Bree Tanner - Part 3

As I focused on the memory, I could hear it again. High and

singsong, like a little girl’s, but grouchy. A child throwing a

tantrum.

I remembered what she’d said. “Why did you even bring this

one? It’s too small.” Something close to that, I thought. The

words might not be exactly right, but that was the meaning.

I was sure Riley had sounded eager to please when he

answered, afraid of disappointing. “But she’s another body.

Another distraction, at least.”

I think I’d whimpered then, and he’d shaken me painfully, but

he hadn’t spoken to me again. It was like I was a dog, not a

person.

“This whole night has been a waste,” the child’s voice had

complained. “I’ve killed them all. Ugh!”

I remembered that the house had shuddered then, as if a

car had collided with the frame. I realized now that she’d

probably just kicked something in frustration.

“Fine. I guess even a little one is better than nothing, if this is

the best you can do. And I’m so full now I should be able to

stop.”

Riley’s hard fingers had disappeared then and left me alone

with the voice. I’d been too panicked at that point to make a

sound. I’d just closed my eyes, though I was already totally blind

in the darkness. I didn’t scream until something cut into my

neck, burning like a blade coated in acid.

I cringed back from the memory, trying to push the next part

from my mind. Instead I concentrated on that short conversation.

She hadn’t sounded like she was talking to her lover or even her

friend. More like she was talking to an employee. One she

didn’t like much and might fire soon.

But the strange vampire kissing sounds continued.

Someone sighed in contentment.

I frowned at Diego. This exchange didn’t tell us much. How

long did we need to stay?

He just held his head on the side, listening carefully.

And after a few more minutes of patience, the low, romantic

sounds were suddenly interrupted.

“How many?”

The voice was muted by distance, but still distinct. And

recognizable. High, almost a trill. Like a spoiled young girl.

“Twenty-two,” Riley answered, sounding proud. Diego and I

exchanged a sharp glance. There were twenty-two of us, at last

count, anyway. They must be talking about us.

“I thought I’d lost two more to the sun, but one of my older

kids is… obedient,” Riley continued. There was almost an

affectionate sound to his voice when he spoke of Diego as one

of his kids. “He has an underground place—he hid himself with

the younger one.”

“Are you sure?”

There was a long pause, this time with no sounds of

romance. Even from this distance, I thought I could feel some

tension.

“Yeah. He’s a good kid, I’m sure.”

Another strained pause. I didn’t understand her question.

What did she mean, are you sure? Did she think he’d heard the

story from someone else rather than seeing Diego for himself?

“Twenty-two is good,” she mused, and the tension seemed

to dissolve. “How is their behavior developing? Some of them

are almost a year old. Do they still follow the normal patterns?”

“Yes,” Riley said. “Everything you told me to do worked

flawlessly. They don’t think—they just do what they’ve always

done. I can always distract them with thirst. It keeps them under

control.”

I frowned at Diego. Riley didn’t want us to think. Why?

“You’ve done so well,” our creator cooed, and there was

another kiss. “Twenty-two!”

“Is it time?” Riley asked eagerly.

Her answer came back fast, like a slap. “No! I haven’t

decided when.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to. It’s enough for you to know that our

enemies have great powers. We cannot be too careful.” Her

voice softened, turned sugary again. “But all twenty-two still

alive. Even with what they are capable of… what good will it be

against twenty-two?” She let out a tinkling little laugh.

Diego and I had not looked away from each other

throughout all this, and I could see in his eyes now that his

thoughts were the same as mine. Yes, we’d been created for a

purpose, as we’d guessed. We had an enemy. Or, our creator

had an enemy. Did the distinction matter?

“Decisions, decisions,” she muttered. “Not yet. Maybe one

more handful, just to be sure.”

“Adding more might actually decrease our numbers,” Riley

cautioned hesitantly, as if being careful not to upset her. “It’s

always unstable when a new group is introduced.”

“True,” she agreed, and I imagined Riley sighing in relief

that she was not upset.

Abruptly Diego looked away from me, staring out across the

meadow. I hadn’t heard any movement from the house, but

maybe she had come out. My head whipped around at the

same time the rest of me turned to a statue, and I saw what had

startled Diego.

Four figures were crossing the open field to the house. They

had entered the clearing from the west, the point farthest from

where we hid. They all wore long, dark cloaks with deep hoods,

so at first I thought they were people. Weird people, but just

humans all the same, because none of the vampires I knew had

matching Goth clothes. And none moved in a way that was so

smooth and controlled and… elegant. But then I realized that

none of the humans I’d ever seen could move that way, either,

and what’s more, they couldn’t do it so quietly. The dark-cloaks

skimmed across the long grass in absolute silence. So either

these were vampires, or they were something else

supernatural. Ghosts, maybe. But if they were vampires, they

were vampires I didn’t know, and that meant they might very well

be these enemies she was talking about. If so, we should get

the hell out of Dodge right now, because we didn’t have twenty

other vampires on our side at the moment.

