Chapter Nine

Katelina’s head swam with the realization of what
she was witnessing, and she’d have fallen if Jorick hadn’t held her
up. Jesslynn seemed to enjoy Katelina’s horror. Her cold, cruel
laughter echoed through the evil nursery.
“Enough, Jesslynn,” Jorick snapped. “I don’t know if
you’re trying to impress me or intimidate Katelina, but either way
it’s pointless.”
“Impress you?” she asked mockingly and took a step
forward. “Hardly. And as for your snack...” she smiled cruelly and
added, “She should already be properly intimidated, if you’ve done
your job correctly.”
Katelina whimpered, and Jorick bit back, “I don’t
require kowtowing servants like you.” His eyes moved to Margaret
and her peculiar outfit. “A creative punishment, I suppose, if you
find holding power over the weak so interesting.” His eyes moved
back to Jesslynn. “But it’s of no concern to me. What matters is
what you’ve done. I’ve granted this woman my protection, and by
doing this, you have violated it.” He took a step forward and
shuffled Katelina behind himself, still holding her firmly. “You
know the penalties for such an act!”
“You are in my house – ” Jesslynn began but Jorick
cut her off.
“No!” His voice quivered with barely contained rage,
“I am in the house of your master, Oren, and I am his
master. If The Guild–”
The redhead moved to Jorick’s side again and laid
her hand on his arm. Her voice was liquid velvet. “Would you sic
The Guild on us, Jorick?”
“I rather doubt it.” Jesslynn sneered. “It’s
unlikely they’d be happy to see him.”
“I don’t need to go to The Guild,” Jorick
snapped.
Jesslynn ignored him and moved to Margaret, who was
still feeding the tiny vampire baby. A thick silence descended,
broken only by the small, sucking noises issuing from the babies
tiny lips, a sick mimicry of more wholesome things.
When she made no answer he continued. “Anything I
wish to do, I will do myself. I don’t need to hide behind them.” He
took a deep, breath, but it failed to calm him. “I say only that if
The Guild were to hear of this – all of this – you’d be severely
punished, and you know it!”
Jesslynn sniffed disdainfully. Her eyes challenged
him and held his gaze with a haughty gleam. “I do not fear them,
and I do not fear you.”
Oren’s voice sounded from the doorway. His tone
inflected with cautious curiosity. “What is this?”
Katelina’s attention shot to the newcomer and she
thought sarcastically how lovely it was to have another vampire
crammed into the room. Just the way she intended to spend her day,
surrounded by a bunch of blood drinking monsters! She twisted in
Jorick’s grip, but he held her tightly and she surrendered. She
wasn’t going to get loose, and even if she did, where would she
go?
“Nothing, Oren,” Jorick answered. “Yet. If Jesslynn
persists, though...” he trailed off, his voice cold.
“I have done nothing wrong!” Jesslynn insisted,
taking several steps toward Jorick. “Your human came to me
willingly enough! Didn’t she, Bethina?” She flashed a fanged smile
and the crazy blonde vampiress nodded agreement.
Katelina balked at being called Jorick’s human, but
no one seemed to notice.
“Jesslynn!” Oren yelled. “You knew the conditions!”
He strode forward, and stopped in front of Jorick, his muscles
tense. His hands were clenched into white knuckled fists at his
sides and his amber eyes glared dangerously at his wife.
Jesslynn scowled and tossed her head. “You speak of
conditions as though he does us a favor by coming to us in his hour
of need! Bah! I have no need for such favors.”
At her words, Oren’s temper flared. He jabbed an
accusing finger at her, his words choppy with fury, “You forget all
that he has done for us – for me! For our fight! He is here because
of it!”
She scoffed. “He is here because he was a
sentimental fool.”
“And it’s good he is or he would kill you where you
stand!”
The redhead moved to Oren and caught his shoulder.
“Why don’t you see what Bethina has to say?”
“I care not for what she will say!” Oren snapped
angrily, pulling away from her. “Jesslynn has used her as a puppet
before, and might do so again. I sense nothing but fear from this
human.” Oren turned and met Jorick’s gaze. The black haired vampire
nodded slowly and gently pulled Katelina in front of him again.
