22. Kelli

22

KELLI

Kelli spent the rest of the night alone in the big, empty bed. She had no idea what was going on with Klaus . Why had he suddenly stopped, just as they were about to make love? And why had he abandoned her in the bedroom?

Was it something I did? Something I said?

She thought about going to him and trying to get some answers, but then she changed her mind. Whatever was going on with him, he clearly needed some space to deal with it. So even though she was aching to demand some answers, she decided to wait until the morning.

After a restless night of tossing and turning and getting almost no sleep, she woke to see that the bedroom window was clear.

At first, the implications didn’t register. All she thought was that it was a nice clear day and she could see the trees outside. Then , as she woke up more, she understood.

“ The snow—it’s gone,” she murmured. Getting out of bed with a shiver, she went to the window and looked out. Pine trees and a pale wintry sky greeted her eyes. They were no longer snowed in. Which meant that the Maximum Romance program must have ended.

Kelli looked for the robe that went with her black negligee. She’d hung it on the bedpost the night before, but it was gone. Instead , she found the elf dress and stockings hanging in its place, along with a new bra and a pair of panties that appeared to be just her size.

There were black Mary - Jane shoes to go with the outfit and she put it on, wondering if it was the same dress she’d worn yesterday or if it just looked identical. There was no way of knowing and she didn’t really care. Mostly , she wanted to see if Klaus was up and about and if he was ready to talk. Maybe they could finally shed some light on what had happened the night before. If he was willing to talk it out, they might even get past it.

She went out into the living room and saw the big Kindred sitting on the floor beside the couch. He had a brooding look on his face, which didn’t bode well for any frank and open conversation. Still , Kelli tried.

“ Hey , what are you doing down there?” she asked him. “ Why not sit on the couch? It would be much more comfortable.”

He glanced at the couch and made a face. There were dark circles under his eyes and it looked like he hadn’t slept a wink.

“ It just now reappeared. It’s been gone all night.”

“ So you’ve been sitting out here like this all night?” Kelli raised her eyebrows.

He shrugged.

“ It’s fine.”

“ No , it’s not!” Kelli couldn’t keep her feelings in check anymore. “ What happened last night? Why did you run off like that? Was it something I said?”

He shook his head tiredly.

“ No , sunshine. It’s all me.”

“ But what?—”

“ I really don’t want to fucking talk about it, okay?” he growled. Hoisting himself to his feet, he walked over to the front windows. “ Looks like we can get out of here now. If I can find any fucking clothes.”

“ I think the cabin left you some, but you’re not going to like them.”

Kelli pointed to the couch, where a neatly folded Santa suit had appeared, complete with a thick black belt and big black boots.

Klaus turned to look and gave a low, frustrated groan.

“ This fucking cabin! I swear to the Goddess if I could rate it I’d give it no stars!”

As if in answer to his voice, the cabin suddenly spoke.

“ We notice that the two of you have not consummated your relationship, as was expected during the Maximum Romance program,” it said in its soft, feminine voice. “ Could you please give an explanation for your non-consummation and subsequent distancing from each other?”

Kelli wanted an answer to those questions herself, but there didn’t seem to be any forthcoming—not from her Protector anyway.

“ Shut the fuck up,” he growled at the cabin irritably as he pulled on the Santa suit. Stomping to the door, he twisted the knob, clearly meaning to yank the door open and go.

But the door didn’t budge.

“ Please answer the query before you go,” the cabin said pleasantly. “ We cannot allow you to exit until we find out why our experiment has failed.”

“ Experiment ?” Klaus demanded, looking angrier than ever. “ You’ve been doing an experiment on us?”

“ We have,” the cabin acknowledged coolly. “ We wished to test the efficacy of using classic romantic scenarios in facilitating mating in real-life conditions.”

“ Which is a fancy way of saying you wanted to know if a plot from a Hallmark Christmas movie would really make people want to jump in bed together,” Kelli snapped, frowning.

“ Affirmative ,” the cabin’s voice said—though Kelli was beginning to think they were no longer talking to the AI that controlled the cabin. She had a sneaking suspicion it was the Questarion scientists they were conversing with.

