Sunset Rising (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 5) (32 page)

That experience seemed like something out of
a surreal dream; or, rather, a painful nightmare.

I became aware that the room had fallen
silent.

“
Caleb?” Ethan
asked.

My attention returned to the present and I
looked down at my arm, which was cradled in a shoulder harness.

“
Earth to kiddo,” Paige
said, snapping her fingers in front of me.

“
Yeah-yeah, I’m fine,” I
said.

I swatted at her hand using my good arm, but
she swept her hand out of the way before I made contact. A twinge
of pain shot through my injured shoulder and I sucked in air
through gritted teeth.

Kat patted me on the back.

Having returned to London, we sat in Alton’s
office discussing the implications of the failed attack in
Gibraltar.

We still didn’t know who specifically had
instigated it. The surviving attacker who had been taken prisoner
was a vampire mercenary who had been contracted via a third-party
liaison.

I scanned the faces around the room in
series. Alton sat before his desk while Ethan and Marla commanded
the two chairs before him. I sat between Kat and Paige on the
couch.

Dane and Lyra sat together in two of the
chairs at the nearby conference table. Both had seemed overly
subdued when they learned about the Thanksgiving attack.

“
It was a bold attack,
I’ll give them that,” Alton said.

“
Whoever
they
are,” Marla
said.

“
I’ll be giving them a
number of things once we identify them,” Kat said, her voice
flat.

I looked at her face and nearly shivered at
her cold, stony expression.

“
Katrina and I have
discussed how we plan to move forward,” Alton said. “Dane and Lyra
will return to New Haven to continue assisting with Caleb’s
security detail.

“
Hey, I’m back now, you
know,” Paige said.

Alton’s cool expression fell upon her. “Pray
tell, I had noticed that, actually. Nevertheless, their presence
will permit additional latitude for field work as the opportunities
present themselves.”

“
I could stand with a bit
of field work, actually,” Dane said.

“
Funny,” Lyra muttered. “I
thought you were pretty much averse to work.”

He gave her a dirty look.

“
Dane,” Alton said. “I’m
confident that you shall have marching orders soon
enough.”

Dane inclined his head in deference.

“
What about you, Ethan?”
Kat asked.

“
I plan to spend a couple
of weeks in New Haven,” Ethan said. “However, I’ll need to return
to Atlanta after that. I have surgeries scheduled through
mid-December.”

I admired how dedicated he was to helping
others, but I wished that he could spend more time with us in New
Haven. From the expression on Paige’s face, I was willing to bet
that she felt much the same way.

I leaned over toward her, nearly touching
her shoulder with mine.

“
You know, if you wanted
to go back to Atlanta with Ethan—”

“
Shut up or I’ll bite
you,” she said. “You’re not getting rid of me again that
quickly.”

“
Ah-ha, so you missed me,”
I said.

“
Get real,” she said. “I
just can’t wait to begin harassing your little ass for pulling that
cross-country stunt of yours.”

“
You’re all heart,” I
said.

“
It’s all about channeling
my inner bitch and working through the angst,” she said.

“
Hey, I thought all was
forgiven,” I said.

“
Nah, just on hiatus,” she
said. “This will be much more therapeutic for me.”

I gave her a long look.

“
As I was about to say,”
Alton continued. “Katrina and I will keep each of you informed
about developments. That being said, none of you are to engage
anyone, except in the defense of either Caleb or your own welfare,
without first clearing it with either Katrina or me.
Understood?”

There was a variety of mumbled assents in
the room.

Kat cleared her throat and I looked sidelong
at her.

“
You
, in particular, are to do absolutely
nothing
risky, and especially
without approval,” she said.

“
So, you’d approve if I
asked?”

“
No,” she
replied.

“
The exception being, of
course, unless I have to defend myself.”

Her eyebrows arched. “As if that was ever in
question.”

“
Any further questions?”
Alton asked. “If not, your return flight is leaving in just under
three hours. I suggest that everyone finish packing or finalizing
any last-minute details between now and then.”

I reached out to grasp Kat’s hand in
mine.

She looked at me with a concerned
expression.

“
Want to help me finish
packing back at the hotel?” I asked, playfully wriggling my
eyebrows.

“
Oh, packing?” she
countered. “Well, I’m all about that then.”

I smiled in anticipation.

* * *

Hours later, at the airport, Ethan checked
his and Paige’s luggage at the counter while Kat had a final
discussion with Paige, Dane, and Lyra.

Alton, looking more serious than usual,
guided me across the terminal to an unoccupied space away from the
others, as well as from prying ears.

“
Everything okay?” I
asked.

“
Caleb, do you remember
our little chat when you arrived here in London a few days
ago?”

How could I forget? It wasn’t every day that
a vampire threatened to bite you in the neck for bad behavior.

“
Don’t worry. My days of
cutting town without permission are over,” I said. “Your admonition
was more than memorable enough for me.”

“
I meant every word,” he
said. “Stay safe, and focus on your dissertation research. Your
project results are important for far more than merely acquiring
your doctorate.”

“
Any chance you’d like to
tell me why?” I asked. “I mean, if it’s so important, why not put
together one of your expert teams for it? Isn’t it better suited
for private investigators? I’m just a junior history professor who
got laid off barely a year into his career.”

His expression softened somewhat. “My dear
boy,” he said. “You’re so much more than that. And, besides, I
already hired some of the best investigators on the market to look
into your topic. They each hit dead ends.”

My eyes widened. “Then what do you expect
for me to do that they couldn’t?”

