Chapter 614
Near sundown, Oren suggested that Kai could sleep with Xandria. "She has one of the upstairs bedrooms."
Sorino gave a cold smile. "The couch will suffice. I'm sure there will be no unfortunate incidents on either side. We've spent enough time together to earn that measure of trust, or at least come to an understanding."
In other words, Kai wasn't going to kill them while they slept, so long as no one tried to drink from him.
With the humans settled, Oren led the vampires to the basement. Finished with brick walls and a cement floor, it had a neat row of coffins.
He offered the guests first choice of boxes, but Katelina quickly declined. "Jorick and I will be fine on the floor."
"Me, too," Des muttered.
Torina laid her hand possessively on a silver casket with ornate handles. "Good. I'll keep mine."
"You can keep mine as well," Brandle said gallantly. "I'm not so old yet that I can't get up from the floor."
Given his age, his lack of traditional ideas surprised Katelina.
He chuckled. "The coffin and the vampire are a newer connection. I can assure you, in my day, we only took to a box if we needed to assure safety from sunlight. Later vampires snatched up the mantle and ran with it. I suppose it matched the gloomy outlook Christianity gives blood drinking and immortality."
"How old are you?" Torina opened her casket with a movie-worthy creak.
"More than fifteen hundred but, as they say, age is merely a number."
"Yes," Torina purred, her eyes fixed on the attractive blond. "You're only as old as you feel."
"And I imagine you know how to make a man feel young?" he teased.
"Hey, enough of that shit," Micah cut in. "Jesus."
"Like you would do any less?" Brandle asked. "Or is it jealousy I hear?"
Micah sputtered and Brandle laughed. "I meant no offense. The lady is worth being jealous of."
Torina giggled. Not her usual fake sound, made to entice a man, but a real, actual giggle. Katelina couldn't believe that someone as polished as Torina could be disarmed by a compliment.
Sorino interrupted to demand a box. Oren surrendered his. When Etsuko returned with the blankets, she insisted she be the one to sacrifice.
"I will be fine on the floor, Oren-sama. As the master of the house, you should not be."
Oren coughed uncomfortably. "Yes, but-if you insist."
He self-consciously climbed inside the casket. Etsuko said something in Japanese before she shut the lid and took her place on the floor. Though Katelina didn't understand the language she perceived the meaning, the affection.
The words were followed by a flush of warmth that made Katelina smile, even though she knew the feelings weren't hers or Etsuko's.
But whose are they?
There was only one possible answer.
Oren.
***
Katelina woke the next evening. Without waiting for the others, she headed up to take a shower. The whole house smelled like Xandria; like roast beef and gravy. The living room was worse. On the couch, Kai reminded her of a turkey leg from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. Katelina forced herself to grab her suitcase and run for the bathroom.
By the time she reached the door, she'd tuned out the smell of the humans and their delicious blood. With a mental pat on the back, she reached for the knob. A moan sounded and she jumped back. The soft noises that followed said it all. Torina had managed to bag Brandle. How predictable. All she had to do was point her cleavage and shake her hips, and every man in a twenty-mile radius turned into a moron.
Distracted, Katelina didn't hear someone come up behind her. "Is there a line?"
She spun toward the new comer and came face to face with "Torina?"
"In the flesh," the vampiress drawled. "I'd like to take a shower sometime this year. Do I need to go to the other bathroom?"
Katelina blinked. "I thought you were already in there."
Torina stepped around her as another moan came. Her eyes gleamed and she licked her lips delightedly. "Oh. I see. Shall we take a look?"
She jerked the door open and burst into silvery laughter. The occupants froze. Though Katelina looked away, the image was burned into her brain: Xandria was perched on the edge of the sink, her skirt pulled up around her hips, her legs wrapped around Loren's waist. The boy's fangs were buried in her shoulder, his hand splayed over her bare butt.
Loren made a horrified gurgling noise. Torina sniggered. "He's not as innocent as we thought. Maybe I should have paid more attention to him?"
It was too early for Katelina to deal with this.
She hurried upstairs for the second bathroom. A quick shower later, she felt better. She exited to Kai and Sorino waiting in the hall outside. The turkey-scented teen gave her a nod of gratitude before he rushed in and shut the door.
Sorino straightened his suit jacket. "I hear you've had an interesting morning."
Katelina scowled and blushed at the same time. The vampire chuckled. "I'm not surprised you're embarrassed. For all of your airs, you're rather puritanical."
"I'm not puritanical. It's- for God's sake, he's sixteen. And she's twenty-three or twenty-four. That's illegal!"
"He isn't sixteen," Sorino said. "He's probably older than you. You're judging books by their covers, a dangerous thing to do in the world of immortals."
With nothing to say, Katelina huffed away to join Jorick in the living room. She saw the same conversation in his eyes, and cut it off with, "I don't want to talk about it. I do want to call the hospital, though."
