Soul Keepers (Editing) #Wattys2020

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It was quiet when she woke up, save for the sound of Kate’s deep and even breathing next to her. Dreams had plagued her, not all bad but they still carried a heavy weight with them. The weight of a half-life. She had been alive for six centuries and had yet to experience the joys of that that most Mortals did. She was envious of that. The zeal they had for their short lives, she missed in her extremely long one.

She shoved all of her messy emotion inside and refused to allow it to stop her. There was a renewed vigor to her search. She would find a way to free herself, and if she couldn’t do that she would find a way to kill Micah even if it meant that she too would die for it to happen.

She crept out of bed and after a quick shower was headed directly to the library, but was stopped by Jay. A friendly smile was on his face and a tray in his hands.

“This way,” he said hooking her arm in his.

“I have to get to the library,” she countered slightly panicked, sensing that on the other side of the door, into the dining room were the other housemates that she had been avoiding trying to meet.

“How are you feeling?” he asked ignoring her earlier words.

Embarrassment pinked her cheeks and she nibbled on her lower lip. And she wondered if everyone had heard about her, episode. "Better," she mumbled.

"Good. We were all worried about you."

She stood uneasily at the threshold of the door, studying the room. Kit was there along with Theo and Drake and two other men, one the vampire she’d first encountered, the one who wanted to kill her.

"So, Kit you know and Theo obviously; and well the big cuddly teddy bear over there,” he nodded towards Drake and then the one she first met. “That’s Vin." She supposed he was the reason she was in this position really. He looked down, but then he raised his head and met her eyes timidly offering her a small apologetic nod.  Millie returned his nod, accepting is apology, she couldn’t completely fault him.     

"And Sebastian. Whom we all call Bastian," he continued looking at the other man.                   
                               
Sebastian was handsome, in a way that screamed danger, his hair was dark and cut short; his skin was tinted gold and his body was imposingly tall and muscular. Tattoos covered his arms to his wrists where he wore leather cuffs. But it were his eyes that drew her in. Bastian had dead eyes. There was no emotion whatsoever in the depths of his gaze.

Drake had haunted eyes, a raw passion that reeked in waves of hostility, Bastisn's were cold and unfeeling, it was slightly unnerving. She wondered what exactly had happened to him. She broke her gaze when she realized she’d been staring.

Jay took her arm and led her to a chair placing the tray in front of her. "Eat," he instructed. "It's fun having someone to cook for again. "

"Not that his food is all that good," retorted Drake with a slight smirk.

"How would you know," returned Jay. "You had the palette of people who think that canned cheese is gourmet food."

Kit laughed boisterously, Theo chuckled, the others dissolving into happy laughter though Bastian remained quiet in the corner, his watchful eyes taking in everything.

Millie studied the way that they interacted. Bastian she gathered didn't say much, he seemed more the silent type. Vin seemed the youngest male and was eager to please. It was easy to see that he admired the others. Drake was Drake. He had a strong opinion on everything and a vocabulary that seemed to possess every obscenity possible. Kit was the baby, and as in every family--especially ones dominated by older brothers--was very protected. She was bubbly person who could out a smile on anyone's face, even Bastian suspected Millie.