Sunrise at Sunset (49 page)

She patted his hand supportively in hers and considered the issue in a more positive manner. “Well, now you won’t need a part-time job, and we’ll have a lot more time together,” she noted aptly. “And no more commute times between seeing each other, either.”

“Okay, but only if I can contribute something,” he tentatively agreed.

“Oh, don’t worry. She’ll make you do all the housework!” Paige yelled from the other room. “Trust me, I know!”

Katrina rolled her eyes and shouted, “Thanks for your input, Paige!”

Caleb chuckled, but Paige continued speaking, evidently recollecting a conversation from her past. “‘Oh, it’s no problem, Paige. Just come live with me, and I’ll train you and everything,’” she called from the other room. “One week later, I’m practically wearing a maid’s uniform for nearly six years!”

Katrina shot off the bed and yanked open the bedroom door. “That was in lieu of an apprenticeship fee,” she corrected with a sardonic grin. “And you never wore any uniform. Besides, there was free room and board, if I recall correctly. Not to mention the free combat training, financial advisement, and even a small nest egg to get you started.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true,” Paige conceded with a giggle.

Katrina rolled her eyes and quickly returned to Caleb. She left the bedroom door open, all pretense of privacy lost with a vampire in the next room anyway. “So, what do you say?” she asked hopefully.

“Better say yes, or she’ll be completely unbearable,” Paige muttered from the other room. “Besides, I’ll come in there and bite you in the neck if you say no.”

He grinned and nodded. “I’d be honored to move in with you, Kat.”

Katrina smiled and drew his body against hers affectionately.

“But I’m going to transfer part of my paycheck to you every month just to help pay for utilities, and I’ll buy all the groceries since you really don’t eat,” he insisted quietly.

“That’s fine,” she whispered in response. She was so relieved and pulled away from him far enough to kiss him warmly on the lips. A satisfied feeling flowed through her as she contemplated the large emotional leap she’d just taken with him. It had been a very long time -- decades, in fact, since sharing living space with someone.

“You should’ve held out for a lump-sum nest egg settlement,” Paige muttered from the other room over the sound of the television. “Or maybe a new car?”

“Oh, would you please shut up!” Katrina snapped in exasperation as she pulled her lips from Caleb’s.

He fell backwards onto the bed laughing.

After a few minutes, Paige grew bored watching television while Caleb gathered more belongings in the bedroom.

“Got any spare pints of blood around here?” she called from the living room as she got up from the couch and moved to the refrigerator. “I’m hungry.”

She opened the refrigerator door and immediately stared at a white dinner plate with a human heart and pair of human eyeballs staring at her from underneath some clear plastic wrap.

“Oh crap,” she muttered under her breath, and then quickly shut the door. “Katrina, get in here,” she whispered in a quiet, lethal-sounding voice.

Katrina heard the hard whisper from Paige. She rose from where she sat on the bed watching Caleb, while also considering the new step they would be taking in life together. She was so pleased he had agreed to move in with her, particularly considering that she had bitten him while sleeping.
Of course, I still need to work through that issue
, she considered.

“Why don’t you finish gathering up some things, and I’ll be in the other room?” she suggested as he smiled up at her. “And don’t worry. We’ll make plans to move you out of here fully before you have to return to work in January.”

She walked quickly from the bedroom and into the kitchen until she was standing next to Paige with a frown and a penetrating expression. She didn’t like the hard look on Paige’s face, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Paige silently opened the refrigerator door to let Katrina get a look for herself. Her jaw tightened angrily, and her eyes flared bright green. Paige closed the door gently. Katrina’s eyes darted to the freezer, and Paige shook her head, indicating she hadn’t looked yet.

Katrina opened the freezer door, and both vampires noted that among a couple of frozen dinners and a carton of ice cream was an eyeless man’s head wrapped in clear plastic wrap. Katrina glared at the shorter vampire with a steely gaze, unhappiness plainly evident on her face. She recalled the gruesome photos that Chimalma had emailed to Caleb and realized they likely involved the body parts before her.
Poor bastard
, she mused.

“A Chimalma calling card, if ever I saw one,” Paige whispered in a nearly inaudible tone.

