Kindling (15 page)

“I can handle a lot,” I whispered, although I wasn’t sure if I could handle everything that I would face. I could only hope I would have the strength to fight when the time came.

“I know you can.” Heike patted my hand a little. “I just hope you don’t have to find out how much you can handle.” An announcement came on saying we were preparing to land. Heike smiled a little and looked down at my lap, where
Dracula
lay. “Why are you reading that?”

I shrugged. “Braith said it was family history.”

“It’s a load of rubbish,” Heike grumbled. “Don’t take that as anything more than fiction.” I smiled - that was a relief.
Dracula
kind of freaked me out. Heike smiled back and patted my head before he returned to his seat.

I stretched my neck to see below. There was nothing but a sea of clouds. I straightened in my seat and buckled my belt. I really didn’t know much about what I was in store for – Braith and Heike seemed to deliberately not talk about most of it, except how bad “the boys” would treat me – and I was curious to find out what each day would be like. Even so, I was kind of feeling excited. If I was heading into the weirdest most trying time of my life, I was going to enjoy the little time I had without worrying about the boys or training or vampyres or being a Kindler. I just wanted to enjoy the next few hours before training began.

About ten minutes later Braith came back to his seat, slutty stewardess nowhere to be seen. We didn’t speak. I felt awkward around him, like I used to feel around Allie when she told me about her sexual exploits. I don’t know why, it was just weird. I guess I have to get used to this life, but joining the “mile high” club just minutes after you talk to a girl about vampyres and werewolves was kind of weird.

I ignored Braith by pressing my forehead as firmly against the window as I could and watched our descent to Lisbon. I’m glad I did. As we broke through the clouds, I saw the ocean. The sun made the water a multi-faceted diamond, reflecting a rainbow of deep colors. I was entranced by the hues of the ocean, until a jet ski far below broke my concentration. The coast came, next, and then the city, a beautiful checkerboard of burnt orange terracotta and green lined with grey. Even from above, I could feel the life and history of the city. I wanted to stay and explore, but I knew Heike would not allow it.

We landed and it felt really unbelievable to get off of the plane and stretch. Twenty hours in a plane was too long! My legs and butt ached terribly, even though I walked around the plane quite a bit.

Heike tapped me on the shoulder as we were waiting to get off the plane. “Don’t get used to walking. We’ve got a car ride and a boat ride to look forward to.”

I grimaced. More sitting on my butt!

Since we took our bags on the plane with us – I was only allowed one duffel bag with gym clothes and under garments – we walked quickly through customs and the lines of waiting passengers until we found our driver. He was a thin man with coal black hair and bright, brown eyes.

Braith smiled and said something quickly to him when we met him at the foot of the escalator, but I didn’t catch exactly what he said. Portuguese was similar to Spanish in some ways, but much different in others. I could probably read the language, but listening was completely different. It was so fast! The driver, for his part, said nothing, just raised his eyebrows at Heike and took my bag.

He lead us to the doors and, when we stepped outside, we were blasted with heat I previously believed only existed in the pits of Hades. Arizona was notoriously hot, but Portugal was hot and crazy humid. I broke in a sweat immediately and my clothes felt like they were glued to my skin. “Holy crap, you guys train in this mugginess?” I exclaimed.

Braith laughed. “You better get used to it soon, Kitty Cat, or you’re going to die come tomorrow when you’re running from six in the morning till six at night.”

“What? My mind is still in Mountain time,” I whined. “Portugal is like 10 hours ahead. I’m totally thrown off by the time change. Can’t I get a day to rest?”

“Shit, Katja, no.” Heike said. He opened the car door and sighed. “And you can come at five am, now, for the whining.” He got in the car and patted the seat next to him.

Hm. I discovered where my papá got his scare tactics from.

We drove for almost two hours. I was too busy enjoying the colors of Portugal to notice I was sitting down again, even though my legs ached to run and move about. It was a beautiful country and it reminded me a lot of Mexico. The highway cut through the cities, using the hilly landscape to its benefit. Often, there was part of a town on the high side of a hill and the other part of the town on the lower side. I didn’t get much of a look at Lisbon – we were driving on the highway the whole time - but I did get to see the country and it was lovely: white, stucco churches; ceramic-tiled roofs; red dirt paths; rocky roads leading to pastures. Bright palm trees swayed along the highway.

