Jorick visibly hesitated, and Katelina could imagine his mind clicking away. She wasn’t sure what she hoped his answer was; if they went back to the U.S. it would only be to another vampire citadel where the High Council would hand out jobs to him. But it would be safer, she thought. Surely Cyprus wouldn’t take the whole Children of Shadows army across the ocean.
“Yes,” Jorick said slowly. “We will join you.” He glanced at Katelina and added, “For now.”
“Good. I will let you go speak to the rest of your coven. No doubt they will have questions.”
Katelina scoffed lightly. Complaints were going to be more like it.
Chapter Twelve
“Uzbecky-what?” Micah demanded. “Where the hell is that?”
Jorick cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m not sure.”
“Isn’t it Russian?” Loren leaned back on the porch and eyed the door. The members of The Black Vigil were in the half lit basement, having a meeting of their own, but they could be out any moment.
Katelina huddled into her coat. “I thought you knew everything, Jorick.”
“Everything that matters. You forget, I left Europe for the New World long ago and until this little adventure I haven’t been back. The Americas manage to be strangely isolated and seem to care very little for the goings on overseas. Even The Guild forgets anything else exists sometimes.”
It sounded like what Fethillen had said, only in reverse. Everyone was short sighted. Not that she was any better. She puffed out a cloud of warm breath and tried to picture a world map. Her memory was foggy, and though she knew where Russia was, she wasn’t sure how anything else connected to it.
“If no one knows where they are, why the fuck do they have their own citadel or whatever?” Micah asked.
“I believe she called it a Birlik,” Jorick said. “The city was obviously very important at one time. Most of the guilds have been in place for centuries. But it doesn’t matter. That’s the direction they’re heading in and we’re going with them.”
Torina leaned against the porch railing and pouted. She’d traded her dirty dress for a new one that hugged her curves and looked too short for the current temperature. “Who said we want to be involved?”
“Where else are we going to go?” Oren gave his sister a hard look. “I’m still wanted in the United States.” Jorick started to interrupt and Oren held up a hand to silence him. “With Jorick’s interference they might find it in their hearts to leave us be, but if he’s in Uzbekistan he won’t be able to interfere on our behalf.”
“We could go somewhere else,” Torina suggested.
“Ah, fuck it,” Micah said. “At least there’s likely to be a fight in Uzi-what’s-it. I wouldn’t mind kicking some ass.”
Torina’s green eyes narrowed to slits. “You want to fight on their side? Have you forgotten what they did to us?”
Micah glanced at Loren and then away. “Fuck, no. I ain’t forgotten. Who’s to say some of them won’t get killed in the cross fire?”
“I’m against it,” Torina said firmly. “The stronghold in Germany was better than this.”
Katelina stopped from pointing out that Jorick had already agreed to go, so their votes meant nothing. Though, she supposed he deserved credit for pretending they had a say.
“The Black Vigil will make convenient cannon fodder,” Jorick said quietly. “Let them fight the general members of the Children of Shadows and we can go after Cyprus and Ronnell.”
Katelina was ready to remind him how their last fight with the wind walker had gone, when Loren asked the most obvious question, “So how do we get there?”
Fethillen hadn’t explained transportation, and Katelina wondered if they had to find their own.
“Probably in the helicopters.” Verchiel jerked his thumb in the direction of the massive outbuildings.
The thought of helicopters could only be processed with nicotine. Katelina snatched Micah’s cigarette and took a long drag, despite his objections. “Isn’t Uzbekistan a long way from here? I thought helicopters could only travel short distances.”
“When compared to planes, yeah, but they’re still a lot faster than driving,” Verchiel said.
The door opened and the young man from the woods came out. What was it Fethillen had called him? Sushel?
Micah snatched his cigarette back and flicked the ashes at the newcomer. “What do you want?”
Sushel sneered and crossed his arms. Apparently their meeting was over. “Fethillen says you’re going to accompany us.” He met Jorick’s eyes challengingly. “Ume and Quenby are traitors, and should be punished and you—” he broke off and spat at his feet. “—you should all be left to burn in the sun.”
