That was the last thing anyone said as we raced back to forks. Of course the way would seem much shorter when I was terrified of arriving. All too soon we were pulling up to Beau's home, the lights shining from every window, both upstairs and down. The sounds of a college basketball game drifted from the front room. I strained to hear anything not human in the vicinity, but the tracker didn't seem to have arrived yet. And Archie still could see no future in which this stop turned into an attack.
Maybe we should just stay. Let Beau return to his normal life while the rest of us became perpetual sentries. I could count on Eleanor, Archie, Carine, Earnest—and I was fairly certain Jessamine, as well—to join me in such a vigil. The tracker would find it impossible to get to him with so many eyes—and minds—watching. Was unified strength the safer option than dividing into thirds?
But as I considered this, Archie saw how the tracker would wait, how she would adapt. How she would, after the boredom set in, begin a war of attrition. Beau's friends disappearing in the night. Favorite teachers. Charlie's coworkers. Random humans who had no connection to him. The numbers would add up to the point where the resulting scrutiny would force us to disappear, regardless. And I could guess how Beau would feel about all those innocents paying with their lives for his continued safety.
So the original plan would have to be enough.
It was hard to process the strange physical sensation that accompanied this realization. I knew that an actual pit had not opened in the center of my torso, but the impression was unnervingly realistic. I wondered if it was some long-forgotten human response that I'd never felt in my immortal life because I'd never had a reason to panic quite like this.
We needed to move. Though I knew the point was to give the tracker something to follow, I still wanted to have Beau long gone before she could arrive.
"She's not here," I told Eleanor. Archie already knew. "Let's go."
Archie and I slid silently from the Jeep, minds ranging through distance and time. Archie saw the tracker showing up while we were still inside. The sound of my teeth grinding seemed extra loud.
"Don't worry, Beau," Eleanor was saying—in a voice I found much too upbeat—while she loosed him from the harness. "We'll take care of things here quickly."
"Archie, El," I hissed.
Archie darted to the truck, then dropped to the ground and slid under the running boards. In a fraction of a second, he'd pulled himself against the undercarriage, totally invisible, even to a vampire.
Eleanor was already moving, scaling the tree in the front yard. Her weight bent the pine noticeably, but she moved on quickly to the next tree over. She would keep moving while we were inside. This was a lot more obvious than Archie's hidden spot, but she'd see anything coming and would be a solid deterrent, if nothing else.
Beau climbed out last, and I took his arm. I was surprised by how difficult it was to touch him now, knowing that I was going to leave him. The heat of his skin burned in a new, painful way. Ignoring this unfamiliar ache, I wrapped my arm around his, and hurried him to the house.
"Fifteen minutes," I reminded him. It was too much time. I longed to be far away from this targeted place.
He nodded. There was steel in the set of his jaw.
As we gained the porch, he pulled back against my forward progress. I stopped automatically, though my muscles screamed at the delay.
"Hurry, Beau."
"One thing." His eyes were intense as he stared into mine. He leaned down and crushed his lips against mine with what might be bruising force for him. "I love you," he said, his voice a whisper that strained like a scream. "Whatever happens now, that doesn't change."
The pit in my stomach yawned open as if it would rip me in half. "Nothing is going to happen to you, Beau," I snarled.
"Keep Charlie safe for me."
"Done. Hurry."
He threw the front door open with a loud bang and ran inside. Then he kicked the door shut behind him.
"Beau?" Charlie called out, alarmed.
"Leave me alone!" he snapped back. I heard his footsteps pound up the stairs, and another slamming door.
Obviously his frozen silence in the Jeep had not been terrified petrification, but rather preparation. He had a script. My role was to be invisible and silent, I guessed.
Charlie ran up the stairs after him, his footsteps lurching and unsteady. I imagined he was only halfway awake.
I scaled the side of the house, waiting beside his window to see if Charlie would follow him into the room. I couldn't see Beau at first, which caused me a spasm of fresh panic, but then he was climbing to his feet beside his bed holding a duffel bag and some kind of small knitted sack.
Charlie's fist hammered against his door. The doorknob rattled—he'd taken the time to lock it—and then the hammering started up again.
"Beau, are you okay? What's going on?"
I slid the window open and ducked inside while Beau yelled, "I'm going home!" in response.
"So I guess your date didn't go so well." Charlie said through the door.
"Ugh, stay out of it, Charlie." He joined me at the dresser, seeming to expect to find me there. He held open the duffel bag and I tossed clothes into it, trying to get a variety of items. It wouldn't help him blend in if he only had t-shirts.
