Chapter 501
Katelina reached out mentally and felt the sudden crushing presence of the ancient master. She drew back and tried to shut off her perception, only she didn't know how.
"Are you comin'?" asked Micah.
She pushed herself to follow him. They moved past the last of the buildings, and hopped over a wall. A courtyard spread on the other side, peppered with ornamental trees and hedges, buildings and roofed walkways. Malick stood on the roof of one, a smile on his lips, and his staff in his good hand. The moonlight glinted from his crown and his white hair, giving him an artificial halo. Two vampires stood on either side of him, gripping their weapons, their faces an open threat.
Oren and Torina stood on the other side of the courtyard, splattered with crimson. Loren and Lurid were behind them, both wounded. The teen leaned on the wall. His pale face and tight skin spoke of blood loss. To Katelina's right, Maeko and Hikaru stood back to back, her gun drawn and his stick at the ready.
Verchiel crouched on the roofed walkway like a vulture. Jamie knelt near him, battered and bloody. Katelina didn't think any of them could make it through another battle.
In the center of the paved yard was Jorick, covered in blood, his clothing torn. With a crack, he broke the neck of an opponent, then punched his hand through the vampire's chest. He crushed the pulpy heart in his hand and threw the dead body aside.
"Malick!" His eyes were dark fire. Katelina could feel the power and fury radiating from him in a throbbing cloud.
"My son," Malick called. "You have made your way to me at last, soaked in the blood of your enemies and full of fire, just as I remember you."
"I am not here for a reunion!"
Malick chuckled. "Yes, my son, I know why you are here. You come as my dark angel, bringing death. And I know why. I know your list of grievances, some imagined and some real. The greatest: that I ordered the death of one whom you hold dear, one who bleeds another master's blood. Would you destroy the fount of your own immortality for another's fledgling?"
Katelina glared at the ancient master. How dare he bring up the debacle with Micah!
"Katelina is mine," Jorick snarled and drew closer. The air around him shivered as his power continued to grow, broiling out in furious waves.
"No, my son. Samael's blood flows through her. She will never belong wholly to you. She will always be torn between two masters. If he calls for her, she will go without thought."
With a jolt, she realized Malick had never meant Micah. To the master, Micah's turning was an unimportant event that did nothing to pollute what Samael had already left in her.
Jorick roared. Katelina felt the throb of his anger, so strong it made her head hurt. She could almost see the power he threw at Malick. One of the master's guards leapt in front of him, to fall from the roof with a cry. He landed in a heap and rolled into a ball, hands on his ears, a blood trail leaking from one nostril.
Katelina had a flash back to the atrium. Vampires fell to their knees clutching their heads, blood running from their ears and noses as they died. She pressed back against the wall and tried to come to terms with the past and present at once. For the first time since she'd met Jorick she was scared of him, scared of what he could do.
Like one of the ancient monsters.
Malick smiled. "You've improved, my son, more than I gave you credit for. However, I did not come all this way for you. Samael!" he bellowed. "What does it take to draw you from your hole?"
The ancient vampire appeared in the center of the courtyard, moving so fast she couldn't see it. His hair settled around him like liquid night, and his yellow robes shone like the sun in the darkness. His eyes touched Katelina a moment, then moved to the invader on the roof. "Why do you call me, child? Do you wish for death?"
Malick laughed. "I will not die at your hands. I would say that you will perish at mine, but you are already dead. Even in your threats you are cold. You care for nothing, not the woman you shared your blood withher pain and death were not enough to rouse youand not your bloodline. I destroyed your descendants in a symphony of splintered bones and screams. Your legacy is forever wiped from this earth, yet you still did not stir. All those who issued from your loins, they are ashes! And stillstill!the great master does not lift a finger. 'Then kill them,' you said, and kill them I did. I wonder if you felt their pain?"
Destroyed. Wiped out. What had Boris said? "In Russia and Syria he has had me looking into the history of bloodlines." Of course. That was why Malick had kidnapped and killed the bizarre mixture of humans and vampires in Tajikistan. They were the descendants of Samael and his brother's wife, the child his brother had believed was his, the child that had enraged Lilith and brought everything to a head between them.
The child that inadvertently caused a bloodbath.
Samael's expression and voice held no feeling. "I have no connection to those you murdered. You call them my descendants, but what are they to me? When I lay entombed, they did not come to my aid. As for the woman, I protected her in my own way. She did not need me to race like the wind in the autumn and shake the branches of your house. She stands here now, whole and strong. You have done nothing. You are nothing."
Samael raised his hand and a ball of shimmering power coalesced around it. With a flick of his wrist he sent it flying to Malick's prone guard. He didn't even get a chance to scream before his head exploded in a shower of bones and brains.
Casually, Samael lifted his hand higher. With a flick, he sent another ball of power into Malick's second guard. The master flinched as his ally's blood splattered on his pale face.
"And now your petty life ends."
Malick lit up. "No, I think not. You have forgotten something."
Samael turned toward the building behind him. Through the open door rushed a herd of vampires, weapons raised. The eerie battle cry tore from their lips as they poured into the courtyard. Jorick grabbed the first and slammed him into the ground. Maeko shot off several bullets, and Hikaru hurled himself at another, spinning and attacking with his stick, like something from a ninja movie.
Micah moved to join, but Samael fluttered his hand. As he did, the vampires fell in a line, holding their heads and screaming. With another flick, their brains exploded one after another in a rolling wave of destruction.
Their allies rushed over their corpses. Behind them came a wave of vampires in black coats and golden eye medallions; Malick's army from outside the walls.
Samael moved his hand, like running his fingers through water, and another line fell. He repeated his gesture and again their heads exploded.
"Holy fuck," Micah muttered. "They ain't gonna be able to put their heads back on."
Katelina thought of Takeshi's missing foot, and Loren's arm. They both had to live without the limbs now, but what happened if a vampire's head was destroyed? It was their heart you had to crush to kill them-
Thick black blood oozed from the open wounds of the fallen. Katelina guessed that it wasn't just their brains Samael liquefied, but all their organs, including their heart.
Samael moved his hand to take out the next wave. Some of the vampires drew back. Samael flicked his wrist and a third row of heads exploded. All but four of the vampires in the back fled. Jorick took one. Hikaru and Maeko another. With a tired nod, Jamie leapt to deal with the third, while Verchiel went for the fourth.
His enemies taken care of, Samael turned back to Malick. "Your army has deserted you, child. You die alone and unsung."
Malick leapt to the covered walkway and Samael's ball of power slammed into the roof. Katelina tensed as Samael let loose another blast. Again Malick leapt away. He landed in front of the ancient and swung his staff. It met with a jolt, like swinging a bat into a concrete pillar. His staff shattered and he flew backwards and slammed into the wall.
Jorick punched through his opponent's chest, then moved to stand in front of Samael, the gore still dripping from his fist. "Malick is mine."
Samael dropped his hand. "Then kill him, if you are able."
Malick stood, wiping blood from his face. "He can try." His eyes gleamed like polished mahogany and a smile curved across his lips.
