Masque of the Vampire (Amaranthine Book 8)

by Joleene Naylor

  We’ll save you, Sarah. You and Estrilda.

  A vampire child, Estrilda had been kidnapped at the same time as Sarah. Katelina had promised her parents that they’d find her, too. Hopefully she and Sarah were together, and still alive.

  And hopefully we’ll get them back tonight. They were halfway through following a set of directions that would take them to Lilith’s secret Canadian den. Last night, they’d landed at the “closest” airport, then walked to the motel. Today it was a two hour drive to what Katelina imagined was a sprawling mansion, complete with chandeliers, towers, and a dungeon where Sarah and Estrilda were kept. They could charge in, kill Lilith’s minions, and rescue the two of them. Though Katelina doubted it would be that simple, she could hope.

  Finished with her shower, she climbed out to dry and dress. If everything went according to plan, they’d be back at Andrei’s tonight. Tomorrow they could head for home, Sarah in tow. What happened after that was anyone’s guess.

  Katelina gave the foggy mirror a last look, then headed into the room where Jorick paced by the door, the luggage packed. Chipped furniture was still stacked in front of the window—put there the night before to block the sun. Rumpled beds and stained carpet looked no better after a day of sleep. She was sure if she looked under the bed she’d see beer cans, empty cigarette packs, and maybe a dead hooker.

  Jorick offered her a smile as she stuffed her pajamas in the suitcase. “Feel better?”

  She shrugged. It wasn’t as if a shower could really take away all her worries, no matter how much she wished it could.

  Someone knocked on the door. Jorick opened it to reveal Des, a dark vampire with close cropped hair and a goatee. He nodded a greeting. “We got a van.”

  Katelina was grateful to hear that, but she looked away without comment. When she first met Des, he’d fought on Oren’s side in a coven war. He’d quickly decided Jorick was a traitor and left, throwing vague threats after him. Though he’d since admitted he was wrong, he’d never apologized to either of them. Katelina had a hard time believing he was on their side.

  If he could read her mind, she was sure he’d say, “I’m not on your side. I just want to find Sarah.” That attitude made things worse. She was pretty sure that, if it came to it, he’d happily sacrifice either of them to get what he wanted.

  She and Jorick headed out the door where the van was waiting. Rental tags said it was legal. She wondered how, with no mental abilities, he’d rented a Canadian van without a Canadian driver’s license.

  “He didn’t go alone.” A tall thin vampire stepped from behind the van. Long brown hair hung past his shoulders. His velvet suit, complete with frilled ruffles, looked as out of place as his jewel topped cane. It was Sorino. For reasons Katelina didn’t understand, he was determined to tag along.

  “You’re lucky I did,” Sorino replied. “Or you wouldn’t have a plane.”

  Katelina ignored his mental intrusion. “There won’t be any relics. Nothing for you to collect.”

  Sorino sniffed disdainfully. “How do you know? The den of Lilith. The so-called mother of the vampires. I imagine there’s something worth looking at. Besides, I’m not coming only for financial gain. One must be amused.”

  Des stepped toward them. “Speaking of amused, Sorino, where’s your pet?”

  “He has a name,” Katelina snapped. “It’s Kai.”

  Sorino chuckled. “Still worried about human rights? An odd position for a vampire. Nonetheless, Kai will be along any moment—” he broke off as one of the motel doors opened. “There he is.”

  A boy of sixteen or seventeen appeared. Long blond bangs hid most of his face. Though he was bundled up against the chill, Katelina knew what was under the bulk; scars. Like a crisscrossing road map, the boy was marked everywhere, even his forehead. She was never sure if it was something Sorino had done, or the rogues Kai’d been saved from. Truthfully, she didn’t want to know.

  With a nod of greeting, Kai hurried to the van with the luggage. Katelina caught the scent of his blood and her stomach growled. It smelled like roast beef, like spaghetti, like a sandwich slathered in mustard. All the things she’d craved when she was starving.

  Just a taste, her instincts whispered. To get you by. Sorino does it all the time—

  No!

