Oren led them into a dark echoing hallway lined with doors. Boxes peered at them from storage rooms, some labeled in tidy black letters. Katelina wished there was time to peek inside them. She didn’t believe in aliens, Bigfoot or the other monsters, but if vampires were real, what else was? The institute had captured Kale. What other creatures had they collected? What information was stored away, laughed at by all but those who’d experienced it?
Their secrets remained their own. She and Jorick followed Oren down a narrow flight of stairs to the third floor. It was set up the same, though the doors that lined the hallway were locked. Signs said things like “References”, “Resources” and “Interview Room”. Though the last one made Katelina pause, Jorick tugged her along before she could examine it.
The second floor held offices, each one neatly labeled. They stopped before a door with a familiar name: Dr. Noah C. Miley.
“This is the man in the article?” Oren asked.
As if to prove how badly organized they were, Jorick tugged a piece of newsprint from his pocket; an article taken from a tabloid. Katelina remembered the contents. There was a photo of Kale, his fangs bared, and Dr. Miley’s comments that he planned to do research on the captured vampire that could “change the course of human history.” The idea still made her shiver.
Oren peered at the door. “Kale will be in a basement, but the doctor’s research may be in here.”
Jorick nodded. “You check it out and we’ll find Kale. They have my fingerprints, not yours.”
As they moved away, Katelina whispered, “There is no ‘they’ who have your fingerprints. They’re just in a database.”
“Yes, a police database. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be arrested - again.” The look he shot her implied it might have been her fault that it happened the first time. It had been her idea to visit her mother, but she wasn’t the one who’d called the cops. That had been Verchiel. Maybe that had something to do with why Jorick hated him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d arrest you without evidence.”
“If I recall, they thought they had evidence. A dead body, a kidnapped woman.”
“But you didn’t kill Patrick, and I wasn’t kidnapped.”
“I know that, and you know that, but they didn’t.” He softened. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”
With nothing else to say, they found the first floor lobby in silence. Light shone through a set of glass doors and splashed shadows across the floor. Jorick glanced through them and nodded to someone who stood outside in the darkness.
“The alarms have been disabled. I knew that Hectia and her flare for turning everyone she meets would come in handy.”
At the back of the lobby was a locked wooden door. Without a hint of remorse, Jorick kicked it in. He led Katelina to the room beyond where they found another door. Despite her objections, he kicked it, too. They moved from room to room, leaving a path of destruction behind, until they came to a door that didn’t give immediately. Jorick knocked on it and considered the sound. “Interesting.” Before she could ask what was interesting, he kicked a hole into it and peeled away the wood to reveal a heavy metal door underneath.
“You’re not planning to just kick that one?”
“Actually…” He winked at her and gave it a solid kick in the center. The door bent. A second kick made it buckle so that he could swing it open with some effort.
Super vampire strength.
They followed a set of stairs to a cement room rimmed in metal doors and security lights. Yellow caution stripes were painted on the walls and block letters announced “Authorized Personnel Only,” and “Warning: Dangerous Specimens”.
Jorick surveyed the words. “Either they had high hopes or Kale isn’t their first brush with a nonhuman entity.”
“You don’t really think so? Not in Michigan?”
He shrugged and sniffed for Kale’s scent. Katelina still wasn’t used to the idea that vampires could smell one another, or that they had a sort of sixth sense that told them when someone was nearby. But then there were a lot of things she wasn’t used to.
“Ah.”
Katelina followed Jorick’s gaze. The door at the back of the room was covered in diamond shaped warning labels. If not for the seriousness of the situation, they would have been comical. One had an injured hand with blood dripping from it crossed out, while a second showed a pair of swirly eyes and warned against “vampire hypnosis”. A third showed the black silhouette of a human head with large white fangs where the mouth belonged. “Warning: Vampires may be more dangerous than they appear. Exercise caution at all times”.
