While watching, she reached over and placed a hand on Caleb, shaking him.
He suddenly sat up beside her, alert. The two of them stared together as the pack came in close, only feet away, sniffing and circling.
“Don’t be afraid,” Caleb said softly. “I can feel their thoughts. They are just curious. Remain still.”
Caitlin sat very still, watching as their leader came up close to her, inches from her face, putting its nose right up to her cheek.
Several tense moments followed, as Caitlin wondered what to do. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like pushing him away. But instead, she followed Caleb’s direction and sat very still.
Suddenly, he turned and walked away.
As he left, the pack followed.
Except for one. A small wolf, a pup, hardly bigger than a small dog, lingered. It limped, and looked back at the pack. Then it turned and looked at Caitlin, and walked right to her.
It walked into her lap, sat down, and lowered its head. It was clear that it did not want to leave.
“The pack no longer wants her,” Caleb said. “She’s injured. She’s a liability. And they are too hungry to be patient. They have abandoned her.”
Caitlin tried to focus, tried to read the animal’s thoughts as Caleb did. She couldn’t read it exactly, but she did feel an energy, her feelings. She felt very alone. And scared.
Caitlin reached down, picked her up and held her in her arms. As she stroked the animal’s head, it leaned back and licked her face.
She smiled.
“You have a friend,” Caleb said.
“Can we take her?” she asked.
Caleb furrowed his brow.
“It would not be the best idea,” he said. “Its scent…it could attract other things.”
“But we can’t leave her here,” Caitlin pleaded, suddenly feeling very protective. “We can’t.”
“Where we are going, there will be grave danger. It could get caught in the middle.”
“Would it not be in danger here?” she asked. “It will die, left alone.”
Caleb thought for a long time.
“I suppose we can take it…”
The wolf, as if understanding, ran over and jumped into Caleb’s arms and licked his face.
Caleb broke into a big smile as he pet it. “Okay, okay, enough little fellow,” he said.
“What shall we name her?” Caitlin asked.
Caleb thought. “I don’t know,” he finally said.
It suddenly came to her. The Rose and the Thorn.
“Rose,” she said suddenly. “Let’s call her Rose.”
Caleb looked at her, then nodded in approval. “Rose,” he said. “Yes, that is perfect.”
As if responding to her new name, Rose ran back to Caitlin’s lap, and cuddled into her chest.
“A family of wolves is a very powerful sign,” Caleb said. “It means that the nature energy is with us. We are not alone in our search.”
“I had a dream last night,” Caitlin said, remembering. “It was unlike any I’d had before. It was so vivid. It was like… a visit. From my father.”
Caleb turned and stared at her.
“In the dream, it all came back to me. An old memory. One summer, I remember, he took me away. To an island. There were these huge boulders by the ocean, and these steep cliffs, these red cliffs that glowed in the sun—”
Caleb’s eyes suddenly lit up. “You dreamt of the Aquinnah Cliffs,” he said. “Yes. That would make perfect sense.”
“In my dream, he told me to return there. He said to…find him there.”
“That was not a dream,” Caleb said, sitting up straighter. “Vampires visit in morning dreams. Your father wants us to go to the cliffs.”
“But what about the key we just found?” Caitlin asked.
“We don’t know what it’s for,” he answered. “The Vincent House could be anywhere. It’s as good as a dead end. We have nowhere else to go.”
Caleb stood. “We must go to the cliffs immediately.”
FIFTEEN
Sam woke in the strange bedroom and looked around. He tried to remember where he was. The bed was comfortable, more comfortable than any he’d slept in in a long time, but he couldn’t remember whose it was, or what he was doing here.
Then it came back to him. Samantha.
He turned and looked for her, but she was gone. Had this all really happened? Had it all just been a dream?
He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and realized he was naked, lying on a mattress with no bedding. His clothes were strewn out on the floor. He was exhausted, but in a great way. He was a changed man. Man was the key word. He woke up feeling like a real man for the first time in his life. He never had a night like that before, and he already guessed that he never would again. She was incredible.
Sam jumped to his feet, dressed, and walked around the empty house. He looked out the glass doors, and saw that the day was just breaking. That, too, was crazy. He hadn’t seen the sun rising in he didn’t know how long. In fact, it was rare for him to get up on any day before 12.
He was hungry, and thirsty, but mostly just exhausted.
“Samantha?” he called out, as he walked through the house, looking for her.
He went from room to room, but couldn’t find her anywhere. He started to wonder if it had all truly just been a figment of his imagination.
He went to the living room and looked out the large picture window. There was his pickup truck, in the driveway. And there, behind it, was a shiny BMW. He wondered if it was hers. And why he hadn’t seen it before. This chick was full of surprises.
But he really didn’t care about any of that. He didn’t even care about having a place to crash. He realized he just liked being around her. The smell of her. The sound of her voice. The way she moved. And, of course, last night. It was unbelievable.
But most of all, he’d really liked having someone to talk to. Someone who listened, who cared, who seemed to really get him. He was falling for this girl. He couldn’t believe it, but he really was. And now, after all that, had she left?
He opened the front door, and there she was. Samantha. She had been opening the door at the same time.
“Hey,” Sam said, trying to sound casual, but thrilled to see her. He felt his heart race just to see her again. She looked even prettier in the morning than she’d looked last night, her long red hair tussled over her face and her bright green eyes staring out at him. And so pale. He was pale, too—but she was paler than anyone he’d ever met.