After the Fall: A Vampire Chronicle (Book One) (14 page)

             
“I’m going to go for a walk,” she announced.

             
“Why don’t you take Caroline with you?” Lorenzo suggested. “It would be much safer.”

             
“No, that’s all right,” Angel protested, before Caroline could agree to Lorenzo’s suggestion. “I’m not going far, and I’ll be back before dark. I’ll be sure to stay in very public places.”

             
“I don’t mind coming,” Caroline said.

             
“No, really,” Angel insisted. “I’ll be fine.”

             
Caroline looked unconvinced, but Angel looked determined. Sighing, Lorenzo nodded.

             
“All right, then. Be careful.”

             
As the girl left, the phone in the kitchenette began to ring. Caroline went to answer it, and quickly returned.

             
“Lorenzo, it’s for you. It’s a Brother Anselm?” She looked confused, but Lorenzo jumped to his feet.

             
“I must take this call. Caroline, would you finish up in here please? Do you mind?”

             
“Not at all,” she told him, but he was already gone into the bedroom to pick up the extension, the door shut. She turned to Christian.

             
“What was that all about?”

             
“Brother Anselm is head of Manus Dei in the Vatican,” he explained. Caroline nodded in understanding, then gestured to all the gauze, bandages, tapes and balms at Christian’s feet.

             
“What can I do?”

             
“Lorenzo’s pretty much patched me up, but I think I was cut by my rib cage. It’s difficult to bend over. If you could just put a bandage on it…”

             
“I could do that,” she answered, although she didn’t look as sure as she watched Chris painstakingly remove his shirt. Caroline’s mouth went involuntarily dry. She should have guessed he would have had impeccable pecs and a perfect six pack. She guessed vampire hunting was a great way to stay in shape.

             
She knew she was blushing. She shouldn’t be thinking such things about a priest. It would be pointless for her to develop feelings for him as more than a friend; she would just be setting herself up for heartache. Besides the fact that she liked being his friend. Why couldn’t he have been just the slightest bit uglier or meaner? If he wasn’t so attractive and nice…

             
She finally noticed the gash, red and ragged, below his breastbone.

             
“Oh, that looks painful,” she cried, kneeling by his feet, grabbing some of the bandages lying on the floor. Oh God, he smelled good. She couldn’t look him in the eye.

             
“I’m sorry in advance if this hurts,” she told him.

             
Christian watched the top of her head as she kneeled by his feet, cutting the bandage to fit the gash on his chest. It was a bit painful to breathe, but he was alive. He could hardly move, but he considered himself lucky. Besides, he was a fast healer. As Caroline got ready to apply the bandage, he closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain, but there was very little. Her fingers grazed his skin, and her touch was cool and gentle. Involuntarily, he shivered. She taped the bandage into place, and he opened his eyes. She moved to stand, and he smelled the fruity scent of her shampoo.

             
“Thank you,” he mumbled, suddenly feeling as though he was stripped naked in front of her. He was noticing too much about her. He fumbled to put his shirt back on, wondering if he looked as uncomfortable as he felt. Even as he felt himself getting closer to Caroline every day that they were together, he felt his calling – priest
and
Hunter – driving a wedge between them. Paradoxical, really, but then, nothing in his world had ever made that much sense to begin with. Why should it start to make sense now?

              Angel watched as the Master paced back and forth in front of her, a frown marring his otherwise perfect face. She tapped her foot nervously, chewing on her lower lip, waiting for him to say something. A wave of nausea rolled over her, and she clutched her stomach.

             
“I wish you had more to tell me,” he finally said, not even looking at her. His voice was even and deceptively soft and calm.

             
“Well, I mean, they’ve accepted me. I’m in,” she told him. “The girl - she trusts me completely. She thinks that we’re friends.”

             
He turned to her, his eyes boring right through her.

             
“But what of the hunter, my Angel? What can you tell me of him?”

             
Angel fidgeted nervously in her seat.

             
“Nothing yet. I need a little more time, but I’m getting close. I promise you.”

             
He turned from her, staring out the window at something far beyond. She fought another wave of nausea. Finally, he spoke.

             
“You are with child, are you not?”

             
Angel blushed in spite of herself, but he spoke again before she could answer.

             
“I can feel it, the power emanating from your womb. You have chosen wisely to stand by my side. One day, my Angel, your son will rule the world.”

             
She was captivated by his words, and she could do nothing but stare at him, awestruck.

             
“I will send Gideon and Anya after the hunter tonight. Keep him on his toes. We don’t want him out of practice when the Apocalypse occurs, and very soon, it will.”

              Caroline was too engrossed in a really interesting, dusty book about medieval medicine to actually see Christian sit next to her on the couch, but she felt it. When he didn’t say anything, she finally put the book down.

             
“What?” she asked, not even trying to hide the exasperation in her voice.

             
“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” he said nonchalantly.

             
“Oh, good,” she replied, mustering every once of sarcasm inside her, “because in the ten minutes since you last asked me, I’ve suddenly developed a bad case of tuberculosis.”

