Chapter 442
Missiles. Boris had said Malick had him looking at Missiles.
Katelina's heart skipped a beat. "Nuclear missiles?"
"Yes, yes. Very interesting to use the human's inventions. No one will think of that. Not that I hope the master wins, but one must admire originality."
She didn't admire it at all. That Malick might destroy the whole planet-and for what? To fight Samael? She thought about the prophecy they'd uncovered, concerning a "vampire apocalypse".
"Thus will begin the new age. Mankind will be subjugated to the will of the vampires and by this they shall live and die. It shall be as an apocalypse for all of mortal kind, when the Heart has been given to the broken body within the temple of the Raven Queen and the sleeping wreak their wrath. Then all will tremble at the might of the master and his consort in the time of the Great Destruction-Cities will be leveled and the works of men destroyed..."
Nuclear war had never occurred to her, but it fit. If the vampires were the ones who set it off, then it wouldn't be only mankind who was destroyed. Or would it? Would radiation hurt vampires? It was probably the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight that burned them. Did nuclear bombs have UV radiation? Even if they didn't, the nuclear winter that followed would destroy what life remained, leaving the vampires nothing to feed on. Malick couldn't really be considering something like that. Could he?
There was a noise at the door. Katelina jerked to her feet and backed into the corner. The padlocks clinked, then the door swung open. Katelina squinted against the onslaught of light.
She opened her eyes to see a pair of vampires grab her. She struggled and looked to Boris for help, but he stayed against the wall, his teeth bared in warning.
Katelina kicked as they dragged her down the hallway to a room tiled in saffron. A bed made of naked wood stood on tall legs, like something from a clinic, and they forced her onto it. They tied heavy restraints around her wrists and ankles, then left. She tugged against the straps while her terrified eyes leapt from object to object. A chair sat against the wall at her feet. A table was littered in glittering silver instruments, and a garden hose lay curled on the floor. Her stomach dropped when she realized its purpose was to wash the blood down the floor drain. Was this where they had taken Boris to make him cooperate?
Oh God.
Katelina felt Malick's approach before the door opened. He strode into the room followed by a tall lean vampire in coveralls. Malick paused next to the bed while the other moved to the table and organized the items.
"Hello again, my child. I did not think to see you so soon. How quickly Harn can arrange things. He is an asset." The master's smile grew and the other, probably Harn, grunted. "Now we will discover whether you are also an asset, or a waste of time."
He patted her leg, then sat in the chair. "Harn, I look forward to your performance, but know that we do not want to kill her. Yet. If Samael is to come, she needs to be breathing. There would be no point in his traveling to save a corpse. However, I doubt he is monitoring his link with her. Her pain and terror must be sufficient to get his attention."
Harn turned from the table with a nod, holding a shiny mallet. One end was brought to a dull point while the other was flat. He looked Katelina up and down, as if considering what to do. Her terrified mind ran through a host of possibilities, all of them bloody and painful.
Her heart pounded and she blinked away tears of terror. She'd been held prisoner before. The torture had been different, more casual brutality and humiliation, while this looked like something cold and calculated. She didn't think she could take it. Pleading words rose to her lips, but she forced them back.
The corners of Malick's eyes crinkled in amusement. She guessed that he'd heard her thoughts. He motioned to Harn and the vampire took hold of her wrist and forced her hand flat on the table. He brought the mallet down on her finger with a crunch. Pain shot up her arm. She held back a scream and Harn frowned. "She has stronger bones than usual for a human."
Malick chuckled. "You may find that she has many strengths not normal to her kind. She has tasted the blood of an ancient. Who knows what interesting qualities it might have given her. Certainly she will be able to withstand much, much more than her mortal counterparts."
Harn shrugged and slammed the mallet with more force. As her whimpers died away, she felt Malick scraping through her mind. The memories of Claudius' den were forced to the surface. For a moment it was as if she was back there. She stood bound and half naked in front of the sneering vampire and his underlings. She could feel the cold floor on her feet, the chill air on her naked breasts, and the pulse racing terror as she watched her death draw closer.
Malick withdrew and the basement disappeared. She was back on the table. Her hand throbbed and her mind was torn between the horror of the past and the present.
"Continue," Malick said.
Harn brought the mallet down again. She choked back the cry, though she couldn't stop a tear from rolling down her cheek. Malick was in her head again. The tiled room disappeared in favor of the cold basement of her former tormentors. A bald vampire leaned close and whispered, "Isn't this fun? Shame it has to be so quick."
Then the tiled room and the pain of two injured fingers slammed back. Before she was fully oriented, Harn smashed the mallet a third time. A scream tore from her. She fought not to follow it with sobs.
She shrieked as he smashed the other two fingers, then paused to let Malick crawl inside her skull. The basement of her memories was back. The bald vampire tore the last of her clothing away. He ran violating hands over her body, his putrid breath in her face. She shuddered. It disappeared, replaced with Malick's tiled torture chamber. She choked on her tears as Harn flipped the mallet to the flat end and attacked her fingers. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed. Though it was a long, wordless wail, it was a cry for Jorick, for her hero who would come bursting through the wall to save her.
Malick chuckled. "Do you really believe he'll come?"
She spoke through gritted teeth. "Yes. And when he does he'll finish what he started with your hand."
Malick held up the stump. "This? A lucky stroke on his part while I was distracted. Regardless, I believe Samael will reach us first, don't you? It is not Jorick who has a link to you. How will he know where you are? Do you think Samael might send him a postcard?" Malick laughed. "No, my son is still in China, left with no witnesses to explain why you did not join him at the rendezvous point. Your secret hope that Verchiel lives is in vain, my child."
Katelina's chest tightened. Did he mean that-
Malick's smile grew. "How refreshing your sorrow is; and interesting. No wonder my son worries. I wonder if drinking Verchiel's blood gave you your misplaced affection, or if it is something more. Harn, continue."
Harn moved around the table and brought the mallet down on her other hand. Her cries echoed off the walls as he smashed a second digit, then waited for Malick. The master forced his way into her head. She was in the basement again, enduring the humiliation. Back and forth it continued. Harn broke her fingers, and Claudius ordered her into a rusted metal cage, leaving her naked, bruised, and beaten, until she wasn't sure which world was real.
Harn stepped away and she sobbed, her bravery lost to confusion. Malick's presence weighed on her like a suffocating blanket. She peered through teary eyes to see the bearded master. His smug smile twisted her stomach.
Harn held her elbow steady and raised the mallet, pointed side down. She knew what was coming and it was more than she could stand. No, no! No!
The last thought was a scream and Harn stumbled backwards. He looked quickly from Katelina to Malick. The ancient master laughed. "Continue."
Harn's pale eyes held caution as he brought the mallet down. She felt the crack. He hammered again and again. The room darkened around the edges, then brightened. He moved to the other side and Malick reached into her mind, taking her back to the basement, to the smell of smoke, the sound of screams from upstairs. Claudius roared in fury and ripped her from the cage and what came next
No.
The tiled room came back, blurry through tears of agony. Harn slammed the mallet into her shin. The room blinked black, then bright, then black again, like a strobe. Then everything disappeared in darkness.
