Chapter 503
Jorick gave a war cry and rammed the dagger into Malick's chest. The ancient master screamed and flailed as Jorick sliced through skin and bone to cut a circle around his heart. Katelina could see Malick's face; see the frozen terror and disbelief, the spark of betrayal that flashed through his jewel-like eyes. In the end it was his son, his favorite, who would take his life.
The circle complete, Jorick plunged his hand in and ripped skin and organs free. Blood bubbled from Malick's lips and ran down his chin as his eyes went glassy. His heart bled in Jorick's palm and, with a howl of rage, his son tore into the organ with his fangs.
Katelina pulled away from Micah to creep closer. Jorick rose to his feet. Blood sprayed on his face as he shredded Malick's heart and gulped the blood inside. Finished, he threw the pulpy remains to the ground.
Katelina stopped next to him uncertainly. She could feel the swirl of his emotions; the rage, the fear, the elation. They crashed into one another and overwhelmed her, as they must be overwhelming him. He turned to her. She hesitated to meet his eyes, afraid of what she'd see in the depths.
Samael asked her silently, "Can you love someone you fear?"
She forced herself to look at Jorick and found something she didn't expect shining in the depths. Something soft and warm, like rich fur and heady kisses. "Jorick?"
He swept her into his arms. Relief stole her words, so she buried her face against his chest and clung to him. A sob escaped. She wasn't sure what emotion it represented.
Jorick pulled back and cupped her cheeks with his gory hands. He searched her eyes for something, though she wasn't sure what. His troubled expression said he hadn't found it. Or maybe he had.
He pulled her back to him and hid his face in her hair. "It's okay little one; it's over."
She nodded against him. Malick was dead, once and for all. He could never haunt their steps, never interfere, never destroy their lives. And Jorick had killed him. She replayed the scene in her mind, Jorick said he had something to protect, not someone. What did he mean by that?
Jorick drew a deep breath. "It's you," he murmured softly.
"I'm not a thing."
"No." There was a long pause, as if he was searching for the right words. "Your opinion of me is. Your love is." He drew back and held her gaze. "I love you Katelina, and I don't want to lose you. Not to death, and not to the slow decay of love turned to hatred. Malick loved no one. There was no one whose opinion mattered. He could do and be what he wished. I don't want to look into your eyes and see the disgust that I felt for him shining back at me."
She brushed the hair from his face. "You won't."
He claimed her lips and she poured herself into the fiery kiss. She tried to unleash the depth of her feelings into it. She would never leave him, never hate him, never turn away.
The voice in her head was not Samael, rather a female, "Never is a long time."
She stiffened and pulled back, eyes searching. The three member of the Kugsankal seemed to float through the door into the courtyard. Dressed for battle, Inanna wore silver armor, so bright it was almost as pale as her long hair. She held a sword in her hand. Perched on her head was her silver crown. Her cerulean eyes met Katelina's. For a moment everything seemed to disappear except their icy depths.
"Malick has been slain."
Katelina nodded. The connection broke as the vampiress' attention moved elsewhere. Katelina found her eyes drawn to the other ancient vampires. The male with the black eyes wore armor to match and carried a bladed lance. A small red pennant near the top snapped in the breeze. His dark chestnut hair stirred around his face.
Ishkur stepped forward. His armor was coppery gold and he wielded a giant war mace. His orange-brown eyes flicked over the scene. They stopped last on Malick's dead body. Wordlessly, he retrieved the fallen crown and placed it on his head. Then he turned to Samael.
For the first time that evening, Katelina saw something close to emotion flicker across Samael's perfect face. She could see the memory in her head, like a movie.
Samael stumbled. The blood drained from his body, his limbs were weak. He looked up first to Lilith, then to her lover, to the vampire who had helped to entomb him for centuries.
Ishkur.
Samael's voice brought her back to the present. "You are not welcome here."
Ishkur's tone was equally frosty. "There is no corner of the world that does not welcome us."
"Then you have found one at last. You claim rulership over this world, but your rule is nothing. Like the corpses that lay here, you are nothing. Be gone! Return to your chambers and your waking death."
Ishkur bared his teeth. "Do not seek a fight from us."
"I seek neither war nor peace. You are petty children, scrambling for order and power, who would kill your own. I see how you murdered he whom you called Suan so that you could take his place as the head of your council. There were many with you once upon a time, all those long years ago. Where are they now? I hear their names echo in your thoughts. Bel, Gibil, Ningirsu. How many of them did you slay in your thirst for power?"
"I owe you no explanations."
"That is well, for it is not explanations I desire. Where is she?"
Inanna stepped forward. "She has not been known to us for centuries."
"You lie. I can see her burning in his mind like a naked flame. The injury to his pride when she left him long ago. She" Samael broke off. For a moment the perfect veneer of his expression fell away and left his face contorted in rage. He turned and met Katelina's gaze. Though his face returned to normal, embers of anger burned in the depths of his dark eyes.
"Should you tire of this world, my offer is still open to you. I must go now, to complete that which I have sworn above all others to do."
An image flashed in her mind: a woman with dark hair and red lips, cruel eyes and curvy hips. She knew both her face and her name. It was Lilith.
The thought had barely processed before Samael was gone. Inanna frowned. Her black eyed partner murmured something in a foreign language. If they thought they'd had trouble with Malick, they had no idea what Samael would do. Despite the Kugsankal's claim, Samael had finally found Lilith.
