Chapter 289
As Katelina trudged back to the cabin, she felt a certain melancholy. Incidents like dinner reminded her how removed she was from real life. The sightseers' trip to Russia involved trains, cameras, sunlight, markets and famous monuments. Hers had been a flying walk in the dark, a hotel, and a seedy house to get fake papers, all while waiting for Malick or his henchmen to appear and kill them, or for The Guild to send someone to intercept them and send them back to the U.S.
Fun, fun.
In the room, Katelina flopped back on the makeshift couch. "Are you sure we shouldn't go check on them?"
Kai checked the time. "We go at midnight."
"I thought you said we should stay away so they didn't get caught?"
"No."
She waited for more details, but he only took a seat next to her and set up a movie. Though advertised as horror, it had very little in the way of thrills or chills, and when it was over Kai announced that they should go to the cargo hold to see the vampires. Katelina couldn't help but think that her daily brushes with the paranormal had something to do with her blas¨¦ attitude towards the movie. How could she be scared of monsters when she was dating one?
Katelina and Kai followed the map to a locked door marked "Staff Only". She rattled it with dismay, but he motioned her aside. He worked the lock with a shim and opened the door. A blast of cold air hit them and she wished she'd brought her coat. For some reason, it was always an afterthought.
A set of stairs led down to what was essentially a giant room with the occasional support pillar. Cars, motorcycles, bicycles and washing machines were some of the items she recognized. There were also several large metal boxes. Painted in hues of orange, white and blue, they reminded her of action movies, where the bad guys hijacked the ship - and then she realized what they were. Shipping containers. Duh.
Kai led her to the pile and checked the locks. She wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he knew it when he found it. With a nod to himself, he pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked it.
The door swung open on unhappy hinges and Katelina peered into the darkness. At first nothing moved and she wondered if they'd waited too long. She envisioned Jorick lying motionless and withered, as she'd seen other bloodless vampires.
She cupped her mouth to call for him, but Kai caught her wrist and shook his head. Before she could explain her actions, Sorino emerged from the depths of the box. Dressed in the purple suit from the day before, he still looked nearly flawless.
The tall, thin vampire checked a pocket watch and then nodded to Kai. Just then, Jorick appeared behind him, and stole all of Katelina's attention. She flung herself into his arms. His embrace was shockingly chilly and she pulled back against her will. "Oh my God! You're freezing!" But of course he was. Without blood to drink, he was only as warm as his surroundings.
He nodded as if to agree with her but, as his eyes swept over her cheek, he frowned. "What happened?" Before she could answer, he pulled the thoughts from her head, and his expression turned to fury. "Why didn't you come tell me?"
"Kai said it was pointless." Smugness swept through her and she glanced at Kai to see if he'd heard. The boy stood motionless, his long sleeve button shirt open wide. Sorino was hunched over him, his fangs buried in the boy's chest below his collar bone.
Sorino's words came back to her, "-arrangements for blood." Of course. As Oren had once said, why else keep a human?
She looked back to Jorick to find his face impassive. Was she supposed to do that?
"No," he said softly. "I told you two days will be fine."
Verchiel was suddenly there, his face pressed too close to them. "He might not want any, but I wouldn't mind a snack!"
Jorick backhanded him, but the redhead was gone before the blow landed. "Hope you're having fun on your cruise, Kately," he called and then dodged behind the container.
Katelina ignored him and turned to Jorick. "I don't understand, how did she know we were here?"
"Sorino was able to bribe our way onto the ship, little one. No doubt Senya was able to buy information. It isn't as though some of us blend in well." He gave Verchiel a hard stare, and Katelina bit back the opinion that none of them looked normal. "Malick knows we're going to Japan, so it would be simple to find which ships were headed that way and ask questions."
Sorino released Kai and dabbed at his mouth with his handkerchief. "As a matter of fact, this is the only one."
"How would Malick know we're in Russia though?"
Verchiel snickered from the shadows. "We left the plane and the pilots, remember? The Guild knows, and Jorick thinks Malick has a spy."
"He must have a spy," Jorick said firmly.
Katelina sighed. "But what was she doing? She couldn't take all of us by herself?"
