Sunrise at Sunset (35 page)

He had rented a cabin in a more remote area of the scenic, wooded park hoping to deter unwanted visitors or passers-by. They also placed a vinyl cover over their rented Jeep parked in front of the cabin.

“Hello?” came Paige’s tentative-sounding voice at the other end.

Katrina breathed a sigh of relief before demanding, “Paige, is everything okay there?”

Following a pause, Paige replied innocently, “Just fine here. Are you two all right?”

Katrina immediately picked up on Paige’s hesitant reply and didn’t like the tone of her voice. It sounded as if her calmness were somewhat forced.
Something’s wrong
, she thought.
Just what have they gotten themselves into?

“Where’s Caleb?” she urged. “Is he well?”

“He’s fine, Katrina,” Paige assured her sedately. “He’s just fine. In fact, I hear him racing down here now.”

A few seconds later, Katrina heard Caleb’s voice in the background demanding, “Is it Katrina? Is she okay? Let me talk to her.”

Her face immediately relaxed.
Same old Caleb
, she thought with a relieved smile.

Meanwhile, Alton smirked at Katrina knowingly. She caught his expression and frowned back at him.

“Just a second, Katrina. I’m putting you on speaker,” Paige said at the other end.

The phone crackled, and Katrina also put her cell phone into speaker mode for Alton’s benefit. He moved to sit in one of the plain upholstered reading chairs across the room.

“How are you two?” Katrina asked.

“Us?” asked Caleb somewhat anxiously at the other end. “We’re fine. Nothing going on here.”

“Yep, we’re both getting by,” Paige agreed a little too convincingly.

Katrina frowned, but Alton remained silent as he peered at her from across the room. However, his expression seemed almost amused by the exchange.

“You’re not very convincing,” she insisted suspiciously. “As Paige so often likes to say, ‘spill.’”

Paige and Caleb winced nearly simultaneously at the tone of Katrina’s voice as they stood in the middle of the sublevel room near the computer hutch.

“Well,” Paige hesitated. “You see, Caleb cut himself --”

“What?!” Katrina demanded over the speaker.

“Shaving!” they yelled in unison.

Paige continued, “He cut himself shaving, but he’s fine now. No problem.”

She waved her hand in the air at Caleb in a calming motion. There were a few seconds of complete silence at Katrina’s end, and they thought they heard a slight chuckle from a male voice in the background.
That had to be Alton
, Caleb considered.

“Then why do you sound so nervous?” Katrina asked in a quieter, calmer voice.

Paige shut her eyes tightly and Caleb waited for a moment before answering, “Everything’s fine, Kat. I’m fine. Paige has been wonderful, and I believe absolutely no rules were broken. I promise.”

Katrina’s eyes flashed bright green, and Alton’s expression turned momentarily serious.

“Rules? You don’t believe any were -” Katrina pressed in a stern voice. “Do you mean my parting instructions or The Rules?”

There was silence at Caleb and Paige’s end of the line.

Paige’s eyes snapped open and glared at Caleb as she mouthed the words, “Oh, shit.” Caleb’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he felt like an idiot for not censoring himself more closely.

“Either, really,” he replied weakly.

Paige heavily massaged her fingertips against once-again closed eyelids and emitted a somber groan. There was complete silence Katrina’s end of the line.

Caleb sighed in a resigned fashion, walked over to the handset lying on Katrina’s desk, picked it up, and turned off the speaker mode. “Kat, it’s just me,” he said while glancing up to motion for Paige to leave, but she was already closing the room’s sliding access door behind her as she hastily departed.

Katrina stared at the cell phone in her hand and turned off the speaker option. She noticed Alton closing himself into one of the cabin’s two bedrooms with a noticeable click of the door mechanism.

“I’m alone, as well,” she said softly. However, she knew full well that her voice was still detectable by another vampire’s sharp hearing, particularly in the small cabin they inhabited. Still, she appreciated Alton’s respect for her privacy.

Katrina calmed herself while listening to Caleb’s steady breathing at the other end. She thought she heard faint traces of his rapid heartbeat, which was somehow soothing to her.
Perhaps it’s just the satisfaction of knowing he’s alive and well
.

“I miss you so much,” Caleb breathed into the phone. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone’s prolonged absence in his life, except following the death of his mother.

“I miss you too,” Katrina agreed at the other end in a low, but gentle voice.

“Listen, I’ve had some time to think,” he began quietly. “About me, about us. And I think I understand something.”

He paused, but only heard silence.

“I’m sensing -- hoping how much you must care about me to do what you’re doing,” he continued. “And for that, I’m sorry that I’ve made you so angry with me lately. I don’t like it when we argue with each other.”

“Caleb,” she tried to interrupt him gently.

“I’ve been selfish about my own wants and needs, not really appreciating what lengths you’re going to for me,” he persisted. “And if Paige would open the front door for me, I’d rather stand outside to accept whatever fate I’m due than cause you continued grief, no matter the fear I’m feeling.”

“Stop,” Katrina ordered firmly.

He ceased speaking at once, not wanting to irritate her.
I’m just trying to be honest with her.

She didn’t speak immediately, but paused a few seconds more in silence.

“Caleb, I’m not angry with you,” she explained in a soft voice. “I’ve been upset that someone so innocent and dear was targeted for revenge against me. Granted, my patience hasn’t been at its usual level of tolerance, but don’t turn this onto yourself. I won’t allow it.”

He started to open his mouth, but then stopped and just listened.

