Chapter Six

Katelina followed Jorick across the motel parking
lot to the sidewalk. Under the odd colored streetlights, her skin
glowed pasty white and the sidewalk seethed in a thick boiling
black; a surreal scene after so much confusion.
The pair didn’t speak as they headed towards the gas
station. Only the eerie sound of the rustling cornfield broke the
silence.
The convenience store was a typical concrete
building, decorated with a grinning turtle. Taped to the large
glass windows was an assortment of signs advertising hay rides,
houses for lease, and a two for one sale on cigarettes. It was the
arrangement beyond that caught her attention, though. There was a
rack of maps and sunglasses, a stand of motor oil and anti–freeze,
and an array of junk food in appealing multi-colored packaging.
The door chimed as they walked in, and the clerk
behind the counter, a boy who might have been eighteen, gave them
an alarmed look.
Jorick went to the drink coolers and Katelina headed
straight for the Twinkies. The employee watched them suspiciously,
and she wanted to glare at him. Though, to the boys’ credit she
supposed they made an interesting pair. She looked wet and wrinkled
while Jorick looked brilliant - so brilliant that she found herself
glancing towards him more than once.
She picked out a handful of junk food and dumped it
on the counter in an unceremonious heap. However, the clerk was
more interested in watching Jorick than ringing up her
purchases.
She cleared her throat and he muttered, “Will that
be all?”
A snappy reply rose to her lips, but her attention
was drawn to the cigarette display behind him. Two for one was a
good deal, and right now she could use something good. Just two
packs and then she’d go back to not smoking. Or maybe not. Maybe
she’d stick to it again. After all, now was as good a time as any
to start back up. Mutilated fun buddies were one thing, but she
needed nicotine to deal with vampires.
“Give me two packs of Marlboro Ultra-Light
100s.”
“There’s a, uh, special...” the clerk stuttered
without looking at her.
“I know. That’s why I asked for two.” She pulled the
crumpled bill out of her pocket and stared at the kid expectantly.
When he didn’t move she snapped, “He’s not going to rob the place
or date you, so get over it.”
The kid gaped, but she’d finally gotten his
attention. He blinked, no doubt working on a suitable reply, but
she repeated her request and he reluctantly grabbed the cigarettes
and tossed them on the counter with her collection.
Jorick reached her side, a bottle of fruit juice in
his hand. He eyed the heap on the counter, one eyebrow raised
disapprovingly. “A smoker?”
“I quit,” she offered by way of explanation.
“Then maybe you should stay that way?”
She ignored him and directed the kid to ring up the
juice and a lighter as well. With her paltry change in her pocket
and the bag of goodies balanced on her hip, she followed Jorick
outside.
She fished the juice out and offered it to him, but
he shook his head and nodded towards a payphone near the corner of
the building. “Let me make a call first.” He took a couple of steps
then added, “Wait here.”
She started to ask why, but let it go. She didn’t
really want to stand there and watch him on the phone, anyway.
She plopped down on the curb and eyed the bag of
food. It was weird that he’d just gotten juice, but then maybe he
was out of money. He’d paid for the room, after all.
Her eyes strayed from the bag to Jorick. He leaned
casually against the phone’s rusty metal shroud, his face enveloped
in darkness. Multiple shadows stretched out behind him, long and
black. It reminded her of the multiple complications she was
facing; shadowy wraiths of half memories and weird stories.
The idea was unsettling so she reached into her bag
of treasures and soon had a smoking cigarette between her lips. A
feeling of calm and peace spread through her as she inhaled and
then exhaled slowly. Now she felt she could deal with anything that
life threw at her, including monsters from her worst
nightmares.
She took another puff and imagined Sarah’s lecture.
The guilt was instant, but she didn’t put the cigarette out. Sure,
Sarah would be disappointed, but maybe she’d understand. After all,
it was vampires! God, could she even tell Sarah about all of this?
Would she believe her or just think she’d cracked?
“She’ll send me to the damn therapist for sure,”
Katelina muttered to herself. How would that look in her work file?
That she was seeing a shrink – “Work!”
Jorick seemed to materialize in front of her, a
questioning look on his face. “What?”
“I missed work. And I didn’t even call in!” She
looked at the payphone. “Maybe I could leave a message…”
Jorick shrugged. “We’ll have a ride in a couple of
hours.”
