Amaranthine Special Edition Vol II

by Naylor, Joleene

  She kicked and hit at him. He dodged her blows, wearing the pained expression of a put upon person. She managed to land one good punch to his head. Instead of reeling, he narrowed his eyes and hissed through tight lips, “All right, if this is what you want.”

  He flung her over his shoulder and she shrieked. He looked at the gawkers and shouted apologetically over her protests, “Sorry about this. It happens occasionally.”

  No one moved to help her as he carried her, kicking and screaming, out the door and into the cold. A couple in the parking lot stared openly. Verchiel tipped his head to them and repeated his apology.

  They made it to the sleek yellow car unmolested, and he dumped her into the front seat. She tried to bite him, and he grabbed her shoulders. Before she could get loose, a strange, blank calmness crashed over her. She fought it, but failed. She sank back into the seat, as her eyes drifted closed and a soothing blackness descended.

  When she came to, they were speeding down the highway. The windshield wipers swished back and forth to combat soft flakes of snow. She blinked groggily and then cried out as she spied Verchiel and it all came crashing back.

  He laughed at her. “You know, you made quite a scene back there.”

  “You’re an ass! Your sister? We don’t look anything alike!” In fact, his facial features were almost Asian.

  “I know, but people always accept the option that means they don’t have to get involved. You should behave. Jorick told you to cooperate, and he meant it by the way.” He tapped his head to indicate he’d read the other vampire’s mind. “He didn’t mean for you to run off with no way to get ahold of him.”

  “I’d have found a way.”

  “Really? Such as?”

  She had no answer, so she glowered silently. He reached between the seats and fished out a travel can of chips and a bottle of soda and dropped them into her lap. “You should probably feed - erm, eat. I did promise Jorick I’d feed and water you.”

  “Ha ha. Funny. You know he’s going to kill you.” Images of Claudius’ beheaded body danced through her mind, followed by a certain sick satisfaction.

  Verchiel nodded good naturedly. “No doubt he’s planning my demise this very moment, but I don’t think he’ll follow through with it.”

  “Oh, he will.” She jerked her gaze to the window, comforted by the certainty of Jorick’s revenge. Still, no matter how fierce he might be, would he make it in time? She’d seen what agents of The Guild were like. They were terrible monsters - the kind who would bash a baby’s skull into a tree and burn humans alive! She had no illusions about what they’d do to her!

  Verchiel intruded on her silent thoughts. “You’re marked, so you’re not an ordinary human, as far as The Laws are concerned. They can’t just kill you without a reason, you know.”

  “That’s not what I’ve heard.” She replied icily.

  “Jorick’s bitter.” He waved it away with a gloved hand. “Sure, some enjoy their job more than others, Senya especially, but not everyone in The Guild is evil. In case you’ve forgotten Jorick used to be an Executioner.”

  “Yes, but he isn’t one now. Besides, I’ve seen what you and your friends do.”

  He looked surprised. “Have you? And where was this?” When she didn’t answer, he connected it himself. “If you mean at Oren’s coven, they may have gone overboard. Bren always enjoys - I guess I should say enjoyed - a production. Still, they didn't kill anyone that they weren’t supposed to.”

  “And what right do they have to decide who they’re supposed to kill?”

  “They don’t, unless they’re attacked. That’s why we take an Execution Council when there’s a debate. We only follow orders, you know.”

  “So they were ordered to burn Alexander alive?” she shouted, her hands clenched into white knuckled fists. “What did he ever do?”

  He looked thoughtful.“Who was Alexander?”

  “Oren’s little boy! They threw him into the fire and made his parents watch while he burned to death!”

  Verchiel flinched involuntarily. “Well, no. They were probably ordered to destroy him, since he was a child. He can’t take care of himself -”

  “Yes, I know all about that!”

  “Oh, then you should understand.”

  “I understand they’re sick bastards! And so are these council people if they said to burn him alive!”

