Chapter 194
Katelina walked out of the truck stop and eyed the dented, ugly carpet van. It stared back, like a dragon that wanted to swallow her whole. A blast of winter wind rattled her and she brushed her blonde hair from her face. She'd been volunteered to drive to Michigan and the Institute of Supernatural and Unexplained Sciences to help rescue a vampire, while Jorick and his fledgling, Oren, were going to sleep in wooden boxes in the back.
She wondered if it was legal to transport vampires over a state border.?There should be a law about that, she mused silently. Maybe there was. The Guild, the vampires' government, had laws for everything else, and they used the Executioners to enforce them. As the name implied, there seemed to be only one penalty for misconduct.
Oren walked out of the truck stop, his tawny hair streaming in the wind. His amber eyes flicked over her and he bit off the careful words, "Jorick thinks you can handle it." He shoved the keys into her hand, then he climbed into the back of the van and pulled the doors closed.
Jorick was waiting patiently by the passenger's door. Katelina's gaze flicked over him; his flawlessly smooth skin, broad shoulders, and long, black hair. As she met his eyes, her apprehension disappeared in the warm, silky depths. She knew he produced the artificial calm, just one of many in his bag of vampire tricks, but she shoved it away. Though he meant well, she didn't like the manipulation.
He shrugged and swung into the passenger seat. Though the sun would rise soon, he sat next to her as she fumbled the vehicle onto the road.
"I've never driven anything this big."
"You'll be fine, little one. You have the directions and there's money in the glove box for gas and anything you need. As soon as it gets dark, Oren will take over."
She nodded along as if his words were a song with a good beat. "What do I do if I get pulled over? I don't have any ID on me."
He offered her a fanged smile that left her irritated. "Don't."
Shortly afterwards, he slipped behind a curtain to the back of the van, and sealed himself in a box. Once she was sure both vampires were settled, she pulled into the next gas station and bought a pack of cigarettes. She'd quit, but today seemed like a good time to start again. They were probably going to get killed, so lung cancer wouldn't matter.
As the miles passed, the radio was her only companion. She took a sick comfort in the noise and fell to talking to it.
"We're only rescuing Kale because Oren wants to recruit him for his stupid war with the Guild. We don't really know him, and if Kale's dumb enough to get caught by humans, then he can get himself out."
The last statement jarred her. There was an implication behind it that humans were somehow lower. The tiny shift in attitude scared her. She was still human. Obviously she'd spent too much time with those who weren't.
She pushed it away. "It's just as well that I'm here. It's only some crack pot doctor with a pseudo facility but, since I met Oren, he's had dead bodies piling up behind him. I suppose I should feel sorry for him. His wife and kids got killed by the Executioners a couple months ago, but it's hard when he always acts like I'm beneath him. That's how all of Jorick's stupid vampire friends act. Except Loren and Verchiel.
"Though Verchiel's hardly Jorick's friend, more like someone he'd like to see hung by his own entrails." She pictured Verchiel for a moment. Like his motives, his appearance was an enigma. His longish hair was so ridiculously red it looked fake, while his features were Asian. "I don't know why Jorick hates him so much. Sure, he's an Executioner, and most of them are pure evil, but he's not too bad. Okay, he's a pain in the ass, and I haven't forgotten that crap of locking me in that little room when he hauled me to the Citadel a few weeks ago, but he's better than a lot of the others. You can almost talk to him." She heaved a sigh. "Maybe I'm just desperate for a friend. I?am?talking to a radio."
The answer was a commercial about whiter teeth for Christmas. Disgusted, she fell silent. It wasn't that she didn't like Jorick's company, but she needed to talk to someone about how abnormal the vampires' world was, and Jorick just didn't understand.
?
The day passed. Though the sun hung high in the sky, the weather stayed cold as she drove from one state to another. Pennsylvania seemed the coldest. Maybe because it was nearly sundown by the time she crossed the border.
She turned off the highway and into a broad parking lot. Signs on the dilapidated buildings promised an amazing antique experience. Apparently the shops hadn't lived up to the hype because they stood vacant, occupied only by shadows.
A shiver ran down her spine and her mind turned to macabre thoughts. Though she'd come to accept vampires and their world, childish fears still found their way through the veneer of her confidence.
She parked and leaned back in the seat. Outside, the last of the sun disappeared in a pool of purple and red. It was barely gone when one of the boxes banged open and Jorick came through the curtain, his eyes glinting with good humor. "Are we still in one piece?"
"Very funny. Of course we are."
He kissed her, then dropped into the passenger seat and caught her hand in his cool fingers. "I knew you'd be fine."
She shook out a cigarette and lit it, ignoring his arched eyebrows. "It was horrible. I spent eight hours terrified I'd get pulled over and they'd search the van. What would happen if they found you?"
"We'd have handled it."
"How? You'd have been burned to cinders in the sunlight!"
"It isn't instant vaporization."
"No?" she asked, only semi-interested at the moment. "How long does it take?"
As if sensing her mood he answered, "Long enough."
She puffed the cigarette and let the subject drop. "So what are we going to do with Kale? There are only two boxes, and Oren's in a hurry to get back to his stupid war coven. He'll probably want me to drive again." As she said it, she prayed she didn't have to. She couldn't take the stress.
"I don't know. We'll cross that bridge once we get there."
Oren's box opened noisily. He stuck his head between the seats and picked up the conversation. "Until the sun rises, I imagine he'll be in the back, with you." His eyes landed pointedly on Katelina.
"No." Jorick's tone was hard. "I won't have her alone with a vampire in need of blood. You know what that can be like."
Oren sniffed and Katelina got the impression that he didn't. "Of course. As you said, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
"Speaking of blood, I'm hungry." Jorick smirked at Katelina's horrified expression. "We'd better feed while we have the chance."
The two vampires climbed out of the van. Katelina finished her cigarette and patted the dashboard fondly. "Good luck with Oren."
She was seated in the back when the vampires returned. Jorick dropped next to her on the wooden box and slipped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and yawned. She hadn't really slept the night before, thanks to Alistair, a vampire who'd attacked them.
"Go to sleep," Jorick said softly. "You can lay down in one of the boxes if you want."
She jerked awake. "No thanks! You know I don't like that."
He chuckled. "It's just a suggestion."
"Thanks, but no thanks." She relaxed again. Sleeping in a box was a little too much like being a vampire. She spent time with them, but she didn't want to join their ranks. At least not yet.
Not yet.
That was another disturbing idea. Like so many others, she let it drift away. Someday, she'd have to deal with all those ideas, but now wasn't the time.
"Get some rest," Jorick said softly.
With a final yawn, she did.
