Chapter 433
Katelina's dinner was the same as the previous night. The women stood near the wall, hands behind their back and eyes on the floor. Though the food was good, she had to force it down. It felt strange eating while the sentinels stood guard. She wanted to order them out, but Samael had as much as told her to get used to it.
She chewed and swallowed mechanically. Her mind wandered. She had a sudden vision of a beat up pan and scorched rice. It had been hot in the jungle. The thought seemed strange, and she pressed at the edges of it. The memory expanded to an entire scene. She knelt next to a fire, stirring the contents of the pan furiously. Seated on a log, a vampire with long black hair laughed. It was Jorick.
With his name came a rush of emotion and she gripped the edge of the table. Where was he? Why wasn't he there? Why -
The thought cut off and she stared at her half eaten rice. What had she been thinking about?
Samael walked through the door and stole all of Katelina's attention. He took a seat across from her. "You have not finished your meal. Eat."
It was a command and she obeyed. She didn't even taste the food as she stuffed it in her mouth and swallowed.
Samael frowned. "If you were finished there is no need to eat further."
She dropped the spoon to the table and tried not to look at him. The compulsion was almost more than she could bear.
He gave a resigned sigh. "I have no wish to cause you discomfort. Once the rituals are complete, you will no longer be overwhelmed. Come. If you are finished, we will go to the purification."
He motioned the women to follow them through the complex. The sky outside was a molten mix of silver and purple, and Katelina thought vaguely that it would be night soon.
They stopped at a building with open doors. Inside, lamps and braziers circled a giant copper tub. Incense smoked at the four corners. Three women Katelina didn't recognize stood to one side, hands clasped.
Steam curled from the tub. Katelina drew closer to see that small white bags floated on the surface of the water, like tiny pillows. She absently poked at one.
"There are herbs inside, for the purification," Samael explained. "They will cleanse you."
It seemed she was going to get the bath she'd wished for, though she'd had a private setting in mind. Obviously sensing her discomfort, Samael said, "Your modesty will be preserved. I will be there." He motioned toward a dark folding screen painted with tiny figures.
Katelina wanted to say something about the women. Where would they be? The words stuck in her throat as Samael led her to a cushion and motioned her to kneel.
Like yesterday's ritual, he knelt and performed a sing-song chorus. Katelina lost herself to the sound. When it stopped, she felt as if she had also ceased to exist. She snapped out of it at Samael's command, and followed him to the steaming tub. He inclined his head briefly, then disappeared to take his place behind the screen.
Though she couldn't see him, she could feel him. He sucked up all her coherent thoughts, like a black hole, and she didn't argue while the women nervously stripped off her clothes and helped her into the tub. As though commanded, she ducked her head under, letting the delicately scented water saturate her hair. It was only when her lungs felt ready to burst that she came back up with a gasp.
The women around the tub began a strange chant, their expressions blank. Katelina wondered that they all knew the ancient words, then realized they didn't. They were little more than puppets for Samael.
A soothing peace washed over her and left her empty. She didn't care about anything. Not about the people, or the ritual, or her lost memories. Nothing mattered.
The bath water was cool when the women ceased their chants and helped her out. Once she was dried and dressed, Samael appeared and motioned her to follow him.
Outside, the sun had set and the moon had risen. He led her to her chambers and deposited her on a stool. "How do you feel?"
"Fine."
"The night is no more than half finished. Is there something that you wish to do?"
Katelina couldn't find any words, or desires. A voice shouted in the back of her head, but she couldn't understand the words.
Apparently Samael could. "You have questions you wish answered. Your lover, for instance. Where is he? Hmmm." Samael closed his eyes. Katelina felt his attention disappear, as if his will and all his thoughts had turned elsewhere. It was like she could breathe again.
The freedom disappeared quickly. "He seeks for you, even now. He is not the only one. It is no matter. He will abandon his quest when he has tired of it. If there is one thing the slow turn of centuries has taught me, it is that lovers grow bored, no matter what enticements you offer. For how can passion sustain eternally? Is it not, by its very nature, a sudden, fleeting moment? All lovers will eventually betray the object of their ardor, leaving only cold heartache where passion's warmth once resided. It is a cruel world, not made for the long life of gods, but for the short interim of the mortal. Nothing can satisfy for eternity. Love and excitement are fleeting, and eternity is spent with only the chill comfort of hate."
He was talking about Lilith again.
