Sunset Rising (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 5) (12 page)

“
I’m too busy to sort out
anything outside of my daily schedule,” I said.

“
Take a weekend out of
town,” she suggested. “Hell, take a week. That’s what I’d do. In
fact, I’ve done that a couple of times in the past and it really
helped. Get away from all of the crap and distractions and just
find some place quiet to contemplate. Imagine what your life might
be…make different plans, or just think about your life and dream
about something more. It’s the whole Ebenezer Scrooge thing; what
might your life be if you made big changes in it? You’d be amazed
how quickly things come into perspective after that.”

I had to admit that her idea was very
tempting and sounded remarkably therapeutic.

“
I like the idea, but I
don’t even know where I’d go,” I said.

“
Pick someplace you’ve
been before. Like, try somewhere that makes you feel like you
wanted to stay there forever,” she said wistfully.

I frowned at first, but then actually
considered the possibilities.

It sounded rather tempting.

“
Kat and I went camping a
few times,” I said. “It was amazing…the whole world just melted
away while we were there.”

She shook her head. “My idea of camping out
for a grand escape is a five-star hotel, sunny days around a pool,
and endless room service. Oh, and great shopping nearby, too. Maybe
a spa.”

I smiled. “You are such a diva.”

She adopted a haughty expression. “Dah-ling,
I put the divine in diva. Luxury is becoming on me.”

Our food arrived and further conversation
subsided as we ate, though my mind was racing with what she had
suggested. Could I really just pack a bag and take off for a few
days?

Kat would never permit it; especially not by
myself. I’d definitely have to haul both Roman and Paige across
country with me.

All prospects of blissful solitude quickly
evaporated over that realization.

“
I feel sort of like a
prisoner in my own world sometimes,” I said.

She stared into my eyes with a serious
expression. “Yeah? Well, if that’s true, then escape from it. As
your self-appointed warden, I’m officially giving you a deferred
sentence.”

I gave her an appreciative look. “Thanks, I
appreciate the sentiment, at least.”

“
Sentiment, my ass,” she
said. “Since when does your own personal sanity have to take a back
seat to everything—hell, everyone—else?”

Her words echoed in the back of my mind
throughout the remainder of our meal.

After we finished eating dinner, we
exchanged a lot of small talk about classes, movies, and a host of
quickly forgotten topics. However, my mind kept wandering back to
contemplations of a brief escape from my daily grind.

Did I really want my life to keep going on
like it had been? It might be months…or even years…before things
changed.

Then again, what if things never did
change?

That prospect sent a chill down my
spine.

No…I didn’t want that for myself.

Or did I?

“
Hey, dessert or not?”
Chance asked. “Or is your silence implying that I’m already getting
too fat?”

“
Huh? Nah, not for me,” I
said, snapping back to the present. “You go ahead.”

“
On second thought, the
calories won’t be as appreciated while stapled to my butt,” she
said.

“
What’s with the sudden
worry over your body? You look great. You’re an attractive
woman.”

She appeared amused. “Thank you. I didn’t
think you noticed.”

“
Sure, I noticed,” I said.
“Hell, you should see all the heads you turn on campus.”

There was little doubt that Chance was an
attractive woman. Never mind that both Anthony and Trey from our
hangout group had both openly commented on that fact, as well.

She adopted a shy expression. “Well, I was
asked out twice on the same day last week, now that you mention
it.”

“
Cool. See?”

“
Yeah, you’re right,” she
said. “Bring on that raspberry cheesecake. Wave down our waiter
before I lose my nerve.”

I said goodbye to her in the parking lot and
walked in the direction of my neighborhood while turning up the
collar of my leather jacket against the chill air.

It didn’t take long for Paige to catch up to
me.

“
So, how was dinner with
Miss Cheesecake?”

“
Stalker,” I said. “And
shut up; you love cheesecake like nobody else I know.”

“
Hey, I’m supposed to keep
an eye on you, remember?” she asked. “I’m supposed to be
stalkery.”

“
That’s not a
word.”

“
Give it a rest, Mister
Webster.”

What I wouldn’t give to have just one
weekend that didn’t involve people watching over everything I did
or everywhere I went.

Chance’s getaway suggestion quickly returned
to the forefront of my mind.

“
What’s with bein’ all
broody, kiddo?” Paige asked. “Don’t tell me Miss Fashion Statement
actually said something that caused you to light a brain
cell.”

“
What is it with you and
Chance?” I asked. “She’s never done or said anything wrong to you
that I can recall.”

“
Call it intuition. Never
liked her; never will,” she said.

“
Yeah, well, she’s still
my friend, so at least try to be civil.”

“
Fine, no more taunting
the rich girl from Easy Street,” she said.

It struck me as both weird and slightly sad
over how we all walk through life with so many misperceptions about
the people around us.

As we continued our walk home, I
contemplated that and a host of other things. Although one topic in
particular, the prospect of a reflective weekend getaway, loomed
heavily in my thoughts.

* * *

One week passed as my research into the
history of those who studied blood diseases in early twentieth
century Europe continued. I secured three promising obscure texts
through interlibrary loan.

All that I needed was the spare time to read
through them.

Roman persisted with our daily regimens of
combat training, as well as the additional things that Alton wanted
me to practice. Fortunately, my classes entered a lull of sorts, or
as much of a lull as graduate courses could offer.

The fall season was in full swing, and I
reveled in the cooler temperatures and colorful foliage. That more
than anything made me pine away for a camping retreat.

But perhaps more than that, I craved time
alone. I wanted to contemplate my future with Kat and all the
prospects that went with it.

