Chapter 228
The basement door was in the kitchen. It stood partially open and voices floated up. She could hear Oren droning, though she couldn't catch the words. Obviously they were still discussing business.
She hurried down the stairs, and paused at the foot. Twelve long boxes were lined up in tight rows. A couch and some folding chairs formed a recreation area to one side, and a TV sat on an upturned crate. Several vampires lounged around it. Jeda, Traven's wife, sat primly in a chair that was apart from the others, a leather-bound book in her hand. With her dark hair in an elaborate updo and her creamy, long dress she looked like an antique queen.
One corner of the basement was cordoned off by a wooden frame draped in layers of milky plastic. A doorway was cut into it and covered by a loose, flapping piece of vinyl. A strange odor and cold breeze wafted out of it intermittently, followed by Jorick's familiar, impatient voice.
Katelina plunged forward and flung aside the vinyl. Inside were two folding tables, a rotating pedestal fan, and four vampires.
Traven stood in the middle of the room, wearing a pair of dark, tight fitting trousers, a blue vest and a ruffled shirt. His chestnut hair skimmed his shoulders and his green eyes held something that made her blood run cold.
Behind him stood Jorge. The captured Guatemalan spoke no English, yet Traven kept him at his side, as if he was a prize. Katelina met his eyes then looked away.
Traven followed her gaze. He clapped his hands sharply and reeled off a string of Spanish. Jorge turned back to the bucket in front of him and stirred the contents with a stick. Though the basement window was open, and the fan was whirling, the smell of gasoline was heavy in the confined space.
"What's he doing?"
"Making things," Jorick answered unenthusiastically. He nodded to a table that was littered in bits of wires, silver boxes, rolls of electrical tape and what looked like bricks of clay. Katelina recognized the clay as plastic explosives. She'd once seen a TV show where two guys used them to blow a car apart.
"They have quite a little shop set up," Jorick added.
Traven turned to him, his eyes smug. "Yes, we do. I told you that our Mexican friend would be an asset."
"No Mexicano," Jorge said. "Guatemalan."
The vampires ignored him and Katelina watched him sympathetically. He tugged a white facemask into place and while Traven droned about how ingenious his plan was, the Hispanic vampire cheerlessly crumbled styrofoam into the bucket and stirred some more. Katelina didn't know what he was making, and she didn't want to. She just wished it didn't smell so bad.
Jorick cleared his throat to interrupt Traven's soliloquy. "It all sounds wonderful, but if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to." He gave Oren a tight nod and steered Katelina out of the room and into the relative fresh air of the basement.
***
"God, it stinks in there."
Jorick nodded and led her up the basement stairs. She felt the curious eyes of Traven's coven mates, but she didn't turn to meet them.
When they were alone in the empty kitchen, Jorick wrapped his arms around her and folded her against him. She clutched him eagerly and let the nightmares from the last two days melt away. None of it mattered, not the rats, or the empty building, or the woman they'd murdered-
"They did what?"
She buried her face in his chest, as if hiding from the memory. Reluctantly, the story tumbled out. When she finished, Jorick growled low in his throat and tightened his hold on her. "I knew not to trust him! I thought with Loren there-"
"Was the fight that bad?" she asked softly.
He made a frustrated noise. "Yes and no. Senya escaped, as I feared she would, and Fabian took Zuri hostage. Surprisingly we didn't lose anyone, though you saw Torina and Alex, no doubt, and Saeed wasn't much better by the end."
"I saw Zuri. What's Fabian planning to do with him?"
"Who knows." Jorick gave her a final tight hug. "Let's go find Micah, shall we? I have a few things to say to him."
They found the bald vampire innocently lurking in a hallway. Jorick dragged him by his neck into a closed room and left Katelina outside. She listened uncomfortably to their shouting match.
"-you should be happy that I didn't just fucking drink from her! It would have been easier!"
"I should have known better than to trust you!"
"What's going on?"
Katelina spun around to find a mousy looking woman with large glasses and sandy colored hair. She was skinny enough to be shapeless and looked lost in her large button shirt.
"Who are you?"
The young woman smiled. A set of shiny fangs looked out of place in the too human face. "I'm Benny. And you are?"
"Katelina."
"Are you a vampire too?" Benny pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Katelina shook her head and Benny frowned. "I'm sorry. I'm new, so I don't know who anyone is. What's going on? Who's fighting?"
A crash sounded and they both jumped. "Jorick and Micah."
"I don't know them. Are they from the other coven? I'm with Traven."
Katelina wasn't sure she should fraternize with Traven's vampires. "Yeah, Micah's in Oren's coven and Jorick isn't in anyone's."
"I see. I think all of this coven stuff is confusing. Sheika never mentioned it. The first I heard was when what's-his-name told me about this one."
"Yeah, the covens don't make a lot of sense, and neither do their rules."
"They don't!" Benny agreed. "It's all really weird! No wonder Sheika never had anything to do with the rest of them!" Something crashed in the room and Benny jumped away. "They're really going at it!"
"Yeah." Part of Katelina felt rightly vindicated. On the other hand, what did it accomplish at this juncture?
"So who are you with?" Benny asked. "Oren?"
"No! I'm with Jorick. We're-together." She made a gesture with her hands to explain their status. She could have said 'He's my boyfriend' but the word felt weird. It was too modern and not strong enough. Lover fit better, but felt silly to say.
"Oh! I see! You're dating! That's nice. Sheika and I were just friends, though I sometimes wondered about which way she leaned, if you know what I mean." Her blush gave Katelina the impression that Benny knew all too well where Shieka's interests lay. "Are you going to help attack this Guild place?"
"No." Katelina thought someone should explain to Benny exactly what The Guild was before she threw her life away, but she wasn't the one to do it. "Jorick doesn't want to be involved."
"That's a shame. From what I understand, they need help. I'm not so sure about it myself, but I needed somewhere to go and -"
The door slammed open and Jorick stalked out, his face twisted in fury. He glared at Benny. The mousy woman stared back in fascination.
"Get your ass back here!" Micah railed. "We're not done with this!"
"Yes, we are! Otherwise, I'll kill you."
"I'm so scared!" Micah followed Jorick into the hallway. His eyes landed on Katelina. "So what? You went runnin' to Daddy?"
"Shut up," Jorick snarled. "If I see you again before we leave-"
Micah laughed heartily. "I'll look forward to it, huh? Not like I have anything to worry about. Neither of you keep your fucking word! She keeps promising to kill me and instead she's wiping out everyone else left and right!" He pointed at Benny. "You better watch out for the great vampire slayer!"
Katelina kicked Micah in the leg. It didn't faze him. "The next vampire I kill will be you!"
Jorick caught her arm and hauled her backwards. "He isn't worth it."
"Did you hear that?" Micah called to no one. "Jorick's running away!"
Jorick growled low and started to turn around. Katelina repeated his own words sarcastically, "He's not worth it, remember?"
Without a reply, Jorick tugged her away.
