by Lisa Kessler
“That feels so good, baby.”
Jose’s jaw clenched when Betty’s voice interrupted his chain of thought. He didn’t answer her, just pulled her back into the water, rinsing out the shampoo and letting his mind wander back to his plans.
If Calisto hadn’t revealed he was a blood-drinker, then what made Kate leave? Had they fought, or did Calisto send her away for her own safety without explanation? He supposed he would know soon enough.
The first step would be finding Kate. He couldn’t risk going to Calisto’s home tonight. Then it came to him.
Kate’s house.
He still had a key. He could wait for her there until daylight, and even if she didn’t come home, once the sun came up, he’d be free to go to the Night Walker’s house and meet her there while Calisto slept.
Quickly rinsing off the soap, Jose stepped out of the shower and toweled off. The bathroom tiles were cool against his feet.
“Where are you going?”
He gave Betty a dismissive glance. “To find Kate.”
“What?”
He could already hear her anger rising to the surface. Jose learned early on Betty had an unmistakable cold sarcasm to her voice when something displeased her, and he heard it now.
“I said I am going to find Kate.”
“Now? You can’t be serious.” She added with a sultry smile, “I had plans for you.”
“I’m not interested in your plans. In fact, I have plans of my own.”
She stepped out of the shower, her eyes blazing. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“I disagree.” He pulled on his jeans.
“I don’t believe this.” Her cheeks flushed with color. She grabbed his wrist. “You can’t be serious. You’re really going out right after we had sex to see Kate?”
“Yes.” Jose jerked his arm free and pulled on his shirt. The moment his head popped through the opening, her hand connected with his cheek. The slap echoed through the bathroom.
“Over my dead body.”
Jose looked at her with a cold, hateful sneer, lifting her hand to kiss it. “As you wish.”
Before she had a chance to react, he shoved her against the wall, and his hands closed around her throat to prevent her from screaming.
Finally, after weeks of enduring her company, he saw the fear he had hungered for burning in her eyes. Her hands flailed, slapping and scratching at his face. Her struggles satisfied him far more than he imagined. Her body glistened, still damp from the shower, her breasts heaving as she fought to breathe.
Beautiful.
Once again his jeans became uncomfortable as his arousal grew. Wedging his shoulder against her flailing body, he removed one hand from her throat to open his pants.
A whimper escaped her crushed windpipe, and he laughed as her vain attempts to escape increased. Before he pulled himself free from the confines of his jeans, Betty’s knee jammed up into his groin, hard.
He lost his grip on her, doubling over in pain.
Betty wrestled free of him and ran for the door. Rage shot through him as Jose reached out and caught a handful of her hair.
“You whore!” He growled, still grimacing in pain.
He yanked her back to him, striking her across the face with his free hand, his ring biting into the soft flesh of her lip as she fell to the floor.
He pinned her to the ground, gripping her throat until she choked for air. “You said you had plans for me. Well, I have plans of my own.” He freed himself from his jeans.
Jose’s hips surged forward, and he plunged back into the moist warmth of her body. He loosened his hold on her throat just enough to hear her gasp and cry. Such an exquisite sound. He licked away the blood on her lip, laughing as she tried to slap him away from her.
“I like it when you fight.”
He ran his hand up her curvaceous body to grip her breasts, pinching them viciously until he saw the pain register in her eyes. He bent forward to kiss her swollen lips, biting at them as he whispered, “I’m only giving you what you wanted… ”
His words trailed off as he brought both hands to her throat, squeezing and clenching her neck. Her struggles weakened and the life faded from her eyes. Within minutes, she stared blankly at the ceiling. He continued thrusting his hips into her, enjoying every seizure of her muscles. He withdrew from her dead body, leaving her on the floor in a heap.
He stared down at her lifeless form for a moment. He had fantasized for years about taking a life. He never realized it would be so empowering.
Tucking himself back inside his jeans, he knelt down to kiss her temple, gently stroking her wet hair back from her battered, lifeless face. “I will never forget you, Betty.”
He straightened, kicking her onto her stomach, and walked out without a second look.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Calisto watched Kate go, unsure of how he should react. He wanted to chase after her and keep her safe, but he also knew she deserved time to think about the ramifications of what he had revealed.
If she chose to love him, they would never have a normal life. No children, no picnics in the afternoon. Her life with him would be confined to the night. He would never be able to give her a family. She needed to consider the truth of what their future would be like, without him hovering nearby.
However, her safety still had to come first.
He ran into the darkness, his body transforming into a raven as he took flight. Time to finish his battle with Jose. For good.
Calisto landed silently on the balcony of Betty’s condominium and looked through the sliding glass door for any sign of Jose. With Kate back in San Diego, he couldn’t risk allowing the madman to live any longer. If he had to mesmerize Betty to complete his mission, then so be it.
It had to end now.
He didn’t bother to knock, but reached for the door handle. It wasn’t locked. Calisto stepped inside and frowned. It was quiet, too quiet. Could they be sleeping already?
Calisto found her taste in contemporary design unbearably stark and sleek, but right now, it wasn’t the coldness of her interior design that had his attention.
