the gate code, she effortlessly leapt over the wrought iron structure. After landing on the other side with catlike reflexes, she sniffed the air for his scent. However, given the blowing wind and the intelligence of her mate, she anticipated he would be somewhere downwind of her. She listened again for any sounds that might give him away and darted around the area in the fast-moving pace of which only vampires were capable. However, she was careful to be wary of approaching cars or other humans that might be nearby.
She spent almost six minutes moving in a circular pattern hoping for a quick hit on his location before appreciating how challenging her mate’s impromptu game was proving to be. Then she paused in the woods, not far from the neighborhood park, and caught a whiff of Caleb’s scent. Listening to the rhythm of nature’s sounds, she separated them out individually.
Her hearing filtered out the wind, the tree branches hitting against each other, the rustling of leaves, and the flap of an owl’s wings as it flew overhead. Abruptly, she picked out the unusual sound of other movement nearby. Something or someone was rustling leaves while moving among the trees less than fifty yards from her. She heard the sound of a man’s voice quietly chuckling and knew immediately it was Caleb. She glanced at her watch to note how much time she had left and stealthily moved towards her target.
* * * *
Caleb stood amidst the trees, feeling relatively confident that Katrina was going to run out of time. He quietly and deliberately moved through the woods to ensure he didn’t bunker down in one location as Alton had cautioned. Yet he tried to keep noise to a minimum, as well as to stay downwind from the estate to keep his scent from carrying on the breeze.
Glancing down at his watch while activating the glow button, he registered that Katrina had only two more minutes left to locate him. He quietly chuckled, pleased that the first occasion of his new game with her was going so well. He started to relocate to a new position when he heard a strange clicking noise, much like the sound of a clock ticking. He tilted his head to one side and tried to listen closer, but the sound stopped.
“Found you,” Katrina’s voice cooed in a lilting, teasing tone.
A shiver went up his spine, and he glanced over his shoulder to look behind him with a wide-eyed expression. She stood not thirty feet away with her hands on her hips, staring at him with a sly expression. She opened her mouth slightly and clicked her tongue against her teeth to generate the noise that sounded like a ticking clock.
He bolted away from her as fast as his legs could carry him, not daring to take the time to glance at his watch, and instead concentrated on navigating through the dense trees in as speedy a fashion as possible. If only he could expend just a little more time, maybe the timer would go off before she tagged him.
He hadn’t run more than fifty feet before he felt two arms wrap around him like a steel vice, pinning his arms down to his sides.
“Got you!” Katrina exclaimed.
A second later, Caleb’s watch emitted a beeping alarm indicating that time had expired.
She stood with him in her arms, effortlessly lifting him above the ground a few inches, and began walking away with him. His legs swayed back and forth slightly as if she were carrying away an over-sized ragdoll.
“What are you doing?” he demanded with exasperation.
“I’m taking my foot massage trophy home now,” she said with an uncustomary giggle.
“Oh, brother,” he moaned.
She kissed him on the cheek. “That was fun. I like playing Find Caleb.”
He sighed as she hauled him before her, muttering, “Just great.”
She giggled and kissed him on the cheek again for good measure.
* * * *
On Thursday afternoon, Caleb sat in his office chatting on the phone with Alton to fill him in on the results of his first Find Caleb experience. The vampire was particularly amused, occasionally chuckling as Caleb recounted the event. Alton conceded that Katrina had already spoken with him earlier in the day, but said that he appreciated hearing an alternate perspective of the experience.
“You were very successful, dear boy,” he said. “Katrina was quite complimentary regarding your performance, and it seemed to provide her with an enjoyable diversion. We appear to have found a viable outlet for her hunting