When she’d regained her composure she turned to her boyfriend. “So Eileifr said we could leave soon? That means he’s not going to arrest you for the kidnapping?”
Jorick leaned back in his chair. “I told him to talk to Joseff, assuming they can find him.”
Joseff. A vampire with long black hair and scars. He’d been the one to rip Thomas apart and bury him. Not that anyone had stopped him.
“I told them where Thomas was buried. Eileifr already ordered an Executioner and a couple of greater guards to head to Kentucky and dig him up. What they’ll do with him is anyone’s guess. In the old days they’d have put him out of his misery, but now…” He shrugged.
She imagined Thomas’s withered, dirty body dragged up from the hole, his arms, legs, and lower jaw missing. His eyes would be sunk in his head and his voice would be a dry rattle. He’d be desperate for blood, but have no way to attack them, no way to quench the burning thirst.
The thoughts made her clutch her napkin.
“You aren’t in trouble?” she asked. “Beldren said—”
Jorick made a derisive noise. “Beldren rarely knows what he’s talking about, any more than that redheaded idiot. Eileifr could put me on trial and drag things out, but I think he wants rid of us as soon as possible.”
“Why?” she asked.
Verchiel’s voice chimed in from Jorick’s elbow. “Our friend is something of a legend, so in the field others have a habit of following him rather than their orders. For instance, when Eileifr sent Jamie to bring us home, he followed Jorick instead. He encourages insubordination among the ranks, and Eileifr wants rid of the disruptive element as soon as possible.”
Xandria gave a yelp of surprise at Verchiel’s sudden appearance and the vampire grinned.
“You enjoy that effect,” Jorick muttered. “But it isn’t magic. You’re only moving fast, wind walker.”
“Can you do it?” he asked and took a chair.
“He doesn’t need to,” Katelina said. “He can practically kill people just by looking at them.”
Memories of the battle with Malick flashed through her mind. Jorick roared and threw a nearly visible ball of power at Malick. A guard leapt in the way and fell from the roof. He landed in a heap, hands on his ears, a trail of blood leaking from one nostril.
“It was a fit of rage,” Jorick barked. “It isn’t like I’ve been practicing in secret.”
“You’re Malick’s fledgling,” Verchiel commented. “You don’t need to practice.”
The waitress brought their order. Katelina barely had the glass of blood to her lips before she downed it in a long, satisfying gulp.
“Don’t bother to taste it,” Verchiel teased.
Jorick growled. “No one invited you to join us.”
The redhead batted his eyes. “I know you forgot, but I was sure you really wanted me.”
“None of us want you.”
Verchiel arched an eyebrow. “I don’t know about that.”
Jorick slammed his fist on the table, hard enough to make Xandria’s plate jump. His growl turned deep and menacing. “Very soon we’ll be free of you forever. Now be gone!”
“Wow, that wasn’t very nice.” Verchiel made a show of standing up and pushing in his chair. “I can tell when I’m not wanted.” The pout slipped from his face and he winked. “I doubt you’ve seen the last of me.”
Then he disappeared.
There was no furniture in Xandria’s room. Given what was supposed to be a short visit, Jorick didn’t want to buy any. Katelina tried to convince him they might as well — there wasn’t any furniture in the spare room in Maine, either — but he said they’d worry about that when they got home. For the sake of peace, she left it at an air mattress and some bedding.
“It’s not a big deal.” Xandria pointed to a smoke shop. “Though I‘m out of cigarettes and those matter.”
“Smoking is bad for you,” Jorick replied crisply.
“So is not buying cigarettes for smokers,” Katelina said. She’d quit, but she still craved them occasionally. Now that she was a vampire, maybe she could start again.
Jorick gave her a look that said, “No,” then ducked inside. He returned with four cartons. “I hope that will be enough.”
Xandria’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yeah. That should last a month. Thanks.”
They headed back to their apartment. Katelina checked the time and resisted calling her mother. She wasn’t likely to get an answer at four a.m. She changed the bedding and snuggled into the crisp sheets, hoping this might be her last night in The Guild. After all, how long could it take to do paperwork?
