Sunrise at Sunset (Sunset Vampire #1) - Page 3

A Myth-Understanding

Caleb was elated upon waking the morning after his chat with Katrina at Starbucks. While shaving, he fondly reflected on their visit. After brushing his teeth, he contemplated his Friday; the last weekend before the second eight weeks of the fall semester started. He was grateful for being scheduled to teach only day classes this time. Instead of dwelling on Monday, he focused on spending the day pursuing his own interests, which included working out at the indoor gym on the top floor of his apartment building. It was another perk that, in addition to the parking garage, helped rationalize the increased rent that he paid for his otherwise small apartment.

As he worked out on the elliptical and upper body equipment, his thoughts shamefully wandered to Katrina. Despite the guilt over thinking about her instead of Melanie, his thoughts took on a journey of their own. He realized that his subconscious was trying to tell him something, but he stubbornly insisted that Melanie was the individual who was supposed to be the center of his attention. Following his workout and a shower, Caleb dressed and called Melanie, just to see how the Florida trip was going.

"Hey, Mel," he pleasantly offered.

"Oh, hi, Caleb," she tentatively replied.

"Did I call at a bad time?"

"Oh, no," she offered matter-of-factly. "Greg and I were just talking about stuff as we followed behind Candace's car."

"What happened to the original plan of carpooling in the minivan?"

"Well, the van was idling funny, so Candace loaded four people into her car, and Greg offered to drive the two of us behind them," Melanie explained. "Wasn't that nice of him?"

Oh yeah, Greg's a real hero, Caleb thought with annoyance. "Yeah, real nice," he muttered darkly.

The connection's signal strength seemed to falter, and Melanie said, "Listen, I think we're losing the cell tower signal out here, so I'll call you tonight from the hotel."

"Sure," he replied. "Be careful, okay?"

"You got it," she absently replied before the line went dead.

Call it paranoia, but I've got a bad feeling about this trip, Caleb irritably considered.

Katrina lounged before an elaborate oak computer hutch in an oversized basement serving as bedroom, entertainment room, and study at her estate. Daytime was often a boring period for her as she awaited dusk. She had already checked her various foreign and domestic investment accounts and shifted some funds to her bank account in Atlanta. She was passing the time Web surfing, following up on some emails with fellow vampire acquaintances around the world, and longing for sunset.

Her mind was preoccupied with contacting Alton and reviewing the information he had provided to her regarding the lost contact with two vampire associates in Europe. It appeared that Garett from Paris had disappeared entirely, and Alton had found no trace of where he might have disappeared to. Equally curious was the question of why Garett had gone underground so hastily. There was also the odd matter of Octavia from Trondheim, who was normally rather social for a vampire, but who had stopped interacting with her peers as abruptly as Garett.

Vampires didn't require a lot of sleep, so Katrina had a lot of time to mull over both situations, which were beginning to appear connected. Unfortunately, there were still too many unanswered questions, and she hoped Alton's continued investigations would prove more fruitful.

Despite her attempts, her normally unshakeable concentration was distracted with thoughts of Caleb. Katrina had enjoyed their brief visit the prior evening, and longed to spend more time with him. Needless to say, he definitely held her interest. The only problem was that his social life was complicated by Melanie, which meant that Katrina's own interests in him were also handicapped by the woman.

Oh, how I dislike Melanie, Katrina mulled with a clenched jaw. She realized that she needed a viable, innocent reason to try to interact with Caleb again. Something that won't put me on Melanie's radar too much.

Maybe I should just kill Melanie, she brooded.

Katrina felt that she was supposed to feel a pang of guilt for thinking so shallowly about humans. But for some reason, guilt failed her at that moment. Instead, there was a prospective sense of feral satisfaction.

She banished the idea from her thoughts entirely, though not because it might cause Caleb some degree of sadness, but because she needed to keep the body count to a minimum in order to avoid raising suspicion among the authorities and starting unnecessary manhunts. As a matter of practice, thanks to the blood bank, she usually lived in an area for rather long periods with virtually no need to kill anybody. Already, she'd dispatched one human in the short time since arriving in Atlanta. But that was to protect Caleb. Katrina resolved with complete clarity that no body count concerns would deter her from protecting him. It seemed that her concerns for him were still as strong as when he was a child.

