Chapter 153
Verchiel steered the car down a series of side roads and stopped in front of a medium sized house. He climbed out, whistling to himself, then made a show of opening her door and escorting her across the snowy lawn.
Her eyes bounced warily from the dark windows to the many footprints in the snow. "Where are we?"
He didn't reply, only stopped before the front door and rapped on it loudly. When no one answered he called, "Open in the name of The Guild!"
Small sounds erupted on the other side of the door. It finally opened to reveal a pale slice of wary face. "What do you want?"
"Ah, hello," Verchiel said in his friendly, conversational tone, as if it were a routine social call. "Is your master around?"
"That depends," the face answered, the voice and features both distinctly unisex. "Who wants to know?"
Verchiel lifted his amulet, holding it out so that the twisted metal caught the moonlight. The other vampire hissed a too quick breath, and Verchiel went on, "We seek shelter for the day. I'm afraid I am on rather urgent business for The Guild."
The vampire sniffed and looked suspicious. The door snapped shut and Verchiel hummed absently and tapped his fingers on the porch railing.
"You don't know them?" Katelina asked, incredulous. "This is stupid. They might kill you while you sleep."
"Maybe, but they're all fairly young, so I doubt it. I want to make sure you're well looked after. Can't have you escaping while I'm taking my beauty rest. What would you do without me?"
"Sharpen a stake."
The door opened again, this time to a slender woman with pale eyes and brown hair. As Verchiel said, she was obviously newer because, like Loren, she still looked human.
Verchiel repeated his introduction and wordlessly the woman nodded and stepped back to admit them. He bowed his head to her and swept Katelina over the threshold with him.
"I do apologize," he continued. "I know it's an inconvenience. I don't suppose I could trouble you for lodging for the human? I'm afraid she's a rather valuable witness and they want her delivered unharmed."
The woman nodded and motioned for them to follow. Though Katelina dragged her feet, she was tugged through the house against her will. Three other vampires appeared and followed them, including the unisex vampire. It had chin length hair that was a strange color of strawberry blonde and, like the woman, still looked vaguely human. At closer inspection, Katelina decided the vampire was a male, but it still could have been a flat-chested girl.
The pale-eyed woman led them down a set of stairs to the basement where four mismatched coffins waited. In one corner was a newer room with cinder block walls and a heavy, padlocked door. It was to this door that they were taken.
The silent vampiress motioned with her hand and a short chunky male quickly unlocked the padlock. "This is where we keep the extras, when we have them."
Verchiel ignored the look of horror on Katelina's face. "I'm sure you'll be fine in here." He propelled her through the doorway and into the tiny room. "I'll see you at sunset."
The door slammed shut before she could argue. Terrified, she launched herself at it and banged it with her fists. "Don't you dare leave me in here! You bastard! I swear to God I'll kill you myself!"
Though no one answered, she continued until she wore herself out. Gloomily, she surrendered and surveyed her prison. The floor was the same cement as the rest of the basement with a large, grated drain in the corner. A strong stench rolled out of it and she could easily guess its function. Besides the drain, there was a rusty metal bucket that had an inch of water in the bottom, a spigot sticking out of the far wall and a tatty blanket.
Defeated, she dropped to the floor and pulled her knees to her chest. The chunky vampire's words played through her mind, "This is where we keep the extras." She shivered as she wondered how many people had stayed in that little prison, waiting in terror to die at the vampires' convenience. How many days had they been forced to endure what had most certainly been a nightmare filled hell?
Her stomach lurched as her imagination dredged up ghosts, and the heavy stench from the drain didn't help. She fought to keep from being sick, and had just gotten control of her fear when the single bulb in the center of the ceiling snapped out and plunged her into blackness.
A strangled scream lodged itself in her throat, unable to complete its journey. The dark pressed in around her. It choked her and left her terrified and trembling. On the other side of the door, she heard the sounds of the vampires getting into their coffins for the day; lids opening and closing, the scrape of wood on wood, the snap of metal. She tried to calm herself and focus on her breathing, but she kept thinking of the four strangers on the other side of the wall. Verchiel wouldn't kill her because he had to deliver her alive, but what was to stop the other four from killing Verchiel and keeping her a prisoner for days on end as they slowly harvested her blood?
A shudder ran through her and she held herself tightly. Tears leaked out of her closed eyes and she whimpered. It had been weeks since she'd been so utterly miserable, or at least that's what she told herself. She tried to look on the bright side. The last time she'd felt so hopeless it had been worse; she'd believed that Jorick was dead. But that had been over quickly, not like this horrible nightmare of ever pressing blackness and thick, choking reek that stretched out before her and left her with hours of dark, sickness and fear to look forward to.
