'The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 12\r'

'â€Å"To dark you pop come surface a examine of what our world wil be worry when our rivalry is turn up of the picture. Fol ow me!”\r\nRiley bounded away; Raoul and his team were reclaim on his heels. Kristies group rifleed shoving and clawing right through the place of them to begin to the front.\r\nâ€Å"Dont defend me change my mind!” Riley bacillus owed from the trees ahead. â€Å"You can al go social classningy. I dont interest!”\r\nKristie barked an order and her group sul enly fel behind Raouls. Fred and I waited until the healthful of them was knocked out(p) of sight. Then Fred did ane of those little ladies number 1 sweeps with his arm. It didnt feel interchangeable he was afraid to urinate me at his screen, just that he was being polite. I scribbleed running later(prenominal) the array. The others were al hit extensive deceased, more(prenominal) all incessantlyyplace it was nonhing to fol ow their smel . Fred and I r an in companionable silence. I wondered what he was thinking. by chance he was only thirsty. I was burning, so he probably was, too.\r\nWe caught up to the others after virtually five minutes, unless kept our distance. The soldiers was moving in amazing equable. They were focused, and more… disciplined. I kind of wished that Riley had started the training so building blocknessr. It was easier to be nigh this group.\r\nWe go across oer an empty two-lane freeway, another deprive of forest, and then we were on a b individually. The water was smooth, and wed g cardinal nigh due north, so this must rescue been the strait. We hadnt passed near every residences, and I was true that was on purpose. Thirsty and on edge, it wouldnt take too oft to dissolve this smal measure of organization into a riot free-for-al .\r\nWed never hunted al to imbibeher before, and I was pretty sure that it was not a well-grounded idea now. I remembered Kevin and the Spider-Man pincer fi ghting over the woman in the car that initial night Id talked to Diego. Riley had better contain a whole multitude of bodies for us or slew were red ink to start tearing each other up to set the most affinity.\r\nRiley paused at the waters edge.\r\nâ€Å"Dont h sr. cover,” he told us. â€Å"I take you wel fed and strong †at your peak. right away… lets go harbor nigh fun.”\r\nHe come fell smoothly into the surf. The others were growling unrestrainedly as they submerged, too. Fred and I fol owed more closely than before because we couldnt fol ow their scent chthonic water. besides I could feel that Fred was hesitant †ready to bolt if this was close tothing other than an al -you-can-eat smorgasbord. It seemed like he didnt trust Riley any more than I did. We didnt drown long, and then we saw the others kicking upward. Fred and I surfaced populate, and Riley started talk of the town as soon as our heads were out of the water, like hed be en delay for us. He must have been more aware of Fred than the others were.\r\nâ€Å" on that point she is,” he said, waving toward a large ferry chugging south, probably reservation the utmost(a) commuter run of the night down from Canada. â€Å" ca-ca me a minute. When the power goes out, shes al yours.”\r\nThere was an excited murmur. some(a)virtuoso giggled. Riley was off like a shot, and souths later we saw him fly up the side of the unsound boat. He headed straight for the delay tower on top of the ship. Silencing the radio was my bet. He could recite al he inadequacyed about these enemies being our reasonableness for caution, only when I was sure there was more to it than that. Humans werent supposed to slam about lamias. At least, not for very long. save long nice for us to kil them.\r\nRiley kicked a expectant plate-glass windowpane out of his way and disappeared into the tower. Five seconds later, the gets went out.\r\nI fill ind Raoul was a lready gone. He must have submerged so we wouldnt hear him swimming after Riley. Everyone else took off, and the water churned as if an enormous drill of barracuda were attacking.\r\nFred and I swam at a relatively leisurely pace behind them. In a funny way, it was like we were some old married couple. We never talked, only we stil did things at on the entirelyton the analogous time. We got to the boat about three seconds later, and already the air was ful of shrieks and the warm scent of blood. The smel do me true numberize exactly how thirsty I was, alone that was the last thing I realized. My brain shut down completely. There was nothing but fiery distress in my throat and the delicious blood †blood everywhere †promising to put that fire out. When it was over and there wasnt a heart left lashing on the whole ship, I wasnt sure how many a(prenominal) people Id personal y kil ed. More than threesome the number Id ever had on a pursuit trip before, easy. I fe lt hot and flushed. Id inebriated long quondam(prenominal) the menstruum at which my thirst was total y slaked, just for the taste of the blood. approximately of the blood on the ferry was clean and delicious †these passengers had not been dregs. Though I hadnt held back, I was probably at the low end of the kil count. Raoul was so surrounded by mangled bodies that they actual y made a little hil . He sat on top of his pile of the dead and laughed loudly to himself.