I almost took off then, but I was too afraid to draw the

attention of the cloaked figures.

So I watched them move smoothly forward, noticing other

things about them. How they stayed in a perfect diamond

formation that never was the slightest bit out of line no matter

how the terrain changed under their feet. How the one at the

point of the diamond was much smaller than the others, and its

cloak was darker, too. How they didn’t seem to be tracking their

way in—not trying to follow the path of any scent. They simply

knew their way. Maybe they were invited.

They moved directly toward the house, and I felt like it might

be safe to breathe again when they started silently up the steps

toward the front door. They weren’t coming straight for Diego

and me, at least. When they were out of sight, we could

disappear into the sound of the next breeze through the trees,

and they would never know we’d been here.

I looked at Diego and twitched my head slightly toward the

way we’d come. He narrowed his eyes and held up one finger.

Oh great, he wanted to stay. I rolled my eyes at him, though I

was so afraid, I was surprised I was capable of sarcasm.

We both looked back to the house. The cloaked things had

let themselves in silently, but I realized that neither she nor Riley

had spoken since we’d caught sight of the visitors. They must

have heard something or known in some other way that they

were in danger.

“Don’t bother,” a very clear, monotone voice commanded

lazily. It was not as high-pitched as our creator’s, but it still

sounded girlish to me. “I think you know who we are, so you

must know that there is no point in trying to surprise us. Or hide

from us. Or fight us. Or run.”

A deep, masculine chuckle that did not belong to Riley

echoed menacingly through the house.

“Relax,” instructed the first inflectionless voice—the cloaked

girl. Her voice had that distinctive ring that made me certain she

was a vampire, not a ghost or any other kind of nightmare.

“We’re not here to destroy you. Yet.”

There was a moment of silence, and then some barely

audible movements. A shifting of positions.

“If you are not here to kill us, then… what?” our creator

asked, strained and shrill.

“We seek to know your intentions here. Specifically, if they

involve… a certain local clan,” the cloaked girl explained. “We

wonder if they have anything to do with the mayhem you’ve

created here. Illegally created.”

Diego and I frowned simultaneously. None of this made

sense, but the last part was the weirdest. What could be illegal

for vampires? What cop, what judge, what prison could have

power over us?

“Yes,” our creator hissed. “My plans are all about them. But

we can’t move yet. It’s tricky.” A petulant note crept into her

voice at the end.

“Trust me, we know the difficulties better than you. It is

remarkable that you’ve managed to keep off the radar, so to

speak, for this long. Tell me”—a hint of interest colored the

monotone—“how are you doing it?”

Our creator hesitated, and then spoke all in a rush. Almost

as if there had been some silent intimidation. “I haven’t made

the decision,” she spit out. Then she added more slowly,

unwillingly, “To attack. I’ve never decided to do anything with

them.”

“Rough, but effective,” the cloaked girl said. “Unfortunately,

your period of deliberation has come to a close. You must

decide—now—what you will do with your little army.” Both

Diego’s and my eyes widened at that word. “Otherwise, it will

be our duty to punish you as the law demands. This reprieve,

however short, troubles me. It is not our way. I suggest you give

us what assurances you can… quickly.”

“We’ll go at once!” Riley volunteered anxiously, and there

was a sharp hiss.

“We’ll go as soon as possible,” our creator amended

furiously. “There is much to do. I assume you wish us to

succeed? Then I must have a little time to get them trained

—instructed—fed!”

There was a short pause.

“Five days. We will come for you then. And there is no rock

you can hide under or speed at which you can flee that will save

you. If you have not made your attack by the time we come, you

will burn.” This was said with no menace other than an absolute

certainty.

“And if I have made my attack?” our creator asked, shaken.

“We’ll see,” the cloaked girl answered in a brighter tone

than she’d used yet. “I suppose that all depends on how

successful you are. Work hard to please us.” The last command

was given in a flat, hard pitch that made me feel a strange chill

in the center of my body.

“Yes,” our creator snarled.

“Yes,” Riley echoed in a whisper.

A second later the cloaked vampires were noiselessly

exiting the house. Neither Diego nor I so much as took a breath

for five minutes after they’d disappeared. Inside the house, our

creator and Riley were just as quiet. Another ten minutes

passed in total stillness.

I touched Diego’s arm. This was our chance to get out of

here. At the moment, I wasn’t so afraid of Riley anymore. I

wanted to get as far away as I could from those dark-cloaks. I

wanted the safety of numbers waiting back in the log cabin, and

I figured that was exactly how our creator felt, too. Why she’d

made so many of us in the first place. There were some things

out there scarier than I’d imagined.

Diego hesitated, still listening, and a second later his

patience was rewarded.

“Well,” she whispered inside the house, “now they know.”

