Chapter 340: Day Two at the Beach - Torina, Part 2
The three followed the curve of the beach, Jorick in the middle, one arm locked in Torina's and his other grasped just as tightly by Katelina. The blonde woman shot dirty looks Torina's way, but she only squeezed Jorick's arm tighter and giggled a little louder. If it was a competition the human would lose.
No, she wouldn't, and you know it.
Torina ignored the nagging voice and released Jorick to catch up a sea shell. She twisted it this way and that, batting her eyes and making pointless observations that would have earned her any number of comments from lesser men. Jorick only grunted his lack of enthusiasm and tried to calm his girlfriend with a halfhearted smile and a squeeze of her hand, as if he was saying, "We just need to tolerate Torina for a little while."
Like she was a spoiled child.
Her initial reaction was to repeat one of Micah's favorite phrases and go where she was wanted, but she controlled the flush of anger and decided that he'd have to pry her lose. She might not have as many years on the clock, but she was his equal, and if he couldn't treat her that way then he deserved to be irritated. He was going to see just what a spoiled child could be like.
She turned suddenly and thrust the shell at him. "You'll carry that for me, won't you? I would, but I don't have any pockets." She held out her arms, then motioned to her scanty swim suit.
Jorick's eyes followed for a second and then snapped away. "You should have brought a bag."
She gave him her best pout. "Please? It's just one tiny little shell. I'd be ever so grateful." She clasped his hand and held it to her breast.
Katelina made a dark, angry noise, and Jorick pulled away quickly and grabbed the seashell. "Fine. Just one."
Torina batted her eyes. "See? I knew you could be reasonable!"
A moment later she had another shell, and then another. Jorick jammed them in his pockets with increasing annoyance, and the grooves in Katelina's forehead got deeper and deeper. Torina wondered which of them would pop first. She almost hoped it was the woman. That would make Jorick's evening so much worse.
Jorick stuffed the eighth shell in his pocket. "Where's your brother?"
"On the patio with that dreadful little Japanese thing." She snatched up a small stone. "Look at this!"
"No more!" Jorick barked. "Maybe you should spend some time with him."
"Who? Oren?" Her laughter was real. "Why? I see him all the time. Besides, I can't stand his new puppy. She hasn't left his side since we got here yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised to find out she sleeps on the floor next to his bed."
"She's not a dog!" Katelina cried. "She's a person!"
Torina snorted. "She's only a human."
"If she's only a human then you shouldn't let her bother you," Jorick said. Katelina gaped and he opened his mouth, then closed it again, as if there was no way to retract the statement.
"I didn't say she bothered me, only that I can't stand her. I am allowed an opinion, you know." She narrowed her eyes and held Jorick's gaze. Her next comment was silent, and packed with all the irritation she could force into it, "Unless spoiled children aren't allowed opinions."
Jorick rolled his eyes in exasperation, but his reply was as silent as hers. "If you don't want to be treated as a child, don't act like it. You're only tagging along to irritate Katelina."
"Think what you want." She turned away from him and spoke loudly, "This has been an enjoyable little excursion, but the pair of you are far too boring for my taste. If you decide you'd like to have some real fun, Jorick, come see me. Otherwise, enjoy your walk."
She sashayed away, swinging her hips. She could hear the torrent of Katelina's aggravation, "-can't stand her! She's always pawing all over you. Why don't you do something about it?"
A smile curved Torina's lips as she imagined what the rest of Jorick's evening was going to be like.
And he thought I wanted to irritate Katelina!
She wasn't in the mood for Micah and Loren's eager-to-please puppy dog routine, so she turned from the path and plunged into the vegetation. The lush jungle sang with insect song, and she slipped beneath the trees and let her mind wander. She remembered when Jorick had moved into the plantation near theirs. He'd inherited it from his uncle, or so he'd claimed. She wondered now if he'd just taken it when the former occupant died, or if Jorick had killed him for it. It was hard to tell with him.
He'd been dashing with his dark, neat ponytail and his grim expression. Though he didn't get the darkness in his eyes until after he'd married her. Velnya was from Massachusetts. Jorick had met her while he was there on Guild business, and the first time Torina saw her had been at the wedding. One look at those large, hopeful, needy eyes and she'd known it was a mistake. The vampiress was a weak, silly little thing whose head was full of fluff and pleas for protection. That Jorick had expected his new life to end in anything other than blood was ridiculous. Had he really thought such a frail, clingy creature would defend herself?
Though Jorick had never told her, she'd seen glimpses of the end in his mind, and heard it from her brother. After the wedding Jorick and Velnya moved to the wilds of the Nebraska territory, and there Velnya was accused of witchcraft by the local humans. Jorick was away on Guild business, and when he'd returned he found that she'd been dragged from the house and burned alive. Though he claimed she didn't fight back because she didn't want to hurt the humans, Torina had never believed it. Could any woman really be that stupid? No doubt she'd expected Jorick to come riding in at the last second and save her, and only when she realized he wouldn't had she done anything, but it was too little too late.