The urge to board the nearest bus bound for
anywhere gnawed at me like a powerful obsession.

I steeled my resolve and resisted the
temptation, though only barely assuaged by the looming Thanksgiving
break that I highly anticipated.

“
My Thanksgiving break is
coming up in a couple of weeks. Are we going to be able to have
everyone over at our home in Georgia?” I asked Kat during one of
our rare phone visits.

It felt as if I hadn’t been at our home in
Pine Valley, just outside Atlanta, in years as opposed to merely
months.

“
I’m not sure that’s going
to be possible, Caleb,” she replied.

“
Well, where then?
Here?”

Her lengthy pause wasn’t encouraging.

“
It may need to be here in
London,” she said. “I’m not sure that we can venture far from
things at this time.”

“
They don’t celebrate
Thanksgiving in the UK,” I said. “Can’t we at least have it here in
New Haven.”

“
I wouldn’t oppose you
spending Thanksgiving in New Haven,” she said. “Although Alton and
I may not be able to attend.”

I felt stunned. She knew
how important the holidays were for me. It was
our
special time
together.

“
I don’t understand this,”
I said. “Why must our entire lives revolve around vampire
politics?”

“
Caleb, there’s much more
at stake than politics.”

“
You two aren’t the only
ones in London, you know,” I said. “You’re supposed to be
surrounded by competent people. Or at least that’s what you’ve
tried to convince me of in the past. Were you just saying that so I
wouldn’t worry?”

“
My love, you don’t
understand—”

“
How am I supposed to
understand when you won’t actually tell me anything about what’s
really going on there? I mean, seriously, how am I—”

“
Caleb.
”

I curtailed a further tirade upon hearing
the steely tone in her voice.

“
What?”

“
We can have Thanksgiving
here,” she said. “The entire menu can be traditional American
cuisine, and I’ll ask Ethan to fly over with you and Paige. You can
even invite Roman if you like.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
At least we weren’t cancelling the holiday altogether.

“
Sure, I suppose that
works,” I said.

In truth, it wasn’t what I would have
preferred, but my life had devolved into an endless series of
distasteful compromises over recent months.

“
There, it’s settled,” she
said, her tone lighter. “We’ll chat more soon about the details,
though we only have a few days remaining before we need to solidify
plans. That will give you time to organize the guest list. Now I
have to join Alton for a meeting with some prospective business
associates.”

We said our goodbyes pleasantly enough, but
I still felt both unsettled and annoyed by the time I hung up the
phone.

For a supposed compromise, my prospective
Thanksgiving plans still felt like a crappy deal.

It was in that moment that I determined it
was time for me to make some decisions about the rest of my life,
including the future of my relationship with Kat.

A queasy feeling formed in the pit of my
stomach over where those deliberations might lead, and I nearly
changed my mind. But my future was worthy of more than just taking
the easy route; the path of least resistance was no longer good
enough for me.

It occurred to me that there had been a time
in the not terribly distant past when that wasn’t necessarily true.
Whether due to low self-esteem or the strong desire to be with Kat,
it wasn’t that long ago that I would have caved in to nearly any
demand.

But circumstances had evolved.

Or, just perhaps, I had evolved.

No matter the reason, the undeniable fact
remained that life was too short for me as a human to settle for
less.

Chapter 10

Caleb

The next morning, I abruptly awoke in a cold
sweat in the middle of a particularly bad dream, convincing me more
than ever that my life was too overwhelming for my own good.

There was no way that I could endure yet
another day working on my doctoral thesis, or facing endless
reading and assessment assignments, much less what felt like a
perpetual regimen of extreme sports training combined with mixed
martial arts.

Today was a day for self-preservation.

Normally, this would be the point where Kat
would divine that something was wrong and she’d take me aside so
that we could quietly discuss the matter.

But she wasn’t there.

Worse, I was rarely able to speak to
her.

Hell, I was lucky to work in occasional text
messages, or the even rarer phone call. Even when we did chat, we
felt so removed from each other; she remained steadfastly
tight-lipped about what she had been doing.

Her daily life was practically a mystery to
me.

It scared me to admit that sometimes it felt
as if she and I were growing more distant with each passing
week.

I wasn’t so dim to realize that she was
probably avoiding such topics because everything she was up to was
dangerous. I felt certain she didn’t want me to worry about her, or
permit myself to become distracted from my own endeavors.

However, the truth was that, if this was
what our lives were relegated to, it seemed like no quality of life
at all for either of us.

Hell, all I really wanted was to be with
her. But each day that possibility seemed more and more remote,
becoming like some sort of daydream.

Sometimes it felt like our relationship was
evaporating before us.

A rapid series of heavy knocks on my bedroom
door made me jolt upright in bed.

“
C’mon lazybones,” Roman
demanded. “Outta that rack and down in fifteen minutes or you’ll do
laps this evening.”

“
Right,” I
groaned.

“
Hurry it up!”

“
Oh, stick it,” I muttered
under my breath, throwing the sheet off of me.

The cool air assaulting my sweaty skin sent
a shiver through my body.

Although I had formed a strong respect for
Roman, in recent months he’d practically morphed from an
instructive bodyguard into an insufferable drill sergeant.

I squinted my eyelids shut and grit my
teeth.

“
This shit really
sucks.”

As I leaned over the bathroom sink and
splashed warm water on my face, I momentarily struggled to remember
what day of the week it was. Lately, they all felt the same.

Downstairs, Paige was finishing putting on a
set of black motorcycle leathers and gloves.