We ran home with the others--though keeping our distance. A couple of times 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. Even after a few hours had passed, he still had his hands full trying to get everyone serious again. For once it wasn't a fight he was trying to defuse, just high spirits. If Riley's promises were false, as I thought, he was going to have an issue when the ambush was over. Now that all these vampires had really feasted, they weren't going to go back to any measure of restraint very easily. For tonight, though, Riley was a hero.
Finally--a while after I would have guessed that the sun was up outside--everyone was quiet and paying attention. From their faces, it seemed they were ready to hear just about anything he had to say.
Riley stood halfway up the stairs, his face serious.
"Three things," he began. "First, we want to be sure we get the right coven. If we accidentally run across another clan and slaughter them, we'll tip our hand. We want our enemies overconfident and unprepared. There are two things that mark this coven, and they're pretty hard to miss. One, they look different--they have yellow eyes."
There was a murmur of confusion.
"Yellow?" Raoul repeated in a disgusted tone.
"There's a lot of the vampire world out there that you haven't encountered yet. I told you these vampires were old. Their eyes are weaker than ours--yellowed with age. Another advantage to our side." He nodded to himself as if to say, one down. "But other old vampires exist, so there is another way that we'll know them for sure... and this is where the dessert I mentioned comes into play." Riley smiled slyly and waited a beat. "This is going to be hard to process," he warned. "I don't understand it, but I've seen it for myself. These old vampires have gone so soft that they actually keep--as a member of their coven--a pet human."
His revelation was met by blank silence. Total disbelief.
"I know--hard to swallow. But it's true. We'll know it's definitely them because a human girl will be with them."
"Like... how?" Kristie asked. "You mean they carry meals around with them or something?"
"No, it's always the same girl, just the one, and they don't plan to kill her. I don't know how they manage it, or why. Maybe they just like to be different. Maybe they want to show off their self-control. Maybe they think it makes them look stronger. It makes no sense to me. But I've seen her. More than that, I've smelled her."
Slow and dramatic, Riley reached into his jacket and pulled out a small ziplock bag with red fabric wadded up inside.
"I've done some recon in the past few weeks, checking the yellow-eyes out as soon as they got near the area." He paused to throw us a paternal look. "I watch out for my kids. Anyway, when I could tell that they were moving on us, I grabbed this"--he brandished the bag--"to help us track them. I want you all to get a lock on this scent."
He handed the bag to Raoul, who opened the plastic zipper and inhaled deeply. He glanced up at Riley with a startled look.
"I know," Riley said. "Amazing, right?"
Raoul handed the bag to Kevin, his eyes narrowing in thought.
One by one, each vampire sniffed the bag, and everyone reacted with wide eyes but little else. I was curious enough that I sidled away from Fred until I could feel a hint of the nausea and knew I was outside his circle. I crept forward until I was next to the Spider-Man kid, who seemed to be at the tail end of the line. He sniffed inside the bag when it was his turn 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 he'd never see me before--and handed me the bag.
It 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.
Ah. I understood the expressions now and felt a similar one on my face. Because the human who had worn this shirt had seriously sweet blood. When Riley said dessert, he was dead right. On the other hand, I was less thirsty than I'd ever been. So while my eyes widened in appreciation, I didn't feel enough pain in my throat to make me grimace. It would be awesome to taste this blood, but in that exact moment, it didn't hurt me that I couldn't.
I wondered how long it would take for me to get thirsty again. Usually, 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 days--it was impossible to ignore it even for a second. Would the excessive amount of blood I'd just drunk delay that? I guessed I'd see pretty soon.
I 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 I'd just been planning, but whatever. I didn't want Riley to be suspicious of me.
I walked back to Fred, ignoring the nausea until it faded and I was right next to him. I handed him the bag. He seemed pleased I'd thought to include him; he smiled and then sniffed the shirt. After a second he nodded thoughtfully 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 share before.
I tossed the bag toward Spider-Man, who reacted like it had fallen out of the sky but still caught it before it hit the ground.
Everyone was buzzing about the scent. Riley clapped his hands together twice.
"Okay, so there's the dessert I was talking about. The girl will be with the yellow-eyes. And whoever gets to her first gets dessert. Simple as that."
Appreciative growls, competitive growls.
Simple, yes, but... wrong. Weren't we supposed to be destroying the yellow-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 motivate this army. The one who kills the most yellow-eyes wins the girl. The one who shows the best team cooperation gets the girl. The one who sticks to the plan best. The one who follows orders best. MVP, etc. The focus should be on the danger, which was definitely not the human.
I looked around at the others and decided that none of them were following 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.
Well, maybe Fred got it. He was frowning, too.
"And the last thing," Riley said. For the first time there was some reluctance in his voice. "This will probably be even harder to accept, so I'll show you. I won't ask you to do anything I won't do. Remember that--I'm with you guys every step of the way."
