Chapter 363
Katelina wanted dessert, but Wolfe and Sadihra excused themselves. Sadihra said they would have to eat together again, "Should your stay become prolonged." Katelina hoped it wouldn't be necessary.
She ate her pie in silence. On the way out of the restaurant they ran into Oren and the others, seated at a large table. Micah waved to them and called loudly, "Hey, Lunch! I heard you're some kind of freak now!"
Jorick only checked his fury a second before he reached him. "If you ever say something like that to Katelina again-"
"What? You'll rip my head off? Come on." The bald vampire pushed back from the table and held his arms out in a welcoming gesture. "Let's go, Executioner dog."
"Shut the fuck up, Micah," Katelina snapped. "People are staring."
"Yeah? Let 'em stare, huh?" He flexed his muscles and broke into deep throaty laughter. "So what is all this shit, anyway? We gotta stay now until the old geezers in the basement decide you're not worth hanging on to? Why the fuck didn't we stay at the beach while they deliberated this shit?"
Oren snapped, "Micah, be still." Then he turned to Jorick. "How was your dinner with Wolfe?" He said the name with all the distaste he could muster.
"Not as informative as I'd hoped. I imagine we'll know tomorrow when we can leave." He shot Micah a final furious look.
"Tomorrow then." Oren said, though his voice held no optimism.
***
Katelina was grateful to climb into bed and say goodbye to the horrible day, except she doubted tomorrow would be any better. Like Oren, she expected they'd be stuck at the stronghold for a long time.
Jorick slid in beside her. He hesitated for a moment and then reached for her. She came willingly, though his indecision left her unsure.
"Unsure of what?" he asked, as he stroked the hair back from her face.
"Everything," she murmured. "This tainted thing-"
He sighed heavily. "You're not tainted, little one, I told you that already."
"But you said I'm different."
"So?"
She couldn't answer him, couldn't say she was afraid that just as she'd changed, his love for her might change too.
"Katelina, do you think I'm that shallow?" She didn't answer and he continued. "Had I turned you as Oren suggested, as we both know will have to be done someday, don't you think that will change you? Do you think that I'll stop loving you then?"
"That's different. Then you'd be the one who- I mean-you'd be the one in control of it."
"No vampire can control the changes a fledgling undergoes. Oren should've inherited an accomplished mind reading ability, but he didn't. He's had to struggle for what little of the ability he's managed. And though Kateesha possessed no speed abilities of any kind, you notice the redheaded idiot is a wind walker."
"That's still different."
He tangled his fingers in her hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "No, it's not, and you're not different in the sense you think. You're still who you were before."
She sighed, but couldn't find any words.
"I still love you, Katelina."
She wrapped her arms around him and murmured, "I love you, too."
***
Katelina's dreams were nightmares. Raging seas, thundering storms, and bloody vampire councils. They took her to a dungeon where they put her in a cage and did Dark Age experiments on her.
The dream shifted to a room with painted pillars. A large window was set in the wall, and she took a step towards it when she was conscious of another presence. She turned to see him standing to one side, his long black hair shimmering in the lantern light.
She breathed in the feelings of warmth and peace that flowed from him; the comfortable familiarity, like finding home in the middle of a battlefield.
"It is a battle that does not concern you."
"It's the Kugsankal," she murmured, eyes closed. Though she knew she should be terrified at that word, she wasn't.
"It is all meaningless." She opened her eyes to see him motion to the window. Lightning slithered across dark skies, and rain fell on a landscape painted with night. "Even this will fade and pass away to nothing."
She woke with those final words echoing in her ears. She blinked in the darkness and tried to recall the dream, but the details were lost to the world of sleep. All that was left was a feeling of tranquility and the knowledge that everything would be all right because none of it mattered. It would all fade away, anyhow.
She dressed and emerged from the bathroom as Jorick woke. He caught her and gave her a long good morning kiss, then dressed and asked if she'd like to go for breakfast. The restaurant was as crowded as usual, and they ate in virtual silence. Something nagged at the back of her mind, drowned out periodically by a host of worries. It was all too much, and she wished the strange calm she'd woken with would return.
They checked back at the room but there was no summons to speak to either der H?here Rat or the Kugsankal. Waiting in the room for the axe to fall seemed too horrible, so they set off to wander around the stronghold.
"If we keep doing this you'll learn your way around," Jorick teased.
"I hope we don't get the chance."
They soon found the common area, which was crowded by stores like a shopping mall. One had a sign for photo developing, so they fetched the full disposable camera and dropped it off, then stopped at a bookstore. Jorick browsed the shelves with interest, occasionally selecting something and then putting it back with an air of disappointment.
"Can't find anything you haven't read?" Katelina asked.
"Not worth reading."
She knew better than to argue with him and his books. She browsed the magazines instead, and selected one on spring fashions when she saw Ume, one of the prisoners they'd brought with them. The vampiress stepped in the door and looked from face to face, as if seeking someone. Disappointment blossomed on her features, and she started to leave when she spotted Katelina and Jorick.
Ume hurried over, and Katelina noted she was still wearing her odd black ninja outfit. "I'm looking for Akithe one you call Verchiel. Do you know where he is?"
"Sorry, no. I take it he hasn't talked to you yet?"
Ume's expression wavered, and then crumpled and large tears sprang up in her eyes. "No."
Katelina didn't want to feel sympathy for her. Ume had attacked them. But really, she hadn't hurt anyone. Not like the first four. Even der H?here Rat was letting her go.
She motioned to a bank of chairs against one wall. "We might as well sit down. Who knows how long Jorick will be."
Ume took the chair and quickly blotted her tears. Katelina sat and sought for something to say. She didn't want to blurt out, "What's the deal with you and Verchiel?" Not only did it seem rude, but she doubted she'd get an answer. It would be better to start smaller.
"I heard they released you. Are you staying here, or going home?"
"I'd like to go home. They said they will help us, but we have to pay for it ourselves."
There was a lot of that where The Sodalitas was concerned. Here, we dragged you to Munich, but now pay for your own room, your own food, and, if you want to leave, your own travel arrangements. It seemed like a scam.
"We don't have any money," Ume continued. "And I can't get in contact with Fethillen without a radio. I don't know what to do. Quenby's trying to locate one, but I doubt she'll have any luck. They're happy to be helpful here so long as you don't actually need any help."
Katelina thought of Torina and the extra coffins in her room. "If you need a room maybe we can arrange something."
Ume faltered. "Areare you sure? After the way we met, I-I assumed you'd regard me as your enemy."
Katelina shrugged. "As long as you're not going to attack us anymore."
"No, of course not. At the time we thought you were with them, but I know Aki would not be a member."
There was the opening Katelina'd been looking for. "Why do you keep calling him Aki?"
"Because that's his name. Or it was before he disappeared. I don't know where he came up with Verchiel. Isn't that the name of an angel?"
"I don't think he came up with it," Katelina said vaguely. "I think Kateesha came up with it, when she turned him."
"It doesn't fit him," Ume said firmly.
"That's true, he's no angel. In fact I think he's a bit of a player." Katelina caught herself. "I mean- I'm, uh, I'm sure you and he, you know, meant something-"
"He and I?" Ume asked, surprised. "You think we were lovers?"
Katelina felt very uncomfortable. "Oh. Well, Jorick said you loved him-" She trailed off lamely.
"I do," Ume said unabashedly. "But he wasn't my lover. He's my brother."