Verchiel spoke with mock offense, “That’s not very friendly.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t feel friendly after burying Ken.”
Katelina stopped from asking who he meant. Obviously it was one of the casualties from the woods.
Sushel turned his scathing eyes on Verchiel. “You won’t gain extra privileges just because you’re Ume’s brother.”
“Brother?” Micah demanded. “What the fuck? The way she talked I thought you were married!”
Sushel snorted. “That wouldn’t be as endearing, would it?” He growled low in his throat. “Fethillen may be willing to break the rules and let you tag along, but you’d better stay out of my way—all of you—or you’ll be sorry.” He pushed past them and stalked toward the dark forest.
Micah started after him, but Torina pulled him back. “It isn’t worth the effort. We’ll kill him when it’s more convenient.”
The bald vampire ground his cigarette butt out on the porch, then stormed inside, Loren on his heels. The door had barely shut before Torina followed.
Oren waited until the door closed before he turned to Jorick. “Do you believe we can trust them?”
It took Jorick a moment to answer. “Obviously the barriers are an inherited trait since they all seem to have them, and Fethillen’s is the most impenetrable. Her mind is hard to probe without her noticing.”
Katelina looked longingly in the direction of the discarded cigarette butt. “You read my mind all the time and I don’t feel it.”
“Only the surface thoughts,” he said. “When I dig for memories you notice.”
She thought of the infirmary when he’d looked into her mind to see how she’d ended up there. He was right, she’d felt it.
“So, yes or no?” Oren asked.
“Fethillen, maybe, but the rest of the Black Vigil? No. I wouldn’t trust them. Best be on your guard.”
By unspoken arrangement, the Black Vigil remained downstairs while the others stayed upstairs. From the scraping, thumping sounds, Katelina guessed they were finishing their packing.
She warmed her hands at the fire and turned to Jorick. “I was going to ask you earlier, what was all that stuff Fethillen said about Samael and the archangel Michael and a flood?”
“It’s one of the versions of the story,” Jorick said. “There are thousands of them, no doubt. It happens as stories move from culture to culture, often by word of mouth alone. It’s hard to tell if any of them are the real one.”
“But how could Samael cause a flood? Wait, she doesn’t mean like the Noah’s Ark flood?”
“I imagine so. How many great floods have you heard of?” When she stared at him he laughed. “Most ancient cultures have a flood legend, little one. It appears vampires are no different.” He sobered. “Probably a flood happened shortly after whatever fight Lilith and Samael had, and so it was attributed to them. It is curious that they ‘destroyed a mountain’ and that Lilith’s temple and Samael’s tomb were in a ‘great mountain’. Perhaps the destruction was merely excavation?” He shrugged it off. “I doubt we’ll ever know the truth, unless you think Samael might tell us?”
It was a joke, but it made Katelina think of the temple and the way Samael had managed to impart knowledge without a word. It was something she hoped she ne
ver ran into again.
The night was as silent as death when Katelina dashed outside for a last minute outhouse visit. Jorick stayed behind in the cabin, his face visible at the window, but his attention on the conversation he had with Oren. Like a child she’d been admonished to go straight there and straight back, as if she’d want to go for a nature hike in the dark.
She had a brief view of colored ribbons in the sky before she shut herself in the dilapidated shed. When she finished, she slipped outside and stopped to stare. Wisps of eerie green fog pulsed and twisted above her. The sight was both beautiful and terrifying, and she fell back against the building, transfixed and paralyzed.
Voices came to her from somewhere in the darkness. She couldn’t quite hear the words, and her good sense told her she probably didn’t want to. But, her curiosity was piqued, so she slowly picked her way across the yard, her eyes transfixed on the sky above as if she thought she might fall into it like Alice and the rabbit hole.
The voices grew louder as she moved around the cabin. She recognized Sushel, but the other was unfamiliar.
