Caleb stepped off the plane, anger seething through his whole body. He walked through the terminal to baggage claim. He waited until finally baggage started to come through. Getting his bags, he made his way out of the airport and to his truck. He spent the whole plane ride searching for whatever information he could on vampires. He already knew some of what he read were myths based on what Alaina had already told him.
But what he needed to know, was how to kill them. He found several different methods, but there was no way of knowing which ones were myths and which ones were true. He couldn't very well try it out on one. Unless, he thought to himself, he could find a way to weaken one enough to keep it captive until he could figure out how to kill it.
The only way he knew how to weaken a vampire was to not let it feed. He was pretty sure that garlic and crosses were myths. Hell, all of this wasn't going to matter if he couldn't even find one. He wondered if there were any vampire hunters. Surely, he wasn't the only human that had ever known about them. He was in the middle of searching for vampire hunters when his plane landed.
He made his way down the long, winding road that led to his house. He liked being out away from town, in the woods. Part of him bought this house because he had hoped being in the middle of the woods would bring him closer to Alaina. He pulled into his driveway and up to his house, putting his truck in park. He got out of the truck and grabbed his bags out of the back.
Walking up to his front door, he put the key in the lock and turned it. He pushed the door open and walked into his living room, placing his bags down on the floor beside the couch. He looked around at his house. He bought this house during his first year of residency. Although before he had left for Los Angeles, his aunt and uncle had invited him and his cousins to come and stay that night before he left. He didn't realize at the time that it was for his birthday.
He went into his office and sat down at his desk, opening his laptop. He continued his search for someone else that may know about vampires. He sat there for so long, he didn't even realize it had gotten dark, or that he hadn't even eaten, until his stomach started to growl. He stood up and rubbed his aching back. It had gotten stiff from sitting there so long. He went into the kitchen and threw one of the frozen meals out of his freezer into the microwave.
He checked his phone while he was waiting for his food to cook. He had a few messages from Drew and a few from his aunt. They were getting worried, he was supposed to let them know when he got home, but he forgot to text them. He sent them both a message apologizing for not letting them know when he got home and that he had gotten sidetracked. The microwave beeped and he sat his phone down on the counter and opened the microwave door. While he was getting his food, his phone chimed.
He sat his food down and took the plastic off the top and threw it away. He picked up his phone expecting the message to be either from Drew or Lara, but it wasn't. His jaw hit the floor when he saw it was Alaina's name on the screen. He debated on whether he should actually read the message or just delete it. Finally deciding on reading it, he opened up the message.
Caleb, I'm sorry I pushed you away. I was just afraid. I don't want anything to happen to either Arianna or you. I am just trying to protect you both. Please don't think that this is easy for me, because it isn't. Pushing you away was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But it doing so, I have just made things worse. I have hurt my sister, and I have hurt you. Something I didn't want to do. Arianna won't even speak to me right now because of how I have acted towards you. I reached out to my sister, Abigail, and we had a long talk. She helped me work through my fears and also told me that if anything was to happen, she would be here and won't let any harm come to Arianna, me, or even you. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. If you can, we will be back at our house in Los Angeles. I truly am sorry Caleb, I really thought this was for the best. Please forgive me.
Caleb couldn't believe what he was reading. He paced back and forth in his kitchen. If only she had said these things to him yesterday. He would have been able to forgive her. Now, he doesn't know if he can. He is starting to get whiplash from her mood swings. One minute she wants him, the next she doesn't. Hell, he could forgive her and give her his heart again and she could turn around and throw him away again. He just couldn't trust her. He debated on whether or not to text her back, but he needed to tell her how he felt and get it off his chest. He grabbed his phone and typed her a message.
No, I don't forgive you. You don't get to sleep with me then break my heart and then apologize for it and think we can just act like it never happened, but it did. Fuck off and leave me the hell alone.
He hit send then turned off his phone. He didn't want to hear, or see, anything else she had to say. He grabbed a fork out of the drawer and grabbed his food and went back to his office. He sat at his desk and ate his food while he continued his search. After a while, he found a website about vampires and vampire hunters. What he read seemed promising. On the site it stated a lot of myths and truths about vampires, and it was a lot more accurate than most of the sites that he had seen. It even said that it was a myth that vampires would burn up in sunlight. So much of what Alaina had told him to be true and to be false was on this website.
He went through everything to see if there was any method to kill a vampire, but there wasn't. He did, however, come across an email address to contact the site's creator. He copied the email address and opened up his email and sent a quick email with his contact info and asking them to please contact him, that he had information that would help their site and to also see if they could answer a few questions for him. He closed his laptop and went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of tea and picked his phone up off the counter where he left it earlier. He grabbed his bags and went upstairs to his bedroom.
He threw his bags in his closet, they could wait until tomorrow to be unpacked, and then sat his phone and the glass of tea down on his bedside table. He went into his master bathroom and walked over to the shower, turning on the water as hot as he could stand it. He took off his clothes and put them in the hamper before stepping into the shower. He washed his hair and body and then stood there under the water. He hoped that he would get a reply from whoever it was that created that website, he hoped even more that they actually knew about vampires and how to kill them. He stood there until the water turned cold, he reached down and turned it off. He grabbed the towel off the towel rack on the wall and wrapped it around his waist.
He walked over to his bed and picked up the glass of tea and took a drink. Deciding he needed something stronger, he went back downstairs and grabbed a bottle of whiskey out of the kitchen cabinet. Without even bothering with a glass, he took a drink straight out of the bottle. He went back upstairs, taking the bottle with him. He sat the bottle down on the top of his dresser and opened up the top drawer and grabbed a pair of boxers out, sliding them on. He picked the bottle back up and walked over to the sliding glass door that led out onto a small balcony.
His room was at the back of the house, so from this point, all he could see was the woods. The moon was high in the dark sky and stars were bright. He liked standing out here looking at the stars, you could see them a lot better here than you could in Los Angeles. The city lights were too bright to see them well, but here, you could see them for miles. He loved looking at the stars, he wouldn't like living in the city where you can't see them. He put the bottle of whiskey to his lips and took another drink.
Who the hell did she think she was? He asked himself. Just because she was a vampire, just because she was beautiful, just because she haunted his dreams for too many nights, that didn't mean she could just treat him like he was a disposable one-night stand. He gave her his heart and she ripped it out of his chest and crushed it. Did she really think that he wouldn't be hurt, wouldn't be angry? That she could just say a few well-placed words and he would be swooning over her again? Not. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Hell, he was angry before, but that message just pissed him off even worse.
He took another drink of the whiskey, and another, and another, until finally he was starting to feel drunk, but not drunk enough to satisfy him, so he took another drink. He kept drinking and before he knew it, the bottle was halfway gone. Being drunk didn't abate his anger, it just made it worse, but being drunk did let the hurt come through. Now he wasn't just angry, but hurting too. At least while he was sober, the anger kept the pain away. He didn't realize the tears that had fell from his eyes and streaming down his cheeks.
He stood there did his best trying to drink the pain and anger away, and since that wasn't happening, he sat the bottle down on the small table that was on the balcony and stumbled back into his bedroom and over to the bed. He fell face first into his pillow and passed out without even pulling down the blanket.