Fatal Attractions [Charles Xavier | Book One]

Chapter 8: Late Night

        Kat had lived all of her life thriving in the dark. It was when the sun came down that she'd always been able to hide best, using the night to her advantage like she had come to rule in it. It was under the moonlight that she found her way around the cities and unlit towns she had found herself in before, and it was moonlight gain that she followed to lead her through the mansion as the light of it pooled through the windows lining the outermost corridors. 

        Kat found Charles's room easily once upstairs, for she could see the faintest glow of golden light shining from beneath only one wooden door. Kat approached it with silent footsteps on the decorative carpeting that lined the hallway like a walkway, steady on her feet with her tail swaying behind her. One by one she could feel the presence of Erik and Moira's minds as she passed further down the hall.  

        Just as she raised her hand to knock gently on the door, it flung open, making her gasp until she saw Charles standing there in the now open doorway.

        "Well, don't you look lovely." Charles glanced her up and down with a smile on his lips that was more amused than flirtatious. 

        "Why, don't you look handsome?" Kat shot back playfully without thinking, though she was completely aware of what she wore. She was rather comfortable in the black cotton shorts and white t-shirt Raven had given her. Charles looked rather comfortable in his matching blue pajama pants and button-up shirt.

        "Thank you, they are rather comfortable, actually."

        Kat looked up and their eyes met. Charles only continued to smile as he stepped back to allow her room for entry; an offer she took immediately. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you couldn't help doing that."

        Charles closed the door behind her. "Sorry, force of habit. I'm surprised you're doing so well with it." He walked to the grand bed in the room instead of the two seats before the lit fireplace, seating himself as he looked at her to join him. "You're quite lucky. It took me years to fully understand what was happening. I thought I was going crazy until I realized that the voices weren't in my head; they were in everyone else's."

        "Call me a fast learner." Kat sat down at the end of the bed, turned so that she could face him. "Charles. . . Can I ask, how old were you when you got your powers?"

        Charles smiled like he knew it was coming—and he probably did. "I was nine," he answered truthfully. "It took me years to come to understand that I wasn't insane but rather more evolved. From then on, I was fascinated and eager to find anyone out there like me."

        "Did you know before you met Raven in the kitchen?" Kat asked.

        "Yes, but I was twelve and she was the first other mutant I met," Charles answered, then gave a confused look at Kat for a moment.  She could actually feel him searching through her mind in an attempt to find out how she had known about that. "Raven told you—"

        "Raven told me many things, yes," Kat rushed before he could get upset. "We were talking, and I told her things about my past. It was to help us, you know, to underst—"

        "Understand each other, yes." Charles finished for her nodded, looking at her like he was evaluating her, contemplating something. "But you didn't tell her your name," Charles added, "Christiana."

        Kat's back straightened at the mention of her real name, the one she had let go of many years ago when she'd been given the nickname "Kat" and had only private chosen to put it on her government documents. Kat's tone was hard. "That's none of your business."