Chapter 432
When Katelina was groomed, the women bowed their way out to get her dinner. Katelina's bladder was ready to burst, so she dashed to the public restroom. When she finished, she took her time returning. The afternoon sky was lit with streaks of orange near the horizon, and she veered from the familiar path and drew closer to the wall that enclosed the grounds. She could hear traffic on the other side, and she wished she could see over it.
"If you wish the view I will show you."
The words sounded in her head and she jumped at the mental invasion.
"Stay and I will join you."
She felt him before she saw him. When she looked his way her breath disappeared. The late afternoon sunlight sparkled on his ebony hair and gleamed on his perfect skin. He walked with long, smooth strides, his hands folded before him. His deep blue robes matched the sky to the east, and his eyes glittered.
He stopped before her. It was only when he broke eye contact that she was able to look away from him, her cheeks flaming.
"You wish a tour?" His voice was soft, like the coming twilight, and left her wrapped in peace.
"Yes," she murmured.
"Then come." She followed as he led her away from the buildings and through a collection of ponds and pagodas. Ornamental rocks, statues, and other points of interest slipped past. None were as absorbing as her host.
It was several minutes before he broke the silence. "You may walk here if you like. I imagine you would find confinement wearisome. The landscape is lovely."
She nodded as if he'd given her an order. By command she looked to appreciate the surroundings. A few late birds chirped in the trees. The winter grass was still trimmed, but without staff it would soon be a wilderness.
She thought of the humans he'd "kept" from the museum. They could probably handle it. Thinking of them brought back her uncomfortable morning and she tried to find words. "The women...do they have to help me dress?"
"You are no longer a peasant. It is their duty to serve you. Have they displeased you?"
"No." She pictured the fear in their eyes. "But I can get dressed alone."
"And no doubt you could serve yourself dinner, but such things are not your concern anymore." He motioned her up a rolling hill. "You will find your view here."
Though the climb was steep she hardly noticed. When she reached the top she could see over the wall to rolling mountains and a handful of ornate buildings. "Where are the cars?"
He touched her shoulder and turned her in the other direction. There she could see the hazy sprawl of civilization.
"I have other things that require my attention, but once they have concluded we will turn our eyes in that direction."
Did he mean they'd do something to the city?
"Subjugate the chosen," he said to her thoughts. "And drink those less worthy. There will be some time before we will attend to such matters. Let us go. Your meal should be ready soon."
She followed him back the way they'd come. His words left her unsettled, though she couldn't find the will to disagree with him.
"Tonight will be the purification of the spirit," he said. "You will find it more enjoyable than last night's ritual."
She nodded. "Did you-when you were turned-"
"Did I undergo the ritual? Yes, of course. The gods would allow no less."
The gods. She had a momentary flash of vampires dressed in silk. "You served them?"
"Yes. My memory of the beginning is not clear, as I told you last evening. I cannot recall how I came to be in their service, only that I was faithful to them. I did not ask for the favor until Lilith learned I had impregnated my brother's wife. After that she insisted I gain the gift if I wished to keep her. The Gods refused me. It was Nuwa's son who took pity on me." As if he anticipated Katelina's question, he explained, "Nuwa was the empress of all. The goddess of life. Once I was changed I stupidly begged permission to share the dark favor with the whore of darkness. After ten days of supplication the gods agreed. It made no difference, as they knew it wouldn't. Lilith went immediately to my brother and offered to share the gift with him. He was wise enough to know that she did not have the gods' permission. If he had accepted, it would have meant death for all of us, even his wife and the unborn child, so he refused. They packed their belongings and disappeared. I know not where they went, or how they came to mean something in legends. I do not even know if they are the Adam and Eve from your stories. I do know that they were not the first people, nor were Lilith and I the first vampires. Those titles belong so far back in the mists of time, no one breathes who can remember them."
Katelina nodded absently. Tiny flashes played behind her eyes as he spoke, like clips in a video. Was he sending them to her, or were they something left over from the ritual?
He seemed oblivious to her question, lost among the demons of his past. "After that, Lilith stayed, but only because she lacked another destination. When she grew brave enough, she ventured into the world. I did not see her for over a thousand years. I heard later that she wandered the west, drinking from children and giving immortality at will, spreading the gods' gift across the lands. Near the end of her furlough she settled in what you would call Mesopotamia with a different set of gods. When she found that she could not claw her way to the top, she grew angry and returned to me. She was not pleased with what she found. Though I had the gods' favors I still served them. And, with the gods' permission, I had shared the dark favors with others."
"Your three wives. The ones that Lilith murdered." Somehow Katelina knew they weren't really wives in a romantic sense.
"The one you call Naamah might be considered so, but the other two, no. They were only her sisters. I knew Naamah as Ji, or that's what I remember of her name. She was kind and quiet. I don't know that I loved her, but I was fond of her." His voice turned bitter. "That was why she saved Ji's heart. At first it was in a jar in the chamber where she kept me, a bitter reminder, but later it was taken."
Katelina felt bad for feeding it to him, even under duress.
"It is no fault of yours. The inscription said it must be done that way, and who were you to question? Enough of the past. We are here and your meal waits. When you have finished I will return and escort you to the next ritual."
