Chapter 381
Once they were untied, Micah tended to Loren. The teen's skin was burned and brittle, like overcooked turkey. In places it had come away, revealing a mixture of bloody raw flesh and cooked meat. Katelina gagged at the sight, and buried her face against Jorick. She felt the intake of his breath and pulled away reluctantly. He had what amounted to a bad sunburn and his skin was tender.
Micah asked the nearest ninja-style vampire for blood, but the terse reply was that the teen would heal as he slept. "We don't have much to spare."
"It's your fucking fault we're like this!" Micah paused to wipe the blood from his cracked lips.
"You shouldn't have fought us, then we'd have come back sooner, and my brothers would still be alive."
With that angry pronouncement, several other vampires led them to a low back room lit by another string of Christmas lights. Instead of coffins, the members of the Black Vigil apparently slept on the floor in a communal sleeping room, with no bedding. Micah carried Loren, and though he laid him down gently the teen cried out. His cry trailed off into agonized sobs and Katelina glared through the gloom at every member of the secret group.
"Hey, hey, it's all right," Micah said stiffly, his voice dry and brittle. He turned to Katelina. In the semi-dark, the pale light accented his blistered skin and shone in his eyes. When he spoke his bloody teeth gleamed, like some medieval demon. "Lunch. Give him some blood."
Jorick went stiff next to her. "Leave her alone."
"She can spare some."
"Not enough," Jorick said.
Katelina laid her hand on him and as quickly took it back. "Micah's right. Loren's the worst off. Maybe a little would help."
"He'll heal as he sleeps," Jorick said.
"You sound like them." She nodded to the nameless vampires who were bedding down for the night. Loren gave a muffled sob and her mind was made up. "I'm sure it will be fine."
Jorick's low growl gave his opinion, but she ignored it and crawled to the teen. "Loren? Loren, here." She held her wrist toward his face, but he made no move for it. "Loren?"
Micah roughly grabbed her arm, and she cried out as he tore into it with his teeth. He jammed her bleeding wrist in Loren's face just as Jorick tackled him to the ground, fangs flashing.
"It's okay," she assured Jorick, then turned back to Loren, ignoring the throbbing pain. The teen stirred, and Katelina tried to find his mouth. She brushed against his face and the surface came away. She swallowed a mouthful of bile and tried again. Loren groaned. She heard him snuffle and then he clamped on.
She bit her lip and forced back a cry as he sucked. She imagined she could hear him swallowing her blood in long, hungry gulps. As one followed another, they grew faster and harder.
Just as when Jorick bit her, there was a soft murmuring in the background of her mind. Faint images stirred, but she couldn't make them out, like photos overexposed in the sunlight. Unlike Jorick, there was no euphoria, not even the agonizing pain a vampire could cause. Vampires could do what they wanted with the connection, but Loren didn't bother to do anything, as if he didn't even acknowledge it in his hunger.
Her hand started to tingle. The sensation moved up her arm, and her head swam. She tried to pull away and he shifted and grabbed her wrist. She pulled harder. "Loren! Loren, that's enough. Stop! Stop!"
Jorick growled and ripped the teen off of her. Katelina fell back, and pressed a hand to her bleeding wrist. Jorick threw the boy to the floor. Loren wiped the blood from his lips and chin and thrust it in his mouth with shaking fingers. Though he was still burned and blistered, even Katelina could see he was better.
Jorick snarled. "Didn't that go well?"
Micah bent over the teen and Katelina scooted across the floor, away from them. The Black Vigil vampires stared openly, and she flushed and looked away.
Jorick was next to her. He bit into his arm, held it out to her and barked, "Drink. It will stop the bleeding."
She felt self-conscious in front of the others, but her throbbing wrist was enough to override her embarrassment. She took his arm, and hesitantly sealed her lips around the wound. The warm, spicy blood filled her mouth and she forgot about everything else. She swallowed quickly, repeating again and again. Images flickered behind her eyelids. Voices, laughter, and screams, played in the background like a garbled mix tape. She concentrated on them, trying to make something clear, trying to.
He pulled away from her and she was left reaching after him, her mouth open. The dark room and its occupants burst into her consciousness and she quickly wiped her mouth and dropped her hands with a mixture of shame and embarrassment.
In the silence, she heard a soft, dry voice that sounded like Oren, "You're all right?"
Katelina couldn't believe he'd ask after anyone, and when Etsuko answered, "Yes, Oren-sama. Do not be concerned for me," she nearly choked.
"He's not a monster," Jorick rasped near her ear. "Now can we go to sleep?"
"It would be nice," an unknown vampire called. Katelina scowled in their direction and bit back an angry retort.
With a final, furious glare at the Black Vigil in general, she stretched out on the cool stone floor next to Jorick. He put an arm over her, though he didn't pull her to him. She wondered if she shouldn't have given him some blood. He was her boyfriend, not Loren.
"No," Jorick whispered. "Sleep."
She knew it hurt him to talk, so she closed her eyes and prayed that rest really would heal them.
She was only partially asleep when a nearby whisper woke her. She rolled over to see Ume kneeling next to Loren. A glass bottle glinted in her hand. "I know it isn't much, but it's all I could get."
Micah snatched it, popped the lid, and took a healthy gulp before he helped Loren to sit up and drink the remainder.
"I'm sorry," Ume whispered. "I didn't expect them to attack us and I-I didn't think about the sun. I forget that not everyone is like us. We don't accept outsiders who are already turned, and Fethillen insists she or one of the inner circle turn all the new recruits, so we're all from the same bloodline. We're all sun walkers, like Fethillen is."
Micah continued to glare and Loren fought the bottle away from his mouth to croak, "It's okay. It's not your fault."
