Stefan’s Diaries: Origins Chapter 21

The coterminous morning, Damon left hand with the brief explanation that he was helping the militia at the camp. I wasnt sure I believed his excuse, provided the house was decidedly more peaceful in his absence. Katherine came over each(prenominal) night to play cribbage with Father. Occasion every(prenominal)y Id join her as a two-against-one team. While playing, Katherine would tell Father stories from her past about her fathers shipping pipeline about her Italian mother about Wheat, the Scottish terrier shed had as a girl. I wondered if any of them were true, or if it was Katherines plan to act as a modern- day Scheherazade, spinning stories that would eventually persuade Father to spare her.Katherine would forever and a day make a show of going back to the carriage house, and it was badgering waiting for the moment when Father went to bed so that I could pursue her. She never talked about her pastor her planswith me. She didnt tell me how she got her nourishment, and I di dnt ask. I didnt want to know. It was far easier to pretend she was just a normal girl. unrivaled afternoon, when Father was in town with Robert, discussing business with the Cartwrights, Katherine and I decided to expire an entire day together, instead of a few stolen, dark hours. It was nearing October, exactly no one would know it from the high temperatures and the daily late- afternoon th beneathstorms. I hadnt gone swimming all summer, and I couldnt wait to feel the irrigate of the pond on my skinand Katherine in my arms in the daylight. I stripped down and jumped in immediately.Dont splash yelled Katherine. She lifted her plain blue skirt up to her ankles and cautiously stepped toward the edge of the pond. Shed already left her muslin flats beneath the willow tree, and I couldnt stop staring at the clarified white of her ankles.Come in The waters fine I yelled, even though my teeth were chattering.Katherine continued to tiptoe toward the edge of the pond until she was sta nding on the muddy strip between the grass and the water. Its dirty. She wrinkled her nose, shielding her eyeball from the sun.Thats why you have to get in. To wash off all the mud, I said, using my fingers to flick water toward Katherine. A few droplets landed on the bodice of her dress, and I felt hope course through me. I dunked under the water to cool my head.Youre not afraid of a pocket-sized splashing, I said as I emerged, my hair dripping on my shoulders. Or, shall I say, youre not afraid of splashing Stefan? I felt a little bit ridiculous saying it, because such comments didnt sound nearly as clever on my lips. Still, she did me the favor of laughing. I carefully sidestepped the rocks on the back end of the pond to walk closer toward her, then flicked more water in her direction.No Katherine shrieked, but she made no move to run by as I walked out of the pond, grabbed her around the waist, and carried her into the water.Stefan Stop she screamed as she clung to my neck. At least let me take off my dressAt that, I immediately let her go. She lifted her hands over her head, allowing me to easily line off her dress. There she stood in her little white slip. I gaped in amazement. Of course Id seen her body before, but it had always been in shadows and half-light. Now I saw the sun on her shoulders, and the way her stomach curved inwards and I knew, for the millionth time, that I was in love.Katherine dove underwater, reemerging right next to me. And now, revenge She leaned down and splashed cool water on me with all her might.If you werent so beautiful, I might fight back, I said, pulling her toward me. I kissed her.The neighbors will talk, murmured Katherine against my lips.Let them talk, I whispered. I want everyone to know how lots I love you. Katherine kissed me harder, with more passion than Id ever felt. I sucked my clue in, feeling so much desire that I stepped away. I love Katherine so much that it almost hurt it made it harder to intimatio ne, harder to talk, harder to think. It was as if my desire was a force larger than myself, and I was simultaneously frightened and overjoy to follow wherever it led me.I took a shaky breath and looked up at the sky. Large thunderclouds had rolled in, obscuring the sky, which had been a pure sky-blue just moments before. We should go, I said, heading toward shore.Sure enough, as soon as we stepped onto dry land, a clap of thunder rolled off in the distance.The storm came in fast, Katherine observed as she wrung out her curls. She didnt seem at all self-conscious even though her soaking-wet white slip left nothing to the imagination. Somehow, it seemed almost more illicit and erotic to see her scarcely dressed than to see her naked. One could think that it was almost a squeeze that our relationship is not meant to be. Her voice was teasing, but I felt a shiver of dread go up my spine.No, I said loudly, to lull myself.Im just teasing you Katherine kissed my cheek before leaning do wn to resource up her dress. As she stole behind the weeping willow tree, I yanked up my breeches and put on my shirt.Katherine emerged from behind the tree a moment later, her cotton dress clinging to her curves, the demote tendrils of her hair sticking to her curves, the damp tendrils of her hair sticking to her back. Her skin had a bluish quality to it.I put my arms around her and rubbed her arms vigorously, trying to warm her up, though I knew that was impossible.I have something to tell you, Katherine said as she tilt her face up to the open sky.What? I asked.I would be honour to attend the Founders Ball with you, she said, and then, before I could kiss her again, she broke from my brood and ran back to the carriage house.