Boris used his phantom powers to disappear. Katelina swung her gaze to the door. Malick had said she’d be left until tomorrow. Had he changed his mind?
“Go,” a male voice snapped from the corridor.
A female replied, “Yeah, yeah, fine.”
Faltering footsteps came inside. The door slammed shut before Katelina could see anything. The female gave a tiny shriek and then a flashlight snapped on. “H-Hello? Please, don’t kill me or anything. I’m just here to check on the human prisoner. I don’t have any blood, except mine, and it doesn’t taste very good.”
The voice was familiar. Katelina’s fear lessened and she squinted toward the visitor. In the ambient glow from the flashlight she could see a woman with shoulder length red hair and a leather jacket, carrying a bucket. It took Katelina a moment to place her. Was it really…
“Xandria?”
The woman hurried to Katelina. “Kate? You’re the prisoner?” She crouched in front of her and dropped the bucket with a clang. “Oh my God! You’re covered in blood!” Before Katelina could stop her, Xandria ruffled up the slashes on her jeans and shirt. “Did they heal you?”
“I-I don’t know,” she lied. She followed Xandria’s gaze to see that her exposed skin was smeared in dried blood but smooth and whole. The swelling had gone down in her hands, and when she moved the pain was bearable.
“They must have. But why did they do this to you?” Xandria sat back on her haunches. “I don’t understand what they want with you. Is it because of Indonesia?”
Indonesia. That was where Katelina had met the strange woman. As humans with vampire “owners”, they’d had an instant bond. Then it turned out that Xandria was on the other side. Her master was one of the Children of Shadows.
“You and your hot vampire got out, right?” Xandria pressed. “You got my note? Did you use the pass phrase I left you?”
Katelina knew who Xandria was, but the woman had no idea who Katelina was; didn’t know that she was with the vampires who’d come to fight the Children. In her ignorance, Xandria had planted the explosives like she was supposed to, then, when she and her master left, she’d written Katelina a note with a passphrase in it, one meant to tell the attackers that she was on their side and could escape unharmed.
Katelina didn’t feel like explaining the truth, so she nodded.
Xandria smiled. “I’m glad it helped. I was worried. Hey, where’s your little friend? The hottie who was all bitten up?”
The question brought back a vision of Kai lying broken and bloody in the parking lot. Misery tightened her chest and etched lines in her face.
Xandria looked worried. “He’s okay, isn’t he? He seemed like a nice kid.”
Katelina forced the lump of sorrow down her throat. “What are you doing here? I thought you were with the Children of Shadows?”
“We were never really with them, we were just on loan. Or rather my master was.” Xandria rolled her eyes at the title. “He was in charge of all the explosives. It’s kind of his specialty. I guess he needs something since he’s not much to look at. But since it all blew up—ha ha! Blew up, get it?—we’re back with this old dude again. Seriously, he scares the hell out of me. Have you met him?”
“Yeah.”
“I wish we’d just get away from him. We got recruited in January, and ever since it’s been one thing after another. I was hoping Cye would join us, but I think he took off.”
Cye. As in Cyprus, Malick’s puppet and the dead pseudo leader of the Children of Shadows. Katelina didn’t have the heart to tell her about his death, so she made a non-committal noise.
Xandria dropped into silence and tapped the bucket thoughtfully. Then her face lit up. “They sent this for you to…you know, use. I know it’s gross, but it’s better than peeing in the corner.”
Her eyes went wide, and she flashed the light around the empty room. “Sorry, I felt like there was someone watching us. They said there was a vampire in here , but I guess he’s gone? Anyway, I’m supposed to give you this and make sure you’re alive and that your cell mate hasn’t eaten you. They were gonna send a vampire, but they were worried they might take a bite of you. Since I’m the only human in the whole damn place, I got volunteered. I was worried about it, but now I’m glad.” She patted Katelina’s knee. “I’ll try to sneak you down some water or something later.”
A loud bang sounded on the door and the male shouted, “Are you done yet?”
Xandria rolled her eyes and called back, “Hold your horses.” She stood and tugged at her clothes. “That’s the master in all his glory. His name’s Sanjay. Gotta go.” With a wave she hurried away.
Boris was suddenly sitting next to Katelina. She jumped and stifled a cry. Though the blood had helped, she still hurt.
“You know her?” Boris asked.
“Sort of. I met her once. She’s kind of crazy.”
“Kind of?” He snorted. “You should rest now, yes? Harn will come for me soon, and I will spend the night working.” He sniffed the air. “In fact, he is here now.”
