Night World : The Chosen Chapter 11

The U-Haul whirred across smooth resonant pavement and Rashel tried to guess where they were. Shehad been move a map in her bear in mind, trying to imagine each mature they do, each change of the roadunder lighth them.Ivan sat slouched, blocking the sticker doors of the truck. His eyes were sm whole and mean, and theyflickered all over the girls constantly. In his right hand he held a taser, a hand-held electrical stun gun, andRashel knew he was decease to use it. save the cargo was being rattling docile. Daphne was beside Rashel, leaning against her rattling somewhat forcomfort, her dark blue eyes fixed va pooptly on the far wall. They were shackled to hold backher although both(prenominal)Lily and Ivan had been checking Daphne constantly for signs of waking up, they were in a heartfelt way taking nochances.On the opposite side of the truck were the twain separate girls. ace was Juanita, her wavy bronze hairtangled from dickens days of lying on it, her bee-stung lips parted, her gaze empty. The hour girl was atowhead, with flyaway hair and Bambi eyes thorough spill(a) blankly. Ivan called her Missy.She was nigh dozen.Rashel allowed herself to daydream well-nigh things to do to Ivan. then she focused. The van was keep backping. Ivan jumped up, and a minute later he was opening the backdoors. Then he and Lily were unshackling the girls and herding them out, telling them to hurry.Rashel breathed deeply, gratifying for the fresh open air. Salty air. Keeping her gaze aimless and glassy,she looked around. It was fall and they were on a Charlestown dock.Keep moving, Ivan say, a hand on her shoulder.Ahead, Rashel precept a sleek thirty-foot power cruiser bobbing gently in a slip. A figure with dark hair wason the deck, doing something with lines. Quinn.He still glanced up as Ivan and Lily hustled the girls onto the boat, and he didnt inspection and repair steady Missywhen she near lost her balance jumping from the dock. His mood had changed again, Rashel realized.He depended withdrawn, turned inward, brooding. come upon Ivan shoved her, and for an instant, Quinns attention shifted. He st ared at Ivan with eyes equivalentblack death, immortal and fathomless. Hedidnt say a name. Ivans hand dropped from Rashers back.Lily led them down a short flight of steps to a cramped but neat atomic cabin and gestured them to anL-shaped couch behind a dinette table. Here. Sit down. You 2 here. You two there.Rashel slipped into her lowlife and stared vacantly across at the sink in the tiny galley.You all stay here, Lily said. Dont move. Stay. She would confound made a immenseslave overseer, Rashel plan. Or dog trainer.When Lily had disappeared up the stairs and the door higher up had banged closed(a), Rashel and Daphnesimultaneously let out their breath.You doing okay? Rashel whispered.Yeah. A microscopical shaky. Where dyou look were going?Rashel except shook her head. Nobody knew where the vampire enclaves were. An id ea was go far-go to form in her mind, though. in that location must be a power they were traveling by boat-it would have been saferand easier to check the pris unmatchednessrs in the U-Haul. Unless they were going to a place you couldnt demand to byU-Haul.An island. Why shouldnt some of the enclaves be on islands? There were hundreds of them off theeastern coast.It was a very unsettling thought.On an island they would be completely isolated.Nowhere to escape to if things got bad. No possible hope of help from outside.Rashel was beginning to regret that shed brought Daphne into this. And she had the ominous feeling thatwhen they got to their destination, she was going to regret it charge to a greater extent.The boat sliced cleanly through the water, heading into darkness. Behind Quinn was the celestial horizon ofBoston, the city lights showing where the ocean ended and the land began. But frontwards there was nohorizon, no difference between sky and sea. There was only form less, endless void.The inky blackness was dotted with an occasional recluse winking light-herring boats. They only seemedto make the vastness of empty water more lonely.Quinn ignored Lily and Ivan. He was not in a good mood.He let the nippy air soak into him, permeating his body, mixing with the cold he felt inside. He imaginedhimself freezing solid-a rather pleasant thought. adept make water to the enclave, he thought emptily. Get it over with.This last hand of girls had upset him. He didnt know wherefore, and he didnt want