Chapter 84
Katelina's captors reached a silent agreement, and the car doors opened and closed. Adam hauled Katelina out of the car by the back of her coat, and heaved her over his bulky shoulder like a piece of luggage. "And as for you, if you make a sound until I tell you to, I'll snap your neck. Got it? I don't even want to hear you breathe."
She chewed her lip to keep from whimpering and tried to get herself under control. Her heart was pounding so loudly that, for a wild moment, she was afraid he might kill her just for that. What in the hell was she going to do?
The vampires remained silent as they hauled her up the driveway and back to the house she'd left behind. The front door was unlocked, so they opened it and stepped inside.
Adam snapped the light on, then gave a low whistle. He turned slowly to examine his surroundings, and unwittingly gave Katelina a good view of the decimated room. The books were strewn about, some torn nearly in two, and furniture was knocked over. Near their feet lay one of the wing back chairs and shards of something ceramic. A single coal glowed in the ashes of the corner fireplace, but whatever fire had been there was now gone, which was just as well considering that the firewood was scattered across the rug. Not even the walls had escaped attack; a hole was punched near the dining room door and the edges leaked plaster onto the floor below.
"Looks like someone beat us to it," Adam commented, obviously at a loss.
Nirel snorted. "Yeah, it looks that way. So, now what, eh?"
"I don't know." He spun around again and made Katelina dizzy.
"I thought you said 'e left, remember?" Nirel narrowed his eyes at them. "Maybe she ain't so reliable, eh? Maybe 'er brain really is mush?"
"Maybe," Adam agreed. "All right, we need to figure something out here." He fell silent, lost in thought, and then suggested suddenly, "She wants him alive, so let's see if we can find him. We'll check the rest of the house first. He might be here, after all."
"Fantastic," Nirel muttered and threw up his hands. Without looking back, he charged unenthusiastically into the dining room, broken glass crunching beneath his feet.
Adam hauled Katelina through the dark house on his quest. The other rooms were all in the same shape as the front room and there was no sign of Jorick, not that she thought there would be. She'd seen him walk away almost an hour ago. Whoever had done this had obviously snuck into the house when she wasn't looking, and then snuck back out again. But, why?
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when they reached the end of the hallway. Adam squeezed her tighter to get her attention and demanded quietly, "What's in there?"
"That - that's the basement," she stuttered. "And I don't know about the other one. He keeps it locked."
"All right then, let's split up. You take the basement and I got the locked room."
Nirel made a noise of disagreement in his throat. "Why do I got the cellar?"
Adam's tone was fake patience. "Because I have the girl. It's easier for you to go down the stairs because you're not carrying anything."
"Oh."
With that word they split up. As soon as Nirel had disappeared, Adam unceremoniously dumped Katelina on the hallway floor. He studied the mysterious white door for a moment and then gave it a well-placed kick. The wood buckled, but didn't break, so he kicked it again. It cracked loudly, then splintered and finally broke apart.
Adam pulled her up by her coat and she stared dumbly at the destruction. Long, shard like splinters littered the hallway like tears, and what was left of the door hung on half of its hinges. The sight made her stomach lurch painfully. It was something she'd longed to do, but actually seeing it felt wrong; like desecrating a tomb.
"Come on," Adam ordered, and tossed her through the ruined doorway and into the secret room. She landed painfully on bare floorboards, the breath knocked from her. Adam stepped over her wordlessly, but came to a stop only a couple of feet away. "What the fuck?"
Katelina used her legs to roll herself over and found her face close to an overturned stand. It took her only a second to recognize it as the small table she'd seen through the window, though most of the candles were broken off now. A thick, solid mass of wax still covered the top and ran, frozen, down the side like colorful rivulets of ice. Beyond the stand she could see one of the picture covered walls. Frames hung at odd angles and dark figures stared at her through shattered glass.
Adam slammed his fist into something and bellowed in frustration, "Who attacks and then locks the goddamn door behind themselves?"
He spun towards Katelina and snatched her up, holding her in midair so that her feet dangled and her eyes were level with his. "What in the fuck is going on here? Did you do this?"
"No," she choked out. "I...I don't...know...what happened. I-I was outside-"
"Well figure it out!" Adam shouted and threw her back to the floor. "Seriously! What the fuck?"
