Masque of the Vampire (Amaranthine Book 8)

by Joleene Naylor

  “Then I don’t know why we’re having this conversation.” She glared and he repeated, “I’m sorry. If she was willing to remain as a servant I might intervene, but she’d run away and they’d hunt her down. Her fate is sealed. Let her die quickly with as little terror as possible.”

  A soothing calm washed over Katelina. With a huff she pushed it away. “Don’t. Where’s Jorick?”

  “I told you, he’s elsewhere. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to attend to.” His grimace said the duties were no more pleasant than talking to her.

  Elsewhere. As if that was helpful. Katelina squinted and tried to penetrate his thoughts, but nothing happened. Fine. I’ll handle this myself. Impatiently, she stormed off toward the blue lounge where Sarah said Borne was. Inside there was only a vampiress on her boyfriend’s lap, intimately practicing the piano. Katelina returned their dirty looks and hurried out. Where in the hell were they? She thought of Xandria’s advice about hunting. Right. Smell them.

  She stopped in a hallway and inhaled. A thousand scents assailed her. She fought the overwhelming crush to uncover the human blood. The smell was faint. She lost it more than once before it got strong enough for her to be sure. As it gained strength, she picked up speed, finally running down the basement stairs and into the swimming pool room. It was deserted. The chlorine burned her nose and she backed out quickly and started back the way she’d come. The scent of blood lessened the farther she went, so she circled back, confused. She paced the corridor and, just as she was ready to throw up her hands, saw a crack in the wall. On closer inspection she noticed a secret door that opened with a push.

  The room inside was small with a curtained doorway in the back. Low moans sounded from it, and she threw the curtain aside.

  The twins were stripped down to corsets and stockings, one’s hair unbound, the other still in braids. A sandy haired vampire, clothed only in open pants, kissed one and fondled the other. Red blood streaked their skin and pooled around the teen hiker who lay half naked on the floor. Her arms were splayed out, her throat and stomach bleeding. Her expression was frozen in a mixture of ecstasy and terror.

  The smell of blood choked Katelina. She backed away as her stomach clenched and her instincts screamed at her to drink before the body went cold.

  No. I’m not a monster. I’m not a monster.

  At the interruption the three looked up with confusion that melted into fury. The twin with the braids pulled away from her lover. “What in the hell are you doing?”

  Chapter Ten

  Katelina covered her nose and mouth with her hand. The smell of blood was so strong she couldn’t think. “I…I took a wrong turn.”

  The hiker’s body wavered, and the angry vampires were hard to focus on. With a mumbled, “sorry,” she fled. Her blood lust chased her as she raced down the corridors, trying to put the scene and the horrible desires behind her. When she reached the stairs she stopped and looked back, expecting pursuers. All she saw were her own bloody footprints.

  Jorick met her in an upstairs corridor. Before he could voice the concern in his eyes, she tumbled out the story. His expression turned grim. “I’m sorry, little one. Jamie was right. There’s nothing he could do.”

  “He could have wiped her mind and made her forget about the vampires.”

  “Yes,” Jorick said patiently. “But he couldn’t make them stop feeding on her. There was no legal reason. A police officer can’t come into your home and take away your ham sandwich because he doesn’t believe in eating pork. The kill was unnecessary, but legal.”

  Tears gathered in Katelina’s eyes, though she didn’t know if they were for the girl or herself. “It’s a moot point because they already killed her. There was blood everywhere and they were—God, I think they were having sex!”

  “Probably. Katelina, you already know sharing blood is how vampires derive pleasure. I told you before some like to mix dining and sex.”

  Katelina shivered and stepped away from him. Sarah’s words rang through her head, “That’s what monsters do.” But it didn’t have to be that way. Jorick wasn’t like that. Micah and Loren weren’t like that. Or were they? Memories of Micah and Loren killing the woman at the truck stop surfaced. Jorick ripping out Dahlia’s throat on orders from Malick. The way Oren tore Bren to shreds with his bare hands. Was there a darkness in them that she didn’t want to acknowledge? Had she spoon fed herself a sparkly rainbow reality to make it all okay? Was it an illusion, like the magician’s mirror?

