Goddess of Night (Amaranthine Book 9)

by Joleene Naylor

  She stopped in front of door thirty-three and knocked softly. No answer came. Before she could knock again, Micah shoved in front of her. “Let me show you how to wake someone up, huh?”

  He pounded on the door. He paused a second, listened, then repeated. In between pounding, Katelina heard someone shuffling around inside. Finally a voice called, “All right! All right!”

  The door opened. A sleepy eyed Brad peered back at them. Gone were the bandages on his head, but his arm was still in a sling. “Who are—” he broke off. “Kate? What are you…?”

  She pushed Micah aside. “Where the hell is my mother? The hospital said they moved her, but they won’t tell me where because I’m not the primary contact.”

  “Damn.” He rubbed his head and yawned. “I didn’t tell them they couldn’t—”

  “I don’t care. Just tell me where the hell she is!”

  “They moved her to Green Valley.”

  Katelina knew the place. Sarah had worked there in high school. “Why?”

  Brad stepped back and motioned them inside. When Katelina didn’t budge, he sagged against the doorframe. “She hasn’t woken up yet, Kate. They said her brain hemorrhaged, that’s why they did surgery. Now there’s brain damage…” He closed his eyes. “They said it could be weeks or months before she wakes up. If she wakes up. God.” He shrank. “I don’t know how the hell we’re going to pay for all this.”

  “Seriously? You’re worried about the money?”

  Brad opened his eyes. “Yes, Kate, I am. She’ll need physical therapy, and God knows what else. I’m going to school. I only work part time. Excuse me for trying to be responsible and figure this out. It’s not like you’re around to pitch in.”

  Jorick pulled her back before she could reply. “Thank you, Brad.”

  She jerked loose. “No, not ‘Thank you, Brad’. How about—”

  Micah cracked his knuckles loudly. “Ignore him, girlie. Preppy thing like that ain’t worth your time. We’ll send Xandria to handle him.” He guffawed at his own joke.

  Brad blinked. “Um…who are you?”

  Katelina realized he was staring at Micah’s teeth. She quickly grabbed the bald vampire. “He’s leaving, and so are we.”

  “Yeah, of course,” Brad called as she pulled them down the hallway. “Let me know when you want to deal with some of this like an adult.”

  Katelina flipped him off before dragging Micah around the corner and down the stairs. She didn’t stop until they hit the lobby, then it was to let out a long string of curse words.

  Micah glared at her. “Are you done? Why the fuck didn’t you let me snack on that jack ass?”

  “Because her mother needs someone to look after her,” Jorick said.

  “No, because it would make a mess.” Katelina turned to Jorick. “Can you get us into Green Valley?”

  The nursing home sat in a little valley, next to the park. Katelina always assumed that was where the name came from, though the doves on the sign gave it a religious connotation.

  Despite the late hour, Micah stopped in the visitor parking. “I’m getting a snack here.” He climbed out. “That was the fucking deal to drive you. I ain’t a free taxi service.”

  “You’re going to drain some poor old person?” Katelina demanded.

  “I was thinking one of the staff, but whatever.”

  “No,” Jorick said and slammed the car door. “Wait out here.”

  “But—”

  “You’re not a whisperer,” Jorick said. “You can’t erase their memory. What do you want? A nurse saying she was attacked by someone who drank her blood—and no doubt on camera? The town is hysterical enough without your adding to it.”

  “What the fuck? Look here—”

  Jorick rounded on him. “We don’t have time to mess with this. If you want a snack you can get one on the way home.”

  He strode toward the entrance. Katelina followed, shooting a warning glance back to the bald vampire. He’d better not take off, or she’d kill him.

  The door was locked. Jorick knocked to get the attention of a lady in scrubs. She gave him a long once over through the window before she cracked the door. “What do you want?”

  Jorick met her eyes and her shoulders relaxed. With a nod, she opened the door, then motioned them to follow her. They passed a desk where another woman sat, her attention on her phone. Without looking up, she asked, “Who was it, Carolyn?”

