Stephenie Meyer - The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Probably not, though. More likely Fred had just angered them. I really hoped Fred never let his guard slip.

Riley went to Diego right away; I listened with my back to them, eyes on my book. In my peripheral vision, I saw some of Raoul’s idiots wandering, looking for their favorite games or whatever they’d been doing before Fred had driven them out. Kevin was one of them, but he seemed to be looking for something more specific than entertainment. Several times his eyes tried to focus on where I was sitting, but Fred’s aura kept him at bay. He gave up after a few minutes, looking a little sick.

“I heard you made it back,” Riley said, sounding genuinely pleased. “I can always count on you, Diego.”

“No problem,” Diego said in a relaxed voice. “Unless you count holding my breath all day as a negative.”

Riley laughed. “Don’t cut it so close next time. Set a better example for the babies.”

Diego just laughed with him. From the corner of my eye, it seemed like Kevin relaxed some. Was he really that worried about Diego getting him in trouble? Maybe Riley listened to Diego more than I realized. I wondered whether that was why Raoul had gotten crazy before.

Was it a good thing if Diego was that in with Riley after all? Maybe Riley was okay. That relationship didn’t compromise what we had, did it?

Time didn’t pass any faster after the sun was up. It was crowded and unstable in the basement, like every day. If vampires could get hoarse, Riley would have lost his voice entirely from the yelling. A couple of kids temporarily lost limbs, but nobody got torched. The music warred with the game tracks, and I was glad I didn’t get headaches. I tried reading my books, but I ended up just flipping through one after the other, not caring enough to make my eyes focus on the words. I left them in a neat stack by the end of the couch for Fred. I always left my books for him, though I never could tell whether he read them. Couldn’t look at him closely enough to see what, exactly, he did with his time.

At least Raoul never looked my way. Neither did Kevin or any of the others. My hiding place was as effective as ever. I couldn’t see if Diego was smart enough to ignore me, because I was ignoring him so thoroughly. No one could suspect that we were a team, except maybe Fred. Had Fred been paying attention as I prepared to fight alongside Diego? Even if he had, I didn’t worry too much about it. If Fred felt any particular ill will toward me, he could have let me die last night. Would have been easy.

It got louder as the sun started to go down. We couldn’t see the light fading here underground, with all of the windows upstairs covered just in case. But waiting through so many long days gave you a good sense for when one was almost over. Kids started getting antsy, bugging Riley about whether they could go out.

“Kristie, you were out last night,” Riley said, and you could hear the patience wearing thin in his voice. “Heather, Jim, Logan—go ahead. Warren, your eyes are dark, go along with them. Hey, Sara, I’m not blind—get back here.”

The kids he shut down sulked in the corners, some of them waiting for Riley to leave so they could sneak out in spite of his rules.

“Um, Fred, must be about your turn,” Riley said, not looking in our direction. I heard Fred sigh as he got to his feet. Everyone cringed as he moved through the center of the room, even Riley. But unlike the others, Riley smiled a little to himself. He liked his vampire with skills.

I felt naked with Fred gone. Anyone could focus on me now. I held perfectly still, head down, doing everything in my power not to call attention to myself.

Lucky for me, Riley was in a hurry tonight. He barely paused to glare at the people who were clearly edging for the door, let alone threaten them, as he headed out himself. Normally he’d give us some variant on the usual speech about keeping a low profile, but not tonight. He seemed preoccupied, anxious. I’d have bet he was going to see her . That made me less excited about catching up with him at dawn.

I waited for Kristie and three of her usual companions to head out, and I slipped out in their wake, trying to look like part of the entourage without irritating them. I didn’t look at Raoul, I didn’t look at Diego. I concentrated on seeming inconsequential—no one to notice. Just some random vampire chick.

Once we were out of the house, I split off from Kristie immediately and beat it into the woods. I hoped only Diego would care enough to follow my scent. Halfway up the side of the nearest mountain, I made my perch in the top branches of a big spruce that cleared its neighbors by several meters. I had a pretty good view of anyone who might try to track me.

Turns out I was being overcautious. Maybe I’d been too cautious all day. Diego was the only one to come looking. I saw him from a distance and backtracked to meet him.

“Long day,” he said, giving me a hug. “Your plan is hard.”

I hugged him back, marveling at how comfortable this was. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”

“Sorry about Raoul. That was close.”

I nodded. “Good thing Fred is so disgusting.”

“I wonder if Riley knows how potent that kid is.”

“Doubt it. I’ve never seen him do that before, and I spend a lot of time around him.”

“Well, that’s Freaky Fred’s business. We have our own secret to tell Riley.”

I shuddered. “Still not sure that’s a good idea.”

“We won’t know until we see how Riley reacts.”

“I don’t really like not knowing, as a general rule.”

Diego’s eyes narrowed speculatively. “How do you feel about adventure?”

“Depends.”

“Well, I was thinking about club priorities. You know, about finding out as much as we can.”

“And…?”

“I think we should follow Riley. Find out what he’s doing.”

I stared. “But he’ll know we tracked him. He’ll catch our scents.”

“I know. This is how I figure it. I follow his scent. You keep clear by a few hundred yards and follow my sound. Then Riley only knows I followed him, and I can tell him it’s because I had something important to share. That’s when I do the big reveal with the disco ball effect. And I’ll see what he says.” His eyes narrowed as he examined me. “But you… you just play it close to the chest for now, okay? I’ll tell you if he’s cool about it.”

“What if he comes back early from wherever he’s going? Don’t you want it to be close to dawn so you can glitter?”

“Yes… that’s definitely a possible problem. And it might affect the way the conversation goes. But I think we should risk it. He seemed like he was in a hurry tonight, didn’t he? Like maybe he needs all night for whatever he’s doing?”

“Maybe. Or maybe he was just in a big hurry to see her . You know, we might not want to surprise him if she’s nearby.” We both winced.

“True. Still…” He frowned. “Doesn’t it feel like whatever’s coming is getting close? Like we might not have forever to figure this out?”

I nodded unhappily. “Yeah, it does.”

“So let’s take our chances. Riley trusts me, and I have a good reason for wanting to talk to him.”

I thought about this strategy. Though I’d only known him for a day, really, I was still aware that this level of paranoia was out of character for Diego.

“This elaborate plan of yours…,” I said.

“What about it?” he asked.

“It sounds kind of like a solo plan. Not so much a club adventure. At least, not when it comes to the dangerous part.”

He made a face that told me I’d caught him.

“This is my idea. I’m the one who…” He hesitated, having trouble with the next word. “… trusts Riley. I’m the only one who’s going to risk getting on his bad side if I’m wrong.”