Sunrise at Sunset (4 page)

He attempted to struggle, but she pinned his body to the wall like a fixture, and within moments he felt the strength leaving his body. His legs soon buckled, but she held him upright. A strange sense of calm washed over him, even as he felt sluggish and a growing sense of weakness. A euphoric feeling overcame him just before he blacked out to the sounds of slurping and swallowing. Then nothing.

Katrina withdrew her fangs and wiped her mouth against the material of his cotton hoody. In one swift jerk, she snapped his neck between her hands and let the body drop to the concrete. She felt a wave of satisfaction wash over her as she relished the warmth of his blood beginning to metabolize in her system.

“Creep,” she muttered under her breath while picking him up by the worn belt around his waist and hauling him down the length of the alley.

There was an old paint-peeled trash dumpster at the rear of the buildings beyond the alleyway. She casually threw the body through the dumpster’s open metal window, landing atop the refuse and empty cardboard boxes inside. Sensing no onlookers, but still visually scanning the area, she removed a small can of Zippo cigarette lighter fluid from her jacket pocket and sprayed the contents onto the boxes and body. Immolation was her time-tested, favorite method for eliminating evidence.

She lit a single match and tossed it and the empty canister onto the body. It quickly ignited, the contents protected from the drizzle by the closed dumpster lid. Katrina walked to the front of the alley, the only sound the clicking of her boots on the damp pavement. As she traversed the wet sidewalk along the street to where she had parked her car, she scanned the area around her again to ensure that she hadn’t missed any public cameras.

Her thoughts soon gravitated to Caleb and the grim satisfaction she felt for tying up the loose ends with the cretin who had tried to rob him. She couldn’t risk the creep making an attempt on someone else. Honesty set in as she confessed it wasn’t through any innate concern for the general public.
It’s really all about protecting Caleb, isn’t it?

Katrina slyly smirked as she got back into her car and drove away. Caleb was definitely getting under her skin, and her Audi seemed to automatically navigate its way in the general direction of his apartment building.

Caleb was still in a degree of shock as he drove to his apartment across town. Fortunately, his building paid for all-hours gate security services for the small guard shack at the entrance to the underground parking garage. It meant he paid quite a bit more for rent on an already Spartan income, but that night it seemed perfectly worth it. He pulled into a spot not far from the elevator and made his way up to his apartment on the third floor. He entered and immediately set the deadbolt after shutting the door behind him.

He glanced around his small, somewhat cluttered apartment. Aside from the medium-sized bedroom and attached bathroom, there was a living room that opened into the combined small dining room and kitchen.

After dropping his keys onto the small counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, he draped his leather jacket over one of the two barstools. Frowning, his mind kept repeating the flurry of events that comprised the attempted robbery. He marveled at how Katrina seemed to appear out of nowhere to help him. Actually, it was more like she came to his rescue. He smirked at that.

He plopped onto the worn leather sofa and reached over to the television remote sitting on one of the glass end tables. A small entertainment center sat in the corner next to the twin, medium-sized windows that looked out onto the fire escape. He pointed the remote at the TV and then changed his mind. Gazing towards the sheer curtains, he couldn’t help feeling watched. He got up and looked out one of the windows, but only saw the aged red brick wall of a nondescript warehouse across the alleyway. Immediately outside was the rather unattractive, black metal fire escape platform that ran across each floor of the building. He sighed, chuckled, and silently berated himself for his paranoia.

Then his phone rang, which startled him.
Damn it.
He stormed to the kitchen counter.

“Hello,” he answered in a terse voice.

“Caleb?” Melanie asked.

“Yeah,” he replied with a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong?” she pressed as her TV played in the background.

He absently ran one hand through his hair and explained, “Well, I got mugged in the college parking lot tonight.”

Melanie gasped slightly. “That’s terrible! Did they take your wallet?”

His eyes widened with surprise, and he demanded incredulously, “My wallet?”

“Well, yeah,” she insisted. “If so, it’s a real pain! My friend at work, Terri, had her purse stolen, and it took like forever to cancel her credit cards and get her IDs remade.”

“Huh?” he muttered in confusion as he took the phone away from his ear and stared at it with disgust.
You’re kidding, right?
he thought wildly before putting the phone back to his ear.
What about me?
“Well, he didn’t get my wallet,” he said. “Thanks to Katrina, of course.”

“Katrina? Who’s Katrina?” she demanded in an annoyed voice.

Caleb took perverse pleasure in her response. “Katrina Rawlings. She’s one of my history students,” he proudly replied. “She’s leading the class average by a mile, in fact.”

Melanie paused, and the TV clicked off at her end of the line. “When did all this happen?” she asked with sudden interest.

“About an hour ago,” he said as he glanced at his watch. “It’s a good thing she was there because the guy was carrying a huge knife, Melanie. I tell you, I was-“

“An hour ago? Didn’t class end way before that?” she abruptly interrupted.

His mind reeled, and he frowned. “Well, yeah, I guess. I was working late in my office grading some essays, and-“

“And was Katrina in your office, too?” she interjected.

“What?” Caleb asked incredulously. “Melanie, what are you trying to say? I get mugged, and maybe stabbed if it weren’t for Katrina, and you don’t seem too damned concerned about that,” he snapped.

She sighed in a huffy manner and retorted, “Of course, I’m glad you’re okay, Caleb.”

He didn’t think she sounded too convincing. “Well, I was alone in my office, thank you,” he replied matter-of-factly.

“Okay, fine,” Melanie replied. “I’m glad that you’re okay and that you didn’t lose your wallet.”

“Thanks,” he said, unconvinced.

