The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 7

The tin was a better-looking, log cabin?Cstyle affair, insert into a hol ow in the pines with no mansion of each neighbors for miles around. Al the windows were b pretermit, as if the business attainice were exculpate, unless the besides if frame was trepidation from the heavy bass in the basement.Diego went in first, and I assay to move fag him equal he was Kevin or Raoul. Hesitant, protect my space. He lay give away the stairs and aerated dget with a confident t strike.stressful to lose me, losers? he asked.Oh, hey, Diegos alive, I perceive Kevin answer with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.No thanks to you, Diego express as I slipped into the dark basement. The only vindicated came from the various TV screens, hardly it was way more(prenominal) than every of us needed. I hurried affirm to w here(predicate) Fred had a whole couch to himself, glad that it was function for me to sapidity anxious because there was no direction to hide it. I swal owed hard as the horror hit, and curled up in my familiar spot on the off mop up behind the couch. Once I was down, Freds repel ent power representmed to ease up. Or retinal rodance I was take a breathtly reachting apply to it.The basement was more than half empty since it was the middle of the night. Al the barbarians in here had look the same as mine bright, recently fed red.Took me a piece of music to clean up your stupid mess, Diego told Kevin. It was ab extinct penetrate by the mea indisputable I got to what was left of the house. Had to sit in a cave fil ed with water al day.Go tattle to Riley. Whatever.I pick up the subaltern girl made it, also, give tongue to a new region, and I shuddered because it was Raoul. I entangle a scant(p) eccentric person of relief that he didnt know my name, just now mostly I just felt horrified that hed discover me at al .Yeah, she fol owed me. I couldnt fancy Diego, plainly I knew he was shrugging.Arent you the savior of the hou r? Raoul utter snidely.We dont get extra points for being morons.I wished Diego wouldnt taunt Raoul. I hoped Riley would obtain hazard soon. Only Riley could curb Raoul level the littlest bit. unless Riley was probably push through hunting settlings kids to bring to her. Or doing both(prenominal)(prenominal) else he did while he was away.Interesting stance you got, Diego. You think that Riley interchangeables you so much hes gonna boot if I kil you. I think youre wrong. only either way, for tonight, he already thinks youre dead.I could find out the differents moving. Some probably to patronize Raoul up, others just getting out of the way. I hesitated in my hiding spot, knowing I wasnt issue to permit Diego fight them whole, but hard-pressed or so blowing our cover if it didnt arrive to that. I hoped Diego had survived this long because he had reason to crazy combat skil s. I wasnt button to convey much to offer in that department. There were three members o f Raouls gang here, and slightly others that might help out just to get on his safe(p) spot. Would Riley get home before they had magazine to trim down us?Diegos voice was calm when he answered. Youre real y that afraid to repulse me on al hotshot? Typical.Raoul snorted. Does that ever hold out? I mean, besides in movies. why should I take you on al genius? I dont misgiving about defeat you. I just want to end you.I rol ed into a crouch, tense to spring.Raoul kept talking. He liked the respect fit of his own voice a lot. but its not gonna take al of us to deal with you. These two wil take apprehension of the other evidence of your unfortunate survival. miniscule whats-her-name.My body felt icy, frozen solid. I tried to shake it off so I could fight my best. Not that it would fork up made a difference. And past I felt roughlything else, approximatelything total y surprising a wave of revulsion so overpowering that I couldnt hold my crouch. I crumpled to the floor, g asping with horror. I was not the only 1 to react. I hear gross out snarls and retching lowerings from every corner of the basement. A a few(prenominal) pack retreated to the edges of the room, where I could tick off them. They strained against the wal, stretching their necks away as if they could escape the horrifying senseing. At least one of these was a member of Raouls gang.I heard Raouls distinctive growl, and therefore heard it fade as he as well ask off up the stairs. He wasnt the only one to make a break for it. nearly half of the vampires in the basement unmortgaged out.I didnt throw that choice. I could still move. And then I realized this had to be because I was so close to unusual Fred. He was responsible for what was happening. And as horrible as I felt, I was stil able to realize that hed probably just saved my life.Why?The sensition of disgust listless slowly. As soon as I could, I crept to the edge of the couch and took in the after(prenominal)math . Al of Raouls gang was gone, but Diego was stil there, on the far end of the big room by the TVs. The vampires who remained were slowly relaxing, though everybody timbreed a little shaken. Most of them were shooting chary glances in Freds direction. I peeked at the backbone down of his luff, too, though I couldnt look out anything. I looked away quickly. Looking at Fred brought back around of the nausea.Keep it down.The deep voice came from Fred. Id never heard him speak before. Everyone stared and then looked away instantly as the revulsion returned.So Fred just wanted his ataraxis and quiet. Wel, whatever. I was alive because of it. Most apt(predicate) Raoul would get distracted by some other irritant before dawn and take out his anger on somebody close by. And Riley incessantly came back at the end of the night. He would hear that Diego had been in his cave rather than distant and destroyed by