A Bloody London Sunset (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 2) (41 page)

A blast of air whipped past Caleb, and suddenly Davison and the axe both disappeared. A blur of movement seemed all around Caleb, pausing briefly as Davison’s body was smashed against the nearest concrete wall, then the ceiling, then the floor, and then disappeared as it was thrown further downstairs towards the next flight. He thought he saw a flash of red trailing from the blur movement, and his eyes searched to follow it downstairs. At nearly the same moment, Alton placed a firm hand on Caleb’s shoulder while kneeling next to Marla.

“Don’t!” Davison yelled from downstairs, but his voice was cut short by the sound of a meaty
thunk
. Something heavy fell to the floor, followed by an eerie silence.

Caleb jerked free of Alton’s grip and quickly crawled around the corner of the stairwell until he could peer downstairs. Katrina appeared menacing as she stood over Davison’s prone body, the axe handle sticking up at an odd angle from the blade buried in his head.

“Stay dead,” the red-haired vampire seethed in a cold, lethal-sounding voice.

She glanced upstairs towards Caleb, and her eyes were pulsating like miniature green suns. A shiver went down his spine as he stared at her in partial shock, partial horror. She turned and began a slow, progressive rise up the stairs towards him while his eyes were locked onto hers, unable to tear his gaze from her. She looked like a demon incarnate, beautiful and terrifying all at once.

Holy crap!
was all he managed to silently process in his overwhelmed brain.

Katrina stared at him, trying to banish the rage and frustration of the previous moments. She almost wished that the vampire had struggled more, because she wanted so very much to pound on him further.
If I’d been a few seconds later, Caleb would be dead.
The realization was nearly unbearable as she towered above Caleb, suddenly cognizant that his face was still awash with fear. A pang of guilt washed over her as she suspected that part of it may have been due to her, rather than solely Davison’s actions.

“Be calm, Caleb. She’s just angry,” Alton encouraged from behind him as she squatted down beside her mate.

“He’s knows he’s safe with me,” she admonished Alton with aggravation between clenched teeth.

Her soft hand went to the side of Caleb’s face, and he finally managed to blink his eyes, breaking the spell he had been under. His hand shook as he reached out to touch the side of her face in response. Her skin felt so soft, but her jaw was firmly set. They just stared at each other for a few seconds in silence. The corners of Katrina’s mouth upturned ever so slightly, and her eyes were no longer pulsating, merely glowing brightly green.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

He nodded and mumbled, “Angel Amber.”

She pulled him into an embrace as she wrapped her free hand around the base of his head, gently cupping it. No words were needed between them as, in that moment, each sensed what the other was feeling. It was the universal communication of love, affection, and relief.

“So, Davison must have been the second vampire from the Tube station,” Alton surmised while observing them from behind. “It would have been nice to know what he knew. Couldn’t you have merely wounded him?” Alton asked Katrina carefully.

She sat back from Caleb, looked over at Alton with a determined expression and stated flatly, “No, not after what I saw from the top of the stairs.”

Alton sighed heavily and turned his attentions back to Ms. Kendrick. “Marla, are you okay?”

“My body’s healing, thanks,” she said confidently. “Thanks to Caleb, that is. Davison would’ve finished me off if Caleb hadn’t axed him in the chest.”

Katrina’s eyes glanced to him with stark surprise, and even Alton seemed taken aback as all eyes fell upon the young human. Caleb swallowed and felt himself blush.

“Well, I mean, Marla distracted him, so I got in a lucky hit,” he stammered.

Katrina arched an eyebrow. “I noticed the wound and thought Marla had caused it.”

Alton nodded approvingly, supplementing, “As did I.”

Katrina’s eyes still showed surprise as she contemplated the revelation.
Caleb’s come so far in his skills that I underestimated him. Perhaps he’s no longer quite so helpless.
She was utterly proud of her mate.

“Well, we’re still somewhat in the dark,” Alton lamented as Caleb, Katrina, and Marla followed him back upstairs to the fifteenth floor.

As they walked through the door, numerous vampire and human faces stared at them with curiosity. Caleb ignored everyone, instead glancing towards the elevator area where he had spied the leather-covered bench sitting next to a fake plastic tree. Something about the bench struck an odd chord in his memory.