Oren let her use his phone. There were no changes in her mother's condition. Katelina hung up, dejected, and listened as Oren explained where they could feed. "There's tree land to the south, and fields. Both are rich in animal life. There are no humans for some miles."
That was fine with Katelina. The animals made her feel guilty enough.
They fed and headed back inside. Xandria invited her to watch TV. To Katelina's horror, Loren and Micah joined them. The teen looked as embarrassed as she felt, his eyes on the floor and cheeks pink. When someone knocked on the door he raced to answer it.
Thank God for the distraction.
A vampire with a long gray and black beard stood on the porch. He wore a button up shirt with suspenders. A shapeless felt hat was perched over a ponytail. Katelina recognized him as a former member of Oren's coven. If only she could think of his name-
The newcomer gave a gruff cough. "Is Oren here?"
Loren blinked. "Um, yeah. I think he's in the kitchen with Jorick and Etsuko."
"Don't just stand there, boy, go get 'im!"
Loren scurried away and their visitor shoved inside. Micah moved to block him. "Who do you think you are, old man?"
"Someone who could knock you flat, boy. You look tough, but you're barely more than a baby."
Then Katelina remembered. "Baltheir."
All eyes turned to her. "That's who he is. Baltheir. He used to be in Oren's coven"
"Jesslynn's," the gruff vampire bit off.
She ignored him. "Until the Executioners came. Then he split off on his own. He's the one who arranged for Oren to buy this house."
Baltheir peered at her over his bushy beard. "Who are you?"
"She's Jorick's pet," Oren said as he strode into the room, Jorick on his heels. "I can only assume you're the coven the Executioners needed to evacuate?"
"No, I ain't," Baltheir said grumpily. "I ain't important to them and, as you well know, I don't live in town. Though speakin' of that coven, they're comin' to stay with me for a while. There was a redheaded fellow, mite tetched in the head if you ask me. It was his idea."
Oren frowned. "You came all this way to tell me? You'd have done better to call."
"I did call but I got your blasted messages. I mostly wanted to make sure you were all still here." He broke off and eyed Jorick. "Won't need to be bustin' you outta jail again, will I?"
Jorick made an angry noise. Katelina cringed. When she'd introduced him to her mother, the police arrested him on suspicion of kidnapping. Being miles away, Oren had sent Baltheir to help them.
"You been in to see the town?" Baltheir asked. "You buy that guff about terrorists?"
"Not at all," Jorick said.
"Me either. 'Specially with all the vampires running around that night."
Katelina drew up. Maybe Baltheir saw something?
Oren's frown deepened. "You were there?"
"I was at the start. Patches," he added, as if that meant something. "Course when things started gettin' hairy, I skedaddled."
"You didn't mention that when I called you."
"Nah, I didn't have time to mess with a lengthy conversation, besides, you were only interested in makin' sure I was in one piece, not wantin' to hear what happened."
"What happened, old man?" Micah demanded.
"You better learn some manners, boy, afore someone gives you a spankin'. As for what happened, I don't rightly know all the specifics, just that there was a bunch of 'em runnin' around. Looked like they were led by a woman. Real pretty thing. She gave orders and the rest attacked."
"We already know that," Micah said.
"Then I guess ya' know I got one of 'em in my basement?"
Katelina jerked to her feet. "You captured one of them?"
"I wouldn't say captured, missy. More like retrieved. Not much left of 'im. He got caught in a collapsing building and they left 'im for dead. He ain't much more than a jabbering vegetable, seein' as how he lost the top half of his head, brain an' all."
Katelina sagged. So much for getting information from him.
"If his brain's gone, how is he still alive?" Xandria asked.
Oren explained with exaggerated patience, "To kill a vampire you need to destroy the heart."
"Ah, poppycock," Baltheir said. "I reckon there's some of his brain left, or he wouldn't be alive anymore, if you call his condition alive. But seein' as how you're a mind reader, I thought ya might like to take a stab at interrogating him."
"You haven't told the Executioners you have him?" Oren asked.
"No, I ain't. That redhead didn't even come in. So, ya wanna take a crack at 'im or not?"
"Yes," Jorick said quickly.
"Fine. Come on over when y'all are ready. Oren knows where my den is." Baltheir turned for the door, then looked back. "Don't bring that loudmouth with ya'."
Micah growled. "Who you callin' a loudmouth, you geezer?"
Baltheir strode out, pulling the door closed behind him.
Micah flipped him off after the fact, then stormed toward the kitchen, leaving a trail of obscenities.
Jorick looked to Oren. "Since you know where his den is, you can drive. Would you like to come, little one?"
"Obviously." Katelina pushed her way through the group. "Hopefully, there's enough left of his brain that we can figure out where they've gone and how to get Sarah and Estrilda away from them."
"I wouldn't hold my breath," Oren muttered, but Katelina was determined to remain optimistic.
One of us needs to be.