The keys to his truck were on the dresser top. I pocketed them.
"Did she break up with you?" Charlie asked in a moderated tone.
He yanked futilely on the zipper of the now full duffel bag.
"I broke up with her!" he shouted.
"Why? I thought you really liked this girl."
"I do! Too much."
Charlie's voice was confused. "Um... that's not how it works, son."
I moved his fingers out of the way and fastened the zipper, then weighed the bag in my hand. Was it too heavy for him? He reached for it, impatient, and I put the strap carefully over his shoulder.
I rested my forehead against her for one precious second.
"I'll be in the truck." My whisper did nothing to hide the desperation in my voice. "Go!"
I urged his toward the door, then dove back out the window so I would be in place when he exited.
Eleanor was on the ground, waiting for me. She jerked her chin toward the east.
I cast my mind in that direction, and sure enough, the tracker was little more than half a mile out.
The strong one is playing watchman tonight. Patience.
So she'd seen Eleanor in the trees, but she couldn't see either of us now. Would she assume I was here, or would she be watching for an ambush? I wished we had Jessamine with us now. If we could come at her from three sides...
Edythe, Archie cautioned from his hiding place. He thought of the possibilities spinning off from my train of thought. The tracker was slippery. We would leave Beau vulnerable.
"Are you doing drugs, Beau?" Charlie was demanding. He was back downstairs now.
I made a firm decision about what would happen next.
On it, Archie responded. He slithered out from under the truck and ducked into the Jeep. Once he had it in neutral, he pushed it silently out of the driveway, one hand on the doorframe, the other reaching up as high as he could to move the steering wheel with two fingers. I didn't want the sudden roar of the Jeep's engine to distract Charlie from Beau's performance. It was better if he thought I was already gone.
Eleanor watched Archie for half a second, then raised her eyebrows at me. Do I help him?
I shook my head. Charlie, I mouthed back at her. Follow on foot.
She nodded, then leaped up into the tree, where she would be visible again. It would make the tracker keep her distance. She didn't retreat, however, even when she caught sight of Eleanor; she was fascinated with the scene playing out and confident she could outrun any sudden pursuit. It made me want to prove her wrong. But I couldn't risk falling into a trap with Beau so near.
"No!" Beau was answering. The pain in his voice was palpable. The chasm in my stomach twisted in answering agony. He shouldn't have to do this. He was paying for my mistake. My foolishness.
"Slow down. I don't understand. Tell me what happened."
"I'll tell you what happened," he railed. "I had a great night with the prettiest girl I've ever seen—and we talked about the future. The way she sees it—it's just like you. She's going to stay here the rest of her life. She's going to get married and have kids and never leave. And for a second, that all actually made sense to me. I'm losing myself here—I'm getting sucked in. If I don't run now, I'll never get out!"
Charlie's mental response was deeper, more searing than I would have expected.
Beau's weighed-down footsteps moved toward the front door. I climbed silently into the cab of his truck and shoved the key into place, then ducked down. Eleanor was close to the front door of the house now, in the shadows. Still, the distance from the door to the truck seemed long. I concentrated on the tracker. She hadn't moved, listening intently to the drama unfolding inside the house.
What would she hear? This much: Beau preparing to escape, to run. Not planning to return in the near future.
She would know that Eleanor had seen her. She would have to assume that Beau knew she could hear. Or would she?
"Beau, you can't leave now," Charlie said quietly, urgently. "It's nighttime."
"I'll sleep in the truck if I get tired."
Charlie imagined his son unconscious in the dark cab of the truck, on the side of a freeway in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't an entirely coherent nightmare, but my own panic, savage and irrational, echoed his own.
"Just wait another week," he begged. "Renée will be back by then."
Beau's footsteps stuttered to a halt. There was a low sound—his shoe squeaking as he turned around to face him?
"What?"
I slid back out of the truck, and hesitated in the middle of the front yard. What would I do if his words confused him, delayed him? Did he realize the tracker was near?
"She called while you were out." Charlie was tripping over his words, rushing to get them out. "Things aren't going so well in Florida, and if Phil doesn't get signed by the end of the week, they're going back to Arizona. The assistant coach of the Sidewinders said they might have a spot for another shortstop."
Charlie and I both waited, not breathing, for his response.
"I have a key," he muttered, and his footsteps were now at the door. The knob started to turn. I darted back to the truck.
