Sunset Rising (Sunset Vampire Series, Book 5) Read Free Page B

eluded
detection over the long term.
    Paige easily leapt out of the impromptu
grave, holding both shovels.
    “ Someone please hand me
that pharmacy bag,” Ethan said.
    I handed the small bag of items to him and
peered into the grave to watch.
    As Ethan removed the plastic sheeting that
covered the bodies, my breath caught in my throat, and not merely
from the acrid scents of early decomposition.
    Both of the men’s faces appeared somewhat
pale, much like a vampire’s, though not quite as stark as was
typical for my kind.
    “ They don’t look normal at
all for humans,” I said.
    “ Yes, there’s a strange
pallor to their skin. Very odd,” Ethan said. “But I’ll know more
once we run our tests.”
    “ Caleb wasn’t exaggerating
after all,” I said.
    “ Mm. So it would seem,”
Alton said.
    As I stared at the bodies, my anger
mounted.
    I wished I could revive them just so that I
could kill them all over again. After they dealt with me, they’d
think Caleb had done them a favor.
    Ethan used a bottle of water to rinse one of
the men’s forearms and withdrew a syringe from the sack.
    “ Two from each, please, as
we discussed,” Alton said.
    I looked at him curiously.
    He shrugged. “One for the lab, one for
future reference, if needed.”
    I nodded. Good idea.
    Evidence sometimes had a way of disappearing
when it made its way into the wrong hands.
    Minutes later, Ethan hopped out of the grave
and landed across from me, sack in hand.
    In turn, Alton jumped into the grave.
    “ Now what?” I
asked.
    “ Their fingerprints will
aid in our identification process,” he said.
    He withdrew a small device from his pocket
and proceeded to press each of the men’s fingertips against the
screen.
    “ I’ll go online to check
them against the database after we’ve returned to the house,” he
said.
    Once he had finished, he replaced the
plastic sheet over the bodies.
    With a single leap, Alton once more stood
beside me.
    Paige handed me a shovel and we proceeded to
fill in the grave. It didn’t take us long.
    As we approached our vehicle, I noticed
Caleb tentatively looking out through the opposite sides of the car
windows, which were already fogged up.
    That made me smile.
    “ Just look at that,” Paige
said. “Caleb couldn’t see a car if it drove up beside him. Remind
me not to take Mr. Heavy Breather on a stakeout.”
    In fact, Caleb jumped slightly as Paige used
the remote to unlock the doors. I quickly opened the rear driver’s
side door to see a surprised expression on his face.
    “ Back already?” he asked.
“That was fast.”
    “ We’re vampires,” Paige
said as she placed the shovels in the trunk. “We’re
fast.”
    I slid onto the seat next to Caleb and
stretched my arm across his shoulders. Alton opened the door
opposite me and sat on the other side of him.
    I held out my free hand before Caleb, my
palm up and open.
    “ What?” he
asked.
    I arched one eyebrow at him.
    His features fell. “Oh, all right.”
    He placed the pistol in my hand, which I
quickly pocketed for safekeeping.
    “ You’re not ready to carry
one of those yet,” I said.
    “ Then I need to start
training very soon, don’t I?” he asked.
    Oh, clever man.
    “ Perhaps,” I said. “We’ll
see.”
    “ There’s some other
training I’d like for you to begin first, Caleb,” Alton
said.
    “ Really?” he asked. “What
sort of training?”
    “ Oh, you’ll find out
beginning tomorrow,” Alton said.
    My mate flashed me a suspicious look.
    “ But I have class,” he
said.
    “ Don’t worry,” Alton said.
“You can easily append this to your other training. Just set aside
a little more time for it. It’s important.”
    When Caleb flashed me a curious look, I
merely nodded in knowing fashion.
    “ You’ll see,” I
said.
     
    * * *
     
    Upon returning to the house, we unloaded the
vehicle and gathered in the living room.
    “ I’m going upstairs to
take a shower,” Caleb said.
    “ I’ll join you soon,”