Forbidden (Fallen 2)

“I’m going to teach Kylie how to fight,” he said with a look that said, ‘do you object’.

She just chuckled. Her laugh was a grating sound that irritated my ears.

“Good luck with that,” she said rolling her eyes and turning to leave, still supporting her opponent.

I climbed down off my perch, not quite as gracefully as Isaac had done, and joined him on the ground. His eyes blazed daggers into the back of his sister. I put my hand on his arm to break him of his spell.

“Is she always so pleasant?” I asked trying to make him laugh. It worked.

“Most of the time. I think she’s smiled maybe three times in her life,” he chuckled, “Apparently, I got all the nice qualities and she got the bad ones.”

It was my turn to laugh.

“I can’t argue you that. But you forgot something else,” I said gazing into his bright blue eyes.

“What is that?”

“You got the good looks so that’s probably where her mean personality comes from. She’s just jealous of your beauty,” I smiled at him.

Isaac grabbed his stomach in laughter. “That explains why she has always been so mean to me,” he said between bouts of hysterics.

Once the laughing stopped he looked seriously at me.

“Honestly though, she used to be the nicest person I knew. She was always trying to help someone even if she had to sacrifice something for herself. But then we came of age and had to join the Coven. She likes the power of being a part of the Coven but she doesn’t like taking Aleksei’s orders. She likes not feeling vulnerable but she hates the thought of only ever fighting vampires for the rest of her life. I can sympathize with not wanting to fight vampires your whole life. After all I only want to write songs and sing. But she’s just handling it the wrong way,” he sighed miserably.

“I’ve got news for you though Isaac, Isobel has never liked me, even before you joined the Coven,” I laughed.

“I can explain that too. You threaten her claim.”

“Her claim? To what?” I asked.

He blushed profusely. “To me,” he whispered.

“What!” I squealed shocked.

“I’m her brother. Her twin. She feels she has to look out for me. She thinks you’re not good enough for me,” he said kicking the dirt around at his feet.

“What do you mean?” I snapped even though I knew perfectly well what he meant. He blushed an even deeper shade of red.

“Well, she knows I fancy you and she thinks you’re not good enough for me,” he said squirming and looking down at the ground.

“Well you both know very well that I am in love with Jonathon. You and I are only friends and will only ever be friends. So, she needs to back off and mind her own business,” I snapped, sick of always having to be the nice person, but I knew I only said what I did to try and convince myself rather than him and his nosy sister.

“I know that,” he sighed, “but that doesn’t satisfy her because she knows that I still like you. Alright, enough of Isobel and her controlling behavior, let’s fight.”

“Oh, yippee,” I said rolling my eyes and joining him in the middle of the field. Luckily no one was around to see my shame.

I felt bad telling Isaac in so many words that I did not reciprocate his feelings because it was a lie. I was lying to say that I didn’t have feelings for him. I was not lying when I said to myself that I was unsure of my feelings. Do I love Isaac like a brother? A friend? Or a lover? I just don’t know and that’s a scary territory to cross. I can’t help but feel that if shut out all feelings of Isaac that this will go away but in fact I think it’s making whatever this feeling I have stronger. How can one have a soul mate and have feelings for another?

My thoughts were completely jumbled and incoherent as Isaac strapped protective padding on to my body.

“That ought to do it,” he said standing back up from securing the Velcro padding around my knee. His touch had sent shivers up my spine and I hoped he hadn’t noticed.

“Aren’t you going to wear any?” I asked stupidly.

“No, you’ll be lucky if you get a single punch in,” he grinned.

“Ha Ha, make fun of the weak, defenseless, human,” I sulked. “We can’t all be vampires or half angel.”