Chapter 238
Jorick carried Katelina to the elevator. Though the guards gazed curiously, they didn't comment as he hauled her inside and let the doors slide shut.
The elevator rose and the atrium flashed into view through the glass walls. Katelina's head slowly cleared. The further they got from Malick and the prison cell, the clearer the world became - and the more aware she was of Jorick's fury.
"Jorick?"
He made a low noise in his throat.
The elevator stopped on the sixth floor and he carried her through the doors and down the corridor. They walked past an open front restaurant where several patrons stared openly, and then past a lounge to a door that said "Infirmary".
The room inside was tiled in white and smelled like disinfectant. Katelina couldn't see the woman who greeted them. "Can I help you?"
Jorick's words were tight and flat. "She was fed upon."
"Sign this and take her to room five."
He did as instructed, then hauled her into a room and dumped her on a metal bed. She sat up dizzily and the pale room swam around her. "Where are we?"
"The sixth floor medical facility. Lie still."
She reached for him, but he wasn't there. She found him across the room, his lips set in an unbending line. Nausea swept over her, and she laid back and closed her eyes. When she moved, the paper on the bed crinkled. She thought of a doctor's office. Nothing good ever happened in one of those.
A nurse came in and handed Jorick a clipboard. "Is she your human?"
"Yes."
"Then you'll need to fill out the top two forms and sign them." The nurse moved to Katelina's side and drew her blood. She was still numb enough that she couldn't feel the needle slide in. The woman examined her neck. She cleaned it with a damp cotton ball, then taped a piece of gauze over it. Katelina looked at her wrist and was surprised to see the start of an IV.
The nurse left and Katelina closed her eyes again. She could hear Jorick's ink pen scratching across the paper. His words were clipped and official. "Have you ever been pregnant?"
"No."
"Have you ever had a surgery?"
"No. Wait, yes. I had my tonsils out when I was six."
The ink pen scribbled. "Do you have a family history of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, hyper tension, depression-" the list went on and she murmured vague answers. How the hell was she supposed to know what the rest of her family had? Her dad died in a car accident when she was a toddler. For all she knew, he'd had every disease there was.
"Wait, Mom had a heart attack, remember? That's what Brad said."
Jorick scribbled it down and moved on. She closed her eyes and thought back to what had brought her here. She remembered Malick summoning her. She remembered the gold room and the shiny piano. Then there was a gray prison cell. Someone was in it. Someone-
The nurse returned. She took the clipboard and announced that Katelina needed blood. With expert precision she slung the bag on a pole and hooked it up. Katelina could feel the liquid flowing into her, like someone shoving a stick of ice through the vein in her arm.
Jorick's anger was palpable and obviously aimed at her. She tried to start a conversation, but it fizzled under his angry gaze. Finally she snapped, "I'm sorry, all right? I don't know what you want."
He turned to her. His usually warm eyes were cold and hard, and he hid his thoughts behind them. "What makes you think I want anything, Katelina?"
Her stomach clenched at his sarcastic indifference. "You obviously do or you wouldn't be waiting for it."
"I'm waiting for them to finish so that I can escort you back to your room, where you might stay for a change. I realize that when faced with him, my request seems less appealing. You might have mentioned how desperate you were to see him."
Him who? Greneth? Malick?
"I didn't want to see anyone. Greneth came for me. He said I was summoned."
The vampire in the cell?
"I don't want to discuss this right now!"
And then she remembered who it was.
"That was Malick's idea. He told me to follow him."
"Only because you were already thinking about it!" Jorick turned away. "I don't want to discuss this right now."
She looked absently from her arm to the little plastic tube pumping blood into her veins. Memories dropped back into place. Verchiel was in the corner, ragged, starved, dirty and Malick held him. Only then, he let him go and -
"Oh God." Her hand went to her neck. She felt the lumpy gauze with her fingers. He'd bit her. He bit her and he drank from her and then-and then the memories disappeared into a blur. There was some shouting towards the end, and then she was in the infirmary, being placed in the bed and freezing under Jorick's gaze.
It took hours for two bags of blood to pump into her, ironic since it took only so many minutes for her to lose it - hadn't it? Jorick stayed silent for the duration. Katelina went back and forth between trying to remember and not wanting to know.
When it was done, she was dismissed and advised to get something to eat. Jorick walked stiffly at her side. At the restaurant, he left her in the hallway and ducked in long enough to order a meal to be delivered.
When they were back in the room, Katelina slipped into the bathroom. The reflection in the mirror made her gasp. What stole her breath wasn't the lumpy gauze bandage on the left side of her neck, well above her old mark, but the crimson stain around her lips.
She licked it experimentally. Though dry, it tasted salty and tangy and she knew what it was. She wadded toilet paper in her shaking hands and wiped away the evidence. It didn't matter. The image was burned into her mind, as it no doubt was in Jorick's. Now she knew why he was angry.
She leaned against the wall and stared at the wad of damp, bloody tissue in her hand. "You're just getting a taste for it." Was that really what was happening?
When too many minutes had passed, she expected Jorick to bang on the door. The concerned knock didn't come. She forced herself to shuffle back into the bedroom where she found Jorick sitting tensely on the edge of a chair.
"Jorick?"
"Your food has arrived." He stood and gestured towards a plate on the low table. "You should eat." He marched to the door and stopped at the threshold. "I imagine you can take that brace off now. It's probably healed."
He slammed out. Her eyes skipped to her broken wrist and she realized he was right. The deep, throbbing ache was gone. With trembling fingers, she unwound the layers of cloth and gently removed the metal pieces. Her wrist was stiff and hurt a little, more like a sprain than a broken bone. At least it meant she hadn't had enough to completely heal her. But then how much was that? A glass full?
Her stomach heaved and she stared at her food. She tried to eat, but her eyes kept moving to the clock, then the door, waiting for Jorick to come back. Once he was calm, he could read her mind. Then he'd know it wasn't her idea. He'd know what had happened.
Though how could he if even she didn't?
She stripped off and climbed under the covers. She turned on the TV and let it chatter. The fake company felt better than being alone. Time ticked past, marching into the early morning. Soon it was six and then seven. There was still no Jorick. The morning shows ended in favor of daytime programming and she surrendered. She knew vampires weren't forced to sleep at sun up, though he'd have to drink more blood than usual to replenish the energy that rest normally did. She'd once asked how much, and he'd said one or two person's worth for a whole day. How much was that? Three bags? Four? Five? As exhaustion took over, her last thought was, did she really care?
