CHAPTER 8:

CATALINA'S POV:

The next day, on the way to the college Noah and I have a long talk. He isn't happy that I'm dating someone else, but he says that he accepts it. I tell him that maybe it just isn't the right time for us. He is understanding and says that he still wants to meet the guy. I know that's not a good idea. I love Noah, he's been everything to me over the past four years, father, brother, best friend. I owe him a lot more than just my life.

That evening, while I'm getting ready for my date with Jaden, I get a text.

From Jaden: Sorry sweetie, I have to cancel tonight. Something important came up.

I send him a text letting him know that I understand and I go downstairs to see Noah and Colin getting ready to go out hunting. "Hey, can I go with you guys?"

They both look at me shocked. Hey, it's not like I've never gone out with them before. In the beginning I didn't go out alone. Noah says, "Sure Cat, we leave in ten minutes. We're going to a club."

I run upstairs to get changed and get my weapons. I am wearing a short blue Asian-style dress that covers up the bite mark, with knee-high black boots. I have silver daggers in my boots and a stake in my purse. When we get to the club, we go inside and sit at the bar, scanning the crowd for possible vampires. I am really hoping that I see one of the ones from the vampire club last night. I'd love to stake one of those weirdoes. I don't think I'll forget any of their faces. That'll surely come in handy.

Colin asks me to dance and we dance to a couple songs. When we get back to the bar, Noah is flirting with a pretty blonde. I feel a stab of jealousy, but then remind myself that I am dating someone else. I have no right to be jealous over Noah. After he is done flirting with the bimbo, he comes over to talk to me and Colin. "Anything?" he asks.

"No," I tell him.

"What about that guy?" Colin asks, pointing to a guy with long black hair that is on the dance floor.

But, I barely glance at the guy because dancing right next to him, with some slut all over him, is Jaden.

"What's the matter Catalina?" Noah asks me.

Jaden must have heard my name with his super vampire hearing because his eyes immediately snap in our direction. I look away towards Noah and say, "Nothing." I leave them where they are standing and walk out of the club. Stupid cheating vampire.

I'm walking down the street when I hear, "Catalina! Wait! It isn't what it looked like!" I don't have much experience with men, but from what I've heard, isn't that what they always say?

Jaden catches up with me, grabs me by the arm and spins me around. Unfortunately, Noah and Colin are right behind him. Great, an audience. "What the fuck do you want?" I ask him.

Before he can answer, Noah says, "Is this the guy Cat? Is this the guy you chose over me?" Then he says to Jaden, "Well, I guess I should thank you for fucking up so fast."

"Noah, I can handle this myself. I don't need you here," I say through clenched teeth.

"Fine, we'll just wait right over here. Let us know when you are done kicking his sorry ass to the curb," he says and pulls Colin a little ways away from us.

Once they are far enough away, Jaden says, "Kitty Cat, it wasn't like that. She -" but I cut him off.

"It wasn't like what? You cancelled our date tonight to go out with another woman? Did she like the restaurant you were going to take me too? She must have, because she looked mighty grateful on the dance floor. Grinding up against you and touching you all over." Dammit, I'm starting to cry. "You know what? I don't even care. Have a nice life and a horrible eternity!"

I start walking away and he grabs my arm again, "You are going to listen to me Cat!"

Noah comes up from behind and shoves him. He spins around with his vampire speed and pushes Noah. Noah goes flying up against the nearest building.

Colin says, "He's a fucking vampire!" and starts to dig for a weapon in his boot.

"No!" I shout. But, I'm too late, because Jaden is already grabbing Colin by the throat and picking him up off the ground. Seeing Jaden in action, I can see that the vampires I have killed in the past were just child's play compared to him. I run over to them and grab Jaden's arm, "Please Jaden stop! He's my friend." I'm crying even harder at this point.

He looks at me, "You know I've never killed a human Catalina. I'm not about to start with these two idiots."