  She forced the desire down and saw Sorino smirk. A mind reader like Jorick, he’d probably heard her thoughts.

  Des interrupted her internal struggle. “Is that other guy coming?”

  As if in answer, Brandle stepped out of his room. Katelina could feel the years that hung on him, years that his youthful appearance belied. Long blonde hair, a beard and moustache, a scar down the right side of his face, and a milky white eye, made him look like some kind of TV Fantasy warrior, while the mischievous twinkle in his good eye said not to take anything for granted. He certainly didn’t look more than fifteen-hundred years old.

  Des put one foot inside the vehicle. “Finally. Can we go?”

  Sorino chuckled. “Your sense of urgency is interesting. You’re desperate to charge in as the shining hero and save your damsel in distress. Last I looked, she was hardly yours. You’ve known the woman for two weeks.”

  Des spun back. “It’s none of your business.”

  “Perhaps not, but have you considered that, once she’s rescued, she may not want to go with you?”

  Des bared his fangs and growled low in his throat. “Stay out of my head.”

  Brandle moved between them. “Enough. We need to work together, right?” He looked back and forth, settling at last on Sorino. “Des fancies himself in love with the girl, and so what? Let him be. I find your motives more deeply in question than his.”

  Sorino chortled. “Mine? Forgive me if I’ve forgotten why you’re here?”

  Brandle laughed and clapped the snobbish vampire on the back. “I don’t believe I ever told you.” He shot Katelina a wink. “What is it they call the front seat? Rifle? No, shotgun. I call shotgun.”

  Des made an impatient noise. “I don’t care where you sit, just get in.”

  Brandle did as instructed, but tossed back, “I assume we’re going to feed soon?”

  Sorino slid into the back seat. “I’ve been taken care of.” He shot a meaningful look at Kai as the boy settled next to him.

  Katelina bit back a disgusted comment. They’d only say what Sorino did with his human was none of her business, as if Kai was a pet, or a toy. That was the way they looked at humans, as little better than talking cows. She wondered how Jorick had made the distinction with her.

  “Who says I did?” Jorick asked with a chuckle.

  She rolled her eyes and settled into the middle bench seat next to him. Kai’s scent wafted up—roasted chicken and vegetables. She groaned. Could she condemn Sorino for doing something she wanted to do? Then again, there was a difference between them. She held back. He didn’t.

  Why should he?

  She glanced to the backseat, though she wasn’t sure which of the whisperers has sent the thought. Sorino? Jorick? Even Kai was capable of it, thanks to the vampiric blood he’d ingested over the years. Traveling with them, she needed to practice shielding her mind.

  “Are we ready?” Des fired the van up. By Andrei’s calculations, there were only two hours left of the trip. She checked her neon pink fit watch and did the math. Assuming they didn’t take long to feed, they could be at Lilith’s den by eleven. She just needed to get through the car trip without killing one of them.

  They stopped in a field outside of town and split up to hunt. Katelina scuffed through dead grass shot with green, until a rabbit dashed out. It made three hops before it froze, enchanted by Jorick’s mental abilities.

  He scooped the creature up and handed it to her. The warmth of the rabbit’s body, and its blank hypnotized stare, bothered her — until she smelled the blood. When she came back to herself, her fangs were buried in its small throat.

  She quickly handed the body to Jorick, and dabbed at her lips. He�
�d once asked her, “What’s the difference between drinking an animal’s blood and eating their muscles and skin?” but there was a big difference. When she ate a cheeseburger she didn’t have to look in the cow’s eyes.

  “Maybe you should.” Jorick laid the bunny aside and wiped his hands. “If you have the nerve to eat it, you should have the nerve to acknowledge what it is.”

  “Right. Then humanity would starve to death.”

  “Not starve, but perhaps you wouldn’t be as wasteful. If you made the food yourself, grew it, cultivated it, raised it, butchered it, then maybe you wouldn’t throw it around.”

  “You say ‘you’ like I’m still one of them.”

  He ruffled her hair. “It’s a habit, little one, like your daily showers, but eventually we’ll both get over them.”