“What about Quenby?”
Sushel answered angrily, “Quenby said she cooperated against her will. Even Ume admitted that. She was the ring leader because of some desperate need to cling to a brother she barely remembers.”
“You know Ume’s one of Fethillen’s favorites. She’ll probably forgive her.”
There was a moment’s silence and when Sushel spoke his voice was like poisoned ice. “You’ve spoken aloud my fear. Fethillen wrote the law—it is forbidden to bring strangers to our sanctuaries. The penalty is instant death, and yet Ume still draws breath. It may be up to us to impart the punishment.”
Katelina gaped in the darkness and clutched the cabin to steady herself. Did he mean…
The other voice echoed her horror, “Sushel, I don’t think—”
“Of course you don’t. But I won’t suffer the poisoned apple to live among us, spreading her foul rot and infecting our brothers. Four of us are dead, Ken among them, because she selfishly brought those, those… monsters with her. Do you think they’ll stop there? Oh no! She will join them and then they’ll try to kill us.”
“If you’re worried, speak to Fethillen.”
“I have,” Sushel snapped. “Her answer is to be watchful and wary. Watchful and wary! No. I have a plan to get rid of them.”
“They’re our guests. Fethillen won’t—”
“Fethillen won’t know about it. We’re stronger than they are and better fighters. We’ll survive but they won’t, and if Ume happens to get killed in the crossfire…”
Katelina bit back a horrified gasp and hurriedly slipped toward the outhouse. As she rounded the cabin she nearly ran into Jorick.
“What are you doing? You shouldn’t wander. This place isn’t safe.”
“Sushel,” she whispered urgently. “He’s planning to kill us!”
“What?” Jorick met her eyes and she felt the split second spark as he sorted through the memory in her mind. His lips disappeared into a thin line, then he said, “Come, little one, before they notice you’re here.”
She followed him inside and whispered, “What are we going to do?”
“Nothing.”
“We should at least warn Ume!”
Jorick shook his head. “Ume knows Sushel hates her, he’s made that plain. If he has a real plan to harm us there’s nothing she can do about it. I’ll keep an eye and ear on Sushel and his cohorts, but for now we wait.”
Wait. Be watchful and wary. They were the same tactics. But while Fethillen and Jorick preached patience, they were all in danger.
When Katelina and Jorick went downstairs for bed, she saw that the Black Vigil had been busy. Even the folding chairs were picked up. The only thing left, besides a large stack of trunks and boxes, were the bizarre strings of Christmas lights.
The floor was even less comfortable than the night before, but she managed to drift into strange dreams. Jorick woke her the next evening with a kiss, and they repeated their previous day’s activities, though instead of an owl the vampires presented Katelina and Etsuko with a pair of rabbits. Katelina couldn’t watch their preparation, and she could barely eat them. Every bite conjured an image of a fluffy cartoon Easter bunny, and she had to fight to swallow.
They returned to find the doors of the hangars open and two massive helicopters parked in the snow. Their bodies looked like some kind of ship with stubby wings, wheels, and rotors tacked on for good measure. They made Katelina think of a sea rescue ship, though she wasn’t sure why.
Vampires loaded the last of the trunks and other items into one of the helicopters, while Fethillen stood next to the other waving her arms in time to her orders. The Black Vigil had traded their usual black uniforms for normal clothes; Fethillen wore a long sweater and knee high boots over stretchy leggings. Ume and Quenby hovered nearby, both dressed in jeans and sweaters. Ume spotted the newcomers and hurried toward them, pointing to the helicopter she’d just left. “We’ll be taking this one. You’d better get your bags and load them up before someone puts them in the wrong one. They aren’t going with us, so if that happens your possessions will be lost.”
Katelina squinted at the aircraft. “Where’s the other one going?”
“They’re relocating to the summer headquarters. We don’t usually leave until March, but since it’s the fourteenth of February, Fethillen thought it was late enough.”