The vampires got real still again. I noticed that Raoul had the ziplock back and was gripping it possessively.
"There are so many things you have yet to learn about being a vampire," Riley said. "Some of them make more sense than others. This is one of those things that won't sound right at first, but I've experienced it myself, and I'll show you." He deliberated for a long second. "Four times a year, the sun shines at a certain indirect angle. During that one day, four times a year, it is safe... for us to be outside in the daylight."
Every tiny movement stopped. There was no breathing. Riley was talking to a bunch of statues.
"One of those special days is beginning now. The sun that is rising outside today won't hurt any of us. And we are going to use this rare exception to surprise our enemies."
My thoughts spun around and turned upside down. So Riley knew it was safe for us to go out in the sun. Or he didn't, and our creator had told him this "four days a year" story. Or... this was true and Diego and I had lucked into one of those days. Except 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.
&
nbsp; I could understand that Riley and our creator would want to control us with the fear of the sun. It made sense. But why tell the truth--in a very limited way--now?
I 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 killed all the yellow-eyes. I guessed she would be off like a shot the second she'd accomplished her objective here. Kill the yellow-eyes and then take an extended vacation in Australia or somewhere else on the other side of the world. And I'd bet she wasn't going to send us engraved invitations. I would have to get to Diego quick so we could bail, too. In the opposite direction from Riley and our creator. And I ought to tip Fred off. I decided I would as soon as we had a moment alone.
There was so much manipulation going on in this one little speech, and I wasn't sure I was catching it all. I wished Diego were here so we could analyze it together.
If Riley was just making up this four-days story on the spot, I guess I could understand why. It's not like he could have just said, Hey, so I've lied to you for your whole lives, but now I'm telling the truth. He wanted us to follow him into battle today; he couldn't undermine whatever trust he'd earned.
"It's right for you to be terrified at the thought," Riley told the statues. "The reason you are all still alive is that you paid attention when I told you to be careful. You got home on time, you didn't make mistakes. You let that fear make you smart and cautious. I don't expect you to put that intelligent fear aside easily. I don't expect you to run out that door on my word. But..." He looked around the room once. "I do expect you to follow me out."
His eyes slid away from the audience for just the teensiest fraction of a second, touching very briefly on something over my head.
"Watch me," he told us. "Listen to me. Trust me. When you see that I'm okay, believe your eyes. The sun on this one day does have some interesting effects on our skin. You'll see. It won't hurt you in any way. I wouldn't do anything to put you guys in unnecessary danger. You know that."
He started up the stairs.
"Riley, can't we just wait--," Kristie began.
"Just pay attention," Riley cut her off, still moving up at a measured pace. "This gives us a big advantage. The yellow-eyes know all about this day, but they don't know that we know." As he was talking, he opened the door and walked out of the basement into the kitchen. There was no light in the well-shaded kitchen, but everyone still shied away from the open doorway. Everyone but me. His voice continued, moving toward the front door. "It takes most young vampires a while to embrace this exception--for good reason. Those who aren't cautious about the daylight don't last long."
I felt Fred's 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.
"It's okay," I whispered almost silently. "The sun's not going to hurt us."
You trust him? he mouthed back at me.
No way.
Fred raised an eyebrow and relaxed just slightly.
I glanced behind us. What had Riley been looking at? Nothing had changed--just some family pictures of dead people, a small mirror, and a cuckoo clock. Hmm. Was he checking the time? Maybe our creator had given him a deadline, too.
"'Kay, guys, I'm going out," Riley said. "You don't have to be afraid today, I promise."
The light burst into the basement through the open door, magnified--as only I knew--by Riley's skin. I could see the bright reflections dance on the wall.
Hissing and snarling, my coven backed into the corner opposite from Fred's. Kristie was in the very back. It looked like she was trying to use her gang as a kind of shield.
"Relax, everybody," Riley called down to us. "I am absolutely fine. No pain, no burn. Come and see. C'mon!"
No one moved closer to the door. Fred was crouched against the wall beside me, eyeing the light with panic. I waved my hand a tiny bit to get his attention. He looked up at me and measured my total calm for a second. Slowly he straightened up next to me. I smiled encouragingly.
Everyone else was waiting for the burn to start. I wondered if I had looked that silly to Diego.
"You know," Riley mused from above, "I'm curious to see who is the bravest one of you. I have a good idea who the first person through that door is going to be, but I've been wrong before."
I rolled my eyes. Subtle, Riley.
But of course it worked. Raoul started inching his way toward the stairs almost immediately. For once, Kristie was in no hurry to compete with him for Riley's approval. Raoul snapped his fingers at Kevin, and both he and the Spider-Man kid reluctantly moved to flank him.
"You can hear me. You know I'm not fried. Don't be a bunch of babies! You're vampires. Act like it."
