Chapter Four

When her laughter had subsided, Katelina stood
wearily and touched her burning shoulder. She pulled her hand back
in surprise and eyed the scarlet on her palm. She was bleeding.
“Shit.”
After everything that had happened, she knew she was
lucky to be alive, unlike her poor phone. Still, it was sarcasm,
not gratitude that bubbled out, “So, let me guess, Claudius is a
vampire too?”
Jorick kicked the bloody sword into a stand of weedy
grass. Without asking permission, he placed his hand on her neck
and tilted her to one side to examine her wound. “Yes, he is. They
all were, except Patrick, of course.”
“It’s too dark out here to see anything,” she
objected quietly, preferring to ignore what he’d said.
“I can see well enough to say that you’ve gotten
quite a bite.” He sounded calm – too calm – like this was an
ordinary thing.
“Bite? You’ve got to be kidding...” her voice
faded as she recalled the vampire movies she’d seen. She didn’t
know that she’d accepted his explanation yet, in fact she wasn’t
even sure what she’d really seen or heard. But what if it was true?
What if they were vampires? A lump of cold dread formed in her
throat and forced her silent.
“Yes, you’ve been bitten.” He peered so closely at
the wound that his breath tickled her skin. “It doesn’t look like
he tore any muscles,” he murmured absently. “You’ll have a scar of
course, but you shouldn’t need stitches.” He released her and took
a step back. His eyes strayed to the dark trees surrounding them;
the trunks close together to form a wall of blackness. “We should
get moving.”
Jorick started to move away, but Katelina hung back,
her mind spinning. If those were vampires – if – and she’d been
bitten…
“Does that mean I’ll be a...a...”
Jorick turned back to her. “A vampire?” he sounded
amused. “No, that’s only myth. It takes a lot more than that to
become a vampire.”
“Oh.” She felt an odd relief. “He doesn’t have any
power over me or anything, right? I read that in a book once.”
Jorick shook his head to the negative. “The one who
bit you is dead, but even if he wasn’t he wouldn’t have control
over you, it doesn’t work like that.” He glanced from the trees to
her immobile form. His dark eyes seemed to see past her brave
front, to the scared little girl inside. “We need to get
moving.”
She flushed at the imagined intrusion and moved
quickly to join him. “Of course, sorry.”
Nighttime noises sounded around them. They made
Katelina uncomfortable, so she talked over them “How does someone
become a – ” she hesitated, “ – a vampire?” She whispered the word,
afraid that saying the name would conjure one of the monsters from
thin air. Despite her logical disbelief, she still wasn’t sure what
was real and what wasn’t. Though she’d seen Michael and felt the
inhuman strength of the man who attacked her, it seemed so
absurd.
“It’s complicated,” Jorick answered. He shrugged his
shoulders casually, but his tone made it clear that the
conversation was over.
They reached the trees and plunged into them.
Katelina shivered as the word replayed in her mind.
Vampires.
She glanced around at the darkened land and thought
to herself that at this moment there was a good possibility
that vampires existed. Somehow, the night made everything a little
less real and a little more fictional. It turned everything to
muted shades of gray, like an old Boris Karloff film, and cast
shadows that hid unspeakable things in their black depths.
Tomorrow, when she returned to the world of sunshine and plastic
and shiny chrome, it would be a ridiculous impossibility, but at
that moment why wouldn’t there be vampires stalking the earth?
“Maybe you should have brought the sword.” Her
trembling voice betrayed her fear.
“It wouldn’t do a lot of good here in the open.
Besides, it would be hard to explain should we be observed.”
“Of course.” Yeah, a guy running around with a sword
would look a little out of place, to say the least. In fact, a guy
who lived in an abandoned basement and owned a sword was weird
enough. It was all weird. Weird and creepy.
With nothing else to say, they walked in silence for
some time, until she suddenly drew short and cried out, “My
car!”
Jorick stopped and looked at her as though she was
having a fit. “What?”
“My car! It’s still back there! I have to get it! I
can’t just leave it abandoned in the middle of the country over
night! What if they steal it or, worse, vandalize it?” She imagined
explaining to the insurance company what had happened and trying to
reason with them that the damage should be covered by her insurance
plan. After all, vampires were not an act of God.
“If you want to,” Jorick said nonchalantly. He put
his back to her and continued walking. “But I’m not going
back.”
“Damn it.” She stomped her foot childishly. The
thought of walking back through the trees alone was out of the
question. She’d done enough stupid things for one night. “What
about my car?”
But he didn’t look back. She scowled and hurried to
fall into step beside him. “What am I going to do if they trash
it?”
“Get another car,” he answered. “There are a lot of
cars in the world.”
