For the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting the first three chapters of Legacy of Ghosts in tiny, blog sized nuggets, hopefully a bit a day.
If you’ve missed previous chapters, you can read them here.
WARNING!!!
This contains spoilers. If you haven’t read Shades of Gray, proceed at your own risk
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He resurfaced later in the night, and they had a strange, uncomfortable conversation. More than once she wanted to ask what the hell his deal was, but she was still afraid of the answer, so she stayed silent. After all, there was always tomorrow.
And tomorrow.
And tomorrow.
And soon a week had passed. Jorick disappeared into his locked room more than once, and never bothered to offer any explanation about what was inside it. Katelina spent a good portion of the week bored and lonely. She had only Jorick and Loren for company and felt that if she didn’t talk to someone else she’d go insane. To their credit, they offered to take her to town when they went for more groceries, but she refused. She supposed she’d been childishly hoping Jorick would insist on taking her. However, he just brushed a kiss across her forehead and promised to return.
Yippy-ki-yay.
On the bright side, Katelina’s wounds were healing, so she could actually look in the bathroom mirror again. Her black eye was just a yellow smudge, and the other scrapes and bruises were nothing more than pink spots. Her forearm was tender and she was pretty sure that the stitches in her shoulder were ready to come out. Except that she had no intention of going to the hospital again.
When Jorick and Loren came in the door, faces flushed and fresh from feeding, Katelina casually mentioned the problem.
Loren threw himself across the couch. “Just do it yourself,” he suggested. “It’s really easy. I had stitches once, when I was a kid, and that’s what Mom did. She just snipped them and tugged the puppies right out with a pair of tweezers.”
Loren’s miniature story brought up an interesting question: Where were his parents? He was a fairly recent vampire, if she was any judge at all, so they ought to be around somewhere. Unless… But she didn’t like to think that the teen would drink his own family dry. Not really.
“Then find whatever we need,” Jorick ordered uncertainly.
“Loren do this. Loren do that. Fetch and carry, Loren.” But even as he muttered he got to his feet. “Where am I supposed to get it from?”
“The first aid kit’s in the bathroom. I assume it will be in there.”
Loren trudged away obediently and returned with a tiny pair of medical scissors, tweezers and the miniature bottle of peroxide. The first aid kit and various tubes and bottles were Jorick’s idea. He’d bought them on the last grocery run because he thought they should have some of “that sort of thing” around.
Katelina’s neckline was too small to stretch, so she had to peel her shirt off. Loren turned around, after Jorick glared at him, but he refused to actually leave the room. When the shirt was off she managed to use it to cover herself, but her cheeks still burned at the too near proximity to nakedness.
Jorick was quite deft with the tiny scissors. He snipped the stitches in no time flat, however they were harder to pull out than they were to cut.
Loren hunched over the proceedings with a keen interest. “You’ve left them too long,” he commented. “They grew in.”
Jorick grunted and gave an extra hard tug. The thread came free and, as Jorick discarded it, Loren smirked and asked, “You don’t mind if I lick those do you?”
“Yes!” Katelina cried, horrified. “That’s just sick!”
Jorick’s voice was rumbling thunder, warning of an impending storm, “Loren.”
He took a step back, his hands held up. “Aw, come on man, I was only joking. I swear. Really. I thought it was funny.”
“Well it wasn’t,” Jorick muttered as he turned back to his task. “Now be quiet, or go away.”
