Sunrise at Sunset (50 page)

Katrina stopped, glanced over her shoulder at him with a rather unhappy expression, and grumbled, “I sometimes wish that term hadn’t caught on with you.”

He tried to erase a smirk as she stalked out of the room. He almost felt sorry for Alton as he considered her dark mood -- almost, that is. While the stately vampire’s advice had been helpful, it had annoyed Katrina considerably in the end. His mind pondered other advice that Alton had offered and realized he would need to start a workout regimen to prepare his body for phase two. However, it was apparent he still had a lot of work left to do in phase one. He shrugged and went to the kitchen for something to eat. He had scarcely opened the refrigerator when the doorbell rang, and he went to answer it.

Katrina absently surfed the Internet while holding the cordless phone in her other hand talking to Alton. She quickly recounted Caleb’s unplanned adventure that evening in a very displeased tone of voice.

“So, just what other advice have you been giving to my mate?” she demanded.

There was a pause at the other end before Alton calmly answered, “I merely provided him with some supportive advice that might aid him in his continued understanding of the vampire culture. Frankly, I feel the guidance was integral to his development as a successful mate for you.”

“He’s already a successful mate, Alton,” she muttered irritably. “And did you tell him he needs to confront his fears more assertively?”

“Well, yes,” he replied. “It’s a liberating journey that will only help him develop into a well-rounded, independent person,” he reassured her.

She stopped clicking her mouse in the Internet browser. “You’re implying he’s codependent?” she snapped.

“Well, I know that’s probably somewhat appealing to you as an alpha female, but –”

“Bullshit, Alton,” she interrupted. “So, you’re a lay-psychologist now?”

She heard the doorbell ring and frowned at the security system screen to her left.
Kind of late for a visitor
, she mused.

Her eyes widened with horror, and she screamed, “
Caleb!
” The phone hadn’t even hit the floor before she sped like a blur to the top of the stairs.

“Katrina? What’s wrong?” Alton demanded after the handset dropped to the floor.

Curious, Caleb opened the front door and thought he heard Katrina yell his name. However, his attention was captured by the terrifying visage before him. A distorted vision of what used to be Alondra Vargas/Chimalma stood before him wearing all-black clothing. Her right ear was missing, and there were deep scars lining the right side of her face. The hair on the entire right side of her head was missing, save for some strands here and there, and her blistered scalp was a gaunt shade of white. Her hazel eyes blazed brightly, and she wore an evil grimace, accentuated by pronounced fangs.

“Hello, Caleb,” the harsh sounding voice rasped. “Miss me?”

His eyes noted a small crossbow in her mangled-looking right hand, and it was leveled at his chest. He started to yell out, but felt his body being pushed aside as if hit by a truck. His body landed onto the carpeted floor of the adjacent sitting room, nearly a full fifteen feet from where he had just been standing.

The crossbow in Chimalma’s hand fired, and the bolt caught Katrina directly in the chest with a dull thud. She gasped, but managed to remain standing as Chimalma forced her way into the entryway. The angry, disfigured vampire punched Katrina in the jaw with her free hand while firing the crossbow again, the arrow bolt catching her a few inches above the first impact point.

Pain surged through Katrina’s body as she yelled, “Run, Caleb!” She grabbed Chimalma by the neck with one hand and threw her further into the house towards the kitchen.

Their two bodies became immediately entangled in a flurry of blows and clawing exchanges. Both combatants howled in bitter hatred as they smashed against furniture, fixtures, and walls.

Caleb gathered his wits long enough to realize the battle had moved further into the house. He jumped to his feet as intense fear and adrenaline surged through his mind and body. Making a run for the front door to flee, he made it as far as stepping onto the front porch before halting like a statue. “No!” he yelled in frustration.