  Verchiel cleared his throat and stared at the highway slipping past. “I doubt they said to burn him, only to deal with him. The method is up to the Executioner.”

  “Well isn’t that just jolly? And I suppose it was up to whoever had to kill Shelay too?”

  “Who?”

  “Don’t you know anything? She was a singer! Remember? Kateesha supposedly kidnapped her and the stupid Executioners got her back so they could cut her up and leave her in a ditch!”

  Verchiel shrugged. “Sorry, I wasn’t on that case. That was Senya and her crew, though I heard about it. They had to make it look like a murder, and then the human had drunk vampire blood, so they had to remove her organs. It shows up as an anomaly when the autopsy people run tests.”

  “Oh, the horrors! Maybe they should have left her alive!”

  Verchiel sighed. “It’s just the way those things are always handled. Be glad she was a high profile human, or she’d have just been killed and incinerated. No one would ever know what happened to her.”

  She sneered at him. “I guess that makes it okay since it’s always handled that way.”

  “Do you think it would be better to just put vampires out in the open? How long would it be before they took over completely? Have you seen movies where vampires run wild? They have human farms and human slaves. Do you think reality would be any different?”

  He was right about that, but she refused to agree. “Maybe.”

  “You know better. And if someone has to be sacrificed now and again for the good of the whole, that’s just life. Cruel? Sure, but it’s the way reality works. It’s no different than killing a rebel leader to stop a war. One man dies and hundreds are spared death on a battlefield.”

  She had nothing to say, so she muttered, “Whatever.”

  It was an hour until dawn when Verchiel deftly snatched out a US travel atlas from between the seats. He flipped the pages one handed and checked a map against the highway signs. He nodded in satisfaction then tossed it at her. “Put that back, would you?”

  “You.” She refused to acknowledge the maps, but her curiosity got the better of her. Casually, she picked it up and flipped it open. She found herself looking at the maps for Idaho and Indiana, both a mass of multi colored lines. Penciled in various locations were stars, squares, triangles and twinklies with names or numbers scrawled next to them. There were a few eraser smudges that showed where marks had been removed.

  Stubbornly, she snapped it closed, and bit her lip to keep from inquiring. Verchiel absently tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “It’s the location of all the known dens. The different symbols mean different things, like who’s loyal to The Guild, who’s revolting, and who needs to be wiped out one of these days.”

  “I didn’t ask,” she said brusquely.

  “No. But you wanted to know.”

  His smug grin irritated her even more. “Seems pretty low-tech.”

  “What? Were you expecting a laptop and wi-fi?” She didn’t answer and he broke into laughter. “I like gadgets as much as the next guy, but paper never needs to be recharged. Besides, I can edit that myself. If I need to change something on the database, I have to submit the change and then someone has to approve it and post it, and of course someone will always challenge it because they haven’t heard about it yet, and yada, yada, yada. It’s a process.”

  She didn’t want to speak to him, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Database?”

  “Yeah.” He pulled a phone out of his pocket and ran his finger over the touch screen to unlock it, then he tossed it to her. “Here. Look for the icon that says V-Map.”r />
  She gripped the phone excitedly, but realized she had no one to call. She didn’t know Oren’s stupid number and 9-1-1 would be a waste of time. With no other options, she did as he instructed. “A phone app?” The idea was absurd, but she hit the icon. The screen went black and then slowly loaded a map. A tiny pink dot moved jerkily down a line that was labeled “State Hwy 52”.

  “That’s us. Now, compare that to the map. You’ll see mine’s better.”

  She gave both a cursory glance. “You’re missing some.”

  “I bet not.” He craned his neck and studied the screen. “There, the green square. Tap that.” It brought up a new box and he asked, “What’s it say?”

  She rolled her eyes impatiently, but read back the information. “Carvelho sisters. Agnes & Iris. Turned August 1962, approximately 24 & 26. Master: Nirel Cummings. Abandoned. Blood debt: paid. Allegiance: none Abilities: none of any interest -” she broke off. “My god!”

