Sunrise at Sunset (51 page)

She wasn’t certain what time it was, but she knew that something needed to happen for him soon. She closed her eyes, holding his body close to hers. Some strength in her body was just beginning to return, and she felt her wounds slowly repairing themselves throughout her decimated system.

Once again, Angel Caleb came to my rescue.

The taste of his sweet, life-rejuvenating blood still lingered in her mouth as she whispered to him, “I love you. I’ll love you forever.”

The rental car screeched to a halt in front of the estate, and Paige barreled through the front door with a cell phone in her hand. She tore her high-heeled shoes from her feet and cast them aside as she looked around frantically. She had driven like a demon possessed once the call from Alton arrived, and she stayed on the phone with him as he described what he’d been able to hear after Katrina dropped the phone.

“Holy crap!” she exclaimed as she made her way into the living room, viewing the carnage before her.

Her eyes took in the horrific scene in the dining room, and she rushed to where Katrina still held Caleb close to her body.

“Red,” Paige urged as Katrina’s weak, tired eyes looked back at her with anguish.

“He’s dying,” was all she managed to whisper.

“Paige! What’s happening?!” Alton demanded over the cell phone.

“Katrina’s injured, but recovering,” Paige said hurriedly. “But Caleb’s hurt badly. There’s a dagger in his upper shoulder area.”

“Massive blood loss,” Katrina nearly shrieked.

Paige’s face flashed with horror as she realized what had happened. “Katrina drank too much from him. He’s dying,” she muttered desperately.

“Get to the blood supply. Start an intravenous drip immediately!” Alton commanded. “Do it now!”

Paige gathered him into her arms, stripping Katrina’s weak hands from around him, and ran with him to the sublevel room where she laid him gently on the king-sized bed. She raced back upstairs to the refrigerator in the kitchen and quickly sorted through the various blood types remaining on the shelves.

“Type A positive,” Katrina’s strangled voice called from the dining room.

Paige picked two bags of blood and frantically tried to think of where to get the other supplies she needed. “Katrina! I need tubes and needles!” she yelled frantically.

“Basement shelf…medical bag,” she rasped.

Paige sped into the basement wine cellar, recalling the last time she had descended these same stairs trying to save Caleb’s life. She spotted a black leather medical bag and brought it with her back upstairs. She raced back to the sublevel room where he was lying.

After checking his shallow pulse, Paige prepared the blood for him. She stuck him in the arm with a needle and attached the blood bag to the other apparatus. Grabbing a letter opener from the desk, she stabbed it into the wall above the bed with incredible force, imbedding it into the sheet rock-covered concrete wall. She hung the bag of blood from it above his head.

She glanced at the blade sticking out of his shoulder and was uncertain how to proceed. Racing back upstairs to the dining room, she found Katrina with the cell phone in her hand.

“…have to turn him,” Alton finished saying.

“He won’t survive it,” Paige challenged. “He’s too weak. And we have to deal with the dagger
now
!”

“Bring me to him,” Katrina weakly insisted.

Paige carried her tall friend to the sublevel room and laid her alongside her mate. Katrina managed to prop herself up on one arm and absently dropped the cell phone onto the bed beside her. She grasped the dagger in her free hand and looked up to Paige.

“You have to close the wound,” she insisted. “Just like I did after I bit him in the shoulder.”

Paige’s eyes became as big as saucers, and she shook her head. “I don’t know if I can-”

Katrina interrupted her, “He’s dying! You have to find the strength inside yourself! Now.
Do it!
”

Paige nodded furiously and motioned for her to pull the dagger out. Katrina held her breath and extracted the blade in one swift movement. As expected, Caleb’s blood flowed generously from the wound.

Paige nearly leapt onto him, pressing her tongue into the gaping hole in his chest. She slurped the blood when necessary and began forcing her saliva into the wound area.

“Control, Paige,” Katrina urged as she helplessly watched her friend labor at saving her mate’s life.

