Caylee's Confessions (Caylee's Confessions Series) (12 page)

“In
a rush?” he asked.

“No.”
 Lies.  “Just that a friend called before I got here and, basically, I have to
leave in a little bit to go hang out with her, because her, uh, boyfriend just
left her and she is a wreck.”  More lies.  Hopefully I was pulling it off.

“Well,
that doesn’t sound like fun,” Braxton said, which was what I was thinking in my
head.  Of course, it wouldn’t be fun.  Not as much fun as I could be having
here.

“No.
 And if it was anyone else, I wouldn’t go so quickly, but she has done a lot
for me when I needed it, so I kind of owe her,” I said, finally being able to
tell a little bit of the truth. 

“That
really puts a damper on what I had planned tonight, but it’s no biggie.  It
also gives me an excuse to skip to the good part of this date.”  He smiled, and
seconds later scooped me up, carried me into his room, and playfully threw me
onto his California king bed.  We were naked immediately and, as the kissing
intensified, I grabbed his hips to pull him into me, but he gently stopped me. 

“No,
tonight I want it to be about you,” he said, while he kissed me softly on the
mouth and continued down my body, until his kiss was at my center.  I felt a
slight nibble as he worked his tongue around my spot.  This, at first, made me
slightly gasp.  I’d had rough sex before, but this was different.  It weirdly
made my excitement accelerate, and before I knew it, he had my body roaring in
orgasm.  Not stopping the magic he was working with his tongue as my body
jerked up.  Whatever he was doing was making my mind and my body melt into
butter, by the time he was through.  Between this and the other night, would I
ever be able to let go of this man.  In two days he’d helped me experience
sensations I’d never thought possible.  Plus, the feel of these black silk
sheets was something I could get used to.

“That
was intoxicating,” I said as we were finding it difficult to get up and put our
clothes back on.  My whole body was still tingling, and my mind was fuzzy. 

“Are
you sure you have to leave?” he asked with puppy dog eyes.

“Yes,”
I said painfully as we walked to the front door.  What he had done to me made
me never want to leave him again.  It made me want to just lie naked with him
for days, but I had promised Claire I would see her tonight.  “I promised my
friend.  I’m sorry.  I’ll call you tomorrow.  I promise,” I told him as I
opened the door to leave, even though my body was screaming to stay close to
his.  “I’ve got to get going.  I’m already late.  Bye,” I said quickly as I
shut the door, before he could kiss me goodbye.  I knew if that happened, I
would have stayed and really pissed off Claire.

As
I left Braxton’s apartment, I couldn’t help but be confused and slightly
disoriented.  Don’t get me wrong…the sex was awesome, once again.  It was
different this time though, and I still couldn’t get over the fact that we had
jumped from being business associates to having sex—as quickly as we had.  The
last two weeks were definitely out of character for me.  I definitely did not
see any of it—especially the Shad instance—coming.  If I kept this up, I was
going to have to move to my other hand in my sexual partner count.  I was
officially dating Braxton now though, so hopefully that wouldn’t happen.  Shad
was way out of the picture now, so things should calm down, I hoped.

I
was trying to focus but found it difficult, because my head was cloudy, and I
couldn’t wrap my mind around why it was.  My head—actually, my whole body in
general—felt weak and numb—almost like I was high, but I hadn’t smoked anything. 
Could you get high off sex?
I wondered.  Whatever happened, I couldn’t understand
it, which was probably why I didn’t hear the mass amount of undeads that were
probably just steps behind me.  I just remember trying to figure out why I was
dizzy, and that I was running late for Claire’s, when something really hard
fell on top of my head. 

I
awoke in a cold cellar, with three empyreal vamps on my right, a werewolf
holding my stake, and two shape shifters on my left.  Awesome—six to one.  Well,
really like twelve to one, since three were empyreal.  I tried moving my arms
to ready myself, but then discovered I couldn’t, because they were bound tightly
to the arms of the steel chair I was sitting in.  Matching them, were my feet,
which were bound near the bottom of the chair’s legs.  Wonderful. 

“The
bitch is awake…” came a familiar voice from behind me.  I looked down at my bracelet—another
shape shifter.  The voice then circled me and finally showed its face, which I
had definitely seen before.  In fact, she was the one who I was supposed to
have saved from this undead world of gangsters—fucking Lyal’s cousin, the
panther—a trader bitch.  I felt my stomach begin to boil.  I had saved her life.
 What the hell was she doing here?  “Recognize me, do you?”  She smirked. 

“Yes…”
I said.  Under my breath:
stupid, ungrateful bitch
. 

“You’ve
killed my whole pack,” she said loudly, with a dirty finger pointed in my face,
confusing me.  How was she pissed?  That was the plan all along—so she could
get away. 

