Chapter 637
It was later that evening when Verchiel rounded everyone up for Des' funeral. They'd built a pyre of broken furniture and bric-a-brac in an empty area of the compound. Des' body lay on top, wrapped in blankets. The petroleum scent of kerosene bit Katelina's nose. She pressed closer to Jorick, as if he could shelter her from it.
Brandle stood silent, hands clasped before him. Several feet away were Micah and Torina. The vampiress was fully restored and wearing a new blue dress. Despite her past with Des, or maybe because of it, Katelina sensed real sadness from her.
Oren joined them. "Zander offered to lead the rite. Brandle gave him permission, pending objections."
Jorick shrugged. "Let him. I've conducted enough of them."
Oren made a soft noise of agreement as Loren and Xandria joined them. Sorino and Kai came a moment later. The vampire looked miffed to be interrupted. In Katelina's opinion it was the least he could do. Des might have been an asshole, but he'd died fighting on their side. He deserved funeral attendance.
She said as much, and Jorick snorted. "These ceremonies are to comfort the living, not the dead. I question whether anyone liked Des enough to bother."
Oren balked. "Our feelings make no difference. This isn't a rite of comfort, it's one of respect, to honor the dead."
"Does he know he's being honored?" Jorick asked. "To say he cares one way or another implies his consciousness continues."
Katelina cut in, "You mean his soul? Why wouldn't it?"
"Vampires have no souls, little one. We traded them for immortality."
Oren cleared his throat. "You would ask me to believe that my sons had no souls? That the child inside has none?"
Jorick hesitated. "Perhaps, there are exceptions."
"How could there be exceptions?" Katelina asked. "Unless there's an intelligence who identifies those exceptions. Last I checked you didn't believe in God."
"I didn't say I believe in an intelligence, only-"
"Only you do, deep down, but you like to pretend you don't. Otherwise you wouldn't believe vampires traded their souls in the first place."
"One can have a soul without a God," Jorick argued.
"Then what's to stop a vampire from having one?"
Before Jorick could reply, Verchiel appeared. "Zander's ready to start."
Sorino sniffed. "Yes, get on with it."
The others nodded. Zander entered from the shadows, with a torch made from a broken table leg. His long hair and trailing robe lent a mystic quality to the scene that gave Katelina goosebumps.
He stopped before the pyre and raised the burning torch. "We invoke thee, Goddess of Night. Come to us on velvet wings and fly away the spirit of our brother, Des, to your realm of eternal darkness. Take him to his rest and his reward, comfort him in this time of transformation, and allow him to remain at your side, your humble servant."
Katelina glanced at Jorick, as if to say, "Even he believes in a soul," but she went ignored.
Zander touched the torch to the kerosene soaked wood. "We deliver Des' remains to the flame, that they may devour his shell of clay, and release him to his ultimate divinity, to take his place at your feet."
Zander touched the torch to several more places. When the fire had a good hold, he tossed it among the flames. "We thank thee, Goddess, and ask as always that you grant your protection and guidance to us. Batna is our queen."
When no one spoke, Brandle stepped up. "Would anyone like to say a few words?"
Oren cleared his throat. "Des and I did not always see eye to eye but, when it came to it, one could not call him a coward."
"Yeah," Micah agreed. "An asshole but not a coward."
"He was bored," Torina said.
"Aren't we all?" Jorick muttered. Katelina looked to him sharply. He shrugged. "Life is ninety percent boredom, mortal and immortal alike."
She wanted to ask if he found her boring, but the funeral was the wrong time.
Silence fell, except for the snapping crackle of flames. The firelight threw long wavering shadows, like fingers stretching out to the surrounding night. They each had one, their own private darkness. All of them but Des. Surrounded in fire, he didn't cast a shadow. In Katelina's mind it was because he wasn't there anymore. His light, and his darkness, were gone to the next place.
She wondered what Zander's idea of the afterlife was like. He'd mentioned worship at the feet of the Night Goddess, but was that it? It was little reward for a life, if reward it was meant to be. Maybe Jorick was right. Maybe vampires didn't go to heaven, and maybe the Night Goddess was the queen of hell.
If so, we should all pray to her.
***
When Katelina asked, Jorick told her he wasn't bored with her. "I didn't mean anything by it. You read too much into offhand comments, little one. You're many things, but boring is not one of them."
Mollified, she asked him about Benny and the others. Apparently, the three had been living in the destroyed building. No doubt it had been built for Traven, his wife, and the elite.
"That's common with large covens," Jorick explained. "There's a ruling class and there's the general population. When Traven didn't return, the remaining vampires probably decided they deserved the better quarters."
Katelina couldn't blame them for that.
"They had some blood stored in the master's building, but not a lot. There was a large freezer in the main coven house. When they shut off the power to it probably to save fuel everything spoiled."
It was another waste, like so many.
"What did you do with Lilith's dead followers?"
"Oren insisted we bury them with the others. In his current mood, I'm surprised we didn't have a funeral for them."
Though the main house had a room full of boxes, Katelina opted for the empty couch. She woke to a silent scream, and saw Jorick soothing Estrilda back to sleep.
"The sun is still up," Jorick said. "Rest, little one. There's not enough stored blood for us to have extra."
