Chapter 478
Katelina's wound was healed the next morning. She marveled at it in the chipped bathroom mirror. The skin was smooth and perfect, as if it had never been cut. She wished she could say the same for the rest of her. The scars she'd had when Micah turned her were still there; the mark Jorick had made, the lumpy scar that had been his first mark, the mess where her shoulder had been ripped open and sewn shut, the claw marks across her back, the thick, rope like scar that ran from her right hip to her armpit, and, just as Jamie had said, the spot where Verchiel had bitten her.
Competing claims. No wonder Jorick worried.
With no convenient blood bags and no vampire restaurants, they left the motel for a grouping of dark trees. The sky hung heavy with clouds. She could see the stars twinkling through them and the dull glow of the moon sheathed behind vapor. The ground was still soggy from yesterday's rain. A mournful wind howled around the rock formations. She thought again what a dismal location it was.
"It is the time of year," Maeko said. "Even paradise would look stark under such conditions."
As they walked, Katelina marveled at how quietly they moved. Normally she snapped every twig in a ten mile radius, but tonight
As if to prove her wrong, a stray branch cracked beneath her foot. She cursed under her breath and Jorick chuckled. "You can't expect a complete change. At least you've improved."
They broke into a grassy clearing where a giant deer nosed among the plants. His head jerked up and he tensed, then relaxed. Jorick nodded, as if to say that he was the one who had enchanted the creature.
This was the part where Katelina normally looked away, except this time she couldn't. She watched as Jorick bit into the animal's neck. The smell of the creature filled her nose and nearly choked off her breath. She tried not to think about what might be in the animal's fur.
When Jorick finished Maeko deferred to Jamie, then took her turn.
She pulled away and wiped daintily at her mouth. "Kate-chan would like to go next?"
"That's okay."
Maeko gave a slight bow. "We insist."
Katelina couldn't find a way to push the issue, so she moved closer. Though the animal stood relaxed, its eyes unfocused, she was intimidated. It was-big. The antlers were thick enough to skewer her. If Jorick lost his hold on it, even for a second-
"It's fine, little one."
She stepped closer. Under the scent of dirt and animal sweat she could smell the blood. Her stomach rumbled and she wasn't worried about the fur anymore. She bit in the same area Jorick had and instinctively sucked. The blood pulsed into her mouth and she sucked harder to increase the flow. Her body screamed for more. She reached deeper. In the back of her mind she saw rocky fields, tasted the green of summer, smelled the thick, heavy scent of fellow animals-
"That's enough."
Jorick tugged her away. As her mouth left the creature, the strange feelings and images disappeared. She blinked and fell back so that Hikaru could take a turn.
"It's the connection," Jorick said quietly. "You experienced something similar with Xandria."
She nodded absently as snippets of the woman's memories popped into her head.
"It is usually a conscious decision to establish a mental connection. Mind readers have an easier time with it than those who don't have the gift." He looked at her hard, as if trying to see something inside her skull. "Time will tell."
She wanted to ask what it would tell, but assumed it had to do with her abilities. He seemed determined she was a mind reader in disguise. Maybe it was like blocking; maybe it was there but she didn't consciously know how to use it.
When they finished they loaded up in Maeko's rental vehicle. The vampiress dropped them on the mountain. As they started up the dirt path, she leaned out the window. "Would Jorick-ue like us to remain here or go back to the stronghold?"
They locked eyes. Katelina wished that Jorick's suspicions were right. She'd like to be privy to the silent conversations once in a while.
Maeko bobbed her head. "Of course. Farewell. May we meet again, soon."
The vehicle pulled away and they turned to a hike up the hillside. They found Wolfe and Braydon at the house with the Birlik's team. The Scharfrichter barely laid eyes on them before he demanded, "Where have you been?"
"Reconnaissance," Jorick said. "Malick and his followers left a couple of hours before we arrived, via helicopter from an improvised landing pad near here. He was overheard saying that the prisoners were of no more use and he left the two behind to wait for someone. Undoubtedly that was Arlen, the one who got away from us."
Wolfe scoffed. "And where is your fledgling?"
"She left," Katelina said. "She's going back to Munich."
Wolfe grunted. "Fine, so long as her involvement ends here. We're on a mission from der H?here Rat. It's bad enough that you've brought your girlfriend."
"Perhaps I should leave her behind, chained to a stove?" Jorick asked with false lightness.
Wolfe's eyes narrowed. "That isn't the way it is-and my relationship with Sadihra is none of your business!"
"I meant nothing personal." A glint in Jorick's eye belied his words. "I'm sorry you found something close to home in my comment." He turned to Katelina. "Come, let's leave Wolfe to his crime scene."
"You're not going anywhere," the Scharfrichter said firmly. "I don't want to have to chase you down when we're ready to leave."
Jorick snapped a mock salute that left Wolfe's teeth grinding. "As you command."
They moved near one of the collapsed buildings. Jamie chuckled. "You know he'll report your insubordination to the H?here Rat."
"And yours. You don't seem particularly worried about it," Jorick replied.
"Neither do you. I can't imagine Eileifr taking the H?here Rat's complaints seriously. They've been at odds with one another since this mess started."
"They've been at odds since The Guild's inception." Jorick leaned back against a support beam. "Even if the True Council manages to suppress Malick, it's only a matter of time before another rises up to challenge them. They've spent six hundred years fighting to exert an uneasy control over the world, and if you look there are still pockets where their laws mean nothing. The Black Vigil regards them as little more than a nuisance, and each country's Guild does as it pleases while placating the Sodalitas. They will never rule completely, even with their abilities. Fear only goes so far."
"That sounds seditious," Jamie murmured.
"Take it how you want."
Jamie crouched to poke at the rubble with a piece of broken board. "Tyrants will always fall when people have had enough. Especially those the people do not accept. You forget my past, perhaps, if you think I'm blind to that."
When neither explained further, Katelina asked, "What about it?"
Jamie glanced up, then down again. "I was nearly killed defying a tyrant. No doubt I would have died had my sister not turned me." He dropped the board and stood. "I should call The Guild."
Jamie wandered away, seeking a cell phone signal. He was barely gone before Jorick said, "Scotland. Though I forget the battle or who they opposed. I know it boiled down to religion, as do all good wars."
The bitterness in his voice was plain. Katelina knew some of it had to do with his past. "The wars aren't really over religion. People use that as an excuse. It's always over power."
