Sunset Rising (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 5) (27 page)

“
Yes. I’m—it’s all over
now.”

He leaned forward.

“
Good,” he said, rising
from the couch to walk over to a small wet bar. “I’m relieved to
hear it, though I’ll happily finish sorting you out, if
needed.”

I deliberately swallowed to clear the
tension in my throat.

“
Perhaps we can right the
ship and proceed onward,” he said. “Hm?”

Only then did I release my death grip on the
edge of the couch cushion.

“
Onward?” I
asked.

He retrieved a bottle of Coke, opened it,
and walked over to the couch to hand it to me.

“
Thank you,” I said,
grateful for something to moisten my dry throat.

“
You’re welcome,” he
said.

The first swallow felt sharply cold and
fizzy.

He leaned down closer to me. “Rest assured,
Caleb, adopted nephew or not, if you ever do anything like that
again, I’ll bite you in the neck so hard you’ll feel it in your
guts,” he said.

I choked and coughed uncontrollably.

He reached down to pat me on the back.

“
Careful there,” he said.
“It wouldn’t do either of us any good if you drowned in your
Coke.”

I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand and
stared into his eyes. The glint of near amusement reflected back at
me made me feel unnerved.

The door to Alton’s office swept open to
reveal Kat with a concerned expression on her face as Marla peered
inside from behind her.

“
Who’s choking?” Kat
demanded.

“
The boy’s fine,” Alton
said. “A bit of soda down his windpipe is all.”

Kat walked over to stand before me.

“
Okay?” she
asked.

“
Fine,” I gasped. “Just
great.”

She cast a long, suspicious look at Alton.
“How’s your chat going?”

He rubbed his palms together. “Oh, I think
our meeting of the minds was rather successful, wouldn’t you agree,
Caleb?”

I nodded vigorously. “Minds met. Everyone’s
happy,” I said, still trying to catch my breath and ease the
burning discomfort in my throat.

“
I, for one, feel quite
happy now,” he said.

She folded her arms before her. “Happy?
You?”

“
Well, quite satisfied,
anyway,” he amended with a sly smile.

“
Mm-hm,” she
said.

“
So, Caleb,” he began in a
good-natured tone. “Since Marla’s here, let’s talk about
Thanksgiving.”

“
Fine,” I said. “Let’s
start with where we’re spending it.”

“
Yes, well, that’s a
surprise,” he said. “Trust me, you’ll like it.”

“
Always with the mystery
and intrigue,” I said.

“
Oh, I’m full of
surprises,” he said. “What would you like to see on the
menu?”

I gave him a wary look. “Anything but
me.”

Chapter 22

Caleb

With Alton’s stern lecture behind me, I felt
as if I had survived a formidable storm. The impact of our
conversation continued to resonate with me.

I would have appreciated some quality time
with Kat, but she and Alton had an important meeting with a
prospective vampire leader.

“
You have more meetings
than I have classes,” I said.

“
Don’t make me get mean
with you,” she said. “I would have thought that Alton would be
enough for you for one day.”

I folded my arms before me. “Not nice.”

She spared me a more sympathetic expression.
“Caleb, it’s important. If we can build a much larger coalition
than our enemies, that may forestall more direct actions,” she
said.

“
You mean killing,” I
said. “As in, you out killing people…while they’re trying to kill
you.”

She stepped closer to me and encircled my
waist with one arm. “Meetings can be good things.”

“
Quality time spent with
me could be a better thing,” I said, wrapping my arms around her
waist and pulling her closer.

“
Then you’ll have
something to look forward to once our meeting is over.”

“
I can’t wait,” I
said.

Her lips pressed against mine and I pulled
her tightly against me.

Someone cleared their throat.

Kat growled. “Poor timing, Alton.”

“
I might point out that
you’re using my office,” he said.

She gave me a quick kiss on the lips before
gently disengaging from me.

“
We’ll meet up later, my
love,” she said. “It should only be two or three hours.”

I looked up at Alton.

“
Don’t worry, I’ll find
something to do,” I said.

“
Good,” he said. “Or I can
happily find something for you.”

I hastily exited his office.

I went back to our hotel room, but grew
bored watching television. I had been to see most of the closest
museums and I was in no mood to do any studying or research.

Most of the things that I wanted to do
involved Kat.

Within the hour, I sat idly in a guest chair
opposite Marla’s desk. Her office was smaller than Alton’s and
optimized for efficiency.

“
You had better hope that
Alton doesn’t walk by and catch you moping around here,” she
said.

“
Yeah, well, there’s
nothing much worth doing in the time I have available,” I
said.

“
There are six museums
within—”

“
Seen them before,” I
said.

“
The London Eye
is—“

“
Romantic destination for
Kat and me,” I said.

“
Shakespeare’s is
open—”

“
Not hungry.”

She gave me a look of annoyance. “Well, try
not to be a bother then. Some of us have lots of work to do.”

I watched as she shifted a stack of
multicolored folders before her.

“
Need any help with
those?” I asked.

She appeared pleased. “I thought you’d never
ask. Here, let me show you what I need.”

Helping others was nice, but filing and
sorting left a lot to be desired. However, I soon came upon
something interesting.

“
Hey, why is there a file
called Saint James the Less Church?” I asked.

“
What? Oh, that’s a local
church that Mr. Rutherford supports,” Marla replied. “They do a
great deal of community outreach to the poor and homeless, and
they’re renowned for their local food pantry.”

“
Surprising,” I said. “I
wouldn’t have expected that.”