“I’m sure that’s easy for you to say. I mean, you’re
living out there in the middle of nowhere – you don’t even have
electricity. Why would you understand?”
“Yes, it is easy for me.” He stared straight ahead
and didn’t bother to glance at her as he spoke. “I’ve owned cars
and I’ve been without cars, and either way I always manage. I’ve
lived in houses filled with obscene amounts of wealth, and hovels
without even the comfort of a wooden door. That house back there
will burn to the ground and I will have to find another. None of it
is important. There are only a few things that one needs to survive
in this world.”
“Well, yes, but how am I going to get home without a
car?”
His eyes flicked to her. “I would suggest that you
don’t go home.” She opened her mouth to argue, but he continued,
“At least not until the sun has been up for an hour or more, and
then, if I were you, I would go only to save my possessions before
I moved.”
She stopped dead in her tracks and exploded, “Move?
I’m not moving! I’ve lived in that apartment for three years. I
like it!”
“All the more reason. A change of scenery does one
good, you know.” His voice was steady and reasonable, and he
glanced back at her. “Besides, if they knew where Patrick lived,
and Patrick knew where you lived, then ‘they’ know where you live.
That’s something that you don’t want to happen – you never want
‘them’ to know where you live.”
“You don’t really think they’d...” she didn’t want
to say the next words, though she wasn’t even sure what they’d be.
Kill me? Maim me? Hurt me? All of them were viable
possibilities, especially right now when she almost believed it
all. “They wouldn’t really?”
Jorick nodded calmly. “Yes, I think they would. You
were Patrick’s lover, Patrick is now dead. It makes sense you would
get involved to seek revenge. You’ve seen the things they’re
capable of. If they find you it won’t be pretty, I can guarantee
it. Patrick’s death will be tidy compared to what they will do to
you.”
Her hand unconsciously went to her throat. “I
thought you said that your house would burn to the ground? Surely
they can’t survive fire?”
“Yes, it will burn, and no, they cannot survive
fire, but some of them will undoubtedly escape.” He seemed almost
resigned. “They’ll get out and take Michael with them and go before
Claudius with their story. Maybe Michael will be pardoned, if he
happens to know where they can find you.”
She had nothing left to say. Her feet were already
aching but she forced herself to trudge onwards with the reminder
that bloodthirsty vampires might be following them.
She checked her watch to find it was nearly
midnight. She sighed deeply and wondered if the night would ever
end or just continue forever in a world of darkness and
absurdity.
They walked on in silence, out of the trees, across
farmland, and down gravel roads, until nearly four a.m. Many times
she would open her mouth to speak, but the silence had stretched so
long that she couldn’t think of anything suitable enough to break
it. Her mind was far too occupied with the cramps in her aching
legs, the pain in her shoulder, and the constant barrage of
nightmare fears that assailed her from every shadow.
They topped a steep hill. Katelina gasped for air,
and saw lights ahead, tiny beacons in the night that proclaimed
safety and comfort.
“A town!” She called and stopped walking to catch
her breath. A smile flitted across her soot smeared features and
relief flooded through her. There was civilization and reality
straight ahead!
Jorick paused too, his hands on his hips as he
surveyed the twinkling lights spread in the valley below them.
“Yes, I believe it’s called Dunwick? It has a motel, so it will
serve us nicely. It’s not much, but better than trying to sleep in
the street.”
Katelina was so grateful at the idea of a bed that
she didn’t bother to think about what would happen when she didn’t
go to work the next morning, she didn’t even bother to talk. Her
only thoughts were bent towards comfort and safety – the vampires
would never look for them in Dunwick!
Jorick allowed her a few minutes to catch her
breath. She sprawled on the ground while he rubbed his hands in the
dewy grass, and attempted to clean the blood and dirt from his face
and hands. As he worked, he eyed her critically. “You might do the
same,” he suggested.
She nodded vaguely and spit into her hand. She
rubbed her palms together and wiped them on her jeans. He winced in
disgust, but said nothing as she concentrated her efforts on her
face.
They found their way into the town: an old, rundown
village gasping out its final breath. As they walked down quiet
streets, the windows of abandoned buildings stared dully at them
like the eyes of something dead and sorrowful, chipped paint and
weedy parking lots reflected in their dingy panes. Katelina had
been there before, but she wasn’t sure that it had ever looked as
morose – or beautiful – as it did now.
They made their weary way to the main highway where
they found what they were seeking. The motel was a pink, ranch
style affair with individual doors to each room, all numbered in
faded gold.
Jorick left her to check in, promising he’d be right
back and telling her not to move. She assured him she had no
intention of going anywhere, except to sleep. He turned to go and
she almost stopped him. Despite his earlier efforts, traces of
blood shone dark against his skin. But she decided it was pointless
and sank to the concrete curb to wait.
