Chapter 97
Half an hour later they gathered in what Katelina had come to think of as Oren's study. There were four vampires in all; Oren, Jorick, Anya, and the male with dark hair and eyes who Jorick informed her was Fabian from Oren's old coven; Jesslynn's brother.
They were all barely seated when Fabian demanded angrily, "Do we have to have the human present?"
"Yes," Jorick replied smoothly, as he caught Katelina's hand and pulled it onto his leg. Their chairs were close enough to one another to constitute a single piece of furniture.
"I don't see why," Fabian continued with outrage. "You should have left her at your den."
"Enough," Oren said quietly and raised his hands to signal for silence. "Jorick is here because Kateesha has already attacked his den once and attempted to kill his hum- Katelina," he corrected himself quickly.
Anya smirked. "Well, well, I wondered what woke the slumbering dragon." Her eyes landed on Jorick. "I should have known. Kateesha's always had an eye for our raven haired friend." She reached over and touched Jorick's shoulder. "He's just so popular, isn't he?"
Katelina glared at her, but Anya ignored her completely and continued her only half-sarcastic musing, "He may be stubborn and egotistical and have a God complex but, I have to admit, he doesn't offend the eyes."
Katelina had to suppress a smile as Jorick carefully removed Anya's hand and let it drop, without dignifying her comments with a response.
"That doesn't matter now," Oren stated impatiently. "We're here to discuss a plan, not the finer points of Jorick's personality."
"Fine," Fabian leaned back from the table. "But I've made my objections clear. When she betrays us-"
"She won't. She's linked to him," Oren hissed through gritted teeth. "Now can we please discuss the plan?"
"Really?" Anya sat up straighter and looked at Jorick in fascination. "You linked a human? What were you thinking?"
Oren squeezed his eyes shut in frustration and asked tightly, "Can we get on with this?"
But Fabian went on. "And you think we need his help? He's linking himself to humans now. Who knows what other antiquated rituals he holds with?"
"We're not here to squabble like a bunch of children!" Oren cried.
"How can you be so cold?" Fabian demanded. "It's his fault that the Executioners came. That Jesslynn-"
"Shut up!" Oren roared and slammed his fist into the table, hard enough to make the hurricane lamp jump. "Her death is my fault alone. Had I not allowed her to break the Laws they'd have left her as they did me." He regained his composure and spoke slowly, "Now can we please get on with this?"
"Yes, please," Jorick agreed, casting a filthy look at Fabian.
"Fine," he sneered. "But I did warn you."
"Yes, fine, we've been warned." Oren didn't bother to hide his annoyance.
Jorick picked the discussion up, his voice all business. "Now, what are we dealing with? Is Kateesha still at the underground den?"
Oren seemed almost relieved to finally be on track. "Yes. It's roughly forty-five minutes from us. I assume you remember it?"
"Vaguely," Jorick waved his hand dismissively. "It was Claudius's master war den, if I recall."
"Yes," Oren nodded. "Like the emergency den we infiltrated last month to rescue your - her," he corrected and nodded towards Katelina. "It's a small steel building above. But, instead of only a few rooms beneath, like that one, this one is a veritable catacomb of rooms and tunnels."
Katelina couldn't help but flinch at the memories of Claudius' den, and she scowled at Oren for bringing it up.
Jorick just nodded his understanding. "How many are with her?"
Oren's eyes slipped away. "She now commands over half of Claudius's old force, plus she had followers of her own, apparently. I knew she'd have a couple, but I had no idea the collection she'd amassed. Of course, as I mentioned, they took casualties in the last battle."
"The number?" Jorick asked patiently.
"Nearly thirty-five after the last battle, I should think," Oren answered. "And we have eleven."
"Eleven?" Jorick echoed incredulously.
"Twelve with you," Anya corrected. "Thirteen if you want to count the human."
Oren stopped her from commenting further, "Thank you, Anya. At any rate you can see we're outnumbered."
"Yes." Jorick nodded slowly. "And how old is their blood?"
Fabian grimaced. "That's where things get complicated." When no one explained he continued, "She's recruited some who are nearly as old as she is."
"But our lovely Jorick still has decades on even Kateesha," Anya said sarcastically. "Our mighty avenging angel!"
"Anya, stop!" Oren snapped. "We all understand. You don't like one another."
"Oh, I like Anya," Fabian declared.
"Well, I'm not that fond of you." There was a note of humor in Anya's voice, so Katelina wasn't sure if she was joking or serious.
Oren ignored them both. "Never the less, we're working together. Now," he turned his face to Jorick. "We brought one of them back after the last altercation."
Anya interrupted again, "Yes, he was fun."
Oren ignored her again. "Before he was drained, he claimed that Kateesha had more coming to join her."
"I see." Jorick rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We're outnumbered already, but we still might take the victory, depending on the numbers. How many more?"
"Ah," Oren replied hesitantly. "He claimed nearly fifty."
