Chapter 460
A knock came on the door. Jorick pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, then pulled loose to answer it.
Ume stepped inside with a nervous smile. "I wondered if Katelina would come with me to see Fethillen?"
Katelina's first thought was, "Why me?" but she swallowed it down and managed a halfhearted smile. "Sure." She glanced at Jorick and he shrugged.
The women headed to the elevator in silence. Katelina tried to think of something to say and finally managed, "They let her go already?"
"No. She's in the dungeon."
Dungeon. The word conjured terrifying memories for Katelina. An exposed brain full of needles. Half-starved vampires staring from behind bars. The sharp smell of disinfectant. Jorick had said it was an effect of the drugs, but-
"I didn't know you could visit people there."
Ume nodded. "I got the idea from Loren. He visited Micah last time. The information desk was happy to explain it to me."
"That makes for a change. Usually they're the withholding-information desk." A sudden thought occurred. "We don't need IDs do we?"
"No. Though we have to agree to restraints."
Restraints?
The elevator doors opened and Ume led her down the corridor to a large room. Several chairs were arranged at one end like a waiting area. At the other was a heavily paneled counter. The vampire behind it looked up with surprise. Katelina couldn't help but notice that he was cute. Almost mind-numbingly cute. "You're out late."
"Are you closed?" Ume asked.
"That depends how long you plan to stay. Check-ins are welcome twenty-four hours a day." He laughed at his own joke. "No, you're fine. What prisoner are you here to see?"
"Fethillen," Ume said.
He gave her a wink, then turned to a large old-fashioned ledger and murmured to himself. "Fethillen. When was she-Oh! I found her. New arrival." He opened another book and made a note in flowing handwriting. "Names and relationship with the prisoner?"
"Ume. She's my master."
He caught her eye as he wrote it down. "But not your lover?"
The vampiress blushed. "No, no."
He gave her another teasing wink then looked to Katelina. "What about you, cutie?"
Cutie? She'd never been called that before. "Katelina."
"With a C or a K?"
"K."
"Good. I always think the Kates with a C are a little fake, don't you?"
She wasn't sure what to say. "Uh-No, not really." She tried not to notice that his eyes were especially blue when he gazed at her.
"What's your relationship?"
She started to say, "I have a boyfriend," then realized he meant her relationship to Fethillen. Her cheeks tinted and she hoped he wasn't a mind reader. "Uh-" What was she? "Friend."
He entered her information then motioned them to a door near the chairs. There was a loud click and he called, "Go in. Burton will handle the rest."
Burton. The name was familiar. When they went through the door Katelina realized why. He was the guard who'd come to take her to the dungeon on her last visit; the guard that Micah had attacked.
"Hello." Burton froze. His green eyes bulged, then narrowed. "You! Weren't you human?"
"Weren't you human once?" she snapped.
He rubbed the back of his neck and scowled. "Yes, but I didn't get someone suspended for three weeks and then sent to guard the dungeon as punishment. Never mind. Who are you here to see? Have you stepped up from suspension and gone straight to having them arrested?"
"It was your fault. You were the one who tried to force me to go with you instead of waiting for my master to show up." She cringed as the words left her mouth. It was bad enough that the vampires looked at humans that way, but for her to perpetuate it- "We're here to see Fethillen. She was just brought in tonight."
"The leggy blonde? Fine. Come over here." He motioned them to a little cubby on the right side and held two sets of silver cuffs. "You must both be restrained."
Ume had mentioned that. "Why?"
"To make sure you don't do anything stupid like try to break your friend out."
"That's fine." Ume held her hands out.
Burton snapped the cuffs over her wrists then turned to Katelina. The thought of being in the bowels of the stronghold, unable to defend herself, made her heart hammer in her chest. After an encouraging nod from Ume, she surrendered. "Jorick knows I'm here."
The cuffs snapped closed. "Isn't that nice? Maybe next time he'll come with you." He opened a locked cabinet on the wall. Inside hung row upon row of heavy, old fashioned keys. He made his selection then slammed the cabinet closed and relocked it.
"Aren't you going to search us?" Katelina asked sarcastically.
He moved to a keypad on the wall. "I don't need to. Dante is a mind reader. If you had any contraband on you he'd already know."
"Dante?"
"The guy at the front desk." Burton scoffed. "You didn't even notice. I wish I was a cupid like him. I wouldn't have ended up suspended."
She wasn't sure what he meant, but she had no intention of asking.
He led them down a long gray corridor. They walked past doors with red barred windows and finally stopped at number 221. Burton unlocked it and motioned them inside. "I'll be back shortly."
Ume nodded her thanks but Katelina hesitated in the corridor. She was cuffed. Willingly being locked in a cell seemed like a bad idea. She gave Burton a warning glare, as if to say he'd better let her out again, then stepped inside. She regretted it the moment the door slammed and the key clicked.
The cell was small, no more than six by six, with benches on either side. One was occupied by a vampire with dark, messy hair and an eye patch. The other by Fethillen. Heavy iron cuffs were on their ankles and chains snaked across the room, anchored to the bare floor.
Fethillen gave them a once over. "Why are you here?"
Ume cast an uncomfortable look at Sushel, then crouched before her former master. "I was worried. Are you all right? They didn't hurt you?"
"We do not need your worry. You have moved on and we are-happy for you."
Happiness was the last thing that shone through her words. At the best it was bitterness and at worst cold indifference. If she was as old as Katelina thought then her attitude wasn't surprising. It seemed the longer a vampire lived, the fewer feelings they retained.
"Why has the human come?" Sushel demanded.
Fethillen motioned him to silence. "No longer human."
"I wanted company," Ume admitted. "I thought to ask Loren, but he assured me everything would be fine. It seemed that demanding to see you would be the same as saying I didn't believe him."
Katelina tried to puzzle out the thought process and gave up. Ume was older than she was, used to a different culture, and had spent the last two hundred years under Fethillen's thumb. Free thinking probably wasn't her strong point.
"What will you do now that the Children of Shadows are dead?" Ume asked.
Sushel moved to stand over her threateningly. "Are you asking to come back, or suggesting we join you?"
"Neither." Ume turned to Fethillen. "I thought that since our mission was complete-you deserve a life of some kind."
"We have a life," Fethillen said. "And a purpose. The Father of Shadows is not yet defeated."
"But to hinge your life on a single man?"
Fethillen's face twisted in hatred. "He is no man! He is a worm! Memnon gave him power and I will be the one to take it away. The monster must die." She looked past her subordinate to meet Katelina's eyes. "Where is your master?"
"Jorick's in our room." With Xandria. She bet that was going well.
"A typical man. Leave the real work to the women." Sushel scowled, and Fethillen went on. "That's why you're here, yes? To discover my plans and see if I can be useful to you?"
"No," Ume said. "I invited her."
"And that is the reason he allowed her to come." Fethillen lifted her chin a notch. "You can tell your master that our paths have separated. We no longer need him."
Katelina bit her tongue to keep from saying, "And he doesn't need you, either."
Sushel added, "We will no longer allow him to interfere."
Fethillen glared him to silence. "My message is sufficient."