  She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  The trip was uneventful. Brandle played with the radio and Sorino occasionally made irritating comments. Katelina watched the nighttime countryside slip past, punctuated by occasional bright lights and civilization. With her new eyes, the dark was no longer an impenetrable curtain. The world was now in perpetual twilight, painted in shades of gray like an old movie.

  But they weren’t on the silver screen. The seemingly precise directions to Lilith’s den proved too vague. After an extra hour of driving in circles, they pulled into a gas station.

  Brandle read over the paper again. “…‘Follow for twelve miles, then turn’…Did we miss it?”

  “No,” Des snapped. “We’ve been past the twelve mile mark six times. There’s no road.”

  Brandle handed the paper back. “Perhaps we made a wrong turn somewhere else?”

  “No. We’ve followed it perfectly to here!” Des took a calming breath. “I’ll just go ask for directions.”

  Sorino followed him out of the vehicle, motioning the teen to join him. “I’d better accompany him, since his French is rudimentary at best. Come Kai. While we’re here we’ll stock up on your protein bars.”

  As they disappeared toward the building, Katelina thought they were more like the Stooges than a rescue party. Not that she could do any better with the directions. She’d have suspected Andrei made them up, except it was his daughter they were trying to save.

  “Are we sure they’re right? Maybe whoever gave the directions to Andrei lied.”

  Jorick shrugged. “Anything is possible. Though I assume he had a reliable source.”

  Katelina licked her lips. “If we find the place…Estrilda…” She glanced to Brandle and sighed. “You guys already know how old she is, but Des and Sorino don’t. Are they trustworthy enough?”

  “You mean because child vampires are illegal?” Brandle asked.

  Jorick made a low noise in his throat. “Sorino…he’d gain nothing by turning her in. We both know he worries only about profit. Des, on the other hand…”

  “I think he could be persuaded to stay quiet.” Brandle tapped his chin. “Not to mention he won’t know she’s a child unless he’s told. She’s short, yes? But with her…disfigurement, child isn’t what immediately comes to mind.”

  Katelina remembered the first time she’d seen Estrilda. Set on fire when she was still human, her head was bald and her face and body scarred and wrinkled. She looked more like a tiny old lady than a child.

  “And she doesn’t speak out loud,” Katelina said slowly. “Since she lost her tongue, she can’t. Luckily, she’s an imparter.” Unlike Jorick and the other whisperers, when Estrilda sent comments to people’s minds, it was in her voice, so you knew where it came from, while a whisperer’s comments sounded like your own thoughts. “If she doesn’t speak to Des, maybe he won’t pay enough attention.”

  Brandle nodded. “Even if he does, Sarah could no doubt convince his silence. She’s important enough to rescue, so she must have some influence.”

  The conversation ended when Des jerked the car door open, looking more irritated than when he left. “Seems Andrei left some things out. Luckily, the kid in there knows where we’re going. He said his parents used to stay there once a year before it closed.”

  Stay there? The mansion Katelina imagined morphed into a palace-like hotel complete with fountains, glittering chandeliers, velvet couches, and a swimming pool. The kind of place a movie star would frequent.

  Sorino and Kai returned, loaded down with plastic bags. They waited while Kai shoved the food and bottles into his backpack, and stashed the extras.

  “Are we done?” Des asked. “Or do we want to waste some more time?”

  The highway turned into a collection of old roads, and finally a tight lane. Tall trees bordered both sides, like oppressive sentinels, last year’s leaves scattered at their feet.

  “This isn’t a road.” Des turned the wheel hard to the right, then to the left. “This is a mule track. I know the kid seemed certain, but—” he broke off as they topped the hill. A valley spread below them, stuffed with trees and a two story log-cabin. Katelina’s first impression was some kind of lodge. A nearby sign confirmed it.

  While a lodge technically fit the “my parents stayed there” criteria, it looked all wrong. “Are you sure this is it?” she asked.

  “That or the station attendant misunderstood our intentions,” Brandle soothed, one eye on Des’ irritated face. “If nothing else, it’s a chance to stretch our legs.”