She felt a small measure of relief at his words.
“Good. I guess I can wait until I get home, though I don’t know
what I’m going to tell them.”
“If you need to tell them anything then I suggest
you do it now.”
“It’ll be easier from home–” she cut herself off.
“Why?”
He spoke with exaggerated emphasis. “I told you last
night, going home after dark isn’t a good idea.”
“I have to go home. I need to change and get things
sorted out – I have a job! I have a life!”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I told you
things would change once you found out the truth. I gave you a
chance to turn and run from it, and you chose not to. You can’t
just go back to being what you were before; not now. You’re
involved. Claudius will want your blood as much as mine.” He
dropped to the curb next to her and leaned his elbows on his
knees.
“But.... I’ll tell him it’s a mistake! If I explain
it...” she trailed off, sure it wasn’t true. The kind of people
that could make you tear out your brother’s throat didn’t
understand the word ‘mistake’. “Shit!”
“I’m sorry,” Jorick said simply. He met her eyes and
shrugged. “I did give you a chance, though.” He plucked the
cigarette from her fingers and took a long drag off of it, exhaling
a thin stream of smoke that writhed towards the sky like a white,
ethereal ladder to heaven.
He handed it back and she puffed on it numbly. Her
mind worked overtime, trying to think of a way out of this. The
best thing to do was assume Jorick was telling the truth and that
he wasn’t just deranged and insane. After all, she’d seen the thing
in the basement and she had a weird bite mark on her shoulder. Both
of those things were real, so there had to be truth in his story.
In that case his advice was probably sound, whether she wanted to
follow it or not.
She sighed heavily and wished that the smoke truly
was a ladder to some celestial utopia. But, even if it was, she
wouldn’t know how to climb it. No, she told herself, she needed to
think about practical things. If ‘they’ knew where she lived, she’d
have to get a new apartment. Okay, she could do that. She hated to,
but she could. As for the job, if she didn’t show up she’d find
herself unemployed, and that would be a big problem.
While she sat there, trying to reason out a new
life, all around her the world continued to exist. Humanity
continued to carry on as if nothing was amiss. A car pulled in and
parked. Six teenagers piled out and headed into the gas station.
Katelina felt a deep isolation between herself and the happy kids,
as though an invisible rift of nightmares separated her from their
carefree world.
“All right, fine,” she agreed reluctantly. “But, I
need to go to work tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t,” he commented casually as he took the
cigarette again.
She glared as he took another puff. “You know, for
someone who thinks I should ‘stay quit’…”
“Yeah, well.” He handed it back. “As I was saying, I
wouldn’t go if I were you. I’m sure they know where you work, and
they’re not above recruiting humans when they need something done
in the daytime.”
“But what have I done?” Her eyes were drawn to one
of the teenagers who came slamming out the door. That was her, she
thought suddenly: The one alone and no longer smiling.
“Nothing, but try telling that to Claudius. They’ve
been looking for Michael and I for quite some time, and when they
found us you were there. Michael knows who you are, and I guarantee
he’s been rescued so Claudius can punish him. If you don’t think
Michael will sell you out, you’re sadly mistaken.”
Katelina turned her attention to Jorick. His eyes
were on the unhappy teen, his expression filled with a passive
curiosity, like a kid watching ants scurry around on the
pavement.
“But...” she started and stopped. She had nothing to
say.
He took a deep breath and forsook his amusement, his
voice calm and over patient. “There is no ‘but’, no magic way out.
It’s cut and dried: Claudius has been interested in you for quite
some time, first as a weapon to use against Michael and then
Patrick. Even with Patrick dead you were still a suspect and, now
that Michael can confirm your involvement, your capture can be
guaranteed. They’ll be sure that you know.”
“Know what?” She was tired of these stupid half
hints!
“Where ‘it’ is, of course.” Jorick’s posture
radiated annoyance, as though he expected her to already know.
“Where what is?” she cried. A man pumping gas
glanced towards them and she dropped her voice, though her eyes
blazed and her hands balled into fists at her sides. “I’m getting
tired of the runaround, so I suggest you just spit it out!”
Jorick’s dark eyes snapped with annoyance, but he
refused to yell. Instead his voice was weary. “His lover of
course.”
Katelina almost dropped the remainder of her
cigarette. “They kidnapped someone?” she cried and then lowered her
voice quickly. “Seriously?”
