Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight/Short Second Life. Fred/Bree and any other characters do NOT belong to me, but to Stephenie.
"We're moving," Riley announced.
"Again?" someone complained.
"Yes, again. Pack your stuff and let's get out of here. We only have two hours before sunrise."
A few people shifted.
"Well what are you waiting for? Let's move!"
Everyone started moving. I didn't. I didn't have anything to bring with me. I'd already finished the latest round of books Bree had left for me. I wondered where she was. She'd been sent out to hunt tonight, and though Kevin and his accomplice, Will had returned, she and the other, Diego, I think his name was, were still nowhere to be seen.
By now everyone was starting to move toward the door. I looked wistfully at the stack of books on the table and then followed them out so I wouldn't be burned with the house.
XXX
As usual, everyone settled easily into the new house. I took up my usual seat in the corner on the couch, making sure to move it forward for Bree. If she returned. I hoped she did. I never minded her company. It was kind of nice, really. Although it was clear that she was as repulsed by my... gift as everyone else, she never completely ignored me like they did.
"Trying to lose me, losers?" I knew that voice. I looked up to see Diego charging down the stairs. Bree slid in behind him, just a little less cautious than was normal for her.
"Oh, hey, Diego's alive," Kevin said dryly.
"No thanks to you," he shot back. Bree slipped past their conversation unnoticed and resumed her usual spot in the space I had cleared for her behind the couch.
"Took me a while to clean up your stupid mess," Diego continued. I listened, curious what the hell Kevin had done now. "It was almost dawn by the time I got to what was left of the house. Had to sit in a cave filled with water all day."
So that was how they'd made it through the day.
"Go tattle to Riley. Whatever."
"I see the little girl made it back too." I could imagine the shudder that must have gone through Bree along with half of the rest of the room at the sound of Raoul's accented drawl.
Diego shrugged. "Yeah, she followed me." He cast a quick glance toward where Bree and I were hiding out and then looked away.
Raoul took a step towards him. "Aren't you the saviour of the hour?" he muttered.
Diego mimicked his step. "We don't get extra points for being morons."
"Interesting attitude you got, Diego. You think that Riley likes you so much he's gonna care if I kill you. I think you're wrong. Either way, for tonight, he already thinks you're dead."
So that was how it was going to go. Diego stood far taller than Raoul. But Raoul was stronger. I wondered idly who would win. If they got to that point before someone stopped them.
People began to move. Kevin and Will were among those who moved to stand behind Raoul. Others moved to the edges to clear the ring for the fight. Even Bree shifted, something she never did when a fight was breaking out.
Diego's eyes never left the ones who lined up with Raoul. "You're really that afraid to take me on alone? Typical."
Raoul snorted, but cast a fleeting look at his backup. "Does that ever work? I mean, besides in movies. Why should I take you on alone? I don't care about beating you; I just want to end you."
Though intended to piss Diego off, it set Bree off more. In the split second where I looked back at her, she was down in a crouch with her teeth bared and ready to fight. Something was definitely up.
"But it's not gonna take all of us to deal with you. These two will take care of the other evidence of your unfortunate survival. Little what's-her-name."
Bree froze.
I was annoyed. Diego was one thing – he could hold his own against Raoul.
But Bree was small, she seemed almost breakable, even as a vampire. And she was the closest thing I'd ever found to a friend, even in my human life. They wouldn't hurt her. I focused my energy, a green spectrum, out toward them hard, and everyone in the room reacted as I had intended them to. They scattered with disgusted gasps and snarls. Retching came from every corner of the room and half of them practically shoved each other up the stairs and out the door. Most of them were part of Raoul's gang. I heard Bree fall to the floor behind me.
I pulled the explosion of energy back in to me. "Keep it down," I said, deciding on words that wouldn't betray my true intentions.
Bree moved again. "Sorry," I muttered, so quietly that only she would hear me.
She seemed kind of dumbstruck at first. "Um, don't apologize. Thank you."
I shrugged. I was just looking out for my friend.
Bree moved again, and I heard the zipper of her bag and smelled the pages of the fresh stack of books that she must have picked up last night.
I listened solely to the turning of the pages of whatever she was reading now until Riley came back with Raoul and his friends on his heels.
