Sunset Rising (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 5) (2 page)

Kat frowned at me.

“
All right,” Paige said.
“You guys all harped on me to be on my best behavior. Just remember
that funny boy here was the one who weighed in with the
quips.”

I made a half-hearted attempt at a grin, but
I just wasn’t feeling it.

I’m a bonafide killer now. Just like the
vampires in my life.

There were no briefcase bombs this time, as
had occurred at the Slovene conference; the latest violence and
deaths had all been up close and personal.

My gaze shifted back to Kat.

She quietly rose from her seat and held her
arms open to me, her expression full of strength and
compassion.

I walked into her embrace, my arms
encircling her hips. She hugged me against her warm body, conveying
an immediate sense of comfort that permeated through me.

It felt amazing to hold her in my arms, much
less be held by her in return.

She kissed the top of my head. “Feeling
better, my love?”

“
Yeah, I’m okay,” I
replied.

Okay would have to
do;
better
was
going to take time.

It was a nice start, merely standing there
in her arms, safe and loved. I breathed in, reveling in her cherry
blossom fragrance.

She pulled away from me slightly to look me
in the eyes. “We’re here for you. You’re safe, and everything’s
going to be fine now.”

An aura of reassurance washed over me; the
tone of resolve in her voice sounded convincing.

I almost believed her.

“
Sure,” I said.

She held my face between her warm palms and
kissed me on the lips. I pulled her body against mine.

During my confrontation Friday evening, I
doubted such a simple act would’ve been possible for me again.

I’d expected the worst.

Thankfully, I’d been mistaken.

Kat stepped aside to let Paige and Alton
greet me in turn with an embrace and kind words of
encouragement.

Ethan shook my hand and warmly clasped me on
the shoulder. “You’re looking much better this evening.”

If I was truly better, it was due in large
part to their supportive presence, which was precisely what I
needed at that moment.

Paige cleared her throat and I turned to
look into her blue eyes.

She smiled and held up a can of Coca-Cola.
“I bet my boy’s thirsty.”

I grinned and accepted the soda from her.
“And maybe a little hungry.”

“
Yes, of course, you
should eat,” Alton said. “But let’s have a little chat about Friday
evening first, shall we? I’d like to listen to your recollections
of the event.”

Kat practically growled with displeasure.
“It can wait.”

“
No,” I said. “I’d rather
talk things out now and be done with it.”

As if I’ll ever be able to put what happened
Friday night out of my mind.

It felt as if it would haunt me forever.

Kat sighed, took me by the hand, and led me
over to the couch to sit down. Alton returned to his spot on the
recliner.

Ethan took a seat in the opposite recliner.
Paige popped onto his lap and affectionately draped her arms around
his neck.

“
Cute. Are you his
mannequin now?” Kat asked.

“
Oh, can it, Warrior
Princess,” Paige said.

I almost laughed at that.

Kat arched one of her eyebrows at me, so I
quickly took a swig of Coke. As if I were suffering a penance, the
cold fizzy liquid burned a path down my throat.

Alton stared at me. “Please, you may proceed
when ready.”

I took a deep breath while gathering my
thoughts.

“
I had just left the
store,” I said. “Roman needed cough drops.”

Then I stopped.

Roman.

“
Where’s Roman?” I asked
with a frown.

“
Upstairs sleeping off the
remainder of his illness,” Ethan said. “He’s fine. The vampire
blood Paige injected in him on Friday should finish clearing the
virus out of his system within the next twenty-four hours or
so.”

“
Roman will be fine,” Kat
said. “Now, you were saying?”

I took another deep breath and nodded.
“Yeah, I’d just left the store…”

It was much easier to recount what happened
once I started. The story practically poured out of me like water
through a floodgate.

Only it hadn’t been a story, unlike some
sensationalized thriller novel or movie; it had been real.

Throughout my ensuing narrative, the entire
experience replayed in my mind like a bad movie. I rose from the
couch and paced around the room, then sat down again.

Overall, it was easier to recount my
experience than I had expected, though no less emotional in
memory.

At least until I got to the combat portion
of the event. At that point, I struggled to describe the disjointed
images from my fight. I closed my eyes and rubbed my damp palms
against my jeans as I wrestled with my memories.

I concentrated so hard, I practically forgot
that anyone was there in the room with me.

I massaged my forehead with my
fingertips.

“
I’d thought I was
prepared for a fight with someone. Maybe even two people,” I said,
turning to stare at the nearby television, which had been muted.
“But nothing had prepared me for anybody like…them.”

When nobody said anything, I blinked. I
looked at Alton and focused my attention upon him.

“
There was something wrong
about the two of them,” I said. “Something not quite normal.
Something was off about them.”

“
Caleb, the mind can
create illusions under stressful circumstances,” Ethan
said.

“
No,” I insisted, rising
from my seat. “They weren’t
normal
people.”

I scanned the faces around me. Everyone was
frowning.

“
Look, I’m serious. I
wasn’t imagining it,” I said.

“
My love, nobody’s
implying that,” Kat said.

“
What do you mean
by
not normal
?”
Alton asked. “Describe what you mean by that in more
detail.”

I stood and quietly focused my thoughts
while slowly pacing the room, carefully formulating words in my
mind before saying anything further.

Then a sober realization struck me.

“
They were like me when I
was turning, just like back at the estate after you had injected
the vampire blood near my brain,” I said. “Only they were faster
and stronger…as if they were more stable than I had
been.”

“
Yeah, I thought their
bodies looked somewhat feverish,” Paige mumbled. “But the lightning
flashes were distorting everything, and besides, I was in a hurry
to handle things.”

“
Feverish?” Alton
asked.

“
Yeah, but it was really
subtle,” she said.