Katrina nodded and closed the freezer as she stole a glance back towards the bedroom where Caleb was still picking through clothes. “She may have done it sometime after we killed Maddox,” she whispered coldly. “Although we didn’t exactly look in the refrigerator the last time we were here, either.”

“Well, we can’t call the police,” Paige whispered. “But somebody’s going to be missing this guy, whoever he was.”

“Better to never turn up than to turn up like this. We’ll dispose of everything,” Katrina replied and gestured with her head towards the bedroom. “And not one word to him about this, either.”

“Katrina, he’s a lot heartier than you give him credit for, believe me,” Paige disagreed. “He’s an adult, you may have noticed.”

“I’m not letting Chimalma terrorize him, not even from the grave,” Katrina whispered vehemently, although she recalled her recent Chimalma-related nightmare and the horror of having attacked Caleb in her sleep. “Besides, you’ve seen some of his reactions recently. And what about the mall tonight? He’s probably still wondering if some stray mercenary that Chimalma hired is going to pop out of a dark corner,” she added after quickly moving past her previous dark thoughts.

“Him or you?” Paige countered pointedly in a whisper.

Katrina winced slightly. “Okay, I deserved that. Maybe both of us right now, I suppose. I just don’t want him thinking about this, too.”

“Hey,” Paige offered supportively. “I’m not saying you’re wrong about stray mercenaries.”

“I know,” Katrina acknowledged. “I’m just feeling a little protective right now with all that’s happened. I won’t lose him, Paige. He means too much to me now.”

Paige nodded her understanding and sighed with resignation as Katrina walked across the apartment to the bedroom door and peered inside.

“Caleb, where are your trash bags?” she asked casually from the doorway.

“Oh, under the kitchen sink,” he said.

“Great, thanks,” she replied with a reassuring smile before rushing back to the kitchen.

Paige was already pulling the trash bags out as Katrina whispered, “Everything in the refrigerator and freezer goes, and we’ll triple-bag the body parts.”

“Is everything going okay out there?” Caleb called from the bedroom.

“No problems here, kiddo,” Paige replied. She whispered to Katrina, “Go keep him occupied. I’ll take care of this.”

Katrina gave an appreciative half-smile, bent over to kiss Paige with a quick, sisterly peck on the cheek, and whispered, “Thanks, Paige. I owe you more than you could know.”

Paige smiled supportively and nodded as Katrina went to occupy Caleb. “Friends may help move furniture,” she muttered quietly. “But best friends help dispose of body parts.”

Katrina entered the bedroom again and tried to look nonchalant as she pushed the door mostly closed behind her. She scanned the room to check on Caleb’s progress. Most of the clothes were on the bed, and he was picking up fragments of a broken mirror off the floor around the dresser.

He walked past her towards the bathroom and glanced out through the crack left in the doorway. In those brief seconds, he noticed Paige putting things into trash bags, though from where exactly he wasn’t certain.

He picked up the small trash can from the bathroom and started back across the room. Slowing as he neared the door, his eyes darted to the small opening between the door jamb and the door again. Once more, he was unable to tell exactly what Paige was working with, and he frowned.
What’s she up to out there? The kitchen looked okay for the most part.

His eyes slowly drifted to Katrina, and she stared back at him intently. Her expression wasn’t predatory, exactly, just intensely watchful. It was as if she were studying him and waiting for some action on his part before moving. He slowed to a stop and just stared back at her with a non-challenging intensity.

He’s dying to know what Paige is doing
, she considered.

“Maybe an early Christmas gift waiting for me out there?” he ventured.
Something bad?

But she merely stood statue-still and stared at him, although he could have sworn he saw her jaws clench slightly. Something told him to tread carefully.

He moved very slowly past her on his way back to the dresser, his eyes never leaving hers. He turned his back to her and began gingerly picking up pieces of broken mirror and dropping them into the wastebasket on the dresser countertop beside him.

“I’m learning to play nicely,” he muttered quietly.
Rather, I’m learning to pick my battles carefully
.

