Chapter Twenty-Three

The lot was overgrown and water droplets clung to
the dry weeds like fragile jewels, pearlescent in the street
light’s gleam. The house was small and squat, and the siding peeled
loose in places. Stains ran down the walls from the windows; empty
eyes that had been weeping from loneliness, leaving trails of rusty
tears.
The world was wrapped in the thick cloak of fog.
Three old, bare trees stood as lonely sentinels, their leaves
heaped at their feet and branches barely stirring in the heavy air.
Katelina could almost hear her own heart beating in the oppressive
gloom.
The vampires moved soundlessly while Katelina fought
her way through the tall wet grass, and tried to be quiet. Now and
then, her movements would jolt some injury and remind her of last
night’s terror. Each time it happened, her heart fluttered like a
trapped bird in her chest. Again, she wondered what she was doing
walking back towards Claudius after she’d barely escaped him, but
stolen glances at Jorick fortified her.
The thick quiet of night was broken by the sound of
shattering glass as two vampires crashed through one of the
darkened windows. They landed on the damp grass in a spray of
glittering shards, their fangs bared and knives shining in their
hands. At the sudden noise, a dog in the distance started a
threatening guttural yap, interspersed with growls.
Jorick pulled Katelina towards him, while Oren took
one of the vampires. Torina pounced on the second. Jorick dragged
Katelina with him and hurried around the other side of the house.
Kateesha followed them like a wraith as they left Torina and Oren
behind, amidst grunts and animalistic growls.
No one challenged them as they walked swiftly to the
back of the house. There they found a weathered cellar door resting
a thin lip of crumbling concrete. Jorick caught Katelina’s arm and
shoved the long thin dagger into her hand. “Stay away from the
fighting if you can,” he whispered urgently. “But if you cannot,
then go for their hearts. Their skin is tougher than yours and
harder to pierce, but perhaps you can manage to hold them off at
the very least.”
“Don’t you need this?” she asked with concern.
“No, I’ll be fine.” He offered her a reassuring
smile. “I’m strong enough I can make do without it.”
“You’re sure?” He nodded and Katelina tried to
believe him. She looked at the weapon in her hand with confused
uncertainty. She’d never used a dagger before. Her heart lodged
itself in her tight throat as she contemplated having to do so.
Jorick squeezed her tightly and met Kateesha’s eyes.
After a series of short signals between the two, Kateesha swung the
heavy cellar door open. It had barely cleared Jorick’s head before
he flung himself down the set of dirty stone stairs, his face
twisted in a snarl.
Kateesha laughed. “He is stupid!” She lowered her
gaze to Katelina, her voice still filled with delight. “You will
die before this night is over.” Katelina tried to hide her shock
and Kateesha quickly followed the raven-haired vampire down the
stairs into the dankness below.
Katelina stared after her and her stomach twisted
painfully. Jorick was wrong. Her betrayal hadn’t been just to push
the war forward. Kateesha had had a much darker purpose.
Noises drifted up the stairs; grunts, hisses, and
clangs. A window shattered on the other side of the house,
doubtless more vampires coming outside to fight Oren and Torina.
Katelina rubbed her naked arms against the cold, uncertain what she
was supposed to do. She’d come to decide that basements were bad
places. They held things like Michael, baby-sized coffins, and
torture chambers complete with giant cages. Regardless, she didn’t
want to stand in the open waiting for a vampire to come crashing
through a widow, out of a bush, or from behind a stand of matted
grass to tackle her.
She gave the eerie yard a last glance before she
started down the stone steps. A half wall bordered the top of the
stairs, and she pressed herself against it. She could only see a
small swath of basement, but vampires moved over the smooth cement
floor, snarling and growling.
Jorick was fighting hand to hand with two vampires
dressed in black, flinging first one to the ground and then the
other. His fresh white shirt was already stained with blood, and a
splatter of crimson decorated his pale face. Meanwhile, Kateesha
was locked in battle with a woman in a mini skirt who had two small
knives gartered to her upper thighs. Two dead vampires lay on the
floor, blood pooling beneath them in sickening puddles, their
chests savagely ripped out, leaving only an empty, jelly-filled
cavity. Katelina shuddered as she remembered Jorick telling her to
go for the heart. Apparently he took that very seriously. She
closed her eyes to banish the sight and wondered why Jorick had
brought her there.