  “Visitors,” their guide murmured.

  “If you say so.”

  Katelina wasn’t sure if the nurse’s indifference was a product of Jorick, or the game she was playing.

  Carolyn led them to her mother’s room and motioned them inside. Though the lights were off, Katelina could see fine. Her mom lay in a small bed, eyes closed, head still wrapped in bandages. She wore an oxygen mask and an IV was hooked to one arm.

  Katelina moved to her bedside to take her hand. It was cool and dry, a leather texture that had nothing to do with Katelina’s heightened senses. She was still a funny gray color. Her face had aged another ten years.

  “Oh my God. Jorick,” Katelina whispered. “Look at her.”

  Jorick lifted a clipboard from the wall. “A brain injury…swelling…coma…hospice care.”

  Katelina stiffened. “Oh my God. Hospice.”

  He hung the clipboard again and joined her. “What’s that?”

  “It means she’s going to die.” Katelina fought back tears. Some instinctive part of her could smell the death, feel it creeping up. “How long do you think? And don’t lie.”

  Jorick sighed. “I’m not a death angel, Katelina. I’d guess a day…maybe three at most. But they have machines that can—”

  “Not on hospice. Oh, Jorick, what am I going to do?”

  He pulled her back against the solid strength of his body. “You could give her blood again.”

  “Would it do any good?”

  She felt his hesitation, his absolute abhorrence of what he was about to say. At the same time, she recognized his desire to please her, to comfort her. “It might…You could link her.”

  “I thought only whisperers could do that?”

  “Maybe, or maybe not. It’s worth a try. The worst that would happen is it won’t work.”

  “If it doesn’t, would you do it?”

  He made a horrified sound. “Katelina…I suppose.”

  She relaxed against him. “Afterwards, I could give her my blood, to undo it.”

  “Not right away. I don’t think it would be good for her to be linked and unlinked too quickly. You should probably wait at least a week.”

  Katelina bit her lip. “Until then, would she know she was linked?”

  “Did you?”

  Jorick had once linked her, when she was human and badly injured. The healing was a side effect, then they were left with the consequences. He’d heard her every thought. She’d felt his emotions, not to mention a thousand and one little things that left her not quite human anymore.

  “I knew something was different, even before you told me. If you hadn’t explained it, I’d have thought I was going crazy.” She looked back to her mother. If they linked her, and then gave her even more vampire blood, she wouldn’t be fully human any more. She’d be like Kai, caught in the middle. “If we do this, we can’t leave her here. We’d have to take her with us. We’d have to tell her everything. Oh God, Jorick, she really would go crazy then.”

  “If you don’t think she could handle it…” She heard the hopeful note in his voice.

  “I can’t let her die.”

  “I hoped you’d learned through Estrilda that you can’t always preserve life. Death is an important part of the world, Katelina. Imagine if no one ever died? If there was no end to anything?”

  “I get it, all right? But this is my mother. You got immortality to avenge your sister. If you could have saved her life with it, wouldn’t you have?”

  She could almost hear him bite his lip. “I suppose I would have. It’s
up to you, Katelina.”

  She looked to the CNA who stood immobile and unseeing in the hallway. “Do we need to drain Mom?”

  “Not to link her. You’ll need to drink from her at the same time she drinks from you, in order to complete the connection.”

  Katelina’s hope dimmed. “What if she won’t drink? In the hospital I couldn’t get the blood in her mouth.”

  “I honestly don’t know. I’ve only done it once, and it was more a guess based on fairy tales. I’m sorry. I wish I knew more.”

  Katelina swallowed hard. “What…What if we turned her? Would that be easier?”

  She imagined squealing tires followed by a cartoon style crash. “Katelina, are you sure about that? Once it’s done, you can’t un-turn someone, only destroy them.”

  “Trust me, you’re preaching to the choir. Why do you think I kept putting it off for myself?”

  “Creating a fledgling…it’s something you should think about very carefully, something you should consider. It isn’t a rash decision to be made spur of the moment.”