\r\nHe wasnt the only one laughing. The dark boat was ful of sounds of delight. I heard Kristie say, â€Å"That was amazing †three cheers for Riley!” Some of her congregation put up a raucous emit of hurrahs like a bunch of happy drunks.\r\nJen and Kevin swung onto the expression deck, dripping wet. â€Å"Got\r\nem al, boss,” Jen cal ed to Riley. So some people must have tried to swim for it. I hadnt noticed.\r\nI looked about for Fred. It took me a while to scram him. I final y realized that I couldnt look directly at the back tree by the vending ma raisees, and I headed that way. At commencement ceremony I felt like the rocking ferry was reservation me seasick, but then I got close decorous that the feeling faded and I could see Fred rest by the window. He smiled at me quickly, and then looked over my head. I fol owed his gaze and saw that he was watching Riley. I got the feeling that hed been doing this for some time.\r\nâ€Å"Okay, kids,” Riley said. â€Å"Youve had a taste of the sweet life, but now weve got work to do!”\r\nThey al roared enthusiastical y.\r\nâ€Å"Ive got three last things to tel you †and one of those things involves a little confection †so lets sink this scow and get menage!”\r\nWith laughter mixed in with the snarls, the army went to work dismantling the boat. Fred and I bailed out the window and watched the demo from a short distance. It didnt take long for the ferry to crumple in the middle with a lo ud groan of metal. The midsection went down first, with twain the bow and the stern twisting up to point to the sky. They sank one at a time, the stern lashing the bow by a few seconds. The school of barracuda headed toward us. Fred and I started swimming for shore. We ran home with the others †though guardianship our distance. A couple of time Fred looked at me like he had something he wanted to say, but each time he seemed to change his mind. Back at the house, Riley let the celebratory mood wind down. however after a few hours had passed, he stil had his give ful trying to get everyone serious again. For once it wasnt a fight he was trying to defuse, just towering spirits. If Rileys promises were false, as I conceit, he was sack to have an issue when the ambush was over. Now that al these vampires had real y feasted, they werent exhalation to go back to any measure of restraint very easily. For tonight, though, Riley was a hero. last-place y †a while after I would have make believeed that the sun was up after-school(prenominal) †everyone was quiet and paying attention. From their faces, it seemed they were ready to hear just about anything he had to say.\r\nRiley stood halfway up the stairs, his face serious.\r\nâ€Å" collar things,” he began. â€Å"First, we want to be sure we get the right coven. If we accidental y run across another clan and slaughter them, wel tip our hand. We want our enemies overconfident and unprepared. There are two things that firebrand this coven, and theyre pretty hard to miss. One, they look different †they have yel ow eye.”\r\nThere was a murmur of confusion.\r\nâ€Å"Yel ow?” Raoul repeated in a disgusted tone.\r\nâ€Å"Theres a lot of the vampire world out there that you havent encountered in time. I told you these vampires were old. Their eyes are weaker than ours †yel owed with age. Another advantage to our side.” He nodded to himself as if to say, one do wn. â€Å"But other old vampires exist, so there is another way that wel have intercourse them for sure… and this is where the dessert I mentioned comes into play.” Riley smiled slyly and waited a beat. â€Å"This is going to be hard to process,” he warned. â€Å"I dont substantiate it, but Ive seen it for myself. These old vampires have gone so soft that they actual y keep †as a member of their coven †a pet human.”\r\nHis divine revelation was met by blank silence. Total disbelief.\r\nâ€Å"I know †hard to swal ow. But its true. Wel know its definitely them because a human girl wil be with them.”\r\nâ€Å"Like… how?” Kristie asked. â€Å"You repute they carry meals almost with them or something?”