“Yes it was,” Beldren declared flatly. “It was sent, via messenger, to be delivered to you. Luckily, we intercepted him.”
“Whether it was meant for me or not is irrelevant. I have no idea what it means.” Jorick looked from one to the other. “I do find it interesting that you’re searching for him, though.”
Beldren gave Jorick a tolerant smirk. “Ah yes, I shouldn’t forget about your amazing perception.”
Jorick’s return smile was cold. “Nor I your ability. However, I don’t believe it’s needed here.”
Beldren handed the paper back to the ever silent Zuri. “We’ll find him, you know. Malick has a special interest in his plans.”
Jorick’s face twitched at the mention of that name, but his tone stayed unruffled. “Then I wish you luck. Malick won’t accept your failure easily.”
“He won’t have to, because we won’t fail.”
The two men stared at one another; a silent contest of wills. Finally, Beldren broke away with a soft laugh. “All right, Jorick, we’ll be leaving. But, should you hear anything, or suddenly remember ‘where the roses grow’, you know how to find us.”
“Yes,” Jorick agreed. “But I won’t need to.”
“I’m sure you won’t.” He turned to Zuri. “Come on, we’ll find him on our own. It isn’t like we actually expected Jorick to cooperate. He’s too busy presiding over his infant coven to be any trouble.”
Zuri made no reply and, as quickly as they’d come, the two were gone.
Katelina stood frozen in place, her breath caught in her throat. The seconds ticked by and she slowly came to the realization that they’d really left. The horrible Executioners had left, without killing or torturing any of them. Thank God.
Her body sagged, and she sighed with relief. The sound reminded everyone where they were, and the two vampires snapped to life.
Loren relaxed his protective posture but his eyes stayed on the door. “What was all that?”
“Executioners,” Jorick explained bitterly. “Apparently they’re searching for Oren. I imagine word of his little plan has gotten around and they intend to nip it in the bud.”
Katelina shifted uncertainly from one foot to the other. “Exactly what is his plan?”
When Jorick didn’t answer, Loren explained, “He’s going to attack The Guild.”
Katelina nodded. “Yeah, I know, but beyond that? I mean he’s not planning to do it with just Torina and himself, is he?”
“He’s collecting a coven-”
“It’s unimportant,” Jorick snapped. “He has no chance against them.”
Loren cleared his throat loudly. “Maybe if we helped them?”
Jorick waved the suggestion away. “No. It’s not my fight.”
Loren looked at Katelina for support, but he found none. For once she wholeheartedly agreed with Jorick. This wasn’t their problem.
She gave a soft shake of her head and Loren’s face hardened. He crossed his arms defiantly. “Then maybe I’ll go alone.”
Jorick crooked a heavy eyebrow and snorted. “And what help do you think you’ll be?”
Loren blinked in surprise at the insult, his mouth half open. As if unaware of his reaction, Jorick snapped, “We’re not going!” Then, he turned his back on the conversation and strode towards the dining room.
“You can’t tell me what to do! I don’t owe you anything!”
Katelina flinched unconsciously at the venom in the young vampire’s voice. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes glittered dangerously. Jorick’s remark had wounded him deeper than she thought.
Jorick stopped in the doorway, his shoulders tense. “Why do you want to go so badly?”
“Why not? I’m not as weak as you think. I know how to fight.” He dropped suddenly into a defensive stance, his knees bent and his arms tensed. “I can take care of myself!”
Jorick shook his head and turned away again. “You’re an idiot, Loren.”
Before Loren’s objection could sound, Jorick spun around, closed the distance between them and slammed him into the door with a force that jarred the house and made Katelina gasp. Loren struggled loose from his grip and circled Jorick warily. With one hand Jorick snatched him off his feet and threw him across the room where he crashed into the chair and sent books scattering.
Jorick glared at him as he tried to stand. “Just stay down.”
“No.” Loren grimaced and righted himself. “You’re not my mother! And I’m not some little kid!”
