Verchiel disappeared to “look into some things.” Jorick was perfectly kind to Katelina, but she could feel the fury that rolled beneath the surface. It wasn’t directed at her, rather at Samael, the Höher Rat, and potentially the rest of the world.
A knock sounded on the door and Jorick opened it to find Sadihra. She’d changed into a purple sweater and in place of her Scharfrichter amulet hung a piece of polished amethyst.
“Wolfe just told me,” the Scharfrichterin said as she stepped inside and closed the door. “Is it true?”
The muscle in Jorick’s jaw flexed. “That depends on what he said.”
“He said she fed upon Samael, and that the Kugsankal must decide what to do.”
Jorick made a noncommittal noise and Sadihra closed her eyes. “Oh Gott!” She opened them again and turned serious, her usual smooth veneer in place. “They will keep her here, hoping to use her in some way against Samael.”
Katelina stiffened at her words. “But how would I be useful?”
“It’s hard to say,” Sadihra answered. “Whenever you drink a vampire’s blood you become connected to them in some way. The how is different in every case, perhaps depending on the vampire, or on the human, or on the amount of blood. There were experiments done, of course, in the Dark Ages, but the results were never conclusive.”
Katelina could well imagine Dark Age vampire experiments. “But I’ve had blood from other vampires and never been connected in a way that could be used against them. Malick could only use me against Jorick because Jorick cared about me and chose to be worried. It isn’t as if hurting me could hurt Jorick miles away.”
Sadihra shrugged. “Then perhaps it’s something else?”
“Like the mind thing?” Katelina asked.
“Mind thing?” Sadihra looked quickly to Jorick. He explained in a handful of words and the Scharfrichterin looked at Katelina as though she was something mysterious that had crawled from under a rock. When she finally found words she said, “Be careful, both of you.”
She started for the door, then stopped. “Did Wolfe tell you the results of the Black Vigil inquiry?”
“No,” Jorick answered. “We had very little time for conversation.”
“Join us for dinner. There is a restaurant.”
Though Katelina wasn’t so sure about dinner with Wolfe, Jorick nodded. “We know where it is.”
“Good. We will see you at three. Yes? Until then, good evening.”
She hurried out the door and Katelina threw herself back on the bed with a groan.
It was nearly three when Jorick and Katelina went to the restaurant. Wolfe and Sadihra sat at a table in one of the smaller rooms. A handful of tables were scattered around them, but most were empty. Though Katelina couldn’t say why, she got the impression it was some kind of VIP room.
Sadihra greeted them, and Wolfe gave them stony nods. A waiter took their order; blood for the vampires and a pasta dish for Katelina. Once he’d gone, Wolfe turned to Jorick. “The Höher Rat spoke to the prisoners we brought with us.”
“And?” Jorick asked.
“Their evidence held true. They would give very little information about their so-called order, except to say its function is to destroy the Children of Shadows, which they claim is not defunct as we all believe, but instead has been secretly thriving.”
“The last of that cult died when I was still a fledgling,” Jorick said. “Malick helped hunt Memnon himself. I watched him burn, and I watched his followers burn.” He paused a moment then added with no emotion, “I helped to light the fires for some.”
Wolfe nodded. “I was there, too, if you’ll remember. They weren’t all they were rumored to be, just a squabbling bunch of immortals scrabbling for power.”
“There was a lot of that back then,” Jorick said.
“Yes, before the Kugsankal stamped out the last of it and organized the new system. With the recent upheavals, I worry those times may come again. If the group really has resurfaced then it’s no wonder. Malick may have set a dangerous precedent.”
The waiter interrupted with the food, and it was only after the glasses of blood were poured from a large crystal decanter that the conversation resumed.
“As I was saying, the research department found mention of The Black Vigil in a collection of letters from the ancient materials department. They were a group from Moldavia, led by a Dumitru, who organized them in the fourteenth century, initially to fight another ‘evil’ master. Eventually they evolved as enemies of The Children of Shadow, though it doesn’t say why. There was some hint that they had a change of leadership, but no specific name is given. They disappeared from records in the sixteenth century, presumably wiped out by the Children, and no one has seen or heard of them since.”
“I see.” Jorick sipped from his glass. “So they are both dead orders, so to speak.”
“Or un-dead,” Katelina muttered to herself.
“It doesn’t say exactly when they disappeared, does it?” Jorick asked thoughtfully. “If they were enemies of the Children of Shadows I feel we should’ve run across them.”
“The last mention is some time before Memnon was destroyed, so there’s a chance they were gone before we were involved. We were both young then.”
