“Demeaning?” Katelina cried, hands on her hips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The damage was done. Oren growled threateningly in his throat, but took a step backwards. “I am not babysitting the human. I just don’t like you. I don’t give a damn what she does.”
“Good, then you won’t mind if I borrow her?” Before either of them could object, Verchiel tugged her out the door and down the hall. He slowed when they reached the elevators. “You can thank me later.”
“For what?” She jerked her arm loose. “Do you have any idea how pissed Jorick’s going to be?”
Verchiel looked stunned. “Wow! What did Jorick do to you guys last night? Took all the rebellion out of you.”
“He didn’t do anything! And I’m not rebellious!”
“Oh, yes. I can see that.” The elevator doors swished open and he pulled her inside. “Vampires or humans?”
“Humans,” she snapped without thinking.
“Ah, come on. There’s more fun downstairs on the first floor. Can’t you suck it up and deal with them?” He broke off and snickered. “Suck it up. Good one.”
“Oh, you’re right. Being surrounded by a bunch of bloodthirsty vampires sounds like a great time!” She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes on the floor of the Atrium as it grew closer and closer.
“They’re not all bloodthirsty. In case you haven’t noticed, most of us can control the insatiable blood lust, at least in public. I mean, it is hard not to just attack you right here, with all that luscious blood, but…”
“Yeah, whatever.” Her eyes narrowed. “What are we doing, anyway? What are you doing?”
His surprise was overdone. “I’m rescuing you, of course! Jorick’s gone to see Malick and left you alone with the gloomiest vampire ever born! It was only a matter of time before you’d have to commit suicide out of sheer, naked depression. I couldn’t have that on my conscience, now could I?”
“Right, like anyone here in The Guild has a conscience!”
“Of course we do! But I think you meant here in the Citadel. The Guild refers to the group of officials, the Citadel to the place.”
“Whatever.” The last thing she wanted was language corrections from a vampire. “Why do they call it The Guild, anyway? Isn’t that a group of wizards or blacksmiths or something, like a union?”
“I think it’s officially a group of likeminded individuals. In this case it’s probably just a bad English translation, but it gets the point across.”
The elevator stopped and the doors swished open on a broad hallway floored in brick colored tiles and hung with evergreen garland. The Christmas decorations shocked her enough that she let Verchiel tug her to a nearby pair of glass doors.
“What’s with that expression? You look like you stepped on a fork.”
“No, it’s just that the Christmas stuff is surprising.”
“What? You think we don’t celebrate Christmas?” He gasped in mock offence. “What do you take us for, savages?” She rolled her eyes and he laughed. “Ah, we celebrate it as much as anyone else. It’s all glitter, lights and tinsel nowadays anyway. If you like that sort of thing you should see the Christmas trees in the shopping plaza.” His eyes suddenly lit up. “I know! I’ll take you on the grand tour!” She made a disagreeable noise, which he took as an agreement. “Great. We’ll start in the Atrium!”
He opened the glass door and pushed her inside. She had to admit the scene was impressive. Strategically placed columns rose stories high to reach a glass ceiling. With the sun long gone, she knew it was electric light that shone through and imitated a skylight.
The floor was stone, not that she could see much of it for the plants, pots, trees and various benches, tables and lounges. The sound of water was everywhere. There was a large fountain in the center of the room, and a six story high waterfall that cascaded down the back wall that ran over large stones and landed in a basin, gurgling and swirling.
Verchiel followed her eyes. “Come on.” He led her across the room, past several groups of vampires, and came to a stop next to the waterfall. A fine mist of water kissed her skin and she could see different coins flashing in the basin, like shiny fish scales.
“I thought only people did that,” she murmured absently.
“Vampires are people, and people are vampires waiting to happen.”
She turned away from his logic and watched the water. She wished she had a coin to toss in.
“Here.”
She looked up to see Verchiel holding out a penny to her. “Don’t say I never gave you anything.”
“A penny?”
“What do you want? A quarter?” He cocked a ridiculous red eyebrow. “What are you planning to wish for that’s so expensive?”
“Nothing.” She turned the penny over in her fingers and wondered what her wish should be. With a sudden flash of inspiration, she wished that she’d never have to come back to the Citadel again.
The penny plinked happily to the bottom of the pool, and Verchiel watched it settle among the others. “What did you wish for?”
“If I tell you it won’t come true.”
He gave her a fanged grin. “It won’t come true anyway. This is a waterfall, not a wishing well.” She glared at him and he took her arm again. “Come on, I’ll give you a tour of the shopping center next. It’s kind of like a mall.”
“You have a mall?”
“Of course. Where else would we buy things from? There’s a bunch of stuff here. A movie theatre, some kind of girly spa thing, a couple bars-”
She interrupted him. “Bars?”
“Yeah, why not? What do you think everyone does here all day? Just sit in their rooms and stare at the wall? There’s a whole city in here. That’s the point of it.”
“I guess.” The idea of being in the center of a vampire city made her very uncomfortable. It wasn’t something she wanted to think about.
They reached the Atrium doors, when suddenly Verchiel stuffed her behind a potted tree. She tried to protest, but a singular and very urgent desire to be silent washed over her, and she couldn’t fight it.
