Vampire Awakening (8 page)

“No worries then, I'll catch up with her later. Thanks for the help.” Caleb ended the call and finished dressing. He needed to patrol the town and see if he could locate his wayward cousin or any other of his kind that might be able to explain why he couldn’t shake the nagging sensation of something being seriously wrong.

* * * * *

Caleb tunneled his fingers through his hair in frustration. He'd ridden the roads of the sleepy little town for hours now attempting to locate Russell and the trouble he continued to sense. All for nothing. He was no closer to finding the wayward troublemaker or any of his potential minions. Watching the clock, he knew he didn't have long before Abby's shift ended. No way would allow her to leave there unguarded. Not with Russell somewhere close by—hiding, waiting.

He whipped his motorcycle around in a sharp U-turn and headed in the direction of the bar. On both sides of the road abandoned buildings loomed around him. This side of town had been left to decay as the residents focused to the east side near the highway. Broken windows with jagged edges served as little warning to the dangers that could be found inside. At the edge of this desertion stood The Dirty Drummer. It served as the line between old and new.

Caleb parked his bike about a block away from the bar. He planned to approach on foot and in the shadows. The wind kicked up, and Caleb stiffened in alert. His heart raced and his eyes narrowed as his nose caught the scent of his cousin on the breeze. But more than that, he detected the rich aroma of fresh blood. To humans, blood took on a scent like copper. He still remembered it well. But to vampires, blood was sweet, a little like honey. It was often different with each one of them, but sweet all the same.

To his relief, what he identified was not entirely human. The blood of a vampire was on the wind.

What the hell?

Caleb picked up speed and raced to the back of the Drummer. It didn’t take long, definitely no more than twenty seconds. The sweet scent of the blood nearly overwhelmed him at this point. He rounded the edge of the building in time to see a shadowy figure stab another in the neck. He ran to the two men and delivered a sidekick to the abdomen of the attacker. The figure stumbled back in surprise as surveyed the damage on the younger vampire who’d fallen to the ground. Blood covered everything. Several of his major arteries had been severed and the blood loss fatal.

Caleb turned to the assailant. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Russ?”

The man stepped from the shadows. His fangs were bared and covered in more blood. However, it was the feral, vacant look in his eyes that alarmed Caleb more than anything else. “What are you doing here? Are you trying to get us all killed?”

“This is none of your business so stay out of it.” Russell charged him, closing the distance between them in less than a blink of an eye. His fist plowed into Caleb’s face, smashing against the bone in his cheek, ripping the skin open from cheekbone to lip. Caleb flew back, slamming into the building wall, momentarily dazed. Russell took advantage of his delay by grabbing his shoulders and hurtling him toward the wooded area behind the bar.

Caleb crashed into a tree, knocking his head hard on a low-lying limb. He bounced forward, landing face first in the dirt. Breathing through the shocking pain, he spit blood onto the ground. Fury sped through him, fueling him beyond the pain of injury. Baring his fangs on a throaty growl, he sprang back into action. He raced around the corner of the building to follow to find the parking lot....

Empty? What the fuck? He twisted left and right, scanning for Russell. Nothing. He kicked the trashcan standing next to him, cursing his failure, when he remembered the other vampire. Twisting to the right, he bolted behind the low wall next to the back entrance of the building. Shit. The male vampire lay in a bloody heap by the door where he'd been thrown after being stabbed in the neck. Beyond the wash of blood clouding Caleb’s vision, he caught sight of the small stake protruding from the man’s back.
Shit
. He crouched next to the body and listened to the sounds of his last breaths gurgling from his torn throat. He was too late.

What a fucking mess. Now he would once again have to work cover up for his cousin.
This kind of shit sucks,
he thought as he rolled the dying vampire over and—

Shit. Shit. Shit. It was Brian, Abby's drummer. He'd known there was likely a connection, but hell, he didn't expect this.
What was the point of killing someone you had working the inside?
Obviously he’d stopped being useful. Caleb reached across the body and picked up Brian’s bloody drumsticks.

“Caleb?” At the sound of her voice, he shifted his body to hide the worst of the damage to her almost dead friend.

“Abby, what are you doing out here? I thought you were working inside.”

“I came out here to look for Brian, we are waiting for him to go—” Her face paled as she walked into the light. “What the hell happened to you? Were you in a fight? Are you okay? There is blood all over—” Her eyes fixated on the ground behind him as she realized a body lay there. She stumbled backward away from the bloody scene.

“Is that—? Dear God, is that—?” Looking panic stricken, her eyes dilated and widened. Caleb quickly sent out a mental push to calm her before she started screaming for help. As usual, her mind resisted him as he gathered the remainder of his strength, forcing his persuasion on her.

“It's okay, Abby. I'm fine. Your friend Brian was attacked. I did my best to help him, but I was too late.”

“What do you mean too late?” Her voice rose. “He's— He's dead?”

Caleb pushed at her mind some more, infusing her with everything he had. “Everything is fine, darlin’. Just a terrible, random tragedy.” He watched tears splash across her pale cheeks before she finally nodded her head in agreement.

“But I don’t understand. Who would do something like this? How are you involved?” Damn, her mind was so strong. How was she able to resist his suggestions? And how the hell could Russell have wiped her memories if she was this strong? Taking away one event, such as a feeding, was fairly doable, but suppressing every memory was a little bit different. Things were beginning to not add up.

“You need to go back inside and stay there until I come back for you.” She stood still, staring up at him as if unsure of what to do. His anger rose at her defiance. “Abby, go inside and finish your shift. Let me handle this for you and everything will be fine.” Several long moments later, she turned away with a final glance down at the body behind him. As she faced the building, a subtle pop and rustling came from behind him. Damn. Brian’s final breath had led to his body disintegrating to a fine ash. Pushing harder at Abby’s mind, he somehow managed to keep her walking toward the door. When she disappeared inside, Caleb breathed a sigh of relief.