"Yes. She was insatiable, seeking that thing which would carry her through the ages. She had taken lovers in her absence, and when she discovered that her latest would never be the one in command, she returned to me. She had tasted the edge of worship. Mortals had fallen at her feet and begged to be taken by her. She wished that again, but I did not command such reverence. I served the gods faithfully, and though I was high among their servants, I was still a servant. I loved her, or thought I did, and I desired to please her above all others. When my brother in blood, Xiangliu, suggested that we take a land for our own, I agreed. Xiangliu offered me emperorship of what would be our new kingdom, but I had no desire to rule. I deferred the position to him whom I trusted."
Wisps of emotions slipped through her while he spoke, as if she was feeling the residue of his sentiments. He had loved Xiangliu as a brother; trusted him, looked up to him. An undertone of bitterness told her something was about to go wrong. Part of her didn't want to know, didn't want to feel what had to be coming.
"We gathered a following of our kind and left for our new empire. They were a lesser culture of mortals, and it was easy to overcome them. We divided this new kingdom into domains. We showed the mortals wonders, and they bowed to us, as though we were gods or angels. Through us they learned cultivating, medicine, the secret of metal. How to follow the stars in the sky, and their hidden meaning. They paid for this knowledge with their blood and with the blood of their children. My brothers took their women and their men for pleasure, sometimes to the death. Though I knew in my heart things had gone wrong, I stayed silent, for it was not much better in my own dominion. Lilith wished to be empress and took her frustration out on those beneath us. She played, tortured, and bled, killed at will, and I let her, with the hope it would eventually be enough. It never was."
The red tinted feelings that swept through Katelina grew stronger. They swelled into fury and disgust. She knew they weren't only for his wife and his brother, but also for himself. He'd allowed her to do as she pleased. He should have stopped her, but he was weak.
He cleared his throat. "We destroyed the balance. They began to share the gift with the mortals, one after another. Not as equals or companions, rather as slaves. The humans called them children of the gods. You would know them as the Nephilim. The humans feared them, while the immortals used them as weapons or sport. Soon the very land was saturated with the blood needed to keep such numbers fed. Mortals were drugged and bled, kept in what amounted to farms, but even that was not enough. Hunger led to anger and anger to war. My brothers allowed the god children to take neighboring civilizations, feasting and gorging. They knew not restraint, only endless gluttony, and that was what drew the ire of my gods."
By that he meant
"Yes, Nuwa and the other gods that I had served faithfully. They came to us on the wings of war, and the battles raged. I did not recognize my friend Xiangliu anymore, bloated was he with power and lust. In his cowardice he fled, leaving death and destruction behind him. He was hunted across the lands, and eventually destroyed. In his absence, my brothers were killed until only I remained. And I believe you know the rest."
"Lilith imprisoned you?" But she knew more than thathad known ever since the moment in the temple when he'd looked in her eyes and revealed his identity. When the war settled he'd begged forgiveness from Nuwa, their empress, and he'd blamed Lilith. It was her doing, her war, her sin. Nuwa forgave him, but Lilith did not. They fought, bodies twisting in the firelight. He was stronger and he pinned her to the floor. His hands were like talons and he readied to rip her heart from her chest.
The blow came from behind. Lilith's lover stood in the shadows, and before Samael could get a look at his face he felt the sharp cut of a knife across his back, diagonal from shoulder to hip. He swept to his feet and spun toward Lilith, but her lover attacked again from behind. The knife sliced cold and sharp across his throat and he stumbled, his hands to the wound to stem the flow of gurgling black blood.
He fell to his knees and looked up to see them standing over him. Lilith with her long dark hair, and her lover with his orangey-brown eyes.
Katelina jolted. She knew that face. She'd seen it in Munich, when she'd faced the True Council.
"He calls himself Ishkur now," Samael said. "He was young then and seduced by her grace. As I said, I believe they had quarreled over his lack of power, and he had come to reclaim her, though I know not for certain. Once, I thought to seek vengeance on him, but no longer. He is of no importance. She is the only one that matters."
Katelina nodded. His hatred of the vampiress was mirrored in herself, whether from the blood he'd given her or because his emotions seeped through her skin. "Where is she?"
"That remains to be seen. Like myself, she can mask her presence. Do not fear. We will find her, and we will have eternity to do it."
Katelina's stomach rumbled. She'd had only one meal yesterday, and she hadn't eaten much of her lunch.
"You are hungry. I will have the humans bring some food for you." He stood and smoothed his robe. "This will be your last night as a mortal, and your last meal. You should savor it."
Alarms blared in the back of her mind, but she couldn't grasp the terror. In Samael's presence all she could feel was peace.
