Night Walker (25 page)

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 192 LISA KESSLER

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.

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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 194 LISA KESSLER

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
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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 her instead of to her, as if she weren’t even 196 LISA KESSLER

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
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up the charade now.

Staying in San Diego was a risk, but a calculated risk, and he could live with that. He didn’t have the time, or the desire, to flee the city. He needed to wait until Kate returned, or at least until he learned where she had gone.

More than likely Calisto hid her away somewhere. Perhaps he would be a worthy adversary after all. Jose wondered how the Night Walker convinced her she was in danger without revealing too much of the past. Or had he confessed?

She had to be nearby. But where?

Jose tightened his grip on the steering wheel, fighting to keep control over his growing frustration. Tonight should have been his moment of triumph, yet now he found himself retreating into hiding.

It pissed him off, and the slut would pay for forcing him to run back to Betty. When he found Kate Bradley again, he would enjoy hurting her.

That thought alone brought a smile.

198 LISA KESSLER

Chapter Twenty-Five

Kate stood on the beach, watching the couple from her dreams walk hand in hand into the water while the waves splashed up their legs, coaxing them deeper into the salted Pacific Ocean. The sun felt warm on her skin. The pain was gone, like it had been a bad dream...

But this was the dream, wasn’t it? The pain had been real... Yes, she reminded herself. This is the dream. She’d seen this beach before.

The jasmine perfume of the Romneya blossom woke her senses, teasing her to remain under the dream’s spell. She smiled, watching the couple dance. The man in black taught the woman with dark hair to waltz as the tide swirled around their calves.

They spun together to the music of the sea, slowing until finally their lips met in a soft tender kiss, and as they drew back, Kate could suddenly see through the woman’s eyes and hear through her ears.

And what she saw jolted her from the dream back into the cold darkness of reality.

“Gregorio,” she whispered.

“Kate? Can you hear me?”

Her arms and legs felt weak and heavy. She shivered, her entire body screaming for warmth. The sharp pain she’d felt at the airport had been replaced by a throbbing, empty ache. Forcing her eyes open,
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Kate blinked, wincing at the light that filled her room.

“Where am I?”

“St. Mary’s Hospital.” The large nurse gave her an empathetic smile as she took Kate’s blood pressure. “You’ll be feeling better in no time, don’t you worry. I’m going to call the doctor and let him know you’re awake. I’ll be right back.”

Kate gave her a drowsy nod, looking up at the IV stand dripping clear fluid into her veins.

“Wait!” She turned her head to find the nurse standing in the doorway. “Is my baby all right?”

“The doctor will explain everything, okay? You just rest and he’ll be right in.”

Kate’s eyes filled with tears as the swishing sound of the nurse’s polyester pants legs rubbing together faded and finally died away when she turned the corner. Her hands moved down to cover her lower abdomen, over the womb she knew was empty.

She didn’t need the doctor to tell her. She remembered seeing the blood, so much blood. She couldn’t still be pregnant, not after that.

The nurse came back with another blanket for her, explaining that the doctor would be in soon. After jotting a few notes on her chart, she disappeared through the door again leaving Kate with the now familiar sound of swishing polyester pants.

She looked out the window, up at the moon, and sighed. Life used to be so simple. She saw no point in telling Tom about the pregnancy.

What did she expect him to say?

And she couldn’t go back to Calisto after the way he treated her.

She was alone. As much as she hated that word, perhaps it was for the best.

Her eyes drifted closed again, weighed down by exhaustion, when a single thought pierced through the hazy fog of her mind.

Calisto. He was the man in black. It was his face she had seen through the woman’s eyes in her dream. She was sure of it. But his name was wrong. The woman had called him another name.

Kate struggled to remember, to pull the name from her tired, aching head. It didn’t matter anyway. It was just a dream. Calisto’s face 200 LISA KESSLER

probably showed up because she missed him.

Her breath hitched. She settled back against the sterile pillow, closing her exhausted eyes. The clinical smell of antibacterial cleanser and rubbing alcohol made her uneasy, not to mention the IV stand that resembled some sort of emaciated sentry standing at attention at the head of her bed. She just wanted to go home.