Her mother snapped around to face her. “Then why did you end up in a hospital in Pennsylvania?”
“I was attacked by a dog,” Katelina answered vaguely, using the story they’d given at the ER. She changed her tactics quickly and dropped her voice to a soft, pleading tone. “Mom, please stop. Can’t you just be happy to see me?”
Her mother’s shoulders sagged perceptibly, and Katelina knew she was winning. Her mother did a good guilt trip because she was susceptible to the same tactics. “I am happy to see you, but I’ve been worried sick. I just want to know what’s going on.”
“Nothing is going on.” Katelina tugged Jorick to the ugly couch and switched topics. “But I want to know what happened to my apartment! You said it was trashed?”
Her mother surrendered and sat in one of the pheasant bedecked chairs. “I don’t know. I found it in shambles. The front door was kicked in and your stuff was just everywhere.” She waved her arms in illustration. “We found Sarah’s purse among the rubble when Brad and I cleaned it out.”
Brad. Sarah’s boyfriend, the bartender. When she’d last seen Sarah, she’d offered to cancel her date with him. The memories slammed her in the chest, replaced by the one where Jorick told her Sarah was dead. But this wasn’t the place for them. How could she tell them what she knew?
“You, uh, cleaned it out?” Anything to change the subject.
“We had to. The landlord wasn’t going to let you leave your stuff there for free, Katelina! We had to wait until the police let us, of course, but then we packed up what was salvageable and brought it here. Poor Brad has just worked himself nearly to death. Between his job and trying to find you two. He’s spent hours contacting people all over the country and working on the website.”
Katelina’s eyes went wide with horror. “A website? Surely that wasn’t necessary?”
“Then you tell me what we were supposed to do! Your apartment was ruined, you were both missing!” Her voice took on a desperate tone. “You do know where she is, don’t you?”
Katelina took a deep breath and offered up the rehearsed lie, “No, I didn't even know she was missing until you told me.”
A knock sounded on the door and Katelina jumped. Her mother didn't seem surprised and called cheerfully, “Come in!”
The door opened and Brad hurried though it. He looked much like Katelina remembered; his sandy blonde hair fell in perfectly gelled waves, and his blue eyes were the kind that caught your attention and held them. She’d always found him incredibly sexy, but next to Jorick, he didn’t seem that amazing anymore.
He came to a stop in front of her, and his words tumbled out in an enthusiastic rush, “Katelina! So your mom was right! Thank God you’re okay!” He suddenly looked at Jorick in bewilderment, as if he’d just realized he was there. “Where’s Sarah?”
“She doesn’t know.” Her mother moved to stand next to the young bartender and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “She didn’t even know Sarah was missing.”
Brad’s face fell and he looked ready to collapse. “Oh.” Though only one word, it was filled with defeat. He let Katelina’s mom lead him to a chair and then he sank down wearily. The older woman hovered behind him protectively, her hands on the back of the chair.
It was as if Brad had aged several years in the span of a minute, and Katelina felt a crushing wave of guilt wash over her. She wondered if she could just edit out the vampires, that way he’d at least know Sarah was dead. He deserved that much, didn’t he? But, even if she changed the vampires to some kind of a gang, how could she admit she’d known and hadn’t called the police or told anyone? Brad would definitely go to the cops, and there’d be an investigation. They’d haul her in, and Jorick and - No. It was too risky. She couldn’t chance someone finding out about Jorick and the others. She’d seen what happened to people who “knew”; they ended up mutilated and left in a ditch somewhere.
“I’m sorry,” she said, for something to do. “I wish I could tell you more.”
Brad seemed to shrink. “The last time I saw her she was going to your house. You hadn’t been at work and she thought you were sick. She was just going to stop for a minute and then meet me at the bar.” He looked up, emotions shining in his eyes. “She never came.”
“Oh.” She bit her lip hard and tried to find something to say. “The last time I saw her was at work. I went home early and she offered to cancel her date and come hang out. I, uh, told her not to, and then I left with Jorick a couple of hours later and haven’t seen anyone since.”