His words sounded like a weak excuse. The tracker would have to assume this was a story for Charlie and the opposite of the truth.
The door didn't open.
"Just let me go, Charlie," Beau said. I could tell he meant the words to sound angry, but the pain in his voice overwhelmed any other emotion.
The door swung open at last. Beau shoved through, Charlie right behind him, his hand outstretched. He seemed aware of that hand, cringing away from it.
I crouched against the floorboards, mostly invisible. I couldn't help peeking out the window. Without turning to look at his father, Beau growled, "It didn't work out, okay?" He jumped off the porch, but Charlie was motionless now. "I really, really hate Forks!"
The words seemed simple enough, but crushing anguish speared Charlie through where he stood. His mind swirled, almost like vertigo. In his thoughts was another face, so much like Beau's, tearstained. But this was a woman's face.
It seemed Beau had scripted these words with care. Charlie stood, stunned and splintering, as Beau ran awkwardly across the small lawn, the heavy duffel compromising his balance.
"I'll call you tomorrow!" he yelled back toward Charlie while he heaved the bulky bag into the bed of the truck.
He hadn't recovered enough to respond.
I could no longer doubt that Beau understood the gravity of the situation. I knew he would never cause anyone this kind of pain, especially not his father, if there were any other way at all.
I'd put him in this hellish position.
Beau ran around the front of the truck. The quick, fearful glances he threw over his shoulder now were not for Charlie. He yanked the truck door open and jumped into the driver's seat. He reached to turn the key as if knowing it would be waiting for his in the ignition. The engine's roar shattered the silence of the night. This would be easy enough for the tracker to follow.
I reached out to brush the back of his hand, wishing I could comfort him, but knowing nothing could make this better.
As soon as he'd reversed out of the driveway, he dropped his right hand from the wheel so that I could hold it. The truck chugged down the street at its maximum speed. Charlie didn't leave his post at the door, but the street curved and we were quickly out of view. I moved into the passenger seat.
"Pull over," I suggested.
He passed Archie, without seeming to notice the Jeep on the side of the road. I wondered whether he could see at all.
Archie, still pushing the Jeep so the noisy engine wouldn't alert Charlie, easily kept up with us.
"I can drive," Beau insisted, but his words broke and dragged. He sounded exhausted.
He barely registered surprise when I pulled him gently over my lap and eased into the driver's position. I kept him close beside me. He drooped there, wilting.
"You wouldn't be able to find the house," I said as my excuse, but he didn't seem to be waiting for a reason. He didn't care.
We were far enough from the house now (though I could still hear Charlie's frozen thoughts, motionless in the doorway) that Archie jumped up into the Jeep and started the engine. When the headlights came on behind us, Beau stiffened and twisted to stare out the back window, heart thudding.
"It's just Archie." I took his left hand now and squeezed it.
"The tracker?" he whispered.
She's following now. Archie could hear Beau's whisper easily over the grind of the engine. Eleanor's waiting till she's clear of the house.
"She caught the end of your performance," I told him. "She's running behind us now, about a mile back."
Archie kept me updated. The tracker's past the house. I don't see her going back. El's catching up.
This did not comfort him. His breath caught and then he whispered, "Can we outrun her?"
"No," I admitted. Not in this ridiculous truck.
Beau turned to watch out the window, though I was sure the Jeep's headlights would blind him to everything else. Archie was watching all the futures related to Charlie that he could perceive. A human he'd never met was not the easiest subject for him. But it didn't look as if the hunter or her apprehensive companion had any plans to return.
Eleanor was running in the road close behind us now. I was surprised at her intentions. I would have expected she'd be itching to catch the tracker in pursuit, to bring this ordeal to a quick and violent end. Instead, her thoughts were focused on Beau. Her few moments as bodyguard seemed to have affected her deeply. His safety was her current priority.
Beau brought out everyone's protective side.
Eleanor was imagining the tracker watching; only Archie and I knew she was carefully keeping her distance, just following the sound of the truck through the darkness. She wouldn't put herself in closer range tonight. Still, Eleanor wanted to make it clear that the tracker would have to go directly through her to get to Beau. She made a running leap that propelled her over the Jeep and into the bed of the truck. I fought with the steering as the truck reacted.
"E—!" Beau shrieked, his voice rasping with the effort.
I covered his mouth, muffling the sound so he could hear me. "It's Eleanor!" I said.
He inhaled through his nose, slumping again. I freed his mouth and pulled him tight against my side. If felt as if every muscle in his body were trembling.