After greeting Diego, Riley started sending people out to hunt. I vaguely paid attention to the names. Heather, Jim, Logan, Warren. And then, "Um, Fred, must be about your turn."
I sighed and got up. I'd have been fine to go another night without feeding. But I would go anyways, even though I knew everyone would stay as far away from Freaky Fred as possible.
Riley left right behind us and headed off straight into the woods. Kristie and her clique followed a little bit behind, just far enough that he wouldn't catch them. And – what the hell was Bree doing with them? She glanced around uneasily and then broke away from them and ran off into the trees.
What was going on? Sneaking off was something Bree never did.
So instead of following my group out hunting, I followed Bree, keeping my distance, and making sure she wouldn't think of me so that I could stay invisible.
She went a few miles to the side of a nearby mountain where she stopped and turned around. I could barely see her through the trees. But someone was with her now, so whoever it was, I made myself invisible to them too.
After a minute Bree jumped up into the trees while her companion stayed on the ground and they started back toward the cabin. When they were almost there, they changed direction. I followed, and quickly caught Diego's scent on the ground. That made it easier to follow them without getting caught.
I soon understood where they were going when Diego's scent blended with Riley's. They were following him. They didn't trust him just as much as I didn't.
I stopped where they stopped and watched Diego hop through the trees up to where Bree was. He immediately took her hand, and all the weird behaviour started to make sense. When they moved forward, I did too, and soon I wasn't behind them anymore, I was beside them and I could see and hear everything that they could. And now I could see the little colourful cottage in the clearing in front of us.
This must have been where she lived.
All three of us watched the house silently.
"How many?"
My dead heart almost jumped with unease at the sound of her voice. There was no mistaking it.
"Twenty-two." That was Riley. "I thought I'd lost two more to the sun but one of my older kids is... obedient. He has an underground place – he hid himself with the younger one."
"Are you sure?" she asked urgently.
It took Riley a few minutes to answer. "Yeah. He's a good kid, I'm sure."
For a while no one spoke. I was almost considering going back to the cabin when she started talking again. "Twenty-two is good. How is their behaviour developing?" Our behaviour? "Some of them are almost a year old. Do they still follow their normal patterns?" She was sounding like we were some kind of experiment.
"Yes," Riley answered excitedly, "Everything you told me worked flawlessly. They don't think – they just do what they've always done. I can always distract them with thirst. It keeps them under control."
So they didn't want us to think for ourselves... That way they could control us. I'd been right from the start – we were just pawns for something bigger. They were wrong though. Some of us – three to be exact – were certainly thinking just fine.
"You've done so well. Twenty-two!"
"Is it time?"
"No!" she answered harshly, too quickly, "I haven't decided when."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to. It's enough for you to know that our enemies have great powers. We cannot be too careful." Then her voice softened and went all sweet, loving, even. "But all twenty-two still alive. Even with what they are capable of... what good will it be against twenty-two?" She laughed.
I wondered if Bree and Diego were thinking the same thing I was right now as we listened. We were created for a reason. We were to be an army, I guessed, for her enemy. A powerful enemy that probably would stand, even against us. We were there so she would not fight. Which meant we would probably lose.
She sighed. "Decisions, decisions. Not yet. Maybe one more handful, just to be sure."
"Adding more may actually decrease our numbers," Riley said, "It's always unstable when a new group is introduced."
Something caught my attention from the other side of the field.
"True," she said.
I barely heard her. I was watching the arrowhead of four people coming across the clearing. All four of them were wearing long cloaks in varying degrees of grey. The little one in the front had the darkest one.
Their speed and grace was something I'd never seen in the 20 years of my human life. They had to be vampires. A survival instinct deep within me was telling me to run. But I stayed rooted in my spot at the edge of the trees. I made sure they wouldn't see me, and tried to cloak Bree and Diego as well, but I couldn't tell if it had worked.
Either way, the group of vampires paid no attention to me or their roost in the trees. They glided straight up to the little house and let themselves in.
"Don't bother." The voice was clear and almost as high pitched as hers. She spoke in a lazy monotone, almost bored. "I think you know who we are, so you must know that there is no point in trying to surprise us. Or hide from us. Or fight us. Or run." Someone laughed as if to emphasize her point.
