Chapter 277
Katelina's lunch was better than her breakfast. When she left the restaurant at midnight, she was full for the first time in days.
"So now what?" she asked Jorick. "Should we look around?"
"We could go to the room so you can watch television. I brought a couple of books."
"Are you serious? We came here to meet the ultra-powerful council and you brought reading material?" She thought of the book filled room in Maine; their new "library". "You're addicted!"
Before he could reply, an alarm gave three sharp blasts, and then fell silent. Jorick's eyebrows went up and she saw curiosity gleam in his eyes.
"It's none of our business," she said firmly and grabbed his arm. They didn't need to get mixed up in anything!
She tugged Jorick through the corridors. Vampires stood in bunches, their eyes on the ceiling and their chatter a muted whisper. At the elevators, Jorick pulled back and looked up, too.
Katelina followed his gaze to the chandelier. "What are you looking at?"
The chandelier swung the tiniest bit and Jorick nodded. "That."
"And?"
Instead of answering, he led her into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.
"Why are we going there?"
"I want to see something." He tapped his fingers restlessly against the shiny panel.
The alarm screamed three more blasts and the elevator jerked to a stop. The sudden change of momentum threw Katelina to the floor and made Jorick stumble. The light flickered and she cried out and grabbed Jorick's leg. "What's going on?"
He helped her to her feet and left a protective arm around her waist. "It seems the stronghold has visitors."
"What in the hell does that mean?" She clutched the scrolling metalwork. "Shouldn't we get out of here?"
He pressed first one glowing button and then another, but nothing happened. With a frustrated growl he turned to the silver doors and pried them open. They were stuck between floors with only a sliver of the next opening visible near the top.
"My God, how thick are the floors in this building?"
"Very thick, apparently." With less effort than he'd used to open them, he slid the doors closed. "We're not going to get out that way."
She pointed up uncertainly. "On TV there's always a hatch in the ceiling."
He nodded and used the decorative filigree to haul himself up. Before he could prod the ceiling, the light flickered again and the elevator jerked to life. Katelina clutched the red velvet wall. Were they rising or falling? What a way to die; crushed in an elevator at the vampires' stronghold!
Jorick dropped down beside her as the elevator slid to a stop. The doors opened to reveal the marble lobby of the top floor. Katelina plunged through the door, and stopped in the middle of the room, panting, her hands on her knees.
Jorick moved in front of her, his shoulders stiff. With one arm, he motioned her back.
She straightened to peer around him. The large room was empty. Even the information counter was abandoned. Where was everyone?
The sound of footsteps came from one of the broad arches, and suddenly a group of black coated vampires hurried through. Weapons were clutched in their hands and identical medallions hung around their necks. Among their ranks were Wolfe and Sadihra. It was the Scharfrichter.
Wolfe stepped forward. He held something shiny that looked like a cross between a jagged sword and spear. He pointed it towards them and demanded, "What are you doing here? Go to the lower levels!"
An explosion made the room quiver. The giant chandeliers swayed and Katelina covered her ears against the noise. As the aftereffects faded, all eyes danced around in search of damage, but there was nothing. Katelina glanced to the top of the stairs where a puff of smoke drifted away. Someone had blown through the secret room!
Katelina was suddenly lost in flashbacks of the attack on The Guild. Explosions, blood, fire, screams. Was Oren stupid enough to attack Munich?
Oren or not, Wolfe was right. They needed to get out of there! She retreated towards the elevators and the broad curving stairways. Jorick didn't move with her. He stayed rooted to the spot, his spine straight and his eyes narrowed in defiant determination.
Then the sound started. A low thrumming that quickly rose to a screaming pitch. Katelina clamped her hands over her ears and bit back a cry. She knew the sound and knew its maker.
It wasn't Oren. It was Malick.
A blonde vampiress appeared at the top of the stairs, a large gun/grenade launcher combo in her hands. She was dressed in clingy black and a long coat. Instead of the intricate knot of the Executioners, she now wore a primitive golden eye medallion around her neck. It was the same golden eye that had once graced the Audience Chamber; one of Malick's symbols. It was Griselda, a former Executioner. She and two others had defected with Malick and were now obviously working as his lackeys.
The thrumming sound grew louder and Katelina's knees buckled. Jorick moved to her, his eyes on the newcomer. The Scharfrichter fanned out to fill the lobby. Like Jorick, some of them seemed unaffected by the sound, but others' faces were twisted in obvious pain.
"Halt! Lower your weapon!" Wolfe cried, and then repeated the words in several languages.
Though Griselda stopped in the middle of the stairs and moved to one side, she ignored his last order and held tightly to the grenade launcher. Wolfe stepped forward threateningly. As if on cue, Greneth, another of the defectors, sauntered through the dissipating smoke and down the steps. Like Griselda, he was dressed in a long black coat with the same gold medallion at his throat. He'd gone only a few steps before Senya, the third of Malick's lackeys, appeared in a similar getup. Her expression and dark bobbed hair sent a jolt of fear down Katelina's spine that was as cold as the flash of her knives.
Wolfe shouted to them, but his words were lost to the building noise. Katelina thought she might have squealed, but she couldn't hear it. The scene blurred before her and the edges of her vision turned dark.
Jorick laid a hand to her. His smooth, silent voice rolled through her mind, washing away the throbbing thrum. "Go downstairs, little one. Find the others. Tell them-"
"Tell them what, my son?"
