Sunrise at Sunset (8 page)

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 patience was wearing thin.

She yearned for an excuse to drop by to see him. However, first she would carefully observe him from the fire escape before committing to the visit, just in case he seemed busy.
Or the blonde might be there
, she considered darkly. Then inspiration struck in the form of Darjeeling tea.

Katrina changed into a pair of gray Capris, a turquoise long-sleeved cotton shirt, and a pair of flats and stopped by Starbucks. She made her way to Caleb’s apartment as darkness was in full bloom and climbed carefully up the fire escape with the tea secured safely in a Starbucks sack. But she soon frowned as she viewed Melanie sitting at the kitchen counter talking to him. Her acute hearing took over as she slid into the shadows near the window.

“Is everything okay?” Caleb asked Melanie with a hint of suspicion.

“Oh sure,” she hedged.

He took the high road and waited patiently for her to continue.

“So, there’s something we probably need to talk about,” she continued. “I had a really nice trip spending the weekend with Greg, and it got me thinking. How would you feel about us seeing other people for a while?”

He let her question sink in and realized that she and Greg must have made a connection over the weekend. “So,” he ventured carefully. “You and Greg had a good time this weekend?”

“Well, we kinda hit it off and had a fun weekend,” she replied somewhat sheepishly.

Instead of disappointment, he felt a welcome release of tension. It was as if the sense of dread he had been feeling had lifted from him and departed. He suddenly didn’t feel so bad about conveying similar feelings to her and adopted a hopeful expression.

Melanie frowned.

“Actually, Mel, I’ve been thinking recently about us as well,” he began agreeably. “I just feel like things haven’t gelled with us the past couple of months. So maybe your suggestion would be good for both of us.”

“Just what do you mean by that, Caleb Taylor?” she demanded irritably as she flipped her hair away from her face with a flick of her left hand. “Have you already been seeing someone else?”

That caught him off guard to say the least.
Hadn’t she just tried to convey her own feelings for Greg a moment ago?
“Well, the past couple of days I’ve kind of been getting to know someone,” he conceded.

“You mean that Carlita woman from class?” she demanded. “I thought you said she was just a student of yours?”

“You mean Katrina?”

“Whatever!” she chortled.

“She’s not my student anymore, actually,” he hastily explained. “In fact, she stopped taking classes altogether.”

“So, you’re leaving me for some college tramp?!”

“You’re kidding, right?” he replied dumbly.
Didn’t she just tell me that she and Greg made a connection over the weekend?

“You cheating bastard!” Melanie yelled as she reached down to the CDs in her hand and began throwing them like Chinese throwing stars.

One zinged past his right ear to break against the wall behind him, but the second caught him squarely in the middle of the forehead. “Ow!” he shouted in pain as he bent forward and away from her while shielding his face with his hands.

Katrina heard the argument between Caleb and Melanie and tensed as she viewed their exchange.
That woman is crazy
, she silently fumed.

She watched with fury as the CD case hit Caleb in the forehead and nearly charged in through the living room window. Instead, she turned to leap over the railing and off the fire escape balcony to the street level below with a cat-like pounce and landing. Her feet no sooner hit the pavement than she was speeding around the deserted corner of the building to the side entrance, bag of tea still in hand.

Katrina wasn’t merely angry, she was enraged.

Four remaining CD cases landed against or around Caleb until the barrage stopped from lack of ammunition. For the most part, he managed to avoid further damage, but the cut on his head began bleeding profusely. He recalled from some first aid training that even minor scalp cuts would bleed more than other places on the body. It stung like hell, too.

“Melanie!” he shouted as he maneuvered around to the living room to stand with the couch between the two of them. “Damn it, just chill out!”

The abrupt sound of the doorbell startled them both.

Katrina exited the stairwell door on the third floor of Caleb’s apartment building. She immediately sensed the presence of a person at the end of the hallway standing next to the elevator and briefly glanced at a man dressed in jeans and a Jacksonville Jaguars T-shirt. He was young and muscular and watched her with interest but otherwise seemed non-threatening. A few seconds later Katrina stood outside Caleb’s apartment door with slightly glowing green eyes and pressed on the doorbell firmly.

Three seconds more and this door is coming off its hinges
, she vowed in a rage. Then she heard the sound of a deadbolt unlocking.

Caleb opened the front door to his apartment while holding his bleeding forehead with his left hand. His eyes widened as Katrina stood in the doorway looking less than happy. Was that a glint in her eyes he saw?

“Katrina?” he asked vaguely while squinting against the pain in his forehead.

“Are you okay? What happened?” she demanded with concern as she bodily pressed her way into the apartment, putting herself between Melanie and Caleb.

Katrina’s eyes immediately swept the room to fall upon Melanie in a piercing manner. Melanie’s eyes widened momentarily with surprise at their intensity, but returned to an outraged expression. Katrina’s expression remained steely, at best.

“Who are you?” Katrina demanded with authority as she drew out each word. She loved the appalled expression on Melanie’s face in response.

“Well, just who the hell are you?” Melanie demanded back.

Caleb had enough of his wits about him at that moment to remain silent.

“I’m the person who’s very angry her friend’s forehead is bleeding,” Katrina replied with a lethal edge to her voice as she carefully selected her words.

“Melanie, this is Katrina,” Caleb offered weakly as he removed his left palm from his forehead and glanced at it to gauge the severity of bleeding. “Katrina, this is Melanie, my ex-girlfriend.”

Melanie’s eyes darted to him at that last qualification, and Katrina’s expression changed to one of grim satisfaction. In fact, she scowled slightly at Melanie.

“You can have him,” Melanie fumed as she moved to slip past Katrina. “Jerk!”

Katrina nearly reached out to choke Melanie as she passed by, but restrained herself for Caleb’s benefit, not to mention the desire to stay off the Atlanta police department’s most wanted list.

A man’s voice was quickly heard in the hallway outside, followed by Melanie demanding, “Just never mind. Let’s get the hell out of here, Greg.”

Caleb’s eyes shot up and to the hallway outside his apartment with a mix of surprise and incredulity. Katrina’s eyes darted to Caleb’s for a split second before her hand swiftly darted out to slam the front door shut behind Melanie. His heart jumped at the swift, loud sound of the door slamming so abruptly. Katrina’s eyes looked to Caleb with concern, having sensed the growing darkness in his mood.

“She brought Greg,” he fumed.

“Just nevermind that. Let’s get you cleaned up,” she interrupted gently as she steered him to the bathroom.

He found Katrina’s sudden attention to him unusually forceful, but somehow welcome. He partially grasped the idea of her seeming very protective towards him, but his mind was also still racing from the emotional exchange with Melanie.

The scent of Caleb’s blood acted fully upon Katrina’s sense of smell, and she felt her mouth water slightly in anticipation. She repressed the strong desire to kiss -- no, lick his head wound, and instead grabbed a washcloth hanging on the towel rack in his bathroom. The blood was starting to run again from the small gash in his forehead, and her jaw tightened with the resolve not to do anything foolish that would either disturb or terrify him.

“Really, I can take care of this,” he insisted. “Don’t trouble yourself.”

She regarded him with an arched eyebrow for a moment that seemed to register in his mind as a mild challenge. He got the idea that she was asserting herself with him, although not in a particularly threatening way. Instead, it made him feel safe. He swallowed hard as he gazed into her beautiful green eyes and decided he was perfectly content to let her look after him for the moment.

“Or I could just be very grateful you’re here,” he conceded softly as he released the washcloth to her grasp.

Katrina smiled. She rinsed the washcloth in cold water and asked, “Antiseptic?”