Chapter 669
With the fight with Sarah over, Katelina pushed past Micah and up the stairs. The sun had shifted. The shaded area was smaller. She crept past it, braving the light. Ishkur stood near the edge of the building. His armor was dented. Blood ran down one arm and one leg in scarlet streaks.
At least they'd wounded him.
Zander was in front of their enemy, wielding the mace. His shoulders heaved. Brandle stood to his left, his face hard.
But there was no Jorick.
She finally found her fianc¨¦ hunkered down behind the damaged penthouse. His shirt was torn. There was blood on his flushed face, but he met her eyes with a nod, as if to say he was all right.
A breeze swept past, then Verchiel was next to her, crouched down in the shadows. His face and hands were red and blistered. "We've wounded him, but that's it."
So much for them both being out of commission, Katelina thought. Obviously Sarah had told her that to throw her off. The worst part was, it had worked.
Ishkur raised his mace. Zander and Brandle pressed forward. Surprisingly, Ishkur stepped back, then he hopped up on the shallow ledge. He surveyed them coolly. Without a word, he turned and jumped.
"Oh my God!" Katelina hurried to the ledge and looked over. There was no sign of Ishkur below, only flashing emergency vehicles, ruined awnings, rubble, and-bodies?
Before she could get a good look, someone dragged her back to the safety of the shadows. She crouched down, panting heavily, and looked up to see Jorick's warm eyes. Without thought, she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him, like he was the only thing that made sense.
He returned the hug. "Are you all right?"
"We ran into Sarah. She got away."
"We'll deal with her later. Come, let's get inside."
She let him lead her down the stairs into the shadowy hallway. The others followed to drop into exhausted positions on the floor. They all needed sleep or blood, but neither was likely to happen.
Micah pulled out a cigarette then fished in his pockets. "Fuck. My zippo's gone." He sucked the unlit cigarette, then tossed it to the floor. "Fuck."
Oren touched his burned face gingerly. "Who's with Torina?"
Katelina stiffened. He didn't know.
Micah kicked her foot. "Hey, is pipsqueak with the kids?" She nodded and Micah said, "Loren's in the room."
Oren nodded. "Together they should be all right." He looked around. "Where's Sorino?"
"His human was attacked," Brandle said. "He left to-avenge him."
Oren stiffened. "The boy-?" When Brandle nodded, he shook his head sadly. "He was told to leave the human behind. Still, a pity."
A blast came from outside, followed by another, and another. Plaster dust dropped down from the ceiling. Lilith might be waiting until Katelina was dead to finish the battle, but someone was stepping things up.
Micah stood and rubbed his sunburned head. "Might as well get this shit over with."
Katelina tensed. When he started down the hall, she realized he didn't mean telling Oren, but rather
"Let them finish it," Oren said. "We've done enough."
"Yeah, but it's two against one, with that son of a bitch," Micah said. "
Zander stood. All eyes swung to him. His cheeks were tinted pink, but he was otherwise unaffected. "I will deal with the one you call Lilith."
Katelina choked. "You might be powerful, but you're no match for her. She's thousands of years old."
"She is also a deceiver and must die." He swung his mace, as if in demonstration. "I will join you again when she has breathed her last."
He stalked past them. Katelina looked wildly from one to the other, expecting someone to stop him. Instead Verchiel stood. "It might be interesting." His smile didn't meet his tired eyes, but he went anyway.
Brandle sighed, but followed, Angelica reluctantly on his heels.
Oren met Jorick's gaze. Katelina felt a silent conversation pass between them. Though she couldn't hear it, she could guess they were trying to decide what to do.
She pulled herself up. "We might as well-"
Jorick sighed, but the three of them made their way to the stairs. Though Katelina was slow, Jorick patiently walked with her. She expected Oren to raise a fuss, but he didn't seem to be in a hurry.
They were two floors down when another blast came from across the street. A second and third followed, then a loud rumble and the rushing crash of bricks falling across the street.
There went that building.
The farther down they went, the heavier the air grew. By the time they reached the ground floor, the atmosphere was like wet cement. Katelina sat on the bottom step to gather her energy. The wound in her stomach had stopped bleeding, but it hurt, as did the one on her shoulder blade.
"You should go back to the room," Jorick said, worry in his eyes.
