Chapter 326
Wolfe charged inside, his dark brown hair mussed by the wind and his long black coat open. He pulled to a stop as Verchiel appeared in front of him, his sword in his hand. "You get points for persistence!"
Katelina watched as Sadihra gave a soft little gasp and dropped back behind Iris and Agnes. It did no good; Wolfe had already seen her. He pushed Verchiel aside and strode towards her, his face set. "Sadihra!"
"Who the fuck is that?" Micah asked, still ready to lunge forward.
"It's an Executioner from Munich," Katelina muttered. "He's been chasing us since we left Germany."
"Fucking great." Micah straightened up. "You guys got anyone else coming we should know about?"
Cyprus shoved his way in front of Wolfe. Though he held no weapon, his posture said he was ready to attack. "She doesn't want you, Wolfe. Leave her alone."
Wolfe's face was like marble veneer, but anger danced in his words. "Stand aside."
"No." Cyprus' brown eyes burned and his lips pulled back from his teeth.
"Fine." Wolfe turned, as if to go, but then suddenly swung and used the momentum to throw Cyprus across the room. Maeko and Hikaru dodged out of the way, but Ryuu wasn't fast enough. Cyprus crashed into him, slamming them both back into the wall.
Iris and Agnes jumped aside, leaving Sadihra alone and exposed. Cyprus scrambled to his feet and pushed past the others. A trickle of blood ran from his nose and he wielded what looked like an old wine bottle. "I said leave her alone!"
Wolfe gave a low, impatient growl, then grabbed Cyprus by the front of his shirt and lifted him into the air. The Executioner swung the bottle, but Wolfe blocked it with his other arm, then grabbed Cyprus's wrist and twisted until the makeshift weapon dropped to the floor.
"H?r sofort auf!" Sadihra grabbed Wolfe's arm and switched to English. "Stop it!"
Wolfe turned to look at her and Cyprus used the distraction to jam a knee into his stomach. Wolfe took a step back, probably more from surprise than pain, and Cyprus ripped loose. He growled low and made to attack, but Sadihra moved between them. "I said stop!"
Amari dashed into the room, his hands up. "Hey, hey, if you want to fight you have to do it outside. This isn't a boxing ring."
"We're done," Wolfe said coldly and turned away from the furious Executioner.
Cyprus moved, as if to attack again, but Sadihra blocked him. "Leave it."
He snarled a string of German and stormed out the door.
Everyone stood frozen, as if waiting for some command to break the tension. Katelina looked from Jorick to Verchiel, but the redhead was watching Sadihra. He gave the Scharfrichterin a wink and an encouraging nod.
"We need to talk," Sadihra muttered and grabbed Wolfe's arm.
The vampires shuffled out of the way so she could drag him outside, and it was only when the door shut that Katelina released the breath she'd been holding.
"So now what?" she asked Jorick. "Is he going to try to take us back to Munich?"
"I think he's busy with something else right now," he said.
The low buzz of conversation started and Verchiel clapped his hands. "Okay, okay, meeting adjourned! But that was great, everyone, really great!"
The vampires started to filter out the door, and Jorick caught Sorino. "Show me the map."
"Why? You can't go without us."
Jorick's eyes narrowed and Sorino gave a fake smile. "I mean, of course."
Katelina yawned. She was ready to drop and she didn't care about the map or the subtle power play between Jorick and Sorino. Now that the initial excitement was over, even Wolfe hardly registered on her give-a-crap meter. "I'm going to go to the bunkhouse and get some sleep."
Jorick nodded absently as he spread the map out on a chipped table. "You should wait for me."
Maybe she should, but she was getting sleepier with each moment, and she didn't think she was in danger from most of the vampires. "I'm not going to."
Jorick's answer was a distracted murmur, so Katelina crammed on her stocking hat and strolled out the door. The bunkhouse sat away from the main building. It had no windows, but the door stood open, leaking light into the night.
She stuffed her hands in her pockets and started to it when Verchiel materialized in front of her. "Come on! We've already missed the beginning!"
"The beginning of what?"
"Wolfe and Sadihra! Don't you want to know what they're saying?"
She didn't care that much but, before she could say that, he grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the trees.
With Verchiel's speed they caught up with the pair easily. Verchiel stopped behind a tree, several feet away and motioned her to stay quiet. The cold air had woken her temporarily, but her brain was still foggy.
