Masque of the Vampire (Amaranthine Book 8)

by Joleene Naylor

  As one, Sarah, Kurt, and the others drifted to the front of the cage, everything else forgotten. Troy laughed as he threw the prisoners to the floor and started on the row of locks that held the door. One after another fell away. By the last Sarah was barely conscious of anything except the need to feed.

  “I don’t have time to play with you today, kiddies. I have an appointment that should make things interesting. If it works out you might get a new friend. Here’s your dinner and I’ll be back.”

  The door opened and Troy tossed in first one girl then the other. Sarah felt the heat from their bodies, from their blood. Like the others she pounced, knocking aside one of her cellmates. Her fangs sliced through the girl’s delicate skin. The hot blood spurted into her mouth. In the background she could hear the muffled sound of someone screaming, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except the hot crimson life flowing into her.

  Then Troy was gone. The blood was gone. The rotting bodies lay in the corner, waiting for Troy to come back, but he hadn’t. Kurt promised he would. “He always does. Every few days.” The others nodded. Denise said sometimes he was late, but he always came.

  Except he didn’t. They drained Denise first, but it did no good. Her blood didn’t sate their thirst or make the gnawing pain go away. Afterwards she lay like a husk. Tears leaked from her eyes as she made strange rattling sounds.

  Kurt’s voice was scratchy in Katelina’s ear. “Don’t worry. I won’t let them drain you. You’re my special pet.” His tongue slid along her neck and she shivered, too weak to fight him off anymore—

  “No!”

  Katelina gasped and tried to come to terms with where she was. Kurt was gone. The cage was gone. The stench of the rotting girls was gone, replaced by a collection of dusty furniture.

  Sarah held her head in trembling hands, her eyes wide and horrified. Her chest rose and fell with her panting breaths. “You…you—”

  Katelina fought back her own terror. Not mine. Not mine. Not real. “I didn’t see anything.”

  Sarah lowered her hands and stared incredulous. “Do you think I’m stupid? I saw it. I felt it! You…”

  Katelina knew Sarah would be looking and concentrated on being frustrated, on telling herself over and over that she didn’t see anything.

  The mind reading sensation ended and Sarah looked confused. “But I felt it. Someone…” She swept to her feet and looked in all directions. “I…I’m sure…”

  “I say we give it up.” Katelina stood and quickly stacked the chairs. “I’m bored and it’s creepy staring at you.”

  Sarah clutched her arm. “You don’t understand. Someone was in my head. I felt it. They were…they saw things I don’t want anyone to see.”

  Katelina felt guilty. Why hadn’t she admitted it was her? But she knew why. Because if she admitted she’d done it, then she’d have to admit she knew those horrible secrets. If they acknowledged that she knew, they’d have to address them. They’d have to discuss them. They’d have to deal with them. And neither of them wanted to. Or knew how to.

  “There’s no one else here,” Katelina assured her. “Maybe you were concentrating too hard, trying to give me something to mind read?”

  “I don’t think so…” Sarah stepped back and wiped at her eyes. “I guess it doesn’t matter. If there was someone, there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

  “It’s okay. Bad things happen.”

  Katelina and Sarah jumped. Their heads swiveled in all directions. “Did you hear that?” Sarah demanded.

  Katelina nodded. “Yes. It was…I thought it was in my head, but…” But if Sarah heard it, it was out loud. The question was: who was it?

  They tore through the storage area, and into the corridors beyond. Empty spaces and shadowy corners were all they found. As they circled back, they passed a door. Katelina tried the knob, but it was locked.

  “That’s Annabelle’s room,” Sarah reminded her. “Remember, from the tour?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Katelina gave the door a last shake for good measure. Something tickled the back of her mind, but she couldn’t catch it. Something she should remember…

  Sarah’s words pulled her to the present. “I wonder what’s in it.”

  A warning sounded in Katelina’s head and she stepped back. Inside was something they didn’t want to see, didn’t want to deal with. “I don’t know. Come on. Let’s get this cabinet moved.”

  As she suspected, moving the cabinet was easier than it appeared. The trouble was it looked out of place next to Sarah’s bedroom door. “No one’s going to believe it goes there.”