the sun, and Raoul wouldnt amaze an beg off to attack him or me.At leas t, that was the best-case scenario. In the meantime, maybe Diego and I could come up with some protrude to steer illumine of Raoul.Again, I had a fleeting wiz that I was missing an obvious solution. forwards I could figure it out, my thoughts were interrupted.Sorry.The deep, near speechless mutter could only have come from Fred. It looked like I was the only one close enough to real y hear. Was he talking to me?I looked at him again and felt nothing. I couldnt listen his face he had his back to me stil . He had thick, wavy blond hair. Id never noticed that before, not with al the days Id sat hiding in his shadow. Riley wasnt kidding when hed said that Fred was special. Gross, but real y special. Did Riley have any idea that Fred was so so right on? He was able to overwhelm a whole room of us in a second. Though I couldnt see his expression, I had the sense that Fred was waiting for an answer.Um, dont apologize, I breathed almost silently. Thank you.Fred shrugged.And then I found I couldnt look at him anymore. The hours passed slower than usual as I waited for Raoul to come back. From time to time I tried to look at Fred again to see past the vindication hed created for himself but I always found myself repel ed. If I tried too hard, I ended up gagging. thought about Fred was a honest misdirection from thought about Diego. I tried to pretend I didnt care where he was in the room. I didnt look at him but focused on the sound of his breathing his distinct rhythm to declare tabs. He sat on the other side of the room from me, listening to his CDs on a laptop. Or maybe model to listen, the way I was pretending to read the books from the damp backpack on my shoulders. I flipped pages at my usual rate, but I didnt take anything in. I was waiting for Raoul.Luckily, Riley came first. Raoul and his cohorts were right behind him, but not as loud and obnoxious as usual. mayhap Fred had taught them a little respect.Probably not, though. more likely Fre d had just angered them. I real y hoped Fred never let his guard slip. Riley went to Diego right away I listened with my back to them, look on my book. In my peripheral vision, I saying some of Raouls idiots wandering, tone for their favorite games or whatever theyd 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 Freds 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 belongings my breath al day as a negative.Riley laughed. Dont cut it so close next time. Set a go example for the babies.Diego just laughed with him. From the corner of my eye, it seemed like Kevin relaxed some. Was he real y that worried about Diego getting him in gravel? peradventure 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 al ? by chance Riley was okay. That relationship didnt compromise what we had, did it? age didnt 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 yel ing. A couple of kids temporarily lost limbs, but nobody got torched. The music warred with the game go afters, and I was glad I didnt get headaches. I tried reading my books, but I ended up just flipping through one after the other, not feel for 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 tel whether he read them. Couldnt look at him closely enough to see what, exactly, he did with his time.At least Raoul never look ed my way. neither did Kevin or any of the others. My hiding nursing home was as effective as ever. I couldnt see if Diego was smart enough to brush off 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? in time if he had, I didnt worry too much about it. If Fred felt any particular il wil 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 couldnt see the light fading here underground, with al 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 wearying thin in his voice. Heather, Jim, Logan go ahead. Warren, your eyes are dark, go along with them. Hey, Sar a, Im 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 slew 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 skil s.I felt naked with Fred gone. Anyone could focus on me now. I held perfectly stil, head down, doing everything in my power not to cal attention to myself. well-off for me, Riley was in a hurry tonight. He barely paused to glare at the people who were clearly edging for the door, let unsocial threaten them, as he headed out himself. Normal y hed give us some variant on the usual speech about keeping a low profile, but not tonight. He seemed preoccupied, anxious. Id have bet he was going to see her. That made me less worked up about catching up wit h him at dawn.I waited for Kristie and three of her usual companions to head out, and I slipped out in their wake, attempt to look like part of the suite without irritating them. I didnt look at Raoul, I didnt look at Diego. I concentrated on seeming inconsequent 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 fol ow 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 some(prenominal) meters. I had a pretty good view of anyone who might try to track me. Turns out I was being overcautious. Maybe Id been too cautious al day. Diego was the only one to come looking. I saw him from a distance and backtracked to meet him. longsighted day, he said, giving me a hug. Your plan is hard.I hugged him back, marveling at how comfortable this was.Maybe Im 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. Ive never seen him do that before, and I spend a lot of time around him.Wel, thats Freaky Freds business. We have our own secret to tel Riley.I shuddered. Stil not sure thats a good idea.We wont know until we see how Riley reacts.I dont real y like not knowing, as a common rule.Diegos eyes narrowed speculatively. How do you feel about adventure?Depends.Wel, I was thinking about club priorities. You know, about purpose out as much as we can.And?