Sunset Rising (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 5) (31 page)

A series of waiters proceeded around us as
Alton was presented with a bottle of vintage wine for his approval.
Our first course consisted of savory baked bread and salad accented
with fruits and nuts of the Mediterranean region.

“
This is really wonderful,
Alton,” I said. “Thank you for arranging this for us.”

“
My pleasure, dear boy,”
he said. “As fate may have it, our little trip paired quite nicely
with a meeting that we had today with—”

“
Dear, I’ll have no shop
talk at Thanksgiving dinner,” Dori admonished. “After all, this is
Caleb’s and our family night.”

“
What? Oh, certainly, my
dear,” Alton said.

I grinned at her with appreciation, to which
she inclined her head toward me.

“
I’m so happy that you
could attend, Dori,” Kat said, raising her wine glass in homage.
“You’re working veritable magic already this evening. Wouldn’t you
agree, Alton?”

Alton appeared momentarily flustered as he
raised his glass in kind. “Um, quite so.”

I adored Dori.

The main course of our meal soon arrived,
and I looked down at my platter-sized plate, arrayed with thick
slices of roasted turkey, herb dressing, garlic mashed potatoes,
grilled mixed vegetables, cranberry sauce, and a portion of sweet
potatoes in a glaze.

More fresh bread was brought to the table as
a server topped hot gravy upon my meat, stuffing, and mashed
potatoes.

I glanced aside to note that Kat’s plate had
everything except the turkey, though I noted what appeared to be
fresh fruit compote in place of it.

“
Oh, this is amazing,” I
said, breathing in the fresh scent of my food.

“
I’m happy that it meets
with your approval,” Alton said.

“
Truly, it’s perfect,” I
said. “Thank you, Alton.”

He smiled at me. “My pleasure. Happy
Thanksgiving.”

The food tasted so wonderful and flavorful
that I completely lost awareness of the otherwise scenic view
around me.

“
Caleb, what are you most
thankful for?” Dori asked.

“
Food aside, of course,”
Kat added.

Everyone laughed as I gave her a bland
look.

“
Each of you,” I said,
glancing at the two empty chairs across from me and feeling a pang
of sadness. “It’s definitely the people in my life that matter
most.”

“
Well said, Caleb,” Dori
said. “I feel much the same.”

After I finished cleaning my plate of any
remaining morsel of food, I leaned back in my chair.

“
Everything tasted
wonderful,” I said. “And yet, I can’t wait to see what’s for
dessert.”

“
Oh, I scarcely have room
left for that,” Dori said, sitting back from her plate, which was
still nearly a third full of food.

“
Do you hear that?” Alton
asked.

I looked at him. “Hear what?”

A helicopter quickly rose above the top of
the roof behind Alton, hovering in place.

“
What the he—” I started
to say.

Everything seemed to erupt all at once.

Black-clad figures leapt from an open door
at the side of the helicopter onto the roof.

Our guards immediately responded with
gunfire. My world spun as Kat grabbed my arm and rolled me onto the
decorative rug beneath us.

I raised my head in time to hear gunfire
erupting around me and see Kat moving in a blur toward the nearest
attackers.

Another helicopter appeared out of my
peripheral vision. More black-clad attackers sprang onto the
rooftop, some firing automatic weapons, while others bore
swords.

Dori threw her plate at an oncoming attacker
and engaged him with a table knife, though the figure slammed her
back onto the roof’s hard surface.

I scrambled to my feet, grabbing at the
upturned dining chair beside me. As Dori’s attacker pointed his
assault rifle at her, I swung the chair into an arc, slamming it
against him and knocking him aside. His rifle fired wildly as
rounds impacted the dining table beside me.

Dori was upon him like a feral cat,
repeatedly stabbing him in the neck with her table knife.

A metal door slammed open behind me,
followed by fresh gunfire, which I desperately hoped was ours. I
turned just in time to see Alton’s security detail engaging in the
foray.