It was the mess. Uneasiness washed over him when he saw Betty’s dining room table.
In the years he’d known Betty, she’d never left a mess behind. In fact, on occasion she had tidied up his office when he’d left papers strewn across his desk, or his wastebasket sat precariously on the brink of overflowing. So seeing her dining room in such a state of disarray worried him.
Puddles of soup dried on her glass dining table, and broken glass and shattered bowls littered the marble tiled floor. Silverware lay strewn all the way across the room. Betty never would have allowed a mess like this to linger so long.
He hurried down the hallway toward her bedroom, his pulse racing. If Betty and Jose weren’t here, then where were they? He couldn’t risk allowing the deranged monk to find Kate. He opened the bedroom door, hoping he’d see Betty and Jose inside sleeping.
When Calisto entered her room, preparing to call her name, the scent of blood assaulted his nose, bringing his thirst to life again. A moment later he found her naked body lying in a heap on the floor of her bathroom.
His heart sank.
“Bettina,” he whispered, kneeling beside her as he carefully turned her over.
His eyes glowed when he saw her lifeless stare, her swollen bloodied lip, and the black and blue bruising around her throat. He reached out to close her dead eyes, whispering the last rites he thought he had forgotten centuries ago.
Jose had done this to her, Calisto had no doubt. He should have warned her. Guilt stung him. He knew Jose was dangerous, but he thought Kate was the target.
He needed to find her. Now.
“Forgive me, Bettina,” he whispered, as he covered her body with a towel. Calisto vanished.
Kate left the top down on her convertible as she drove down Interstate 5 toward Point Loma. The cold wind stung her cheeks while more tears slid down her face and wet her s
kin. Her brain felt overloaded. She wasn’t sure whether she felt heartbroken, terrified, or just insane. Maybe a combination of all three.
She wished she could believe Calisto was crazy and write off his story about drinking blood and past lives as delusional nonsense, but she couldn’t. Too much of what he said made sense.
“God, maybe I’m the crazy one!” She laughed sadly, pulling off the freeway.
How could vampires or Night Walkers—wasn’t that what he called them—really exist? They couldn’t. They were myths. But if Calisto wasn’t really what he said, then how else could she explain that she’d known him for nearly two months and had never caught a glimpse of him during daylight? And how many philanthropists had private bedroom suites underground?
He also knew about her dream, and had the painting of her on his wall with G.S. in the corner. Gregorio Salvador. The man from her dream. And Calisto’s signet ring with the dove gliding over the flames matched the pendant she’d seen in her dreams.
Too much to chalk it up to coincidence.
The longer she thought about her past life with him, the more she remembered. Memories of secret meetings on the beach under the cover of night filled her head. She used to untie his hair and run her fingers through it. She always loved seeing his hair loose and free.
She still did. She guessed some things never changed.
She could remember picking Romneya flowers and wearing them in her hair. She’d always loved the smell and the stark contrast of the white petals like crushed silk against the ebony color of her hair.
Calisto told her the truth. As impossible as it seemed, nothing else made sense. If he planned to lie to her, surely he would’ve come up with a more believable story than I am an immortal Night Walker.
But assuming he told her the truth, then what kind of future could they have together?
She always pictured herself getting married and having a family. She loved Calisto more than she realized she could love another person, but this was too much. He drank blood from living, breathing people.
Could she love a man who killed to live?
If she stayed with him, there would never be a big wedding and no family gatherings. In fact, they wouldn’t have a family at all.
And what about her work?
She couldn’t teach choir all day and then stay up all night with him. Eventually she needed to sleep. She would end up giving up her days so they could be together at night. She’d already started down that road when she lived with him before the pregnancy.
She’d made the choice to give up the sun without even realizing it, but she also hadn’t known the schedule would never change. In the back of her mind, she thought at some point he would stop traveling so much and they could be together during the day, too. But it would never happen. She knew that now.
There was so much they would never share together.
She wiped her eyes, driving aimlessly through her hometown. Point Loma was fairly deserted at this time of the night, or very early morning. The quiet was a relief. The last thing she needed was people staring at her, wondering why she was upset.
They’d never believe it even if she told them.
It’s nothing really, just that the man I love with all my heart and soul is a blood-drinking immortal.
Oh yeah, she’d be in a padded room in no time.
She pulled into the driveway of her parents’ empty house and rested her head against the steering wheel. She knew she’d never love another man as much or as deeply as she loved Calisto. When he smiled at her, she felt whole. He was the other half of her soul.
Her heart had found him again even after lifetimes apart.
She couldn’t walk away. She wouldn’t, not now, not ever. But if she stayed, would love be enough to sustain them? Would he still love her when she turned eighty and he still looked like a gorgeous man in the prime of his life? Kate wondered if she might grow to resent him as the years stole away her health and beauty and left him untouched.
With a sigh, she heaved her exhausted body out of the car. She still hadn’t recovered from losing so much blood during the miscarriage, and the lack of sleep wasn’t helping. She needed to rest and face all of this with a clear head.
