Chapter 29
Benjamin realized his mistake the moment Catalina had looked over her shoulder while running toward the living room.
He’d seen red—literally. He’d seen her through a sheen of red, which meant that his eyes were glaring red, indicating that his vampire side had gained the upper hand.
When she’d stared at him in horror, he felt his heart sink.
She knew what he was, and she saw him as a monster.
She was bleeding profusely from her forearm. It wasn’t difficult to guess who’d inflicted the wound. There was still blood around Ross’s mouth, and the scent of it confirmed that it was Catalina’s. The little hybrid vampire had bitten her. He hadn’t learned yet to control himself.
“Catalina! I can explain.”
But she continued running. He had to stop her, firstly, so he could heal her wound, and secondly, to tell her the truth about him, before her imagination made things worse.
Quickly, he set Ross, who was still crying, back on his feet and pulled the door open to rush outside into the hallway so he’d have a straight line toward the entrance door rather than navigating around furniture in the dining and living rooms.
In the hallway, he crashed into Delilah, who came running from the office.
The impact was so forceful that Delilah tumbled backward, losing her balance.
To prevent her from hitting her head on the hardwood floor, he grabbed her and managed to set her back on her feet.
She swayed, and he realized that she was dizzy from him bumping into her with such force. He steadied her.
“I’m sorry, Delilah. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.”
Ross’s wailing cry turned louder.
“Oh, my God! Ross. Is he hurt?” she asked, her voice panicked, while she reached for the kitchen door.
“He’s fine. But he bit Catalina. He drank her blood,” he explained hastily. “I’ve gotta catch her.”
Before Delilah could say anything in response, he ran toward the entrance door, which stood open.
Outside, he looked first in one direction, then the other, inhaling deeply.
He could smell her blood, and while he was sorry that she was bleeding and in pain, her blood trail would make it easier for him to find her.
He began running, while constantly sniffing the air ahead of him.
Blood had dripped from her wound and landed on the sidewalk, and even though it was hard to make out in the dark, the smell was as potent as if it were an arrow pointing in the direction in which she’d fled.
He could only imagine what was going through her.
First, the shock that Ross had bitten her and had clearly sunk his fangs deep into her flesh to drink from her, then seeing him in his vampire form.
He was certain his own fangs had been extended as a result of the strong scent of blood in the kitchen.
He cursed. Why hadn’t he taken her aside earlier tonight and revealed to her what he was?
It could have all been done in a safe and calm environment, where he could have shown her that there was nothing to fear, that he wasn’t a monster, and that he would never hurt her.
But after being bitten by a vampire, albeit a small child, how would she ever believe that the bite was nothing to be feared?
True, Ross’s bite would have hurt, because as a small child he didn’t yet know that there was a way to make it painless.
He would have had to lick the spot first to numb it.
But there was no sense in crying over spilled milk.
All that mattered now, was to find Catalina and come clean.
He took another turn at the next intersection, following the scent of her blood, but he couldn’t see her anywhere, nor could he hear her footsteps.
There were the occasional cars going by, but there was no other foot traffic.
At the next intersection, he stopped, sniffing again.
But to his surprise, he couldn’t tell in which direction she’d continued.
He ran down half a block, sniffing constantly, but her scent was gone.
He turned back to the intersection, where he’d last smelled her blood, and went in the other direction, but there was none of her scent either.
The third direction produced no blood trail either. It simply stopped at the intersection.
Fuck! He’d lost her. How was that possible? One second, the scent of Catalina’s blood had been strong, the next, it was gone. What now? He couldn’t just let her run around in the city, scared and bleeding.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped on Catalina’s number. It rang once, twice, three times. He was already thinking that she wouldn’t answer when the call suddenly connected.
“Catalina, please—”
“Benjamin, it’s Delilah.”
For a second, he didn’t understand what was happening. “Delilah?”
“Yes, Catalina’s phone was in the den. She left it.”
“Fuck!”
“You couldn’t find her?”
“Her blood trail stopped abruptly.”
“Maybe she got into a cab.”
“That’s it! Thanks, Delilah. She’s probably going home. I’ll go there.”
“Don’t!” Delilah’s voice was firm.
“Why not? She needs me now.”
“No. Take it from a human. Right now, she needs to be alone. She’s scared of you, of all of us. Give her some time. Let her sleep on it.”
