Chapter 49
While Katelina and Jorick had been in the hospital, the other three vampires had cleaned up and changed their clothes. Jorick wore all black so the splatters of blood were nearly invisible, but Kateesha happily handed him a packet of handi-wipes to clean himself with anyway. He wrinkled his nose at the false "fresh scent" but dutifully swiped off the remaining blood from his exposed skin.
"You're sleeve's torn," Torina commented. "You should roll it up. And you have a hole in your slacks, though considering modern styles, I think you can get away with that."
Jorick rolled his eyes and turned his attention to helping Katelina clean what was left of the blood from herself.
On the outskirts of town, Oren pulled into a brightly lit gas station and by the time the car engine cut out, a stranger wouldn't have been able to guess that only hours earlier the vampires had been butchering their kin.
Torina had fallen into a sulky silence, but she broke it to demand, "What are we doing?"
"We need gas," Oren said. He glanced uneasily back at Jorick. "Does she- need- anything?"
Jorick looked questioningly at Katelina and she nodded reluctantly against his chest. Traveling with these four, she felt embarrassed to need anything. It was as though they were staring at her with condemnation for being so weak. Still, the hospital hadn't given her anything to drink despite their concerns about dehydration. "A soda- something to drink."
Jorick looked up and unabashedly repeated for Oren, "Yes. Something to drink."
"Such as?" Oren asked.
"Um-" They said soda caused dehydration, but she couldn't stand gator aid or plain water.
"Juice?" Jorick suggested.
Torina gave a huff. "And what kind of juice? I don't want to have to guess!"
Oren scoffed. "You're not going anywhere. Jorick can handle his own human."
Torina crossed her arms over her ample chest. "I don't care about handling his human, I just wanted to get out."
"Well you don't need to," Oren replied and then slammed the door.
Katelina clung to Jorick. If it meant going thirsty then fine, she'd stay thirsty, just as long as he didn't-
"I'll be right back," he said soothingly. He started to slide her into the empty space between himself and Kateesha, but she clutched his arm, and shook her head. She didn't want left alone with them.
He met her eyes squarely. "I'll be right back.". He quickly opened the door with one hand while he gently moved her off of his lap with the other.
Kateesha smiled broadly and laid a hand on Katelina's leg. "Isn't this cozy?"
Katelina jerked away and plastered herself against the window. She gave Jorick a last pleading look, but he only nodded to her and headed for the convenience store.
"Awww," Kateesha mock pouted. "I get the feeling she doesn't like me."
Torina popped down the sun visor and examined herself in the vanity mirror. "That's not a surprise." She produced a tube of red lipstick and applied it slowly to her lips. She smacked them together and glanced over her shoulder. "No one likes you."
"That isn't true." Kateesha's voice got sweeter with every word. "I seem to recall at least one person who was especially fond of me, that is until-"
Torina growled low in her throat and her lips curled back dangerously from long fangs.
Kateesha laughed and added, "Jorick likes me."
The redhead studied her adversary before she said forcefully, "No he doesn't." She turned back to the mirror and applied another layer of lipstick. "He doesn't like anyone anymore."
"Think what you will," Kateesha said lightly as she looked smugly at Katelina.
Katelina glanced from one to the other nervously, and then through the window at Oren. He stood next to the car, dutifully pumping gas. He wore a pair of faded jeans and a blue, long sleeved, button up shirt, the cuffs rolled up. His long blonde hair had been tamed into a pony tail and his amber eyes stared absently past the numbers flipping by on the pump, as if he were looking into a realm only he could see. But Torina, still in the midst of making herself presentable, interrupted his reverie when she opened the car door and shouted to him, "I need a different pair of shoes after all!"
Oren's head snapped up and, though he didn't answer and went back to staring at the pump again, it was obvious that the doorway to his far away world had closed and he was now focused his task.
He finished pumping the gas and opened the trunk. It slammed shut moments later and he appeared with a pair of spiky high-heeled shoes dangling from his fingers. Torina took the shoes and handed him the old pair.
He stared at them as though they were a foreign object. "What am I supposed to do with these?"
She rolled her eyes and stretched her legs to examine the effect of the new shoes. "Put them in the trunk, of course!"
"I already closed it," he said flatly and handed them back. "Hang on to them."
"What?" she cried as he started to walk towards the building, ignoring her. "Oren! Come put these in the trunk!" He continued to walk and she amended, "Or give me the keys! I suppose I can do it-"
Oren reached the glass door to the building and glanced back, his finger to his lips. Then, he disappeared inside.
"Of all the - selfish, asinine..." Torina broke off and hefted the shoes up distastefully. "Hang on to them" she repeated and dropped them into the floorboard. She slammed the door and growled, "I'll show him how to hang on to things!"
Kateesha laughed again and Katelina didn't comment.
Oren and Jorick returned together. Oren climbed in the driver's seat wordlessly, and Jorick handed Katelina a fountain cup of tea and the baggy of pain pills the nurse had given him. "Better take it now," he advised. "Before the other stuff wears off."
Her fingers shook as she opened the bag and popped one of the pills from the blister seal. She stuffed the round white object clumsily in her mouth and took a drink through the straw. She tried to swallow and choked loudly, which drew a look of amusement from Kateesha.
"Careful," Jorick said quietly. When her coughing fit subsided he held out a large blue bag of pretzels. "I got you something to eat." She took the shiny bag and cradled it in her lap uncertainly. Her stomach clenched and heaved at the thought of food. With some of the images from her ordeal still fresh, she wasn't ready to eat yet.
Jorick handed her a small white box that rattled noisily. "And I also got you some other pain medication, in case you need it."
She nodded in acknowledgment and he stuffed the box back in his pocket before he slid into the backseat, and settled in between the two women.
Torina glared over her shoulder. "There, your little human's all taken care of. Can we go now?" Before he could answer she swiveled her gaze to Katelina and her pretzels. "And don't eat those in here," she added fiercely.
Katelina didn't answer. Instead she turned her face to the window.
