Chapter 633
Katelina grabbed the closest ally, which happened to be Torina. "Come on. The plane."
The vampiress pulled away. "What about it?" Then she seemed to understand. "Are you sure they're here? Wouldn't it make more sense to house your prisoners somewhere else?"
"We know Sarah was in Ohio. That was only a couple days ago, so I don't think Lilith's had time to find a new den claim it, and make a dungeon. Plus, if Lilith dropped them off somewhere, she'd have to leave guards. She needs everyone she can get to fight Samael."
"All right," Torina said. "Come on."
They stayed low and worked their way back. The others were either crouching, or sprawled in the dirt, where Samael and Lilith's attacks had knocked them. Jorick was already partially up. When Katelina met his eyes, he stood and moved to her.
They met near the plane. Katelina let Jorick push his way in front. He stopped just inside. She peered around him to see the empty interior, with leather seats, paneling, and a closed door in the back.
"Don't fucking move."
Anya stood in the doorway to the cockpit. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Both her figure and pointed features made Katelina think of an action movie. The machete in her hand only added to it.
"Don't worry. I'll handle her." Torina practically shoved Katelina and Jorick out of the way.
Katelina glanced back to see the women locked in combat, then bolted down the aisle to the door at the end. She tried the knob. It was locked. Panic set in before she realized, "I can kick it in."
With a cry, she delivered a blow that shattered the door. She saw surprise flicker across Jorick's face. He quickly hid it to burst into the room ahead of her. When his tense shoulders relaxed, she hurried after him.
Sarah stood next to a bed. Her curly hair was pulled back. She wore a pale green dress belted at the waist. That she was dressed and groomed meant she hadn't been tortured.
Katelina ran to embrace her. Sarah went stiff in her arms, no doubt from shock.
"Thank God." Katelina released her and looked to the bed where a heap of puffy pink dress was curled into a ball. "Estrilda?"
She leaned a knee on the edge of the bed. The child slowly uncurled. Katelina saw a wrinkled, scarred hand, then the top of her bald head. Finally her face.
With a soft sob, the child latched on to Katelina. A rush of terrified words filled her mind, but she didn't know the language. The feelings were clear; the fear, the horror, the loneliness.
"It's okay. We're going to get you out of here. You and Sarah both." She turned to her friend. "We need to go, while everyone's distracted."
Sarah's face hardened. "Now you come to rescue me? How conveniently late."
Katelina faltered. "We came as soon as we could-Ohio-Oh, Sarah, did you see what she did to it? To our home? And your mom-"
Jorick stiffened. "Take the child."
Sarah moved to block her exit. "What about my mother, Kate?"
"Later. We need to go."
Sarah stepped closer, menace in her eyes. "What about my mother?"
"She's-She's dead." Katelina tried to shake away a thousand tumultuous emotions. "We need to go. We can talk about it later."
Sarah turned her back. Katelina imagined her grief, her agony. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you better. I mean, I don't know if there's any good way to say it but"
Her friend's voice was soft. "I should hope so."
"Hope so what? What do you hope? Sarah we need to go."
Sarah spun back around. "I should hope she's dead. I killed her."
Katelina blinked. "What?"
"Oh, for crying out loud, are you that stupid, Kate?"
"Katelina, get Estrilda!" Jorick ordered, but she couldn't; she couldn't think, couldn't move.
"You-You killed your own mother?"
Sarah threw up her hands. "Why not? What the hell did she ever do for me? She left me to take the brunt of his anger."
Katelina caught her breath. "It's not her fault that your father "
"Not her fault? God, she wouldn't divorce him until after I left. Then, then it was worth leaving, because, without me there to take it, she was the one getting hurt. When I was getting beaten she didn't give a shit. She pretended not to see. Fuck her, Katelina! She got what she deserved. Like your mother and Brad!"
"What do you mean? You attacked them?"
"Obviously. I thought you'd have figured it out by now. I was dying in a cagestarving to deathand what did my so-called boyfriend do? He fucked your mother. That's how goddamn much he loved mehow much she loved me! She used to say I was like a second daughter to her. Bullshit."