The whole time I stared out the window, I pointed out various things I found especially beautiful to Braith and Heike. A red mansion set inside a grove of palm, odd graffiti on a support wall, a field of brambles and tall grass. It was all very beautiful to me, but they didn’t seem to care - I understood they had been down this highway a thousand times, but they could at least have pretended to humor me! Eventually, I turned around when I felt Braith staring.

He didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t staring, so I glared back at him. “What?” he asked

“You’re staring at me,” I grumbled. “That’s so rude.”

Braith smiled. “You’re very innocent, that’s all.”

I ruffled my eyebrow but, before I could argue, the driver called back to us in Portuguese, “O oceano, senhorita,” and pointed out of the passenger side.

“The ocean!” I yelled. I clamored over Braith to see it. “Can we stop? I’ve never been to the Atlantic Ocean.”

“You’ll be on the beach so much you’ll get sick of it,” Braith said. “You’ll hate the beach in a few weeks.”

“All the more reason to enjoy it while I do love it,” I said. I made my sweetest, puppy dog eyes and Heike laughed. Braith rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Excellent point,” Heike said. “Our ferry doesn’t leave for almost two hours. Braith, take her to the beach. When you’re done come find me at the restaurant. We’ll get something to eat.”

“Me?” Braith grimaced. “You know how much I loathe the beach.” Heike gave him some look that I didn’t really understand but, whatever, Braith sighed and I knew Heike had won and someone was taking me to the beach.

We got out of the car and stretched our legs. It was cooler by the ocean and the smell of salt burned my nose and tired eyes. It was a lovely, clear feeling that helped me stretch my underused muscles.

Braith started walking towards the beach and I followed. When we got to the sand he held out his arms and said, “Here it is. A bunch of sand.” Then he began to point all around us. “There’s some shitty water. There are tourists trying to give themselves skin cancer. There are annoying children screaming at seagulls. That’s the beach. Now, let’s go eat.”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “You’re acting like a toddler.” Then I hit his arm. “Tag, you’re it.”

“You want to play tag and I’m the one who’s acting like a toddler?” he said. He stuffed his hands deep inside his pockets. I grinned and began backing away. “No, Catalina, I’m not doing it. I refuse.” I kept backing up, a little faster. “Don’t. Come on, just don’t,” he whined. “I’m tired.”

“Faster you tag me the faster we can leave the beach,” I said, but I’m not sure if he heard the whole sentence as I began to run. I heard Braith call after me but I didn’t care. I felt like this was my last day of freedom, my last day of being a normal girl, before my life undoubtedly changed forever. I could feel my old life ending as the sand kicked up beneath my feet. I know it’s a strange thing to admit, but three days ago I was a carefree girl whose biggest worry was having small boobs. Never would I have imagined being thousands of miles away from home going to a training school to fight vampyres. It was mind boggling.

And suddenly, my resolve to disbelieve this whole idea about vampyres had broken. Whether they were real or not, I had been attacked by a group of men who everyone around believed were vampyres and I was there – in Portugal – to learn how to fight them. I was a Vampyre Hunter. The realization took my breath away, but I kept running.

I glanced behind me and Braith wasn’t too far behind. He had taken his shirt off and only wore a white tank-top. Running in sand was difficult but the muscles in my legs ached from the freedom. It was wonderful to move unrestrained by the confines of an airplane or car. When I finally winded, I slowed down so Braith could catch up and regain his breath.

“Holy shit,” he said between breaths. “You’re ... so ... fast.”

I laughed. “It’s only cuz you’re an old man.”

He collapsed in the sand and laid so the water just touched his feet when the waves lapped the shore. I did the same and we both watched the tide as it began to roll in. We breathed the salty air and let our bodies sink into the sand. It’s the first moment I actually felt peaceful next to Braith.