The fourteenth of February. It took Katelina a moment to recognize the date, and when she did she looked to Jorick. He only nodded to Ume, then motioned the others inside the cabin.
As she walked, she thought how ridiculous it was to worry about Valentine’s Day, considering everything going on. At the same time she finally had a boyfriend for the “big day”. Excepting her strange relationship with Patrick, she’d been single every February, like clockwork. Every year she went to work and watched the flowers and balloons pour in for the other women. Near the end of the day the obligatory pink carnation from her mother arrived. “No woman should go without a flower on Valentine’s,” her mother would say. This year Katelina wouldn’t even have that.
It’s not like we have time to mess with it, she told herself.
Loren caught up to her as they hit the basement, and whispered, “Sorry, I forgot to say anything to him.”
“It’s all right. This isn’t the time for roses and chocolates.”
Jorick was suddenly behind them. “What isn’t?”
“It’s Valentine’s day,” Loren said cheerfully.
Jorick stared blankly and Katelina felt a dash of disappointment. She hadn’t expected him to do anything, not with helicopters and killer vampires, but she had expected him to apologize for not being able to. That he didn’t even know what it was…
Loren rolled his eyes. “You’re supposed to get your girlfriend presents for Valentine's. You know, to show her that you love her.”
Jorick cocked an eyebrow. “One assumes she already knows.”
“Yeah, but it’s a thing, you know? You buy chicks jewelry and give them mushy cards and all that crap.”
Some sort of understanding flickered across Jorick’s face. “Velnya gave me a card with a poem once.”
At the mention of Jorick’s first wife, Katelina looked to her feet. Wrong or right, Velnya was a name that still made her stomach clench.
Loren was oblivious. “Take that and multiply it by about a hundred and you’ve got modern Valentines. But, I guess you guys will have to do something later since we’ll be in a helicopter all night.”
Jorick didn’t say anything, and Katelina muttered, “Yeah,” and then hurried past in search of her bag. It was slumped against the wall in the communal sleeping room with the others. Torina stood next to the pile, holding her giant duffle bag hopefully.
“Oh, it’s only you. I was hoping for Micah.”
“So he can carry it for you?” Katelina asked sarcastically. “It wouldn’t hurt you to do
it yourself.”
The redhead looked bored. “Of course it wouldn’t, but it makes the men feel needed, doesn’t it?”
Needed wasn’t the word Katelina would use, so she started for the door. Torina called after her, “You knew what you were getting into with Jorick. Moping won’t make it any better.”
Her first instinct was to spin around and snap that she wasn’t “moping”, but that was followed by a horrific question: How did Torina know what she was thinking?
She hurried through the door and nearly ran into Jorick and Loren. The teen gave her a thumbs up and hurried around her.
“Is Torina a mind reader?” Katelina demanded.
Jorick looked at her with surprise. “What? Oh, Torina. I imagine so, to some degree. Oren made her almost immediately, so she didn’t inherit an amazing amount of the gift, but over the years something should have developed. Why?”
Wasn’t that great? Another mind reader. Only this was a knockout bombshell who could gleefully pluck out Katelina’s feelings of inadequacy at will. Awesome. “You might have mentioned it.”
“I thought you knew. She is Oren’s fledgling. Not that his mind reading is the best. Still…”
He trailed off and she rolled her eyes. “Right. I should have checked the back of her collector card for details. Sorry.” The sarcasm was wasted and she groaned. “Never mind.”
Jorick dismissed her comments. “If you’re ready we might as well get on board.”
She followed him back out of the basement and across the snowy lawn. Heavy clouds covered the sky and ruined any chance of seeing the eerie northern lights, but that was all right. She wasn’t sure she could take them again.
Though the helicopter appeared to be in good shape, it still looked old. Katelina reluctantly climbed into an interior that looked more like a cargo carrier than a passenger ship. The walls were dull gray metal and each set with three small windows. Two rows of chairs faced one another, their backs against the walls, and a small open area was stacked with trunks that were lashed into place.
Children of Shadows Page 17