  She expected a reprimand at dinner, but if the twins complained no one passed it on. She went to bed unsettled, and lay awake long after Jorick fell asleep.

  She’d finally drifted into a dream about a body in the swimming pool when she jerked awake. Jorick crouched near the bed, ready to attack. With a sigh, the muscles in his back uncoiled and he slid under the covers. “Katelina, you have company.”

  Sarah stepped from behind the wardrobe, her eyes on the floor and her cheeks pink. She wore a pair of checkered pajamas with a coffee cup on the shirt; a gift from Katelina Christmases past. To see it there, in the bizarre surroundings, was jarring. “Sarah? The sun’s still up. What are you doing?”

  Sarah dragged Katelina out into the gloomy hall. When the door shut, she whispered, “Someone was outside my room again.”

  Katelina stifled a yawn. “They have human servants that clean during the day.”

  “I don’t think it was a human.”

  Katelina battled back impatience. “It’s daylight. All the vampires are in bed, like we should be.” She patted Sarah on the shoulder. “No one will hurt you. Jorick and I are next door. You saw how he almost killed you.”

  Sarah’s cheeks burned. “You might have warned me he doesn’t wear pajamas. Or underwear.”

  Katelina realized the eyeful her friend had gotten. “Oh. Yeah. He doesn’t wear pajamas.”

  “Thanks for that after the fact.” Sarah paused to calm herself. “All right. Maybe it was a dream, but I’m pretty sure…”

  She rattled on as Katelina steered her into her room and back to bed. She promised Jorick would save them both if need be, and slumped back to the hallway. She paused at Sarah’s door and sniffed, though she didn’t know what she was searching for. A riot of smells slammed into her. Too many were the unfamiliar scents of vampires, mixed with cleaning products, perfumes, colognes, and human blood.

  Her stalker is just a cleaning lady.

  The next evening, they ate breakfast with the magician and his assistants. He lit up when Fleur walked in, and spent the rest of the meal doing impressive tricks she ignored. With his fine features and large dark eyes, Katelina thought that, under different circumstances, she’d let him impress her.

  A set of dancers, a couple of bands, some acrobats, and a theatrical troupe arrived throughout the day. The guards dashed from trunk to case, throwing aside silk scarves, crazy masks, and ballet shoes in their quest for security. Andrei soothed more than one angry vampire with his apologies, usually in a foreign language that left Katelina even more suspicious of him.

  Though Sarah didn’t wake Katelina early, the following evening she said someone was outside her door again. “I could feel them. Just standing there.”

  Katelina didn’t want to use the word paranoid, so she mumbled something soothing. After lunch, Jorick left to meet the newest arrivals. With nothing to do, Katelina pulled Sarah outside for a walk, hopeful fresh air would help.

  They paused to study the makeshift airfield set up to the left. Lights shone bright, and an airstrip was marked out. Small private planes were parked to the side in a neat row, with room for more. Apparently they wouldn’t need to use the airport after all.

  “They will for larger jets,” Sarah said. She wrapped her arms around herself and surveyed the bleak landscape. “We could have been in Maine if you weren’t glued to Jorick’s butt.”

  Katelina blinked at the topic change. “I’m not—”

  “It doesn’t matter. He wouldn’t have let
you out of his sight, anyway.” Her voice turned sarcastic. “He might miss a chance to leap in and protect you.”

  Though Sarah acted like it was a bad thing, Katelina suppressed a smile. “To be fair, I haven’t been…one of them very long. It’ll take time before he realizes I can take care of myself.”

  “How long have you been…like this?”

  Katelina added up the days. “Six weeks.”

  “Was that when you escaped from Claudius?”

  “No. We killed him last October, but I was only turned six weeks ago.”

  Sarah looked at her sharply. “You got away from Claudius five months ago, but you weren’t turned yet? Why didn’t you go home?”

  “I didn’t want to.”

  Sarah stopped walking to gape. “How could you want to stay with…with them?”

  “Because I love Jorick. I want to be with him, and I know it wouldn’t work back home. The same reason you came with us.”

