Chapter 481
Katelina woke before the others. The dream clung to her consciousness like spider webs. Samael's warning left her uneasy. Old habits took her to the bathroom but there was nothing to do. Her hair looked fine. She didn't need to bathe, and she didn't need to pee. She changed her clothes in a sad attempt to exert control over a life she had no control of.
When she came back, she discovered the others waking and Jorick up. He pulled her into an embrace. "Good morning, little one."
"I don't know if it's good or not. Samael said"
Jorick cut her off, "He spoke to you? When?"
"Last night," she said impatiently.
"He's still appearing in your dreams? Was this the first time since you've been turned?"
"Yes. Now will you listen?"
"He shouldn't be able to. The change should have broken any link."
"He said it was a different kind of link."
Jorick tightened his hold on her. "I've never seen anything like this."
Jamie cut in. "I doubt anyone has. No wonder Munich wanted to study her." She looked sharply to the Executioner and he shrugged. "Unlike Jorick, I'm not convinced your memories of their dungeon were drug induced hallucinations. There have been rumors about their experiments before. Malick once considered emulating them. Eileifr saw his intentions and the council forbade it before he could begin."
Katelina shuddered at the disjointed visions. A screaming victim. Bloody tiles. Her arms strapped to a bed where they were going to
"Their orders changed," she murmured. "They said, 'master refused to cooperate'."
"That was probably when the Kugsankal decided you should 'escape'," Jamie said. "They would need something plausible to tell their underlings."
"Why would they want us to escape?"
Jamie met Jorick's eyes and he sighed. "I believe they wanted you to lead them to Samael."
"They couldn't find him themselves? They're ancient. Ishkur is at least as old as Samael is."
Jorick shook his head. "They might seem that way, but they aren't. There's at least a thousand years difference. Samael can completely mask the presence of himself and those around him. When they sent Wolfe to China, he investigated Samael's complex and found no evidence of life. He assumed that whoever had occupied it had left. However, not only was Samael there, but you spoke with humans who had been there since he took possession, meaning-"
"Meaning they were there when Wolfe investigated. Wolfe is a jerk, but he's smart enough to sense a human, so Samael masked their presence."
"Just as he hid yours once he took you from Indonesia," Jorick finished uneasily.
"Because of that, the Kugsankal's plan didn't pan out," Jamie said. "You couldn't lead them to him because you were as invisible as he was. Thanks to Verchiel's rescue and Malick's planned attack, they now know where Samael is and no longer need you."
Katelina thought of Verchiel and Kai, who had tracked her down. "If he masks his presence, how could Kai find us?"
"He hides his current whereabouts, not his trail," Jamie said.
She started to ask why the Kugsankal didn't follow the trail when Jorick said, "A trail doesn't last long, even to a powerful hunter. Three or four days at the most, and usually less."
Ryuu returned from the bathroom. The smell of his blood made Katelina's throat tighten. She was torn between disgust and hunger.
Maeko cleared her throat. "In a cooler in the back of the plane are several bags of blood. Perhaps enough for all of us."
When their breakfast was done, they headed out. The airstrip was even more basic than the one in Tajikistan, but the locale was better. Instead of scrabbling countryside, the scenery was lush and green. Tropical style shrubs and trees littered the landscape. Katelina thought of a "wish you were here" postcard.
A plane was parked on a patch of concrete. She could feel the presence of the human pilots inside. "Is that Sorino's?"
"I imagine so," Jamie said. "But where is he?"
"A conversation with the pilots?" Maeko suggested. She hurried across the strip and knocked politely on the hatch. It took a few tries before a man stuck his head out. Maeko introduced herself, then asked useless questions about the weather and the location of the nearest hotel. She bowed her thanks and bounced back to them, pointing to a road.
"Sorino-san took this track to the river."
With no vehicles, they went on foot. The road started off in decent shape. The farther they got, the worse it became. Ryuu lagged behind and Katelina wondered that he could be so slow. She was barely better than a snail, so what did that make him?
"You've gotten better," Jorick murmured.
"It doesn't feel like it. You're still faster."
"We're also older. It's the opposite of mortality. The older you get, the stronger you are."
"Yeah, I know."
The land turned into small hills, then large ones, and finally they were trekking through what she was sure were mountains. When the road sputtered out into a dirt track, they stopped to let Ryuu rest.
Katelina tried to swallow her impatience. She'd been the one they'd had to stop for before, and the kid was lugging a heavy backpack. "You're sure Sorino came here? Maybe this is another ruse?"
