Chapter 199
At the next town, the vampires sent Katelina into a gas station with Oren's money and a list of seemingly random items, including peroxide, several rolls of gauze, a box of bandages, and a pair of tweezers. The tweezers were the hardest to find, though she finally located a ridiculously priced manicure kit. As a fetcher's fee, she picked up something to eat and drink, and pocketed the change. When she climbed back in the van, she tossed the bag in Oren's lap with an expression that dared him to complain. He glared, but kept his opinion to himself.
She took a savage bite of her dinner and asked, "So what's the peroxide for? It's not like you need to worry about infections."
Oren snorted contemptuously. "No, but I am hoping to salvage this shirt."
The sudden image of Oren carefully cleaning the blood from his clothes made her choke. It was just like him.
It was barely after four a.m. when they pulled into a motel. Jorick checked in and returned with the assurance, "The attendant won't remember us by morning."
They all piled out of the van. Though they'd rented two rooms, they headed into one. Oren gave Katelina a dirty look as she dropped the gym bag into a chair. "Perhaps we should go to the other room?"
"She'll be fine," Jorick replied. "She can stay in here."
With no explanation, he motioned Oren and Kale to follow him into the bathroom. The door snapped shut. She stared after them and commented to no one, "That's weird."
Alone, she peeled off her coat and flopped on the bed. When the vampires didn't reappear, she turned on the TV. The late night programming didn't hold her interest. As minutes ticked past, she grew more and more curious. What kind of meeting were they having in the bathroom?
She muted the TV and pressed her ear to the door. The only sound was running water. She imagined the three of them in the shower together and choked loudly.
Jorick's muffled voice commanded, "Go watch TV. We'll be finished shortly."
She tried unsuccessfully to banish the image from her head. "What are you guys doing in there?"
There was no answer. She grabbed the door knob and Jorick called, "I wouldn't do that, or you'll see more of Oren than you want to."
She jerked away from the door, hands in front of her. "What in the hell are you doing?"
They didn't answer, and the mental pictures she conjured were both horrifying and intriguing. Determined to banish them, she unmuted the TV. She managed a handful of minutes before Kale shouted, "Ouch! Watch it!"
Oren followed with a surly, "I'm finished. Get out of the way."
That was it.
She swept to the door and jerked it open. The three vampires stared back at her. Kale sat on the edge of the bathtub, naked from the waist up, patting his chest with a wet, bloody towel. Jorick, similarly undressed, leaned over the sink, his palms pressed down on the countertop. Bullet holes riddled his back like pock marks. Oren stood behind him in the same attire, a pair of bloody tweezers in his hand and an exasperated expression on his face. Katelina tried not to notice the freckles on his shoulders.
"Can we help you?"
Words failed her. Oren rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Jorick. With more violence than she thought necessary, he jabbed the tweezers into one of the bloody wounds.
"Got it." Oren pulled a bloody metal fragment from the hole and dropped it in the sink where it plinked softly. Katelina stepped forward and peered down into the basin. Several bits of smashed metal were collected around the drain.
"Oh."
"If you're done staring, you might go away? Or perhaps you'd like a try?" Oren offered her the tweezers sarcastically and then went back to his work.
Jorick met Katelina's eyes and forced a smile that was more a grimace. "How did you think the bullets came out, little one?"
"I don't know." She stepped back and leaned against the doorframe, watching with a mixture of fascination and horror. Bullets were something you shot, not something you pulled out. In the movies they went all the way through and left a big, gaping hole and movies were her only experience with gunshots - until now.
Bullets plinked in the sink, one after another. Oren finished Jorick's back, then the dark haired vampire turned around and Oren worked on his chest.
"There are two in my right leg," Jorick said. "I can get them myself."
The last bullet landed in the sink and Oren answered, "Suit yourself." He dropped the tweezers into Jorick's hand and picked up the roll of gauze. "Kale?"
He stood reluctantly and dropped the bloody towel into the sink. Katelina bit back a gasp; his chest and torso were like a piece of meat that had been chewed up.
Oren wrapped the mess in layers of gauze, using first one roll and then a second. "That should do." He looked to the open box of bandages on the back of the toilet. "Do you need help?"
Jorick shook his head and indicated Katelina.
"In that case, we'll be back." He snatched up his wet, but bloodless, shirt and motioned Kale to follow him.
They left Katelina staring at the gory towel in the sink. Jorick followed her eyes and commented, "He took a full magazine in the stomach, at point blank range. His own fault, of course."
She cringed. "I thought the human blood would have healed that."
"It did, partially, but it healed around the bullets. We had to dig them out." He tossed his jeans aside and perched on the edge of the sink, one foot balanced on the towel rack. Silently, he stabbed at a hole in his thigh and fished out the bullet. When he finished, he started on the other wound, just above his knee. "It's not as bad as it looks."
"Are you sure?" Her instincts said that bleeding holes were a very bad thing.
"I'll be fine. By tomorrow night there won't be a mark left." He dropped the bullet into the sink, then turned to her. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah. I was in the van the whole time."
Something smoldered in the depths of his eyes. Then they dropped away. "That isn't what I meant." He handed her the box of bandages. "If you want to get the ones on my back?"
She stared at them as if they were foreign objects.
"What? I didn't think you'd want me to get blood all over. I heal faster than you, but not that fast. If it bothers you ..."
"No, it doesn't," she said quickly, and peeled one open. "You just don't normally use bandages."
"I'm not normally riddled with bullets."
She finished his back and threw the heap of bandage wrappers in the garbage can, just as a knock sounded on the bedroom door.
"Ah, that will be Oren and Kale. Go ahead and take a shower and I'll deal with them."
"What is there to deal with?"
He tossed the bloody towel in the tub, then scooped the bullets out of the sink and into the trashcan. "You know Oren. We'll have to talk the night to death." He gave her a wink as he tugged on his pants. "I'll bring the bag in for you."
He left, shutting the door behind him.
