Wicked Sunset (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 4)

by Primo, Jaz

  “There was a time not so long ago when I wanted to be the only person who could protect you. I wanted you to be dependent upon me for that,” she said wistfully. “Unfortunately, it’s a luxury I can no longer afford. And, with things the way they are now, I can’t even be there if I wanted to, so the risk is too great.”

  I reached out to grasp her hand in mine. “Kat, I’ll always need you,” I said staring into her eyes.

  She glanced back down at the knives. “I’m glad you like them,” she said. “Though it seems like such a dark gift to give a mate.”

  “No, they’re incredible,” I said. “And I appreciate your faith in my training and abilities to use them properly.”

  “Still, you’ll continue to train regularly,” she said, more as an imperative than an acknowledgement.

  “Certainly,” I said.

  This is excellent; though I’ll need to be careful carrying these around with me.

  “You’ll need to always use Sunset Air when you travel, so you can store them in your luggage,” she said. “Alton has made arrangements with the company to ensure you can travel using their VIP-vampire fleet, whether you’re accompanied by a vampire or not.”

  “Cool,” I said.

  Sunset Air is the best flying experience I could imagine.

  “Though, for the most part, I expect for you to have a vampire escort with you as a general rule,” she said. “Is that understood?”

  “What? Oh, of course,” I replied. “I’m not planning on gallivanting all over the world by myself or anything.”

  “Good. See that you don’t,” she said. “I don’t take disobedience very well lately.”

  Uh, oh. She’s gone all Dom on me all of a sudden.

  What’s happened to her in recent months?

  Then, her mood lightened again, and she casually sipped her wine.

  “Now, put your toys away and let’s enjoy our day together,” she said. “I thought we might see some sights via the Tube until it turns dark. Then we can try that French restaurant this evening.”

  I still hadn’t forgotten our interaction in Alton’s office.

  “And some quality time in our hotel suite, perhaps?” I suggested. “We’ll need to stow these away before we go out, right?”

  Her sly look appeared deliciously amorous. “Oh, I intend to see to that, and to you, my love.”

  She squeezed my hand in hers and gazed into my eyes in a penetrating fashion.

  Oh, how I do love her.

  After a wonderful lunch of Beef Wellington, my hunger for food was more than satiated. However, there was one hunger still remaining, or as I preferred to think of it—dessert.

  We returned to our suite, where I deposited my gift on the nightstand on my side of the bed.

  Kat looked at me inquisitively. “Are we done here?”

  “I don’t know. Can I get you anything?” I asked. “Coffee? Tea? Me?”

  She scowled and launched herself at me, practically colliding with me in the blink of an eye, passionately pressing her lips to mine.

  Her actions immediately pushed the erotic buttons inside me, and I pulled her to me, communicating my heated desire through my own kisses.

  She was what I craved most at that moment.

  I caressed my hand across her thigh and continued my track upward underneath her leather skirt. Then I continued until my fingers lightly found their desired destination.

  She moaned with pleasure, which only heightened my excitement. Parting from our kiss, she cupped my face between her hands.

  “Oh, Caleb,” she purred. “You’ve grown so adept at this.”

  “All for you,” I whispered.

  She pulled me against her body and permitted me to steer us to the edge of the bed where we fell upon the mattress together with a bounce.

  Dessert is served.

  * * *

  I felt amazing by the time we left our suite.

  We used the underground Tube access and rode the shuttle to the Holborn station.

  Kat led us to a maintenance area where she produced an odd-looking key to unlock a large metal door. From there, we accessed an obviously abandoned portion of the Tube, where we traveled by foot through a creepy-looking and dimly-lit section.

  My previous experiences inside the tunnels hadn’t been very enjoyable. However, I felt more than safe with her present and Adamo in tow.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “This is part of the British Museum Tube station,” she said.

  “I haven’t seen this place in forever,” Adamo said from behind us.

  “This is part of the London Underground’s Central Line that was closed in the 1930s,” she continued.

  I was very impressed. “This is cool.”

  “I thought you might say that, my beloved historian,” she said. “Alton was helpful in acquiring a key for us.”

  Of course; Alton can arrange most anything, I think.

  We proceeded upstairs into the British Museum, along the Great Russell Road.

  Ah, this is the kind of quality time with Kat I was hoping for.

  The interior of the museum was a visual spectacle, divided into sections by category and period. Each section had its own distinct architecture and style, and the artifacts on display were a historian’s dream.

  For a time, everything felt perfect.

  However, eventually my mind wandered, and my thoughts were drawn to recent events.

  “What is it, my love?” Kat asked, squeezing my hand to get my attention.

  “Things have happened so fast since spring, and not entirely for the best,” I said.

  She held my hand and looked at me with concern.

  Glancing around the area, she motioned to Adamo and guided me into a small room containing old paintings and memorabilia.

  “Talk to me,” she said.

  “Sometimes I feel like I’ve been drawn into a twister. First, a host of vampires from around the world were seeking us out after the whole Chimalma crisis,” I said. “Then there was the international intrigue surrounding the Slovene conference and our nearly-fatal ending. Now, you’re in charge of Alton’s army, and there’s no end in sight that I can see.”

