“You should have left her behind,” Oren muttered. “Or just turn her and be done with this nonsense!”
“Other vampires have humans,” Jorick remarked indifferently.
Oren stopped at the foot of the steps. “Not that they drag everywhere! They have humans that live human lives and occasionally they take them places! For the love of all that’s holy, you take her to war with you! Have you thought about how insane that is? And you don’t even feed off of her! I could understand if she were a servant or if she served some practical use besides sharing your bed now and then!”
Jorick’s face grew hard. “What I choose to do with her is none of your affair.”
“It is when she’s always in my way! So many things could have been easier without her in the background! This needs to stop! It’s time you left her at your den and-”
The front door opened and Rachel stepped out. “Kale would like to apologize for Joseff’s behavior. He was at the trial and agreed with the verdict.”
“Yes, I remember,” Jorick answered coolly.
“If he agreed, that’s good enough for me,” Rachel continued. “And I wondered if Katelina would like to stay here while you feed? It can’t be fun listening to you bicker.” Her eyes twinkled.
Jorick’s objection came swiftly. “No, she stays with me.”
Rachel shrugged. “If that’s best. You might ask her what she wants.”
Jorick’s jaw tightened and his eyes skipped to Katelina. Truthfully, she didn’t know what she wanted. Both options were equally unpleasant.
“Oh, leave her and let’s go!” Oren cried. “It will be easier to hunt without her tagging along!”
That did it. “Yes, leave me here,” Katelina sneered sarcastically. “I’d hate to think I’m complicating precious Oren’s little plans!”
Rachel cut in, “I won’t harm her. You have my blood oath.”
Jorick drew a tight, discontented breath. “Fine. If you want to stay, Katelina, then stay.” His eyes moved to Rachel. “If anything happens to her…”
Rachel nodded, and the two vampires turned and trudged through the snow. Oren’s voice came back to them in what was probably a tirade.
Rachel smiled pleasantly and held the door wide. “Are they always like that or is it reserved for special occasions?”
Katelina hesitated. She didn’t know Rachel, or the others. What was to stop them from killing her? She glanced to where Jorick and Oren had been, but they’d disappeared into the darkness.
“I swore a blood oath. Surely you’re not impolite enough to think I’d break it?”
“No,” Katelina managed unconvincingly. “Of course not.”
Rachel gave a satisfied nod. She led Katelina inside and through the house to what had been the living room. Except for a wooden chair, the furniture was gone. Rolls of wallpaper were stacked along one wall and a bucket of paste sat at the base of a rickety ladder. The vampiress rolled up her sleeves and turned to the work at hand. “I hope you don’t mind. I’d like to have a couple of rooms done before Christmas.” She glanced up and added teasingly, “Why don’t you take off your coat and stay awhile?”
Katelina peeled off her coat and hat and draped them over the chair. She watched as Rachel climbed the ladder and then unrolled the paper. There was something fascinating about her. She was plain, but at the same time beautiful because she was a vampire. It was a bizarre combination.
Rachel interrupted her thoughts. “Could you cut that off for me? Joseff said he’d help, but he’s off pouting.”
“Oh, sure.”
In years past, Katelina had helped her mother wallpaper and she fell back into it easily. They had several strips cut and two hung before Rachel stood back to survey their work.
“Not too bad.” She knelt and applied paste to the next piece. “I hope you don’t mind staying. It’s been a month with only men for company and I’m starving for a normal conversation. So tell me, how did you and Jorick meet?”
Katelina glopped paste onto the paper. “He called me on the phone.”
“He called you? Out of the blue?”
“It was out of the blue for me. He’d been secretly ‘keeping an eye’ on me for a while. I was sort of dating Patrick before that.”
“Is Patrick in Oren’s coven?”
Katelina swallowed hard. In the last two months the pain had numbed, but this was still an uncomfortable topic, especially with a member of Claudius’ former coven. “He was Michael’s brother.”