“Yes. They took Arowenia and have her hidden away.
Claudius will kill anyone he has to in order to get her back.”
Katelina didn’t know what to say or how to feel.
Patrick and Michael had kidnapped someone, someone this Claudius
cared for deeply. The ‘girl’ part of her could even appreciate the
situation and see the romance in it. Arowenia was kidnapped and her
desperate lover Claudius would do anything to return her to his
side. Still, the selfish part of her wanted them both to
disappear.
She stared at her feet and wondered how Patrick
could have agreed to such a thing. He hated commitment as much as
she did, but at his core he was a romantic. Surely he’d have seen
how wrong it was, or at least know that Claudius would hunt them
down. Her whole vision of Claudius had changed; instead of the
grinning mobster who killed men for fun, she imagined a broken,
mourning man, desperate to save the only woman that mattered to
him.
“Why would they do that, knowing he loved her that
much?”
“Love?” Jorick chuckled, but the levity faded
quickly. “No. She belongs to him and has for a long, long time.
She’s one of his possessions, and he doesn’t like it when people
steal his things.”
“Oh.” Katelina didn’t understand that either, but
then nothing in the situation seemed to make any sense.
She decided then that food came first and fished a
Twinkie out of the bag. Once she’d eaten she’d worry about the
things that hid under her bed waiting to frighten her.
“So, we have a ride coming?” she asked around a
mouth full of golden cake.
Jorick cringed and looked away from her. “Yes.” He
climbed to his feet smoothly, his eyes on the ground. “I’ll walk
you back to the motel. He’s going to meet us there.”
She started to nod but noticed he still looked
unnaturally pale, like he had in the bathtub. “Okay.” She stood up,
and held her paper sack of goodies out to him. “Don’t you want
something?”
“No, not right now.” He waved the offer away and
then gave her a small, tight smile. “Thank you, anyway.”
“You should probably eat something...” she trailed
off and bit her lip, not sure why she cared. She supposed it must
be because she needed him until she could get moved and get things
rearranged with her life. If Jorick was right, then she couldn’t
count on her mother and Sarah until this was over. She couldn’t put
them in danger from the vampires.
“I’m fine,” he assured her quietly. “I’ll eat later,
all right?”
She nodded, embarrassed for her concern. He turned
silently and she followed him back across the parking lot, her mind
repeating the question it had asked so often: maybe she should just
call the police? But she knew it was useless; they’d just lock her
up for being crazy!
When they reached the motel, Jorick unlocked the
door and hurriedly stuffed her into the room. He promised he’d be
back soon and took off, leaving her alone.
She flopped onto the bed and flipped through the TV
channels. She ran the gamut of the basic cable’s offerings without
finding anything to hold her interest. In desperation, she settled
on the local news. She was just ready to change the channel again,
when a report came on about an abandoned farmhouse that had burned
to the ground. Authorities weren’t certain yet what had happened,
but there were human remains among the wreckage and they suspected
that they’d been having a party when calamity struck.
Katelina’s mouth dropped open like a cartoon
character. It was Jorick’s house – or the house he’d been in. The
blonde anchorwoman, shiny nailed hands folded on the desk in front
of her, said that they were still trying to contact the owner and
ID the bodies at this time. So far they had no idea who anyone
inside had been. A stripped, abandoned car had been found nearby
and the police were using the VIN numbers to find the owner, but so
far the name had not been released to the media.
Katelina felt dizzy and strange. Seeing the skeletal
remains of the house on television and listening to the reporter’s
neatly clipped voice made the whole thing real. It made it an
event. It made it an inescapable truth that she didn’t want to
face.
A terrible voice in her head told her that the
“stripped and abandoned car” was her car; her happy, shiny red car
that she’d paid on for three years. She groaned silently, thinking
about how much it was going to cost to repair the damage.
Despite her shock, she found one thing amusing: she
could imagine the look on the coroner’s face when they brought him
a bag full of skulls with pointy teeth. How long would it take them
to figure that out?
The news gave way to a sitcom, but the segment left
her feeing unsettled. She found herself glancing at the door and
wishing that Jorick would hurry up.
Another sitcom followed, just as ridiculous as the
first. Katelina made it halfway through the second one before she
gave up on it. She pressed the button on the remote and, in the
second of silence as the television flipped from one channel to
another, she heard a noise outside the door.
