Katrina, The Beginning (32 page)

“I agree, finding the
creator of these poor beasts, has to be our top priority, Father,”
I said.

“We’ve had people out
looking since the last incident and have found nothing,” said
Father.

“That reminds me, Quinn is
still out. He doesn’t know what’s happened. Can we send someone to
find him and bring him back?”

“Of course. I’ll send
someone right now. Why don’t you get cleaned up and rest? I’ll see
you at dinner, if you feel up to it, but if not, we’ll
understand.”

“I’ll go look in on Eric.
He probably has a million questions, and I have a few for him as
well,” Damien said to Father as he took my hand.

He drew me in to a quick
hug, released me and faced the girls, “You all did well today. I’m
proud of each of you.”

I watched them nod, but
nothing was going to make us feel good about today. We were dirty,
tired, and sad. The first two could be fixed; that last one was
going to take some time.

We walked to our rooms in
silence. What was there to say? Sarah knew better than to try and
making soothing sounds, hugged each of us in turn, and handed us
towels. We stood there, tears running down our faces, Letta openly
sobbed, until we all came together for a group hug. Although we
needed to eat and drink something, no one even looked over to the
table; we just headed for our rooms to be alone with our thoughts.
I sank into my bath, put my hands over my face, and sobbed
uncontrollably until there were no tears left and my stomach ached.
What was I going to say to Quinn? I’d just be there for him and all
the other brothers. That was all any of us could do now.

I swore at that moment,
with a fervency that surprised even me, I would find Luena and make
her pay. I had just vowed to kill my boyfriend’s sister, but no
one, not even Damien, was going to stop me, even if I had to do it
alone or die trying.

“Sarah,” I called, rising
from the bath, my anger now sustaining me.

“Yes, Katrina? Are you all
right?”

“No, but I need my
strength. Please bring me some Crimson and something to
eat.”

As she turned to go I
said.

“Sarah, I’m sorry about my
hair.”

She smiled at me. “It’s all
right sweetheart, I can fix it.”

I drank and ate my fill.
Revenge was a very powerful thing, I decided and I savored the
feeling of anguish and hate, and committed it to memory. I knew I
would draw on it when I was up against Luena. She would learn she’d
picked the wrong family to cross, and I would make sure she
regretted it – just before I killed her.

Sarah washed my hair
without fussing at me. The routine calmed me and I could feel my
strength returning. As Sarah was getting me something to wear, I
ask her to make sure the girls ate and drank too, as we had work to
do. When I came out the others were around the table eating,
drinking, and looking like death.

“So,” I said with a sigh,
“I know how sad we all are, but right now, I’m a hell of a lot
angrier than sad, and I’m not going to stop being angry until Luena
pays for what she’s done. We are going to direct that anger and
it’s what’s going to keep all of us going now.”

Although I could see their
faces brighten and their posture improve; the girls were still
silent.

Then, thank God for Rosa
and her attitude. “Where do we start?” she asked, pushing away from
the table and crossing her arms.

“We start by getting our
strength back as soon as we can, enhancing our sight, and finding
that bitch Luena. Once we do, we’ll watch her - telling no one,
trusting no one - as we prepare for whatever it takes, until we can
take her down, and whoever or whatever is with her. Are we
agreed?”

They each agreed, and then
we heard the door.

“El!” I cried, we all rose
and rushed over to her. She was weak and pale, and just as we
reached her she collapsed into our arms.

“She’s barely breathing;
she’ll be in a dormant state in minutes if we don’t do something.”
We had Crimson, so we tried to drip some into her mouth by tipping
her head back and letting it run down her throat.

“It’s too cold,” I said
desperately. “Bring the Watcher on duty in here, whoever he
is.”

Rosa rushed to the
hall.

“There’s no Watcher out
here!” she said.

“Yell for help, Rosa,” Kate
said.

“We need help up here!” she
shouted.

I heard boots running down
the hall, and then through the door strode Quinn.
Oh no,
I thought,
why…

“She needs fresh blood
Quinn. I’m so sorry,” I said as I looked sadly up to
him.

He said nothing, but pulled
his dagger, slashed a vein in his wrist, and put it to her lips,
all the while looking into my eyes. All I saw there was sadness and
questioning.

We all wondered why this
had happened. As the warm blood dripped into El’s mouth, signs of
life started to appear. She became less pale and she started to
moan, until at last she grabbed his arm and drank
greedily.

Quinn’s eyes closed as he
felt the lust and euphoria the feeding brought him. This would be
the last pleasure he would feel for many days I feared. We pulled
El free as soon as color appeared once again in her cheeks, and
then gave her crimson to finish her need. Now, it was Quinn who was
weak. Kate and I guided him over to a chair, so he could rest until
he regained his strength.

“He needs some juice, if
you could, please,” I said to Sarah, who was anxiously waiting in
the hall, trying to stay out of the way.

“I’m here, Quinn. I won’t
leave you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you,
too.”

He smiled and went right to
sleep. I woke him when Sarah returned with the grape
juice.

“Drink this; it’ll help you
get you strength back.”

He gulped the cup of juice
down and then went right back so sleep. I was thankful for him; the
reality of tomorrow would come all too soon. I cradled him in my
arms all night, whispering to him that it would be all right, but
knowing it wouldn’t be.

Quinn finally woke early
the next morning; he thrashed, and jumped ready to
fight.

I held him down, “It’s me,
Quinn, shh, shh, shhhh. I’m here.”

