Amaranthine Special Edition Vol I

by Naylor, Joleene

  Katelina really couldn’t care less. “So? We’ll be miles from here. Who cares what happens to them?”

  Jorick cocked a solitary eyebrow. “Even if I didn’t care about them, they’d still want your blood.”

  “Let them want it. We could go somewhere they’d never look.”

  “And what then? We’d disappear into the night, and you think other vampires won’t recognize us?” He sighed heavily and cupped her face in his palms. “It will only take a little while, I promise. Once they’ve agreed to overlook your actions, we can leave and go where ever we wish, without having to look over our shoulders.”

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You’re saying we should play along Isn’t there another way?”

  His voice turned matter of fact, “I could turn you, but even then you’d be new and weak; no match for those with old blood. And that’s who The Guild would send. Could you fight them? It wouldn’t be just one or two. It would be a death squad, sent to annihilate, while they forced me to watch. I won’t do that, and you can’t ask it of me.” His voice caught in his throat. “I won’t lose someone else. Not like that.”

  It was impossible to ignore his sentiment and she surrendered. “I just want away from this nightmare.”

  “I know, but first let them sort things out. Go along with them for now. Oren is still their leader and, unless I’m mistaken, they won’t overthrow him just yet. They’ve come fresh from the victory he led them to, and they won’t forget it for some days. Should they try, I’ll remind them who’s the strongest here.”

  Her shoulders sagged with resignation. “All right, Jorick. But I hate this. They’ll make me go back to that room and leave you here.”

  “Very likely, yes. There’s some sentiment that I convinced you to take the heart as an act of vengeance because they doubted me. They won’t want us together for fear I’m using you still.” He offered her a wry smile. “Despite the fact you’re a weak human, you can be awake in the daylight, and it makes them nervous.”

  “It should,” she muttered darkly, and imagined a mass staking, starting with Oren.

  Jorick gave a soft laugh and pulled her to him. “You’ve gotten vicious. Perhaps it’s the company you keep?”

  She started to answer him, but he claimed her mouth in a powerful kiss. Their lips meshed and she folded against him. Her fingers tangled in the long dark hair at the base of his neck. She could taste him; sharp and tangy, and at that moment nothing else mattered. Not Oren, or the other vampires, or their stupid war. Just Jorick and his warm kisses.

  He broke contact and, as her head dropped to his chest, he murmured softly, “I love you, Katelina.”

  Without even thinking she whispered in return, “I love you too, Jorick.” And, despite everything, she knew she truly did.

  **********

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Oren returned with Torina and the black vampire she’d been all over at the farmhouse. Katelina learned that he was Des, the vampire Jorick had called from the restaurant pay phone, and that he’d helped Oren and Jorick with the war on Claudius long before Katelina or Patrick had gotten involved. However, his opinion of Jorick had changed in the last few days.

  He sniped a few remarks, and then they got down to business. Jorick pointed to some of the papers on the table. “According to these, Kateesha met with someone from The Guild on more than one occasion. The lieutenant, as he apparently likes to call himself, claims that she had their blessing. But-”

  “But, she was trying to overthrow them,” Torina finished for him. “The Guild wouldn’t bless that!”

  A smug light gleamed in Jorick’s eyes and he held up a stack of papers. “No, she wasn’t.”

  “Really?” Des sneered. “Then why did she kidnap the human to draw the Executioners?”

  “Yes,” Oren agreed, irritated. “My intelligence said that she wanted to fight The Guild.”

  Jorick scoffed. “Then your intelligence was wrong. There’s no mention among any of the papers about attacking The Guild or kidnapping the human. In fact, the only comments about her are obviously meant to be private observations on the lieutenant’s part.” He rifled through the papers until he found the ones he wanted, then read aloud, “‘Though, I fail to understand why The Queen is so fascinated with her. She says there must be something in it; something revitalizing. But, I don’t see it, and I don’t think she does either.’ And then there’s this comment on the battle with the Executioners. ‘Wisely, our queen turned the human over to them. I had expected it to cause her great unhappiness to do so, but on the whole she seems only to be annoyed that The Guild interfered with her entertainment. For my part, I can’t say that I miss her at all.’”

