A Bloody London Sunset (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 2) (12 page)

“You should’ve approached me first,” she corrected Eric. “You both seem fairly inexperienced, so let me offer you a little tip. It’s traditionally better protocol to approach a vampire first, rather than their human mate.”

These two must be really new vampires
, she mused. She wondered who their creator was and why they hadn’t been mentored better.

“I see that,” Pete replied. “Thanks.”

The shorter vampire cast a quick glance at his friend and offered, “We’ll be going now, if you don’t mind. Sorry to have disturbed you and your mate.”

The two slowly backed away, but Caleb stepped out from behind Katrina. “Wait.”

Both stopped and quickly cast glances at each other before focusing on him as he reached inside his leather jacket and pulled out a business card.

“Here, take this. Email me, and I’ll answer any questions you might have about what happened to us,” he offered as he extended the card in his outstretched hand.

Pete moved forwards slowly and took the card from Caleb, glancing momentarily at his college business card.

“Thanks,” the vampire said. “I’ll do that when we reach our new destination.”

Both vampires nodded to Katrina deferentially and turned to depart in a blur. Caleb squinted into the darkness beyond the farther campus buildings, but could no longer discern their location. Katrina’s hand firmly fell upon his right shoulder, and she rotated his body to face her.

“Why did you do that?” she demanded.

“Do what?”

“Your offer to answer their questions basically circumvented my directive to have them coordinate through me,” she explained.

He looked away and matter-of-factly answered, “I was just being polite.”

“I thought you didn’t like menacing vampires showing up unannounced,” she countered with an arched eyebrow.

He gazed up into her eyes. “Just the ones trying to
kill
me.”

Her right hand darted out to grasp his chin between her thumb and forefinger, and she tilted his face upwards to meet hers.

“First, that was dangerous and reckless confronting them yourself, particularly with you being defenseless, no less,” she chastised. “And second, I can probably guess why you contacted Paige instead of me. But if she’s not in the immediate area, you call
me
first when trouble arises. Understood?”

She had anticipated he chose to call Paige first to make the point he was upset with her. It also occurred to her that he might have called Paige knowing she would call her, causing her to respond to the threat instead of asking Devon to assist.
Yeah, as if I would ever defer my responsibilities to him when I had the ability to respond in person
, she fumed. Either way, she wasn’t pleased with his decisions that night.

“My student appeared to be in danger, and I’m not going to just sacrifice her to the wolves without intervening,” he retorted. However, he silently conceded she was correct about his being defenseless. It felt as if he would have had little chance against those vampires, even under armed and better prepared circumstances.

She continued to hold his chin firmly. “And as for calling me first when Paige isn’t around, are we clear on that?”
You don’t get a pass on that stipulation, my love
.

“Clear,” he replied flatly, after which Katrina released his chin. His eyes strayed back towards the social sciences building, and he saw Tanisha watching from her office window with a wary expression.

Damn
. He had forgotten she was teaching a night class. He was one of the few full-time faculty teaching a class that late, so the offices were usually deserted by the time of his evening classes. He wondered what she might have seen from her office window.

Katrina noted her mate’s distracted gaze and turned her head to look in the direction his eyes were staring. She fleetingly glimpsed Tanisha before the blinds were turned up. Her mind raced with the possibilities of what Caleb’s friend may have seen.
Perhaps she didn’t see anything vampire-specific, unless she noticed how quickly the two vampires departed. If so, she may have to be dealt with.

Caleb didn’t like the look in Katrina’s eyes, and his body tensed. “Oh, no. You can’t,” he challenged, anticipating something grim.

Katrina turned to head in the direction of the building.

“Hold on! You can’t -- No, wait,” he stammered excitedly as his hand darted out to grasp her arm.

She glanced down at his hand, and then stared intently into his pale blue eyes. They had a pleading look, and she sensed the tension in his body and facial expression. However, the rules were quite clear on humans who risked her safety by discovering her true nature.

“Please. Let me find out what she saw first,” he pleaded. “Just give me until tomorrow.”

She drew in a deep breath and released it slowly while considering his request.
Perhaps one day’s time will be reasonable to ensure I make an informed decision.

“Tomorrow. No later,” she stipulated firmly.

He nodded. “Fine. Thank you,” he replied with relief.

She bobbed her head curtly and directed him, “It’s time to go home.”

He acknowledged her, feeling very weary suddenly, and walked back to the building with Katrina following closely behind him.

She was happy she had arrived in time and that the vampires apparently meant him no harm. However, she was concerned about his continued angst towards her from sparing Devon Archibald’s life. Maybe she had spoken with Alton far too much lately, but for some reason she was beginning to see the potential benefits to an additional vampire’s being available, if even for a limited period of contracted assistance.

Katrina’s thoughts quickly returned to Caleb, and a yearning, both physical and emotional, rose within her. She lamented how it had been over a week since they had last been intimate together. She took a moment to appreciate his masculine form as he stalked back into the building to retrieve his belongings and lock up his office. She reflected on his recent efforts at working out more, of which she appreciated the results. Not that she hadn’t found him attractive to begin with.

Nice butt
, she observed with amusement. Her body craved a sudden desire to take him home and make love to him. But her hopes were dashed quickly when he exited the building a few minutes later with a tight-lipped expression. His footsteps were heavy as he walked towards her, and he stopped a couple of feet away from where she stood.

“Thanks for coming to help me out tonight,” he offered half-heartedly. “I guess I’ll see you at home.”

“Maybe a little kiss for my efforts here?” she suggested.

He stepped forward and bent his face up meet hers. But instead of bending down to meet him halfway, she made him step up on his toes to reach her lips. Although rather than a nice, passionate kiss, he merely popped his lips against hers in a brief peck.

