Sunrise at Sunset (37 page)

“You first,” she seethed back at him with scowl as she moved towards him with the machete raised.

The day passed rather quickly for Paige and Caleb. They performed a number of mundane domestic tasks, including laundry, vacuuming and mopping the floors, and cleaning the bathrooms. He was less than enthusiastic about the chores, but she quickly convinced him that despite the anticipation of word from Katrina, daily life had to continue. Paige emphasized that Katrina was particularly orderly and would be very appreciative for their efforts upon her return. That finally convinced him to put some vigor into his endeavors. She was additionally pleased that it kept him occupied during the day, leaving less time for boredom or feeling listless.

Once evening arrived, Paige showered and changed into fashionable blue jeans that fit her perfectly and a Goth black Garbage concert T-shirt bearing a picture of Shirley Manson. After Caleb showered and cleaned up, he slipped on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and went looking for something to eat.

As he finished eating a single-sized, oven-baked lasagna, Paige walked by the kitchen counter where he sat. She shriveled her nose and frowned unpleasantly as she glanced at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked while chewing the last bite.

“Dude, there’s way too much garlic in that,” she noted with disgust.

He raised his eyebrows curiously. “Oh yeah, vampires are allergic to garlic, aren’t they?”

She gave him a withering expression. “No, Van Helsing, vampires aren’t allergic to garlic,” she teased. “There’s just way too much in that dish. Remember? Keen sense of smell?” She paused and added, “Besides, garlic alters the appreciable flavor of your blood for a time after you consume it.”

He grinned. “Sort of curdles the milk?”

She considered that and smirked. “Yeah, something like that.”

“I guess I’m safe for tonight then,” he quipped with a smile. “You nibbler!”

She stuck her tongue out, countering, “Not funny, Tree-Branch Boy.”

He washed the dishes as she perched on a kitchen stool casually watching him.

“So,” Paige ventured. “What sounds good for tonight? Movie, TV, or maybe a game of cards? I’m a pretty mean poker player.”

Caleb rinsed the dishes, placing them in the drain board next to the sink. “How about chess?” he suggested.

She considered his offer. “Ok, kiddo. But I hope you won’t feel too bad when I kick your butt at it.”

“We’ll see,” he mused with a sly grin and headed to the living room where Katrina kept a chessboard.

“Hey, hold up, tiger,” Paige interjected. “Go brush your teeth and use some mouthwash to get rid of the garlic breath. No chemical warfare allowed in the chess game!”

He chuckled and headed upstairs. Ten minutes later, the two were playing chess while Paige sipped at a glass of warm blood that he had prepared for her.

“No sympathy points for the blood offering,” she warned. “But thanks, much appreciated.”

He smiled as they exchanged a series of rapid moves and counter moves, trading some pawns in the process. Caleb began thinking more thoroughly about his strategy. The spunky vampire proved to be quite an accomplished chess player. It surprised him, since she always seemed more the party-girl. But then, he considered there was likely much more to her than he suspected.

Paige alternated tapping two fingernails of her right hand on the coffee table as she stared across the chessboard at him.

“Hey, quit cheating,” Caleb mock-complained as he carefully studied the variety of pieces remaining across the board.

“That’s not cheating,” she retorted as she continued the strumming while staring at him intently. “It relaxes me.”

He glanced up at her, noticing her intent stare. “What?” he pressed with a frown.

“Are you sure you’re up to a game of chess with a vastly superior being?” Paige asked with a grin.

Caleb grinned back and challenged, “You know, humans are far better chess players than vampires.”

She frowned suspiciously. “How do you figure?”

He smiled. “Because vampires can only make effective use of their ‘nights.’”

Paige shook her head with a sour expression and retorted, “Ew. I’m so gonna bite your neck over that one.”

Their game continued at a more sedate pace, with each of them taking a deliberative period of time to consider their respective options quietly before moving.

As Caleb pondered his next move, Paige suddenly cocked her head to one side and froze in place. He looked up curiously and started to ask her what was wrong, but she held up her hand for silence.

Her eyes widened, and in a blur of movement she lurched up from her chair to grab him by his upper right arm, jerking him to his feet abruptly. “Crap! We should’ve played in Katrina’s room. We’ve got visitors,” she snapped as she dragged him into the kitchen and threw open the door to the basement before pulling him down the stairs.

“Who? What’s going on?” he demanded as his pulse rate soared.

At the bottom of the stairs, she pointed to the far corner of the room towards a stack of crates and boxes and ordered, “Hide behind those crates and keep quiet, no matter what. And stay put! I’m coming back for you!” Then she bounded up the stairs, closing the door to the basement behind her.

He glanced frantically around him and started for the stack of crates when he paused and looked at the nearby workbenches.
Need a weapon
, he resolved.

Spotting a medium-sized steel crowbar, he grabbed it and hefted it in his right hand. The lights abruptly went out, but instead of heading for the crates, he moved back towards the foot of the stairs and felt his way to the side of the concrete steps. He stood along the lower side of the stairs in front of the refrigerator so he could get a clear swing at someone who might descend to the floor level. It also provided a small degree of visual shelter for him until someone descended to the bottom.

His heart felt like it was going to explode as he listened intently for any noises from above. He thought he heard a small popping sound followed by a door crashing into a wall. There was the muted sound of boots scuffling upstairs.

Caleb jolted as he heard the song “Temptation Waits,” by Garbage, begin to blare above from house’s speaker system.