Grabbing her purse, she went to the door, wishing she had a bed to sleep in. At this point, even her sleeping bag in her dad’s easy chair sounded like heaven. Kate stepped into the dark house and closed the door behind her.
The second the deadbolt latch engaged, pain shot through her, stealing her voice before she had a chance to scream. A blade pressed against her throat, and blood oozed from a new opening in her shoulder.
“Welcome home.”
Chapter Thirty
The monsignor awoke with a start. His ailing heart raced, his brow perspired, but the vision remained clear in his mind. Blood. So much blood.
The vivid dreams weren’t a new phenomenon for him. Dreams were what led him to the Fraternidad as a young man. He’d dreamt of fire and a man who fed off the life of others. The monsignor spent his life learning about the Night Walker and searching for a way to stop him.
His wrinkled hands shook when his feet touched the floor and he rose to dress. He had to go back to Kate Bradley’s house. Her address had come to him twice during his dream. Brother Mentigo stood covered in blood. The final snapshot of his vision included a bloody handprint marking the window of the house he visited yesterday.
Kate Bradley’s house. He didn’t know what the dream meant, but it couldn’t be good.
His arthritic fingers slid back through the wisps of his gray hair, taming them as best he could before he reached for the phone to call a taxi. He would be at her house within twenty minutes.
He hoped he wouldn’t be too late.
Kate stumbled up the stairs backward as her attacker tugged and pulled her up with him, the blade of his knife still pressed against the soft skin of her throat. The darkness was a palpable creature now, and every step she took made the pain in her shoulder throb throughout the rest of her body. Her whole shirt felt wet and sticky with her warm blood.
She tried to calm herself, but terror won out, and her heart raced. Blood pumped through her veins and out of her wound at an alarming rate. She fought to stay alert, knowing if she fainted now she might never wake up.
At the top of the stairs, he yanked her into the master bedroom that used to belong to her parents and closed the door. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, his fingers digging into the stab wound until she felt nauseous from the overwhelming pain.
Moonlight cut through the darkness, making shapes out of the shadows. She tried to focus on the half-moon through the window and distance her mind from her attacker. He could hurt her body, but she would keep her spirit.
She would live through this.
“I thought I had lost you, Kate.”
She recognized the voice, and it broke her concentration. “Jose?” She gasped, blinking to try and clear her vision. She couldn’t believe her eyes. “Why are you doing this?”
He smiled and slid the blade up her arm. Only now she realized it wasn’t a knife. Jose held an ivory handled razor, the old style the barbers used, and ran it slowly down the front of her shirt, slicing the fabric open.
Oh God, he’s going to rape me…
She brought her hand up to her shoulder, pressing her fingers over the wound in a weak attempt to slow the bleeding as she took a step back.
“Calisto will be here any minute,” she lied, praying she sounded more confident than she felt.
Jose stepped forward, reaching up to grab a handful of her hair and drew her in close to him. “I am counting on it.”
Scratches covered his face and arms, and her heart sank. Were they from Betty?
She winced as he leaned in even closer. Jose pulled her hand away from her wound, and she watched in horror as his tongue reached out to lick her blood. She whimpered, trying to push him away.
With a cold, calculated chuckle, he drew back to meet he
r eyes. “Forgive me for injuring your soft skin, but I needed the scent of your blood to draw him in.”
“You’re insane!” Kate spat at him.
She tried to turn her head away when his breath blew across her face. “I am a visionary. And you are my sacrificial lamb. Through you, I will gain immortality.”
She struggled to break free, but the more she fought, the tighter his hold became until she couldn’t resist any longer. Jose brought his bloody fingers to her face. He stroked her cheek, his lips brushing hers as he whispered, “I know you don’t want to die for this cause, but I will always love you for your sacrifice on my behalf.”
Calisto flew toward Point Loma, his heart pounding in his ears as his large raven wings beat against the cold night air. Betty’s body had still been warm and it wasn’t rigid yet. Jose couldn’t have been gone for too long. He prayed now that Kate hadn’t gotten home. Maybe she went to one of her friends’ homes. He had to find her before Jose did.
He opened his mind as he glided past the Cabrillo monument, flying inland toward Kate’s house. When he landed on her street, his form once again that of a man, he ground his teeth together. The scent of Kate’s blood called to him.
His hands shook with fury and hunger. He hadn’t fed, and with the sunrise so near, his immortal body already slowed and weakened. He wouldn’t have much time, and the intoxicating scent of her blood distracted him.
His thirst, like a primal animal, roared with temptation.
He threw open the front door, splintering the wood frame as the deadbolt ripped through it. Her blood left a trail up the stairs. Calisto followed, bursting through the bedroom door a moment later.
“Let her go.”
Jose slowly broke the bloody kiss, turning around to smile at Calisto as he pressed his razor blade against Kate’s throat. “You are not in a position to demand anything.”
Calisto locked eyes with Kate for a moment, his jaw clenching when he saw her wounds. Blood pooled at her feet, staining the beige carpet. Kate’s anemic complexion panicked him. His eyes cut to Jose’s face again as he stepped forward. “She has nothing to do with this. Let her go and we can talk.”