The Diamond Dog Chronicles

Chapter 3  KATE  Part 2

~ By Mariclaire ~

Kate was lying in a heap, her tear stained cheek resting on the floor. Suddenly, Toulouse scurried in and cried, “Kate? Kate? Awe you awight?” He then saw his friend and hobbled over to her and managed to get her upright. He shook her shoulders and whispered anxiously, “Oh Kate, pwease wake up!”

After several moments, Kate’s eyelids fluttered open and she put her hands to her throbbing head. “Oh Toulouse, what are you doing?” She asked.
“Don’t you ever scawe me wike that again!” He exclaimed, throwing his little arms around Kate. “What happened in hewe?”
Kate soon came to grips with reality and tried to stand up, only to sway slightly and fall back down again. “Nothing, I’m fine.”
“What awe you tawking about!? You wook wike a mess!” Toulouse pulled back some of the hair that had fallen in her eyes.
She forced his hand away, “No, everything’s all right,” she insisted.
“Kate, I know that you awe sad about Cwistian leaving-“ Toulouse began.
“What? Upset? Why in the world would I be upset?” She asked, feeling the lump rising in her throat

“I know that you cared about him,” he whispered.
“What are you talking about?”
He placed his hand on her shoulder and sighed, “you woved him, didn’t you?”
 

Kate looked down at her hands that were burning from tearing the lid off the Absinthe bottle. She sat in complete silence before finally moving her head just enough to form a nod.
Toulouse sighed, hearing Kate confess what he already knew. He pulled her into a tight embrace, hating to see his friend so heart broken.
“It’s not fair!” Kate exclaimed. “Satine always got all the attention. I was always in her shadow. She was the top and I was forever just a level below. It’s not fair,” she repeated.
 “Wife isn’t always faiw, Kate,” Toulouse said.
“Thanks for telling me what I already know, Toulouse,” Kate muttered. She was starting to get mad at him for shaking her awake, at least then she didn’t have to deal with reality. “Just go away.”
 

Toulouse respected Kate’s wishes and made his way to the door, sidestepping the remnants of the broken Absinthe bottle. He turned and left her with, “We have to make the best of what comes our way. Sometimes we just have to wet fate take care of things. And remember, evewything happens fow a weason.” He gave a knowing smile in Kate’s direction before closing the door behind him.
 

Kate slumped back against the wall, evaluating the situation. She loved Christian, but wanted him to be happy, as well as she wished for her best friend’s happiness. And if being together made them happy, she would have to deal with it. But once again, Satine’s happiness gave her the shallow end of the deal. Kate sighed, all she wanted was someone to love and to love her in return.
Her friend had been lucky enough to find that, she couldn’t live with herself if she took it away. Kate gasped and looked at the time, it was 5:15. The Duke would be wondering where Satine was. She had to distract the Duke long enough for Satine and Christian to get on that train.
 

Kate stood up and dusted herself off, still slightly tipsy from her Absinthe binge. But she balanced herself and went to hers and Satine’s wardrobe, full of mothballs and spider webs that had collected in the musty apartment over the year. She searched through their collection of corsets, lingerie and other “smoldering temptress-esque” items and through on a red corset and draped a black, lacy, kimono over it. She would use her charm to seduce the Duke. She knew she was a talented actress and could make up a story to excuse Satine’s absence. By the time the thick headed rat figured out that Satine was with Christian, she would be long gone.
Kate knew she had to do this; for the two people she cared about the most. She applied the last of her make up and slid into a pair of black, strappy, high heeled shoes. The most she could hope for is that in the end, something would come out of this for her. “This is for you,” she whispered out the window in the direction of the train station as she left to make the biggest sacrifice of her life.
       
~Several Months Later~

Adrenaline flowed through Kate when she heard the dance hall silence as she was slowly lowered on the trapeze; the very same one Satine used to sit on. She was glad to be taking over for Satine, knowing that’s what her best friend would have wanted. She had received a letter from Satine and Christian a week ago, speaking of their new life together and how they promised to come and visit soon.
Over the past month, Kate’s fame had reached new heights. She was the most desired woman in all of Paris and had acquired the name “Sultry Shadow” for her mysterious façade.
The spotlight was set directly on her and the glitter of her slinky black dress dazzled the crowd.
Kate took a deep breath and began in her trademark sultry whisper;

Everything you are
Everything you’ll be
Touches the current of love
So deep in me
Every sigh in the night
Every tear that you cry
Seduces me

The trapeze was hovering just above the ground and Kate came off of it and onto the wooden dance floor with a quick jump. She began making her way around the room of men that were enchanted just by her presence.

And all that I am
And all that I’ll be
Means nothing at all
If you can’t be with me
Your most innocent kiss
Or your sweetest caress
Seduces me

She continued making around her room and smiled at all the diamonds that were being thrown at her. But still, she felt empty. There was a place inside her that needed to be filled.

I don’t care about tomorrow
I’ve given up on yesterday
Here and now is all that matters
Right here with you is where I’ll stay

Kate tauntingly ran her index finger across a young man’s face but then quickly turned away with a wink. Just then, through the darkness of the dancehall, someone over in a corner caught her eye…

Everything in this world
Every voice in the night
Every little thing of beauty
Comes shining through in your eyes
And all that you do becomes part of me too
‘Cause all you do seduces me

Her focus was set on a man with perfect, gray-blue eyes and sandy blonde hair who appeared to have been reading some sort of script for a play. Something about the man called to Kate and she remembered what Toulouse had said; “Evewything happens fow a weason.”

And if I should die tomorrow
I’d go down with a smile on my face
I thank God, I’ve ever known you
I fall down on my knees
For the love we made

Kate was only inches away and the two locked eyes and she tried to stay focused on keeping “Sultry Shadow” when the real Kate was itching to be seen and loved.

Her heart was thundering as she finished;

Every sigh in the night
Every tear that you cry
Seduces me, oh yeah
Seduces me
And all that you do…
Seduces me

There was wild applause coming from the herd of drunken men around them, but Kate didn’t hear them at all. She perched herself upon the man’s lap and stroked the side of his face and whispered, “I believe you were expecting me.”
Her lips curved into a smile as he took her hand and slid it to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her palm. And Kate knew she had found the one when he finally found his tongue and just audibly whispered with a gentle Scottish accent, “Yes…yes.”


~"Seduces Me" is performed by the one, the only, Celine Dion (and of course by "Sultry Shadow" herself )~

Chapter 3  KATE  Part 1

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