He wasn’t running for safety this time. His lover, his mate, needed help, and he wasn’t about to abandon her. But his mind raced frantically as he tried to think of something he could use as a weapon.
And this time, a crowbar from the basement isn’t going to cut it!
He gathered his resolve and raced back into the entry area towards the hallway and nearly ran into the wall as he tried to stop. Loud snarling noises and a series of subsequent crashing sounds came from the interior.

His mind flashed with an epiphany, and he raced down the hallway towards the study. He flipped on the light switch, and his eyes fell onto the sword in the glass case that had belonged to Katrina’s husband. He lifted the casing off and cast it onto the floor. Snatching the sword from its wooden holders, he nearly dropped the heavier-than-expected weight, which shifted in his novice right hand.

Wasting no time, he raced down the hallway as fast as he could.

The two vampires continued their struggle in the formal dining room. The large table was smashed and the china cabinet reduced to rubble as they fought. Katrina’s wounds were bleeding more freely as she wrestled with the centuries-old Aztec vampire. Despite her disfigurement, Chimalma seemed to have the upper hand in the battle, and Katrina felt her strength ebbing.

Katrina managed to knock the crossbow from Chimalma’s grip, but the elder vampire’s left hand snatched a short-bladed, curvy dagger from her waistband sheath and held it overhead as she readied to strike down at Katrina’s chest. Chimalma’s right hand choked Katrina’s neck in a deathlike grip, while she grappled with the arm holding the dagger.

“If you’re going to blow somebody up, do it right!” Chimalma spat venomously.

Caleb appeared out of the hallway holding the sword over his head with both hands, running towards Chimalma’s unprotected back, hoping to strike her down. Katrina’s eyes widened for only an instant, but it was enough for the disfigured vampire to notice. Chimalma’s head glanced back over her shoulder, and she jerked her left hand away from Katrina’s grip, throwing the curvy-bladed dagger at Caleb as he charged.

The knife flew through the air and imbedded into his upper left chest quadrant with a force that caused him to fall backwards from the impact. Intense pain cascaded through his chest and shoulder, and the sword was propelled forward across the floor from his hands as he released his grip on the hilt.

The blade skittered across the tiled floor towards Katrina, and she managed to grab the hilt as it started to slide past her. She whipped the blade upwards and plunged the tip of the sword into Alondra’s heart, causing the vampire to gasp sharply. Chimalma grabbed at one of the arrow bolts stuck in Katrina’s chest with her free right hand and pressed it into her further, causing Katrina to scream in pain.

But Katrina still managed to grab the hilt of the imbedded sword with her right hand and deftly snapped the end of the blade off, leaving the tip stuck in the other vampire’s heart.

“Bitch!” Alondra cursed.

With one fluid sweep of Katrina’s right arm, the remainder of the blade swooshed upwards and to the left, neatly separating the vampire’s head from her shoulders. As Caleb looked up from the floor with horror, Alondra’s head rolled across the floor, spraying a mist of blood along its path. The body slumped to the tiled floor with a squishy thud. Chimalma’s head came to a stop against the far wall, an expression of shock still evident. A second later, the broken sword clattered to the floor as Katrina collapsed to her knees in exhaustion.

Despite the blade imbedded in Caleb’s chest, he managed to crawl to Katrina’s side as she rolled into his arms, weakly staring up at him.

“What can I do?” he urged in a panicked voice.

She felt her energy ebbing as the blood continued to seep from her two wounds, though the most critical was the arrow sticking from the area around her heart. She was exhausted from the effort of her last actions, and Katrina realized that death was finally coming for her. But instead of feeling fear, she felt an odd peace fall over her. Glancing into Caleb’s shocked face, she felt genuine remorse. “Nothing, my love,” she whispered. “You can do nothing.”

She felt his body shaking with fear as he held her.

“You’re healing?” he inquired shakily, but hopefully.

“Not fast enough,” she moaned.

“No!” he demanded. “You can’t die! You can’t leave me!”

“Everyone dies,” she whispered.

