A smile came to her face, just a small one, and her internal struggle settled down. This was an experience she simply could not pass up. No way.
With that, drowsiness claimed her, carrying her away into dreams of a candlelit room where a vampire hovered over her, learning her most intimate secrets with his hands and then his mouth.
Unfortunately, she didn’t stay asleep. Maybe an hour before darkfall, she woke suddenly. Not even a lingering bit of drowsiness slowed her down. She sat up, hearing running water, and realized Chloe had gone to take a shower.
She wondered if everyone knew what was going to happen tonight and therefore expected some big deal, or if Chloe had just thought Caro was safe within the shield of wards and could take a moment to freshen up.
Either way, Caro seized the opportunity. She had to get out for a walk. She wasn’t used to all this confinement. She was used to being out and about most of the time, whether in a patrol car or just strolling the streets and window-shopping. Inactivity didn’t suit her at all.
Grabbing her jacket and zipping it up tight, she left a note saying she was going for dinner. Then she headed out for the late afternoon streets. As soon as she stepped out of the office, the feeling of being watched returned, but she reminded herself that there were plenty of people out and about on the street, and it still wasn’t dark.
The icy air nipped her cheeks. The remnants of the last snowfall had ceased to sparkle, having melted a bit and picked up the city’s grime, but there were still places where the lowering sun struck and turned it golden in stark contrast to the bluer shadows.
It was a beautiful late afternoon, with twilight just around the corner and calm, still air. It was so rare among the buildings to have no breeze at all that she noticed the quietude of the air.
People passed, some of them nodding and smiling, others totally ignoring her. She walked swiftly, stretching her muscles, bringing up her heart rate.
She wouldn’t go too far, she told herself. Just up a couple of blocks in a straight line so that if Chloe looked out for her she would be visible.
But damn, it felt so good to be out and moving again.
Even here in this poorer part of the city there were plenty of shop windows to glance into. Occasionally she paused at a display of exotic foods. One of the things she liked in this city was the blending of so many cultures. Here a Korean food store, there an Indian food store. Tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurants scattered along the street issued enticing aromas of foreign dishes.
The farther she walked away from Jude’s office, the more the place felt like a real neighborhood. Most of the shops and restaurants were at or just below street level, with apartments rising over their heads. She began to hear different languages along with the different aromas.
This was one part of the city she had never worked, and she began to think she had missed something very special.
She had walked only a few blocks, though, when the sense of being watched turned into a strong sense of presence. Looking away from lighted windows, she realized that twilight was coming on faster than she’d anticipated. Either that or she’d lost track of time.
Turning, she started back to Jude’s office, reaching for whatever power she had used yesterday to keep that elemental away.
For a little while it pulled back. But then she felt it move in again, and the sensation was so strong that she quickened her step.
God, it was getting dark fast. What had she been thinking?
The urge to run was growing in her, but she forced it down. Whatever this force was that was coming after her, some instinct told her that fear would only feed it.
Instead she clung to that willpower she had found only yesterday, concentrating her thoughts on forcing the thing back. It gave a little, allowing her to breathe more easily.
Just another block, but night was almost here. She judged by the light that the sun must have nearly finished setting. Soon the shadows between the buildings would become inky.
Almost as soon as she had the thought, they did just that. At the same time, the watcher returned and her skin began to crawl. It was there—it was close. She willed it away, but this time it failed to yield.
Half a block to go. She gathered everything inside herself and envisioned herself sending out a blast of light against the elemental. This time it barely hesitated before it was on her again.
Her chest began to hurt. She felt cold all the way to her bones where only moments ago she had been warm enough. Panic fluttered in her, demanding she flee, but how could she flee this thing?
She could see no one else on the street. Where had everyone gone? She hurried her pace even more, while imagining her body growing warmer, her chest easing. A few moments of success...
Then she felt as if the wind had been knocked from her. She couldn’t catch her breath at all. Weakness poured through her, causing her legs to give way. Her diaphragm seemed to have frozen, and no matter how hard she tried to draw air into her lungs, it wouldn’t come.
She was going to die right here and now, and her mind fought back darkness, seeking something, anything, to push that elemental away before it was too late.
The night dimmed even more and she realized she was blacking out. It was over. She made one more monumental effort of will to drive that thing away, to gather one more breath.
She failed. Darkness moved in, claiming her and she had one last conscious thought:
Just as the last of the world seemed to fade, she heard Damien shout, “Caro!”
An instant later, steel arms surrounded her and lifted her. Like a newborn baby, she gasped for her breath. This time her lungs filled.
Safe now, she let go, let darkness claim her, a darkness that wasn’t supernatural at all.
Damien, torn between fury and fear, put the unconscious Caro on the couch. Terri immediately knelt beside her to check her out.
“What the hell were you thinking, Chloe?” he heard Jude demand.
“She was asleep. How was I supposed to know she’d leave because I spent ten minutes in the shower. I thought she knew better than that.”
Damien didn’t care about Chloe’s failure, didn’t care about anything except seeing Caro’s eyes open again. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been beside himself with fear, but he was now.
“Get a blanket,” Terri said. “She’s too cold, but she’s breathing all right.”
Chloe raced away and returned with a heavy comforter. Damien insisted on covering Caro himself and tucking it around her. For the first time, he wished he had some excess body heat to offer, but he knew he didn’t. Not one iota. Awake, his body was just above room temperature, not enough to act like a heater.
He was not accustomed to cursing the fact that he was a vampire, but he cursed it now. He seldom had cause to think about the ways it made him useless or helpless, but Caro was constantly reminding him.
Yet he had to face the fact a mortal man could do little more at this point. If she was going to go out on her own, she’d do it, and so what if he couldn’t wrap himself in that comforter with her right now and warm her?
At least she was still alive. He wondered if he would ever tell her what he’d sensed when he’d seen her on the pavement, how he could feel that elemental surrounding her and consuming her. How he had sensed her very life force draining away. How he had nearly panicked about losing her.
No, probably not good to tell her all that, and certainly not before he sorted out his own feelings. Vampires had strong emotions, but panic usually wasn’t one of them.
Jude touched his arm. “She’ll be all right. You said you had something to do tonight?”
Damien had to shake himself back to the present from the moments just passed on the street.
“Yes. Caro and I were going to try to enhance our powers.”
Jude lifted a brow. “Yours are coming back? I thought you feared you’d lost them.”
“I had, but believe me, they’re coming back. Maybe it’s the proximity to this elemental stirring up things that have slept for so long. I don’t know. I just know that I’m finding some of them again, and to meet this bokor I need every bit possible at my disposal. I don’t even want to attempt to find him until I’m ready.”
