by Lisa Kessler
“Yes, we do need to talk about that. I am concerned about you, for many reasons.”
She smiled and stepped closer. “I know. I’m sorry I made you wait, but it’s not something I wanted to drop in your lap right before dinner. Come on, let’s go home. We can walk on the beach and talk.”
The monsignor wrung his gnarled, spotted hands in front of the fire. He never got warm enough anymore. His joints ached with arthritis, and his muscles felt atrophied after so many hours on his knees in prayer.
But prayer remained essential, especially now.
Something had gone wrong with Brother Mentigo in America. He wasn’t sure what happened just yet, but he would find out personally. He couldn’t in good conscience send another young monk to his death.
This time, he would make the journey himself, and if his day came to meet the Lord, let it be while protecting the world from the threat of another blood-drinker.
But he hoped it would not come to that. He hoped once he arrived in San Diego, he would find Brother Mentigo alive and well, and all of the suspicion around his disappearance would be a mistake.
He hadn’t received a message of any kind from Brother Mentigo in over three weeks. The monsignor contacted the Mission de Alcala and found that they hadn’t seen or heard from him either. His apartment stood empty, as if he simply vanished. Or he was dead. But until they had confirmation of the monk’s passing, the monsignor chose to hope for the best.
“How many more must die, Juan?”
The monsignor smiled, hearing the familiar shuffling of feet and the rhythmic thud of a cane. He turned to see his old friend Father Doñas standing in the open archway that led into his chamber.
The ailing monk had acted as the leader of the Fraternidad del Fuego Santo for nearly forty years until ten years ago, when his failing health forced him to give up some of his responsibilities. They had been friends for decades, and Father Doñas was probably the only person left in this world who still called the monsignor by his first name.
“Has word of my trip to America already reached you?”
“It has,” Father Doñas said, toddling closer. “And I have come to talk you out of going.”
“Then you wasted your time. This is something I must do.”
“You realize that he is probably already dead. Brother Mentigo was often a slave to his own pride. He may have gotten too close to the Night Walker and paid for his arrogance with his life. Nothing you do now can bring him back.”
“That may be true, but I won’t send another monk from our Fraternidad to die for this cause.”
“That is the first bit of wisdom to leave your lips, Juan.” Father Doñas sat in a bare wooden chair against the wall. “The years have proven that we cannot control the Night Walker. Maybe it is not our place to do so.”
“Are you suggesting we simply turn the other cheek and knowingly allow him to unleash another abomination into the world?”
“I am suggesting that if it is meant to be, then we have no power to change it.”
“So we let Satan’s minions take over the night without trying to stop them?”
Father Doñas sighed. “You know the old story as well as I do, Juan. We both know he was one of us. How can you be so certain that he now serves Satan?”
The monsignor shook his head in frustration. “Our Lord would never condone feeding on the blood of his children so that one man can achieve immortal life. He kills to live.”
“As do the lions and wolves, and yet they are still creatures of God.”
“But they do not answer to sin as we do.”
Father Doñas shrugged. “And the Night Walker is no longer one of us. Who are we to say his race is ruled by Satan? Perhaps our Lord has a greater plan in store that we cannot see, my friend. We have done all that we can in this matter. The rest should remain in God’s hands.”
The monsignor shook his head, jaw tight with frustration. “I will not waste any more time debating this with you, Father. Until I know that I have done all I can to prevent this evil from spreading, I refuse to sit back and simply watch it happen.” He brushed by the elder priest. “I will be in America in the morning.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The sea breeze blew through Kate’s hair as they walked together hand in hand. Seeing the waves washing up and pooling around her ankles made the danger that loomed around them seem miles away. Gradually, the thick mist of the marine layer enclosed them in its heavy embrace, and Calisto could wait no longer.
In a few hours the sun would rise and he would be powerless to protect her. The more he pondered his options, the more his rage and bitterness smoldered. Fate was cruel to allow them to find one another again, only to back him into a corner that left him no happy endings.
He needed to get Kate to safety, somewhere far from Jose, before the sun came up. She wouldn’t want to go, but somehow he had to convince her. And time was running out.
“We need to talk, Kate.”
“I know.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I knew we wouldn’t have time to discuss it before dinner.”
“Is it serious? Are you sick?”
“No nothing like that. But it was a shock. It is a shock.”
Calisto stopped walking and pulled her close, lifting her chin to meet his gaze. “Just tell me.”
“I’m pregnant.”
His strength drained from his legs and for a moment, Calisto wasn’t sure he could stay on his feet. Kate was with child just as Tala had been before she was murdered.
It was happening all over again.
But this couldn’t be his child. Not this time. When he gave up his humanity he also gave up his ability to reproduce as a mortal man.
Perhaps this was her one chance, a slight change in her destiny.
Then he realized what he had to do. In order to save her, he would have to hurt her.
The situation spiraled out of his control. He needed to get Kate as far away as possible while he hunted Jose. With the threat behind him, he could find her again.
