Chapter 570
Katelina looked for Ark at breakfast. The haughty vampire was nowhere in sight, and she relaxed.
"After breakfast we'll move that stuff."
Katelina nodded to Sarah's half heard words, though she still thought it was crazy. She expected Jorick to agreehe'd said he didn't want her to do anything dangerousbut he only said, "Whatever you want."
Sarah laid her glass on the sideboard. "Ready?"
Without a valid excuse, Katelina followed. As they wove their way down the corridor, she felt the heavy oppression of an old vampire.
"Hello, Sarah."
Kali stepped in front of them and took Sarah's hands in hers. Tol and Ren stood on either side, wearing their strange smiles.
Ren moved toward Katelina, a hand held out. She backed away. The room swam and tilted, and she clutched the wall to keep from falling into darkness. She heard Sarah's laughter and the sound of Kali's reply, though the words were lost to a roar. She sought something, anything, to hold onto and found herself looking into a set of vivid blue eyes. Ren's eyes.
"What would happen if I took you?"
Katelina battled terror and shook her head to clear the mist. Ren smiled down at her, his hand on her elbow. She pulled away, but there was nowhere else to go.
Kali continued, talking to Sarah, "We'll play cards together later. Come find us when you're finished."
"That sounds great," Sarah enthused. "Thanks so much."
"Yes, it sounds great," Ren purred.
"Wonderful," Tol agreed.
Ren held her eyes. "We will see you later. Be careful until then."
"Yes, Careful," his brother agreed.
They took their leave, and Katelina sagged. "Thank God."
Sarah frowned. "You're not still creeped out? Seriously? After you spend some time with them, you'll see they're fine."
But Katelina couldn't face them, or a room full of ancients. She grasped for any excuse. "I-I thought we might practice mind reading while we were up there with all the furniture."
Sarah hesitated. "Sure. We can do that first. Kali said whenever we were done."
They made their way up the stairs and Katelina asked, "Don't they bother you at all? I mean their crushing ancient-vampire presence?"
"The one everyone has?" Sarah asked. "No, they don't bother me like that, in fact when I'm with them and Kali, the others bother me less. I think it's because the three of them are protective, like they wouldn't let anyone hurt me."
Or because you're crazy.
They passed a few stragglers on the second floor, but the fourth was deserted. Even the cleaning lady was elsewhere.
In the storage area, Sarah pointed out the cupboard, big enough for both of them to hide in. Katelina's initial response was to balk. Then she remembered she was stronger now.
"I suppose we should start with the mind reading and get it out of the way," Sarah suggested as she pointed out the smaller chest.
Katelina unstacked the chairs and they each took one. She thought about what Jorick said. "-a dream stealer doesn't just open their brain and hope to stumble on something useful. They focus their query and bypass all of the junk." Right. So she needed to focus. But on what?
Jorick said sometimes a feeling was enough, so she met Sarah's brown eyes and concentrated on something happy. She strained with every fiber until she heard a giggle and the words, "You need to relax."
She jerked back and Sarah frowned. "Anything?"
"No. I just heard someone laughing." She'd heard that giggle before. First when they were practicing and-and-Ugh, When was it?
"Probably someone on the third floor," Sarah suggested. "Do you want to try again or-?"
Or play cards with Kali and her terrifying twins. "Yeah, let's give it another go."
Sarah settled down, though the pull of her lips looked aggravated.
Katelina tried a second time, and a third. By the fourth she was as annoyed as Sarah and had given up. It was only a matter of killing time so she didn't have to socialize with the terrifying vampires.
With nothing to lose, she went for a fifth and let herself drop into the hazel green of Sarah's eyes. The world flickered in and out and suddenly she was behind the wheel of Sarah's car, a phone pressed to her ear. The voice on the other end was Brad's. "Maybe later tonight we can see if you have trouble letting me go?"
Katelina felt the wash of Sarah's happiness. "Oh, you! All right, let me just change and call Katelina real quick, and I'll be right there."
"Okay. I'll be missing you until then."
The car melted away to Katelina's hallway. The door to her apartment stood open. Inside was a mess. Righteous fury and a dose of terror rose and she stormed inside. Katelina recognized Lennon and Joseff, the vampire who'd been killed so spectacularly at The Guild for his role in Thomas' maiming.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Sarah shouted. "I'm calling the cops!"