  She adopted a sympathetic expression, though I detected a sense of sadness reflected in her eyes.

  “Please, my love, you must have faith,” she said. “Faith in me and faith in Alton. There’ll be an end to this, one way or the other.”

  Although I wanted it all to end sooner than later, I didn’t like the potentially dire implications in her prediction.

  But then, maybe I was just being overly dramatic.

  “What is Alton’s end game?” I asked.

  She took a deep breath and glanced up to see Adamo standing in the doorway to the room.

  “The way Alton and I see it, there are two equally-acceptable ends to what we’re trying to accomplish,” she said. “Either we use strength to deter continued violence among our kind, or we eradicate the major threats. Hopefully, if we’re able to eliminate the preeminent hostiles, the smaller threats will fall in line. If not, they should be easy to remove.”

  I had to admit that it all seemed very straightforward.

  “I just want all of this to go away,” I said. “I just want for us to be together; for our only concern to be mundane and silly; like running out of milk in the morning, debating our next vacation destination, or trying to talk Paige out of one of her hair-brained schemes. I want to get back to some semblance of ‘normality’ or something a lot like it.”

  She wrapped her arms around me and affectionately kissed my forehead. In turn, I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her close.

  “I know, my love,” she said. “I want to get back to that, too. But please trust me when I say we will someday; and sooner than you think if I have anything to say about it.”

  I chuckled.

  “You do. You’re the General,” I said. “You have an army at your disposal, after all.”

  One t
hat, according to Paige, is growing larger every day.

  She sighed. “So it would seem.”

  I loved the simple moment we were sharing; just me holding her and her holding me. I breathed in the sweet fragrance of cherry blossoms, a scent that’ll always be associated with the woman I love.

  Moments like this is what I want more than anything; an endless lifetime of this.

  “My dear, sweet, beloved Caleb,” she whispered. “Come, we should try to at least walk through a few more of the exhibits. It won’t be long until sundown, and we can walk outside for a time before dinner.”

  I reluctantly parted from our embrace and craned my neck to gaze up into her eyes.

  “You have the most beautiful eyes,” I said.

  She smiled and bent down to kiss me warmly.

  “Come on, you little charmer,” she said.

  We enjoyed walking through more of the museum together and then exited streetside into the London night with Adamo trailing a discreet distance.

  * * *

  My remaining time in London passed enjoyably and uneventfully, though very quickly. Dori even made a quick journey from Paris to visit.

  She, Alton, Kat, Paige, and I all went out to dinner together. Then we all went to the Red Griffin and celebrated until well after three in the morning.

  It was wonderful. We were like one big happy family out on the town together.

  Then before I realized it, the days passed and it was suddenly time for Paige and me to return to New Haven.

  I actually dreaded it.

  Alton must’ve sensed my hesitation because he took me aside on my final morning in London as Kat attended a brief, impromptu meeting with a couple of vampires.

  “We’re only a phone call away, my boy,” he said. “And there’s so much waiting for you when you return to Yale. Time will pass quickly, and before you know it, the holidays will be upon us.”

  I frowned. “You don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, do you?”

  “No,” he replied while thoughtfully tapping his forefinger against his lips. “Although I suppose we’ll have to start. We can fly over to you, or you can come here. Either way, I’ll arrange for a proper meal. Let me know which you prefer, and I’ll see to it.”

  I grinned and reached out to shake his hand. “Thanks, uncle.”

  He shook my hand, and then pulled me into an paternal embrace. “No thanks needed; it’s what families do, dear boy.”

  Kat accompanied us to the airport in Alton’s limousine, and I didn’t want to let go of her as we embraced each other in the boarding area.

  “Stay safe, my love,” she said. “And call me as soon as you land.”

  “I will,” I said. “I love you.”

  “I love you more,” she said.

  I pulled away from her. “Hey! No fair.”

  “Gotcha’,” she said with a satisfied expression.

  She initiated a passionate kiss.

  “Okay, okay, break it up, Bella and Edward. We’ve got a plane to catch,” Paige interrupted, suddenly standing next to me. “Oh, and just for clarification, you’re actually Bella, Caleb.”

  “Oh, shut up,” I said.

  “Yes, shorty, please do shut up,” Kat agreed.

  “Well, snarkey-snark-snark,” she said with a snicker.

  “Oh, no,” I said. “The snark is back.”

  “That’s right,” Paige said. “And you two just got served big-time in a snark attack.”

  “Good luck on your flight back,” Kat said with a wry expression.

  “Thanks, I think I’ll need it,” I said.

  Paige grabbed her carry-on luggage and stuck her tongue out at us.

  Chapter 31

  Caleb

  Once Paige and I returned to New Haven, time did pass as quickly as Alton said it would.

  The days flew by and I fell back into my routine of classes, research, and diversions with friends when I had some spare time, typically on weekends.

  However, on the third Friday night following our London trip, my social plans had to be cancelled.