Sorino stuffed his handkerchief into his pocket while Kai buttoned his shirt. "I imagine she was supposed to use her phantom abilities to get close enough to steal either the heart or you."
"Me?" That hadn't occurred to her. Death, sure, but not kidnapping.
"To trade back to Jorick for the heart. I'm sure Malick will be furious when he finds out she let you go."
Jorick brushed stray hair back from Katelina's face, "Or else she thought I'd just give her the heart. Either way it doesn't matter. If she shows up again-" he left the sentence unfinished, but she assumed he meant for her to come get him.
Sorino's pocket watch chimed suddenly. He nodded to Kai, and then motioned to the door. It was time to go.
Katelina hugged Jorick again. She buried her face in his cold chest and, for a moment, all her fears of Senya and Malick disappeared. He gave her a deep kiss and she could feel his reluctance as he released her.
The other vampires had wandered out briefly, and now they filed back inside. Sorino met Kai's gaze, held it and then, with a nod, he too returned to the container. Katelina held Jorick's hand until the last second, but finally he tugged free and stepped inside.
"It will be fine, little one. I'll see you soon."
For a wild moment she contemplated flinging herself into the container, but she knew she shouldn't. After all, where would she pee?
Kai carefully closed the container up, relocked it, and pocketed the key. Then he checked his watch. His lips tightened and he grabbed Katelina's arm and pulled her towards the metal stairs. She glanced back to the lonely stack of containers, and gave a halfhearted wave, as if she thought he could see her.
The door was unlocked and Kai pushed it open and tugged her into the hallway. They'd barely gone three steps before one of the crew was there. It was the same one Katelina had run into after Senya.
"You again." He narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing? The cargo hold is off limits!"
Katelina's mind raced as she tried to think of an excuse. They couldn't get thrown off the ship, could they?
Kai moved in front of her and brushed his shaggy bangs back from his face. He met the guard's eyes and inexplicably, the man went slack. They stared at one another for a few seconds, and then Kai stepped away and let his hair fall back in his face. He motioned to the corridor and then headed towards their room without a word.
The man stood, frozen in place, his eyes glassy and his jaw slack. It was as if Jorick had mesmerized him, only Jorick wasn't there. Kai was, but Kai was a human, so he couldn't-
She looked up in time to see Kai disappear around the corner. The man gave a soft moan and blinked; he was starting to come out of it. That was something she didn't want to see, so she hurried after the boy.
Kai was already seated on the make-shift couch when she entered the cabin. He offered no explanation, only pointed to the laptop, silently asking her if she wanted to watch another movie; as if everything was normal.
She closed the door forcefully and demanded, "What in the hell just happened?"
Kai shrugged and motioned to the computer again, but she shook her head. "No, you tell me how you did that."
"Does it matter?"
"Yes!" A strange thought struck her. If vampires were real, what else was real? "You're - you're human, right?"
He nodded and gave a soft sigh. "Mostly."
Alarm bells went off in her head. "What do you mean mostly?"
"Vampire blood changes you. The more you have, the more you change."
His words sounded like something Verchiel had once said. "So you're saying that you can do mind control things because you drank a lot of Sorino's blood?"
The answer was in her head. "Yes."
She jumped at the intrusion and knocked into the wall. "Holy shit. You're not really human!"
He shrugged. "I am what I am, just as you are what you are."
She realized how bad her reaction sounded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" She broke off and moved towards him. "It wasn't an insult."
"I didn't think it was."
She sat down beside him, her hands on her knees as she tried to think of something to say. "If you can do that, then how come you never use it?"
He tilted his head to one side and she had a flash of green eyes. "I reminded you about Boris last night."
She remembered, during the fight with Senya she'd suddenly thought of Boris and his message. "How? Jorick can't do that over distances."
Kai cocked an eyebrow as if to say "don't be ridiculous, of course he can." Then he added, "It wasn't that far. And your thoughts were very loud because you were scared. I'm surprised Jorick didn't hear them."
She had nothing to say to that, so she just stared at her lap. When a minute had passed, Kai nudged her and pointed to the laptop again. When she shrugged, he hit play.