“
It’s a shame you didn’t
take any blood samples,” Ethan said.

“
Or finger prints,” Alton
said.

“
Maybe even a photo or
two,” Kat said.

Paige sprang to her feet. “Oh, screw you
guys and your damned CSI bullshit! I was trying to handle a dicey
situation with no less than a shell-shocked kid and a sweaty guy
who was the poster child for the plague.”

“
Kid?” I said. “Hey, I’m
twenty-seven, if you haven’t noticed.”

“
Enough,” Alton said.
“Paige, we’re not blaming you for anything.”

“
Hindsight is always
twenty-twenty,” Kat said.

“
And what’s not to like
about the sight of your hiney, Paige?” Ethan prompted.

Paige grinned. “Aw, now that’s my man.”

She returned to perch atop Ethan’s lap.

Kat stood up, walked over to me, and wrapped
me in her arms. “I’m so proud of you.”

“
I don’t know what for,” I
said.

“
You know, perhaps it’s
still not too late for the samples we need,” Alton said. “Paige can
lead us back to where she disposed of the bodies.”

“
Technically, we’re still
operating in a window where any blood samples taken will be highly
viable for testing,” Ethan said. “But I haven’t practiced in
Connecticut for a long time. I don’t currently have lab privileges
anywhere nearby.”

“
Fortunately, I have
access to a lab where I can overnight the samples,” Alton
said.

“
It sounds like a road
trip is in order, shorty,” Kat said, looking at Paige.

“
Just great,” Paige said.
“I’ve barely finished burying them and now we gotta go dig ‘em back
up again.”

Digging up dead bodies.

Bodies that I had killed.

I wasn’t a squeamish person, but the
prospect seemed somewhat grisly, no matter the necessity.

“
I need to get my shoes,”
I said.

Kat tightened her embrace around me. “You’re
not going.”

Part of me was more than happy to give in to
her declaration, but a nobler part of me didn’t want to be left
behind.

Alone.

An involuntary shiver ran through my
body.

Granted, Roman was upstairs, but somehow
that was neither reassuring nor comforting at the moment.

“
I don’t want to stay
behind,” I said.

I felt Kat’s chin settle on the top of my
head, though she didn’t press her full weight down on me.

“
All right,” she
said.

“
Good,” Alton said. “It’s
decided then.”

“
But not until Caleb gets
something to eat,” Kat said.

“
Hey, mothering me again,”
I warned, though my stomach betrayed me at that moment with a
resounding growl.

The profile of her face appeared in my
peripheral vision.

“
Oh, hush,” she whispered,
her warm breath tickling my ear. Then she kissed me lightly on the
cheek.

I couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

Before we left the house, Paige actually
took some hot soup and crackers up to Roman. Normally, I’d have
teased her a little bit about that, but I was too proud of her to
do that. It really was a nice gesture.

We stopped at one of the steak houses in New
Haven so I could have some dinner. The five of us were seated in a
large corner booth where I sat between Kat and Alton.

My hunger felt epic, so I ordered a complete
rib eye dinner while the others ordered salads. By the fourth salad
order, the waitress frowned and looked at me.

“
You must one persuasive
fellow to talk a group of vegetarians into coming to a steakhouse
for dinner,” she said.

“
I won the coin toss
tonight,” I said.

“
I guess you did,” she
said. “I’ll bring you some fresh rolls. Don’t worry, they’re
meatless.”

“
Well, snarkety,
snark-snark,” Paige said after our waitress walked away.

“
Oh, no,” I said. “She’s
snarking again.”

“
Yes, well, there will be
no further snarking at the table, thank you,” Alton
said.

“
Snark-snob,” Paige
muttered, to which Alton gave her a wan look.

Small talk ensued, which lulled me into a
comfortable state of mind. Being reunited with everyone raised my
spirits.

I leaned back against the booth cushion and
stretched my arm across Kat’s shoulders.

As much as anything, it felt so good to do
something semi-normal again. My life felt as if it had taken a
sharp turn into the Twilight Zone.

Well, at least the sense of normality might
last until we start digging up dead bodies.

I tried to put those thoughts out of my
head, and was relatively successful throughout most of dinner.
Instead, I focused on appreciating the company surrounding me.

Paige sullenly picked at her salad. “I don’t
see why we couldn’t have just picked up a burger for junior here
through a drive-thru and continued on our way.”

“
Yes, but this is nice,
isn’t it?” Ethan countered. “I mean, we don’t get to do this
together very often nowadays.”

I nodded. “Don’t I know it.”

“
The sooner we get out to
you-know-where,” Paige said, lowering her voice, “the sooner we can
start to figure out why Caleb was attacked.”

“
You know, it’s not so
much about why they attacked him, but who attacked him,” Kat
said.

“
Yes,” Alton said. “After
the Slovene conference, there’s more than enough
who’s
to pick
from.”

I fumbled with my fork, nearly dropping
it.

“
Look, can’t it wait for
just half an hour more?” I asked. “Let’s just talk about something
else.”

Kat patted me on the thigh. “Fine. What
would you like to talk about?”

“
I don’t know. Anything,”
I said. “The plural of moose.”

“
Easy,” Paige said.
“Mooses.”

Everyone stared at her.

“
What?” she said. “It’s
like fish and fishes, and goose and gooses.”

“
The plural of fish is
fish,” Kat said.

“
And the plural of goose
is geese,” Alton said.

Paige shook her head. “Fine, so it’s meese
then.”

I laughed. “No, it’s moose.”

She frowned and looked at Ethan, who smiled
and nodded.

“
Whatever,” she said,
folding her arms before her. “Who the hell cares about moose
anyway? Pick another damned topic.”