Chapter 333
Something slammed into the wall behind Katelina and, with a growl, Samael leapt away from his victim. Wolfe dropped to his knees beside Sadihra, and Cyprus charged, the knife abandoned for the axe. Samael blocked the attack easily, and sent Cyprus flying like a ragdoll. Cyprus pulled to his feet, ready to charge again.
"No!" Jorick shouted. "You can't beat him!"
"He killed her!" Cyprus screamed. "He killed my Allerliebste!"
Wolfe was on his feet, his weapon in his hand and his usually cold face contorted in rage. "She was never yours! She never loved you!"
"Yes she did! She just didn't realize it! If you hadn't interfered we'd have been together! I saw it! I saw it! You were supposed to die here, not her!"
Katelina understood at the same time as Wolfe. No wonder Cyprus had been against Sadihra going. He'd had a vision of Wolfe's death and planned to move in once the competition was out of the way.
With a roar, Wolfe crashed into Cyprus and they fell to the stone floor in a tangle of slashing limbs. Samael stepped back from them, snatched up the last unfamiliar vampire and leapt upwards into the darkness.
The air was suddenly heavy and crackled with electricity, like the moments before a thunderstorm. Katelina staggered back a step and fell to her knees. The impact sent a jolt of pain through her body and left her breathless and dizzy.
The sound came again; something breaking, pounding, slamming. She looked over her shoulder and watched as a thick crack spread through the wall behind her. And then it exploded.
She dropped to her belly and threw her arms over her head. The fragments bounced and rattled around her. She thought she heard Jorick call her name and looked up to see a figure walk through the new hole in the wall. Long black robes flowed around him and the light accentuated his streaming white hair and long beard.
Malick.
Wolfe wrenched loose from Cyprus and stood, his weapon aimed at the ancient master. The furious Executioner swept to his feet and swung the axe at Wolfe's back. The Scharfrichter knocked him away and sent him crashing into the nearest wall.
Malick came to a stop near Katelina and it took her a moment to recognize the two vampires who climbed through the hole behind him. One was Griselda, her blonde hair pulled up and the large gun/grenade launcher in her arms. The other was just as recognizable; his chestnut hair was in a ponytail and his usual ruffled shirt was replaced by something black. It was -
"Traven," Jorick drawled coldly. "What a surprise."
"Is it?" Malick asked. His voice was like low thunder, rain and hail all at once. "Surely you were wise enough to see his purpose in Egypt, my son? Did you not know he was my spy?"
Verchiel chortled. "That's why he took the photos of the scroll with his little glass-do-dad. I thought he was just cheating Thadimus."
Katelina remembered the fancy jeweler's glass. So it had been a camera and he'd - what? Given the photos to Malick to translate? Was that how they'd found the shrine?
Malick nodded. "Oh, he was trying to cheat Thadimus, and no doubt he hoped to cheat me into paying him back for whatever he spent on purchasing the scroll. Luckily he thought better of his scheme and so kept his life." He stroked his beard and looked from one to the other. His eyes stopped on Senya's fallen form. "A pity. I'd promised to kill her Boris if she failed, but it seems there's little point now. She is beyond grieving and he's a useless prisoner."
Boris? That was the name Senya'd spoken. It was the Russian vampire who'd done their papers, who'd said he knew Senya. Malick had taken him prisoner? When? But Katelina knew the answer. That was why Malick had butchered all those people in Russia. He wasn't after them; he was there to capture Boris!
Jorick made a noise of disgust in his throat. "As if she'd need that kind of incentive. She's as single minded as you."
Malick's smile was serene. "Ah, not so, my son. When one feels they have no family left, no ties to their native land, then one may seem to be of single purpose, but when those ties are offered again- No, Senya failed me in Russia. When faced with my will or the promise of an old friend, she chose the latter. She would have betrayed me eventually, had I not taken precautions against it- but no matter. It is in the past and I think perhaps there is someone who may replace her." His dark eyes moved to Cyprus and Katelina could imagine him probing the Executioner's mind. "Or will you stay allied with the very people who allowed your Allerliebste to be taken from you?"
Cyprus dusted off his coat and stepped forward uncertainly. His eyes slid to Wolfe and back to Malick. "Will you kill him?"