She shook her head. She couldn't face sitting in there with corpses. Besides, what if Sarah attacked again. Right now, she didn't think she could beat her.
Oren surprised her when he said, "We're all weak. We're better off together."
When she had the energy, they made their way down shadowy hallways, stopping at a splash of morning. The scent of blood came, almost overpowering. Katelina pressed back against the wall to get control of herself.
She looked at Jorick and Oren to see a similar desire in their eyes. She could feel Jorick's willpower. She tried to mentally leech from it.
When she was under control, Jorick led her into the lobby. Furniture was overturned and everything was covered in a layer of dust. Through shattered windows she could see the building across from them. The front was caved in, leaving floors exposed and filling the street with heaps of brick and twisted metal. Figures zipped through the dust. The lights of emergency vehicles flashed red and blue strobes. Among the rubble lay bodies, their heads split open like eggs, leaking puddles of blood and brains.
Jorick pulled her behind an overturned sofa, next to Oren. She pressed her hands to her burning arms. "Did you see the people? My God. What could do that?"
The question wasn't what, rather who, and she knew the answer. She thought of the wave that flashed over them while she was upstairs; the strange sound that made the children's noses bleed. Had that caused this?
"Hey, princess!"
Katelina saw Micah and Angelica hiding behind a fort built from chairs.
"Where are the others?" Oren called.
"Out there trying to get burnt to a crisp," Micah shot back.
Katelina calmed her screaming brain to peek over the couch. She could see Brandle, Zander, and Ishkur. A blur bounced past them, no doubt Verchiel.
A figure stepped from behind an ambulance. Long black hair fell past her rounded shoulders and gold accoutrements winked in the light. Details of her face disappeared as Katelina met her dark slanting eyes. She forgot about the blood, the death, even the sun. She could feel Lilith in her head, like a warm ocean tide that came in and out, washing away all of her worries. The light seeped away with it, leaving a cool darkness that grew deeper and deeper, wrapping around her, pulling her down. The sound of a scream echoed in the depths.
"Katelina!"
Someone ripped her backwards. The real world crashed around her. Her head ached and she pressed her hands to either side, as if to hold her brain together.
"What in the hell are you doing?" Jorick demanded.
She blinked; not at the lobby but the shadows behind the ambulance. "I-I don't know."
Jorick's shoulders relaxed a little. "I can feel your mind again."
"What do you mean?"
"It was as if youor someone elsewas blocking it completely." His gaze turned to the street where Lilith had been.
Katelina massaged her forehead. "Why would she do that?"
Samael's voice came like an ocean breeze in her mind. "She was prying at the door."
"What door?" A conversation with Verchiel leapt into her mind.
"Tell me what happened when you were a prisoner at Malick's-Where do you think those memories went? Did you just forget them? Samael sealed them away, because he knew you couldn't deal with it."
Could that be what he meant?
"Yes," came the silent answer. "But you will not allow her to."
"How can I stop her?"
When no answer came, she peered around the vehicle, as if seeing Samael could make him reply. He stood among the rubble, his hand raised, and his face tilted upward, looking at something on one of the building's exposed floors.
The sun was too hot. Katelina pulled back into the shade, panting. Her face and hands burned.
"You need to get inside," Jorick said urgently.
The wind changed. His words disappeared behind the scent of blood. She looked to her right. A corpse lay near the back bumper of the ambulance, coated in dust. Her body tightened and her throat screamed. Before she could stop herself, she'd tackled the limp body, tearing through shirt and flesh with her fangs.
She gulped but very little blood came. Jorick tugged her back. She wiped her mouth guiltily. "I-"
"You're wounded and awake long after you should be asleep," he said. "But they're nearly dry. Their blood is on the ground."
Even so, the tiny amount gave her a burst of energy. She leaned around the ambulance in time to hear the crash. Ishkur stood on a pile of collapsed rubble, bleeding from a fresh wound. At his feet were Brandle and Zander, whose mace was only a splintered handle.
A flash of red and black bounced past him. Ishkur batted it down. Verchiel landed in a cloud of dust. He sat up quickly, shaking his head. Katelina could see blood on his face, but she wasn't sure if it was from a wound or the sun.
Past them she could see the roadblock. Half a block beyond that was another. A block later was a third. Though she couldn't see around a firetruck, she imagined the other streets would be the same. As if the humans knew to put as much distance between themselves and what was going on as possible