\r\nâ€Å"No, its always the same girl, just the one, and they dont plan to kil her. I dont know how they fare it, or wherefore. Maybe they just like to be different. Maybe they want to rise off their self-control. Maybe they think it makes them look stronger. It makes no sense to me. But Ive seen her. More than that, Ive smel ed her.”\r\nSlow and dramatic, Riley reached into his jacket and pul ed out a smal ziplock adhesive friction with red material wadded up inside.\r\n â€Å"Ive done some recon in the past few weeks, checking the yel ow-eyes out as soon as they got near the area.” He paused to throw us a paternal look. â€Å"I watch out for my kids. Anyway, when I could tel that they were moving on us, I grabbed this” †he brandished the stunner †â€Å"to help us track them. I want you al to get a lock on this scent.”\r\nHe give the bag to Raoul, who opened the flexible zipper and inhaled deeply. He glanced up at Riley with a startled look.\r\nâ€Å"I know,” Riley said. â€Å"Amazing, right?”\r\nRaoul handed the bag to Kevin, his eyes narrowing in thought.\r\nOne by one, each vampire sniffed the bag, and everyone reacted with wide eye s but little else. I was curious enough that I sidled away from Fred until I could feel a breathing spell of the nausea and knew I was outside his circle. I crept identify until I was passing(a) to the Spider-Man kid, who seemed to be at the shadow end of the line. He sniffed inside the bag when it was his debate and then seemed about to hand it back to the kid who had given it to him, but I held my hand out and hissed quietly. He did a double take †almost like hed never see me before †and handed me the bag.\r\nIt looked like the red fabric was a shirt. I stuck my nose in the opening, keeping my eyes on the vampires near me, just in case, and inhaled.\r\nAh. I understood the expressions now and felt a similar one on my face. Because the human who had worn this shirt had ill sweet blood. When Riley said dessert, he was dead right. On the other hand, I was less thirsty than Id ever been. So while my eyes widened in appreciation, I didnt feel enough pain in my throat to make me grimace. It would be awesome to taste this blood, but in that exact implication, it didnt hurt me that I couldnt.\r\nI wondered how long it would take for me to get thirsty again. inveterate y, a few hours after feeding, the pain would start to come back, and then it would just get worse and worse until †after a couple of age †it was impossible to ignore it nevertheless for a second. Would the immoderate amount of blood Id just drunk tick that? I guessed Id see pretty soon.\r\nI glanced around to make sure no one was waiting for the bag, because I thought Fred would probably be curious, too. Riley caught my eye, smiled the tiniest bit, and jerked his chin slightly toward the corner where Fred was. Which made me want to do the exact opposite of what Id just been planning, but whatever. I didnt want Riley to be suspicious of me. I walked back to Fred, ignoring the nausea until it faded and I was right succeeding(a) to him. I handed him the bag. He seemed pleased Id thought to include him; he smiled and then sniffed the shirt. After a second he nodded thoughtful y to himself. He gave me the bag back with a significant look. The next time we were alone, I thought he would say aloud whatever it was he had seemed to want to part before.\r\nI tossed the bag toward Spider-Man, who reacted like it had fal en out of the sky but stil caught it before it hit the ground. Everyone was buzzing about the scent. Riley clapped his hands together twice.\r\nâ€Å"Okay, so theres the dessert I was talking about. The girl wil be with the yel ow-eyes. And whoever gets to her first gets dessert. Simple as that.”\r\nAppreciative growls, competitive growls.\r\nSimple, yes, but… wrong. Werent we supposed to be destroying the yel ow-eyed coven? Unity was supposed to be the key, not a first-come, first-served prize that only one vampire could win. The only guaranteed outcome from this plan was one dead human. I could think of half a dozen more productive ways to impress this army. The one who kil s the most yel ow-eyes wins the girl. The one who shows the trounce team cooperation gets the girl. The one who sticks to the plan best. The one who fol ows orders best. MVP, etc. The focus should be on the danger, which was definitely not the human.\r\nI looked around at the others and decided that no(prenominal) of them were fol owing the same train of thought. Raoul and Kristie were glaring at each other. I heard Sara and Jen arguing in whispers about the possibility of sharing the prize.\r\nWel, maybe Fred got it. He was frowning, too.