Chapter Two

"I will gladly sacrifice my next five kills if someone, anyone will shut that leech up," Tobin groused for what felt like the millionth time. When no one moved, he closed the distance between them and kicked the vampire, only to be growled at by Dex. Unfortunately, it did not deter the creature's mournful cries; it only increased them.

"Stop your whining," Dex snapped over his shoulders. "It won't be much longer."

"How exactly are we to get him to the Under Passage without any attention?" Tobin demanded, shoving his hands in his pockets and glaring at our prisoner. "We could always off him here and now."

Since leaving the house in the middle of the field, which by now was probably a smoldering pile of ash, our prisoner had alternated between growling and threatening us to making a near-ear shattering wail that could be heard for miles. We were still on the outskirts, so there was no danger of encountering any humans, but that didn't mean we weren't irritated by the noise. I imagined it was similar to sitting next to a screaming baby for an hour, or listening to nails on a chalkboard. All we wanted was to put the wretched creature out of his misery—and by wretched creature, we meant Tobin.

"That is not the agreement we made." Dex's voice hitched slightly with his rising irritation. He was fairly temperamental when it came to us, but if one of us overstepped our bounds, he was quick to put us in our place. "Besides, we are taking the southernmost entrance. There should not be many humans about. Until then, I want you silent. Do you understand?"

The last of his words were laced with a subtle ferocity that made us all duck our heads. Tobin fell behind the rest of us, contritely taking Dex's words to heart. The tension roiling off him was still palpable enough to affect me, though, so I chose to move forward and sidle next to Dex. I noticed his eyes cut to me momentarily before repositioning on the horizon, checking for any type of attack.

Although we were predators and capable of killing vampires with ease, during recent months, we had occasionally encountered a few leeches that had grown an obscenely long metaphorical backbone. Just one month prior, we had been blindsided by a pack of sick leeches. It was an interesting encounter, and although we had dispatched them relatively quickly, it had opened Shiloh's eyes. Since then, we had become cautious when venturing out during this time of the month.

"How are you feeling, Bella?" Dex asked suddenly without looking at me.

I nodded. "I'm fine."

"You have sustained a significant change to your body and mind, and you expect me to believe that you are 'fine'," Dex responded with a slight chuckle. "Let's try that again, shall we? How are you feeling, Bella?"

I smirked. "I'm having a hard time with the others. When they're upset, I can feel it and it's hard to deal with."

"Your senses are exceptionally keen right now due to your inexperience with your abilities. In time, they will settle and you will become more comfortable," he informed me gently, his eyes never leaving the field before him. After a few seconds of silence, he prodded, "Is there anything else you would like to talk about?"

I thought back to my earlier discussion with Tobin and briefly debated if I should say anything. Of all the things Dex had on his plate, the issues of my memories had to be minute in comparison. However, as I recalled my morning chat with my brother, I also recalled how he had chastised me for not opening up. If I wanted to fully become one of them, I had to stop falling back on my residual human qualities and do what was required of me.

"I'm a little nervous that my memories haven't come back," I admitted shyly. "I mean, I know that you both said they would come back with time, but I can't help it. It's really frustrated. I feel like my brain is only at half capacity because I'm missing so much."

"Bella." Dex sighed and the way he hesitated made me dread what he was going to say next. "You were told that your human memories might come back. There is no guarantee. Throughout the successful transformations we have seen, roughly forty percent of the receptors have eventually regained some semblance of their memories, so it is possible, however, the longer it takes, the less likely they are to resurface." He turned a pitiful expression to me and sighed. "I am sorry."

I couldn't speak, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything other than stare straight ahead and continue walking. The last of the rug had been pulled out from under me, and I was in the process of slamming my head into the ground. I felt the eyes of the others boring into me but chose not to turn and accept whatever supportive words they had for me. Every single one of them had tried to prepare me for this possibility, and I hadn't listened. I had held onto a false hope that a switch would flip in my head, and I would be able to remember everything. Even then, I had to have known how unrealistic it was.