“At last,” she muttered, grateful for company. She
switched off the TV and started towards the door when it suddenly
burst open.
The pale man who came striding into the room – teeth
bared and hair cropped short – was obviously not Jorick. His
shining fangs made the word “vampire” scream through her brain.
There, before her, was a nasty reminder of last night and the truth
the news had echoed.
“Where is he?” His eyes made quick, jerky movements
as he surveyed the room.
“Wha– who?” she stuttered as another man came in the
door behind him. His eyes were dark and a snarling smirk was pasted
on his cruel, pointy face.
The shorthaired vampire drew closer to her. “You
know who I mean; that conceited ass, Jorick.”
Panic surged in her and she stammered, “I – I don’t
know where he is.”
“Sure you don’t. Perhaps some persuasion will jog
your memory?” He took a step towards her. His long pale fingers
stretched through the empty space between them, reaching for
her.
She jerked away and tried to run for the door, but
the second vampire blocked her path. She realized that she wasn’t
going to make it outside; not with the pair of them in the way. Her
heart pounded through her body. Her hands were slick and her tongue
stuck to the roof of her mouth. What in the hell was she going to
do?
Her eyes shot around the room wildly and landed on
the bathroom door. It was the only hope she had. Maybe, if she
could wedge herself against the door, she could keep them out long
enough for Jorick to return – if he was going to return. Faced with
these two, she seriously doubted he would.
She tried not to look in the direction she was
planning to move. She said a quick prayer, threw herself on the
bed, and rolled across it. Her feet had barely hit the carpet
before she scrambled around the corner, flung herself into the
tiled bathroom, and slammed the door behind her.
There was no lock, so she pressed her back against
the door. She braced one foot on the pipes under the sink and the
other foot on the baseboard. Deep down she knew she couldn’t hold
it for very long, but her instincts refused to surrender and let
her die. Especially in a situation she couldn’t even
understand.
Maybe the bathroom was a bad idea.
Knuckles rapped against the door, followed by
laughter. The first vampire’s voice was sing-song, as though this
was a game to him, “Open the door, little girl, and we might let
you live,”
The one who kept their cool always won, she reminded
herself, and tried to ignore the staccato beats of her heart
throbbing in her ears. She tried to sound calm and brave. “Go
away!”
They laughed again, throaty and harsh. “Did you hear
that? She wants us to go away.” The voice changed from amused to
menacing. “Open the door or we’ll come in anyway! It’s your
choice.”
She pressed with all her might against the door, her
legs taut with the effort. She wanted to cry and scream and demand
that God to explain to her what she’d done to deserve this, but
that felt weak. So she just shouted to the vampires, “I told you I
don’t know where he is!”
“And I told you that we’ll extract the information
from you!” The volume dropped as he spoke to his companion, “Forget
it, we’ll drag her out.”
The doorknob turned against her side and made soft
clicking noises. They pushed on the door. She pressed back. Beads
of perspiration popped up all over her as she strained, using every
ounce of strength she had. Where in the hell was Jorick?
The door began to crack with a loud, splintering
sound. The vampires put more and more pressure on it and the sound
grew. Katelina’s feet began to slide dangerously. She locked her
knees against it, but she knew there was no way to stop them. They
were both stronger than she was, and if they hadn’t enjoyed playing
with her would already be inside her tiled sanctuary. She pushed
back with the last of her strength; palms slipping with the
lubricant of her sweat and screamed out for the only one who might
save her, “Jorick!”
With a loud crack the door splintered apart. A chunk
of wood and pressboard fell in on her, leaking needle sized
splinters. A groping hand reached through the hole. Katelina threw
herself from the searching fingers and into the chipped bathtub,
her last bastion of hope. Her eyes wildly danced around for some
kind of defense, but found nothing. She recalled a horror story
she’d read and, like the heroin had, she grabbed the showerhead
from its cradle and wrapped the hose around her wrist. She turned
the hot water on full blast and aimed the steaming stream into the
drain. Drops of hot water splashed on her jeans and shoes, but she
ignored it and readied herself to soak them down even as the door
came crashing open.
“Jorick!”
The vampires tried to squeeze into the tiny room in
unison. The shorthaired vampire hissed at his companion and shoved
his way through. He stood just inside the threshold, on top of the
ruined door fragments. “Where is he?” He demanded and moved towards
her.