Alton glanced at a nearby gray-suited vampire and ordered, “Davison’s body is lying in the stairwell. Coordinate the sterilization of the scene, and see that our people dispose of the body.”

The vampire nodded and proceeded into the stairwell.

“I’m inclined to believe that Caleb may be correct regarding there not being a prearranged attack against him and the Fullers. We had a spy in our ranks, after all,” Alton surmised. “Perhaps a rendezvous of sorts got interrupted by their sudden arrival. But, if so, why there?”

“But what are the odds of Caleb’s being present on scene at just the right time?” Katrina queried, her mind only partly focused on the topic after all that just transpired.

They fell silent for a moment and proceeded down the hall towards Alton’s office. However, Caleb stopped abruptly in the hallway, staring back at the bench near the elevator. Katrina sensed her mate’s lack of proximity and darted back to where he stood. She followed his gaze towards the elevators.

“What is it, my love?” she asked guardedly.

“Maybe we’re not back at square one, after all,” he mumbled, to which she arched an eyebrow in silent query.

“That bench,” he said, pointing towards it with an outstretched arm. “I’ve seen another one just like it recently.”

Alton stopped to see what was holding up the pair. He easily heard Caleb’s statement, walked back to him, and explained, “Indeed, my boy. We have them throughout the building. They’re so popular, in fact, that one was stolen from our lobby earlier this year.”

“I know where you can find it. It’s in the Tube tunnels,” he stated resolutely as he stared at the dark-haired vampire with a vacant expression. “Next to the old door,” he mumbled.

Katrina’s eyes shot up with surprise, and she reached out to touch him lightly on the arm. “You mean, when you were lost in the tunnels? What old door?” she asked carefully.

His eyes found hers and he smiled from his odd impression when he had first encountered the door. “The one leading to Oz, or Alice’s rabbit hole.”

Alton and Katrina exchanged odd glances and looked back at him as if he had lost his mind. He frowned when he noted their expressions and reassured them, “It’s real, and I’m pretty sure I can take you there.”

Twenty minutes later, Alton’s office buzzed with activity. Alton and Katrina strategized at the large oak desk regarding a plan and arrangements for raiding the Tube tunnels later that night.

Caleb rinsed a washcloth in Alton’s wet bar sink and proceeded to daub the back of Marla’s head with it. While the blonde vampire’s wound healed quickly, there was still blood smeared through her hair. She smiled appreciatively at him for his ministrations as she sat on the office’s leather couch. Caleb merely thought it was the most useful thing he could offer to do.

“You should be resting,” she said appreciatively. “You were assaulted as much as me, you know. And you’re not a vampire. I’m as good as new already, and you’re likely very sore.”

Katrina glanced up from her conversation with Alton upon hearing Marla’s statements and observed Caleb’s reaction closely.

“Well, I’m kind of --” he started to concede until he noticed Katrina’s attention. Instead, he replied, “Fine, actually. I feel just fine.”

Katrina frowned and shook her head at his cavalier response, but let the topic drop as she returned her attention to Alton. The English vampire grinned momentarily, but reverted to a more serious expression when he noticed Katrina’s focus upon him. Caleb thought that he might actually have a subtle advocate in Alton.

The truth was that he felt both achy and sore after the altercation, and his neck was a little stiff. But he wasn’t about to give Katrina any ammunition to use in her attempts to dissuade him from accompanying the vampires on the upcoming investigations. Unlike his experience last fall with the vampire Chimalma, he refused to be left behind while Katrina ventured into dangerous waters on his behalf.
Then again, it isn’t as if anybody is specifically targeting me this time, right?

“Well, I appreciate your assistance with my hair,” Marla offered with a smirk. “Perhaps I can get you something to eat or drink?”

He grinned. “Sure, a Coke would be nice. Thanks.”

“Coming right up,” she said and quickly moved across the office to the wet bar.

After sipping his drink and leaning back into the couch’s cushions, he found even the ingestion of caffeine wasn’t enough to keep his eyes from drooping. He was dozing before long, and his head bobbed a number of times before he finally leaned against one side of the couch to get more comfortable. He dozed off in virtually no time at all.