What exactly was I expecting to remember, though? The friends I had back in Washington? The homework my teachers would give out? The names of the presidents? I couldn't put my finger on it, but I felt like there was something significant I was forgetting, something life changing, but how as that possible? The memories of the few months leading up to my transformation were relatively clear. It seemed that anything important was still there. So why did I feel incomplete?

Wanting to close the conversation, I slowed my pace and fell in line beside Una. Unlike the others, she would not pry and try to get me to talk about my feelings. I just wanted to focus on the task at hand.

As we continued our swift human pace across the empty land, we started to see buildings on the horizon. It was the oil refinery that sat about twenty five minutes south of the city. The putrid chemical fumes made me balk, as did the underlying blood, sweat, and natural body odors of the several hundred humans working inside its walls. The scents radiated from every opening, almost like heat rising from car hoods during summer.

"I love the smell of human in the morning," the captive leech suddenly said, snickering at what he must have viewed as the apex of hilarity.

"Seriously?" Tobin retorted. "That was not close to being funny. Do you even know where we are taking you? You will be dust in the wind before the end of the day, my friend."

The leech's face contorted with fear, and he hissed. "What are you? You are not my kind."

"Your kind?" My brother sneered derisively, chuckling darkly at the quiver in the leech's voice. Although he was attempting to maintain some kind of dignity by appearing unafraid, we could all hear the way his breath hitched, the stunted way his words came out. "No. We are not your kind."

He started to threaten the creature, but at that moment, we reached our destination and he fell back in line with the rest of us. The hostility emanating from him did not diminish, though, and I squirmed a bit as his tension affected me. With a few deep breaths, I was able to concentrate and focus on the task at hand.

Once inside the Under Passage, it didn't take us long to reach the heart of Jacksonville. As we darted through the labyrinth beneath the city, our prisoner's cries echoed through the tunnels, giving the place an even more malevolent feel. It was what I assumed the Damned would sound like, crying in the halls of Hell. There was no one to hear his cries, though; not one of his kind attempted to help him. They were all topside, after all, hunting and feasting. It made the lords' promise all the sweeter.

Up on the surface, the humans paid us little mind as we made our way down a back alley. Every now and then we'd get a casual glance, but all in all, they let us be. It was nature. The human attention span was attracted to vampires because, subconsciously, they recognized them as predators. Considering we did not feast on humans, we were not a threat, and thus, they did not go out of their way to acknowledge us. It made things easier.

I had never been to the lords' residence before, so I had no idea what to expect. However, I was unprepared for the towering, multi-floored building we entered. It was at least sixteen stories and was completely shrouded in glass. Once inside, I was even more surprised by the décor. It was, as far as I could tell, a fully-functioning office building. The directory on the far wall listed somewhere in between 20 to 25 different businesses and firms, and as we passed through the lobby, a variety of men in suits gazed curiously at us. I could not remember a time that I had felt more out of place.

We walked past the elevators and took the doorway that led to the staircase. As I gazed up at the seemingly endless spiral of stairs, I felt secure knowing I could climb them a hundred times over and not get tired. Hazy memories of huffing and puffing through the school parking lot in Washington came to me, causing me to pause momentarily. These tiny, insignificant flashbacks always confused me. They were strange and disjointed, almost like a puzzle piece that was too obscure to interpret the larger picture. I shook my head and continued on, realizing that the others were already halfway up.

I made no attempt to count how many floors up we went, and somehow, I still knew. It was one of those weird advanced brain things that I tried not to focus too much on. Instead, I followed along through the entrance and found myself in a place I was not expecting. Although the exterior looked to be a regular business building, the inside was reminiscent of a posh, New York City condo—or, what I thought one might look like, anyway. The carpet was a plush, dark purple, while the walls and furnishings were pristine white. I sneered at the décor, wondering if they were designed by a thirteen year old girl.

"I think we found the secret of Victoria," Dex commented tersely.

