Chapter 13: Chapter 13

"Her eyes are opening," I heard muffled voices.

I felt strong arms around me.  "Katie, can you hear me?"

My eyes fluttered open.  "Dustin?"  My foggy head began to clear.  "What happened?"  I tried to sit up.

"Careful," his voice warned.

I let him ease me back down.  "Are you okay?"  I searched his eyes, fear pulling at my heart.

"Of course," he pressed his lips to my head.  "It's you I was worried about."

"But I saw you passed out next to me.  I thought you had died, and it was my fault," I choked, between sobs.

"Shhhhh, there was a problem with the Link.  Brian saved us."

I gave Brian a questioning look.

He stepped forward with his trusty blood pressure cuff.  "Katie, I'll explain everything while I check your vitals."  He wrapped the cuff around my arm.  "Your Link with Dustin began to fracture.  That can happen with new Links, especially if the healed injury was severe.  In your case, Dustin essentially brought you back to life, which required a lot of blood.  Because the Link is so new, he is tightly bound to you, and when you began to fracture, he did too.  Although we're immortal, if we are strongly Linked to someone who dies, we can die too."

I swallowed, thickly.  "I almost killed you?"  I reached for Dustin's hand.

Brian caught my hand.  "I need you not to touch Dustin while I take your vitals.  The Link can mess up the readings."

I frowned and put my hand in my lap.  "Are we okay, now?"

Brian put a thermometer in my ear.  "From everything I know about Linking, fractures are very rare, and usually stabilize afterwards, as long as the blood was given in time.  How do you feel?"

I took silent stock of myself.  I had no pain and my head felt clear.  "I feel fine.  Except that I'm hungry."

Everyone laughed.  "I'll bring you something."  Dani hugged me before heading downstairs.

Shawn was hovering by the door.  "This has got to be one of the craziest things I have ever seen.  And I've seen some crazy stuff in my time."  He shook his head.

Brian nodded.  "That's why we aren't supposed to do it.  The risks are too high.  We could have lost them both."  He shot me a look of frustration.  I was getting really sick of his accusatory tone.

"Okay, everybody out.  I want to talk to Katie alone."  Dustin looked straight at Brian.

The guys headed for the door, closing it behind them.

He turned and looked at me.  "Are you really okay?"  His eyes were full of fear.  He took my hand and I felt his energy spike up my arm.

"I'm fine," I assured him.  "I promise.  I don't feel any pain." But I wasn't okay.  I was freaking out inside, and I could feel my fragile grasp on reality falter a little more each minute.

He pulled me into his arms.  "God, Katie.  I thought I lost you.  Again."  He smoothed my hair down.

"I thought I lost you," I countered.  "Dustin, I'm so sorry.  All of this is my fault.  You should have let me die."

His eyes flashed.  "There's no way I could have done that.  And even if I had it to do all over again, I'd do the same thing.  I don't ever want to lose you."

I wrapped my arms tight around him.  "Um, Katie, you're hurting me," he squeaked.

I pulled away.  "How can I hurt you?  You're a vampire." Weren't vampires usually super strong?

He laughed and tilted my chin up to meet his eyes.  "You have a lot of my blood coursing around in your system right now.  You'll experience some of my characteristics for a while and one of them is enhanced strength."

That could come in handy, as my mind flitted to Brian's angry face. "What else should I expect?"  I remembered how frightened I was when I could hear Dustin and Brandy talking from two rooms away.  "Enhanced hearing, I remember."

"That's right.  Enhanced hearing, faster than normal metabolism, less need for sleep, just to name a few.  But I want you to remember that we're strongly Linked right now.  I can feel everything you feel, and you can feel everything I feel.  It might be weird for a while, but Brian says it will fade soon."

I nodded and tried to stand up.  Dustin steadied me with his arms.  "Are you sure you feel well enough to get up?"

"I need to get out of this room."  I struggled to my feet.  "And I'm hungry." Of course.

He took my hand in his and lead me out the door and downstairs to the kitchen.