“Compared to some of the vampires you’d be facing you’re only a toddler.” Jorick’s voice rose, “Do you understand how powerful they are, Loren? Do you remember the other time the Executioners came? Do you remember what they did to the Rogues? Do you?”
Loren shuddered involuntarily, then looked disgusted at his own weakness. “That was a long time ago!”
“No, not so long ago.” Jorick appraised him with cold eyes. “Can you defeat me? If not, you have no hope of winning against them, either.”
For the first time since the fight started, Loren looked uncertain, but he quickly hid it beneath a veneer of determination. “Maybe I could.”
Jorick shook his head, and the ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. “No, you can’t.” He turned back to the dining room. “This conversation is finished, Loren. When you look back on it later you’ll realize-”
Loren launched himself across the room at Jorick’s back, and Katelina shouted a warning. However, before her noise even registered, Jorick stepped out of the way and Loren ended up sprawled on the floor.
With a savage growl he pulled himself up and flung himself at Jorick, his fists swinging. Jorick blocked his punches and tossed him to the side. He landed near Katelina’s feet in a heap, but he was soon up again. A thin stream of blood tricked down the side of his face and his eyes blazed hatred.
“Loren?” Katelina whispered and pressed herself back into the wall. Until now, she’d never been scared of the boy but, with that face, he looked like some of the monsters she’d fought before; the ones hiding in Claudius’s den.
Jorick took a step forward. “Stop, Loren, before you get hurt.”
“No!” he roared. “I can take care of myself!” He launched himself at Jorick again, and again Jorick sidestepped him. But, at the last second, Loren whirled and landed a punch to Jorick’s gut.
Jorick stood there and looked at him, unfazed.
Loren gaped in surprise, and for a moment his resolve appeared on the brink of crumbling, but something in Jorick’s cold face strengthened it instead. “Fuck this!” He stepped back and straightened his hoodie. “Fuck this and fuck you!” Then he stalked out the door, slamming it behind him.
It took Katelina a moment to gather her wits and then she glared at Jorick, who was innocently righting the furniture. “Was that really necessary?”
“What?”
“Beating the crap out of him. He’s just a kid, you know! He just wants your approval. Like it would kill you to give it to him? Why do you have to be so… so unrelenting all the time?”
Jorick stacked the books haphazardly without looking at her. “Am I unrelenting?”
“Yes,” she seethed. “Unrelenting and judgmental! You think you know what’s best for everyone! You act like-”
“Like what?” He snapped around to face her, his tone angry. “Like sending him to that fight would be sending him to his death? Because it would be, Katelina! Would you rather I encouraged him to go die? You, with all your sentimentality?”
“Well, no,” she faltered. She’d seen what they were capable of. They were as strong as Jorick and he’d defeated Loren effortlessly. But, even so. “He deserves to be given a chance. If he’s going to fail, he should be allowed to find it out for himself. He has feelings too, you know.”
“Stupid feelings,” Jorick remarked thoughtlessly, but her furious look made him do a double take. “What?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. You’re so unrelenting and judgmental. Like you have a
right to decide what’s valid and what isn’t!”
Jorick stopped what he was doing to focus on her. “No, I’m not. I was only saying-”
“You were only saying that his feelings were stupid. Are mine stupid too?”
Jorick started to answer, then held up his hands. “I don’t know what this is over, but I’m done with this.”
“Oh, you’re done?”
“Yes,” he said quietly. “When you’ve figured out what you’re mad about, let me know.”
“For your information, I know what I’m mad about!” She broke off as he strode from the room. “Jorick! Get back here now!” she shouted, but his only response was the slam of the door.
“Loren’s right,” she muttered furiously and threw herself on the couch. “Fuck you, and fuck your secret room too!”
**********
Chapter Four
Katelina went to bed alone, and when Jorick joined her he pretended nothing had happened. He even went so far as to tease her, “You decided to warm the bedding up for me?”
