Chapter 638
When she woke again, it was to Jorick moving around the room.
"You're awake early."
"Or you're awake late," he teased. "I was going to get blood. I'll bring you some."
She nodded appreciation and sat up. Across from her, Estrilda slept. Andrei was going to come tonight, then-what? Would he want her killed? Was it really that bad?
Curiosity got the better of her. Katelina moved to the other couch and gently lifted the blanket. She dropped it quickly. Gone were Verchiel's shirt and the remnants of the pink dress, leaving Estrilda's scarred chest exposed. Her torso ended just under her ribs, in a lumpy glomp that made her look like a chicken nugget.
A lot of her organs were obviously gone. Was her stomach? Katelina wasn't sure how necessary it was to a vampire. They drank blood and-what? Did the stomach process it? She knew in human biology nutrients were absorbed into the blood through the stomach and intestines. It made sense that it worked the same for vampires. If Estrilda didn't have a stomach, could she digest blood, or would she starve to death?
Jorick returned with breakfast for the two of them. Katelina downed hers, then asked whether the child could feed anymore.
"I don't know. Vampires in that condition aren't kept alive, little one." He held his hand up to stop her reply. "I know your feelings, but it's the way it is. Modern humans have gotten so 'life' obsessed, they'd rather suffer untold horrors than let it go."
"What if that happened to me? Or to you?"
"I'd expect you to put me out of my misery. I'm not so desperate for life that I want to live in anguish."
"You'd be willing to leave me?"
"Rather than live like that? Yes. I'm sorry. That's not the answer you want, but it's the truth."
Katelina pursed her lips and changed the subject. "Where's Verchiel? I need to use his phone and call the hospital."
"I have no idea. Maybe still asleep. Or feeding."
"I'll go look."
She came across the redhead in the kitchen, beating a packet of frozen blood with a hammer. "Hello, Kately. Do you need one?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to break it up and swallow the shards. Easier than thawing it, since the microwave quit working." He motioned to the appliance. "Someone I won't nameZanderput a metal cup in it. There were some sparks and a lot of smoke. Now it won't do anything."
"Yeah, Zander seems a little out of touch."
"That's an understatement." Verchiel paused to survey his handiwork. "He seems like a nice guy, though."
"I guess. Can I borrow your phone?"
"Knock yourself out." He tugged it from his pocket and tossed it to her.
She skipped past the anime-girl lock screen, and schoolgirl homepage, to his recent calls. The Ohio number stood out among the others.
When a nurse answered, Katelina had a hard time getting information. Finally, the woman snapped, "She's been moved. We called the contact number on file."
Katelina checked the missed calls. The last one was labeled Jamie from yesterday. "I don't have a call from you."
"Then obviously you're not the contact number. Either way, she's been moved."
"To where?"
"Sorry. You'll need to contact the family. Good"
"I am the family!"
"Goodbye."
The woman hung up. Katelina stopped from throwing the phone in frustration.
"Problem?" Verchiel fished frozen blood crystals out of the open bag.
"They moved her, but they didn't call!"
He crunched the shards. "Not bad. Kinda like a popsicle. Maybe they called Brad? Since he's her fianc¨¦, he's probably the contact number."
"Fianc¨¦? No. They're only-I don't know. Living together."
Verchiel dumped frozen shards into his mouth and chewed. "That's right. I guess no one had a chance to tell you."
Katelina choked. "What? They told you?"
"No. I noticed the ring on the bed stand, in the little cup with her watch and hairpins. I just assumed."
"Well don't. My mom loves costume jewelry. A ring doesn't mean anything."
"It looked like a real diamond to me, but hey, none of my business." He dumped the last of the bag in and crunched it loudly. "I wonder if freezing it takes the nutrients out? I guess if I'm hungry later I'll know. I've had popsicles before, but not as a meal."
"Blood popsicles?"
"Sure, why not. And blood candy. Didn't you try some at Sadihra and Wolfe's wedding in Munich?" When she blinked, he shrugged. "It went pretty fast. It's basically clotted or congealed into a glob, sometimes with flavoring. They had it in tiny muffin cups. It was cute. Anyway, so your mom?"
"I don't know. They've been threatening to move her, but never said where. Probably a nursing home. God. I should have stayed. I came to rescue Sarah and Estrilda, and look what happened. Sarah turned out to be a traitor. Estrilda might as well be dead."
"Estrilda was no one's fault," Verchiel said. "I don't think Anya planned to hurt her. She was trying to destroy Des."
"Maybe, but if I see that bitch again, I'm going to kill her with my bare hands."
Verchiel flinched. "That's violent."
"It's nothing compared to what I'll do to Sarah."
Verchiel crumpled the plastic bag. "If you do something to her, you'll be sorry later."
"Are you serious? Did you hear her? No, you weren't there. Let me bring you up to speed"
"I know. Jorick told us. Your friend-I think she's in a complicated place."
"You mean a crazy place? She tried to kill my mother! God, she murdered her own parents and half our town! I don't even know who died because of her, but I guarantee there were people I knew among the casualties. How am I supposed to forgive that?"
"You won't, not right away. You're angry right now. And betrayed."
"You're damn right I am! After everything we've been through together, for her to do this-be like this-I don't understand it! She'd have never hurt someone, let alone butchered half our town! Not before."
"Probably not. She was tortured for months. That does something to people. Maybe you just need to reset her."
"What?"
"You know, like putting the internet router back to factory settings. Look, it's your memories that make you who you are, right? So if you removed them-"
"You're saying if someone removed Sarah's memories she'd go back to her old self? That's kind of insane. For one thing, none of us can do that."
"Samael can."
"How do you know?"
"Quick. Tell me what happened when you were a prisoner at Malick's."
Katelina balked. "What does that have to do with anything? I was in a cell with Boris. You guys came, I got my throat slit, Micah turned me."
"What about your interrogation?"
"I-I don't know. I don't remember it. Malick wanted me to contact Samael and-What does it matter?"
"Where do you think those memories went? Did you just forget them?" When she looked helpless, he clarified, "Samael sealed them away, because he knew you couldn't deal with it. Imagine if he hadn't. For all you know, you might have wanted to kill everyone."
Like Sarah.
