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A block down Hailey stood nervously at the corner. She looked like she had been waiting a while and Kathrine felt guilty. Kathrine stuffed the gun into her purse, she didn’t need that kind of attention. Hailey noticed Kathrine and a wave of relief washed over her face. Kelly and John came running from behind Hailey and soon the four of them were together again.
Kelly sniffed the air.
“I don’t wanna know,” Kelly said then grabbed John’s arm before heading back toward the hotel.
“What?” Kathrine asked confused.
“We can smell it on you,” Hailey said walking behind Kelly.
“What can we smell?” John asked, trying to join in.
“Not you, you’re not Versi. You’d be lucky to smell her perfume from here,” Kelly teased.
“Smell what?” Kathrine asked again.
“You had sex,” Kelly laughed and John turned inquisitively.
“No, I don’t smell a man. She almost had sex,” Hailey said snidely.
Kathrine was embarrassed. She needed to learn to use her senses more. How could they smell that? She hadn’t been closer than ten feet. Kathrine shut her eyes for a second and breathed in deeply. She could smell the air, the car exhaust, the humans milling around. Without warning a scent assaulted her nose. John hadn’t worn deodorant. Her eyes opened just in time to see the step for the curb.
“Hailey, hold my hand please. I want to learn to smell stuff like you guys,” Kathrine asked nicely.
“What? No? Ask John.” Moody Hailey had returned. Luckily Kelly and John were willing to help. They stood on each side of her and locked arms. The rest of the way back to the hotel she tried to pick out scents as they went by.
“Man, with cologne,” Kathrine said with her nose in the air.
“You can do better,” Kelly urged.
“He hasn’t shaved today, or not recently. No aftershave. His shampoo smells of oranges?” Kathrine said.
“No, a woman just crossed between you and him,” Kelly laughed.
“John, do you not have deodorant?” Kathrine asked.
“No,” John replied reluctantly.
“That’s the first thing I’m buying when we get back to the hotel,” Kathrine teased.
“That’s good though. You need strong smells to really test yourself. See if you can smell things hidden underneath the smell. It’s easy to tell what a single smell is. When you get hundreds mixed together that’s where a master shines,” Kelly smirked then looked back at Hailey. “You’re way better than me aren’t you?” Kelly asked Hailey.
“I’m just older,” Hailey said abruptly. Moody Hailey was definitely back.
Kelly shrugged it off and again Kathrine thought she was way too nice. The woman was a perfect grandma trapped in a teenager’s body. It was infuriating how perfect she was.
“Vampires, left!” Kathrine exclaimed.
“Don’t worry, we don’t see any. It’s fine,” Kelly assured her. “Strong smells carry for a long ways. You will need more practice before you can judge distance. It’s like hearing. You just get used to the subtle differences.” Kelly was a great teacher. She was probably good at everything she did, Kathrine decided.
The next few blocks Kathrine tried her best to determine distance as well as who the scents were coming from. She had a decent handle on it but Kelly said she still needed work. The most annoying part to Kathrine was how Kelly had said it. ‘You are really good for someone who just found out about being a Versi. In a few weeks you’ll probably be teaching me a thing or two.’ It was nice, too nice. The fact that there was nothing to dislike about Kelly was the very thing that Kathrine disliked. Why would Paul, or any man, choose her over Kelly? They would have to be blind and stupid to choose her when Kelly was so annoyingly perfect.
Chapter 29
Kathrine slammed the door to their hotel room after Hailey was inside. Had Paul never seen another woman? Was he just using her? Perhaps she as overreacting, in fact she knew she was, but now her sexual frustration was overshadowing her intellectual frustration with Paul. Paul had brought her to the brink then ran off. Sure he was shot, that was about as good as excuses come but it didn’t help Kathrine one bit. Kathrine flung the bathroom door open and the knob sunk into the wall.
“Shit, Kathrine. You’re going to tear this room apart,” Hailey said with a touch of concern in her voice. Perhaps Moody Hailey was taking a break.
“Paul!” was all that Kathrine could manage to say.
“You know you can talk to me. I’m a good listener,” Hailey said. It appeared that Nice Hailey was back, at least for a while.
Kathrine thought about Hailey’s proposition. A good listener was exactly what she needed. She didn’t need to talk to Paul or a man at all. Men were all the same, they never listened. They might listen to a few words before coming up with a plan to fix it. Men were always wanting to fix things. A woman was exactly what she needed. She didn’t want this fixed she wanted someone to listen to her.
“Ok,” Kathrine said more calmly as she walked toward Hailey, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. Kathrine sat beside Hailey and sighed. This was going to be difficult, embarrassing and she just might get angrier at Paul but she needed to tell someone.