  “You knew him from the beginning? I thought you were lying when you told your mother you left with him. I thought maybe you’d met him at Claudius’ or something.” Sarah pressed. “You were kidnapped by Claudius, right?”

  “Not right away. I left with Jorick — he and Patrick knew each other — and it was a week or two before Kateesha handed me over to Troy. Then Jorick rescued me.” When phrased like that, it sounded like something from a romance novel. She wasn’t sure if it pleased or embarrassed her.

  Katelina could feel the calculations behind Sarah’s eyes. “How long were you Claudius’ prisoner?”

  “Overnight.”

  Sarah’s jaw tightened. “So you met Jorick through Patrick, ran away with him, then got kidnapped for a day before he saved you. While we were locked in a cage in Troy’s basement, you were human and with the monsters because you wanted to be?”

  Cage? The conversation was spiraling out of control, and Katelina didn’t know how to get it back. “When did you and the others, um, escape?”

  Sarah shot the word like a dagger, “December.” When Katelina didn’t reply, Sarah pushed. “Where were you in December?”

  “We had Christmas with a coven in Kentucky, then we had a battle and they got killed and I broke my arm.”

  “Do you want to know what I did for Christmas?”

  Katelina cringed back from the anger in Sarah’s eyes. “Sure.”

  “Forget it.” Sarah looked away. When she turned back she was more composed. “Let’s go watch TV.”

  Before Katelina could agree, a voice shouted, “You!” She spun to see one of the decorators, hands on his hips, as a servant struggled with a giant case. “Come help us.”

  Sarah bristled, but Katelina waved her down. “There’s nothing else to do, anyway.”

  She spent her afternoon stringing lights and, once they discovered she was abnormally strong, moving statues and furniture. By dinner, the entryway was transformed, draped in glittering lights and big bouquets of flowers, ready to welcome tomorrows’ guests. Katelina looked at the effect with pride. Sarah seemed less impressed.

  “I wasn’t turned into this so I could decorate.”

  Katelina stopped from asking the obvious question—then what are you going to do?—for fear Sarah would turn it back on her. Katelina hadn’t known what she was going to do with a mortal life, let alone an immortal one. She finished high school with a vague idea of getting a job and seeing how it went. It was Sarah who eventually dragged her to the newspaper, after she wishy-washed herself from going to college. It was expensive, and she didn’t feel drawn to any field, so it would be a waste. Though people argued with her, it turned out she was right. Being immortal didn’t require a degree.

  “It would have been good for you,” Sarah said to her thoughts. “You should have lived while you had the chance. “

  “You sound like Jorick. He’s always on about being abandoned by God and monster crap. From what I see being…one of them doesn’t change you that much. It’s no different than turning twenty-one. There’s no magical transformation, only more of the same.”

  “Were you drinking blood before?” Sarah asked sarcastically. “Since I became…this, I’ve done things I would never have dreamed of. Horrible things.”

  Though Katelina wanted away from the conversation, there was no escape. “I’ve done things too, but that was before I was turned.”

  Sarah turned to her with burning eyes. “I killed people, Katelina. Not just one or two, but a lot. After we escaped we…we glutted. For days. The first one…I ripped him to shreds.” Sarah glanced down, as though the blood was still on her hands. “I wasn’t lucky enough to be taken care of.”

  Katelina stopped from arguing. It would only turn into a competition of who’d been tortured the most, and she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to think about the horrible things that happened to her, or remember the terror of crushing darkness and near death.

  “Forget it.” Sarah turned away. “I’m just short tempered. This place is getting on my nerves.”

  Katelina took the apology because it was easier. “If you think this is bad, wait until the party starts.”

  Sarah only groaned.

  The guests arrived the following evening. They wore their age like their jewels, and Katelina shivered at the thought of that many masters in one place.

  Though she didn’t want to help Jorick greet them, Sarah’s uncomfortable questions were worse. When the servants asked Katelina to carry luggage she jumped at the escape.

  It was near dinner when she rounded a corner and heard a familiar voice.

  “The original is completely authentic.”