Was she talking about the cloaks or the mysterious clan?

Which one was the enemy she’d mentioned before the drama?

“That doesn’t matter. We outnumber—”

“Any warning matters!” she growled, cutting him off. “There

is so much to do. Only five days!” She groaned. “No more

messing around. You start tonight.”

“I won’t fail you!” Riley promised.

Crap. Diego and I moved at the same time, leaping from

our perch into the next tree over, flying back the way we’d come.

Riley was in a hurry now, and if he found Diego’s trail after all

that had just passed with the cloaks, and no Diego there at the

end of it…

“I’ve got to get back and be waiting,” Diego whispered to

me as we raced. “Lucky it’s not in view of the house! Don’t want

him to know I heard.”

“We should talk to him together.”

“Too late for that. He’d notice that your scent wasn’t on the

trail. Looks suspicious.”

“Diego…” He’d trapped me into sitting this one out.

We were back to the spot where he’d joined me. He spoke

in a rushed whisper.

“Stick to the plan, Bree. I’ll tell him what I planned to tell him.

It’s not close to dawn, but that’s just how it has to be. If he

doesn’t believe me…” Diego shrugged. “He’s got bigger things

to worry about than me having an overactive imagination.

Maybe he’ll be more likely to listen now—looks like we need all

the help we can get, and being able to move around in the day

can’t hurt.”

“Diego…,” I repeated, not knowing what else to say.

He looked into my eyes, and I waited for his lips to twitch

into that easy smile, for him to make some joke about ninjas or

BFFs.

He didn’t. Instead, he leaned in slowly, never moving his

eyes from mine, and kissed me. His smooth lips pressed

against mine for one long second while we stared at each other.

Then he leaned away and sighed. “Get home, hide behind

Fred, and act clueless. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Be careful.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard, then let go. Riley

had spoken of Diego affectionately. I would have to hope that

affection was real. There wasn’t another choice.

Diego disappeared into the trees, quiet as a rustling

breeze. I didn’t waste time looking after him. I sprinted through

the branches in a direct line back to the house. I hoped my eyes

were still bright enough from last night’s meal to explain my

absence. Just a quick hunt. Got lucky—found a lone hiker.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

The sound of the thudding music that greeted my approach

was accompanied by the unmistakable sweet, smoky scent of a

burning vampire. My panic went into overdrive. I could just as

easily die inside the house as outside. But there was no other

way. I didn’t slow, just rushed down the stairs straight to the

corner where I could barely make out Freaky Fred standing.

Looking for something to do? Tired of sitting? I had no idea

what he was up to, and I didn’t care. I would stick tight to him

until Riley and Diego got back.

In the middle of the floor was a smoldering heap that was

too big to be just a leg or an arm. So much for Riley’s twentytwo.

No one seemed terribly concerned about the smoking

remains. The sight was too common.

As I hurried closer to Fred, for once the sense of disgust

didn’t get stronger. Instead, it faded. He didn’t seem to notice

me, just went on reading the book he held. One of those I’d left

him a few days ago. I had no problem seeing what he was

doing now that I was close to where he was leaning against the

back of the couch. I hesitated, wondering why that was. Could

he turn his nausea thing off when he wanted? Did that mean we

both were unprotected right now? At least Raoul wasn’t home

yet, thankfully, though Kevin was.

For the first time ever, I really saw what Fred looked like. He

was tall, maybe six two, with the thick, curly blond hair I’d

noticed once before. He was broad-shouldered and muscular.

He looked older than most of the others—like a college student,

not a high school kid. And—this was the part that surprised me

most for some reason—he was good-looking. As handsome as

anyone else, maybe even handsomer than most. I didn’t know

why that was so trippy for me. I guessed just because I always

associated him with revulsion.

I felt weird for staring. I glanced quickly around the room to

see if anyone had noticed that Fred was normal—and pretty

—for the moment. No one was looking our way. I stole a fast

peek at Kevin, ready to shift my focus at once if he noticed, but

his eyes were concentrated on some point to the left of where

we stood. He was frowning slightly. Before I could look away, his

gaze skipped right over to me and settled on my right side. His

frown deepened. Like… he was trying to see me and couldn’t.

I felt the corners of my mouth twitch into not quite a grin.

There was too much to worry about to really enjoy Kevin’s

blindness. I looked back at Fred, wondering if the gross-out

factor would return, only to see that he was smiling with me.

Smiling, he was really spectacular.

Then the moment was over, and Fred went back to his

book. I didn’t move for a while, waiting for something to happen.

For Diego to come through the door. Or Riley with Diego. Or

Raoul. Or for the nausea to hit again, or for Kevin to glare in my

direction, or for the next fight to break out. Something.

