Sunrise at Sunset (23 page)

“Caleb is tendering his resignation, effective immediately,” Katrina stated flatly.

Alondra’s eyes were filled with amusement. “Fine, but such a shame.” She looked at Caleb with an empty stare and added in the same quiet, flat manner Katrina had used, “Don’t worry about your severance. I always square my debts in the end.”

A shiver went up Caleb’s spine at her threatening tone. Alondra didn’t seem to be the same person he had met that afternoon, or this evening, for that matter. His mind was racing, and his pulse quickened noticeably.

“Leave the city tonight,” Katrina ordered in a lethal voice. “While you still can.”

“Forget about me,” Alondra demanded quietly. “Keep an eye on your pet.”

The threat was implicit, but Katrina didn’t reply. Instead, she turned Caleb around by the upper arm, and they quick-stepped out of the dining room and to the lobby elevator. For the time being, she needed to secure Caleb.

For Caleb, everything was happening too quickly to process. He had no idea what was going on and had never heard Katrina sound so lethal before. His mind swam with chaotic thoughts.

When the elevator doors opened to an empty car, Katrina half-pushed him into the elevator and quickly turned to depress the button before anyone else could enter. She pressed the parking garage button so quickly that all he saw was a blur of movement.

After a moment, he reached up to remove her left hand from his shoulder because the pressure from her grip was becoming uncomfortable. She removed her hand with an irritated expression, but said nothing.

“Kat, what’s going on?” he asked as the elevator descended.

“Later,” she insisted firmly.

“No, I want to know now!” he demanded, but her eyes flashed bright green as she glared down at him. He jumped slightly and fell silent beside her. His mind was still racing furiously at what had just taken place, and now he felt a little wary of Katrina’s mood.

The elevator doors opened to reveal the parking garage. Though it was full of cars, he managed to recall where he had parked. He started to turn left, but she grabbed his right arm, pulling him in the opposite direction.

“Kat, my car’s this way,” he insisted as he tried pulling from her vice-like grip. He was momentarily pleased nobody else was nearby because he felt embarrassed by the way she was manhandling him.

“Forget it,” she replied evenly. “You’re riding with me.”

“But --” he tried to object, but she jerked his arm while walking away. It seemed like his arm was destined to be elsewhere, so he tagged along with it.

“We’ll retrieve your car later,” she offered after a lengthy pause.

Within moments, they were standing beside her Audi. She clicked the remote and pulled the passenger door open at nearly the same time with her free hand, while tugging at him and practically pressing him into the passenger seat with the other.

“Buckle up,” she ordered before slamming the door shut.

He was stunned as he buckled himself in. She was already in the driver’s seat beside him before he had even latched the buckle.

She backed out of her spot and whipped through the parking garage far quicker than seemed safe. They were at the exit booth in what seemed like a blur. Her window was already rolled down to present a larger bill to the attendant than was necessary.

“Keep it,” she stated flatly while revving the engine.

“Thanks,” the attendant muttered as the gate began to rise. But their car was already pulling away, the top of the car barely missing the bottom edge of the rising wooden gate. Katrina found an immediate opening in traffic and gunned the motor as they sped forward.

“Kat!” he exclaimed in a worried tone. He had never seen her act in such a reckless manner before. She was normally such a cautious driver.

“Hush, I’m thinking,” she insisted without even glancing at him as she weaved in and out of traffic. She swiftly reached over to the radio and initiated a CD selection. “Map of the Problematique,” by Muse, began playing loudly.
Hopefully that will distract him from asking too many questions right now
, she thought fleetingly. She was trying to think steps ahead of Alondra Vargas, although she knew her by a more ancient name.

Caleb thought it was simultaneously breathtaking and terrifying watching cars and lights flash by them. He glanced at the speedometer, which reflected nearly twice the legal speed. He was surprised the police hadn’t already fallen into a pursuit behind them. Within minutes, they were on the I-20 heading across town.

“Am I going home?” he asked tentatively.

“Briefly,” she suggested. “You have to pack.”

“For what?” he insisted. “Where are we going?” At least he was finally getting her to talk to him.

“You’ll be staying with me for a time,” she answered.

“Because of Alondra?” he asked simply.

“Yes.”

His mind raced with his adrenaline rush. He paused briefly before asking, “You heard her voice over the cell phone, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“She’s a vampire?”

Katrina didn’t answer.

He replayed the interview with Alondra Vargas that afternoon.
She was in an office with the window open to the sunlight streaming in, wasn’t she?
He recalled the window was covered with a filter of some kind.
Perhaps an ultraviolet filter?

His mind quickly reflected on the exchange between Alondra and Katrina. He recalled Alondra’s comment regarding anticipating dessert, and a chilling thought ran through his mind.

“She intended to kill me tonight,” he ventured as tightness formed in his throat.

“Probably,” Katrina replied between clenched teeth as she tightly gripped the steering wheel.

He recalled something Alondra said about one of Katrina’s previous mates. “Was she responsible for one of your mate’s deaths?” he asked over the loud music.

“Not now, Caleb,” she barked harshly.

He flinched as if she had slapped him. “Really, I’m sorry,” he muttered somberly, his meaning two-fold. Her right hand reached out and caressed the side of his face as her left hand gripped the steering wheel.

He took a deep, even breath as she reached over and turned up the volume, continuing to blare music as they sped along the highway. Obviously, he was going to have to wait before pressing her for additional information.

