Amaranthine Special Edition Vol II

by Naylor, Joleene

  Micah switched on the light. The mound in the corner wasn’t Senya, but Zuri, the Executioner who’d visited with Beldren at Christmas. He was covered by a heavy blanket and his head lolled to one side. His eyes were closed and his skin was whithery.

  Micah’s disappointment sounded genuine, “Ah, I was hoping for the bitch.”

  “Me, too.” Katelina poked the box with a toe. “What’s in there?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Micah dropped down to open it, while Loren cautiously tugged aside the blanket covering Zuri.

  Katelina choked back a cry. Where Zuri’s arms belonged were bloody stumps. Clotted gore ran down his torso and onto his pants. Strings of sinew and muscle hung in wet clumps.

  “Oh my god! What did you guys do? Where are his arms?”

  Loren stepped back. “We didn’t do anything. I guess someone did that after we left. Maybe Saeed.”

  Micah stood and dropped the lid on the box. “They got his arms packed in here. Guess they’re saving them to bargain with.”

  She stepped back. Memories stabbed at her; Zuri and Beldren interrogating Jorick about Oren’s letter. Zuri tackling Jorick to the floor in the motel. Zuri standing in Kale’s doorway, warning them about the murders. He was an Executioner, but…

  “That’s sick! Give him back his arms!”

  Micah frowned. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re defending one of those piece of shit Executioners? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  She covered her eyes. “No. There’s just been too much. How many more people have to suffer?”

  Micah stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. “Damn Lunch, you really are cracking up!” He flipped the blanket back over the injured Executioner. “It ain’t up to us, anyway. You heard Oren, this is Fabian’s fucking prisoner.”

  “It’s one thing to keep a prisoner; it’s another to mutilate them.” Her gaze swung to Loren and the teen looked away guiltily.

  She spun on her heel and stormed out of the room, lugging the gym bag.

  Micah called after her, “Ah, come on! Toughen up a little, huh? No one’s gonna believe you’re a vampire slayer if you can’t take a little mutilation.” Before she slammed the bathroom door she heard him say to Loren, “Go find that prick Fabian and see if he wants us to put this asshole’s arms back or what.”

  She leaned against the mauve wall for a moment and let her eyes wander to the mirror. The reflection shocked her. Micah was right, she probably did smell like a bag lady. She certainly looked like one!

  The first thing she did was take a handful of pain pills, then she took a clumsy, one handed bath and dressed in clothes from the bag. They might be dirty, but they were cleaner than what she’d had on. With that bit of comfort, she finger combed her hair and, when she was as presentable as she was going to be, she decided to go find Jorick.

  The basement door was in the kitchen. It stood partially open and voices floated up. She could hear Oren droning, though she couldn’t catch the words. Obviously they were still discussing business.

  She hurried down the stairs, and paused at the foot. Twelve long boxes were lined up in tight rows. A couch and some folding chairs formed a recreation area to one side, and a TV sat on an upturned crate. Several vampires lounged around it. Jeda, Traven’s wife, sat primly in a chair that was apart from the others, a leather-bound book in her hand. With her dark hair in an elaborate updo and her creamy, long dress she looked like an antique queen.

  One corner of the basement was cordoned off by a wooden frame draped in layers of milky plastic. A doorway was cut into it and covered by a loose, flapping piece of vinyl. A strange odor and cold breeze wafted out of it intermittently, followed by Jorick’s familiar, impatient voice.

  Katelina plunged forward and flung aside the vinyl. Inside were two folding tables, a rotating pedestal fan, and four vampires.

  Traven stood in the middle of the room, wearing a pair of dark, tight fitting trousers, a blue vest and a ruffled shirt. His chestnut hair skimmed his shoulders and his green eyes held something that made her blood run cold.

  Behind him stood Jorge. The captured Guatemalan spoke no English, yet Traven kept him at his side, as if he was a prize. Katelina met his eyes then looked away.

  Traven followed her gaze. He clapped his hands sharply and reeled off a string of Spanish. Jorge turned back to the bucket in front of him and stirred the contents with a stick. Though the basement window was open, and the fan was whirling, the smell of gasoline was heavy in the confined space.

