Chapter 189
It was another hour and a half before Jorick parked in front of the house and climbed out. Katelina opened her door too, but he hissed, "Stay!"
She froze at the command. Her terrified eyes jerked around the dark surroundings and she held her breath. Jorick took a cautious step towards the house. His whole body was tensed, like a cat waiting to spring. She counted her heartbeats as he edged away from the car. Suddenly, he swore and moved quickly towards the porch.
She leaned around the door and called, "What is it?"
"Nothing. Just stay in the car."
She watched as he bent and quickly picked something up. As he turned, she caught a glimpse of something in his hands. It was red and wet, and about the size of a human head.
"Jorick?"
"Just stay there!" he commanded and disappeared around the side of the house. A moment later he was back, wiping his hands on his jeans.
"It's all right, come on."
She didn't feel all right, but her curiosity was killing her. She hurried out of the car and towards the porch. As she drew close, she could see a sticky, dark puddle on the cement. She knew the liquid on sight; it was blood.
She stopped short of the porch, her eyes locked on the crimson pool. "Where did that come from?" Her gaze flicked to Jorick's face and she repeated her question.
A muscle twitched in Jorick's jaw. "Someone left us a present."
Her stomach rolled and she took an involuntary step back. "What kind of a present?"
"It doesn't matter. I'll deal with it in a moment." She repeated her query and he shook his head. "Just leave it alone."
But she couldn't. "What kind of a present was it?"
"You don't want to know! Now just go in the house and-"
"Why do you get to decide what I want to know and what I don't? What was it?"
His dark eyes snapped. "Fine, Katelina. If you want to know, it was a skull, with most of the meat peeled off. There. Are you happy?"
She shuddered involuntarily and her eyes darted around, seeking the messenger. "Like an, uh, animal skull?"
"No. Not like an animal skull." The blood drained from her face and he suddenly relented. "I'm sorry. You wanted to know."
"No, no, you're right. I wanted to know." She suddenly wished she didn't. "Whose was it?" She realized he'd have no way of knowing. "Never mind. I'll just uh, go inside and, uh-" She swallowed hard. Was inside even safe?
He nodded encouragingly and, as if he'd had the same thought, he went through the house first, clicking on lights with his elbow and searching rooms. When it was deemed secure, he left her to go "deal with their present". He returned a few minutes later to wash his hands and get a bucket of water for the porch. She sat huddled on the couch while he cleaned away the evidence, and then he came back, loaded down with the groceries.
He left the Christmas tree in the front room and she took the box of pans to the kitchen while he dropped the bookcases off in the soon to be library. He reappeared, a fake smile on his face. "I thought you'd already be working on your tree?"
Her eyes moved unbidden to the nearby window and she shivered. "How can I think about Christmas at a time like this?"
Jorick put his hands on her hips and kissed her cheek. "What else are you going to do? Spend the whole night huddled in a ball of fear, waiting for him to attack?"
"That's what springs instantly to mind."
He sighed. "It won't do any good, little one. Why don't you go to the basement and see if you can find some tools so I can put those bookcases together?"
"You just need a screwdriver."
"All right, then go see if you can find a screwdriver."
She exploded. "How can you be so calm? He was here, Jorick! Alistair was here, on our porch! He left someone's skull on our porch!"
"Yes, probably." She glared and his shoulders sagged the smallest amount. "I'm sorry if I'm not panicking, but what good would that do? One of us needs to stay calm. Besides, call me cold, but after all these years it takes more than a bloody skull to frighten me. I've seen my share of them."
His old nickname sprang to mind, and she shuddered involuntarily. She didn't want to know where he'd seen them at. "All right. I'll go find a screwdriver, but only because the basement is probably the safest room in the house."
With no directions on where to look, it took her some minutes to locate a set of like-new screwdrivers neatly stored in a wooden box. While she hunted she also found an angel tree topper that mice had nibbled on, as well as a handful of tarnished ornaments and a dilapidated Christmas wreath.
She took her treasures to the old shrine and found Jorick sitting among stacks of fiberboard pieces, a sheet of directions in his hands.
"Here." She held the tools out. When he didn't even look up she dropped them to the floor. "I also found some decorations."