Jorick returned, a key jingling in his hand and a
smile on his face. Apparently they hadn’t held his appearance
against his money.
She stood as he unlocked the door and followed him
into the room. The warmth felt almost too warm for a moment, but
she shut the door. She glanced from the hideous carpeting, to the
warped television stand, to the table and chair, and then to orange
covers of the bed. The one and only bed. She opened her mouth to
complain, but he was already gone to the tiny adjoining bathroom,
muttering to himself, “Oh yes, this will be just fine.”
“Oh will it?” Katelina demanded as she glared in the
direction of his disembodied voice. They’d been nearly killed by
someone or something, and he had saved her, in a manner of
speaking, but that didn’t mean she was going to sleep with him!
He reemerged from the bathroom, looking satisfied,
and she snapped, “There’s only one bed.” It wasn’t too late to go
to the police, though she doubted they’d believe a word she said.
How could they? She knew that no sane, rational person would.
“Yes, and there’s only one person to sleep in
it.”
“Oh! You got separate rooms!” She felt remorse
trickle through her. He’d been perfectly thoughtful and she’d
sounded like a bitch, practically accusing him of trying to force
himself on her. Her blush deepened as she realized where her mind
had been.
“Nooooo,” Jorick answered slowly. He looked at her
blank face and added quickly, “The beds give me a stiff neck.”
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how to react. “Are you going
to sleep on the floor or…” She had no other suggestions.
“Most likely.” He glanced towards the tiny bathroom.
“Do you want to take a shower?”
She started to nod; a shower sounded like a
wonderful idea. But she was so exhausted she just wanted to drop
into bed. It was nearing six a.m. and she’d been up over
twenty-four hours. Besides, she wasn’t entirely comfortable taking
her clothes off with Jorick in the next room. She didn’t know him.
In fact, if she thought about it, she wasn’t sure why she was there
with him, or why she seemed to trust him when she shouldn’t. He
could still be a lying psychotic killer.
But she didn’t say that, only, “No. I’ll take one
when I get up tomorrow – today, whatever.”
“Well, I’m going to take one. I suggest you try to
go to sleep.” He disappeared into the tiny room and shut the door
firmly behind him.
She flopped on the bed without bothering to climb
beneath the blankets. She let her head sink back into the pillows,
closed her eyes, and listened to the sound of the shower running.
Birds began to chirp outside, heralding the sun’s impending
arrival.
What a night it had been! She could scarcely get her
mind wrapped around it. There was too much for her to comprehend
and it was all too strange and confusing.
Patrick’s face swam before her eyes, pale and
haunted. That’s how he’d appeared the last time she’d seen him
alive.
 
‘What’s wrong Patrick, you seem... I don’t know,
weird tonight.’
He’d faked a smile but the worry stayed in his blue
eyes and refused to leave, ‘Nothing, I’m just tired.’
‘Do you want me to go?’ she’d started to sit up,
to leave the bed.
‘No.’ He’d looked like a lost little boy. ’I
don’t want you to leave, not yet.’
‘Then I won’t.’ She’d laughed, and slid back
beneath the blankets, wrapping herself around him, wishing she’d
known how to make him feel better.
 
Katelina opened her eyes and wiped tears out of
them. Damn! She’d been doing such a good job of ignoring the ache
in her chest until tonight! She’d tried so hard not to cry for him,
not to care, but now it wasn’t working very well.
Love. Jorick had said Patrick loved her. The idea
still tortured her. Patrick hadn’t loved her, no matter what Jorick
said. They’d discussed it so many times. Patrick had wanted her
assurances that she didn’t want a real relationship with him. He’d
explained that he couldn’t give her one and that he didn’t want to.
What was she supposed to feel about that? What was she supposed to
say? She’d agreed, and from that moment on she’d suppressed any
burgeoning emotion where Patrick was concerned, squashing it before
it even began.
Jorick had no right to go around saying things like
that about Patrick! No right at all!
She raised her fist and slammed it into the bed,
wincing as pain reverberated through her damaged shoulder. She
should clean it, but Jorick was in the bathroom. A flush crept
across her cheeks as the unbidden thought of him naked behind the
shower curtain entered her consciousness.
She quickly berated herself. She didn’t understand
how she could even contemplate such a thing, not after the night
she’d had!
She closed her eyes again and yawned. What she
needed was some sleep and then a good strong cup of coffee when she
woke up. After that, everything would be just fine. She was sure
that once the sun was up all this weirdness would disappear and
everything would be back to normal. Yet, as she drifted into
darkness, she wished longingly that she could really believe
that.