He drops Colin and Colin is on the ground, gasping for air. I can see that Colin is alright, so I go over to Noah, who is coming back to consciousness. He looks at me and shoves me away, "You're dating a filthy vampire Catalina?"

"Not anymore," I whisper.

"Catalina," I hear Jaden say behind me. "You didn't let me explain. I was only with that woman because she has information on Jonathan and Daniel. Now, can we please go somewhere to talk privately?"

I turn my head and look up at him, "Okay."

"Catalina, you can't go with him!" Noah shouts at me.

I look back at Noah, "He won't hurt me." I get up and start to walk away with Jaden. I can tell Noah and Colin are going to try to stop me. Jaden quickly picks me up and starts running at his fast vampire speed. He never ran that fast when I was chasing him in the past. Hell, I've never seen any vampire run that fast. It's a good thing there aren't too many vampires around as old as Jaden, otherwise us hunters wouldn't stand a chance.

When he sets me down in front of his Mercedes only seconds later, he can tell by the look on my face, what I'm thinking. He laughs and I say, "You were always just messing with me, weren't you? I never stood a chance of killing you?"

"No, but you were so cute when you were trying," he laughs some more. I don't find it very funny.

He opens the door and I get inside. I can smell that whore's cheap perfume. When he gets in, I tell him, "It smells like skank in here."

He starts driving and rolls down the windows, "Sorry sweetie, I'll get rid of this car tomorrow for you."

We start driving in the opposite direction of his apartment and I ask, "Where are we going? Aren't we going to your apartment?"

"We're going to one of them," he says.

"How many do you have?" I ask.

"Several," he answers vaguely.

He pulls into the parking garage of an expensive high-rise apartment building. He parks on the highest level of the parking garage and we walk to the doors to enter the building. He punches in a code and holds the door open for me. We walk to the elevator and he punches in another code for it to open. He pushes the button for the top floor.

"Cool! You live in the penthouse?" I ask him.

"No, I live in an apartment on a lower floor," he says.

"Then, why are we going to the top?" I ask him.

"Because I own all of the apartments in the building. I use several of the units for different reasons," he says.

"You own the whole building? Wow. It must have been expensive," Whoa, I think to myself. "But, I guess you've had a lot of time to save up, huh?"

Jaden laughs, "I thought you weren't going to tease me anymore about how old I am?"

"No, I said that I wouldn't call you 'old man' anymore. I didn't say I wouldn't tease you about being born a million years ago," I tease him.

He raises one eyebrow, "So now I'm a million years old?"

"Yeah, and shouldn't you be old enough to know better than to cheat on me?" I glare at him.

The elevator doors open and Jaden and I step out of it. There is only a short hallway and one set of double doors. I guess that's because the penthouse takes up the whole floor. Jaden stops in front of the door, "Before we go in here, I want to clear the air on what happened earlier tonight. I was not cheating on you."

"It sure looked like you were," I say and put one hand on my hip.

Jaden looks at my gesture and smirks, "Well, I wasn't. That woman used to be one of my blood donors. I stopped seeing her last year because she was getting clingy. She called me earlier today to brag to me that she was seeing some new vampire, named Jonathan. I couldn't be sure if it was the same Jonathan, so I asked her to go out with me. I was only trying to get information out of her."

"Did you need to let her grope you to get it? Did you kiss her? Have you fucked her before? Did you get any information? What's her name? What did you tell her before you left the club?" I want some answers!

"Fine. Let's see. I tried to keep her hands off of me as much as I could, but like I said, she's clingy and more than just emotionally so. No, I didn't kiss her tonight. Yes, we did have sex in the past, over a year ago. No, I didn't get any useful information out of her. And lastly, I told her I was going to use the restroom. She isn't too bright, so she's probably still waiting for me to come back. Oh, and her name is Renee. Anything else?" he is definitely annoyed.

"No, I guess I can forgive you, but don't make me cry again! I don't like crying. And don't lie to me again," I tell him.

He pulls me into his arms. "And I don't like seeing you cry, my angel. I promise not to keep something like that from you again. Now, let's go inside, but no more talk of this."