"Mmhmmm."
She stood silent, waiting. Her attention shifted to the metal hook next to the garbage bagged window and the brown stains that ran down the wall. The memories made her sick, and reminded her of their visitor.
As if he'd caught her thoughts, Jorick suddenly looked at her. "Are you going to go put your tree up?"
"I don't know."
"Don't let one imbecile ruin it for you. If you start doing that, then you're in for a long life of unhappiness."
She couldn't argue with that logic, though she was still uncomfortable as she walked to the front room and opened the box. Her eyes kept moving to the window over the couch; waiting to see Alistair leering in. By the time she got the box opened and all the pieces neatly laid out, there still hadn't been anything out the ordinary and she relaxed just a little. Jorick was right. They'd both seen much worse things than bloody skulls.
Still, it took some of the joy out of decorating. Even the multi-colored twinkle lights couldn't completely soothe away her tension.
The mouse eaten angel was perched precariously on the top of the tree and the tinsel was shining from the branches when Jorick appeared. His eyes raked over it unappreciatively.
He pointed to the sad array of tarnished ornaments. "Where did you get those?"
"They were in the basement. I told you that, earlier."
"Oh, of course." He put an arm around her and pulled her to his side. "It looks- lovely."
"I don't think it's too bad, all things considered."
"No, it's very- nice." He offered her a smile. "Now, I believe you have five bookcases to fill. I didn't spend an hour trying to put fake wood together for nothing."
"Me? I thought since they were your books-" she trailed off and offered him a winning smile.
He was having none of it. "It's your library. Besides, I thought I had to move the desk?"
"That won't take all night."
"It will if I try hard enough." He dodged her swatting hand and disappeared into the dining room, leaving a trail of laughter behind him.
***
Jorick had arranged the furniture to hide the blood stains on the walls. He'd even removed the hook and put one of the bookcases next to the window. Katelina's gratitude faded as she lugged load after load of books into the room. She was still at it long after Jorick had the desk situated. He perched on top of it and watched her with too much amusement.
She dropped a stack of books on the floor noisily and leaned against a bookcase. "This is exhausting."
"Maybe you're in bad shape?"
"Granted. But in that case you should help me." He didn't move, so she pointed to the garbage bagged window. "You need to fix that."
"I suppose. It doesn't still bother you, does it?" Her expression said everything. "Fine. Where am I supposed to get a new window? Would you like me to steal one? Because, if I remember correctly, most building supply shops close when it's dark."
"There's probably one, somewhere." She turned back to the books and stacked the shelf. When she'd finished she surveyed her work and then him. There was another conversation they needed to have; one she'd almost forgotten about. "So when are we going to go rescue Kale?"
"I don't know what you mean."
The flat out denial annoyed her more than anything else. "Maybe I should go ask Verchiel. He seemed to know all about it." Jorick growled low in his throat and she felt a small flush of victory.
"If you must know, I don't have any plan to rescue Kale, it was only something I'd considered we might need to do! Leave it to that buffoon to make it seem otherwise!"
"You might have mentioned it."
"I intended to, once I'd decided one way or the other! But there it is. Depending on what Oren can find out, we may have to go get Kale."
"What about The Guild?" she asked with feigned innocence.
Jorick made an angry noise in his throat. "With idiots like that working for them, you can't trust them to handle anything."
She nodded her head and cleared her throat. "What about Alistair?"
Jorick ran an aggravated hand through his hair. "I don't know. I suppose we wait for him to come to us."
"What kind of a plan is that?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know where he's at!"
"Verchiel said he'd been spotted, so maybe you could ask someone."
"Who? It might come as a surprise, given the recent explosion in social calls, but I'm not part of any local vampire network. I chose this house because of its isolation. Loren and the pack of rogues were an unwelcomed surprise at the time and, other than him, the nearest vampires were an hour and a half away. Vampirism isn't like joining a social club."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"What is there to do? If I leave to hunt him, he'll only circle back and catch you alone. I can't take you with me, or it defeats the purpose, so we'll have to wait for him to come to us, and when he does, I'll kill him."
She didn't think it sounded like a very good plan.