Kate might hate him, but she and her child would live. He didn’t want to do this, but he had no other option. “This child you are carrying. It is not mine.”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I wish it was. But we could raise it together. Tom doesn’t have to know. We haven’t talked about having a family, but I love you. We can make this work.”
“I am sorry, Kate. This is asking too much.”
Her eyes welled with tears, and Calisto struggled to keep himself from pulling her into his arms. He would rather walk into the sun than be forced to see her hurt.
“You should go to him,” he whispered. “You deserve a family.”
“I can’t go back there and pretend none of this happened. Please don’t do this.” A tear spilled down her cheek.
Each one of her tears burned him worse than acid. Instead of walking away from him, she reached up to caress his cool cheek, making it almost impossible for him to continue. But he had to.
Let her live long enough to hate him.
Her eyes searched his and he fought the unbearable urge to hold her in his arms and comfort her. “Do not make this harder than it already is.”
“I don’t understand.” Her voice wavered, and he steeled his heart, reminding himself that he couldn’t allow history to repeat itself. “How can you just send me away like this? I don’t care who the biological father is. I love you, Calisto. You can be the father of my child.”
Dear God, how her words ripped at his soul. The pleading in her gaze made him loathe himself even further, especially when he lied to her. “I do not want to be the father of your child. My life has no room for a family.” He bit back the emotions that churned inside of him.
“So we make room.” She dropped her hand away from his face.
Calisto’s jaw clenched. “I am truly sorry, Kate. I love you, but you should do what is best for your baby.”
“And you think r
unning back to Tom is best?” She wiped at her tears, her cheeks flushing with color. “I can’t turn my feelings on and off like you.”
“My feelings have not changed, but the situation has.” He sighed and turned to lead her back toward the house.
But she didn’t move. Instead, she stood her ground, staring up at him in disbelief. “So this amazing connection we had, it was all a lie?”
He stared out at the ocean. “No. But it is over.”
He didn’t want to think about Kate with another man, touching her, hearing her laugh, seeing her smile, but he saw no other way to keep her safe. The sun would rise soon, Jose would come for her, and he would be unable to protect her.
He didn’t look into her eyes. He knew if he did, he would hold her and never let her go. “Go home, Kate. Tonight. Be with the father of your child. Live a happy life.”
“You really expect me to be happy without you?” she whispered.
He swallowed hard. Managing a soft, controlled tone he said, “Yes, I do. You are an amazing woman, and you will be an incredible mother.”
Kate stared at him in disbelief. He was sending her away. Just like that. Dismissing her like he never needed her around to begin with. It hurt so badly she couldn’t breathe. Her heart had just been torn in two pieces.
She shook her head. “Don’t patronize me, ok? If I were so amazing, I doubt you’d be so anxious to put me on the next plane out of San Diego.”
She walked away, toward the house, keeping her head up and hoping he wouldn’t see the tears flowing down her cheeks again. He didn’t deserve her tears, but she wept just the same. It wasn’t until she reached the stairs to go up to the main house that she turned around to face him, blazing with hurt and betrayal.
“You promised me that whatever it was, we’d face it together.”
“Not this,” he said with downcast eyes.
He reached for her hand, but she yanked it away from him. “Don’t touch me.”
“I am so sorry.”
“No, you’re not.” She stifled a sob when her voice hitched. “You’re far from sorry. You’re just a rich bastard who wants things his own way. I should’ve known. But no, I’m such an idiot! I actually believed you loved me. I bought in to all your noble romantic crap right from the start. But you know what? You’re not noble. You’re a coward, and you’re running away when I need you the most.”
She could see the hurt in his eyes, and for a moment she almost regretted her harsh words. But only for a moment. She wanted him to hurt, to feel some of the pain she endured. How could he do this to her?
“I do love you.”
He never saw the slap coming, and the sting it left behind went far deeper than his skin. Calisto watched her run up the steps and disappear inside of the main house. He climbed after her. He needed to make the calls to arrange for her shuttle to the airport and her plane ticket back to Reno.
Kate would be far from San Diego by the time the sun came up.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Her hair draped all over him. He groaned. Jose despised waking up in the morning to find Betty coiled around him like some sort of living security blanket. Soon she would respect him and pay him the homage he deserved. Because soon, he would be immortal.
He would be a god.
Jose shoved Betty off of him and got out of the bed with a smug grin. Today would be his last day of sunlight. His meeting with Calisto the previous night had been a triumph. He bested the Night Walker, and the sweet taste of it still lingered in his mouth. Seeing the fury and hatred burn in Calisto’s eyes, and knowing that the immortal wanted to kill him but couldn’t, was the crowning moment of his victory.
And today, Kate would learn she had made friends with the wrong man.
He had no intention of leaving now. No, today their final battle would begin, and capturing Kate would be the key. Once he had a knife pressed against her soft, mortal throat, Calisto would give him whatever he wanted, even immortality, in order to save her.
Love made him weak.
Jose showered and dressed quietly, not wanting to wake the blonde on the bed. Betty had served her purpose, and pleasured him many times in the process, but her usefulness had come to an end.