  “Why? Maybe it has linens in it? My grandma used to have something like that.” Sarah’s voice changed. “After she died, we got it. I used to hide in it sometimes.”

  It was more territory neither wanted to step into, so Katelina made a point of fetching the chest and lugging it to the secret passage. They tucked it near the top of the stairs against the wall.

  Sarah surveyed their handiwork. “Which do you want tonight? The cupboard or the chest?”

  The plan wasn’t going to work, so it hardly mattered. “I don’t care.”

  She could feel Sarah thinking before she announced, “You can have the cabinet. I think it would be too much like…” Though she trailed off Katelina knew the rest: too much like hiding in the cupboard from her father.

  Katelina checked her watch. It said nine p.m. and a heart rate of sixty-six. At least it was still beating.

  “Since there’s time until lunch let’s see if we can find Kali and the twins.”

  Just what she needed. More horror.

  They passed Jamie on the stairs. He paused and nodded. “Jorick is helping with the interrogations in the library.”

  “We’re looking for Kali,” Sarah said.

  Jamie’s face showed no emotion, but Katelina felt his suspicion under the edge of her own terror. “I think I saw her in the blue parlor. Why are you looking for her?”

  “I want to show Katelina that Tol and Ren aren’t out to get her.”

  “You might be better joining Jorick than looking for ancient vampires.” His tone held a friendly warning but, at Sarah’s narrow eyed expression, he shrugged and continued on.

  The women wound their way to the blue salon. Sure enough Kali sat with several vampires around a leather topped table.

  Katelina stopped inside the doorway and tried to ignore the goosebumps racing up and down her spine. She could feel the heavy years of the vampires pulling her down, crushing her with their combined weight.

  “It’s all right,” Sarah whispered. “Kali won’t let anyone do anything to us. I told you, that feeling you get from all the old ones eases off when you’re with her.”

  Katelina wasn’t so sure.

  Kali didn’t even turn around as Sarah approached. “Hello, darling. You were faster than I thought you’d be. We’re playing bridge now. Tol and Ren are running an errand. You may sit in if you’d like. When this is finished we’ll start a new game.” Kali looked over her shoulder and Katelina felt her eyes touch on her. “It’s a pity your friend doesn’t want to join. No matter, she’s free to leave.”

  Sarah looked to Katelina sharply. A surge of terror swelled. Katelina nodded, then hurried out the door, as if Kali’s comment was a command.

  Maybe it was.

  When Katelina reached the shadowy entryway, she turned from the repairmen installing a new chandelier, and leaned against a pillar to gasp for air. Air you don’t need, she reminded herself. The thought didn’t lessen the panic that had been tearing through her since she’d read Sarah’s mind.

  Not mine. Not mine.

  Except maybe it was. When visions of Troy popped into her head, it was like she was in Claudius’ lair, praying for Jorick to save her.

  Make it stop.

  “Are you all right?”

  Katelina blinked and looked into a pair of violet eyes shot through with hints of blue. “Wha—” She shook her head and looked again to see—
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  “Verchiel! What are you doing here?”

  He hooked his thumbs through his belt loops and mock pouted. “What am I doing here? That’s the best greeting you can come up with? They sent me to investigate.”

  “But they already sent Ark.” She thought of his car wreck. Was it worse than the others let on? “Is he dead?”

  Verchiel chortled. “Ark is fine. He was in New York last I checked. I’m the one they sent.”

  “Oh. You were in the car wreck?”

  “Yep. The car and the moose didn’t make it, but I did. Ta-da!” He held out his arms to show he was in one piece. She remembered the bloody, bandaged vampire Porter led through the door, his head wrapped to “hold it together”.

  Verchiel shrugged. “Yeah, it was pretty bad, but I’m all healed now. The question is, what’s eating you?”

  “Nothing. If you’re here to investigate, shouldn’t you be in the study with Jorick?”

  “We’re taking a break. I can only interview so many of them before I get bored.” He leaned close and whispered, “They all seem suspicious to me.”

