Chapter 56
The lot was overgrown and water droplets clung to the dry weeds like fragile jewels, pearlescent in the street light's gleam. The house was small and squat, and the siding peeled loose in places. Stains ran down the walls from the windows; empty eyes that had been weeping from loneliness, leaving trails of rusty tears.
The world was wrapped in the thick cloak of fog. Three old, bare trees stood as lonely sentinels, their leaves heaped at their feet and branches barely stirring in the heavy air. Katelina could almost hear her own heart beating in the oppressive gloom.
The vampires moved soundlessly while Katelina fought her way through the tall wet grass, and tried to be quiet. Now and then, her movements would jolt some injury and remind her of last night's terror. Each time it happened, her heart fluttered like a trapped bird in her chest. Again, she wondered what she was doing walking back towards Claudius after she'd barely escaped him, but stolen glances at Jorick fortified her.
The thick quiet of night was broken by the sound of shattering glass as two vampires crashed through one of the darkened windows. They landed on the damp grass in a spray of glittering shards, their fangs bared and knives shining in their hands. At the sudden noise, a dog in the distance started a threatening guttural yap, interspersed with growls.
Jorick pulled Katelina towards him, while Oren took one of the vampires. Torina pounced on the second. Jorick dragged Katelina with him and hurried around the other side of the house. Kateesha followed them like a wraith as they left Torina and Oren behind, amidst grunts and animalistic growls.
No one challenged them as they walked swiftly to the back of the house. There they found a weathered cellar door resting a thin lip of crumbling concrete. Jorick caught Katelina's arm and shoved the long thin dagger into her hand. "Stay away from the fighting if you can," he whispered urgently. "But if you cannot, then go for their hearts. Their skin is tougher than yours and harder to pierce, but perhaps you can manage to hold them off at the very least."
"Don't you need this?" she asked with concern.
"No, I'll be fine." He offered her a reassuring smile. "I'm strong enough I can make do without it."
"You're sure?" He nodded and Katelina tried to believe him. She looked at the weapon in her hand with confused uncertainty. She'd never used a dagger before. Her heart lodged itself in her tight throat as she contemplated having to do so.
Jorick squeezed her tightly and met Kateesha's eyes. After a series of short signals between the two, Kateesha swung the heavy cellar door open. It had barely cleared Jorick's head before he flung himself down the set of dirty stone stairs, his face twisted in a snarl.
Kateesha laughed. "He is stupid!" She lowered her gaze to Katelina, her voice still filled with delight. "You will die before this night is over." Katelina tried to hide her shock and Kateesha quickly followed the raven-haired vampire down the stairs into the dankness below.
Katelina stared after her and her stomach twisted painfully. Jorick was wrong. Her betrayal hadn't been just to push the war forward. Kateesha had had a much darker purpose.
Noises drifted up the stairs; grunts, hisses, and clangs. A window shattered on the other side of the house, doubtless more vampires coming outside to fight Oren and Torina. Katelina rubbed her naked arms against the cold, uncertain what she was supposed to do. She'd come to decide that basements were bad places. They held things like Michael, baby-sized coffins, and torture chambers complete with giant cages. Regardless, she didn't want to stand in the open waiting for a vampire to come crashing through a window, out of a bush, or from behind a stand of matted grass to tackle her.
She gave the eerie yard a last glance before she started down the stone steps. A half wall bordered the top of the stairs, and she pressed herself against it. She could only see a small swath of basement, but vampires moved over the smooth cement floor, snarling and growling.
Jorick was fighting hand to hand with two vampires dressed in black, flinging first one to the ground and then the other. His fresh white shirt was already stained with blood, and a splatter of crimson decorated his pale face. Meanwhile, Kateesha was locked in battle with a woman in a mini skirt who had two small knives gartered to her upper thighs. Two dead vampires lay on the floor, blood pooling beneath them in sickening puddles, their chests savagely ripped out, leaving only an empty, jelly-filled cavity. Katelina shuddered as she remembered Jorick telling her to go for the heart. Apparently he took that very seriously. She closed her eyes to banish the sight and wondered why Jorick had brought her there.
She tried to disappear into the wall among the cement and shadows. Despite her efforts, a slender woman in pants and a crop top spied her. She snarled and charged towards the stairs with her hands clenched and her bright red nails ready to attack.
The world around Katelina froze for the few seconds it took her to understand what was happening. She gripped the hilt of the dagger in her white knuckled hand and tried to ready herself.
Jorick saw the woman and quickly plunged one hand into the chest of the vampire he was fighting while he slammed her in the back with his other arm. She went sprawling and landed on her stomach, skidding to a stop a few feet with a cry of surprise and anger.
She stood and, with a snarl, threw herself towards Jorick. They crashed into each other and her painted talons raked his perfect face. The distraction allowed his remaining assailant to grab him from behind and throw him into one of the stone walls.
Katelina cried out as Jorick fell to the floor. She waited for Kateesha to interfere, but the vampiress paid no mind to his struggle. Determined to help, Katelina hurried thoughtlessly down the rest of the stairs, her dagger held aloft in her shaking hands. Jorick stood and his eyes grew wide as he saw her and what she intended to do. He opened his mouth to shout, but Katelina didn't see it. Her attention was focused on her target.
The woman in the crop top stood with her back to Katelina, so she took the opportunity to leap on her. The woman tried to spin around, but Katelina hung on, one arm wrapped around her neck. The vampiress roared in anger, and Katelina thrust the dagger into her back like she'd seen Bren and Senya do to Bethina, but the dagger didn't go in all the way. She froze in surprise, and the woman easily shook her off and let her fall to the floor.
"What in the hell?" She grabbed Katelina by her hair and easily dodged the flailing dagger.
Jorick furiously wrenched the vampiress loose from Katelina. She fell to the floor again and looked up in time to see Jorick tossing the woman's limp body aside.
"You'll have to do better than that."
Katelina's head snapped around to see Kateesha standing over her. She jerked Katelina roughly to her feet. "You're too weak human, but if you crave blood so deeply, go after the fresh ones." She shoved Katelina towards a young man who might have been 15 or 16. "He is not so tough," she called, laughing loudly.
Katelina stared at the boy dumbly, though she understood what Kateesha meant. He wasn't human, but he didn't look as inhuman as the others did. He was beautiful, but he lacked the glossy perfection that Jorick or Kateesha had, and his movements weren't as smooth.
He saw her and reacted by grabbing her arm and reaching for her throat. Kateesha's voice shouted above the din, "Stab him, you fool!" and Katelina did as commanded, thrusting the dagger between his ribs by sheer luck.
His eyes grew wide with panic and he cried out. He released her automatically, while he reached for the dagger in his chest, but Katelina's hands worked instinctively and twisted it to force it deeper. Cold blood ran over her fingers as he screamed.
Kateesha laughed as the boy crumpled to the floor.
