Chapter 332
Katelina backed up a step and stared wildly towards the ceiling. Even if she screamed until she was hoarse, she doubted Jorick would hear her. But if she lost the Heart to Sorino- She needed to buy time. Jorick would notice she was missing and look for her.
Hesitantly, Katelina unzipped her coat and fumbled the Heart from its hiding place. It was warm from the close proximity to her body, and the heat felt good in her bare hand.
Sorino left it in her palm, but unwrapped it until he could see the contents. "Excellent." He motioned to the box. "And now we will do as the inscriptions say."
Katelina peered dubiously at the withered body. "I don't see a hole to put the heart in."
Sorino chuckled. "Of course not. The heart was not removed, only the blood. How confused legends can become as they are passed down!" He reached into the box and pried open the corpse's mouth to reveal a pair of long, sharp fangs.
Katelina stared in morbid fascination, her attention on the shriveled tongue, which looked like a piece of beef jerky. "If this isn't her heart, then whose is it? And why is it so important?"
"It's the heart of Naamah, one of Samael's wives, and it is necessary to the resurrection."
Sorino grabbed Katelina's wrist, as if to take the Heart away, and she clutched it tightly. Shit, shit, shit! Sorino couldn't wake Lilith up! This wasn't what was supposed to happen! She tried to pull away from him, but he held her arm with bruising strength and forced her hand in front of the withered vampire's face, then he jammed the heart into the open mouth. Katelina felt it give as the pointed fangs pierced the outer layers, releasing what tiny store of blood was inside.
Dizziness washed over her with the exertion of her struggles. There wasn't enough air and she couldn't think straight. Confused memories tangled in her mind. She thought of Oren, hidden in the Citadel, drained of blood and looking withered and dead. She remembered how many bags of blood it had taken to revive him.
"This won't work!" she cried and clutched the box with her free hand. "There's not enough blood in a single heart to revive someone!"
"The Heart is old, ancient even, and the blood is potent beyond your understanding, but you're right, it isn't enough."
Sorino's eyes blazed with scornful amusement. Slow comprehension dawned on Katelina just as the creature in the box grabbed her arm and wrenched it from Sorino's grasp. The empty heart slipped from her fingers. She had a nanosecond view of it arching through the air, shrunken and empty, before Lilith snarled and tore into her naked wrist. Pain shot up Katelina's arm and she screamed and tried to get away.
If Sorino's hand had been a vice, then this was like being wrapped in immovable stone. The more she fought, the greater the agony, and the harder it was to breathe. She beat at the withered vampire with her free hand, but fell finally, clutching her chest and gasping. The room grew dark around the edges, and her legs buckled as she screamed, "Stop!"
Lilith released Katelina and she crashed to the ground. She half crawled across the floor, clutching her damaged arm against her to stem the flow of blood. By the light of the flashlight, she could see the vampire sit up and then swing out of the box. The cloth around her waist disintegrated in a cloud of dust. Katelina blinked against it to see that Lilith's long black hair was partially restored, and her bloody face no longer looked like a skull. But something was wrong. She didn't look right. She didn't-
The vampire was gone. The flashlight clattered to the floor and Katelina looked to see the half-naked creature snatch up Kai. Lilith tore his coat open and, with a dry, rattling cry, sank fangs into the surprised boy's neck.
The fog in Katelina's mind was thick. The only thought she could hang onto was that she couldn't allow Kai to die. Lilith had to stop!
"Enough!" Sorino cried. "There is blood to slake your thirst in the chambers above!"
Lilith made a low, growling sound in her throat and dropped Kai to the floor. The boy landed in a heap and dragged himself into a sitting position, his back against the platform and his hand to his torn neck. Dark blood, just visible in the gloom, oozed between his fingers. He rescued the flashlight and clutched it in his shaking hand like a lifeline.
Katelina tried to come to terms with what was happening. That the body was there was unimaginable, and that they could have really revived it was impossible. She had to be hallucinating. There was no way that a vampire could last for thousands of years. But, the throbbing pain in her arm told her that her wound was real. Something had torn into her wrist. Something had attacked Kai. Something-
Kai moved the beam of light towards Lilith. The naked vampiress stalked slowly towards Sorino, eyes narrowed.
