Chapter 308
Katelina found Kai in the dining room, hunched over a pink laptop, watching a video. Two girls stood behind him, whispering and giggling. Katelina assumed they were the device's owners.
The video clip showed photographs of a snowy scene. "-but Russian law enforcement claims that no such incident occurred." A mustached man in a heavy coat and a hat appeared, standing on stone steps in the snow. A voice translated over the top of him, "If fifty people had been butchered in their homes, how could we have hidden this? The farms are empty, and have been empty for some time. There are no concealed deaths, and no mass murderer on the loose."
Katelina studied the video. "What's he talking about?"
Kai answered, "Rumors say that people were killed a couple of nights ago, near the city we were in."
Katelina squinted at the screen, but the images were stock photos and could have been from anywhere. As Kai closed the browser tabs, she tried to see what he'd been doing. Was he emailing Sorino? And if so, why was he watching news from Russia?
"I watched the news from many places," he said as he stood. "Would you like to hear about Serbia?"
She shook her head no. He turned to the girls, thanked them, then motioned Katelina to follow. When they were alone, she expected him to share a secret. Instead he said, "I am going for a walk. You can come if you wish."
With Malick and the Guilds after them, she wasn't sure about wandering around outside. Kai waited patiently, and his usual calm demeanor won her over. "All right. Let me get my coat."
Her luggage and winter gear were stacked in a small room off the hall, along with everyone else's. She snatched up her coat and hat, only to drop them again as the smell of blood and sweat assaulted her nose. She hadn't had a chance to wash them since the battle in the mountains.
Neil chose that moment to wander in. Hands in his pockets and brow furrowed, he didn't seem to notice her until she cleared her throat loudly, then he jumped. "Oh! Crap! You scared me!"
"Sorry." He seemed paler than usual and she asked, "Are you all right?"
"Not really." He perched on the edge of one of Maeko's brightly colored trunks. "I didn't want to come in the first place, I'm not even supposed to be here! This is a greater guard's job, but they're low on staff because a bunch got killed and some disappeared, and then three got made Executioners- I know, I agreed to it, but it was just supposed to be Munich. That was it. Then I could go home and take a couple of weeks' vacation. But not now. Now we're hiding out from everyone, including The Guild. Do you know what they do to people who don't follow orders?"
"Eileifr can see the future. He probably knew what would happen, so I doubt he's going to punish us."
"Oh, he won't punish 'us'. They never do, do they? The Executioners will get told 'naughty, naughty' and since you're Jorick's human they won't bother with you at all. But me? Me they'll throw the book at! Earlier this month, they sentenced a guy I know, Gerard, to fifty years imprisonment. Do you know what he did?"
As a matter of fact, she knew Gerard's case all too well. "He helped murder a bunch of vampires!"
"No he didn't. There was some human who did all of the killing. Gerard just gave a friend of his a copy of the Executioners' phone app. It has maps and information on all the vampires."
"I know." She'd seen it on Verchiel's phone before, not that all the information in the database was correct. "But Gerard was also recruiting the survivors of the murders for Traven's war coven."
"A couple," Neil admitted. "And that's my point. They killed the human, they sentenced Gerard to fifty years, and what did they do to that Traven guy? He was the one who gave the orders, and he even helped attack the Citadel, yet he got off with nothing! It's the little guys, the new guys, who pay the price and the old vampires just breeze out of trouble. Why do you think that True Council hasn't done anything to Malick? I bet they don't. They'll probably let him run amok and when they get tired of it they'll find a way to blame a bunch of us new guys, punish us, and pretend they did something." He buried his face in his hands and moaned. "Of course I'll already be locked up for running away!"
Katelina had stopped listening. Neil's speech brought back memories of Traven and his final cowardice. He'd led one of the three covens that had attacked the Citadel with Oren, but not because he believed in their cause. He'd hoped to sneak into Malick's chambers during the fighting to make sure the ancient master didn't still have the Heart. In an effort to save himself, he'd been the one to blow the explosives up while Loren was holding them. If that wasn't enough, in the aftermath he'd sacrificed his own wife to escape punishment. When the High Council had called for the coven leaders, he'd claimed Jeda, who'd been at his side for hundreds of years, was the true leader. Then he'd watched as she burned to death in the sunlight. He was high on Katelina's list of vampires she wanted to kill.
Neil continued to moan, but she didn't have time to listen. His coat lay in a heap with his bag. She snatched it up without asking. He didn't seem to notice as she pulled it on and slid out of the room.
She found Kai waiting patiently by the door, dressed in his bright coat and scarf, a pom-pom bedecked stocking hat on his head. She pulled on her shoes, and then followed him outside, through the tiny courtyard to the sidewalk. The streetlights hung above them like bright, heavy orbs, and the cold night pulsed with the sound of distant cars.
Though the houses were nice, they were close to the street and sandwiched tightly together. It gave the scene an intrusive air, as if the residents were able to hear their every word.
They walked in silence, while Katelina tried to think of a way to introduce the topic. When they reached the corner she finally blurted out, "Oren thinks you're here to steal the Heart." It was a crappy opener, but better than nothing.
"Master would not be unhappy if I did."
She'd expected him to deny it, so his reply left her flustered. "Erm- I guess not. What I can't figure out is why everyone wants it."
"It's a symbol of power. But it is also said that it will bring about-" he broke off. "The closest translation would be vampire apocalypse."
She stopped in her tracks and stared at him. "What? What's a vampire apocalypse?"
He shrugged. "When the vampires will finally rule the world, I imagine, but we don't know. Master has been trying to bargain for an ancient scroll on the topic."
Her head was still spinning. "Where in the hell would he get something like that?"
"From a man in Egypt. It is said to be from the Alexandria Library, but Master refuses to make a deal until he can verify its age with his own eyes. We were on our way to look at it when we heard Malick was heading for Japan, so we changed our travel plans."
"Won't Sorino be mad that you told us?"
Kai shrugged. "There are others who know of the scroll. You could find out on your own from other sources if you only tried."
Though she plied the boy with more questions, she couldn't get anything else out of him. They looped around the block in silence, and Katelina's brain raced with the horrific idea of a vampire apocalypse. That was what Kateesha had been working on when she'd tried to unite the covens; a plan to reveal vampires to humans and ultimately allow vampires to take over, done with Malick's blessing. Of course, it had failed, and then Malick had all but handed a vampire to a quack human scientist who'd planned to exploit the vampires' genetic code and, of course, reveal vampires to the world and start a war that would allow vampires to rule. And now-
Katelina was barely in the front door before she kicked off her shoes, grabbed the pair of necessary slippers, and raced to find Jorick. She stumbled across Etsuko in the otherwise empty living room. She told her that Jorick and the others were in the basement. Katelina thanked her, then hurried downstairs. Jorick and Oren sat on cushions, just inside the pillared room they'd visited yesterday. She hurried inside and dropped next to them.
She did a quick scan of the room; it seemed as if most of the household was there, kneeling and staring intently at something. She dismissed the scene and whispered to Jorick, "I know what Malick wants!" He didn't look at her, and she tugged his sleeve impatiently. "He wants to start the vampire apocalypse!"
Jorick didn't react, so she followed his gaze to the head of the room. Shinobu, the clan leader, sat on his pillow, between the two males from last night. In front of him were what appeared to be two visitors. One was dressed in a snappy uniform and knelt, while the other stood. His long black coat fell to his mid-calf and Katelina could see a sliver of his familiar, emotionless face.
It was Wolfe and his human assistant.