“There you are,” a familiar voice snipped. Just the sound of Senya was enough to make Katelina shiver, though she sounded distant.
Verchiel’s voice also seemed far away. “Well hello there. Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Jorick’s little bit of human fluff. His fledgling said she was with you.”
“Hmmm, what? Sorry, but no. I don’t have her.”
Senya growled low. “Don’t lie to me, I can smell her.”
“Can you?” There was an odd delight in his voice. “Oh, I bet you smell my jacket. I had the misfortune of letting her wear it earlier. Here.” Katelina could hear him pull it off. “Have a smell.”
“Ugh! Get that away from me!” Though she couldn’t see them, she imagined Senya batting at the coat. “Where is she?”
“I believe she went to the movies. She was adamant about watching that mushy chick flick. You know, with all the crying and sisterhood and crap? I tried to talk her out of it, but….” He trailed off and then continued. “So, we went our separate ways.”
“Did you really?” There was disbelief in Senya’s tone. “Fine. But if I don’t find her quickly, I’ll come back for you.”
“You do that!” he called cheerfully. “Good luck!”
Katelina got up the nerve to peek through the green branches just in time to see Verchiel waving goodbye. As she’d thought, he stood several feet away from her. He meandered pointlessly towards a bench and sat down. After a moment he stood, stretched and then, suddenly, he was next to her.
She jumped and clutched her chest. “My God, how do you do that?”
“Super vampire skills. Now, come on. Unless you want to run into Senya, I suggest we hurry.”
For once, she didn’t argue with him.
They got off the elevator on the sixth floor, and Verchiel bundled her along to the lounge, though he didn’t look enthus
iastic about it. “She’s already searched up here,” he explained. “So they probably won’t look again.”
She started to ask how he knew, but she figured it out. His stress induced mind reading was working again.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, it is! So now would be the perfect time to play twenty questions. You pick first.”
“Ha ha.”
The lounge was nearly as deserted as it had been the day before. Verchiel dumped her off in front of a computer and promised to return, then he sailed out of the room. It wasn’t that she was sorry to see the infuriating vampire go, she just wasn’t keen on being alone. Especially not with Senya after her.
“I wonder what she wants?”
The computer didn’t answer her. With nothing else to do, she decided to check her abandoned email account. That was a mistake that amounted to roughly six thousand unread mails, so she closed it as fast as she could, and then stared at the blank search page. Randomly, she tapped in her own name and hit go.
There were far too many results to make her comfortable. She scanned through apparent news articles and found, fourth entry down, the website her mother had mentioned.
“Oh God, you have to be joking!”
Morbid curiosity made her click on it. Her senses were instantly assaulted with a tinny MP3 and a horrible blue background. There was a collage of photos of her and Sarah with their names underneath: Katelina Mauldin and Sarah Townsend missing since -
Brad hadn’t bothered to update the site, obviously.
She surfed through the pages. Her stomach got tighter and tighter with each click. There was a too detailed account of the “last time” she was seen at home. On the update page were grainy images of Jorick, no doubt taken from the hospital’s security cameras, and one blurry shot of Oren’s big blue car in the parking lot. She silently thanked God that the license plate was missing from the back.
If those weren’t bad enough, there was a report about her injuries. Her cheeks flamed as she read it and then furiously hit the x button. That was her private medical history. How dare the hospital tell anyone and how dare Brad post it! If she got her hands on him again, she’d kill him!
The pictures and details about Sarah made her sick, so she finally closed the page all together. Vampires were so much better in movies. The heroine ran away with one, or killed one, and then the credits rolled as the happily ever after screen flashed by. There was no aftermath to deal with, no scarred family, no broken lives to piece back together. Why couldn’t real life be like that?
“I’ll rip your heart out.”
The voice in her ear made her jump. She spun in her seat, but there was no one there. Her eyes raked over the room; jerking from object to object, but there were only two people watching TV in the far corner.
She waited for the unseen speaker to appear. The minutes ticked by and nothing happened. She thought suddenly of what Jorick said about echoes. The voice had been masculine. Could it have been a stray memory of Claudius or even Troy? That sounded like something they’d probably said. If it had really been a killer vampire behind her, they wouldn’t have just said something. They’d have done it.
The logic didn’t comfort her, but with no immediate danger, her vigil soon grew tedious. She turned back to the computer and randomly searched for vampires. Then, she spent the next two hours reading page after page of myths, legends and fan fictions, with no interruptions from any random voices. Verchiel reappeared just as she’d gotten to a particularly interesting story.
He feigned shock. “I can’t believe you’re reading that smut! Tsk. Tsk.”
“Bite me,” she muttered thoughtlessly, but closed the page before he could read anymore.
He was too close suddenly, leaning over her shoulder, his warm breath on her neck. “I can if you want me to.” She stiffened and then he backed off and laughed. “I don’t think Jorick would like it though. And speaking of our grumpy friend, he’s on his way back to your room, and he’s in a bad mood. I’m sure you’ll know how to soothe his battered ego.” He cocked a lascivious eyebrow. “Especially after reading that.”