to think near it. Theywere vermin. All of them. Even the dark-haired one who was so lovely that it was just or so too bad shewas certifiably insane. The little blond one was crazy, too. The one who, having had the great deal to fall out ofthe frying pan once, had come right back, cover herself with butter and breadcrumbs, and jumped inagain.Idiot. Someone like that deservedQuinns thought stone-broke off. Somewhere deep inside him was a little verba lise manifestation that no one, howeveridiotic, deserved what was going to happen to those girls.Youre the idiot. Just get them to the enclave and whence you can forget all this.The enclave it was Hunter Redfern who had starting line gear thought of enclaves on islands. Because of Dove,hed said.We regard a place where the Redferns can live safely, without facial ex rouseion over their shoulders for humanswith stakes. An island would do.Quinn hadnt objected to the classification of himself as a Redfern-although he had no intention ofmarrying Garnet or Lily. Instead he said, a good deal, Fishermen visit those islands all the time. earth are settling them. Wed have company soon.There are spells to harbor places humans shouldnt go. I know a witch wholl do it, to nurture lily andGarnet.Why?Hunter had grinned. Because shes their mother.And Quinn had said nought. Later hed met Maeve Harman, the witch who had mingled her blood withthe lamia. She didnt seem to likeHunter much, and she kept their youngest daughter, Roseclear, who was being raised as a witch, awayfrom him. But she did the spell.And theyd all moved to the island, where Garnet finally gave up on Quinn and married a boy from a nicelamia family. Her children were allowed to birth on the Redfern name. And as time went on, otherenclaves had sprung up.But no(prenominal) quite like the one Quinn was heading for now.He shifted on his seat in the cockpit. Ahead, there was a horizon again. A luminous silver moon wasrising above the pond-still dark water. It shone like an enchantment, as if to fly the coop Quinns way.Scrrrunch.Rashel winced as the boat docked. Somebody wasnt being careful. But theyd arrived, and it could onlybe an island. Theyd been heading east for over two hours.Daphne lifted her head weakly. I dont care if they eat us the minute we get off, as spacious as I get to feelsolid ground again.This practically is solid ground, Rashel whispered. Its been dead calm the whole way.Tell that to my stomach. Daphne moaned, and Rashel poked her. Someone was coming down thestairs.It was Lily. Ivan waited above with the taser. They herded the girls off the boat and up onto a little dock.Rashel did her vacant-eyed perfect(a) around again, blessing the moonlight that allowed her to see.It wasnt much of a dock. One wharf with a gas pump and a shack. There were terzetto other powerboatsin slips.And that was all. Rashel couldnt see any sign of life. The boats rode like wraith ships on the water. Therewas silence except for the slap of the waves.Private island, Rashel thought.Something about the place made the hair on the back of her neck rise. With Lily in front and Ivan in back, the group was herded to a hiking trail that wound up a cliff.Its just an island, Rashel told herself. You should be dancing with joy. This is the enclave you wanted toget to. Theres nothing uncanny about this place.And then, as they reached the top of the cliff, she axiom the rocks. Big rocks. Monol iths that reminded herspookily of Stonehenge. It looked as if a giant had scattered them around.And there were houses built among them, perched on the lonely cliff, looking down on the vast dark sea.They all seemed deserted, and somehow they reminded Rashel of gargoyles, hunched and waiting.Lily was headed for the very last house on the flaxen unpaved road.It was one of those huge summer cottages that was really a mansion. A massive white frame house,two and a half stories high, with refine ornamentation.Shock coursed through Rashel.A frame house. Wood.This place wasnt built by vampires.The lamia built out of brick or fieldstone, not out of the timber that was lethal to them. They must havebought this island from humans.Rashel was tingling from head to toe. This is definitely not a normal enclave. Where are all the people?Wheres the town? What are we doing here?Move, move. Lily marched them around the back of the house and inside. And at last, Rashel heardthe sounds of other life . Voices from somewhere inside the house.But she didnt get to see who the voices belonged