She tried to disappear into the wall among the
cement and shadows. Despite her efforts, a slender woman in pants
and a crop top spied her. She snarled and charged towards the
stairs with her hands clenched and her bright red nails ready to
attack.
The world around Katelina froze for the few seconds
it took her to understand what was happening. She gripped the hilt
of the dagger in her white knuckled hand and tried to ready
herself.
Jorick saw the woman and quickly plunged one hand
into the chest of the vampire he was fighting while he slammed her
in the back with his other arm. She went sprawling and landed on
her stomach, skidding to a stop a few feet with a cry of surprise
and anger.
She stood and, with a snarl, threw herself towards
Jorick. They crashed into each other and her painted talons raked
his perfect face. The distraction allowed his remaining assailant
to grab him from behind and throw him into one of the stone
walls.
Katelina cried out as Jorick fell to the floor. She
waited for Kateesha to interfere, but the vampiress paid no mind to
his struggle. Determined to help, Katelina hurried thoughtlessly
down the rest of the stairs, her dagger held aloft in her shaking
hands. Jorick stood and his eyes grew wide as he saw her and what
she intended to do. He opened his mouth to shout, but Katelina
didn’t see it. Her attention was focused on her target.
The woman in the crop top stood with her back to
Katelina, so she took the opportunity to leap on her. The woman
tried to spin around, but Katelina hung on, one arm wrapped around
her neck. The vampiress roared in anger, and Katelina thrust the
dagger into her back like she’d seen Bren and Senya do to Bethina,
but the dagger didn’t go in all the way. She froze in surprise, and
the woman easily shook her off and let her fall to the floor.
“What in the hell?” She grabbed Katelina by her hair
and easily dodged the flailing dagger.
Jorick furiously wrenched the vampiress loose from
Katelina. She fell to the floor again and looked up in time to see
Jorick tossing the woman’s limp body aside.
“You’ll have to do better than that.”
Katelina’s head snapped around to see Kateesha
standing over her. She jerked Katelina roughly to her feet. “You’re
too weak human, but if you crave blood so deeply, go after the
fresh ones.” She shoved Katelina towards a young man who might have
been 15 or 16. “He is not so tough,” she called, laughing
loudly.
Katelina stared at the boy dumbly, though she
understood what Kateesha meant. He wasn’t human, but he didn’t look
as inhuman as the others did. He was beautiful, but he lacked the
glossy perfection that Jorick or Kateesha had, and his movements
weren’t as smooth.
He saw her and reacted by grabbing her arm and
reaching for her throat. Kateesha’s voice shouted above the din,
“Stab him, you fool!” and Katelina did as commanded, thrusting the
dagger between his ribs by sheer luck.
His eyes grew wide with panic and he cried out. He
released her automatically, while he reached for the dagger in his
chest, but Katelina’s hands worked instinctively and twisted it to
force it deeper. Cold blood ran over her fingers as he
screamed.
Kateesha laughed as the boy crumpled to the floor.
Katelina stared at her bloody shaking hands. The implications of
what she’d done crashed over her. But, before she could dwell on
them, Kateesha clapped a hand on her shoulder, her mouth close to
her ear. “Wasn’t that delicious?” she purred and then her voice
hardened and she barked, “Get your dagger!”
Katelina obediently knelt to the floor, her body
running on autopilot. She gingerly avoided the slowly spreading
puddle of blood and pulled the dagger free with a sickening
squelching sound.
“Wipe it off,” Kateesha ordered impatiently, and
Katelina stared at the blade helplessly. “On your dress!” Katelina
again followed the instructions.
“Good.” Kateesha smiled evilly. “I don’t have time
to babysit you, so you’re on your own now.” She moved away to
grapple with another vampire and sent him crashing noisily into a
set of shelves.
Katelina stood shakily. Though she clutched the
dagger, Jorick and Kateesha quickly made short work of the
remaining vampires without her help. When it was over they stood
amidst the carnage, gazing around at the dead.
Kateesha brought a hand to her mouth and slowly
licked the blood from it, a smile of ecstasy on her face. Jorick
moved quickly to Katelina. “Are you all right?”