Out of my peripheral vision, a figure rushed
toward me, and I spun to confront a sword-wielding attacker.

Luckily, my clumsiness kicked in at a timely
moment and I tripped, falling backward onto the roof’s surface. As
my assailant adjusted his attack, I swiftly kicked at his kneecap
and he fell to one side while howling in pain.

I reached out to wrestle the sword from his
hands and we battled for control. Unfortunately, he was a vampire
and I felt his strength quickly overtake my own.

“
Caleb!” Kat screamed from
somewhere nearby.

That’s when Dori appeared, firing a captured
rifle directly at the vampire’s head, which exploded in blood and
gore before me.

She swiveled her body to fire at other
attackers near us while I wrestled the sword from the dead
vampire’s grip.

Gunfire, shouting, and the sounds of battle
surrounded me.

“
Caleb, behind you!” Dori
shouted.

I pivoted with sword at the ready, slamming
the blade upward into the gut of an attacker who was swinging his
blade downward at me. The attacker’s blade cut into the roof’s
surface, very nearly slicing into my foot.

Dori fired two rounds, each impacting the
attacker’s head and neck.

I tried to extract my sword from the
vampire’s stomach as he toppled off to one side.

Looking up, I glimpsed Kat engaged in a
swordfight against two attackers simultaneously.

Things were frantic, though it appeared that
we had more forces on the roof than did our attackers.

My orientation faltered as another
helicopter rose from above the roof line to my right.

“
Guards! Concentrate fire
on the chopper!” Dori shouted.

A hail of gunfire impacted along the length
of the helicopter as its door opened, hitting some of the attackers
standing inside. The helicopter quickly veered away as two
assailants fell from the open doorway and disappeared amidst
screaming.

Then I caught sight of Alton, a sword in
each hand, engaged in combat with two attackers. His swords moved
in a blur.

An assailant slammed into Alton, knocking
him backward.

“
No!” I yelled, running
toward them.

Alton’s attacker held onto Alton’s tuxedo
jacket, pulling him beyond the roof’s edge.

I threw myself against the concrete parapet,
grabbing after Alton as he disappeared from view before me.

I clumsily grasped his wrist, even as his
weight pulled me further over the side with him.

Chapter 25

Caleb

A moment of vertigo washed over me. I felt
myself sliding over the roof’s edge, clinging to Alton’s wrist.

One of my legs managed to catch onto the
parapet. Pain instantly ripped through my shoulder from the yank of
Alton’s body weight.

I heard yelling and saw Alton’s attacker
plummeting downward even as I felt Alton’s hand grasping my
own.

Alton looked into my eyes with a horrified
wide-eyed look that I’d never seen on him before.

“
Hang on,” I said between
clenched teeth.

The problem was that I didn’t have the
strength to pull him up.

He seemed to grasp the situation rather
quickly and his eyes turned steely.

“
Caleb, you have to let me
go,” he said flatly.

“
N-no,” I stammered,
straining to hold onto him. “I won’t.”

“
You must,” he urged.
“You’ll die if you don’t.”

My eyes clouded with tears as I realized
that he was definitely right about that. I felt my leg slowly
losing its grasp on the parapet above.

They say that in times of danger, your life
flashes before your eyes, but it wasn’t true for me. I only felt
pain through increasingly blurry vision.

“
You’re family,” I rasped.
“I can’t lose you.”

“
But Katrina can’t
lose
you
,” he
said. “Let go. It’s okay, Caleb. It’s my time.”

No, it wasn’t okay. It couldn’t be his
time!

Not even close.

Not ever.

I loved Alton like the father I had always
wanted.

Suddenly, I understood the advice that
Father Brookins had given to me. I instantly realized that I knew
the person I wanted to be.

Alton let go of me and my sweaty hand began
losing its grip on his wrist.

“
No!” I yelled,
frantically struggling to tighten my grip.

Someone screamed from the roof above.

That’s when my leg slipped over the edge of
the roof and I felt my body drop.

My descent stopped abruptly and I was
hoisted upward.

