"Really? That's cool."
Fred smiled. "I've been practicing, keeping track of the effects. I can make myself totally invisible now. No one can look at me if I don't want them to."
"I've noticed," I said, then paused and guessed, "You're not going?"
Fred shook his head. "Of course not. It's obvious we're not being told what we need to know. I'm not going to be Riley's pawn."
So Fred had figured it out on his own.
"I was going to take off sooner, but then I wanted to talk to you before I left, and there hasn't been a chance till now."
"I wanted to talk to you, too," I said. "I thought you should know that Riley's been lying about the sun. This four-day thing is a total crock. I think Shelly and Steve and the others figured it out, too. And there's a lot more politics going on with this fight than he's told us. More than one set of enemies." I said it fast, feeling with terrible urgency the movement of the sun, the time passing. I had to get to Diego.
"I'm not surprised," Fred said calmly. "And I'm out. I'm going to explore on my own, see the world. Or I was going on my own, but then I thought maybe you might want to come, too. You'd be pretty safe with me. No one will be able to follow us."
I hesitated for a second. The idea of safety was hard to resist in that exact moment.
"I've got to get Diego," I said, shaking my head.
He nodded thoughtfully. "I get it. You know, if you're willing to vouch for him, you can bring him along. Seems like sometimes numbers come in handy."
"Yes," I agreed fervently, remembering how vulnerable I'd felt in the tree alone with Diego as the four cloaks had advanced.
He raised an eyebrow at my tone.
"Riley is lying about at least one more important thing," I explained. "Be careful. We aren't supposed to let humans know about us. There are some kind of freaky vampires who stop covens when they get too obvious. I've seen them, and you don't want them to find you. Just keep out of sight in the day, and hunt smart." I looked south anxiously. "I have to hurry!"
He was processing my revelations solemnly. "Okay. Catch up to me if you want. I'd like to hear more. I'll wait for you in Vancouver for one day. I know the city. I'll leave you a trail in..." He thought for a second and then chuckled once. "Riley Park. You can follow it to me. But after twenty-four hours I'm taking off."
"I'll get Diego and catch up to you."
"Good luck, Bree."
"Thanks, Fred! Good luck to you, too. I'll see you!" I was already running.
"I hope so," I heard him say behind me.
I sprinted after the scent of the others, flying along the ground faster than I'd ever run before. I was lucky that they must have paused for something--for Riley to yell at them, I was guessing--because I caught them sooner than I should have. Or maybe Riley had remembered Fred and stopped to look for us. They were running at a steady pace when I reached them, semi-disciplined like last night. I tried to slide into the group without drawing attention, but I saw Riley's head flip around once to scan those trailing behind. His eyes zeroed in on me, and then he started running faster. Did he assume Fred was with me? Riley would never see Fred again.
It wasn't five minutes later when everything changed.
Raoul caught the scent. With a wild growl he was off. Riley had us so worked up that it took only the tiniest spark to set off an explosion. The others near Raoul had the scent, too, and then everyone went crazy. Riley's harping on this human had overshadowed the rest of his instructions. We were hunters, not an army. There was no team. It was a race for blood.
Even though I knew there were a lot of lies in the story, I couldn't totally resist the scent. Running at the back of the pack, I had to cross it. Fresh. Strong. The human had been here recently, and she smelled so sweet. I was strong with all the blood we'd drunk last night, but it didn't matter. I was thirsty. It burned.
I ran after the others, trying to keep my head clear. It was all I could do to hold back a little, to stay behind the others. The closest person to me was Riley. He was... holding back, too?
He shouted orders, mostly the same thing repeated. "Kristie, go around! Move around! Split off! Kristie, Jen! Break off!" His whole plan of the two-pronged ambush was self-destructing as we watched.
Riley sped up to the main group and grabbed Sara's shoulder. She snapped at him as he hurled her to the left. "Go around!" he shouted. He caught the blond kid whose name I'd never figured out and shoved him into Sara, who clearly wasn't happy with that. Kristie came out of the hunting focus long enough to realize she was supposed to be moving strategically. She gave one fierce gaze after Raoul and then started screeching at her team.
