by Jaz Primo
Then again, maybe it had been a growth experience for me.
And yet, I still felt a little guilty about it.
But there was still one major unresolved leftover matter.
Paige.
* * *
I spent the first week, following my return, reconnecting with Kat. However, given Paige’s continued absence, I spent the second week simply trying to reestablish some sort of balance in my life.
One thing was certain; waking up beside Kat was an excellent way to start my day.
“Good morning, sleepy head,” she said with a warm smile as she wriggled closer to me.
“Mm, good morning,” I said.
I briefly kissed her as I reached out to rest my hand atop her cool hip.
“You must have just slipped into bed,” I said.
“Ah, but I was here when you woke up, wasn’t I?”
It was the fourth time that week, in fact.
“You don’t have to pretend that you’re an up-all-night sort of person, you know,” I said.
“I know,” she said. “But I’m trying to normalize our relationship.”
I arched my eyebrows.
“Daylight notwithstanding, that is,” she added.
It was a perfectly understandable exception.
“Does that include a more normalized Thanksgiving?” I asked.
Her wan look spoke volumes.
“I’m working on that,” she said.
“Don’t tell me you’re heading back to London before Thanksgiving,” I said. “It’s only days away now. And besides, I’ll have a few days off from college, too.”
“I know, my love,” she said, lightly running her fingertips through my hair. “I’ll work on that.”
Her nails felt like heaven on my scalp.
“Well, I suppose I could always just have Thanksgiving in New Haven,” I said.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yeah, if I had to,” I said. “Maybe some of my friends who aren’t going home for the holidays might want to pitch in together. We could have a dinner here at the house.”
“That’s very mature of you,” she said.
“Everyone could bring a dish. There’s bound to be some of us who won’t be going home. At the very least, I’d bet that Chance would jump at any opportunity to avoid dinner with her family,” I said.
Kat fixed me with a gaze that I couldn’t begin to define, except to say that it wasn’t good…at all.
“On second thought, I think I’ll call Alton today and see what can be arranged,” she said.
“Um, okay,” I said. “Only if you’re sure—”
“Shut up.”
I already felt more encouraged about Thanksgiving plans.
“Do you think we can find Paige by then?” I asked.
“Given recent events, probably not.”
“But—”
“I’ve warned you before that your actions have repercussions,” she said. ‘That’s never truer than when you play with a vampire’s feelings.”
I couldn’t help feeling there was a double meaning there.
“Don’t you remember the dinner chat that you and I had together soon after I revealed to you that I was a vampire? I told you that small decisions today take on larger impact and meaning tomorrow.”
“You remember that?” I asked. “How in hell can you quote a conversation that we had over dinner more than a year ago?”
She tapped the tip of my nose. “My powers of recollection have improved remarkably over the past five centuries. Oh, and I’m a woman. We rarely forget what we tell men.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
My eyebrows rose as she rolled out of bed, though I certainly appreciated the view of her shapely, beautiful butt.
She turned to look at me over her shoulder. “Oh yes. Rest assured, I’m serious about many things.”
I decided not to press the topic.
While Kat showered, I pulled aside the curtains on the nearby window for some natural light and sorted through my backpack and various folders of assignments to prepare for classes that morning.
It seemed my professors had an endless supply of creative ways to keep me busy. Memories of my own brief experience as a college history professor resurfaced.
I missed my teaching position and wished that I could return to it. Those were some of the best days of my life.
“Ow!”
The bathroom door slammed shut.
“Caleb,” growled Kat.
“What?” I said, turning to stare back at the closed bathroom door.
Then I remembered the parted curtains and noticed the morning light filtering in onto the floor from between the opened blinds.
I quickly closed both the blinds and the curtains.
“Sorry,” I said, walking over to open the bathroom door.
Kat stood before me wearing nothing but a towel.
Then her towel dropped to the floor.
“Bad Caleb,” she said with an arched brow. “No morning playtime for you.”
“Maybe just an abbreviated playtime?” I asked.
She rested her hands atop her bare hips.
“No,” she said. “Now go downstairs while I get dressed.”
“Aw, crap,” I said. “You know that drives me crazy when you do that.”
The edges of her mouth upturned slightly. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”
As I sullenly went downstairs, silently vowing never again to open the bedroom curtains during daytime when she was around, I heard Roman whistling in the kitchen.
“There you are, slacker,” he said.
I joined him at the kitchen counter where he was mixing fruit into two steaming bowls of oatmeal.
“What’s the latest?” I asked.
“You’re running late,” he said. “Again.”
“Aren’t you ever gonna cut me a little slack?” I asked.
He pushed one of the bowls toward me. “Nope. And neither should you. We’ve got a schedule to keep here, you know.”
I stirred the oatmeal in my bowl. “I’m taking advantage of time with Kat while she’s still here.”
