Orna Puella

- XII -

It was so bizarre that now, a week later, almost everyone at school was treating me with practically respect and almost everyone was somewhat decent to Raven. I guess Vicky was famous, and everybody knew better than to piss her off by picking on her niece or on her niece’s “friend.” There was still no sign of the Tramp, and Vicky would just smile every time I asked her about who Devona was or what happened between her and Ealarauc, since the elf seemed to be terrified of her. Vicky would always change the subject immediately and finally I just gave up. I knew that if she didn’t want to talk about something, she never would.

The only people who were still openly hostile to Raven were Arlen and his clique. I couldn’t figure out Arlen’s sudden interest in me and I was praying to Talath for it to go away. The guy made me feel beyond uneasy. Cerylia glared at me every time Arlen would talk to me, which happened a lot lately. I could care less about her glares, but I wished with all my heart for Arlen’s interest to switch to my stepsister.

Elsie wouldn’t even say the word “chores” lately and I almost laughed when her and Cerylia would actually make their own beds and fold their own laundry the entire week that Vicky was here. I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and my facial expression indifferent. I didn’t want to piss Elsie off. When Vicky leaves - I hoped she never did - Elsie will take her revenge on me, I knew that.

Raven and I were getting crazier about each other by the day. Hell, forget the day. It seemed like we were getting more and more into each other by the hour. We were smart enough not to demonstrate anything at school. We knew better than to provoke people and especially Arlen, whose dad was a big gun - governor’s power seemed to be almost infinite in this town. And we knew that the minute Arlen even suspects that there is something going on between me (a pure freaking breed) and a half-breed, he’ll flip, and his father will probably do something extreme to please his only son.

So we would just sit next to each other as we did ever since my first day at school, and we would talk occasionally, but that’s about it. Everyone assumed that we were somewhat friendly and that worked for us.

It seemed really weird to me that Raven would always make an enormous effort to stop going any farther than making out with me. I haven’t been intimate with anyone before, but sometimes I was almost shaking from pure lust when Raven’s mouth was caressing my face and neck. But he would always pull away immediately as soon as I tried to get his shirt off. It bugged the hell out of me and he wouldn’t talk about it. I knew that he wanted me as badly - if not more - as I wanted him, but he would always stop. I almost asked Vicky what the hell was wrong with this picture, but at the last moment I couldn’t even open my mouth. The whole subject was beyond embarrassing.

It was Sunday night and Vicky honked her car horn at me for the third time, letting me know to hurry up already and move it. I knew that she won’t yell at me or anything like that, but I pulled away from Raven and he sighed, his eyes closed.

“Let’s go,” I muttered and he nodded.

I tried to get off the bench where we were making out for the last two or so hours, but he wouldn’t let go of my hand and I buried my face in his chest again. I knew that Vicky would wait for at least twenty more minutes before honking again. I loved her, I really did.

“Great Lizard…” Raven murmured softly, his breath tickling my hair. “What are you doing to me…”
“What…” I muttered against his chest and he just sighed and held me tighter.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to control myself around you?” he murmured again finally.

I pulled away slightly and looked into his cherry-colored eyes.

“Then don’t,” I said softly. “Don’t control yourself, you stubborn creature! That’s what I was trying to tell you…”
“Ugh,” he shook his head. “Human, you have no idea what you talking about… I can’t, okay...? I mean,” he grinned when he saw the look on my face. “I can’t risk you hating me in the morning…”
“Hating you...?” I pushed him away. “Are you out of your freaking mind? Raven, I will never hate you…”

He closed his eyes.

“You will when you realize what you’ve done…” he muttered. “Look, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you… I don’t know why you…” he bit his lower lip. “But I do know that after your… Infatuation is gone… And after you realize that you let yourself… With a half-breed… You will hate me….”
“I will slap you right now,” I said in a low dangerous voice and his eyes immediately flew open. “And I will slap you every time you say this again… And believe me when I say it… I can slap hard!”

He blinked.

“I could care less about your breed, you imbecile,” I hissed. “I can’t believe this! You seriously think that I am just… Ugh!!”
“Look…”
“Shut up!” I hissed again. “Just shut up!! You are unbelievable! You think I am with you because of some stupid thrill ride? That I just wanna spice things up by making out with a half-breed?!”
“Well…” he blinked again. “Aren’t you?…”
“Ugh!!” I almost screamed in frustration and swung my arm at him. I seriously itched to slap him hard.

He caught my hand before it slammed into his face and pulled me closer.

“Talath…” he muttered and started kissing me again. “Oh, Talath… You are beyond weird…”
“And you are an idiot,” I muttered back, kissing his face. “Moron…”
“I know,” he whispered. “I know, believe me… I know…”

I think Vicky honked at least three more times before we finally got off that bench. I felt beyond guilty when we got to her car, and she just laughed when she saw us.

“Good Dragon,” she said, shaking with laughter. “You two look like you just rearranged the entire park… With the trees, benches, and whatnot… Selena, you might wanna brush your hair before we get home. Elsie will start shrieking if she sees you in this condition.”