“My God, Jorick, where would they get a sticker like that?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps they made it.” He ran his hand around the door and then, with a shrug, tried the handle. It swung open on silent hinges. “Someone forgot to lock up.” Though he joked, his eyes held guarded caution.
There was a switch just inside the door. Jorick pressed it and fluorescent tube lights snapped to life, illuminating another cement room with yellow and red warnings. The middle of the back wall was thick plexiglass, like a window in a zoo cage. Inside, she could see Kale. He stood with his palms pressed against the glass. If she hadn’t known who it was, she might not have recognized him. His blonde hair hung limp around his haggard face and his skin cleaved to his bones. She knew the cause: lack of blood. She’d seen the effects before, though they had been worse.
Kale regarded them with a mixture of curiosity and animosity. His eyes glittered dangerously in his shrunken face, and Katelina thought of Jorick’s warnings. Maybe she should have stayed in the van.
Jorick approached the trapped vampire and rapped on the plexiglass with his knuckles. Kale tapped back, but they couldn’t hear the sound.
A red button was on the wall to the right, below what looked like a speaker. Jorick pressed it. “Kale?”
The vampire inside nodded vigorously and tapped the glass again. Apparently it wasn’t a speaker, but a microphone.
“We’re going to get you out,” Jorick said simply.
Kale nodded again and the animosity in his eyes turned to hope.
Oren walked through the door and looked from one to the other. “The alarms?”
“Disabled.”
Oren nodded towards Kale. “He’s been here since the twelfth, or that’s what the doctor wrote on his applications for research grants.”
Katelina did mental calculations. That was only nine days ago. They’d just seen him at The Guild’s citadel a day or two before that. He’d been kidnapped almost the minute he got home!
“I imagine all of the actual research is down here,” Oren continued as his eyes made a circle of the room. “It seems uncannily well prepared.”
Jorick sounded tense, “I’ve been thinking the same thing. Either they’ve had a vampire in captivity before or-”
“Or someone who knows too much helped them,” Oren finished.
Jorick nodded and moved back to the plexiglass wall. To the left was a door covered in warnings and red letters. Beside it was a keypad and slot to swipe a keycard. He studied both and commented, “It’s odd that there’s no guard on duty.”
“Yes. It’s too quiet and everything has been too easy.”
“Unless they aren’t expecting a rescue. They could be under the impression that vampires are just wild animals.” Jorick’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “It wouldn’t be a new idea.” He rapped on the glass again. “The question is, how to get to Kale. Obviously the wall is strong enough to hold him in and us out.”
Oren cocked his head. ”Maybe. Kale isn’t much older than I am, but you’re older and stronger than both of us.”
While they discussed the next move, Katelina examined their surroundings. One side of the room was occupied by a bank of cupboards and counters. She opened them to find rubber gloves, masks, and heavy white over gowns. There were also several glass containers and pointy silver instruments that seemed bet
ter suited to a surgery center. Then, on the back of one of the doors she noticed a keycard on a silver ring. She snagged it from the hook and held it up. “Maybe this would help?”
Oren snatched it from her and strode towards the door. Kale nodded enthusiastically and mouthed something they couldn’t hear. Oren swiped the card and a tiny beep sounded. He reached for the door handle. Kale suddenly shook his head emphatically. Before anyone noticed his reaction, the door was open and a high pitched alarm screamed.
“The code!” Kale shouted as he burst through the door and gestured to the keypad. “You have to swipe the card and type a code in!”
Oren swore loudly and Jorick shouted back, “What’s the code?”
“I don’t know!” Kale’s wide eyes shot around the room. “Forget it! Let’s get out of here!”
Jorick hesitated and then agreed. He hurried to Katelina and flung her over his shoulder. She shouted that she had feet, but he ignored her and raced through the door, Kale on his heels. Oren stayed behind. As they ran for the stairs, she could hear the sound of smashing glass.
They dashed through the empty building and burst through the front doors and into the night. Jorick ran much faster than Katelina could have gone on her own, Kale keeping pace. They’d almost reached the van when wailing sirens and flashing lights came into view.