Katrina hovered over him like a second shadow in his building’s parking garage. Inside his apartment, she seemed very impatient as he shoved a variety of clothes and toiletries into the small suitcase he kept in the coat closet. He added shirts and pants into a hanging garment bag. To him, the whole situation was unfolding in a preposterous manner, but Katrina didn’t seem in the mood to entertain any disagreements.

“Kat, how long am I packing for?” he asked. He tried focusing on immediate tasks to avoid dwelling on his growing sense of anxiety. He’d never seen her so agitated and distracted before. And if she were that agitated, then he was scared as hell.

She seemed deep in thought as she stood like a statue in his living room staring at the window leading out to the fire escape. “Just fill your suitcase,” she replied absently.

He stared back at her as he tried to make sense of everything. “Look, Kat, I don’t appreciate the way you’re treating me right now,” he insisted irritably.

Her head whipped around to look at him with a piercing stare, and he froze where he stood, transfixed by her predatory gaze. It wasn’t a very pleasant visage.

“I’m sorry,” she offered in a milder tone of voice as she realized that he was unnerved by her behavior. “I’m merely trying to put a plan together while also making sure I take you somewhere safe until we can sort this out properly. Please, try to trust me, my love.”

He sighed. “Okay, I can do that.”

“And please, try to pack more quickly,” she urged after only a moment’s pause.

He nodded while grabbing whatever seemed logical, including his laptop and a couple of books he had purchased recently. He marveled at how hard it was to pack accurately under stress and on a moment’s notice.

A few minutes later, Katrina appeared in his bedroom doorway. He stopped and glanced into her green eyes.
At least they aren’t glowing at me
, he noted.

“Ready?” she pressed.

He nodded, and she raced in a blur to his bed to grab his suitcase. He gaped at the speed of her movements, but grabbed his laptop case and the hanging garment bag and followed her out the front door. He wondered when he would see his apartment again as he turned the key to lock the deadbolt. He turned around, and she gestured with her head for him to lead the way back down the quiet hallway to the elevator.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Harry Maddox standing inside holding a silenced automatic pistol. Caleb’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as Katrina’s body thrust past him while pushing him backwards.

Caleb’s body impacted the wall with a thud, and the suitcase Katrina was carrying hadn’t even hit the floor before she slammed into Maddox like a speeding train, knocking him backwards against the far side of the elevator. Maddox’s handgun silently discharged multiple times as the elevator doors slid shut behind them.

“Oh, God!” Caleb exclaimed as he rushed forward to punch frantically at the elevator door button. He felt stunned and watched in horror as the elevator descended despite his efforts. He ran back to his apartment, fumbled frantically with the door lock, and grabbed the metal baseball bat that he kept in the coat closet.

Racing to the stairwell door, he noticed the elevator was returning to his floor. He positioned himself to the side of the elevator doors so he could swing onto the person exiting. He prayed silently it would be Katrina, but was ready in case it wasn’t.

“Oh please, Katrina,” he muttered as the doors swished open.

He glanced inside to emptiness. The faint scent of gunpowder played in the air. “What the –” he whispered.

The stairwell door behind him burst open, and he whirled in horror to face the sound as he raised the bat overhead to strike.

Katrina towered before him and neatly jerked the bat from his grasp, her eyes blazing green. “Miss me?” she asked with an almost devilish grimace.

He was speechless, but so grateful to see her.

“What is it with you and batting at people?” she demanded.

He nearly fell over with relief and joy as he gasped, “Kat! I thought --”

“I know,” she interrupted him as she grasped him by the arm and dragged him back to his open apartment door. The painful realization solidified that if she had moved a second slower, he might be lying dead in the hallway. She tossed the baseball bat into his apartment and closed the door.

“Hey, I might need that,” he retorted.

“You won’t need it where I’m taking you,” she countered darkly.

He didn’t care for the way she said that.

“Keys,” she insisted. He dutifully handed her his house keys. She hadn’t considered grabbing his spare apartment key before leaving her house, being more worried about getting to him in time.

They gathered up his belongings and got back into the elevator just as one of his neighbors peeked out of their front door to see what the commotion was about.

“What happened?” Caleb demanded anxiously once the elevator doors shut.

“That guy,” she began.

“Maddox, Harry Maddox,” he explained. “He’s Alondra’s personal aide.”

Katrina gritted her teeth and growled, “It figures.”

“What did you do --” he began before letting his words trail off.

They exited the elevator into the nearly deserted parking garage and headed to Katrina’s car. “He’s not going to be a problem anymore. He went dumpster diving,” she seethed.

Caleb was taken aback at the level of anger in Katrina’s reply as she quickly and effortlessly propelled each piece of his luggage into the back of her car. He almost felt her warm breath on the back of his neck as he opened the passenger door. She hovered over him until he was buckled into the passenger seat, after which she rushed around the car and into the driver’s seat with blinding speed.

Moments later, they were accelerating out of the parking garage and onto the city streets. Once on the highway, they headed in the direction of Mableton.

Caleb was either going into shock or starting to feel the adrenaline abate slightly in his system. In fact, he felt an intense weariness spread throughout his body. It was then that his stomach growled with hunger. He realized that he had only managed a few bites of his food and some of the bread before the evening went to hell.

He glanced over to Katrina who merely sighed and demanded, “You’re hungry? Now?”

“I’m sorry! It wasn’t my idea!” he exclaimed as the stress of the evening began to fray the edges of his nerves. His body was placing metabolic demands upon him that weren’t necessarily his invention.

She considered her available options. They were very close to the estate where she could secure Caleb, but she realized there was little if any food in the house.
Yet another variable I’ll have to contend with soon
, she realized. The situation was ludicrous, but she was committed to meeting his needs, no matter the circumstance.