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.
Riley passed through the door first, and the kitchen of the home was, as he'd promised, totally black. He motioned for me to keep following and led me through a dark hall past a few open bedroom doors, then through another door with a dead bolt. We ended up in the garage.
"You're brave," he commented in a very low voice. "Or really trusting. I thought it would be more work to get you upstairs with the sun up."
Whoops. I should have been more skittish. Too late now. I shrugged.
"So you and Diego are pretty tight, right?" he asked, just breathing the words. Probably, if everyone were silent in the basement, they would still be able to hear him, but it was pretty noisy down there right now.
I shrugged again. "He saved my life," I whispered.
Riley lifted his chin, almost but not quite a nod, and appraised. Did he believe me? Did he think I still feared the day?
"He's the best," Riley said. "The smartest kid I've got."
I nodded once.
"We had a little meeting about the situation. We agreed that we need some surveillance. Going in blind is too dangerous. He's the only one I trust to scout ahead." He exhaled, almost angrily. "Wish I had two of him! Raoul's got too short a fuse and Kristie is too self-absorbed to get the big picture, but they're the best I've got, and I'll have to make do. Diego said you were smart, too."
I waited, not sure how much of our story Riley knew.
"I need your help with Fred. Wow, that kid is strong! I couldn't even look at him tonight."
I nodded cautiously again.
"Imagine if our enemies can't even look at us. It will be so easy!"
I didn't think Fred would like that idea, but maybe I was wrong. He didn't seem like he cared anything for this coven of ours. Would he want to save us? I didn't respond to Riley.
"You spend a lot of time with him."
I shrugged. "Nobody bothers me there. It's not easy."
Riley pursed his lips and nodded. "Smart, like Diego said."
"Where is Diego?"
I shouldn't have asked. The words just ripped out of their own accord. I waited anxiously, trying to look indifferent and most likely failing.
"We don't have time to waste. I sent him south the second I found out what was coming. If our enemies decide to attack early, we need the advance warning. Diego will meet up with us when we move against them."
I tried to imagine where Diego was now. I wished I were there with him. Maybe I could talk him out of doing Riley's bidding and putting himself in the line of fire in the process. But maybe not. It seemed like Diego was thick with Riley, just like I'd worried.
"Diego wanted me to tell you something."
My eyes snapped to his face. Too fast, too eager. Blew it again.
"Sounded like nonsense to me. He said, 'Tell Bree I've got the handshake figured out. I'll show her in four days, when we meet up.' I have no idea what that means. Do you?"
I tried to force a poker face. "Maybe. He did say something about needing a secret handshake. For his underwater cave. Some kind of password. He was just kidding around, though. I'm not sure what he means now."
Riley chuckled. "Poor Diego."
"What?"
"I think that kid likes you a lot more than you like him."
"Oh." I looked away, confused. Was Diego giving me this message as a way to let me know I could trust Riley? But he hadn't told Riley I knew about the sun. Still, he must have trusted Riley to tell him so much, to show Riley that he cared about me. I thought it would be wiser to keep my mouth shut, though. Too much had changed.
"Don't write him off yet, Bree. He's the best, like I said. Give him a chance."
Riley was giving me romantic advice? This could not get weirder. I bobbed my head once and muttered, "Sure."
"See if you can talk to Fred. Make sure he's on board."
I shrugged. "I'll do what I can."
Riley smiled. "Great. I'll pull you aside before we leave, and you can tell me how it went. I'll keep it casual, not like tonight. I don't want him to feel like I'm spying on him."
"Okay."
Riley motioned for me to follow and then headed back to the basement.
The training lasted all day, but I wasn't part of it. After Riley went back to his team leaders, I took my spot beside Fred. The others had been divided up into four groups of four, with Raoul and Kristie directing them. No one had picked Fred for a side, or maybe he'd ignored them, or maybe they couldn't even see that he was there. I could still see him. He stood out--the only one not participating, a big blond elephant in the room.
I had no desire to insinuate myself into either Raoul's team or Kristie's, so I just watched. No one seemed to notice that I was sitting out with Fred. Though we must have been somewhat invisible, thanks to talented Fred, I felt horribly obvious. I wished I were invisible to myself--that I could see the illusion so that I could trust it. But no one noticed us, and after a while I could almost relax.
I watched the practicing closely. I wanted to know everything, just in case. I wasn't planning on fighting; I was planning on finding Diego and making a break for it. But what if Diego wanted to fight? Or what if we had to fight to get away from the rest? Better to pay attention.
