were -- are so very special, so unlike anyone I’ve ever met.”
He didn’t know what to say and tried to force his mind to recall anything at all about what she was saying. But nothing came.
Her expression changed to something much darker, and she continued, “It was evening, and you came out to check on me again. I had healed a great deal after drinking the blood, and you were so curious to look underneath that old tarp-covered car to try and look at me. But then your father came into the garage, drunk and feeling mean. And you were his target.”
Caleb balled his hands into fists at his side, and his stare became vacant as he recalled the man who was his father. He recalled the frequent beatings, sometimes for little or no reason, and the smell of booze on his breath. Then he remembered his mother crying and the black eyes she sometimes received from his father’s abrupt temper.
Katrina watched his reaction intently and listened to his elevated pulse. “He whipped your left arm with his belt and drew blood. I was so angry, and I repelled his attack on you. I put you outside so you wouldn’t see anything further, but you came back into the garage as I confronted him again. And this time, I snapped his neck, letting his dead body drop to the floor. But you saw the entire thing, and it almost broke my heart.”
He recalled the snapping sound in his flashbacks and the vacant look on his father’s face. “I hope the bastard rots in hell,” he muttered angrily.
She waited a moment for his attention to return to her.
“I wanted to erase that memory and try to help you lead a normal life without someone abusing you,” she offered gently. “I helped your mother to find employment at my company. Although her continued success was hers alone.”
“Except the college fund,” he interjected.
Katrina nodded. “Yes, the college fund.”
“Wait,” he said. He abruptly turned and walked down the concrete path again at a brisk pace.
She walked silently a couple of steps behind him, watching him intently. He’s doing better, I think. Thank goodness.
He stopped next to a park bench and perched on the front edge of it. “So, then you deprogrammed me,” he muttered absently.
She sat in the middle of the bench next to him and reached out with her left arm across the short distance between them. Her fingers were nearly at his shoulder when he stood up abruptly, stepping away from the bench while rubbing his eyes wearily.
Almost, she thought with a grimace. She wanted to touch him, soothe him somehow. Maybe if I could just hold him. She sighed. “I hypnotized you somewhat, yes.”
A thought occurred to him, and he turned to face her as she sat on the edge of the bench. “You enrolled in my history class last fall,” he prompted almost as an accusation. “That was no coincidence, was it?”
She frowned, and then sighed with resignation. “No, it wasn’t,” she replied. “I wanted to see how you had turned out as an adult. I had no further contact with you after you had helped me, you see. Oh, I read some newspaper clippings about how you were doing on your school baseball teams, but nothing really substantive. And while I was traveling for years throughout Europe visiting with other vampires and seeing the world, I heard from a contact at the company that your mother had passed away. I knew then that I had to check on you. So I came to Atlanta, and here we are.”
Caleb felt the chill from the evening breeze begin to penetrate his sweater, and he folded his arms in front of him as he stood steadfastly before her. “So,” he ventured carefully, “you didn’t program me to fall in love with you, then?” He wanted his feelings for her to be real. Hell, I want anything to be real right now.
Katrina looked at him sharply, only to find him staring back at her intently. She leapt up from the bench in a blur and wrapped her arms around him snugly. It caught him off guard, and he spun in an almost complete circle from her impact. But she held him upright firmly and pulled him against her body.
“We genuinely fell in love, Caleb,” she assured him. “It’s all real. Just us. No programming, no hypnosis. In fact, I never actually thought I would see you again once I left my Amber identity