Taking his bag, Jose opened the door and stepped out. The warm morning sun washed over him, bathing him in its light as he slid his sunglasses in place and went to his car. Kate Bradley would be his, and immortality would follow once the sun dipped below the horizon.
What a beautiful day.
Kate disembarked the plane, bleary-eyed and brokenhearted. Purse in hand, she made her way through the sea of business travelers and tourists to the baggage claim area.
She felt like hell. Mentally, physically, just completely drained. She’d cried all night, or what was left of it after she left Calisto’s home. She left without a parting kiss good-bye, no “I’ll miss you,” nothing. And what ate at her now, was that the last time she touched Calisto had been in anger. Her slap was the last time she would ever touch him.
Don’t think about it, she scolded. Not now.
But no matter what she did, her thoughts ended up right back on the beach with Calisto. When her luggage came around on the baggage carousel, tears slipped down her cheeks. Calisto’s leather bag with wheels. He sent her with it so she wouldn’t have to carry a bag in her “condition.”
Why did he have to care at all? It would be so much easier to hate him if he’d been cruel.
Instead, he wished her happiness and told her she would be a good mother.
Kate unlocked the handle and slid it out to full length, wiping her tears as she pulled the suitcase behind her through the busy airport. None of this made sense. He cared about her, she could see it in his eyes, and yet he packed her up and sent her away the second she told him about the pregnancy. No discussion, end of story, she was out of his life like an unwanted discard left on the corner. She’d never known a greater pain.
Until a terrible sensation stabbed through her stomach.
Her bag fell, the metal handle clanking against the concrete terminal floor as it hit the ground. Kate sank to her knees, wincing in pain. She could hear people shouting around her, but couldn’t understand the words they said.
God it hurt… Two men helped her to a nearby bench. She knew she should thank them, but she couldn’t find the words.
Kate wept with her arms wrapped tightly around her middle, rocking on the bench. Would someone call an ambulance? She might need one. People gathered around her, watching like buzzards waiting for the kill, but she hardly noticed.
She didn’t care about anything except making the pain stop. It felt like a knife slowly twisted into her lower abdomen, cutting through her abdominal muscles layer by layer. And then she noticed the blood trickling out from under her skirt.
“Oh God! Someone help me, please… ” she cried, fearing the worst for her unborn baby.
The blood flow that started slowly down the inside of her leg quickly became a rush of fluid. It pooled around her until she had to struggle to stay alert. Sirens rang out in the distance, but they seemed so far away.
A wave of dizziness washed over her as her body hemorrhaged. Kate tried to lower her head and take deep breaths, hoping it would help to ease the lightheadedness. She pulled air into her lungs, but it wasn’t helping. The sight of all the blood made her nauseous, and suddenly she lost her balance. She couldn’t sit up anymore. Before she could scream, she fell.
The impact against the cold concrete floor of the airport terminal stole the air from her lungs. A loud, hollow thud echoed inside of her head, answered by a blinding burst of throbbing pain. It felt as though she’d fallen from the top of a building, but it couldn’t have been far from the bench to the floor. She hoped it hadn’t been enough to crack her skull.
Kate fought to stay awake, to tell them to save her baby, but the paramedics arrived and covered her face with a mask of oxygen before she could articulate a sound.
They all talked around he
r instead of to her, as if she weren’t even there. Kate closed her eyes on the bloody scene before her, trying to block out the pain as the chorus of strange voices echoed around her.
“Please stay back… ”
“Station 5 we have paramedics here with a woman down… ”
“Pressure’s 80 over 50… ”
“Pulse is weak, 120 per minute… ”
“Start an IV of saline… ”
Suddenly, her blanket of darkness brightened when a paramedic with the deep voice lifted her eyelids, shining a light over each pupil. He lifted the oxygen mask and asked, “Ma’am, can you tell me your name?”
“Kate… ” she gasped softly. “Kate Bradley.”
“Hang in there. We’re taking you to the hospital, all right?”
She nodded as he replaced the oxygen and they lifted the gurney to take her out. She watched the lights pass overhead and whispered a prayer for her unborn baby. Then her vision blurred, and Kate embraced the darkness that lured her in, promising an end to the pain.
Jose’s heart pounded in his ears as he hurried down the stairs. Kate was gone.
He’d wasted most of the day waiting for her at Calisto’s house before he finally decided to go up to the master bedroom to look for her. He found the drawers and closets empty, and now at nearly three o’clock in the afternoon, he only had two, maybe three more hours before the Night Walker would be awake and searching for him.
“Fuck,” Jose said to himself.
He needed Kate to make all of the pieces of his conquest fall into place. Without her, he had nothing to force the Night Walker to give him what he wanted. Slamming his hands against the countertop, he turned and stormed out of the house.
He had to find Betty. She was his only way out of this mess now. If he stayed with her at all times, Calisto wouldn’t touch him. Attacking him with Betty nearby would be too risky for the Night Walker. Jose doubted Calisto would expose his true nature to her. He had lived among mortals, masquerading as one of them for far too long to give up the charade now.
