My Personal Beast

Chapter 12

“Hello,” Malika greeted him politely. She bowed and we all did the same.

“I presume you are Aria Montgomery.” Klaus smiled at me.

“The one and only,” I smirked. I felt Luke shoot me warning glares.

What? I asked telepathically.

Don’t mess with him. He’s dangerous. Luke warned me. I mentally rolled my eyes at him. Always worrying about me.

“Would you like to dance?” Klaus asked me. I was pulled from my telepathic conversation with Luke, and onto the dance floor.

“I must warn you, I can’t dance.” I said sheepishly.

“Really? Well, that’s nothing to worry about. I’ll lead you.” Klaus smirked. He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him, wrapping his hand around my waist. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“You seem light on your feet,” I commented as we twirled around the room.

“Years and years of practice,” He smiled.

“Years of practice for…dancing?” I asked a little confused. I had to really hold in my laughter then.

“Laugh all you want, but mother is very persistent. She wants us to specialize in everything.” He smiled at me.

“Huh. I guess our mothers are alike in more ways than one.” I said blankly. My mother had always pushed me towards art. But I preferred music. It was a form of art, in my defense.

“I’ve seen you by the lake before.” Klaus said.

“So you’re spying on me.” I said with raised eyebrows.

“No, I just happened to see you on the shore. My father and I fish during the summer.” He explained. The lake wasn’t that big and I don’t know how I could’ve never seen them.

“So how come I’ve never seen you around?” I asked.

“We fish on the south side of the lake,” He explained.

“The south side? Isn’t that place cursed?” I asked already knowing my answer. Being a witch, I had to maintain balance over all supernatural beings. And I knew, for a fact, that the south side of the lake was infested with werewolves.

“That’s what the legends’ say.” He smirked down at me. I stared at him wondering if the rumors about him were true. Right now they seemed to be.

“Mind if I cut in?” Luke asked. We had been dancing for five minutes now.

“Sure.” Klaus said but his expression looked a little irritated.

“Looks like you and the devil are getting on pretty well,” Luke teased, using my nickname for Klaus.

“He doesn’t seem that bad.” I said, defending Klaus for some unknown reason. “But there’s something about him that isn’t entirely…good.” I muttered.

“What do you mean?” Luke asked.

“Well, you know that the south lake forest is infested with…wolves,” I said looking him directly in the eye. Luke nodded once, telling me he understood.

“Well, Klaus and his father fish there,” I whispered.

“That’s a bit creepy,” Luke muttered.

“A bit?” I asked in disbelief.

“Don’t judge him so quickly. Maybe there’s really nice fish on the south,” Luke joked.

“Shut up,” I muttered, knowing he wasn’t taking me seriously.

“I’m just saying. And he probably doesn’t even know about the wolves,” Luke tried calming my suspicions.

“The wolves kill anything and everything that so much as passes near their forest. Klaus and his father wouldn’t have survived a werewolf attack.” I hissed.

“Maybe the wolves have changed. You talked to Sophie just last week. Maybe she’s changed her pack rules.” Luke offered.

“Maybe. But I still can’t shake the feeling that there’s something…dark about Klaus,” I whispered.

“Just don’t go blabbing to father. If there’s nothing supernatural about Klaus, father will skin you alive this time.” Luke warned me. Okay, so maybe I was known for suspecting too quickly.

“You have to admit, the people in this village are really creepy.” I defended myself.

“Aria,” Luke scolded me.

“sorry,” I muttered. “Can we please stop dancing now? I’m getting dizzy.” I complained.

“Yeah, I’ll get you something to drink,” He smiled at me.

“I’ll be outside.” I muttered. Ignoring all the stares I received because of my dress color, I strolled out to the balcony.

“I presume you’ve had enough dancing for one night.” Klaus said, literally showing up out of nowhere. I jumped a little, and he chuckled.

“Sorry if I startled you,” He added.

“I think I’ve had enough dancing for a week,” I muttered with a chuckle.

“You’re very…unusual.” Klaus said tilting his head to the side.

“Excuse me?” I asked a little offended.

“Please, don’t be offended. It’s a compliment. Most girls these days care about nothing but dances and dresses and princes.” He said bitterly.

“How can you tell I’m not like one of those girls?” I asked.

“There’s something about you. You give off this very…honest aura about yourself. You don’t seem like the type of girl to care about her looks and being the perfect daughter.” He said deeply.

“That’s a very deep judgment, considering we’ve only just met an hour ago.” I told him.

“I’m a very good judge of character.” He smirked.

“I can see that.” I smirked back.

“Here you go,” Luke said handing me a drink. At that moment I didn’t want to be interrupted. And it looked like Klaus didn’t want to either. It was obvious how irritated he was with Luke, even if Klaus tried to hide it.

Go away, I hissed telepathically to Luke.

Huh? He asked confused.

Go. I repeated again.

“well, it looks like I’m interrupting something here, so I’ll just be inside,” Luke said shooting me a confused look.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Klaus asked me.

“What about your party?” I asked.

“They can all survive a couple of hours without me.” He smirked.

“A couple of hours? Do you intend to walk the whole of Europe?” I asked.

“Funny,” he laughed. “Walk with me?” He asked again, extending his hand towards me. I smiled taking his hand and letting him guide me down the steep steps. He interlinked our arms are we strolled around his humongous garden.

“So are the rumors true?” I asked, trying to make casual conversation.

“what do you mean?” He asked.

“The rumors about you killing everyone and being a tyrant who goes around making everyone’s lives miserable?” I joked.

“do you believe they’re true?” He asked.

“No,” I said, sure of my answer.

“Then I guess they’re not true.” He smiled at me.

We walked like that the entire night, just talking. He didn’t seem at all like what people described. In truth, he was really nice.

“I guess this is goodnight.” I smiled. We were outside my home now. My family had rode home without me and Klaus, being the gentleman that he was, offered to take me home. All Malika’s idea I suppose.

“My family and I are going out onto the lake this Saturday. Would you like to join us?” He asked. I bit my lip, not knowing what to say. Of course I wanted to go.

“Your family is welcome to.” He added.

“Yeah, sure.” I said after a moment. He smiled at me and I waved until they rode off up the hill. I turned towards my door and before I could reach for the handle, the doors swung open revealing my family.

“How did it go?”

“Is he really a tyrant?”

“Did he kill people?”

“Are you seeing him again?”

“did you kiss?” The last question was from Malika. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Move.” I snapped. My brother and sisters moved aside as I walked into the house.

“Where’s mother and father?” I asked.

“Both asleep.” Melody said.

“Shouldn’t you all be asleep to?” I asked.

“Aria,” Luke snapped, knowing I was trying to avoid their questions.

“This Saturday we’re all going to the lake with them.” I said. They all kept pestering me with questions until we arrived at our rooms.

“Goodnight.” I told all of them. Sadly, I shared a room with Malika, so I couldn’t escape her pestering.

“Do you like him?” She asked as I undid my corset.

“Yeah,” I smiled sheepishly.

“Yes!” She shouted.

“Shush,” I laughed.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“Finally. I thought you were some emotionless zombie. But you’ve finally found someone you like. Thank god!” Malika kept up a stream of whispers.

“Goodnight Malika.” I said. I lay down on my bed and drifted to sleep while she kept on whispering things about Klaus and I. I might have even heard her say something about weddings, but I was near the brink of unconsciousness by then.