"This way! Faster! We'll beat them around and get to her first! C'mon!"
"I'm spear point with Raoul!" Riley shouted at her, turning away.
I hesitated, still running forward. I didn't want to be part of any "spear point," but Kristie's team was already turning on each other. Sara had the blond kid in a headlock. The sound of his head tearing off made my decision for me. I sprinted after Riley, wondering if Sara would pause to burn the boy who liked to play Spider-Man.
I caught up enough to see Riley ahead and followed at a distance until he got to Raoul's team. The scent made it hard to keep my mind on the things that mattered.
"Raoul!" Riley yelled.
Raoul grunted, not turning. He was totally absorbed by the sweet scent.
"I've got to help Kristie! I'll meet you there! Keep your focus!"
I jerked to a stop, frozen with uncertainty.
Raoul kept on, not showing any response to Riley's words. Riley slowed to a jog, then a walk. I should have moved, but he probably would have heard me try to hide. He turned, a smile on his face, and saw me.
"Bree. I thought you were with Kristie."
I didn't respond.
"I heard someone get hurt--Kristie needs me more than Raoul," he explained quickly.
"Are you... leaving us?"
Riley's face changed. It was like I could see his shifting tactics written on his features. His eyes widened, suddenly anxious.
"I'm worried, Bree. I told you that she was going to meet us, to help us, but I haven't crossed her trail. Something's wrong. I need to find her."
"But there's no way you can find her before Raoul gets to the yellow-eyes," I pointed out.
"I have to find out what's going on." He sounded genuinely desperate. "I need her. I wasn't supposed to do this alone!"
"But the others..."
"Bree, I have to go find her! Now! There are enough of you to overwhelm the yellow-eyes. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
He sounded so sincere. I hesitated, glancing back the way we had come. Fred would be halfway to Vancouver by now. Riley hadn't even asked about him. Maybe Fred's talent was still in effect.
"Diego's down there, Bree," Riley said urgently. "He'll be part of the first attack. Didn't you catch his scent back there? Did you not get close enough?"
I shook my head, totally confused. "Diego was there?"
"He's with Raoul by now. If you hurry, you can help him get out alive."
We stared at each other for a long second, and then I looked south after Raoul's path.
"Good girl," Riley said. "I'll go find her and we'll be back to help clean up. You guys have got this! It might be over by the time you get there!"
He took off in a direction perpendicular to our original path. I clenched my teeth at how sure he seemed of his way. Lying to the end.
But it didn't feel like I had a choice. I headed south in a flat-out sprint again. I had to go get Diego. Drag him away if it came to that. We could catch up with Fred. Or take off on our own. We needed to run. I would tell Diego how Riley had lied. He would see that Riley had no intention of helping us fight the battle he'd set up. There was no reason to help him anymore.
I found the human's scent and then Raoul's. I didn't catch Diego's. Was I going too fast? Or was the human's scent just overpowering me? Half my head was absorbed in
this strangely counterproductive hunt--sure, we would find the girl, but would we be ready to fight together when we did? No, we'd be clawing each other apart to get to her.
And then I heard the snarling and screaming and screeching explode from ahead and I knew the fight was happening and I was too late to beat Diego there. I only ran faster. Maybe I could still save him.
I smelled the smoke--the sweet, thick scent of vampires burning--carried back to me on the wind. The sound of mayhem was louder. Maybe it was almost done. Would I find our coven victorious and Diego waiting?
I dashed through a heavy fringe of smoke and found myself out of the forest in a huge grassy field. I leaped over a rock, only to realize in the instant I flew past it that it was a headless torso.
My eyes raked the field. There were pieces of vampires everywhere, and a huge bonfire smoking purple into the sunny sky. Out from under the billowing haze, I could see dazzling, glittering bodies darting and grappling as the sounds of vampires being torn apart went on and on.
