He trailed off, but Katelina understood. “Father of Shadows, holder of the sacred seal.” That’s why he’d addressed Cyprus that way; he was after another relic for his collection. Was that what Jorick had left in the mysterious note that had so inspired Sorino to join them?
Jorick gave her a wink, then turned back to the conversation. “Everyone has different motives.”
“I say we should skip Cyprus and go after Malick instead,” Torina said. “There are thirty of these Black Vigil people. We could storm his den and—”
“Now that Fethillen knows Malick can’t raise Memnon, and the Children of Shadows’ headquarters are elsewhere, I don’t think we can talk her into that—yet,” Jorick said. “After the Children of Shadows have been destroyed she will, as Ume said, need a new goal.”
“And you’ll provide one for her,” Verchiel finished admiringly.
“Someone should. Plus, it seems a pity to waste all of her soldiers and equipment.”
“Assuming there’s any left,” Katelina said.
Micah snickered. “If all of the Children of Shadows are as crappy as that bunch in Uzbecka-what’s-it, we could do it ourselves.”
Jorick tapped his chin. “There will be Cyprus to contend with, and Ronnell, and I have no doubt there are some very strong vampires among their ranks. If nothing else the Father of Shadows is likely to be there.”
“I thought that was Cyprus?” Katelina asked.
“Yes and no. Their Father probably relinquished control with the promise of Memnon’s resurrection, but he obviously didn’t hand over the seal. If Cyprus had killed him, he’d have taken it.”
“Cyprus didn’t seem to know what it was,” Katelina said.
“Yes,” Sorino said slowly. “I noticed that.” He turned businesslike. “For better or worse we’re in agreement. Let’s hope the human is well enough for travel tomorrow.”
Katelina still she had her doubts the next evening. Etsuko insisted she was better, and tried to clean up after herself, but it was obvious by her frequent rest stops on the way to the shower that she was weak. She apologized again and again, and Katelina assured her it was all right. It was a conversation she’d memorized.
She tucked Etsuko back in bed, gave her some of the aspirin Oren had brought back from the poachers, and then motioned Jorick outside to talk.
Sorino, Kai, Loren, and Ume stood near the door, obviously waiting for a report. Katelina shook her head sadly. “She’s a little better, but she’s still sick. I don’t know if we should stay or get the hell out of these third world conditions.” She waved away a cloud of bugs. Though they didn’t bite her, they still hung around.
Ume frowned. “Are the conditions bad?”
“Um, yeah. There’s no bathroom for starters. Peeing in the jungle isn’t sanitary. And using rain water on the dishes? Who knows what’s in that stuff. And we’re almost out of bottled water again.”
“So should we go or not?” Loren asked, taking a step closer to Ume. His hopeful eyes said he wanted to do whatever she was doing.
Everyone turned to Katelina and she wanted to shout, “I’m no expert!” Instead she motioned to the airplane that waited to whisk the Black Vigil away. “I doubt they’ll give us a lift to the airport, so we’ll have to walk through the jungle. I don’t think Etsuko could make it.”
Jorick said, “In order to meet them we don’t need to leave until tomorrow.”
Sorino looked unhappy, but nodded. “It’s a seven hour flight for us, and our pilots are human, so the sunlight is not as much of a problem. With that plane they’ll have to stop somewhere else tonight and won’t reach Amari’s until tomorrow.”
Amari. The name was familiar. Katelina wondered if he was the vampire who ran the airfield near the Raven Queen’s temple.
“Then we’ll wait until tomorrow,” Jorick said.
Loren sagged but perked up when Ume said, “I’ve already told Fethillen I’d like to remain here with your coven in case I can be useful.”
Useful to who? Katelina wondered. Etsuko or Fethillen? The vampiress hadn’t been happy about letting them out of her sight, and now she’d have a pair of eyes left behind. It was a bitter thought, since Ume had never double crossed them, but it was still there.
With that decided the vampires split off to inform everyone. Katelina watched the plane leave and then she gathered the dirty clothes for some primitive laundry. Etsuko’s kimonos were a challenge, but she eyed the results with satisfaction. Though the clothes would be stiff, they’d at least smell better.