After a few weeks after becoming a Walker, I had learned that Dex, due to his close proximity to teenagers, had an incredible talent for witty pop culture references. It never ceased to amaze me how someone who was so removed from humanity could say something so…well, human.

"Victoria's Secret would be pink," a haughty sneer commented from deep in the room. A blonde human appeared, having been laying down on the couch out of view. With a determined air, she stood up and sauntered over to us, coming closer than we were comfortable with. We collectively bristled at her proximity. "So you're the band of miscreants that have the vampires by the family jewels."

"Oh look, they have a pet," Tobin retorted, earning a derisive scoff from our group—excluding Dex and Shiloh. Reaching in his back pocket, he produced a set of keys that he had lifted off a leech earlier in the day. He made a habit of picking up souvenirs from his kills. As he jingled them in the air, he whistled at the human and clicked his tongue.

"I am no pet," she snapped, but he continued to mock her until she couldn't take it anymore. With an exasperated, angry sigh, she stomped forward, arm outstretched. That was her mistake.

I had come to realize that I had two sides of my brain: the rational and the Walker. The rational side of my brain saw that she was going to take the keys from his hand. However, the Walker side of me saw someone advancing on my brother, and all I knew was I had to defend him. Unfortunately, as is the way of our lives, the Walker always won.

I maneuvered in front of my brother as she reached out to snatch the keys away, and when she was about six inches from touching him, I gripped her by her neck. Try as I might, I couldn't rein in my strength enough to avoid crushing her windpipe, nor could I stop myself from hurling her fifteen feet, through the wall of windows. It took only a handful of seconds for it all to happen, and once I had a chance to take a breath, I could only marvel at the shards of glass still clinging to the window pane.

Silence followed. An unbearable silence that screamed and pounded against my ears. I was too afraid to turn and see the disappointment in Shiloh's eyes, so instead, I moved forward and leaned out the broken room. The concrete below was awash with varying shades of red. I cringed and wonder what else I had expected from throwing a human out of one of the top floors.

"You should count yourself lucky." I turned suddenly at the unfamiliar voice and found a leech standing in the middle of the room. He had his hands dug deep in his pockets, and his lips were tilted up in a wry manner. "My brothers and I did not particularly care for her."

He turned away as I returned to my place beside Tobin, and I was relieved that Shiloh and Dex were too focused on him to reprimand me. I knew it was coming, though. Through all my experiences with them, I had never seen a Walker kill a human before. Knowing my luck, I had broken some archaic rule that meant I couldn't be with the Walkers anymore. A pit opened in my stomach and threatened to drown me in the sorrow welling there.

"From your presence in my home," the leech continued, his gaze lingering on the struggling figure in Shiloh's and Dex's grasp. "I take it the retrieval was successful?"

"It was," Dex answered simply. He and Shiloh did not remove their hands from their prisoner. "The rest of his newborns have been dispatched."

"My newborns?" The renegade leech said suddenly and scoffed. "They weren't my anything. I was their handler."

The lord hissed. "You are charged with creating newborns in an attempt to take that which does not belong to you. There are witnesses to your treachery."

"Treachery? There has to be loyalty before there is treachery," the other sneered. "I was sent here to manage the newborns by another. She is the one you're looking for."

"You lie." The leech lord strolled forward and slashed him across the face with a snarl. As his venom spilled, I felt myself tense. Tobin and Collin immediately placed their hands on my shoulders to prevent me from killing anyone else, which made me feel even worse. The lord was oblivious to this. "You have been seen creating newborns by the docks."

"Whoever told you that must be either blind or lying," he responded with a shake of his head. "As I said, I was brought here. I've never even been to the docks. You have the wrong—"

The lord snapped his fingers, cutting off the creatures words, and he was presently carried off by two, large vampires. They did not speak, but merely reached forward, seized the renegade in their grasp and departed. I could only wonder what horrors lay in store for him, but it was only a mild curiosity. To be honest, I was more disappointed that we didn't get to kill him ourselves.