After a time, the open wound began to mend, and Paige licked at Caleb’s shoulder area until the skin was fully sealed. Her body was shaking with the effort to control her feeding urge, and she looked sidelong at Katrina with glowing blue eyes.

“Good, Paige,” Katrina offered soothingly. “Get a syringe and take blood from me.”

“Wait!” Alton shouted over the cell phone speaker. “Katrina’s blood is too diluted with Caleb’s!”

Paige paused and looked at Katrina, whose eyes showed surprise, not having considered that problem at all.

“Use mine,” Paige insisted. “And screw your damned rules! He may have to follow them, but I sure as hell don’t!”

Katrina was completely taken aback and simply nodded her assent as Paige grabbed a fresh syringe from the medical bag and proceeded to draw blood from her own arm.

“Saline?” Paige insisted.

“Wait!” Alton insisted. “Undiluted and directly into his wound area!”

“It might start turning him,” Katrina urged in a panicked voice. “He won’t survive a turning in his condition!”

“No! Unlike you, I’ve actually turned a human before,” shouted Alton. “It won’t be enough for a turning, just faster healing!”

Paige nodded and pressed the needle into the skin around the wound. She injected the entire syringe, and both vampires stared down at the sandy-haired young man with concern. “Now what?” she demanded.

“Now, we wait,” Alton replied.

Tears fell from Katrina’s eyes as she lay against Caleb’s unconscious body, which was still breathing all too shallowly.

Paige locked down the house before the sun rose, including activating all the window shutters. Once Paige had both Caleb and Katrina settled, she took Chimalma’s body and severed head out to the back yard, placing them in a shallow hole she dug to be left open to the winter sunlight. Fortunately, the winter day promised to host mostly blue skies again. The vampire returned to watch over her friends and help as needed. She also called Alton to check in and make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.

For a time, she sat at the edge of the bed with a damp washcloth, dabbing at Caleb’s forehead occasionally as his body was racked with shivering that appeared to be from a fever.

Katrina slept against him as her own body continued to heal itself, and Paige looked over at her friend in support.

“I never saw this coming,” she muttered darkly.

A couple of hours later, Katrina stirred. She immediately looked at Caleb and saw that his color had improved. She glanced up to the packet of blood hung above his head and noted it was nearly empty.

“How many blood units?” she asked Paige, who looked up from dabbing Caleb’s forehead with a fresh washcloth.

“That’s number four,” Paige replied softly. “How are you?”

Katrina regarded her with sad eyes. “Stronger…and weaker.” Her heart was nearly breaking with the thought that Caleb might die.

Paige nodded, understanding her double meaning. As Katrina sat up in bed, the short vampire came around to the other side of the bed and hugged her.

“Thank you, Paige. Once again, I owe you in a big way,” Katrina muttered softly. “Caleb would be dead now if not for you.”

Paige’s voice was hard as her eyes became moist. “I’m pretty fond of the little guy, to tell you the truth.”

A pang of jealousy rose in Katrina, but she urged it below the surface. She had brought Paige and Caleb together for his protection and should be happy they had bonded so well. Besides, she was confident that Caleb was her mate and lover and realized that she needed to let go of any unhealthy, possessive urges regarding him. And only a selflessly devoted mate would give his own life for hers.

Katrina smiled, hugging her friend in return. “I know you’re fond of him, and I’m happy you feel that way. I think he adores you too.”

Paige parted from her embrace with her. “All these years, I’ve become good at killing and taking blood from others, Red,” she confided. “But this is the first time I’ve ever saved someone else’s life with my own blood.”

Katrina nodded supportively. “You realize that you have an implicit right to ask for something of me and of him in return,” she ventured.

Paige scowled, retorting in an insulted tone, “Do you think I’m really so shallow? I’m just glad you’re both still alive.”