Still, Raoul and his buddies couldn't get farther than the foot of the stairs. None of the others moved. After a few minutes, Riley came back. In the indirect light from the front door, he shimmered just a tiny bit in the doorway.
"Look at me--I'm fine. Seriously! I'm embarrassed for you. C'mere, Raoul!"
In the end, Riley had to grab Kevin--Raoul ducked out of the way as soon as he could see what Riley was thinking--and drag him upstairs by force. I saw the moment when they made it into the sun, when the light brightened from their reflections.
"Tell them, Kevin," Riley ordered.
"I'm okay, Raoul!" Kevin called down. "Whoa. I'm all... shiny. This is crazy!" He laughed.
"Well done, Kevin," Riley said loudly.
That did it for Raoul. He gritted his teeth and marched up the stairs. He didn't move fast, but soon he was up there sparkling and laughing with Kevin.
Even from then on, the process took longer than I would have predicted. It was still a one-by-one thing. Riley got impatient. It was more threats than encouragement now.
Fred shot me a look that said, You knew this?
Yes, I mouthed.
He nodded and started up the stairs. There were still about ten people, mostly Kristie's group, huddled against the wall. I went with Fred. Better to come out right in the middle. Let Riley read into that what he would.
We could see the shining, disco-ball vampires in the front yard, staring at their hands and each other's faces with rapt expressions. Fred moved into the light without slowing, which I thought was pretty brave, all things considered. Kristie was a better example of how well Riley had indoctrinated us. She clung to what she knew regardless of the evidence in front of her.
Fred and I stood a little space from the others. He examined himself carefully, then looked me over, then stared at the others. It struck me that Fred, though really quiet, was very observant and almost scientific in the way he examined evidence. He'd been evaluating Riley's words and actions all along. How much had he figured out?
Riley had to force Kristie up the stairs, and her gang came with her. Finally we all were out in the sun, most people enjoying how very pretty they were. Riley rounded everyone up for one more quick practice session--mostly, I thought, to get them to focus again. It took them a minute, but everyone started to realize that this was it, and they got quieter and more fierce. I could see that the idea of a real fight--of being not only allowed but encouraged to rip and burn--was almost as exciting as hunting. It appealed to people like Raoul and Jen and Sara.
Riley focused on a strategy he'd been trying to drill into them for the last few days--once we'd pinpointed the yellow-eyes' scent, we were going to divide in two and flank them. Raoul would charge them head-on while Kristie attacked from the side. The plan suited both their styles, though I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to follow this strategy in the heat of the hunt.
When Riley called everyone together after an hour of practice, Fred immediately started walking backward toward the north; Riley had the others facing south. I stayed close, though I had no idea what he was doing. Fred stopped when we were a good hundred yards away, in the shade of the spruce trees on the fringe of the forest. No one watched us move away. Fred was eyeing Riley, as i
f waiting to see if he would notice our retreat.
Riley began speaking. "We leave now. You're strong and you're ready. And you're thirsty for it, aren't you? You can feel the burn. You're ready for dessert."
He was right. All that blood hadn't slowed the return of the thirst at all. In fact, I wasn't sure, but I thought it might be coming back faster and harder than usual. Maybe overfeeding was counterproductive in some ways.
"The yellow-eyes are coming in slowly from the south, feeding along the way, trying to get stronger," Riley said. "She's been monitoring them, so I know where to find them. She's going to meet us there, with Diego"--he cast a significant glance toward where I'd just been standing, and then a quick frown that disappeared just as quickly--"and we will hit them like a tsunami. We will overwhelm them easily. And then we will celebrate." He smiled. "Someone's going to get a jump on the celebration. Raoul--give me that." Riley held out his hand imperiously. Raoul reluctantly tossed him the bag with the shirt. It seemed like Raoul was trying to lay claim to the girl by hogging her scent.
"Take another whiff, everybody. Let's get focused!"
Focused on the girl? Or the fight?
Riley himself walked the shirt around this time, almost like he wanted to make sure everyone was thirsty. And I could see from the reactions that, like me, the burn was back for them all. The scent of the shirt made them scowl and snarl. It wasn't necessary to give us the scent again; we forgot nothing. So this was probably just a test. Just thinking about the girl's scent had venom pooling in my mouth.
"Are you with me?" Riley bellowed.
Everyone screamed his or her assent.
"Let's take them down, kids!"
It was like the barracuda again, only on land this time.
Fred didn't move, so I stayed with him, though I knew I was wasting time I needed. If I were going to get to Diego and pull him away before the fighting could start, I would need to be near the front of the attack. I looked after them anxiously. I was still younger than most of them--faster.
"Riley won't be able to think of me for about twenty minutes or so," Fred told me, his voice casual and familiar, like we'd had a million conversations in the past. "I've been gauging the time. Even a good distance away, he'll feel sick if he tries to remember me."