Chapter 507
Katelina endured another training session with Micah that ended with him flat on his back. She wiped her hands on her pants smugly.
Verchiel and Loren perched on the wooden boxes. Verchiel clapped his hands. Loren whistled and called, "Go Katelina!"
Micah stood, mopping the blood from his face. "You don't need to sound so fucking delighted."
"Come on, she's doing a good job." Verchiel hopped down and put an arm around her shoulders. "Our little Kately is growing up."
She pulled away from him. "You better quit that or you'll end up like him."
Verchiel mimed trembling. "Between you and Jorick, I don't know who to be more frightened of."
Though she rolled her eyes, an image popped into her head of Jorick battling Malick. She saw the guard fall from the roof, a trail of blood leaking from his nose, injured by Jorick's psychic fury. Samael's question echoed in her mind, "Can you love someone you fear?"
Verchiel poked his face in hers. "What was that? Did you say you're afraid of me?"
"No." Katelina grabbed a bag of blood from Micah's soft pack cooler. "You're not scary."
"Come on, I'm an Executioner. That has to count for something. I know I'm not as scary as Jorick but" he broke off. "Oh-ho! It's Jorick."
Micah grabbed the bag from her hands and ripped into it. "What? You're scared of the Guild dog? Why?"
"I'm not scared of him," she snapped. "Just... a little intimidated."
"It's good for a woman to know her place." Micah snickered, then rolled his eyes. "Fuck being intimidated. You gotta be strong enough to control him."
She grabbed another bag. "Yeah? How am I supposed to do that? I always knew he was stronger than me but now-You saw him fighting Malick. You saw what he can do."
"You think he's gonna do that shit to you?"
"No."
"Then what's the fucking problem? Besides, with all the vampire blood you got, you're like a mutt. You got it from Samael, and Jorick, and I don't even know who the fuck else."
"Me," Verchiel said cheerfully. Micah's eyes bulged and Verchiel held his hands up in a display of innocence. "It was an accident. But, don't forget Braydon, Malick's lackey who got sentenced to ten years servitude."
"What the fuck?" Micah spun toward her. "Anyone else?"
"Boris," she murmured. Something in Micah's tone made her feel like a high school slut confessing to sex partners.
"Don't forget Kateesha's heart," Verchiel added.
Micah choked. "Fuck me. That's a lot of goddamn vampires. Anyway, as I was sayin', look at all those. You probably got latent abilities up the ass." He looked at Loren. "That's how this shit works, right?"
"Close enough."
"Cool. As I was saying, you probably got enough shit going on that with some training you can kick Jorick's ass. Pretty soon you'll be making people's heads explode."
Loren grinned. "That would be some cool shit!"
Despite his enthusiasm it wasn't a gift she wanted. She wasn't even sure she liked Jorick having it.
"He doesn't," Verchiel said quietly. "He's getting there, but he hasn't honed it to that level yet."
She hoped he never did.
***
Sadihra's Polterabend was held in a restaurant Katelina didn't know existed. She quickly discovered that the difference between it and the one she'd dined in was that this one didn't cater to humans.
Sadihra looked uncomfortably at Xandria. "I am sorry. Now that Katelina is one of us, I didn't think." She turned to Katelina. "I'm sure the other restaurant could send something down?"
"It's no problem," Xandria said. "I'll go get something."
Etsuko stood and bowed to Oren. "If Oren-sama does not object, I would like to escort Xandria-san to the restaurant."
Oren nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, whatever you want."
When they left, Verchiel commented, "Etsuko seems pretty handy to have around. I wonder if I could find one of those for a weekend."
"I doubt it," Oren snapped. "She'd have better taste than that."
"I know when I've been insulted!" The redhead made a show of offence. "Perhaps I should go elsewhere?"
To Katelina's surprise, Sadihra laughed. "Perhaps you should. There are women here you haven't tried to pick up yet."
Verchiel's eyes lit up and he took off in the direction she pointed.
Sadihra laughed louder. Katelina studied her suspiciously. Since the signing of the contract something had been off. The way she'd gone from terrified to relaxed in an instant. It felt wrong.
Sadihra excused herself. Katelina quickly slid from the table and hurried after her. It seemed rude to jump to the point, instead she asked, "What is this party called again?"
"Polterabend," Sadihra answered. "Um-noisy evening in English, I suppose, though that doesn't quite capture it. Very soon we'll break pottery because it's believed to bring good luck. And of course Wolfe-" She trailed away to giggles. "You will enjoy that part."
Katelina wasn't sure she'd enjoy anything that had to do with Wolfe, but rather than say so she decided to plunge ahead. "I have a weird question for you." She couldn't find a nice way to phrase it, so she decided to just be blunt. "Are you okay? You seem like a whisperer got to you. You were terrified about the wedding. I felt it." Sadihra raised her eyebrows, and Katelina rushed on. "Then you didn't care anymore."
"I appreciate your worry, but it is not a whisperer. How can I explain it? It is not the wedding I was afraid of, or even the commitment, but the change; that things would be different between us. I would be Wolfe's wife. He would be my husband. Intimidating titles. Then, when I looked into his eyes, I realized that nothing had changed. He was still who he was before, and I was still who I was before. Signing our names to that paper did not change us. To realize that was a relief." She glanced at Katelina. "It's like you."
"Me?"
"Now that you are immortal what has changed? You are still the same person you were before. Jorick is the same person he was. You still love one another. Marriage is the same way. The only changes are those you allow to happen. So long as we don't get caught up in the roles or the titles, we will be fine."
Katelina couldn't imagine how being married to Wolfe was fine, but then Sadihra was crazy.