Oren looked into Katelina’s eyes. His amber gaze was
penetrating and probing, and, though she tried, she found she
couldn’t look away from him; held by invisible hands that forced
her to remain still. And then, as quickly as he had ensnared her,
he released her – dismissing something that was no longer
useful.
He turned back to Jesslynn, his face and voice cold.
“I know that she did not come to you willingly, my wife. Why do you
lie?”
“You take Jorick’s side because you fear him.” Anger
and mockery dripped from her words and her eyes challenged him to
deny the accusation.
He looked at her severely. “I do not fear him, I
only show the proper respect for the one who made me.”
Jesslynn shook her head in disgust and hissed
between her pointed teeth, “You’re a coward.”
Jorick’s grip tightened on Katelina, though she
didn’t bother to resist. It wasn’t as if she could get away when
she was surrounded by the creatures. Margaret was the only other
human in the room, and she was busy pulling the baby vampire from
her naked breasts and would be of no help. Katelina knew that she
was alone now, more alone then she’d ever been in her life, and
there was a chance she might not live to look back on it.
Jorick interrupted the dispute. “I’ll leave you to
deal with this as you see fit, Oren. I expect it won’t happen
again.” An intense look passed between the two men, then he turned
for the door, still holding Katelina in front of him. Though her
legs wobbled, she made it back to her room. At least there she
could lock the door – and lock them out.
Except, Jorick went inside with her. Panic flared in
her chest. What would happen now? Would he kill her?
He released with a suddenness that left her lurching
for the bed. She missed and landed on the floor in a heap.
Anger danced behind his words, “I told you not to
leave the room until I came for you!”
She folded herself into a sitting position, as if
that might protect her. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” Her
voice shook with unshed tears and she buried her face in her hands.
“Oh God!”
Jorick took a deep breath, and when he spoke again
his voice was even and soft. “No, I am not going to kill you.” He
crouched down beside her and met her gaze. “If I wished you dead,
would I not have killed you already?”
“I don’t know,” she sobbed in reply, her voice
muffled by her hands. “Maybe you and... the rest of them are going
to sacrifice me or something.” She was too afraid and embarrassed
to look up. “Maybe... maybe you don’t really know anything about
Patrick. Maybe it was a lie to get a new victim...”
“An elaborate hoax for so little reward.” He placed
a hand on her shoulder. “If I wanted a victim, why not go out on
the street and catch the first one I saw? Why go to so much trouble
simply for the thrill of a kill?”
She hated his logic as much as she hated him. She
dropped her hands and violently pulled away from his touch. “Damn
it! You said that ‘they’ were the bad guys! You said ‘they’ worked
for Claudius!”
“Who?” Jorick’s hand hung in midair and his tone was
confused. “Oren?”
“No! The vampires! You said they were evil!”
“Evil? I never said that.”
“Yes you did! You said they were evil and they
worked for Claudius and that they wanted to kill me and – ”
He cut her off impatiently. “No, I did not. I said
only that Claudius and his underlings were vampires and that they
might try to kill you.”
“No, you didn’t,” she seethed. “You said – ”
“I know very well what I said. I would never have
used such a generality. Not all vampires are evil any more than all
humans are good or stupid. Each creature has its own merits, both
good and bad. There is no catch-all to describe any group or
species, and to try to do so would be ridiculous at best. Even
among Claudius’ followers there are undoubtedly some you would call
‘good’. Good and bad aren’t easily discernible conditions set in
stone like black and white. It’s a matter of perception.”
“If that’s true, why didn’t you tell me you were one
of them?”
He shrugged his shoulders, his brow furrowed. “Does
it matter?”
Her mouth dropped open in disbelief. “Of course it
matters! Do you think I would’ve come with you if I’d known? That
I’d have been thinking...” She cut herself off before she could
finish the sentence and say... what? Say that she’d been thinking
he was attractive? Or that she’d been thinking that she needed him
and had even come to trust him? Or that when she looked at him her
heart pounded and her thoughts betrayed her? And for what? To be
lied to! Everything was a lie. All of the things she’d allowed
herself to believe, they’d all been pretty wrapping paper hiding
the truth. He was a monster like the others. A beautiful monster
who’d lied from the very beginning.