Katrina watched him for a moment and read his body language.
He knows somehow
, she considered silently,
and he’s giving me a pass on the matter
. A satisfied smile played across her lips.

He felt her arm reach around his waist from behind and enjoyed her breath against his left ear. The warmth of her body penetrated soothingly through the back of his shirt. He loved the feeling of her body against his.

“But you don’t always have to play nicely,” she whispered seductively. “I really enjoy playing games with you, my love.”

A shiver went up his spine, and he smiled as he resumed dropping broken pieces of glass into the wastebasket. Her right hand began helping pick up pieces of glass from around the periphery of his body as she still held onto him with her left arm.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he offered quietly. “But I’m trying to learn when to play versus when not to. I don’t like our occasional disagreements.”

“Misunderstandings,” she corrected him in a soothing whisper.

He frowned at the semantics as a quiet moment passed between them. “I love you,” he whispered finally. “And I don’t want to disappoint you.”

Her hand grasped his right wrist as he started to pick up another piece of broken glass, and she smoothly turned him around to face her. He noticed a small smile formed at the corners of her mouth, almost as if she were pleased with something. She slowly, but firmly pressed her lips to kiss his. In return, he reached up to massage the back of her head and neck and gently ran his fingers through her long, red hair.

“I love you too,” she whispered as their lips parted. “And thanks for playing nicely tonight.”

There was a rapid knocking at the bedroom door, which startled him with a jolt.

“I’m going to run some things down to the dumpster,” Paige announced. “Then can we please go? Hello? Starving vampire here. Villagers in imminent danger soon!”

Caleb grinned as Katrina chuckled and shook her head.

Chapter 13

Surprise Guest

C
aleb never determined the nature of the concern shown by Paige and Katrina at his apartment, but over the next couple of days he felt a change in their behavior. He wasn’t able to put his finger on it exactly, but they seemed more attentive to his location in and around the house. Thinking he was being paranoid, he tested the idea one afternoon by waiting until both vampires were in different areas of the house. He went into the basement where the wine and spare blood supplies were kept, shutting the door to the kitchen behind him. There he remained, quietly reading a book while perched on the edge of the workbench tabletop. After approximately twenty minutes, he heard the door at the top of the stairs tentatively open.

“Hey, kiddo?” Paige inquired.

“Yeah?” he replied nonchalantly.

She paused. “Everything okay down there?”

“Uh, sure,” he said. “You need me for something?”

Another pause. “Nah, just a whim, that’s all.”

The door closed, leaving him sitting once more in silence. He considered the brief exchange, knowing he’d been correct.
It’s not paranoia if people are actually looking for you
, he resolved.

He set his book aside and folded his arms before him while thinking about his new revelation. He’d had enough of feeling paranoid about possible threats in his life. Clearly, Katrina and Paige still harbored some concerns for his safety, even following Chimalma’s death.

He had hoped that with Chimalma dead they could go back to the life that he and Katrina had been living. Instead, he still peered around corners for potential assailants.
A life lived in fear is no way to live at all.
He considered perhaps Alton was correct. Until he conquered his fear he wouldn’t be able to be a better mate to Katrina. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to appreciate life truly, either.

Leaving his book on the tabletop, he walked purposefully up the stairs to the kitchen. He proceeded resolutely to the front entry area, calmly opened the coat closet, and slipped his leather jacket on. Then he unlocked the front door.

Fortunately, Katrina had ceased programmatically locking the doors, confident both she and Paige could address anyone who might attempt a forced entry. She no longer considered that someone might try to exit the house unannounced. He smiled as he opened the front door to reveal a western sky with the afternoon sunshine streaming in. A double beeping noise from the house alarm indicated the door had been opened.

It’s time for me to do what Alton told me before leaving: confront my fears firsthand.

While chatting in the sublevel room, Katrina’s and Paige’s gazes abruptly met at the sound of the double beep. Katrina’s eyes then shot to the security system monitor next to her to see Caleb exiting through the front door.

“Caleb!” she shouted as both vampires ran to the stairs in a blur rivaling the ability of a human eye to track.

Katrina beat Paige to the doorway and into the hallway of the main level, though Paige was close at her heels.