He stared at me as if he’d
never seen me before, and then calm came over his face.

“I have to go home.” His
voice reflected the despair I knew he was feeling, and he slowly
rose from the bed.

“Yes,” I sighed, wanting
desperately to be able to take away his pain and knowing I
couldn’t. Then I went to him and took him into my arms. He returned
the embrace and we held each other for several minutes; until he
kissed the top of my head and pulled away.

“My family needs me
now.”

“I know, but I’m here.
Always.”

He hugged me one more time
and then turned and walked out. I followed; closing the door behind
him, then leaned against it and once again started to sob. Rosa,
Kate, and Letta came from by the fire where they had been sleeping
and wrapped me in their arms, and we all had another
cry.

“How’s El?” I said, wiping
tears off my cheeks.

“Sleeping,” Rosa
said.

“She’ll be fine, we’ll all
be fine,” Letta said.

“As sure as I stand here in
from of you, this is the last time Luena is ever going to cause us
pain, I swear,” Kate said.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

T
he funerals were the very next day. Father Jonas
performed the service and Cedrik and Gregor Voss were laid to rest
in our family cemetery, next to their parents.

The brothers were helping
each other be strong and Gunter thanked us for saving Thomas’s
life. After the services, Father and Mother had everyone come for
lunch and thanked the brothers for their service to our family.
Then Gunter regaled us with stories from their childhood and told
how much mischief the seven of them could get into.

It was the closure we all
needed.

Damien was wonderful during
the days that followed. He was right there when I needed him and
knew instinctively when to leave me alone. He spent some time with
Eric, explaining the purpose of his new life as a vampire,
discussing what training would help him, and teaching him about our
laws and other things all young vampires normally learn at a very
early age. Eric didn’t come out much yet, the whole human blood
thing needed to wear off, but we went over to see him
often.

One problem remained
uppermost in our mind. Luena was still missing, and even with our
combined talents we were unable to sight her.

“Why can’t we find her?”
demanded a very frustrated Kate.

“Maybe she’s gone to the
Americas already,” Letta suggested, sounding defeated.

“That could be, but that’s
not what I’m feeling,” I said. “I’m going to talk to Mother. I
think Luena’s blocking us somehow, and maybe Mother knows something
we can do to remove the block without tipping her off.”

“Good idea,” Kate said.
“The rest of us will go to the library and see if we can find
anything about it in those old scrolls.”

“Sounds like a fine plan.
Let’s go.” Rosa was up and heading to the door.

On my way over to Mother’s,
I saw Quinn coming toward me. I was glad to see he looked a little
better.

“How are you?” I said, as I
gave him a hug, which he returned.

“I’m healing, I guess. I
feel as if I’m just going through the motions and trying to stay
busy. The nights are the worst.”

“It’ll get better,” I said
hugging him again.

“I wanted to talk to you
about Paris. Do you have time now?”

“Of course. Let’s go to one
of the meeting rooms, where we’ll have some privacy.”

“If you want me all to
yourself, you only have to ask,” he quipped

It was nice to see that
mischievous smile on his face again.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I
said smiling back at him.

We entered the first
chamber of the row of meeting rooms and closed the door behind
us.

“First of all, I saw no
sign of Luena, either on the way or in Paris, although I did see a
lot of activity at the apartment the family owns there, including
Ivan having quite a heated discussion with a woman just outside the
building. I didn’t recognize her, but I did see her again, going in
and out of Philepe’s estate. Several times she had two other women
with her or the women, together or separately came to visit her. I
did take note they seemed to loiter outside until Philepe left,
before going in. And they didn’t ever use the front gate, only the
side gate.” 

“That is strange,” I said.
Could these be the women from my vision?
I
wondered.

“Nothing unusual was
reported by any of the Watchers we sent to the different
ports.”

“Thank you, Quinn. It’s all
good information, but I just don’t know what it means . . .
 yet.”

“I wish I had more,” he
said, clenching his fists.

“We’ll find her, Quinn.
She’s going to pay for what she’s done.”

“I will do whatever I can
to help; just let me know.”

“I will. I’m on my way to
speak with Mother now. Maybe she knows something that can help
us.”

We got up to
leave.

“Kat, I know Gunter thanked
all of you before, but when I think about the fact we could have
lost Thomas too…”

He dropped his head,
overwhelmed by the thought.

“I know, we feel the same
way. I just can’t help thinking if we’d only gotten there
earlier.”

Now it was my turn to be
overwhelmed, tears once again filling my eyes. Quinn came over and
we held each other until we could compose ourselves enough to
speak.

“I didn’t mean to make you
feel bad. I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s still so close to the
surface, it doesn’t take much to bring tears.”

“Well, if you need any more
cheering up, just let me know,” he said, smiling down at
me.

I laughed as he wiped the
tears from my cheeks, then he kissed me on top of my
head.

“All right, I’d better get
back; I’ll walk you over to your mother’s.”

“I’ll see you later,” I
said as we arrived and I walked up the stairs.

She was out on the balcony
having tea when I came in.

“Katrina, good, come join
me. How are you?” she said, as she opened her welcoming
arms.

I thought to myself about
how many times during my childhood I’d wished for a moment like
this.

“As well as I can be, I
suppose,” I said, not wanting to leave her embrace. She smelled
like lilies of the valley and she let me linger there as long as I
needed to. Reluctantly, I released her after a few
moments.