"Angel Caleb," she sighed out loud with a contented smirk as she considered the formerly innocent little boy who'd grown into such an attractive, intriguing young man. He's unlike the other men in my past, she mused, but in a good way. So kind, endearing, and sincere. Yet, there's a definite vulnerability in him, a weakness, perhaps. He's damaged from his past. Strength lurks dormant inside him, but he doesn't seem to realize it yet. I can help him harness that over time, I think.

She froze in place, wondering why he meant so much to her when so few humans had during her time as a vampire. Because he's special to me, she determined. Such a connection springing from a solitary day surrounding a singular event nearly twenty years ago might seem unlikely to most. Yet it had been pivotal to her continued existence. If not for him, she would likely be dead. I'll be grateful to him forever for his simple, guileless effort; an act of selfless assistance.

But could someone rationally expect to base a relationship on such a flimsy premise? She scoffed, breaking the silence around her. Many in her past had presumed to claim more from her and under much less pretense. And they all died for their selfish efforts. But not Caleb. He's altogether different, she confirmed with a smile.

Whimsy struck her, and she picked up her cell phone from the tabletop.

After time spent doing laundry that afternoon, Caleb was once again at the office that evening, preparing some minor changes to his lesson plans, when his cell phone rang. He'd expected it to be Melanie, but noted that it was Katrina.

"Hello?" he asked with a distinctly pleased tone.

"Hi, Caleb, It's Katrina," she greeted him cheerfully.

As if I wouldn't recognize her beautiful voice in the middle of a hurricane, he considered, stifling a chuckle as he realized his unintended pun. "Hi, Katrina," he replied with a smile. "What's up?"

"Just a quick history-related question," she began mysteriously. "If I wanted to read up on Andrew Jackson, what authors would you recommend?"

He smiled, pleased that she was calling to ask him for advice. "Well," he began as he playfully swiveled around in his desk chair, "the bio by H.W. Brands is a gold standard, but I actually enjoyed the Jon Meacham bio even more."

"Excellent, thanks for the suggestion," she replied.

His eyes glanced at the small bookshelf in his office, and he spied the very book he had just mentioned. "In fact," he began hopefully, "I happen to have the Meacham book right here in my office. I'd happily loan it to you."

"I have some errands to run, so I maybe I'll drop by and pick it up," she ventured. "That is, unless you were leaving soon."

"Oh, it's no problem," he confirmed a bit more energetically than he'd intended.

He had no way of knowing that she was pausing to grin on the other end. "Great, I'll be there in…shall we say, half-hour?" she asked.

"Perfect," he confirmed with a smile before snapping his cell phone shut.

Approximately fifteen minutes after Katrina's call, Caleb's cell phone rang as he thumbed through Meacham's biography of Jackson. As he reached for his phone, he hoped it wasn't Katrina calling to say something came up. Instead, it was Melanie. She must've reached the hotel okay. "Hey, Mel," he answered contentedly. "How's Florida?"

There was a pause at the other end before Melanie spoke. "Hi, Caleb. Wow, you sound pretty happy-go-lucky. Where's the party?"

Even Melanie's sardonic wit didn't impair his good mood at the prospect of seeing Katrina again. "No party, just here at the office finishing things for Monday," he said, but with a more subdued tone than before.

"Now that's the Caleb I know," she said. "We made it to the hotel this afternoon and just got back from dinner. I'm changing clothes, and we're gonna head out for some club-hopping."

"Sounds good," he politely offered. "Having fun?"

"Actually, yeah," she replied with a surprised tone. "It's been better than I expected. And Greg's really been good company, too."

"So, do you miss me?" Caleb smoothly asked.

There was another pause. "Well, do you miss me?" she countered somewhat evenly.

"I think I asked you first," he fenced. Boy, as if that wasn't a junior high response, he chided himself.

"Well, sure," she offered a little weakly in his opinion. "But sometimes it's good for two people to do their own thing, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I agree," he diplomatically agreed. He heard a male voice in the background and frowned. "Who's that?" he pointedly asked.

"Oh, it's just Greg," she explained with hesitation.