  “What’s he doing?”

  “Making things,” Jorick answered unenthusiastically. He nodded to a table that was littered in bits of wires, silver boxes, rolls of electrical tape and what looked like bricks of clay. Katelina recognized the clay as plastic explosives. She’d once seen a TV show where two guys used them to blow a car apart.

  “They have quite a little shop set up,” Jorick added.

  Traven turned to him, his eyes smug. “Yes, we do. I told you that our Mexican friend would be an asset.”

  “No Mexicano,” Jorge said. “Guatemalan.”

  The vampires ignored him and Katelina watched him sympathetically. He tugged a white facemask into place and while Traven droned about how ingenious his plan was, the Hispanic vampire cheerlessly crumbled styrofoam into the bucket and stirred some more. Katelina didn’t know what he was making, and she didn’t want to. She just wished it didn’t smell so bad.

  Jorick cleared his throat to interrupt Traven’s soliloquy. “It all sounds wonderful, but if you’ll excuse me, I have other things to attend to.” He gave Oren a tight nod and steered Katelina out of the room and into the relative fresh air of the basement.

  “God, it stinks in there.”

  Jorick nodded and led her up the basement stairs. She felt the curious eyes of Traven’s coven mates, but she didn’t turn to meet them.

  When they were alone in the empty kitchen, Jorick wrapped his arms around her and folded her against him. She clutched him eagerly and let the nightmares from the last two days melt away. None of it mattered, not the rats, or the empty building, or the woman they’d murdered-

  “They did what?”

  She buried her face in his chest, as if hiding from the memory. Reluctantly, the story tumbled out. When she finished, Jorick growled low in his throat and tightened his hold on her. “I knew not to trust him! I thought with Loren there…”

  “Was the fight that bad?” she asked softly.

  He made a frustrated noise. “Yes and no. Senya escaped, as I feared she would, and Fabian took Zuri hostage. Surprisingly we didn’t lose anyone, though you saw Torina and Alex, no doubt, and Saeed wasn’t much better by the end.”

  “I saw Zuri. What’s Fabian planning to do with him?”

  “Who knows.” Jorick gave her a final tight hug. “Let’s go find Micah, shall we? I have a few things to say to him.”

  They found the bald vampire innocently lurking in a hallway. Jorick dragged him by his neck into a closed room and left Katelina outside. She listened uncomfortably to their shouting match.

  “-you should be happy that I didn't just fucking drink from her! It would have been easier!”

  “I should have known better than to trust you!”

  “What’s going on?”

  Katelina spun around to find a mousy looking woman with large glasses and sandy colored hair. She was skinny enough to be shapeless and looked lost in her large button shirt.

  “Who are you?”

  The young woman smiled. A set of shiny fangs looked out of place in the too human face. “I’m Benny. And you are?”

  “Katelina.”

  “Are you a vampire too?” Benny pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Katelina shook her head and Benny frowned. “I’m sorry. I’m new, so I don’t know who anyone is. What’s going on? Who’s fighting?”

  A crash sounded and they both jumped. “Jorick and Micah.”

  “I don’t know them. Are they from the other
coven? I’m with Traven.”

  Katelina wasn’t sure she should fraternize with Traven’s vampires. “Yeah, Micah’s in Oren’s coven and Jorick isn’t in anyone’s.”

  “I see. I think all of this coven stuff is confusing. Sheika never mentioned it. The first I heard was when what’s-his-name told me about this one.”

  “Yeah, the covens don’t make a lot of sense, and neither do their rules.”

  “They don’t!” Benny agreed. “It’s all really weird! No wonder Sheika never had anything to do with the rest of them!” Something crashed in the room and Benny jumped away. “They’re really going at it!”

  “Yeah.” Part of Katelina felt rightly vindicated. On the other hand, what did it accomplish at this juncture?

  “So who are you with?” Benny asked. “Oren?”

  “No! I’m with Jorick. We’re…together.” She made a gesture with her hands to explain their status. She could have said ‘He’s my boyfriend’ but the word felt weird. It was too modern and not strong enough. Lover fit better, but felt silly to say.