She refused to let him rile her. “Fine.” She closed out the browser window and stood. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to wait for him or not, and decided against it. She didn’t really need an escort for one floor.
He tagged along anyway, chattering uselessly. “He’s been to see Malick, of course, Then he went to see Jamie, and then Malick called him back to tell him you’d disappeared with me, and now he’s really mad.”
“Why would Malick do that?”
“Maybe he thought Jorick should know? Or maybe he thought it was fun?” He tipped her a wink as the elevator stopped. “Not that I’m scared of Jorick, I just think it might be better if I left you here. I have a feeling my presence will only make his mood worse.”
She stepped out into the corridor, and tossed back, “You’re afraid of getting punched again?”
“Me?” He batted his eyes innocently. “Never. Bye bye! See you soon!” Then the doors snapped closed.
It took Katelina a moment to gather her scattered thoughts and walk towards the room. Verchiel was weird under the best of circumstances, but today had been the icing on the cake. What was he up to?
Weird or not, he was right about one thing; Jorick was in a bad mood. She was barely in the door before he turned on her and, with a face like a raging bull, roared, “Where have you been?”
She didn’t know whether to be scared or angry, so she bit back, “The lounge, why?”
“I told you to stay here!” He closed the gap between them. “Is it true? Did you go off with that clown?”
“You mean the idiot?” She crossed her arms over her chest, as if that somehow made her stronger. “Sort of. We went down to the atrium and then he stuffed me in a tree -”
“What?”
“- because Senya was there, looking for me. Then he dragged me to the lounge and dropped me off, and I’ve been there on the computer ever since.”
Jorick stiffened, his face a shade paler than usual. “Senya was looking for you?”
“Yes. Though, I don’t know why.”
Jorick snarled an obscenity under his breath. “I can guess. I should have wondered how Malick knew you were with the buffoon.” He saw Katelina’s confusion and added, “Obviously Malick sent her to find you.”
“Why would Malick do that?”
Jorick didn’t answer, but she remembered what Verchiel said, “Maybe he thought it was fun?” The thought made her shiver.
**********
Chapter Eighteen
Though Katelina waited, Senya didn’t come to the room to fetch her. Whatever Malick wanted obviously wasn’t pressing, or else he’d changed his mind. That idea was almost worse than a summons. Better to think he had a real purpose for his actions rather than random whims.
When Jorick calmed down, she asked him why Malick called for him in the first place. His face creased with disgust and he answered, “He wanted me to come back.”
She shivered. “You mean back to The Guild?”
“Back to him, more likely, but yes. He wanted me to come back and take up my old position. He said his initial opinion may have been premature, and perhaps I wasn’t as cold as I wanted everyone to believe.” Something dark sparkled in his eyes, and Katelina had to silently agree. Beneath the layers of cool veneer, anger still burned, though she wasn’t sure who he was angry at.
“I assume you declined?” They’d both forgotten about Oren, but his sudden comment reminded them he was there. Jorick nodded and Oren crossed his arms over his chest. “Then perhaps we can leave now?”
“I imagine he’ll let us go tomorrow. He’d have to wait the day just because he can.” The sound in Jorick’s throat was not complimentary. “I don’t know why he’d make us stay longer than that.”
“I can’t imagine why we’re here in the first place,” Oren bit back, then he let the subject drop. “I need to call the den and give them some instr
uctions.”
Jorick pointed to the phone and Oren glided to it. He stabbed in the number, cursed, then hung up, pressed nine, and redialed. “Hello?” He broke off and held the phone away from him, a grimace on his face. The volume was so loud that Katelina and Jorick could hear Micah’s tinny voice.
“Holy shit. I thought you were dead!”
Oren scowled impatiently. “No, I’m very much alive. Now -”
“Should I tell Traven and the others?”
“No, not right now. Right now I want you to listen .”
“Aye, aye.”
Oren’s fist clenched and unclenched. “Be silent and listen. You need to find a new den. The Guild knows where that one is.”
“Moving closer?” Jorick asked casually.
“No. Not yet.” Oren focused on the phone conversation again, but Micah was already distracted.
“Is that Jorick? They didn’t kill him either?”
“No, they didn’t.”
“What about Lunch?”
Katelina gritted her teeth at the unwelcome nickname, but Oren simply said, “Yes, she’s alive.”
“So, did she get the upgrade?”
Katelina understood the idiot’s meaning, even if Oren didn’t. “What?”
“You know. Did they make her into one of us?”
Oren looked ready to kill someone. “No! Now can you please focus?”
Micah sighed. “Okay, okay. What?”
“Thank you! Now, I need you to quietly find a new den. Look for one a few hours away, but not too far, if you understand.”
“Shouldn’t we move closer to where you are?” Micah asked. “If we’re going to -”
“Silence!” Oren shouted and slammed his fist down on the stand.
Katelina flinched at his fury and shot Jorick a questioning look. He mouthed back, “They monitor the calls.”
“All right, all right! You don’t have to bite my fucking head off, I got it. I’ll start tomorrow. You want me to look for already empty, or find something that we can empty ourselves?” There was a wicked implication in Micah’s voice that made Katelina queasy.
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