“
Alton! Hold on!” Dori
yelled from above.

Alton’s gaze turned hopeful and his grip
instantly tightened around my wrist.

“
Hang in there, dear boy,”
he encouraged.

“
I have you!” Kat yelled;
her voice nearly a howl.

A high-pitched sound erupted in my ears as I
nearly blacked out from the unbearable pain shooting through my
shoulder, back, and neck.

The next thing I knew, I was lying on the
roof staring up into Kat’s horrified expression.

She pulled me into a tight embrace and I
sucked in air through my teeth.

“
Oh, Caleb, oh, Caleb, oh,
Caleb,” she chanted. “Are you insane?!”

“
Couldn’t lose Alton,” I
managed to say as I held onto her with my relatively uninjured
arm.

The sounds of chaos were all around us,
including the growing wails of sirens from below.

I heard Dori crying and glimpsed her and
Alton holding each other as if for dear life.

“
I know, I know,” Alton
said to her. “We’re okay now.”

Kat pivoted me into her arms and I lay
against her body. Alton’s gaze fell upon me and he stared at me in
a penetrating fashion.

He disengaged from Dori and moved toward
me.

He cradled my face between his hands. “Thank
you, my dear boy,” he said. “I will never forget what you did…or
what you said.”

I nodded dumbly.

“
And, I promise you, you
have a family for as long as you live,” he said.

Then he rose and took Dori in his arms in a
warm embrace.

“
I love you, Kat,” I
said.

“
I love you, you lunatic
of a man,” she replied, gripping me tightly in her arms. “But don’t
ever do something like that again.”

I didn’t have time to reply before one of
Alton’s guards squatted down beside us.

“
General, we managed to
capture one of the attackers,” he said.

“
Caleb, are you—” she
asked.

“
Go,” I said. “I’ll be
fine.”

“
You need medical
attention,” she said.

“
Don’t worry. I’ll see to
him,” Dori said, staring down at us.

Kat gently disengaged from me and stood
beside Alton.

“
Show us,” she
said.

They accompanied the guard to the other side
of the roof.

Dori squatted to help me stand while I
favored my injured shoulder.

We negotiated our way through dead bodies
and other carnage and debris. A growing sense of numbness set in as
we entered the stairwell leading from the roof.

Numerous individuals dodged by us, heading
upstairs, so we kept to one side of the stairwell.

As we proceeded onto one of the mid-floor
landings, someone ran squarely into me and hugged my body, sending
renewed discomfort shooting through my shoulder.

It was Paige!

“
We just got here and I
heard—” she said. “Is Red—”

“
No, she’s okay,” I said.
“We’re all okay. Well, I mean, except for some of Alton’s
vamp—”

“
All right, kiddo,” she
said. “Hush.”

“
Paige, listen, I’m so
sorry—”

“
Yeah-yeah, shut up now,”
she said, hugging me tightly. “You’re ruining my
moment.”

I wrapped my good arm around her and looked
over her shoulder at Ethan, staring at me with a concerned
expression.

“
Well, at least you’re
alive,” he said. “I’ll examine you soon. For now, I’d better go up
and see if anyone else needs aid.”

“
Hello?! Having a moment
here!” Paige exclaimed.

Ethan sped past us, headed upstairs.

Dori let out a nervous sigh and
chuckled.

My shoulder was throbbing with pain, but
pain be damned, I was so freaking happy to hold Paige in my
arms.

Chapter 26

Caleb

My life felt like an endless roller coaster,
complete with loops and inversions. And I was damned lucky that I
hadn’t fallen out of the cart yet, though that was certainly due to
the people in my life who served as my buzz bars.

“…
extremely lucky that he
didn’t break anything, much less require surgery,” Ethan
said.

“
He’s damned lucky he’s
still alive,” Kat added.

Over the past twenty-four hours, she had
spent equal parts holding me close to tell me she loved me and
alternatively chastising me for my heroic stunt on the roof of the
hotel to save Alton’s life.