  Katelina suddenly felt something sick twist in her stomach as she recalled Kateesha’s words about trying a human. “My God. She wasn’t bait, she was Kateesha’s lover.”

  “Apparently,” Jorick agreed. “Though she cared for her very little to turn her over so easily.” His gaze shifted to Katelina and then he cleared his throat and looked back to the others. “Kateesha’s war wasn’t with The Guild, but with the humans.”

  If there’d been crickets, their chirp would have been the only sound in the room.

  Finally, Oren asked incredulously, “What?”

  Jorick flipped through the papers, his brow creased. “The plans are extensive. She intended to coordinate with other covens all over the country, one in each state, so that they could start the attack at the same time.” He rubbed his chin and skimmed through a paragraph. “However, the plan was in its infancy. She’d only been in contact with one other coven, and they hadn’t accepted her proposal yet.”

  Des crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Jorick with thinly veiled hostility. “And just what was her proposal, exactly?”

  Jorick shuffled through the papers again. “They would form a sort of loose confederacy, under her ultimate leadership. Each coven had to agree to supply a hundred vampires to the cause.”

  “A hundred?” Oren demanded, his eyes wide. “No coven is that extensive! It’s too many vampires to support in a single area!”

  “She was importing some from Mexico, just as your prisoner said. And according to this, they should be here any day. As for the other covens-” Jorick paused and a sardonic smirk settled on his lips. “-They were to manufacture them. According to the battle plans laid out here, most of them would have been nothing but cannon fodder, so it hardly mattered how strong they were.”

  Des narrowed his eyes. “I just don’t understand the point of it. The Guild would squash it before they could accomplish anything.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Oren said slowly. “Fifty covens attacking simultaneously? Each with one hundred or more? How could The Guild stop it before someone saw?”

  “They’d kill the witnesses,” Torina suggested with a shrug.

  “But what about the internet?” Katelina asked suddenly. The vampires stared at her, but she refused to be intimidated. “With cell phones and digital cameras and online video sites and photo albums, there’s no way they could control it. People would upload the pictures and the videos and they’d be visible world wide.”

  “And I imagine that was Kateesha’s goal.” Jorick dropped the papers to the table with finality. “Once that many people had undisputed evidence before their eyes, the world would change. It wouldn’t matter what The Guild did to try and silence it.”

  Katelina balked at the thought of the new world Jorick spoke of.

  Des, however, refused to accept it. “What about this Guild representative they claim she met with? They wouldn’t agree to that! It goes against every Law we have!”

  “I suppose that depends who the representative was,” Jorick said. “It doesn’t say specifically that The Guild gave her a blessing, only that someone within it did.”

  Oren’s brow wrinkled. “Even Malick wouldn’t dare.”

  “I don’t know,” Jorick admitted.

  Oren l
ooked to Jorick, then back to the papers. “What do we do about it?”

  “I’d start by asking this lieutenant,” Torina purred, her hand on Des’s arm. “As I recall, he’s going to be executed shortly?”

  “Yes,” Oren agreed, reluctantly. “We should ask him.”

  Jorick picked up a sheet of paper that was lying off to the side by itself. “We should also talk to Thomas. I believe the lieutenant’s book keeping has left a lot of questions that only he knows the answers to.”

  Des’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “And what does it say, exactly?”

  Jorick’s tone was unemotional, but Katelina thought she saw a smug smirk crease the corners of his mouth. “According to this, Thomas met with Kateesha the night before the war coven was attacked.” His gaze flicked meaningfully to Oren, then back to the paper and he read aloud, “’Thomas reported that Jorick and his pet have joined Oren’s coven. Oren offered him leadership, but he evidently refused. The rumor is that he and his human were attacked, but no one seems to know the extent of the battle or what happened. Thomas was angry that we didn’t tell him about Adam and Nirel’s involvement, but The Queen soothed him and he left in good spirits, with the promise that everything would be ready for the attack tomorrow night.’”

