Chapter 213
Katelina stole more than one glance out the window, nervously watching the van. What if someone broke into it? What if they peered through the driver's window and got curious about what was shielded behind the corrugated metal? What if they got in the cooler? The strain was too much, and her mother and Brad only wanted to question her, so she ended the visit. She felt bad that she hadn't brought her mother a present, but it hadn't occurred to her. There was too much going on to think about normal things like that.
She left in a flurry of hugs and a stern warning to "get herself together". She bit her tongue to keep from replying, "Look who's talking!" The woman was old enough to be Brad's mother!
No. It's not something I want to think about.
Though it beat thinking about her destination. Regardless, she was soon at the rest stop. Her mother had filled her up with Christmas sweets, so she skipped the vending machines and stayed in the van. As the minutes ticked by, she smoked from her second pack of cigarettes. She watched people come and go. Busy families were bustling home after the holiday and vacationers were heading back to their daily grind. Several of them looked her way but no one approached her. The cracked windshield distorted her view and she suddenly felt lonely. It was as though she was isolated from the rest of the world and could only peer at what used to be the everyday, now a twisted, rippling shadow.
The sun dropped slowly until the western sky was red fire. The rest stop's lights clicked on, an artificial day to defend against the coming darkness. She finished her soda and checked her watch. It would be another twenty minutes or more before Jorick woke.
Something moved in the back of the van. The doors opened and shut quickly and a large, dark head appeared at the passenger window. Katelina stiffened automatically, then recognized Saeed.
"May I sit?" His voice was deep and dark like a forgotten jungle. He motioned to the passenger seat.
"I suppose."
Saeed opened the door and climbed inside. He sat stiffly in the seat, too large to look comfortable. He gazed out the window and squinted his eyes against the dying sun. Though he lifted his hand to shade his face, he didn't look away.
She remembered what Kale had said. "So you really can take more sun than the rest of them?"
He nodded slowly. "Yes, though they can take some, too."
She stabbed the cigarette out in the overflowing ashtray. "I thought it burned vampires to a crisp."
"Too much will. Though as it dies, it burns less. This much would not hurt older ones."
She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel and mumbled her catch all word, "Oh."
"The others will wake soon. Your lover wakes early, too."
"Jorick?" She snapped and then bit her lip hard to keep from going on. She wanted to say, "You mean the one you held down so Kateesha could kill him? Is that the one you mean?" but the words were pointless.
The last rim of the sun disappeared and the back door opened and closed again. Jorick appeared at the passenger door. He looked from Saeed to Katelina with a mix of concern and interest.
"This seat belongs to you." The large vampire pushed the door open and climbed out, his movements surprisingly graceful.
Jorick nodded and swung inside. He kissed Katelina before he settled back. "I assume this is the planned stop?"
"Yes." She lit her last cigarette.
He arched a single eyebrow, then snatched the cigarette from between her fingers and took a puff.
She yanked it back. "I didn't think you smoked?"
"I don't, particularly. I've gone through phases where I did, but then I can't suffer from any of the side effects." He cast a meaningful glance at her. "Is this going to become a new thing?"
"No. I just needed something to keep me awake. It's not like I do it very often. Since when did you join the anti-smoking campaign?"
"I wouldn't call it a campaign. The blood has made you more resilient, but I'm not sure what its effect is on cancer."
"You're worried I'm going to die from cancer?" She choked on the word. At the moment, death by vampire seemed more likely.
He didn't meet her eyes. "It's one of many possibilities. Mortals are so fragile. You don't live very long, and what time you're alive is spent dodging one disease or accident after another. It's a miracle anyone survives." He grabbed the cigarette from her and clamped it between his unhappy lips.
"Everything dies. Nothing lasts forever."
"Maybe, and maybe not." He chose his words carefully. "I want you to be alive as long as possible, so you need to take care of yourself. I can do a lot of things, but I can't keep you both living and mortal by myself."
It was an unusual discussion for anyone, and even more so for Jorick. He seemed so confident that everything was going to go his way, if for no other reason than he willed it to. "Where's this coming from?"
He frowned. "I worry about you. I occasionally think about how mortal you are, and how quickly you're going to die. It isn't a cheerful prospect. I've already suffered through too many deaths."