“Do you want me to come over or anything?” she asked.

He thought about it for a moment and was surprised to find he really didn’t feel like her company. He felt exhausted, wanting only to take a shower, have a beer to calm his nerves, and maybe go to bed. “No, that’s okay, Mel,” he said tiredly. “I’m beat. I just want a shower and some sleep.”

“Well, call me tomorrow, okay?” she insisted.

“Sure,” he replied. “G’night, Mel.”

“’Night,” she said before hanging up.

He laid the phone on the kitchen counter and headed to the refrigerator for a beer.

Katrina quietly leaned against the black metal railing of the fire escape outside Caleb’s apartment window, well to the side in the shadows so that nobody could see her standing there. She was easily able to hear his voice as she watched him through the sheer curtains of his living room. While concerned for his well being, she felt a little like a stalker.

She sighed. It wasn’t like she could just call him or stop by his apartment to check on him. Katrina readily detected his interest in her, and the feeling was certainly mutual. But she didn’t want to jeopardize his job. It was all she could do not to seek him out after each class ended. Still, there were only two weeks left before the semester ended, and she would end her brief stint at college. She was going to miss listening to him lecture; he had a real talent for teaching. But more than that, she longed to just sit and chat with him, or sit and kiss those soft-looking lips of his.

From the warmth growing inside her, she felt a longing to do other things with him, as well. She longed to share his body, to partake in his blood. She let those thoughts playfully linger for a moment as she observed him.

One thing she knew for certain, based upon Caleb’s conversation with his girlfriend, she definitely didn’t like Melanie at all.

He deserves someone much better. Someone like me
, she mused with a sly smile.

As she watched him drink his beer and head into the bedroom, she decided it was time to go. While it was fairly dark where she stood, she didn’t want to press her luck on being noticed. Instead, she quickly but quietly negotiated her way to the ground level and headed down the alley to where she had parked her car.

Much later that night as Caleb lay in bed, he kept thinking back to the robbery attempt and how quickly Katrina had reacted. She seemed unusually calm and collected about everything, while he had felt scared to death. Maybe she was just cool under pressure, but he somehow felt there had to be more to it than that.

Those same feelings of familiarity began to stir in him again.
What is it about Katrina that keeps nagging at me?
However, no answers were forthcoming by the time he fell asleep well past midnight.

Katrina sat at her home computer, partaking in the variety of diversions that marked her time in seclusion during daylight. Though engaged in a variety of online financial evaluations and investment activities, her mind kept wandering back to Caleb. She adored listening to him and watching him lecture in her evening history class, and once again she considered how he seemed to have a knack for instruction. Katrina was an avid history fan herself, having appreciated the considerable culmination of personal experiences and observations as a vampire.

Her brief time around Caleb brought an appreciable, fresh dimension to her existence, making it feel more like a life and less of a drudgery. She had enjoyed their brief interactions and longed for more.
The semester will be over before I know it. Then we’ll see what happens.

She sighed and diverted her attentions to email. Since her reintegration into the world nearly two decades ago, she had reacquired a sense of enjoyment in the interactions with others of her kind. There were a number of fellow vampires from her past that she reached out to again and was pleased to find that most of them returned her interest.

Unfortunately, she was having trouble lately getting a response from a vampire named Garett who’d been living in Paris. He was usually very good about keeping in touch, so she was surprised. However, vampires were often reclusive, so Katrina anticipated that she would hear from him again soon.

She marveled at how much easier technology made everything for her kind. Blood supplies were delivered to nearly anywhere in the world via a specialized courier service. Email and text messaging made quick communication as personal or impersonal as she liked. Transportation around the world was effortless, though often at a considerable cost. Cable television provided hours, or even days, of alternate reality immersion. Every film ever made was available either on demand, online, or on DVD. And the wonderful virtual conduit known as the Internet provided hours of information and online distractions.

Her reverie was interrupted by a text message on her cell phone from a vampire named Alton, who was as close a friend as she’d ever known:
Lost contact with Octavia in Trondheim. Just arrived in Paris
.

Katrina frowned.
Strange
, she mused.
Maybe Alton will at least be able to contact Garett for me.

The last two weeks of the semester passed very quickly. And while Caleb felt a sense of accomplishment at having successfully taught his first semester for the college, he was somewhat remorseful that one particular evening history section was coming to an end. On the last class meeting, he passed out the final exams. He lingered at Katrina’s location for a moment longer than the others, smiling down at her with a hopeful, yet melancholy pause as he sat the exam before her.

Katrina felt an emotional stab of pain reach to her heart as she took in his expression, and she returned a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I studied,” she offered with a wink. He smiled genuinely, and it warmed her heart for a moment. She couldn’t read his thoughts, but she had accurately assessed his mood.

As was customary, Katrina finished before anyone else. She brought the exam to the front of the room as more than one set of eyes in the classroom followed her. She placed it onto the podium in front of Caleb while her eyes never left his, and she offered him a generous smile. With her back to the class, it was discreet enough that nobody was the wiser.

I’ll miss you
, he silently declared as he stared into her beautiful green eyes, wishing that propriety didn’t prevent him from whispering his thoughts out loud to her.

Her hand faltered as it hovered over the exam that she placed before him. Her smile faded as she read every emotion in his pale blue eyes, which seemed to call to her in an almost helpless manner. As she withdrew her hand with a quick, smooth motion, she managed to caress the tips of her fingers gracefully across the top of his hand as he gripped the side of the podium. She audibly heard his heartbeat skip in that instant, and she smiled slyly at him and nodded her head ever so slightly before turning to walk away.