When nothing did, I eventually pulled myself together and

did what I should have been doing—pretending nothing unusual

was going on. I grabbed a book from the pile near Fred’s feet

and then sat down right there and acted like I was reading. It

was probably one of the same books I’d pretended to read

yesterday, but it didn’t look familiar. I flipped through the pages,

again taking nothing in.

My mind was racing around in tight little circles. Where was

Diego? How had Riley reacted to his story? What had it all

meant—the talk before the cloaks, the talk after the cloaks?

I worked through it, going backward, trying to assemble the

pieces into a recognizable picture. The vampire world had

some kind of police, and they were damn scary. This wild group

of months-old vampires was supposed to be an army, and this

army was somehow illegal. Our creator had an enemy. Strike

that, two enemies. We were going to attack one of them in five

days, or else the other ones, the scary cloaks, were going to

attack her—or us, or both. We would be trained for this attack…

as soon as Riley got back. I snuck a glance at the door, then

forced my eyes back to the page in front of me. And then the

stuff before the visitors. She was worrying about some

decision. She was pleased that she had so many vampires

—so many soldiers. Riley was happy that Diego and I had

survived…. He’d said he thought he’d lost two more to the sun,

so that must mean he didn’t know how vampires really reacted

to sunlight. What she’d said was strange, though. She’d asked

if he was sure. Sure Diego had survived? Or… sure that

Diego’s story was true?

The last thought frightened me. Did she already know that

the sun didn’t hurt us? If she did know, then why had she lied to

Riley and, through him, to us?

Why would she want to keep us in the dark—literally? Was it

very important to her that we stay ignorant? Important enough to

get Diego in trouble? I was working myself into a real panic,

frozen solid. If I still could sweat, I would have been sweating

now. I had to refocus to turn the next page, to keep my eyes

down.

Was Riley deceived, or was he in on it, too? When Riley’d

said he thought he’d lost two more to the sun, did he mean the

sun literally… or the lie about the sun?

If it was the second option, then to know the truth meant

being lost. Panic scattered my thoughts.

I tried to be rational and make sense of it. It was harder

without Diego. Having someone to talk to, to interact with,

sharpened my ability to concentrate. Without that, fear sucked

at the edges of my thoughts, twisted with the always-present

thirst. The lure of blood was constantly close to the surface.

Even now, decently well fed, I could feel the burn and the need.

Think about her, think about Riley, I told myself. I had to

understand why they would lie—if they were lying—so that I

could try to figure out what it would mean to them that Diego

knew their secret.

If they hadn’t lied, if they’d just told us all that the day was as

safe for us as the night, how would that change things? I

imagined what it would be like if we didn’t have to be contained

in a blacked-out basement all day, if the twenty-one of us

—maybe fewer now, depending on how the hunting parties

were getting along—were free to do what we wanted whenever

we wanted to.

We would want to hunt. That was a given.

If we didn’t have to come back, if we didn’t have to hide…

well, many of us wouldn’t come back very regularly. It was hard

to focus on the return while the thirst was in charge. But Riley

had drilled so deeply into all of us the threat of burning, of a

return of that hideous pain we’d all experienced once. That was

the reason we could stop ourselves. Self-preservation, the only

instinct stronger than thirst.

So the threat kept us together. There were other hiding

places, like Diego’s cave, but who else thought about that kind

of thing? We had a place to go, a base, so we went to it. Clear

heads were not a vampire specialty. Or, at least, they weren’t

the specialty of young vampires. Riley was clearheaded. Diego

was more clearheaded than I was. Those cloaked vampires

were terrifyingly focused. I shuddered. So the routine wouldn’t

control us forever. What would they do when we were older,

clearer? It struck me that nobody was older than Riley. Everyone

here was new. She needed a bunch of us now for this mystery

enemy. But what about afterward?

I had a strong feeling that I didn’t want to be around for that

part. And I suddenly realized something stupendously obvious. It

was the solution that had tickled the edges of my understanding

before, when I was tracking the vampire herd to this place with

Diego.

I didn’t have to be around for that part. I didn’t have to be

around for one more night.

I was a statue again as I thought over this stunning idea.

If Diego and I hadn’t known where the gang was most likely

headed, would we ever have found them? Probably not. And

that was a big group leaving a wide trail. What if it were a single

vampire, one who could leap up onto the land, maybe into a

tree, without leaving a trail at the edge of the water…. Just one,

or maybe two vampires who could swim as far out to sea as

they wanted… Who could return to land anywhere… Canada,

California, Chile, China…

You would never be able to find those two vampires. They

would be gone. Disappeared like they’d gone up in smoke.

We didn’t have to come back the other night! We shouldn’t

have! Why hadn’t I thought of it then?

But… would Diego have agreed? I was abruptly not so sure

of myself. Was Diego more loyal to Riley after all? Would he

have felt it was his responsibility to stand by Riley? He’d known

Riley a lot longer—he’d really only known me a day. Was he

closer to Riley than he was to me?

I pondered that, frowning.

