Chapter 458
Sorino's smile gave Katelina chills. The vampire was up to something.
Jorick obviously sensed it. "What do you want?"
"Want? You make it sound mercenary." The waiter approached and he ordered for himself and Kai, then turned back to Jorick. "I came to give you information concerning the Children of Shadows."
Ume stiffened, but Jorick asked coolly, "In exchange for-?"
"I'm not asking for anything. I only thought you'd be interested to know that the Sodalitas not only ascertained the Children's hideout, but sent a death squad to deal with them, led by our friend Wolfe."
Xandria gaped. "I thought the Children of Shadows split up. Is Cye with them?"
Sorino regarded her like a fly who'd landed on his plate. "If you're referring to Cyprus, then no. He's already dead."
Heartbreak flashed in Xandria's eyes before she looked to her lap. "Oh. I knew they had casualties, but I was hoping he'd made it."
Katelina patted her arm comfortingly and Sorino ignored her. "As I was saying, I don't believe Wolfe will use his resources to their full potential. He is obsessed with rules. Rather than destroy the Children of Shadows, he will bring them back for questioning, trial, and punishment. More lengthy judicial nonsense." Sorino studied Jorick from under half closed lids. "Sometimes it's better to handle things the quick way."
The information felt familiar and Katelina tried to remember where she'd heard it. Boris. He'd mentioned it when he'd told her Sadihra was coming. But how did Sorino find out?
"How do you know?" she asked suspiciously.
Sorino gave her a condescending smile. "I plucked it from Sadihra's mind while we were in Namibia. And since we arrived I've heard from similar sources that Wolfe returns tonight with his prisoners."
The waiter interrupted with their orders. Xandria poked at what looked like a steak covered in gravy and mysterious vegetables, and Kai started on his sandwich. The vampires drank their blood nonchalantly. Katelina's instinct left her eyeing the gravy covered steak, but she lifted her warm blood and gave it a swirl. The crimson liquid sloshed up the side. Her stomach knotted, torn between revulsion and hunger.
She glanced at Jorick and, like a teenager with alcohol, threw it back. Unlike cheap booze, the blood didn't burn. It soothed and she looked at the empty glass with disappointment.
An announcement came over the loudspeaker calling the guard on duty to the "unloading entrance".
"That sounds like our cue." Sorino finished his blood and Kai stood obediently, half of his meal on his plate. The vampire glanced to Jorick as he fastened the chain to the boy's collar. "Care to join us?"
Ume and Loren stood and, though Katelina expected him to say no, Jorick shrugged. "Why not. Come, Katelina. And you'd best bring your human."
"She has a name, and she isn't mine."
"Tell that to the H?here Rat."
She gritted her teeth and followed them out the door, Xandria trailing behind, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
Sorino led them to the third floor, then down several corridors. They stopped before an elevator with barred doors and a number pad on the wall. Katelina recognized it. They'd used the elevator to flee to the Scharfrichter's back entrance and escape the stronghold on their first visit. Only then they'd had Cyprus, a former stronghold guard, who knew the combination.
Katelina asked, "How are we going to get in?"
"We're not." Sorino crossed his arms. "This leads to a back way out, in the alley across from the vehicle garage: the Scharfrichter's private unloading entrance. They'll bring the prisoners through there, then down this elevator. You may recall that when we arrived we had only two prisoners, Malick's lackey and the Russian, so the Scharfrichters searched them and did their paperwork in the Scharfrichter office upstairs. With as many prisoners as Wolfe is likely to have, they will use the official processing room." He pointed to a door. "Once they're finished, the prisoners will be taken to the dungeon by a private elevator, whose entrance is in the processing quarters."
"And if we're standing here we'll see who they've captured," Katelina finished.
Sorino chuckled. "Immortality has done something for your intelligence."
Katelina scowled, a retort on her tongue, when the telltale whirring of the elevator cut her off. Instinctively she moved behind Jorick, her eyes trained on the gilded, barred door.
A guard pelted down the hallway, his crimson coat flapping behind him. He skidded to a halt before the elevator, then threw a reproachful look over his shoulder. "You must move along."
Though Katelina and Xandria drew back, the others remained firmly planted as the elevator ground to a halt. The inner doors slid open, leaving the bars in place. The guard called something in German to the occupants, then pressed a number code into the pad on the wall. The bars slid away. Out stepped a Scharfrichter and four prisoners with their hands bound behind them. They wore black ninja-style outfits and Katelina knew that on their backs would be the Dragon-esque symbol of Memnon, the sign of his Children of Shadows.
Except, it wasn't there.
The final Scharfrichter walked out. The golden emblem gleamed around his neck. His dark brown hair brushed his shoulders, and his cold grey eyes snapped over the hallway and its occupants. It was Wolfe, the leader of the Scharfrichter. "I should have expected your interference. Move on. This corridor is to remain clear."
At his words, the last prisoner stepped into the hall. She was tall, her blonde hair swept back in a bun. A pale scar ran across one cheek, and part of her ear was missing. Like Wolfe, she glanced at them with a cool expression.
"Fethillen!" Ume cried. Katelina snatched at her, but she wasn't fast enough to stop the vampiress from running toward the prisoner and her guard.
Reflexively, Wolfe whipped around to face her, his weapon drawn. It looked like someone had stuck several sharp, gleaming blades together on a handle to maximize the cruelty. "Get back now, or I will stop you!"
