A Friend to the Darkness. Katherine Rathbone

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СКАЧАТЬ I peeked at him from between my fingers. He was grinning at me.

      “What?” I wailed.

      “Nothing. I did not say a word.” Seth kept grinning.

      “Why. Are. You. Grinning. Like. That.” I emphasised each word by punching his arm.

      He laughed aloud at me, and grabbed my wrists. “I’m just happy for you both, that’s all.”

      “No. Nope. Nuh uh. There is NOTHING to be ‘happy for us’ about.” I scowled.

      “Do you like him?” Seth asked gently, trying not to smile.

      “Nope. I am NOT crushing on the King of Hell.” I was adamant. “It’s just… I dunno… I wasn’t expecting it.”

      “You kissed him !” Seth exclaimed. I rolled my eyes at him. “Ahhh.” He gave me a knowing smirk. “You didn’t expect to LIKE it.”

      I took a deep breath. “No.” I admitted. “I did not expect to… enjoy it so much.” I could feel the heat in my face, and internally cursed my lack of control.

      “Dear one.” His voice was serious and gentle. “It’s ok to have feelings, you know.”

      I was not expecting that, and stared at him in shock. “I am not crushing on Lucifer.” I repeated myself firmly.

      Seth stood, and shrugged. “Lust is a feeling.”

      I spluttered, and he grinned at me.

      “Your mum will be home soon, I’d better go. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”

      “Yeah, bye.” I muttered.

      “Oh, Katie? One last question. Was there tongue? And who slipped it first?”

      I hurled a cushion at him, but he was gone by the time it reached where he had been standing. His laugh echoed in the room.

      Thirteen.

      The night of my birthday dinner came, and Seth managed to engineer it so I was sitting next to Lucifer. We exchanged pleasantries, and I introduced mum to Chris, who looked really nervous. “Can we give you presents now, or do we have to wait til after dinner?” Sebastian asked enthusiastically. I looked to mum.

      “Go on then.” She laughed.

      “Yay!” Sebastian gestured to Sera, who had brought a fairly large bag. She rolled her eyes at him, and handed him a gift, which he passed on to me, grinning. While I shyly unwrapped it, Sera handed gifts to all the others. It was a Pearl Jam shirt.

      “Aw, Seb, I love it! Thank you!” His grin grew wider.

      Chris’ gift to me was a scented candle. I smelled it curiously. Cinnamon. I tried hard not to blush and strenuously avoided Seth’s eyes as I said, “My favourite scent. Thanks, Chris!”

      Sera gave me a beautiful holder for the candle.

      “You guys, this is too much!” I exclaimed as Seth handed me a smaller box. He smiled gently.

      “Happy birthday, Katie.” It was a silver bracelet, with Celtic knots and amethyst.

      “Mum, look! It matches the ring you gave me!” I put it on and showed her.

      “Excellent choice, young man.” Mum complimented Seth. He preened a little.

      Lastly, Lucifer handed me a smaller box. “Happy birthday, dear one.” He murmured, his face unreadable. With trembling fingers, I opened it. It was a simple, dull coloured ring. It was wide on one side, and tapered on the other so that it met unevenly. It had simple patterns, added with a hammer.

      “It’s handmade. I um… I had one of Seth’s…” He coughed, took a sip of water and said, “Sorry. One of Seth’s acquaintances made it for me. Do you like it?”

      I slipped it on my finger. “I love it. Is it iron?” I asked, trying to sound merely curious, not completely incredulous.

      “It is.” He smiled at me. I tried very, very hard not to think of what the implications might be of him giving me a ring made out of one of the two materials that could hurt him.

      I fought back tears. “You guys, this is all too much.”

      Mum came to my rescue, changing the subject. “So, what are everybody’s plans for next year?”

      My eyes widened, and my heart thumped. I couldn’t think of anything to say.

      Lucifer chose his words carefully, glancing at the others. “We’re all lucky enough to keep on hanging around with your daughter, Mrs. Longwood.”

      “So the lot of you are moving to Melbourne, hey? Studying, or working?”

      Chris replied, “Studying for me.”

      “Ah, bit of both.” Sera said evasively.

      “Work work work for us, hey Sebastian?” Said Seth.

      “Which areas are you going to be living in?” Mum asked politely.

      “All pretty close to me, mum. Let’s order, hey? I’m starving!” I answered.

      We ate, and laughed, and had a couple of drinks, since I was eighteen now. Once again, I was impressed with how well my friends got along with my mother. Afterwards, Sera came to my room, and whisked me away to our usual spot. I thanked everyone again for their gifts, not quite meeting Lucifer’s eyes. He gave me a small smile and said,

      “Come, Katie. Walk with me.” Behind him, Seth’s eyes widened, and he grinned and gave me two thumbs up. I ignored him.

      “Umm…” I tried to think of a good reason to say no.

      “Please.” His tone was amused and a little exasperated. I sighed and agreed.

      “What’s going on there?!” I heard Sebastian whisper- yell as we walked away.

      Seth answered, his tone making his words a lie. “I couldn’t say.”

      Lucifer laughed quietly at them. I scowled. We walked in silence for a while, until I couldn’t stand it anymore, and said crankily, “How long are we going to walk for? I want a drink.”

      He gazed out across the river and said, “Here will do, then.” And sat on the sand. I blinked in confusion. Did I keep standing? Did I walk away? Did I sit with him? How close? I settled on perching awkwardly near him. He glanced at me, shook his head slightly, and lounged back on his elbows, still not saying anything. This was driving me insane.

      “Fuck it.” I finally said. “What do you want?”

      He didn’t look at me, and answered me with a question of his own. “What do you want?”

      “I’m not the one who dragged me off into the middle of the bush!” I flashed.

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