Summit at Sunset (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 3) (28 page)

“Not real popular lately, are you, kiddo?” she asked before sipping from a glass of Coke, which she intended to exchange for a mug of warm blood sometime soon because her formerly ignored hunger was approaching an unpleasant level.

He looked up from his plate of chicken paprika, a local dish made with a creamy sauce containing spicy, red paprika served over noodles. “Not so much,” he conceded with a gander at the room’s patrons before returning to his pasta.

Admittedly, it bothered him, but he had much bigger problems on his hands to contend with.

A clerk from the main desk strode into the dining room and headed over to where they were seated. The lady extended a small white envelope to Caleb.

“Mr. Taylor, this was left for you at the main desk,” the young woman pleasantly offered. “I was going to deliver it to your suite, but one of the other clerks said they saw you enter the dining room.”

“Thanks,” he replied as he turned the envelope over in his hand. It was labeled
Mr. Caleb Taylor
in an ornate script.

Paige curiously stared at the retreating desk clerk and then focused on the envelope. “Something from Red?”

He slipped open the seal and withdrew a white piece of paper with a single sentence:
The vault – 10 pm -- tonight.

“Strange,” he remarked and handed the message to Paige.

She peeked at her watch. “Hey, it’s 10:10 already.”

“Let’s go then,” he excitedly insisted while rising from the table.

“Whoa, tiger,” she admonished, grasping his wrist with a sweep of her hand. “Let’s ask ourselves why someone wants you where you know you can’t go in the first place?”

As escape from her grasp seemed futile, he capitulated.

“Yeah, but what if they altered conditions so that I can?” he countered.

She released his wrist, pursing her lips. “Interesting theory. Let’s go see.”

They left enough cash to cover dinner and departed the nearly empty dining room in the direction of the main lobby. They proceeded to the main elevator, where they were the only people waiting for the car. The area was relatively devoid of traffic since the vampires were still in conference.

Inside the elevator, Paige pressed the button for the lower level where the vault was located. Much to her surprise, the LCD screen next to the small keypad immediately indicated the message:
Code accepted
.

The car descended, and Caleb looked at her with a surprised expression.

“I’m just as puzzled as you are,” she said simply.

When the doors opened, they stepped into a large, dimly lit storage area that had all the trappings of being a large basement. Heavy-duty metal shelves were arrayed into rows and appeared stocked with boxes and crates of supplies and materials.

“Not very impressive,” he dryly observed.

“It was just a basement storage area before the vault was installed, after all,” she explained. “The vault’s at the very back against the foundation wall.”

They proceeded down a couple of aisles of shelves, continuing to the back of the concrete-walled basement. A shiny metal-looking vault stood at the very back of the bay area.

Using her keen senses, Paige detected no other presence besides them. She thought that everything seemed in place, except that the large shiny vault door was ajar.

The vault door looked like one belonging in a bank or financial institution. From the front, the dimensions of the vault were twelve feet wide and nearly ten feet tall, and it was composed of thick reinforced steel. An electronic control pad was at the left of the door on the wall facing about four feet high from the floor.

“Well, the vault door’s certainly open,” she noted.

With her leading the way, the two of them went to the door, which she easily pried open the rest of the way. She peered inside and noted that the interior lights were bright. The walls to the left and right were lined with locked safe deposit boxes of various sizes, except for a smaller section of wall immediately before them, which blocked her view into the main interior. They stepped inside and walked around the small section of wall, revealing a black, executive-sized briefcase on the floor at the opposite side of the vault.

“Well, there’s something worth checking out,” Paige noted and led the way into the vault.

They made their way across the twelve-foot span to the back of the vault where the briefcase was sitting. Paige reached down and popped open the latches, which weren’t locked. Inside, there was nothing but a single folded piece of white paper.

She unfolded the page as Caleb peered at it while crouching next to her.

It read:
TOO BAD!