"Relax," the first voice continued emotionlessly, "We're not here to destroy you. Yet."
They were all silent for a moment.
"If you are not here to kill us, then... what?"
"We seek to know your intentions here. Specifically, if they involve... a certain local clan. We wonder if they have anything to do with the mayhem you've created here. Illegally created."
Illegal? They had never told us that there was some sort of vampire authority out there. It made sense that there would be, to keep all of us in check, but never in a million years would I have dreamed... We were created illegally.
"Yes. My plans are all about them. But we can't move. It's tricky."
"Trust me, we know the difficulties better than you. It is remarkable that you've managed to keep off the radar, so to speak, for this long. Tell me – how are you doing it?" Her voice betrayed a hint of interest.
She hesitated, and then all the words came out in a rush. "I haven't made the decision. To attack," she added more slowly, "I've never decided to do anything with them."
"Rough, but effective," the other one said. "Unfortunately, your period of deliberation has come to a close. You must decide – now – what you will do with your little army. Otherwise, it will 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 can... quickly."
Riley spoke up immediately. "We'll go at once!" He was answered by a hiss.
"We'll go as soon as possible," she said. "There is much to do. I assume you wish us to succeed? Then I must have a little time to get them trained – instructed – fed!"
The other answered with calm certainty. "Five days. We will come for you then. And there is no rock you can hide under or speed at which you can flee that will save you. And if you have not made your attack by the time we come, you will burn."
"And if I have made my attack?"
"We'll see," the girl said, suddenly bright. "I suppose that all depends on how successful you are. Work hard to please us." That last sentence sent a shiver through me. So that was what they intended on using us for. We were all going to get ourselves killed by this other clan for her, and chances were any of us that didn't die then would die later by the hands of these ones in the cloaks.
"Yes," she snarled, and Riley echoed her. And then the cloaks were leaving.
None of the three of us moved for a long time. My subconscious was still screaming at me to get out of there. And yet I still couldn't.
"Well," I finally heard her whisper, "now they know."
"That doesn't matter. We outnumber—"
"Any warning matters. There's so much to do. Only five days!" she groaned loudly, "No more messing around. You start tonight."
"I won't fail you!"
A noise drew me back to the treetops, where Bree and Diego had turned and were running back toward the cabin. I kept going when they abruptly stopped, my flight instinct now taking over.
I made it back to the cabin just in time to catch Kevin setting fire to another dead vampire. Make that twenty-one.
Instead of sitting back down on the couch, I paced behind it. I couldn't sit, not after that. I picked up a book and tried to read standing there behind the couch. The click of the basement door made me look up. It was Bree. Just Bree. Where had Diego gone? Bree's eyes rested on me, and she hurried over to where I was. I didn't make an attempt to ward her off. She may not have realized it, but the three of us were now in this together. So instead, I wrapped the green haze around us both so neither of us would be visible.
I lifted my eyes from the book to Bree, whose mouth turned up as she watched someone try to see us, and find themselves incapable. I grinned. She looked up at me, and then looked away, and I went back to reading.
Bree sat beside me and grabbed a book too. Every time someone would return, she would huddle closer to me, and I made sure none of them would see us.
Riley's entrance was accompanied by a shriek of rage. Riley had seen the ashy remains on the floor that Kevin had failed to clean up. I'd never seen him lose his temper like this before. He ripped a speaker from the entertainment and threw it across the room and then put his foot through the rest of the system.
He grabbed Raoul by the throat, and Raoul protested, actually seeming scared. Riley threw him across the room too.
He got ahold of Kevin, and then Kevin's hand came off, and the rest of his arm, and Riley threw the pieces at him one by one.
"What is wrong with you? Why are you all so stupid?" He went for Will, who jumped out of the way, and got right into the worst of my aura. He stumbled away gagging. "Do any of you have a brain?"
Next Dean went flying into the entertainment center, and then Sara lost an ear.
When he calmed down, he certainly had everyone's attention. "Listen to me," he dropped his voice, "All our lives depend on you listening to what I'm saying and actually thinking. We are all going to die. Every one of us, you and me, too, if you can't act like you have brains for just a few short days.
"It's time for you to grow up and take responsibility for yourselves. Do you think you get to live like this for free? That all the blood in Seattle doesn't have a price?"
