Read Sunrise at Sunset for Free Online

large section where his car was located, giving the area an ominous feel.
    As he reached the door to his blue older model Honda coupe, he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He was immediately confronted by a large-framed individual wearing jeans and a dark hooded sweatshirt. He couldn’t make out the man’s face in the darkness, but he did see the glint of a long steel blade being wielded in the person’s right hand.
    “Give me your wallet, asshole!” the man demanded.
    “Whoa, just take it easy,” Caleb urged, wide-eyed with his hands held up slightly. “Listen, I’m just a teacher. You’ve probably got more money in your pocket than anybody around here.”
    “Shut up!” the man ordered. “Just make this easy and give me the wallet!”
    Caleb couldn’t believe what was happening. He glanced around nervously, but saw no other people around, and the security car that normally patrolled the parking lots was nowhere to be seen.
    “Okay, okay,” he said anxiously with his eyes focused on the guy’s knife. While reaching into his back pocket and slowly withdrawing his wallet, he considered trying to wrestle with the guy, but he had never confronted an armed person before. Despite his athletic build, Caleb abhorred violence and strove to avoid physical conflicts. He struggled with too many bad memories of abuse at his father’s hands as a child. It’s just a wallet.
    The man reached out to grab the wallet from him, when suddenly Katrina appeared at Caleb’s side. Her right leg shot out, and the heel of her knee-high boot caught the guy in the ribs with a small crunching sound. The fellow heaved a groan while bending over, and then abruptly turned to run away across the empty parking lot. He disappeared between some nearby old buildings overlooking that side of campus, still holding the knife in his hand and clutching at his midsection with his left arm.
    Katrina watched the man flee and felt the strong, immediate desire to pursue the assailant. No, not pursue, but rather hunt him down and drain his blood. Instead, she turned to look at Caleb with concern.
    He was speechless as he still clutched his wallet in a shaking hand. “Th-thank you” he stammered. “That’s never happened before,” he anxiously added as he glanced around the area.
    Katrina reached out to gently grasp his arm with a look of concern. “Caleb, are you okay?” she asked.
    He nodded and nervously ran his right hand through his hair as he gazed up into her eyes. “Yeah…fine...thanks,” he muttered.
    He didn’t seem to notice that she had called him by his first name as his heart pounded away in his chest. She studied his body language and proceeded to lean him back against his car as she protectively wrapped her left arm around his shoulders.
    “Listen, I don’t know how to thank you,” he said in his most grateful-sounding voice possible.
    She smiled at him in a supportive, reassuring manner. “Maybe some bonus points in lieu of an out-of-class project?”
    He nervously chuckled and scanned the area around them. “Yeah, as if you needed bonus points. I’d wager you’d teach the section better than I do,” he ventured as he began to feel a little better.
    She smirked. “Knowledge isn’t everything. I find that a good presenter always enhances the material.”
    Caleb wanly smiled while considering the dubious merits of standing in a dark parking lot immediately following an attempted robbery. What if that guy decides to return for a second attempt?
    Katrina regarded him with an intense expression as she listened to his pounding heartbeat, and an urge rose within her. At that moment, she felt the strong call of his blood. Her predatory instincts were screaming for action, and she wrestled to curtail them.
    Caleb could have sworn at that moment that her green eyes seemed to emanate a slight glow, and he stared back incredulously. Then the parking lot lights abruptly snapped on, slightly startling