Katelina took a shower and searched for Jorick. She found him talking to Wolfe and paused around the corner.
“I don’t believe it’s him,” Wolfe said. “If so then why hasn’t he made a move?”
“You know their time is different than ours,” Jorick said. “A month would be but a blink.”
“I know, but I was there and the complex was an empty space to me. I remember him from the cave and I’d have sensed him. It’s obviously someone else.”
“You said it felt empty. Are you sure there wasn’t anyone there?”
Wolfe made a noise in his throat. “The complex is large; more than five square kilometers, and The Sodalitas did not send me to handle the problem for the Gāoguì Fǎyuàn— that’s the Chinese guild—so I only circled outside it. It’s possible that a lesser vampire, with a weaker presence, could have circled inside at the same time I did and gone unnoticed, but not him. I could have felt him a mile away. However, there is compelling evidence that someone was there earlier this month. One night someone took down the signs and sealed the gates. The next night someone left a pile of refuse outside the walls; broken glass cases, more signs, essentially everything that had turned it into a tourist attraction. From what I understand that happened several days in a row and then stopped. The humans’ tourism committee, or whatever they call it, was in an uproar. There’s a hotel of some kind on the grounds, and none of the guests have been heard from since this happened. The human police tried to handle it first, but anyone who managed to get inside disappeared. The Gāoguì Fǎyuàn got involved and sent some of their Executioners to find out what was going on, but none of them returned. At the moment they have the human government claiming there was a natural disaster to keep everyone away, but I think they’d do just as well to scale the walls again and look around. It’s probably empty. If nothing else, there were only so many guests. Once a vampire had drained them, they’d start to get hungry and have to come out. My official opinion is that it was a local, probably someone disenfranchised with the modern way of things.”
“A complete waste of time?” Jorick asked.
Wolfe grunted. “Not for you. You seized the chance of a nervous woman to get yourselves out of the stronghold. Surely you knew I didn’t need help.”
“Did you hear that, Katelina?” Jorick called.
She pressed herself against the wall. Crap. He knew she was there! She tried to pop around the corner innocently. “What?”
Jorick’s dark eyes twinkled. “Did you hear what Wolfe said? About not needing help.”
“No, I wasn’t listening.” But her pink cheeks and irritated scowl said differently and Jorick laughed. “She was on Sadihra’s side, of course.”
Wolfe regarded her with cool contempt, then turned back to Jorick. “Sadihra was aware I was on a mission of secrecy. She should have known better than to expect any communication. I anticipated more professional behavior from her. Though I admit, I see no reason for the silence. When I left Munich, the Gāoguì Fǎyuàn wasn’tt even involved yet. Inanna saw ‘something’ in China and sent me to find out what it was. I’m not sure that’s even what she foresaw. It might be something that’s yet to happen. They used to do this frequently, and then it slowed and they finally went to sleep. Now that they’re awake again—” he broke off as if realizing he was being too chatty. “Enough. Perhaps you’d like to tell me why you were so keen to escape the stronghold that you took advantage of an unhinged woman?
”
“We didn’t want to miss this,” Jorick said vaguely.
“Of course, because you’re a demon eye and knew it was coming.” Wolfe studied him and then shook his head. “Keep your secrets, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough. If the Höher Rat wants you back, for instance.”
Jorick grew serious. “It isn’t the Höher Rat who’s interested in us.”
Wolfe cocked an eyebrow but said nothing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Etsuko’s fever dropped off later that night, and by the next evening she said she felt fine. Sorino insisted they leave immediately unless they wanted to “arrive after sunrise and spend the day in the plane.”
When Micah complained about feeding, Sorino snapped, “You can eat on the way and the humans can get food at the airport. Now, let’s go.”
