Catalyst Page 0,3

nodded, "Vaguely."

Will pulled his arms out of the shirt, revealing his bare chest. His body was all muscle and smooth skin. Kahli stared, wanting to touch him, to feel the rise and fall of those muscles beneath her fingers. The thought shocked her. She tried to bury it, but Will smiled softly, like he'd already heard her. He took her hand in his and pressed the pads of her fingers to his chest.

Kahli couldn't breathe. She didn't know what he was doing, but she didn't pull away. "What are you - ?"

He cut her off, "Look. Read them. I know you can."

When Kahli looked down at his bare skin she saw a string of runes appear under her fingers. Will lifted his hands from hers knowing that she wouldn't pull away. As she slid her hand across his chest, rune after rune appeared. Some of them didn't make sense. They seemed to be more like symbols than words, but as her fingers grazed across his chest and down his side, Kahli recognized a rune. She slipped her fingers over his skin slowly, tracing a line down his side. As she touched him, blood-red runes seemed to burn under his skin, throbbing bright crimson, until her fingers passed over them and they faded back to the color of his skin. When her hand trailed down to Will's waist she stopped.

Swallowing hard, she looked up at him. Will was watching her, his lips parted slightly. "It's your name," she said, shocked. Will nodded slowly.

The moment felt surreal, like time bent and stopped. The two stared at each other. Kahli didn't know how much time passed before she spoke again. Will's blue eyes were locked on hers, holding her in place. They were so close, but when she dropped her hand neither of them touched. The runes faded, hiding his real name - the one the vampires could use against him.

Kahli moved her palm to his side again, hovering her hand over his warm skin. She wanted to touch him again, she wanted to feel the runes burn under her palm. Instead she hesitated, holding her hand less than an inch from his side. Her heart was pounding violently. Her mind couldn't make sense of it, of what it meant.

She pressed her lips together and tried to step away, but Will took her hand. "Say it," he commanded. "Say my name."

Kahli was wide-eyed. She shook her head. The name wouldn't tumble from her mouth. "No. It's enough to see it. I trust you. I believe you." It was what she needed, something of equal value - something equally damning - to be trusted with. She still couldn't believe he showed her.

"Then, why are you shaking?"

Kahli looked at her hand, her fingers next to Will's. He was so strong and her blood made him stronger. Blood. The thought jarred her. "Those are blood runes. They aren't the same as mine."

Will nodded, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand, tracing small circles on her smooth skin. "You're right. They aren't. They're more powerful, more binding. Marriage runes connect you to another person. They're a promise. I assume you have another rune with his family's crest?" Will turned over Kahli's wrist, the wrist that had the Section 8 brand, and examined it. "Maybe it was here? Under this one?"

"Maybe," she confessed, her lips slowly pulling into a smile. That was exactly where it was. Her wrist rune could only be evoked by her betrothed's blood. Until then, it would remain hidden. These were things that would have been part of the marriage ceremony, part of a life that was gone.

Will smoothed his hand over her wrist, and returned her smile. "I always liked that ritual. It was romantic, professing love like that, being bound to another person - willingly." When he said the last word, Kahli's insides twisted. They were not willing linked. Continuing, he said, "Mine are different. They're blood runes. There's nothing willing about them. I guess that makes me more vamp, than human." He smiled sadly. It was a difference between them, clearly marking that they were different.

Kahli nodded, "I suppose so," she said softly, staring at his smooth skin. Looking into his eyes, she asked, "How come I can see them? I mean, runes don't just pop up like that."

"Because vampires mark runes in blood, and my blood is inside of you. You can evoke my runes and read them. They respond to you, treating you like an extension of me."