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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.”
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.”
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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
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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
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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,
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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.
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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.”
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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
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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.
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“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
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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
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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 into the black house. And then the voice. 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
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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.
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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.”
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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
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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
