Chapter 109
Katelina flopped back on the bed, dissatisfied. She flicked her eyes to Jorick's face. At least he was finally answering her questions. But how many more would he answer? "So where'd you go last night after they left town?"
"I met with Micah and Loren. They wanted to know how the meeting with Oren went."
"Loren?" She hadn't expected that. "So you've made up?"
"We put aside our differences, I guess you'd say." He sighed and added, "I admitted that I might have underestimated him. Though, he isn't as strong as his opponents."
She rolled her eyes. "You can't ever just be wrong, can you?"
"I rarely am," he said dismissively. "They wanted to know how the meeting went. It seems Oren is very near the revolt he fears. There's some anger over Jeda getting the heart."
"What a shame." She tried to keep the sarcasm from her voice, but wasn't entirely successful. "And after he went to all the trouble of kicking you out to make everyone happy." She rolled her eyes. "Vampires are a nasty, selfish bunch of people." She glanced at Jorick and added hastily, "Present company excluded."
"My thanks for that." He smirked. "Yes, they are. They live forever and they want everything. Only a selfish person thinks they're good enough to deserve immortality. The meek don't. They're happy to go to their graves and turn to dust. The self-absorbed are the ones who crave eternity."
"I guess." She studied him curiously. "So you wanted to live forever?"
"Not particularly. I only begged Malick because I wanted the strength." Jorick's voice dropped low. "I needed it."
"Why?" He was talking and she wasn't going to waste it.
"Revenge. What else?"
"On who?"
He was silent for a moment, and she felt his indecision. She knew what was coming; his usual "it's in the past and doesn't matter" excuse. She opened her mouth to tell him to forget it, when he surprised her and actually answered.
"The men who killed my sister, Tryne." He took a deep breath to calm himself, then went on. "They were soldiers traveling through, Spaniards; we were in the middle of a war. They caught her walking down the road with her basket of vegetables to sell at the market and took a fancy to her. When they were finished she probably begged them to kill her." He fell silent, and his hurt and regret tingled in Katelina's mind with a startling intensity.
"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say.
"What's done is done and no man can change that," he replied. "I bathed in their blood. I relished their pleas for mercy and screams of agony, and now I walk the earth forever to remember it."
She tried to come up with a reply, but had nothing. It was as good a reason as any to become a vampire, she supposed. She found his admission of begging Malick interesting. Did that mean that-
"Yes, I knew him when I was still human." Jorick's smile was one of cold amusement. "And I knew what he was. He paid me well to do odd jobs for him in the daylight hours."
"You were his human then?" A delighted grin stole across her face at the idea.
"In a manner of speaking. Malick makes the Laws and enforces them. He doesn't follow them." His smile was now real. "Those who make the rules are usually above them."
She nodded. "Isn't that always the way?"
"Usually," he answered. "But enough of this." He rose and moved to the bed, letting his eyes trace the line of her body. "I can think of more interesting things to do on the eve of battle than reminisce."
"Can you?" she asked, feigning innocence. "And what's that?"
A mischievous light glinted in his eyes. "Perhaps I'll show you." And, before she could reply, he tackled her to the bed and caught her lips in a deep kiss. She thought for a moment about resisting him, just to show him who was really in control, but truthfully she didn't want to, so she melted against him and lost herself to his kisses. She could feel the solid length of him, pressing her into the bed, and she wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him closer. Her skin flushed as she thought about where they were headed, and anticipation swept through her. He was right, this was better.
"I'm glad to hear it," he commented silently, and she could feel him smile against her mouth. A horrific idea swept through as she realized he could hear her every thought - during this!
He moved his lips to her neck and murmured against her skin, "Yes, it's almost like experiencing it twice, isn't it?" He paused to nibble her throat, then went on. "Relax, little one, I have far more interesting things to think about just now than your chaotic mental landscape."
His words did little to reassure her, but he unclasped the button on her jeans, and she was suddenly more concerned with wriggling out of them.
Jorick tossed the garments aside, and teasingly ran his hand over her hip, and then down to her inner thigh. "That's why I prefer skirts, so much easier."
"Yes," she agreed breathlessly, her hips urging his fingers to a more pleasurable place. "And I'm sure you'd look lovely in one."
He chuckled lightly, then slipped his hand between her thighs. She moaned with both fulfillment and longing as he stroked her hot moist flesh, giving her what she craved and making her want more. She wadded his shirt in her frenzied hands, tugging until she thought the material might tear. He temporarily ceased his efforts and jerked it over his head, then threw the shirt to the floor. He started to come back to her, but she stopped him with a hand to his muscular chest and looked meaningfully at his jeans. The visible bulge made them look uncomfortable, and she decided it was time he was freed of the problem.
His only reply was a wolfish grin as he unfastened them and slid them off. She stared at the length of his perfect, pale nakedness, but he was quickly back, his arms around her, and his legs tangled with hers. She pressed herself against him, as if she could crawl inside him, and he kissed her hard. Her lips parted and his hot pulsing tongue entered her mouth; tangy and coppery like his breath.
A soft moaned escaped around his kisses, and he took it as encouragement and kissed her harder. She caught her tongue against one of his fangs. There was a burst of salty flavor, but she barely noticed, and, if he did, he made no comment.
He rolled her over so that they lay on their sides, and slipped his hands up her shirt. His palms skimmed her naked back. She shifted and pulled at the garment with an absent hand, but he took it from her and shoved it up around her shoulders in a wad of cloth. His fingers trailed from the shirt, over the curve of her breast, and around again to her back, and then down to her rounded backside. She squealed as he squeezed it possessively, and she felt his amusement waver through her mind, drown out quickly by thick lust.
As if by mutual agreement, they rolled as one, so that she was beneath his hard, lean body. She opened her thighs, and he slid into position, but refused to succumb to the desires coursing through them.
Katelina made a soft sound of annoyance and he paused to jerk her shirt free and throw it to the side. Then, he hovered over her and stared into her eyes, as if seeking something here. She didn't know what he wanted, so she blinked back and nudged him with impatient hips. "Come on!"
"You're very demanding," came the silent answer, but he interrupted her scowl with a fiery kiss that made her forget to be annoyed.
The pressure increased between her thighs until it was an almost maddening need, and only then did he surrender and drove himself into her. She groaned and thrust her hips into his, meeting him again and again. She clung to him tightly, their bodies entwined. His emotions crashed around her mind and mingled with her own, until she couldn't tell who felt what anymore.
He licked her neck, his tongue hot as it traced the lumpy scar where her mark used to be. She could feel a need throbbing inside her, tinged with uncertainty. It continued to build until it became a near frenzy, and she desperately bit into his shoulder, though she couldn't say why.
His flesh ground between her teeth, and he suddenly clamped down on her, his fangs cutting through the scar tissue. She bit harder as she cried out, and then the world exploded into too bright colors and too loud noises. Scenes flashed behind her eyelids; people, places she didn't know, and feelings she couldn't place. There was too much, too many sensations crammed together at once, and overshadowed by the overwhelming pleasure.