She slipped into dreams of the past. She stood outside Patrick’s door, a grocery bag clutched in her arms. They had a date. He’d been acting weirder than usual, and she thought cooking him dinner would cheer him up. Except he wouldn’t answer the door.
She tugged the key out of her purse and slotted it into the lock. The door swung open on the dark apartment. She stepped in and flipped on the light.
In retrospect, she knew now that most of his stuff was gone — whether sold or stolen she didn’t know — but at the time her eyes went to one thing: Patrick’s torn and mutilated body. The congealed blood clotted the carpet and his spine gleamed through his ruined throat.
“Patrick.”
Her knees gave out, and the contents of her stomach joined the mess on the floor. She needed to call someone. Call the police, call…
Patrick’s apartment disappeared, replaced with a dark cavernous room. Crates and containers groaned, held in place by thick rope. The floor pitched first one way then the other.
It’s a ship.
“Yes, it is,” a voice said in her head.
She turned to see someone seated on a low chest. His long black hair fell in his face. Slender pale hands were folded in his lap. Though he was dressed in a pair of rough pants and a button up shirt, the last time she’d seen him he’d worn long golden robes.
Samael.
He looked up and the creaking cargo disappeared. There was nothing but his eyes. Like a pair of exploding stars, they took all of her attention. She forced herself to look away. The effect faded but left an aftertaste that made her feel shaky.
“You’re hunting Lilith,” she murmured.
At the name she felt black hatred roll from Samael, and no wonder. Lilith was his unfaithful wife who’d drained him dry and left him entombed for more than two thousand years. Katelina accidentally resurrected him. He drank from her, then healed the wound by giving her blood. Maybe because of his age, that exchange created a connection she still didn’t understand.
When she’d last seen Samael, he’d taken Lilith’s location from the mind of one of the Kugsankal, and disappeared, seeking restitution.
“Her very blood will not pay for the sins she has committed. Two thousand years suffering would not be enough. There is no recompense, only revenge such as the world has never known.”
“When you find her, you’ll fight her and wipe out everyone in your path?”
“If it is necessary.”
She wanted to tell him why that was wrong; why he should be careful and spare innocent bystanders. Before she could, he added, “You are in your homeland. Do not fear. Such is not my destination. Sleep now. We will meet again.”
As the feeling of peace faded, she wasn’t sure their meeting would be such a good thing.
Katelina woke the next evening. Jorick lay next to her, lost to dreams. Vampires woke at different times and, though Jorick was usually up before the others, he was still asleep. He once suggested it might be because of Samael’s blood that she woke before him, and that maybe she could endure more sunlight than usual. He refused to test the theory, and so did she. Being burned alive seemed a bad way to go.
She dismissed the thought and slipped into the master bathroom. There was no toilet, but she didn’t need it—a significant bonus of vampirism.
A quick look in the mirror showed blonde hair that fell around h
er shoulders in soft waves, and brightly faceted blue eyes. She turned this way and that, admiring the smooth, marble look of her skin. Most new fledglings still looked human, but she didn’t. Was that because of Samael, too?
She adjusted the cross around her neck. The charm had belonged to Jorick’s wife Velnya, a vampiress who’d been burned as a witch in the 1800s. Though it aggravated Jorick, she felt wrong throwing the pendent away, like erasing Velnya from history.
Katelina changed out of her pajamas before Jorick stuck his head in. “Your human is hungry.”
“Xandria has a name, and she isn’t ‘my’ human.”
“That isn’t what the Höher Rat ruled. For better or worse, you’re saddled with her until you can dupe someone into marking her.”
“You act like she’s a cursed object.”
“Isn’t she?” When Katelina only stared he explained, “Ask her if she enjoyed her days with the vampire hunters.”
Katelina didn’t need to ask how he knew Xandria’s past. As a mind reader, everyone was an open book to him. But vampire hunters?