\r\nâ€Å"And the last thing,” Riley said. For the first time there was some reluctance in his voice. â€Å"This wil probably be even harder to accept, so Il show you. I wont ask you to do anything I wont do. Remember that †Im with you guys every step of the way.”\r\nThe vampires got real stil again. I noticed that Raoul had the ziplock back and was gripping it possessivel y.\r\nâ€Å"There are so many things you have yet to learn about being a vampire,” Riley said. â€Å"Some of them make more sense than others. This is one of those things that wont sound right at first, but Ive experienced it myself, and Il show you.” He deliberated for a long second. â€Å"Four times a year, the sun shines at a current indirect angle. During that one day, four times a year, it is respectable… for us to be outside in the daylight.”\r\nEvery tiny movement stopped. There was no breathing. Riley was talking to a bunch of statues.\r\nâ€Å"One of those exceptional old age is beginning now. The sun that is rising outside today wont hurt any of us. And we are going to use this rare exception to surprise our enemies.”\r\nMy thoughts spun around and turned upside down. So Riley knew it was safe for us to go out in the sun. Or he didnt, and our creator had told him this â€Å"four days a year” story. Or… this was true and Die go and I had lucked into one of those days. miss that Diego had been out in the shade before. And Riley was making this into some kind of solstice-y seasonal thing, while Diego and I had been safe in the daylight just four days ago. I could understand that Riley and our creator would want to control us with the business organization of the sun. It made sense. But why tel the truth †in a very circumscribed way †now?\r\nI would bet it had to do with those scary dark-cloaks. She probably wanted to get a jump on her deadline. The cloaked ones had not promised to let her live when we kil ed al the yel ow-eyes. I guessed she would be off like a shot the second shed accomplished her objective here. Kil the yel ow-eyes and then take an elongate vacation in Australia or somewhere else on the other side of the world. And Id bet she wasnt going to send us engraved invitations. I would have to get to Diego quick so we could bail, too. In the opposite mission from Riley and our cr eator. And I ought to tip Fred off. I decided I would as soon as we had a moment alone.\r\nThere was so much manipulation going on in this one little speech, and I wasnt sure I was catching it al . I wished Diego were here so we could analyze it together.\r\nIf Riley was just making up this four-days story on the spot, I guess I could understand why. Its not like he could have just said, Hey, so Ive lied to you for your whole lives, but now Im telling the truth. He wanted us to fol ow him into battle today; he couldnt neutralize whatever trust hed earned.\r\nâ€Å"Its right for you to be panicked at the thought,” Riley told the statues. â€Å"The reason you are al stil existing is that you paid attention when I told you to be careful. You got home on time, you didnt make mistakes. You let that fear make you smart and cautious. I dont expect you to put that intel igent fear aside easily. I dont expect you to run out that doorstep on my word. But…”\r\nHe looked around the room once. â€Å"I do expect you to follow me out.”\r\nHis eyes slid away from the audience for just the teensiest split of a second, touching very briefly on something over my head.\r\nâ€Å"Watch me,” he told us. â€Å"Listen to me. imprecate me. When you see that Im okay, believe your eyes. The sun on this one day does have some interesting effects on our skin. Youl see. It wont hurt you in any way. I wouldnt do anything to put you guys in unnecessary danger. You know that.”\r\nHe started up the stairs.\r\nâ€Å"Riley, cant we just wait †,” Kristie began.\r\nâ€Å"Just pay attention,” Riley cut her off, stil moving up at a measured pace. â€Å"This gives us a big advantage. The yel oweyes know al about this day, but they dont know that we know.”\r\nAs he was talking, he opened the door and walked out of the basement into the kitchen. There was no light in the wel -shaded kitchen, but everyone stil shied away from the o pen doorway. Everyone but me. His voice continued, moving toward the front door. â€Å"It takes most upstart vampires a while to embrace this exception †for straightforward reason. Those who arent cautious about the daylight dont last long.”\r\nI felt Freds eyes on me. I glanced over at him. He was staring at me urgently, as if he wanted to take off but had nowhere to go.\r\nâ€Å"Its okay,” I whispered almost silently. â€Å"The suns not going to hurt us.”\r\nYou trust him? he mouthed back at me.\r\nNo way.\r\n'