After my mom went into the kitchen, Celeste quickly headed for the door.
“You’re leaving already?” I asked.
“She’s going to make sure we’re not being watched,” interrupted Caleb. “I sensed another presence when I arrived.”
I looked towards the windows, which were covered with blinds, and my stomach clenched. “Oh,” I said.
“Don’t worry; it’s probably nothing, maybe a deer or bear. Now, sit down,” said Caleb, motioning towards one of the club chairs, “and tell me what happened, last night.”
I sank down into it. “Um, okay.”
He moved across from me and leaned against the arm of the other chair while I gave him a rundown of the last twenty-four hours. I watched as his face darkened when I mentioned Ethan.
“He’s lucky to be alive,” he growled, standing up. He began to pace. “I let him live and now he dares to disobey me? This won’t do.”
The last time I’d seen Caleb this angry was when he’d caught Ethan trying to seduce me. That was the night he’d banished Ethan from Shore Lake. The last time I’d actually even spoken to Ethan.
I swallowed. “So, do you think he killed Duncan?”
Caleb turned to me, his eyes glowing slightly. “Probably, he’s always been a loose cannon. Never liked to follow the rules much, either. After meeting you, he became even more unruly.”
Normally Caleb didn’t frighten me, but the way he was looking at me now was a little unnerving. There was a definite hunger fueled by rage that I saw reflected in his eyes, and something told me he was trying to restrain himself.
I stood up and moved farther away as nonchalantly as I could. “So, do you think he murdered those girls, too?”
I watched as his eyes began to glow even brighter. I guess talking about dead girls fired him up.
He licked his lips and nodded. “Possibly. I think it was definitely a Roamer. There was blood missing from the girls.”
“What about the others in your group? Maybe they killed them and not Ethan?”
When he smiled this time, I could see his sharp fangs. “Oh…I know where this is going,” he said, leaning forward. “The thought of him feeding on humans scares you.”
“Well, yeah!” I said. “And to be honest, you’re kind of scaring me right now, the way you’re looking at me – like you’re ready to pounce or something. Caleb, I seriously doubt my mom would be too happy if something happened to me and you were the only person around.”
He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them back up, I noticed a change. “Sorry,” he smiled. “I haven’t fed for a while. Sometimes the hunger is so strong, it takes control.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Maybe you should feed before you come to visit from now on.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re safe with me. I can control it.”
From the way he had been looking at me before, I wasn’t so sure.
“What about my mother?” I asked.
“What about your mother?”
“She’s starting to look like a holocaust victim.”
He frowned. “It’s the cancer. I told you before. It’s ravaging her body.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Are you sure it’s not from being bitten by you?”
He licked his lips and smiled. “I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.”
“You told me…”
Just then, we heard screams of terror coming from the kitchen, and Caleb disappeared through the doors with lightning speed.
I jumped up to follow him when the front door crashed open. As I turned to look, something grabbed me and I was whisked outside into the darkness.
Chapter Eight
I struggled with my captor as we sped through the darkness, but he tightened his hold until I could do nothing but await my fate. When we finally stopped, we were in some kind of cold, abandoned factory. The moment we landed, his mouth began ravaging my flesh.
“Ethan,” I gasped, trying to dislodge myself from his embrace.
“Oh, God I’ve missed you,” he groaned, his lips trailing a wave of heat all along my neckline.
With all my might, I shoved him away. “Please,” I breathed, as his icy blue eyes locked with mine. The raw hunger reflected there terrified me and I took a step back.
He glanced down at my bandaged wrist and scowled. “What happened to your arm, are you okay?”
I stared at him incredulously. “Okay? Am I okay? You just kidnapped me and the last time we were together… actually, the last two times… you almost killed me.”
Ethan stepped towards me and gripped my shoulders. “No. That’s not true,” he murmured. “I’d never harm you, not intentionally.”
“You drained me of too much blood, Ethan. And then last night…”
He raised his eyebrows. “Last night?”
I glared at him. “Yeah, last night! You showed up and scared the shit out of me and Duncan! The truck rolled, I ended up in the hospital and Duncan… where is he, by the way? What have you done with him?”