  He waved her comment away. “Scroll down and check under notes and tell me what it says.”

  “It says, ‘location disputed. Information suggests this den was abandoned. Further investigation needed’.”

  “Exactly. They’ve been gone for a year now, but they’re still listed at that location. Meanwhile, if you flip over to Florida, you’ll find them listed there too, because that’s where they’re actually at! See what I mean?”

  She stared at the phone in disbelief. “So, is Jorick in here?”

  “Of course.” Verchiel snatched the phone out of her hand before she could look anything else up. “Everyone is. Or they’re supposed to be. As slow as they are at updating it, I bet there’s a lot of vampires who’ve been overlooked.”

  “That’s just… bizarre! You have a vampire map phone app!”

  “Yeah. What? You think just because I don’t have a GPS stuck to the dashboard we’re behind? Oh, I know.” He broke into a broad grin. “It’s Jorick, isn’t it? Living in the dark ages. We’re not all like that. Just the ones who can’t let go.”

  Though she secretly agreed with his assessment, she snorted contemptuously. “And you have a paper map. What’s your point?”

  He started to defend himself, but stopped. “Touché.”

  Verchiel steered the car down a series of side roads and stopped in front of a medium sized house. He climbed out, whistling to himself, then made a show of opening her door and escorting her across the snowy lawn.

  Her eyes bounced warily from the dark windows to the many footprints in the snow. “Where are we?”

  He didn’t reply, only stopped before the front door and rapped on it loudly. When no one answered he called, “Open in the name of The Guild!”

  Small sounds erupted on the other side of the door. It finally opened to reveal a pale slice of wary face. “What do you want?”

  “Ah, hello,” Verchiel said in his friendly, conversational tone, as if it were a routine social call. “Is your master around?”

  “That depends,” the face answered, the voice and features both distinctly unisex. “Who wants to know?”

  Verchiel lifted his amulet, holding it out so that the twisted metal caught the moonlight. The other vampire hissed a too quick breath, and Verchiel went on, “We seek shelter for the day. I’m afraid I am on rather urgent business for The Guild.”

  The vampire sniffed and looked suspicious. The door snapped shut and Verchiel hummed absently and tapped his fingers on the porch railing.

  “You don’t know them?” Katelina asked, incredulous. “This is stupid. They might kill you while you sleep.”

  “Maybe, but they’re all fairly young, so I doubt it. I want to make sure you’re well looked after. Can’t have you escaping while I’m taking my beauty rest. What would you do without me?”

  “Sharpen a stake.”

  The door opened again, this time to a slender woman with pale eyes and brown hair. As Verchiel said, she was obviously newer because, like Loren, she still looked human.

  Verchiel repeated his introduction and wordlessly the woman nodded and stepped back to admit them. He bowed his head to her and swept Katelina over the threshold with him.

  “I do apologize,” he continued. “I know it’s an inconvenience. I don’t suppose I could trouble you for lodging for the human? I’m afraid she’s a rather valuable witness and they want her delivered unharmed.”

  The woman nodded and motioned for them to follow. Though Katelina dragged her feet, she was tugged through the house against her will. Three other vampires appeared and followed them, including the unisex vampire. It had chin length hair that was a strange color of strawberry blonde and, like the woman, still looked vaguely human. At closer inspection, Katelina decided the vampire was a male, but it still could have been a flat-chested girl.

  The pale-eyed woman led them down a set of stairs to the basement where four mismatched coffins waited. In one corner was a newer room with cinder block walls and a heavy, padlocked door. It was to this door that they were taken.

  The silent vampiress motioned with her hand and a short chunky male quickly unlocked the padlock. “This is where we keep the extras, when we have them.”

  Verchiel ignored the look of horror on Katelina’s face. “I’m sure you’ll be fine in here.” He propelled her through the doorway and into the tiny room. “I’ll see you at sunset.”