Hectia suddenly stepped into the light. She was wearing the same swishy coat Katelina had last seen her in, though the dark woman at her side was new. “It’s the police! I didn’t agree to this!”
“Then go!” Jorick jerked the van’s driver door open and shoved Katelina inside like a sack of contraband. “The last thing we need is a fledgling, anyway!”
“That fledgling just helped you!” Hectia shrieked, but she swallowed further argument and grabbed the young woman’s arm. “Come on Jordan, they’re on their own now.”
Jorick’s attention was drawn to the cop car that squealed to a stop. The doors popped open and, like pastry from a toaster, two cops followed, their guns out, the doors in front of them like shields.
“Step away from the vehicle and put your hands up!” One of them leveled his weapon at Jorick and Kale.
Katelina whimpered, but Jorick only forced her deeper into the cab. “Be quiet and stay down!”
The officer shouted his instructions again and Jorick raised his hands. He met Kale’s eyes, as if to impart some secret plan. Instead of doing as instructed, Kale bound towards the policeman, snarling. The cop yelled again, his voice high with fear and his gun shaking in his terrified hands.
The emaciated vampire crashed into the passenger door of the cop car. Gun shots echoed over the screaming alarm and the sirens. Kale’s body jerked at the impact of bullets, and he stumbled backwards. The cop stepped forward, confidence in his eyes, but Kale pulled himself straight and let loose a howl of inhuman rage. He grabbed the car door and ripped it away as though it weighed nothing. The cop screamed and more shots followed. They did nothing to stop Kale. In a single, swift motion he pinned the cop against the car and tore into his throat with his fangs.
Katelina covered her face with her hands. She could hear the second policeman screaming and shouting for back up, his words a tumbled confusion of fear and disbelief. His babble melted into a shriek and she looked to see that Oren was suddenly there. He slammed the policeman’s head into the car. His lips curled back from his fangs as he snapped his neck.
Oren dropped the body to the snow and turned towards the van as a second car came screeching to a halt some distance away. The doors opened and three more policemen leapt out, their weapons drawn. Without warning, they fired wildly. Few of the bullets hit their mark, and those that did were little more than annoyances.
Katelina stared with wide, horrified eyes. How had it all gone wrong? How had the cops gotten there that fast? She sought Jorick in the bedlam, and wished she hadn’t. He’d come up behind the new arrivals and she watched as he silently pounced. He crushed the first cop’s throat while a second policeman bombarded him with a terrified spattering of bullets. Jorick shouted in anger and grabbed him. He wrenched the gun from his hand and threw it away. Then he slammed the man to the ground. Though Katelina hid her eyes, the policeman's screams burned in her ears.
The last shrieks died away and she heard Jorick shout, “Get to the van!”
She looked and again wished she hadn’t. Jorick stood in the bloody snow, holding the limp body of the third cop. Oren and Kale ran towards her. Blood dripped down Kale’s chin and soaked the front of his shirt.
The sound of a third approaching car roared louder with each second. Katelina threw herself out of the way as Kale leapt inside. He bounded off the passenger seat and then rolled through the curtain into the relative safety of the back. Oren was right behind him, leaping into the driver’s seat and slamming the keys into the ignition.
A canary yellow sports car tore around the corner and only missed taking off the van’s door by inches as it slid to a stop next to them. Katelina immediately recognized the car, and the redheaded vampire who bounded out of it. It was Verchiel, the Executioner that Jorick hated.
As if to demonstrate his own vampire skills, one minute Verchiel was next to the van and the next he was practically in it, leaning over Oren with a broad, fanged grin on his face. “Making a mess are we?”
Oren’s eyes bulged. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
“Let’s call it a race, and I won. Look! There’s little Kately! How are you? Not injured, I hope?”
“That’s not my name!” He insisted on calling her that since he’d overheard her mother do it.
Jorick was suddenly there. He grabbed Verchiel and spun him away, slamming him into the van. “You!”