Understanding dawned on Rachel’s face. “So you’re the one who caused all the trouble.” Katelina looked horrified and she laughed. “Oh, you didn’t really. They used you as an excuse. Oren and Claudius were looking for a reason to have an open war for years and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Katelina’s eyes dropped away and Rachel continued, “Claudius really didn’t care about killing you one way or another. He didn't even care about Michael’s brother. It was just a way to torture Michael.” She offered an apologetic smile. “I know that must sound terrible to you, and it probably is. Claudius was a lot of things, but at least he took care of his own, unlike a lot of Masters.”
The words came before she could stop them, “But you just said he was torturing Michael!”
“So I did. But Michael wasn’t really a part of the coven. He was just a human Claudius hired to mow the yard. He got nosey and saw too much. Claudius was going to kill him. Some of the others thought it might be fun to turn him and keep him as a servant for punishment, so that’s what they did. Michael was just something to amuse them. Claudius only used his brother - and you - to keep Michael upset, but I suppose in the end it backfired. “ She met Katelina’s eyes. “I have no bad feelings about his death or about Kateesha’s. They made their mistakes and had to pay for them. That’s how the world works. You make choices and you suffer the consequences.” Her voice dropped low, “It’s actually kind of romantic.”
Katelina froze, her brush inches above the paper. “What?”
“Oh, you know. Claudius loved Arowenia in his own fashion, but he didn’t go after her himself. Claudius kidnapped you and Jorick came roaring in and decimated everything.” She giggled and Katelina gaped.
“It’s easier for me to feel that way,” Rachel explained.” I wasn’t really close to them. Kale was accepted because he was made by one of Claudius’ fledglings, and I was tolerated because Kale wanted me, but I was never a part of anything. They all knew I came from another coven and that two of their own had died getting me away.” She fell into a thoughtful silence and then added as an afterthought, “Of course, it didn’t help that all the other women were so beautiful. And I’m, well, not.” Katelina started to protest politely, but Rachel stopped her with a hand. “Call a spade a spade.” She gave a dreamy sigh. “I was always jealous of Arowenia’s good looks, but I suppose she had a miserable life. I don’t think I ever saw her smile, not that I saw much of her, except to help with her hair or her clothing. Claudius liked to keep her separate from everyone else. She was his prize.”
Katelina didn’t know what to say, so she nodded mutely and wished that Jorick would hurry.
Rachel was oblivious to Katelina’s discomfort. “Enough about me. What about you? Now that I’ve figured out where you fit in, I’m even more curious!”
Katelina swallowed. “About what?”
“I don’t know. Everything I suppose. You remind me of myself, in a way. I guess that makes me more curious than it should. I’m not being rude am I?”
“No,” Katelina murmured, though she felt the opposite.
“Oh good. I love Kale dearly, but I’m afraid we’ve known each other so long that we tend to be blunt. The same goes with Joseff, and I don’t talk to the other three very much. It’s not that I don’t like them, but I don’t know what to say. Yaul’s very temperamental, and Saeed’s quiet.”
“I’ve noticed.” Where is Jorick?
“What do you do when you’re not running around with va
mpires?”
Katelina stared at the gloppy wallpaper paste, her mind blank. What did she do? “I used to work at a newspaper.”
“That sounds exciting!”
“Not really. I mostly fetched things. I was probably going to get fired on the next round of cut backs.”
“Why would they fire you?”
“Since the internet, newspapers aren’t the big thing anymore. People would rather look up their news for free than buy a paper.”
“Oh, I see.” Rachel caught up one end of the wallpaper and Katelina scrambled to get the other. “Alex and Yaul are into the internet thing. We had to get it here. Alex has shown it to me, but I can’t figure out the point. He talks to people on it, but if he’s lonely why doesn’t he talk to real people?”
Katelina didn’t know what to say, but she didn’t have to because Rachel chattered on as they hung the sheet of paper and started on the next. The room was half done when Jorick and Oren returned, an argument hanging between them like a third person.
Rachel offered them a smile. “I reckon you’re getting ready to leave us?”