Well, I would find out as soon as we had a minute alone.

And then maybe, if our secret club really meant something, it

wouldn’t matter what our creator had planned for us. We could

disappear, and Riley would have to make do with nineteen

vampires, or make some new ones quick. Either way, not our

problem.

I couldn’t wait to tell Diego my plan. My gut instinct was that

he would feel the same. Hopefully.

Suddenly, I wondered if this was what had really happened

to Shelly and Steve and the other kids who had disappeared. I

knew they hadn’t burned in the sun. Had Riley only claimed he’d

seen their ashes as another way to keep the rest of us afraid

and dependent on him? Returning home to him every dawn?

Maybe Shelly and Steve had just set off on their own. No more

Raoul. No enemies or armies threatening their immediate

future.

Maybe that’s what Riley had meant by lost to the sun.

Runaways. In which case, he’d be happy that Diego hadn’t

bailed, right?

If only Diego and I had taken off! We could be free, too, like

Shelly and Steve. No rules, no fear of the sunrise.

Again, I imagined the whole horde of us on the loose without

a curfew. I could see Diego and me moving like ninjas through

the shade. But I could also see Raoul, Kevin, and the rest,

sparkling disco-ball monsters in the center of a busy downtown

street, the bodies piling up, the screaming, the helicopters

whirring, the soft, helpless cops with their dinky little bullets that

wouldn’t make a dent, the cameras, the panic that would spread

so fast as the pictures bounced swiftly around the globe.

Vampires wouldn’t be a secret for very long. Even Raoul

couldn’t kill people fast enough to keep the story from

spreading.

There was a chain of logic here, and I tried to grasp it

before I could be distracted again.

One, humans didn’t know about vampires. Two, Riley

encouraged us to be inconspicuous, not to attract the notice of

humans and educate them otherwise. Three, Diego and I had

decided that all vampires must be following that guideline, or

else the world would know about us. Four, they must have a

reason for doing so, and it wasn’t the little popguns of the

human police that motivated them. Yeah, the reason must be

pretty important to make all vampires hide all day long in stuffy

basements. Maybe reason enough to make Riley and our

creator lie to us, terrify us about the burning sun. Maybe it was a

reason Riley would explain to Diego, and since it was so

important and he was so responsible, Diego would promise to

keep the secret and they would be cool with that. Sure they

would. But what if what actually happened to Shelly and Steve

was that they’d discovered the shiny skin thing and not run?

What if they’d gone to Riley?

And, crap, there went the next step in my logical path. The

chain dissolved and I started panicking about Diego again.

As I stressed, I realized that I’d been thinking things through

for a while. I could feel dawn coming on. No more than an hour

away. So where was Diego? Where was Riley?

As I thought this, the door opened and Raoul leaped down

the stairs, laughing with his buddies. I hunched down, leaning

closer to Fred. Raoul didn’t notice us. He looked at the crispyfried

vampire in the center of the floor and laughed harder. His

eyes were brilliant red.

On the nights Raoul went hunting, he never came home till

he had to. He would keep feeding as long as he could. So dawn

must have been even closer than I’d thought.

Riley must have demanded that Diego prove his words.

That was the only explanation. And they were waiting for the

dawn. Only… that would mean that Riley didn’t know the truth,

that our creator was lying to him, too. Or did it? My thoughts

twisted up again.

Kristie showed up minutes later with three of her gang. She

reacted indifferently to the pile of ashes. I did a quick head

count as two more hunters hurried through the door. Twenty

vampires. Everyone was home except Diego and Riley. The

sun would rise at any moment.

The door at the top of the basement stairs creaked as

someone opened it. I sprang to my feet.

Riley entered. He shut the door behind him. He walked

down the stairs.

No one followed.

Before I could process this, Riley roared out an animalistic

shriek of rage. He was staring down at the ashy remains on the

floor, his eyes bulging in fury. Everyone stood silent, immobile.

We’d all seen Riley lose his temper, but this was something

different.

Riley spun and raked his fingers through a blaring speaker,

then ripped it from the wall and hurled it across the room. Jen

and Kristie dodged out of the way as it exploded into the far

wall, sending up a cloud of pulverized drywall dust. Riley

smashed the sound system with his foot, and the thudding bass

went silent. Then he leaped to where Raoul stood, and grabbed

him by the throat.

“I wasn’t even here!” Raoul yelled, looking afraid—I’d never

seen that before.

Riley growled hideously and threw Raoul as he’d thrown the

speaker. Jen and Kristie jumped out of the way again. Raoul’s

body crashed right through the wall, leaving an enormous hole.

Riley caught Kevin by the shoulder and—with a familiar

screech—ripped off his right hand. Kevin cried out in pain and

tried to twist out of Riley’s grip. Riley kicked him in the side.