As though to prove his words, the padlocks rattled and the door opened. Katelina didn’t want to see the cold vampire, so she feigned sleep. She heard Boris stand and leave, then the door shut.
Alone, she tried moving, and figured out how to use the disgusting bucket. Her legs still hurt, so she crawled to feel her way around the cell. She found a floor drain and with difficulty dumped the bucket. The revolting task finished, she moved to the other side of the room and lay down, exhausted.
Katelina woke. Her ears strained against the silence. She wondered if it was day or night, and if it mattered. Would sunlight offer her a reprieve when they were underground?
Her arms and legs ached, and her hands felt stiff. She flexed her fingers. They were sore, but not like they’d been. She wondered if Malick had anticipated Boris healing her. How else had he expected her to use the bucket?
“You are awake.”
Katelina squinted at Boris’ blocky silhouette. He sat across the room, his back to the wall. “I would say good morning, but there is not much good here.”
Her stomach rumbled and her throat was dry. Xandria had promised to come back with water. Where was she?
“The sun begins to set,” Boris declared. At her questioning look he said, “I can feel its presence. Once it sets things will get busy.”
Katelina sagged back against the wall. She didn’t know if he meant the usual business of an evil vampire’s lair, or something else.
“Your master, it is not Samael. It is one named Jorick?”
“I’m sorry. It was just easier.”
He motioned her to silence. “No matter. It is as I thought. Last night, just before sunrise, I found paperwork filed by one of the Greater Demons. She asked leave to help Jorick rescue his human. It was approved on March fourth. On March fifth, a note was added that the human was no longer in custody of Samael, but had been taken by Malick. As this is the sixth, it means that the Greater Demon will come here, though her fellows will be in Romania this day destroying the last of the Children of Shadows.
“The master is one for talk, but he will not be here when the Greater Demon arrives. He will leave the moment the sun is gone. Then the rest of us will be put on planes and taken to a new place.”
A Greater Demon. He meant one of the Scharfrichter, and if it was a female it was probably…”Sadihra?”
He nodded. “You know her?”
Katelina was suspicious. Boris asked a lot of questions and he seemed very cozy with Malick’s evacuation plan. “How do you know what Malick’s planning?”
Boris laughed. “They forget that my hearing is as good as theirs, maybe better. I hear their plans and I piece things together. Ah! There! Listen.”
Katelina concentrated, and thought she heard a dull roar. “What is that?”
“The master’s plane readies to leave, though the sun has not yet left completely. I wonder that he fears this Great Demon so. She must be very strong.”
Katelina wasn’t sure. Sadihra was strong, but no match for Malick. Why would he run away from her—unless she wasn’t the one he was running from. “Who’s coming with her?”
“The flight plan said she would land in China last night, just before sunrise. It stands to reason she will meet someone there, but I do not guess who.”
“Jorick.” The name slipped from her lips like a prayer. She closed her eyes at the surge of bittersweet emotions. Sadihra would pick him up, then he would finish what he had started with Malick’s hand.
“Perhaps.” Boris hesitated. “I also did research. I have heard of this name Samael, but not as a vampire. In old legends he was one of the fallen angels who taught mankind secrets. They took human women as wives and created what they called the nephilim—giant children who ate one another’s flesh and blood and who could not be sated. You have heard of the great flood, when Noah built an ark? The flood was meant to destroy the nephilim. Samael was killed by the archangels, or so say the stories I was raised on, but the files in Munich say other things. They say Samael is an ancient and they say that you woke him up. I wonder, is this true?”
She could feel Boris’ eyes on her. “Sort of.”
“I see. Is this vampire Samael the same as the old legends, or do they share a name?”
“I don’t know. I’ve heard a lot of stories about him. That his brother and sister-in-law were Adam and Eve, that he and his wife Lilith caused the great flood. The most common story is that he cut out Lilith’s heart and that she was the one in the tomb, not him. I think it’s been twisted by thousands of generations and hundreds of cultures until no one knows the truth. Maybe not even Samael.”
She remembered pieces of the story he’d told her; of his scheming wife, of an affair with his sister-in-law, of a life spent serving the vampires he called gods. No matter the truth, the end was the same.
“You are no doubt correct. Still, it is both interesting and terrifying. The papers, they say that this Samael took you?”
She stumbled through an explanation. Boris interjected questions, while the evacuation continued above them. She was in the middle of explaining why Samael had released her when a loud crash sounded above. Her eyes shot to the ceiling and she counted the seconds. When a minute passed with no repeat, she whispered, “What was that?”
