Chapter 560
Katelina woke when Jorick bolted upright. She blinked tired eyes against the vague knowledge there'd been a sound. She looked to Jorick, then imagined him leaping out of bed, wearing his usual nothing. With a groan, she waved him under the covers. Sarah had already seen enough of him.
She opened the door, the word, "What?" on her lips, but her friend wasn't there. "Sarah?" She stuck her head out and peered in both directions.
The hallway was empty.
"What does she want?" Jorick called irritably.
With a shrug she shut the door. "No one's there."
"I heard someone bang on the door." He brushed hair back from his face. "Never mind. You can ask her tomorrow."
But when Katelina asked her that evening, Sarah looked puzzled. "I didn't knock on your door."
"If you didn't-" Katelina trailed off and shivered. "Now do you believe us, Jorick?"
His answer was a murmur, but she thought she saw concern flash in his eyes.
Jamie was late for breakfast. He mumbled an excuse about checking a shipment for the Feast. "There'll be a few more today."
When Katelina asked what was in them, Jamie turned his attention to his glass. She poked Jorick in the ribs and repeated her question. "I thought this was some a pagan ceremony where they sacrificed someone?"
"They're having a sort of ball around it."
"You mean they're going to dress up in fancy clothes and kill someone?"
"Something like that. I think Annabelle's advice was sound. I doubt you'd like the Feast."
"What makes you think I wanted to go?"
Jamie coughed lightly. "There's a quartet coming in later. I may need you to help check them in, Jorick." He glanced at Katelina. "The decorators will be in the ballroom most of the morning. If you and Sarah would like to help out?"
Sarah crossed her arms. "I'm not a member of the staff."
"Technically you are," Jamie replied. "You've gone along with telling everyone The Guild sent you, which makes you both as much staff as Jorick or I."
"That's why you two are going to help decorate," Sarah replied coldly.
Katelina laid a hand on her friend's arm. "You always liked"
Sarah pulled away. "Yeah, I used to." She looked at Katelina's confused face and relented. "Never mind. We'll help."
"Thank you." Jamie's tone sounded more sardonic than grateful, but Katelina let it go.
Jorick escorted them to the ballroom, and Katelina paused at the door. "I don't mind helping out if it keeps Sarah busy, but shouldn't we be more worried about William and Acwellen than decorating?" When he looked blank she snapped, "You heard the knock last night. You know someone was there."
"I don't know that it was a knock. It might have been someone banging into something accidentally."
"Either way, it means they were there. We need to do something before they start popping into the room with a dagger."
Jorick sighed. "What do you want me to do?"
"Read their minds and arrest them. Geeze! How hard is that?"
"In case you've forgotten the interrogation, William's mind was nearly impossible, and Acwellen is three times his age, and three times as powerful. To get deep enough in their brains to see a plot I'd have to manage a full on assault like Malick used to do, and I'm not sure I can."
"But you read everyone's mind."
He chortled. "Not by a long shot. I can read many of them, yes, but older vampires are harder. I've explained that to you before. And most of the vampires here are older than I am."
"So what? You plan to wait until they attack you? I thought you were going to take this seriously."
Jorick sighed. "I am. And yes, I heard a noise, but there's been no criminal activity, no attacks, no real threats. No one has harassed either of us."
"In other words, you won't do anything until it escalates."
"There's nothing to do, sweetheart." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Tonight's the feast. Everyone will be busy with it, and I doubt very much we'll have a visit from our friend, so relax. You can worry about it tomorrow."
He pulled loose and she let him go. If he didn't take his own safety seriously, why should she worry?
Except, she couldn't help herself.
She tried to discuss it with Sarah but got only half answers. Her friend had been odd since breakfast and finally, elbow deep in black plastic, Katelina asked, "Is everything okay?"
Sarah stopped punching holes in the plastic sheets to stare at her. "Yeah, this isn't hard."
"I meant earlier. When you went off on Jamie."
"Oh that." Sarah turned back to her work. "This is all so much fluff, isn't it? The real reason they want our help is to keep you out of the way, so you aren't obsessing over someone getting killed tonight. Plus, you're safe. None of the decorating staff would bother you and, if they did, your mighty protector is only a moment away." She scoffed. "It's ridiculous. Like yesterday. The only reason we got to 'help' was because it kept you under his thumb."
Katelina laid her plastic sheet aside. "It isn't like that. He's not a controlling asshole like Brad."
Sarah choked and looked up. "Excuse me?"
"Oh come on. You saw the things he has my mother doing. Cutting her hair. Changing her clothes. Redecorating the house. He even has her going to the Y. Look at this." Katelina jammed the fit watch at her. "It's one of those fitness watches. She got us a matching pair. It's crazy! She tried to tell me it's all her idea, but I'm not stupid. I know he's manipulated her into it, probably using the 'I'm so much younger' crap on her."
Sarah wadded the plastic in her hands. "Brad isn't like that. If your mother is changing things, it's to seduce him. She knew she had no chance the way she was. He wouldn't fall for a dowdy flighty old lady with no decorating sense!"
Katelina swept to her feet and let the plastic fall to the floor. "My mother is not dowdy! And she may not have decorating sense, but at least her house doesn't look like a sterilized hospital. No wonder you didn't move in with Brad. It would have been like living in ICU."
Sarah wadded her plastic and flung it at Katelina. "I didn't move in with him because I wasn't ready yet. And thanks to you, I'll never have a chance to get ready!" She threw her scissors. Katelina barely ducked out of the way as they flew past her head.
"What the fuck?" She resisted flinging her own. "How is it my fault that you took too long to commit?"
Sarah bared her fangs and stepped forward menacingly. "This has nothing to do with my commitment and everything to do with this." She waved her arms around the room. "It's your fault, you and that stupid Patrick Mullins! If he wasn't already dead I'd rip him apart myself!"
With a roar Katelina tackled Sarah to the floor. They fell in a heap of thrashing limbs and snapping fangs. Sarah slammed Katelina in the face. She reeled back, and Sarah pulled up into a semi-sitting position, her fist ready to fly again. Micah's voice came to Katelina, a memory from previous training sessions.
"You gonna take that shit?"
No, no she wasn't.
