“Relax! Do you want me to see how high I can go?” As he
spoke, he stuck his head into the hole and started climbing.
“Don’t, Diego.” He was already out of sight. “I’m relaxed, I
swear.”
He was laughing—it sounded like he was already several
yards up the tunnel. I wanted to go after him, to grab his foot and
yank him back, but I was frozen with stress. It would be stupid to
risk my life to save some total stranger. But I hadn’t had
anything close to a friend in forever. Already it would be hard to
go back to having no one to talk to, after only one night.
“No estoy quemando,” he called down, his tone teasing.
“Wait… is that…? Ow!”
“Diego?”
I leaped across the cave and stuck my head into the tunnel.
His face was right there, inches from mine.
“Boo!”
I flinched back from his proximity—just a reflex, old habit.
“Funny,” I said dryly, moving away as he slid back into the
cave.
“You need to unwind, girl. I’ve looked into this, okay? Indirect
sunlight doesn’t hurt.”
“So you’re saying that I could just stand under a nice shady
tree and be fine?”
He hesitated for a minute, as if debating whether or not to
tell me something, and then said quietly, “I did once.”
I stared at him, waiting for the grin. Because this was a joke.
It didn’t come.
“Riley said…,” I started, and then my voice trailed off.
“Yeah, I know what Riley said,” he agreed. “Maybe Riley
doesn’t know as much as he says he does.”
“But Shelly and Steve. Doug and Adam. That kid with the
bright red hair. All of them. They’re gone because they didn’t get
back in time. Riley saw the ashes.”
Diego’s brows pulled together unhappily.
“Everyone knows that old-timey vampires had to stay in
coffins during the day,” I went on. “To keep out of the sun. That’s
common knowledge, Diego.”
“You’re right. All the stories do say that.”
“And what would Riley gain by locking us up in a lightproof
basement—one big group coffin—all day, anyway? We just
demolish the place, and he has to deal with all the fighting, and
it’s constant turmoil. You can’t tell me he enjoys it.”
Something I’d said surprised him. He sat with his mouth
open for a second, then closed it.
“What?”
“Common knowledge,” he repeated. “What do vampires do
in coffins all day?”
“Er—oh yeah, they’re supposed to sleep, right? But I guess
they’re probably just lying there bored, ’cause we don’t… Okay,
so that part’s wrong.”
“Yeah. In the stories they’re not just asleep, though. They’re
totally unconscious. They can’t wake up. A human can walk right
up and stake them, no problem. And that’s another thing
—stakes. You really think someone could shove a piece of
wood through you?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it. I mean, not a
normal piece of wood, obviously. Maybe sharpened wood has
some kind of… I don’t know. Magical properties or something.”
Diego snorted. “Please.”
“Well, I don’t know. I wouldn’t just hold still while some
human ran at me with a filed broom handle, anyway.”
Diego—still with a sort of disgusted look on his face, as if
magic were really such a reach when you’re a vampire—rolled
to his knees and started clawing into the limestone above his
head. Tiny stone shards filled his hair, but he ignored them.
“What are you doing?”
“Experimenting.”
He dug with both hands until he could stand upright, and
then kept going.
“Diego, you get to the surface, you explode. Stop it.”
“I’m not trying to—ah, here we go.”
There was a loud crack, and then another crack, but no light.
He ducked back down to where I could see his face, with a
piece of tree root in his hand, white, dead, and dry under the
clumps of dirt. The edge where he’d broken it was a sharp,
uneven point. He tossed it to me.
“Stake me.”
I tossed it back. “Whatever.”
“Seriously. You know it can’t hurt me.” He lobbed the wood
to me; instead of catching it, I batted it back.
He snagged it out of the air and groaned. “You are so…
superstitious!”
“I am a vampire. If that doesn’t prove that superstitious
people are right, I don’t know what does.”
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
He held the branch away from himself dramatically, arm
extended, like it was a sword and he was about to impale
himself.
“C’mon,” I said uneasily. “This is silly.”
“That’s my point. Here goes nothing.”
He crushed the wood into his chest, right where his heart
used to beat, with enough force to punch through a granite slab.
I was totally frozen with panic until he laughed.
“You should see your face, Bree.”
He sifted the splinters of broken wood through his fingers;
the shattered root fell to the floor in mangled pieces. Diego
brushed at his shirt, though it was too trashed from all the
swimming and digging for the attempt to do any good. We’d
both have to steal more clothes the next time we got a chance.
“Maybe it’s different when a human does it.”
“Because you felt so magical when you were human?”
“I don’t know, Diego,” I said, exasperated. “I didn’t make up
all those stories.”
He nodded, suddenly more serious. “What if the stories are
exactly that? Made up.”
I sighed. “What difference does it make?”
