A Chase of Prey (A Shade of Vampire #11)(14)

He returned to the car and handed me my bottle.

“Thanks,” I said, unscrewing the lid and drinking from it.

Opening up the middle door of the vehicle, he positioned himself over one of the corpses. I watched with a mixture of horror and disgust as he dug his fangs into the first body.

My own drink seemed less appealing now. Holding my ears, I tried to block out the squelching sounds, but they were hard to ignore. I looked back once the noise stopped. He hauled them both out of the car and dragged them down to the river. Wading in deep, he let go of them.

I felt infinitely grateful that he’d filled up my water bottle before dumping those dead bodies in the river. I imagined that the blood would draw alligators, which made me even more determined to stay in the truck.

When he approached the vehicle again and was about to seat himself back into the driver’s seat, I reached out and locked his door.

“Get in the back,” I said. “We need to take a look at your wounds.”

He heaved a sigh, but did as I’d requested. I climbed over the seats toward him. The blood splatters made me feel nauseous. I craned my neck to examine the back of the seats in the middle row. There were two latches on either side. Just what I’d been hoping for. I unlatched both of them and the back of the seat flattened, creating a narrow double bed.

I ducked down on the ground and looked beneath the seats. There were six small pieces of luggage. I reached for the one closest to me and pulled it out. Opening it up, I found a few personal possessions—toothpaste, a toothbrush, shaving equipment, tweezers, a set of spare clothes… I put the clothes and tweezers to one side before discarding the bag and reaching for another. They all had similar contents—light travel equipment. In the sixth case, I was pleased to see two blankets bundled up inside it. I stretched them both out on top of each other over the outstretched seats, covering up the bloodstains.

Caleb had been watching me closely the whole time. I beckoned him over. As he lifted himself onto the makeshift bed, I didn’t miss the way he winced as he lay on his back. I took the spare clothes I’d fished out from the bags and arranged them over the hole in the roof so that they covered it. Then I looked nervously at the wounds in Caleb’s chest and shoulders that hadn’t yet closed over. I crouched down on the seat over him, examining them more closely. I couldn’t fish these bullets out with my fingers, that was for sure. I’d have to use the only equipment I had—the tweezers I’d found. I grabbed my water bottle and washed the tweezers. I hovered more closely over Caleb. He inhaled sharply as I placed a hand on his chest and tried to steady my hands.

“I’m sorry if this hurts,” I whispered.

He grunted as I picked a wound and slid in the tweezers. His flesh made a horrid squelching sound as I closed around the bullet and lifted it out. Blood flowed, and I stemmed it with a towel. I didn’t know how clean it was, but we didn’t have many options.

I repeated the process with five more bullets—three wedged in his stomach, one in his shoulder, and one just beneath his neck. I had to ask him to roll over so I could reach his back. Most of them had closed over, but I managed to retrieve one that was stuck beneath his lower shoulder blade.

My eyes roamed the rest of his body. I was nervous that there were so many bullets I couldn’t get to without tearing through a layer of his flesh. I’d have to leave those bullets for Corrine to remove.

Corrine. My heartbeat quickened as I thought once again of returning home with Caleb.

I held the towel against the wounds I’d treated until the blood clotted and the wounds began to heal. His healing process seemed to have sped up. I guessed because of all that human blood he’d just consumed.

He sat up once I’d finished, examining his body.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes… Thank you, Rose.”

I nodded, but I wished that he wouldn’t thank me. I owed him more than I could repay. He’d saved my life more than once, as well as the lives of my parents.

“Thank you, Caleb.”

He broke eye contact with me and pulled himself to the edge of the seat. He swung his legs off, his feet touching the vehicle’s floor.

“And now we continue by foot?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I was feeling exhausted after the day’s events. The last thing I wanted was to spend another bumpy night clinging to Caleb’s back. But I knew we had to reach Mona, or Caleb would be no more. I swung my legs over the seat and sat next to him.

“You look tired,” he said, glancing down at me. “I suppose we can stay here for an hour. We don’t know how long it will take us to find another vehicle once we’re in Venezuela. And we don’t want you fainting from exhaustion.”

An hour. It didn’t seem like much. But it was better than nothing.

“And what about you?” I asked. “Don’t you need to rest too?”

He leaned back against his elbows. “I suppose I could rest for a short while.”

I looked over the makeshift bed. There was enough room for the two of us to lie comfortably. Though, recalling the way he’d kept his distance back in the hostel room, I wasn’t sure that he’d want to share a bed with me even for an hour. I looked around the vehicle. The back seats didn’t extend backward. And the front seats didn’t extend back much now that we’d created this bed.