“Haven’t seen you around here,” a voice from behind said. We turned to see a sultry girl in a string bikini. She was a beautiful, buxom, Latina Goddess. God how I envied those Latina Goddesses and they showed up even there! And, she was eye raping Braith. My stomach churned - I hated them both for being so perfect.

“No, probably not,” he answered. I was surprised at his terseness. He hardly glanced at the girl and he wasn’t flirting. I must have looked as shocked as I felt because he winked at me. I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, an Aussie,” she said. She leaned down so her breasts dangled in front of him. I thought, for sure, she was going to fall out of that top. I had never seen such little amounts of fabric stretching over such large amounts of skin. Even Alejandra didn’t dare wear something like that. “I’m here on vacation, too. You want to buy me a drink?”

“Don’t you see me with a girl right now? What in your right mind would think it would be okay to flirt with a guy when he was laying on the beach with another woman?” Braith demanded. I was really shocked, then. That was so unlike the Braith I had become accustomed. The girl was a hot bimbo after all.

Her disposition immediately changed. “Wait, you’re with her?” She snarled and looked me up and down, face contorting into a grimace. “You’re dating
that
?” I wasn’t even a girl. I was a “that.” Her voice dripped with disgust and disdain. I knew what she saw. In her eyes, I was disgusting and unworthy of her or Braith's presence. It kind of stung, like how dare I be with a beautiful person when I was just this obscenely plain, freakishly tall, albino pale kid with a face covered in bruises and scrapes. Suddenly, it felt like a rock was stuck in the back of my throat.

While I was busy holding back tears, Braith just laughed at the girl. “Just, go away, little girl,” he said. He smiled at me and I hoped he didn’t see my reddening eyes. “She’s better than you’ll ever be,” Braith said, inhaling a deep puff of the ocean air. The girl let out one more snarl and huffed out a squeal of disappointment as she skulked away.

I tried not to show my sadness, so I just gaped at Braith. I couldn’t believe he would turn down a hot girl and stick up for me. “Can I help you?” Braith’s stoic face tried to hold back a grin.

“What was that?” I asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A mischievous grin broke across Braith’s face.

“There was an amazingly, hot girl drooling over you and you shot her down!? What the what?” I said. “And you stood up for me! Who are you!?”

He laughed. “If you like her so much you go after her.”

“I would if she was drooling over me like that,” I said.

Now it was Braith’s turn to be shocked. “Katherine Elizabeth!” He cried.

I smiled. “Seriously, do you have a limit on how many sluts you can have sex with per day? The stewardess was enough for you?”

He glared at me, but the smile still hung on his face. “You think I had sex with the stewardess?” He asked

I scrunched my face at him. “I know you had sex with the stewardess.”

He rolled his eyes and we were quiet for awhile, regaining our breaths and watching the tide roll in. “I forgot how hot Portugal was,” he finally said. “Arizona was the arctic compared to Portugal.” He stripped to his underwear quicker than I ever thought possible and waded into the water. I blushed even though I tried so hard not to and quickly averted my gaze. I had never seen a man in his underwear before - except for my papá and in movies - and Braith was ... well, even though he was insanely annoying, he was also gorgeous. His skin was a flawless, honey bronze and it looked like someone air brushed his body. Years of chasing and fighting vampyres, I supposed, but, god, did he look fine. I hated that he was so gorgeous. He dove under the water and I exhaled - I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath. When he emerged, he called to me, “You hungry?”

“A little,” I squeaked.

I could see his white, knowing grin. I reddened even more and despised that I was so transparent sometimes. “I’ll be out in a minute.” Then he added, “You should come in. It’s refreshing.” I was about the color of a tomato, by then, all I could do was shake my head.

He laughed again and dove back under the waves. When he came up a second time, he laid on his back and then I noticed the faintest, hazel-green glow radiating from him. When he stood and shook of the water, the glow was gone. Was that Braith’s color?

He got out of the water and came right to me, shaking off his wet hair all over me. “Braith, no!” I yelled. It was too late - I was drenched. He laughed and started to shake dry. “How does The Coloring start?” I asked.

He glanced at me. “Why do ask?” I shrugged. “Are you seeing a color?”

I shrugged again. “I thought I saw a little color on you when you were in the water. I could have been the light or something.”