Only once did anyone ask about Diego. It was Kevin, but I had a sense that Raoul had put him up to it.
"So, did Diego end up getting fried after all?" Kevin asked in a forced joking tone.
"Diego's with her," Riley said, and no one had to ask who he meant. "Surveillance."
A few people shuddered. No one said anything more about Diego.
Was he really with her? I cringed at the thought. Maybe Riley was just saying that to keep people from questioning him. He probably didn't want Raoul getting jealous and feeling second best when Riley needed him at his most arrogant today. I couldn't be sure, and I wasn't going to ask. I kept quiet, as usual, and watched the training.
In the end, watching was boring, thirsty work. Riley didn't give his army a break for three days and two nights straight. During the daytime it was harder to stay out of the mix--we all were crammed so tightly into the basement. It made things easier in one way for Ril
ey--he could usually catch a fight before it got ugly. Outside at night, they had more room to really work around each other, but Riley was kept busy darting back and forth to catch limbs and get them back to their owners quickly. He kept his temper well, and he'd been smart enough to find all the lighters this time. I would have bet that this would spin out of control, that we'd lose at least a couple of coven members with Raoul and Kristie skirmishing head to head for days on end. But Riley had better control of them than I had thought possible.
Still, it was mostly repetition. I noticed Riley saying the same things over and over and over again. Work together, watch your back, don't go at her head-on; work together, watch your back, don't go at him head-on; work together, watch your back, don't go at her head-on. It was kind of ridiculous, really, and made the group seem exceptionally stupid. But I was sure I would have been just as stupid if I'd been in the thick of the fight with them rather than watching calmly from the sidelines with Fred.
It reminded me in a way of how Riley had drilled into us our fear of the sun. Constant repetition.
Still, it was so dull that after about ten hours that first day, Fred produced a deck of cards and started playing solitaire. That was more interesting than watching the same mistakes over and over again, so I mostly watched him.
After about another twelve hours--we were inside again--I nudged Fred to point out a red five that he could move over. He nodded and made the change. After that hand, he dealt out the cards to both of us, and we played rummy. We never spoke, but Fred smiled a few times. No one ever looked our way or asked us to join in.
There were no hunting breaks, and as time went on, this got harder and harder to ignore. Fights broke out more regularly and with less provocation. Riley's commands got more shrill, and he tore off two arms himself. I tried to forget the burning thirst as much as possible--after all, Riley must have been getting thirsty, too, so this couldn't last forever--but mostly thirst was the only thing on my mind. Fred was looking pretty strained.
Early into the third night--one more day to go, and when I thought about the ticking clock it tied my empty stomach into knots--Riley called all the mock fights to a halt.
"Round it up, kids," he told us, and everyone moved into a loose half-circle facing him. The original gangs all stood close together, so the practicing hadn't changed any of those alliances. Fred put the cards in his back pocket and stood up. I stood close to his side, counting on his repulsive aura to hide me.
"You've done well," Riley told us. "Tonight, you get a reward. Drink up, because tomorrow you're going to want your strength."
Snarls of relief from almost everyone.
"I say want and not need for a reason," Riley went on. "I think you guys have got this. You've stayed smart and worked hard. Our enemies aren't going to know what's hit them!"
Kristie and Raoul growled, and both of their companies followed suit immediately. I was surprised to see it, but they did look like an army in that moment. Not that they were marching in formation or anything, but there was just something uniform about the response. Like they all were part of one big organism. As always, Fred and I were the glaring exceptions, but I thought only Riley was even the slightest bit aware of us--every now and then his eyes would scan across where we were standing, almost like he was checking to make sure he still felt Fred's talent. And Riley didn't seem to mind that we weren't joining up. For now, anyway.
"Um, you mean tomorrow night, right, boss?" Raoul clarified.
"Right," Riley said with a strange little smile. It didn't seem like anyone else noticed anything off in his reply--except for Fred. He looked down at me with one eyebrow raised. I shrugged.
"You ready for your reward?" Riley asked.
His little army roared in response.
"Tonight you get a taste of what our world will be like when our competition is out of the picture. Follow me!"
Riley bounded away; Raoul and his team were right on his heels. Kristie's group started shoving and clawing right through the middle of them to get to the front.
"Don't make me change my mind!" Riley bellowed from the trees ahead. "You can all go thirsty. I don't care!"
Kristie barked an order and her group sullenly fell behind Raoul's. Fred and I waited until the last of them was out of sight. Then Fred did one of those little ladies first sweeps with his arm. It didn't feel like he was afraid to have me at his back, just that he was being polite. I started running after the army.