Before she could formulate a reply Jorick said, “You look beautiful as you are. Come, let’s have breakfast.”
“After I call my mother.”
“Why? She’s the same as the last time you talked to her.”
Katelina hoped he was right.
Xandria was perched on the couch. She earned a half wave as Katelina grabbed the land line phone. She punched in her mother’s number, then waited anxiously while the rings peeled off. Just when she started to panic, her mother’s voice sounded. “Hello?”
“Mom! You’re okay?”
“Kately? Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Katelina tried to calm herself. Because vampires might have tried to silence you. “Um, you know.”
“No, I don’t. How are you? Do you want Sarah’s number? She’s staying at Brad’s place. Get some paper and I’ll give it to you.”
So Brad and Sarah were back together. “No. That’s okay. I’ll see her when we get there. We’re in Iowa now. Jorick has to finish up a job, then we’ll head out. It should only be a couple of days, so don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried. Katelina, what’s gotten into you? You don’t call for weeks and now you’re desperate to come home. I know you want to see Sarah, but you should call her.”
Katelina made an uncomfortable noise in her throat. “I’ll see her when we get there.” It was time to quit beating around the bush. “Has she said anything weird?”
There was a heartbeat of silence, then, “Describe weird.”
“You know, anything…crazy.” Like, I was nearly tortured to death by vampires.
Her mother made a noise of understanding. “Brad was worried about that too, especially after the bizarre reason she gave for being gone.”
Katelina’s heart froze. “What, uh, what did she say?”
“She thought something terrible happened to you because your apartment was a mess, so she went looking for you, then realized she didn’t want to come back. I don’t know. It’s just as strange as you running off with that man. I think there’s something you aren’t telling us.” A heavy silence followed and she pressed. “Is there?”
Yeah Mom, vampires. “No. Of course not.”
“The why don’t you want to talk to her? The two of you were like sisters growing up. We even let her live here for a while after she left her parents.”
“I know, Mom. I was there.”
“I’m only saying you both disappear within a couple days of one another, supposedly don’t see each other for six months, but you don’t want to talk to her? And you expect us to believe you weren’t together the whole time?”
“I never said I didn’t want to talk to her, just that I didn’t want to call her at Brad’s. Geeze!”
Her mother sighed. “Fine. I need to go. Brad’s taking me out to dinner.”
Katelina choked. “You’re still going out with Brad? But Sarah’s back. She’s staying with him!”
Her mother’s voice turned cold. “I didn’t say she was with him, just that she was at his place. Did you think I was only filler until she reappeared? It might surprise you, but Brad and I enjoy one another.”
“I don’t want to hear how you enjoy—ugh.”
“If you’re talking about sex, I’m not dead, Katelina. I’m only forty-four.”
“Oh my god. I have to go.”
After a better goodbye, Katelina peeled the phone away and dropped it into the cradle.
Jorick leaned against the couch, his arms crossed. “How is she?”
“She’s still dating Brad. Sarah’s boyfriend!”
“If your mom’s dating him, isn’t he Sarah’s ex-boyfriend?” Xandria asked.
“I don’t know, because Sarah is living with him!” Katelina looked to Jorick. “Do you think he’s playing them?”
“How should I know? If I were him, I wouldn’t date either one. Now, let’s have breakfast.”
They met Oren in the upper corridors, a sour expression on his face. “I assume they’re finished with us, since we have to pay if we want to stay.”
“Sounds like it,” Jorick agreed. “You seem disappointed.”
“Why would I be? We’re checking out today.”
Katelina wished they could say the same. If it wasn’t for Jorick’s stupid report…
“Where will you go?” Jorick asked.
Oren’s frown deepened. “I’d thought to use Micah’s den until we found a new one, but he and Loren are staying here.”
Katelina jolted in surprise. “Why?”
Oren shrugged and went on, “We’ll find a suitable place until something more permanent can be procured. I assume you’ll be here?”
“Only for a day or two,” Jorick replied.