  The door slammed shut before she could argue. Terrified, she launched herself at it and banged it with her fists. “Don’t you dare leave me in here! You bastard! I swear to God I’ll kill you myself!”

  Though no one answered, she continued until she wore herself out. Gloomily, she surrendered and surveyed her prison. The floor was the same cement as the rest of the basement with a large, grated drain in the corner. A strong stench rolled out of it and she could easily guess its function. Besides the drain, there was a rusty metal bucket that had an inch of water in the bottom, a spigot sticking out of the far wall and a tatty blanket.

  Defeated, she dropped to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest. The chunky vampire’s words played through her mind, “This is where we keep the extras.” She shivered as she wondered how many people had stayed in that little prison, waiting in terror to die at the vampires’ convenience. How many days had they been forced to endure what had most certainly been a nightmare filled hell?

  Her stomach lurched as her imagination dredged up ghosts, and the heavy stench from the drain didn't help. She fought to keep from being sick, and had just gotten control of her fear when the single bulb in the center of the ceiling snapped out and plunged her into blackness.

  A strangled scream lodged itself in her throat, unable to complete its journey. The dark pressed in around her. It choked her and left her terrified and trembling. On the other side of the door, she heard the sounds of the vampires getting into their coffins for the day; lids opening and closing, the scrape of wood on wood, the snap of metal. She tried to calm herself and focus on her breathing, but she kept thinking of the four strangers on the other side of the wall. Verchiel wouldn’t kill her because he had to deliver her alive, but what was to stop the other four from killing Verchiel and keeping her a prisoner for days on end as they slowly harvested her blood?

  A shudder ran through her and she held herself tightly. Tears leaked out of her closed eyes and she whimpered. It had been weeks since she’d been so utterly miserable, or at least that’s what she told herself. She tried to look on the bright side. The last time she’d felt so hopeless it had been worse; she’d believed that Jorick was dead. But that had been over quickly, not like this horrible nightmare of ever pressing blackness and thick, choking reek that stretched out before her and left her with hours of dark, sickness and fear to look forward to.

  **********

  Chapter Ten

  Katelina knew that the sun was shining outside but, in the small, locked room, the ever present darkness weighed on her like an iron mantle. Besides the black and the stench, there was a thick, sticky silence that reminded her of
a tomb. That thought disturbed her even more.

  Though paranoia kept her awake and sharpened her senses, with no immediate danger, boredom eventually made her eyes heavy and her brain sluggish. She had no way to measure time and it felt like an eternity passed before sleep finally stole over her. At last, the terrible darkness was relieved by her dreams, though peace was still elusive.

  She woke to impenetrable dark, no different than when she’d gone to sleep. She waited, for what she didn’t know, and held her breath. Something moved beyond the confines of her cell. A lid opened, a voice spoke. They were waking. She suddenly imagined Verchiel butchered by the strangers, his blood as red as his hair. What would happen next? Would they gorge on her right away, or would they save her for later?

  The questions made her sick. Just as she was ready to scream, the light snapped on. It was too bright and she shielded her face from the onslaught. Then, the door opened. She squinted terrified eyes to see the chubby vampire in the doorway. Verchiel’s head appeared over his shoulder. At the sight of him, she was torn between relief and fury.

  He trilled enthusiastically, “Good morning!”

  She jerked to her feet but found no words to express her rage, so he went on. “As much as you like it here, we have to be going. We don’t have all night to hang around.”

  “Fuck you,” she snapped. As soon as the doorway was clear she bolted through it and into the basement. The air was clean by comparison and she took deep lungfuls of it. Verchiel leaned against the stairs, watching her, and the chubby vampire moved to huddle with his three coven mates. Their eyes were curious, and their awkward postures said they didn’t trust their guests.

  When she felt she could breathe again, Katelina strode towards the Executioner, her eyes wild. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him furiously. “How dare you lock me up in there like a fucking cow!”