By this point everyone had stopped trying to fight back against Riley. This time he meant business. The little group that had gathered was now staring at him silently. They were all struck by the magnitude of his temper tantrum. I looked at Bree, and even she was staring, a progressively more worried expression forming on her face.
"Are you listening now? Really listening?" no one moved. "Let me explain to you the precarious situation we are all in. I'll try to keep it simple for the slower ones. Raoul, Kristie, come here."
They both held their ground instead of obeying.
"Fine," Riley snapped, really pissed now. "We're going to need leaders, but apparently neither of you is up to the task. I thought you had aptitude. I was wrong. Kevin, Jen, please join me as heads of this team."
I didn't look up until I heard the crash. Raoul had pushed Kevin out of the way and taken his place beside Riley.
"Kristie or Jen, who will lead us?" he asked, just a little bit amused, as I was. Kristie, after much hesitation, stood with them. I closed my eyes and just listened.
"That took too long to decide," Riley said, entirely serious. "We don't have the luxury of time. We don't get to fool around anymore. I've let you do pretty much whatever you feel like, but that all ends tonight.
"We have an enemy." No one said anything. They just stared around in shock. To them, the enemy was always here. They were too oblivious to even think that there were even any other vampires out there besides us, let alone one that may be an enemy.
"A few of you might be smart enough to have realized that if we exist, so do other vampires. Other vampires who are older, smarter... more talented. Other vampires who want our blood!"
A few people hissed.
And Riley just kept egging them on. "That's right," he breathed. "Seattle was once theirs, but they moved on a long time ago. Now they know about us, and they are jealous of the easy blood they used to have. They know it belongs to us now, but they want to take it back. They are coming after what they want. One by one, they'll hunt us down! We'll burn while they feast!"
"Never," someone growled, and a whole bunch of others echoed her.
"We don't have a lot of choices. If we wait for them to show up here, they will have the advantage. This is their turf, after all. And they don't want to face us head-on, because we outnumber them and we are stronger than they are. They want to catch us separated; they want to take advantage of our biggest weakness. Are any of you smart enough to know what that is?" No one answered. "Unity!" he shouted, "We don't have it! What kind of a threat can we pose when we won't stop killing each other? Can you imagine them laughing at us? They think taking the city from us will be easy. That we're weak with stupidity. That we'll just hand them our blood."
A chorus of angry snarls echoed through the room.
"Can you work together, or do we all die?"
"We can take them, boss." That was Raoul.
"Not if you can't control yourself! Not if you can't cooperate with every single person in this room. Anyone you take out might be the one who could have kept you alive. Every one of you coven that you kill is like handing our enemies a gift. Here, you're saying, take me down!
"Let me tell you about our enemies. They are a much older coven than we are. They've been around for hundreds of years, and they've survived that long for a reason. They are crafty and they are skilled and they are coming to retake Seattle with confidence – because they've heard the only ones they'll have to fight for it are a bunch of disorganized who will do half the work for them!"
More growls, though this time they had a slightly different sound. No longer were they angry so much as wary.
"This is how they see us, but that's because they can't see us together. Together, we can crush them. If they could see all of us, side by side, fighting together, they would be terrified. And that's how they're going to see us. Because we're not going to wait for them to show up here and start picking us off. We're going to ambush them. In four days."
While everyone else reacted with surprise and fear, I held in a laugh. So then our creator was getting nervous, and didn't want to cut too close to the five days those others had given her. I glanced at Bree. She was chewing nervously on her lips, but I didn't think it had anything to do with this attack. My guess was she was worrying about Diego.
"It's the last thing they'll expect," Riley continued. "All of us – together – waiting for them. And I've saved the best part for last. There's only seven of them."
Everyone in the room went silent and stared at Riley in disbelief.
Raoul broke it. "What?"
"Seven?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Hey," Riley interrupted them. "I wasn't joking when I said this coven is dangerous. They are wise and… devious. Underhanded. We will have power on our side; they will have deception." His voice lowered. "If we play it their way, they will win. But if we take it to them on our terms…" He smiled.
I wasn't buying this. Something seemed off with everything Riley was saying.
"Let's go now," Raoul said excitedly. "Let's get 'em out of this picture fast." Kevin growled from beside him.
