A Bloody London Sunset (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 2) (7 page)

“Just how do you know so much about vampires?” the figure demanded.

Caleb turned on a small flashlight with his left hand and saw that the vampire’s expression appeared unsettled. “I’m a vampire’s mate,” he announced boldly.

“Oh, really?” he asked with a white-toothed smile, revealing pronounced fangs. “And just who might that be?”

“Katrina Rawlings,” he stated calmly despite his turbulent emotions.

The tall figure frowned, and his violet eyes narrowed slightly. “Seems like I’ve heard that name somewhere,” he growled.

“My name’s Caleb. Caleb Taylor.”

The vampire squatted down to look him in the eye. “Devon Archibald, although it’s not really going to matter much in a few more minutes.”

Caleb’s eyes widened, and he pressed, “Wait! I already told you I’m a vampire’s mate.”

Devon smirked and made an elaborate gesture of looking to his left and then to his right. “Well, where is she? I don’t see, or sense, any other vampires besides me,” he challenged. “I’ve been here since just after sundown looking for wild game and haven’t seen anyone else but you.”

“She’s here somewhere,” Caleb promised. “We’re just playing a hunting game.”

Devon grinned. “It looks like I won. Well, small game is better than no game.”

Caleb’s heart nearly stopped, and he immediately made an effort to glance past the man’s shoulder as if recognizing someone. The hulking vampire frowned and glanced over his shoulder for just a second, giving him the time he needed to withdraw the pepper spray from his pocket. As Devon turned back to him with a frown, Caleb activated the dispenser, spraying the vampire’s face.

Devon growled angrily, and his hands went to his eyes as Caleb launched himself up from the sleeping bag and lurched onto the hiking trail, using his flashlight to light the path before him.

“Ka-trin-a! KAT!!” Caleb shouted desperately from the top of his lungs as his heart pounded away in his chest. “Need help, Kat!!”

As he ran, horrific fear raced through his mind that perhaps she wasn’t nearby, or worse, not even at the preserve.
But she has to be, or she would’ve called me by now!

His thoughts quickly returned to his current situation and his desperation to be as far from the hulking vampire as possible. He gripped the pepper spray tightly in his right hand as he ran frantically along the hiking path. He considered glancing over his shoulder behind him, but decided to keep running instead.

“Ka --” he started to yell before being knocked to the ground from behind.

The pepper spray flew from his hand, but he managed to hold onto the flashlight as he hit the hard, uneven ground before him with a thud. His body no sooner hit the ground before he felt a huge hand wrap around the back of his neck, hauling him upright as he struggled to get his footing so his weight wasn’t being suspended from his neck alone. His right hand darted to the vampire’s grip on his neck as he clawed futilely to pry his attacker’s hand loose.

“That was stupid!” Devon barked. “And now we end this.”

Caleb was frantic, and his mind was a flurry of thoughts. His right hand slipped into his front jeans pocket, and he managed to extract his small pocket knife. The small blade was only a couple of inches long, but was easy to use because it had a thumb release on it.

“You better not!” he yelled, stalling for precious time as he stealthily opened the pocket knife. “Katrina’s an alpha!”

“What?” Devon demanded.

Caleb tried kicking at the vampire’s knees from behind, but he couldn’t get a proper angle to be effective. He felt Devon’s hot breath at the back of his neck, and he tensed his body, bracing himself for the painful tearing of his flesh that he recalled from Katrina’s involuntary attack.

In a last-ditch effort for freedom, he swept the knife blade backwards and slammed it into the vampire’s upper right thigh, burying the short blade to the hilt. The dark, towering figure howled with pain as he abruptly released Caleb’s neck.

Caleb immediately darted up the trail with speed born of a fear-induced adrenaline rush, yelling, “KAT!”

His feet seemed barely to touch the earth as he darted across the uneven ground and around the abrupt turns in the trail. The light from his flashlight bounced frantically in front of him, but he hoped it would provide an additional indicator to Katrina of his changing location. Given that vampires could see in the dark, it was a moot point to avoid using the flashlight to elude his pursuer. Besides, he needed the benefit of seeing the path before him as clearly as possible.

