B006P1R39O EBOK (17 page)

At first Kathrina didn’t know what she was talking about, but she followed Nicole’s eyes and saw long - bleeding scratches down her arms. Someone had thrown a jacket over her front. Kathrina lifted it and saw that her blouse was torn open and full of blood. She had deep scratches across her breasts.

“I was attacked,” Kathrina whispered.

Just then two ambulance attendants came through the door, pushing a gurney.

“Aren’t you going to do something about this?” Nicole directed her question to one of the police officers that was now kneeling down next to Kathrina.

“We’ll talk with her to see if we can find out what happened, but not until she has received medical attention,” he answered.

One of the attendants was trying to check her pulse, but Kathrina pulled her hand away.

“Miss … we have to check you before we transport you to the hospital,” he told her.

“I don’t need to go to the hospital.”

Nicole’s face twisted into a scowl. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re hurt.”

“I’m just scratched up.” Kathrina insisted.

Nicole leaned over to whisper in her ear. “You might have been sexually assaulted.

Kathrina shook her head. “It was a monster … or something.”

“Well no doubt about that.” Sarah frowned.

“Just do it for me,” Nicole insisted. “Go to the hospital and see what they say.”

Kathrina relented and let the attendant take her pulse. She could no longer endure the curious stares from all of the people in the room so she closed her eyes.

“I’ll drive Alec’s car and meet you at home, and then we’ll head to the hospital.” Sarah spoke to Nicole in hushed tones.

“Will you be okay to ride up there alone?” Nicole asked.

Kathrina nodded.

The ambulance attendant helped her to scoot onto the collapsed stretcher. Then the two men lifted it up so that the wheels were beneath it. As they were wheeling her out of the store, Kathrina looked back. The pimply-faced gas station employee had a malicious smile on his face. When he raised his hand to wave at her, there were long claws on his fingers.

Kathrina gasped and began to hyperventilate. She had to tell them about that guy and how he was really a monster. But before she could utter a word, the ambulance attendant had placed an oxygen mask over her face.

Then she heard him again. The jester’s voice was squirming around in her head like poisonous worms eating away at her brain.

“Be careful Kathrina,” he laughed. “They already think you’re crazy.”

The gas station attendant was still staring at her. She was sure that when she saw him run his tongue across his lips that it was the tongue of a serpent.

Kathrina lay in the hospital bed, still trembling. The warm blanket that a nurse had covered her with helped, but didn’t stop her shaking entirely. It was shock. The shaking would subside soon; at least that’s what the doctor had told her.

At first she’d been worried that they would find the weird blotches on her skin and begin asking too many questions, but there was no cause for concern. The doctor attributed the skin discoloration to bruising sustained during the assault. Kathrina could tell that the doctor hadn’t been entirely convinced, but for the moment he appeared to have shrugged off his doubts, as he hadn’t commented further.

After the nurses cleaned her up, the police had come in to question her. They thought that she’d been raped. Kathrina told them that she hadn’t, but the officer that she talked to acted like he didn’t believe her.

Of course she couldn’t tell the police what had actually happened; they’d never believe her. But she did tell Nicole, and even she had stared at her in disbelief.

Was she crazy?

Had the gas station attendant raped her, and now her mind was refusing to accept that. Was that why she was imagining him to be a monster?

She was still in the hospital emergency room. They were not going to keep her overnight, but wanted her to stay a couple of hours so that they could be sure there would be no more convulsions.

Nicole and Sarah were in the hall talking with the police. Her father was there also, which was extremely odd. Donavan hated to go into public, aware of the fact that he didn’t fit in. He was too pale - too gothic.

Kathrina could hear their hushed voices, and if she listened closely, she could make out what they were saying.

“It’s a real possibility that she was sexually assaulted and that she is repressing the memory.”

It was the voice of the officer that had questioned her. He was talking with her father.

“What was she doing at that gas station to begin with?” Donavan asked.

“We don’t know yet,” the officer told him.

“So far all we know is that she took Alec’s car and was driving around. The gas station attendant said that she came into the station screaming. She was covered with blood,” Nicole was telling their father.

“If we come up with anything, we’ll be in touch. In the meantime … you might want to encourage her get some counseling.”

Kathrina watched the officer walk away and disappear from sight. Donavan and her sisters stepped inside her room.

“How are you feeling?” Sarah smiled.

“I’m all right, but I want to get out of here,” Kathrina told them.

“As soon as the doctor gives us the okay … we’ll take you home,” Donavan reassured her.

Nicole pulled up a chair and sat next to her bed. “Kathrina … you have to tell us what really happened so that we can help you.”

Kathrina felt her heart sink. Not even Nicole believed her. “I did.”

“So you were attacked by a clown at the gas station? Think about it Kathrina … if that were true then why didn’t the guy working at the gas station see the clown?” Though Nicole’s eyes were sympathetic, it was obvious that her sister couldn’t wrap her head around what Kathrina had told her.

“It wasn’t a clown … it was a jester,” Kathrina corrected Nicole. “And besides, the gas station guy was the jester. I didn’t know it until we were leaving. That’s when I saw his claws.”

Nicole’s face was a mask of shock. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t see any claws.”

Donavan stepped forward. “Let her rest and we’ll talk about this later.”

She was thankful to her father for coming to her rescue. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore. That thing had been right; they all thought she was crazy.

