home from work and the smell of alcohol.
“Think of your garage, Caleb,” she urged soothingly.
Caleb’s flashbacks shifted, and he was able to see the inside of their old garage, including the tools and old car parts his father left lying around. He saw the old car covered in the dirty plastic tarp that his father had renovated for years when he was a child. He recalled the times he sneaked beneath it to peek at things just out of curiosity. Caleb no longer saw Katrina’s glowing orbs, and instead flashed to a time when the garage seemed somewhat scarier. He breathed in sharply as he flashed on a vision of his father lashing out with a belt at him and the searing pain across his left arm. The pain was fresh, but it felt like a stabbing dagger instead of simply a leather belt.
“Pain!” he shouted as his eyes went wild, and he kicked away from Katrina abruptly, nearly catching her in the chest as he flailed away with his right foot while his left foot dug against the mattress. He sprang to one side as his foot finally impacted the mattress beneath him, and he flung the blanket from around him in a sudden lurch.
“Caleb!” she shouted, trying vainly to reach out for him.
But Paige was closer and faster and was able to wrap her arms around his torso, trapping his arms to his sides as he tried to launch his body past hers. He bounced against the mattress, shutting his eyes tightly against the images which still flashed before him.
“Stop!” he pleaded. “Just stop, I changed my mind. No more!”
Paige’s eyes were wide with shock as she held him against her body. Her gaze darted over to Katrina, who quickly recovered and was stretched across the bed alongside him.
Katrina held his face between her hands, whispering, “It’s okay, my love. You’re safe. We’re stopping.”
He nodded and quietly lay there, no longer trying to fight against the strong arms that held him in place like iron bands. Paige relaxed her embrace and unwound her arms from around him.
“I’m so tired,” he murmured raggedly into the comforter pressed against his face.
Katrina’s mind raced as she tried to understand what had just happened, but she suspected that questioning him about it at that moment would prove both unwise and fruitless. She kissed him affectionately on the forehead, and Paige assisted her with maneuvering him back under the covers in the center of the bed.
The petite vampire gathered his pillow and slipped it beneath his head for him. “Try and get some rest, kiddo,” she whispered.
Both vampires moved off the bed and stared at each other silently with wide-eyed expressions.
“Please don’t leave,” he mumbled quietly.
They glanced down at him, and then Paige looked back at Katrina. “You call Alton,” she suggested. “I’ll stay with him for now.”
Katrina nodded with a resigned sigh, picked up the phone handset near her computer hutch, and preceded upstairs up to the first floor while Paige lay down beside Caleb.
“Babysitter’s right here, tiger,” Paige whispered as she laid her arm over his huddled form. She kissed him lightly on the back of his head.
“Thanks,” he whispered.
Her mind raced to understand what had just happened. She had never seen anything like that from him before, and she realized it was going to take more than just amateurs to assist the young man in reconciling his memories. She just hoped that Katrina realized it and that Alton advised her friend of the same.
Within minutes, Caleb drifted off into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.
* * * *
Chapter 4: Imperfect Pairings
When Caleb’s eyes fluttered open, the room wasn’t as dark as before, and he realized from the dim glow that a lamp had been turned on somewhere across the room. He was lying on his stomach, and one side of his face was pressed into his pillow. Upon trying to move, he winced as his neck and upper back muscles ached in protest.
“Oh, crap,” he moaned.
He rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes. Feeling the bed jiggle slightly, he removed his hands to see Katrina staring down at him. She leaned over him with her hands planted on each side of his body and kissed him lightly on the lips.
“Good morning, sleepy head,” she greeted with a warm smile.
“Mm, morning,” he murmured.
“Feeling better?” she asked.
His mind quickly recalled the events from the night before, and he frowned. “Oh, that’s right. I think I’m okay.”
She continued to hover over him as she