"It's okay, Beau," I murmured. It didn't feel like he'd even heard me speak. The tremors continued.
I tried to distract him. Speaking in my normal voice, as though there were no danger or terror, I said, "I didn't realize you were still so bored with small-town life. It seemed like you were adjusting fairly well—especially recently. Maybe I was just flattering myself that I was making life more interesting for you."
Perhaps it was not the most sensitive observation, considering how his escape had upset him, but it did pull him from his abstraction. He fidgeted, sitting up a little straighter.
"That was below the belt," he whispered, ignoring my frivolous words and going straight to the painful part. He stared down as if ashamed to meet my gaze. "Those were the last words my mother said to him when she left. I would have done less damage if I'd punched him."
I'd assumed it was something like that, given the image in Charlie's head.
"He'll forgive you," I promised.
He looked at me earnestly, desperate to believe what I was saying. I tried to smile at him, but I couldn't force my face to obey.
I tried again. "Beau, it's going to be all right."
He shuddered. "But it won't be all right when we're not together." His words were barely more than a breath.
My arm flexed around him convulsively while the hole in my stomach stretched wider. Because he was right. Everything would be wrong when he wasn't with me. I didn't quite know how I would function.
I forced my face smooth and made my voice as light as I could. "It's only a few days." As I said the words, I willed them to be true. They still felt like a lie. Archie saw so many different futures... "Don't forget," I added, "this was your idea."
"That makes it worse. Why did this happen? I don't understand." He whispered the question flatly, as though it were rhetorical.
I answered anyway, my voice sharp-edged. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have exposed you like that."
He grabbed my hand. "No, that's not what I'm talking about."
What other reason could there be? Whose fault but my own?
"Okay, I was there," he continued. "Big deal. It didn't bother the other two. Why did this Joss decide to kill me? There are people all over the place... people who are a lot easier to get to. Why am I worth all this trouble?"
It was a fair question, an astute question. And there were more answers than one. He deserved a full explanation.
"I got a good look at her mind tonight. I'm not sure if there's anything I could have done to avoid this, once she caught your scent. It is partially your fault." My voice twisted and I hoped he could hear the black humor in it, the irony. "If you didn't smell so ridiculously delicious, she might not have bothered. But when I defended you..." I remembered her incredulity, her indignation even, that I would stand in her way. The arrogance, the ire. "Well, that made it a lot worse. She's not used to being thwarted, no matter how insignificant the object. She thinks of herself as a hunter—as the hunter . Her life is consumed with tracking, and a challenge is what she loves best in life. Suddenly we've presented her with an amazing challenge—a large clan of strong fighters all determined to protect the one vulnerable element. You don't know how euphoric she is now. It's her favorite game, and we've just created the most exciting round ever."
No matter how I analyzed it, there was no way around this. Once I'd taken him to the clearing, this was the only outcome. If I hadn't opposed her, perhaps it wouldn't have triggered her love of the game.
"But if I had stood by," I muttered, mostly to myself, "she would have killed you right then."
"I thought...," he whispered, "I didn't smell the same to the others." he hesitated. "As I do to you."
"You don't." What he was to me, simply physically, was something more intense than I'd ever seen in any other immortal's mind. "But that doesn't mean that you aren't still a temptation to every one of them. If you had appealed to the tracker, or any of them, the same way you appeal to me, it would have meant a fight right there."
His body shuddered against mine.
It would have been easier, though, I realized now, if it had come to a fight. I felt certain the frightened redhead would have run, and I doubted that Lauren would have stood with the tracker when it was an obviously losing prospect. Even if they'd all joined in, they could never have survived. Especially with Jessamine launching a surprise attack from the midst of her smokescreen while all eyes were riveted on Eleanor. I'd seen enough of her memories to believe that Jessamine could probably have handled all three. Not that Eleanor would have let her.
And if we were a normal coven (though we could never be considered normal at our size), we probably would have attacked just for the insult.
But we weren't normal, we were civilized. We tried to live to a higher standard. A gentler, more peaceable standard. Because of our mother.
Because of Carine, tonight we had hesitated. We had chosen the more humane route, because that was our habit, our way of life.
Did that make us... weaker?
I flinched at the thought, but then immediately decided that our choice was still the right one, even if it did make us weak. I could feel that. It resonated deeply in my mind, my being... or my soul, if such a thing existed. Whatever it was that drove this corporeal form.
It didn't matter now. Archie might give us some power over the future, but the past was as lost for us as it was for anyone else. We had not attacked, and now we had the more complicated version still ahead. The coming fight could not be avoided.