She trembled as she turned the shower head on him.
Hot water splattered him and bounced off to run down the walls.
Thick steam billowed in transparent white clouds.
The vampire swore and jerked back, caught by
surprise. Then, shaking his soaked arms, he chuckled ominously and
gave her a stare that had her death written in it. “What the fuck?
You think hot water can hurt me? This isn’t the Wizard of Oz,
girly!”
He started towards her and she aimed the jet of
water at his face and screamed for Jorick one final time.
As if he’d finally been summoned, Jorick appeared.
He threw the lurking companion against the wet tiled wall with a
sickening crunch. The limp body slid to the floor where it lay like
a broken doll in a pool of steaming water.
The remaining vampire spun around, abandoning
Katelina and her feeble defenses to deal with Jorick. “There you
are, you son of a bitch!”
Relief swept through Katelina and she bit back a
shout of joy. She’d never been happier to see anyone in her whole
life. Somehow she suddenly knew it would be all right. Jorick would
deal with this and then it would be all over, like a terrible
nightmare.
Jorick gave the broken body on the floor a final
kick before he seized the other by the shoulders. “Claudius sent
you?”
“Of course, why else would I bother with you?” He
half twisted away and slammed his fist into Jorick’s stomach.
“Where is she?”
Jorick stumbled back a step, more from shock than
pain. “As if I know.” He regained his posture and closed the gap
between them. His dark hair fell across his face and made him look
almost as sinister as his inhuman attacker.
“Don’t play stupid. We know you’re involved in it –
you and your friends.” He grabbed Jorick and threw him through the
door and against the bedroom wall, with a loud thud. He snickered
as he stepped quickly through the ruined doorframe and out onto the
bedroom carpet.
Jorick was on his feet in a movement so fast that
Katelina almost didn’t see it. “Says who?” He charged the vampire,
throwing him back into the bathroom. His body struck the floor and
nearly collided with the tub where Katelina stood, gripping the
shower head and trembling.
Jorick bounded into the room, easily clearing the
broken body in front of the door. The remaining opponent stood, but
before he had reached his full height Jorick slammed him into the
wall opposite the sink. “You’re a pathetic slave.”
“I’m not the one fighting for sloppy seconds,” the
vampire spat as he tried to free himself.
Those were the last words he spoke. Jorick spun and
threw him head first into the mirror, showering the room with
shining glass shards and blood.
Katelina dropped the shower head. Water sprayed up
the wall as she shielded herself from the broken glass.
Slowly, she lowered her arms. Every detail flashed
before her eyes in crystal clarity: the water dripping down the
wall, the shimmering pieces of glass scattered around like giant
raindrops, the steam curling into the humid, heavy air. An inch of
water covered the floor, and dark splashes of blood were slowly
mixing with it, turning it into a pale crimson pool.
The short haired vampire hung off the sink. His head
was inside the porcelain bowl and his body trailed limply down to
the floor. From the angle of his neck and back, she could tell that
his spine was broken. Blood ran from the gouges in his head and
collected in the sink to pool around his still snarling face.
Strange, gurgling noises came from him, but it was only a matter of
time until he died – wasn’t it?
Jorick stood between her and the crumpled bodies of
the vampires. He wiped a streak of splattered blood from his face,
then gently took hold of her shoulder and gave her a tiny shake.
She roused slightly, her mouth open and her eyes blinking rapidly
as her mind fought to push away the onslaught of information.
A car horn sounded outside. The harsh noise jerked
her back to reality. Her mouth began to work furiously and she
thoughtlessly repeated “Oh God. Oh God. Oh God,” over and over
again.
“Our ride’s here,” Jorick said softly, giving her
another light shake to stop the flow of useless words. He jerked
his thumb towards the broken vampires. “I suggest we go before
their friends show up.”
Katelina nodded and allowed him to lead her out of
the ruined bathroom. The glass crunched beneath her feet like snow
from a terrifying fairytale and she had to bite back a wave of fear
and disgust as she climbed over the crumpled bodies.
Jorick led her through the bedroom, and she glanced
back at the trail of wet, bloody footprints she’d left behind. They
were like the symbols on some macabre board game that led to hell;
a hell she’d only barely escaped.