Still, there was something in the leech's face that made me doubt that he was guilty. The thought alone nearly brought me to a fit of laughter with its absurdity.

Vampires lied. That was the fact of life.

"I thank you for your assistance in closing this matter, and I apologize for disturbing you. Had we any other option, we would have utilized it," the lord said, bowing slightly while keeping his eyes trained on us. I could smell his fear. "I am well aware that my brothers promised to forego Fuil Aimsir this month in payment. No retribution will come from our end if you choose to accept this offer."

We waited for Shiloh to move, to instruct us to leave, but she remained as still as a statue with her gaze piercing the lord. As the seconds ticked by, he began to grow visibly more uncomfortable, and just when I began to question if she was going to kill him, she turned to us. With a simple movement of her hand, we left the strange, plush dwelling of the leech lords and found our way to the streets below.

My eyes found the ground as we moved into the city street, but I could hear the commotion from the humans. They were lamenting the apparent suicide of a poor girl. I wanted to feel some shred of remorse, but I didn't. I merely switched that side of my brain off and followed behind the others.

We were halfway to one of the Under Passage's entrances when some scuffling and a shriek caught our attention. As we stopped, we witnessed four leeches ripping into a meal, their sharp, venom-dripping teeth tearing mercilessly into the sun-damaged skin of a homeless man without abandon. The sight made me angry, and I could hardly suppress the growl that emanated from my chest. I started to take a step forward but a hand reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

I turned and snarled at my captor and found that it was Rix. The snarl immediately caught the attention of the leeches who started to laugh.

"Well, well, look what we have here!" One of them hissed, standing up and sauntering toward us. He licked his lips and cocked his head to the side, his arrogant sneer inciting more anger from me. "The hunters have arrived! I guess we had better leave. Oh, no, wait, you can't do a damn thing."

He glanced back at his companions who had stopped drinking, only to find that they were gaping at him. Ignoring them, he turned back and took a few steps closer.

"So what brings you out on such a fine afternoon?" He seethed, moving still closer. Shiloh was at the head of our pack, and the closer he got to her, the more nervous I became. One of the leech's friends called him back to their group, but he would have none of it. "Why are you scared? They can't touch us! See?" He proceeded to dance and move among us, all the while we snarled and clenched our teeth. When he had finished his antics, he rejoined his group and continued to chastise them for their fear.

While he was preoccupied, Shiloh leaned in toward Tobin and whispered something in the ancient language that I could not interpret. Whatever it was, though, it pleased him immensely. He gestured to me, Collin, and Una to come closer, while Shiloh, Rix, and Dex vanished atop one of the closest buildings. A thick line of dark, ominous clouds had rolled it from the East, and the wind blew the scent of fresh rain across the city. As the lightning flashed and a blast of thunder heralded the next line of storms, the four leeches turned their attention back to find that they were evenly matched.

"Where did the others go?" The arrogant leech asked, his tone only slightly mocking now. As we took a few steps closer to them, any sign of mockery abandoned him and he was left a quivering mess like the others. He shook his head. "It's Blood Week. You can't hunt us. We'll report you to the lords."

We said nothing, just kept moving forward, eyes trained on the prize.

"This is your fault!" One of the others hissed, and he got on his knees before us. "Please, forgive us. He doesn't speak for the rest of us. Please let us go."

We continued to move forward at a steady pace, and when we had closed the distance between us, Tobin grabbed the penitent leech around the neck and, smiling at the arrogant leech who had taunted us, he tore his head from his body. The scent of fresh venom captured all my senses, and I had to struggle not to lose my concentration.

The remaining two leeches gaped in horror, their eyes locked on their fallen friend, and I could see the dilemma in their gaze, the confusion. We were supposed to let them pass, allow them to feast on the humans this week, and yet, we didn't. Everything that they had come to know was crashing around them, and while they struggled with this existential crisis, we continued to move forward, closing in on them.