"I was just going to bring this up to you."  Dani held a plate with two sandwiches.  "Brian said you'll probably have a voracious appetite for a while, so there's plenty more where that came from."  She set the plate on the table as I sat down.

Dani, Dustin and Shawn joined me at the table.  "I totally thought that all the stuff we told you yesterday must have broken you.  You know, too much supernatural information made your head explode?"  Shawn watched me with curiosity.

"Shawn!"  Dani chastised.

I laughed.  "It's okay.  I thought that for a minute too.  Brain overload or something.  But it was just a fractured Link."  I replied, like I actually understood any of it.

I ate the sandwiches in record time.  "I think we found someone who can out eat Shawn!"  Dani brought me another plate, this one loaded with potato salad.

"So, what happens now?"  I looked at my friends.

"Well," Dustin began.  "We stay here for a few weeks and then we go back to school."

"Then what?"  I questioned.  "What do I do about Anya?"

"We will figure that out before we go back."  Dustin put emphasis on the "we".  "Until then, we work on our homework and enjoy our little vacation."

I finished the potato salad and sat back.  "I'm going to have to call my parents soon.  I haven't talked to them in over a week.  What am I going to tell them?"

"As little as possible," Dustin replied.  "Unless they ask, just pretend you're still on campus.  We don't want to put anyone else in danger."

I nodded.  "Okay.  I'll call them tomorrow and check in."  My stomach growled.  "God, I am so hungry!"

"We're going to have to make a supply run.  Katie is going to eat us out of house and home!"  Dani laughed.

"How long will this last?"  I asked Dustin.  "I'm kind of partial to my current weight."

"Trust me, with your heightened metabolism, you will be fine. Plus, with your increased energy, you'll probably want to take advantage of the home gym."

"Home gym?"  I perked up. "I didn't know there was a home gym."

"Well, you haven't really had time to take the grand tour," Dustin pointed out.  "It's been pretty intense since we got here."

"I'll take you."  Dani jumped up and grabbed my hand.

I let her lead me through the beautiful log cabin.  In addition to the huge kitchen and dining room, there was a den lined with bookshelves and a make shift gym in the garage.  Each of the four upstairs rooms looked like the one I had been staying in.  Bed, dresser and night stand.  If there had been snow on the ground, I would have sworn we were in a chalet in Aspen.

"I'm heading back to campus tonight," Dani informed me.  "I didn't bring you very much stuff when we first got here.  You should make me a list of things you need so I can bring them back for you."

I nodded.  "I probably only need clothes and my school books. Oh, and my phone charger! When are you leaving?"

She looked at her watch.  "Shawn and I are leaving in about an hour."

"When will you be back?"

"Sometime tomorrow evening.  We're going to hit up a Costco somewhere, so we can keep you fed," she joked.

I shook my head.  "Dani, this is all so unbelievable.  I'm having a hard time digesting it all."

"Well, that seems to be the only thing you're having a hard time digesting," she joked.

I smacked her on the shoulder.  "Ow!" she exclaimed.  "Dustin is right, you do have enhanced strength!"  We both giggled.

"Katie, listen," She took my hands in hers.  "I'm really sorry.  I never imagined this would happen.  I figured we would be friends and roommates, but you would never know what I really was.  That's how I planned it, anyway.  But as you've been learning about me, nothing ever goes as planned."

"It's okay," I reassured her.  "There's no going back now.  I wanted a new experience when I came to college, so I guess, careful what you wish for, right?"  I tilted my head to the side. "But as long as I have you guys, I'll be okay."

She hugged me tight.  "I promise, we'll always be here for you."

I turned to follow her out of the room.  As I rounded the bed, I stubbed my toe.

"Ow!"  I heard Dustin exclaim from downstairs.

Dani and I both stifled a giggle.  "Linked."  I shrugged my shoulders.

Dani and Shawn left a while later, with promises to return with my school books and some more food.  "Drive careful!"  I called after them as they headed out to Shawn's big red Diesel truck.

As the door closed, Dustin came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.  "How are you feeling?"

"Hungry," I teased him.  He laughed.  "It's so nice to hear you laugh.  When I first met you, I wasn't even sure you knew how to laugh."  I turned to face him.