“Not sure. But if we’re going to be smart about why we’re
here—why Riley brought us to her, why she’s making more of
us—then we have to understand as much as we possibly can.”
He frowned, every trace of laughter totally gone from his face
now.
I just stared back at him. I didn’t have any answers.
His face softened just a little. “This helps a lot, you know.
Talking about it. Helps me focus.”
“Me, too,” I said. “I don’t know why I never thought about any
of this before. It seems so obvious. But working on it together…
I don’t know. I can stay on track better.”
“Exactly.” Diego smiled at me. “I’m really glad you came out
tonight.”
“Don’t get all gooey on me now.”
“What? You don’t want to be”—he widened his eyes and his
voice went up an octave—“BFFs?” He laughed at the goofy
expression.
I rolled my eyes, not totally sure if he was making fun of the
expression or of me.
“C’mon, Bree. Be my bestest bud forever. Please?” Still
teasing, but his wide smile was natural and… hopeful. He held
out his hand.
This time I went for a real high five, not realizing until he
caught my hand and held it that he’d intended anything else.
It was shockingly weird to touch another person after a
whole life—because the last three months were my whole life
—of avoiding any kind of contact. Like touching a sparking
downed power line, only to find out that it felt nice.
The smile on my face felt a little lopsided. “Count me in.”
“Excellent. Our own private club.”
“Very exclusive,” I agreed.
He still had my hand. Not shaking it, but not exactly holding
it, either. “We need a secret handshake.”
“You can be in charge of that one.”
“So the super-secret best friends club is called to order, all
present, secret handshake to be devised at a later date,” he
said. “First order of business: Riley. Clueless? Misinformed? Or
lying?”
His eyes were on mine as he spoke, wide and sincere.
There was no change as he said Riley’s name. In that instant, I
was sure there was nothing to the stories about Diego and
Riley. Diego had just been around more than the others, nothing
more. I could trust him.
“Add this to the list,” I said. “Agenda. As in, what is his?”
“Bull’s-eye. That’s exactly what we’ve got to find out. But
first, another experiment.”
“That word makes me nervous.”
“Trust is an essential part of the whole secret club gig.”
He stood up into the extra ceiling space he’d just carved out
and started digging again. In a second, his feet were dangling
while he held himself up with one hand and excavated with the
other.
“You better be digging for garlic,” I warned him, and backed
up toward the tunnel that led to the sea.
“The stories aren’t real, Bree,” he called to me. He pulled
himself higher into the hole he was making, and the dirt
continued to rain down. He was going to fill in his hidey-hole at
this rate. Or flood it with light, which would make it even more
useless.
I slid most of the way into the escape channel, just my
fingertips and eyes above the edge. The water only came up to
my hips. It would take me just the smallest fraction of a second
to disappear into the darkness below. I could spend a day not
breathing.
I’d never been a fan of fire. This might have been because
of some buried childhood memory, or maybe it was more
recent. Becoming a vampire was enough fire to last me.
Diego had to be close to the surface. Once again, I
struggled with the idea of losing my new and only friend.
“Please stop, Diego,” I whispered, knowing he would
probably laugh, knowing he wouldn’t listen.
“Trust, Bree.”
I waited, unmoving.
“Almost…,” he muttered. “Okay.”
I tensed for the light, or the spark, or the explosion, but
Diego dropped back down while it was still dark. In his hand he
had a longer root, a thick snaky thing that was almost as tall as
me. He gave me an I-told-you-so kind of look.
“I’m not a completely reckless person,” he said. He
gestured to the root with his free hand. “See—precautions.”
With that, he stabbed the root upward into his new hole.
There was a final avalanche of pebbles and sand as Diego
dropped back onto his knees, getting out of the way. And then a
beam of brilliant light—a ray about the thickness of one of
Diego’s arms—pierced the darkness of the cave. The light
made a pillar from the ceiling to the floor, shimmering as the
drifting dirt sifted through it. I was icy-still, gripping the ledge,
ready to drop.
Diego didn’t jerk away or cry out in pain. There was no
smell of smoke. The cave was a hundred times lighter than it
had been, but it didn’t seem to affect him. So maybe his story
about shade trees was true. I watched him carefully as he knelt
beside the pillar of sunlight, motionless, staring. He seemed
fine, but there was a slight change to his skin. A kind of
movement, maybe from the settling dust, that reflected the
gleam. It looked almost like he was glowing a little.
Maybe it wasn’t the dust, maybe it was the burning. Maybe it
didn’t hurt, and he’d realize it too late….
Seconds passed as we stared at the daylight, motionless.
Then, in a move that seemed both absolutely expected and
also completely unthinkable, he held out his hand, palm up, and
stretched his arm toward the beam.
I moved faster than I could think, which was pretty dang fast.