And then Katelina's foggy, terrified brain figured out what was wrong with Lilith. Not only did she have no breasts but, as if to make up for their absence, there was something between her legs that looked distinctly male. What did that mean? If it wasn't Lilith then-
The thought evaporated as the semi-restored vampire stopped before Sorino and barked out something in a language Katelina couldn't understand. The voice was deep and dry, parched as she had never heard a voice sound. Sorino answered, and the vampire turned and swept his gaze over Katelina and Kai. His dark probing eyes met hers. The jolt was like lightning slicing through her brain. A thousand images flashed past and a single word leapt out from the chaos.
Samael.
It wasn't Lilith who lay in the bowels of the Raven Queen's temple, whose blood had been drained more than four thousand years ago, it was her consort and, somehow, Katelina knew that Lilith was the one who had put him there.
Samael broke eye contact and the real world crashed back around her; darkness, dust, dirt, pain. There wasn't enough air and she was dizzy. She was going to die. They were all going to die.
Samael lifted his eyes to the ceiling and snarled something. Sorino nodded encouragingly, and she could only guess he'd asked about the promised blood. With a growling roar, Samael crouched low and then sprang towards the decorated ceiling. He slammed into it and a shower of tiles and stone rained down around them. Katelina curled into a ball and tried to clumsily shield her head as Samael slammed into the celling again. Bigger chunks of stone crashed around them, and a hole opened up, darker than the room.
He disappeared through the ceiling into the blackness above. The shouts that followed left Katelina imagining the slaughter of everyone upstairs; enemy and ally alike.
She struggled to her feet and stumbled through the rubble. Her knees gave out and she caught herself on the carved platform. Sorino pushed past her unapologetically, and helped Kai stand. He pulled the boy's hand aside to check his wound. Then, he bit into his own wrist and pressed it to Kai's mouth. Katelina looked away while the boy drank from him. When she looked back, Sorino was busy dusting off Kai's coat with short, impatient strokes, like a mother whose child had come back from the playground dirty.
Sorino didn't move to help her, or stop her, so she stumbled to the stairs. The flashlight was aimed at nothing, and her surroundings grew darker and darker as she half crawled up the steps. She stopped at the top, her good hand on the heavy capstone. How was she supposed to move it?
Something slammed into the floor above; it sounded like a piece of stone. A sense of urgency overtook her. She needed to get upstairs; needed to do something. But how?
A stray thought flickered through her foggy mind: Master pressed something on the wall to close it. If it can close, it can open. She felt around, pressing the carved figures, until one of them gave. The platform ground out of the way and she lurched up into the darkness. She felt the emptiness with her hands, terror pounding through her.
Light suddenly shone through the hole in the floor; Kai shining the flashlight through it. Though it was diluted by distance, it was enough to give her a sense of the surroundings. The dead lay where they'd fallen: Neil, Senya and two of the unknown vampires. The rest were gathered into two tight knots, their weapons raised. She quickly picked Jorick out from among them. The light kissed his wild hair and his snarling face. His shirt was torn and his chest gleamed pale through the tear. Wolfe was next to him, his many bladed weapon in his hand and blood on his cheek. Verchiel stood behind Sadihra, and Cyprus held both the folding axe and one of Senya's abandoned knives.
The wind walkers and the last of the unfamiliar vampires stood together, fangs exposed and faces twisted. In front of them stood Samael, loose fingered and ready.
Katelina bit back a scream and lurched forward. Jorick's eyes touched her for a moment and then moved away. The thought slithered through her brain, "You should go downstairs." But she didn't have the energy for it, even if she'd wanted to.
Arlen lunged first and Sadihra waved her hand and sent a piece of broken rock flying. The ancient vampire dodged both, then sprung at the Scharfrichterin. He caught her in a backhanded swing that sent her sailing through the air.
Wolfe roared and Cyprus screamed as Samael pounced on the vampiress' prone body and ripped. The pair rushed towards him, weapons raised, and Katelina heard herself shouting. First Neil and now Sadihra? No!