The others were already long gone, but it was nothing to follow their smell. Fred and I ran in companionable silence. I wondered what he was thinking. Maybe he was only thirsty. I was burning, so he probably was, too.
We caught up to the others after about five minutes, but kept our distance. The army was moving in amazing quiet. They were focused, and more... disciplined. I kind of wished that Riley had started the training sooner. It was easier to be around this group.
We crossed over an empty two-lane freeway, another strip of forest, and then we were on a beach. The water was smooth, and we'd gone almost due north, so this must have been the strait. We hadn't passed near any residences, and I was sure that was on purpose. Thirsty and on edge, it wouldn't take too much to dissolve this small measure of organization into a screaming free-for-all.
We'd never hunted all together before, and I was pretty sure that it was not a good idea now. I remembered Kevin and the Spider-Man kid fighting over the woman in the car that first night I'd talked to Diego. Riley had better have a whole lot of bodies for us or people were going to start tearing each other up to get the most blood.
Riley paused at the water's edge.
"Don't hold back," he told us. "I want you well fed and strong--at your peak. Now... let's go have some fun."
He dove smoothly into the surf. The others were growling excitedly as they submerged, too. Fred and I followed more closely than before because we couldn't follow their scent under water. But I could feel that Fred was hesitant--ready to bolt if this was something other than an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord. It seemed like he didn't trust Riley any more than I did.
We didn't swim long, and then we saw the others kicking upward. Fred and I surfaced last, and Riley started talking as soon as our heads were out of the water, like he'd been waiting for us. He must have been more aware of Fred than the others were.
"There she is," he said, waving toward a large ferry chugging south, probably making the last commuter run of the night down from Canada. "Give me a minute. When the power goes out, she's all yours."
There was an excited murmur. Someone giggled. Riley was off like a shot, and seconds later we saw him fly up the side of the big boat. He headed straight for the control tower on top of the ship. Silencing the radio was my bet. He could say all he wanted about these enemies being our reason for caution, but I was sure there was more to it than that. Humans weren't supposed to know about vampires. At least, not for very long. Just long enough for us to kill them.
Riley kicked a big plate-glass window out of his way and disappeared into the tower. Five seconds later, the lights went out.
I realized Raoul was already gone. He must have submerged so we wouldn't hear him swimming after Riley. Everyone else took off, and the water churned as if an enormous school of barracuda were attacking.
Fred 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, but we still did things at exactly the same time.
We got to the boat about three seconds later, and already the air was full of shrieks and the warm scent of blood. The smell made me realize exactly how thirsty I was, but that was the last thing I realized. My brain shut down completely. There was nothing but fiery pain in my throat and the delicious blood--blood everywhere--promising to put that fire out.
When it was over and there wasn't a heart left beating on the whole ship, I wasn't sure how many people I'd personally killed. More than triple the number I'd ever had on a hunting trip before, eas
y. I felt hot and flushed. I'd drunk long past the point at which my thirst was totally slaked, just for the taste of the blood. Most of the blood on the ferry was clean and luscious--these passengers had not been dregs. Though I hadn't held back, I was probably at the low end of the kill count. Raoul was so surrounded by mangled bodies that they actually made a little hill. He sat on top of his pile of the dead and laughed loudly to himself.
He wasn't the only one laughing. The dark boat was full of sounds of delight. I heard Kristie say, "That was amazing--three cheers for Riley!" Some of her crowd put up a raucous chorus of hurrahs like a bunch of happy drunks.
Jen and Kevin swung onto the view deck, dripping wet. "Got 'em all, boss," Jen called to Riley. So some people must have tried to swim for it. I hadn't noticed.
I looked around for Fred. It took me a while to find him. I finally realized that I couldn't look directly at the back corner by the vending machines, and I headed that way. At first I felt like the rocking ferry was making me seasick, but then I got close enough that the feeling faded and I could see Fred standing by the window. He smiled at me quickly, and then looked over my head. I followed his gaze and saw that he was watching Riley. I got the feeling that he'd been doing this for some time.
"Okay, kids," Riley said. "You've had a taste of the sweet life, but now we've got work to do!"
They all roared enthusiastically.
"I've got three last things to tell you--and one of those things involves a little dessert--so let's sink this scow and get home!"
With 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 didn't take long for the ferry to crumple in the middle with a loud groan of metal. The midsection went down first, with both the bow and the stern twisting up to point to the sky. They sank one at a time, the stern beating the bow by a few seconds. The school of barracuda headed toward us. Fred and I started swimming for shore.