Jorick nodded. “Did they manage to trace either of the prisoners? Their masters, covens, and such?”
“No. They both swear allegiance to a Fethillen. They claim she’s the leader of the Black Vigil, and at least six hundred years old, but there are no records of her. Of course, that doesn’t disprove her existence, since even The Sodalitas’ records are very incomplete. It isn’t easy to keep track of every vampire in the world.”
Katelina tested her dinner and found it tasty. “So what are they going to do with them?”
“Who?” Wolfe asked coldly.
“Ume and Qu-what’s-her-name.”
Wolfe looked uncomfortable. “They were initially charged with attacking Scharfrichter and Executioners, but since it was determined we weren’t on official business, and they didn’t actually attack us first—in fact it was your companion, Micah, I believe, who threw the first blow.” The sneer in his voice said Jorick was somehow to blame.
“He’s hardly my companion,” Jorick replied coldly. “Look to Oren.”
“And is not Oren one of yours?” Wolfe asked.
Sadihra cut in. “It doesn’t matter. What Wolfe was trying to say is that they are to be released.”
“And what of the Children of Shadows?” Jorick asked. “Are there any other rumors of their resurrection?”
Wolfe gulped the last of his blood and leaned back in the chair. “None.”
“Then who attacked us and killed everyone in the marina?” Katelina asked
Wolfe made a low noise. Katelina wasn’t sure what he was aggravated about in particular. Maybe everything. She knew she was.
Katelina wanted dessert, but Wolfe and Sadihra excused themselves. Sadihra said they would have to eat together again, “Should your stay become prolonged.” Katelina hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.
She ate her pie in silence. On the way out of the restaurant they ran into Oren and the others, seated at a large table. Micah waved to them and called loudly, “Hey, Lunch! I heard you’re some kind of freak now!”
Jorick only checked his fury a second before he reached him. “If you ever say something like that to Katelina again…”
“What? You’ll rip my head off? Come on.” The bald vampire pushed back from the table and held his arms out in a welcoming gesture. “Let’s go, Executioner dog.”
“Shut the fuck up, Micah,” Katelina snapped. “People are staring.”
“Yeah? Let ‘em stare, huh?” He flexed his muscles and broke into deep throaty laughter. “So what is all this shit, anyway? We gotta stay now until the old geezers in the basement decide you’re not worth hanging on to? Why the fuck didn’t we stay at the beach while they deliberated this shit?”
Oren snapped, “Micah, be still.” Then he turned to Jorick. “How was your dinner with Wolfe?” He said the name with all the distaste he could muster.
“Not as informative as I’d hoped. I imagine we’ll know tomorrow when we can leave.” He shot Micah a final furious look.
“Tomorrow then.” Oren said, though his voice held no optimism.
Katelina was grateful to climb into bed and say goodbye to the horrible day, except she doubted tomorrow would be any better. Like Oren, she expected they’d be stuck at the stronghold for a long time.
Jorick slid in beside her. He hesitated for a moment and then reached for her. She came willingly, though his indecision left her unsure.
“Unsure of what?” he asked, as he stroked the hair back from her face.
“Everything,” she murmured. “This tainted thing…”
He sighed heavily. “You’re not tainted, little one, I told you that already.”
“But you said I’m different.”
“So?”
She couldn’t answer him, couldn’t say she was afraid that just as she’d changed, his love for her might change too.
“Katelina, do you think I’m that shallow?” She didn’t answer and he continued. “Had I turned you as Oren suggested, as we both know will have to be done someday, don’t you think that will change you? Do you think that I’ll stop loving you then?”
“That’s different. Then you’d be the one who… I mean…you’d be the one in control of it.”
“No vampire can control the changes a fledgling undergoes. Oren should’ve inherited an accomplished mind reading ability, but he didn’t. He’s had to struggle for what little of the ability he’s managed. And though Kateesha possessed no speed abilities of any kind, you notice the redheaded idiot is a wind walker.”
“That’s still different.”
He tangled his fingers in her hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “No, it’s not, and you’re not different in the sense you think. You’re still who you were before.”
She sighed, but couldn’t find any words.
“I still love you, Katelina.”
She wrapped her arms around him and murmured, “I love you, too.”
Katelina’s dreams were nightmares. Raging seas, thundering storms, and bloody vampire councils. They took her to a dungeon where they put her in a cage and did Dark Age experiments on her.
The dream shifted to a room with painted pillars. A large window was set in the wall, and she took a step towards it when she was conscious of another presence. She turned to see him standing to one side, his long black hair shimmering in the lantern light.