Her words were useless, but Brad’s eyes lit up and he leaned forward, as if she’d said something important. “Wait. What day did you leave?”
“The twenty-first of October. It was the day I got that -”
“Phone call,” Brad finished. His eyes danced to Jorick and a strange suspicion blossomed in them. “Who is this?”
Katelina cleared her throat, uncomfortable at the connections Brad seemed to be making. “This is Jorick. He’s my boyfriend,” she added, to make it clear that he was not up for debate. “I don’t feel like going through the story again.”
“You didn’t go through it a first time,” her mother mumbled, but she seemed content to let it drop for the moment. She released Brad’s chair and started towards the kitchen. “Would you like some tea?”
“Yes, please.” Brad turned back to Katelina. “You say you left the twenty-first? What about your house? Was it trashed or…”
“When I left everything was fine.”
“Fine,” he echoed, his attention on something far away. “You left the twenty-first and Sarah didn’t go missing until the twenty-fourth, the night before those men showed up.”
“What men?”
Brad jerked back to the present. “Patricia didn’t tell you about them?”
Patricia? It took Katelina a moment to figure out that he meant her mother. “No.” She started to ask how they’d gotten to a first name basis, but he rushed on.
“Two men were here. The neighbors saw them for a moment, but not well enough to identify them.” He gave Jorick another suspicious glance. “Whatever they wanted, they gave her a heart attack.”
Katelina’s eyes bulged. “What? A heart attack? Not literally?”
“Yes, literally. She doesn’t remember anything about it.” His eyes glowed as he drifted away again. “If your house was ransacked after you left, then that means they were probably looking for you. Maybe Sarah came in during it, and they took her because they thought she knew where you were. She didn’t, which would explain why they came here…” he trailed off, making disturbing mental leaps and calculations. “But why?” he asked no one in particular. “Why were they after you?”
“Patrick owed gambling debts,” Jorick said quietly. “They probably wanted their money. Other than that, we don’t know anything, and asking repeatedly isn’t going to help.”
Brad started to object, and Katelina talked over him. “My mother had a heart attack? Tell me what happened!”
He grimaced, then explained grudgingly, “It was about two in the morning when the neighbors saw a couple of men enter the house, and then they heard her screaming. They called the police, but since it takes the cops forever to do anything, they got impatient and came over themselves. By then the intruders were gone and Patricia was left for dead. Luckily they called an ambulance, which got here faster than the cops ever did. The paramedics saved her, but she doesn’t remember anything that happened from the moment she got home that afternoon until she woke up.”
The woman in question reappeared, toting glasses of iced tea. “It was Mr. Wallabee and his son,” she explained. “I’m eternally grateful to them. If they hadn’t come, I don’t know what would have happened. Thank goodness they’re both vampires!”
Katelina froze in paranoid horror, then realized it was a reference to the Wallabees' regularly late hours. There was an irony in the fact that, on that particular night, there probably had been vampires present, just not the k
ind her mom meant. It was too much of a coincidence that her mother had nocturnal visitors at the same time that Claudius was looking her - visitors who left her for dead. She met Jorick’s eyes questioningly and his expression said this was the first he’d heard about it. Obviously his sources were not infallible.
After that, they sipped iced tea and talked in circles for two hours. Her mother and Brad asked the same questions over and over, and Katelina struggled to stay calm and stick to her story. When the sirens sounded outside the window, it was almost a relief, except they all knew what it meant.
The red and blue lights flashed brightly through the curtains like patriotic Christmas lights, and lent one more surreal element to an insane evening. The police were polite enough to knock on the door and, despite Katelina’s hesitation, her mother hurried to open it. The young officer looked around uncertainly, his gun in his hand. “We received a call,” he began, but he was interrupted by Detective Richards, a dark man who Katelina knew on sight. He was the one in charge of Patrick’s murder case, and she’d seen far too much of him in the past.
