Chapter 187
By the time they went to bed practically everything in the house had been laundered and put away. With nothing else to be cleaned or organized, Jorick had no choice but to keep his word.
The following evening they drove to the nearest 24 hour chain store. For the first time in days Katelina finally felt safe. Alistair wouldn't dare show up in public.
Her cheery mood didn't affect Jorick. A door greeter in a Santa hat offered them a cart and Jorick's scowl made his smile waver. To make up for it, Katelina replied with an extra enthusiastic, "Merry Christmas" before she grabbed her crabby vampire and steered him towards domestics.
Twinkle lights sparkled over their heads and large trees with shiny green bulbs glittered in conspicuous places. A sanitized version of "Silent Night" hung on the air; the choir's voices too high and digitalized. Katelina quickly found herself in a Christmassy mood and she steered the cart towards the Holiday decorations and stopped in front of the Christmas tree display.
"You can't be serious?"
"And why not? It is almost Christmas. I don't like waiting until the last minute to decorate. It seems pointless then."
"It is pointless. Why in the world do you want a Christmas tree? Of all the ridiculous wastes of money and time! And they're plastic!" He jabbed a nearby tree accusingly. "If you want a plastic tree then why don't you build one with some of your trash?"
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that all of your food is wrapped in layers of cardboard and plastic! It's like you're looking for an excuse to create garbage!"
"Why is everything human always my fault? I don't mandate packaging!" She took a deep breath and forced herself calm. He was just trying to distract her. "Yeah, okay, there's a lot of plastic, but I'm not responsible for it. There are a lot of things wrong with the world, but I didn't create the problems."
"You do nothing to change them."
She refused to continue the conversation and loaded a boxed, pre-lit tree into the cart. She followed it up with several lengths of tinsel garland. Jorick grumbled and she decided to let the ornaments slide. If he wanted to object, he could help her make some.
Next they picked out a set of shiny blue pans. Jorick asked where her old dishes were since she'd "cooked so much", but she dismissed him. Just as Claudius' goons had had it in for her appliances, so had they disliked her dishes. Her mom had detailed the shattered plates and dented pans.
Plates. She grabbed some from a display stack, then realized it would be more dishes to wash. As it was, she just threw the paper plates out when she was finished eating. Since Jorick burned the trash, she wasn't really contributing to the downfall of the world, so she put them back, though she made a big deal about the sacrifice and used it as an example of placating Jorick. He was only partially fooled.
When they got to the checkout line they had a cart full of domestic items, including food, dish soap, and five do-it-yourself bookcases. The woman in front had outdone them, and while the cashier slowly rang up what seemed like the entire store, Katelina browsed the magazines. Most of them were celebrity gossip, but a black and white tabloid with the headline "Alien Gives Birth to Rock Superstar's Love Child" caught her attention.
Jorick watched with disdain as she flipped the pages in search of the cover story. "You don't actually believe the stuff they print?"
"Of course not." She paused to look at a photograph of a zombie cat. "But they're fun."
"I suppose. It's nothing but far fetched stories and fake photography." Her sharp gasp cut him off. "What?"
She stared at the neat, tidy print with wide eyes and slowly found her voice. "I suppose every now and then they print something true."
"Such as?" His scorn disappeared as he peered at the article clutched in her fingers.
The headline said simply "Breaking News: Vampires, the Secret War".
***
"Dracula. Nosfuartu. Methuselah. Vampire. Creatures of the night who skulk in the shadows and drink the blood of unwary mortals. These monsters, believed by many to be simply the fodder of popular horror literature and Hollywood movies, have terrified and delighted us for centuries, but for the first time, we have conclusive evidence to prove these creatures truly exist - in the form of a full-fledged vampire.
"Dr. Noah C. Miley of the MI Institute of Supernatural and Unexplained Sciences has captured a flesh and blood vampire, and has already begun to run a series of tests. 'It will be weeks before we have anything conclusive,' he told us. 'But what we find out may change the course of human history!'
"Dr. Miley has informed us that while he has only managed to capture a single vampire there are still 'hundreds, maybe thousands' living inside the borders of the United States. 'And they are at war,' he adds. 'It is a silent war that most people are unaware of, but it is no less real.'
"When asked who the Vampires are at war with, Dr. Miley answered, 'Each other. Who else would an immortal fight but another immortal? We are nothing to them; we are like cattle and not worth their notice. It's hard to say how many humans have died, simply collateral damage in their ongoing battles, but it has to stop! That's what I am hoping to do by evening the playing field.'
"Dr Miley intends to analyze the blood of the Vampire and discover what gives them their 'superpowers', such as inhuman strength, immortality, and night vision. 'If we can harness the Vampire's strengths and not have to take on its weaknesses, well, let's just say that would go a long way towards winning the war.'
"Dr. Miley is hoping to have some results by the beginning of February, which he has promised to share with us. Stay tuned to this newspaper for future updates."
***
Katelina finished reading the article and swallowed, but her throat had gone dry and her horror stuck like a lump just behind her tongue. Numbly she pointed to the photograph above the article where a blonde man snarled at them. His lips were pulled back over a set of sharp fangs, his face furious and his hands bound. "Kale," she whispered numbly. "My God, Jorick, it's Kale!"
Jorick shushed her and grabbed the tabloid out of her hands. Wordlessly, he threw it on the conveyor belt and followed it up with their other items.
She didn't understand how he could be so calm. When she tried to discuss it, he silenced her with a sharp look. It wasn't until they were in the car and on their way home that he informed her, "The Guild probably knows about it."
"And?" She was too horrified at the prospects to accept that answer. The words "change the course of human history" swam before her eyes and she shuddered.
"And they'll handle it."
"Like they handled Alistair? Where's he at now? My god, Jorick, what if that insane doctor does something?"
"He won't." Jorick mused quietly, almost to himself, "I wonder how Kale was captured. He just left The Guild to go back to his coven, so why hasn't his coven done something about it? How did he allow himself to be caught by a human?" His nose wrinkled. "Something isn't right."
She dismissed the question. "Rather than worrying about how he got caught, shouldn't you worry about how he's going to escape?"
"I already told you, The Guild will handle it. Trust me, they won't let that doctor run any tests. I doubt they'll even leave him alive."
She shuddered involuntarily. Though Kale was technically one of Claudius' and then Kateesha's vampires, she'd never faced him in a fight, and he had stuck up for her at her trial. He deserved better.
