide down as he takes another significant step closer. “You brought stakes here without telling us. You are a known Vampire killer and have the audacity to bring stakes to a place we consider safe.” I squeak suddenly as Kevin swoops in, pinning me to the couch like an insect pinned to the wall. I fight my instinct to fight back because I’d loose. There’s a basis for the stakes, situations like this for example. His sculptured face is close enough to kiss but that’s the last thing on my mind as he heavy body settles upon mine like a shroud. I’m not a tall girl. I’m afraid for a moment that I’ll panic again but apparently my panic attack limit is one a day because, even though my heart is racing like a racehorse, I don’t feel fear trying to claw my eyes out. Yay for not fainting. Dark hair surrounds us like an ebony waterfall and, he’s so dark, I can feel it, see it, be afraid of it. “Why did you bring stakes here?” Kevin asks softly, so softly I can hear Nick’s harsh breathing in the background. I want to lie, have never wanted to lie as badly as I do right now, but somehow I think that it would be an automatic death sentence. I close my eyes tightly and Kevin growls. “Look at me when you answer,” he roars in my face and my brown gaze snaps open. Suddenly I’m angry, despite my helplessness, or maybe because of it. “You want to know why I DARED to bring stakes here? You want to know?” I hiss as I try to buck him off. Its like trying to move a mountain. “I brought stakes because I’m afraid. Because I don’t want to die and I know that one day I’ll turn my back and never turn around again!” And apparently, even if I wasn’t thinking about kissing, Kevin was. His lips crush mine in a wave of furious possession. And he’s wild and I’m tasting darkness. I like it. Too much. Enough that I can feel my blood pounding as my heart beats, calling him, taunting him with the life forever denied him. So I bite him. Hard. Kevin curses angrily as he rears back, lip bruised, gaze wild. I slither out from under him quickly, while he’s still in shock. I’m shaking and Nick is looking at us both with a wide, startled sapphire gaze. Kevin watches like a hawk, a wolf. Watches as I kneel with trembling hands and yank out the three stakes I had stashed in my bag. I throw them to the floor before standing to my full height of slightly under five feet and reach into the jacket I’m wearing and my pant legs before tossing another three smaller stakes onto the pile. Kevin’s eyes bleed from black to green as his face pales. “First rule of taking a prisoner is to search them for weapons,” I snap, pissed, “I could have used these all night. Don’t treat me like a lovesick girl and never, ever, do anything like that again!” And I turn my heel and stomp into the bedroom where there’s a door connecting two if the rooms. I unlock it and stomp through, stopping as AJ, half undressed, stares at me in shock. I curse suddenly and kick the wall as the dark haired singer gapes. “Dammit! I hate you all!”