“Ma’am.” He smiled suavely at Katelina’s mother. “I think you know who we’re here for.” Wordlessly, she stepped away from the door so he could enter. He was barely inside when his eyes locked on Jorick. “Well, well, and there he is, our mystery man.” He looked at Katelina. “I don’t suppose you intend to press any charges?”
“Of course not!” Katelina leapt to her feet and attempted to put herself between Jorick and the detective. “I wasn’t kidnapped! You don’t need to -”
“I’m afraid we do,” he said with insincere regret. “He’s wanted for questioning about the murder of Patrick Mullens.” Jorick stood and met the officer’s eyes and, for the first time, Katelina saw Detective Richards flinch. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way,” he began, his tone male bravado.
Jorick’s words were a sigh. “No, I’ll come.” He stepped past Katelina, though paused long enough to look at her with eyes that said, “I told you so!”
“This is stupid!” Katelina tried to insert herself between them again. “Of course he didn’t have anything to do with it! Why would he?”
Detective Richards gave her the gloating smile of a spider who’s just snared a particularly bothersome fly. “That’s what we intend to find out.” His tone turned gruff as he glanced at the other cop. “Cuff him.”
The uncertain officer moved towards Jorick. He fumbled with the handcuffs, looking like he’d rather be eating a donut or hiding under a rug. He stammered as he ordered Jorick to put his hands behind his back and received a low growl for his efforts. Katelina suddenly imagined a blood bath, but Jorick refrained.
“This isn’t necessary,” Katelina insisted as the handcuffs clicked. “He didn’t do anything!”
“That’s for us to determine,” the detective answered. “As for you, I’d stay in town. Depending on what your friend tells us, we may want to question you about your friend Sarah Townsend.”
“I don’t know anything! Damn it! I just spent two hours being grilled by these two! If I knew where she was, I’d be happy to help, but I don’t, and neither does Jorick!” She unthinkingly grabbed for the detective’s arm, trying to make him listen, but he flinched away and the nervous policeman pointed his gun towards her.
“Is this necessary?” Katelina’s mom cried from her position near the window, her eyes as big as saucers.
Jorick shook his head sadly. “Leave it, Katelina.”
The detective motioned his junior to stand down, then led Jorick out the door. Katelina followed onto the dark porch. Two more cop cars were parked in front of the house and in total six cops stood, shoulders tensed, ready for some kind of action. “Damn it! Jorick!” she shouted. “What should I do?”
He glared back over his shoulder. “Call Oren.”
She moved to follow them to the car, but Brad hurried outside and stopped her. “I can’t let them arrest him!” She struggled against his restraining hands.
“They haven’t arrested him. They didn’t read him his rights. They just want to talk to him.” His gaze leveled with hers. “You have to understand, he’s been our only lead.”
“He’s not a lead!” She jerked away in time to see an officer searching Jorick and depositing the contents of his pockets on the trunk of the car. “Damn it! I knew something like this would happen!”
Her mother stuck her head out the door. “They just want to make sure, honey.” Her eyes darted to the surrounding houses. “Oh lord, but the neighbors are getting an eye full.”
Katelina glared at her and jabbed an accusing finger in her direction. “I said not to tell anyone! Can’t you even do that?”
Her mother looked first shocked and then offended. “I only told Brad! I wouldn’t call the cops, Katelina, no matter what I thought!”
Brad piped up, equally insulted, “Well I didn’t call them, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“Someone sure as hell did!” Katelina pointed to the cops who stood in a cluster around Jorick. She could hear the low murmur of the detective, and caught a few, familiar words. “There, look! They’re reading him his rights! I told you! They’re arresting him!”
“Maybe not,” Brad soothed, but they all knew it was a lie. Jorick ducked unhappily into the backseat of the car without even a glance back at her. The cops held a quick conversation and then split up and climbed into their respective vehicles. Moments later, they pulled out onto the road, sirens and lights now silent.