Faster than I’d ever moved before.
I tackled Diego into the back wall of the dirt-filled little cave
before he could reach that one last inch to put his skin in the
light.The room was filled with a sudden blaze, and I felt the
warmth on my leg in the same instant that I realized there wasn’t
enough room for me to pin Diego to the wall without some part
of myself touching the sunlight.
“Bree!” he gasped.
I twisted away from him automatically, rolling myself tight
against the wall. It took less than a second, and the whole time I
was waiting for the pain to get me. For the flames to hit and
then spread like the night I’d met her, only faster. The dazzling
flash of light was gone. It was just the pillar of sun again.
I looked at Diego’s face—his eyes were wide, his mouth
hanging open. He was totally still, a sure sign of alarm. I wanted
to look down at my leg, but I was afraid to see what was left.
This wasn’t like Jen ripping my arm off, though that had hurt
more. I wasn’t going to be able to fix this.
Still no pain yet.
“Bree, did you see that?”
I shook my head once quickly. “How bad is it?”
“Bad?”
“My leg,” I said through my teeth. “Just tell me what’s left.”
“Your leg looks fine to me.”
I glanced down quickly, and sure enough, there was my foot
and my calf, just like before. I wiggled my toes. Fine.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
I pulled myself off the ground, onto my knees. “Not yet.”
“Did you see what happened? The light?”
I shook my head.
“Watch this,” he said, kneeling in front of the beam of
sunshine again. “And don’t shove me out of the way this time.
You already proved I’m right.” He put his hand out. It was almost
as hard to watch this time, even if my leg felt normal.
The second his fingers entered the beam, the cave was
filled with a million brilliant rainbow reflections. It was bright as
noon in a glass room—light everywhere. I flinched and then
shuddered. There was sunlight all over me.
“Unreal,” Diego whispered. He put the rest of his hand into
the beam, and the cave somehow got even brighter. He rolled
his hand over to look at the back, then turned it palm up again.
The reflections danced like he was spinning a prism.
There was no smell of burning, and he clearly wasn’t in pain.
I looked closely at his hand, and it seemed like there were a
zillion tiny mirrors in the surface, too small to distinguish
separately, all shining back the light with double the intensity of
a regular mirror.
“Come here, Bree—you have to try this.”
I couldn’t think of a reason to refuse, and I was curious, but I
was also still reluctant as I slid to his side.
“No burn?”
“None. Light doesn’t burn us, it just… reflects off of us. I
guess that’s kind of an understatement.”
Slow as a human, I reluctantly stretched my fingers into the
light. Immediately, reflections blazed away from my skin, making
the room so bright that the day outside would look dark in
comparison. They weren’t exactly reflections, though, because
the light was bent and colored, more like crystal. I stuck my
whole hand in, and the room got brighter.
“Do you think Riley knows?” I whispered.
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Why wouldn’t he tell us if he did? What would be the point?
So we’re walking disco balls.” I shrugged.
Diego laughed. “I can see where the stories come from.
Imagine if you saw this when you were human. Wouldn’t you
think that the guy over there just burst into flames?”
“If he didn’t hang around to chat. Maybe.”
“This is incredible,” Diego said. With one finger he traced a
line across my glowing palm.
Then he jumped to his feet right under the sunbeam, and the
room went crazy with light.
“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” He reached up and pulled
himself toward the hole he’d cut to the surface.
You’d think I would have been over it, but I was still nervous
to follow. Not wanting to seem like a total chicken, I stayed close
on his heels, but I was cringing inside the whole way. Riley had
really made his point about burning in the sun; in my mind it was
linked to that horrific time of burning as I became a vampire,
and I couldn’t escape the instinctive panic that filled me every
time I thought of it.
Then Diego was out of the hole, and I was next to him half a
second later. We stood on a small patch of wild grass, only a
few feet from the trees that covered the island. Behind us, it was
just a couple of yards to a low bluff, and then the water.
Everything around us blazed in the color and light shining off of
us.
“Wow,” I muttered.
Diego grinned at me, his face beautiful with light, and
suddenly, with a deep lurch in my stomach, I realized that the
whole BFF thing was way off the mark. For me, anyway. It was
just that fast.
His grin softened a little bit into just the hint of a smile. His
eyes were wide like mine. All awe and lights. He touched my
face, the way he’d touched my hand, as if he was trying to
understand the shine.
“So pretty,” he said. He left his hand against my cheek.
I’m not sure how long we stood there, smiling like total
idiots, blazing away like glass torches. The inlet was empty of
boats, which was probably good. No way even a mud-eyed
human would have missed us. Not that they could have done
anything to us, but I wasn’t thirsty, and all the screaming would
have ruined the mood.
