Sunset Rising (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 5) (19 page)

“
Where are you going?” I
asked.

She stared down at me, then walked over to
the small dining room table and gathered her leather coat that was
draped over the back of one chair.

“
You stay here. I’m
returning to the hotel to coordinate some details and retrieve my
things,” she said. “In addition, the vampires outside will need to
switch shifts with the humans soon.”

“
What? There’s more people
with you?”

“
You thought otherwise?”
she countered. “This was a twenty-four hour operation comprised of
two teams; humans during the day and vampires at night.”

“
Look, just send them
home,” I said. “You can see I’m perfectly safe here, especially now
that you’ve found me.”

“
Caleb,
” she warned.

“
Okay, okay. Do whatever
you feel’s best.”

“
Much better. You have no
idea what’s been going on lately,” she said.

I started to argue but she held up her hand.
“Yes, I realize that I haven’t exactly been keeping you fully
informed about matters, either.”

I settled back down, contented that she had
at least conceded that.

“
Don’t go anywhere until I
get back.”

“
It’s not as if I have any
place else to be.”

She walked back over to me, her boot heels
thumping against the wood floor. She stared down at me until I met
her gaze. “No more running from things, either figuratively or
literally.”

I nodded.

She bent down to give me an all-too-brief
kiss.

“
You’re going to be the
death of me someday,” she said.

My eyes widened. “I hope not.”

The edges of her mouth upturned ever so
slightly before she turned and exited the cabin, firmly pulling the
door closed behind her.

I listened as a vehicle drove away from
outside the cabin. The strange thing was I hadn’t even heard one
pull up out front since she arrived last night.

For the first time in forever, it had felt
as if she and I were the only two people in the world.

I wanted to try more of that again very
soon.

“
Well, all in all, I
suppose that went better than it could have,” I said aloud,
standing up to stretch and then massage my neck.

I felt completely exhausted, both physically
and emotionally.

Then, as if on cue, the sound of heavy rain
pelting against the cabin’s roof generated a din of noise that
drowned out the silence.

I plopped back down onto the couch,
uncertain as to what to do next.

Multiple thoughts collided in my brain all
at once.

Despite telling her everything, Kat was
still put out with me. Not to mention Alton was annoyed and
disappointed in me.

My recent cathartic days of contemplation
seemed far less satisfying in retrospect.

Then my mind went numb and I just stared at
nothing, the sound of the rain almost hypnotic and soothing.

Eventually, despite the combination of
periodic thunder and steady rainfall, the growl of a motorcycle
engine grew louder until it sounded like it was right outside the
cabin.

I got up and opened the front door just in
time to see Paige removing her helmet.

Her blue eyes looked cold and flat, and she
stared at me as she walked up onto the porch to stand before
me.

Her denim jeans and black leather jacket
appeared soaked through from the rain.

“
Paige?” I asked. “Long
time, no see.”

She said nothing, staring back at me with a
cold expression.

“
Listen, I’m sorry about
what’s happened. I mean, I’ve missed you really badly,” I said.
“And frankly, I could use a friend right now. Maybe you could come
in and dry off and then we could talk?”

The look in her eyes turned nearly
feral.

“
You’re a fuckin’ idiot!”
she yelled.

Before I could say anything, her fist
impacted the side of my face, knocking me off balance.

I stumbled backward against the door
jamb.

As I rubbed at my jaw in shock, she turned
and stalked away while replacing her helmet over her head.

I lurched forward to the edge of the porch
as she mounted the cycle and revved the engine.

“
Paige, wait!” I shouted
as cold rain pelted against my aching face.

Ignoring me, she gunned the engine and her
spinning back tire pivoted the cycle around in a semi-circle as mud
spewed out from behind.

My eyes widened as I half-stumbled backward
on the wet porch, struggling to retreat back inside the cabin as a
continuous arc of wet mud sprayed against the front wall and one
window, splashing toward me.

I barely managed to slam the front door shut
in time before hearing the muted sound of water and mud striking
the opposite side of the door.

Damn, she’s really pissed!

I absently rubbed at my throbbing jaw as her
cycle’s engine roared and quickly grew distant.

I opened the front door ajar to see her
taillights disappear into the night as she sped away.

Apparently, I had screwed up royally with
her, too.

Crap.

I’d never seen her that angry before; at
least, not toward me.

I grabbed my jacket, flung open the door,
and ran outside into the rain. Dodging muddy puddles while
shrugging into my jacket, I ran across the small field outside the
cabin and into the treeline.

Fortunately, the trees had been culled
enough that I was able to dodge between them as I ran forward
toward a place where the winding road that Paige was on might
intersect.

I hurried to cut her off. I had to talk to
her. Maybe I could reason with her as I had Kat; help her to
understand what I’d been going through.

Two figures appeared before me, surprising
me. I lost my balance and fell backward, though someone caught me
from behind before I impacted the ground.

Their glowing eyes, pulsing with either
emotion or hunger, told me they were vampires; doubtless, some of
the ones who had accompanied Katrina to the cabin.

“
You can’t leave,” the
female vampire before me stated.

The fellow who caught me from behind waited
until I righted myself before letting go of me.

I pointed toward the distant sound of
Paige’s motorcycle engine.

“
I’m trying to catch
Paige,” I said. “Maybe now I can’t, but one of you can.”

“
That’s not within the
parameters of our orders,” said the tall, broad-shouldered vampire
standing beside the female vampire. “The General was very
specific.”

I shook my head. “Well, thanks for nothing
then.”