“
In the short time I’ve
known you, you’ve managed to uncover clandestine London spy cells,
international vampire conspiracies, and foreign government
corruption,” he replied. “That’s far more than a coincidence. You
have an unusual way of looking at the world and that may be just
what I’ve been waiting for.”

I shrugged. “I’ll give it my best.”

“
I know you will,” he
said. “And besides, even if you turn up little more than others
have, at the very least you’ll have completed the dissertation
required to earn your doctorate. That’s something you’ve wanted for
some time now.”

“
Yeah, that’s
true.”

“
Hey, kiddo,” Paige called
from where she stood next to Kat. “Get a move on! We’re
boarding.”

I reached out to shake Alton’s hand.

“
Take care of yourself,” I
said. “And maybe Kat, too, if you can manage it.”

He took my hand and pulled me into a
fraternal embrace. “You know I will. And, Caleb, one more
thing.”

“
Yeah?”

He hugged me for a moment longer.

“
Thank you for what you
did, saving me on the roof of that hotel,” he said. “Your actions
told me everything about who you are, and I couldn’t be more proud
of you than I have been since that night.”

“
In the end, it was Kat
that saved both of us,” I said.

“
Quite true,” he conceded.
“But it was your arm that I was suspended from. For that, I’m
grateful.”

“
It was my pleasure,” I
said. “I’m always happy to lend a hand.”

He pulled a pained expression over my
pun.

“
You really do mean the
world to me, Alton,” I said. “You’re like the fath—, I mean uncle,
that I always wished I’d had.”

I almost felt embarrassed over my Freudian
slip.

We separated from our embrace, but he held
me a moment longer by the shoulders as he stared down into my
eyes.

“
Listen to me,” he said.
“From now on, no matter what transpires, you’ll never want for
family again. You have Kat, Paige, and I suspect, even Ethan. But,
more to the point, you’re part of my family now. As far as I’m
concerned, you’re a Rutherford, and I’ll never abandon you. That’s
my vow to you.”

That touched me so very deeply. It struck at
the fiber of everything that I thought had been lost since my
mother’s passing from cancer some years prior.

My throat felt tight all of the sudden and
my eyes began to water. I reached up to rub at them with my
fingertips.

“
Thank you,” I said. “That
means more to me than you could know.”

“
You’re welcome. And you
may be surprised over what I know,” he said. “Now, go board your
flight. I’ll be in touch again soon to check in on your research
progress.”

I nodded and turned to walk across the
terminal toward Kat. She stared intently at me, a concerned look on
her face.

Then I stopped and turned back to look at
Alton as an onerous inspiration surfaced.

“
By the way, thanks for
the surprise Thanksgiving trip to Gibraltar and all,” I said. “But
do you think that maybe next we could just do a boring Christmas at
my house?”

He shook his head and playfully wagged his
upraised index finger at me. “Board your plane, you scalawag.”

I grinned as the edges of his mouth upturned
slightly.

“
And I’ll consider it,” he
added.

* * *

The others had already boarded the flight as
I held Kat in my arms just outside the entrance to the ramp leading
to the aircraft.

“
Did you and Alton have a
good chat?” she asked. “It looked serious from my vantage
point.”

“
Yeah, he wants me to be
careful and focus on my research,” I replied.

“
Good advice,” she said.
“Please don’t do anything that puts you in harm’s way, my love. I
can’t bear a repeat of what you did on that hotel roof.”

I hugged her tighter. “I know. I’m sorry.
But Alton means so much to me now.”

She sighed. “I know. I love him, too. But
I—I love you even more. I need you as much as I need air and
blood.”

“
I need you, too. I love
you, Kat.”

She brought so much happiness, love, and
companionship into my life, fulfilling me more than anyone I could
imagine.

We held each other a moment longer before
separating from our embrace.

I gave her a long, warm kiss while grasping
her hands in mine.

I didn’t want to leave her.

“
These separations are
getting harder,” I said.

She lightly ran her fingernails across my
cheek. “I know,” she said. “I feel it, too.”

I swallowed to try to alleviate the growing
tightness in my throat.

“
There’s going to come a
day, and it’s coming very soon, when I won’t be able to endure this
anymore,” I said.

She gave me a sympathetic look. “As a matter
of fact, I’m almost there myself.”

“
Final boarding call for
flight—
”

“
Dammit, there’s never
enough time,” I said.

“
I know, my
love.”

I gave her a final kiss before turning and
stepping onto the boarding bridge. I glanced back over my shoulder
at her a final time and saw her glassy-eyed expression.

She gave me a cute little wave and tried to
smile.

Alton stood beside her, wrapping a
supportive arm across her shoulders and nodding at me in a
reassuring manner.

As I stepped across the threshold into the
cabin of the aircraft, it took everything I could muster not to
turn around and run back to Kat.

In that moment— a moment of near-clarity—I
believed that I fully understood the power and magnetism of true
love.

About the Author

Jaz Primo:
Delving into flights of fancy and realms of
imagination; eagerly sharing with you.

Jaz lives in the Great American Midwest
where he writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and young adult
literature. He’s a history aficionado, Doctor Who fanatic,
“pun-master”, an all-around fan of vampires, and a caregiver to the
world’s most endearing cat.

You can find Jaz Primo online at the
following locations:

Website:
http://jazprimo.com

Facebook:
Jaz
Primo

Twitter:
@jazprimo

Winner of the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Gotcha Choice
Award for Best Young Adult Novel of 2012 !