He gave her a wink and laid a finger to his lips, nodding towards Sadihra and Wolfe. They stood in the shadows of the trees. Wolfe held her hands and stared into her face with an expression Katelina hadn't known he was capable of. His voice was too soft for her to hear, and in German.
Verchiel leaned close and whispered against her ear, "He thought she was dead."
Katelina started to ask how he knew, and he tapped the side of his head. "Thoughts are mostly images. I don't need to speak German to figure those out."
In other words, he was guessing.
He squinted towards Wolfe and Sadihra. "I think she asked him why he thought she was dead. He's thinking something about a house in Japan and a guy on a pillow."
"The clan?" Katelina asked.
Verchiel shushed her, then went on, "The pillow guy told him that Jorick and his companions were leaving from the airport. Now he's thinking of Senya, and Griselda and those wind walkers. They killed a human in a uniform - Wolfe's helper? - and then took Wolfe prisoner and Malick- interrogated him."
Katelina felt a stab of sympathy. Not only for the uniformed human, but for Wolfe. She'd been interrogated by Malick and knew what it was like; how the ancient master enjoyed torturing you with your own memories.
"They locked him up with another prisoner, then Malick and some of the others attacked the airport. While he was gone, Wolfe overpowered the guards that were left and escaped. I'd guess it's the Yononaka he went to; they were too busy cleaning up Malick's mess to do what he wanted. They're the ones who crashed the plane and burned the bodies because they thought we were inside and they wanted to destroy the evidence of vampires. Wolfe was hysterical. He was there, digging through burned bodies and they escorted him back to the Yononaka."
Katelina shuddered. Jorick had been right; it was Malick, chasing after them. Because of them those people had died.
"Sadihra is mad. I think she wants to know why he's here. He's answering now - oh, he mentioned the Kugsankal. Now he's picturing Jorick - they must have sent him orders to come here to get Jorick."
Sadihra snapped something and stepped away from him.
"She thinks he's only here for Jorick." Wolfe stepped forward. "He's telling her that he came for her, that he asked for the assignment in order to find her."
"I thought you said you made that up?" Katelina whispered back.
"I never said that. I just didn't commit either way. Oh. Oh." He nudged her and she looked to see Wolfe reach for Sadihra. The Scharfrichterin jerked back at first, and then relented and let Wolfe pull her to him. She buried her face against him, and he wrapped his arms around her.
"She's crying," Verchiel murmured. "He doesn't want to be without her. There's a memory- I think it's her sister. He's afraid that will be her." Sadihra pulled back and Wolfe gently wiped away her tears. "He's thinking of Munich; the council. Regret. I think he's sorry for trying to get her fired, but he's scared. He's thinking of Japan again, of the airport and the burned bodies."
Sadihra touched his face, and Verchiel translated, "She does love him but she doesn't want to be trapped. He's thinking of the council again- an apology maybe? I assume he's giving in to her, that he won't make her quit. But he wants her to understand. Now they're both picturing Munich. They'll talk about it later, work it out. She doesn't want to lose him either."
Wolfe pulled her to him and caught her in a deep kiss that made Katelina look away. Verchiel snickered. "I bet you can guess what they're thinking now. Or I can tell you all about it."
Katelina's cheeks flamed and suddenly Verchiel was too close. Way too close. She pulled away from him and stumbled into a bush. He tried to catch her, but the dead leaves rustled noisily.
Wolfe and Sadihra pulled apart and Wolfe stormed towards the sound. Verchiel glanced once to the furious Scharfrichter, then grabbed Katelina, flung her over his shoulder and took off.
The burst of wind came as a shock and she didn't have time to catch her stocking hat before it sailed away. The world became a black blur, and then they skidded to a stop in front of the bunk house.
"In, in." He stuffed her through the door and when she looked back he was gone.
"Hello Kate-chan." Katelina turned to find Maeko sitting on one of the bunks, a pleasant smile on her face. "If you're tired we can turn off the light so you can rest."
Ryuu lay on one of the beds, his arm over his face, and Hikaru and Takeshi sat in folding camping chairs. She started to say it was all right, but then realized vampires could see in the dark. "All right."
She didn't bother to get her luggage and change, but climbed into bed fully dressed, her coat thrown across the foot of the bed. She barely had time to notice that the pillow and sheets smelled musty before sleep took her.
