Chapter 349
Katelina leaned back in the beach chair. She could hear waves lapping the beach and the cry of some far off bird. Above her the moon hung in a thin crescent and uncountable stars twinkled. Farther down the beach a bonfire glowed throbbing orange. She could make out the silhouettes of the revelers around it, but it wasn't worthy of a vacation snapshot. That was why she'd left the disposable camera in her room.
To her left Jorick reclined in a chair, his long dark hair pulled up in a sloppy bun. Even on the beach he wore his usual black pullover and slacks. Like a cartoon character, he refused to try different clothes. He swore that after centuries he'd settled on the perfect ensemble.
"Enjoying yourself?" Amusement glittered in his dark eyes.
She forced a smile. "Of course."
His reply was the fanged grin of a vampire. "I'm glad. You've wanted to come to the beach for months."
She made a noncommittal sound. Though her boyfriend and his associates were vampires, she had still imagined her beach vacation dappled in sunlight. Three a.m. on a nearly deserted island wasn't what she'd had in mind. Where was the sunscreen? Where were the cabana boys? Where was the beach fun?
Jorick chuckled. "You chose the wrong traveling companions for that."
Mind reading - one of his vampire abilities. "Remember when you respected me enough not to do that?"
"It's not a matter of respect, it's just easier sometimes. Besides, you think loudly."
"So you say. You used to worry I'd get mad."
"Yes." He grinned. "I think we're past that now. Isn't it more important to save time?"
Her only reply was a sigh.
A figure abandoned the fire and headed toward them. Katelina scowled at his ridiculous crayon colored red hair and the expanse of pale, naked flesh. His speedo trunks left little to the imaginationnot that she wanted to imagine it.
"Of course you do!" Verchiel chirped as he stopped next to her chair, a reply to her thoughts. As if she needed another mind reader. "Are you gloomy gusses going to sit here, or come join the fun?"
Katelina snorted. "Why? It's only you, Micah, and Loren hanging around the bonfire acting macho."
"You forgot Torina," Jorick said with amusement.
"Of course, the reason they're acting like macho idiots." Her eyes strayed toward the fire and the silhouette of a curvaceous vampiress. Her long red hair fell around her shoulders in salon perfect waves and her emerald bikini looked like it was made for her. Torina was enough to make a supermodel feel inadequate. How could Katelina, an average human with an average figure, compare?
Jorick caught her hand and squeezed it. "It isn't a competition."
"We could have one," Verchiel suggested with a broad grin. "We could start with the two of you in bikinis, add some pudding, and see who comes out on top."
Katelina tried to smack him, but the redhead seemed to evaporate and reappeared a few feet away. Super speed; another of his abilities. "Aw, come on. It could be fun! No? All right, but don't say we didn't offer." Then he disappeared and reappeared near the fire a moment later.
She turned to Jorick, expecting a customary burst of outrage, but he grinned. "He might be on to something. I imagine you'd look fetching in nothing but pudding."
Before Katelina could express her opinion, another vampire drew near, dressed in a button up shirt, jeans, and boots. It wasn't just his tawny hair and amber eyes that made Katelina think of a lion. There was something in the way he moved, a sort of fluid, feline gait that said he was waiting to spring. It was Jorick's fledgling.
"Oren!" Jorick called. "Come to join us?"
"Hardly." He cast an unhappy look over them. "Is this necessary?"
"You don't approve of a vacation?" Jorick asked.
Oren drew a tight breath. "I'm not saying one doesn't deserve a rest, but is now the time?"
"Why not?" Jorick's eyes skipped to the dark ocean. "Both your war and exile are over."
Oren gave a contemptuous snort. "Have you forgotten I attacked The Guild's citadel?"
"They already doled out the punishment in your absence." During the battle, Jorick had incapacitated his fledgling and hidden him in a supply closet, leaving Oren's brother-in-law to be executed in his place. "If you ask me, it isn't a bad thing to be rid of Fabian."
Oren opened his mouth, then closed it, as if he couldn't argue. Fabian had been an annoying, bitter vampire. Since The Guild had put him to death for leading a war against them, Oren's lust for battle had grown cold, as though it had been Fabian pushing all along. And it probably was. Even Torina, Oren's hot blooded sister, had seen the pointlessness of attacking the American vampires' capitol.
"Fine," Oren said. "What about Malick?"
Katelina cringed at the name and Jorick said, "He's the True Council's problem."
It was the answer she'd expected. Malick was Jorick's master; the vampire who'd given him immortality, and then manipulated him for years after. Jorick would always have a strange mixture of loyalty and well-deserved hatred for him.
"What about Samael?" Oren asked impatiently.
Jorick waved the question away, like smoke that threatened to obscure his vision of peace, but Katelina didn't feel so casual. Behind her eyes she could still picture Samael, naked except for his flowing hair. They'd expected to find Lilith, the supposed mother of all vampires, asleep in the mountain temple, instead they'd gotten him.
"Will the True Council take care of him?" Oren asked sarcastically. "We woke him, Jorick."
Jorick's good humor slipped from his face. "No we didn't. I know the idea was to wake Lilith and use her to destroy Malick, but it obviously doesn't work that way. Sorino woke Samael, and couldn't control him. It seems the legends were wrong."
"Maybe," Katelina muttered, then spoke louder. "There were things written on the wall in the temple. Sorino said 'We will do as the inscriptions say', so they must have told the truth." The scene in the dark room came back to her. She could hear the screams of the battle raging upstairs; Jorick and the others fighting Malick's henchmen. She could see Sorino's satisfied smile as he forced her to take out the legendary Heart of the Raven.
Without thought she murmured, "He said, 'It's the heart of Naamah, one of Samael's wives, and it is necessary to the resurrection'" She shook the memories away. "Obviously that was written on the wall, because until then he thought it was Lilith's."
"Only he can read the inscription," Jorick said gently. "Sorino 's gone, but if he wasn't, do you think he'd tell the truth?"
No, she didn't believe Sorino would tell them, unless it benefited him. Though they'd parted politely, there was an understanding that they weren't friends.
Jorick smiled and some of his lost amusement returned. "It doesn't matter, little one. Things will sort themselves out. In the meantime, you've finally got your beach vacation, so enjoy it."
She absently rubbed her wrist. Samael had bitten her and left it a gaping, bleeding mess. Though she had no memory of it, she knew he'd healed her with his blood before he disappeared. But why? Was it like Jorick and Verchiel had suggested? Had Samael 'tinkered' with her mind? Verchiel had called it a kill switch. The thought left her shivering.
Jorick's attention was still on Oren. "we have to go to Munich and then"
She jolted at the implications. "You're taking Oren to the vampire capitol of the world?"
"As I said, the guilds have bigger things to worry about than a vampire who, if you'll pardon me, is relatively new and powerless in their estimation."
Oren's jaw tightened. He stiffly excused himself and trekked back across the beach.
"You hurt his feelings," Katelina said.
Jorick shrugged. "It's true. The KugsankalThe True Councilis thousands of years old. Malick is nearly three and they're older than he is. To them Oren and his attempted uprising would be a trifle eclipsed by Malick and Samael. I doubt they'll even notice he's there."
"I hope you're right."