  “Oh! I see! You’re dating! That’s nice. Sheika and I were just friends, though I sometimes wondered about which way she leaned, if you know what I mean.” Her blush gave Katelina the impression that Benny knew all too well where Shieka’s interests lay. “Are you going to help attack this Guild place?”

  “No.” Katelina thought someone should explain to Benny exactly what The Guild was before she threw her life away, but she wasn’t the one to do it. “Jorick doesn’t want to be involved.”

  “That’s a shame. From what I understand, they need help. I’m not so sure about it myself, but I needed somewhere to go and -”

  The door slammed open and Jorick stalked out, his face twisted in fury. He glared at Benny. The mousy woman stared back in fascination.

  “Get your ass back here!” Micah railed. “We’re not done with this!”

  “Yes, we are! Otherwise, I’ll kill you.”

  “I’m so scared!” Micah followed Jorick into the hallway. His eyes landed on Katelina. “So what? You went runnin’ to Daddy?”

  “Shut up,” Jorick snarled. “If I see you again before we leave…”

  Micah laughed heartily. “I’ll look forward to it, huh? Not like I have anything to worry about. Neither of you keep your fucking word! She keeps promising to kill me and instead she’s wiping out everyone else left and right!” He pointed at Benny. “You better watch out for the great vampire slayer!”

  Katelina kicked Micah in the leg. It didn't faze him. “The next vampire I kill will be you!”

  Jorick caught her arm and hauled her backwards. “He isn’t worth it.”

  “Did you hear that?” Micah called to no one. “Jorick’s running away!”

  Jorick growled low and started to turn around. Katelina repeated his own words sarcastically, “He’s not worth it, remember?”

  Without a reply, Jorick tugged her away.

  **********

  Chapter Fourteen

  Most of the windows were garbage bagged, including the bedrooms. Katelina lay next to Jorick in Loren’s bed and wondered where the house’s real owners were. Despite her morbid curiosity, she fell asleep, wrapped in the protective circle of Jorick’s arms. It was a dreamless sleep and when she woke the next evening she felt better than she had in days.

  She rolled towards Jorick and mentally traced his face with her eyes. His long, dark hair was spread out over the pillow in a pool of silky night that begged her to touch it. A familiar ache started in her chest and she wondered why he was with her. He was so beautiful and could have anyone he wanted.

  The worries slipped away as she snuggled close to his cool body. He woke, taking in a deep lungful of air, and then pulled her against him. He let his dark eyes drink in her face, a soft smile on his lips.

  Though she was afraid of the answer, she asked, “Are we going home today?”

  His smile flickered and died. He gave a deep sigh that did little for her confidence.

  “Yes, but we can’t stay.”

  Disappointment and suspicion blossomed in her eyes. “Why?”

  Jorick stroked her cheek with his thumb. “The Executioners are hunting us, and they know where my den is. We’re only stopping long enough to get a few things.”

  She closed her eyes, torn between his touch and his words. “Are we coming back here?”

  “No.” That single word made her tension melt. “I thought we might take that vacation you’re so insistent about.”

  She propped herself up on her good arm. “You keep teasing me with that and it never happens. I thought you had to make preparations and arrangements?”

  “Yes and no.” His smile looked a little too forced. “How do you feel about Mexico?”

  “I don’t know. Is there anywhere to go in Mexico?”

  He rolled his eyes impatiently. “Isn’t that where all the stupid people go in the spring?”

  It took her a minute to decode his sentence. “Do you mean spring break?”

  “I don’t know. Wherever they get drunk and take their clothes off for the videos. It looked nice.”

  “Did it?” she asked icily.

  “Yes. Very modern. The sort of thing you’d like.” He frowned as if he’d only just noticed her expression. “What?”

  “Women taking off their clothes looks nice?”

  “I didn't mean it looked nice because of that! I’d much rather go north, perhaps to Alaska where they have a month without sunlight. I wonder what that would do to a vampire’s internal clock.”

  “Alaska in the middle of the winter? You have to be joking!”