“Nice to see that someone can keep you from skipping town,” he murmured.
“I think that’s enough, Roman,” Kat said from the bottom of the stairs. “You’ve been riding him for an entire week. I think he appreciates his mistake by now.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Sorry, ma’am.”
Kat walked over to give me a brief kiss.
“Hey, I was thinking, what about you and me—” I asked.
“I’ll be juggling conference calls and email for most of the day, but I’ll see you this evening when you return home,” she said. “That being said, you can call or text me if you need anything before then.”
She poured a mug of hot coffee and walked in the direction of the den without saying anything further.
“And the obligations continue,” I said.
“Yep. Always,” Roman agreed.
After breakfast, Roman and I headed out for campus and I was soon lost in the hustle and bustle of classes. I had to wait around until late afternoon to meet with Dr. Gowan about my dissertation, so I hung out in the main library for part of the day.
While there, I received a text from Kat to meet her at Witches Brew after my meeting was finished.
By early evening, I finished my meeting, complete with a listing of new materials to research. As I tried to delve further into the background of Dr. Oliver Simonson, there were fewer primary source materials to draw upon.
I felt as if my dissertation topic was becoming an effort in futility.
Worse yet, I still didn’t have any specific idea as to what revelations Alton expected me to discover. For the most part, it seemed as if Simonson was just a scientist who had become so immersed in his work that he progressively withdrew from visibility.
His published papers became less frequent as his work proceeded. It was as if he disappeared from his world.<
br />
I felt that, at the rate I was going, I’d end up much the same way.
As I exited the elevator at the ground floor of the building, I noticed that the lobby was deserted.
“Roman?” I asked.
He was nowhere to be found.
I tried texting him, but received no response.
That was really strange.
I texted Kat. Just left Dr. Gowan’s office. Roman is nowhere to be seen.
She replied: Proceed directly to Witches Brew. I’m here and will locate Roman. Be careful.
My day just got weirder.
I walked outside, paying close attention to my surroundings. Roman was gone.
I took a deep breath and strode down the sidewalk in the direction of Witches Brew. Fortunately, it was on Grove Street and in close walking proximity.
There weren’t many people out and about on campus. It was close enough to the Thanksgiving holiday that many students were skipping out early on their vacation.
What few passersby I saw quickly made their way to nearby parking lots or into other buildings. New Haven was definitely a much colder place outdoors by mid-November, particularly at night.
Fortunately, the sidewalk I was walking on went directly through the scenic heart of campus and was well lit by lamps.
As I entered through a small grove of trees and hedges, I noticed a young woman, wearing matching black leather pants and jacket, walking in my direction.
I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she passed by me, but she kept walking. Her footsteps continued in the distance.
Then they abruptly stopped and I turned to look back over my shoulder at her.
It appeared that she had stopped to talk on her cell phone.
“Watch where you’re going, you twat,” said someone with an English accent.
I turned to face forward. A young man stood before me. His faded leather jacket and jeans gave him an edgy appearance.
“My mistake,” I said, giving him a wide berth to walk past him.
“You can say that again,” he said.
I stopped to give him a hard sidelong look.
That’s when he grinned and I noticed his extended fangs.
Chapter 18
Caleb
“Don’t press something you might later regret,” I warned.
“Oh, I’m tickety-boo,” he said. “And you Yanks are such wankers. Who are you to threaten me?”
I reached to the small of my back where I kept one of my combat knives sheathed.
“Sweet Fanny Adams!” said a woman with an English accent from behind me.
I turned in time to see the young woman wearing the leather outfit with an expression of mock surprise on her face.
“I think he means to cut you down, Dane,” she added.
“Listen, mate,” said the man. “Don’t be pissing around with me.”
I backed up to keep both of them in view, my hand still grasping the hilt of my knife.
“You’ve made quite the impression on him, I think,” she said.
“Nah, not this one. He’s flat barmy,” the man said.
“Who the hell are you people?” I demanded.
“Cheeky. You’re absolutely gormless, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Disappointing, really,” said the male vampire. “He’s not worth the trouble of killing.”
“Well, I think he’s somewhat dishy,” said the woman. “He has potential, I suppose.”
“Really?” the man asked. “Where’s your standards, sis?”
“Still, orders are orders,” she said with an exaggerated shrug.
“Rightly so,” he said.
Both of them turned toward me and sneered in a menacing manner.
A moment of irony flashed in my mind. There I was, on the way to meet my vampire mate for dinner, and I was about to become dinner for two vampires.
I dropped my backpack to the ground and finally extracted the knife hidden at the small of my back while reaching inside my jacket with my left hand to grasp one of my UV flashlights.
I was very scared, but I also felt angry, fed up with people trying to kill or take advantage of me.
If I was about to die, I damned sure intended for them to regret trying.
Hell, I might even take one of them out.