Paige looked up with surprise just in time to see the vault door slamming shut behind them. The petite vampire sped across the distance to the door in a blur, but not fast enough to stop the door from closing into place. She slammed into the door with the force of her body, but the locking mechanism had already initiated itself.

“Open this door!” she yelled so loudly that Caleb winced.

There was no response.

“Don’t worry. The security person covering the surveillance monitors will see us on the camera,” she assured him.

“Somehow I don’t think so,” he slowly replied as he pointed up to the surveillance camera that’s indicator light was off.

She looked up at the camera with disdain. “Okay, that sucks.”

“Can’t we just yell until someone hears us?” he asked.

She grumbled, “It’s practically soundproof. We’re sealed in here until that door opens.”

He threw up his hands in irritation, feeling like a rat caught in a trap.

Then the lights went out, leaving them standing in complete darkness.

He looked around with alarm, feeling as if he were floating in empty space. A wave of disorientation washed over him, and his heartbeat substantially increased.

“It’s okay, Caleb,” she offered in a soothing voice. “It’s just you and me in here, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

She decided not to scare him further by telling him that vault had an airtight seal.

He stared in the direction of her voice and saw her blue eyes glowing at him from across the room.

“Paige,” he carefully asked. “Are you angry right now?”

She rolled her eyes and snapped, “Pretty much.”

“Good, better than being hungry,” he absently observed.

Her bright glowing eyes widened as she stared back at him. “Actually, I am a little hungry, now that you mention it.”

His eyes darted to hers. With his growing vampire knowledge and experience, he knew full well that being alone and trapped in a room with a hungry vampire wasn’t an enviable prospect for a human. It had a tendency to shorten one’s life span.

He snatched the cell phone from his belt and stared at the illuminated screen, only to have his hopes instantly doused.

“Dammit, no signal,” he groused.

Having already anticipated that, she nevertheless looked at her own cell phone for confirmation and muttered, “Yeah, pretty much crap.”

He felt a stab of anxiety and began to back up slowly to the nearest wall, stopping only when he felt the cool metal deposit box doors at his back.

She observed his action, capable of seeing relatively well in darkness, and moved to his side to place a supportive hand on his shoulder.

“Listen, no worries,” she soothingly offered. “I’m here to protect you. Hell, I’ve saved your life on two occasions in the past year.”

He contemplated how she had earned the amusing title of babysitter by her actions against a houseful of armed mercenaries that had attacked them while they were held up in Katrina’s mansion. She had single-handedly killed all the attackers, except one that he had disabled with a crowbar.

Then he recalled that it was an injection of Paige’s blood that had saved his life from a near-fatal knife wound to his chest soon after the mercenary attack when Chimalma had attacked him. All in all, she had proven to be a formidable friend and protector. However, he realized that a vampire’s hunger might eventually trump their normal, rational decision-making capabilities.

“You may not have a choice if your hunger grows too strong,” he ominously countered. “Kat said that younger vampires need blood more frequently. And even at nearly a century old, you’ve told me yourself that you’re considered a teenager by vampire standards. And most teens have a hearty appetite.”

She paused to consider his statement.

“We still have some time. Katrina and the others will probably find us before it comes to that.”

“How much time?” he pressed.

“Three, maybe four hours,” she calculated.

“Three or four hours?” he retorted. “You’re supposed to be able to go over a day without feeding!”

His heart rate raced as he calculated just how little time they might have before things turned ugly. He checked his watch and noticed that it was nearly 2 am and realized he just might end up being for breakfast.

“I’ve been kind of busy, if you haven’t noticed,” she pointed out.

He immediately tried to calm himself, appreciating that angering a hungry vampire was probably a bad idea, no matter how dedicated she might be to protecting him.

“Look,” he gently apologized, “I’m sorry, I’m just a little unnerved, okay? My bad.”

Paige’s eyes flashed, and she snapped, “Just stop that, Caleb. I’m fine! You’re starting to weird me out a little bit.”

His mouth snapped shut, and he just stood silently against the wall of miniature doors.