Jamie shook his head. "I can smell him, faintly. If we had a tracker we could do better."
Katelina didn't bother trying detect him. The overwhelming crush of sap, greenery, and decaying vegetation drowned out everything.
When Maeko gave the all clear signal, they started up again. The vegetation got thicker and the track all but disappeared. They paused frequently for Jamie or Jorick to sniff their way forward. The imagined mountains gave way to hills, then to a valley. Finally they broke through to a river bank.
A handful of rusty buildings dotted the area. The condition of the bank showed that the river was lower than usual. From the green sprouts, it had been a while since it dropped. Three small boats lashed to posts hung above the surface of the water. Katelina guessed that when the river was up they'd float
Maeko and Jamie headed toward one of the buildings and returned just as quickly. "Sorino headed upriver with a boatman who came back the same day. His destination can't be far."
"What is the destination?" Katelina asked.
"I'll know it when I see it," Jamie answered.
In other words he'd seen a snapshot in someone's mind and would recognize it when he saw it. Great.
They untied one of the boats and let it drop into the water. Jamie used a long pole from one of the others to hold the craft steady while Jorick climbed in. Katelina worked her way down the bank carefully. The boat rocked as she stepped in. She clutched Jorick and suppressed a squeal.
"It's fine." He helped her to a seat. "It's only a boat."
"Boats sink." She clutched the sides, her eyes on the river. The stars and moon reflected in its surface and she couldn't tell how deep it was.
"Not very, by the look of things." Jorick caught Maeko and gently deposited her next to Katelina. "You can swim, can't you?"
"A little bit. That doesn't mean I like it. And this is a river. Rivers sweep you away."
"I doubt this one would." Jamie hopped in. "We could probably walk up it, but-" He glanced at Ryuu. Katelina could guess the rest of his thoughts, "But the slow human is exhausted and this way he can sit."
When they were all loaded, Jamie pushed off with the pole, using it to literally pull them up the river. Jorick sat behind him, arms crossed and feet propped on the bow of the boat.
The small collection of buildings faded away to be replaced with broad, naked banks and vegetation. Night animals and bugs chirped in the greenery. The longer Katelina listened, the louder they got.
It was a scene worthy of a snapshot, and there she was without a camera. She told herself she'd remember it, but doubted she would. How many times had she tried to mentally etch a moment in her mind, to be left with only a foggy vagueness?
Jamie's opinion of "can't be far" was different than hers. The moon had crested and was on its way back to the horizon before they pulled to the shore. He and Jorick sniffed the air then nodded in unison.
"This way."
Their progress was slower than before. They stopped more frequently to let Jorick and Jamie sniff the air. Katelina wondered why Maeko didn't do it. She must not see the point. Let the men play leader.
Fine with me.
Just when Katelina had given up on ever finding Sorino, the plants thinned to reveal sloping hills. Nestled in the hillside were several tin shacks. Rust ran down their sides in streaks and light poured from an open doorway. At the top of the hill was a bulky military style helicopter with double rotors.
She was aware of the other vampires a moment before they appeared. Three of them blocked the path, weapons pointed. The leader snapped out something that sounded Chinese.
Jamie stepped forward, his hands up. "We're looking for Sorino."
The leader switched to accented English. "You will drop your weapons and come with us."
Katelina had a nanosecond vision of Jorick and Jamie ripping the newcomers to shreds. Instead, the Executioner undid his belt and handed off his sword. Maeko likewise produced her gun and Hikaru handed over a set of daggers.
The welcome party glared at Katelina. She lifted her hands. "I'm unarmed."
With a distrustful grunt, they motioned them to the shacks. As they neared the open door, Sorino leaned out and surveyed them disapprovingly. "Jorick. How-lovely."
Jorick's scowl was his only answer.
The shack was a single room. Rugs covered the dirt floor, and cloth hung over the tin walls. A group of vampires was seated Indian-style around a hurricane lamp. All but two looked between twenty and forty. Of those, one was a dark haired child of no more than twelve. The other was an older bearded man. He wore a heavy robe of blue trimmed in gold. His hard eyes peered at them from under bushy eyebrows
It wasn't hard for Katelina to guess who he was. The Father of Shadows.
The bearded vampire stood and gave them a cold once over. "And you are?"
Sorino cut in front of him. "This is Jorick. Malick's fledgling."
The boy vampire leapt to his feet, his face contorted with fury. "Malick will know the agony of losing one he loves! Kill him!"