“Yes,” Oren said stiffly.
“In that case, I’d better talk fast. I understand that you have to go back to your den, Oren, to bring back the boxes, but I thought perhaps Jorick and Katelina would like to stay? There’s no point in them having to ride ten hours to your den and then another ten back with only a few days between. And it would be nice to have the company for Christmas.”
A vampire Christmas? The idea was enough to leave Katelina speechless. Panic tightened her chest, but disappeared under the reassurance that Jorick would say no.
Of course he had to be contrary.
“You have a valid point. I’m sure Katelina would enjoy a Christmas celebration with someone who seems… enthusiastic about it.” He glanced at Oren and Katelina got the impression it had more to do with being trapped in a van for twenty hours with his fledgling.
“Then it’s settled!” Rachel clapped her hands delightedly and Katelina imagined a host of horrors, all tinted red and green.
**********
Chapter Five
Oren left. Half an hour later, Katelina realized that she needed food, only her transportation was gone. Rachel cheerfully shoved a list of supplies, including four cans of paint, at Kale and told him to take Katelina and Jorick with him.
The nearest town was a smattering of houses, a gas station with a big sign that said “No gas,” and a tiny chain store that didn’t sell paint.
“She can get it tomorrow.” With no remorse, Kale steered them towards the food department - which equaled four aisles.
Katelina surveyed the selection sadly. Three liters of soda, a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread and two bags of chips later, they headed for the checkout line.
The lone cashier rang them up and asked unenthusiastically, “Would you like a free newspaper?”
“Sure.” Kale grabbed the bags and the checkout girl shoved the paper into Katelina’s hands and sent them out the door with a lukewarm, “Have a good night.”
The trip home was quiet. Katelina flipped absently through the paper and thought about her conversation with Rachel. When she considered the lousy articles, it was no wonder that local papers were going down the drain. The county wanted to add chlorine to the rural water. The school’s Christmas pageant was a success. There might be a new gas tax. The paper didn’t have comic strips, and everything except the local news were little clips meant to sum up the important events.
A mini headline caught her eye: Maine Murderer at Large.
She thought instantly of the vampire murder that Verchiel had investigated. A quick skim settled those fears. On December nineteenth police were called to investigate a domestic disturbance… the body of a young woman who’d been shot in the face… her roommate is still missing… a 5’7” woman with dark hair and dark eyes… may be a suspect… police are waiting on a positive ID on the body but believe it is Benny Junnelson.
“Hey.” Katelina shoved the newspaper at Jorick. “How far is this from us?”
He skimmed it. “I don’t know. I’d have to look at a map. Maybe an hour. Why? Are you afraid of being murdered?”
She snatched the paper back. “Not with you around. You’d take them out before they knew you were there.”
His grin looked a little too self-satisfied. “I’m glad to see you have confidence in me.”
She flipped the page and a familiar name leapt out at her: Dr. Noah C. Miley. The headline read, Double Tragedy for Paranormal Research Facility. There were three tiny paragraphs.
Firefighters were called to a blaze at the privately owned Michigan Institute of Supernatural and Unexplained Sciences at 3 a.m. on December 22nd. Local Police officers were first on the scene and were inside when the building collapsed. Five bodies have been recovered from the wreckage.
Later that morning, Dr. Noah C. Miley, head researcher at the facility, was found dead in his home. His throat was slashed and the body drained of blood. Police have ruled the case a homicide, though there are no leads at this time. It’s unclear if the two incidents are related. Jilly Cormwell, director of the institute, was unavailable for comment.
Both Dr. Miley and the institute recently came under fire when they claimed to have captured a real vampire.
“Jorick?” She shoved the paper at him again. “They killed that doctor and burned the building down!”
He read the blurb. “Before you feel sorry for him, it’s his own fault. They couldn’t leave him alive after everything he’d discovered.”
“But did they need to burn the whole building?”
“How else were they going to hide the cops’ death? No doubt the idiot meddled with the minds of anyone who heard the gunshots.” He glowered, as though it was an unforgiveable sin, despite the fact he did it all the time.
