Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 17 - Herd of One

Luke felt like a whole chunk of his life had been flipped back into focus again. The truth, bizarre as it was, gave him a strange sense of freedom. Knowing gave him peace of mind, stamping out the last embers of frustration that had been tearing at him in the days leading up to Oaklynn's revelation.

On another level, he also had to admit that his world had been turned upside down by it. A Karkadda. The word rolled around like a pinball in his brain, still holding a sense of unreality. He glanced at her as they walked through the campus together, hands clasped together, fingers interlaced, tight and unbreakable. Mentally he could still overlay the transformation she'd shown him the previous night. The more he forced himself to remember it the less frightening it became.

Maybe fright wasn't even the word. He'd been startled, surprised, shocked, any and all of the above, but he'd never felt like he was in any actual danger from her. Oaklynn was not some wild killer stalking the forests looking for victims. She was just... different.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked, tugging him a little closer and bumping her shoulder against his.

"Just making sense of everything," he laughed. Luke turned his face, leaning down to kiss her. She pushed up to meet him, their lips meeting again for a blissful second.

They eased apart, stride unbroken. He watched other students that passed them by and no-one so much as glanced at them. No-one questioned them. It all felt right to him. He felt her squeeze his hand and looked at her.

"I know it's a lot," she said.

"I can deal."

"You know, I've wanted to tell you since I sat next to you in class." Oaklynn smiled wryly. "Though I think if I'd said anything then, you'd have turned me in to the nearest psych ward."

"I might have," Luke admitted. "You're not supposed to show people, are you?"

"The rules are pretty specific about that."

"So where to does that leave you with Kasper and the rest?"

Oaklynn's stormy eyes twinkled with resolve. "Frankly, I don't care. I didn't want to be snarled up in their crap anyway. They're a bunch of traditionalists, telling everybody what to do; what to think. I hate it. I prefer this." She coiled her arm around his, tucking herself close.

"Me too."

They turned, following the curve of the path between residence blocks. People flowed around them and it occurred sharply to him how little they knew, how oblivious they were to a whole race of strange and wonderful things living in their midst. Another thought struck him, a rather darker one.

"Hey, stop me if this is a stupid question," he began. "So Karkadda are real. Like, really real."

She grinned. "As far as I can tell."

"So, what about other stuff?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like... werewolves, vampires, Bigfoot, chupacabra, all that stuff. Is that stuff real too?"

"Luke, I-," she paused, stifling a laugh. "I don't think so."

"Well, it's not like if someone told me what a Karkadda was I'd have believed it."

"I guess." She gave him a playful bump with one hip. "But don't worry, if we ever run into any monsters of the night I'll protect you."

He gave her a withering look. "And what about Kenny's Burning-Eyed Man? Do you think around here that comes from the Karkadda somehow? I mean, your eyes do kind of... burn."