“I do not know.” Boris’ bulky silhouette stood and moved toward the door. By the set of his shoulders he was tensed and ready, just as she was.
There was another bang, followed by a low, barely discernable scrape, then the faint sound of a motor; another plane. A moment passed before the alarm screamed to life.
Boris tilted his head as if he was listening, though she didn’t know how he could hear anything over the siren. “There is shouting. The Greater Demon is here.”
Katelina took a deep breath and told herself that everything would be okay. Sadihra and Jorick were there. There was nothing for her to be afraid of. They’d work their way through Malick’s lackeys and then…
“Someone is coming!”
Katelina’s relief died when Boris disappeared; a shadow melting into the blackness. If it was his rescuers he wouldn’t need to run, which meant it wasn’t. It was Malick’s minions, no doubt planning to grab them and stuff them on that escape plane.
She pressed back into the corner, unable to stand. The padlocks rattled and she snatched up the discarded bucket. Though it wasn’t much of a weapon, it would be better than nothing.
The padlocks dropped to the floor, followed by a voice, “You take him and I’ll kill her.”
The door flew open and Tyler and Braydon rushed inside. Katelina swung the bucket into Tyler’s knees. He stumbled backwards with a surprised bellow. She used the moment to pull to her feet.
Her legs wobbled. When she lunged for a second attack, they gave out and she crashed to the floor. She tried to pull herself up, but her body refused to cooperate.
Boris appeared and rammed his elbow into Braydon’s lower back. The brunette stumbled, then rallied, slashing with his dagger. Beams of yellow light shot through the open door and illuminated Boris’ snarling face, his attacker’s glittering blade, and Tyler’s dark furious eyes.
Tyler grabbed Katelina by her hair and pulled her into a kneeling position. She tried to fight but her arms betrayed her and the bucket clattered noisily to the ground.
He kicked it away, then pulled a long knife from inside his coat. She had a millisecond view of her own terrified eyes reflected in its surface before he spun toward his ally. “Hurry up and get the prisoner out of here.”
Braydon growled in reply, dodging Boris’ fists. His dagger lay on the floor. The Russian didn’t seem likely to give him a chance to pick it up again.
Tyler turned back to Katelina. “Master says you’re not worth taking, so I get to be the cleanup crew.”
He slid behind her, holding the blade to her throat. She struggled to swallow against the pressure. Her mind ran through the scenario, desperately seeking some escape.
Tyler’s breath was close to her ear. “Remember the van ride, when you stabbed Braydon’s dagger in my throat? How’d you like to find out what that’s like?”
Her answer came out as a long croak. Her heart pounded so loudly she didn’t hear the approaching intruders until they raced through the door. One was beefy and bald and covered in tattoos. The other looked like a sixteen year old boy with a mop of curly dark hair and big innocent eyes. The left arm of his hoodie was tied off, where he’d lost his limb in an explosion. It was Micah and Loren.
The teen clapped eyes on Katelina and the blade pressed to her throat. With a cry he lunged at her. Katelina tried to pull out of the Tyler’s grasp, but only partially succeeded. There was a pinch on the side of her throat, and then something warm ran down her chest.
Loren gave a horrified cry that turned into a snarl. He leapt over her and tackled Tyler to the floor. Katelina saw Loren rip the vampire’s throat open with his hand. Tyler choked and gurgled. In a fit of fury Loren pulled back and slammed his fist into his enemy’s chest again and again, until he held Tyler’s heart.
He crushed it in his fist, then turned back. His terrified eyes met Katelina’s and he shrieked. “Oh God! Micah! Micah do something!”
Katelina looked to the bald vampire. The world tilted and darkened. She choked and raised her wounded hand to her throat to find moisture. Oddly, her hand didn’t hurt anymore.
Micah slammed Braydon’s head into the floor with a wet crunch then spun toward her. “Oh fuck. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. No.” He kicked Braydon’s limp body out of the way and scooped her up in his arms. “Oh fuck no. Fuck. Fuck.”
Micah’s face wavered and she blinked to clear her vision. It didn’t help. “Micah,” she choked. “Jorick.”
“He’s upstairs. Just hang on, girlie. We’ll get you to him. He’ll fix this shit.”
The blackness at the edge of her vision grew until it obscured everything. She fought to breathe, fought to stay awake.
“There’s no time!” Loren shrieked. “Fix her, Micah!”
“I can’t! She’s lost too fucking much blood. I don’t know how to Link her. Go find Jorick!”
Jorick.
Then oblivion took her.