Katelina couldn't process what was happening. Sarah- she'd betrayed everyone, her parents, her friends, her whole damn town! How
"My town?" Sarah demanded. "Please. It's not mine. It's just a place, Kate. Just a place where we were miserable, looked down on, told we were nothing. Or at least I was. Since I became this I've been thinking about the past a lot. I always thought we were misfits, united by others' cruelty, but we never were. You had chances, opportunities, people who loved you."
"So did you!" Katelina cried. "Fine, your mother was useless, but my momshe took you in. She bought you birthday and Christmas presents every year. Hell, she let you live with us for a while. She was there for you, and this is how you repay her? Repay me? We were friends, Sarah. My god, people called us sisters. And this is what you do? You try to fucking kill my mother? You destroy the one place that means something to me. You join a psychopath who wants to kill me and everyone I love?"
"Kali is not a psychopath!" Sarah shrieked. "She understands me, something you can never do. I thought you could, I thought you did, but my eyes have been opened." She pointed to her head. "I can see your thoughts now. I was never your friend. I was your pity project."
"Oh bullshit!"
"Then choose. Me or Jorick. Pick me and I'll leave Kali. I'll even fight her. But Jorick dies right here, right now."
Katelina couldn't process the insanity. "Stop being ridiculous."
"There. That you'd choose me is ridiculous. But if you choose Jorick, if you fight against me, knowing your allies plan to kill me, that's not ridiculous, is it?" Her voice turned cold. "Vampire blood gave you strength, but it gave me clarity. I can see the world and the people in it for what they are. I can hear their thoughts, their petty judgements, and I knowI know what they think of me, what they care about. I know what you think about me. I'm a burden, an inconvenience, someone who was neatly taken care of, a fragment of an old life you're finished with. But, here I am, complicating things, demanding, wantingwanting to be the one you choose. Only I won't be. You say we were sisters, but we weren't. I was your friend because there was no one else. Now that the world is at your fingertips, I'm an inconvenience. You wish I'd stayed dead."
"Yes!" Katelina shouted. "Because you're not the Sarah I knew, the Sarah I cared about. That Sarah is dead, and this bitter, angry, insane person"
Sarah launched herself at Katelina. Jorick caught her and threw her back. She slammed into the wall and slid down to the floor.
"Katelina, get the child!" Jorick narrowed his eyes at Sarah. "Don't try to interfere. Lilith may have sealed your mind, but she didn't make you any stronger."
Sarah stuffed an escaped curl behind her ear. "Interfere with you taking that thing? Please! I'd pay you. I kept hoping she'd escape, so I could kill her 'accidentally', but would she? I practically threw her off the plane at my father's and she"
Katelina scooped Estrilda up. Heavier than she looked, Katelina was grateful for the titan powers she'd gotten from Micah. "What the fuck is wrong with you Sarah?" Then she processed the last sentence. "Your father's?"
"Didn't you see it?" Sarah asked. "I heard someone set it on fire afterwards, to destroy the evidence. It was my deal with Kali, and my way of proving to her I was worthy. I killed my so-called mother, and that monster who pretended to be my father."
It clicked into place. After the divorce, Sarah's dad stayed in Ohio for a while before he left for a "shit town" in Texas.
It was more than Katelina could deal with. That Sarah would-
"Of course I would," Sarah stood slowly, hands ready to attack. "I'd kill him a thousand times over. As for the rest of those people-they harbored him. They tolerated him. They should have shot him on sight, or hung him. Instead they let him live among them, like he was a normal personlike he was worth something. They deserved it! So do you and your boyfriend, and all your groupies! Every goddamn one of you! And you'll get it. Kali will kill you. She'll drink your blood and" She strangled off, eyes wide.
Katelina followed her gaze to the door where Des stood, wiping his gory arm on his t-shirt.
"Des," Sarah whispered. "You-"
"Yeah, I came, though it looks like you don't need me." He flinched at the sight of the child in Katelina's arms, but took her. "The battle outside is about done. Let's get the hell out of here."
He dashed back the way he'd come. Katelina hesitated long enough to see confusion on Sarah's face, then she followed, Jorick behind her.