  “Maybe if you were selling the original I’d be interested, Sorino,” said a second vampire with a laugh. “A reproduction is only good for so much.”

  Katelina peeked around the corner. Sure enough, she saw Sorino: a tall thin vampire with long brown hair. He was dressed in a blue pin-striped suit, a ruffle at his throat. A lace handkerchief peeped from a pocket and a carved cane rested in one hand. In the other was a glossy photograph. Behind him stood a teenage boy with shaggy blonde hair that obscured his eyes. An open shirt revealed scars that marked him like sheet music; a symphony of his past suffering. He wore a black collar around his neck. Fastened to it was a thin silver chain that Sorino had attached to his cane.

  His companion had dark skin, bright eyes, and an amused smile.

  Sorino made a low noise of amusement. “The worth of such a document is uncountable, not only for its age, but for its information. I should think you’d understand that, Bassile.”

  The dark vampire smiled. “Come, my friend. Even you cannot read such an ancient relic.”

  “But I can,” Sorino purred. “For a small fee, I provide a translation.”

  Bassile rubbed his chin. “I would need a sample of this translation first. A small one,” he added. “Just to be sure it is…authentic.”

  “Of course, my friend.” Sorino produced a piece of paper from his jacket pocket. “I’m afraid I won’t give you the clues to the temple’s location for free. I’m sure you understand.”

  “Of course, of course.”

  Temple? Clues? Could it be…?

  Sorino’s thin smile stretched, though it looked no more genuine. “The works of mankind shall be destroyed on the Master’s altar, and scattered at the feet of his consort. All will bow before their terrible might, and he shall wield the blade of Creation, forged by the Gods. With it he will strike his foe from the Earth, and so his dominion will be complete.”

  Bassile cocked an eyebrow. “And who is ‘he’? I understood this was the scroll of The Raven Queen?”

  Katelina stiffened. The scroll of The Raven Queen. She remembered when they’d gotten it in Egypt and followed the clues to find Samael in Lilith’s legendary place.

  Sorino’s tone was honey. “So it is called, but that is a mistranslation. It is not the Queen of the Raven who is the subject of this artifact, rather her lover, the mighty Samael.”

  “Sam
ael,” Bassile mused. “But it is Lilith who lays in the temple, yes? The stories say—”

  “What are stories when compared with truth? Never mind. I can see you aren’t interested in the real history of what many call the original vampires, nor in locating the secret temple of Lilith.”

  “If it’s truth, why haven’t you been there?”

  Sorino’s eyes glowed. “Who says I haven’t?”

  Bassile hesitated. “So you have seen Lilith entombed?”

  “I already told you, it’s not Lilith who lay in the bowels of the temple.”

  Bassile noticed Katelina. “It seems we have a friend.”

  Her first instinct was to run. Instead she straightened her spine and marched around the corner. Sorino gave her his usual cold smile. “When I saw Jorick at the door I thought you’d be here skulking in the shadows. He doesn’t go far without his pet.”

  Bassile chuckled. “And you don’t go far without a snack. When did you pick up your accessory?”

  “A few years ago, in Estonia,” Sorino replied.

  Katelina sought the teen boy’s eyes, and got a nod of greeting. That Kai was still alive always amazed her, as if she thought Sorino might drain him dry.

  Maybe he still will.

  Sorino pointed to her. “This is one who can attest to the truth of the temple. She was there, in the secret chambers.” His cold smile turned frosty and a warning gleamed in his eyes.

  But it was the truth. She’d been there. “Yes, I was.”

  “See? Ask her if she saw the god-like Samael in his slumber. Ask her.”

  Bassile looked skeptical. “Did you?”

  “Yes,” she answered, though she’d have rather kicked Sorino in the leg.

  “I told you,” Sorino said.

  “I’ll have to consider it. If it is as you say, the original would be more interesting. Speaking of originals, you should see what Andrei has unearthed.”

  “Oh?” Sorino asked disinterestedly.

  “Rumor is it’s the Spear of Destiny.”

  “I rather doubt that.” Sorino sniffed. “Nonetheless we’ll take a look.”