"Fifty!" Jorick cried. "And where would she find fifty?"
It was Anya who supplied the answer, "Mexico, of course."
"Eighty-five," Jorick mused softly, his eyes on Katelina's hand as though he was using it to calculate. His head snapped up, and he didn't look enthusiastic. "Eighty-five against twelve? Those aren't promising odds."
"No, they're not," Oren agreed. "But if we can defeat them before the reinforcements arrive-" he trailed off hopefully
"And one of us takes over her coven," Jorick finished, matter of fact.
Oren nodded. "Right."
"Who gets this honor?"
Katelina could feel Jorick's impatience and rubbed absently at the mark on her neck, as though it were the source of the invisible needles that pricked her.
"Your claim is unquestioned-" Oren started but Fabian leapt to his feet, his face twisted in anger.
"Oh no! I won't be a party to this!"
"Settle yourself, Fabian," Jorick drawled. "I don't want Kateesha's followers."
Anya snickered. "No, you'd much rather hide and mourn. Or are you over that now that you have a new plaything?"
Katelina glared at the woman again. Jorick, on the other hand, pretended not to hear her. "Who among us has the right to have thirty-five, or more, under their command? For a coven - even a war coven - those numbers are large."
"I would choose you, of course, but that failing I'd suggest that Jeda is the next in line."
"And why is she not called to council?" Jorick asked.
Anya snorted. "She doesn't have the brains for strategy, despite her years. She's as bad as Torina!"
Fabian shook his head with dissatisfaction. "So you'd give Jeda thirty-five followers? That's nearly as bad as Kateesha, Oren. And don't forget that mate of hers."
"He isn't here," Oren explained. "Besides, you misunderstand. I'd let her claim the right and then disperse them. A coven leader may break his own coven." He smiled smugly and his amber eyes danced with self-appreciation in the flickering light.
"And if she doesn't break the coven?" Jorick asked, unconvinced. "This is perilous."
"She will." Despite the objections, he still looked pleased with himself. "What would she do with them? She has her own coven with what's-his-name, down south somewhere. If they weren't bored with one another, she wouldn't even have come."
"Yeah, she's bored with him." Fabian snorted. "Or so she says. What's to stop her from keeping them and giving them to him? Or how do we know they're not fighting? What if she marches down there and starts a war with him?"
Oren waved him to silence. "That isn't really our problem. But, as Anya pointed out, Jeda is pointless when it comes to strategy. Her blood claims the right to lead this coven over me, but you notice she wasn't interested in it."
"I don't blame her," Jorick commented wryly. "But for the sake of continuing let's assume Jeda will claim the coven and disperse them."
Oren nodded enthusiastically, and rushed on, "The main problem isn't who takes over, but getting in, and out, without being destroyed."
"Yes, and that's quite a problem."
They fell to discussing strategy, and Katelina's mind wandered away. At least the bickering had been engaging but, other than a few veiled insults and a couple of threats, their talk turned serious; serious and boring. She occupied herself by studying the portrait of Jesslynn and the children. The sight of Alexander; his dark too adult eyes set in a tiny pale face, tugged at something inside of her. She'd only known him a short time, but he was just a child. She didn't understand how the Executioners could kill a child.
But of course they could. She'd seen the pictures of Shelay, who they'd killed just for seeing too much; like some kind of drug running mafia. And, though it was hard to wrap her mind around, she didn't doubt they'd been the ones to do it. They were cruel and terrible, and no doubt had taken great pleasure in their work. The idea was enough to make her shudder.
***
The meeting dragged on for what felt like hours, but when it was over, they agreed on an uneasy truce. The plan they'd come up with seemed pretty pathetic to Katelina. The gist of it seemed to rely on taking the enemy by surprise, and herding them back into a tunnel where only a few could fight at a time. They finally agreed that Jeda had the right to drink from Kateesha's heart and lay claim to the coven, but only Oren seemed really satisfied with that solution.
Fabian left first, followed by Anya. When they were gone, Jorick turned to Oren and commented, "That went better than I expected."
"Yes." Oren ran an absent hand through his long hair. "Though I wish you'd claimed leadership."
"You're doing fine, Oren. Besides, only half of them would follow me and you know it." Jorick glanced at Katelina. "Don't look so gloomy, a lot was accomplished tonight."
"Right," she nodded vaguely and her empty stomach rumbled.
Jorick snickered, then grinned at Oren. "I'm afraid you must excuse me. I need to feed my human."
Katelina's eyes bulged and her mouth opened in outrage. "I'm not anyone's human."
"Really?" Her dark lover arched a questioning eyebrow. "Perhaps I'll remember that."
"Oh stop it!" She smacked him on the shoulder. Oren showed surprise at her actions but made no comment.
"We can discuss this another time." Jorick's fangs glittered as he laughed. "For now, come along, little one." Then, he captured her hand and led her out of the room, leaving the blonde vampire alone in his study.
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