“Thanks,” she muttered darkly.
Of course, he’s likely still upset with me over Devon
.
And I did just suggest I might have to kill one of the few human friends he’s made recently
. She sighed and followed him to his car to make sure he was safe.
Why the hell does it seem like I’m always ending up the bad guy lately?
She was definitely starting to feel somewhat underappreciated.

* * * *

Friday morning arrived quicker than Caleb wanted, as it had been rather late when he and Katrina had arrived home on Thursday evening. He had had trouble sleeping the night before. His mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of what he would ask Tanisha to ascertain what she had seen. He certainly didn’t want to lose his friend, but even more importantly, Tanisha had a family, and he didn’t think he could live with himself if he deprived them of a wife and mother. Tanisha was a good, sincere person and didn’t deserve to have her life cut short by something that should not have happened on campus. In fact, if anything, he felt as if the fault were partly his for bringing such threats to the campus by his very presence.

His eventual conversation with Tanisha took place later that morning while neither was teaching. They had the same schedule that day for open office hours. He entered her office and closed the door behind him. Then he plopped down into the empty guest chair next to her desk.

Tanisha barely looked up from grading essays before her and prompted, “Good morning, Caleb. I can bet I know why you’re here. It’s about last night, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, last night,” he replied quietly, though his pulse was already racing.

She pursed her lips and glanced over at him with a serious expression. “I saw you step outside to check on that student,” she offered. “Was she one of yours?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Her name is Beth.”

Tanisha’s eyes narrowed. “Did you know who those two guys were?”

This time he shook his head. “Nope. Still don’t, really.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that impression just from watching your and Katrina’s reactions towards them,” she ventured as she stared at her desk like she was recalling past events.

He let the silence grow between them for a few moments and asked, “Did you happen to see them leave?”

She frowned. “No. I picked up the phone to call security, but stopped for some reason and glanced back to see what was happening. But they were already gone. I was surprised how quickly they left, because I only turned my head away for a few seconds.”

A surge of relief flowed through him, and he had to force himself not to chuckle out loud.
Oh thank God
, he thought. “Yeah, they took off pretty fast,” he agreed.

She arched her eyebrows and admitted, “It’s true that Katrina can seem intimidating at times, but I can see where that could be handy on occasions such as last night.”

Caleb was delighted, though more from relief than from what Tanisha had said. “Oh, she can be intimidating, all right.”

Tanisha’s hazel eyes stared directly into Caleb’s. “Was Katrina angry with you last night? It looked like she was reading you the riot act right after those guys left.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to stall for time while considering a response. “She thought what I did was too risky.”

She nodded. “It was. But that also doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing to do for your student. We’re not just educators. Our students expect for us to look after them while they’re here. This is our domain, and you were well within you right to challenge those men.”

“Thanks,” Caleb replied with a pleased smile.

“Although a call to security might have been smarter before you walked out there,” she added.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, not you too! It’s bad enough to have Katrina preaching to me.”

She grinned. “Hey, just because Katrina can be gruff doesn’t mean she doesn’t have your best interests at heart, too.”

He frowned as he considered that and conceded that his mate did indeed care very deeply for him. He loved her for that. And while he still felt miffed with Katrina over her Devon decision, it didn’t mean he didn’t love her. He shook his head and decided he was simply happy not to be forced to lose a good friend.

Later that evening, he told Katrina about his conversation with Tanisha. She listened intently, observing his body language and staring into his eyes as if probing him like some sort of lie detector. Finally, she agreed no harm had probably been done. For that, he was thankful. However, the entire affair impressed upon him how important discretion was when it came to vampire-related matters. The ordinary world was a much more difficult place to live in than he had thought just a few months ago.

By Saturday, Caleb had had time to reflect upon matters further. He acknowledged that even if he resented receiving assistance from Devon, he was wrong not to have called Katrina when those two vampires stopped by the campus. Even worse, his decision might have risked his own life and emotionally devastated the love of his life.

It was for that reason he decided to look past his own aggravation and seek to do something enjoyable with Katrina. One of their recent enjoyable endeavors had certainly been his Find Caleb exploits, so it seemed a natural choice. At least he hoped she might view it as extending an olive branch. However, he was determined to make his third installment safer than the last, which meant selecting a site more familiar to him. It also meant he had to be more diligent regarding preparations.

He targeted a nearby abandoned construction site located off the highway outside of Mableton. The largely concrete and steel beam structure was just a few years old and had been abandoned when the original owner, a small recreational vehicle and boat dealership, had been unable to fund the remaining construction. They had intended it to be a three-story structure, but only the concrete and steel framing had been completed, as well as a reinforced concrete stairwell in one corner of the building. The property was secured by a chain link fence, but his brief inspection revealed easy access underneath a section of the fence where the soil had been washed out by frequent rains.

Caleb decided to survey the area from atop the unfinished building during the daytime to become familiar with the surroundings, but he needed a pair of binoculars. Fortunately, he had previously purchased a nice set some years ago and had packed them away in one of the boxes stored in the garage. With Katrina in town that evening, it seemed the perfect time to scrounge for his binoculars.

After grabbing his iPod and queuing up Gram Rabbit’s “Devil’s Playground,” he started pulling boxes from the shelf onto the floor. He rummaged through hordes of stuff, including old music CDs, books, tax forms, college expenditure records, and miscellaneous collectibles. As he removed the last box from the top shelf, it slipped off and fell onto the floor. The lid popped off, scattering a series of photographs across the floor.

“Damn!” he cursed while squatting down to sift carefully through the pictures so as not to bend or crease any of them. Most were photos from his college years, but a number of them were from childhood that his mother had collected. He smiled while picking up a photo of himself at age four sitting on his front porch holding an old stuffed dog his parents had won for him at the county fair.