"I thought you said you were changing clothes," he recalled with some annoyance.

"Well, I just finished," she defensively countered.

He heard another faint noise in the background. Was that the sound of a zipper being zipped, or unzipped?

"Listen, I better get going," she insisted with sudden urgency. "The others are waiting for us."

Waiting for us, he levelly repeated in his mind. "Sure," he conceded. "Have a good time, Mel."

"Bye then, Caleb," she offered a little too politely.

He was still contemplating the conversation with Melanie when Katrina arrived. She was dressed in a pair of dark denim jeans and an emerald blouse underneath a stylish black leather jacket. Her red hair cascaded casually around her head and down below her shoulders. She looks amazing.

She glanced down at him with a smile as she practically posed in the doorway. Her green eyes took in the faded blue jeans he wore, as well as the way in which his trendy, dark blue T-shirt fit snugly over his muscular chest. As her eyes met his, she noticed that his eyes appeared to be slightly strained, or perhaps agitated. Her smiled faded somewhat, and she adopted a concerned expression.

"Caleb, is everything okay?" she asked.

He considered her for a moment before realizing he was feeling happier once she arrived. There was no need to mention the conversation with Melanie. "Me? I'm great," he replied. "Thanks for asking. You?"

"Great," she answered with a friendly smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. He's being evasive, she mused as she noted the slight change in his pupils, the sound of his voice, and the almost negligible change to the muscle tension in his face. As vampires went, she was a very observant predator.

"I'm really glad you called earlier," he genuinely offered.

That's honest, she noted by reading his body language and voice inflections. She returned his smile in earnest.

He handed the paperback book to her and offered, "Please, keep it as long as you like."

She took it, making sure to flip through to the table of contents before casually scanning the description on the back cover. "Thanks," she offered before carefully probing, "You're up here late again, and on a Friday night no less. Shouldn't you be out entertaining…what's her name?"

"Melanie," he offered with a wry expression.

Ah, so that's what's bothering him, Katrina considered, feeling far happier about that than she thought she should have. "Sorry, bad topic?" she casually ventured.

He frowned. "I'm beginning to think so."

She arched an eyebrow at him, but her smile widened wickedly. His heart rate increased slightly as he noted her expression and misinterpreted it as potentially negative. He's nervous about that, she noted.

"You know, Caleb," she began innocently, "Nobody's perfect. Relationships aren't easy for any of us." A major understatement in my experience, and perhaps his, she thought. The latter postulation was based upon her own intuition more than anything substantive.

He wanly smiled and admitted, "Guilty as charged."

She supportively smiled at him and subsequently heard his stomach growl. An amusing thought crossed her mind, and she struggled to avoid grinning. "Well, I'm ready to render judgment," she smoothly announced with a sober expression.

His eyes playfully glinted up at her from where he sat.

"I sentence you to dinner with me tonight," she declared with a note of finality.

He grinned and held his wrists out to her in mock submission. "Haul me away," he quipped with the flash of a cute grin. "I'm yours."

Oh Caleb, you really shouldn't have said that, Katrina thought slyly as a sudden surge of desire ran through her body.

As they walked out to the parking lot, he felt embarrassed about the prospect of driving Katrina around in his older Honda. Fortunately for him, she offered to take them to the restaurant in her Audi. He again marveled at the impressive driving experience the sleek automobile offered, and that was just from the passenger seat. But while he was grateful for Katrina shuttling them around town, he insisted on paying for dinner.

They selected one of his favorite restaurants, the popular and swanky Cafe Circa downtown off of Edgewood Avenue and Boulevard. Caleb assured her that the food and service were fantastic every time he went there. It was bustling with people that evening, adding a lively energy to its atmosphere. Katrina scanned the room, noting one of the interior walls was lined by a lengthy, finished oak bar with wooden barstools. Behind the bar was a series of backlit shelves lined with every variety of alcohol known to mankind. The dining area held an array of varnished oak bistro tables surrounded by oak barstools, and the lighting was moody and rather romantic.

She smiled at Caleb as he arranged for seating. They sat across from one another initially, but after a moment of taking in the atmosphere, she moved to one of the stools next to him.

