The Golden Lily Page 0,122

one hand on her - "

"Eddie," I warned.

For a moment, Eddie didn't move. Then, reluctantly, he released Trey's shirt, but stayed where he'd been standing. "Trey," I began, keeping the same reasonable tone I'd just used with Eddie - after all, Trey and I were friends, right? "You have to help us. Please help us find Sonya."

He shook his head. "I can't, Sydney. It's for your own good. She's evil. I don't know what trick she's played on you or how she's got this illusion going on that hides her true identity, but you can't trust her. She'll turn on you. Let us - let us do what we need to." The words were all correct, right in line with the Warriors' propaganda. But, there was something in the way Trey spoke, something about his posture... I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was that made me question him. People teased me about my inability to pick up on social cues, but I was almost certain he wasn't entirely on board with whatever this group wanted him to do.

"This isn't you, Trey," I said. "I know you well enough to know. You wouldn't kill an innocent woman."

"She's not innocent." There it was again - that mix of emotions. Doubt. "She's a monster.

You know about them. You know what they can do. Not ones like her." He nodded toward Jill.

"But the others. The undead ones."

"Does Sonya look undead?" asked Eddie. "You see any red eyes?"

"No," Trey admitted. "But we have other reports. Witnesses who saw her in Kentucky. Reports of her victims."

It was hard to keep a calm face through that. I'd actually seen Sonya when she was Strigoi. She'd been terrifying, and given half a chance, she would have killed my companions and me. It was hard to accept that when one turned into a Strigoi, they weren't in control of their senses or soul. They lost touch with their humanity - or whatever Moroi had - and weren't the same as they'd once been. Sonya had done terrible, terrible things, but she was no longer that creature.

"Sonya changed," I said. "She's not one of them anymore." Trey's eyes narrowed. "That's impossible. You're being deceived. There's some kind of...

I don't know... dark magic going on."

"This isn't getting us anywhere," growled Eddie. "Call Dimitri. Between the two of us, we'll get him to tell us where this compound's at. I've broken into a prison. Getting into this place shouldn't be that much harder."

"Oh, you think so?" A humorless smile crossed Trey's features. "That place is surrounded with an electric fence and packed with armed men. Plus, she's heavily secured. You can't just walk in there."

"Why is she still alive?" asked Angeline. She seemed to realize how weird that sounded and was quick to elaborate. "That is... I mean, I'm glad she is. But if you think she's so evil, why didn't you finish her off?" She glanced at my friends and me. "Sorry."

"It's a good question," Eddie told her.

Trey took a long time in answering. I had a feeling he was torn between keeping the group's secrets and wanting to justify his actions to us. "Because we're all being tested," he said finally. "To see who's worthy of performing the kill."

"Oh my God," said Jill.

"Hence all your bruises recently," I said. My fears of domestic abuse weren't far off, really.

"You're competing to kill a woman who's done nothing to you."

"Stop saying that!" Trey cried, truly looking distraught. "She's not innocent."

"But you're not so sure," I said. "Are you? Your eyes aren't telling you what your hunter friends are."

He evaded the accusation. "My family expects this of me. We all have to try - especially after we messed up the alley attack. We lost our authorization to kill her then, which is why the council ordered these trials to redeem ourselves and prove we were up to it." Getting

"authorization" to kill someone was sickening, but it was the rest of what he said that made me do a double take.

"You were there," I said in disbelief. "In the alley, and - and it was you! You're the one who grabbed me!" It came back to me now, my assailant's surprise and hesitation.

Trey's face confirmed as much. "I knew you were friends with them. I can tell by looking at all of you, although I didn't figure you two out right away." That was to Eddie and Angeline.

Trey turned back to me. "I recognized your tattoo the first time we met.