Chapter 421
It was after midnight when a knock sounded on the back door. Verchiel opened it to find a guard who wanted to know if he was "finished with his human."
Verchiel tapped his chin. "Well, I suppose I can be. Though I may want her back later."
Katelina glared at him but let the guard usher her out and take her up the stairs and through the gate. When she walked into the main room of the secure place, one of the guards politely asked her if she needed, "medical attention". The implications left her horrified, and she assured him she was fine.
Xandria and Kai were still watching the laptop, and the woman waved and called, "You missed lunch!"
Katelina took a seat with them. "Figures. Was it any good?"
Xandria leaned back. "Not too bad. We had rice and meat in some kind of sauce. Weird local stuff."
"Yeah, I've had a lot of that kind of thing."
"So? What did he want?" Xandria grinned. "Did you get some personal time with your hot vampire?"
"Not exactly." She didn't feel like explaining, so she said, "Everyone's worked up about the impending attack."
Surprise flickered in Xandria's eyes, then disappeared. "You've heard about that?"
"From the looks of it everyone has. There are guards everywhere, or is it always like that?"
"No idea. I've never been here before." Xandria looked toward the vampires. "I'm dying for a smoke. You?"
A cigarette sounded heavenly, and Katelina nodded.
"Come on then." Xandria gave her a wink and slipped off the couch. "We'll be back," she told Kai, and then strode toward the bathroom.
Katelina followed uncertainly. Inside was a row of stalls, a line of sinks, and another door in the back. Xandria leaned through it and motioned to her. "In here."
Beyond the door was what looked like a large hot tub, but Katelina suspected it was more likely a communal bath. Xandria perched on the edge and produced a pack of cigarettes. The familiar silver package spoke of home and a life before vampires, and Katelina eagerly accepted it and shook a cigarette out.
Xandria lit them both and then blew a stream of smoke. "It's no smoking in here, as if the vampires are gonna die from lung cancer. I guess the nonsmokers don't like the smell."
Katelina took a long puff and exhaled. "You get tired of what they want."
"No joke, especially if you're not tied to a hot one." Xandria exhaled again. "I'm not. There's this vampire in with them, and he's smokin'. Red hair, eyes like melted chocolate, the kind you just wanna rip off his clothes and lick whatever you can before he throws you off. But he hasn't looked at me. My master is a short, dark, ugly little twerp who couldn't care less about anything except a servant. Not that I'm ungrateful. I can't imagine having to do anything with him." She shuddered. "So what's your story? You and monsieur hot vampire a love match or just fucking for fun? "
Katelina flushed. "It's more a love match, though that's how I met him. There was this guy, Patrick that I was kind of- well, you know, no commitments or anything, and Patrick got tangled up with the vampires. Then he got killed."
"Sorry to hear that. Happens a lot. Makes you wonder why we let ourselves get dragged in. You look at the trail of death and think, 'that won't be me', but eventually it will. It's like playing with fire. One day you'll get burned."
"Or turned?" Katelina suggested.
"In some cases I'm not sure that's better. Plus they don't waste it on the peons like me. You? Maybe. If your vampire really loves you, he might turn you and train you into an equal. I'll get disposed of one of these days. Oh well, I'll go down in a blaze of glory. Latch on to you-know-who and refuse to let go until they scrape me off." She waggled her eyebrows. "Might as well have a last hurrah."
Katelina burst out laughing. "I guess that's one way to look at it."
"You have to have fun or go crazy." Xandria crossed her legs and leaned her chin in her hand. "I like to make up these crazy fantasies. I was working on a good one when you came in. This mysterious human gets put in here with us, right? I might add he's hot. Unruly black hair, dark eyes, long tapered fingers. Mmm. Anyway, he looks secretly tortured and I know he needs help and, well, that's when you came in and I decided to talk to you, so I don't know what happens next. But I imagine he and I are going to spend some time in a hot bath for two. That's when he'll tell me about his cruel master who does unspeakable things to him, and I'll feel this motherly rush to protect the poor dear and after a passionate love scene I'll help him escape." She broke into a grin. "I can add you in, too, if you want."
Katelina wasn't sure she wanted to be a participant in the woman's weird daydreams, but she didn't like to say so. "Uh, sure."
"Good. I'll let you know how it's going later." She took another puff. "So you and junior hotty are happy with your vampires?"
"You could say that. Why?"
"Call it fantasy imitating life, but I'm kind of a soft touch. I was gonna say if you guys were miserable, or being used as sex slaves and mobile dinners, I could sneak you out with me when we leave, but if you've got a good thing there's no reason to ruin it. So few do." Xandria turned on the tap and extinguished her cigarette butt.
Katelina thought of her own campaign to save the Russians and managed to nod.
