"I've done some recon in the past few weeks, checking the yel ow-eyes out as soon as they got near the area." He paused to throw us a paternal look. "I watch out for my kids. Anyway, when I could tel that they were moving on us, I grabbed this" - he brandished the bag - "to help us track them. I want you al to get a lock on this scent."
He handed the bag to Raoul, who opened the plastic zipper and inhaled deeply. He glanced up at Riley with a startled look.
"I know," Riley said. "Amazing, right?"
Raoul handed the bag to Kevin, his eyes narrowing in thought.
One by one, each vampire sniffed the bag, and everyone reacted with wide eyes but little else. I was curious enough that I sidled away from Fred until I could feel a hint of the nausea and knew I was outside his circle. I crept forward until I was next to the Spider-Man kid, who seemed to be at the tail end of the line. He sniffed inside the bag when it was his turn and then seemed about to hand it back to the kid who had given it to him, but I held my hand out and hissed quietly. He did a double take - almost like he'd never see me before - and handed me the bag.
It looked like the red fabric was a shirt. I stuck my nose in the opening, keeping my eyes on the vampires near me, just in case, and inhaled.
Ah. I understood the expressions now and felt a similar one on my face. Because the human who had worn this shirt had seriously sweet blood. When Riley said dessert, he was dead right. On the other hand, I was less thirsty than I'd ever been. So while my eyes widened in appreciation, I didn't feel enough pain in my throat to make me grimace. It would be awesome to taste this blood, but in that exact moment, it didn't hurt me that I couldn't.
I wondered how long it would take for me to get thirsty again. Usual y, a few hours after feeding, the pain would start to come back, and then it would just get worse and worse until - after a couple of days - it was impossible to ignore it even for a second. Would the excessive amount of blood I'd just drunk delay that? I guessed I'd see pretty soon.
I glanced around to make sure no one was waiting for the bag, because I thought Fred would probably be curious, too. Riley caught my eye, smiled the tiniest bit, and jerked his chin slightly toward the corner where Fred was. Which made me want to do the exact opposite of what I'd just been planning, but whatever. I didn't want Riley to be suspicious of me. I walked back to Fred, ignoring the nausea until it faded and I was right next to him. I handed him the bag. He seemed pleased I'd thought to include him; he smiled and then sniffed the shirt. After a second he nodded thoughtful y to himself. He gave me the bag back with a significant look. The next time we were alone, I thought he would say aloud whatever it was he had seemed to want to share before.
I tossed the bag toward Spider-Man, who reacted like it had fal en out of the sky but stil caught it before it hit the ground. Everyone was buzzing about the scent. Riley clapped his hands together twice.
"Okay, so there's the dessert I was talking about. The girl wil be with the yel ow-eyes. And whoever gets to her first gets dessert. Simple as that."
Appreciative growls, competitive growls.
Simple, yes, but... wrong. Weren't we supposed to be destroying the yel ow-eyed coven? Unity was supposed to be the key, not a first-come, first-served prize that only one vampire could win. The only guaranteed outcome from this plan was one dead human. I could think of half a dozen more productive ways to motivate this army. The one who kil s the most yel ow-eyes wins the girl. The one who shows the best team cooperation gets the girl. The one who sticks to the plan best. The one who fol ows orders best. MVP, etc. The focus should be on the danger, which was definitely not the human.
I looked around at the others and decided that none of them were fol owing the same train of thought. Raoul and Kristie were glaring at each other. I heard Sara and Jen arguing in whispers about the possibility of sharing the prize.
Wel, maybe Fred got it. He was frowning, too.
"And the last thing," Riley said. For the first time there was some reluctance in his voice. "This wil probably be even harder to accept, so I'l show you. I won't ask you to do anything I won't do. Remember that - I'm with you guys every step of the way."
The vampires got real stil again. I noticed that Raoul had the ziplock back and was gripping it possessively.
"There are so many things you have yet to learn about being a vampire," Riley said. "Some of them make more sense than others. This is one of those things that won't sound right at first, but I've experienced it myself, and I'l show you." He deliberated for a long second. "Four times a year, the sun shines at a certain indirect angle. During that one day, four times a year, it is safe... for us to be outside in the daylight."
Every tiny movement stopped. There was no breathing. Riley was talking to a bunch of statues.
"One of those special days is beginning now. The sun that is rising outside today won't hurt any of us. And we are going to use this rare exception to surprise our enemies."
My thoughts spun around and turned upside down. So Riley knew it was safe for us to go out in the sun. Or he didn't, and our creator had told him this "four days a year" story. Or... this was true and Diego and I had lucked into one of those days. Except that Diego had been out in the shade before. And Riley was making this into some kind of solstice-y seasonal thing, while Diego and I had been safe in the daylight just four days ago. I could understand that Riley and our creator would want to control us with the fear of the sun. It made sense. But why tel the truth - in a very limited way - now?
I would bet it had to do with those scary dark-cloaks. She probably wanted to get a jump on her deadline. The cloaked ones had not promised to let her live when we kil ed al the yel ow-eyes. I guessed she would be off like a shot the second she'd accomplished her objective here. Kil the yel ow-eyes and then take an extended vacation in Australia or somewhere else on the other side of the world. And I'd bet she wasn't going to send us engraved invitations. I would have to get to Diego quick so we could bail, too. In the opposite direction from Riley and our creator. And I ought to tip Fred off. I decided I would as soon as we had a moment alone.