Chapter 283
Katelina had a lot of questions that needed answers, but she didn't want to ask them with the others around. She decided to wait until they landed and Jorick got rid of them. If that ever happened.
It was a ten-hour flight and the vampires spent much of it asleep, except for Neil. Every time Katelina opened her eyes, she saw him sitting rigid in his seat, staring straight ahead. Though vampires didn't sweat, she expected to see beads of perspiration on his forehead.
Her disquieted mind was equally hard to silence, and she'd finally drifted off when she was jolted awake. The plane bumped along, as if it was bucking small hills and shrubbery, and she clung desperately to the chair and tried not to scream. Jorick sat stoically beside her. When he noticed her panic, he caught her hand in his. "We're landing."
"Where? On the moon?"
The plane rolled to a stop and Cyprus appeared from the direction of the cockpit. "We're farther from the city than I hoped, but it was the only clear spot."
His words shot her suspicion into overdrive. "Aren't we at an airport?"
"No."
Verchiel swept to his feet, his bag over his shoulder. "We don't have clearance to land a plane full of vampires at a random Russian airport, and I don't think Jorick really wants to contact the Guild so they can get it for us."
"No," Jorick agreed. "I'm sure Malick has informers in the Citadel. His appearance in Munich proves he's getting intel from them. Malick knows what the Guild knows, and they know what the Sodalitas knows." He shot Sadihra a dark look.
The Scharfrichterin lifted her chin a notch. "I already told you-"
"Just a reminder." Jorick turned to Katelina and she could see uncomfortable regret in his eyes. "We will have to walk, little one, so we need to consolidate the luggage. Take only what you really need."
She didn't want to leave anything behind, but she didn't want to carry a pile of suitcases. "Can't someone else carry part of it? You're all vampires. It should be a cinch."
"You might talk me into one," Verchiel said. "But the less luggage, the easier the whole trip will be." He tapped his own bag. "Travel light, remember?"
It took Katelina several minutes to weed out the "unnecessary items", including most of Jorick's new clothes. She was left with two suitcases and a purse crammed with toiletries and extra underwear. "That's the best I can do. I'm tired of being stuck in the same set of dirty clothes for days on end."
Cyprus glanced uncomfortably towards the shuttered windows. "We'd best go. The plane has some stealth equipment, but I doubt we've been completely unnoticed."
They exited and Katelina hesitated. Outside yawned a black expanse of scraggy grass and cold, biting wind. She suddenly wanted to stay behind with the discarded suitcases.
The landscape looked no better outside and, if anything, it was colder without the plane to shield the wind. She slouched down in the big coat and shivered. "Where are we? Siberia?"
"No, not exactly," Jorick replied casually. "In the same neighborhood, perhaps."
Katelina pulled her stocking hat out of her coat pocket and crammed it over her head. She could see the distant lights of a city and she had a bad feeling about the walk that lay ahead.
She carried her bulging purse, while Jorick and Verchiel each took a suitcase. She lagged behind from the beginning and, in just a few minutes, she lost all but Jorick and Neil in the dark. Soon, even Neil was swallowed by distance. Jorick matched his pace to her. Though he didn't speak, she could feel his impatience with the situation.
It was nearly an hour later when they topped a rounded hill to find the rest of the vampires. "About time," Verchiel called. "We thought you got lost!"
"At least we'd be rid of you," Jorick snapped.
"Not very nice considering I'm carrying your luggage. And how are you, Kately?"
She peered through the space between her hat and her coat. "I'm freezing! It has to be negative twenty out here!"
"Then you should move faster so you don't freeze to death." No one appreciated Verchiel's humor, so he added, "With all the vampire blood you've had, this should feel like summer!"
Cyprus cleared his throat loudly, as if it would make his words less offensive. "Perhaps you should carry the human?"
The flash of anger that swept through Katelina stopped her teeth from chattering. "I can walk!"
"Slowly," Sadihra said. Katelina made an angry noise and the vampiress shrugged. "It's a fact. You're slower than we are. We would make faster progress if someone carried you."
"It's her decision." Jorick's words surprised Katelina but, when she looked at him, his expression said he'd rather throw her over his shoulder and be done with it, only he refused to give the others the satisfaction.
And I thought he was finally treating me as an equal.
"Nah, Jorick doesn't think anyone's equal to him." All eyes swiveled to Verchiel and the redhead grinned. "Come on, Kately! We can beat the rest of them to the city!" He disappeared, then reappeared in front of her. She jerked back, an insult on her lips. Before it could fall, he'd scooped her up and thrown her over his shoulder. She kicked her legs and Jorick roared, but Verchiel just called, "See you in town!" then took off.
Katelina's scream trailed behind her. She could see Jorick and Cyprus running after them, but Verchiel quickly left them behind. The wind blew up her coat, and would have taken the stocking hat from her head if she hadn't clutched it. The night turned into a smear of black, with the occasional streak of an outdoor light. It was too fast for her to deal with, so she closed her eyes and tried not to scream.
