Chapter 196
Jorick and Katelina headed down the hall to find Kale. As they moved away, Katelina whispered, "There is no 'they' who have your fingerprints. They're just in a database."
"Yes, a police database. I'm sorry, but I don't want to be arrested - again." The look he shot her implied it might have been her fault that it happened the first time. It had been her idea to visit her mother, but she wasn't the one who'd called the cops. That had been Verchiel. Maybe that had something to do with why Jorick hated him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think they'd arrest you without evidence."
"If I recall, they thought they had evidence. A dead body, a kidnapped woman."
"But you didn't kill Patrick, and I wasn't kidnapped."
"I know that, and you know that, but they didn't." He softened. "It doesn't matter. What's done is done."
With nothing else to say, they found the first floor lobby in silence. Light shone through a set of glass doors and splashed shadows across the floor. Jorick glanced through them and nodded to someone who stood outside in the darkness.
"The alarms have been disabled. I knew that Hectia and her flare for turning everyone she meets would come in handy."
At the back of the lobby was a locked wooden door. Without a hint of remorse, Jorick kicked it in. He led Katelina to the room beyond where they found another door. Despite her objections, he kicked it, too. They moved from room to room, leaving a path of destruction behind, until they came to a door that didn't give immediately. Jorick knocked on it and considered the sound. "Interesting." Before she could ask what was interesting, he kicked a hole into it and peeled away the wood to reveal a heavy metal door underneath.
"You're not planning to just kick that one?"
"Actually-" He winked at her and gave it a solid kick in the center. The door bent. A second kick made it buckle so that he could swing it open with some effort.
Super vampire strength.
They followed a set of stairs to a cement room rimmed in metal doors and security lights. Yellow caution stripes were painted on the walls and block letters announced "Authorized Personnel Only," and "Warning: Dangerous Specimens".
Jorick surveyed the words. "Either they had high hopes or Kale isn't their first brush with a nonhuman entity."
"You don't really think so? Not in Michigan?"
He shrugged and sniffed for Kale's scent. Katelina still wasn't used to the idea that vampires could smell one another, or that they had a sort of sixth sense that told them when someone was nearby. But then there were a lot of things she wasn't used to.
"Ah."
Katelina followed Jorick's gaze. The door at the back of the room was covered in diamond shaped warning labels. If not for the seriousness of the situation, they would have been comical. One had an injured hand with blood dripping from it crossed out, while a second showed a pair of swirly eyes and warned against "vampire hypnosis". A third showed the black silhouette of a human head with large white fangs where the mouth belonged. "Warning: Vampires may be more dangerous than they appear. Exercise caution at all times".
"My God, Jorick, where would they get a sticker like that?"
"I don't know. Perhaps they made it." He ran his hand around the door and then, with a shrug, tried the handle. It swung open on silent hinges. "Someone forgot to lock up." Though he joked, his eyes held guarded caution.
There was a switch just inside the door. Jorick pressed it and fluorescent tube lights snapped to life, illuminating another cement room with yellow and red warnings. The middle of the back wall was thick plexiglass, like a window in a zoo cage. Inside, she could see Kale. He stood with his palms pressed against the glass. If she hadn't known who it was, she might not have recognized him. His blonde hair hung limp around his haggard face and his skin cleaved to his bones. She knew the cause: lack of blood. She'd seen the effects before, though they had been worse.
Kale regarded them with a mixture of curiosity and animosity. His eyes glittered dangerously in his shrunken face, and Katelina thought of Jorick's warnings. Maybe she should have stayed in the van.
Jorick approached the trapped vampire and rapped on the plexiglass with his knuckles. Kale tapped back, but they couldn't hear the sound.
A red button was on the wall to the right, below what looked like a speaker. Jorick pressed it. "Kale?"
The vampire inside nodded vigorously and tapped the glass again. Apparently it wasn't a speaker, but a microphone.
"We're going to get you out," Jorick said simply.
Kale nodded again and the animosity in his eyes turned to hope.
Oren walked through the door and looked from one to the other. "The alarms?"
"Disabled."
Oren nodded towards Kale. "He's been here since the twelfth, or that's what the doctor wrote on his applications for research grants."
Katelina did mental calculations. That was only nine days ago. They'd just seen him at The Guild's citadel a day or two before that. He'd been kidnapped almost the minute he got home!
"I imagine all of the actual research is down here," Oren continued as his eyes made a circle of the room. "It seems uncannily well prepared."
Jorick sounded tense, "I've been thinking the same thing. Either they've had a vampire in captivity before or-"
"Or someone who knows too much helped them," Oren finished.
Jorick nodded and moved back to the plexiglass wall. To the left was a door covered in warnings and red letters. Beside it was a keypad and slot to swipe a keycard. He studied both and commented, "It's odd that there's no guard on duty."
"Yes. It's too quiet and everything has been too easy."
"Unless they aren't expecting a rescue. They could be under the impression that vampires are just wild animals." Jorick's nose wrinkled in disgust. "It wouldn't be a new idea." He rapped on the glass again. "The question is, how to get to Kale. Obviously the wall is strong enough to hold him in and us out."
Oren cocked his head. "Maybe. Kale isn't much older than I am, but you're older and stronger than both of us."
While they discussed the next move, Katelina examined their surroundings. One side of the room was occupied by a bank of cupboards and counters. She opened them to find rubber gloves, masks, and heavy white over gowns. There were also several glass containers and pointy silver instruments that seemed better suited to a surgery center. Then, on the back of one of the doors she noticed a keycard on a silver ring. She snagged it from the hook and held it up. "Maybe this would help?"
Oren snatched it from her and strode towards the door. Kale nodded enthusiastically and mouthed something they couldn't hear. Oren swiped the card and a tiny beep sounded. He reached for the door handle. Kale suddenly shook his head emphatically. Before anyone noticed his reaction, the door was open and a high pitched alarm screamed.
