Chapter 23

I wore my underwear and sat on the bed before kara entered the bedroom after taking a shower. She wore blue underwear and an eerily familiar T-shirt that was too large for her lithe body.

Voranis: Is that mine?

Kara: What, this?

She jumped on the bed and sat on my legs.

Kara: This is mine now!

She grinned.

Voranis: I'm willing to compromise, but you'll have to pay the price.

I moved to attack by flipping her over and began to tickle her sides.

While she was laughing from my 'torture', I realized that she was also trying to restrain herself so as to not hurt me with her strength.

Last night she didn't realize that she wasn't restraining herself that much and thankfully she didn't notice that I wasn't hurt despite that.

Kara: I surrender, I surrender!

She pleaded while gasping for air. I raised my arms.

Voranis: Victory is mine and I shall claim the prize! Nom!!

I playfully bit her ear but purposely didn't do anything else and quickly got up.

Kara: You tease!

Voranis: I recognize no such claims!

I wore my clothes except my t-shirt.

Voranis: Can I have that back?

Kara: Hmm. It depends! Are you gonna stay for breakfast?

She put her hands on the hem of the shirt and lifted a couple of inches.

"I'm going to regret this..."

Voranis: I'd love to, but I'll have to prepare for tonight's dinner.

Kara: Fine, but no prize for you.

She dropped her hands and went to change away from my view.

A minute later she came back with white shorts and a blue t-shirt that showed her midriff.

Voranis: Kara, since yesterday I've been meaning to tell you or better yet, show you something.

She understood from the tone of my voice that it was serious.

Kara: What's wrong?

She walked up to me and put a hand on my arm.

I smiled to calm her down.

Voranis: You don't have to worry, it's nothing bad. It's important, but not bad.

"Hopefully"

She nodded.

Voranis: I will tell you about it after dinner. I did promise you after all.

Kara: You promised? When?

She tilted her head and put a finger next to her lips in thought.

Voranis: All in good time.

I winked and gave her a quick peck on her lips. wearing the last piece of clothing, I said my good-bye and left after confirming some details about dinner.

Preparation took quite a lot of time. I had to decide what to cook, go shopping, prepare the ingredients with Lorelei's help and finally cook the food.

Time flew by but my cheerfulness and energy were unending just thinking about Kara. The sun had begun to set and the scheduled time was approaching. Cynthia had arrived a bit earlier and was helping Lorelei.

Voranis: M'ladies, I'm going to get some flowers. I'll probably be back before Kara arrives.

Cynthia: Take your time, we got this.

Lorelei: Of course, take care while you're out.

Cynthia replied in her usual energetic way and Lorelei was as caring as always.

---3rd Person---

Voranis had already left for the florist and the food was almost ready so all that was left was to wait.

Cynthia: Grandma, have you met Kara yet?

Lorelei: No, this will be the first time but from what I've heard from Voranis, she's a very nice girl.

Cynthia: I see.

She sighed.

Lorelei: You can't force the matters of the heart Cynthia.

She put her hand on the young woman's shoulder.

Cynthia: I know but I wish I could have been in her place. Voranis is such a great guy...

Cynthia's heart had truly ached but she didn't want to show it so as to not worry Voranis.

Lorelei: I know you do dear and you're right, Voranis has helped me just by being here more than I could ever help him. Of course that goes for you as well. Don't sell yourself short.

The heart to heart conversation went on as Lorelei was cheering Cynthia up. It came to a stop when the doorbell rang.

...

Voranis was on his way back from the florist. He hummed softly as be walked but his peaceful mindset was disturbed by a scream.

He was close to home but decided to wear his armor after a quick glance for any onlookers.

Running towards the scream, he felt a pain in his stomach as he realized that the scream was originating from Lorelei's house.

He ran as fast as he could but his legs stopped right outside the house.

The screaming had ceased abruptly.

The flowers which he hadn't realized he was still holding were crushed by his grip. They fell from his hand and he slowly approached the door.

He felt his heart squeeze from fear and worry. His mind was urging him to find what was behind the door but a part of him was screaming 'don't' .

Temporarily suppressing every feeling, he rushed inside.

There in the living room, Lorelei was laying in a pool of her own blood. Numerous stabwounds covered her torso and her eyes were still wide open.

Feeling numb, he ran to the kitchen to look for Cynthia. Next to the kitchen table he saw a man sitting on top of the unmoving corpse of Cynthia as he kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing...

The bloodstained face of the man was locked in a constant state of elation as he stabbed. He noticed Voranis was standing there and without a word, he charged with the knife in hand.