“I
was ordered to, for you, you fucking bitch!” I said, losing my temper.  The
comment, I think, threw her off and angered her more.  That was when I finally
got a good look around, to try to figure out where I was.  The walls were dark-grey
cement, and there appeared to be water dripping down the corners.  The only dim
light was in the center of the room, hanging from the ceiling.  It was covered
in dust, and gave me no further insight into where the hell I was. My toes
rubbed against the cool, gritty cement floor.  Where did my shoes go?  The cool
sensation of the floor caused goose-bumps to form on my arms.  There wasn’t
anything hanging on the walls, and the only thing I saw, besides the undeads,
was a small blocked-off window.  It was way too small for my lady humps to get
through.  So much for escape routes—well, that was, if I was actually going to
be able to get past these assholes.   I looked down.  At least they’d left my
outfit on.  Classy girl in a dingy basement—probably the ending of a lot of
horror movies.  How’d I let this happen? 

That
stupid panther must have got caught up with another group, because they were
not supposed to travel alone.  It always looked highly unusual and suspicious
to travel alone, if you were once part of a gang.  She must have thought of a crazy
story to cover her ass.  She must have said that I killed her gang and she got
away—like that would have ever happened.  Why she had to throw me under the bus,
I couldn’t understand. 

“This
hunter is crazy…” she belted out.  “Kill her now, before any of her hunting
party arrives,” she said as she walked over to stand next to her fellow shape
shifters. 

“I
don’t have a hunting party, so you’re good to kill me at any time,” I mocked. 
If they’d wanted me dead, they would have killed me by now.  What they wanted
me for, I had no idea. 

“Oh,
don’t worry.  We definitely plan on doing that.  But before that…I’m really
interested in getting to know you,” one of the empyreal spoke up and stepped
closer to me.  I glanced over at panther.  She looked nervous.  I should have thrown
her under the bus, like she did to me, but honestly, it wasn’t even something I
considered.  I wasn’t an undead like these monsters, so I wouldn’t sink to their
level. 

“Well,
as much of a fun time that sounds like…you’re not really my type, so I don’t
really have any interest in talking to you.”  I’d expected a slap, or at least a
growl, at my comment, but instead, all I got was an extremely high smirk. 

“It’s
funny you’d say that I wasn’t your type…that’s what I wanted to speak with you
about, for it’s kind of hard to be your type, since your standards seem to be
set at royal,” he hissed.  What the hell is he talking about?  “You look
confused.”  He laughed.  He was 100% correct—I had no idea what he was talking
about, what it meant to have royal standards. 

“I’m
not quite sure what you’re talking about…” I said honestly. 

“Liar!”
called out the panther.  “She was probably going to kill him too, like she killed
my gang, but she’s sick in the head, so she was probably just planning on doing
it slowly—for her own pleasure!” 

“Shut
up, panther!” said the empyreal, putting the panther back in her place. 

“Panther’s
probably right!” said another empyreal vamp.  “That’s why I never agreed to
Calogero coming out here with only a small gang.  Look at what he’s gotten
himself into.  This bitch has probably been tracking him for months.  If only
he would act like the rest of the royals, we wouldn’t have this problem.  Not
even the were or witch royals behave this way.  Seriously, after this, we
should put into place that no royal, especially not a vamp royal like Calogero,
go out unprotected.  They are the oldest and most powerful of the royals—our
council could not afford such a loss.”

“Calm
down, Rolan…Don’t let panther get you all riled up.  Calogero is no fool.  He
would have known that this…this thing…was hunting him.  I believe her when she
says she’s in no hunting party, for they would have already attempted to save her. 
There’s something else here, and I’m trying to figure it out, so if you all
would shut up and let me speak to the thing, we might get somewhere!” said the
first empyreal. 

“What
do you mean something else is going on, Chuck?  I don’t really see anything
besides this bitch hunting him,” Rolan said as he stepped up to get a better
look at me.  “Tell me why you were hunting Calogero, or I will kill you now!”  I
couldn’t help but laugh, not at the fact that this thing was telling me it was
going to kill me, but that he had called the other empyreal vampire Chuck. 
Funny name for a vampire, if you ask me.

“I
threaten your life…and you laugh?” said Rolan as he gave me the slap I had
expected earlier.  His skin was so sharp, it felt as if he’d slashed razorblades
across my face. “So you laugh because you think I won’t kill you, huh?  Well, you
are mistaken there!  I’m not sure why we’re even still talking…at first, I
thought there might be something more to you…like Chuck was saying, but now,
you’re so fucking frustrating that you’re not even worth keeping alive to find anything
out!  Now, you either start telling us something, or I’m going to kill you,
nice and slow, so that you’ll feel your heart slowly begin to deprive itself of
oxygen as I gradually take out each ounce of your blood from your body.”