  She couldn’t argue with that assessment.

  When no further words came, she thought of the last time she’d seen Verchiel. He’d stormed out of the room and refused to talk to Xandria.

  She cleared her throat. “Look, about The Guild and the fight we had…”

  Verchiel waved it away. “I don’t remember having a fight with you. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I was in a bad mood over the debacle with Joseff, and Jorick was, well, Jorick. It’s done, so no point in dwelling on it.”

  Before she could push it, Jorick appeared, his face dark with annoyance. “There you are.”

  “Hello!” Verchiel waved. “Look who I found.”

  “Isn’t it interesting how you always manage to find her?” Jorick turned to Katelina. “I thought you were moving furniture?”

  “We’re done. Sarah is playing bridge with Kali, but I didn’t want to.”

  Jorick’s eyebrows shot up. “Kali? That’s an odd choice.”

  “Who is she?” Verchiel asked.

  “A really old vampiress,” Katelina answered. “I think Brandle said she’s Egyptian.”

  Jorick rubbed his chin. “I haven’t given her much thought, but I admit she’s the only old one I don’t recognize.”

  “How old is she? Is she hot?”

  Katelina answered impatiently, “She’s…” but past a lot of dark hair and some jewelry she couldn’t remember what the vampiress looked like. The twins always overpowered her perception.

  “Exotic is a nice way to put it,” Jorick said. “Plump would be another.”

  Plump? Were they talking about the same woman? “I thought she was thin with lots of black hair.”

  Verchiel rubbed his hands together. “Is she a cupid? They sometimes look a bit different to people.”

  “No,” Jorick said testily. “She’s a…” he broke off. “I don’t know what she is. Not a phantom or a wind walker, but past that I’m not sure.”

  “Then let’s look her up.” Verchiel started for the library.

  Jorick muttered something, but he and Katelina followed.

  The library was set up like it had been when she’d helped with the questioning. Verchiel bent over Jamie’s laptop and clicked several keys.

  “Hmmmm. I’m not seeing anything. Am I spelling it wrong?”

  Jorick gave a huff of impatience and shoved his way in. “With a K.” His fingers hovered over the keys, then he retreated with an aggravated noise. “Go on.”

  Verchiel moved back and clicked the mouse. “Nope. Maybe…”

  After several tries he still couldn’t find anything on her.

  “I thought you and Jamie checked everyone in?”

  “We did,” Jorick replied irritably.

  “Then there has to be something.”

  Katelina perched on the edge of the table. “Try looking up Tol and Ren. Maybe she’s listed in their file.”

  “Okay… Tol… there’s a few…” he murmured as he skimmed pages. “Okay, I think I have him. Tol, fledgling of Bachius. Twin brother Ren shares a master…do they have white hair?” Katelina nodded and he went back to it. “Turned in 1621…approximately 19 at the time…blood debt long paid…There’s an address for them in Burma, but who knows if that’s recent. No coven listed, and under known associates there’s no Kali.”

  “Maybe she changed her name, like Brandle?”

  Verchiel pulled a chair up and scribbled the names of their known female associates on a piece of paper. “All right. Let me look these ladies up and we’ll see if we can find her.”

  Katelina played with a discarded ink pen. “Is it really worth all of this?”

  “She has to be investigated like everyone else.”

  Jorick sat in the other chair and crossed his legs. “She obviously has a file or Jamie would have noticed it.”

  “Unless she’s a whisperer.” Verchiel crossed the first name off the list. “Too young.”

  He worked his way through all the names and finally announced, “I don’t think any of these are her. Half are dead, and the others are too young or too blonde.”

  “Maybe she dyes her hair?” Katelina suggested.

  “Every night?” Verchiel shook his head. “It won’t stay. The hair soaks it up, but when you wake the next evening it’s all bled into your pillowcase. Trust me. I’ve tried it.”

  She hadn’t thought about the complications of bright red hair in centuries past. “Why won’t it stay?”

  “I don’t know. I guess it works the same as healing does. The cells repair themselves, and the dye is considered something foreign. But I’m not a scientist.”

  “I can’t believe you don’t know how your own body works.”