Kathrina closed her eyes. Right now she wanted nothing more than to just rest and forget everything that had happened to her since coming to New Orleans. After a few minutes, she heard her family leave the room.

She wasn’t sure if she drifted off to sleep, but she was startled by the sound of a nurse yelling.

“Sir! You can’t go in. It’s family only. If you go in there I’ll have to call security.”

She heard a male’s voice and then the nurse screamed. There was a loud thud as someone hit the floor.

Kathrina held her breath, waiting for whoever was out there to come into her room. The jester had found her and now that her family had left her alone, he’d come back to finish her off.

And then he was there, his large frame filling the doorway to her room. He was a sight with his long dark hair hanging around his shoulders and that dangerous glint in his black eyes. He wore a long black coat and leather gloves to cover his hands.

“Luciano,” she croaked.

He stepped into the room and stood next to her bed.

“How did you know I was here?” she asked.

“Darrien … your sister’s lover paid me a visit. I guess they thought I did this to you.” Luciano pulled his glove off and lightly touched the scratches on her arm.

“Who did do it?” he asked through clenched teeth.

“It was a monster. He looked like a clown or a jester,” she told him, certain that he wouldn’t believe her.

Kathrina was a little surprised when she didn’t see the shock and disbelief in his eyes, like she had with everyone else. What she did see was murderous rage.

“This time he has gone too far,” Luciano seethed.

“Who?” Kathrina was confused. “Who has gone too far?”

Though Luciano was softly caressing her skin, his features were hard and impassive. “I’m sorry that this happened to you,” he told her.

“He showed me things about you … terrible awful things.”

Luciano looked away.

“They were lies … just some kind of illusion right?” Kathrina’s voice was full of desperation. She had to believe that it had been some kind of trick.

“No … not really.” His voice was low … and full of pain.

Kathrina shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

Now he looked at her, his eyes glowing with the light of the immortal. “I am not who you want me to be Kathrina. I’ve told you … I am a monster.”

Kathrina swallowed hard, hoping to get rid of the lump that was forming in her throat. “I don’t believe you.”

Luciano turned to leave, but she grabbed his hand. “Please don’t leave me.”

He gave her a sad smile. “You’ll be okay

“No I won’t. It wants to kill me.” Kathrina’s voice rose as she began to panic. Though it defied logic, Luciano was the only one that she felt safe with.

“It won’t kill you … at least not yet,” Luciano told her.

“How do you know? What is it?”

“I have to go now. Soon security will be here and then I’ll have to make a real mess,” he smiled. “I’ll see you soon though.”

Luciano leaned down to kiss her forehead, but Kathrina wrapped her arms around his neck and crushed her lips to his. Their kiss was long and deep, and when he finally pulled away, she felt a profound chill sweep over her body.

“I’ll see you again,” he promised.

* * *

Kathrina sat on the front porch swing, deep in thought. Although it had only been a couple of days, she was healing quickly. The scratches were almost gone. She guessed that healing fast was a trait that she’d inherited from her vampire blood.

Though the scratches were healing, the bluish discoloration of her skin was getting worse. At least now she didn’t have to hide the spots because everyone thought it was bruising. The only place that the marks had faded was around her mouth. If she looked closely she could still see it, but it was almost gone.

Luciano had not returned and she was almost out of time. It would soon be Easter and when the time came, she wasn’t sure that she’d be able to stall her sisters and Jordan.

After getting out of the hospital she’d gone to the orphanage looking for Luciano, but he hadn’t been there. There was nothing to indicate that he’d ever been there. It was like he’d just vanished.

In less than a week they would go after Omar, but Kathrina still had so many questions. In the light of day, what had happened to her at the gas station seemed unreal, even to her.

Could they be right? Had she been assaulted and because her mind could not deal with it, she’d repressed the memory?

Nicole stepped out onto the porch. She was carrying a sheathed machete in her hands. Her sister held out the weapon to Kathrina. “Donavan wants you to have this when it’s time.”

Kathrina reached up and took the machete from Nicole. After sliding it from its sheath, she ran her fingers across the blade. It was sharp.

“We understand if you don’t feel like going with us,” Nicole told her.

“I have to go with you. Isn’t that what my destiny is … to help you defeat Omar’s coven?”

Nicole frowned. “You sound like you don’t believe it anymore.”

Kathrina leaned her head back against the swing and sighed. “I believe that the three of us do have some kind of destiny, but I am not so sure that killing Omar is the extent of it.”

“So you think there’s more?”

“I think there’s a lot more going on here than what we thought,” Kathrina answered.

“You really don’t feel comfortable going after Omar … do you?” Nicole reached out to pat her hand.

“It’s not that.” Kathrina shook her head. “I just wish that we could wait until Ethan came back from Rome. We should also have Father Rovati with us … and Summer too.”

“Yeah … that would make me feel better too, but we should have enough help with the slayers. ”

“I would also like to talk with Luciano,” Kathrina told her sister.

A grimace marred Nicole’s face. “What for? What does any of this have to do with him?”

Kathrina shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure, but I think he does have something to do with everything that has been happening. I don’t mean that he’s responsible, just that somehow he’s an important part of it.”

Nicole smiled. “I think that you have a thing for him.”

“I do feel something for him.” Kathrina could no longer deny it. She did have feelings for Luciano, though she wasn’t quite sure what those feelings were. “But that has nothing to do with what I’m saying,” she added.

Nicole rolled her eyes, clearly not convinced.