I’ll tell you something

I am a wolf, but

I like to wear sheep’s clothing

He heard muted gunfire followed by a blood-curdling scream and a thunderous crash upstairs.

I am a bonfire

I am a vampire

I’m waiting for my moment

Another muted scream came from above followed by two successive shotgun blasts.

I just can’t get enough

I’m like an addict coming at you for a little more

An abrupt rumbling crash sounded upstairs, followed by some muted gunfire and more crashing sounds. Then there were no further noises, save for the loud music.

I’ll tell you something

I am a demon

Some say my biggest weakness

Caleb was shaking slightly, but his jaw was set as he heard the door open at the top of the stairs. He saw a red light appear on the steps and walk its way down to the bottom of the stairs next to where he was standing in the pitch blackness. He raised the crowbar with his right arm and prepared to swing as the music blared from above.

The red laser dot swept forward and to the right as it made its way around to him. Silenced gunfire erupted, and he swung the crowbar with all his might. In the quick successive flashes from the weapon’s muzzle, he saw a hooded figure in goggles wearing body armor as the crowbar connected with the figure’s head with a dull thud.

Caleb slipped on something under his feet and plummeted downward as he heard the whizzing of bullets while the figure’s assault rifle continued firing, even as the figure sprawled onto the floor near him. A cool fluid penetrated through his jeans and he reached up to rub his forehead with his hand, smudging himself slightly with the substance.

You are a secret

A new possession

I like to keep you guessing

He heard another sound at the top of the stairs followed by footsteps. Raising the crowbar where he sat panting, he planned a desperate strike at the figure’s kneecap.

Katrina made her way into the main office area and approached a short hallway leading back to small offices. In the hallway she noticed letter-sized pieces of paper lying on the floor approximately two feet apart from each other. Each sheet bore the phrase
Keep Reading
in large black letters.

She frowned and followed the trail of papers while brandishing her crossbow, ready to fire at any immediate target. Her keen hearing registered only silence, reassuring her nobody else was in the immediate area.

At the end of the hallway was a small clerical office, including a small conference table with the repeating message of papers leading across the floor towards it. On the tabletop were a small digital recorder and a white piece of paper, which read
ALTON IS ALREADY DEAD
.

Katrina turned off the jamming device and snapped, “Alton! Alton, can you hear me?”

But she registered no response in her com link. She heard the small digital recorder lying on the table reactivate and begin playing its looping message in Chimalma’s harsh-sounding voice. “Katrina, Caleb is dead. Mercenaries texted me to say they just entered the house. Too bad. It seems humans just don’t take bullets very well, I’m afraid.”

Katrina gasped as if her heart were being stabbed repeatedly by a knife. She wanted to scream out loud and barely managed to contain herself.
Damn it, Paige, you better have saved him!

Whirling around, she ran through the facility towards the nearest exit in a blur. Her eyes were blazing green, and she felt like a maelstrom of anger and bitterness. She had one immediate focus:
kill Chimalma
.

Her only hope was to locate Alton’s last position and expect that Chimalma was still there.

The cool, sticky fluid he sat in rendered standing too risky, so Caleb crouched on the floor. He nervously held the crowbar like a baseball bat, hoping he might have one more swing to someone’s kneecaps left in him. As he heard the tentative footsteps above, he hoped his luck would hold out as it did with the first attacker.

“Caleb?” came Paige’s tentative voice.

The crowbar clattered to the concrete floor, and he muttered, “Thank God.”

“Caleb!” Paige gasped from somewhere in the darkness before a flashlight snapped on to flash down at him. “Oh hell! Where are you hurt?”

His eyes widened and he glanced down in the flashlight’s glow to see he was sitting in a pool of blood. “Jesus!” he cried with shock.

“Crap, crap, crap,” Paige chanted as she dropped the flashlight into his lap and began feeling around his body with her frantic hands. She sniffed suddenly and stopped running her hands over him. “Wait,” she snapped and bent her face close to his.

Her tongue quickly darted to the blood on his forehead. “Good, good. Not your blood,” she uttered. “Stay here!”

Then she was gone, and the assailant’s body next to him seemed to leap off the floor and up the stairs with a scraping, dragging sound. Within moments, the loud music stopped, and the lights snapped back on.

“Ew, gross,” he muttered as he stood shakily and stared at the red, slimy liquid covering his hands and the floor where he stood.

He heard a brief footstep on the stairs above, but when he looked up, Paige was already standing before him. There was blood smeared around her mouth, and he stared at her with wide eyes. Her youthful and playful appearance had turned macabre. She frowned at him.

“Oh, sorry,” she apologized while wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Are they gone?” he asked.

“We got them all,” she responded. “And nice job, by the way.”

He started wiping his bloodied and still shaking hands on his jeans.
No harm in that now
, he thought absently. “You kill to a soundtrack?” he demanded.

“Throws the attacker off,” she replied with a shrug. “Even the military uses music to get inside an enemy’s head.”

He stared blankly at the blonde vampire, quite unsure what to say.

“Well, that explains the blood,” she mused while gazing at the plasma seeping freely from the bullet holes in the refrigerator behind Caleb.

“I’ve never killed anybody before,” he absently muttered as his mind replayed events from the past few minutes.

“I figured,” she smirked. “And you still haven’t. That thug is unconscious, but he’s still alive.”

His eyes darted to hers, and panic began to rise in him. “Where is he?”