Chapter 565
When Sorino strolled through the door at five a.m., Kai leapt to his feet obediently. Katelina noticed the vampire had changed into a beige suit, and his damp hair said he'd showered.
As he clipped the chain to Kai's collar, he commented, "Thank you for keeping an eye on my pet. It's nice to see he hasn't been fed upon."
Kolli didn't get the joke. "You thought we'd hurt him?"
Sorino made an impatient noise and tugged Kai out the door.
Jorick appeared a few minutes later. Like Kai, Katelina stood. The only thing she'd wanted for the last two hours was to hide in his arms and try to forget the Feast.
His expression flickered, as if he'd seen her thoughts, and he pulled her against his side. He gave the others a hard look and pulled her out into the hall.
"Are you all right? They didn't-bother you?"
"No. They were fine."
His frown deepened, but he fell silent. When they reached the room he sniffed and stepped into the bathroom. She bypassed him, but she could see him nudging the pile of bloody clothes with his foot.
"What happened?"
She tugged on her pajama shirt and looked down at her feet. "I-I heard a scream-We were playing hide and seek-"
When he didn't reply, she rushed out, "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have gone inside. It was awful! There was so much blood, like a horror movie."
Why did I always enjoy horror movies?
The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Jorick left the mess to pull her to him. He cupped her cheek and tilted her face to his. "There's nothing to be sorry for. You're the one who didn't want to go. It was never my edict. I've said several times you can do as you please, and I mean it, so long as you aren't in danger."
She laid her head against him and sighed. "This-All of this-killing. Drinking blood from people. I can't reconcile it yet. I can't excuse it away."
"You will eventually," he said softly. "It takes time."
Thanks to immortality, that was something she had an abundance of.
Though they went to bed early, Jorick didn't make good on his amorous promises. Instead he held her and made plans for what they were going to do once the assignment was over. Together they spun fantasies of trips, nights on the beach, peace, quiet, and solitude.
Katelina slipped into dreams of vacations that morphed into a bloody hell. She tried to run, but the ground was slick with blood and she landed on her hands and knees. The crimson liquid got deeper, until she struggled to escape its quick-sand grip. She gasped and cried out
Then it was gone. She jerked her head around her new surroundings. She stood on a dock. Large cranes lifted shipping containers from a rusty ship. A knot of Chinese men talked animatedly, pointing to the vessel, their voices a half whisper.
She took a step toward them and held out her arms. She could feel the sun on her skin. The warmth wrapped around her like a hug from the universe. She closed her eyes and sank into it.
When she opened her eyes again, the dock was gone, replaced with a misty dream land. A Chinese pagoda rose in the distance and flowers bloomed next to a lake. Samael sat on a bench, golden robes spread out, his long black hair shading his face.
"You called, child?"
"I-I did?" She stepped toward him uncertainly. Though the sky above her was painted in tones of night, she still felt the warm safety of the sunlight. "It's different this time."
"This time?"
"The last time I accidentally called you, you didn't bring me here, only answered 'yes?'"
"There is no 'here'. It is a projection of my mind. You are still safe in your bed. As to a previous encounter, there was none. I have not answered your call in such a way."
"I was reading Sarah's mind and trying to relax, so I thought about you and you said, 'yes?'"
"If such is the case, it was not I who answered you."
"Oh." So Jorick was right. So far her vampire super-powers didn't seem to amount to much, though all the horrible parts worked fine. Like the bloodlust.
Samael's voice was soothing, "You cling to unhappy thoughts. Such things do not matter. Let them go, like seeds on the wind to land among the stones and die." He opened his hand and imitated letting a palm full of something blow away. "There are more important things. She will know by now that I have woken and will be rallying. I must find her before she has surrounded herself with too much strength."
Lilith. Katelina moved closer. "Can't you sense her? You turned her, and Jorick said there's a sort of master-fledgling connection."
"Perhaps there is, though such things are of no consequence. I can sense the world: the heartbeats of millions, the thoughts of those for miles. I could locate her without such a connection, if she were detectable. But, just as my powers have grown with time, so have hers. She has hidden herself so that I cannot catch even a thought of her."
"But you know where she is from Ishkur?"
Samael made a depreciating noise. "His knowledge was vague. Though it has led me to a foreign shore, it does not guide me farther. It is no matter. I will find her."
"But you said you needed to do it fast."