  Oren cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Des snatched the paper out of Jorick’s hand. “Where does it say that?” But, he apparently found it on his own. “There’s no way to prove this is real! Jorick was left alone with the documents. He could have forged this.”

  Torina peered at the paper, a frown on her face. “If the handwriting matches...”

  “It proves nothing!” Des snapped and threw the paper back on the table. “He could have faked that. There are plenty of examples here.”

  Torina’s brow puckered in irritation, though her voice stayed sweet, “And why would he do that?”

  “To clear his name, of course!” Des cried. “Everyone knows it was him.”

  Torina dropped the sweet act. “Do they? I don’t remember that.”

  Des snorted contemptuously. “Of course. And if you need more proof, he had his human drink from Kateesha-”

  “That hasn’t been proven yet!” Torina snapped over the top of him. “Why would he do that?”

  Des opened his mouth to reply, but Oren shouted over both of them, “Enough! We can argue this later. There are more important things to deal with right now.”

  “More important than Jorick lying?” Des’s eyes suddenly lit with inspiration. “How do we know any of this is real? Maybe Jorick manufactured it all.” He spread his hands to indicate the papers. “It would explain Kateesha’s supposed pointless plan.”

  “Unless he can write a page a minute, he wouldn’t have had time. We both saw the paperwork with our own eyes, before Jorick was ever left alone with it.” Oren took a deep breath. “No, I won’t argue this now. We’ll talk to the lieutenant first.”

  “Yes,” Torina echoed, her voice hard. “Let’s see what he has to say.”

  But the lieutenant had very little to say. He sat in the cold fire pit in the throne room, his hands and feet tied, and a look of satisfied martyrdom on his face. Kerosene soaked wood was stacked around his feet and Oren stood in front of him, a torch in his hand. The war coven, with the exception of their one casualty, stood in little pockets near the proceedings. Anya and Thomas stood close together, both angry at the accusations of espionage.

  Katelina glanced across the room to Jorick. He stared straight ahead, his face a mask, as if what transpired was of no consequence to him. They’d had to enter separately, Katelina officially escorted by Oren, and now stood apart, for fear that someone would claim they were conspiring. Like she cared.

  Micah stepped towards the uncooperative prisoner. “Answer him!”

  The lieutenant only said the same sentence he’d been saying over and over, “I die willingly for my Queen.” The strange, toneless quality of his voice made Katelina think of brainwashed victims in alien movies. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

  Jeda stood off to the side, her brows drawn together uncertainly. “Whether he answers or not, I believe the papers exonerate Jorick.”

  “Of being a spy,” Fabian snapped. “That was obviously Thomas, but there still isn’t any proof that Jorick didn’t order his human to kill Kateesha.”

  “This is ridiculous!” Anya strode forward and wrenched the torch from Oren’s hand. “Thomas isn’t on trial here! This man is. And he’s guilty. Let him burn like we agreed.” She thrust the torch into the wood at the lieutenant’s feet. “It will be the first thing that’s gone according to plan yet.”

  “Anya!” Oren roared. He tried to snatch the torch back, but it was too late; the wood was already alight. “The interrogation wasn’t finished.”

  “Maybe she has something to hide?” Torina suggested coldly. She and Des stood next to each other, but the space between them might have been a chasm for all the closeness they shared. “Maybe she’s afraid he’ll say something.”

  Anya spun to face the redheaded vampiress. “And what would he say except the same thing he’s been saying? You’re both wasting time so Jorick and his little pet can build a case. It won’t do them any good. The facts are clear, and she’ll be next!”

  They continued to argue, though Katelina’s attention was focused on the golden fire pit. The vampire inside sat motionless, even as flames caught his clothes and smoke curled up around him and disappeared through the hole in the ceiling. Katelina couldn’t understand why he didn’t run, or try to get away, or at the least make some kind of noise. Watching him silently greet death was far eerier than bloodcurdling screams would have been.