  “Do you? Even before you were turned? Tell me how your stomach digested food.”

  She threw up her hands. “Fine. Back to Kali.”

  Jorick tapped the arm of the chair thoughtfully. “Find Jamie and ask him.”

  Verchiel made a mock salute, then disappeared out the door.

  They sat in silence and finally she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me they’d sent him?”

  “Does it matter?”

  She shrugged. “It’s better than Ark.”

  “Ark isn’t that bad. He’s just focused.”

  “That’s one way of putting it.”

  Jorick sighed. “Like Eileifr, he’s under a lot of pressure, only it’s partially my fault. I left in a swirl of fury and he had to fill my shoes. Ark is many things, but terrifying has never been one of them. Unfortunately that’s what the head of the Executioners needs to be.”

  “You aren’t that terrifying,” she teased. At his stony expression, several memories came to mind, the most vivid his fight with Malick.

  “You were saying?” he asked softly.

  She moved to take his hand. “I’m not scared of you.”

  He cupped her face and she moved to kiss him when she had a flash: the basement. Kurt’s cold breath on her skin, his hand on her cheek.

  She pulled away and Jorick frowned. There was the tell-tale spark in her mind and his frown deepened. “Katelina, I think you need to stop practicing on her.”

  “No, it’s okay. I don’t know why this one’s bothering me.”

  Jorick pulled her down into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “Probably because the experiences are too close to your own.”

  “But they aren’t. Troy didn’t lock me in a cage…” But he had. He’d ripped off her clothes, checked her over for a tracking device, then jammed her in a cage naked, cold, and bruised.

  Jorick tightened his arms around her, as if he was afraid they might still take her away. “I’m sorry. I should have stopped that. I should have—”

  She swallowed away the memories. “You came. That’s what matters.”

  Verchiel chose that moment to barge in, whistling to himself, Jamie on his heels. “Sorry, are we interrupting?”


  Katelina flushed and hurried to get up, while Jorick scowled.

  Jamie cleared his throat and took his place in front of the laptop. “It’s Kali, with a K. Her master is…” he paused and frowned. “Her master is…I don’t remember, but I know I read it.” The more he clicked, the deeper the lines on his forehead grew. “I know I saw it.”

  “Or thought you saw it,” Verchiel said gleefully. “If she’s as old as Kately made her sound…”

  Jamie looked annoyed as he clicked through page after page. “I resent the insinuation she tricked me. If I read her file then it means it’s here. Ah. Look. Kalie. Fledgling of Marguerite, turned 1912.”

  Verchiel pushed away from the table. “That isn’t very old. I ruled out everyone who was turned after 1500.”

  “Yes,” Jamie snapped. “That’s obviously not her. But—”

  Jorick laid a hand on his arm. “I hate to say this, but I think the—” he gritted his teeth. “Verchiel might be right.”

  Verchiel? Since when did Jorick call him anything that wasn’t an insult?

  Jamie looked up angrily. “She didn’t trick me.” Katelina felt the silent conversation between them. As it ended, Jamie’s shoulders sagged. “Maybe.”

  “We should question her next.”

  Katelina stiffened at Verchiel’s suggestion. She’d come there to avoid the vampiress.

  Jorick’s eyes lit with a smug light. “Yes. Bring her in.” Jamie rose and he said, “Stay. Unless she’s older than I think, she can’t fool all of us at once.”

  After what felt like forever, Verchiel came back alone. “I can’t find her. Someone said she went for a walk. I did a quick check of the grounds, but I didn’t sense her.”

  Jorick and Jamie exchanged looks.

  “Then I thought I might bring those twins in, only I can’t find them either. Apparently they’re off with someone named Sarah. Any idea who she is?”

  Katelina caught her breath.

  “She’s a friend of Katelina’s,” Jorick said.

  Verchiel looked surprised. “Good for you. It’s about time you met some new people.”

  “She isn’t new. She’s my—was my best friend from school.” Was she still? The question surprised her, and she pushed it away. “I left her with Kali a little bit ago. The twins weren’t there. Kali said they were busy.”