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The Chosen (Night World #5) Page 29
Author: L.J. Smith

The inky blackness was dotted with an occasional solitary winking light-herring boats. They only seemed

to make the vastness of empty water more lonely.

Quinn ignored Lily and Ivan. He was not in a good mood.

He let the cold air soak into him, permeating his body, mixing with the cold he felt inside. He imagined

himself freezing solid-a rather pleasant thought.

Just get to the enclave, he thought emptily. Get it over with.

This last batch of girls had upset him. He didn't know why, and he didn't want to think about it. They

were vermin. All of them. Even the dark-haired one who was so lovely that it was almost too bad she

was certifiably insane. The little blond one was crazy, too. The one who, having had the luck to fall out of

the frying pan once, had come right back, coated herself with butter and breadcrumbs, and jumped in

again.

Idiot. Someone like that deserved...

Quinn's thought broke off. Somewhere deep inside him was a little voice saying that no one, however

idiotic, deserved what was going to happen to those girls.

You're the idiot. Just get them to the enclave and then you can forget all this.

The enclave... it was Hunter Redfern who had first thought of enclaves on islands. Because of Dove,

he'd said.

"We need a place where the Redferns can live safely, without looking over their shoulders for humans

with stakes. An island would do."

Quinn hadn't objected to the classification of himself as a Redfern-although he had no intention of

marrying Garnet or Lily. Instead he said, practically, "Fishermen visit those islands all the time. Humans

are settling them. We'd have company soon."

"There are spells to guard places humans shouldn't go. I know a witch who'll do it, to protect lily and

Garnet."

"Why?"

Hunter had grinned. "Because she's their mother."

And Quinn had said nothing. Later he'd met Maeve Harman, the witch who had mingled her blood with

the lamia. She didn't seem to like

Hunter much, and she kept their youngest daughter, Roseclear, who was being raised as a witch, away

from him. But she did the spell.

And they'd all moved to the island, where Garnet finally gave up on Quinn and married a boy from a nice

lamia family. Her children were allowed to carry on the Redfern name. And as time went on, other

enclaves had sprung up....

But none 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 was

rising above the pond-still dark water. It shone like an enchantment, as if to guide Quinn's way.

Scrrrunch.

Rashel winced as the boat docked. Somebody wasn't being careful. But they'd arrived, and it could only

be an island. They'd been heading east for over two hours.

Daphne lifted her head weakly. "I don't care if they eat us the minute we get off, as long as I get to feel

solid ground again."

"This practically is solid ground," Rashel whispered. "It's been dead calm the whole way."

"Tell that to my stomach." Daphne moaned, and Rashel poked her. Someone was coming down the

stairs.

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 staring around again, blessing the moonlight that allowed her to see.

It wasn't much of a dock. One wharf with a gas pump and a shack. There were three other powerboats

in slips.

And that was all. Rashel couldn't see any sign of life. The boats rode like ghost ships on the water. There

was 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.

It's just an island, Rashel told herself. You should be dancing with joy. This is the enclave you wanted to

get to. There's nothing... uncanny... about this place.

And then, as they reached the top of the cliff, she saw the rocks. Big rocks. Monoliths that reminded her

eerily 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 sandy 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 elaborate ornamentation.

Shock coursed through Rashel.

A frame house. Wood.

This place wasn't built by vampires.

The lamia built out of brick or fieldstone, not out of the wood that was lethal to them. They must have

bought this island from humans.

Rashel was tingling from head to toe. This is definitely not a normal enclave. Where are all the people?

Where's the town? What are we doing here?

"Move, move." Lily marched them around the back of the house and inside. And at last, Rashel heard

the sounds of other life. Voices from somewhere inside the house.

But she didn't get to see who the voices belonged to. Lily was taking them into a big old-fashioned

kitchen, past 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 about

Rashel's age. He had bushy brown hair and was wearing cowboy boots. He was reading a comic book.

"Hey, Rudi," Lily said crisply. "How're our guests?"

"Quiet as little lambs." Rudi's voice was laconic, but he stood up respectfully as Lily went by. His eyes

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L.J. Smith's Novels
» Destiny Rising (The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters #3)
» Moonsong (The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters #2)
» Phantom (The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters #1)
» Midnight (The Vampire Diaries: The Return #3)
» Shadow Souls (The Vampire Diaries: The Return #2)
» Nightfall (The Vampire Diaries: The Return #1)
» The Compelled (The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #6)
» The Asylum (The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #5)
» The Ripper (The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #4)
» Bloodlust (The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #2)
» The Craving (The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #3)
» Origins (The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries #1)
» Dark Reunion (The Vampire Diaries #4)
» The Fury (The Vampire Diaries #3)
» The Struggle (The Vampire Diaries #2)
» The Awakening (The Vampire Diaries #1)
» Witchlight (Night World #9)
» Black Dawn (Night World #8)
» Huntress (Night World #7)
» Soulmate (Night World #6)