Caleb’s heart pounded as he ran through the night, and for a brief moment he thought he could get free. He wasn’t certain how far or for how long he had been running. Time seemed suspended as the cold winter breeze chilled the skin on his face, and his lungs felt as if they were on fire.

He thought he heard a rustling in the night to his right and glanced in that direction for only a second, though he saw nothing. His body shook to an abrupt halt as it felt like a tree limb fell across his chest. He had only a vague sensation of falling backwards as his body plummeted downwards, and the breath was knocked from his lungs.

His back impacted with the cold, hard ground with a bone-jarring thud, and he thought he heard a gruff chuckle. He realized he was lying in darkness, uncertain as to what happened to the small flashlight. He felt his left leg being hauled upwards, and his body was being dragged across the ground.

He managed to force air back into his lungs, although the effort sent pain coursing through his chest. As the back of his head bounced across the hard turf, he reared back with his right leg and savagely kicked at the figure pulling on his other leg. The heel of his boot impacted with something solid, and a growl emitted from above him. But instead of his left leg being released, his body was lifted into the air and abruptly slammed painfully back onto the ground, again knocking the breath from his lungs.

Pain coursed through his body, and he felt a wave of nausea roll through his stomach. A hard set of fingers grabbed his hair from behind and drew him face-up from the ground, sending a fresh wave of pain through his neck and shoulders. He managed to use his aching arms to push himself up from the ground, while at the same time he felt a knee press into his lower back. His body was spent, and all that he wanted was for the pain to stop. Mercifully, he began to feel himself losing consciousness.

“I love you, Kat,” he whispered desperately as he willed his final thoughts to be of the woman he loved.

His body was dropped face-forward back onto the ground following the sound of a speeding truck impacting a meaty wall. He managed to keep his face from impacting the cold earth as he heard intense hissing and snarling and what sounded like breaking tree branches. He reached behind him to rub at the back of his head with his right hand as he tried to focus on the commotion going on in the darkness around him.

He managed to spot his flashlight on the ground nearby and painfully crawled over to it. Grasping it tightly in his hand, he shined it in the direction of the hissing and growling.

Caleb watched as the burly vampire rushed at Katrina only to crash into the trunk of a large pine tree as she darted to the side. She raked some sort of blade across his upper shoulder and darted just out of arm’s reach. Devon roared with rage and rushed her. It appeared that, while very fast compared to a human, the large-framed vampire’s dexterity was much slower and more sluggish than hers. The advantage was clearly in Katrina’s favor, and she used each opportunity either to slash or stab her blade into her opponent. To Caleb’s confusion, each cut or stab she used seemed intended upon progressively disabling her opponent without actually making a fatal killing strike.

A loud snapping sound startled him as he propped himself up with difficulty. He heard a whooshing noise followed by the sound of another tree trunk’s breaking. With a sudden burst of speed, Katrina appeared less than twenty feet from Caleb in some sort of combat stance, wielding a large military-style knife in her hand. He spotted Devon standing beyond her as he brandished part of a tree limb in his right hand. The huge vampire was dripping blood from multiple locations on his body, including a steady stream oozing down his dangling left arm and dripping off of the fingers of his hand.

“This was a mistake!” the hulking vampire barked as his violet eyes burned brightly in the darkness. “He was easy prey, that’s all!”

“Did he tell you he was a vampire’s mate?” she demanded savagely.

“Maybe he said something about that,” Devon countered. “But I didn’t believe he was telling the truth at the time.”

Her eyes blazed bright green as she decreed in a cruel, flat voice, “Your last mistake.”

“Whoa, whoa!” Devon insisted as he held the tree limb out to his side in a less aggressive stance. “Let’s just calm down. This was all a horrible misunderstanding!”

Caleb issued a dry-throated cough and rasped, “You shouldn’t threaten her with a tree branch, idiot.”

His mind flashed to the time Katrina had revealed her vampire nature to him, and he had fearfully brandished a tree branch at her. She had neatly disarmed him, although at the time she had meant him no harm, unlike with the vampire before her.

“Huh?” the large vampire asked with barely a glance at Caleb.

Devon tossed the branch down beside him and held his hands up in a more peaceable gesture towards Katrina, who seemed to be selecting the optimum moment to attack. “Please, just for a moment, let’s just stop,” he entreated.