Another harsh shriek and Riley had the rest of Kevin’s arm. He

tore the arm in half at the elbow and threw the pieces hard into

Kevin’s anguished face—smack, smack, smack, like a

hammer striking stone.

“What is wrong with you?” Riley screamed at us. “Why are

you all so stupid?” He made a grab for the blond Spider-Man

kid, but that kid leaped out of his way. His jump left him too

close to Fred, and he stumbled back toward Riley again,

gagging.

“Do any of you have a brain?”

Riley smacked a kid named Dean into the entertainment

center, shattering it, then caught another girl—Sara—and tore

her left ear and a handful of hair from her head. She snarled in

anguish.

It became suddenly obvious that Riley was doing a very

dangerous thing. There were a lot of us in here. Already Raoul

was back, with Kristie and Jen—usually his enemies—flanking

him defensively. A few others banded together in clusters

around the room.

I wasn’t sure if Riley was aware of the threat or if his rant

came to an end naturally. He took a deep breath. He tossed

Sara her ear and the hair. She recoiled away from him, licking

the torn edge of her ear, coating it with venom so that it would

reattach. There was no remedy for the hair, though; Sara was

going to have a bald spot.

“Listen to me!” Riley said, quiet but fierce. “All our lives

depend on you listening to what I’m saying now and thinking!

We are all going to die. Every one of us, you and me, too, if you

can’t act like you have brains for just a few short days!”

This was nothing like his usual lectures and pleadings for

control. He definitely had everyone’s attention.

“It’s time for you to grow up and take responsibility for

yourselves. Do you think you get to live like this for free? That all

the blood in Seattle doesn’t have a price?”

The little clusters of vampires no longer seemed

threatening. Everyone was wide-eyed, some exchanging

mystified glances. I saw Fred’s head turn toward me in my

peripheral vision, but I didn’t meet his gaze. My attention was

focused on two things: Riley, just in case he started to attack

again, and the door. The door that was still closed.

“Are you listening now? Really listening?” Riley paused, but

no one nodded. The room was very still. “Let me explain to you

the precarious situation we are all in. I’ll try to keep it simple for

the slowest ones. Raoul, Kristie, come here.”

He motioned to the leaders of the two largest gangs, allied

for this brief moment against him. Neither of them moved

toward him. They braced themselves, Kristie baring her teeth.

I expected Riley to soften, to apologize. To placate them

and then persuade them to do what he wanted. But this was a

different Riley.

“Fine,” he snapped. “We’re going to need leaders if we’re

going to survive, but apparently neither of you is up to the task. I

thought you had aptitude. I was wrong. Kevin, Jen, please join

me as the heads of this team.”

Kevin looked up in surprise. He had just finished putting his

arm back together. Though his expression was wary, it was also

unmistakably flattered. He slowly got to his feet. Jen looked at

Kristie as if waiting for permission. Raoul ground his teeth

together.

The door at the top of the stairs did not open.

“Are you not able, either?” Riley asked, irritated.

Kevin took a step toward Riley, but then Raoul rushed him,

leaping across the long room in two low bounds. He shoved

Kevin against the wall without a word and then stood by Riley’s

right shoulder.

Riley permitted himself a tiny smile. The manipulation

wasn’t subtle, but it was effective.

“Kristie or Jen, who will lead us?” Riley asked with a hint of

amusement in his voice.

Jen was still waiting for a sign from Kristie as to what she

should do. Kristie glowered at Jen for an instant, then flipped

her sandy hair out of her face and darted to stand on Riley’s

other side.

“That took too long to decide,” Riley said seriously. “We

don’t have the luxury of time. We don’t get to fool around

anymore. I’ve let you all do pretty much whatever you feel like,

but that ends tonight.”

He looked around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes,

making sure we were listening. I held his gaze for only a second

when it was my turn, and then my eyes flipped back to the door.

I corrected instantly, but his glare had moved on. I wondered if

he’d noticed my slip. Or had he seen me at all, here beside

Fred?

“We have an enemy,” Riley announced. He let that sink in for

a moment. I could tell the idea was shocking to several of the

vampires in the basement. The enemy was Raoul—or if you

were with Raoul, the enemy was Kristie. The enemy was here,

because the whole world was here. The thought that there were

other forces out there strong enough to affect us was new for

most. Would have been new to me, too, yesterday.

“A few of you might be smart enough to have realized that if

we exist, so do other vampires. Other vampires who are older,

smarter… more talented. Other vampires who want our blood!”

Raoul hissed, and then several of his followers echoed him

in support.

“That’s right,” Riley said, seeming intent on egging them on.

“Seattle was once theirs, but they moved on a long time ago.

Now they know about us, and they are jealous of the easy blood

they used to have here. They know it belongs to us now, but they

want to take it back. They are coming after what they want. One

by one, they’ll hunt us down! We’ll burn while they feast!”

“Never,” Kristie growled. Some of hers and some of Raoul’s

growled, too.