"Do you mind?" she asked with a playful sparkle to her eyes.

"I'm flattered," he replied with a proud grin.

They both ordered a beer on tap, and he requested chips and salsa. Caleb ordered Chicken Panini, while Katrina settled for a plain house salad made with the restaurant's signature pumpkin seeds and empanada strips. They chatted as the crowds bustled around them amidst the sound of trendy music.

"So, what do you think of this place?" Caleb asked with a grin.

Katrina looked around, absorbing the atmosphere. Her heightened senses registered the overload of human scents, voices, and emotions. She liked it immensely and felt the hunger for fresh blood rise in her, requiring additional effort to keep her senses in check.

"I love it," she replied with a warm smile. "It suits you."

He nodded appreciatively.

"Is this your hangout of sorts? A favorite spot to take all the prospective women in your life?" she playfully asked.

He chuckled. "Actually, it's one of my favorite spots, but Melanie hates it for some reason. She said it's just not her style or something."

"Well, it's a place I can really sink my teeth into," Katrina countered.

After laughing for a moment at her strange remark, he lost himself in her beautiful green eyes.

"Tell me more about your life, Caleb," she gently urged. "I want to know everything."

He was flattered by her interest and described his experiences growing up with his mother and how he seemed to do much better in school after they moved away from their old acreage home for the Columbus city limits. He and his mother created fresh memories in the new house and tried to leave many of the past, painful ones behind.

His grades improved in junior high and high school to the point where he received a scholarship to Georgia State. He was grateful for the wonderful college fund made available to him after Wanda won a raffle from her workplace. It helped pay for his tuition all the way through graduate school.

Katrina warmly smiled at him, fully pleased to hear her efforts to help him and Wanda had worked out so well. Though it wasn't as if she was trying to make amends, or strike some karma-balance for what she was. Being a vampire was a merely a fact that she had long since reconciled in her mind. She was proud to be who she was and harbored no illusions of what living meant for her. It meant blood for sustenance and clandestine living among the human population to protect her secret and longevity. She broke out of her reverie to realize that he had fallen silent and was intently watching her.

"I guess my life's been pretty boring for the most part," he conceded.

Her face fell as if she'd been scolded, though she had heard every word he had said to her. "Oh no, Caleb," she insisted. "I was just envisioning what you were telling me. It's inspiring how well your life has turned out given so many challenges." She reached out to touch his arm, and he smiled while placing his hand over hers.

"Thanks," he offered. "You're one of the few people who seem to care to listen to me drone on like this." Caleb sighed as the realization hit him that, aside from Melanie and a few of her friends, he still hadn't yet formed any close friendships in the Atlanta area. Many of his college friends had moved away to new locations or returned to their home towns where they grew up. And he was still so new in his position at the college that he was still getting to know everybody there. The majority of people in his life at the moment were friendly acquaintances.

"I'm not like other people that you know," Katrina earnestly clarified.

"No," he agreed after a moment's pause. "You're not. And I've never been happier."

She bent her free arm up on the table and propped her chin on her hand as she smiled at him. He swallowed once and moved his face closer to hers. It felt like an imaginary string was pulling him to her as he gazed into her penetrating stare. She slyly smiled like a predator that had snared its prey and was relishing the catch. As their lips almost touched, their meal abruptly arrived with the appearance of their server.

To Katrina's amusement, Caleb turned his head to look up at their waiter with a forced, false grin, offering, "Wow, that was amazing timing."

Once they began to eat, Katrina mostly picked at her salad as they talked about topics ranging from favorite historical periods, to favorite aspects of the Atlanta area, to how the Braves were already looking to next season for their race to the pennant. They enjoyed each other's company immensely and shared a rich chocolate dessert between them.

Caleb regretted that the time had passed so quickly. He was rather quiet on their return drive to campus, but felt very happy. He sensed strong chemistry with Katrina and realized for perhaps the first time just how poorly matched he and Melanie were.

Katrina was flush with emotions as she drove the two of them back to the college. She remembered how close they'd been to a first kiss at the restaurant and was startled by how much she had craved it. She felt a palpable attraction to him, both physical and emotional, and his personality seemed both genuine and endearing. She also relished the diversity in conversational topics and how well-informed he was. It surprised her how strongly, and how quickly, her feelings for him were growing in more directions than she could have anticipated.