Verchiel slowed and drew to a stop next to a set of railroad tracks. He dropped Katelina to her feet, and she wobbled on unsteady legs, her breath gasps of terror.
"What in the hell are you doing? Jorick's going to kill you!"
Verchiel shrugged. "It beats listening to Cyprus and Sadihra argue in German for the whole trip. Besides, I only did what Jorick wanted to do. I could have left you to walk and freeze to death."
"I'm freezing now!" She blew on her red, raw hands. "It's like being in a wind tunnel in Antarctica!"
"Yeah, we need to change positions." He lifted her purse from her shoulder and dropped it over her like a messenger bag. "Now you won't lose it." Then, he crouched down in front of her and motioned to his back. "You know the drill. Hop on."
"Piggyback?" she asked mournfully.
"Yep! Unless you preferred the carpet-roll-over-the-shoulder ride. It's all the same to me."
She looked back the way they'd come. Jorick was nowhere to be seen, though she knew he was pounding towards them with a thousand murderous intentions. She should wait for him. But it was cold. Really cold. And the lights of the city were closer. At Verchiel's speed, she could be indoors and warm in a few minutes and Jorick wouldn't have to slog along at her pokey human pace. That had to be worth something.
"Yeah, all right. Just don't drop me."
She pulled her hat down to meet her coat collar, leaving only a tiny slit to see through, then slipped her arms around his neck. He straightened quickly, and she had to jump and clamp her legs around him.
He caught her under the knees and hitched her up. "Hold on, and no screaming this time."
He hopped onto the tracks and Katelina's surroundings melted into a chilly blur. It was like a rollercoaster with no seatbelt, so she buried her face in the hair at the back of his neck and told herself it would be over soon. But, was the destination really an improvement? There'd be the panic of finding vampire friendly quarters and then how were they going to get to Japan? And what happened once they got there? Did she even want to know?
Verchiel slowed and she dared to peer out from under her hat. They'd left the train tracks for a street that was lined with gray brick buildings. Under the harsh streetlights it looked like a dismal inner city scene.
Her hands burned and she scrunched them into her coat sleeves. "Do you know where we're going?"
"Not a clue. I thought we'd just stop at the first hotel we came to. The others can follow our trail."
"Great."
A handful of cars passed them. A couple honked, and someone leaned out the window of one, called something, and then broke into laughter. Verchiel waved back good-naturedly.
She watched the small car veer around a corner. "What did they say?"
"No idea. I don't speak Russian."
"I thought all vampires spoke a bunch of languages."
"Not really. I know some Spanish, a little German, some Chinese - now there's a fun story - but no Russian. And I don't know Japanese, either, except what I've picked up from anime and jdramas. I can answer the phone and tell my mother hello: Mochi mochi, Okaasan."
"You don't have a mother."
"I did once. Or do you think I was hatched?"
She arched an eyebrow, "I thought you didn't remember anything from your past?"
"I don't, but logic dictates-" he trailed off then grinned. "Never mind. As I was trying to say, don't worry so much. It will all work out. Trust me, everything always does." He stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. "Well, well!"
"What?"
Instead of answering, he made a sharp turn to the right. His pace picked up, but it was nothing like it had been. He turned again, stopped, sniffed, and then retraced their steps. She repeated her questions several times and finally gave up.
After a series of twists, turns and backtracking, they stopped in front of a large glass and wood building wreathed in blinding lights. It could only be a hotel.
"Thank God." Katelina dropped to the ground and stretched her limbs. "Jorick's never had to sniff them out before."
"It wasn't the hotel I was smelling for." He broke into a grin and pointed to two figures that strode towards them. "It really is a small world."
Katelina squinted as the pair drew closer, and then she recognized them. It was - "Sorino? What's he doing here?"
The tall thin vampire was dressed in a heavy fur coat and a ridiculous fur hat. Behind him trudged Kai. In a bright coat and scarf, without his leash, he looked like a normal person.
"Of all the cities in all the world-" Sorino stopped before them and a cold smile stretched across his face. "And you have the human again. Wherever is her master this time?"
Verchiel grinned and threw an arm around her. "We eloped. Poor Kately just couldn't resist my charms any longer."
She jerked away from him and snapped through chattering teeth, "Stop that!"
Verchiel motioned to the hotel. "Are you staying here?" Sorino nodded, and the redhead said, "I should get Kately inside before she freezes. Won't do if she has pneumonia on our honeymoon."
"I'm not on a honeymoon with you!" She smacked him in the shoulder, but it hurt her cold hand more than it hurt him.
"Serves you right for trying to beat up your new master!" He waggled his eyebrows. "Now come on, unless you want me to carry you over the threshold?"
She was too mad to answer.