I looked for one thing: Diego's curly black hair. No one I could see had hair so dark. There was one huge vampire with brown hair that was almost black, but he was too big, and as I focused I watched him tear Kevin's head off and pitch it into the fire before leaping on someone else's back. Was that Jen? There was another with straight black hair that was too small to be Diego. That one was moving so fast I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl.
I scanned quickly again, feeling horribly exposed. I took in the faces. There weren't nearly enough vampires here, even counting those that were down. I didn't see any of Kristie's group. There must have been a lot of vampires burned already. Most of the vampires still standing were strangers. A blond vampire glanced at me, meeting my gaze, and his eyes flashed gold in the sunlight.
We were losing. Bad.
I started backing toward the trees, not moving fast enough because I was still looking for Diego. He wasn't here. There was no sign he had ever been here. No trace of his scent, though I could distinguish the smells of most of Raoul's team and many strangers. I had made myself look at the pieces, too. None of them belonged to Diego. I would have recognized even a finger.
I turned and really ran for the trees, suddenly positive that Diego's presence here was just another of Riley's lies.
And if Diego wasn't here, then he was already dead. This fell into place for me so easily that I thought I must have known the truth for a while. Since the moment that Diego had not followed Riley through the basement door. He'd already been gone.
I was a few feet into the trees when a force like a wrecking ball hit me from behind and threw me to the ground. An arm slipped under my chin.
"Please!" I sobbed. And I meant please kill me fast.
The arm hesitated. I didn't fight back, though my instincts were urging me to bite and claw and rip the enemy apart. The saner part of me knew that wasn't going to work. Riley had lied about these weak, older vampires, too, and we'd never had a chance. But even if I'd had a way to beat this one, I wouldn't have been able to move. Diego was gone, and that glaring fact killed the fight in me.
Suddenly I was airborne. I crashed into a tree and crumpled to the ground. I should have tried to run, but Diego was dead. I couldn't get around that.
The blond vampire from the clearing was staring intently at me, his body ready to spring. He looked very capable, much more experienced than Riley. But he wasn't lunging at me. He wasn't crazed like Raoul or Kristie. He was totally in control.
"Please," I said again, wanting him to get this over with. "I don't want to fight."
Though he still held himself ready, his face changed. He looked at me in a way I didn't totally get. There was a lot of knowledge in that face, and something else. Empathy? Pity, at least.
"Neither do I, child," he said in a calm, kind voice. "We are only defending ourselves."
There was such honesty in his odd yellow eyes that it made me wonder how I had ever believed any of Riley's stories. I felt... guilty. Maybe this coven had never planned to attack us in Seattle. How could I trust any part of what I'd been told?
"We didn't know," I explained, somehow ashamed. "Riley lied. I'm sorry."
He listened for a moment, and I realized that the battlefield was quiet. It was over.
If I'd been in any doubt over who the winner was, that doubt was gone when, a second later, a female vampire with wavy brown hair and yellow eyes hurried to his side.
"Carlisle?" she asked in a confused voice, staring at me.
"She doesn't want to fight," he told her.
The woman touched his arm. He was still tensed to spring. "She's so frightened, Carlisle. Couldn't we..."
The blond, Carlisle, glanced back at her, and then he straightened up a little, though I could see he was still wary.
"We have no wish to harm you," the woman said to me. She had a soft, soothing voice. "We didn't want to fight any of you."
"I'm sorry," I whispered again.
I couldn't make sense of the mess in my head. Diego was dead, and that was the main thing, the devastating thing. Other than that, the fight was over, my coven had lost and my enemies had won. But my dead coven was full of people who would have loved to watch me burn, and my enemies were speaking to me kindly when they had no reason to. Moreover, I felt safer with these two strangers than I'd ever felt with Raoul and Kristie. I was relieved that Raoul and Kristie were dead. It was so confusing.
"Child," Carlisle said, "will you surrender to us? If you do not try to harm us, we promise we will not harm you."
And I believed him.
"Yes," I whispered. "Yes, I surrender. I don't want to hurt anybody."