“ We have been monitoring the broadcasts from Earth for centuries,” the voice continued. “ In the past few decades, we have become especially intrigued by the genre your people call ‘romantic comedies,’ especially the subgenre of Christmas rom-coms. We wished to learn if such scenarios would lead to actual mating behaviors but it appears that they do not if the two of you are any indication. If you would please clarify why you did not engage in coitus, we will allow you to go.”

“ So this whole fucking town is just a giant experiment,” Klaus growled. “ You just want to see if Christmas cheer will make people fuck!”

“ Essentially ,” the voice acknowledged coolly. “ Please answer the question—why did you not mate last night?”

Kelli looked at the big Kindred , but his jaw was set and it was clear he wasn’t going to say a thing. Well , maybe she could get some answers out of him later, when they were out of the Christmas Village . But for now, someone had to answer or the cabin would never let them out.

“ You can’t make people fall in love,” she said. “ It doesn’t matter how romantic a situation you put them in if there are barriers in the way—maybe something from their past that’s hurting them or stopping them from moving on…” She shot Klaus a meaningful look. “ Then they’re not going to er, ‘mate’ with each other.”

“ So internal stimuli plays a greater part in mating rituals than external stimuli for your species,” the voice said, sounding thoughtful.

“ Exactly .” Kelli nodded. “ Now could you please let us out? We need to get home.”

“ Certainly . We thank you for coming to visit the Christmas Village ,” the voice said as the door opened with a click. “ And we are sorry that your mating was a failure.”

Kelli was sorry too and she still didn’t know what was going on with Klaus .

But as they left the cabin behind, it seemed she wasn’t going to find out.

She waited as patiently as she could, walking through the empty Christmas Village in silence. Klaus was brooding and silent as they passed by the frozen pond where they had drunk hot chocolate the night before. He kept quiet as they walked past the shops and the massage parlor where he had rescued her from the crazy massage robot too.

Kelli waited as long as she could, but finally, when they were strapped into the long-range shuttle and he had taken off, leaving the planet behind, she turned to him.

“ All right—what happened?” she demanded. “ Why did you leave like that last night? I deserve an explanation.”

“ You do,” Klaus agreed stonily. He was staring straight ahead at the viewscreen. “ But you’re not going to get one.”

“ Why not?” Kelli asked. “ Please , Klaus —just talk to me. Whatever it is, I’m sure we can work it out.”

“ There’s nothing to talk about.” He still wouldn’t look at her. “ And I think it’s best that we ask Commander Sylvan to reassign us once we get back to the Mother Ship .”

“ What ? You don’t even want to work together anymore?” Kelli couldn’t believe it.

“ Sorry , sunshine. I just can’t.” He shook his head. “ I can’t be around you anymore. Not when…”

“ When what?” Kelli demanded, exasperated when he trailed off.

But Klaus only shook his head.

“ Can’t talk about it. Sorry .”

Kelli was so frustrated she wanted to cry. And in fact, a few hot tears did slip down her cheeks as they flew through the fold in space to get back home to the Mother Ship . What was going on with her Protector ? And why wouldn’t he at least tell her what the problem was?

There were no answers and nothing to do but try and hide her tears. The minute they landed, she unfastened herself and jumped up, ready to get away from the big Kindred . But as she was rushing to get out of the long-distance shuttle, Klaus’s deep voice stopped her.

“ Kelli ,” he said. “ Wait .”

Heart pounding, Kelli turned to him. Had he changed his mind? Was he going to tell her he loved her after all? Or at least tell her that he had made a big mistake and he didn’t want to be reassigned as someone else’s Protector ?

But when she looked at him, all she saw was regret written on his strong features.

“ Yes ?” she asked.

“ I’m sorry,” he said simply. “ So fucking sorry.”

“ And ?” Kelli waited. Was there more? Some kind of explanation for his hot and cold behavior?

But he only shook his head.

“ Just that. I’m sorry. I wish things were different.”

“ So that’s it?” Kelli glared at him. She was normally a happy and forgiving person, but at this point, she’d had it. “ You can shove your ‘sorry’ where the sun doesn’t shine!” she snapped. “ And don’t ever talk to me again!”

Then she left the ship and didn’t look back, even though she felt like her heart was dying inside her body and she was already starting to cry.