Katrina recalled the lecture she had given Caleb about vampires. She had warned him that even if they learned to appreciate his company, as a human, it was still likely to be somewhat shallow and cursory. She warned him not to be too trusting of other vampires, given their tendency for self-interest and ulterior agendas. However, even she confessed that Paige and Alton were like family to her, and she didn’t necessarily place them in the same category as the other vampires she knew.

She smiled sympathetically and regarded the young vampire. “Honestly, Paige, what can Caleb mean to you after only the short time you’ve known him?”

Paige considered the question somewhat shyly, not wanting to meet her eyes. “At first I thought you stuck me with a really lame task of babysitting your human mate. But I’ve gotten to know him the past couple of weeks, and we’ve gone through more together than I have with any other human. You have to understand, most people go in and out of my life easily. I try not to take anyone too seriously, especially humans. They’re perfect to have around for partying or sex and, of course, their blood. But when I think about Caleb, he’s what having a little brother might be like, though I never actually had one as a human. It’s much the same way you and I are so close, really.”

Katrina smiled supportively and nodded her understanding. She realized that Caleb had a way of quickly growing on people.
Even vampires, apparently.

Paige continued earnestly, “And hell, I walk away from people all the time. It’s easy. But for some reason, I hate the thought of just walking away from him. And then seeing you again after being apart for so many years. Well, despite all the negative reasons behind my purpose for being here, it’s just been so satisfying. I’d miss this feeling.”

Katrina offered a sympathetic expression and admitted, “I understand. I’d forgotten just how much I missed your eclectic nature, as well as your friendship. Perhaps you should consider staying for a while.”

The youthful vampire looked into Katrina’s eyes speculatively and paused. “But if I make you feel uncomfortable regarding Caleb…” she began carefully. She was fully aware of how much Katrina coveted him, and she didn’t want to be an impediment or interference between them. After all, Caleb was her mate.

“No,” Katrina interrupted. “No, Paige. The more friends he has, the better, vampire or not. You’re a good friend to him, as well as a…”

“Blood sister?” Paige ventured with a smirk.

Katrina rolled her eyes and countered, “Co-mentor?”

“Kindred?” Paige suggested with a grin.

Katrina’s smile faded somewhat, and she whispered in a choked voice, “It won’t really matter if he dies.”

“Stop that!” Paige snapped, feeling somewhat emotional herself at the moment. “He’s going to live, so quit saying that crap.”

Katrina’s eyes watered slightly, and she sighed. “Fine,” she conceded quietly. “He’s going to live. He has to.”

The silence grew between them, and they looked down at Caleb’s unconscious face.

“He looks so peaceful,” Katrina commented softly as she gazed onto his gentle features.

Paige nodded silently and placed a supportive hand on Katrina’s shoulder as she stood beside the bed. However, she was feeling more concerned than she was willing to admit.

“Listen, I could really go for some warm blood,” Katrina prompted gently. “Perhaps you could oblige?”

Paige smiled and departed the room on the welcome errand as Katrina watched her go with a thoughtful expression. She looked back down at Caleb’s resting form and smiled warmly. She needed so badly for him to heal and return to her.

The evening after Chimalma’s attack, Caleb stirred from his unconscious state. The injection of Paige’s blood had helped to heal the area around the knife wound, and the pints of blood aided in restoring his system to a viable level. Paige was sitting at Katrina’s computer in the sublevel room surfing the Internet when he woke. She quickly moved to his bedside and stared down at him.

“Katrina!” Paige called as his eyes fluttered open.

Caleb first thought he saw Katrina’s face, but as his eyes regained a degree of focus, the fuzzy face morphed into Paige’s, including her perky nose, bright smile, and deep blue eyes all outlined by her bobbed blonde hairstyle from a previous century. While happy to see a friendly face, he was immediately concerned that it wasn’t Katrina’s. He felt a swell of panic in his chest, coupled with a strong burgeoning soreness in his upper left shoulder and chest.