  Des stopped in a driveway covered in autumns past, and shut the engine off. Brandle and Jorick sniffed, as if they expected to catch the scent of an immortal, even with the windows up.

  “I don’t sense anyone,” Brandle said slowly. “Though Kali—erm, Lilith—can hide her presence.”

  “And those with her,” Jorick added. “She can expand the shield like a bubble.”

  “Convenient for her.” Brandle looked to Des. “Shall we take the right?” He nodded to Jorick. “You and Sorino could take the left.”

  “Yes,” Jorick agreed. “We’ll circle the building first.”

  “What about me?” Katelina asked. “Am I supposed to stay in the van?”

  Brandle cleared his throat. “Not if you don’t want to. My apologies. I forget that modern women don’t wish to be treated as ladies.”

  The twinkle in his eye took the sting from his words. Katelina dismissed them with a shrug. “There isn’t much point in finally being one of you if I’m going to hide all the time.”

  “I agree,” Sorino said. “However, you might be more useful with the van and Kai— unless you’d prefer him to be defenseless?”

  Her arguments died as she glanced back to the boy. With all the vampire blood he’d ingested over the years—and the small bits of vampiric powers that came with it—she wasn’t sure he needed to be defended. But was she willing to take that risk? What if they left him alone, only to have some skulking minion of Lilith’s rip him to shreds?

  “All right.”

  Jorick arched his brows in surprise. “You’re sure?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Once the coast is clear, we’ll join you. Just hurry up.”

  Jorick brushed a kiss across her forehead, then the four men disembarked. Katelina watched them troop toward the front of the lodge and examine the large front doors. They shook them as though they were locked, peered through the windows, then split up to circle the building.

  “I don’t think she’s here,” Kai said silently, the words telegraphed straight to her brain, as if she’d thought them up herself.

  “I doubt it,” Katelina agreed out loud. Whisperer abilities were something she didn’t have. “It wouldn’t make sense to come back here. If this is even the right place.”

  With nothing else to say, they fell into silence. When the men didn’t reappear, Katelina assumed they’d found a way inside. She counted off the minutes to herself, half afraid they’d run into Lilith and half afraid they hadn’t.

  Finally, footsteps crunched towards them. Katelina threw open the door to ask if they were clear. The question died on her lips. The vampire who stood staring at her, a dead
deer slung over his shoulder, wasn’t one of theirs.

  He dropped the animal to the ground and charged forward. A pair of earphones bounced around his neck, still playing music. “Who the hell are you?”

  Katelina hopped out of the van to drop into a fighting stance. She mentally scrambled for a weapon. She had a dagger packed away in the back, and the nearest fallen limb was out of reach. She’d have to do this with nothing.

  The vampire crashed into her, trying to pin her to the van. He didn’t know that extra physical strength was the one thing she’d inherited from her maker. She easily shoved him back where he sprawled in old leaves and spring mud.

  He snarled and jerked to his feet, something metallic in his hand. A knife? She didn’t stop to think, but pounced, swinging as she moved. Her fist connected with his head. She saw blood run from his ear.

  He stumbled, then came back slashing. She hopped out of the way of his first attack but, an acorn rolled under her foot, and she lurched into the second. The blade cut the sleeve of her shirt, bringing up a line of crimson on her arm.

  The sight of her blood filled her with fury. She’d been in so many fights, seen so much of her blood spilled by casual morons while she waited to be saved. She was tired of it. She didn’t need to be saved anymore. She could take care of herself.

  Memories of Micah’s training flashed through her mind. Breathe. Relax. The angry fighter was the dead fighter. Distract him, then go in for the kill, quick and neat.

  They circled one another, distrusting eyes flicking back and forth. When her attacker was focused on her hand, Katelina kicked a shower of leaves at him. He jumped back and she sprung, tackling him to the ground, her knee jabbed in his stomach. He tried to stab her, but she squeezed his wrist until he dropped the knife. Though she thought about retrieving it, that second of distraction might be all he needed to get free.

  And kill me.

  “Where’s Lilith?” she demanded.