A Dawn of Strength (A Shade of Vampire #14)(12)

Caleb stopped walking with me and held my head in his hands. “Don’t fear what-ifs, Rose. You’ll drive yourself insane.”

I took a deep breath as he let go of me and we continued walking. He was right, of course.

Determined to make a more concerted effort to change the subject, I said, “Let’s go to the sunny beach. It’s the weekend and there will be people there I’d like to introduce you to.”

I was right in my guess that the beach would be packed. It usually was on Saturday mornings. Humans liked to soak up the sun before it got too hot. Vampires often went along too and sat beneath wide umbrellas.

As the forest ground gave way to sand, I cast my eyes up and down the shore. Sticking to the shade created by the trees that lined the beach so the sun wouldn’t touch Caleb, we headed toward the crowds. The first people we came across were Abby and Erik. They both sat opposite each other on deck chairs, covered by large umbrellas. They appeared to be deep in conversation, but Abby leapt up as soon as she saw me.

“Hey, Rose! How are you?”

I swallowed hard, trying to make my smile appear genuine. “I’m fine.” I tugged gently on Caleb’s arm. “I’m just introducing Caleb to people who haven’t met him yet. This is Abby and Erik, Caleb.”

“Hi, Caleb,” she said.

“Hi,” Erik said, turning around to face us.

“Nice to meet you,” Caleb replied.

We left Abby and Erik to their conversation and continued moving. My eyes fell on a sight that brought a full grin to my face. Griffin and Becky, on a sheltered deck chair about ten feet away. She was sitting on top of him, her legs spread either side of his waist as they made out. I was cautious about interrupting them, but Griffin noticed us before we could back away.

“Hey, Rose.” He smiled sheepishly, wiping shiny pink lip gloss from his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

Becky hurried toward me and hugged me. “I missed you!” she squealed. “We all have.”

“I missed you guys, too,” I chuckled.

“What happened to you?” she asked.

I groaned internally. At some point, I knew I would have to repeat the whole story to everyone but I wasn’t in the mood to do it now.

“Honestly, Becky, it’s such a long story. We should all get together one of these nights around a bonfire and I’ll tell you everything in one go.”

She looked disappointed, but nodded. She glanced up at Caleb.

“This is Caleb… my boyfriend.”

“Oh, hi, Caleb.”

Caleb was already acquainted with Griffin so, after exchanging a few more words with the couple, we continued moving.

Next, we reached a larger cluster of deck chairs. Among the familiar faces were Anna sitting with baby Kiev, Ariana, Jason, Kyle, Claudia and Ashley. As we approached closer and I got a better look at Anna’s older children, Ariana and Jason, I gasped. They’d turned into vampires too.

They all turned round to face us as we walked up to them. They hugged me one by one, and I officially introduced Caleb. I stopped in front of Ariana and Jason, staring at them.

“You turned! How come?”

“It was because of our blood,” Ariana said. “My parents were scared we might have the same type of blood as yours and be at risk of being targeted by the black witches.”

“Wow… How are you finding it?”

Jason and Ariana exchanged glances.

“It’s okay, I guess. We’ve gotten used to it better now,” Ariana replied.

“Thanks to me,” Claudia blurted out with a smirk.

My gaze fell on the short blonde vampire.

“It’s true.” Anna chuckled. “Ariana and Jason went to stay with Claudia and Yuri immediately after turning.”

“I did such a good job with them,” Claudia continued, “Yuri’s really having to scrape the barrel now for reasons why we can’t have a baby.”

I giggled. This was news to me that Claudia even wanted a baby. They’d both have to turn back into humans like my aunt and uncle.

We spent another fifteen minutes or so walking along the beach, greeting all those who were resting in the shade before we reached the end of the beach and turned to walk back into the forest. But just before we left the borders of the sand, there was a thudding of footsteps behind us.

I turned to see a group of a dozen human girls—most of them classmates of mine—racing toward us. They were all in swimwear and dripping wet, having just climbed out of the sea.

“So the rumors are true,” Silvia announced, narrowing her eyes on me. “Rose finally got herself a guy.”

All eyes fixed on Caleb as they looked him over from head to foot.

“Oh, my.” Jessica winked at me. “Good choice, Rose. He’s a real hottie.”

I giggled at the bemused look on Caleb’s face as he was being examined by my teenage girl friends like an exhibit.

“His name is Caleb,” I said.

“Well, if you ever grow tired of Caleb, please send him my way,” Lucy gushed.

I reached my arms around Caleb’s neck and kissed his rough cheek. “You’ll be waiting an eternity, Lucy,” I whispered, though I spoke the words more to Caleb than Lucy. He chuckled softly.

I managed to disperse the crowd after Caleb endured a further ten minutes of their banter. We moved back into the darkness, walking along in mostly silence as we enjoyed the peace and quiet of the forest. I could see Caleb’s head was still spinning. The Shade was so different from where he was used to living for the past God knew how many decades of his life. He was still taking it all in.