She stared at him incredulously. “Excuse me?” What happened to their argument? Was he really so ADD?
He ignored her comment and stripped his clothes off slowly. They landed on the floor in a heap, next to the ones from the day before. She thought about mentioning the laundry, but that sounded like a dowdy old housewife. Somehow, that was the last thing she wanted.
Jorick slipped into bed next to her, without turning off the light. He sat perfectly still, his spine straight and his eyes trained uncertainly on the blanket. Katelina thought he might actually be going to apologize, so she decided to nudge him along. “Yes?”
He turned his face to her and gave her a half amused smile. “I was just wondering if you wouldn’t like something to wear to bed.”
“Something? Like what?”
He motioned to the wardrobe. “It’s in there. After I bought it I wasn’t sure it was the kind of thing you’d like.” The uncertainty returned to his face, but he tried to hide it behind a jovial voice. “Go on, go look.”
She was caught between aggravation and curiosity, but the second won over. She climbed out from under the blankets and made her way to the heavy wardrobe. Inside she saw only her usual clothes and his miles and miles of black. “Where?”
“Try the shelf,” he suggested.
She rolled her eyes. Even standing on tiptoe she could barely reach it. She felt around blindly; loose papers, a shoe box and then something silky. She stopped, her fingers tangled in the cloth, and turned to Jorick questioningly.
“That’s it,” he nodded encouragingly. “Go on.”
She pulled the mysterious object down and found her hands full of shimmery red material. A quick shake left her holding a silky red nighty, low cut with plenty of see through lace. Her cheeks tinted pink and she stared at it as if it was a foreign object.
“You don’t like it?” he asked, disappointed.
“I-I didn’t say that,” she stammered, her anger forgotten. “I, uh, I just don’t normally wear things like this.”
He swung out of bed and came to stand before her. He slipped an arm around her waist, a smile on his face. “I know. But I thought maybe you should start.” His lips brushed her ear and he whispered, “Try it on.”
Her face flamed crimson and she wadded the material uselessly in her hands, completely at a loss. She wanted him to pay attention to her, but she’d look absolutely ridiculous in this!
He pulled back and caught her chin in one hand. His dark eyes locked meaningfully with hers. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.” Despite the assurance there was disappointment in his voice that he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, disguise.
Katelina’s throat constricted around her words, and she swallowed hard. His dark gaze pierced her; his deep eyes endless pools of warmth that slowly sucked her under. She tried to get her dry mouth to work, to form an intelligible reply, but all she could do was nod.
He laughed softly. “Is that a ‘yes’ you’ll wear it or a ‘yes’ you won’t?” he asked teasingly, breaking eye contact to nip playfully at her neck.
She found her voice, though it sounded strange to her burning ears. “Yes, I’ll try it.”
He released her and moved towards the bed. “I’ll be waiting,” he said as he slipped under the covers, a devilish glint in his eyes.
Katelina felt like an idiot, but she hurried upstairs to the cold bathroom. She stripped off her clothes and wiggled into the tiny nighty and matching red panties. The mirror over the sink laughed at her and her shoulders sagged. The oversized sweatshirt she’d cast off looked better! The nighty wasn’t long enough to hide her jiggly thighs or all the stupid scars and marks from the recent horrors.
She straightened her shoulders and met her own eyes in the mirror. “Come on, you can manage sexy, can’t you?”
The answer was no, but she was determined to try anyway. She repeated a mantra of “You are sexy. You are appealing,” all the way downstairs, but when she reached the bedroom door it stuttered to a stop.
After a moment of indecision, Jorick’s voice called to her, “Are you coming in or should I come out there?”
She straightened her spine and repeated her silent mantra. “I’m coming.”
She swung the door open to see him still in bed, patiently covered up. She squeezed her eyes shut as she stepped over the threshold, prepared for his amused laughter, but no sound came. She waited, motionless, then opened her eyes to find him standing right in front of her. She gasped in surprise and he took it as cue to grab her up and deposit her on the bed in a single smooth motion.