Eventually a thick cloud drifted in front of the sun. Suddenly
we were just us again, though still slightly luminous. Not enough
that anyone with eyes duller than a vampire’s would notice.
As soon as the shine was gone, my thoughts cleared up
and I could think about what was coming next. But even though
Diego looked like his normal self again—not made of blazing
light, anyway—I knew he would never look the same to me. That
tingly sensation in the pit of my stomach was still there. I had the
feeling it might be there permanently.
“Do we tell Riley? Do we think he doesn’t know?” I asked.
Diego sighed and dropped his hand. “I don’t know. Let’s
think about this while we track them.”
“We’re going to have to be careful, tracking them in the day.
We’re kind of noticeable in the sunlight, you know.”
He grinned. “Let’s be ninjas.”
I nodded. “Super-secret ninja club sounds way cooler than
the whole BFF thing.”
“Definitely better.”
It didn’t take us more than a few seconds to find the point
from which the whole gang had left the island. That was the
easy part. Finding where they’d touched ground on the
mainland was a whole other problem. We briefly discussed
splitting up, then vetoed that idea unanimously. Our logic was
really sound—after all, if one of us found something, how would
we tell the other?—but mostly I just didn’t want to leave him, and
I could see he felt the same. Both of us had been without any
kind of good companionship our whole lives, and it was just too
sweet to waste a minute of it.
There were so many options as to where they could have
gone. To the mainland of the peninsula, or to another island, or
back to the outskirts of Seattle, or north to Canada. Whenever
we pulled down or burned down one of our houses, Riley was
always prepared—he always seemed to know exactly where to
go next. He must have planned ahead for that stuff, but he didn’t
let any of us in on the plan.
They could have been anywhere.
Ducking in and out of the water to avoid boats and people
really slowed us down. We spent all day with no luck, but neither
of us minded. We were having the most fun we’d ever had.
It was such a strange day. Instead of sitting miserably in the
darkness trying to tune out the mayhem and swallow my disgust
at my hiding place, I was playing ninja with my new best friend,
or maybe something more. We laughed a lot while we moved
through the patches of shade, throwing rocks at each other like
they were Chinese stars.
Then the sun set, and suddenly I was stressed. Would Riley
look for us? Would he assume we were fried? Did he know
better?
We started moving faster. A lot faster. We’d already circled
all the nearby islands, so now we concentrated on the mainland.
About an hour after sundown, I caught a familiar scent, and
within seconds we were on their trail. Once we found the path of
the smell, it was as easy as following a herd of elephants
through fresh snow.
We talked about what to do, more serious now as we ran.
“I don’t think we should tell Riley,” I said. “Let’s say we spent
all day in your cave before we went looking for them.” As I
spoke, my paranoia started to grow. “Better yet, let’s tell them
your cave was filled with water. We couldn’t even talk.”
“You think Riley’s a bad dude, don’t you?” he asked quietly
after a minute. As he spoke, he took my hand.
“I don’t know. But I’d rather act like he was, just in case.” I
hesitated, then said, “You don’t want to think he’s bad.”
“No,” Diego admitted. “He’s kind of my friend. I mean, not
like you’re my friend.” He squeezed my fingers. “But more than
anyone else. I don’t want to think…” Diego didn’t finish his
sentence.
I squeezed his fingers back. “Maybe he’s totally decent. Our
being careful doesn’t change who he is.”
“True. Okay, the underwater cave story it is. At least at first…
I could talk to him about the sun later. I’d rather do it during the
day, anyway, when I can prove what I’m claiming right away. And
just in case he already knows, but there’s some good reason
why he told us something else, I should tell him when we’re
alone. Grab him at dawn, when he’s coming back from
wherever it is he goes….”
I noticed a ton of I’s rather than we’s going on in Diego’s
little speech, and it bothered me. But at the same time, I didn’t
want much to do with educating Riley. I didn’t have the same
faith in him Diego did.
“Ninja attack at dawn!” I said to make him laugh. It worked.
We started joking again as we tracked our herd of vampires,
but I could tell he was thinking serious stuff under the teasing,
just like I was.
And I only got more anxious as we ran. Because we were
running fast, and there was no way we had the wrong trail, but it
was taking too long. We were really getting away from the
coast, up and over the closest mountains, off into new territory.
This wasn’t the normal pattern.
Every house we’d borrowed, whether it was up a mountain
or on an island or hidden on a big farm, had a few things in
common. The dead owners, the remote locale, and one other
thing. They all were sort of focused on Seattle. Oriented around
the big city like orbiting moons. Seattle was always the hub,
always the target.
We were out of orbit now, and it felt wrong. Maybe it meant
nothing, maybe it was just that so many things were changing
today. All the truths I’d accepted had been turned upside down
and I wasn’t in the mood for any other upheavals. Why couldn’t
Riley have just picked someplace normal?
