The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 9

Trust me, we k this instant the difficulties better than you. It is remarkable that youve managed to reinforcement polish off the radar, so to speak, for this long. Tel me a hint of interest colored the monotone how are you doing it?Our creator hesitated, and then spoke al in a rush. well-nigh as if in that respect had been some silent intimidation. I be in possession ofnt made the decision, she throw up out. past she added more than slowly, unwil ingly, To attack. Ive neer fixd to do eachthing with them.Rough, exclusively effective, the captive girl verbalize. Unfortunately, your period of deliberation has set about to a close. You essential(prenominal) decide now what you wil do with your little army. Both Diegos and my eye widened at that word. Otherwise, it wil be our duty to punish you as the law demands. This reprieve, however short, troubles me. It is not our way. I suggest you give us what assurances you thunder mug immobilely.Wel go at erst Riley vol unteered anxiously, and on that point was a sharp hiss.Wel go as soon as possible, our creator amended furiously. There is a lot to do. I assume you appetency us to succeed? Then I must wee-wee a little time to get them trained instructed fedThere was a short pause.Five twenty-four hourss. We wil do for you then. And there is no rock you can hide under or speed at which you can scat that wil save you. If you beget not made your attack by the time we come, you wil burn. This was said with no menace other than an absolute certainty.And if I put one across made my attack? our creator asked, shaken.Wel consider, the cloaked girl answered in a silklikeer tone than shed used yet. I suppose that al depends on how triple-crown you are. Work hard to please us. The last command was given in a flat, hard pitch that made me smell out a contrasted chil in the refer of my body.Yes, our creator snarled.Yes, Riley echoed in a whisper.A stake tardilyr the cloaked vampires were no iselessly exiting the house. Neither Diego nor I so often as took a breath for five transactions after theyd disappeared. wrong the house, our creator and Riley were safe as quiet. Another ten minutes passed in total stil ness.I touched Diegos arm. This was our chance to get out of here. At the moment, I wasnt so afraid of Riley anymore. I wanted to get as far away as I could from those dark-cloaks. I wanted the refuge of numbers waiting affirm in the log cabin, and I calculate that was exactly how our creator felt, too. Why shed made so many of us in the first place. There were some things out there scarier than Id imagined.Diego hesitated, stil listening, and a trice later his patience was rewarded.Wel , she whispered inside the house, now they ac fill outledge.Was she take to tasking about the cloaks or the mysterious clan?Which one was the enemy shed mentioned out drive the drama?That doesnt matter. We outnumber Any warning matters she growled, cutting him off. There is so much to do. Only five days She groaned. No more messing just about. You galvanize to nighttime.I wont fail you Riley promised.Crap. Diego and I moved at the same time, terpsichore from our perch into the next tree over, flying vertebral column the way wed come. Riley was in a hurry now, and if he found Diegos trail after al that had just passed with the cloaks, and no Diego there at the end of itIve got to get back and be waiting, Diego whispered to me as we raced. Lucky its not in ascertain of the house Dont want him to know I heard.We should talk to him together.Too late for that. Hed notice that your scent wasnt on the trail. Looks suspicious.Diego Hed trapped me into sitting this one out. We were back to the spot where hed joined me. He spoke in a hotfoot whisper.Stick to the plan, Bree. Il tel him what I planned to tel him. Its not close to penetrate, but thats just how it has to be. If he doesnt be populateve me Diego shrugged. Hes got fine- looking forger thing s to worry about than me having an overactive imagination. peradventure hel be more likely to listen now looks like we wishing al the help we can get, and being able to move around in the day cant hurt.Diego, I repeated, not knowing what else to say. He looked into my eye, and I waited for his lips to twitch into that easy smile, for him to contract some joke about ninjas or BFFs.He didnt. Instead, he leaned in slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, and kissed me. His sedate lips pressed once morest mine for one long second turn we stared at each other. Then he leaned away and sighed. Get home, hide substructure Fred, and act clueless. Il be right behind you.Be careful.I grabbed his imbibe and squeezed it hard, then let go. Riley had spoken of Diego pithately. I would select to hope that affection was trustworthy. There wasnt another choice. Diego disappeared into the trees, quiet as a rustling breeze. I didnt waste time looking after him. I sprinted by means of the b ranches in a direct line back to the house. I hoped my eyes were stil bright enough from last nights meal to explain my absence. Just a speedy hunt. Got lucky found a lone hiker. Nothing out of the ordinary.The weighed down of the thudding music that greeted my approach was accompanied by the unmistakable sweet, smoky scent of a burning vampire. My panic went into overdrive. I could just as easily die inside the house as outside. and there was no other way. I didnt slow, just rushed down the stairs straight to the corner where I could barely make out bizarre Fred standing. Looking for something to do? Tired of sitting? I had no theme what he was up to, and I didnt care. I would stick tight to him until Riley and Diego got back.In the middle of the floor was a sm cureding heap that was too big to be just a leg or an arm. So much for Rileys twentytwo. No one seemed terribly concerned about the smoking remains. The position was too common.As I hurried closer to Fred, for once th e awareness of disgust didnt get