Torina smiled as she imagined Katelina in her place. The woman was far from perfect, but Torina had to admit that she had guts. She wouldn't let a mob drag her out of the house and lash her to a tree. She'd bash their skulls in, and then she'd set them on fire. Jorick would come home to a pile of burnt humans and a very angry wife.
Katelina had certainly changed since Torina had first seen her. They were at war with Claudius and Jorick had shown up at their den with the trembling, terrified woman. He tucked her away in an upstairs bedroom, and Torina pounced on him before he even made it to the stairs.
"Well, hello. Long time no see."
He unwound her arms from his neck and moved back. "Hello, Torina. I assume you're well?"
She narrowed her eyes at his stiff words. "I could be better." She moved closer and traced her finger over his chest. "And so could you. How about a few minutes alone?"
He grabbed her hand and dropped it quickly. "I'm sorry, but not now." He started past her then stopped and looked back. "You met Katelina?"
He phrased it as a question, but it was really a statement. You met Katelina, and I'm with her now.
"I saw her, if that's what you mean. But I thought she was Patrick's? The two of you didn't seem especially friendly."
His desire was on his face and Torina realized that all of Oren's ridiculous comments were true. Jorick really had fallen in love with a human. "You're not serious?"
"About what?" Jorick ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Yes. Maybe. I don't know. I just know that I won't let anyone harm her."
"And how does your spending the night with me harm her?" But Torina already guessed the answer. "You think she returns your feelings? I was under the impression that she didn't know what we were."
The words weighed heavily in Jorick's eyes. "She doesn't, and I don't know what she'll say when she finds out."
"Then don't tell her. Let her go and-"
He cut her offer off. "It's too late for that. Claudius' men know she was with me, and I'm sure they know who she is. I won't let another one die for me."
"Velnya never died for you." His angry glare was a warning, and she changed tactics. "What are you going to do with her? Turn her?"
"Maybe." He seemed to deflate and leaned back against the wall. "I don't know what I'm doing, Torina. Velnya was already a vampire, but Katelina- Oren's said again and again what a mistake it is, and he's right. You saw her. She's terrified. She's lived a modern life and I've dragged her from the sun into the shadows and shown her nothing but blood. How can she do anything except hate me? And when she finds out the truth about what happened to Patrick, about how he got involved, about why he was killed, she'll hate me even more."
"And so what if she hates you?"
She would never forget the look in Jorick's eyes, half terror, half agony. "I don't want her to."
No, of course you don't.
Torina abandoned both the past and the trees and crossed to the patio. Oren sat in the chair and Etsuko was still working on her embroidery. The perfect picture of domestic harmony.
"I see you're enjoying the island," Torina called sarcastically as she approached. "Do you plan to hide out the whole time?"
"If I can manage it," Oren answered stiffly.
"You're starting to sound like Jorick."
Oren sucked his teeth and shook his head. "You mean like Jorick used to be. You notice he's carousing on the beach."
"I'd hardly call it carousing." Torina climbed over the railing and dropped into an empty chair. Etsuko still didn't look up and Torina made a haughty noise in her throat.
"He's different, since he got the human," Oren said.
"Yes, he's finally quit pining over Velnya, and it's just as well. She wasn't really worth centuries of misery, was she?"
"She was his wife!" Oren snapped.
"So? Just because he was stupid enough to marry her doesn't mean he has to spend eternity worshiping her." She held back a sigh; she knew the dark territory the conversation was headed for and the vampiress it would be about. "You and Jesslynn were together for two hundred years. Isn't that long enough for you to be subjugated to her will? Let it go, brother."
Oren bristled. "Her ashes are barely cooled!"
"It's been months, Oren. Or are you planning to follow Jorick's example and mourn for centuries? I'll give you a hint, his mourning was never complete. It was more show and self-punishment than real grief. Otherwise he'd have never visited me."
Oren coughed and looked away. "I don't want to listen to this."
"Oh, please. As if you don't know." She picked at her perfect nails. "You also know it was nothing serious. I have no interest in trying to lay claim to him or rekindle any supposed flame. My point is that even he didn't take his self-imposed grief seriously, so why should anyone else?"
Much to Torina's surprise, Oren's eyes slid to the Japanese woman and then back. "I'm fine with my grief."
Torina was tired of the endless circles, so she stood and stretched. "It makes for a cold bedfellow, but do what you want. I'm going to look for that idiotic Executioner. At least he's good for a laugh."
Oren didn't reply, and she hopped over the railing and headed back to the beach. This was supposed to be a vacation and she refused to waste a moment of it on any of her countless worries.
Not even for her stupid brother.