As she pulled up next to his car in the campus parking lot, she put the Audi in park but left the engine running. She looked over to him and effortlessly smiled.

"Thanks again, Katrina," he offered as he released his seatbelt. "I really had a great time tonight."

"Me too," she softly replied.

He seemed confused as to what to do and chose to open the passenger door. He wanted to reach across the seat and kiss her, and yet his mind screamed that he was technically still dating Melanie. And while he felt a sense of betrayal over seeing Katrina behind Melanie's back, he was still happy he'd done so. Not that he approved of that sort of thing, it was a first for him, but rather being with Katrina just felt right. He despised the situation he was facing, but knew the only clear way to any form of redemption was being honest with both Melanie and Katrina.

She watched him silently, seeing the conflict wash across his features, and waited patiently. She realized somehow she had helped propel them both down this path, but she left free will in Caleb's corner. That is, if trying to deny the temptations directed by one of nature's most powerful, deadly predators was free will at all. No, she realized, human free will is altogether something just as powerful as I am regarding affairs of the heart. The word "affairs" stuck in her mind.

"Have I created complications for you, Caleb?" she asked with a hint of sympathy.

He looked across the seat at her hesitantly and conceded with a sigh, "I think I've done that all by myself."

She smiled briefly and reassured him, "I'm not going anywhere."

Caleb frowned slightly, realizing his next question might ruin everything, and asked, "What is it about me that compels you to say that? Because I don't know that I would if it were I in your place."

Katrina regarded him for a moment, and she heard his heartbeat increase rapidly. He's terrified that honesty is going to doom him, she mused, along with what I'll say. But she had a small surprise of sorts in store for him in her response. "Well, you're just going to have to un-complicate things a little and find out," she offered with a smirk.

At first he seemed stunned, and then surprise gave way to hopefulness. He dared to smile. "I'll call you," he promised.

"Good enough," she responded resolutely. "Good night, Caleb."

"Good night, Katrina," he replied with a hint of appreciation.

He watched her drive halfway across the parking lot before stopping the little black sports car, the taillights shining brightly as the brake was applied. He frowned at her delay and unlocked his car door.

Get into your car, Caleb, Katrina thought as she watched him in the rear view mirror. Parking lots aren't very safe for you, it would seem, she added with a twinkle in her eyes.

As Caleb closed his car door he saw her pull away into the night. Was she waiting on me, or did she change her mind about me? he wondered. Then another, somewhat odd notion made its way to the forefront of his mind. Watching over me, maybe? The idea filled him with a strong sense of satisfaction. Once his father had left, Caleb's mother changed into a very protective figure in his life, and somehow Katrina's behavior reminded him of those same feelings of safety. Certainly, it wasn't as if Caleb viewed Katrina as some sort of maternal figure. Far from it, in fact. Merely that the perceived sense of protectiveness Katrina showed to him felt similar.

He chuckled at the outlandishness of the idea and began his journey home. I'm imagining the whole thing, he resolved.

As he drove home, a sense of dread and foreboding began to grow, and his mind went immediately to what he would say to Melanie about his conflicted feelings. He was never one for confrontation, but firsthand experience already taught him Melanie was.

The weekend turned into a last-minute dash to update his lecture notes along with changes that had occurred to him during the previous semester. Melanie didn't call at all on Saturday, and he dreaded the upcoming conversation that he needed to have with her. It was obviously better that he waited until she returned from Jacksonville so they could speak in person.

Great, then Melanie can have the added benefit of yelling and cursing at me in person, he considered darkly. It should be very cathartic for her.

Caleb had learned that Melanie never lacked animation when it came to her temper. Fortunately, he was the peaceful type who only argued back verbally. On one occasion, Melanie actually threw something at him in the middle of an argument, but he managed to dodge a paperweight effectively. The experiences of dodging errant pitches in baseball came in handy at such times. Caleb's mother had preached to him since he was a child that violence was no solution to interpersonal conflict. Additionally, he still had bad childhood memories of when his father was physically abusive with him and his mother, and those experiences added to his personal abhorrence of physical violence.