“Funny they’re this far out,” Diego murmured, and I could
hear the edge in his voice.
“Or scary,” I muttered.
He squeezed my hand. “It’s cool. The ninja club can handle
anything.”
“You got a secret handshake yet?”
“Working on it,” he promised.
Something started to bug me. It was like I could feel this
strange blind spot—I knew there was something I wasn’t
seeing, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Something obvious…
And then, about sixty miles farther west than our usual
perimeter, we found the house. It was impossible to mistake the
noise. The boom boom boom of the bass, the video-game
soundtrack, the snarling. Totally our crowd.
I pulled my hand free, and Diego looked at me.
“Hey, I don’t even know you,” I said in a joking tone. “I
haven’t had one conversation with you, what with all that water
we sat in all day. You could be a ninja or a vampire for all I
know.”
He grinned. “Same goes for you, stranger.” Then low and
fast, “Just do the same things you did yesterday. Tomorrow
night we’ll get out together. Maybe do some reconnaissance,
figure out more of what’s going on.”
“Sounds like a plan. Mum’s the word.”
He ducked close and kissed me—just a peck, but right on
the lips. The shock of it zinged through my whole body. Then he
said, “Let’s do this,” and headed down the side of the mountain
toward the source of the raucous noise without looking back.
Already playing the part.
A little stunned, I followed from a few yards behind,
remembering to put the distance between us that I would put
between myself and anyone else.
The house was a big, log cabin–style affair, tucked into a
hollow in the pines with no sign of any neighbors for miles
around. All the windows were black, as if the place were empty,
but the whole frame was trembling from the heavy bass in the
basement.
Diego went in first, and I tried to move behind him like he
was Kevin or Raoul. Hesitant, protecting my space. He found
the stairs and charged down with a confident tread.
“Trying to lose me, losers?” he asked.
“Oh, hey, Diego’s alive,” I heard Kevin answer with a distinct
lack of enthusiasm.
“No thanks to you,” Diego said as I slipped into the dark
basement. The only light came from the various TV screens, but
it was way more than any of us needed. I hurried back to where
Fred had a whole couch to himself, glad that it was right for me
to look anxious because there was no way to hide it. I
swallowed hard as the revulsion hit, and curled up in my usual
spot on the floor behind the couch. Once I was down, Fred’s
repellent power seemed to ease up. Or maybe I was just getting
used to it.
The basement was more than half empty since it was the
middle of the night. All the kids in here had eyes the same as
mine—bright, recently fed red.
“Took me a while to clean up your stupid mess,” Diego told
Kevin. “It was almost dawn by the time I got to what was left of
the house. Had to sit in a cave filled with water all day.”
“Go tattle to Riley. Whatever.”
“I see the little girl made it, too,” said a new voice, and I
shuddered because it was Raoul. I felt a little bit of relief that he
didn’t know my name, but mostly I just felt horrified that he’d
noticed me at all.
“Yeah, she followed me.” I couldn’t see Diego, but I knew he
was shrugging.
“Aren’t you the savior of the hour?” Raoul said snidely.
“We don’t get extra points for being morons.”
I wished Diego wouldn’t taunt Raoul. I hoped Riley would
come back soon. Only Riley could curb Raoul even the littlest
bit.
But Riley was probably out hunting dregs kids to bring to
her. Or doing whatever else he did while he was away.
“Interesting attitude you got, Diego. You think that Riley likes
you so much he’s gonna care if I kill you. I think you’re wrong.
But either way, for tonight, he already thinks you’re dead.”
I could hear the others moving. Some probably to back
Raoul up, others just getting out of the way. I hesitated in my
hiding spot, knowing I wasn’t going to let Diego fight them
alone, but worried about blowing our cover if it didn’t come to
that. I hoped Diego had survived this long because he had
some crazy combat skills. I wasn’t going to have much to offer
in that department. There were three members of Raoul’s gang
here, and some others that might help out just to get on his
good side. Would Riley get home before they had time to burn
us?
Diego’s voice was calm when he answered. “You’re really
that afraid to take me on alone? Typical.”
Raoul snorted. “Does that ever work? I mean, besides in
movies. Why should I take you on alone? I don’t care about
beating you. I just want to end you.”
I rolled into a crouch, tensed to spring.
Raoul kept talking. He liked the sound of his own voice a lot.
“But it’s not gonna take all of us to deal with you. These two
will take care of the other evidence of your unfortunate survival.
Little what’s-her-name.”
My body felt icy, frozen solid. I tried to shake it off so I could
fight my best. Not that it would have made a difference.
And then I felt something else, something totally unexpected
—a wave of revulsion so overpowering that I couldn’t hold my
crouch. I crumpled to the floor, gasping with horror.