“But—”
“Trust me on this. When I found out about Samson being a vampire, I needed time to process it too.”
Benjamin sighed. Delilah was probably right. “But she’s injured. I can heal her.”
“It’s just a bite. You can always heal her tomorrow. That way you can show her the good you can do.”
Slowly, he nodded. “Alright, I’m coming back.”
His car was parked outside Samson’s house anyway, and with the revelation about the Prestons’ financial situation, he had some phone calls to make. But first, he had to do something else. He scrolled to a number on his cell phone and tapped on it.
“Hey,” Vanessa answered. “What’s up?”
“Can you please do me a favor? You’re patrolling in the Tenderloin tonight, right?”
“Yep, as usual.”
Vanessa’s job as a Community Service Manager at Scanguards was to patrol the areas where prostitutes, the homeless, and drug addicts roamed at night. She made sure that if anybody needed help, they would get it. She was good at it, and the people who lived and worked on the streets respected her.
“Can you please keep a lookout for Catalina?”
“Your girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“We were at Samson’s house, and Ross bit her. Now she knows we’re vampires, and she fled. She’s injured. I ran after her, but I lost her. And I’m afraid right now, she probably doesn’t want to talk to me. I think she may have gotten into a taxi to get home.”
“Wow, that sucks. I’ll go by her place. Text me her address.”
“Just check whether she’s home. And then maybe keep an eye out? I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“You’ve got it.”
“Thanks, I owe you one.”
After sending Catalina’s address to Vanessa, he returned to Samson’s house. To his surprise, Samson had come home in the meantime. He and Delilah were in the living room, with Samson rocking Ross on his knees. The boy had finally stopped crying.
“Evening, Samson, didn’t know you’d be coming home,” Benjamin said upon entering the room.
“I was in the area when Delilah told me what chaos this little rascal caused,” he answered, then gave his grandson a stern look. “What did we discuss? You don’t bite humans. It’s not polite.”
Ross scrunched up his face, and it was clear that he didn’t appreciate Samson’s reprimand and was ready to cry again. When the first sob tore from his throat, Delilah reached for him.
“Give him to me. I’ll try to get him back to bed.”
Ross willingly stretched his arms out to her, while Samson set him on his feet and Delilah took his hand.
As they walked out of the room, Samson called after him, “And if you try to bite your grandma, I won’t be as forgiving. You hear me, Ross?”
There was no reply.
Samson looked at him. “So, what now? Delilah said you lost her trail?”
Benjamin nodded. “She must have gotten into a taxi. Delilah thought it would be best to give her a little time to deal with this. I’ll go to her flat tomorrow to explain everything.”
He nodded. “Amaury mentioned that she’s the one.”
“Can nobody in this place keep anything to themselves?”
His boss smirked. “Your father is just excited that you’ve finally found your mate. Can’t blame him for wanting to share the good news.”
“Well, right now that news doesn’t look so good.”
“You mean because of the trouble Catalina and her brother are in?”
Benjamin furrowed his brow. “Just how much did my father tell you?”
Samson motioned toward the door. “Oh, that part came from Delilah.”
The doorbell rang. Before Samson could get up, Benjamin said, “I’ll get it.”
For a split-second, he wondered if Catalina had changed her mind and was returning, but when he opened the door, it was Sebastian.
“Hey.”
“Hey, bro. You here to see Samson?”
“Actually, I’m here to see you,” Sebastian said and entered. “I’ve got something.”
Benjamin ushered him into the living room, where Samson greeted him.
“What did you find?” Benjamin asked eagerly.
“The video is a fake.”
His heart jumped for joy. “Show me. We need to be able to prove it so Santiago can get a new trial.”
Samson rose. “I’ll leave you guys to it. I’d better look in on Ross.”
“Thanks, Samson,” Benjamin said.
“For what?”
“For not giving me a hard time about using company resources and staff to help Catalina’s brother.”
“That’s what family’s for,” he said with a smile and left the room.
Sebastian sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to him. Benjamin took it and looked at the tablet Sebastian switched on.
“So, check this out. This is the video of you and Catalina in that bedroom. That’s the one we know is authentic, right?”
“Right.”
“Now look in the lower left corner of it. What do you see?”
Benjamin brought the tablet closer to his face to scrutinize the area, but all he could see was the edge of a dresser. “The dresser? Sorry, I’m not getting it.”
“Not the dresser. The date.”