What were they going to do? How would they get out of this situation? They made the only choice their kind was capable of making: they ran. Regardless of my disdain for their species, I had to take a moment and appreciate their speed. As we continued to close the gap between us, both leeches simultaneously turned and hurried down the alley, their incredible speed turning their bodies into a distant blur.

It was all in vain, though.

We were faster.

The four of us glanced to one another, and with an eager nod from Tobin, we started after our prey.

Leeches were easy to track, even if we had no idea what direction they took. They had an odor that was completely unique. It was difficult to describe. There was an undercurrent of their venom, which was tantalizing, but it was intermingled with another odor. It was almost like the smell of a new car but more subtle. Either way, it made tracking them a remarkably simple task. The buildings and lights around us fell out of focus as we tracked our prey, and their scent trail eventually led us to the city streets. A light drizzle had started to fall, sending the humans scurrying to their destinations like frantic mice, and it only grew heavier with each passing moment.

We skirted through pockets of idle pedestrians who paid us little mind, and in spite of rain, we were able to stay on track of the leeches. Their scent led us through a small park, over walls, and down alleys. They were trying to lose us by choosing convoluted, winding paths. It was hilariously pathetic. Running atop a wall, we stopped momentarily and, in the distance, could see the leeches darting in and out of traffic.

"You take the high road?" Tobin commented to Collin and me.

"And you take the low road," Collin affirmed with a smirk.

All four of us leapt from the wall, our supernatural strength vaulting us to the other side of the street, and while Una and Tobin chose to continue up the street, Collin and I climbed up the side of a building and took "the high road." The cityscape opened before us, glistening with the rain and stretching out in every direction. It was beautiful.

The concrete of the buildings beat beneath our feet as we continued forward. Though the leeches' scent was diluted with the altitude, our position made it easier to spot them. They were dashing in and out of the busy streets, pretty risky with the prevalence of the humans, and occasionally glancing back to see if we were still hot on their heels. We were. As the roads deviated from the direction that the leeches were taking, Una and Tobin stole down an alley, and with a simple hop, they were beside us on the rooftops.

The skyline of Jacksonville was beautiful, especially with the blanket of dark clouds masking the daylight. It almost made the city look subterranean and otherworldly. I often referred to my life in that world, "otherworldly." Not long ago, I was a simple, human girl whose main focus was what college I would attend—I assumed anyway—and now, look what had become of me.

The four of us leapt in between buildings, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. The grace which our supernatural lineage afforded us aided in keeping our footing light. If we weren't careful with how we landed, we could very well break through the ceiling and wind up in the middle of an office building. It had happened before—but I liked to think I had improved.

We came to a stop only once.

Tobin was at the head of the pack, and all of a sudden, he stopped and held up his hand. We joined him and waited while he inhaled deeply, tasting the air. His head snapped to the left and pointed. We turned in time to see the leeches skulk into an alley a few blocks over. We leapt off the building, finding ourselves in a parallel alley, and we resumed the chase.

Without another option, we skirted into the street, navigating through the humans with ease. We were forced to slow down as a line of bodies suddenly blocked our way. A small child across the street giggled and pointed at us, but her mother was too focused on her own matters to entertain her daughter's fancy. Rather than deal with the humans any longer, we ducked into another alley and climbed the walls. While we could have simply jumped up, Tobin was unsure if the leeches were up top, and if they were, he wanted to get a jump on them.

As we peeked over the ledge, we noticed that they were not, in fact, up there. As we took to the roof once again, however, we could hear their erratic scuffling and snarls nearby. They were slowing down. The bloodsuckers never got tired, so it could only mean that they thought they had lost us.

Sure enough, as we listened, they began to talk.

"If they haven't caught us by now, they're not going to," one sneered, and I recognized his voice as the arrogant creature from before. When he spoke again, though, his voice had changed. There was fear in his words. "Why did they kill him? How could they kill him? It's Blood Week."

"The lords will not stand for this," another voice answered.