Katelina packed her bag and the last bottle of water. Ume locked everything and plunged into the jungle, the others behind her. Katelina paused at the edge of the trees and gave the camp a final look as Verchiel shut off the generator. The lights flickered out and it took her eyes a moment to adjust. The camp had a sudden air of abandonment, and she wondered if its occupants would return or if it would lay empty until the poachers got brave enough to loot it.
She carried Etsuko’s flashlight and picked her way behind the vampires. The image of the fire ring and the log seats stood clear behind her eyes, as if she was leaving home behind. It was interesting that they’d only been there a few days and yet there were already spaces she’d claimed for herself, as if by sitting in the same spot night after night she’d left behind some piece of herself that gave her the right to claim ownership.
Until she’d met Jorick she’d moved through the same spaces her whole life. The same town, the same buildings, the same streets. Even the bathrooms were familiar. There was a memory on every corner, as though she and the pavement shared a common ancestor. Then, she’d left and ever since she’d drifted from place to place, with nothing but her memory to prove she’d ever been there.
Compared to the jungle, the plane was a welcome sight. Sorino’s pilots were ready, and Jorick used his usual tricks on the airport security so they passed through with no trouble. It wasn’t until they lifted off that Katelina noticed Etsuko’s pained expression. “Are you okay?”
“Thank you, Katelina-san, but I am fine. Only a little tired.”
“Yeah?” Micah asked and leaned on the back of her seat. “Then why is your nose bleeding?”
“I assure Micah-sama that—oh!” Etsuko touched her nose and brought her hand away with blood. “I-I must apologize,” she said quickly and scrambled for the bathroom.
An hour later she lay on the couch nearly insensible. Oren poked her uncomfortably, his brow creased. Katelina stood next to him, waiting for a pronouncement, though she doubted he knew more than she did.
“Well?” Micah asked. “She gonna live or what?”
“I assume so,” Oren snapped. “Jorick, come look and see what you think.”
“I know less than you,” Jorick said from his seat. “Ask Katelina.”
Oren’s amber eyes zeroed in on her and she shrank a little. “I don’t know. Maybe she got something from the water?”
“Ask the human,” Oren repeated sarcastically. “She’s a fount of knowledge.” With a final growl he stormed back to his seat and savagely threw himself into it. “Your human is useless!”
Katelina bristled. “I’m not a doctor! Maybe she’d be well now if we’d taken her to one instead of hiding out in the fucking jungle, or sleeping in abandoned buildings in subzero temperatures.”
“Then you should have said she needed one!” Oren snarled.
“That should’ve been obvious when she started throwing up.”
Oren was on his feet. “How am I supposed to know that? Humans do disgusting things with very little cause! When I was human we didn’t send for a doctor because someone had a fever!”
Jorick sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Oren, there’s no need to shout.”
“I’ll shout at your stupid human if I want to!”
Jorick’s pained patience slipped into anger. “Katelina isn’t stupid. I understand you’re worried but—”
“I’m not worried!” Oren shouted. “Trust you to stick up for her. Are you afraid she’ll refuse to warm your bed if you don’t?”
The slap was loud and sudden. Oren laid a hand to his injured cheek, snarled, and stormed to the bathroom.
Sorino said sarcastically, “It’s always interesting to travel with you.”
Katelina took a seat near Etsuko, though she had a hard time with the fear of contagion. Just because she thought she was immune didn’t mean she was. The blood hearkened back to the Ebola virus and the traumatizing monkey disease movie. They’d been in the jungle after all. With monkeys.
Torina roused her from her thoughts. “Oren is an ass.”
Katelina looked up quickly. “Yes he is.”
“He’s worried about the stupid human.” Torina crossed her arms over her chest and stared at Etsuko with a mixture of disdain and anger. “I doubt he’s realized it.”
Katelina thought about the conversation she’d overheard in the jungle and looked away quickly, for fear Torina would pluck it from her mind. When she looked back Torina had returned to her seat and was artfully flashing her upper thigh at Micah.
So much for her momentary glimpse of humanity.
