"I asked you first," Jade said, frowning. If ft hadJust been her, Mary-Lynnette would have started towonder if things were so awful after all. if maybethey weren't in terrible danger.
But Rowan and Kestrel were looking at each other,and then at Mark and Mary-Lynnette. And their ex
pressions made Mary-Lynnette's throat close.
"You shouldn't have followed us," Rowan said.She looked grave and sad.
"They shouldn't have beenableto," Kestrel said.She looked grim.
"It's because they smell like goats," Jade said.
"What are you doing?"Mark shouted again, almostsobbing. Mary-Lynnette wanted to reach for him, butshe couldn't move.
Jade wiped her mouth with the back of her hand."Well, can't youtell?"She turned to her sisters."Now what are we supposed todo?"
There was a silence. Then Kestrel said, "We don'thave a choice. We havetokill them."
Chapter 9
Mary-Lynnette's hearing had gone funny. Sheheard Kestrel's words like a character remembering a phrase In a bad movie. Kill them, kill them, kill them.
Mark laughed In a very strange way.
This is going to be really rotten for him, MaryLynnette thought, curiously dispassionate. I mean, if we were going tolive through this, which we're not, it would be really rotten for him. He was already afraidof girls, and sort of pessimistic about life in general "Why don't we all sit down?" Rowan said with astifled sigh. "We've got to figure this out."
Mark threw back his head and gave another shortbark of a laugh.
"Why not?" he said. "Let's all sit down, why not?"
They're fast as whippets, Mary-Lynnette thought.If we run now, they'll catch us. But If we sit, and they get comfortable, and I distract them-or hitthem with something...
"Sitl" she ordered Mark briskly. Rowan and Kestrel moved away from the deer and sat. Jade stood with her hands on her hips for a moment, then sat,too.
Sitting, Mark was still acting punch-drunk. Hewaved the flashlight around. "You girls aresomethingelse.
You girls are really-"
"We're vampires," Jade said sharply.
"Yeah." Mark laughed quietly to himself. "Yeah," he said again.
Mary-Lynnette took the flashlight away from him. She wanted control of it. And it was heavy plastic and metal. It was a weapon.
And while one layer of her mind was thinking:Shine the light in their eyesat just the rightmoment andthen hit oneof them; another part was thinking:Shemeans they'repeoplewhothinkthey're vampires;peoplewith that weird disease that makes them anemic; and one final part was saying:Youmight as well faceit;they're real.
Mary-Lynnette's world view had been knocked rightout of the ballpark.
"Don't you justhate that," Mark was saying. "You meet a girl and she seems pretty nice and you tell all your friends and then before you know it she turnsout to be avampire.Don't you just hate it when that happens?"
Oh. God, he's hysterical, Mary-Lynnette realized. She grabbed his shoulder and hissed in his ear, "Get a grip, now.", "I don't see what the point is in talking to them,Rowan," Kestrel was saying. "You know what wehave to do."
And Rowan was rubbing her forehead. "I was thinkingwe might influence them," she said in an undertone.
"You know why that won't work." Kestrel's voice was soft and flat.
"Why?" Jade said sharply.
"They followed us for a reason," Rowan saidtiredly. She nodded toward the hole. "So they've been suspicious for a while-for how long?" She looked at Mary-Lynnette.
"I saw you dig the hole Tuesday night," MaryLynnette said. She nodded toward the hole. "Is that your aunt in there?"
There was a brief silence and Rowan looked selfconscious. Then she inclined her head slightly.
Gracefully.
"Oh, hell," Mark said. His eyes were shut and his head was rolling on his neck. "Oh,hell. They've got Mrs. B. in a bag."
"Two days," Rowan said to Jade. "They've suspected for two whole days. And we can't remove memories that are interlaced with other things for that long. We'd never know if we got them all."
"Well, we could just takeeverything for the last two days," Jade said.
Kestrel snorted. "And have two more people wandering around with lost time?"
Mary-Lynnette's mind went click. "Todd Akers andVic Kimble," she said. "You did something to give them amnesia.I knew there had to be a connection."
"There's no other choice for us," Kestrel said quietly to Rowan. "And you know it as well as I do."
She's not being malicious, Mary-Lynnette realized.Just practical. If a lioness or a wolf or a falcon could talk, it would say the same thing. "We have to either kill or die; it's as simple as that."
Despite herself, Mary-Lynnette felt something like fascination-and respect.
Mark had his eyes open now. And Rowan was looking sad, so sad. It's awful, her expression said, but somebody here is going to have to get hurt.
Rowan bowed her head, then lifted it to face MaryLynnette directly. Their eyes met, held. After a moment Rowan's face changed slightly and she nodded.
Mary-Lynnette knew that in that instant they werecommunicating without words. Each recognizing the other as an alpha female who was willing to fightand die for her kin.
Meaning they were both big sisters.
Yes, somebody's going to get hurt, Mary-Lynnette thought. You threaten myfamily,I fight back.
She knew Rowan understood. Rowan was going to really hate killing her....
"No," a voice said passionately, and MaryLynnette realized it was Jade. And the next second Jade was on her feet, hands clenched, words erupting like a steam boiler exploding. "No, youcan'tkill Mark. I won'tletyou."