He held out his hand encouragingly. "Come, child. Let our family regroup for a moment, then we'll have some questions for you. If you answer honestly, you have nothing to fear."
I got up slowly, making no movements that could be considered threatening.
"Carlisle?" a male voice called.
And then another yellow-eyed vampire joined us. Any sort of safety I'd felt with these strangers vanished as soon as I saw him.
He was blond, like the first, but taller and leaner. His skin was absolutely covered in scars, spaced most thickly together on his neck and jaw. A few small marks on his arm were fresh, but the rest were not from the brawl today. He had been in more fights than I could have imagined, and he'd never lost. His tawny eyes blazed and his stance exuded the barely contained violence of an angry lion.
As soon as he saw me he coiled to spring.
"Jasper!" Carlisle warned.
Jasper pulled up short and stared at Carlisle with wide eyes. "What's going on?"
"She doesn't want to fight. She's surrendered."
The scarred vampire's brow clouded, and suddenly I felt an unexpected surge of frustration, though I had no idea what I was frustrated with.
"Carlisle, I..." He hesitated, then continued, "I'm sorry, but that's not possible. We can't have any of these newborns associated with us when the Volturi come. Do you realize the danger that would put us in?"
I didn't understand exactly what he was saying, but I got enough. He wanted to kill me.
"Jasper, she's only a child," the woman protested. "We can't just murder her in cold blood!"
It was strange to hear her speak like we both were people, like murder was a bad thing. An avoidable thing.
"It's our family on the line here, Esme. We can't afford to have them think we broke this rule."
The woman, Esme, walked between me and the one who wanted to kill me. Incomprehensibly, she turned her back to me.
"No. I won't stand for it."
Carlisle shot me an anxious glance. I could see that he cared a lot for this woman. I would have looked the same way at anyone behind Diego's back. I tried to appear as docile as I felt.
"Jasper, I think we have to take the chance," he said slowly. "We are not the Volturi. We follow their rules, but we do not take lives lightly. We will explain."
"They might
think we created our own newborns in defense."
"But we didn't. And even had we, there was no indiscretion here, only in Seattle. There is no law against creating vampires if you control them."
"This is too dangerous."
Carlisle touched Jasper's shoulder tentatively. "Jasper. We cannot kill this child."
Jasper glowered at the man with the kind eyes, and I was suddenly angry. Surely he wouldn't hurt this gentle vampire or the woman he loved. Then Jasper sighed, and I knew it was okay. My anger evaporated.
"I don't like this," he said, but he was calmer. "At least let me take charge of her. You two don't know how to deal with someone who's been running wild so long."
"Of course, Jasper," the woman said. "But be kind."
Jasper rolled his eyes. "We need to be with the others. Alice said we don't have long."
Carlisle nodded. He held his hand out to Esme, and they headed past Jasper back toward the open field.
"You there," Jasper said to me, his face a glower again. "Come with us. Don't make one rash move or I will take you down."
I felt angry again as he glared at me, and a small part of me wanted to snarl and show my teeth, but I had a feeling he was looking for just that kind of excuse.
Jasper paused as if he'd just thought of something. "Close your eyes," he commanded.
I hesitated. Had he decided to kill me after all?
"Do it!"
I gritted my teeth and shut my eyes. I felt twice as helpless as I had before.
"Follow the sound of my voice and don't open your eyes. You look, you lose, got it?"
I nodded, wondering what he didn't want me to see. I felt some relief that he was bothering to protect a secret. There was no reason to do so if he was just going to kill me.
"This way."
I walked slowly after him, careful to give him no excuses. He was considerate in the way he led, not walking me into any trees, at least. I could hear the way the sound changed when we were in the open; the feel of the wind was different, too, and the smell of my coven burning was stronger. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face, and the insides of my eyelids were brighter as I sparkled.
He led me closer and closer to the muffled crackle of the flames, so close that I could feel the smoke brush my skin. I knew he could have killed me at any time, but the nearness of the fire still made me nervous.