Katelina tried to crawl away, but her hands were still tied behind her back, so the effort was futile; as futile as his demand. How could she figure it out? She'd seen Jorick leave, that was all she knew. He told her to go, he gave her money and then he left. Whatever else had happened, had happened without her.
She choked on her fear and tried to think logically. Someone had come after Jorick left; someone with a key. Could it have been Loren? The last she'd seen him, he'd been pretty pissed. Maybe he'd come back and trashed the house to get even.
"Okay," she told herself. "So, Loren trashed the house. And Kariss sent her goons to get Jorick, but that doesn't mean I have to die for this. I can get away. I just have to think. I just-"
She broke off when she found herself looking into a familiar set of eyes; only instead of the muted sepia tones of the photograph, they were painted in a startling violet. She was staring at the painting in the large gilt frame, the one she'd been unable to see earlier. Though the hairstyle and clothing were different, she knew now who the subject was: Jorick's dark angel, Velnya.
Katelina gagged on the reality of it, and what little of her courage was left melted away, like ice in July. Her brain quickly assembled the puzzle pieces to form a sick picture, a final ironic heartbreak: the photographs, the painting, the candles. This had been Jorick's shrine to the woman he loved more than anything else, and he'd locked himself in here to do what? Pray to her as though she were some goddess?
Will he do that for me when I'm dead?
Nirel climbed through the ruined door, waving a piece of partially burnt paper.
Adam eyed it curiously and asked, "What's that?"
"Found this in the cellar," Nirel answered, without really answering. He shoved the paper into his partner's hand, and then they had a hurried conference of whispered words and frantic gestures. When they parted, Adam came for her. He hauled her up by her coat again and pressed his face close to hers.
"Had a fight did we?" he asked, his grey eyes amused. "You might have mentioned that!"
"You shoulda read it in 'er mind," Nirel commented.
Adam's face twisted in fury. "I told you her mind was a sloppy mess!" He turned his attention back to his captive. "No worries though. This might make things better. Fighting or not, we'll set up a little something he won't be able to resist."
Adam hauled her across the room to the wall with the window. He kicked a pile of debris out of his way and then made a little noise of delight. "This might work!"
Katelina tried in vain to save herself. "Whatever you're planning, he won't care. He doesn't want me anymore. I thought you knew that. You said Loren asked you-"
Her words were lost in a scream as Adam lifted her in the air by her arms. Her shoulders popped and her arms bent in ways she was sure they were never meant to. He used the rope to hang her from a hook in the wall by her wrists, then stepped back to survey his handiwork. "Loren just said you needed a ride, he never said why. It's not a sewing circle, you know." He cocked his head to one side and addressed Nirel. "She's right though, he won't come for this. We need a little more incentive." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "If you were what's-his name, what would make you come sprinting back here?"
"What's-his-name?" Didn't they even know who they were after? Were they that stupid?
Nirel stepped closer and shrugged. "I dunno."
Adam rolled his eyes. "Maybe if we make her scream? Kateesha said we could kill her if we wanted to, so we don't have to worry too much."
"Kateesha?" the word came out a slurred groan of pain that they ignored.
"All right," Nirel agreed. "Then maybe we should give 'im something to smell?"
Adam grinned and stepped back. "That's the first good idea you've had! And since you thought of it, I'll let you have the honors."
Nirel nodded and moved to stand before her. Katelina stared at him with terrified, confused eyes. He'd said Kateesha. But they'd been with Kariss just the other day. Unless Kariss was with Kateesha and not Oren? She tried to think, but her arms hurt too bad, and it drown out the logical line of thought.
Adam cleared his throat loudly. "Are you planning to do something, or just stare her to death?"
"I am, I am," Nirel assured him with obvious irritation. Then he rolled his eyes and stepped so close that Katelina could smell his breath. "'e's always in a 'urry."
She whimpered, her body frozen in fear, as he opened her black coat. He ran his eyes over her thoughtfully, as if trying to decide what would get the loudest reaction. With his mind made up, he curled his lips back from his fangs and bit into her right breast, tearing through her sweatshirt and into the flesh beneath.
She screamed, and tried to fight off horrific flash backs. Troy and Claudius in the basement; Nirel and Adam in the secret room. The past and the present began to mix in a blur of pain and fear, and she fought to keep from drowning in it.