  It was a shut in night for me.

  Roman was sick upstairs with the flu, though Paige kindly injected some of her diluted blood to help speed his recovery. Even with that, he was still going to be recovering for most of the weekend.

  I’d planned to go out to a group dinner and movie with friends, but Paige was feeling stir crazy and needed some quality time out clubbing.

  She left as soon as the sun set, in fact.

  So, I took the high road to avoid creating a scene and decided to stay home. At the very least, I could check in on Roman and see if he needed anything.

  To be honest, it had felt like a hectic week between classes and continued research into the somewhat elusive background of the mysterious Dr. Oliver Simonson.

  Using Yale’s library services helped a lot, particularly their intercollegiate materials loaning agreement. Through them, I requested some rare editions of books that Simonson had either written or been cited in regarding his research surrounding Phlebotomy and his insights into the studies that later became known as evolutionary biology.

  Needless to say, I had a lot more reading in my future.

  Suddenly, a night of movie watching and popcorn sounded especially relaxing.

  The only problem with my plan was the discovery of only a meager handful of popcorn kernels remaining in the house.

  I cursed under my breath and told Roman I needed to go up the street to the nearest convenience store.

  “Not alone,” he insisted before sneezing repeatedly, followed by a bout of coughing.

  “C’mon, it’s just up at the corner,” I said. “It’s highly public and I’ll be twenty minutes, tops.”

  “Take your knives,” he said. “And nobody says anything to Paige; it’s between us.”

  “Got it,” I said with a nod.

  “Hey,” he called as I made it halfway down the steps from the third floor. “More cough drops!”

  “Done!” I said.

  See? I’m handy as all get-out tonight.

  Using the advice Kat had provided, I slipped one of my knives in the small of my back underneath my leather jacket and the other one I strapped to my calf, grip downward and concealed by the cuff of my jeans.

  There was a cold north wind that night, so I zipped up my jacket and walked briskly to Trumbull, and headed west a short distance to Whitney Avenue. Then it was a quick walk from there to the Haven Sent Mart.

  I quickly found what I needed and walked toward the checkout. As I rounded the aisle, a pensive-looking man wearing dark clothing stood at the main register and asked for a pack of cigarettes.

  The guy kept looking around him and nervously placing a hand in his jacket pocket.

  The young woman at the register appeared wary and glanced over at me.

  Was the guy preparing to rob the place?

  Kat and Paige had always lectured to me to pay attention to my surroundings and think ahead over possible scenarios.

  I didn’t see anyone else nearby, though I remembered an old lady in the medicine aisle at the back of the store.

  Get ready.

  I stepped toward the register, acting nonchalant, but unzipped my jacket and started to reach to the small of my back to seek the hilt of my knife.

  The guy noticed me approaching him and he turned to look at me.

  We stared back at each other for a few seconds, and I kept thinking, be ready for whatever he does.

  Combat techniques started flowing through my head like clockwork, and I tried to relax my body so I could move faster.

  Then the fellow said, “Uh, I don’t think I have my wallet. Just forget about it.”

  Then he quickly made his way to the exit.

  My heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute as I let out a breath I’d been holding and placed my items onto the counter.

  The cashier—her nametag said Cathy—looked relieved, too. “That guy was giving off a real bad vi
be.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Maybe you shouldn’t be working alone here tonight.”

  She shrugged. “One of the assistant managers had a flat tire, so he’s not here yet.”

  I texted Roman and then visited for a few minutes more with Cathy until I noticed an older gentleman enter the mart.

  “Finally made it, Cathy,” he said. “Thanks for covering things for me.”

  Never a dull moment in my life.

  “Hey, thanks a lot,” Cathy said to me as I started to leave.

  “Glad to help,” I said.

  I was relieved nothing actually happened, but I’d felt reassured about my state of readiness.

  It was at that moment I fully appreciated the value of mental conditioning as much as practicing combat techniques.

  I zipped up my jacket against the cold wind and rounded the corner onto Trumbull. For some reason, a shiver went down my spine.

  I turned to look back over my shoulder and noticed those two thuggish-looking guys who I’d periodically seen around town; they were following behind me.

  They were closer than I’d ever been to them, and that’s when I took notice of their pasty-white faces. Despite the cold air, they both looked like they were sweating; almost as feverish-looking as Roman had been.

  One of them had dark hair and the other fellow had a burr cut, and both looked to be around my age, maybe a little younger.

  Why was there something so familiar-looking about them?

  That’s when it occurred to me that I’d seen those telltale symptoms before…back when I was transforming from human to vampire.

  My own face had appeared quite similar.

  Given the occasional traffic driving by, it wasn’t as if I felt alone, but I didn’t necessarily feel exactly safe, either.

  A sense of aggravation and irritation bubbled up inside me. I was so tired of these two popping up to and fro on a whim.

  I turned to confront them. “Who the hell are you guys, anyway?”

  Rather than answer, they both rushed forward with a quick burst of speed that caught me off guard. They knocked me off of the sidewalk and into a dense line of ornamental trees.