Dinner was something strange. After Katelina finished it she decided she'd had enough of communal living for one day. Xandria followed her into the bedroom, and when Katelina opened the bag for her clothes the woman pounced on the camera. "Oh fun! I haven't seen one of these in years!"
"Yeah, I didn't know they still made them."
"There's probably plenty of old people who refuse to go digital. Say cheese."
Katelina looked up in time to see the flash go. "I was saving those."
"For what?" Xandria turned the camera on herself and snapped it. "You've got two shots left."
Katelina took the camera back and shoved it in her pocket. "I'm trying to take pictures for my mother, to prove that we're on a nice vacation."
"Ha! A vampire vacation! I'm guessing she doesn't know?"
"No, and I plan to leave it that way." Katelina realized she had no pajamas. She'd left them in Munich. Great.
A dark woman leaned in and asked, "Are one of you a Kate-a-lina? Your master has called for you."
Xandria elbowed her in the ribs and gave her a wink. "Better luck this time."
Katelina followed the guard back to room 722, but this time it was Jorick who opened the half door. She ducked inside and he caught her up and captured her lips. When he finally broke the kiss he asked, "Are you all right?"
She pulled back and glared up at him. "I'm fine, no thanks to you. It's communal housing down there. We're all thrown in together and we don't get a choice about what we eat."
"I'm sorry, Katelina, but I already explained."
"And I've already told you why I'm pissed off."
"If it's any consolation, I'm forced to share a room with the idiot."
Well that explained why Verchiel had been there earlier. "Not really." She sat on the end of the bed and glared at him. "I'm guessing we haven't been attacked yet?"
"Obviously. At this point I assume it will come tomorrow."
"Great, another day of weirdness." She flopped back and something jabbed her. She reached in her pocket and pulled out the camera. On a whim she pointed it at Jorick and took a photo.
"What was that for?"
"Posterity. You might get killed tomorrow. I need something to remember you by."
"I'll give you something to remember me by."
She squealed as he tackled her and nipped at her neck. She wrestled playfully, and had just surrendered into a deep kiss when the bedroom door opened and Verchiel called loudly, "Oh my! I don't want to interrupt. Maybe I should leave?"
Jorick growled and pulled back to glare at the intruder. "Maybe you should have done that to start with?"
"How was I to know we had company?" the redhead asked innocently. "I can pop back out if you want and you can get back toOooo!" He stooped and retrieved the fallen camera. "You naughty little girl. They won't develop those kind of pictures."
"Go away!" Jorick snarled, but Katelina pushed him off of her and sat up.
"Forget it. He's ruined the mood."
"You could get it back?" Verchiel suggested. "We might die tomorrow."
"You're going to die tonight," Jorick snapped.
"Hey, I'm on your side. It's your girlfriend who's being unreasonable." Verchiel grinned and took a self-portrait. "There, I've made the whole roll of film worthwhile."
"God dammit. That was my last picture!" Katelina jumped up and snatched it away from him. "I can't send my mom a pic of you grinning with your fangs hanging out."
"Why not? She might like it."
Yeah, like it enough to have another heart attack.
It was after three a.m. when Katelina announced she was ready for bed. Jorick leaned out into the corridor, but the guard wasn't around, so he decided he'd take her.
"I don't think you're supposed to do that," she said.
"I'll do what I like when it comes to my human," he muttered darkly.
Despite his words of authority, she had to show him the way through the winding maze of back hallways to the stairs. They took a wrong turn, and came to a dead end where a guard sat slumped against the wall, legs extended, and chin on his chest.
"Wake him up and ask him for directions," Katelina said with irritation.
"Hey." Jorick nudged him with his foot. "My human needs taken back to the secure place. Hey! Wake up!"
The guard slid sideways, and landed on the floor in a heap. Katelina jumped back and Jorick knelt to examine him. He rolled him over and found a long, pencil like cylinder stuck in the vampire's back. He pulled it out to reveal a sharp, cruel point coated with gore.
"Oh my God, is he?"
"Yes. They obviously knew what they were doing. They stabbed him in the heart from behind." Jorick rolled him over again and wiped his hands. "Come, little one. I'll take you back and then report this."
"If someone's killing guards maybe I should stay with you?"
"You'll be safer there," he said absently. Katelina could see the wheels turning behind his dark eyes, though she didn't know what theory he was working on.
The guards at the gate were alarmed to see Jorick, and they quickly told him he wasn't allowed there. "You should have waited for the guard," one of them said.
"I would have, but he's dead."
Jorick's words had the desired effect. One scrambled to get to a phone and the other quickly ushered Katelina through the gate. She had a final look at Jorick, who stood superior and dark, right in the midst of things.
Where he likes to be.
Verchiel's words came back to her, "That's the problem with dating the hero. He's always busy being heroic, and you're left on your own."
For once, the redhead was right.