Joseff started toward her menacingly. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The apartment disintegrated into a familiar basement, one she'd been in herself. Claudius stood over her, gloating amusement in his eyes. "She is interesting. I could see why they might fight over her."
She shuddered and looked past him to a bald vampire. A mixture of hate and terror cut through her as she recognized Troy. He stepped toward her laughing.
"And what do you find so amusing, Troy?" Claudius snapped.
"It's not her," he answered, his smile wide and fanged.
The scene wavered but she heard Claudius say, "Very well, Troy. Do as you please. If she knows anything, I would appreciate the information while she's still able to speak."
Troy leered over her, and a scream rose in her throat. Not this. Anything but this.
Katelina looked away. When she looked back, she was somewhere else. Through her blurry eyes, the room was a smear of gray and charcoal black; a watercolor of hell. There was so much pain she couldn't process it anymore. She couldn't think, couldn't feel. She just wanted it to end, wanted everything to end.
"Drink this." The gruff voice came from far away and she barely understood the words, even as something salty was shoved into her mouth. Liquid oozed over her tongue and she swallowed automatically. Another mouthful. Another. The room started to clear and the smeary shadows receded. The walls were cinder blocks. A basement? She swallowed again. Again. The dark shadows at the end of the room grew lighter. She could see figures sitting, shoulders stooped, heads down. One stood, leaning on the bars of their cage. Unlike the rest he didn't seem defeated, but cocky. As the scene grew sharper she saw his smirky fanged grin.
Fangs.
Pain exploded and the room disappeared. It came back in a flash, but time had passed. She was now on the other side of the bars, huddled in a corner. She was scared. Hungry. So hungry.
She looked down at her hand. It was thin, wasted, withered. Her eyes flicked over the others. They were all thin. Hollow cheeks and sunken eyes. How could they look this bad after only a few days without food? She had no calendar, no window, no way to know night from day, but it was only a couple of days since Troy had been there last, wasn't it?
Kurt stood over her. His shaggy blonde hair looked unkempt and his grin made her blood run cold. "You're still pretty, though." He reached for her and she flinched away. His smile stayed, but his eyes hardened. He grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her to hold still while he stroked her cheek. She shuddered and her stomach clenched. She could smell the blood in his veins, but it was cold blood; dead blood.
He cupped her face and leaned close, until she could feel his frigid breath. "Go ahead, sweetheart. Have a taste. You know how much I like it." He snapped his fangs.
She struggled as he pressed her against the rough wall. She kicked and managed to land one to his stomach. He stumbled back in surprise, then surged forward with a snarl. He pinned her and readied to bite.
Something slammed upstairs and they all went stiff. Kurt slowly released her and moved back, his eyes on the ceiling. Heavy footsteps clomped across the floor above them, then came the scrape and bang as the cellar door opened.
Sarah could smell the blood before she saw it. Troy ducked into the low basement hauling a pair of girls. Their hands were bound. Mascara and tears smeared their cheeks.
As one, Sarah, Kurt, and the others drifted to the front of the cage, everything else forgotten. Troy laughed as he threw the prisoners to the floor and started on the row of locks that held the door. One after another fell away. By the last Sarah was barely conscious of anything except the need to feed.
"I don't have time to play with you today, kiddies. I have an appointment that should make things interesting. If it works out you might get a new friend. Here's your dinner and I'll be back."
The door opened and Troy tossed in first one girl then the other. Sarah felt the heat from their bodies, from their blood. Like the others she pounced, knocking aside one of her cellmates. Her fangs sliced through the girl's delicate skin. The hot blood spurted into her mouth. In the background she could hear the muffled sound of someone screaming, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the hot crimson life flowing into her.
Then Troy was gone. The blood was gone. The rotting bodies lay in the corner, waiting for Troy to come back, but he hadn't. Kurt promised he would. "He always does. Every few days." The others nodded. Denise said sometimes he was late, but he always came.
Except he didn't. They drained Denise first, but it did no good. Her blood didn't sate their thirst or make the gnawing pain go away. Afterwards she lay like a husk. Tears leaked from her eyes as she made strange rattling sounds.
Kurt's voice was scratchy in Katelina's ear. "Don't worry. I won't let them drain you. You're my special pet." His tongue slid along her neck and she shivered, too weak to fight him off anymore
"No!"
Katelina gasped and tried to come to terms with where she was. Kurt was gone. The cage was gone. The stench of the rotting girls was gone, replaced by a collection of dusty furniture.
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