“Well now, it looks like the chin wag is over,” said the man. “Oh, but what Roman would give to see the look on your face right now. I told him it’d be priceless.”
Roman?
Was Roman part of this?
All of a sudden I felt betrayed.
It pissed me off.
“You want trouble?” I asked. “Try it.”
“Stop.”
I turned to see Kat standing not far behind me, leaning against a tree trunk.
Relief surged through me even as my heart raced.
Finally, the cavalry.
I looked at my two opponents with a satisfied expression.
“Oh, don’t look so pleased with yourself,” the male vampire said. “You’d already be dead if I wanted you so.”
Kat walked over to stand beside me.
“Caleb, meet Dane and Lyra,” Kat said. “They’re your new handlers.”
“What?”
I traded looks between the two vampires and Kat.
Dane extended his hand to shake. “No hard feelings, eh?”
I grudgingly shook his hand.
“Bit of a weak handshake there,” Dane said. “I thought someone said that you worked out?”
I pointedly ignored him and turned to shake Lyra’s hand.
She folded her arms before her and stared at my outstretched hand with an arched brow, so I dropped my arm to my side.
“We really need to talk about this, Kat,” I said.
She looked at me. “Look, Paige simply can’t be located at the moment, so Alton sent them to help us out. We need nighttime coverage for you.”
“But—”
The entire prospect sucked; pun intended.
“What do you two think of your new charge so far?” Kat asked, focusing her attention on the two vampires.
Lyra looked me up and down. “Him? Boring. He definitely screams bookworm.”
Dane laughed. “Oh, darling, you’re off to a great start, aren’t you?”
She hiked her hands atop her hips and gave him a go-to-hell look. “Hey, he’s a job. I’m not here to make new friends.”
“And Dane?” Kat asked.
He adopted a semi-serious expression and thoughtfully rubbed at his chin.
“Aside from a possible fixation to knife people who piss him off, he looks a mix of smart but clumsy,” he said. “That being said, in the end, I’d guess he’s quite a tosser.”
A sense of indignation rose like a storm inside me.
“What an asshole,” I said. “Kat, there’s no way.”
Her look of amusement didn’t do much to encourage me.
“As he’s my mate, I’ll have to disagree on your latter assertion,” she said to Dane. “Though I’ll admit that he has his moments, particularly recently.”
“Hey,” I said.
“What? I’m only being honest.”
“Thanks loads,” I said, folding my arms before me.
“Despite that, give him time. He’ll quickly grow on you,” Kat said.
“On my nerves, perhaps,” Dane muttered.
I barely restrained myself from displaying my middle finger to him. There had to be better options than these two sarcastic vampires.
How far down the bottom of the barrel were Alton’s available options anyway?
“How about if we all go to dinner so that we can get better acquainted?” Kat asked. “My treat.”
“And would spirits be included, General?” Dane asked.
“Certainly,” she replied.
“Then I’m all yours,” Dane said. “Coming, sis?”
“Anything’s better than standing around here,” she said.
I felt sorely tempted t
o disagree.
* * *
After a dinner punctuated by a combination of small talk with me and shop talk with Kat, we made it back to the house. I was hardly feeling enthusiastic about the two English vampires.
And I had learned little more about them other than that they were siblings and that Alton thought highly of their abilities.
“How did it go?” Roman asked, rising from the couch.
Dane tossed his leather jacket over the back of a nearby recliner. “I’ve had easier nightmares. Though it went better for me than it will for you. I think your stock fell mightily tonight, old beam.”
Roman frowned. “Whaddya talking about?”
Dane pointed toward me. “You should’ve seen the look on his face when I mentioned your name tonight during our grand introductions.”
Roman’s face went blank as he stared at me.
“Think about it, mate,” Dane said. “He thought you’d bailed on him and given him up. Gads but you’re a bit thick for an ex-Seal.”
“Would anyone care for a beer?” Kat asked.
“Yes, thanks,” Dane replied.
“Definitely,” Lyra said.
“Please,” I said.
“I think I need one now, too,” Roman said.
He looked at me. “How could you possibly think that, Caleb? After everything?”
Kat offered bottles of beers to everyone, except for me.
I didn’t know what to say to Roman. What was I supposed to think in the heat of the moment?
“Hey, you were gone. Then when he said—”
“Man, I don’t even know you anymore,” Roman said to me while twisting the cap off his beer.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Kat flicked the cap off her beer using her thumbnail and took a swig.
I looked at her inquiringly.
“You had two at the restaurant already,” she replied to my silent query.
I shook my head, but then she handed me her opened bottle of beer.
I took a swig of beer and picked up my backpack before heading upstairs.
It felt like an evening from hell.
“Goodnight, everyone,” I said.
“I’ll be up later,” Kat said.
Nobody else said anything.
Not that I cared at the moment.