She breathed in the feelings of warmth and peace that flowed from him; the comfortable familiarity, like finding home in the middle of a battlefield.
“It is a battle that does not concern you.”
“It’s the Kugsankal,” she murmured, eyes closed. Though she knew she should be terrified at that word, she wasn’t.
“It is all meaningless.” She opened her eyes to see him motion to the window. Lightning slithered across dark skies, and rain fell on a landscape painted with night. “Even this will fade and pass away to nothing.”
She woke with those final words echoing in her ears. She blinked in the darkness and tried to recall the dream, but the details were lost to the world of sleep. All that was left was a feeling of tranquility and the knowledge that everything would be all right because none of it mattered. It would all fade away, anyhow.
She dressed and emerged from the bathroom as Jorick woke. He caught her and gave her a long good morning kiss, then dressed and asked if she’d like to go for breakfast. The restaurant was as crowded as usual, and they ate in virtual silence. Something nagged at the back of her mind, drowned out periodically by a host of worries. It was all too much, and she wished the strange calm she’d woken with would return.
They checked back at the room but there was no summons to speak to either the Höher Rat or the Kugsankal. Waiting in the room for the axe to fall seemed too horrible, so they set off to wander around the stronghold.
“If we keep doing this you’ll learn your way around,” Jorick teased.
“I hope we don’t get the chance.”
They soon found the common area, which was crowded by stores like a shopping mall. One had a sign for photo developing, so they fetched the full disposable camera and dropped it off, then stopped at a bookstore. Jorick browsed the shelves with interest, occasionally selecting something and then putting it back with an air of disappointment.
“Can’t find anything you haven’t read?” Katelina asked.
“Not worth reading.”
She knew better than to argue with him and his books. She browsed the magazines instead, and selected one on spring fashions when she saw Ume, one of the prisoners they’d brought with them. The vampiress stepped in the door and looked from face to face, as if seeking someone. Disappointment blossomed on her features, and she started to leave when she spotted Katelina and Jorick.
Ume hurried over, and Katelina noted she was still wearing her odd black ninja outfit. “I’m looking for Aki—the one you call Verchiel. Do you know where he is?”
“Sorry, no. I take it he hasn’t talked to you yet?”
Ume’s expression wavered, and then crumpled and large tears sprang up in her eyes. “No.”
Katelina didn’t want to feel sympathy for her. Ume had attacked them. But really, she hadn’t hurt anyone. Not like the first four. Even the Höher Rat was letting her go.
She motioned to a bank of chairs against one wall. “We might as well sit down. Who knows how long Jorick will be.”
Ume took the chair and quickly blotted her tears. Katelina sat and sought for something to say. She didn’t want to blurt out, “What’s the deal with you and Verchiel?” Not only did it seem rude, but she doubted she’d get an answer. It would be better to start smaller.
“I heard they released you. Are you staying here, or going home?”
“I’d like to go home. They said they will help us, but we have to pay for it ourselves.”
There was a lot of that where The Sodalitas was concerned. Here, we dragged you to Munich, but now pay for your own room, your own food, and, if you want to leave, your own travel arrangements. It seemed like a scam.
“We don’t have any money,” Ume continued. “And I can’t get in contact with Fethillen without a radio. I don’t know what to do. Quenby’s trying to locate one, but I doubt she’ll have any luck. They’re happy to be helpful here so long as you don’t actually need any help.”
Katelina thought of Torina and the extra coffins in her room. “If you need a room maybe we can arrange something.”
Ume faltered. “Are—are you sure? After the way we met, I…I assumed you’d regard me as your enemy.”
Katelina shrugged. “As long as you’re not going to attack us anymore.”
“No, of course not. At the time we thought you were with them, but I know Aki would not be a member.”
There was the opening Katelina’d been looking for. “Why do you keep calling him Aki?”
“Because that’s his name. Or it was before he disappeared. I don’t know where he came up with Verchiel. Isn’t that the name of an angel?”
“I don’t think he came up with it,” Katelina said vaguely. “I think Kateesha came up with it, when she turned him.”
“It doesn’t fit him,” Ume said firmly.
“That’s true, he’s no angel. In fact I think he’s a bit of a player.” Katelina caught herself. “I mean… I’m, uh, I’m sure you and he, you know, meant something…”
“He and I?” Ume asked, surprised. “You think we were lovers?”
Katelina felt very uncomfortable. “Oh. Well, Jorick said you loved him…” She trailed off lamely.
“I do,” Ume said unabashedly. “But he wasn’t my lover. He’s my brother.”