to. Lily was taking them into a big old-fashionedkitchen, prehistorical a pantry with empty shelves.At the end of the pantry was a heavy wooden door, and on a stool by the door was a boy aboutRashels age. He had bushy brown hair and was wearing cowboy boots. He was breeding a comic book.Hey, Rudi, Lily said crisply. Howre our guests?Quiet as little lambs. Rudis voice was laconic, but he stood up respectfully as Lily went by. His eyesflickered over Rashel and the other girls.Werewolf.Rashels instincts were screaming it. And thename werewolves often had names like Lovell or Felan that meant wolf in their native language.Rudi meant famous wolf in Hungarian. dress hat guards in the world, Rashel thought grimly. Going to be laboured to get past him. Rudi was opening the door. With Lily prodding her from behind, Rashel walked down a narrow,extremely steep staircase. At the base of the stairway was another heavy door. Rudi unlocked it and ledthe way.Rashel stepped into the cellar.What she saw was something shed never seen in front. A large low-ceilinged room. Dimly lit. With tworows of twelve iron beds along opposite walls.There was a girl in each bed.Teenage girls. All ages, all sizes, but all(prenominal) one beautiful in her own unique way.It looked like a infirmary ward or a prison. As Rashel walked between the rows, she had to fight to keepher face blank. These girls were chained to the beds, and awake and scared.Frightened eyes looked at Rashel from every cot, then darted toward the werewolf. Rudi grinned atthem, wave and nodding to either side. The girls shrank away.Only a few seemed brave enough to say anything.PleaseHow long do we have to stay here?I want to go crime syndicateThe last two beds in each row were empty. Rashel was put into one. Daphne looked both sick andfrightened as the shackles dosed over her ankles, but she went on gamely staring straight ahead.Sl eep tight, girlies, Rudi said. Tomorrows a big day.And then he and Lily and Ivan walked out. The heavy wooden door slammed behind them, repeat inthe stone-walled cellar.Rashel sat up in one motion.Daphne twisted her head. Is it safe to conference? she whispered.I think so, Rashel said in a normal voice. She was staring with narrowed eyes down the rows of beds.Some of the girls were looking at them, some were crying. Some had their eyes shut.Daphne burst out with the force of a pause dam, What are they going to do to us?I dont know, Rashel said. Her voice was hard and flat, her movements disciplined and precise, as sheslid the knife out of her boot. But Im going to muster out.What, youre gonna saw through the chains? No. From a guard on the side of the sheath, Rashel pulled a thin strip of metal. She bared her teethslightly in a smile. Im going to pick the lock.Oh. Okay. Great. But then what? I mean, whats happening here? What descriptor of place is this? I wasexpecting some kind of-of Roman slave auction or something, with, like, everybody dressed in togas andvampires waving and bidding-You may still see something like that, Rashelsaid. I agree, its weird. This is not a normal enclave. I dont know, maybe its some kind of holdingcenter, and theyre going to take us someplace else to sell us.Actually, Im afraid not, a quiet voice to her left said.Rashel turned. The girl in the bed beside her was academic session up. She had flaming red hair, wistful eyes, and adiffident manner. Im Fayth, she said.Shelly, Rashel said briefly. She didnt affirm anyone here yet. Thats Daphne. What do you mean,youre afraid not?Theyre not taking us somewhere else to sell us. Fayth looked almost apologetic.Well, Id like to know what theyre going to do with us here, Rashel said. She sprung one lock on theshackles and jabbed the lockpick into the other. Twenty-four girls on an island with one inhabitedhouse? Its insane.Its a bloodfeast.Rashels hand on the lockpick went still.She loo ked over at Fayth and said very softly, What?Theyre having a bloodfeast. On the quail equinox, I think. jump tomorrow night at midnight.Daphne was reaching across the gap for Rashel. What, what? Whats a bloodfeast? Tell me.Its Rashel dragged her attention from Fayth. Its a feast for vampires. A big celebration, abanquet. Three courses, you know. She lookedaround the room. Three girls. And there are twenty-four of us.Enough for eight vampires, Fayth said quietly, looking apologetic.So youre saying that they take a little blood from each of three girls. Daphne was leaning anxiouslytoward Rashel. Thats what youre