Katherine finally found her phone and swiped at the screen. Five missed calls from her father, two voicemails, and three texts. Shit.
“It’s complicated,” Katherine replied, “I’m not scared of him, I’m scared of what he makes me feel,” she stuffed her phone into her jeans pocket and turned to face Rose, “I need to get back to Tumbricane. Now.”
“Woah, calm down. Why do you need to do that?” Rose asked, trying to shepherd her into a corner by the couch.
“My Dad is going to try to blackmail him, he’s going to threaten to expose him for what he is. He’s got a journalist with him, he’s going there today. I need to get to Lucian, to warn him.”
Katherine’s heart felt like it was ready to break free from her chest. This was all her fault, she should’ve told her father no, she should’ve told Lucian last night what he was planning. Even if he had still rejected her, he would’ve at least have been safe. Right now, during the daytime, he was a sitting duck.
“A journalist? OK, that does sound bad, but Lucian is not defenceless, he can more than hold his own. He is a vampire after all,” Rose reasoned, holding her hands out in a soothing gesture, “breathe hon, you need to calm down. Crazy is not going to help right now.”
Katherine focused on her breathing. Admittedly she felt like she couldn’t get enough air to her lungs and her head was spinning.
In through the nose, out through the mouth.
Calming her breathing didn’t help her relax, but it did help her focus.
She needed wheels, she could run to Tumbricane but it’d take her a couple of hours. She didn’t have the truck, it was in the shop. Cayden was out and so his truck wasn’t at home. She had spied a small-looking jeep when she had arrived at the cabin last night. She just needed to find the keys.
“You’re right,” Katherine breathed out quietly, nodding at Rose.
“Look, let's be smart about this. Can you call him to let him know?” Rose asked.
“No. I don’t have his number,” Katherine half whimpered, being careful not to overdo her hysteria.
“That’s OK. Cayden has his number. We can get a message to him to give him the heads up.”
“But what if he hates me even more? What if he thinks I’ve done this to get back at him for rejecting me? I need to speak to him. I need to explain in person,” Katherine threw her hands in the air.
“There will be time to explain it all later, but right now we need to get a message to him. It’s going to be alright, hon,” Rose soothed.
Katherine paced back and forth a few times and ran her hands through her hair before sucking in a couple of shaking breaths.
“I need to calm down,” she nodded as if to herself before looking at Rose’s kind and worried expression, “I’m sorry, I’m such a mess. I could do with a shower to help clear my head, would you mind?”
Rose smiled sweetly, “Of course not, let me fetch you some fresh towels. A shower is a great idea. I can call Cayden too and let him know what’s happening. He’ll be able to help, I’m sure of it.”
“Thank you,” Katherine murmured and stood to follow Rose into the hallway. As her new friend disappeared into a room to fetch the clean towels, she scanned the hallway for any remaining set of car keys. She cursed when she couldn’t find any.
A low whistle caught her attention and she found Judy, poking her head out from behind her door. The old lady glanced to the side where a small china dish sat upon a dresser and then back to Katherine before nodding. Katherine swept forward and instantly snatched up the keys and shot the woman a look of gratitude. She nodded once and winked before closing the door silently.
Rose rounded the corner with a kind smile and arms laden with a set of faded, peach coloured towels. Katherine shoved the keys into the back pocket of her jeans with a sleight of hand as she took the towels from her.
“There you go hon, take your time. We can go over things again once you’ve cleared your head a little. I’ll ask Cayden to come home so we can come up with a plan together. You’ve got us now, OK? You don’t need to fix this on your own.”
Katherine smiled and graciously said her thank you’s. The deception was a living breathing thing inside of her, but a good poker face was one of her many skills and she knew how to keep her guilt from showing. She stepped into the bathroom, locked the door, and turned on the water.
In a matter of minutes she had climbed out the window and was on the road heading back towards Tumbricane in a small but mighty jeep. She wouldn’t beat her father there, but she might be able to get to Lucian before he did.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lucian
A disturbance flitted across Lucian’s mind as he rested. He had fought his consciousness for sleep since dawn broke and every time he won a moment of rest it was soon ripped from him by painful images of Katherine alone and sad, angry and disgusted by him, detached and unaffected by him.
This time, however, it was different. He lay in that strange place between sleep and awake, silently willing the disturbance to rouse him again. His body was purposefully stiff as stone, his breathing as infrequent and shallow as he could endure and he schooled his features into utter stillness. He was alone in his chambers, of that he was certain, he sensed no other presence. He strained his ears to listen for any telltale sign of what had woken him. After another long moment, he was about to resume his hunt
