The Brotherhood: Kara: Introducing Kara (part 2)

[k_a_webb]

Part 1

Kara pushed away the fear and stared at Daniel. It was more an attempt to stop herself from looking at Tristan because she knew that it was possible to survive an attack like that, as long as she made sure that someone who could heal got to him soon. There were noises coming from behind them so she knew it would probably be a good idea to get Daniel away from the general populace, and from Lucas. Breathing deeply, she held her hand out to Daniel.

“Come with me to the office,” she said, “and we can talk about this.”

Daniel took it, holding on tightly. Kara could tell from the way he was looking at her that he was worried about her disappearing again. As she took a couple of steps towards the study, she felt Lucas grab hold of her other hand, which was what she was hoping for. Without letting go of Daniel’s hand, she turned to look at him. He stepped close to her.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice low and worried.

“Get someone to heal Tristan and then get him out of here. Once he’s safe come to the study. I’m going to find out what Daniel’s here for.”

“We know what he’s here for.”

“There’s something more to it.”

They stared at each other. Finally Lucas nodded and Kara couldn’t help wondering exactly what he’d thought about. After the fight they’d had it was strange that he would trust her so quickly, but she was grateful for it. Keeping the smile off her face she turned back to Daniel. He raised an eyebrow at her and all she could do was shake her head, trying not to notice the jealousy in his eyes.

“They’ll get things sorted out here while we’re talking.”

“Do you trust him?”

She nodded. “Yes, Daniel, I do.”

“Let’s go then.”

She led Daniel to the study, getting the feeling that he was letting her lead him simply because he didn’t know his way around. Once he did know his way around it would be a different matter, but Kara knew he’d do everything he could to keep hold of her hand. It wasn’t what she wanted. She had left him behind for a reason and she hadn’t expected him to actually manage to follow her to the house. Sighing, she opened the door, blinking at the light of the crystal, before stepping into a room that she thought of as Tristan’s.

“Why are you really here?” she asked, turning the light on and shutting the door.

“You left.”

“I had to. Living with you was too much.” She tried to tug her hand free but he just held on tighter. “Are you only here because of me?”

He shook his head. “I wanted to see Miriam’s grave and see who it was you left me for.”

“I didn’t leave you for Tristan.”

“He’s part of the reason you felt you had to come back here.”

“Of course he was, but not for the reasons you’re thinking. He’s my best friend. I’ve never wanted to date him because it would be like dating my brother.” She shuddered. “I don’t know where you got the idea that I ever even thought about him in that sort of way.”

“He was the only person you talked about.”

“At the time he was my only friend. You know what happened with Mim and, yeah, that put me off friendship for a long time. The only reason I trusted Tristan was because he was there for me when my life went insane.”

“Who was the guy you were talking to earlier?”
“That’s Lucas.”

“Tell me about him.”

She raised an eyebrow, hearing the jealousy in his voice. “He’s not competition either. We’re not together.”

“We made a good couple.”

“Maybe we did, Daniel, but I just can’t cope with having a boyfriend. Not now and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to, so I think it would be a good idea to just forget about the possibility of us getting back together.”

“I love you, Kara.”

“Don’t, please.”

“I came here so I could show you that I finally learnt how to shapeshift.”

Kara stared at him. If he had really learnt how to shapeshift it meant that it was possible for anyone who had Millennium powers to learn things that they weren’t able to do naturally. Four powers could be hard enough to deal with sometimes and she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to learn how to do something else. Ever since she had found out that she had powers she’d had four of them.

“What can you shift into?” she asked finally, hearing the disbelief in her own voice.

Daniel let go of her hand. She had to stop herself from moving it to make sure that her bones were all where they were meant to be. Moments later a fox was stood where Daniel had been, surrounded by his clothes, and she couldn’t stop herself from sighing. When he became human again he was naked.

“Okay, I believe you. Can you get dressed now?”

“You’ve seen me naked before.”

“That’s true, but right now anyone might walk in that door and I’m not sure that they want to see you naked.”

“Lucas?”

“Yes, Lucas, and I am absolutely positive that he doesn’t want to see you naked.”

He lent down and picked up his t-shirt first. “Tell me about him,” Daniel repeated, staring at Kara intently.

Sighing, she said, “He was the first person to arrive after everything. It made things difficult between us, but I think we’re going to be fine now. We kept what happened with Mim to ourselves because I wasn’t ready to talk about it until recently.”

“What powers does he have?”

“Obviously he can shift, otherwise he wouldn’t be here.” She looked at Daniel, suddenly realising how he’d found their house. “He can shift the temperature of a room and he can dreamwalk.”

“Dreamwalking sounds like something I’d like to learn.”

“Daniel, we don’t know what learning other powers might do to you. Please be careful.”

He smiled. “You do care.”

“I never said I didn’t. I just don’t want a boyfriend.”

“Think about it. Maybe you’ll change your mind in a couple of days.”

“I made my decision when I left you. I don’t think that I’m going to change my mind any time soon.”

“You know I can be patient.”

“Can we just drop the subject now?”

“Give it time, Kara.”

She shook her head. “You said you wanted to see Mim’s grave.”

“Will you take me?”

“Of course I will. They’re not like cemetery graves, but more sort of rough and ready. There are stones and I keep it tidy.”

“It’s fine. You’ve done what you can.”

Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t feel like it’s enough.”

“Kara, don’t,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around her. “You’re remembering her as she was and that’s more than enough. I’m sure she appreciates it.”

“Come on then.” She sighed. “They’re at the end of the garden.”

“Trousers would probably be a good idea then.”

“Yeah, probably. It may be spring, but it’s not very warm out there.”

Daniel released her from his arms, so Kara took the chance to rub the tears away. She’d cried enough over what had happened and she didn’t want to cry any more. It was eleven years since it had happened, which was more than long enough for her to deal with the emotions from that time and move on.

“I’m ready,” he said, holding his hand out to her.

She took it even though she wasn’t sure that she should. Together they left the room, nearly walking into Lucas as they did so. Kara looked at him. He nodded, smiling at her gently. When he smiled Daniel’s hand tightened on hers.

“We’re going to visit Mim’s grave,” she said, keeping her eyes on Lucas. “Do you want to come?”

His eyes flicked onto Daniel for a moment before he looked back at her. “I don’t think I’m invited.”

“I invited you.”

“Maybe another time, Kara.”

She nodded, even though she wanted to plead with him to go with them. Being alone with Daniel at the graves of the people she had loved wasn’t her idea of fun. Using the hand that he was clinging on to Daniel pulled her in the direction that he wanted her to go in. Kara’s eyes locked with Lucas’ for a moment before she let herself be led away from him, more for his safety than anything else. When Daniel got jealous he was dangerous and his ability to learn other powers meant that she had no idea what he could do to Lucas.

Sighing, she said, “I don’t like going to the graves at all. The more people I have around me the better.”

Daniel squeezed her hand. “I understand that, but I’d like to have some time alone with my sister and I won’t be able to do that with him there.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t mind you asking him. I’m just glad he understood.”

“Lucas is a very understanding person.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.