“We don’t have a lot of choices,” Riley told us. “If we wait for

them to show up here, they will have the advantage. This is their

turf, after all. And they don’t want to face us head-on, because

we outnumber them and we are stronger than they are. They

want to catch us separated; they want to take advantage of our

biggest weakness. Are any of you smart enough to know what

that is?” He pointed at the ashes at his feet—now smeared into

the carpet and unrecognizable as a former vampire—and

waited.

No one moved.

Riley made a disgusted sound. “Unity!” he shouted. “We

don’t have it! What kind of a threat can we pose when we won’t

stop killing each other?” He kicked the dust, sending up a small

black cloud. “Can you imagine them laughing at us? They think

taking the city from us will be easy. That we’re weak with

stupidity! That we’ll just hand them our blood.”

Half the vampires in the room snarled in protest now.

“Can you work together, or do we all die?”

“We can take them, boss,” Raoul growled.

Riley scowled at him. “Not if you can’t control yourself! Not if

you can’t cooperate with every single person in this room.

Anyone you take out”—his toe nudged the ashes again—“might

be the one who could have kept you alive. Every one of your

coven that you kill is like handing our enemies a gift. Here,

you’re saying, take me down!”

Kristie and Raoul exchanged a glance as if they were

seeing each other for the first time. Others did the same. The

word coven was not unfamiliar, but none of us had applied it to

our group before. We were a coven.

“Let me tell you about our enemies,” Riley said, and all eyes

locked on his face. “They are a much older coven than we are.

They’ve been around for hundreds of years, and they’ve

survived that long for a reason. They are crafty and they are

skilled and they are coming to retake Seattle with confidence

—because they’ve heard the only ones they’ll have to fight for it

are a bunch of disorganized children who will do half their work

for them!”

More growls, but some were less angry than they were wary.

A few of the quieter vampires, the ones Riley would have called

tamer, looked skittish.

Riley noticed that, too. “This is how they see us, but that’s

because they can’t see us together. Together, we can crush

them. If they could see all of us, side by side, fighting together,

they would be terrified. And that’s how they’re going to see us.

Because we’re not going to wait for them to show up here and

start picking us off. We’re going to ambush them. In four days.”

Four days? I guessed our creator didn’t want to cut it too

close to the deadline. I looked at the closed door again. Where

was Diego?

Others reacted to the deadline with surprise, some with

fear.

“It’s the last thing they’ll expect,” Riley assured us. “All of us

—together—waiting for them. And I’ve saved the best part for

last. There are only seven of them.”

There was an instant of incredulous silence.

Then Raoul said, “What?”

Kristie stared at Riley with the same disbelieving

expression, and I heard muttered whispers around the room.

“Seven?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Hey,” Riley snapped. “I wasn’t joking when I said this coven

is dangerous. They are wise and… devious. Underhanded. We

will have power on our side; they will have deception. If we play

it their way, they will win. But if we take it to them on our

terms…” Riley didn’t finish, he just smiled.

“Let’s go now,” Raoul urged. “Let’s get ’em out of the picture

fast.” Kevin growled enthusiastically.

“Slow down, moron. Rushing into things blind isn’t going to

help us win,” Riley chided him.

“Tell us everything we need to know about them,” Kristie

encouraged, shooting Raoul a superior look.

Riley hesitated, as if deciding how to word something. “All

right, where to begin? I guess the first thing you need to know

is… that you don’t know everything there is to know about

vampires yet. I didn’t want to overwhelm you in the beginning.”

Another pause while everyone looked confused. “You have a

little bit of experience with what we call ‘talents.’ We have Fred.”

Everyone looked at Fred—or rather they tried to. I could tell

from Riley’s expression that Fred did not like being singled out.

It looked like Fred had really turned up the volume on his

“talent,” as Riley called it. Riley cringed and looked away

quickly. I still didn’t feel anything.

“Yes, well, there are some vampires who have gifts beyond

the usual super strength and super senses. You’ve seen one

aspect in… our coven.” He was careful not to say Fred’s name

again. “Gifts are rare—one in fifty, maybe—but every one is

different. There’s a huge range of gifts out there, and some of

them are more powerful than others.”

I could hear a lot of murmurs now as people wondered if

they might be talented. Raoul was preening like he’d already

decided he was gifted. As far as I could tell, the only one around

here that was in any way special was standing next to me.

“Pay attention!” Riley commanded. “I’m not telling you this

for entertainment.”

“This enemy coven,” Kristie interjected. “They’re talented.

Right?”

Riley gave her an approving nod. “Exactly. I’m glad

someone here can connect the dots.”

Raoul’s upper lip twitched back over his teeth.

“This coven is dangerously talented,” Riley went on, his

voice dropping to a hushed whisper. “They have a mind reader.”

He examined our faces, looking to see if we got the importance

of this revelation. He didn’t seem satisfied with his assessment.

