Did It Hurt? (bxb)

XXII

Meanwhile, at the other end of the forest, Olivia was annoyed.

They had been walking for hours, supposedly following Simon's trail (or "scent" as Raja had put it) and she just wanted to go home. In her human life, on a night like this, she would be in her bed, under the covers with a bowl of popcorn and the whole first season of Gossip Girl on DVD. Instead, Olivia had spent the last few days not only being dead,-sometimes it was still a shock to her-, but she had hung out with people she hated when she breathed air. They trudged along in the woods, and no matter how far they walked, nothing came up. Lexi walked next to Raja, yipping every now and then, trying to lighten the mood, but everything was still tense.

"Hey."

Olivia turned. The ghostly figure of Mikaela Johnson stared at her with a frown. "What?" Olivia deadpanned.

"Why are you helping us?" Mikaela asked. She floated over a rut in the ground. Her small abilities annoyed Olivia even further. Sure, she was immortal and forever young, but that didn't make her two left feet vanish. And after all this time, she'd thought that vampires were supposed to be nimble. The ghost continued. "You don't even like Simon. If it were up to you, you'd be at home right now, lavishing in your new life style. So why are you here?"

Olivia's resting bitch face remained. The sticks were brutally broken underneath her stomp that was rougher than necessary. "I don't have to answer to you."

"Actually," Mikaela stopped floating and crossed her arms. The vampire turned to look at her, ceasing her walking as well. "I think you do. If you couldn't already tell, Simon is in love with you. And knowing who you are, I know you don't return the feelings."

"'Knowing who you are?'" Olivia retorted. "What does that even mean?"

"It means you're cruel," Mikaela answered. "Ever since day one you've been nothing but rude to Angel and I. You acted all high and mighty just because we had no idea what your social standing was." Her hands moved to her hips. "Then you act all jealous over Angel and Oliver like you're still hung up on him... It's not fair to Simon, Olivia."

"What?" Olivia snapped. "I'm not allowed to love someone else just because Oliver's younger brother is in love with me?" She was aware that the wolf pack was leaving them behind, and if they didn't catch up soon, they'd be lost, but right now Olivia was too angry to care.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were toying with him." Mikaela accused. "Everybody who watches him with you can tell he's madly in love. Simon couldn't keep that secret even if he tried. But you just keep leading him on. Any other person would've let him know that they didn't feel the same right away. Instead, you choose not to take his feelings seriously. What? Do you just enjoy the attention or something?"

"You don't understand." Olivia responded hotly.

"What is it?" Mikaela sighed. "And don't say that you hate him because I know for a fact that isn't true. You were the one who told all of us that he could defend himself when we were worried, and when Simon stormed out of the Bed and Breakfast, we all thought it would be better to give him space, you were the only one to go after him. What's up with that?"

Olivia clenched her teeth. "I just know what it's like to have a family who keeps secrets from you."

"Nice, Baker." The ghost deadpanned, "Really nice."

The bushes behind Olivia rustled. She turned, and the wolf Raja called Zydega emerged. Though he wasn't in human form, the expression on his face was enough for Olivia to tell that he was not amused. "If you're done with your bickering," he said, annoyed. "Raja has found what he believes to be Salju's last known location."