I was not the only one to react. I heard disgusted snarls and
retching sounds from every corner of the basement. A few
people retreated to the edges of the room, where I could see
them. They strained against the wall, stretching their necks
away as if they could escape the horrible feeling. At least one of
these was a member of Raoul’s gang.
I heard Raoul’s distinctive growl, and then heard it fade as
he took off up the stairs. He wasn’t the only one to make a
break for it. About half of the vampires in the basement cleared
out.
I didn’t have that choice. I could barely move. And then I
realized this had to be because I was so close to Freaky Fred.
He was responsible for what was happening. And as horrible as
I felt, I was still able to realize that he’d probably just saved my
life.
Why?
The sensation of disgust faded slowly. As soon as I could, I
crept to the edge of the couch and took in the aftermath. All of
Raoul’s gang was gone, but Diego was still there, on the far end
of the big room by the TVs. The vampires who remained were
slowly relaxing, though everybody looked a little shaken. Most of
them were shooting cautious glances in Fred’s direction. I
peeked at the back of his head, too, though I couldn’t see
anything. I looked away quickly. Looking at Fred brought back
some of the nausea.
“Keep it down.”
The deep voice came from Fred. I’d never heard him speak
before. Everyone stared and then looked away immediately as
the revulsion returned.
So Fred just wanted his peace and quiet. Well, whatever. I
was alive because of it. Most likely Raoul would get distracted
by some other irritant before dawn and take out his anger on
somebody close by. And Riley always came back at the end of
the night. He would hear that Diego had been in his cave rather
than outside and destroyed by the sun, and Raoul wouldn’t have
an excuse to attack him or me.
At least, that was the best-case scenario. In the meantime,
maybe Diego and I could come up with some plan to steer clear
of Raoul.
Again, I had a fleeting sense that I was missing an obvious
solution. Before I could figure it out, my thoughts were
interrupted.
“Sorry.”
The deep, almost silent mutter could only have come from
Fred. It looked like I was the only one close enough to really
hear. Was he talking to me?
I looked at him again and felt nothing. I couldn’t see his face
—he had his back to me still. He had thick, wavy blond hair. I’d
never noticed that before, not with all the days I’d sat hiding in
his shadow. Riley wasn’t kidding when he’d said that Fred was
special. Gross, but really special. Did Riley have any idea that
Fred was so… so powerful? He was able to overwhelm a whole
room of us in a second.
Though I couldn’t see his expression, I had the sense that
Fred was waiting for an answer.
“Um, don’t apologize,” I breathed almost silently. “Thank you.
”
Fred shrugged.
And then I found I couldn’t look at him anymore.
The hours passed slower than usual as I waited for Raoul to
come back. From time to time I tried to look at Fred again—to
see past the protection he’d created for himself—but I always
found myself repelled. If I tried too hard, I ended up gagging.
Thinking about Fred was a good distraction from thinking
about Diego. I tried to pretend I didn’t care where he was in the
room. I didn’t look at him but focused on the sound of his
breathing—his distinct rhythm—to keep tabs. He sat on the
other side of the room from me, listening to his CDs on a
laptop. Or maybe pretending to listen, the way I was pretending
to read the books from the damp backpack on my shoulders. I
flipped pages at my usual rate, but I didn’t take anything in. I
was waiting for Raoul.
Luckily, Riley came first. Raoul and his cohorts were right
behind him, but not as loud and obnoxious as usual. Maybe
Fred had taught them a little respect.
Probably not, though. More likely Fred had just angered
them. I really hoped Fred never let his guard slip.
Riley went to Diego right away; I listened with my back to
them, eyes on my book. In my peripheral vision, I saw some of
Raoul’s idiots wandering, looking for their favorite games or
whatever they’d been doing before Fred had driven them out.
Kevin was one of them, but he seemed to be looking for
something more specific than entertainment. Several times his
eyes tried to focus on where I was sitting, but Fred’s aura kept
him at bay. He gave up after a few minutes, looking a little sick.
“I heard you made it back,” Riley said, sounding genuinely
pleased. “I can always count on you, Diego.”
“No problem,” Diego said in a relaxed voice. “Unless you
count holding my breath all day as a negative.”
Riley laughed. “Don’t cut it so close next time. Set a better
example for the babies.”
Diego just laughed with him. From the corner of my eye, it
seemed like Kevin relaxed some. Was he really that worried
about Diego getting him in trouble? Maybe Riley listened to
Diego more than I realized. I wondered whether that was why
Raoul had gotten crazy before.
Was it a good thing if Diego was that in with Riley after all?
Maybe Riley was okay. That relationship didn’t compromise
what we had, did it?