“Think, guys! He’ll know everything in your head. If you attack,

he’ll know what move you’re going to make before you know it.

You go left, he’ll be waiting.”

There was a nervous stillness as everyone imagined this.

“This is why we’ve been so careful—me, and the one who

created you.”

Kristie flinched away from Riley when he mentioned her.

Raoul looked angrier. Nerves strained universally.

“You don’t know her name, and you don’t know what she

looks like. This protects us all. If they’d stumbled across one of

you alone, they wouldn’t realize that you were connected to her,

and they might have let you be. If they knew you were part of her

coven, there would be no delay in your execution.”

That didn’t make sense to me. Didn’t the secrecy protect

her more than it protected any of us? Riley hurried on before we

had too long to examine his statement.

“Of course, it doesn’t matter now that they’ve decided to

move on Seattle. We will surprise them on their way in, and we

will annihilate them.” He whistled a single low note through his

teeth. “Done. And then not only is the city all ours, other covens

will know not to mess with us. We won’t have to be so careful to

cover our tracks anymore. As much blood as you want, for

everyone. Hunting every night. We’ll move right into the city, and

we will rule it.”

The growls and snarls were like applause. Everyone was

with him. Except for me. I didn’t move, didn’t make a sound.

Neither did Fred, but who knows why that was?

I was not with Riley because his promises sounded like lies.

Or else my whole line of logic had been wrong. Riley said it was

only these enemies that kept us from hunting without caution or

restraint. But that didn’t go along with the fact that all other

vampires must have been discreet, or humans would have

known about them long ago.

I couldn’t concentrate to work it out, because the door at the

top of the stairs had not moved. Diego…

“We have to do this together, though. Today I’m going to

lead you through some techniques. Fighting techniques.

There’s more to this than just scuffling around on the floor like

toddlers. When it gets dark, we’ll go outside and practice. I want

you to practice hard, but keep your focus. I am not losing

another member of this coven! We all need each other—every

one of us. I will not tolerate any more stupidity. If you think you

don’t have to listen to me, you are wrong.” He paused for a

short second, the muscles in his face shifting into a new

arrangement. “And you will learn how wrong you are when I take

you to her”—I shuddered and felt the tremor through the room

as everyone else did, too—“and hold you while she tears off

your legs and then slowly, slowly burns off your fingers, ears,

lips, tongue, and every other superfluous appendage one by

one.”We’d all lost a limb, at least, and we’d all burned when we

became vampires, so we could easily imagine how that would

feel, but it wasn’t the threat itself that was so terrifying. The truly

scary thing was Riley’s face as he said it. His face was not

twisted in rage, the way it usually was when he was angry; it

was calm and cold, smooth and beautiful, his mouth curled at

the edges into a small smile. I suddenly had the impression that

this was a new Riley. Something had changed him, hardened

him, but I couldn’t imagine what could have happened in one

night to create that cruel, perfect smile.

I looked away, shivering a little, and saw as Raoul’s smile

shifted to echo Riley’s. I could almost see the gears turning in

Raoul’s head. He wouldn’t kill his victims so quickly in the future.

“Now, let’s get some teams figured out so that we can work

in groups,” Riley said, his face normal again. “Kristie, Raoul, get

your kids together and then divvy up the rest evenly. No fighting!

Show me you can do this rationally. Prove yourselves.”

He walked away from those two, ignoring the fact that they

fell almost immediately into bickering, and made an arc around

the outside edge of the room. He touched a few vampires on

the shoulder as he passed, nudging them toward one of the

new leaders or the other. I didn’t realize at first that he was

heading in my direction, because he took such a wide way

around.

“Bree,” he said, squinting toward where I stood. It looked

like this took some effort.

I felt like a block of ice. He must have smelled my trail. I was

dead.

“Bree?” he said, softer now. His voice reminded me of the

first time he’d talked to me. When he was nice to me. And then

even lower, “I promised Diego I’d give you a message. He said

to tell you it was a ninja thing. Does that make any sense to

you?”

He still couldn’t look at me, but he was edging closer.

“Diego?” I murmured. I couldn’t help myself.

Riley smiled a tiny bit. “Can we talk?” He jerked his head

toward the door. “I double-checked all the windows. The first

floor is totally dark and safe.”

I knew I wouldn’t be as safe once I walked away from Fred,

but I had to hear what Diego had wanted to tell me. What had

happened? I should have stayed with him to meet Riley.

I followed Riley through the room, keeping my head down.

He gave Raoul a few instructions, nodded to Kristie, and then

went up the stairs. From the corners of my eyes I saw a few

people curiously watch the direction he was going.

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PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | BOOK 1: TWILIGHT | BOOK 2: NEW MOON | BOOK 3: ECLIPSE | BOOK 4: BREAKING DAWN | MIDNIGHT SUN