Saturday evening, he tried calling to check on Melanie, but his calls went to voicemail on all three occasions. Finally, he fell asleep on his apartment couch watching movies on cable and skimming through the pages of the latest biography on Harry Truman. He fell asleep sometime after 1 am, completely unaware of a lone figure peering in at him through the sheer curtains of his living room from the fire escape.

Katrina couldn't help herself on Saturday night. She was restless, and her mind kept wandering through a series of thoughts, all of which ended up on Caleb. She soon found herself observing him from his fire escape in the darkness. Fully realizing she was obsessing over him, the truth was undeniable: She enjoyed his company and couldn't wait to see him again.

Actually, the truth is I'm smitten with him, and I hate the thought of being apart from him for very long, she silently conceded.

There was so much more Katrina wanted to ask him about his life, his dreams, his favorite things, and a host of other topics ranging from the magnificent to the benign.

Vampires were like that. They obsessed when they were focused on something intently. Perhaps it was due to the predator or hunter instinct geared towards tenacity when seeking prey. Either way, it merely added to the focus she had for Caleb.

But there was an added element to her interest in him. Ever since the episode with the mugger in the college parking lot, she was concerned for his safety. Caleb was not in a particularly hazardous job or environment, and obviously he was less vulnerable in adulthood than as a child, but she still felt very protective of him. It was an aspect of herself she could freely offer to him, and it made her feel useful in his life.

After watching him at length through the curtains, Katrina determined it was probably time for her to depart, as she wanted to ensure her presence went unnoticed. She'd have to resign herself to other diversions until she could see Caleb again. She realized he needed time to resolve his conflicting feelings for both her and Melanie, who frankly didn't deserve his attentions in Katrina's opinion. Katrina conceded that her own efforts at attracting him weren't helping his dilemma. Still, she was feeling both confident and patient regarding what she considered an inevitability.

We vampires are focused and tend to shape our own realities.

When Caleb awoke on the couch Sunday morning, it was to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He sleepily reached over to retrieve it from the end table as the sunlight created a halo of light through his sheer curtains. It was Melanie, and she apologized for not having returned his calls on Saturday night, but they'd been out on the town until after midnight, and she hadn't wanted to wake him. She said she would drop by to see him at his apartment that evening after they got back to Atlanta. He noted that her voice had been pleasant, but distant.

He spent the remainder of the day cleaning house and using his home computer to organize the notes and PowerPoint presentations he had brought home from his office on a portable drive. He tuned the TV in the living room to one of the all-hours alternative rock music channels. The day passed quickly, as weekends and holidays always seemed to, and evening arrived before he knew it.

Sometime around 8 pm, as dusk changed to night, Caleb's doorbell buzzed. He went to the door, peeked through the peephole, and welcomed Melanie in. She held a firmly resigned expression on her face to accompany her otherwise pleasant smile. She wore jeans and a Jacksonville Jaguars sweatshirt, which must have been one of her weekend acquisitions. She absently clutched a small stack of music CDs.

"Hi, Mel," he greeted her with a hug and a platonic kiss. "Welcome back." So far, so good, he thought with encouragement. "How was the trip? When did you guys get back?"

"Oh, we all had a great time," Melanie replied congenially as she perched on the edge of one of his kitchen stools. "We just got back a couple of hours ago."

He glanced at the clock on his kitchen stove while moving towards the refrigerator for a cola. He was surprised she hadn't called sooner. He noted the CDs in her hand and asked, "Buy some new CDs?"

"No, these are yours," she answered with a glance down to them. "I'm just returning them."

"Want a Coke?" he asked absently as he reached inside the refrigerator.

"No thanks," she replied. "So Caleb, there's a little topic that we…that is, that I wanted to bring up."

His eyes darted up from his can of cola to Melanie's face with momentary suspicion as he heard the word "we" slip out.

Katrina anxiously waited for the Georgian sunset to give way to nighttime. She hadn't visited with Caleb since Friday and was going a little stir crazy. She absently wondered if he had met with Melanie yet. More than anything, she wanted to just sit and visit with him more. She realized she should probably just wait for him to call, but for some reason her patien