Chapter 378
It looked as though the airport was only just opening for the morning. They hurried past the sluggish activity and eventually ended up in the airport lobby. They made their way to a cluster of glass doors that looked out on a snowy parking lot. Katelina shivered just looking at it.
Ume frowned. "Fethillen doesn't know we're here. She won't send a car."
"Then we better find our own," Micah said. He nodded to Loren. "Come on peewee."
The two vampires stalked out the door, and Katelina watched as they wandered the parking lot, looking for the perfect vehicle. It didn't take them long to settle on a silvery SUV, and once the doors were open Loren leaned around the vehicle and motioned to them.
"Could they be any more obvious?" Torina asked.
Jorick didn't say anything, only plunged out the door into the wintery night, and the rest of them followed. Katelina clutched her coat closed and tried to think warm thoughts. It had to be at least ten degrees.
"The screen inside said negative eighteen," Verchiel corrected cheerfully. "Of course, that was Celsius. I'd have to do math to figure out Fahrenheit."
She decided she was better off not knowing.
They piled into the SUV, crammed one on top of the other. Ume and Quenby shared the front passenger seat and Micah drove. At the vampiress' directions they left the parking lot and wound down a dark highway. The windshield wipers could barely keep up with the wintery onslaught, and it was only the tall pine trees on either side of them that showed where a road was supposed to be. Katelina buried her face against Jorick and prayed they didn't get into a car crash.
Micah drove like a demon, and when Ume told him to turn he sent the SUV into a swerving skid. Katelina screamed and even when the vehicle finally slid to a stop she refused to open her eyes, in case they were dead.
"Was that necessary?" Jorick demanded.
Micah laughed heartily. "Don't be such a pussy."
"We don't have time to waste," Oren snapped. "The sun may come late here, but it will eventually rise, and if you keep at your ridiculous antics, we'll end up exposed in the wilderness."
"Yeah, yeah. Button your shirt." Micah dropped the vehicle into gear and, after cutting a snow spraying donut, took off.
The new road was no better than the last. In fact Katelina wasn't even sure it was a road. The headlights cut through the deep black night, and snowflakes splattered against the windshield like angry insects. Ume directed them over several more dubious roads, many of which had the texture of snow covered fields, and finally told them to stop in front of a pine forest.
"This is your headquarters?" Micah asked. "Glad we raced all the way out here."
"Our winter headquarters are in the forest," Quenby said coldly. "You can follow us or stay here." She jerked the door open and hopped out into the snow. Ume glanced back at them, and then followed.
Jorick threw the back door open and helped Katelina down. He climbed out behind her and once the others were out, led her toward the trees. Etsuko pulled a flashlight from her bag and snapped it on. The crisp yellow beam revealed a forest thick with snow. Dark shadows danced under the branches of ancient pines and, with no tracks, no trash, and no sign of modern man, it was like stepping into a frozen winter from the beginning of time.
Katelina noticed that Etsuko, dressed in a black and red kimono and bundled up except for a strip where her eyes were, had a harder time plowing through the snow than she did. Oren gave an exasperated sigh, took the flashlight from her, and scooped her up. Jorick gave Katelina a wink, as if to say "See? He's not as bad as you think."
"He's only worried about speed," she muttered.
They walked with only the sound of crunching snow and the occasional snapping branch. Oren kept the flashlight pointed forward, even though he didn't need it, and the light picked out more of the same wintery forest. Katelina's breath hung in heavy white clouds and her fingers went from pink to red, then to white. Her socks were soaked with snow and her toes throbbed. If she never lived to see another winter she'd be too happy.
She nudged Jorick and started to ask through chattering teeth how much farther it would be, when he grabbed her and pulled to a stop. She looked up to see the others do the same. Verchiel reached silently inside his coat to remove his sword, and Torina dropped her heavy bag into the snow with a plop.