We got into the back seat and I was amazed that I didn’t even feel uncomfortable or embarrassed around Vicky anymore when Raven was holding my hand. She never looked at us when she was driving to Raven’s house, and it seemed that she was completely oblivious to the fact that he was kissing me gently all the way there. Did I mention that I loved her...?

I managed to make myself look almost normal when we finally got home that night. I knew that it was beyond late, and Elsie was all but tearing the tablecloth apart when Vicky and I walked into the house, but she never said anything and as soon as we showed up, she just walked upstairs into her room. Vicky hemmed at that.

“Who would’ve thought,” she said softly. “The woman has self-control, amazing…”

I laughed quietly. I felt almost giddy right now.

“Selena,” Vicky said seriously after several minutes. “You might wanna be careful with that guy…”

I blinked at that.

“Raven?” I frowned and she shook her head.
“No, not him… Although you might wanna be careful with him too…” she grinned. “I mean, I am amazed with his self-control up to this point. He didn’t set anything on fire yet, right?”
“Errr…” I coughed.

Actually, he did set his jacket on fire once after one of our wildest make out sessions.

“Oh, man…” Vicky laughed, correctly interpreting my sudden embarrassment. “Yeah, I knew that he was a fire-starter the minute I saw him. But I didn’t mean Raven. I mean that blond guy at your school. The governor’s son, whatever his name is.”
“Arlen?” I frowned.
“Yeah,” Vicky nodded. “Him. I get a really bad vibe about him. Not magical, he is beyond amateur when it comes to magic… It’s just…” she sighed. “I don’t even know how to explain it… He seems really tight. It’s like he is a time-bomb waiting to go off. And I know for sure that he has pretty strong feelings about you.”
“Arlen?” I repeated incredulously. “No way, Vicky! I try to ignore him as much as I possibly can!”
“That is probably one of the reasons,” she shrugged. “I don’t think anyone rejected him before. Just be careful around him, okay? He seems like the kind of guy who could lose it pretty bad. And I am not going to stay here much longer, I am afraid…”
“What?” I muttered. “You are leaving...? Vicky…”
“I have to,” she grimaced. “Not very soon but I will have to leave eventually.”
“Well, what about your Tramp?” I asked desperately. “You said it depends on him!”
“I know,” she nodded. “And I think that…”

Suddenly there was a loud clap of something that sounded like thunder and I jumped, startled. Vicky whirled around and I was surprised to see actual worry in her eyes. She slightly raised her hands and glanced at me.

“Get behind me,” she said shortly and I immediately obliged.

There was something shimmering in the middle of the kitchen and suddenly the air was torn apart by a dark blue light. Vicky exhaled loudly and I was puzzled when her shoulders relaxed. What the hell is going on?! I looked at the whatever was happening in the middle of the kitchen and started to blink very rapidly when the dark blue light shaped itself into something that looked like a mix between a portal and a vortex. A tall dark haired guy jumped out of it and Vicky laughed. He grinned at her and clapped his hands. The blue portal flashed once and immediately evaporated. Good Dragon, I thought in astonishment. And I thought Ealarauc was good! Right now, she seemed to be almost as amateur as Arlen.

“About time you showed up,” Vicky said.
“Hey, Monbrah,” the guy smiled and brushed his hair off his face.

I looked at him and almost said something when I saw his eyes. Okay, I have seen my fair share of half-breeds before, and I have seen weird looking eye colors. Anything from bright yellow to… well… cherry red. But this was new. One of the guy’s eyes was bright blue when the other was dark red, almost the same color as Raven’s eyes. Hmmm, I guess this is the infamous Tramp. I could see now why Elsie would have troubles with accepting him under her roof.

Vicky walked up to him and I stared at her when she pulled him close to herself and kissed him on the mouth. Good Dragon, this was almost as wild as Raven and me. I guess it runs in the family. Finally, she pulled away from him and he grumbled something without letting her go.

“Tramp,” she said. “This is Selena, my niece.”
“Right,” he sighed and let her go. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I said back, still unable to look away from his bizarre eyes.

Vicky laughed.

“Told you,” she said lightly.
“Uh huh,” I muttered.
“So…” Vicky looked at the Tramp who looked quite exhausted right now. “When?”
“Ugh,” he sighed and sat down on the chair. “Not sure. Two weeks?”
“You have to leave in two weeks?” I asked quietly and he nodded.
“Give or take.”
“All right,” Vicky sighed and looked at me. “It’s better than a week, right?”
“Right,” I said miserably.

Vicky bit her lip.

“Before we leave,” she said finally. “I am going to teach you a couple of spells.”

I snorted.

“Yeah. Good luck with that! I suck at magic, Vicky.”
“I know,” she rolled her eyes. “The stuff that I want to teach you has nothing to do with having talent. I am going to show you two or three things that require only good memory.”
“Why?” The Tramp was reading my mind.

Vicky shrugged.

“Want her to be able to defend herself if something happens,” she said indifferently and looked at me again. “Make sure that you do not use those until something extreme, okay? That stuff is pretty powerful and could be disastrous.”
“I won’t,” I sighed, thinking that I will probably suck at those spells as well. I mean, magic is magic, right?