She nodded her head dumbly, unable to trust her
voice. She was afraid it would crack and betray how her insides
quivered.
He pulled her against him as he glared at Kateesha.
“She didn’t need to get involved.”
“I could have let her die,” the vampiress replied,
her voice demonstrating that both options had held equal appeal.
“But she was a willing pupil. Regardless, someone is missing. I
would say Claudius is hiding like the rat he is.”
Jorick squeezed Katelina tightly and then released
her as he addressed Kateesha. “He’ll be here somewhere. Come, we’ll
find him.” He gave Katelina a reassuring smile and then carefully
guided her up the stairs.
Kateesha followed them closely, still licking the
blood from her fingers like a cat cleaning mouse from its paws.
When Katelina glanced back, Kateesha only laughed and snapped her
teeth together. Katelina looked away and tried not to think about
the reality of her situation. These were monsters that walked with
her and, outside in the darkness, more of them undoubtedly
waited.
The smell of frost and dead leaves filled her nose
as they stepped out of the protection of the cellar. She shivered
as the cold breeze skimmed her damp body. Jorick seemed completely
unaffected by the temperature, as did Kateesha. She wondered if
they were even aware of how cold it was, but she doubted it.
The three of them went unmolested as they walked
around the small house. When they reached the front they found the
door hanging open on sagging hinges. Light spilled out onto the
small concrete porch in a pool of electric yellow, while inside
creatures moved, twisted, fought.
Jorick tightened his grip on Katelina. “Stay out of
trouble.” He nodded to Kateesha who grinned broadly, then,
wordlessly, they plunged through the door and into the fray.
Katelina hung back on the porch and tried to follow
the fight raging inside. Oren and Torina were already engaged in
battle. Oren’s face was grim and Torina’s was alight with joy.
Meanwhile, Jorick and Kateesha wasted no time in finding
opponents.
Katelina drew closer to the door. Her eyes flicked
from the fighting vampires to the faded walls and the bare wooden
floor. Overturned furniture littered the corners of the room,
smashed until it was no longer recognizable.
“Who are you?” a gruff voice demanded and she found
herself staring into a set of dark bloodshot eyes. She faltered,
and when she didn’t answer he grabbed her with one hand and dragged
her into the light. “I know you!”
Katelina panicked, and pulled back. The dagger
flashed as she swung it towards him. She felt it connect and she
heard him cry out in surprise, but his hold didn’t lessen.
“You bitch!” With a hand on his face to catch the
blood she’d spilled, he snarled and pulled her towards him, his
teeth flashing. She twisted away so that all he could get was the
fleshy part of her left forearm. It was enough.
She shouted at the pain and slashed the dagger
again, but he was ready for it. He pulled her into the room, and
pinned her against the wall, his face snarling into hers.
Horrified, Katelina stared into the depths of his angry eyes – and
then his head was gone and she was staring at a bloody stump.
She screamed.
Despite losing his head, the vampire continued to
hold her in place. She screamed again and her eyes landed on Oren,
who stood behind the headless body with the bloody machete in his
hand. Coolly, he rammed the weapon through the vampire’s back. He
jerked it straight up so that it split the torso in half. Blood
spurted, but the hands let go of her and the body fell to the floor
to land near the wide-eyed head.
Oren met her eyes and then hurried to his sister,
who was surrounded by three snarling attackers. Katelina stayed
against the wall, the dagger still in her hand, and her left arm
throbbing from both the shoulder wound and the new bite. Despite
the pain, she couldn’t take her eyes off of the severed head at her
feet. His lips were still curled back in a snarl, and his
blood-shot eyes stared, cold and empty but no less menacing.
She managed to stay out of the battle as blood
splattered amidst screams and howls. She wanted to close her eyes
and block it all out, but she knew better and forced herself to
stay alert, though her mind tried not to process the carnage around
her.
When Oren finally hacked the last vampire down, the
four stood gazing towards a gaping doorway. As if on cue, Claudius
strode through it, an ornate axe in his hand. His wounds from the
previous night were completely healed, and he was restored to his
perfect, sneering self.