He crossed his arms over his chest and his eyes
glittered dangerously, as if he were privy to the seething thoughts
scrolling through her mind. “Well, it no longer matters, does it?
You’re here, and if you want to get out alive then you’re going to
have to trust me, Katelina. You have no choice.”
She looked away and stared at her hands, the fingers
clenched so tightly that the knuckles were white. She wanted to
scream at him that she did have a choice. She wanted to attack him,
scratch his face, destroy those beautiful features that had crept
into her dreams, but she didn’t have the strength. Instead she half
lay on the floor, legs tucked beneath her, and cried bitterly.
There was nothing else for her to do; at least not as long as the
sun was down. Until dawn, she was trapped and he was all she
had.
He relented. “I’m sorry Katelina. I should have told
you – though you admit yourself, that you wouldn’t have come with
me if you’d known.” He closed his eyes, as if choosing his words
carefully. “You may not wish to believe, but not all of us are in
league with Claudius. However, there are enough who are. They’d
have hunted you down and taken you to him, and he would have broken
you and then drained your blood, leaving you an empty shell. If you
were lucky, he would let you die. If not, you’d have become one of
his countless possessions, a trophy to look at on cold winter
nights.” He caught her chin and forced her to look at him. “Would
that have been better?”
“No.” Her eyes skipped away and then back again,
narrowed in defiance. “But how do I know you’re telling the truth?
Maybe you’re lying to me again.”
“I have never lied to you,” he released her chin and
gently wiped away her tears with his soft, pale hand. His touch
made her shiver in spite of herself.
“Yes, you did,” she insisted though her shoulders
sagged as she lost what fight was left in her. “You didn’t tell me
you were a vampire or that we were going to stay in a vampire
mansion.” She stared up at him, lost and frightened, her voice
barely a whisper.
Jorick offered her a patient smile and continued to
stroke her cheek with his thumb. “I didn’t say that I wasn’t one,
or that they weren’t. You didn’t ask, and I didn’t volunteer the
information. Omission, fine, I’m guilty of that; but a lie?” He
shook his head. “No, I did not lie.”
Her thoughts became distracted at his touch, like
they always did. This time she refused to allow it. She shook him
off and pulled away. “No, you’re not going to confuse me with
this.”
He smiled so that his glistening teeth showed and
his eyes sparkled with secret amusement. “I wasn’t trying to
confuse you, but it’s nice to know I have that effect.” In one
fluid motion he moved to sit next to her on the floor.
She flushed quickly and looked at her lap, unsure
what she was feeling anymore. “So,” she began uncertainly. “Oren,
he’s your… What?”
“Fledgling?” Jorick asked with some amusement. “Yes,
he is. And don’t ask me why. I often wonder that myself. At the
time it seemed like the thing to do.” He gave a half shrug. “He
wished for it and I saw no reason to deny it.”
She wasn’t sure how much of this she wanted to
discuss or acknowledge. “You were friends?”
“Neighbors. But back then neighbors were different
than they are now, so I suppose you would consider us friends after
a fashion. Truthfully, he was far too wrapped up in his wife and
his children to see much beyond himself. I believe it was Jesslynn
who actually figured out what I was and after that it was only a
matter of time. Mortals have only two reactions, either horror or a
longing to join us. Once I turned him, he of course changed her.
Though he’s the man of the family, she’s the one in control.”
“And she turned the children into...” she paused,
searching for the right word. Somehow “vampire” seemed distasteful,
as though it were something dirty, and her lips refused to
pronounce it. “...into what they are?” she finished lamely.
“Yes, she did. The same night that Oren turned her,
she turned the children, not thinking to the future and the
hundreds – perhaps thousands – of years that would pass while
neither child ever aged or fully matured. She wanted them to need
her, to always depend upon her.” He shook his head sorrowfully and
sighed. “It was foolish at best and cruel at worst.”
“Why would anyone want that?”
Jorick cocked his head to one side. “Children who
cannot die and are forever frozen in time, completely controllable?
