Chapter 546
They pushed the furniture back and headed downstairs. After lunch the new entertainers were set up, and Katelina followed Jorick outside onto the bricked patio. A platform stood at the far end where a huge bright colored puppet stage sat.
The outside lights dimmed, and stage lights blazed. A pair of giant marionettes appeared, one female and one male. They skittered across the stage on their toes, then jerked to a loose limbed stop. They turned to one another, bowed, then skittered back to the edges. Katelina wondered that anyone could control puppets that big. Was there one puppeteer per string?
A narrator appeared, dressed in a suit and tie, as he set up the story, Katelina realized the puppets weren't puppets, but living vampires.
"Holy crap. How do they do that?"
"Lots of practice," Jorick replied. "When you have forever what else is there to do?"
"You seem to think eternity is for reading."
He shrugged, and fell silent. The audience gave a round of polite applause, and the narrator moved to the side so the show could begin. Katelina soon lost herself to the performers. When a voice sounded near her she jumped.
"I should thank you."
She spun around to see Sorino, a slick smile on his lips, Kai on a leash behind him.
"Thanks to your inept handling I'll be the only guest to turn a significant profit at this little party. Saul isn't happy, of course, but he doesn't find the alternative pleasant." He glanced back at Kai. "Perhaps I should let you take him out more often."
"Take care of your pet yourself," Jorick said firmly.
"Come now, you would deny someone the chance of a lucrative venture?" Jorick cocked a single eyebrow and Sorino made an exaggerated sigh. "If you insist. Come, Kai, let us enjoy the show."
The boy nodded to Katelina as he was led toward a table. Jorick watched them with narrowed eyes and murmured, "Stay away from them, little one. I've never trusted him."
The show was halfway through when Jorick stood and motioned her to follow. She cast a regretful look at the players before heading inside. "Rounds," he explained and led her on a sweep of the house. In the pale blue room Cutter called a sewing salon, they discovered Andrei's masked mate Annabelle perched on a sofa. She jumped up, quickly folding a piece of paper, her single eye startled.
Jorick nodded to her. "Excuse us, we're doing the rounds."
Katelina waited until they were down the hall to whisper, "That was weird. What was she reading?"
"I don't know."
"You didn't get it from her mind?"
Jorick gave her an odd look. "I didn't try. Even if I had, I doubt I'd get anything without pressing hard enough to make her angry."
"Oh." She walked beside him in silence, her brain churning. Since she'd been there she hadn't seen Annabelle unaccompanied. So why was she purposely hiding away with a secret letter? "Maybe it's a love letter from one of the guests. Imagine what will happen if Andrei finds out."
Jorick shrugged and started checking rooms down another hall. After he'd opened and closed several doors, she asked, "Aren't you interested at all?"
"Not really."
Her first thought was that Sarah would be intrigued but, when she mentioned it to her later, Sarah only shrugged, preoccupied with reading through a sheaf of paperwork.
"Is that from Andrei?" Katelina asked, leaning on her elbows.
Sarah nodded and turned the page.
"He got it done pretty fast. Didn't he just talk to you last night?" Sarah murmured a non-response and Katelina peered at the tangled mess of legal-ese. "He has his bases covered."
Sarah made an impatient noise. "I'm sorry. I'm trying to concentrate on this. You're right, he probably has his bases covered, and I want to be sure what I'm signing."
"You don't think it's odd he has the paperwork ready to go?"
"He has a live-in lawyer. One of his coven." Sarah went back to reading.
Sufficiently told off, Katelina wandered to where Jorick sipped from his glass. He nodded to the pitcher and crystal cups. "Not having seconds?"
"I don't know." She leaned against the wall and eyed Sarah. "I think Andrei is up to something."
He paused, the cup halfway to his lips. "I thought Annabelle was the one having the tryst?"
"Not that. It's Sarah." She explained the contract and the pay off. "Why would he offer that to her? She was never part of Claudius' coven. Even if she was, he wouldn't owe her anything. Didn't Jamie say he got legal ownership after Claudius' death?"
Jorick shrugged. "I can't guess his motivations."
"Andrei doesn't strike me as a moral giant. He has to have a motive."
"I'd advise her to read it carefully."
"She is." Katelina watched the vampires drift in and out of the dining room. Some downed a quick glass before hurrying away, others lingered and chatted, like co-workers on a lunch break.
Jorick finished his drink and set the glass on the sideboard. "That concludes my shift. Shall we?"
"What? Go upstairs and watch you read? I'd rather see the rest of the puppet show. I heard they're doing an encore performance."
Though Jorick didn't look excited, he murmured, "If you insist."
***
When the puppet show ended, Katelina and Jorick headed back into the house. They passed Borne and the goth-girl twins. Katelina ignored their hard looks and physically bit her tongue to keep from telling them what fate they deserved.
Inside, Jamie corralled Jorick for a "debriefing". Katelina listened to him drone about a fight between two vampiresses, and finally excused herself to head up to the room.
"I'll see you there," Jorick murmured absently.
Katelina bit back a sarcastic response and left. She crisscrossed her way through corridors, only to run into the pale twins. Their androgynous features were caught somewhere between youth and adult, male and female, with slender bodies to match.
"We meet again," the first said with his unsettling smile.
She backed away. "Um, yes. If you'll excuse me I'm, uh, headed to my room."
"Upstairs?" the second purred, stepping closer. "We are going up, too. Best let us escort you."
"Yes," said the first. "Terrible things can happen to little girls on their own."
"I'm not a little girl," she murmured and tried to back away. She ran into the wall, and panicked. It was more likely something would happen with them than without them. "I-I'm fine."
"Nonsense." They hooked their arms through hers and pulled her with them. "We are happy to help."
"Yes. Always happy to help," the second echoed.
Katelina's heart raced as they propelled her down the corridor. This was the kind of situation Jorick warned her about, "Don't let them lure you somewhere alone." But what was she supposed to do?
"Kick 'em in the nuts", came Micah's imagined suggestion. It sounded like something he'd say, but it was easier said than done. Technically they hadn't hurt her. If she started swinging she'd be no better than Sarah.
"I told you that you shouldn't wander alone," one of the twins said close to her ear. "This is a dangerous place."
"So many with bad intentions," the other whispered.
Like you? She wanted to ask.
They led her to the cavernous entryway. New flower arrangements filled the nooks with bright colors. Garlands and colored togas decorated the statues. She glanced to the mirror to see herself reflected, one snow white twin on either side. In the background stood someone in dark clothing-
There was a noise like a small explosion and Katelina looked up in time to see the massive chandelier crashing toward her.