A wave of power rolled through the room at his
entrance and smashed against them like the stormy sea breaking
against rocks. Katelina made a noise of fear in her throat. She
couldn’t move, held in place by the sheer will of Claudius.
As if in answer, the space around Jorick seemed to
crackle with his overwhelming presence. Between the two of them,
the air was so thick with energy Katelina could barely breathe.
“So you’ve come back, Jorick?” Claudius’ sulky face
took on a superior air as he came to a stop. His eyes flicked to
the dead and his face grew sulkier. “You saw fit to kill everyone,
I see.” Then he saw Katelina and smirked. “But you brought me a
present. How nice. I can finish what I started.”
“You won’t touch her,” Jorick stated flatly. His
dark eyes burned in his grim blood-splattered face.
“I already have,” Claudius replied and laughed. Cold
and cruel, it was a sound that made Katelina’s knees tremble.
Jorick growled and leapt at the haughty blonde.
Claudius stepped out of the way. Jorick hit the
ground rolling and came to a stop, crouching, next to a fallen
body. Snarling, he jerked a jagged shuriken from the corpse’s back
and with the other hand grabbed the spiked tonfa from the vampire’s
dead fingers.
Jorick leapt to his feet and hurled the shuriken at
Claudius. He easily deflected it with the axe, but it gave Jorick
time to cover the distance between them.
Claudius swung his weapon. Jorick dodged, but the
blade caught his arm and sliced through his shirt to leave a
shallow gash in his skin.
Claudius swung again, but Jorick stopped the blow
with the tonfa. Jorick ducked to the left, and when Claudius spun
to follow him, he kicked his legs out from under him. The blonde
crashed to the floor, but rolled away before Jorick could slam his
weapon into him.
Katelina watched the fight, horrified. Jorick and
Claudius crashed into one another again and again, but the other
three vampires made no move to intercede. They only watched from
the edges of what had become the gory arena, their expressions cool
and their eyes interested but dispassionate.
Claudius took a swipe at Jorick, but he slammed the
tonfa into his knuckles and jammed his elbow into his face.
Claudius cried out and the axe fell to the floor with a clatter. He
stumbled backwards, his hand to his bleeding nose, and screamed,
“Dover!”
A short, squat vampire ducked through the door,
holding a whip with shiny bits of metal braided into it. With a
snap, he cracked it at Jorick, slashing him across the back. Jorick
dropped the tonfa in surprise and spun towards the new threat.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Claudius leapt away from him
and sought a weapon among the fallen bodies.
Dover made to whip Jorick again, but he didn’t get
the chance. Jorick crashed into him and slammed him to the gory
floor. He struggled, but his weapon was useless at such close
quarters. It took Jorick only a moment to snap his neck and shove a
well-aimed fist into his chest.
Jorick was back on his feet quickly, his hand
clotted with gore and dripping blood. Claudius was ready for him, a
nasty curved dagger in his hand.
“How many more do you have hiding back there,
waiting to save you?” Jorick asked with sarcasm.
Claudius’ eyes shifted towards the empty doorway and
then back to his opponent. “Enough.”
Jorick smirked. “There’s no one left, is there?”
“Why don’t you find out.” Claudius sneered.
Jorick advanced on him slowly. Claudius shuffled
backwards, waving the jagged dagger menacingly. Seconds became
aching hours as Jorick crossed the floor.
When he was near enough, Claudius lunged for him,
but Jorick spun out of the way and kicked the dagger from his hand.
Claudius stumbled and Jorick slammed him into the wall.
As if by some silent signal, Kateesha sprang
forward. Jorick stepped to the side quickly so that she collided
with Claudius. As he struggled against her, Jorick held his hand
out and Oren tossed him the machete. Kateesha barely had time to
duck before the bloody blade bit into Claudius’ neck. His severed
head flew across the room from the force of the blow. It hit the
floor in a spray of blood, bouncing and rolling until it stopped
against one of the fallen bodies.
Headless, Claudius raised his hands to continue the
fight, but Kateesha thrust her hand through his chest and pulled
out his heart in her fist. She smiled as his body slid down the
wall, then she deliberately turned to face the others before she
sank her fangs into the organ.
“It’s done,” Oren said unemotionally as he wiped his
hands on his jeans.
