Goddess of Night (Amaranthine Book 9)

by Joleene Naylor

  “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.

  He gasped for breath. “What the fuck? Who?”

  Katelina hesitated. They might be in the wrong place. But if so, why was there a vampire? What were the odds that Lilith had a secret den nearby, loaded with vampires, meanwhile an abandoned lodge also had vampires? It was too much of a coincidence, so she tried the name Lilith had used at the party. “Kali.”

  His features hardened. Katelina saw the recognition. “She’s not here. If you’re smart, you’ll be gone before she arrives.”

  So they were in the right place, and Lilith was planning to return. “When will she be back?”

  He struggled. Katelina clamped down, increasing the pressure until he snarled, “I don�
��t know. Take your human and go.”

  Katelina tried to look menacing as she pressed her face closer. “Don’t give me that crap. You’re—what?—the caretaker? Left behind to keep an eye on things? You know where she is, and when she’s coming back.”

  “No, I don’t,” he snarled. “She’s already late.”

  “What is she planning? Where did she go?”

  “Some…party. I wasn’t invited. She took the albino twins.”

  Right. Andrei’s party, and the twins who were killed at the ball. “What about the rest of your coven?”

  “I don’t know! I’m the only one who came with them to Canada. Most of the others are old, and they don’t want to spend time together. Look, you might be strong, but you’re too weak to fight her, and too young to join her. This is your last chance. Take your pet and get out of here.”

  Footsteps crunched through the leaves. Katelina stiffened. He’d said he was alone, but apparently he wasn’t. She tensed, ready for another attacker, until she heard Sorino’s voice, “He really doesn’t know.”

  With a huff of impatience, Katelina pushed off the prone vampire. “Thanks for that, but just because you can’t read it in his mind doesn’t mean—”

  A kamikaze cry interrupted them. She spun back to see her foe rushing toward her, fangs bared and knife raised.

  Without thinking, she swung, connecting with his chest in a sickening crunch that splattered blood and gore past her elbow. She pulled back immediately, palm full of something slimy and warm. The vampire staggered, eyes wide. He opened his mouth, but fell face first into the mud before any sound came out.

  Katelina stared from the crumpled body to the glob of heart clutched in her palm. With a cry of disgust, she flung it away and tried to shake the gore from her sleeve. She’d killed him. She hadn’t meant to, hadn’t meant to punch him hard enough to break his ribs…

  Jorick appeared, Brandle on his heels. “What happened?”

  Sorino wiped his hands on a lace edged handkerchief, as if he’d gotten dirty by observing. “Our instincts were right. Lilith left someone to guard the place. Apparently he was out, no doubt getting dinner.” Sorino motioned to the dead deer that lay nearby. “Your pet made rather quick work of him.”

  She blinked. “I didn’t—”

  Sorino chuckled. “She doesn’t know her own strength yet, it seems. No matter. The minion was useless; he knew nothing of import. Termination was the best thing for him.”

  Jorick found the heart lying among the leaves and stomped it into pulp. Brandle knelt next to the body. “At least she was efficient,” he teased, then fished through the vampire’s pockets. He pulled an MP3 player free. “He had poor taste in music.”

  “And in masters.” Jorick lifted Katelina’s injured arm. “You’re wounded.”

  “Not really. It doesn’t hurt. But I need to change and clean this mess…” Mess. A tidy word to describe the blood and tissue that kept someone alive until a moment ago.

  She felt Jorick in her head; the tell-tale spark of a mind reader. “You’ve killed before.”

  “Yes, but not by accident. Maybe Sorino’s right. I don’t know my own strength. I might need more training.”

  Brandle stood, a collection of items held in his shirt, like a farm girl with eggs. “You seem well trained to me. Here’s what he had on him. Nothing useful as far as I can see.”

  Jorick fished through the items: a pocket knife, a dirty handkerchief, the MP3 player, headphones, a ring, and a wallet. Inside was some cash and a driver’s license that looked fake. Jorick squinted at the address printed on it. “This might be something, if it’s the address of a den and not a random location.”

  “It could be worth checking out if we don’t find anything here,” Brandle agreed.

  As Jorick pocketed the license and cash, Katelina told them, “He said he was the only one here, that the rest of the coven was old and didn’t want to spend time together.”

  “Define old.” Brandle took the rest of the items.

  She shrugged. “I didn’t get a chance to do a lot of interrogation.”

  “It’s all right. Hopefully there’ll be more details inside.” Jorick moved to the van and dug a shirt out from Katelina’s suitcase. “Come. There are facilities inside.”

  She followed him across the lawn and through the double doors. A large log cabin-style room had a cold fireplace and chunky rustic furniture. A deer head hung on the wall. Frames held old photos of hunting parties, and a faded portrait of an old man labeled “Wickleberry”.

  Katelina looked from a pair of antlers on a tabletop, to the rifle over the door. “This isn’t how I imagined Lilith’s den.”