Time didn’t pass any faster after the sun was up. It was
crowded and unstable in the basement, like every day. If
vampires could get hoarse, Riley would have lost his voice
entirely from the yelling. A couple of kids temporarily lost limbs,
but nobody got torched. The music warred with the game
tracks, and I was glad I didn’t get headaches. I tried reading my
books, but I ended up just flipping through one after the other,
not caring enough to make my eyes focus on the words. I left
them in a neat stack by the end of the couch for Fred. I always
left my books for him, though I never could tell whether he read
them. Couldn’t look at him closely enough to see what, exactly,
he did with his time.
At least Raoul never looked my way. Neither did Kevin or
any of the others. My hiding place was as effective as ever. I
couldn’t see if Diego was smart enough to ignore me, because
I was ignoring him so thoroughly. No one could suspect that we
were a team, except maybe Fred. Had Fred been paying
attention as I prepared to fight alongside Diego? Even if he
had, I didn’t worry too much about it. If Fred felt any particular ill
will toward me, he could have let me die last night. Would have
been easy.
It got louder as the sun started to go down. We couldn’t see
the light fading here underground, with all of the windows
upstairs covered just in case. But waiting through so many long
days gave you a good sense for when one was almost over.
Kids started getting antsy, bugging Riley about whether they
could go out.
“Kristie, you were out last night,” Riley said, and you could
hear the patience wearing thin in his voice. “Heather, Jim,
Logan—go ahead. Warren, your eyes are dark, go along with
them. Hey, Sara, I’m not blind—get back here.”
The kids he shut down sulked in the corners, some of them
waiting for Riley to leave so they could sneak out in spite of his
rules.
“Um, Fred, must be about your turn,” Riley said, not looking
in our direction. I heard Fred sigh as he got to his feet.
Everyone cringed as he moved through the center of the room,
even Riley. But unlike the others, Riley smiled a little to himself.
He liked his vampire with skills.
I felt naked with Fred gone. Anyone could focus on me now. I
held perfectly still, head down, doing everything in my power not
to call attention to myself.
Lucky for me, Riley was in a hurry tonight. He barely paused
to glare at the people who were clearly edging for the door, let
alone threaten them, as he headed out himself. Normally he’d
give us some variant on the usual speech about keeping a low
profile, but not tonight. He seemed preoccupied, anxious. I’d
have bet he was going to see her. That made me less excited
about catching up with him at dawn.
I waited for Kristie and three of her usual companions to
head out, and I slipped out in their wake, trying to look like part
of the entourage without irritating them. I didn’t look at Raoul, I
didn’t look at Diego. I concentrated on seeming inconsequential
—no one to notice. Just some random vampire chick.
Once we were out of the house, I split off from Kristie
immediately and beat it into the woods. I hoped only Diego
would care enough to follow my scent. Halfway up the side of
the nearest mountain, I made my perch in the top branches of a
big spruce that cleared its neighbors by several meters. I had a
pretty good view of anyone who might try to track me.
Turns out I was being overcautious. Maybe I’d been too
cautious all day. Diego was the only one to come looking. I saw
him from a distance and backtracked to meet him.
“Long day,” he said, giving me a hug. “Your plan is hard.”
I hugged him back, marveling at how comfortable this was.
“Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”
“Sorry about Raoul. That was close.”
I nodded. “Good thing Fred is so disgusting.”
“I wonder if Riley knows how potent that kid is.”
“Doubt it. I’ve never seen him do that before, and I spend a
lot of time around him.”
“Well, that’s Freaky Fred’s business. We have our own
secret to tell Riley.”
I shuddered. “Still not sure that’s a good idea.”
“We won’t know until we see how Riley reacts.”
“I don’t really like not knowing, as a general rule.”
Diego’s eyes narrowed speculatively. “How do you feel
about adventure?”
“Depends.”
“Well, I was thinking about club priorities. You know, about
finding out as much as we can.”
“And…?”
“I think we should follow Riley. Find out what he’s doing.”
I stared. “But he’ll know we tracked him. He’ll catch our
scents.”
“I know. This is how I figure it. I follow his scent. You keep
clear by a few hundred yards and follow my sound. Then Riley
only knows I followed him, and I can tell him it’s because I had
something important to share. That’s when I do the big reveal
with the disco ball effect. And I’ll see what he says.” His eyes
narrowed as he examined me. “But you… you just play it close
to the chest for now, okay? I’ll tell you if he’s cool about it.”
“What if he comes back early from wherever he’s going?
Don’t you want it to be close to dawn so you can glitter?”
“Yes… that’s definitely a possible problem. And it might
affect the way the conversation goes. But I think we should risk
it. He seemed like he was in a hurry tonight, didn’t he? Like
maybe he needs all night for whatever he’s doing?”
“Maybe. Or maybe he was just in a big hurry to see her. You
know, we might not want to surprise him if she’s nearby.” We
both winced.