Because she is overbearing, perhaps. Overbearing and broken. She
and Oren buried two children in the time I knew them. The family
cemetery holds others.”
“Oh.” Katelina’s gaze shied from his face. She took
a deep breath and then asked hesitantly, “What about the blonde
girl?”
He frowned. “She was evidently weak. Her mind broke
during the process. It can happen if they’re flawed, or if the
turning is botched. I don’t know who she is, though. I haven’t
spent time with them as a group in... fifty years?” He paused,
calculating. “No... Seventy, maybe?” He waved it away as
unimportant. “I don’t know; it’s been a long time, anyway.”
Katelina tried not to think about the astronomical
numbers involved, or about the fangs that glittered when he smiled.
How was she going to do this? How was she going to talk to him and
think of him as she had now that she knew?
But Jorick was oblivious to her thoughts and
continued speaking. “And before you ask, the redhead is Torina,
Oren’s sister. I told him to leave her mortal – she was dangerous
enough as it was – but he didn’t listen. He rarely does.”
She stopped from giving her opinion and instead
asked, “And the man on the couch last night? Who looked like
Jesslynn?”
“Her brother Fabian,” he answered with a touch of a
scowl. “Another who could have stayed as he was.”
“There was also a man dressed in weird clothes, with
a beard.”
“Baltheir, I believe his name is, though I’m not
sure where he came from. This is what is known as a den. Oren’s the
master here, the oldest. He controls who can stay and who can’t,
who can join their coven. There may be a dozen or more of them
here, depending on how many each one has turned.” He shrugged
casually, as though it were common knowledge. “And then, of course,
a den may not hold all of a coven, or it may hold more than one. It
all depends on the individual arrangements.”
“Oh.” She felt like a lost child rescued by an angel
and taken to the valley of monsters.
“From now on, as long as we’re here, stay in this
room unless I come for you. If anyone else sends for you or comes
for you, say no and stay here.”
“If you’d mentioned they were vampires I would have
stayed here!”
“I thought that my instructions would be
sufficient.” He replied sharply. He climbed to his feet and crossed
to the window. He stared at the moon in silence while she pulled
her knees to her chest and laid her head on them. After a moment he
turned and spoke, his voice almost mournful. “You must listen to
me, even if you don’t like me, do you understand? It could mean the
difference between life and death. Though I’d like to think you, at
least, did not hate me.”
“I don’t think I hate you,” she replied with a hint
of bitterness. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to concede the point
to him; by all rights she should despise him.
“Well, then, that’s something.” He cleared his
throat and took a step towards her. “Have you eaten?”
She nodded and snuffled her nose. Her thoughts
drifted to how terrible she must look. Movies and books portrayed
the softly sobbing female lead as something fragile and romantic,
but in reality crying was all runny noses and puffy eyes. It was
anything but romantic and beautiful.
“Good.” He nodded firmly and added, “It might not
hurt to eat again; I don’t know how much blood she took from you.”
Anger flashed in his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had
appeared and his voice was again controlled and even. “You must not
look into her eyes, Katelina. She uses her will to weave a spell
around you, to make you bend to her whims. In fact, to be safe
avoid eye contact with all of them.”
“Should I avoid eye contact with you, too?”
“No, I won’t try to trick you. Have I yet?”
She leveled her gaze with his, demanding the truth.
“Would I know if you had?”
He smiled, and again she tried to ignore what she
was seeing; it was easier that way. “I don’t know. Perhaps. Do you
know she tricked you?”
“Sort of,” she answered slowly. “I mean, I do
because you both said it, but... I don’t know.” The thought that
they could do that, and she might not even know, scared her.
“Well, I haven’t, anyway,” he assured her. “I’ll go
find you some food. Stay here.”
He left before she could reply, shutting the door
behind him.
She sat on the floor and stared at the door he’d
just disappeared through. Slowly, she gathered the strength to
stand and moved to the bed where she curled into a ball. She wanted
to go home, to go anywhere but this nightmare house with its
hellish nursery and horrifying occupants – somewhere where little
boys didn’t drink the blood of their nursemaids and nightmares
didn’t roam the hallways.