“I
have nothing to say, because I know nothing of what you’re speaking of.  I have
never tracked anything that I left alive.  I have no idea who Calogero is—who has
everyone’s panties in a twist.  But, trust me, if I did, he wouldn’t be alive,
if I was tracking him.  I don’t like to keep the undeserving—I mean, undead—alive.” 
 They were going to kill me anyway, so I didn’t feel the need to put this off
any longer.  I figured, if I angered them enough, they couldn’t help but to kill
me quickly, when they let their frustrations out. 

But
what was this talk about a royal?  I’d never hunted, or even seen, one.  I’d
heard Claire mention them here and there, and my old hunting party had hyped
them up to be more of an urban legend, if anything.  They said, basically, that
they were the highest you could get in the undead world.  That they were the
oldest and most powerful, and if you found out you were hunting one, you should
run the fuck away, because your only chance of survival was if they hadn’t
noticed you yet.  Claire had once told me a story of how the lazy ones would
push suicidal thoughts into the happiest people they could find to make them
kill themselves, so they wouldn’t have to actually make an effort on their
hunts.  Royals, in general, were supposed to be quicker, smarter, and the
rulers of the undead world.  Each race of the undead had them, but the vampire
ones were known to be the most vicious. 

“
Now
we know you’re lying,” said Chuck as if he had proved his point that I was
keeping some type of valuable information from them.  “We caught you right by
his place, and there are no other undead in that area.”  This was not good.  They
had caught me not far from Braxton’s place; that meant he must be living close
to a royal vampire.  That was probably the worst luck you could ever have.  I
needed to think up a story—quickly.  I couldn’t tell them why I was really over
there, because they would definitely kill Braxton, trying to pry information from
him that he had no clue about.  Shit—
I
still had no clue what
information they were trying to get from me.  I also couldn’t believe that I
hadn’t noticed my bracelet light up when I went to his place.  Surely, if there
were a royal in that area, the thing would have been lighting up like crazy

“She’s
not going to tell us anything.  Let’s just kill her and get on with it.  She has
no hunting party to tell us about, she’s lying about hunting a royal, and if
she was even good enough to get close to Calogero, she’s too dangerous to let
live.  Not to mention, we know of at least three undeads that she’s killed from
panther’s group, so, Chuck, you’re prying for information that just isn’t there—or
worth any more of our time.  Who wants to do it?” said Rolan.

“But
I really think…there’s something else going on here with Calogero…I…” Chuck mumbled.

“
Enough
,
of this nonsense, Chuck!” said the third empyreal that had remained silent, up until
now.  “I know you were not about to dare speak ill of a royal. I’ve listened to
this nonsense long enough.  Rolan is right, and I have highest authority here,
so I will have no more of this.  I feel that, if I would have let you carry on,
Chuck, you would be in line of an execution yourself, so, for the sake of your
life, and our laws, it is time to dispose of this waste.”

“Fine,”
said a disappointed Chuck. 

“Even
though I would love to kill this smartass myself,” said Rolan, “I feel it is
only fair to let the panther do it, since she has the most resentment for this
thing.  Is everyone in agreement?” he asked, and Chuck, the were, the shape
shifters, and the higher empyreal all nodded.  Rolan turned away, letting
panther step forward, as he threw me a smirk.  Yeah, that was a joke.  He only
let panther do it, because he knew I would die slower, because she wasn’t
nearly as powerful as him.  She was the last person in the room I wanted to
kill me.  The others were all much more powerful, and it would have been a much
quicker death, but now I would have to die slowly, as this piece of shit, low-strength
shape shifter killed me.  I hoped she would at least go for my neck first so
that the loss of blood would numb my body. 

I
closed my eyes and tried to think of the first person I would want to see when I
died, and hopefully, went to heaven.  I would go to heaven, right?  I had
killed, which was a sin, but it was only undeads, who killed humans, so I
figured that had to counteract the sin.  Hopefully, I would see my grandmother
first.  To this day, I still missed her, even though I tried not to think about
it.  Maybe I would see my old hunting party.  I thought about them each time I
staked a son of a bitch.  I don’t think I would see Kevin there, which was
good, because I would probably try to kill him again—and in heaven, that
probably wasn’t allowed.  I took what I thought would be my last deep breath,
because I could feel that she was inches from me. 

I
could sense her raising her hand to strike me.  Stupid thing was going to hit
me in the face first?  Just go for the neck, damn it!  Before I felt the blow,
I heard a loud smack—as if someone had stopped her from hitting my face—and
from her scream, I could tell that was exactly what had happened.  I opened my
eyes and saw two hands—at the speed of light—had latched themselves onto her head
as they tore it from her torso and threw it towards the werewolf.  What the
hell just happened?  I looked around to see all the undeads—well, besides panther,
of course—staring in my direction at whatever was behind me.  Their eyes were
lit up in horror—something I had only seen on an undead, when a stake was in
their chest.