A choking laugh resounded through the alley. "What makes you think they care about us? This is their land. We just pay rent."

His last statement piqued my interest. I had never really considered what the leech lords gained by having so many vampires on their land. Were they required to pay some kind of tax? It was a strange tangent thought, and I had no idea where this curiosity came from. They were food, not an anthropological study.

"That doesn't matter," the arrogant one urged. "An attack on one is an attack on all. Where's the solidarity?"

"What solidarity?" Hissed another. "In case you haven't noticed, we aren't the most orderly bunch."

Collin sighed at this, and when we looked to him, he shrugged and mouthed, "I'm bored."

So rather than continue listening to the leeches complain, we leapt off the edge and fell on them. It was a relatively uneventful end to such a harrowing chase, but it wasn't without merit. The arrogant one tried to escape, only for Tobin to catch him and rip his legs off. I watched in awe as he tore into the leech's flesh without abandon. Effortless. Whenever it came to physically dismantling leeches, I was pretty nervous. Even though I knew I wasn't a human anymore, I still felt that weakness. Would it ever go away?

We had just finished the burning the bodies and ensuring that no other leech had seen us, when Shiloh's unmistakable voice howled across the city. We were being summoned…again. The four of us looked to one another with confused expressions, but as her voice rose up again, we abandoned our current task and headed out East.

Dex was waiting for us, and he smirked as we stopped in front of him. We were still drenched in venom, and the scent was making us a little jittery.

"I take it you had fun," he commented, crossing his arms and smiling.

"Loads," Tobin responded, shaking his head back and forth like a wet dog. Venom flew from his body, hitting us all in the face. "Is everything all right? Why did Shiloh summon us again?"

Dex exhaled heavily and glanced over his shoulder. "We have a visitor."

I knit my brow as Dex began to tell us about the strange vampire that had wandered too close to our under dwelling. Shiloh had subdued the creature and was currently holding her a few miles away from us. He started to describe her, denoting her dark hair, typical leech eyes, and her accent.

"She said that she is acquainted with you, Collin," Dex said, turning his stern, inquisitive eyes to him. His eyebrow arched slightly and I could see the tension in his jaw. He was not happy, but he was willing to let Collin explain himself. "She is from the school."

Collin nodded. "She is my informant, but I don't understand why she would come to our home. She knows I only meet her in certain places. Besides, she already gave me all the information she had for me."

"Regardless," Dex continued. "Shiloh is waiting for our arrival. The leech refuses to talk to her."

"I believe that," Collin retorted, and when Dex stared him down silently, he added, "All the leeches are scared of her."

His response quelled his ire, and without any more hesitation, we all headed out to where Shiloh had a small, waifish vampire pinned against the pavement of an abandoned highway. The leech was gripping at the concrete, tearing chunks out in fear as Shiloh drove her face deeper into the ground. I had thought I had seen the extent of Shiloh's intimidation when I was a human, but that was hardly scratching the surface. She was just as vicious as Tobin, only not as overt. She had a tenacity about her when it came to dealing with leeches that was unbeatable.

My irritation rose as we approached where she sat, and the leech suddenly squawked, "Collin!" as though he were her avenging angel. A low, steady rumble came from my chest when she reached out to him with a look that seemed both intimate and pleading. Who did this leech think she was? Just because she gave him information and betrayed her own kind, didn't mean that Collin was her white knight. Feeling the heat rise inside me, and remembering what had happened with the leeches' pet I had sent flying out of the window, I chose to look away.

Una was staring straight at me.

Something about the way she looked at me forced me to focus. Perhaps it was because a part of me still wondered if she was okay with me being here, or maybe it was because she was a current source of stability. Whatever the reason, I took a deep breath and tried to be objective. Of course, the way Collin held his hand out to the leech and told her it would be all right made my blood begin to boil again.

"Shiloh, this is my informant," Collin said, slowly approaching our leader. "May I speak with her?"