"I don't think I have any choice but to kill her now," I murmured. "Carine won't like it."
But she would understand, I was sure. We'd given this tracker the option to walk away. She wasn't going to take us up on the offer. There was only kill or be killed now.
"I don't like it." Beau's response surprised me.
"You want me to spare her?"
"No—I mean, yes. I don't care if she... dies. I mean, that would be a relief, right? I just don't want you... What if you get hurt?"
Of course... He would never think of himself, only of me.
"You don't have to worry about me. I don't fight fair."
"How do you kill a vampire?" Beau's voice was a whisper.
I should have anticipated the question.
He stared at me with a different kind of fear than before, almost as though he was concerned the task would fall to him. Of course, I could never be sure with Beau.
I made no attempt to soften the realities. "The only way to be sure is to tear her to shreds, and then burn the pieces."
"And the other two will fight with her?"
"The male will." If he could control his terror, that is. "I'm not sure about Lauren. They don't have a very strong bond—she's only with them for convenience. She was embarrassed by Joss's behavior in the meadow." Not to mention that Joss had made plans to kill Lauren. Perhaps I'd tip her off; that was sure to shift alliances.
"But Joss and Victor—they'll be trying to kill you?" he whispered, his voice distorted by pain.
And then I understood. Of course he was panicking about the wrong thing as usual.
"Stop. You focus on staying safe. You do whatever Archie tells you."
He ignored that. "How am I supposed to not worry about you? What does that even mean—that you don't fight fair?"
"Have you ever tried to act without thinking of that act first? Aside from involuntary muscle actions like breathing and blinking, it's terribly difficult to do. Especially in a fight. I'll see every single thing she plans, every hole in her defense. The only one who can hold his own against me is Archie—since he can see what I decide to do, but then I can hear how he'll react. It's usually a draw. Eleanor says it's cheating."
"Should Archie stay with you, then? If he's a better fighter than the others?"
What? Eleanor's ego was immediately insulted.
"Eleanor can hear all this, you know. She's offended, and also not thrilled with that idea. It's been a while since she was allowed to really brawl, no holds barred. She plans to keep me and my cheating ways out of this as much as possible."
"Is she still following?"
"Yes. She won't attack the house, though. Not tonight."
Not while we were together. Was our splitting up exactly what the tracker wanted? But I remembered what Archie saw happening if we tried to guard Beau here. I had no love for McKayla Newton, but neither she nor anyone else in Forks was an acceptable sacrifice.
I turned off onto the drive, dully noting that there was no sense of relief in reaching my home. There was no space out of harm's way while the tracker lived.
Eleanor was still riled. I wished I could tell her the tracker's location to ease her agitation, but I couldn't risk being overheard. The tracker had guessed that we had extra abilities—it would only help her if we gave clues as to what they were.
I noticed her thoughts drifting to the edges of my hearing just as Archie chimed in.
She meets the male now, on the other side of the river. They split up again and watch. He takes the mountainside; she takes the trees.
The extra distance didn't make me feel any better.
Eleanor's overzealous bodyguard mindset was operating at full steam by this point. As we rolled up to the house, she leaped from the truck bed and paced to the passenger side. She wrenched the door open and reached for Beau.
"Gently," I reminded her almost silently.
I know.
I could have stopped her. This wasn't necessary. But then, was any precaution too much at this point? If I'd been more cautious, we wouldn't be in this predicament.
It did feel safer in a strange way to see Eleanor, massive and indestructible, cradling Beau in her arms. She ducked through the front door before a second had passed. Archie and I were at her sides instantly.
The rest of my family was gathered in the living room, all on their feet, and in the middle of their circle, Lauren.
Her thoughts were frightened, apologetic. The fear was only heightened when Eleanor set Beau carefully on his feet beside me and took a deliberate step forward, a growl building in her chest. Lauren took a quick half step back.
Carine gave Eleanor a warning look, and she settled back on her heels. Earnest stood close to Carine's side, his eyes flashing from my face to Beau's and then back again. Royal was also staring at Beau, glaring at Beau, but I ignored him as best I could. I had more important things to deal with.
I waited until Lauren's eyes flickered to me.
"She's tracking us," I told her, prompting the thoughts I wanted to hear.
Of course she's tracking the human. And she'll find him. "I was afraid of that," she said aloud.