“True. Still…” He frowned. “Doesn’t it feel like whatever’s
coming is getting close? Like we might not have forever to
figure this out?”
I nodded unhappily. “Yeah, it does.”
“So let’s take our chances. Riley trusts me, and I have a
good reason for wanting to talk to him.”
I thought about this strategy. Though I’d only known him for a
day, really, I was still aware that this level of paranoia was out of
character for Diego.
“This elaborate plan of yours…,” I said.
“What about it?” he asked.
“It sounds kind of like a solo plan. Not so much a club
adventure. At least, not when it comes to the dangerous part.”
He made a face that told me I’d caught him.
“This is my idea. I’m the one who…” He hesitated, having
trouble with the next word. “… trusts Riley. I’m the only one
who’s going to risk getting on his bad side if I’m wrong.”
Chicken as I was, this didn’t fly with me. “Clubs don’t work
that way.”
He nodded, his expression unclear. “Okay, we’ll think about
it as we go.”
I didn’t think he really meant it.
“Stay in the trees, track me from above, ’kay?” he said.
“Okay.”
He headed back toward the log cabin, moving fast. I
followed through the branches, most of them so close-packed
that I only rarely had to really leap from one tree to another. I
kept my movements as small as possible, hoping that the
bending of the boughs under my weight would just look like
wind. It was a breezy night, which would help. It was cold for
summer, not that the temperature bothered me.
Diego caught Riley’s scent outside the house without
trouble and then loped after it quickly while I trailed several
yards back and about a hundred yards north, higher on the
slope than he was. When the trees were really thick, he’d rustle
a trunk now and again so I wouldn’t lose him.
We kept on, with him running and me impersonating a flying
squirrel, for only fifteen minutes or so before I saw Diego slow
down. We must have been getting close. I moved higher in the
branches, looking for a tree with a good view. I scaled one that
towered over its neighbors, and scanned the scene.
Less than half a mile away was a large gap in the trees, an
open field that covered several acres. Near the center of the
space, closer to the trees on its east side, was what looked like
an oversized gingerbread house. Painted bright pink, green,
and white, it was elaborate to the point of ridiculousness, with
fancy trim and finials on every conceivable edge. It was the kind
of thing I would have laughed at in a more relaxed situation.
Riley was nowhere in sight, but Diego had come to a
complete stop below, so I assumed this was the end point of
our pursuit. Maybe this was the replacement house Riley was
preparing for when the big log cabin crumbled. Except that it
was smaller than any of the other houses we’d stayed in, and it
didn’t look like it had a basement. And it was even farther away
from Seattle than the last one.
Diego looked up at me, and I signaled for him to join me.
He nodded and retraced his trail a little ways. Then he made an
enormous leap—I wondered if I could have jumped that high,
even as young and strong as I was—and caught a branch about
halfway up the closest tree. Unless someone was being
extraordinarily vigilant, no one ever would have noticed that
Diego’d made a side trip off his path. Even still, he jumped
around in the treetops, making sure his trail did not lead directly
to mine.
When he finally decided it was safe to join me, he took my
hand right away. Silently, I nodded toward the gingerbread
house. One corner of his mouth twitched.
Simultaneously we started edging toward the east side of
the house, keeping high up in the trees. We got as close as we
dared—leaving a few trees as cover between the house and
ourselves—and then sat silently, listening.
The breeze turned helpfully gentle, and we could hear
something. Strange little brushing, ticking sounds. At first I didn’t
recognize what I was hearing, but then Diego twitched another
little smile, puckered his lips, and silently kissed the air in my
direction.
Kissing didn’t sound the same with vampires as it did with
humans. No soft, fleshy, liquid-filled cells to squish against each
other. Just stone lips, no give. I had heard one kiss between
vampires before—Diego’s touch to my lips last night—but I
never would have made the connection. It was so far from what
I’d expected to find here.
This knowledge spun everything around in my head. I had
assumed Riley was going to see her, whether to receive
instructions or bring her new recruits, I didn’t know. But I had
never imagined stumbling across some kind of… love nest.
How could Riley kiss her? I shuddered and glanced at Diego.
He looked faintly horrified, too, but he shrugged.
I thought back to that last night of humanity, flinching as I
remembered the vivid burning. I tried to recall the moments just
before that, through all the fuzziness…. First there was the
creeping fear that had built as Riley pulled up to the dark house,
the feeling of safety I’d had in the bright burger joint dissolving
entirely. I was holding back, edging away, and then he’d
grabbed my arm with a steel grip and yanked me out of the car
like I was a doll, weightless. Terror and disbelief as he’d leaped
the ten yards to the door. Terror and then pain leaving no room
for disbelief as he broke my arm dragging me through the door
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