Pain surged through Caleb’s chest, and he felt like he was going into shock. “Not you,” he shook his head as tears welled in his eyes. “Not now!”

“I’m so sorry, my love,” she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek. She could feel the emotional pain emanating from him, which greatly surpassed the pain coursing through her own body.

“Don’t do this,” he pleaded as an idea dawned on him. He grasped each of the two arrows in his right hand and managed to pull them from her body. The blood flowed freely, but he used each of his hands to cover a wound mark and pressed onto each location to help stem the bleeding. Then, despite the blade still sticking from his upper chest, he forced his neck onto Katrina’s mouth, demanding, “Take my blood. It’ll help you heal.”

She was so weak by that point, but she could feel the pulse in his soft neck against her lips. The survival instinct within her immediately wanted to bite into his throat, and her fangs protruded in her mouth. A fresh pain shot through her body, and she gasped.

“Hurry!” he urged as he pressed his neck onto her parted lips.

But she managed to turn her face from him and insisted in ragged breaths, “No. It’s not enough. Just live your life. Do it for me...for us.”

He sobbed openly and gently settled her body onto the floor. Fate was so cruel to him and seemingly always had been. His loved ones were either abusive or taken from him too soon in life. He finally found the one person who made him complete, who made him feel alive for maybe the first time in his life. And he didn’t want to live if she weren’t there to live alongside him.

Noticing the bleeding from her body was ebbing, he ran the back of one bloody hand across Katrina’s cheek as she closed her eyes. Feeling bewildered, he searched wildly in his mind for solutions. He saw the bloody, broken sword lying on the floor next to them, and an idea was born of desperation.

Ignoring the intense pain from his own nearly unbearable wound, Caleb firmly grasped the sword in both hands and pressed the edged portion of the remaining blade to his neck. Then, before he lost his nerve, he ran the blade across his throat with a painful thrust. Pain seared through his neck, and he dropped the blade with a clatter. Blood readily seeped from the hastily created gash.

“I love you,” he muttered before placing his neck over her mouth.

The blood flowed onto her lips. A small spark surged through her body as she felt herself drifting into a dreamlike haze. Her eyes shot open, and something feral awakened. A rich, sweet taste was in her mouth as her lips clamped onto skin, and her arms instinctively wrapped around the figure above her like a vice.

Katrina heard a gasp from the figure, and her mind quickly returned to a conscious state. She realized with horror that Caleb was in her arms as her mouth drank furiously from him. She tried to stop, but the urge in her was too great. Her body was in command, not her rational mind. The red-haired vampire hadn’t experienced thirst that strongly before, and it actually terrified her. She felt part-animal, part-higher being all at the same instant. A rush of satisfaction and longing swept through her body, yet her mind was repulsed by it. Time seemed to stop as all that existed was her insatiable thirst and his labored heartbeat and breathing.

At some point she felt stronger as her sense of conscious control also began to return. She forced her tongue onto the skin of Caleb’s neck, pressing it there to prevent his continued bleeding. Terror rolled through her as she was uncertain if she had already taken too much blood from him. She sensed only a faint heartbeat from him, and his breathing was shallow.

She gathered saliva in her mouth and held it around his neck wound. Time seemed to stand still again as she impatiently waited for his wound to close. Her lips parted, and she gently licked at his wound area. She wasn’t sure if she should remove the dagger from his body, fearing something might tear, and she didn’t know if she had the strength to heal him.

More time passed as she lay on the floor, holding his body against hers. His breathing continued to be shallow, and she worried for his survival. She wouldn’t forgive herself if somehow her hunger became the death of him. Her mind raced, wondering how he could have been so insane to do what he did. But then she also felt intense love for him, for his sacrifice. However, it would mean nothing if he died from his efforts.

This isn’t supposed to be how it ends.
She was supposed to have left him safe so he could continue his life. He deserved a normal life, one with a normal wife who could bear him children. A life where he could grow old with his partner and watch their children grow and develop.
A life without me.