Malick's laughter tinkled like a thousand bells. "Or subjugate him, whichever is the most interesting." He opened his arms. "Come, join us. Avenge your lover and take your rightful place as my new Lieutenant."
Katelina choked. She expected the others to yell, to shout, to try to stop him, but they didn't. They stood silent and indifferent as a war waged across Cyprus' face. Finally, his mind made up, he walked towards Malick.
The ancient master laughed again and turned his attention to Jorick. "I would ask after the Heart, but I can see that I am too late. It has already been done!"
A long, low growl came from the darkness above their heads. The sound made Katelina think of a tiger in the jungle, ready to pounce.
Samael dropped and landed in a half crouch, the body of the unknown vampire under his arm. He threw it to the floor and stood. Fully restored, he was more than Katelina could bear to look at, but she couldn't turn away. His long black hair fell past his shoulders and his tawny skin seemed to glow from within. His face was perfect, each feature curving gracefully, and his eyes - his eyes were like staring into the heart of a star.
Malick's surprise rolled through the room. "And so it was not your wife who lay for millennia, waiting to be resurrected! How unexpected."
Samael stopped in front of Malick and regarded the master with cold indifference. Katelina blinked against the scene and fought the pull of the ancient vampire. He seemed to throb through the room, until there was nothing else; no one else. The dead and the living alike were wiped from her notice. There was only him and he was beautiful.
Samael snarled suddenly and raised his hand. The spell was broken and Katelina followed his motion to see Griselda fall to her knees. She struggled briefly, then dropped the gun to the floor.
Malick's laughter was warm. "Relax child. Your bullets will be useless on him."
Katelina felt the shift in the room as Malick concentrated all of his power and will on the ancient vampire. Her mind was smeary, but an urgent horror screamed through it. Malick couldn't take control of Samael! He was already unstoppable and with something like the ancient under his command-
Samael roared and the bubble of energy seemed to pop. Katelina could almost see the shimmering shards of Malick's will as they scattered. The ancient vampire drew himself up and reeled something off in his strange language. Katelina could feel his power growing, coalescing into a ball of energy that, at any moment, would be directed at Malick.
The master waved his hand and Traven snapped stiff. He gave a strange, strangled cry and, as Samael threw the invisible attack, Traven involuntarily leapt in front of it. The energy broke on him, like the ocean breaking on the rocks. Before Katelina's startled eyes, Traven's head exploded in a burst of crimson. Gore and chunks of skull and flesh splattered outward in a wave, splashing Malick and Katelina and the carved throne.
Malick wiped the blood from his face and dropped back towards the gaping hole. "I see. At last, a worthy opponent! Yes, I believe you will do. Until we meet again!" And then Malick was gone, taking Cyprus with him. Griselda scrambled after him, and the wind walkers seemed to vanish, no doubt following their master.
Samael turned back to the group of vampires. Katelina could feel the tension building as he readied another attack. She struggled and dragged herself forward with her good arm, fighting the overpowering presence of the ancient. She had to stop him! She had to do something-.
The others were ready. Wolfe lunged at him, slicing with his bladed weapon. Verchiel disappeared and reappeared behind him, slashing with his sword, and Jorick charged, a discarded axe in his hands.
Katelina screamed "No!" as Samael let the attack fly. It slammed into the ceiling and sent a shower of rocks tumbling down. The ancient vampire leapt nimbly away from the avalanche. Through the cloud of dust, Katelina couldn't see anyone else. Had Jorick escaped being crushed? Verchiel? How were they going to defeat Samael? If only he would do what Malick had done; if only he'd disappear. Then he'd be the True Council's problem. Let them defeat him.
"They can't."
She found herself staring into the ancient's eyes. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. The world smeared into nothing, and electricity tingled through her.
And then, he was gone.
Jorick was suddenly at her side. He scooped her up in his arms. "Are you all right? Katelina? Katelina!"
She tried to shake herself back to the present, but the tendrils of fog refused to leave, only part temporarily. "I don't know," she murmured. "I'm - I'm so tired."
"Shhhh. It's all right. We need to go, before they return."
She nodded numbly and let Jorick lift her in his arms. She closed her eyes and laid her head against his bloody chest. The weight of everything crashed onto her at once and the world wavered, grew darker and then disappeared.