“Caleb!” Katrina shouted again as she ran.

They both raced towards where the sunlight was bathing the entry, heedless of the impending pain. But the front door closed in front of them, protecting them from harm.

Paige’s eyes were wide as Katrina sped to the front door, slamming the flat of her hands against the solid wood and yelling, “Get back here, Caleb!”

When Katrina turned around, her eyes were blazing green with anger.

As Caleb casually walked down the steps to the driveway, he heard a slamming sound against the front door and glanced back with a wide-eyed expression.

Katrina shouted, “Get back here, Caleb!”

He shivered, realizing that he had better continue facing the current fear, because there was already another one destined for him.

The late winter afternoon sun blazed towards the western end of the clear blue sky. He realized the sun would be setting soon, and he needed to proceed before then. When darkness fell, he had a whole new problem to confront. And while he might live through the current endeavor, he sardonically considered that he might not survive the next one.

Caleb breathed the cool air in deeply through his nose, appreciating the fresh, crisp scent of winter, and turned his face to the sunlight as he stood in the yard.

His cell phone came to life, and he glanced down to see Katrina calling him. He hesitated and considered answering it, but decided an argument over the phone while standing in the front yard wasn’t how he wanted to focus his attentions.

However, he realized he was only postponing the inevitable. After setting his phone’s ring option to vibrate, he walked towards the side of the house in the direction of the public park area. He’d confront his fear on a park bench.

“Caleb Taylor! Get back inside the house, right now!” Katrina admonished loudly over the small speaker near the front door.

There was a notably lengthy pause, and a much calmer version of her voice played over the speaker. “I promise I won’t be upset, my love. I just want you to come back inside, please.”

Paige must have said something about her negotiation skills needing some work
, he considered.

It gave him no pleasure to put her through this, but he knew that if he didn’t confront his fears he would always be dependent on others for his protection or peace of mind. Not that he didn’t appreciate such protection: he merely needed to have confidence that he could stand on his own two feet. Besides, it wasn’t as if there would be any danger. It had been nearly a week since Katrina’s return, and no alarming events or indicators had presented themselves.

Caleb’s cell phone buzzed three more times, each time leaving a voicemail indicator, as he walked through the park to the bench where Katrina had revealed her secret to him months prior.
It feels like forever since that night.

His phone buzzed in a manner indicating he had received two new text messages, and he glanced at each message. The first one was from Paige. “She’s mad. She’s really mad. Come back now, kiddo.”

He winced, realizing that when Paige was concerned it was a bad sign. The second text was from Katrina. “Getting dark soon. I’m coming for you.” He felt a shiver from the top of his neck all the way down to his lower back.

“Oh crap,” he muttered and sent a reply to Katrina’s message. He typed, “Kat, love you always. C.” Then he slipped his phone into his jacket pocket.

Sitting on the park bench, he stretched both his arms along the back of the bench while leaning back to appreciate the western sky as the sun began its descent.
Perhaps it’ll be my last sunset, after all. It’s hard to take anything for granted these days.

New feelings replaced the anxious ones of a few minutes ago: freedom and satisfaction. He had done it: faced the fear of leaving the house unprotected and confronted the unknown. Such a small victory, though he almost wished someone would jump out of the bushes to attack him just to prove him wrong. Perhaps then, if he survived, Katrina wouldn’t kill him later.
Ha! That’d be hilarious
, he mused,
kill me for leaving her protection!
The irony of the unlikely event almost made him laugh out loud.

The sun continued its descent, and he patiently awaited his fate. He was perplexed in a strange way as the late sun washed across his face in the cool breeze.
I wonder why I haven’t done this sooner.
It was all very liberating to him.
Best of all, I was right. No danger is waiting to snatch my life and snuff it out.
Well, at least not today, anyway.

He chuckled and leaned back into the bench as he appreciated the remaining quiet moments and daylight.

When the sun was nearly ready to drop beyond the western horizon, he felt the chill increase with the winter breeze. He zipped up his coat up and rubbed his hands together.