  Jorick shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t have time to redecorate?” He ran his finger over the back of a dusty chair.

  “Or she lacked manpower.” If it had really been just the dead vampire and the twins, Katelina doubted any were suited for renovation work.

  Jorick motioned her into a bathroom, where she quickly peeled off the ruined shirt. The sink had separate hot and cold faucets that looked cute. After a few minutes trying to get the water right, she realized the fallacy of the “cuteness”.

  The mess was on her hand, on her arm, flecked on her face, and in her hair. She had to practically climb in the sink to get it all off. The water either froze or scalded her, depending on which faucet she got closest to. When Jorick finally said he was going to finish examining the upstairs, she wasn’t surprised. He had better things to do than wait for an hour.

  She finished up, then dried and pulled the clean shirt on. With the evidence removed, she felt better, as though it had never happened.

  In the main room, she found Brandle at a table decorated with deer skulls and empty bottles, flipping through a book.

  “What’s that?”

  He offered a crooked grin. “A guest book, it seems. As the station attendant intimated, this was a hotel of sorts.”

  “More like a hunting lodge.” She nodded to a collection of taxidermy animals.

  “An odd choice for a woman, but then Kali—pardon, Lilith—is an interesting woman.”

  “That’s one word for her.” Katelina realized that Brandle had been attending parties with her for years. “How well do you know her?”

  “Not well.” He closed the book and replaced it. “We didn’t socialize outside of the parties, which were only held every fifty years. Even then, I can’t say I ever spent time alone with her, or even lost in conversation. I’d heard she was Egyptian, though she never quite looked it. I know she doesn’t like cinnamon.”

  “That’s not very helpful.” Disappointed, Katelina pushed through the nearest doorway to a dining room that had several tables. Cobwebbed chandeliers were made of deer antlers. Lightbulbs only worked in one and threw weird shadows, like grasping fingers. Three overturned chairs and a splatter of blood on the wall made the scene even eerier.

  “The blood isn’t very old,” Brandle said, following her gaze. “I’d say our lone caretaker had company in the last two weeks.”

  Katelina shivered at the murder scene, then moved on to a disused kitchen. Copper pots were dull with dust. A row of cereal boxes had been chewed by mice, leaving trails of the treats across the shelves. A sink was heaped with moldy dishes, and a dead cell phone sat on a shelf, abandoned. From the dust, Katelina guessed it belonged to the previous owners, not the vampire.

  Katelina nodded past it all, to a heavy door with a padlock. “What’s this?”

  “I don’t know. Sorino had the downstairs. The rest of us were on the second floor when Jorick rushed out to save you.” Brandle’s eyes twinkled with amusement.

  “So there might be someone inside?” Though the dead vampire said he was alone, she wasn’t sure she believed him. She sniffed, as she’d seen others do. The cacophony of smells told her nothing. She tried to reach out with her mind, but there was no sense of life. Of course, some vampires could hide their presence.

  Katelina rattled the door. She wished
Jorick was there so he could—she stopped. What was she thinking? Thanks to the gifts she’d inherited from Micah, she’d ripped out a vampire’s heart without trying. She should be able to tear the door off the hinges. She didn’t need to wait anymore. She could take care of it herself.

  “It’s a habit, little one, just like your daily showers...”

  Right.

  With a cry, she kicked the center of the door. The wood gave way. She stumbled. There was a nanosecond sensation of tumbling forward, before Brandle grabbed her.

  “Whoa there! That was effective, I’ll grant you, but perhaps not the best way to go about it.”

  The last bits of wood clattered to a stop below as she wiped splinters from her shirt. “No, I guess not. I didn’t realize there were stairs on the other side.”

  “One never knows what to expect when exploring. Perhaps next time we should pull the padlock off? It’s not as spectacular, but it gets the job done.”

  Her cheeks flushed. Before she could agree, Kai appeared, looking curious. He figured out the situation quickly. “A cellar.”

  Katelina had been in plenty of vampire cellars, and she wasn’t in a hurry for another one. Except it was the likeliest place for clues. Vampires would burn in the sunlight, so a dark place was a safe place, and a safe place was where one would keep their most important—and hopefully most incriminating—things.

  Katelina plunged ahead, kicking bits of door off the steps as she went. She’d only gone a few steps when a light clicked on. She looked back to see Brandle give a thumbs up, Kai behind him with a flashlight.

  Right. Because Kai can’t see. She understood why vampires had left her in the dark so often; if they could see, they didn’t realize everyone else couldn’t.

  Another habit.

  Katelina pushed on down the stairs. She expected an unfinished basement of dirt, something that matched the rest of the decor. Instead it was built from painted cinderblocks with a linoleum floor. An arrangement of furniture on one side suggested a game room. A low doorway in the back wall led to more subterranean chambers.

  She glanced at a bookcase, then moved to the next room. Jumbled with old chairs and boxes, it was apparently for storage, though it looked like things had been dumped there in a hurry.