“Well hello! Nice to see you again!” Verchiel let his eyes focus on the carnage behind Jorick. “I see now why they call you The Hand of Death, but really, isn’t this a little sloppy?”
Jorick roared and Verchiel laughed. “I suppose you’ve got him already?” He leveled his gaze with Jorick’s. “I suggest you get out of here as fast as that thing can go. There are more cops on the way and you might be interested to know that Senya and a few of her closest acquaintances should be here any minute to bust your friend out of ‘captivity’.”
Senya. The cruelest of the Executioners, just the thought of her filled Katelina with terror.
Jorick’s face twitched. He wordlessly tossed Verchiel aside and climbed into the van. The motor roared and Oren slammed the vehicle into gear. Katelina had a final glimpse of the redheaded Executioner waving cheerfully before they rounded the corner and he disappeared from sight.
**********
Chapter Two
Katelina refused to be alone with Kale, so she stayed on the floor between the front seats. She clutched Jorick’s leg and fought to hold down her heaving stomach.
Oren gripped the steering wheel fiercely. Blood spots blossomed on his clothes like red flowers, and his amber eyes were wild. “What in the hell was that?”
“How should I know?” Jorick stretched out the front of his shirt to examine it. Light shown through multiple bullet holes. “Look at this!”
Katelina gasped and Oren snapped, “What possessed you to make such a scene?”
“It wasn’t my idea! You can thank Kale for that!”
As if summoned, Kale peeped out from the heavy curtain. He looked better since he’d fed; his skin had color and substance. Even his hair seemed less limp. The blood that stained his shirt and his face disgusted Katelina more than his wasted appearance had.It wasn't just the color, but the smell. Though she tried to move away, there was nowhere to go.
“What were you thinking?” Jorick demanded. “Why didn't you leave them to me? I could have controlled them!”
Kale shook his head. “Not all of them!”
“Yes, I could have easily handled two, and even five! Regardless, you only need to control the leader and the weaker ones follow!”
“There are better ways of killing!” Ore
n cut in. “You didn't have to make such a mess! Someone will have to clean that up.”
Kale grimaced. “I’m sorry, I was hungry! They’ve kept me down there without anything for days! What did you expect me to do?”
Oren gestured him to silence. “And what about the damned alarm, Jorick? I thought you said-”
“Hectia thought they were disabled. You noticed the other alarms didn’t go off.”
“Well who would have heard them if they had?” Kale asked. “I tried to tell you to enter the key code first!”
Katelina wanted to point out that they couldn't hear him, but she couldn't get a word in.
“The police couldn’t have been reacting to that alarm!” Oren argued. “They aren’t that fast!”
Jorick ran an irritated hand through his hair. “Maybe they are, or maybe we tripped a silent alarm at some point.”
Oren growled. “Probably when we went in the window!”
“Or maybe when you went in the office?” Katelina suggested venomously. “You’re so fast to blame everyone else!”
Kale cocked an incredulous eyebrow. “Well it doesn’t matter. Your friend will clean it up, I imagine.”
Jorick jerked towards Kale and roared, “He is not my friend!”
Everyone flinched at his sudden rage. Kale muttered an apology, and Katelina asked uncertainly, “How are they going to ‘clean it up’? They can dispose of the bodies, and maybe the cars, but someone heard the gunshots.” Unless they were all deaf.
Jorick shrugged. “They’ll call in a whisperer to convince the people that they didn’t hear anything, or that it was an explosion or a car backfiring, or some other ridiculous thing.” He scowled suddenly. “That idiot Verchiel could surely handle that much.”
“Verchiel?” Kale repeated the name slowly, as if looking for something in the sounds. “Is he an Executioner?”
“Yes,” Oren replied. “The Wind Walker some call him.”
“Oh, him.” Kale suddenly seemed to notice his condition and wiped at his face with his sleeve. “Claudius used to talk to him.”
Amaranthine Special Edition Vol II Page 33