I need to get out of the way, her thoughts continued. Joss can't think I've chosen another side. The last thing I need is her looking for me afterward. Lauren suppressed a shudder. Perhaps I could tell her I'm just gathering info. Her face, though, when she divided from us in the woods... Better to disappear while she's caught up in this hunt.
My teeth were grinding again. Lauren eyed me nervously.
She knew Joss well enough to understand the rupture she'd caused in the clearing. Though I felt no desire to do her favors, I knew she'd be grateful enough when Joss was dead.
"Come, my love," I heard Archie whisper in Jessamine's ear. I hadn't noticed her especially as we came in; she was still camouflaging herself. Jessamine didn't question Archie now, even in her thoughts. The two of them darted up the stairs hand in hand. Lauren didn't bother to watch them leave, so effective was Jessamine's effort. I saw that Archie would write down the necessary information so Lauren could not overhear. It wouldn't take him long to pack what they would need.
"What will she do?" Carine demanded of Lauren, though I could have answered as well.
"I'm sorry," Lauren said with every sign of sincerity. Sorry I ever met those demons. I should have known better than to play with fire. Damned boredom made me foolish. "I was afraid, when your girl there defended him, that it would set Joss off." Of course it would. She ensured Joss would never quit till they were both dead. It's as if these strangers live in some other world. Or think they do. The real world is about to intrude on that fantasy.
"Can you stop her?" Carine pressed.
Ha! "Nothing stops Joss when she gets started."
"We'll stop her," Eleanor growled.
Lauren eyed Eleanor almost hopefully. If only it were possible. It would certainly make my life easier.
"You can't bring her down," Lauren warned. She seemed sure she was doing us a great favor by giving us this information. "I've never seen anything like her in my three hundred years. She's absolutely lethal. That's why I joined her coven."
A few scattered memories of her adventures with Joss and Victor ran through her head, though Victor was always a background figure, on the fringes. Joss had kept Lauren's life interesting, at least, but the sadism of these rampages had begun to bother Lauren in the last few years. By that point, there hadn't been a safe way to disengage herself.
She wished she could feel optimistic now, but she'd seen Joss triumph over impressive odds. Her eyes turned to Beau, and all she saw was a human boy, one of billions, nothing to distinguish him from any of the others.
She didn't think the words before she spoke them aloud. "Are you sure this is all worth it?"
The roar that ripped through my teeth was as loud as a detonation. Lauren immediately slid into a submissive posture, while Carine held her hand up.
Control, Edythe. This one is not our enemy.
I worked to calm my fury. Carine was right, though Lauren was certainly not our friend, either.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to make a choice," Carine said.
There aren't many choices left to me, Lauren thought. I can only make myself scarce and hope Joss doesn't think I'm worth the trouble. Her mind ranged back over the slightly less fraught conversation they'd been having before our arrival and fastened on one piece of information. I've clearly burned my bridges with this company, but perhaps I could surround myself with other friends. Talented friends.
"I'm intrigued by the life you've created here." She felt she was choosing her words very diplomatically, trying to make eye contact with each of us. My access to her inner monologue rather ruined the effect for me. "But I won't get in the middle of this. I bear none of you any enmity, but I won't go up against Joss. I think I will head north—to that clan in Denali." She imagined five strangers like Carine, slow to attack, but with great numbers and talents among them. Perhaps that would give Joss pause.
A feeling of gratitude had Lauren turning to warn Carine again. "Don't underestimate Joss. She's got a brilliant mind and unparalleled senses. She looks wild, but she's every bit as comfortable in the human world as you seem to be. She won't come at you head-on." A few of Joss's convoluted ploys ran through her memory. The tracker had patience... and a sense of humor. A dark one.
"I'm sorry for what's been unleashed here," Lauren continued. "Truly sorry."
She inclined her head, submissive again, but her eyes darted to Beau and away, her thoughts mystified by the risk we were taking for his sake. They don't understand about Joss, she decided. They don't believe me. I wonder how many of them she'll leave alive.
Lauren thought us weak. She saw our apparent domesticity as a deficiency. I'd worried the same thing earlier, but not now. Weak was not the impression I planned to leave with Joss. But let Lauren believe Joss would win. She could hide in terror for the next century and I would not mourn her discomfort.
"Go in peace," Carine said, both offer and command.
Lauren's eyes swept through the room, appreciating a kind of life she'd left behind long ago. Though this was not a palace, and she'd lived in several, there was an atmosphere of permanence and sanctuary here that she'd not felt in centuries.