She felt a spark of amusement. "My perception of speed and yours are different. The sun grows in strength and I must seek shelter. Rest, child, and let go of your guilt."
She wanted to ask him how, but he was gone before she could.
***
When Katelina woke she felt better, like The Feast was nothing but a bad dream. As she followed Jorick downstairs, past well-dressed guests in pristine halls, the bloody nightmare seemed even more unreal. It couldn't have happened the way she remembered.
She downed her breakfast in a long gulp, then looked for Sarah. With her friend's name she conjured a memory of their fight and the sound of Sarah's nose crunching under her fist. She needed to apologize.
Sarah and Des were in the hallway. Her friend's dark eyes hardened, and she made a point of talking louder to her companion.
"-Sounds like a good idea."
Katelina wondered what sounded like a good idea, but she wasn't going to ask or apologize in front of Des.
It was some time later, while she and Jorick were watching a puppet show, when Cornelius appeared. "Excuse me, sir. Executioner Jamie requests your help."
"Why?"
"The circus has arrived."
Circus?
Jorick sighed but stood. Katelina cast a regretful glance at the puppets' antics, then followed him outside to one of the triangular patios. Beyond it she could see several old fashioned circus wagons. Two had metal bars and contained giant cats.
Jamie stood with a pair of vampires and a clipboard. Katelina ignored him to drift closer to the cages. She looked into the lion's jewel-like eyes and realized it was
"A vampire lion?"
Jorick shrugged. "It's no stranger than what's-his-name's cat, and probably better behaved."
"Aine," she murmured automatically. "Is this legal?"
"Probably. You just have to file for permission, and I can't see a circus being refused."
She turned her attention to the lion, who stretched languidly before stalking to the bars to peer out at her. "Making animals perform is cruel."
Jorick looked surprised. "Why?"
"They have to perform whether they want to or not."
Jorick scoffed. "People have to do their jobs whether they want to or not." He lifted her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. "I'd rather be in Maine with you."
Though she flushed, she refused to let him derail her. "Yes, but animals don't do the tricks naturally. They have to be trained."
"If you took a human baby and loosed it in the wild, what would it do? Would it get up every morning, drive to a job it hates, go grocery shopping, pay bills, and do all of the other ridiculous things? People are trained to do those tasks. Most of them hate the routine, but no one calls it cruelty."
"Because people choose to do it."
"Do they? Or are you told from birth you're supposed to? Did your mother offer to let you run around naked and forage for food in the forest? I guarantee, at five years old you'd have preferred that."
She rolled her eyes. "Even if that was true, no one abused me."
"If the lion is so abused, why doesn't it attack its trainer?"
She gave an impatient huff. "They condition them to be afraid of their trainers. Just like they condition people to be afraid of police."
Jorick looked smug. "You proved my point. Humanity is supposed to be the 'top of the food chain', the example to all other species, yet they are trained, coerced, and conditioned without complaint. Some of them even enjoy it. How do you know the lion objects? Maybe he likes performing. Maybe he likes the attention. The contortionist certainly does, and people are only animals in clothing, no matter how desperately you try to distance yourselves. So, until the immortal extremely-strong lion attacks the trainer, I'm going to assume he's happy where he is."
She motioned his logic away. "Maybe they're fine with it, but what about the mortal animals, stuck in circuses that beat and starve them?"
"How do you know they're starving them?"
"That's how they teach them tricks. I saw a show on it once."
Jorick's tone turned over-patient. "Of course, because you can't possibly train a dog to do tricks without beating it."
She forced her tone calm. "Dogs are different than lions."
"Why? Because you say so? I'm sure there are circuses who've been cruel, but just because one circus does something, you shouldn't paint them all with the same brush. That's tantamount to saying all vampires are power hungry maniacs like Malick."
"Most of them are." At a look from Jorick she let it go. "Fine. Happy-happy little performing animals stuck in their cages, which I'm sure you'll compare to a cubicle or an apartment. Are they performing tonight?"
"I have no idea." He held the lion's eyes, then reached through the bars and scratched its head. When Katelina flinched, he nodded to her. "Go ahead. He won't hurt you."
She hesitated. Twenty-six years of cautionary tales warred against his promise. Finally, she forced herself to touch its muzzle.
"Oh my God. I'm petting a lion. A real lion. This is crazy!"
Jorick laughed. "I'm glad you approve." He looked past her to Jamie and sobered. "Alas work beckons. Come, little one. Perhaps we'll try the tiger later."