“Caleb, my love?” Katrina’s soft voice cooed as his mind regained consciousness.

He stretched and immediately moaned from his sore muscles before he had a chance to recall that he had been trying to hide his discomfort from his mate. His eyes snapped open to see Katrina’s face watching him with a raised eyebrow and a knowing expression.

“Thought so,” she said.

“I’m fine,” he countered.

She merely shook her head at him. “It’s time for you to show us where you saw the door. Alton has a map of the underground Tube tunnel system on his desk.”

“No need,” he insisted. “I’ll show you myself.”

“No, you won’t,” she countered with a note of finality.

He glanced around the room for the first time since waking and realized that they weren’t alone. Alton stood just behind Katrina, while Marla Kendrick and three other men dressed in black combat fatigues sat around the conference table across the room. Another moment of inspection suggested to him that two of the men were vampires based upon their pale skin and piercing eyes. A wave of embarrassment grew in him from the rather public exchange that he and Katrina were having.

However, Katrina paid no attention to the others in the room and remained solely focused on him. “Your recollections, if you please.”

He bit the inside of his lip, looked away from her and quietly asserted, “I’m afraid it’s not that easy. I’ll need to show you in person.”

Her gaze turned steely, and she grasped his chin in her hand to turn his face back towards hers. “No games, Caleb,” she whispered, although he was well aware that every vampire in the room had clearly heard her.

“I’ll have to retrace my steps,” he stated flatly. “Besides, given the attack by Davison, wouldn’t I be safer with you and Alton?”

She gave no visible reaction as she stared back at her mate, but her mind considered all the angles.
He’s got a point
.
But I also know he’s lying about not being able to recall his route.
She briefly glanced back at Alton, and the stately vampire merely shrugged.

“Reasonable arguments either way, really,” he replied in a non-committal tone, although he smirked slightly at Caleb once she looked away from him.

Caleb tried to hold back a smile, but her completely deadpan expression spoke volumes regarding her displeasure, and he quickly lost his inclination for humor. Instead, he swallowed and awaited her response with a straight face.

“Fine,” she said and turned to look across the room at the men seated at the conference table. “Suit him up properly, gentlemen,” she ordered.

“Thanks for --” Caleb began appreciatively, but she cut him off abruptly.

“Don’t,” she warned with a stern look. “I’m not happy with you right at the moment.”

She stood, motioned to Alton, and stalked out of the office. Caleb watched her go and looked over at the others seated at the conference table. Each of them watched with mild amusement on their faces.

“Well,” Marla began with a penetrating smirk. “You heard Ms. Rawlings. Let’s prepare him.”

Caleb wasn’t sure he liked the way she said that.

Within an hour, Caleb’s clothes had been replaced with black combat fatigues, black combat boots, and heavy-duty rubber pads secured to his elbows and knees. Only when a vampire approached him with a black flak vest of some kind did he realize there was yet more to come. He felt like he was being outfitted for a cricket match.

Katrina, Alton, and others busily prepared gear for the evening’s activities. They were all dressed in similar black combat fatigues and equipment, though Caleb was the only one not sporting web gear of some kind. The large room they were in was like a miniature armory located on the floor below Alton’s main offices. There was an array of combat weapons, including large standing vaults containing ammunition, explosives, and other equipment that he couldn’t even begin to identify.

“Caleb, a word of advice. This time, please remember not to turn your back on a wounded vampire, young man,” Alton advised with a mock-stern expression.

“Well, yeah, but…Hello?” Caleb retorted. “Axe to the chest!”

The corners of Alton’s eyes wrinkled from a broad smile as he shook his head in satisfaction. Katrina smirked for the first time since their earlier exchange, watching her flustered mate squeeze into a black bullet-proof assault vest with the aid of one of the fatigue-garbed vampire agents.

Once the vest was over his head, Caleb caught the amused expression on Alton’s face.

“Well, that’s good advice, I suppose,” he admitted.

Katrina walked over to the vampire helping Caleb, waved him off, and proceeded to adjust the straps on his vest herself. “Take a deep breath and hold it,” she prompted before cinching the straps down with a tug. “Okay, you can let it out now.”