He started to hand the newspaper back, then folded it and stuck it under his arm. “On second thought, that’s probably enough of the Murder Digest for anyone. No wonder people don’t bother with the paper anymore!”
When they got back to the house, they found Alex and Yaul hunched over the laptop in the dining room. Alex’s fingers danced over the keys and he didn’t bother to look up, even when Yaul whined, “It’s my turn. You’re hogging it!”
“Then get your own.” Alex laughed at something on the screen.
“That is mine! I killed the guy fair and square!”
“So? I’m the one who found it in his luggage because you were too busy feeding.”
Katelina cringed at their casual attitude, and her opinion of them dropped a little.
As if sensing her discomfort, Jorick squeezed her hand and turned to Kale. “I’ll take Katelina to feed now.” She raised her eyebrows at the terminology, but let him tug her upstairs to the room they’d waited in last night.
With no utensils, Katelina had to use a potato chip to spread the peanut butter on the bread. The result was lumpy, uneven and had bits of broken chip in it.
“The kitchen would have been a better place to go.”
“Possibly, but I doubt they have dishes.”
She sighed heavily. “Why did you agree to stay?”
“I thought you’d want to. You were excited about Christmas before we left.”
“Oh.” The memory of the bloody Christmas tree swam behind her eyes and her stomach turned. She didn’t know if she was really interested in Christmas anymore or not.
Though Rachel was disappointed about the paint, there was plenty of wallpaper and all the downstairs rooms needed done. Katelina got roped into helping, as did Yaul and Alex. Kale drifted in and out while Joseff and Saeed shuffled furniture from one room to another. Jorick, meanwhile, oversaw operations, his nose in a tatty paperback.
It was early in the morning when Katelina took a break for supper. Rachel surveyed the miserable peanut butter sandwiches and admonished Jorick, “You’re leaving her to eat that?” When he didn’t answer, she went on, “Don’t wo
rry, hon. I’ve got to get paint tomorrow, and you can come with me. We’ll go to the bigger town - what’s it called? Anyway, we’ll find something better than that.” Her eyes skipped to Jorick and she made a clicking noise with her tongue. “Really!”
Joseff and Saeed disappeared and then reappeared later with a “present for Rachel”: a new couch - or a different couch, at least. Rachel gushed and then gave them final directions for arranging furniture.
As dawn approached, the vampires changed into their night wear and made their way to the basement. Katelina looked at the pink flowered pajamas in her bag. She couldn’t bring herself to wear the silly “little girl” outfit in front of the others, so she followed fully dressed.
Since Oren had left the box from the van, Rachel and Kale moved back to their boxes. But, even with the extra box, they were still one short, so Katelina and Jorick still had to share. Though unappealing, another night of being jammed up with Jorick was better than being without him.
When Katelina and Jorick woke the next evening, they found Saeed’s box open and empty. As they stood frowning at it, two more boxes opened and Kale and Rachel climbed out. Kale wrapped his arms around Rachel and pulled her into a deep kiss. He released her, suddenly aware of their audience. “Good morning. I trust you slept well?” He followed Jorick’s eyes to the empty box. “He’s out hunting.”
Jorick raised a questioning brow. “This early?”
“He wakes before the rest of us, and seems to have a higher sun tolerance. Not a lot, but enough that he can go outside before we can.”
“Convenient,” Katelina muttered darkly. That was probably why Kateesha had used Saeed as a personal guard. Someone who woke first would be handy, especially since all the vampires seemed as trustworthy and loyal as teenage girls.
Rachel caught Kale’s hand. “Let’s get dressed and go feed. Then Katelina and I have a trip to make.” She waved cheerfully, and led her mate upstairs.
Katelina’s shoulders sagged. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Rachel. The idea of being alone with her - and without Jorick - made her uncomfortable. She knew nothing bad could happen as long as he was around, but without him...
Amaranthine Special Edition Vol II Page 37