saying, right? Right? A little sip here, a little sip there- She broke offas Rashel and Fayth both looked at her. Youre not saying that.Daphne, Im sorry I got you into this. Rashel took a breath and opened the second lock on hershackles, avoiding Daphnes eyes. The idea of a bloodfeast is that you drink the blood of three people inone day. All their blood. You drain them. D aphne opened her mouth, shut it, then at last said pathetically, And you dont burst?Rashel smiled bleakly in spite of herself. Its supposed to be the ultimate high or something. You get thepower of their blood, the power of their lifeforce, all at once. She looked at Fayth. But its been wrongfor a long time.Fayth nodded. Sos slavery. I think individual wants it to make a comeback.Any idea who?All I know is that somebody very rich has invited seven of the most powerful made vampires here forthe feast. Whoever he is, he really wants to show them a good time.To make an alliance, Rashel said slowly.Maybe.The made vampires ganging up against the lamia.Possibly.And the spring equinox theyre celebrating the anniversary of the first made vampire. The day Mayabit Thierry.Definitely.Just wait a minute, Daphne said. Just everybody press pause, okay? How come you know about allthis stuff? She was staring at Fayth. Made vampires, this vampires, that vampires, Maya I neverheard of any of these people.Maya was the first of the lamia, Rashel said rapidly, glancing back at her. Shes the ancestress of allthe vampires who can grow up and have children-the family vampires. The made vampires are different.Theyre humans who get made into vampires by being bitten. They cant grow any older or have kids.And Thierry was the first human to get made into a vampire, Fayth said. Maya bit him on the springequinox thousands of years ago.Rashel was watching Fayth closely. So now maybe youll do her question, she said. How do youknow all this? No humans know about Night World history-except vampire hunters and damned morners.Fayth winced, and then Rashel understood why she seemed so apologetic. Im a damned Daybreaker.Oh, God.Whats a Daybreaker? Daphne prompted, poking Rashel.Circle Daybreak is a group of witches whore trying to get humans and Night passel to I dontknow, all dance around and drink Coke together, Rashel said, nonplussed. She was unlogical andrevolted-this girl had seemed so normal, so sensible. To live in harmony, actually, Fayth said to Daphne. To stop hating and killing each other.Daphne wrinkled her nose. Youre a witch?No. Im human. But I have friends whore witches. I have friends whore vampires. I know lamia andhumans whore soulmates-Dont be disgusting Rashel almost shouted it. It took her a second base to get hold of herself. Then,breathing carefully, she said, Look, just watch it, Daybreaker. I need your information, so Im willing towork with you-temporarily. But watch the language or Ill leave you here when I get the rest of us out.Then you can live in harmony with eight vampires on your own. disrespect her effort at control, her voice was shaking. Somehow Fayths words seemed to keep echoingin her mind, as if they had some strange arid terrible importance. The word soulmates itself seemed toricochet around inside her.And Fayth was acting oddly, too. Instead of getting mad, she just looked at Rashel long and steadily.Then she said softly, I see Rashel didnt like the way she said it. She turned toward Daphne, whowas saying eagerly, So were going to get out of here? Like a prison break?Of course. And well have to do it fast. Rashel narrowed her eyes, trying to think. I assumed wedhave more time and theres that werewolf to get past. And then once we do get out, were on anisland. Thats bad. We cant live long out in the wild-its too cold and theyd track us. But there has to bea way. She glanced at Fayth. I dont suppose theres any chance of other Daybreakers showing upto help.Fayth shook her head. They dont know Im here. Wed heard that something was going on in a Bostonclub, that somebody was gathering girls for a bloodfeast. I came to check it out-and got nabbed before Imade my first report.So were on our own. Thats all right. Rashels mind was in gear now, humming with ideas. Okay, first,well have to see what these girls can do-which of them can help us-Fayth and Daphne were listening intently, when Rashel was interrupted by th e last thing she pass judgment tohear in a place like this.The sound of somebody shouting her name.Rashel Rashel the vampire hunter Rashel the Cat