Chapter 574
Terror sliced through Katelina and left her legs watery. If it was Lilith outside their door then it wasn't Jorick she was stalking but-
Katelina choked on the idea. She backed down the hall and screamed silently for Samael. When no answer came, she shook herself. She needed to get Jorick!
She raced back toward her room and plowed into someone. They fell to the floor in a tangled heap. Katelina pulled away, ready to swing, when she recognized Sarah's furious face.
"Sarah!" she gasped out and fell back. "I...I saw her."
Her friend pulled to her haunches. "Her who?"
"I don't know. Lilith maybe. She looked ancient. Imagine a three hundred year old person. She's so old she doesn't even have hair."
"Where is she now?"
"Annabelle's secret room."
Sarah's face hardened. "Let's get some answers."
She pulled to her feet, and Katelina jumped to stop her. "Are you crazy? If that's Lilith she has powers you can't imagine."
Sarah tugged away impatiently. "If she planned to hurt you, she'd have done it when you were alone with her."
There was logic, but Katelina wasn't sure enough to embrace it. "We should get Jorick."
"Of course. I forgot you can't do anything by yourself. No wonder Jorick is always waiting to swoop in and protect you. You obviously need it."
Katelina scowled at Sarah's retreating figure. Anger overrode her fear, and she hurried to catch up. Though her friend didn't comment, she thought she saw a smug twinkle in her eyes.
They reached the door and Sarah pounded on it. "We know you're in there! Come out!"
Katelina choked on a wave of fear. She clutched the wall and realized the terror wasn't hers, but-
"She's scared," she whispered.
Sarah frowned, but when she knocked again, she called in a softer voice, "We don't want to hurt you. We just want to know why you've been standing outside Jorick's room every day."
A voice sounded in Katelina's head, "I like to talk to you."
She turned sharply to Sarah. The look on her face said she'd heard it, too.
Katelina tried to calm her pounding heart. Breathe. Breathe. "Who do you like to talk to?"
The seconds stretched, then the voice came again over the sound of Katelina's ragged breathing, "Sarah."
Her friend stiffened. "I've never talked to you before."
"Yes you have. While you're asleep."
Sarah reeled and Katelina snapped, "Wouldn't it be better to talk to her while she's awake?"
"No. She doesn't want to talk about those things when she's awake."
The air crackled with a mixture of tension and fear. Katelina choked on it to demand, "What things?"
"Bad things."
Katelina slipped her hand in her pocket to find the reassuring presence of the dagger. The vampiress might be short, but with age came strength. "What kind of bad things?" She looked to Sarah, but the panic in her eyes made her useless.
"It wasn't your fault."
The reply must have been to Sarah's thoughts, though Katelina had no idea what they were.
"Who are you?" Sarah whispered.
No answer came, and Katelina pushed back the panic. She tried to make her tone reasonable even as she gripped her weapon. "Why don't you come out?" Silence was the answer and she pressed, "Just unlock the door."
She jumped back when the lock clicked. Sarah moved away, shaking her head. This was it, the answers Sarah was after, and now she wanted to run?
Katelina stopped from throwing a remark about cowardice at her. Tit for tat never helped anyone. With a final glance to her friend, she pushed the door open.
The room was pink with plush carpet. Katelina stepped inside and let her eyes sweep over the furnishings; bookcases, chests, a desk, a princess canopy bed, and a rambling doll house. Seated on the floor in front of it, surrounded by dolls, sat the withered vampiress. Not ancient, as Katelina had supposed, but
A child?
The girl pulled her knees up and ducked behind them. She peeked out slowly and her lipless mouth spread in what was probably a smile.
"Hello."
Katelina glanced to Sarah. "You can talk out loud. We can hear you."
A giggle sounded in Katelina's head and the girl buried her face again. It was the same giggle she'd heard before, when she was trying to read Sarah's thoughts, and when she'd run into this door the night of the Feast.
"I could hear you trying to read her mind. It was funny."
Katelina took a cautious step forward. "Why was it funny?"
"You listen too hard. If you relax, the thoughts flow into you. When you are tense, you stop them."
"I'll, uh, try to remember that." She looked to Sarah, but her friend hovered wide eyed in the doorway. Katelina knew she needed to keep the dialog going if they wanted answers, so she asked, "Do you live here?"
The girl nodded.
When no more came, she said, "My name's Katelina. What's yours?"
"Estrilda."
"That's a pretty name. How old are you?"
"I don't know."
The answer made sense and reminded her of another vampire child; Oren's son Alexander. With his name came the recollection of his death; the fire, the screams, burned by Executioners because children vampires were illegal.
Jorick's voice echoed in her memory, "M?ngkedai turned several children who had to be destroyed."
Estrilda looked at Katelina quizzically. She forced a smile. "It's okay. We won't tell anyone you're here."
The girl beamed, showing a full set of teeth and sharp fangs. Her smile slowly melted as she looked past Katelina. "Sarah is scared of me."
"No she isn't." Katelina tried to motion her friend through the door with her eyes. "Are you, Sarah?"
"I-" Sarah started forward then pulled back. "I'm sorry." She shook her head, then fled.
"Sarah!" Katelina turned back to the child. "She's shy."
"She's afraid."
Katelina could feel the girl's certainty and knew she was right.
"You can go with her. You're scared too."
Since the child was obviously a powerful mind reader, she stuck to the truth. "I'm not scared. I'm confused."
The girl tightened her arms around her knees and hid her face. Though Katelina prompted her with questions, she refused to answer. As the minutes stretched, Katelina's discomfort increased, and she finally surrendered.
"It's getting late, Estrilda. I better go to bed."
The girl nodded. With a final, "Good night," Katelina slipped out into the hall and pulled the door shut behind her. The lock clicked.
She stood in the hall, waiting for things to make sense. When they didn't, she turned for her room.
She knocked on Sarah's door. No answer came, so she headed for bed.
Jorick jerked awake. He met her gaze, relaxed, and laid down again. "Did you catch your stalker?"
"Yes."
"I didn't think" He jerked upright. "What?"
Katelina reached for her pajamas. "Am I talking to my boyfriend Jorick, or Jorick the Executioner?"
She felt him in her head and purposefully imagined a brick wall.
"Katelina." His tone held a warning.
"I'm sorry Jorick. But you have to promise you won't tell Jamie, or the rest of them."
He was silent a moment. "You know I can pull the memory from you."
"That would pretty much negate all that 'I respect you' crap you've said since we met, so I don't think you will. Now, all you have to do is promise you won't tell any Guild related person."
"That depends. If it's something dangerous-"
"It isn't dangerous." She peeled her shirt off and pulled on her pajama top. "Just promise."
"This is ridiculous." He glared as she finished changing. When she shut off the light he snapped, "Fine, Katelina. I promise. Are you happy?"
"No." She turned down the blankets and slid in beside him. "You don't sound sincere." She felt him readying for a tirade, and held up her hand. "But I'll hold you to it just the same, so if you don't plan to keep your word, tell me now."
He gave a huff of impatience she took as agreement. "Our stalker is a little kid who's all-scarred."
"What?"
She recounted the story. When she finished he rubbed his chin. "We need to have a conversation with Annabelle."
Katelina gaped. "You promised."
"I promised not to tell anyone Guild related. I said nothing about confronting Annabelle. For one thing, it's dangerous for the child to run around where someone might see her. For another we don't know her intentions. She looks young, but who knows how old she is. The child-like behavior could be a ruse. She may be up to something more sinister."
"I think things are exactly the way she said they are, though I don't know why she's latched onto Sarah."
Jorick settled down to sleep. "That's what I intend to find out."