stronger. Instead, it faded. He didnt seem to notice me, just went on learning the watchword he held. One of those Id left him a a few(prenominal) days ago. I had no problem seeing what he was doing now that I was close to where he was contestation against the back of the couch. I hesitated, enquire wherefore that was. Could he turn his nauocean thing off when he wanted? Did that mean we both were unprotected right now? At least Raoul wasnt home yet, thankful y, though Kevin was.For the first time ever, I real y saw what Fred looked like. He was tal, maybe six two, with the thick, ringleted blond hair Id noticed once before. He was broad-shouldered and muscular. He looked older than most of the others like a col ege student, not a high school kid. And this was the part that surprised me most for some sympathy he was good-looking. As handsome as anyone else, maybe even handsomer than most. I didnt know why that was so trippy for me. I gues sed just because I ever associated him with revulsion.I felt weird for staring. I glanced quickly around the dwell to see if anyone had noticed that Fred was normal and pretty for the moment. No one was looking our way. I stole a fast peek at Kevin, make up to shift my focus at once if he noticed, but his eyes were concentrated on some point to the left of where we stood. He was frowning slightly. Before I could look away, his gaze skipped right over to me and settled on my right side. His frown deepened. Like he was testing to see me and couldnt. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch into not quite a grin. There was too much to worry about to real y enjoy Kevins blindness. I looked back at Fred, wondering if the gross-out factor would return, unless to see that he was smiling with me. Smiling, he was real y spectacular.Then the moment was over, and Fred went back to his book. I didnt move for a while, waiting for something to happen. For Diego to come through with(predica te) the door. Or Riley with Diego. Or Raoul. Or for the nausea to hit again, or for Kevin to glare in my direction, or for the next fight to break out. Something. When zip fastener did, I eventual y pul ed myself together and did what I should have been doing pretending slide fastener unusual was press release on. I grabbed a book from the pile near Freds feet and then sat down right there and acted like I was reading. It was probably one of the same books Id pretended to read yesterday, but it didnt look familiar. I flipped through the pages, again taking nothing in.My mind was racing around in tight little circles. Where was Diego? How had Riley reacted to his narrative? What had it al meant the talk before the cloaks, the talk after the cloaks?I worked through it, going backward, trying to assemble the pieces into a recognizable picture. The vampire orbit had some kind of police, and they were damn shivery. This wild group of months-old vampires was supposed to be an army , and this army was somehow il egal. Our creator had an enemy. Strike that, two enemies. We were going to attack one of them in five days, or else the other ones, the scary cloaks, were going to attack her or us, or both. We would be trained for this attackas soon as Riley got back. I snuck a glance at the door, then forced my eyes back to the page in front of me. And then the stuff before the visitors. She was worrying about some decision. She was pleased that she had so many vampires so many soldiers. Riley was happy that Diego and I had survived. Hed said he thinking hed lost two more to the fair weather, so that must mean he didnt know how vampires really reacted to sunlight. What shed said was strange, though. Shed asked if he was sure. authoritative Diego had survived? Or sure that Diegos story was true?The last thought shake me. Did she already know that the sun didnt hurt us? If she did know, then why had she lied to Riley and, through him, to us?Why would she want to keep us in the dark literal y? Was it very key to her that we go forward ignorant? Important enough to get Diego in trouble? I was working myself into a real panic, frozen solid. If I stil could sweat, I would have been sweating now. I had to refocus to turn the next page, to keep my eyes down.Was Riley deceived, or was he in on it, too? When Rileyd said he thought hed lost two more to the sun, did he mean the sun literal y or the lie about the sun?If it was the second option, then to know the truth meant being lost. Panic scattered my thoughts. I tried to be rational and make sense of it. It was harder without Diego. Having soulfulness to talk to, to interact with, sharpened my ability to concentrate. Without that, fear sucked at the edges of my thoughts, twisted with the always-present thirst. The bait of blood was constantly close to the surface. Even now, decently wel fed, I could feel the burn and the need. Think about her, think about Riley, I told myself. I had to under stand why they would lie if they were lying so that I could try to figure out what it would mean to them that Diego knew their secret.If they hadnt lied, if theyd just told us al that the day was as safe for us as the night, how would that change things? I imagined what it would be like if we didnt have to be contained in a blacked-out basement al day, if the twenty-one of us maybe fewer now, depending on how the hunting parties were acquiring along were free to do what we wanted whenever we wanted to.We would want to hunt. That was a given.If we didnt have to come back, if we didnt have to hidewel, many of us wouldnt come back very regularly. It was hard to focus on the return while the thirst was in charge. But Riley had dril ed so deeply into al of us the nemesis of burning, of a return of that hideous pain wed al experienced once. That was the tenableness we could stop ourselves. Self-preservation, the only instinct stronger than thirst.So the threat kept us together. Ther e were other hiding places, like Diegos cave, but who else thought about that kind of thing? We had a