"Slow down, moron. Rushing into things blind isn't going to help us win." I didn't think we would win anyways.
"Tell us everything we need to know about them," someone said.
"All right, where to begin? I guess the first thing you need to know is… that you don't know everything there is to know about vampires yet. I didn't want to overwhelm you in the beginning." Another pause. "You have a little bit of experience with what we call 'talents'. We have Fred."
At the mention of my name, I closed my eyesblocked everyone out but Bree, who hadn't moved from my side.
"Yes, well, there are some vampires who have gifts beyond the usual super strength and super speed." Obviously. "You've seen one aspect in… our coven. Gifts are rare – one in fifty, maybe – but every one is different. There's a huge range of gifts out there, and some of them are more powerful than others." Murmurs went around the room. Suddenly, everyone was wondering if they might have any talents, if you could call them that.
"Pay attention!" Riley barked. "I'm not telling you this for entertainment."
"This enemy coven," I heard Kristie say. "They're talented. Right?"
"Exactly. I'm glad someone here is able to connect the dots, This coven is dangerously talented. They have a mind-reader." He paused while that sank in. "Think, guys! He'll know everything in your head. If you attack, he'll know what move you're going to make before you know it. You go left, he'll be waiting. This is why we've been so careful – me, and the one who created you." I could feel the tension immediately rise at the mention of her.
"You don't know her name," he continued, "and you don't know what she looks like. This protects us all. If they'd stumbled across one of you alone, they wouldn't realize that you were connected to her, and they might have let you be. If they knew you were part of her coven, there would be no delay in your execution."
I could tell that Bree wasn't buying what Riley was telling us either. I had to agree, based on what we'd overheard in the forest.
"Of course," he hurried on, "it doesn't matter now that they've decided to move on Seattle. We will surprise them and we will annihilate them. Done. And then not only is the city ours, other covens will know not to mess with us. We won't have to be so careful to cover our tracks anymore. As much blood as you want, for everyone. Hunting every night. We'll move right into the city, and we will rule it.
While everyone growled and snarled like they were applauding, I had made up my mind. I wouldn't fight. I knew we would lose. Bree, I noticed, didn't say anything, either. Was she scared? Defiant, like I was? Who knew?
"We have to do this together though," Riley said, bring the attention back to him. "Today, I'm going to lead you through some techniques. Fighting techniques. There's more to this than just scuffing around on the floor like toddlers. When it gets dark, we'll go outside and practice. I want you to practice hard, but keep your focus. I am not losing another member of this coven. We all need each other – every one of us. I will not tolerate any more stupidity. If you think you don't have to listen to me, you are wrong." He paused again.
I opened my eyes to see his face turn completely smooth and calm, so much so that it even sent shivers up my spine. The corners of his mouth curled up into an evil smile.
"And you will learn how wrong you are when I take you to her – " the universal shudder went around the room – "and hold you down while she tears off your legs and then slowly, slowly burls off your fingers, ears, lips, tongue, and every other superfluous appendage one by one."
The whole room was silent for a good while. It was strange to see the effect Riley was having now on everyone. He had changed, that was for sure.
"Now, let's get some teams figured out so that we can work in groups," Riley said. He sounded perfectly normal again. "Kristie, Raoul, get your kids together and then divvy up the rest evenly. No fighting. Prove that you can do this rationally. Prove yourselves."
The bickering started almost right away, but Riley ignored it and instead moved around the room and started forming teams.
All of a sudden he squinted toward where Bree and I were sitting. "Bree." Bree stiffened.
"Bree?" he asked. "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?"
"Diego?" she murmured helplessly. I hated to watch the hold Riley now had over her.
Riley smiled to her. Just a little bit. "Can we talk?" He jerked he head toward the door. "I double-checked all the doors and windows. The first floor is totally dark and safe."
Bree got up slowly and followed him out of the basement, and I started to worry.
Hey guys! So I announced this a long time ago, and voila! it's finally ready to go! I don't know about you, but I'm amazed I managed to post more than one thing over the course of one week! I haven't done that since, well, I started Daylight Moon, I think...
Anyways, I'm happy about this. I've been working on it for a long time, and now it's finally ready. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
Jamie :)