She squealed and he grinned, then planted a kiss on her lips. “You’re excitable.”
“You scared me,” she offered in defense. “So, how bad does it look?”
He pulled back and let his eyes roam over her like the hands of a lover, an appreciative smirk on his face.
“Well?” she prompted.
He laughed and used his body to press her into the bed again. His lips found her ear and he murmured into it, “Not bad at all. You have no idea how delicious you look.”
She attempted a joke, “Like ‘hot’ delicious, or delicious like a late night snack?”
Jorick chuckled against her. “That depends. Which one do you prefer?”
She blinked and her mouth opened, but no sound came out. He laughed again and captured her lips in a deep kiss. Her lips parted eagerly to allow his tongue to slide into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her fingers twined in his long dark hair.
His palms skimmed the satiny nightgown, and in response she ran her hands down his naked back. Her fingers followed the lines of his well toned muscles, to the base of his spine and up again. He slowly trailed fiery kisses from her mouth to her neck, then to her chest. Gently, he slid the straps of the nighty off of her shoulders and pulled it down until her naked breasts were exposed. He looked into her eyes as if asking permission. Whatever he saw there apparently reassured him, and then he dipped his head and nuzzled her breasts against his face. With his tongue he traced the firm round curve until he reached her hardened nipple. He took it in his mouth, suckling it softly while she moaned.
He moved to the other breast, repeating the process, all the while looking up at her expectantly. Her cheeks flushed at his scrutiny and she looked away, but he caught her face and turned it back so that his penetrating gaze met hers.
He held her face with one hand and shifted his body to the side so he could bring the other hand to her thighs. His fingers brushed over the silky red panties and she gasped at the contact. Encouraged, he slipped his fingers under the edge and trailed lightly over the hot flesh underneath. A low moan escaped her throat and she tried to look away again, but he wouldn’t let her. He continued his ministrations and her eyes fluttered closed as her moans grew louder and more desperate.
She climaxed quickly beneath his deft fingers, and he carefully stripped away the panties and discarded them, while she lay on th
e bed panting heavily. He slid up her again, pressing the length of his naked body on top of her, and she opened her thighs for him. But, instead of sliding into place, he rolled over, and took her with him. She gave a cry of surprise and tried to roll back, but he held her fast and gazed up at her.
He caught her chin again and forced her to look at him. “Is this what you want?” he asked softly.
“What?” She bit her lip, her eyes questioning.
He took a deep breath and looked across the room at nothing. “Katelina, I-” he searched for the right words and then looked back at her. He tightened his hold, as though he was afraid she’d slip away. “After what happened,” he began reluctantly. “Is this what you want now? Are you ready for this so soon…” He trailed off into silence.
She closed her eyes and willed the conversation away. She knew what he meant, but she didn’t want to think about it. At one point she’d been afraid of the same thing, but not now.
When she didn’t answer he spoke again. His words were uncharacteristically uncertain, “It’s all right if you… if you don’t. I understand. I don’t want you to, um, do something you’re not comfortable with. I don’t want you to end up…” He broke off, his expression begging for her to understand the meaning.
She licked her lips nervously. “But do you, after…” She swallowed hard. “I mean, do you still, you know, want me?” the final words came out as a pathetic, horrified whisper.
His face softened and he released her chin to stroke her cheek. “Of course. I always want you, little one. Why wouldn’t I?”
Those were the only words she needed to hear.
She captured his lips in a passionate kiss and his arms wrapped around her and pulled her to him. She broke free to reposition herself. He watched as she gripped his erection and slowly lowered herself over him until he was buried in her hot, tight body.
It was his turn to moan low. A smile flickered over her lips at the sound, but she didn’t have long to contemplate it before he grabbed her hips and moved her against him; gliding her back and forth as he thrust into her.
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