“You didn’t grant Caleb that benefit a moment ago,” she noted in a flat, lethal voice. Her focus swtiched to dispatching the opposing vampire and seeing to Caleb’s injuries as soon as possible.

The vampire’s eyes momentarily flashed with surprise, and he apologized, “No, you’re right. That was a bad mistake, and I’m sorry. This doesn’t need to get ugly for either of us. Really.”

“You don’t know ugly yet,” she seethed through fury-lit eyes as she maneuvered closer to the hulking vampire. She had selected the preferred entry point under his guard and was ready to initiate a killing blow.

“I told you she was an alpha,” Caleb spat with satisfaction, though his mind felt hazy and dazed. He managed to sit upright on the ground, despite the ribs on his right side’s aching terribly. Pain coursed through his body.

Devon nodded and chuckled nervously. “Yeah, I’m seeing that now. But this is all wrong. I’m willing to make good on this and let bygones be bygones.”

Katrina’s mouth upturned in a cruel fashion as she maintained her combat stance and expertly brandished her knife in her right hand. Another minute, and she could focus all of her attentions on helping Caleb. “Goodbye,” she whispered under her breath as she darted forward.

Devon saw Katrina’s body in action and barked, “Please! Listen!”

Katrina scowled cruelly and lunged at the vampire as she shouted, “Too late!”

She darted around to Devon’s left side, and her knife thrust underneath his injured left arm and upwards to his exposed throat. The huge vampire’s eyes widened and pleaded to her as his arms went up over his head in surrender.

Just as Katrina’s knife blade touched Devon’s neck, she hesitated and stopped her intended killing strike. There was something about his eyes that made her pause, though she was on guard for any trickery. She felt confident that in his injured stated he would be of little challenge if she changed her mind. Her eyes darted to Caleb to make sure that he seemed stable.

Devon soberly regarded his opponent as he gauged the dangerous and feral nature of the red-haired vampire before him.

“My name is Devon Archibald, just as I introduced myself to your mate over there. I’ve just recently relocated to the Marietta area from Richmond, Virginia, and I had no idea this was your territory. I don’t want to start any trouble with regional vampires.”

Katrina regarded him dubiously.

“Please. I’ll abide by any territorial claims you make, and I can even be helpful enforcing your interests, if necessary,” Devon offered in a gruff voice.

“My primary interest is that man over there, my mate,” she seethed, gesturing towards Caleb.

Caleb tried to stand and managed to stagger to his feet. Excruciating pain shot through his back, ribs, and chest, and he was forced to drop back to his knees onto the cold, hard ground. Both vampires regarded him for only a moment, though Katrina’s gaze lingered for a second longer before returning to Devon.

“I offer my sincerest apologies for the misunderstanding. I promise it’ll never happen again,” he insisted before turning his attention to Caleb. “Besides, he looks hurt, and I can’t afford for him to die on me now.”

Caleb noticed Katrina’s blazing eyes focusing on him again, and he thought he saw a worried expression wash across her features. Unfortunately, he felt like he was starting to black out, and he pressed his palms to the cool earth beneath him while lowering his head.

Katrina shot a dark look at Devon and carefully moved to where Caleb was on all fours. Her right hand brandished the combat knife while her left hand reached down to press softly on his shoulder.

“Lie down on the ground and try not to move until I can look at your injuries, my love.”

He nodded, slowly lying on his side, and then curled up in his coat while hugging his ribs. He felt numb all over, and his head was throbbing as a mix of dull aches and sharp pains coursed through his chest, back, and ribs.

Katrina’s attention returned to Devon, where the large-framed vampire was still standing statue-still. His face appeared calm but haggard, and he leaned heavily to his right to favor his injured left leg. She worried about Caleb’s condition, and she berated herself for not having killed Devon already. But for some reason, she felt like she could turn this situation to both hers and Caleb’s advantage.

“I concede the fight,” he declared. “And I’ll honor terms to you, if you’ll just agree to a truce.”

She frowned and momentarily reconsidered the merits of arriving at some agreement. Her more immediate concern was to aid Caleb, and any further issues with Devon could be handled at a later time, if necessary. “Very well,” she agreed warily. “We will finalize matters later. Expect to hear from me soon, Devon Archibald.”