At the sound, the thick shadows came to life and swarmed toward them. Oren dropped Etsuko and the flashlight and spun toward a wave of darkness. Jorick moved in front of Katelina and, as if by unspoken command, Torina and Verchiel backed toward them, her hands like ready claws and his blade unsheathed, so that Katelina and Etsuko were ringed around by the four back to back vampires.
Micah, Loren, Ume, and Quenby did the same. Loren had his ridiculous pocket knife again, and the other three had nothing. This was the second fight they were unprepared for and Katelina thought they should start carrying a miniature arsenal with them.
The dark swept toward them and then separated into individuals; pale faces peered from black ninja style outfits, identical to what Ume and Quenby wore. Unlike the girls, they still had their masks and their ornate hand held sickles.
Apparently they'd found the Black Vigil.
In a choreographed move, the attackers encircled them, sickles at the ready. Ume held up her hands. "It's us!" The group continued to circle, closing in with each circuit, and Ume tried again in a different language.
A lithe male with dark hair drew to a stop and glared at her. "The traitors return. And they bring an army with them."
"Fuck yeah," Micah called. "And we'll kick your asses."
"We're not traitors!" Ume cried, waving Micah to silence.
Quenby dropped into a fighting stance. "Dammit! I told you we shouldn't bring them."
The male snapped his fingers and Katelina cringed back as the tide came. Her eyes met Etsuko's. The woman half lay in the snow, holding the flashlight. Tendrils of hair had slipped down from her usual updo and her kimono was rumpled, but her eyes were calm and her expression was neutral, as if fear couldn't touch her. Katelina wanted to shout, "How can you be so relaxed?" but she didn't get the chance.
The ninja-like warriors crashed into the two clusters. Both Oren and Jorick held their ground, swinging their upper bodies to dodge the blows. Jorick's dark hair fanned out as he moved, like a war flag unfurling.
Torina ducked, then spun back and grabbed the sickle with both hands. She and the vampire wrestled over the weapon, but a well-timed kick forced her to let go and stumble back.
"You'll be sorry for that," she spat.
Verchiel met the sickles with his sword. They clashed, and then his attacker drew back to strike again. As he did, Verchiel rammed his blade through his chest. His opponent stared down at the protruding weapon with bulging eyes. Verchiel whipped it out, and his enemy crumpled to the snow.
Micah threw one of the ninja-like vampires into his friends, knocking several into a struggling heap. Quenby spun away from their back to back formation, kicking and swinging. Ume did the same, with a cry of, "Please don't kill them!" Katelina looked to the flash of Verchiel's blood stained sword and thought to herself, It's a little late for that.
Loren dodged a swinging sickle and stabbed with his pocket knife. He got one good jab before it was knocked from his hand. Katelina had a two second view of it arching through the air, stray moonlight glittering on the bloody blade, before it dropped out of sight.
A pocket knife had been a stupid idea, but Katelina wished she had one. It would be better than nothing. Etsuko pulled up her kimono and the layers beneath it. Strapped to her upper thigh was a long, thin silver blade, which she pulled loose. "Oren-sama!" When the amber eyed vampire glanced back to her, she tossed it to him. He caught it by the handle and, without so much as a thank you, turned back to the fight and rammed it into his attacker's throat.
"You should have kept that!" Katelina cried. "Now we don't have any weapons!"
Jorick wrested a sickle from his enemy and cast it back. Katelina dodged as it landed near her in a spray of snow. She hefted it with a grunt of surprise. It was heavier than it looked, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to get more than one swing out of it.
One was better than none.
Jorick snapped his opponent's neck and then slammed his fist through her chest. He pulled the heart out in a bloody lump and tossed it aside. The vampiress had barely fallen when another took her place, swinging a pair of sickles.
Torina had gotten a weapon as well. She did better with it than Katelina, it was obvious she wasn't used to it. She managed to wound a couple, but they quickly overcame her. Oren abandoned his opponent to try and help her, but the ninja-like vampires only ganged up and soon had them both pinned down in the snow.
