Read Online Forever by Pati Nagle - Free Book Online Page B

so I took shampoo and shaving stuff. Added that to the gym bag and pulled a pillow out of my bed.
    Entertainment. I carried the bag and pillow out to the living room and collected my laptop. “You have wireless?” I asked Caeran.
    He nodded. So books and movies would be available. I went to the shelf that held my textbooks.
    “We’ll fall behind in classes.”
    “No, you can keep going to class. Alben shelter during the day. It is only at night that you are vulnerable.”
    I met Caeran’s gaze. “So that part of the myth is true? Sunlight kills them?”
    His mouth twisted. “It hurts them. I think they’d have to be restrained and exposed for a long while to suffer fatal damage.”
    He looked as though the idea bothered him. For a killer, he didn’t seem so ruthless.
    I piled my textbooks next to the laptop and stared at the heap, wondering what I was forgetting.
    “You might check your refrigerator for food that could spoil,” Caeran said gently.
    I went into the kitchen, annoyed that he’d read my thoughts. I practiced white-lighting while I filled another grocery bag with fruit, salad stuff, yogurt, and a quart jug of milk that was mostly full. I brought this out to the living room and added it to the pile.
    “I’d like to take my bike. Your place is farther from campus.”
    Caeran glanced toward the window. “We’ll come back for it, if that’s all right.”
    The darkness outside was mostly from the gathering storm, but it made me nervous and obviously bothered Caeran as well. Those alben probably loved stormy weather.
    Caeran helped me carry my stuff to the Lexus. We piled it all in the back seat, went back to lock the door of my apartment, then ducked into the car just as the rain broke. Caeran drove back to his house with the wipers on high. I was grateful that the house had a garage that wasn’t full of junk, and therefore actually had room for the car.
    The smell of dinner set my mouth to watering the minute I stepped in the house. Lomen met me with a smile and took my laptop and pillow from my arms.
    “I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”
    He led me down the hall and into a bedroom. At first I thought it was a guest room, then I noticed some personal touches on the nightstand: a small deer carved out of wood, a candle in a pottery holder, a deck of playing cards.
    “This is my room,” Lomen said.
    A tingle went down my arms. “Shouldn’t I let Amanda have it?”
    “I offered it to her first. It was her room when she lived here, but she insists she prefers the couch.”
    Caeran brought in my textbooks and put them on a small desk in one corner of the room. Lomen set my laptop beside them.
    “Dinner’s ready,” Caeran said.
    I left my bag and pillow on the bed and followed them to the little dining nook off the living room. The table there had been set with five places, a cozy fit for a table more suited for four. Caeran and Len brought out dishes of food and put them on the sideboard. The heavenly smell was coming from a roast chicken. There were roasted potatoes and carrots, fresh green beans, and a big bowl of salad.
    At Len’s invitation I grabbed a plate—stoneware, looked hand-made—and filled it, then took one of two chairs sharing a side of the table. Lomen took the other. No one said anything. Not so much as a raised eyebrow.
    “Savhoran called,” Amanda said. “He’s heading out to find Pirian.”
    Caeran frowned. “The sun hasn’t set.”
    “He said it’s worth the risk.” She didn’t sound happy about it.
    “We saw the weather forecast while you were gone,” Len said. “This is a big storm and it’s moving slowly. He should be all right.”
    “Is he on the bike?” Caeran asked.
    Amanda stabbed a carrot. “Yeah.”
    Motorcycle, I assumed. Dangerous on wet pavement.
    I didn’t comment. I was too busy eating. Everything was fantastic, and not just because I was hungry.
    I chewed a mouthful of green beans with butter and almond slivers, thinking. All