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

“
Hard to believe it’s
already sundown,” I said as I looked at my watch.

It was nearly seven o’clock.

“
News flash; it gets
darker earlier in the fall, nerdo,” Paige said.

“
Finally taking your
science courses more seriously, I see,” I said.

“
Well,
snarkety-snark-snark to you, too,” she said. “Don’t you watch the
weather forecasts on the local news? They tell you these things,
you know.”

“
Only old people watch the
local news,” I said. “Young people Google it.”

She flicked me on the ear with her
fingertip.

“
Ouch!”

“
Don’t get lippy with me,
twerp,” she said.

I rubbed at my ear. “Well, I hope I didn’t
hold Roman up from anything.”

“
He said he didn’t mind,
really,” she said.

I nodded.

“
Slave driver,” she
added.

I gave her a withering look.

“
So, watcha lookin’ up
there, smarty-pants?” she asked.

“
It’s a book on
phlebotomy,” I said.

Paige made a sour face. “Ew, like when they
sever part of your brain in one of those sanitariums?”

“
That’s lobotomy,” Kat
said. “He’s talking about the ancient art of
bloodletting.”

“
Oh, yeah. Well, that’s
something I know a helluva’ lot about,” Paige said. “You could’ve
just asked me.”

“
Yeah, but it’s your
impromptu demonstration that I might not survive,” I
said.

“
All right you two, that’s
about enough,” Kat said. “I need for my mate to focus on another
topic.”

She wrapped one arm around my waist and
guided me back to the nearby table where I’d left my backpack.

I pulled out a chair for her and then sat in
the one next to hers.

“
You’re rather carefree,
leaving your backpack lying about,” she said.

“
Not an issue,” I said.
“Usually, there’s a dependable bodyguard somewhere nearby to watch
over it.”

“
Mm,” she said. “Point
well made, I suppose.”

“
So, how’s the
investigation going?” I asked.

“
Anymore leads on those
two thugs?”

Paige snickered. “Thugs? What’re you, Philip
Marlowe now?”

Kat gave her a flat stare.

“
I’m just askin’,” she
said.

“
Not as many leads as I’d
like,” Kat said. “But I have a matching set of keys that Paige
removed from their pockets. Most likely, they’re for wherever they
were either staying or operating out of. So, I’m trying to track
down any locations they frequented here in town.”

“
Good idea,” I said.
“Except who could you ask about that? It’s not like we know any of
their local contacts, if they even had any.”

“
Admittedly, challenging,”
she said.

“
Too bad you can’t just
trace their phone signal activity or something,” I said. “I mean,
the NSA does it all the time. Hell, they record everyone’s phone
conversations nowadays, so it’s got to be stored somewhere that can
be accessed.”

“
Good thinking,” she
said.

“
Go ahead, pat him on the
head,” Paige said. “
Good,
Caleb.
”

Kat glared at her.

Paige held up her hands. “What? I tease;
it’s one of my key roles in his life.”

Kat shook her head. “Actually, Alton’s
working on the phone tracking angle. He’s hacking their phone
chipsets as we speak,” she said. “But I have another idea in the
meantime.”

“
Yeah?” I
asked.

She handed me her smartphone. “Would you
mind looking at these photos?”

“
Sure. What am I looking
for?”

“
Paige said that, on the
evening you purchased your new smartphone, you’d seen one of the
men who’d been following you,” she said.

“
Oh yeah, that’s right,” I
said. “He was leaving one of the shops.”

“
Think you could pick out
which building he exited?” she asked.

“
Why not check them all?
They were just down the street from the AT&T shop,” I
said.

“
Too obvious. It’d appear
too suspicious walking up to random doors like that,” she said.
“However, if you act like you know where you’re going, nobody pays
you any attention.”

“
Unless someone’s watching
for strangers,” I said.

“
Oh, you’re a clever boy,”
she said with a wicked expression.

She placed a forefinger beneath my chin,
lightly pressing the tip of her sharp fingernail against my
skin.

“
Now, clever boy, your
somewhat impatient mate wants to know if you can pick out the
correct building,” she said in a slow, sensual manner. “Can
you?”

Whoa…

An involuntary shiver coursed through my
body.

“
I’ll do my best,” I
said.

Paige placed her chin on her propped up
palm. “Isn’t it weird when she talks to you like that?”

I felt myself blush. “I don’t mind so much,
really.”

Kat removed her fingertip with a sly
expression and looked down meaningfully to the smartphone in my
hands.

I cycled through the digital photos, mostly
of a series of various storefronts and building facades.

The building pictures ended and I stopped at
the photo of an adorable Labrador retriever puppy.

“
Aw, what a cute puppy,” I
said. “Are we getting a dog?”

“
What? No, never mind that
one,” she said. “I just couldn’t resist snapping a photo when I saw
him.”

Given all the dark events that had intruded
into our lives, it was nice to know she still embraced a softer
side of her personality.

“
The buildings, my love,”
she gently prompted. “I’m waiting.”

“
Oh, you kids and your
kinky roleplaying,” Paige said. “So endearing.”

Kat growled at her.

I couldn’t help but grin as I scrolled back
through the photos. Eventually, I selected one with a brick
frontage and a small alley beside it.

“
That’s it,” I
said.

“
Hm. A travel agency?” she
asked.

“
Well, that’s where I
recalled one of them exiting, anyway,” I said.

She stood up and pocketed her phone. “Okay
then. It’s worth a try. I’ll see you back at home in the next
couple of hours.”

“
And, by any chance, would
my sexy mate have time to go out to dinner with me tonight?” I
asked.

