Origins

ou glanced up and smiled at him. "Y oung Katherine here is proving that she’s not only beautiful but that she has brains, too. An intoxicatingly infuriating combination," Father said, noticing that Katherine had racked up an additional point on the board when he wasn’t looking.

"Thank you," Katherine said, deftly discarding and picking up a new card. "Y ou’re making me blush. Although I do admit that I think your compliments are just an elaborate plan for distracting me so you can win," Katherine said, barely bothering to acknowledge Damon.

I strode over to Damon. We stood together in the doorway, watching Katherine and Father.

Damon crossed his arms over his chest. "What is she doing here?"

"Playing cards." I shrugged. "Do you really think that’s wise?" Damon lowered his voice. "Given his opinions on her … provenance."

"But don’t you see? It’s brilliant. She’s charming him. I haven’t heard him laugh so hard since Mother died." I felt suddenly delirious with happiness. This was better than anything I could have planned. Instead of trying to come up with an elaborate plot to push Father off the vampire trail, Father would simply see that Katherine was human. That she still had emotions and wouldn’t do any harm save for ruining his winning streak at cribbage.

"So what?" Damon asked. "He’s a madman on the hunt. A few smiles won’t change that."

Katherine erupted into giggles as Father put down a card. I lowered my voice. "I think if we let him know about her, he’d change his mind. He’d realize that she doesn’t mean any harm."

"Are you crazy?" Damon hissed, clenching my arm. His breath smelled like whiskey. "If Father knew about Katherine, he’d kill her in an instant! How do you know he’s not already planning something?"

Just then Katherine let out a peal of laughter. Father threw his head back, adding his hoarse laugh to hers. Damon and I fell silent as she glanced up from her cards. She found us with her eyes and winked. But since Damon and I were standing side by side, it was impossible to tell who it was meant for.

Chapter 21

The next morning, Damon left with the brief explanation that he was helping the militia at the camp. I wasn’t sure I believed his excuse, but the house was decidedly more peaceful in his absence. Katherine came over each night to play cribbage with Father. Occasionally I’d join her as a two-against-one team. While playing, Katherine would tell Father stories from her past: about her father’s shipping business; about her Italian mother; about Wheat, the Scottish terrier she’d had as a girl. I wondered if any of them were true, or if it was Katherine’s plan to act as a modern- day Scheherazade, spinning stories that would eventually persuade Father to spare her.

Katherine would always make a show of going back to the carriage house, and it was agony waiting for the moment when Father went to bed so that I could follow her. She never talked about her past–or her plans–with me. She didn’t tell me how she got her nourishment, and I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to know. It was far easier to pretend she was just a normal girl.

One afternoon, when Father was in town with Robert, discussing business with the Cartwrights, Katherine and I decided to spend an entire day together, instead of a few stolen, dark hours. It was nearing October, but no one would know it from the high temperatures and the daily late- afternoon thunderstorms. I hadn’t gone swimming all summer, and I couldn’t wait to feel the water of the pond on my skin–and Katherine in my arms in the daylight. I stripped down and jumped in immediately.

"Don’t splash!" yelled Katherine. She lifted her simple blue skirt up to her ankles and cautiously stepped toward the edge of the pond. She’d already left her muslin flats beneath the willow tree, and I couldn’t stop staring at the delicate white of her ankles.

"Come in! The water’s fine!" I yelled, even though my teeth were chattering.

Katherine continued to tiptoe toward the edge of the pond until she was standing on the muddy strip between the grass and the water. "It’s dirty." She wrinkled her nose, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"That’s 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 desire course through me. I dunked under the water to cool my head.

"You’re not afraid of a little splashing," I said as I emerged, my hair dripping on my shoulders. "Or, shall I say, you’re not afraid of splashing Stefan?" I felt a little bit ridiculous saying it, because such comments didn’t sound nearly as clever on my lips. Still, she did me the favor of laughing. I carefully sidestepped the rocks on the bottom 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 away 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 dress!"

At that, I immediately let her go. She lifted her hands over her head, allowing me to easily pull off her dress. There she stood in her little white slip. I gaped in amazement. Of course I’d 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 inward 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 weren’t so beautiful, I might fight back," I said, pulling her toward me. I kissed her.

"The neighbors will talk," murmured Katherine against my lips.