With the death of a vampire and no real witnesses, there wasn’t much left to clean. He gathered Brian’s clothes and drumsticks and carried them to the round metal trash barrel at the far end of the parking lot. With the lighter he kept in his jacket pocket, Caleb set the remnants of evidence on fire and watched them burn. Ash and smoke floated in the air as the fire quickly burned out.

Caleb headed back to his bike while thinking of Abby and the voice that had be spelled him from the first time he’d heard her sing. But even before that, when he'd spied her brilliant violet eyes under the feathery fall of her raven-colored hair, his body had reacted and he'd known. For the first time in his long life, he wanted to claim a mate. Him, Caleb Barrett, the perennial loner. He shook his head in denial. Not possible. She was human and he was only here to do a job. Keep her alive and capture Russell one way or another. The coven preferred him alive, but had directed him to do whatever it took to stop the killings and protect the woman.

Caleb froze. Why would they care whether the woman lived or died? She was one human…

The nagging sensation that had tormented him earlier returned. Fucking secrets. He suddenly disliked his odds a whole lot less.

At least he knew Abby was safe for the night. He'd managed to injure Russell before he'd escaped, which left him little choice but to rest and heal before he went after Abby. Caleb glanced at the sky. With only a few hours until dawn and his face torn and bloody, he had to seek out shelter right away and stay there until sunset tomorrow. His head pounded from the fight. Fortunately, his injuries weren't severe, but he still needed to feed before sunrise to regain his strength. That need had him thinking of Abby again and her sweet, life-giving blood. Not tonight. There would be too many questions that he couldn’t answer. Tomorrow he would figure this out and then maybe…

Chapter Five

Abby wandered the room, going from table to table, cleaning up the night’s mess left by the customers. Without Brian to play the drums, the band had opted not to go on, and instead the jukebox had continued to play all night. Many of the customers had complained and pleaded with her to sing, but for some reason she'd not felt up to it. Sadness cloaked her, and she wasn't sure why. Caleb hadn't shown up tonight, but she didn't think that was the problem. Sometimes he waited for her at her place. She was going to have to tell him tonight that she was leaving. She'd spoken with Danny this afternoon and let him know she was leaving town for a while. He’d taken the news fairly well all things considered.

A couple of hours later, Abby stepped out into the cool night air behind the bar. Her last shift finally behind her, she headed toward her car. Next to the low wall near the door, she froze.
A dead body
. She'd seen a bloody body here. The thought popped into her mind as realistic as a movie track. She racked her brain, and a familiar, aching buzz pounded through her head. The same pain she got every time she tried to concentrate on missing memories.

Caleb.

She'd seen him here tonight. Standing over a man's body. She shook her head. No, he’d never shown up.

More snippets of the memory returned to her as she clearly saw Caleb looking battered and weary. His hulking frame had hidden a man on the ground, but she'd noticed a familiar leather jacket.

Oh dear God. Brian. A sob burned in her throat.

Why couldn’t she be clear? Her head throbbed.

The last time she'd spoken to Brian, she'd been giving him a hard time about his latest sexual conquest. The man's sexual appetite had been insatiable, one he’d tried to fill with a constant flow of beautiful women. As usual, he'd blown her off with a few words and a lot of sexual teasing thrown in her direction. Now she saw him clearly in her mind’s eye. On the ground. Covered in blood. With Caleb perched over him.

She stood riveted to the spot for a long moment, facing the horror, when a taste of wet salt trickled into her mouth. Her fingers reached up to her cheek, shocked to find them soaked by tears. Sadness enveloped her as her feelings for her lost friend ran roughshod over the slippery memory she didn’t understand.

“Abby? Are you okay?” Barb's voice from beside her scared her as she took several steps in the opposite direction. Her heart raced.

“Abby? What is it?”

Abby shook her head, unable to speak. Her pulse beat in her ears as she waved off her co-worker and took off for her car. She couldn’t talk to anyone now. Had to get to Caleb and find out.

“I'm sorry, hon, I didn't mean to scare you,” Barb yelled at her across the few cars separating them.

She hurriedly dug through her bag and fished out her keys. Her head darted from side to side as she searched for the sudden sense of danger that filled her. Paranoid or not she didn’t care. Something was wrong.

Wrenching the car door open, she threw in her purse and slammed the door closed behind her. She started the engine and rushed out of the parking lot, leaving Barb to probably wonder what the hell was wrong with her.

* * * * *

Abby sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the packed luggage sitting at the door waiting for her. In the few hours she’d tried to sleep her dreams had haunted her with blood, violence and Caleb. Disappointment surged through her. She’d arrived home last night to a cold and empty house. There’d been no sign of Caleb and he hadn’t answered his cell phone.

Sometime in the pre dawn hours she’d made the decision to not see him again before she left. Leaving him wouldn't be easy, but she thought it best this way. She needed to find the truth about her past, and this was the only option she had. All she could think about was how she’d found him standing over Brian. Even though there’d been no evidence to support her weird memory, she saw everything clearly. The crime scene had been wiped clean by the time she left work last night, and Caleb hadn’t bothered to contact her with any further explanation. And where the hell were the cops? Shouldn't they be out looking or at least interviewing people at the Drummer? Her palms rubbed at her temples before she pushed them through her hair.

Debating whether to leave a note for Caleb, she went about tidying her bedroom and gathering the last of her belongings she needed for the trip. Glancing at the bedside clock for at least the tenth time in the past ten minutes, it blinked 9 a.m. at her. Four hours of sleep didn't seem like enough to start a trip on, but her body and mind were too restless to wait. She grabbed up her suitcase, keys and shoes and padded toward the front door.