  “Tell that to Micah.” Jorick flinched and she relented. “Look, I get it, all right? But do we have time to think about it? It’s almost four. We need to leave soon if we want to make it back in time. Will we be back tomorrow night?”

  “If you want to.”

  She looked at her mother’s ashen face. “Will she be here?” She felt his uncertainty and made up her mind.

  Before Jorick or good sense could stop her, she tore into her mother’s arm. There was no response, even as her hot blood filled Katelina’s mouth. She swallowed, mouthful after mouthful, and tried not to lose herself to the memories crowding around the edges. She needed to be careful, to pay attention….

  She was suddenly in her mother’s living room, but it was different. Walls were freshly painted a pale gray. The furniture was draped in plastic. A ladder stood near the corner. She ran the brush over the wall, dancing to music.

  Brad worked next to her. She looked at him, then flipped the brush, splattering paint on his cheek. “Five points for me.”

  “Really?” He flicked his brush back at her. “Six.”

  She flapped the brush back. “Tied.”

  He grinned and lunged. She hopped away, laughing. He caught her and swiped the end of her nose with paint. “That’s worth two.”

  “You’re cheating.”

  They splattered paint back and forth, until he wrestled her to the plastic covered floor. He subdued her with a kiss, then pulled back onto his haunches. His eyes ran over her. A soft grin tugged at the corner of his lips. “I was going to wait, but now seems like the perfect time.”

  She pulled up on her elbows as he reached in his pocket. “Perfect time for what?”

  At the sight of a little box, she squealed and sat up. “Brad! You’re not…Look at me! I’m covered in paint and wearing old clothes.”

  “You look beautiful. I love you as much in old clothes as I do in a dress. You’re still you. That’s who I love. The warm, thoughtful—”

  “Slightly neurotic?”

  He chuckled. “Slightly neurotic woman.” He sobered. “I know Kate has issues with us, but—”

  She took his hand. “Kate’s issues are just that; Kate’s issues. She’ll learn to deal with it, or she won’t.”

  “I know but…Who’s to say she won’t talk you out of us?”

  “What about your father? He’s not happy about this.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Brad said. “He’s not the one in this relationship.”

  “Neither is Kate.”

  She saw the understanding in his eyes. “I know. I…I worry. Now that I found you, I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You won’t.” She kissed him on the cheek, trying to avoid the paint.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “It would be, if you’d asked yet.”

  He opened the box carefully and held it out; a silver ring with a winking diamond. “Patty, will you marry me?”

  She felt the pull of tears. Her chest tightened. Though it was a thousand times better than the gumball ring Randy had given her, that wasn’t the point. It wasn’t the ring that mattered, or the money, but the man behind it. The life it represented.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He discarded the box, ready to slip the ring on her finger.

  She held out her left hand while she snatched up the paint brush with her right. A quick swipe across his t-shirt and she grinned. “I win.”

  Brad tackled her. After a long kiss, he rolled over, pulling her to him. “Sorry, but you said yes. So, I’m the one who won.”

  Katelina snapped back to the nursing home; the smell of disinfectant, the sound of the oxygen machine. Her mother’s arm was in her mouth. She dropped it quickly. One look to Jorick and she remembered.

  I’m turning her. Right.

  She bit into her own arm. Pushing aside the oxygen mask, she shoved her bleeding wrist into her mother’s mouth. Jorick made an unhappy noise, but pried her jaws open so Katelina could force the blood inside. She stroked her mother’s throat, making her swallow. One mouthful….Two…

  “Jorick,” she whispered in a panic. “Nothing’s happening! She’s not—”

  She felt the soft movement of her mother’s tongue. Then her lips. Then she clamped down and drew the blood out herself, eyes closed.

  “Yes,” Katelina whispered excitedly. “Jorick! Jorick, it’s working!”

  “Of course it is,” he muttered.

  The pull of blood started to hurt, like her mother was trying to suck her soul through her arm. She wrenched it away, pressing a hand to the wound. She felt light, dizzy. “Was that enough?”

