Chapter 368
Arrest her? But-
The words cut through the film of numbness and Katelina tightened her hold on his hand. Would they send her back there?
"Don't worry. They won't do anything until the doctor has cleared you, so there's time." Jorick's smile was meant to be comforting, but it melted into worry. "I need to see some people, so I'll have to leave you here." His voice dropped as though he was talking to himself, "I could get Oren to come, but I don't know if he'd be able to withstand them. Loren certainly couldn't, though he'd try. There's the idiot, but I don't trust him."
"Verchiel's all right. He hasn't tried to eat me or anything."
"Hasn't he?" Jorick muttered. She blinked at him blankly and he relented. "Never mind. He may be the best of a bad lot. I'm going to go, all right? I'll send the idiot down here. If they try to move you, remind them of the law: Your master must be present before they can do anything to or with you. Do you understand? I know you object to being 'someone's human', but for once, embrace it."
"If it keeps me from the dungeon I can be your property for a little while."
"There is no dungeon." He kissed her and moved towards the door. "I'll be back." He hesitated at the threshold, a mixture of reluctance and regret on his face. Then, with an air of resolution, strode out.
She dropped back into the bed and let her eyes roam the room. A television was bolted to the wall, scrolling muted images, but she had no remote. It was a metaphor for her life; images and events flashing by and as usual she had no way of controlling the volume or the channel. She was a weak outsider, caught up in something beyond her understanding.
The door opened and closed so fast that Katelina barely noticed before Verchiel was next to the bed, and a mocking expression of reprimand on his face. "Tsk, tsk, Kately. Leave you alone for five minutes and you get yourself and the big lug arrested!" He broke into a grin. "Ah, Jorick will get you both out. Though running wasn't very smart."
"Better than the dungeon."
"What dungeon?"
She started to explain and then waved it away. "Never mind. Jorick said it was a dream." A vivid dream.
"With all the drugs they gave you, you probably had a lot of really trippy dreams." Verchiel winked then dropped onto the neighboring bed.
She struggled to sit up, though she'd rather go back to sleep. "Does Wolfe know you're here?"
"Let's say he was distracted and I slipped past." His voice dropped to an exaggerated whisper, "He's not a mind reader, so I doubt he's noticed me. I wonder what he'll do if he does?"
She had no answer and her eyes drifted to the TV. It looked like a news channel, complete with a rolling ticker of headlines. Unrest in the Middle East, a political summit was scheduled for somewhere or other, and a terrorist group had taken the credit for the bombings in Sivas, Turkey, calling themselves the Children of Shadows.
"Did you see that?" Katelina motioned toward the television. "Turn on the sound."
"What? More trippy hallucinations?" He fetched a remote control from the nightstand and the room echoed with a British newscaster talking about Greece.
Katelina sank back into the bed. "It said the Children of Shadows was a terrorist group."
Verchiel cocked a ridiculous red eyebrow. "Who did?"
"It was on the little ticker tape. You know, scrolling along the bottom."
"Oh. They don't talk about the topics at the bottom. If they did, they wouldn't bother feeding them into the secondary string." He squinted at the television and, sure enough, the headline scrolled past again. "I'll be damned."
"I told you. Why would a vampire group be on the news?"
"We do inhabit the same world. There's bound to be overlap."
"But why does Samael need them? You saw him in the cave. He made Traven's head explode with just a thought. Someone that powerful doesn't need an army."
He rolled over to face her. "Who knows? Tell me why Samael gave you blood."
Even in her disconnected state she didn't want to talk about that. "If you're going to be stupid you can go. I bet you could find some other woman to aggravate. You said something about pretty bits yesterday."
He mock pouted. "Aww, are you jealous?" Then he broke into laughter. "Don't worry, dear little Kately, you'll always have a special place in my"
"Why would I be jealous? You're being as weird as Jorick." She closed her eyes and leaned toward the sucking darkness "Why don't you go talk to Ume? She'd be happy to see you."
"That's okay. Jorick asked me to stay here."
Katelina opened her eyes to see him looking uncomfortable. "I bet you think she's an ex-girlfriend who wants to marry you."
Verchiel rolled onto his back and sighed. "No, I know who she is. I saw it in the blonde's mind when we took them on the plane."
"You mean Quenly, no, Quenby?" He nodded and she asked, "If you know, why are you still running away. You should be excited."
"What am I supposed to say?" he demanded, as close to angry as she had ever seen him. It was interesting in a strange way. "She's looking for a joyful reunion, but I don't have one for her. I don't know her, I don't remember her, and I don't have anything to offer her. If it's even true, the best thing she could do is forget it."
"She's your sister. You can't turn your back on family."
"Says who? Everyone else does." He was on his feet so fast that she missed the motion and stood with his back to her. "When Jorick turns you, are you going to make your mother immortal? And when you don't, how many nights will you spend regretting the loss? How eager are you for the guilt?"
"I don't"
"Understand? Of course you do." He turned around and offered her a sad, lopsided smile. "Guilt is all Ume has for me. I left her behind, apparently, and didn't know or care. And I have nothing for her. No apologies, no epic quest to find her, nothing to soothe the wrong. Better to ignore it and part amicably."
"Life doesn't work like that. You can't run away from every uncomfortable situation."
"Listen to you! The human lecturing me on life? It's almost cute." He ruffled her hair, which earned him an attempted glare. "She doesn't know how to bring it up, or she'd have already done it. And I don't like the name Aki. It sounds like a snack food for kids. 'Can I have some aki-aki, Mom?' See?"
"When you say it like that, it sounds like the name of a poodle."
"Same difference." He grinned as she slowly figured out the joke and then he turned serious. "Fine, I'll talk to her, but remember, I did warn you."
He perked up and all signs of seriousness disappeared. "Grumpy boots is back, and he's feeling smug."
They listened as Jorick demanded that Wolfe let him in. There was a moment of silence, and then the door opened and Jorick strode through, a piece of paper in his hand.
"Good news, I take it?" Verchiel asked.
"In a way." Jorick stopped next to Katelina's bed. "They've agreed not to arrest you for the moment. Tomorrow we have to go before the Lesser Council, and they'll have an inquiry, but no doubt it will come to nothing. I already pointed out that their guards broke the law by doing anything without my consent."
She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or insulted. "Why are they having an inquiry?"
Jorick snorted. "If you thought The Guild was rife with red tape and bureaucratic nonsense then you have no idea how this place works. I have to hand it to Malick, he was onto something by cutting half of it out and being a dictator. At least things got done faster."
"It helped that he always favored you," Verchiel suggested. Jorick gave him a dark look and the redhead bowed. "It seems my purpose has been served." He disappeared and reappeared in front of the door. "Adios!" And then he was gone.