Jorick nodded and then his eyes snapped to the front
door. Four vampires stepped through, various weapons still clenched
in their hands. They stopped just inside the door and stared at the
aftermath in confusion.
“Your master is dead,” Kateesha said silkily as she
stepped forward, the ruined heart still in her hand. “Swear your
allegiance to me and live.”
They stood motionless as their eyes flicked from
ruined body to ruined body. Claudius’ head had landed face down,
and Torina kicked it so that the face rolled around and stared at
them.
Slowly, they lowered their weapons and the tallest
one said quietly, “You have it.”
The remaining three nodded their heads in
agreement.
Kateesha’s laughter rang through the room and
something broke inside Katelina. Whatever had been holding her up
gave way, and she slipped down the wall until she was sitting on
the floor with her knees folded against her chest. Her fingers went
limp and the dagger slipped from her grip and landed on the floor
with a clatter. She closed her eyes and images flashed behind them
of snarling faces and spurting blood. She opened them quickly, but
what she saw was no better: the dead lying in heaps, their chests
hollow, blood and gore eking onto the floor until the wooden boards
were slick with it.
A hand touched her and she looked up into Jorick’s
battle smeared face. He crouched down before her and met her eyes.
“You’re unhurt?”
She nodded numbly, and his gaze swung toward
Kateesha, who was leading her four new underlings from the room.
“She has drunk from the heart of Claudius,” Jorick explained in a
half whisper. “So she will be their new coven leader – those who do
not accept her will die.”
Katelina reached up and softly traced the long
scratch the vampiress with the red nails had left across his
perfect cheek. “I suppose that’s the law?” she asked hollowly.
“Yes.” He caught her fingers with one of his hands
and gently pressed them to his lips before he spoke again. “I’m
under no obligation to any of them.” His eyes took a faraway gaze.
“I broke with all covens long ago – including Malick’s. He may be
my master in blood, but I owe him no allegiance.”
“You said if the others don’t accept her they’ll
die?” she questioned. “But, aren’t they all dead?”
He shook himself to the present. “Maybe, maybe not.
Who can say if all of them were even here. He may have had some
running errands or guarding his other properties. But it’s
Kateesha’s problem to find them all.”
He released her hands and examined the deep fang
marks in her arm, his brow furrowed. “It isn’t bad. Still, perhaps
Kateesha was right. You may have been safer in the car.”
Oren crouched down next to him, his eyes on the door
Kateesha had disappeared through. “And where do you think those
four were? You know as well as I that they were sent to the car to
find the human.”
Jorick ignored his description of Katelina and ran a
weary hand through his dark hair. “I know.”
“She will be no better than Claudius was,”
Oren continued, his voice urgent. His golden eyes met Jorick’s dark
gaze. “She thirsts for power – and for you. She won’t stop until
she gets what she wants.”
Jorick started to agree, but shook his head. “She is
The Guild’s problem now. Malick can deal with her.”
“We should never have agreed to let her have his
heart,” Oren whispered. “She’ll just create more problems and
Malick will leave you to deal with them.”
“That may be, but we needed a fourth,” Jorick
responded firmly. “What’s done is done. How much trouble can she
cause?”
Oren’s laugh was mirthless. “You won’t think that
when she comes after your human.”
Jorick scowled. “She has no need.”
“Of course she does. Or are you completely
blind?”
Jorick opened his mouth to reply, but Kateesha swept
into the room, the four vampires on her heels. Without a word she
quickly combed through the bodies until she found one to her
liking. She bit into it and drank, a trickle of liquid crimson
leaking from the corner of her mouth.
Oren looked at her and then at Jorick. An appeal
flashed in his eyes so quickly that Katelina thought she might have
imagined it. Jorick made no sound but broke eye contact with him as
a reply.
He stood in an elegant sweeping motion, then held
his hand out to Katelina. She took it and allowed him to tug her
gently to her feet. Her legs shook, but they were sturdier than
they’d been moments before. Once she was standing, Jorick held her
to him with one arm. Though she leaned against his chest, her eyes
were on Kateesha. She watched the monster at her meal and shuddered
in disgust and fear, more afraid of the memory that would haunt her
than anything else.
.