Chapter 115
Katelina shook her head, shaking away the effects of the creatures attack. Jorick moved toward where he'd kicked the monster, ready to finish him, leaving Katelina stayed crouched low to the floor. Her eyes moved past him, down the corridor, and looked through the metal door, to the room beyond.
She wished she hadn't looked.
The room was large and stone, with rich hangings on the walls. A golden fire pit sat in the center with flames dancing wildly inside of it. Black pillars stood at the room's corners, edged in gold at the tops and bottoms, and fur rugs were scattered over the concrete floor. Another metal door was set in the far wall, in a direct line from the one that stood open. On either side of it stood large, muscular vampires with dark skin, who wore only knee length skirts of tan. Their naked, oiled chests were like a stack of tightly packed muscles. Despite their imposing presence, the thing that drew Katelina's unyielding attention was the vampiress in the fur draped chair.
Kateesha sat like a queen on a throne. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face and fell around her shoulders in long coils. She wore metal arm cuffs and bracelets, and a dress of pale gold. It was tight across her breasts, and fell in long folds to her feet. Her head was held high, her face haughty, and beneath one eye she'd painted three red stripes. She was just as beautiful, and just as terrifying, as Katelina remembered.
Kateesha stood slowly, her eyes leveled at Jorick's approach. He came to a stop at the doorway and lifted the ruined mess of her dead guard into the air. Kateesha smiled as the thing whimpered and, without a word, Jorick effortlessly pulled his heart out. He held it up so Kateesha could see it, then crushed it in his fist and flung the ruined mass at her feet. "The time has come, Kateesha. Malick can't save you this time."
Kateesha laughed softly and met Jorick's scorching gaze, challenging him. She held her arms open and her golden bracelets flashed in the firelight. "Jorick, Jorick, Jorick." She stepped away from the chair and glided to him, her hips swaying hypnotically. "I knew you'd come. You never could resist me."
She stopped before him and inhaled the scent of death that clung to him. Sensually, she trailed a single finger along his jaw as she spoke, "It's not too late, you know. I'm willing to forget that." She nodded towards the bodies that littered the floor. Her eyes paused on Katelina for a second and then moved back to Jorick's face. "All you have to do is admit that you want me." She stepped back into the room and drew him with her. "Just say you desire me."
Katelina crouched in the corridor where she'd been left, her heart frozen in her chest. Kateesha's voice sang in her head, "You should have surrendered long ago. How could he want you?" Her silent laughter was silky, but it stopped and she barked, "Look at me!"
It was a command and Katelina found herself forced to obey. She watched as Jorick followed the dark vampiress deeper into the stone room. A smile curved across Kateesha's lips and the firelight flickered on the swell of her ample breasts.
A strangled noise escape Katelina's throat. She was suddenly filled with the sick certainty that Jorick would give in to Kateesha. Their eyes were locked, and power and strength emanated from the vampiress in waves. How could anyone resist her? How could Jorick resist her?
Her fears became reality when he slowly took Kateesha's hand in his. The blood of her followers smeared on her skin, but her smile widened. "Yes," she whispered huskily. "Yes-"
Her words broke off in a howl of pain and surprise when Jorick twisted her hand sharply. "The only thing I want is to see you dead," Jorick snapped and threw her bloodied hand away from him. "Malick should have left you a slave in the brothel!"
Kateesha's beautiful face twisted into something inhuman and Katelina looked away, terrified. "How dare you?" the dark goddess screamed. She stepped back and began to circle him slowly. "I tried to give you a chance, Jorick, but you threw it away." A thought occurred to her and a cruel smile twisted across her lips. "I want you to know that I'll torture your human until she's nothing but an empty vessel, not even fit to feed upon!"
Jorick scoffed. "I believe you tried that already, and we saw how well your plan worked."
"My plan?" Kateesha absently wiped her soiled hand across her dress. "That wasn't my plan," she purred. "That was simply idiots improvising. They were only supposed to bring her here so I could torture her - while you watched," she added with an extra burst of viciousness.
Jorick growled low in his throat and Kateesha sprang. She slammed into him and flung him across the room, as though he was a rag doll. He crashed into the wall and slid down to the floor. Katelina wanted to run to him, but she was frozen in place by sheer terror. The oiled guards looked like they wanted to join the fight, but it was uncertainty, not fear, which held them back.
Kateesha crossed the room slowly, her glittering eyes on her enemy. Before she could reach him, he was up. With a hissing snarl, he threw himself at her and they crashed together. Time seemed to move in slow motion as they fought; ripping and slashing.
They broke apart, chests heaving, and glared at one another. Kateesha's golden dress was torn and smeared with blood. Jorick's nose ran red, and there were three long gashes on his face from Kateesha's nails.
The respite lasted only a moment, and then the vampires were tangled together again. Jorick trapped her in a headlock and forced her towards the fire pit in the center of the room. He tried to fling her into the flames. In a move straight from an action film, she spun loose and grabbed his arm. She thrust his hand into the snapping fire and Jorick roared in pain and surprise. It was enough to shock Katelina from her terror induced daze. She rose to her feet, ready to charge through the doorway, heedless of the consequences.
Jorick didn't need her. He twisted from Kateesha's grasp, then threw her to the floor and swung at her chest. She rolled out of the way, just in time, and his fist slammed into the concrete. She leapt to her feet and circled him slowly, her eyes smug. "Admit it Jorick, you're outmatched. You can't save her, any more than you could save Velnya."
With something like a howl, Jorick surrendered completely to the primitive side of vampire nature; the rage and lust for blood. He tackled her to the floor again and snarled into her face as he drew back his fist for another attack.
The guards by the door leaped suddenly to attention. They raced across the room and hauled Jorick up by his arms. Though he struggled, they dragged him across the floor and dumped him in a heap on one of the fur rugs, then took a step back to stand over him threateningly, their teeth bared.
The door they'd been guarding snapped open and four modern dressed vampires hurried through. Kateesha took the opportunity to leap to her feet frantically. Jorick looked from the newcomers to her and sneered. "You're pathetic. You have to call in your dogs."
She straightened her ruined dress and quickly recovered her composure. "Which is why I'll win."
Katelina stood in the corridor, forgotten. In one hand she gripped the knife, as if it was her last possession, while the other helplessly wadded her coat. Her mouth hung open in a surprised "o", too terror stricken to make a sound.
Jorick knelt in the center of the six vampires, bloody and bruised. His shirt was torn loose at the shoulder, and the sleeve was shredded to reveal deep wounds underneath. The slices on his face were red and raw, and one of his eyes was swollen. Blood trickled from his nose and his dark hair fell in a shower of disarrayed night, but his eyes remained hard and cold as he stared at Kateesha. "I may die, but not vainly." He was on his feet so fast that Katelina missed the motions. The two oiled guards tried to subdue him but he threw them aside like playthings.
He stepped menacingly towards Kateesha, and she danced lithely away . The six guards closed in on him. He fought one after another, while Kateesha continued to float backwards, some of her confidence gone.
