Kalen eased her into a bath filled with suds, the greenish water tinting pink as the blood dissolved off her skin. She still wept, the old tears dried and cracked on her cheeks.
"You're safe, we're at the suite." He looked over her head, grabbing a hand towel and getting it wet, "I'm not going to hurt you. Let me clean you off."
Her limbs had shaken the entire ride home and were fatigued from the effort.
Kalen lifted her arm gently, scrubbing off the remaining spots, "I have to see how much of this blood is yours. You have open wounds, we'll need to run some tests."
"Why?" her throat cracked.
"To make sure those bastards didn't infect you with something." He growled, rubbing her naked chest and neck. He froze and leaned in, staring hard at her throat, then let out an unintelligible curse.
Caitlin let him handle her, cleaning blood from the crevices of her face and body. When before, his hands might have given her comfort, now she could only remember the bodies in the alley. "Is that what you do to us?"
"What?" Kalen looked up at her.
"Is that how you kill people?" she rephrased, fighting the frog in her throat.
He stopped scrubbing momentarily, then returned to the task, "No. Those men were about to rape you, one of them almost did." He said through gritted teeth, "They intended to kill you afterwards, Sara too."
Caitlin remembered the press of the man's flesh against her, "When did you know?"
"When I heard you cry out. It was my mistake, leaving you with a human guard at night."
She looked up at Kalen, no sign of those black eyes or long teeth. He hid his monstrous nature well, she thought as he scrubbed under her nails.
Caitlin turned her head away, resigned to his care.
"It was a mistake, bringing you here." He murmured, sudsing her hair. "I'm sorry I lost my temper, you have every right to know what I am." Kalen dipped her head into the water to rinse off, "You know I would never harm you." pulling her up by the neck, his thumb ran along her uninjured cheekbone.
"Yeah," she whispered hoarsely, not looking at him.
Kalen returned the hand towel to the water and rang it out, "I have to clean your lower half, can you sit up?" with his help, she circled her arms around his neck. He started at her front, gently splitting her lips open with two fingers and rinsing the tender flesh. She clutched tighter to him and gasped, no one had touched her in quite that way before. Soon enough, he moved backwards, scrubbing away the last of their touch. When finished, he lifted her from the water, which had stained a brilliant pinkish orange.
He wrapped her in a towel and lifted her out like a child, carrying her to the living area.
As much as he'd frightened her, he'd saved her as well. She wanted what they were becoming before this incident, before she really saw
all
that he was.
But if she'd never seen it, she'd never have known the monster that lay beneath his calm exterior.
"Kalen," she whispered as he laid her on the couch.
"Yes?"
"I don't want to be alone." It was hard for her to admit, it contradicted her instincts. "please don't leave me alone." Caitlin clutched at his bare shoulder, sinews of muscle rigid beneath the surface.
"If that is your wish." Kalen's long form passed over her laid behind her. He drew a blanket over them both and pulled her in tight.
Caitlin curled up, knowing this was the safest place for her, but flashes of the scene surfaced, making her heart race. He could hear when it did and reacted with a comforting squeeze.
"You're safe," he whispered, "I'll never let anyone hurt you again."
The words, meant to bring comfort, didn't protect her from the recent past. All over again in her mind, they flung her to the ground, bent her over... and...
"Shhhhh," Kalen hushed, stroking her hair as a panic attack consumed her. She breathed hard and heavy, sobbing in tearless gasps. He lifted her hand so she could see her palm and traced lines along her fingers, "It's over now, come back to this present moment, breathe." He drew out the last word as he inhaled. She did her best to copy, it took several attempts to slow her breathing, but she managed. "Very good, now rest." Kalen's words were laced with power, as if a hand pressed down on her. Sleep came, then, freeing her from suffering it all over again.
*
On the second night, before he left for business, she was introduced to her new escort.
"This is Nadia." Kalen introduced a pixie cut blonde with chocolate skin who stood shoulder height to Caitlin, "She'll be your escort from now on, and will be on-call as needed during the night. During the day you won't go anywhere without both Sara
and
Micha."
The young woman watched her without a smile, 'stern' seemed to be her only emotion. "I serve the royal family with my life." Nadia stated with pure conviction.
Caitlin didn't know if she were part of that family, but Nadia had Kalen's orders, and she assumed that was enough. She didn't know how she felt about another vampire coming near her. "How long will you be gone?" she asked him.
"'Til sunrise, likely; it will be a long night of droning finalization on a building's purchase. I'll be meeting tomorrow night as well; the sellers have been nearly impossible to work with." He rolled his eyes, "Once it's done, we can leave the city if you wish to return to the mansion."
Having to wait two more days made her heart ache. She nodded mutely.
"I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Nadia," he eyed the tiny vampire.
"Yes, Sir?"
"Take it easy, Caitlin's human, she's not used to our world. Do anything she wants to do." He turned away from them after leaving a gentle kiss on Caitlin's forehead.
Nadia saluted and stood at ease.
Both watched as Kalen disappeared into his office, Caitlin from the couch she'd spent most of the day on. She didn't want to be around her new escort, didn't want to think about the violent potential, so like Kalen, but so unlike him as well. She had no idea what to expect from the petite vampire.
The scratches on her cheek and shoulder were mending; the last man standing had nicked her neck, but it wasn't as serious as the Prince thought. Kalen had already taken and sent blood samples to a lab to determine if she needed additional care. He assured her that their kind didn't get infections from humans. If she made the transition, and did have them, they would not follow her.
She and the vampire watched each other as a Wheel of Fortune rerun played on the screen. Nadia wasn't responsive, even after Caitlin tried to make small talk. She wished Marianne was with her, they would have had plenty to say. Thoughts of her mother rose, she still had the letter, hadn't thought to send it out. "Nadia." Caitlin turned and directly addressed her.
"Ma'am?" she asked without emotion.
"I need you to send a piece of mail, then leave me alone for the night."
"As you will it," Nadia said with the first smile she'd seen from the vampire. "what letter?"
Caitlin was exhausted by recent turn of events, least of all this new girl in her space, "The top zipper of my black luggage." She lifted her legs onto the couch and laid to one side, flipping channels.
Kalen emerged from the office with a briefcase, wearing a pressed suit. "Don't be afraid to give her orders," he murmured, stroking her hair gently. Caitlin's follicles still burned from the attack. "I'll return by morning."