She opened her mouth but no words came out. She assumed he'd eventually turn her into a vampire. Didn't that go without saying? That idea gave her both a measure of comfort and a jolt of terror. Vampirism wasn't something she'd considered as a goal. "I will be rich," - sure. "I will be famous," - okay. "I will be a vampire,"...
"And will you? Would you really accept that?" He took an angry puff and bit off sarcastically, "Would you give up your immortal soul?"
A sad sigh slipped from her lips. This was a discussion that had been brewing from the very beginning, one that no human and vampire couple could avoid, but it was one she wasn't ready for. "I don't believe you lose your soul, but even if you do you're worth giving it up for."
He stared at the dashboard. "No, I'm not. No one is."
"Really? If you believe that, then why did you give yours up?"
His eyes flamed and then cooled. "You know why."
"To avenge your sister. Isn't love worth more than revenge?"
He didn't answer and she knew that she'd won. They sat in silence for a moment and finally he motioned her to lean on him. She moved to sit on the disturbing cooler and laid her head on his chest. He settled his arm around her shoulders and absently played with her hair. "It's going to be all right, you know?"
"The battle?"
"Yes. At the worst we're evenly matched. They can't have more than thirteen, and I doubt they have that many. They'll be surprised, and I'm not sure they'll all fight for Thomas. Anya will, of course, and Des will fight for her."
Des. An ally who'd parted company because he believed that Jorick, not Thomas, had spied for Kateesha and that Katelina had killed Kateesha on Jorick's orders, purposely breaking their agreement. Personally, Katelina thought he'd just sided with Anya and Thomas because he and Anya had something between them.
Jorick went on. "I'm not sure who else she has. There was the redhead, Lennon I think his name is, and the brunette who came to Oren's den when they thought we were dead." A smile played over his lips at the memory. "They're both from Claudius and Kateesha's covens, so I don't know how loyal they'll be to her. We're not warring against the coven, only Thomas."
"I suppose." Katelina sighed heavily. "You know that lecture you just gave me about dying? It goes both ways."
"I know." He kissed her head and squeezed her shoulders in a half hug. "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine."
She closed her eyes, inhaling his musky scent. Even wrapped in his warmth, a deep, unsettled fear throbbed through her and she wished she could believe his words as easily as he did.
He flicked ashes into the floorboard and suddenly let out an unintelligible groan. "What is that?"
He pointed to the red ceramic cat at his feet, a look of horror on his face, and Katelina said, "That's my Christmas present. There's also a bread maker."
"A what?" He let her snag the cigarette back. "Christmas presents from whom? You went shopping?"
She inhaled and choked. Her throat was raw from too many cigarettes. "No. They're from Mom. I stopped to see her since we're so close and I had time to kill." A strangled noise escaped Jorick's throat. "Brad was there. Again. From the looks of it, he'd been there over night. They think they're getting away with it, but I'm not stupid."
"You visited your mother while we were in the back?" She nodded, and the horror in his eyes doubled. "Katelina! Do you have any idea what could have happened?"
"I locked the van, and I kept an eye on it through the window. What was I supposed to do? Sit here for six or seven hours? I've been stuck here for damn near three as it is!"
Someone moved in the back and Jorick held up a hand. "We'll discuss this later, but I want you to consider how irresponsible that was!"
She snorted. "You're not my father. Don't try to be."
Oren appeared next to the van, his face grim. "The others are waking. Hand out the cooler and let's go. We can feed on the way." His eyes flicked to Katelina. "I'll drive."
The blood inside the cooler was haphazardly stored in various bottles. Katelina wondered where they'd gotten it from, but she didn't really want to know. Jorick took out two bottles for himself and Oren, then lugged the cooler to the back of the van and hoisted it inside for the others.
Happy to relinquish the keys, Katelina slipped between the seats and settled herself in the space where the cooler had been. Jorick was barely back in the passenger seat before Oren fired the van up and turned towards the interstate.
Jorick downed his meal and dropped the bottle to the floorboard with the cat, an expression of distaste on his face.
Oren misinterpreted his unhappiness. "It never tastes as good cold."
