they'l expect," Riley assured us. "Al of us - together - waiting for them. And I've saved the best part for last. There are only seven of them."
There was an instant of incredulous silence.
Then Raoul said, "What?"
Kristie stared at Riley with the same disbelieving expression, and I heard muttered whispers around the room.
"Seven?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Hey," Riley snapped. "I wasn't joking when I said this coven is dangerous. They are wise and... devious. Underhanded. We wil have power on our side; they wil have deception. If we play it their way, they will win. But if we take it to them on our terms..." Riley didn't finish, he just smiled.
"Let's go now," Raoul urged. "Let's get 'em out of the picture fast." Kevin growled enthusiastical y.
"Slow down, moron. Rushing into things blind isn't going to help us win," Riley chided him.
"Tel us everything we need to know about them," Kristie encouraged, shooting Raoul a superior look.
Riley hesitated, as if deciding how to word something. "Al 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 while everyone looked confused. "You have a little bit of experience with what we cal 'talents.' We have Fred."
Everyone looked at Fred - or rather they tried to. I could tel from Riley's expression that Fred did not like being singled out. It looked like Fred had real y turned up the volume on his
"talent," as Riley cal ed it. Riley cringed and looked away quickly. I stil didn't feel anything.
"Yes, wel, there are some vampires who have gifts beyond the usual super strength and super senses. You've seen one aspect in... our coven." He was careful not to say Fred's name again. "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."
I could hear a lot of murmurs now as people wondered if they might be talented. Raoul was preening like he'd already decided he was gifted. As far as I could tel, the only one around here that was in any way special was standing next to me.
"Pay attention!" Riley commanded. "I'm not tel ing you this for entertainment."
"This enemy coven," Kristie interjected. "They're talented. Right?"
Riley gave her an approving nod. "Exactly. I'm glad someone here can connect the dots."
Raoul's upper lip twitched back over his teeth.
"This coven is dangerously talented," Riley went on, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper. "They have a mind reader."
He examined our faces, looking to see if we got the importance of this revelation. He didn't seem satisfied with his assessment.
"Think, guys! He'l know everything in your head. If you attack, he'l know what move you're going to make before you know it. You go left, he'l be waiting."
There was a nervous stil ness as everyone imagined this.
"This is why we've been so careful - me, and the one who created you."
Kristie flinched away from Riley when he mentioned her. Raoul looked angrier. Nerves strained universal y.
"You don't know her name, and you don't know what she looks like. This protects us al . 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."
Chapters 11
That didn't make sense to me. Didn't the secrecy protect her more than it protected any of us? Riley hurried on before we had too long to examine his statement.
"Of course, it doesn't matter now that they've decided to move on Seattle. We wil surprise them on their way in, and we wil annihilate them." He whistled a single low note through his teeth. "Done. And then not only is the city al ours, other covens wil 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'l move right into the city, and we will rule it."
The growls and snarls were like applause. Everyone was with him. Except for me. I didn't move, didn't make a sound. Neither did Fred, but who knows why that was?
I was not with Riley because his promises sounded like lies. Or else my whole line of logic had