             
She hit him with her book, sending up a cloud of dust. He laughed, and she sneezed.

             
“You know I was kidding, right?” he asked.

             
“No, but I’m glad to hear it,” she muttered, her eyes still watering and nose still itching from the dust.

             
“Where’s Angel?” Christian looked around the empty room. Lorenzo was scouring the darkest corners of the New York Public Library and Angel was not around. For someone who had no place to go, she was gone an awful lot. He supposed he should be thankful for small favors. Better that she wasn’t around so much. Caroline shrugged.

             
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since lunch.”

             
“How are you guys getting along?” Christian asked, curious. They seemed to be getting along fairly well, but Angel didn’t seem like someone Caroline would have been friends with under normal circumstances. Not that these were normal circumstances. Again, Caroline shrugged.

             
“All right, I guess. I mean, she’s nice enough, but when she’s around, I feel kind of obligated to be with her. But other than that, she seems harmless enough.”

             
“Good,” he replied. He trusted Caroline’s judgment.

             
Caroline was quiet for a minute, and when she spoke, her voice was soft and serious.

             
“If you could do it over again, would you treat me like you treat Angel? Keep me on a need-to-know basis?”

             
Christian didn’t even hesitate – it was something he had contemplated on his own, but he always came to the same answer.

             
“No,” he insisted. “First of all, your case is different. Angel’s family wasn’t killed and as far as we know, she’s not a target of the vamps. Your case is more similar to mine than to hers. You need to help. Plus, you’re not stupid. You would have started asking questions sooner or later. Probably sooner than later.”

             
Neither of them said it, but it occurred to them both how curious it was how many questions Angel was not asking them.

             
Christian tapped Caroline on the leg, taking the book from her hands as she sputtered protestations.

             
“You need a break,” he insisted.

             
“But I was just getting to the good part. They were just about to try to cure a woman of her wandering womb!”

             
“Okay, Lorenzo,” Christian teased. “We’re going to a movie.”

             
“Really?” Caroline paused. She hadn’t been to a movie in weeks. The last time she was supposed to see one had been that night… She missed doing normal things like going to the movies.

             
“Can we afford to do that?”

             
“You mean, do I have the money?” he asked, pretending to be insulted. “Don’t worry. I’ve been saving my allowance.”

             
He actually had a pretty hefty savings account, thanks to the monthly stipend given to him from Brother Anselm from a secret allocation of the Vatican treasury.

             
“No, I mean can we afford to take two hours away from these books,” she said softly. Christian took her hand and looked her straight in the eye.

             
“You need a break. You won’t be helping anyone if you burn yourself out, okay?”

             
“Okay,” she answered, only partially convinced.

             
“So, let’s go. Have any recommendations?”

             
They both stood up and got their jackets.

             
“Well,” Caroline said as Christian opened the hotel room door, “there’s this guy I’ve been seeing for a few years now. Every few months or so we meet at a local movie theater and he tells me the most amazing stories. His name is Channing Tatum, and I’ve heard he’s in town for awhile…”

             
“Channing Tatum, huh? So, do you like him better than you like me?”

             
“Chris,” Caroline told him, looking completely sincere, “I like everyone better than I like you.”

             
He didn’t know whether to laugh or to hit her, so he followed her to elevator and teased her the entire way to the theater.

              “Do you have the Book of Ages, Caroline?”

             
Caroline glanced up from the book she was looking through, to see Lorenzo looking at her questioningly. Each of them was seated with a high stack of books in front of them. They had been paging through them for the past few hours, ever since she and Chris had gotten back from the movies. It had been so nice to do something that used to be so normal, so routine. The movie had been good too. To his surprise, Chris had liked it as well. Caroline was sure the pretty lead actress hadn’t hurt. Chris had seemed to like her. She knew he had a higher calling, but sometimes he was just such a typical guy. He had told her that it was the first movie he had seen in over two years. Caroline couldn’t believe that.

Clearing her head, she returned to the present – to the room, the books, to Lorenzo. He had asked her a question. She shook her head in response, glad for the interruption. All the letters on the pages were beginning to swim together, and she was getting a headache.

              “No, I don’t have it,” she told him.

             
“Are you sure?” he asked, frowning.

             
“Positive.”

             
“It must still be at Saint Joseph’s,” he mused to himself, glancing at his watch. Caroline took a look out the window. Darkness was already falling.

             
“Is it something that can wait until tomorrow?” she asked him.

             
“I would rather not,” he admitted. “I know it’s late, but if we all go, we should be safe.”  He stood, and Caroline followed suit.

             
“What about Angel?” she asked him, unable to keep the worry out of her voice. “How will she get in if there’s no one here to meet her?”

             
“It’s dark. Angel won’t be returning anytime tonight. She’ll wait until sunrise. I hope.”

             
Caroline watched him go into one of the bedrooms to wake Chris from where he was napping. Frowning, she looked out the window again, at the growing darkness. She hoped Angel had the good sense to hole up somewhere for the night.