He turned his head in the direction of the estate and saw a large area shielded by dense trees from the nearly completed sunset. Katrina stood like a statue in her blue jeans, black boots, and black leather jacket. Her eyes glowed bright green with what he anticipated was likely anger. Her red hair was down, and it moved fluidly around her head in the breeze like a living creature all its own. His eyes continued to take in her visage, both terrible and beautiful at the same time. She appeared both lovely and lethal, the perfect vision of a vampire: an angry vampire.

She silently regarded him, her brilliant green eyes piercing through him like lasers. He smiled, appreciating her feral beauty, and turned back towards the pink glow on the western horizon with his arms once again stretched across the back of the park bench. He lifted his face up slightly, as if presenting himself for sacrifice.

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced over to see Paige in jeans and a red leather jacket standing in the distance just inside the forest’s tree line. She regarded him curiously, and though her blue eyes weren’t illuminated, her expression was one of both concern and mild disapproval.

He returned his gaze to the western sky as darkness fell on the surrounding area. His sunset was over. No sunlight remained to stave off the inevitable disagreement. But calmness fell over him, and he muttered, “Alton was right, after all. I’ve looked fear in the face once, and now I’m ready to face it again.”

Hearing a sharp intake of breath to his left, his eyes darted to see Katrina standing not ten feet from him. He blinked only once, and she suddenly towered directly before him. He noted Paige’s abrupt appearance to his right, as well. He gazed up into Katrina’s eyes calmly and noted an astonished look on her face.

“Facing what fear?” she asked in a cold, level tone.

He deliberately paused and then calmly replied, “Right now, you.”

She silently glared at him while Paige frowned in the background. “What?” she prompted in a steely voice.
Afraid of me?

He smiled, looked directly into her eyes, and explained, “I’m staring fear and death in the face. Now I can truly begin to love you without fear.”

Katrina was dumbfounded, while Paige’s mouth gaped open slightly.

“I’m ready to die now, but I want you to know I love you and always will, no matter what,” he said softly with his arms stretched across the back of the bench.

“Alton,” Katrina seethed between clenched teeth.
What crap is he filling Caleb’s head with now?
A chat is in order
, she vowed.

The glow in her eyes dissipated slowly in the passing silent moments, and she sat down on the bench to his left. Paige closed her mouth and sat down at Caleb’s right with a relieved expression. Both vampires stared at him, although Paige leaned away further in order to observe Katrina’s expression.

“I love you, too,” Katrina whispered with resignation. Paige casually leaned back against the bench.

Caleb used each arm to encircle Katrina and Paige around the shoulders and pulled them towards him. Both vampires conceded and shifted slightly to press against him.

“The two most important women in my world,” he muttered. He turned his head to the right to kiss Paige lightly on the cheek, and then turned to Katrina to place a warm, soft kiss upon her cool lips.

She stared back with a penetrating gaze and initiated a longer kiss of her own. “Nobody’s suffering retribution tonight, I suppose,” she stated with a resigned sigh.

Paige grinned, turned her head to Caleb to kiss him with a peck on the cheek, and whispered, “Dodged a bullet, kiddo.”

“What he dodged was an angry, deliberate fang bite,” Katrina whispered.

Caleb smiled in silent satisfaction at he sat with his arms around his two favorite vampires while a nearby park lamp suddenly snapped to life, casting a glow upon them.

On the walk back to the estate, Caleb held Katrina’s hand and appreciated how forgiving she had been regarding his need for a leap of faith. He gazed up at her with a cheerful smile, but she merely glared back at him and maintained a stern expression. However, as she held his hand, she lifted it to her lips and firmly kissed his skin. He gratefully accepted that, not wanting to press his luck.

At the house, Paige announced that she needed to get out for a while. Since she was a social creature, Caleb imagined that her recent sequestering at the estate was as difficult for her as it had been on him. She changed into a trendy red dress and her new strappy, red high-heeled shoes, warning everyone not to stay up for her, and departed in Alton’s rental car.

“Clubbing,” he ventured absently, watching out the sitting room window as the car drove away.

“You had to guess?” Katrina asked with surprise. “I’ll be in the sublevel room chatting with Alton,” she added darkly.

“Your lair,” he amended with a smirk.