☾ 30: Bullets ☾

Lance and I spent hours playing on his Xbox and as you can guess I sucked at it. After he won yet again, he asked if I wanted a drink of water.

"Thanks," I said when he gave me a glass.

"No problem." He smiled.

"So what's taking Katherine so long?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe she's hanging out with her girlfriend?"

I looked over at him and he began laughing.

"I'm kidding. Calm down."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, so what about you then? Any love interests?"

"Yes, actually."

I waited for him to say more but he was completely silent.

"Well, who is he? What's he like?"

"His name is Cole and he's amazing. We just don't get to see each other much anymore."

"I'm sorry. That must be tough."

"It is." He sighed.

The front door suddenly flew open.

"Alright, princess it's time to go home. Like now." Katherine said.

"Well, it's just lovely to see you too Katherine. We had a great time thanks for asking." I said in response.

"Okay, great. Whatever. Lance, you should come too."

"Why?" He asked.

"Don't question it. Let's just go."

I stood up now sensing her urgency.

"Katherine are you okay?" I asked.

"Look who's suddenly interested in me." She smirked.

"I've always been interested." The words left my mouth before I realized.

When I saw an adorable blush on Katherine's face I continued in a panic.

"I-in your safety that is." I stuttered.

"Nice save." Lance teasingly whispered.

"Anyway! We were leaving right?" I said as I bolted out the doors.

Katherine followed closely behind as did Lance.

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"How have you and your dad been getting along?" Lance asked taking a seat on the couch opposite from me and Katherine.

"Pretty good despite only being here like two days. It feels like I've been here forever."

"That's good." He nodded.

"Yeah, and he said tomorrow was going to be our father-daughter bonding day."

"What a joyous day that will be." A voice spoke.

I looked towards the doorway to see my father smiling happily.

"Hey, dad. What are you up to?"

"I have to go get a few things. Lance, why don't you come with me? I could use your help." He said.

Lance got up. "Of course sir."

"Looks like it's just us now." Katherine smiled as we heard the front door shut.

She had been unusually quiet until now.

I turned towards her. "Guess so."

"What would the princess like to do?"

"Stop calling me that," I said as I rolled my eyes playfully.

"I'll think about it." She said with a smirk until her face suddenly seemed focused, concentrated.

"Hey, what's-?"

"Shh." She interrupted placing her finger over my mouth.

After a few seconds, there was a thump like something had fallen. Katherine slowly got up and looked around cautiously.

Then, out of nowhere a guy came running at her but she easily flipped him over.

"Katherine!" I yelled fully on my feet.

"Get out of here!" She said trying to keep him down. "Run!"

I ran for the front door but it wouldn't budge. I kept turning the lock but the door was frozen shut. Something had to be blocking it. Something a lot stronger than me.

I kept hearing things break as the two fought. I ran upstairs to my room to see if I could jump out a window or something. I had no idea what was going on but that guy was bad news.

I unlatched the window but before I could jump someone pinned my hands behind my back and pulled me away.

"L-Let go of me!" I yelled.

There were two men in the room with me. One held me and the other was standing by the door holding a gun.

My mind was racing wondering if the gun would even be able to hurt me. I quickly found my answer as he shot my arm. I slouched forward and screamed in pain. It was like nothing I could've imagined. It didn't seem like a normal bullet considering my skin seemed to sizzle.

"Don't worry this will be over quickly." He said as aimed the gun at my heart.

I shut my eyes in anticipation of the blast, but nothing happened. Instead of a gun going off I heard pained gasping noises.

"Lucky for you it will be."

At the sound of Katherine's voice, my eyes shot open. As they did, I heard a tear and the man fell to the floor. Katherine stood behind him... holding his heart.

She tossed it on the ground and ran for the guy still holding onto me. She threw him against the wall and stuck her hand deep inside his chest.

"How many more of you are there?" She demanded but he didn't speak.

He groaned and gasped in pain as he refused to speak. No matter how much she moved her hand around he didn't even attempt to speak.

"Fine. Have it your way." She spat as she pulled out her hand along with his heart.

He fell to the ground instantly.

"Oh my god..." I managed to finally say in a shocked whisper.

"Are you okay?" Katherine asked turning her attention to me.

I just stared at her in disbelief. Her hands were full of blood and yet she didn't seem at all affected by this.

"Oh, God! Cassy are you alright?!" My dad ran into the room and hugged me.

"I-I'm fine..."

He kissed my forehead, grip on me never wavering.

"Why don't you go downstairs? I'll clean up here." He suggested.

I just nodded slowly and headed down to the living room. I was still trying to make sense of all this.

Lance was there cleaning up the things that had fallen and broken. I didn't speak as I sat on the couch. Using my hybrid hearing I was able to listen in on the upstairs conversation.

"Thank you so much Katherine for protecting her. I couldn't bear to think what would've happened if you weren't here." My father said.

"Always." Was the only response Katherine gave.

"How are you doing? Are you hurt?" Lance asked me.

"I'm okay..."

"You sure about that?" Katherine said leaning against the doorway.

I noticed her now clean hands.

"I'll go help your dad clean upstairs," Lance said as he excused himself.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." She said as she sat next to me.

She seemed nervous and almost ashamed. She tentatively took my hand in the most gentle possible.

"I'm going to need to take out the bullet if you're going to heal." She spoke softly.

I had completely forgotten I got shot in the arm.

"Go ahead." I nodded.

She dug her fingers into my wound and retrieved the bullet. It hurt like hell but I managed to keep quiet.

I heard a sizzle as she touched it. She cursed as she threw it on the ground.

"I thought bullets couldn't kill me?" I asked.

"That is if they aren't laced with... Well, I'll have to show you later."

"So whatever they had could kill us? Is that the only thing?"

"For you yes. For vampires and werewolves our hearts, as you saw, can get ripped out which will kill us." She said.

So much for being immortal. We continued to sit in silence for a moment.

"You... Um- You don't think differently of me, right?... After what you saw me do?" Katherine asked nervously.

I have never seen her so... fragile. She may have even been scared by my potential thoughts of her now.

I slowly shook my head. "No. While I was surprised... You were protecting me. So, thank you."

I saw Katherine visibly relax. I smiled softly at her reaction.