Shiloh rose slowly, her foot still placed firmly on the back of the leech's head. All I wanted was for her to drive the creature's skull further down until it shattered into a million…what was wrong with me? As I pondered this hostility, Collin was granted an audience with her.

"Why are you here, Cristina?" Collin demanded, pulling the creature up by her arm and shaking her. She looked momentarily stunned and refused to speak, which only further enraged Collin.

A memory sparked in my mind. It was foggy, and I wasn't entirely sure it was true, but it was there nonetheless. When I was human, Collin had pulled me into a corner and demanded…something. I recalled the frustrated tone of his voice, the way his eyes had flashed, the curl of his lip, and the feel of his skin on mine. I inhaled deeply as a shudder passed through me.

Collin, in the meantime, had released Cristina and was waiting for her to answer. Her eyes shifted anxiously from him to the rest of us. It dawned on me that any information she provided was usually shared between just the two of them. Sure enough, as her eyes fell on Shiloh, she took two steps backward.

"Well?" Collin urged, a biting growl behind his words.

She turned her gaze back to his, and she nodded. "There were two strangers on campus today. Two of my kind. Outsiders."

He shrugged. "Nomads are not our domain. That's for your lords to take care of."

"They aren't regular nomads," she called as Collin turned his back on her, and when prompted to elaborate, she turned her attention to me. "They were asking about the newest addition to your pack."

Silence followed as my brothers and sister turned their eyes to me, both shocked and concerned. My eyes were focused on the little stool-pigeon leech. What did she mean they were asking about me? Who was asking about me? What did they want? Too many questions and not enough answers.

"What do you mean?" Collin interjected, turning back toward her and closing the distance between their bodies. His movement was so quick and unexpected that it caught her off guard. She started to stutter nervously, which only made him angrier. He lifted her up by her neck. "Tell us what you know!"

Despite the fact that his fingers were clenched tightly on her neck, she was able to speak clearly. "Two of them. They looked young, but then again, we all do. One was short. Really short. Female. With black hair. The other had dark red hair, male. They had a picture of her. Only, it didn't look like here. She was human."

Cristina spat the last word like it was a curse word.

While she had been speaking, Tobin and Una had gravitated toward me and took protective stances behind and in front of me. Collin was glancing back to me with a mixture of curiosity and worry, but I refused to acknowledge any of them. I was hanging onto the leech's every word.

"That isn't the most interesting part, though," Cristina remarked, the side of her mouth turning up in a smirk that almost aggravated me enough to rip her head off.

Having had enough of listening to her talk, Dex moved next to Collin and snarled loud enough to elicit a cry of fear from her. "Start talking or we will pull you apart."

"All right! Okay! Please!" She was struggling against Collin's hold now, but no matter how she thrashed, she could not break through. "I told them you would be at Sanguine tonight, and that's where they could find you. So that's where they'll be tonight. I told them I would lead them there."

Dex turned back to Shiloh. "This changes things."

"This changes nothing," she responded, arms crossed.

"They could be servants of the Volturi," he said, glancing to me. "We have to think of Bella's safety first and foremost."

They started speaking in the ancient language, discussing and bickering back and forth while I tried to pick up on what they were saying. It frustrated me that they were talking about me like I wasn't there. Then again, that's how life was like in the Walkers. I had given Shiloh power of my life, and I would never regret it. At the moment, it was pretty annoying, though.

Finally, their discussion ended, and Shiloh turned back to the rest of us. "There is no cause for alarm. This night will proceed as planned. If these nomads exist and are not merely the product of a false mind, then I will find them. There will be no more talk on this."

We all gave our assent, and Collin was told to release Cristina. She immediately vanished into the distance, and we decided to head home for a bit of rest.

None for me, though. No. I was too busy thinking about who and what would be waiting for me.

Author's Note: Well howdy! I can't promise more updates, but i will try my best. That being said, the Walkers' hunt of the arrogant leech and his friend is based on a parkour video in France. I will link the video in my profile. Check it out. You've probably seen it before.