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.  "Before you came into my life, I didn't really have any reason to laugh.  Now, every time I see you, I want to smile.  You light up my life, Katie.  And coming from a creature of the darkness, that means a lot."  He kissed me softly.  "Well, here we are, alone for the first time in days.  What do you want to do?"  He led me back into the house.

"Maybe we could talk?"  I walked ahead of him towards the living room.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to know more about you."  I settled myself on the couch.

He joined me, meeting my eyes with his.  "What do you want to know?"

I had no idea where to begin.  My mind was full of questions, and I realized there was so much I didn't know about my boyfriend.  "Where were you born?"

He leaned his head back and sighed.  "I was born in West Virginia in 1849.  My parents were still human, and Brian and Brandy were three.  Dani and I were the second set of twins, and our mother had a hard time giving birth to us.  She was frail from that day on.  We lived on a plantation, and survived through the civil war mostly unscathed, although our parents lost quite a few good friends to the fighting.  By the time Dani and I were teenagers, our mother had become so weak we feared she wouldn't live much longer.  That's when we met Marshall Douglas, Shawn's grandfather.  He offered my parents a way to make my mother well again.  A guarantee that she would be well for all the rest of her days.  I'm sure you can guess what that guarantee was."

I nodded but said nothing.

"My father and mother were changed the next day.  My mother was instantly better.  I had never seen her so radiant and healthy.  It didn't take long before the weight of what they had done set in.  The thought of watching their children die before them was almost too much to take.  After explaining everything to us, they gave us the choice.  All four of us decided to join them in immortality.  We spent the next few years in West Virginia, but it became clear that we would need to relocate.  People who had known us for years would start to wonder when we didn't age.  Our parents sold our plantation, and we boarded a ship to Europe."

Dustin stood up and headed towards the kitchen.  "Do you want a soda?"  He called out over his shoulder.

"Sure."  I got up and followed him.

He pulled two cans out of the fridge and handed me one.  "We spent the next hundred years moving all around.  England, Italy, Holland.  We lived in Japan for a while, and even endured the frigid winters of Russia.  We met many of our own kind, including extended members of the Douglas family, who told us about the crest tattoos.  We met with our lines Magic Caster and she created our marks, enabling us to be day walkers.  I can't even describe what it was like to feel the sun on my face after so many years in the dark.  Once we had completely mainstreamed, the Douglas' convinced us to return to America and become a part of the Eternal faction."  His eyes had that far-away look as he reminisced.  "We returned and met with the Overseers.  They welcomed us, and we began to make a life for ourselves back in our homeland.  Once we were completely mainstreamed, we were allowed to start living our lives like we wanted.  All four of us wanted to go to school.  Southern Louisiana is known to be a Supernatural friendly location, and that's how we ended up here."  He took a long drink of his soda.

"Wow."  I sat down at the table.  "You've had an amazing life."

He tossed his empty can in the trash and sat down across from me.  "It hasn't always been easy, but at least we were together.  Losing our mom and dad has been the hardest thing I've had to face in all my years.  Brian and Brandy have sort of taken on the roles of parents, but it's not the same."

I was at a loss for words.  I had spent my whole life taking my parents for granted.  I made a mental note to tell them how much I loved them next time I spoke to them.

"Katie, I'm really sorry about everything that's happened.  You didn't ask for any of this, and I put you in a situation that will change your life forever.  But I want you to know that I won't make you go through it alone.  I'll be here forever, no matter what."  His eyes sought mine.

His intensity was all encompassing. We had only been together for a few weeks, but it felt like Dustin and I were interwoven. It was hard to tell where I ended, and he began. Was the Link increasing our feelings for each other? Would the emotion have been this strong had we not been joined together in a crazy twist of fate?

I leaned closer, bringing my lips to his.  No matter how many times we kissed, each time felt like the first.

Author's Note: Everyone has a past. What do you think of Dustin's story? And how nice would it be to have enhanced metabolism? No wonder Katie is always hungry!! Comment below! Luvs as always!! AM💜