Chapter 469
It was Harn. Malick's torturer.
With a roar of fury Katelina ripped the ladder loose. She charged, knocking Jorick out of the way. Harn easily sidestepped her. When she turned back for him, the cumbersome ladder caught in the doorway.
"Katelina!" Jorick flung Harn aside to go after her. "What are you doing?"
With a growl of frustration, Katelina dropped the ladder. Harn had barely picked himself up before Jamie was on him, his sword flashing as he slashed. Harn spun away, but Katelina could see the blood splattered on his face.
A metal clunk sounded and the hatch flew open. Wolfe rushed at Harn, but he nimbly bounced past him and dropped to the floor below, Wolfe and Jamie right behind him
Jorick caught Katelina's arm. "I understand that you've trained some, but that's no reason to jump into battle!" His eyes went wide, as if he'd seen the seething broken memories in her head. His expression hardened. "We will tear him to pieces."
Jorick dropped through the hole in the floor and Katelina followed. Below, Malick's other goons had joined the fight. Harn worked on opening the next hatch while Wolfe battled Catya. She thrust a long thin sword that made Katelina think of a super barbeque skewer. Wolfe was able to deflect it with his shorter weapon. Meanwhile, Jamie fought off a rapier-wielding Raoul.
Jorick glared at Braydon, as if daring him to object, then grabbed Harn by the throat. He slammed him into the wall and snarled in his face. Harn did his best to turn away, flailing one arm wildly. Katelina saw the glint of metal in his other hand a moment before he stabbed the dagger into Jorick's back.
Jorick roared in surprise and Harn struggled loose. He ran toward Katelina, his lips pulled back from glittering fangs and his face twisted in animalistic fury. It was something she'd seen before. Just as with jumping down the hole, her instincts screamed.
Micah's words came back to her. "-remember you're not a fucking human anymore and don't let the bastards scare you."
Right, she reminded herself. I'm done being scared.
With a cry from a martial arts movie, her fist connected with Harn's face. The momentum knocked him backwards and he sprawled on the floor. She straddled his chest, his arms trapped beneath her legs. With each punch to his face she saw tiny snippets of what had happened in Malick's torture chamber. The mallet. A bladed weapon. A quick flash of blood staining her jeans. Her fury burned and she growled. It wasn't just Harn she was beating, but Claudius, and Nirel, and anyone who'd ever made her feel helpless and terrified.
Catya knocked into her. Katelina lost her balance, and Harn forced her off him. He swept to his feet, wiping blood from his eyes. He kicked her hard in the ribs then bounded away.
She bent double. Through the blur of tears she saw Braydon pull the dagger from Jorick's back. There was a tense moment before Jorick knocked it out of his hand and went for Harn.
Katelina imagined she could hear Micah's voice in her head, shouting for her to get up and "stop being a pussy." For once he was right. Harn was going to die, and she was going to be the one to kill the son of a bitch.
With a growl she pulled to her feet. Harn had gotten the hatch open, but he wasn't fast enough to get through. Jorick slammed him back into a steel support pillar.
The vampire's face was a swollen mass. Still, he leered at his opponent. "You take your anger out on the dog instead of the master. No wonder he favors you. You're so much alike." Jorick pulled back his fist, ready to slam it through him. Katelina grabbed the bloody dagger from the floor and charged.
Jorick stepped aside just in time. With a cry Katelina rammed the dagger into Harn's chest. The vampire coughed out a final mouthful of blood before he went limp. Katelina's hand was shoved clear through him up to her wrist. She made a sound of revulsion and pulled away, leaving the dagger embedded. He hung, pinned to the pillar by the blade, before his dead weight pulled him to the floor in a heap.
Blood gushed from his shattered chest and pooled on the floor. Katelina wiped her gory hand on her jeans. Bits of fibrous sinew and muscle clung and she shook her arm to throw them off.
The brewing storm downstairs broke. A wave of power burst through the open hatch and rolled over them. The fighting ceased as Katelina and the others fell back, momentarily stunned. Like a black shield, Jorick stepped in front of her, his hands ready claws at his side and his muscles tensed for action.
Malick stood at the top of the hatch. His black cloak billowed around him like a cape and the expression on his face was fatherly sadness.
"This is what you make of my welcome committee, my son. He was only to meet you and escort you below, though I expected no less from you." He frowned. "In truth I expected more. Your anger does not burn as brightly as I anticipated. Perhaps your love for the human was not as strong as you supposed."
Malick scowled. "No, I see why now. She is here. My orders were disobeyed! I specifically sent one of my most trusted to rob you of the thing you sought! To teach you" He broke off and his eyes glowed. "I see. My will was done, but before her death she was made immortal. I should perhaps feel fatherly toward her, as I had some hand in her transformation. Alas, I do not have the time to welcome her to our world. Perhaps at a later date?"
"You've done enough," Jorick snapped.
"And yet I have only begun. I would suggest you ask Braydon, but alas he was uninitiated." Malick gave him a serene smile. "You can come back, child. They believe they have the power to stop you, but they do not." He held out his hand. "Come."
Braydon shifted his weight and Katelina tensed. She'd seen this before, only this time she wasn't going to stand by while the traitor casually joined Malick's ranks. Wolfe seemed to be thinking the same thing when he said, "We will kill him."
"You haven't yet," the ancient master purred. "It is no matter. I can see he will not come back to us."
Katelina felt an odd sense of relief.
Malick looked to Jorick. "You did not keep your end of the bargain, my son; you did not come alone. I'm surprised at your cowardice. I thought at first it was your fury, your indescribable thirst for vengeance at your human's death, but now-" He broke off. "Ah yes. Not your plan, but theirs. How like them. You have brought what I requested?"
Wolfe stepped forward, his bloody weapon raised. "We are here by order of the Kugsankal to bring you and your accomplices to justice."
"Justice, what an interesting word. Your sense of justice involves trial and sentencing, as you have done to Braydon, while my son's demands no less than my life. When each man's sense of justice is so different, how can such a thing truly exist? Perhaps this is my justice."