“Well, so much for being Supergirl,” she commented, recalling her analogy with Katrina back in Atlanta.

“What?”

“Aw, nothin’,” she whispered dejectedly.

He smirked as he contemplated his DC Comics knowledge.

“If anything, you’re more like Wonder Girl. She was a cute, short-haired blonde with blue eyes, just like you. As a matter of fact, she was a Teen Titan and a pretty cool one.”

After only a moment, he felt Paige’s warm breath against his face. Her soft lips lightly pressed against his cheek to place a quick, appreciative kiss.

“You’re such a nerd, kiddo. But you’re
my
nerd,” she offered before sitting on the floor near his feet. “Hey, have a seat, and let’s try to relax, all right?”

Rather, let’s conserve the air
. His agitated state would use up more oxygen.

Her tone was more like the optimistic vampire that he had grown to know and adore, and he slipped down the wall until he sat next to her.

The minutes seemed to last forever as they waited. Finally, he leaned his head back against the wall and started dozing. His sleep patterns had been disrupted by all the erratic events since their arrival, so he made the best of an opportunity to rest.

As she contemplated matters, Paige reached over with one hand to gently guide his head to lean against her shoulder.

Not a good situation.

*    *    *    *

The impasse over the latest topic within the conference room was enough to make Katrina scream. They had come so close to agreement upon the simple premise of performing a poll of vampires abroad on common points of vested interest. Yet, minutes later, an argument ensued over who would tally the results and how transparent reporting would be conducted in a timely fashion.

She wanted to strangle Dominic Ambrogio for his series of obstructionist objections since the conference began. Though Ambrogio attempted to be subtle by adopting the Socratic method of inquiry, it was becoming obvious to both her and Alton that the vampire had to be part of some organized conspiracy against the conference’s success.

A knock sounded at the door, creating a sudden lull in the discussions. One of the guards outside entered and handed a small folded piece of paper to Alton before smartly departing the room.

Alton unfolded the note as all eyes in the room gravitated to him. After mere seconds, he passed the note to Katrina.

She read:
Paige and Caleb missing. Video surveillance disruptions hampering the search. – Dori

Her eyes widened with immediate concern, and she rose from her chair. Alton grabbed her wrist to stop her, and she glared at him.

“I apologize, but a security matter has risen that requires immediate attention,” Alton announced to the group. “There’s no need for immediate concern by you or hotel guests, but I recommend that we adjourn at least until tomorrow morning. Additional information will be forthcoming. We’re adjourned.”

Katrina jerked her arm free from Alton’s grasp and was the first one to barrel through the door on her way to the lobby. Alton closely followed at her heels with a tight-lipped expression.

Upon entering the security office, Dori looked up from the video surveillance workstations. Major Pietari stood beside her, and a security officer sat at the desk.

“Status report,” Alton ordered before Katrina could say anything.

“We’re having problems with the video surveillance system,” the major crisply replied. “It’s nothing serious, but we experienced a blackout period a few hours ago. We’re rebuilding the video streams manually leading up to the outage.”

“And what about the whereabouts of Caleb and Paige,” Katrina demanded.

The major frowned. “Their whereabouts are currently unknown, but our security officers are trying to locate them now. However, we have no reason to believe anything untoward has occurred.”

“So, your captain of security just disappears without notice, as well as a hotel guest, and you see nothing suspicious about that?” Katrina sarcastically challenged. She was beginning to dislike the major.

Pietari’s jaw clenched, and he glared back at the red-haired vampire. “Ms. Rawlings, the captain was off-duty. It’s not as if she needed to report her activities. And I’m to understand that she’s some sort of surrogate to Mr. Taylor, so it’s possible the two of them went out together or something. At this point, I have no evidence to suggest anything nefarious has taken place. Besides, I’m confident she’s more than capable of handling herself.”

Alton stared at the major, and then looked at Dori, whose expression was pensive.

“What do we know about their last known location?” he asked.