Free Caleb by Sarah McCarty Page A

be ignored.
    “Am I
making you nervous?”
    “Yes.”
    He
hadn’t expected the truth. “It’s a habit of mine.”
    “Staring?”
    “How
do you know I’m staring?”
    “I
can feel it.”
    “Ah.”
    Her
tongue flicked over her lips again, leaving them glistening, revealing the
uncertainty that didn’t show in her voice. “So, do you think you could give it
a rest tonight?”
    “Your
dream not going the way you planned?”
    “If
I’d planed it, we’d be having a lot more fun.”
    “Hmm,
I bet we would.”
    “I
can’t be a vampire.” Her free hand slid under his, rubbing at her stomach.
    “It’s
not that bad.”
    “Vampires
don’t exist.”
    “Uh-huh.”
At least she was trying to absorb a little, even if she was approaching reality
from the outskirts and working in. He squeezed her fingers. “You’re going to
need help with this, Allie. At least, initially.”
    “And
here I thought it was all just going to come naturally.”
    He
ignored the sarcasm. “Some of it will.” Especially the need to feed. Primitive
and violent. When it came upon her the first time, it would consume all of the
humanity she clung to so hard. He pushed the bangs off her forehead. “Some of
it, you’ll have to work at.”
    “Like
what?”
    Regaining
her humanity after that first feed, retaining it from there on, but he didn’t
say so. There was time enough for her to figure that out on her own. “Learning
to sleep during the day, for one.”
    She
didn’t smile. Her hands pressed into her stomach. “I don’t feel well.”
    Damn,
he’d thought he had her nausea suppressed. He worked his palm between the sheet
and her skull. Supporting her head, he turned her to her side. “Are you going
to be sick?”
    “It’s
not that kind of unwell.”
    “Then
what?”
    The
eyes that strained to see him over her shoulder were wide, fearful, and oddly determined.
“I just realized if this isn’t a dream, I’m dead.”

HER
terror clawed at him, her cry for help unconsciously reaching along their
connection. Help he didn’t want to deny. It wasn’t right that she hurt because
of him, because of anything. Caleb followed the terror down the mental path,
back to the seat of her fear and covered it with calm, sliding a tendril of
energy out, feeding her shaky belief that this was a dream. Solidifying it.
Adding a verbal push to his mental one as she rolled onto her back. “You’re not
dead. This is a dream, remember?”
    It
was wrong, but he wanted her to have the comfort of that illusion for as long
as possible. Her nails sank into his forearm with the desperation lacking from
her carefully modulated, “You’re sure?”
    “Baby,
I’d notice if you needed to be put under.”
    Her
big eyes narrowed with suspicion, “How?”
    “I’d
be the one digging the grave.”
    She
blinked at that. “If I’m not dead, but I’m a vampire, how will I explain?”
    “You
won’t.”
    “But
I’ll have to tell my family something.”
    Shit.
This was the hard part. “Anybody looking for you will think you’re dead.”
    The
shock of that hit her like a blow. She jerked and then went absolutely still.
The rapid blink of her eyes kept back the tears he could see shining there.
“Why would they think that?”
    He
tucked her hair behind her ear, rubbing his knuckles on her cheek. Guilt flayed
him with the deep cut of a whip as Allie lay there, looking into the darkness,
trying to see his face, dreading what he was going to tell her, willing it to
be different than what she suspected. “Probably because you disappeared and
your car is in the river. When it’s found, everyone will assume you drowned.”
    The
truth burned like acid on his tongue, but he owed it to her.
    “Damn
you.” Her fist slammed into his cheekbone, one knuckle wedging against his
eyeball snapping his head back. “I have a family!”
    He
grabbed her hand, pressing it down into the mattress, blinking to clear his
watering eye. She had a hell of a quick jab. Her body