  His only answer was, “We need to get out of here before she starts the agonies.”

  Katelina had vague memories of Etsuko screaming and thrashing, and of her own horrific pain.

  With an unhappy noise, Jorick pulled the IV, using a corner of the blanket to stop the blood. Then he scooped her mother up, blankets and all. “Open the window.”

  “We’re sneaking out?”

  “Yes, Katelina. They have security cameras, and I don’t want to get arrested again.” He gave her a pointed look.

  She opened the window, and pushed out the screen. It landed in the bushes with a rustle.

  “Good. Go first, and I’ll hand her out to you.”

  She lost her balance halfway out and landed in the foliage, her foot through the screen. She used the building to pull herself up.

  “You’re weak.” Jorick passed her mother to her. “We’ll stop for blood on the way.”

  She juggled the woman while he climbed out. He took her back. “Close the window and come on.”

  She did as instructed, then followed him to the parking lot. Micah leaned on the black sports car. When he saw them, he swept to attention. “Holy shit. I thought you said no snacks.”

  “She’s not a snack,” Jorick said through clenched teeth. Katelina opened the door and he deposited the limp woman inside. “It’s Katelina’s mother.”

  Micah’s jaw dropped. “For the love of God, tell me you’re fucking joking.”

  “I wish I was,” Jorick muttered. “I wish I was.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jorick headed back inside. Micah glanced in the backseat. “What the fuck are we—” He sniffed. “Oh fuck, Lunch. Tell me you didn’t try to turn her?”

  Katelina hunkered down. Her mother twitched next to her, like someone having a nightmare.

  “You did, didn’t you? Holy shit. Did you fucking think about it first?”

  A sideways glance at her mother left her with semi-regret. No, she hadn’t thought about it. When her mother finally came to, how the hell was she going to explain this? What was she going to tell Brad when he found out her mom was missing? Oh God, where was her mother going to live?

  But she was going to die.

  Jorick reappeared and threw himself into the passenger seat. “They believe she was transferred. I
f they review the security footage it will be undone.”

  Katelina wrung her hands. She should have thought about it a little more, worked out a better way to get her out of the building.

  Her mother went rigid. Her eyes popped open. She looked around, then let out a long loud scream.

  “And we’re outta here.” Micah turned the car over and tore out of the parking lot, while Katelina tried to quiet her.

  “Mom. Mom. Stop. Stop!”

  The woman fell silent, eyes wide. She swiveled her head toward the front seat passengers then back to Katelina. Finally, she muttered, “What?” before she collapsed.

  Katelina eased her back, aware of the silent judgement from the front seat.

  “Look, I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You always have a choice,” Jorick muttered.

  When they were out of town, he instructed Micah to pull over. “Katelina needs blood.”

  “Good for her. What about me?” Micah snapped.

  “Do what you want.” Jorick climbed out and helped Katelina from the backseat. Sitting, she’d been okay, but standing she was dizzy again.

  “Is this normal?” she asked with alarm.

  “Yes,” Jorick said impatiently. “Making a fledgling weakens the master. Sometimes for days. Doing so while you’re hoping for war with an ancient is a poor choice.”

  “Right. Like you make great choices.”

  “Better ones than that. Not only did you weaken yourself, but you’ve saddled us with a fresh fledgling—one who knows nothing about vampires.”

  “Micah didn’t know about vampires, and he turned out fine.”

  “If you think he’s fine, then your judgement really is impaired.” They started down the ditch toward an open field. “There are deer nearby. I can feel them.”

  A scream came from the car. The driver door swung open. Her mother tumbled out, tangled in the bloody blankets. She pulled up to all fours, looked around wildly, then folded in on herself, arms wrapped around her stomach.

  “She’s fine,” Jorick said. “She doesn’t have the energy to escape.”

  “I can’t leave her lying on the side of the road!” Katelina hurried and knelt next to her. “It’s okay, Mom. It stops, eventually. It’s okay.”