Karma Bites (28 page)

I need you out of here, little one. I have a plan,
Dad’s voice echoes in my head.

“Please… help me,” I beg Gabe. “I have to save him.”

He almost looks sad when he says, “Let’s go. We need to hurry. We need to get you out of here.”

Gabe grabs my hand and we run over to Caleb. My legs ache, but it’s nothing compared to the brokenness I feel in my chest. The second we reach Caleb, I fall to the ground beside him. His clothes are filthy and half torn off him. I’m not sure what I see more of, blood, grime or dirt. His face is bruised, bleeding. One of his arms is clearly broken, bulging unnaturally. There are bite marks.
Bite marks,
all over his body. I’m not even sure when I started crying, but my tears are falling on him.

He’s been tortured. Not just beat up, but subjected to God knows what.

Because of me.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I mutter over and over again.
I
did this to him. It’s my fault he’s like this and I will never forgive myself for it.

Gabe lifts Caleb from under me, holding him on his shoulder. Caleb gasps in pain. His broken arm is hanging at a strange angle. I can hardly look. “Stop! Be careful. What are you doing?”

“We have to get out of here. Now!”

I look at the fight. “Will he be okay? We have to save my dad. I can’t leave him.”

“You have to! It’s what he wants!”

I don’t want to leave him, but I know Gabe is right. I promised Dad I would do as he said and how will it help him to worry about me? Plus he said he has a plan. I’m banking on that plan.

We run. Gabe is still faster than me, even though he’s carrying Caleb. I follow him out of the house and into the woods nearby. It’s as far as I will go, and I wonder if he knows that. I’m not leaving these grounds until I know Dad is okay.

We go a short way in, when Gabe stops, laying Caleb on the ground. Caleb groans. I drop to the ground beside him. Nothing else matters in this second. Not me or anyone else. There’s nothing but Caleb. I grab his hand.

“Please be okay. We’re going to take care of you. You’re going to be fine. I’m so sorry.” I don’t know where to touch him. I brush my hand through his hair and blood comes off. “Oh God.” I choke.

“Kit…Kitten?”

I sob. “Yes. It’s me. I’m here, Caleb. You’re safe.”

His eyes flutter, like he wants to keep them open, but can’t. His breathing is labored… so very slow. “Sorry…I… couldn’t…keep…you…safe,” he stutters.

I have never been more broken than I am at this second. “I’m okay. We’re okay. Both of us. I’m so sorry, I didn’t trust you. It’s my fault for not believing you.”

He shakes his head. His eyes are closed. “It’s cold.”

I lay down beside him, wrapping my arms around him and trying my best not to hurt him. The last time we were like this, we were kissing. He was telling me he would stay here for me. How could I ever have doubted him? “We’re definitely leaving Karma after this. You’ll go to college and I can finish high school. Even if we have to run away. I just want to be with you. Away from our past and the rest of this. You just have to be okay. Promise me you’ll be okay.”

He’s shivering. It’s hard for me to talk around my tears, but I’m trying to sound strong. To sound like I really believe what I’m saying.

“No… I’m going to die here…”

His breathing slows more. Each of his breaths pulls
something out of me, breaks me apart. “No. You’re going to be fine!” I sit up and turn to Gabe. “This is your fault! Help him. Make him better!”

His blue eyes say everything I don’t want to believe. “His heart is slowing, Abigail. He’s dying.”

“No! I hate you!” I hit Gabe. “Fix this! You make him better. If you ever cared anything about me, you make him better.” I can’t lose him. Can’t lose Caleb. Not after what he did for me. After how he makes me feel.

Gurgling sounds come from Caleb’s throat and I know it’s true. I fall against him, wailing. Each cry rips another hole in my heart. “It’s not fair. He can’t die. Please, Gabe. Please don’t let him die. You have to be able to save him. Caleb… don’t go. Fight. Please don’t leave me…”

Gabe kneels down beside me. “I… There might be a way.”

“How? Whatever it is, do it for him!”

More gurgling from Caleb.

“Not for him, but for you. If you want it.” The sadness in his voice has nothing on what I feel inside.

“I want it! I want anything. I just want him okay.”

Gabe looks as tense as I’ve ever seen him. “Are you sure? The only way to save him is to change him, Abigail. Do you want him enough to love him if he’s like me?”

Vampire. Caleb would be a vampire. But he would be alive! Kind of. Would he want that? Living off blood, not seeing the daylight, having to be invited in someone’s home? Honestly, I don’t know, but doesn’t he deserve the chance to make that decision? If he’s dead, there will be no options for him. He’ll be gone forever. He’ll leave me forever.

And someday, I might be a vampire too! We could be together. Really be together. Forever.

I look down at him. He’s still gurgling. His breaths still short, but he’s holding my hand. Actually holding it after everything I’ve done.

“Would you do it again, Gabe?” I ask, not taking my eyes off Caleb. “If you had the choice to make, would you do it again?”

He doesn’t hesitate when he says, “Yes.”

“Caleb? We can save you. Gabe, he can change you.”