She nodded once at Carine, and for a brief moment, I felt a strange kind of yearning from the dark-haired vampire toward my mother. A sense of respect and a desire to belong. But she quashed the emotion before it could take root, and then she was racing out the door, with no intention of slowing until she was safely in the ocean, her scent untraceable.
Earnest dashed across the living room to start the steel shutters rolling down the huge windows that comprised the back wall of the house.
"How close?" Carine asked me.
Lauren was almost outside my range and not slowing. She had no desire to run into Joss on her way out. She'd hear nothing we said. I reached for Joss. Archie's vision had given me the direction. It was far enough that she, too, would not be able to hear our plans.
"About three miles out past the river. She's circling around to meet up with the male."
She would join him on higher ground, where she could watch in which direction we ran.
"What's the plan?" Carine asked.
Though I knew the tracker couldn't hear, and the shutters were still groaning, I kept my voice low. "We'll lead her off, and then Jessamine and Archie will run him south."
"And then?"
I knew what she was asking. I looked straight into her eyes as I answered. "As soon as Beau is clear, we hunt her."
Though Carine knew this was coming, she still felt a flare of pain. "I guess she's left us no other choice."
Carine had been scrupulously protecting life for three centuries. She'd always been able to find common ground with other vampires. This would not be easy for her, but she was no stranger to difficulty.
We needed to hurry, not to give the tracker any more time than necessary before we gave her a trail to chase. But there were practicalities we needed to address before we could run.
I caught Roy's eye. "Get him upstairs and trade clothes."
Confusing the scent was the obvious first step. I'd take something of Beau's with me, too, and create a trail that would goad the tracker forward.
Royal knew this, but his eyes flashed with disbelief.
Don't you see what he's done to us? He's ruined everything! And you want me to protect him?
He spit the rest of his answer aloud, resolved that Beau would hear it, too. "And why would I do that? What is he to me?"
Beau jerked as if Royal had slapped him.
"Roy...," Eleanor murmured, putting one hand on his shoulder. He shook it off. Eleanor's eyes cut to me, half expecting me to spring at him.
But none of this mattered. Roy's spoiled temper tantrums had always been irritating, but this petty flare-up was ill timed, and time was something I didn't have enough of.
If he'd decided to cease being my brother tonight, that was his choice and I accepted it.
"Earnest?" I knew what his response would be.
"Of course."
Earnest understood the time limits. He lifted Beau carefully into his arms, much as Eleanor had, though the effect was very different, and flew up the stairs with him.
"What are we doing?" I heard Beau ask from Earnest's office.
I left Earnest to it, and focused on my part. The tracker and her wild partner had moved outside my range. They couldn't hear us, but I was sure they could see us. They would see our vehicles leave. And they would follow.
What do we need? Carine asked.
"The satellite phones. The larger sports bag. Are the tanks full?"
I'll do it. Eleanor sprinted out the front door toward the garage. We always kept several gas drums ready for emergencies.
"The Jeep, the Mercedes, and his truck, too," I whispered after her.
Got it.
We're splitting into three? Carine was also wary of dividing our force.
"Archie sees it's the best way."
She accepted that.
She'll get hurt. She doesn't think. She just rushes in. This is all his fault!
Royal was assailing me with a torrent of grievances. I found it easy to tune him out. Easy to pretend he wasn't even there.
What's my part? Carine wanted to know.
I hesitated. "Archie saw you with Eleanor and me. But we can't leave Earnest alone to watch Charlie..."
Carine turned to Royal with a stern expression. "Royal. Will you do your part for our family?"
"For Beau?" he sneered the name.
"Yes," Carine responded. "For our family, as I said."
Royal glared at her resentfully, but I could hear his pondering the options. If he protracted this fit, turned his back on all of us, then Carine would certainly stay here with Earnest rather than be on the front line, keeping Eleanor from dangerous excesses. Royal saw only the danger to Eleanor. But part of him was growing nervous about my visible detachment.
He finally rolled his eyes. "Of course I won't let Earnest go alone. I actually care about this family."
"Thank you," Carine responded—with more warmth than I would have bothered with—and then dashed out of the room.
Eleanor was just coming through the front door with the large bag we kept some of our sports toys in slung over her shoulder. The bag was big enough to fit a small person. Bulky with equipment, it looked like there might already be someone inside it.
