Chapter 355
"Enough!" Jorick's cry was a command and a sudden wave of power rolled from him.
Torina growled, but stepped away from their prisoner. "Why is that?"
"We want to know who they are and why they're attacking us," Jorick replied impatiently.
He shoved his prisoner off on Micah, but before he could question anyone, Wolfe charged into the center to take control. "Do you know who we are?"
The black haired vampiress turned her face away.
Though Wolfe repeated his question in several languages, he got the same silence.
The other vampires drew forward and, with the danger past, Katelina hurried to Jorick's side. He glanced at her, as though to make sure she was all right.
Verchiel appeared in the doorway of one of the buildings, something bulky in his hand. "I didn't find anyone living, only a few dead vampires and a bunch of humans. But I think I found the harbor master." He lifted his prize. As the light fell on it, Katelina realized with a cry that it was a severed head. "Looks like we won't have to pay dock fees."
The raven-haired prisoner went stiff, her wide gaze locked on Verchiel and the gory head. She cried out what sounded like "Aki!" Jorick's dark eyes snapped from the prisoner to Verchiel. The red head dropped his grisly evidence and stepped out the door. After giving the vampiress a once over, he shrugged his ignorance.
Jorick turned to the blonde. She was still on one knee, one hand pinned to the dock by the shard of glass, and the other pressed against the bleeding wound in her shoulder. Jorick pulled away her mask and threw it aside. The angry face offered no answers, so he snapped, "Who are you?"
Wolfe moved behind him and repeated the question in various languages, oblivious to Jorick's annoyance. When he'd finished the string, Jorick said firmly, "Thank you, Wolfe, but that won't be necessary. She speaks English." He repeated his question and added, "Did Malick order you to do this?"
The blonde vampiress sniffed disdainfully. "We didn't kill the harbor master, or the others. Those were your friends."
"Our friends?" echoed Katelina. "I don't understand."
"Her thoughts are confusing," Jorick said slowly. "But the name Malick doesn't mean anything to her."
Micah shifted his hold on his prisoner. "If you can read that from her mind then why don't you find out who the fuck she is while you're at it?"
"They have barriers," Verchiel commented, though he looked vaguely unsettled.
"What do you mean a barrier?" Katelina asked.
Jorick answered, "It can be a natural ability or a learned trait, done by muddling one's thoughts into a confusing soup or by imagining an impenetrable wall."
Wolfe interrupted. "Whether you can read their minds or not, der H?here Rat will wish to question them. We don't have much time. We still need to find transportation to the airfield, and quickly or we'll arrive in Munich after the sun is up. I don't relish spending the day on the plane."
Micah pushed his prisoner onto Torina. "Come on Pipsqueak, we'll handle the car problem." He ripped a strip of cloth from the shirt of a dead vampire and wrapped his injured hand, then stalked toward a crowded parking lot.
Loren nodded and took off after him.
Oren said with distaste, "If we must, then choose one and kill the other." He nodded toward the dark haired girl Torina held. "She's yet to say anything useful."
Jorick looked thoughtful and Torina forced the girl to her knees. She squirmed and the moment her arms were free she ripped the mask from her face and threw herself toward Verchiel shouting the same word over and over, "Aki! Aki!"
The redhead stepped back uncertainly, his brow creased.
Torina reined her in and Wolfe demanded, "Do you know her?"
"No," Verchiel said slowly. "I-I don't think so." The vampiress looked horror stricken and he quickly stepped back and turned away from her. His usual smile reappeared, though it looked hollow. "If we leave one alive we might as well leave them both."
"So they can work together and escape?" Torina huffed. "I say kill them both and forget it."
The sound of car motors cut the conversation short and two bulky SUVs pulled to a stop at the edge of the dock. Katelina thought they might be the same vehicles that had met them at the airfield and taken them to the marina last time, but she couldn't be sure.
Micah kicked open one of the doors and hollered, "Found the drivers with their throats cut, so didn't even have to hotwire the damn things. Get in and let's get rolling, huh?"
"I'll drive." Oren strode toward the SUV Loren had commandeered, Etsuko hurrying behind him.
Torina lifted the raven-haired vampiress and looked to Jorick. "Do we kill her or not?"
Jorick studied the prisoner for a moment, then turned and pulled the glass from the blonde's hand. "Not yet. Tie their hands and bring them both."
***
The plane was a smallish jet, no doubt meant to carry a maximum of fifteen people. Though Katelina knew the interior was considered luxurious, with leather seats, a kitchenette, and a sleeping room, it was the last place she wanted to be. Or rather, the last place she wanted to be was on an airplane hurtling hundreds of miles an hour to her death.
"It will be fine, little one," Jorick assured her.
She paused as Verchiel reached the plane's fold down stairs and tried to prod his prisoner up them. "Tell that to her."
Verchiel forced the blonde vampiress to look back and meet his eyes. She relaxed almost instantly and he pushed her inside. Katelina had seen both him and Jorick do that before. They were whisperers; vampires who could make another do something by willpower alone. The scary thing was Jorick was more accomplished at it.
When it was Katelina's turn to board she said a quick prayer. She wasn't sure God was interested in saving vampires, but why not? Despite the undead reputation, they were living creatures. Surely that entitled them to protection?
She took a seat and stashed her suitcase while Jorick sat next to her. The other vampires boarded, Micah and his prisoner last.
"What do I do with her?"
Wolfe motioned toward the door at the back of the plane. "The other is in the kitchenette, so take her to the sleeping chamber. I will interview them once we're airborne."
Micah snapped a sarcastic salute. "Aye-aye, Captain Tight-ass." He pushed his prisoner forward. "Come on, honey. Looks like it's the brig for you."
The vampiress said nothing, but once they'd disappeared through the door Katelina could hear her bizarre cries of "Aki!" again.
"What language is that?" Katelina asked.
Jorick shrugged. "I've no idea, but I think the redheaded idiot knows more than he's admitting. This should be an interesting trip."
Katelina knew that interesting was really another word for horrible, so she prayed he was wrong.
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