Katelina made a strangled noise as the car Jorick was in disappeared. They were hauling him off to be fingerprinted and harassed. It was a nightmare! A vampire in jail! Oh, god! Could it get any worse than that? She had to get him out of there before it was too late!
The commotion over, curtains in the nearby houses dropped as the nosey neighbors wandered away, undoubtedly to call one another and compare notes. Katelina scowled at them in general, though she knew they couldn’t see her.
Brad caught her arm and tugged her towards the house. “Who are you supposed to call?”
Her answer was lost in an unintelligible cry of dismay. She didn't know how to call Oren! It wasn’t as if Jorick had an address book or cell phone, and she didn’t even know where Oren’s new coven was located.
“What?” Brad asked.
She didn't get a chance to reply before a foreign hand landed on her shoulder, the first indication of another presence. A voice sounded in her ear, masculine but feathery light, “Redial.”
She jerked in surprise and spun around to find herself looking into the face of Verchiel. His ridiculous red eyebrows arched over mischievous eyes and a wry grin danced on his lips.
“What?”
Brad was suddenly aware of the new presence on the porch. He gaped at the shadowy figure. “Who’s that? Where’d he come from?”
“Redial,” Verchiel repeated casually. He stepped back, pretending that Brad didn’t exist, and surveyed Katelina appraisingly. “I assume you’ll want to come? Or should I be the hero by myself?”
**********
Chapter Five
Katelina stared at Verchiel, her eyes wide. “What - what are you talking about?” Then, for good measure she added, “And what are you doing here?”
“Just passing through. I saw all the lights and wondered what was going on, and there you and our cheerful Jorick were, smack dab in the middle of it all.” He dropped his hand from her shoulder to her arm. “So, let’s go.”
Her mother stepped out onto the porch and squinted into the shadows. “Who is that?”
Katelina was at a loss how to explain Verchiel because she scarcely knew who he was herself, let alone what he was doing there. However, he quickly filled in for her, “Just a friend.” He caught her mother’s eyes and held them a second longer than necessary.
“A friend,” her mother repeated oddly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brad demanded. “A friend? A friend of who? Kately or that guy?”
>
While Katelina cringed at the use of her old nickname, Verchiel embraced it with delight. “Both of course. I just adore dear Kately.” As if to prove it, he patted her on the head. “If you’ll get her coat and excuse us, I believe Jorick needs rescuing.”
Brad objected, but Verchiel didn’t bother to acknowledge him. He waited until her mother handed out the garment, and then he dragged Katelina off the porch and across the yard. She could hear her mother soothing Brad in a strange, hollow tone, “It’s all right, he’s a friend.”
They reached the end of the sidewalk when Katelina jerked loose. “What did you do to her?”
“Nothing that won’t wear off shortly,” he whispered pointedly and tugged her towards the car. “I’m not sure how much you know about arrest procedures, but you want Jorick out of the police station as quickly as possible. I doubt he’s bothered with an identity for some time, and that’s going to be a problem.”
She couldn’t argue with that, though she really wanted to. The best she could manage was a weak, “He has a driver’s license.”
“That’s a start, at least.” Verchiel stopped next to the car and held out his hand. “Keys?”
“Jorick has them. I’ll ask Mom to borrow her car.”
The voices on the porch got louder; her mother’s had a shrill edge. “Ah yes, it’s wearing off,” Verchiel commented. “By the time your mother agrees to let you borrow her car, and Mr. tough-guy gets done with his objections, Jorick will already be in a cell. We’ll just have to walk.” He paused, thoughtfully. “Jorick didn’t call anyone after we left last night, did he?”
“No.” And then she understood. Redial. “His apartment is clear across town! It will take forever to walk there!”
He tugged her quickly down the sidewalk. “I’m a lot faster than you are.” He came to a stop under a shadowy evergreen and dropped into a crouch. “Climb on.” He indicated that she should ride piggy-back style.
She took a step back. “Are you nuts? That’s going to look conspicuous!”
Amaranthine Special Edition Vol II Page 7