  Jorick spoke suddenly, “Anya is partially correct.” At the sound of his voice, the room fell silent and all eyes turned to him. “We’ll learn nothing from him. Kateesha broke him.”

  “Or you did,” Des snarled. “Convenient, since he’s the only one who could say who the spy was.”

  “The papers already said that, man.” Micah said. “Like I’ve been telling you numb nuts all along. We need to lock the little puke up and punish him!”

  “Yes,” Torina purred. “Why isn’t Thomas being detained? After all, he is a suspect now.”

  Des snorted. “Jorick and his human are free, and we know what they did; we saw it. So, unless you’re going to lock them up, too...”

  Thomas started to interject, but Anya silenced him with a look and the words, “Let me handle this!” He hung back, sulkily, and gave everyone a generally filthy look.

  “Thomas is not on trial,” Anya repeated. “If you want to try him, then I suggest you do so when we’ve finished with those two.” She jabbed an angry finger towards Jorick and Katelina.

  “Maybe we will,” Fabian replied. “And maybe we’ll try you as well.”

  “If you think you’re man enough. But I want the same kind of slanted trial that the human’s going to get. We all know it won’t be fair.”

  “Stop!” Oren shouted. “Why is it you can’t be civil, even for this? If you want to know why nothing went as planned, then this is why. Your petty squabbling is tiresome!” He threw his hands up uselessly. “Tomorrow we will convene and put the human, Katelina, to trial, as agreed. Depending on the findings, Jorick may follow. After that, we will see. In the meantime, we have a far more pressing problem; Kateesha’s followers. I’ve spoken with one of them, Kale, and he’s of the opinion that, since no vampire drank from the heart, no one claimed the coven. He suggested that those who remain of Kateesha’s coven should be permitted to choose their own allegiance between us.”

  “Between who?” Anya asked sharply. “As far as I’m concerned, your war coven was dissolved the minute you allowed that traitor to live.”

  “Then whose coven are you in, now?” Micah asked. “You just hangin’ out here with your sneaky little brother for the fun of it?”

  Thomas looked sulky. “You’d better watch what you say. Once we’re out of here, you’ll be sorry.”


  “Oh, is that a threat?” Micah asked, a broad grin on his face. “We can go whenever you want, weasel. Right here, right now!”

  Oren growled low in his throat. His anger was enough to silence them, though Katelina was sure it was only temporary. “The coven is not dissolved until the matter with Jorick and his human is settled. You took oaths to that effect.”

  “We took oaths of loyalty, but they were only good until it was over, and it’s over,” Des said. “Mine expired when Claudius was defeated, in case you’ve forgotten. I considered Kateesha and The Guild damage control, but unless the human is put to death, and Jorick punished, I’m finished with this.”

  The vampires continued; multiple opinions sliding over one another, while the stench of burning flesh grew thick and heavy. Katelina turned away, unable to deal with it all; the smell, the fighting, the flames and the threats. Her stomach heaved and, if she’d eaten, she’d have thrown up. As it was, she only gagged up a mouth full of bile, then looked up to meet Loren’s eyes. Oddly enough, he looked as sick as she did at the stench.

  “We’ll put it to a vote,” Oren declared, but Jorick interrupted.

  “Since Katelina has no say in this, I see no reason for her to remain.”

  Anya sneered. “I’m sure you’d like to take her off somewhere, alone. However-”

  “He’s right,” Micah said suddenly, surprising everyone. “We don’t need the human hanging around, listening in on all our plans. Loren can take her. Unlike the rest of you, he doesn’t have a fucking agenda.”

  “He’s loyal to Jorick,” Des argued.

  “Right, that’s why he arrived running his mouth? I ain’t seen him being overly friendly with lunch here.” Micah jerked his thumb towards Katelina. “Unless you have?”