Only he doesn’t reply. I’m not sure he can reply. I can hardly hear him breathe anymore. It feels like my heart is in pieces, breaking and crumbling at the thought of being without him. “Will you do it? Will you do it for me?” I ask Gabe.

“I defied my sire. Risked his wrath, because I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting you anymore. Don’t you know I would do anything for you?”

I close my eyes, Gabe’s pain becoming my own. In some ways, this all goes back to him, but in others, I know it would be much worse without him. I know his words are true. “I’m sorry.”

“Only you would be… You must make a decision. Time is running out for the human.”

I can’t let him die. Not after everything he’s done for me. Not with how much I love him. I only hope he won’t hate me for it. “Yes. Please, change him, Gabe.”

He opens his mouth and there are fangs inside. I know they weren’t there when he kissed me, but I’m glad they’re there now. Gabe pierces the flesh of his wrist with his teeth. Blood gushes from the wound, running down his arm. I’m dizzy, but I ignore it. “What do I do?”

“Tilt his head back. We need to get it down his throat.”

I use my fingers to tilt his head up, like he’s done to me so many times. Gabe’s wrist goes to Caleb’s mouth, dark, red liquid covering Caleb’s lips.

“Talk to him. Let him know you’re here. He needs to hear your voice. Tell him to drink.”

I lean down. “Drink, Caleb. Please drink. We’re going to make you better, but I need you to drink for me.”

Nothing’s happening.

“I don’t know… I don’t know if I’m strong enough. I’ve never done this before.” Gabe actually sounds nervous, anxious like this means something to him too.

Still, I ignore him, focusing on Caleb. “Caleb please. I need you… I love you… You have to drink for me.”

It feels like it’s been hours, but I know it’s only been seconds when his mouth starts moving. “That’s it. More, I need you to drink more.”

And he does. I see his throat constrict as he swallows Gabe’s…
blood.
Oh, God, he’s going to hate me for this, but I can’t regret it. “More, Caleb. Please take more.”

His hands grab Gabe’s wrist and he starts to suck harder. I can see how tight his grip on Gabe is. Caleb’s eyes jerk open, huge and wide, almost scared, but he keeps drinking.

Its minutes before Gabe starts to groan. “It’s enough.” He’s fighting to pull his wrist away.

“Shh…let go, Caleb. That’s enough.”

But he doesn’t. He squeezes tighter, keeps sucking.

“Caleb… let go,” I’m starting to panic as he keeps pulling at Gabe’s wrist.

Finally Gabe jerks backward, crying out in pain. At the same time, there’s a huge explosion from the house. We fall, sprawling against one another, to the ground. The shockwave knocks the breath out of me.

I claw the ground, trying to get up, half-staggering, running back towards the house. Dad, Dad…. until I see the house in the distance. The whole house is engulfed in flames. “Dad! Dad!” I run screaming, needing him with all my being.

And then I see the lone figure walking out of the wreckage.

Dad.

***

“Will he be okay?” I ask as I hold Caleb’s hand. He hasn’t woken up yet and we’re in Dad’s house.

“I don’t know. It takes a day or so to see if his body accepts the change. He needs rest.”

Caleb’s been screaming in pain for hours. It kills me each and every time. To hear him suffering, to see how much Isaac hurt him, to not be able to help him. All because of me. Caleb was kidnapped, tortured and now he’s painfully being turned into a vampire because of me.

Finally, Dad got Caleb to sleep. He’s been resting for almost an hour, but Dad warns me it’s not the end. Caleb will go through more before it’s over.

More pain because I didn’t trust him. Because I walked away from him like everyone else in his life.

“It’s not your fault, little one.”

I appreciate the thought from Dad. But it is my fault, and I know that. All it would have taken was for me to trust my eyes in the diner that day. He’d been so freaked out, but I was more scared of looking crazy than taking the time to see what was in front of me.

Dad leans down and kisses my forehead. “I love you.” It’s the first time he’s done that and I savor it. Savor him.

“I love you too, Dad.”

He walks out, and Gabe comes in the room as he leaves. We haven’t spoken since we left the woods a few hours before.

“I suppose you want some answers.” His voice sounds so different. Quieter…sadder.

“You think?” I say, frustrated at myself for the anger in my voice. He saved me, saved Caleb, and I know he’s in pain, but everything else? It’s going to be hard for me to forget it.

Gabe sits in the chair on the other side of Caleb’s bed. For the first time, I notice how pale he really is. How could I not have known? Did I know and just didn’t want to admit it? And Caleb. Will he be pale like that too?

“What I told you about my family is true. I just failed to admit it happened fifteen years ago. Isaac told me you were his family. That I was to get close to you, but not hurt you. I had no idea his plans. All I knew is I needed to get close to you, watch you and wait for his instructions.”

“Great. Glad to know my best friend only got close to me because I’m a job.” I’m still holding Caleb’s hand, unable to even look at Gabe.

“You were a job in the beginning, but not for long.”

I shake my head. I can’t hear that. Not right now. “So what was fake?”

“You got the job on your own. We didn’t run into each other by accident though. I put the idea in the human’s heads to put you in the kitchen every night. To let you off early. Not to disturb us when we talked.”