"To make an alliance," Rashel said slowly.
"Maybe."
"The made vampires ganging up against the lamia."
"Possibly."
"And the spring equinox... they're celebrating the anniversary of the first made vampire. The day Maya
bit Thierry."
"Definitely."
"Just wait a minute," Daphne said. "Just everybody press pause, okay? How come you know about all
this stuff?" She was staring at Fayth. "Made vampires, this vampires, that vampires, Maya... I never
heard of any of these people."
"Maya was the first of the lamia," Rashel said rapidly, glancing back at her. "She's the ancestress of all
the vampires who can grow up and have children-the family vampires. The made vampires are different.
They're humans who get made into vampires by being bitten. They can't 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 spring
equinox... thousands of years ago."
Rashel was watching Fayth closely. "So now maybe you'll answer her question," she said. "How do you
know all this? No humans know about Night World history-except vampire hunters and damned
Daybreakers."
Fayth winced, and then Rashel understood why she seemed so apologetic. "I'm a damned Daybreaker."
"Oh, God."
"What's a Daybreaker?" Daphne prompted, poking Rashel.
"Circle Daybreak is a group of witches who're trying to get humans and Night People to... I don't
know, all dance around and drink Coke together," Rashel said, nonplussed. She was confused and
revolted-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. "You're a witch?"
"No. I'm human. But I have friends who're witches. I have friends who're vampires. I know lamia and
humans who're soulmates-"
"Don't be disgusting!" Rashel almost shouted it. It took her a moment to get hold of herself. Then,
breathing carefully, she said, "Look, just watch it, Daybreaker. I need your information, so I'm willing to
work with you-temporarily. But watch the language or I'll leave you here when I get the rest of us out.
Then you can live in harmony with eight vampires on your own."
Despite her effort at control, her voice was shaking. Somehow Fayth's words seemed to keep echoing
in her mind, as if they had some strange arid terrible importance. The word soulmates itself seemed to
ricochet 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 didn't like the way she said it. She turned toward Daphne, who
was saying eagerly, "So we're going to get out of here? Like a prison break?"
"Of course. And we'll have to do it fast." Rashel narrowed her eyes, trying to think. "I assumed we'd
have more time... and there's that werewolf to get past. And then once we do get out, we're on an
island. That's bad. We can't live long out in the wild-it's too cold and they'd track us. But there has to be
a way...." She glanced at Fayth. "I don't suppose there's any chance of other Daybreakers showing up
to help."
Fayth shook her head. "They don't know I'm here. We'd heard that something was going on in a Boston
club, that somebody was gathering girls for a bloodfeast. I came to check it out-and got nabbed before I
made my first report."
"So we're on our own. That's all right." Rashel's mind was in gear now, humming with ideas. "Okay, first,
we'll 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 the last thing she expected to
hear in a place like this.
The sound of somebody shouting her name.
"Rashel! Rashel the vampire hunter! Rashel the Cat!"
Chapter 12
The voice was shrill, almost hysterical.
Unbalanced, Rashel thought dazedly, looking around. The sound of her secret being yelled out loud
stunned her.
But just for an instant. The next moment she was moving swiftly between the rows of girls, looking for...
"Nyala!"
"I know why you're here!" Nyala sat up tensely. She looked just as she had when Rashel had seen her
last, cocoa skin, queenly head, wide haunted eyes. She was even dressed in the same dark clothes she'd
been wearing the night they caught Quinn.
"You're here because you were in on it all along! You pretend to be a vampire hunter-"
"Shut up!" Rashel said desperately. Nyala was shouting loud enough to be heard on the other side
of the door. She knelt on Nyala's bed. "I'm not pretending, Nyala."
"Then how come you're free and we're all chained up? You're on their side! You call yourself the Cat-"
Rashel clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Listen to me," she hissed. Her heart was pounding. All the girls around her were staring and she
expected to hear the cellar door open at any moment. "Nyala, listen. I know you don't like me or trust
me-but you've got to stop yelling that. We may only have one chance to get out of here."
Nyala's chest was heaving. Her eyes, the color of dark plums, stared into Rashel's.
"I am a vampire hunter," Rashel whispered, willing Nyala to believe it. "I made a mistake letting that
vampire go that night... I admit it. But I've been trying ever since to put things right. I got captured on