"Is it time?" Riley asked eagerly.
Her answer came back fast, like a slap. "No! I haven't decided when."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to. It's enough for you to know that our enemies have great powers. We cannot be too careful." Her voice softened, turned sugary again. "But al twenty-two stil alive. Even with what they are capable of... what good wil it be against twenty-two?" She let out a tinkling little laugh. Diego and I had not looked away from each other throughout al this, and I could see in his eyes now that his thoughts were the same as mine. Yes, we'd been created for a purpose, as we'd guessed. We had an enemy. Or, our creator had an enemy. Did the distinction matter?
"Decisions, decisions," she muttered. "Not yet. Maybe one more handful, just to be sure."
"Adding more might actual y decrease our numbers," Riley cautioned hesitantly, as if being careful not to upset her. "It's always unstable when a new group is introduced."
"True," she agreed, and I imagined Riley sighing in relief that she was not upset.
Abruptly Diego looked away from me, staring out across the meadow. I hadn't heard any movement from the house, but maybe she had come out. My head whipped around at the same time the rest of me turned to a statue, and I saw what had startled Diego.
Four figures were crossing the open field to the house. They had entered the clearing from the west, the point farthest from where we hid. They al wore long, dark cloaks with deep hoods, so at first I thought they were people. Weird people, but just humans al the same, because none of the vampires I knew had matching Goth clothes. And none moved in a way that was so smooth and control ed and... elegant. But then I realized that none of the humans I'd ever seen could move that way, either, and what's more, they couldn't do it so quietly. The dark-cloaks skimmed across the long grass in absolute silence. So either these were vampires, or they were something else supernatural. Ghosts, maybe. But if they were vampires, they were vampires I didn't know, and that meant they might very wel be these enemies she was talking about. If so, we should get the hel out of Dodge right now, because we didn't have twenty other vampires on our side at the moment.
I almost took off then, but I was too afraid to draw the attention of the cloaked figures.
So I watched them move smoothly forward, noticing other things about them. How they stayed in a perfect diamond formation that never was the slightest bit out of line no matter how the terrain changed under their feet. How the one at the point of the diamond was much smal er than the others, and its cloak was darker, too. How they didn't seem to be tracking their way in - not trying to fol ow the path of any scent. They simply knew their way. Maybe they were invited.
They moved directly toward the house, and I felt like it might be safe to breathe again when they started silently up the steps toward the front door. They weren't coming straight for Diego and me, at least. When they were out of sight, we could disappear into the sound of the next breeze through the trees, and they would never know we'd been here.
I looked at Diego and twitched my head slightly toward the way we'd come. He narrowed his eyes and held up one finger. Oh great, he wanted to stay. I rol ed my eyes at him, though I was so afraid, I was surprised I was capable of sarcasm. We both looked back to the house. The cloaked things had let themselves in silently, but I realized that neither she nor Riley had spoken since we'd caught sight of the visitors. They must have heard something or known in some other way that they were in danger.
"Don't bother," a very clear, monotone voice commanded lazily. It was not as high-pitched as our creator's, but it stil sounded girlish to me. "I think you know who we are, so you must know that there is no point in trying to surprise us. Or hide from us. Or fight us. Or run."
A deep, masculine chuckle that did not belong to Riley echoed menacingly through the house.
"Relax," instructed the first inflectionless voice - the cloaked girl. Her voice had that distinctive ring that made me certain she was a vampire, not a ghost or any other kind of nightmare.
"We're not here to destroy you. Yet."
There was a moment of silence, and then some barely audible movements. A shifting of positions.
"If you are not here to kil us, then... what?" our creator asked, strained and shril .
"We seek to know your intentions here. Specifical y, if they involve... a certain local clan," the cloaked girl explained. "We wonder if they have anything to do with the mayhem you've created here. Illegally created."
Diego and I frowned simultaneously. None of this made sense, but the last part was the weirdest. What could be il egal for vampires? What cop, what judge, what prison could have power over us?
"Yes," our creator hissed. "My plans are all about them. But we can't move yet. It's tricky." A petulant note crept into her voice at the end.
Chapters 9
"Trust me, we know the difficulties better than you. It is remarkable that you've managed to keep off the radar, so to speak, for this long. Tel me" - a hint of interest colored the monotone - "how are you doing it?"
Our creator hesitated, and then spoke al in a rush. Almost as if there had been some silent intimidation. "I haven't made the decision," she spit out. Then she added more slowly, unwil ingly, "To attack. I've never decided to do anything with them."
"Rough, but effective," the cloaked girl said. "Unfortunately, your period of deliberation has come to a close. You must decide - now - what you wil do with your little army." Both Diego's and my eyes widened at that word. "Otherwise, it wil be our duty to punish you as the law demands. This reprieve, however short, troubles me. It is not our way. I suggest you give us what assurances you can... quickly."