Chapter 563
The next movie played through. More intelligent than the last, it lacked the terrible effects but managed to have some of the same clunky acting. Katelina hoped the third selection was better.
Marna got up to eject the disc, and Brandle made a show of stretching. "This is a party, isn't it? We should play a game."
"What game?" Hannah asked.
He scratched his chin and looked thoughtful. "Hmmmm. How about-Hide Fox?" They blinked and he grinned. "I'm sorry, Hide and Seek they call it now."
The selection seemed childish, but if the others thought so they didn't say. It was agreed that Kai would remain in the TV room, with the door locked to be safe, and the base would be the door itself.
"I'll be 'it' first, shall I?" Brandle volunteered. "You'd better hide quickly, I count fast."
He hid his eyes and the others took off. Katelina stood helplessly in the hall behind him, trying to come to terms with a group of adults playing a kindergarten game.
"Most children's games were once the fodder of adult entertainment," Brandle said, his back to her. "It's sad you've lost that."
She thought of Andrei's comment about the winter games, "This sort of entertainment has fallen by the wayside in favor of more sophisticated diversions, but we should not forget the hilarity of watching one another make fools of themselves."
Brandle interrupted her thoughts. "You'd better hide. Or I'll catch you."
With a final glance to the locked door, and the vampire leaning on it, Katelina hurried down the hall. Most of the doors were shut, so she settled for the only open one. Inside was Annabelle's pale blue sewing room. Brandle called loudly, "All ready? Here I come!" and she dove behind the couch in desperation.
It took him less than a minute to find her. "You're it," he announced gleefully. Back in the corridor, Kolli was already leaning against the door looking smug, and Hannah and Marna appeared after a shout of "olly olly oxen free!"
"Again, shall we?" Brandle rubbed his hands together. "Good luck."
Despite the enthusiasm, Katelina felt weird turning her back and closing her eyes. She strained her ears as their footsteps dashed away. At least one went upstairs, one to the right, and one went down.
She counted to fifty, and decided that was high enough. "Ready or not, here I come!"
She waited for an answer, but they were smarter than her childhood friends were, so she started down the hall. A row of closed doors greeted her. She cringed at the thought of going into private bedrooms. What if someone left the Feast early or skipped it? Did she want to walk in on something?
Upstairs didn't seem much better, so she opted for whoever went down. At least she knew those would be public rooms.
On the first floor, music from the ballroom filled the corridors with a lullaby like song. Though she didn't know the tune, she hummed along, imagining cherry blossoms and singing birds.
The mental images were shattered by a scream. Katelina jumped and spun around, then realized where it must have come from. The Feast.
The quartet switched to a lively tune, and the scream came again. Her feet acted on their own, taking her to the polished marble corridor. Milky plastic lined the floor and walls, and crinkled under her feet as she drew up to the closed double doors. She knew she should go, before she did something stupid, something that landed herself and Jorick in trouble.
The scream came a third time, and the scent of blood wafted out. She was never sure which drew her through the doors, but she hoped it was her sense of justice.
Though the cavernous room was dark, her vampire eyes picked through the gloom. Revelers were dressed in an assortment of formalwear; from hoop skirted ball gowns to sleek modern ensembles. Jewels glittered at their throats and wrists, on their fingers, and in their hair. Men wore tuxedos and old fashioned suits with white gloves and flowers in their buttonholes.
The quartet played at one side of the stage. In the center stood someone in a black cloak, their face obscured and a bloody knife raised. Strapped to the stone slab was a girl in her underwear, the dark rings of her nipples visible through the thin white material. Her hair was tangled around her head. Her eyes were wide with terror, and her mouth was open in a silent scream. Blood spread from a wound in her chest and ran down the sides of the stone in rivulets. The guests moaned as one, and moved toward the tiny scarlet rivers.
As if that was a cue, the giant black curtain lifted to reveal the long cage. Not one but many, set together in a row. Katelina gaped as she did a quick count. Twenty. Thirty. How many humans did they have? The giant clock gave three somber echoing chimes. As the last died, the attendants pulled the cage doors open. The first wave of people sprang out, but were quickly knocked to the floor. The scent of blood got stronger as vampires ripped into their still living prizes. With howls of frenzy, the immortals crushed one another, desperate to get at the bleeding screaming humans.
The rest of the captives stayed in their cages, mashed against the back. It did them no good. The attendants ripped them out and flung them to the eager crowd. Their screams rose like a tidal wave and crashed through the room, obscuring the music with the wails of terror and agony. Blood sprayed and shreds of clothing flew through the air. A shoe sailed toward Katelina and landed at her feet. It was dirty white canvas with magic marker polka dots, splattered in blood. Someone had drawn those dots. And now their blood was on it. Their blood.
Katelina's stomach tightened. The room swam. She looked to the crowd of waving pale limbs, snatching hands, glittering fangs, and crimson stained faces twisted into unrecognizable shapes. Her emotions flashed between desire and terror, both so extreme she could barely stand them. Her head spun and she grabbed the wall for support. The smell of death grew stronger, and the music of the dying swelled, the call to come and feast.
Without another thought, she answered it.