They’d been flying for four hours when Etsuko woke. She muttered in Japanese, and Katelina couldn’t get her to focus. She was burning up and Verchiel helped Katelina get some aspirin down her and put a cold rag on her head. She kept the pills down for a few minutes and then threw them back up all over her kimono. Verchiel lugged Etsuko to the bathroom and Katelina tried to get her out of the ridiculous outfit. The sick woman flopped limply and moaned. The space was too small. And there were so many layers and ribbons and knots!
Etsuko woke long enough to throw up again and Katelina, who was crammed under the sink like a pretzel, burst into frustrated tears. She’d faced killer vampires, certain death, and untold horrors, but none of them made her feel as helpless as this.
Someone knocked on the door and Katelina sobbed out, “What?”
Torina asked, “Do you need help.”
Katelina battled a sudden surge of pride. “That would be nice.”
With Torina’s assistance they soon had Etsuko stripped down and changed into something that resembled a white kimono without all the fuss. Torina easily carried the insensible woman back to the couch and then ran back to the bathroom to wash her hands.
When the plane landed Etsuko was no better. She’d woken again and muttered in rapid Japanese, at one moment nearly hysterical, until Jorick laid a hand on her and sent her back to sleep.
Katelina stepped off of the plane and at once recognized the slab of airstrip and the bright glare of the lights. Beyond that she knew was a collection of buildings and a range of mountains that reminded her of their last visit, and their casualty. Neil had died at the fight in the temple and they’d burned his body not far from where she stood. It felt like bad luck to be back again.
She followed Jorick through the cold to a squat building. He opened the door without knocking. The room inside was as messy as Katelina remembered; a futon was folded in one corner and two chairs were buried under piles of newspapers. A doorway revealed the control room where the young, dark haired vampire Amari and the graying human Burke sat at a control panel.
Amari wore a headset that consisted of heavy earphones and a microphone. He nodded along to something only he could hear through it. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Right. We’ve been getting reports about it all night. The Asian Association is asking survivors to gather at these coordinates.” He read off a set of numbers and Katelina bit her lip. Survivors. Asian Association. So Fethillen had been right about the target.
“Uh-huh.” Amari flipped a switch and part of the panel’s lights went out. “I hear it was bloodier than The Fac
tion. They’re saying hundreds of casualties, and that’s just the vampires. I don’t envy the cleanup crews. What a nightmare to try to keep the human emergency services away from the vampires and vice versa. In a crush like that it would be hard to tell who anyone was right off, especially given all the rubble. Uh-huh. That’s right. It was next to a housing complex or apartment building, and they blew that up too.”
Katelina closed her eyes. She’d seen the aftermath in Uzbekistan and could only imagine what it would’ve been like had people lived nearby.
“Okay. If I hear anything else… Yeah, got a new plane in, so I’ll let you go.” Amari spieled off a few more pleasantries and then peeled his headset off with a sigh. “Busy night,” he commented to Burke. “Looks like you and Celia will have your hands full today.”
He stretched, then spun around in his chair. His eyes landed on Jorick and his whole face was animated. He swept to his feet and hurried toward them. “Well hello there! So you’re our other customers. It’s nice to see you again.” He offered Jorick a fanged grin and a good once over. “The others weren’t sure you were going to show up.”
“Yes.” Jorick took a step back. “Where are they?”
“There’s a lot of them,” Amari said. “I don’t know where everyone’s going to sleep. Even if we put people on the floor it’s still going to be cramped. Of course, I can always find room.” He coughed, as if to punctuate the not so subtle proposition.
The door opened and closed and Sorino strode inside, Kai behind him on his usual silver chain. It looked like a leash and Katelina wanted to snap that Kai wasn’t a dog, but it was pointless.
“And you as well,” Amari said with less enthusiasm. “I don’t suppose Lurid is with you?”
“No,” Sorino said. “Now, about accommodations.”
“I was just discussing that,” Amari said. “I don’t see how everyone can fit, unless we stack you.” He eyed Jorick again, as if suggesting he knew exactly where to stack him.
Katelina wasn’t sure whether to feel jealous or not, and wrapped her hand around Jorick’s arm for good measure.
Children of Shadows Page 28
