Chapter 294
Katelina jolted at the familiar voice and found herself staring at a bald vampire. The goatee and tribal tattoo on his face gave him the air of an ex-con, and the clothes didn't help; faded jeans and a tank top. It was Micah, a vampire who'd been in Oren's coven. But he was in America - wasn't he?
She tried to come to terms with what she was seeing. "What are you doing here?"
Suddenly, a cherub faced teenager with black curly hair skidded through the nearest doorway. Loren was dressed in a flannel shirt that was tied off under the stump of his left arm. Katelina's shock at the missing limb faded as a memory replayed in her mind. It was during the attack on the Citadel. Oren was nowhere to be seen and Loren, Micah and Traven had dropped through the ceiling. As the teen raced to place a wad of plastic explosives, Traven prematurely pressed the trigger and Loren's arm exploded in a spray of red.
Loren's cheerful greeting pulled her from her memories, "Hey, Katelina. Where's Jorick?"
The vampires suddenly went stiff and Maeko sniffed the air. Her face paled. "I am sorry, but you must come, quickly." She grabbed Katelina's hand and pulled her through the house, the other two at her heels.
"Who is it?" Loren asked.
"Keiri." Maeko led them through a series of rooms to one that had a wall of paintings. Without a word, she removed the largest to reveal a door set partway up the wall. It opened with a click. "Inside quickly, please."
Katelina stared through the small door, and blackness stared back. Crawling into a dark hole in the back of a vampire house was usually a bad idea - especially when she'd just met the vampire!
"Go on!" Micah gave her a nudge. It was enough to knock her halfway inside. She gave a cry and then hoisted herself the rest of the way through. She barely had time to move out of the way before Micah crawled in.
"You asshole! I could have broken my neck!"
"We couldn't be that lucky." Micah pushed her out of the way so Loren could scramble inside. "I don't know why we have to hide in here with you like a bunch of rats."
She felt around with her hands. It was as if someone had built a false wall along the back of the room, creating a long thin enclosure. It was as tall as the rest of the apartment, but only wide enough to lie down in.
A familiar face suddenly appeared at the door; amber eyes and a tawny, lion-colored ponytail. His stance was feline as he gracefully climbed through the hole, followed by a red haired vampiress with ample cleavage and a slinky dress that rode up to expose most of her thigh. It was Torina and her brother.
"Oren?" Katelina demanded as the door snapped shut and plunged them into total darkness.
The answer was a hiss, "Yes, I'm here. Now be quiet, you insipid human."
She could hear the painting scrape the wall as Maeko hung it in place again and, under the threat of the Keiri, she swallowed down her retort and blindly moved deeper into the room. In the dark, she stumbled and crashed into the warmth of another body. A hand caught her arm and she tried to pull away until Loren whispered urgently, "Shhhh. They're inside."
Katelina strained her ears against the pounding of her heart. She could just hear foreign words, rattled off by an angry male voice. Maeko answered him, and then he shouted. Muffled footsteps grew closer until they were directly in front of them, separated only by the wall of paintings. Katelina bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut, as if that would make her invisible. The vampires around her were almost a non-presence; they didn't move, didn't speak, didn't even seem to breathe.
But the Keiri did. He banged his fist into the wall while Maeko protested, and then there came the unmistakable sound of glass and wood shattering as a painting was thrown to the floor. It was repeated again and again as he obviously sought the hidden door.
Maeko's voice was shrill and angry, but the Keiri paid no attention to it. The vampires in the secret room drew back as one, muscles tensed and ready to fight as they heard him trying to pry the door open. Though Katelina couldn't see in the darkness, she could imagine they were meeting one another's eyes and nodding as they silently agreed on a battle plan.
The door opened. Light blazed through, followed by the blast of a gunshot. The door slammed as something heavy fell against it. Katelina could hear the Keiri shout, but his voice was drowned out by a cacophony of noise as bullet after bullet was fired.
The silence that followed was deafening. Katelina clutched Loren's good arm and held her breath, waiting for something to happen. The seconds stretched and she imagined the Keiri ripping open the door again and climbing through, guns blazing. Even that would be preferable to the tense moments of uncertain waiting.
As if by request, the door suddenly opened. She squinted against the light and bit back a cry. Let the bastard burst in and see what happened. Micah would rip his head off.
"I must apologize," Maeko's cheerful voice came through the gaping hole. "If you would care to come out please, I believe the danger has passed."
Katelina sagged with relief and obediently followed the vampires into the brightly lit room. Several of the paintings lay scattered and broken. On the floor near the secret door was the body of a vampire in a black coat. His lips were pulled back from his fangs and his face was frozen in surprise and fury. The scattered bullet holes in his torso were small, bloody punctures that were likely more painful than life threatening, but the cluster of holes in his chest looked more severe. Apparently vampires could be killed with guns.
Maeko's friend with bright orange hair lurked in the doorway. The small vampiress gave him a bright smile, then turned to her guests. "Many apologies for the disturbance. If you will come with me, Takeshi-san will take care of this unfortunate mess."
Katelina gaped at the girl's cheerfulness. She'd just killed what was essentially an Executioner! Didn't she understand the penalties for that?
Following her was better than staying with the dead, staring vampire, so she hurried after Maeko to a room that held modern pieces of living room furniture; a couch, several chairs and some stands and lamps made of twisted metal. One wall was made of windows and the twinkling lights of a city blinked through it.
Maeko bowed herself out of the room and the other vampires took up seats, as if they'd only just abandoned them during a commercial break. Their calm attitudes gave the proceedings a surreal quality that Katelina couldn't come to grips with.
Oren tapped his long fingers on his knee and stared at Katelina, as if peering into her. "Where is Jorick?"
The question snapped her to the present. "Hikaru went to find him and the others." The others. In her panic she'd forgotten about them. Good lord! Verchiel and Cyprus were Executioners from The Guild - the same Guild that had wanted to execute Oren for his attack on the Citadel! "What in the hell are you guys doing here?"
"That's a nice question." Micah lit a cigarette and waved the smoke away. "We were here first."
Oren rolled his eyes. "Obviously Jorick sent us here."
"But-" she broke off and sagged. That was why Jorick was so desperate to get rid of everyone else; because after he'd snuck Oren out of The Guild, he'd sent him to Japan. "Fantastic."