Oren nodded. “I’ll call with the new location.”
They stood in uncomfortable silence. Finally Jorick said, “Safe travels. If you’ll excuse us? Breakfast.”
Oren gave a stiff nod, and they parted ways. Katelina waited until they reached the restaurant to say, “That’s it? After everything we’ve been through you just tell him ‘safe travels’?”
“Did you expect a speech?” Jorick smiled. “I could compose a poem of farewell, if that would suit you better? I thought you’d be happy to see the last of them.”
Katelina glared at the tabletop. “I didn’t say I wasn’t happy. I just think you owe him a thank you.”
Jorick rubbed his chin, eyes twinkling. “I never thought you’d say I owed Oren anything.”
He had a point. After all the times Oren had been an ass, how could she feel the slightest twinge of melancholy?
After breakfast they got their IDs. Like a driver’s license, they had photos taken and cards made up. Xandria moaned about her bad hair, but Katelina secretly enjoyed her own photo. It was the best looking ID she’d ever had.
When they headed back to their apartment, they discovered Micah waiting in front of the door to the Executioner block. “About damn time.”
“What do you want?” Jorick asked. “You and Loren are free to leave.”
“Think we’re gonna stick around a bit.” Micah popped an unlit cigarette into his mouth. “Seeing as how we’re all here, I figure it’s time for Lunch’s training session. The information desk said there’s a public gym. So go get changed, unless you wanna fight in that get up.”
Katelina looked to Jorick to object. Instead, he shrugged. “You might as well. There’s nothing to do until we feed your human again.” Jorick swiped the keycard and pushed the door open. He paused and met Micah’s eyes. His tone turned heavy with an edge of threat. “This lasts until we’re ready to leave, then it’s done.”
Jorick was already through the door when Micah muttered, “We’ll see.”
Katelina’s training session was the same as usual. Micah showed her fighting moves and made her spar with him. When he insisted she quit trying to punch him and lift weights, her first reaction was
hell no, but to her amazement she lifted them easily. Since Micah had been the one to turn her, she’d inherited his titan ability, giving her strength she wasn’t used to.
He crossed his arms and nodded approvingly as she hefted yet another ridiculous load of weights. “Good. You’re stronger than I thought.”
“Barely.” She dropped the bar back on the catches. “You’re killing me.”
“Not killing you, saving you. You should fucking appreciate it. You’ll be ready for anything. If some bitch wants to start trouble, you gotta show them who’s boss. That means you gotta know what you can do and what you can’t.”
“I can’t keep this up.”
“Yeah you can. Quit being a whiny bitch. Again.”
With a frustrated grunt, she hefted the bar and imagined slamming it into Micah’s bald head in a spray of blood and brains.
No, not brains. Sawdust. That’s all he’s got up there.
When he finally called it a day, he patted her roughly on the back. “You’re getting better, kid. You’re not gonna beat me yet, but you can almost hold your own.”
She rubbed her sore shoulder. “I held my own in the battle with Malick’s goons.”
He laughed. “You ain’t gotta lie to me, babe, I was there.” She glared and he relented. “You did better than usual, but you got lots of room for improvement.” He nodded toward Xandria, perched on a piece of exercise equipment, flipping through a magazine. “If you’re planning to keep her, you better start her training. We just lost our helpless human. We don’t need another one.”
Katelina lowered her voice. “I don’t know what we’re doing. Jorick wants rid of her, but she’s been with vampires and The Laws say she can’t join the general population.”
“Give her to someone else. And don’t look at me,” he added hastily. “Last thing I need is some helpless human chick. Though Loren has an eye for her.”
Katelina’s eyebrows shot up and Micah gave a rough chuckle. “You ain’t noticed? I thought women were sensitive to that shit. Mainly I think he’s got an eye for anything with a pair of t—”
She kicked him in the leg hard enough to knock him back a step. “Watch your mouth.” Then she turned to Xandria. “Are you ready?”
Masque of the Vampire (Amaranthine Book 8) Page 3