Archie appeared at the top of the stairs, just in time to meet Beau and Earnest as they emerged from Earnest's office. Together, they lifted Beau by the elbows and rushed him down the stairs. Jessamine followed. She was clearly on edge, tightly wound, her eyes roaming restlessly across the windows at the front of the house. I tried to use her savage appearance to calm myself. Jessamine was more lethal than the thousands of vampires who'd tried to destroy her. Today she'd exhibited new skills I'd never imagined, and I was sure she had other tricks up her sleeve. The tracker had no idea what she was up against. Beau would be safer with Jessamine standing guard than anyone. And with Archie beside her, the tracker couldn't take them by surprise. I tried to believe that.
Carine was already back with the phones. She gave Earnest one, and then brushed his cheek. He looked up at her with total confidence. He was sure we were doing the right thing, and because of that, we would be successful. I wished I had his faith.
He handed me a wad of fabric. Socks. Beau's scent was fresh and strong. I shoved them in my pocket.
Archie took the other phone from Carine.
"Earnest and Royal will be taking your truck, Beau," Carine told him, as if asking permission. It was so like her.
Beau nodded.
"Archie, Jess—take the Mercedes. You'll need the dark tint in the South."
Jessamine nodded. Archie already knew this.
"We're taking the Jeep. Archie, will they take the bait?"
Archie concentrated, his hands clenched into fists. It wasn't a simple process, looking for maneuvers that never actually came in contact with any of us, but he was tuning in to these new enemies. He'd get better with time. Hopefully we wouldn't need that. Hopefully we would end this tomorrow.
I saw the tracker flying through the treetops, focused on the fleeing Jeep. The redhead keeping his distance, following the sound of Beau's truck as it chugged north a few minutes later. There were only the smallest of variations.
By the time he relaxed his vigil, we were both positive.
"She'll track you. The man will follow the truck. We should be able to leave after that."
Carine nodded. "Let's go."
I thought I was ready. The passing seconds were already pounding in my head like drumbeats. But I wasn't.
Beau seemed so forlorn at Earnest's side, his eyes bewildered, as if he couldn't process how everything had changed so quickly. Only an hour ago, we were perfectly happy. And now he was hunted, left to vampires he barely knew for his protection. He'd never looked so vulnerable as he did standing there, alone in a room full of inhuman strangers.
Could a dead heart break?
I was at his side, my tight on either side of his face. His warmth in my arms was quicksand and I wanted to drown in it, to never pull free. I kissed his just once, worried that the plans would all crumble into chaos if I couldn't make myself step away from him. Part of me didn't care if every human life in Forks and La Push and Seattle were sacrificed to keep him by my side.
I had to be stronger than that. I would end this. I would make him safe again.
It felt as though all the cells in my body were dying off one by one as I let him go. My fingers lingered against his face, and then stung as I forced them free.
Stronger than this, I reminded myself. I had to shut down all this agony so I could do my job. Destroy the danger.
I turned away from him.
I'd thought I'd known what burning felt like.
Carine and Eleanor fell into step beside me. I took the bag from Eleanor. I knew what the tracker expected—that I would be too weak to let him out of my sight. I cradled the bag as though it contained something infinitely more precious than footballs and hockey sticks as I rushed down the front steps flanked by my brother and my father.
Eleanor climbed into the backseat of the Jeep and I placed the bag upright beside her, then quickly slammed the door, trying to look stealthy about it. I was in the driver's seat in a flash, Carine already beside me, and then we were jolting up the drive at a pace that would have horrified Beau if he'd actually been there with us.
I couldn't think like that. I had to trust Archie and Jessamine and keep my head focused on my part.
The tracker was still too far away for me to hear her. But I knew she was watching, following. I'd seen it in Archie's head.
Turning north onto the freeway, I accelerated. The Jeep was a lot faster than the truck, but it wasn't fast enough to get any headway, even at the maximum speed I could chance without risking the engine. But I didn't want to outrun the tracker now. She would only see that I was pushing the Jeep hard, as though escape were truly the motive. I hoped she wouldn't realize I'd chosen the Jeep for just this purpose. She didn't know what else I had in my garage.
For just a flicker, she was close enough to hear.
... take a ferry? It's a long way around otherwise. I could cut through...
"Make the call," I said, barely moving my lips, though I knew she was too far behind us to see my face.
Carine didn't bring the phone to her ear; she kept it by her thigh, out of sight, as she dialed one-handed. We all heard the quiet click as Earnest picked up. He said nothing.
"Clear," Carine whispered. She disconnected.
And I was disconnected, too. I had no way to see what he was doing now. No chance to hear his voice. I shoved the despair away from me before I could start wallowing.
I had a job to do.