“
We would help if we
could,” the female vampire said, glancing up toward the waning
night sky. “But you should return to the cabin now. The
thunderstorm is surging again.”

I turned and walked back to the cabin, not
caring about the penetrating cold rain. I heard the vampires
following not far behind me.

A vampire stood on the porch of the cabin
just outside the front door.

“
I cleared the cabin
already,” he said. “It is safe inside.”

“
Thanks, though I was just
here a few minutes ago,” I said, stopping just inside the doorway.
“Do any of you want to come inside from the rain?”

“
Thank you, but that’s
outside the parameters of the General’s orders,” said the vampire
standing by the door.

It surprised me how formal they were, almost
like soldiers. Of course, given the way they kept referring to Kat,
I had no doubt that Alton and she had likely formed a literal army
by now.

“
It’s a nice night, rain
or not,” said the vampire who had caught me in the forest. “This
beats the city anytime. I’m tired of cities.”

“
Country bumpkin,” teased
the female vampire.

“
To each their own,” he
countered.

I shut the front door, leaned back against
it, and wondered how much had transpired in the UK and Europe that
Kat hadn’t ever mentioned to me.

That was yet another issue with our
communication challenges.

My thoughts quickly returned to Paige’s
reaction on the porch.

Between Kat and Paige, I felt completely on
the outs with both of them; though I held out hope that, after our
earlier chat, Kat might come around.

I retrieved a cold beer from the fridge and
held it against my jaw. I sat down at the small dining table to
ponder things further.

I felt tired and numb. Of course, I’d
already been up for most of the night.

After consuming half of my beer, it occurred
to me that it was more early morning than night.

I pushed the can away from me. “God, please
don’t let me turn into my father.”

With him, anytime was a good time for
alcohol.

No, I’d never be a monster like him.

I’d shoot myself in the head first.

I went to the sink to fill a glass with
water and tried to contemplate matters further, but I was still too
dumbfounded to come to terms with Paige’s reaction.

I drank a full glass of water and then
refilled it.

Once again, my life felt as if it was in
flux.

What had started out as my grand journey for
self-actualization had turned into a veritable nightmare for my
closest relationships.

It felt as if I had effectively managed to
turn my life even further upside down.

I heard some vehicles pull up out front and
I glanced at my watch, surprised that only a little more than an
hour had passed since Kat had left.

She walked inside toting a small leather
satchel, a backpack with two sword handles sticking out of the top,
and a small suitcase, which she placed on the floor just inside the
doorway.

She stared at me with a curious expression.
“What happened outside?”

“
Don’t ask,” I
said.

“
On top of that, what
happened to the side of your face?” she asked. “What happened while
I was gone?”

“
Paige happened while you
were gone, that’s what,” I said, absently rubbing the side of my
face with my palm.

The edges of her mouth upturned
slightly.

“
You’re charming
everyone’s hearts tonight, I see,” she said.

“
Yeah, I’ve already
figured that out,” I said.

“
You brought it on
yourself, you know.”

I steeled myself from wincing and ground my
teeth together.

Tell me something I don’t know already.

“
Live by the sword,” she
said as she carried her suitcase past me and into the nearby
bedroom.

I tried to reflect positively on her
decision to locate in the bedroom, but then wondered if I might yet
end up being tossed out onto the couch instead.

“
Yeah,” I said. “I get
it.”

I finished my second glass of water as she
set up a portable computer on the dining room table.

“
Are we past the point,
too?” I asked.

The point of no return?

That thought chilled me to the bone. If
there was one thing I had solidified in my mind during my absence,
it was that I loved her—needed her—more than I had previously
realized.

She was the one woman in the world who
filled the empty void in my life.

And my heart.

She stopped what she was doing and looked up
at me with an arched brow. “Past the point?” she asked. “Are you
asking if I still love you?”

For some reason, I was almost afraid to even
acknowledge the framing of her question.

“
Yes, of course, I still
love you,” she said. “Or I wouldn’t be here right now. Exactly
what’s been going through your head since I left?”

I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I’d
been holding.

Well, that’s something.

I definitely didn’t know what I would’ve
done if she had said otherwise.

“
I love you, too, you
know,” I said. “That never changed. That was never the
issue.”

She sat down in the empty chair beside mine.
“Caleb, I’m very upset with you about what you did,” she said. “It
was irresponsible, as well as selfish. And particularly risky.”

I nodded, but said nothing.

“
Nobody I’ve loved as much
as you has ever just up and left me like that,” she said. “I was
shocked. And it hurt.”

I gazed into her eyes and could practically
see the pain reflected in them.

“
It wasn’t you I was
leaving,” I said. “It was my situation. You were already well on
the other side of the globe.”

“
You keep saying that, but
that’s where you’re wrong,” she said. “Wherever I place you,
wherever I provide for you, is where I am; even if it’s by proxy
through those I entrust to watch over you.”

I pondered that. It was an unusual, somewhat
foreign, concept to me.

But then I supposed it also made a little
sense.

“
I’m sorry.”

What the hell more could I say, after
all?

“
Before my team and I
showed up tonight, were you actually planning on coming back?” she
asked.

“
Yes, I was,” I said. “In
fact, I’d intended to call you in the next day or so.”

A sardonic thought crossed my mind. “That
is, if you hadn’t found me by then,” I added.

“
You gave us a run for our
money, you evasive little rabbit,” she said with the first twinkle
in her eye I had seen since she found me. “Granted, you still had
that small tracking device implanted beneath the skin near your
shoulder. However, at first, we were limited to being within close
enough proximity to you before we could find you with the beacon
tracker.”