“You mean so much to me now,” she conceded earnestly as much to herself as to him. “I want you in my life and safe. There’s so much I want to share with you, so many things I want to tell you.”

He smiled a little, and his heart soared with a liberating feeling.

“So don’t even think about walking anywhere into danger,” she warned. “I truly can’t abide that.”

He paused and smiled at her open, caring words.
She’s the most amazing woman
, he considered. “I feel the same about you, Kat,” he replied gently.

His heart felt like it would burst with happiness despite the darkness of the current circumstances. “And Kat,” he added quickly.

“Yes?”

“There’s no need for concern. Nothing bad has happened,” he explained. “I was bleeding from a razor cut, and Paige…well, I’m not bleeding anymore.”

There was a pause, and she surmised quietly, “She tasted you, didn’t she?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “But nothing more. She even sealed the cut nicely.”

Silence.

“I understand,” she said finally. “And I appreciate your honesty. Now, please put the speaker back on and call Paige into the room again.”

Feeling strangely vindicated, he put the phone back in speaker mode and shouted, “Paige, telephone!”

A few seconds later, the sliding door opened abruptly and Paige traversed the distance down the stairs in what seemed like a blur. She stopped just two feet from Caleb, who marveled at her speed.
Hell, you might even be faster than Katrina
.

“I’m back, Katrina,” she offered in a friendly voice.

“Good,” Katrina began in a casual tone. “Everything’s fine, Paige. Caleb explained the situation. And thank you for taking such good care of him.”

Paige’s eyes widened, and she flashed an appreciative smile at Caleb.

“Are you feeding regularly?” Katrina asked.

Paige paused, her smile fading somewhat, and replied in a circumspect tone, “Maybe not as often as I should.”

“I’ve mentioned before that there’s about a three-month supply of blood stock in my wine cellar refrigerator,” Katrina explained evenly. “Please feed as often as you like. But please stop tasting my mate.”

Then Katrina added gently, “And Caleb, try to curtail any further ‘bloodletting’ on your part until I return.”

He rolled his eyes, and Paige winked at him with a renewed grin.

“And as to some brief outdoor privileges?” he ventured hopefully. “Daylight is safe for me, no vampires.”

“Well, since you mentioned it, not on your life,” Katrina countered emphatically. “Not until we return. I don’t trust Chimalma not to hire humans to wait for you during the day when you would normally think that it’s safe from vampires.”

That made sense to him.
I should’ve expected as much
, he supposed.
Even vampires can hire hit men. After all, that has to be what Harry Maddox turned out to be in the end.

“We should be back no more than two days from now. We found Chimalma and plan to move as soon as possible,” Katrina informed them on a new train of thought.

Caleb’s relaxed manner became tense at hearing the revelation from Katrina. Paige’s eyes turned serious as well.

“Both of you be careful,” Paige urged.

Caleb’s heart was racing by that point, and his heart was in his throat. He felt helpless being stuck in a veritable bunker and wished he were able to be there with Alton and Katrina. Paige moved closer to him, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder.

Alton’s deep voice broke the silence at Katrina’s end of the line, “She’s coming back soon, Caleb. Trust me.”

Then they said quick goodbyes. After the phone went off, Paige pressed some codes on the handset in rapid sequence and gave Caleb the best reassuring smile that she could muster.

“What if they try to breach the house during the day?” he speculated darkly. “You can’t go outside in sunlight, so you’re vulnerable during daytime.”

“We’ve already prepared for that,” Paige said simply.

He stared at her as if waiting for additional information, but she said nothing more.

“So, is it on a need-to-know basis only too?” he pressed.

She sighed and nodded. “Sorry, better you don’t know. Suffice to say, plans are in place.”

Caleb was hardly encouraged.

“Katrina’s a great planner,” she reassured him. “Remember? She’s one of the veterans.”

“I know,” he conceded.

“One of the adult vampires,” Paige added with a growing smile.

“Yeah,” he replied absently and moved towards the stairs to leave.

She followed him with a playful grin. “She knows what to do. She’s the alpha in your partnership.”

“All right,” he muttered darkly as he reached the top of the stairs.

“Of course, I’m the alpha in the house right now,” she teased as she walked just behind him down the hallway.

“Bad vampire, no more nibbling,” he teased back while entering the kitchen to get a Coke from the refrigerator.

“Don’t push my buttons, Tree-Branch Boy,” she warned with a sly smirk.

“Whatever,” he muttered with exasperation as he popped the can open.

“Am I bugging you yet?” she asked as she leaned across the island countertop to poke him in the back repeatedly with her fingertip.

He deliberately sighed loudly before taking a drink from his cola can.

It was night again, and Alton drove the Jeep while Katrina sat in the passenger seat with a steely expression. They were on their way to meet with an arms dealer Alton had used before. The dealer was providing a couple of weapons they would need, including the explosives they planned to use to kill Chimalma. The route to their destination was aided by a dash-mounted GPS with coordinates provided by the dealer. Fortunately, the location was only a couple of hours away from their cabin, so they could easily navigate to and from the transaction on the same night.

I just want this over with quickly
, Katrina thought.
I have a vampire to kill.
“Are you sure about this dealer?” she asked for the second time that evening.

He restrained a sigh and replied, “Don’t worry, Katrina. I’ve dealt with the man on two previous occasions, and both times he provided the items as promised.”

“So, what precisely did you need an arms dealer for in the past?” she inquired.

“Oh, just a couple of past favors for some acquaintances,” he replied vaguely.