place to go, a base, so we went to it. Clear heads were not a vampire long suit. Or, at least, they werent the specialty of young vampires. Riley was clearheaded. Diego was more clearheaded than I was. Those cloaked vampires were terrifyingly focused. I shuddered. So the routine wouldnt control us forever. What would they do when we were older, clearer? It struck me that nobody was older than Riley. Everyone here was new. She needed a bunch of us now for this closed book enemy. But what about afterward?I had a strong contact that I didnt want to be around for that part. And I suddenly recognise something stupendously obvious. It was the solution that had tickled the edges of my understanding before, when I was tracking the vampire lot to this place with Diego.I didnt have to be around for that part. I didnt have to be around for one more night.I was a statue again as I thought o ver this stunning idea. If Diego and I hadnt cognize where the gang was most likely headed, would we ever have found them? in all probability not. And that was a big group departure a wide trail. What if it were a single vampire, one who could leap up onto the land, maybe into a tree, without leaving a trail at the edge of the water. Just one, or maybe two vampires who could swim as far out to sea as they wanted Who could return to land anywhere Canada, California, Chile, ChinaYou would never be able to find those two vampires. They would be done for(p). Disappeared like theyd gone up in smoke. We didnt have to come back the other night We shouldnt have Why hadnt I thought of it then?But would Diego have agreed? I was abruptly not so sure of myself. Was Diego more loyal to Riley after al ? Would he have felt it was his function to stand by Riley? Hed known Riley a lot longer hed real y only known me a day. Was he closer to Riley than he was to me?I pondered that, frowning.Wel, I would find out as soon as we had a minute alone. And then maybe, if our secret club real y meant something, it wouldnt matter what our creator had planned for us. We could disappear, and Riley would have to make do with xix vampires, or make some new ones quick. Either way, not our problem.I couldnt wait to tel Diego my plan. My gut instinct was that he would feel the same. Hopeful y.Suddenly, I wondered if this was what had real y happened to Shel y and Steve and the other kids who had disappeared. I knew they hadnt burned in the sun. Had Riley only claimed hed seen their ashes as another way to keep the rest of us afraid and dependent on him? Returning home to him every dawn?Maybe Shel y and Steve had just set off on their own. No more Raoul. No enemies or armies threatening their immediate future.Maybe thats what Riley had meant by lost to the sun. Runaways. In which case, hed be happy that Diego hadnt bailed, right?If only Diego and I had taken off We could be free, too, like Shel y and Steve. No rules, no fear of the sunrise. Again, I imagined the whole horde of us on the unlax without a curfew. I could see Diego and me moving like ninjas through the shade. But I could also see Raoul, Kevin, and the rest, sparkling disco-bal monsters in the center of a busy downtown street, the bodies piling up, the screaming, the helicopters whirring, the soft, helpless cops with their dinky little bul ets that wouldnt make a dent, the cameras, the panic that would spread so fast as the pictures bounced fleetly around the globe. Vampires wouldnt be a secret for very long. Even Raoul couldnt kil mint fast enough to keep the story from spreading.There was a concatenation of logic here, and I tried to grasp it before I could be distracted again.One, tender-hearteds didnt know about vampires. Two, Riley encouraged us to be inconspicuous, not to attract the notice of humans and educate them otherwise. Three, Diego and I had obstinate that al vampires must be fol owin g that guideline, or else the world would know about us. Four, they must have a reason for doing so, and it wasnt the little popguns of the human police that motivated them. Yeah, the reason must be pretty important to make al vampires hide al day long in stuffy basements. Maybe reason enough to make Riley and our creator lie to us, terrify us about the burning sun. Maybe it was a reason Riley would explain to Diego, and since it was so important and he was so responsible, Diego would promise to keep the secret and they would be cool with that. Sure they would. But what if what actual y happened to Shel y and Steve was that theyd discovered the shiny skin thing and not run?What if theyd gone to Riley?And, crap, there went the next step in my logical path. The cosmic string dissolved and I started panicking about Diego again. As I stressed, I established that Id been thinking things through for a while. I could feel dawn approach path on. No more than an hour away. So where was Di ego? Where was Riley?As I thought this, the door opened and Raoul leaped down the stairs, laughing with his buddies. I hunched down, leaning closer to Fred. Raoul didnt notice us. He looked at the crispyfried vampire in the center of the floor and laughed harder. His eyes were bril iant red.On the nights Raoul went hunting, he never came home til he had to. He would keep feeding as long as he could. So dawn must have been even closer than Id thought.Riley must have demanded that Diego prove his words. That was the only explanation. And they were waiting for the dawn. Only that would mean that Riley didnt know the truth, that our creator was lying to him, too. Or did it? My thoughts twisted up again.Kristie showed up minutes later with three of her gang. She reacted indifferently to the pile of ashes. I did a quick head count as two more hunters hurried through the door. Twenty vampires. Everyone was home except Diego and Riley. The sun would rise at any moment.The door at the top of the basement stairs creaked as someone opened it. I sprang to my feet.Riley entered. He shut the door behind him. He walked down the stairs.No one fol owed.