“
Caleb, don’t be
impertinent,” she said. “Mr. Rutherford happens to be an active
practitioner of charity toward the common good. He realizes that
there’s a practical interest in supporting the community. Woe to
the businessman who ignores his local communities.”

I had to admit, the revelation was
surprising.

Marla’s mobile phone buzzed and she picked
it up to read a text message.

“
Mr. Rutherford’s guest
has arrived,” she said, rising from her seat. “Stay here and
continue sorting. I’ll return soon.”

I had finally fallen into a rather good
rhythm when I heard an oddly familiar voice. The man’s classic New
York accent was noteworthy.

“
Ah, Mr. Rutherford,” said
a man’s deep voice. “I’ve heard so much about you in recent years.
During our elevator ride, Ms. Rawlings was telling me how surprised
you were over my visit.”

“
I believe the exact words
I used was pleasantly surprised,” said Kat.

“
Happy to meet you, Mr.
Pitt,” said Alton. “It’s so rarely that we receive you Americans
here in London. I find that I’m typically the one flying to North
America.”

“
Nice to meet you, as
well, Mr. Rutherford,” he said. “I’ve seen many parts of the world,
but this is my first opportunity to see London, so how could I
refuse?”

“
Please step into my
office so that we might speak further in private,” Alton offered.
“Ms. Kendrick will see to some refreshments for us.”

“
Something to drink,
perhaps?” Marla asked.

“
Type B, if you have it,”
the familiar voice replied.

So, he was a vampire.

I was certain I’d heard his voice somewhere
before, but where? When?

It was maddening to have something on the
tip of my tongue, and yet, not quite accessible. I felt like game
show contestants must, when they knew the answer, but couldn’t seem
to retrieve it.

The minutes passed as I sorted through
memories and places. I’d met so many new people since beginning my
journey at Yale. But his voice was that of a vampire, which most
assuredly shortened my list of possibilities.

Then again, I had been surrounded by
vampires at the Slovene conference. He might have been one of the
many attendees. And yet, that seemed wrong somehow.

“
Here you are,” Marla
said.

I lurched slightly at her sudden appearance
beside me.

“
Sorry,” she said,
proffering a mug of tea toward me. “I think you’ve earned a break.
It’s tea time, after all.”

I gratefully accepted the hot beverage. She
placed a small plate of cookies on the edge of her desk before
me.

“
Help yourself to some
biscuits, if you’d like,” she said. “I need to check in on our
guest now, but I’ll return soon.”

“
Thanks,” I said, reaching
out to take one of the cookies.

My mind wandered as I nibbled at the cookie
while contemplating a host of thoughts, the least of which was why
that voice sounded so familiar to me.

Marla reappeared and sat before her desk,
only to begin typing on her computer keyboard.

“
This is a pretty bland
cookie,” I said.

“
Yes, well, I admit I’ve
had better myself,” she said, typing away on her keyboard. “But
they’re a local bakery; only opened a couple of months ago. I
prefer the one on the other side of town, but Mr. Rutherford said
we need to buy local first. It’s a bit of a waste, if you ask me.
Honestly, so few of us around here actually eat them. Still, Mr.
Rutherford’s an observer of teatime traditions.”

“
So they’re for decoration
then?”

She gave me an unamused look, barely
skipping a beat with her rapid typing. “I’ll try to look into the
matter further. You don’t have to finish them, you know.”

“
Not trying to be
critical,” I said. “Just another surprise revelation for me, that’s
all.”

She stopped typing and turned to look at me.
“Do you really think so little of us here, that we only care for
vampire-related things?”

“
Well, um, I wasn’t trying
to be insulting or anything.”

“
There’s something you
should know, Caleb; something very important,” she said. “Mr.
Rutherford realizes that eventually—though who knows when that may
be—humans will discover us. He believes that the more we vampires
are already integrated into society in productive, nurturing ways,
the easier it will be for us to survive, much less
thrive.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. At least,
it’s a hopeful expectation.”

“
Most of us enjoy being
vampires, but haven’t entirely forgotten was it was like being
human,” she said. “I still remember living with the fear of growing
old, though I realize now it was merely vanity. Nobody cherishes
the idea of their own venerability; of time passing and then
eventually withering away to die.”

She had never shared that sober perspective
with me before, and I found her words had quite an impact.

“
I was so fortunate the
day I met Mr. Rutherford,” she continued. “He was easily the most
articulate and charismatic person I’d ever met. Truth be told, I
was somewhat surprised when he hired me...”

She stared at me, but it was as if she was
looking through me.

“
Even before he revealed
to me his true vampire nature, I’d grown to be in awe of him,
impressed with how he valued others, even when he didn’t have to,”
she said. “He has a genuine quality about him; something that’s
rather unforgettable.”

“
I get it,” I said.
“Distinctive qualities resonate about people…”

“
Distinctive and
admirable,” she said.

A vivid recollection struck me like
lightning.

“
I know now,” I
said.

“
Hm?” she asked. “Know
what, dear?”

“
I know where I’ve heard
that voice,” I said.

“
Whose voice?” she
asked.

“
The vampire meeting with
Kat and Alton.”

“
Are you sure? To my
knowledge, he’s a new acquaintance to both Mr. Rutherford and Ms.
Rawlings,” she said. “You must be mistaken.”

I shook my head. “No. I
need to see Kat.
Now.
”

Chapter 23

Caleb

As I scrolled back through my text messages
from Chance, a shift of air washed over me, closely followed by the
scent of cherry blossoms.

Kat’s face appeared beside mine as she
squatted down beside me. She appeared unamused.

“
You look serious,” I
said.