  He laughed softly and ruffled her hair. “I knew that would be your reaction, little one. That’s why I suggested Mexico.”

  She fell silent and chewed the idea over. Maybe Mexico wouldn’t be too bad. She’d heard the water was dangerous, and she thought it was kind of hot, but they’d only be awake at night so it would be cooler. Besides, Cancun would have fancy resort places with air conditioning - assuming they got to stay somewhere nice.

  Jorick cleared his throat. “We don’t want The Guild to know where we’re going, so we need to keep this unofficial.”

  In other words, no paper trail. “Then how will we get across the border?”

  He chuckled. “Illegal aliens sneak in every day, what makes you think we can’t sneak out?”

  Sneak? “How will we get back?”

  He shrugged. “We’ll sneak back.”

  She groaned and dropped back to the bed. She should have guessed that when she finally got to go somewhere warm it would involve sneaking in and out of Mexico!

  Jorick helped Katelina dress and then hefted the bag over his shoulder. He pointed to the corner where the bread maker and the ceramic cat were stacked. “I suppose I can carry the box but the…statue is your problem.” He scooped up the bread maker and glared at the cat as though it was an enemy. “I’m going to go speak to Oren, if you want to take care of your human needs.”

  He left and she detoured to the bathroom and tried to put her hair in a ponytail. It was impossible with only one hand so she gave up and went in search of Jorick, the ugly red cat under her good arm. When she didn’t find him immediately, she wandered to the basement door. She stopped short of opening it when she heard voices on the other side; the first was Traven.

  “-as I understand it, only the half breed is left. The others are here. It shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to search. If they had it, I doubt they knew what it was.”

  Half breed? Hadn’t Rachel said that people used to call Joseff that because he was half Native American? What did he have to do with anything?

  The second voice was deep and masculine, but unfamiliar. “What about Gerard?”

  Traven made an impatient noise. “He was incompetent at best, and a fool at worst. After the last debacle, I relieved him of his services. Dahlia is on her own for the time being, not that I’ve heard from her, either. I am surrounded by idiots!
”

  “Yes, yes. I spoke with the sisters last night and they got an answer from Anya’s coven. She claims they didn’t take anything from Kateesha’s stronghold.”

  Kateesha? What was Traven up to?

  “I doubt Anya has it, or she’d have used it to save her brother from Kale. Personally, I don’t believe that Kateesha had it when she died; if she ever did.”

  Katelina thought suddenly of a conversation Jorick and Beldren had had in the citadel, “rumor was that she had some kind of powerful weapon.” Was that what Traven was after?

  The second vampire interrupted her thoughts, “Then what’s the point of going to Kentucky?”

  “Because one can never be too careful. No stone left unturned.”

  There was a patient sigh. “Fine. I’ll head out tomorrow evening.”

  “No! You must go now!”

  The other vampire coughed. “I don’t work for you, Traven. I don’t take orders from you. We’re working together because it’s mutually beneficial for the moment. Don’t forget that.”

  She could almost feel Traven’s fury, but he swallowed it down. “Yes, of course. I only meant that it would be best for you to leave quickly. Oren has the Hand of Death on a leash, and I doubt you want him to discover your plans.”

  The vampire snorted. “Or yours. Don’t worry, I’ll be gone before he even knows I’ve been here.”

  The Hand of Death. Jorick’s old nickname from his Executioner days.

  “Yes, well.” Traven cleared his throat. “Remember we’re not the only ones searching for it. Secrecy is key.”

  Traven suddenly hissed for silence and pounced on the door, jerking it open. Katelina barely threw herself out of the way before he leapt through it, suspicion in his cold eyes. “What are you doing?”

  His accomplice appeared behind him, a dark skinned vampire Katelina had never seen before. His long hair hung in dreadlocks, peppered with beads, and he wore a pair of small round sunglasses. “Who is that?”

  “I was just looking for Jorick,” she said quickly and then scrambled away before they could stop her. She dodged through the dining room and into the front room. She leaned against the wall to catch her breath and slowly relaxed the death grip she had on the ceramic cat.