“
As a matter of fact, I
think she might,” Kat said. “After I check this out.”

“
Bring your credit card,
kiddo. Remember, the submissive one always pays the tab,” Paige
said. “Or else, the sub
pays
. Am I right?”

Kat and I simultaneously looked at her.

She made the sound of a cat screeching and
then a whip snapping sound.

“
Are you quite finished?”
Kat asked her.

She shook her head and sighed. “What? No
sense of humor here? I’m using some of my best material.”

I returned my attention to Kat. “Be
careful.”

“
Always, my
love.”

She leaned down to give me a quick kiss.

As she walked away, I took a moment to
appreciate the lovely view of her swaying behind.

“
Oh, please put your
tongue back in your mouth, pervy. You’re getting the tabletop all
wet,” Paige said. “You can properly worship her ass when she gets
home tonight.”

“
Hey, you’d feel
differently if it was your butt I was admiring,” I said.

“
Trust me, tiger,” she
said in an alluring voice and patted her butt with the palm of her
hand. “You’re not ready for action this hot.”

“
Whatever,” I
said.

“
I’m just sayin’,” she
said. “Now get with the program, brainiac. Ethan’s only in town
through tomorrow, you know. Once I drop you off at home, I’ve got a
hot date with my own ass-worshipper.”

Chapter 4

Katrina

As I exited the campus library following my
chat with Caleb, I slipped on a pair of leather gloves. Given my
intentions, I wanted to avoid leaving fingerprints.

Most people would have found it a foreboding
evening for a walk, but the cold wind and moonless sky didn’t
bother me one bit. In fact, they were the perfect condition for
dissuading onlookers. Most people were more interested in quickly
making their way indoors or to their vehicles.

In addition, the travel agency had alongside
it a small, dark alley ideal for a secluded approach.

The blinds covering the shop’s glass door
and windows were closed, but there was a dim illumination from
within. As I expected, particularly given the time of evening, the
door was locked.

One by one, I cycled through a set of keys
that we had removed from the bodies of Caleb’s attackers, only to
find they either wouldn’t fit in the lock or didn’t turn the
tumblers.

With an irony that only fate could bestow,
the last key on the ring actually worked.

I quietly slipped inside and paused long
enough to verify that nobody was present. Then I closed and locked
the door behind me.

The sole light source was a relatively dim
ceiling-mounted fluorescent light at the back of the small office,
but I had no problem seeing clearly with my vampire vision.

One scan of the poorly furnished shop
revealed that, while it had indeed been a travel agency, it hadn’t
been in operation for quite some time. The most recent brochures or
paperwork were dated three years prior.

However, the place smelled as if it had just
undergone a cleaning. There didn’t appear to be a speck of dust on
either the floor or any tabletops.

I searched the available desks, filing
cabinets, and shelves for anything of interest, but everything
appeared relatively benign.

I walked to the rear of the shop where there
were three closed doors along the back wall.

Behind one door was a small bathroom

Another door led to an empty closet
containing buckets, mops, and cleaning supplies. The fresh waft of
cleaning products simply reinforced the fact that they’d been
recently used.

I removed my glove and reached down to touch
the mops.

They were still relatively damp, suggesting
that someone had used them within the past twenty-four hours or
so.

I put my glove back on and moved to open the
third door, revealing a narrow set of carpeted steps leading
upstairs.

I paused before them and listened for any
telltale sounds.

Hearing nothing, I unsheathed a combat knife
from inside my jacket and stealthily made my way up the stairs,
which curved to the right as I ascended.

Boards from two separate steps squeaked as
my weight pressed upon them.

I paused but still heard nothing.

At the top of a small landing, there was a
solid wooden door with both a lock on the doorknob and a deadbolt
lock.

I placed my ear against the door, but heard
only silence beyond.

The door was secured, but fortunately two of
the other keys on one of the key rings fit the locks.

With one hand grasping the door knob and the
other holding my knife at the ready, I slowly opened the door,
which creaked as it swept open.

I was presented with a darkened, sparsely
furnished apartment that also smelled of recently used
cleansers.

Like the downstairs area, it was
unoccupied.

I slipped my knife back into its sheath.

Aside from the single, open-flowing living
room-dining room-kitchen, there were two Spartan bedrooms and a
central bathroom; all of which had been scrubbed to the point of
spotlessness.

Even the walls mildly smelled of bleach.

There were no clothes, belongings, or
anything resembling personal effects left anywhere in the
apartment.

The place had been professionally
cleaned.

No, more than merely cleaned, it’s been
cleansed.

Someone intended to obscure any evidence and
reveal no trace of who’d been staying there. That suggested we were
faced with professionals.

That bothered me.

It also suggested that someone was already
well aware that their two operatives had either been detained or
were dead.

I made one final sweep of the apartment, to
no avail, and decided to leave.

One thing for certain, this place is a dead
end.

The question was, did the disappearance of
Caleb’s two attackers successfully dissuade whoever was in charge,
or merely stir a hornet’s nest?

No, I knew better than to contemplate the
answer to that.

Caleb was still in serious danger.

Anger welled inside me like a dangerous,
simmering volcano pending an eruption.

No. When I finally erupt, I’ll do so at
precisely the moment that satisfies my sense of retribution.

I locked everything back the way I’d found
it and left the abandoned shop. A quick evaluation of the nearby
trash dumpsters was less than helpful; each had already been
emptied, likely earlier that day.

On my walk back to the house, I considered
the situation and found too many loose ends for my
satisfaction.

Maybe Alton’s having better luck.

Chapter 5