Night World : The Chosen Chapter 9

How long since hed identified with humans?That had all in all stopped the twenty-four hours he stopped being human himself. non at the number hed stopped beinghuman, though. At first all his anger had been for hunter Redfern.Waking up from the dead was an experience you dont for modernize. For Quinn, it happened in the Redferncabin on a husk mattress in former of the fire.He opened his eye to set three beautiful female childfriendfriends leaning over him. Garnet, with her wine-colored tomentum cerebrishining in the ruby light, Lily with her black hair and her look same topaz, and descend, his own fall,brown-haired and lull, with anxious love in her face.That was when Hunter communicate him that hed been dead for three days.I t grizzly your go youd g nonpareil to Plym offh dont tell him otherwise. And dont examine to move yet youre in whatsoever case fatigued. Well bring in some amour soon and you fundament feed. He s in any cased behind his daughters, his armsaro und them, all of them looking raft at Quinn. Be happy. Youre one of us now. that all Quinn mat was horror-and pain. When he put his thumbs to his dentition, he found the source of thepain. His canine teeth were as long as a wildcats and they throbbed at the slightest touch.He was a monster. An unholy creature who needed blood to survive. Hunter Redfern had been tellingthe legality about his family, and hed changed Quinn into one of them.Insane with fury, Quinn jumped up and tried to get his detainment around Hunters throat.And Hunter solely laughed, fending off the attack easily. The next thing Quinn k mod, he was running downthe blazed trail in the forest, heading for his drives house. swag and stumbling down the trail,rather. He was almost too weak to walk.Then on the spur of the moment Dove was beside him. Little Dove who looked as if she couldnt outrun a flower. She becalm him, held him up, and tried to convince him to go back. notwithstanding Quinn could however recal l of one thing getting to his father. His father was a minister his father would survive what to do. His father would stand by.And Dove, at last, agreed to go with him.Later Quinn would realize that of air he should consent known erupt.They reached Quinns home. At that point, if Quinn was afraid of anything, it was that his father wouldnt moot this wild story of bloodthirst and death. But one look at Quinns new teeth convinced his father of everything.He could recognize a shake up when he sawing machine one, he said.And he knew his duty. Like every Puritans, it was to toss out out sin and evil wherever he found it.With that, his father picked up a brand from the fire-a good piece of seasoned pine-and consequently grabbedDove by the hair.It was around this time that the screaming lay outed, the screaming Quinn would be able to hear forever after(prenominal) if he listened. Dove was too gentle to put up much of a fight. And Quinn himself was too weak tosave her.He tried. He t hrew himself on top of Dove to protect her from the bet. He would al way of lifes study the scaron his side to dig up it. But the wood that nicked him pierced Dove to the heart. She died looking up athim, the light in her brown eyes press release out.Then everything was confusion, with his father chasing him, crying, brandishing the bloody stake pulledfrom Doves body. It ended when Hunter Red-fern appeared at the door with Lily and Garnet. Theytook Quinn and Dove home with them, while Quinns father went running to the neighbors for help. Hewanted help enthusiastic the Redfern cabin down.That was when Hunter said it, the thing that severed Quinns ties with his old world. He looked down athis dead daughter and said, She was too gentle to live in a world full of humans. Do you think you cando any better?And Quinn, dazed and starving, so stimulate and full of horror that he couldnt talk, decided then that hewould. human were the enemy. No matter what he did, they would never acc ept him. He had extendsomething they could only hate-so he might as well become it thoroughly.You see, you dont have a family anymore, Hunter mused. Unless its the Redferns.Since then, Quinn had fancy of himself only as a vampire.He shook his head, feeling clearer than he had for days.The girl had disturbed him. The girl in the cellar, the girl whose face he had never seen. For two daysafter that night, all he could think of was somehow finding her.What had happened between them well, he still didnt understand that. If she had been a witch, hedhave thought she bewitched him. But she was human. And shed make him doubt everything he knewabout humans.Shed awakened feelings that had been sleeping since Dove died in his arms.But now now he thought it was middling as well he hadnt been able to find her. Because the cellar girlwasnt just human, she was a vampire hunter. Like his father. His father, who, wild-eyed and sobbing,had driven the stake by Doves heart.As always, Quinn felt him self losing his grip on sanity as he remembered it. What a pity that hed have to kill the cellar girl the next time he saw her.But there was no help for it. lamia hunters were worse than the ordinary human vermin, who werejust stupid. Vampire hunters were the sin and the evil that had to be cast out. The Night military personnel was theonly world.And I havent been to the dub in a week, Quinn thought, showing his teeth. He laughed out loud, astrange and brittle sound. Well, I guess Id better go tonight.Its all crack of the great dance, you see, he thought to the cellar girl, who of cut across couldnt hear him. Thedance of life and death. The dance thats going on unspoilt this minute all over the world, in African savannasand Arctic snowfields and the bushes in Boston Common.Killing and eating. Hunting and dying. A spider snags a globe amaranth fly a polar bear grabs a seal. A prairie wolf springs on a rabbit. Its the way the world has always been.Humans were part of it, too, ex cept that they let slaughterhouses do the killing for them and receivedtheir prey in the form of McDonalds hamburgers.There was an order to things. The dance requiredthat someone be the hunter and someone else be the hunted. With all those young girls inclination to allow forthemselves to the darkness, it would be cruel of Quinn not to provide a darkness to secure them.They were all only playing their parts.Quinn headed for the club, express joy in a way that scared even him.The club was only a few streets apart from the warehouse, Rashel noted. Made sense. Everything aboutthis operation had the stamp of efficiency, and she sensed Quinns hand in that.I wonder what hes getting paid to provide the girls for sale? she thought. Shed perceive that Quinn managedmoney.Remember, once we get inside, you dont know me, she said to Daphne. Its safer for both of us that way. They might suspect something if they knew that first you escaped and now youre turning up with astranger.Got it. Da phne looked excited and a little scared. under her coat, she was wearing a slinky black topand a brief skirt, and her black-stockinged legs twinkled as she ran toward the club door.Under Rashels coat, hidden in the lining, was a knife. Like her sword, it was made of lignum vitae, thehardest wood on earth. The sheath had several interesting secret compartments.It was the knife of a ninja, and Sensei, who had taught Rashel the militant arts, wouldnt have approvedat all. He wouldnt have approved of Rashelmade it in, too, her story must have passed inspection. That was a relief.Inside, the place looked care hell. Not a shambles. It literally looked resembling Hell. Hades. The Underworld.The lights turned it into a place of g bizarreamn fire and twisting purple shadows. The music was weird and dissonant and sounded to Rashel as if it were being played backward.She caught scraps of conversation as she walked across the floor. going out Dumpster diving later no money. So I gotta kna ve somebody told Mummy Idbe at the key-dub meeting You get a real cross section here, she thought dryly.Everybody had one thing in common, though they were young. Kids. The oldest looked about eighteen.The youngest-well, there were a few girls Rashel would put at twelve. She had an impulse to go backand insert something wooden into Ivan.A easy fire that had started in her chest when she first heard about the Crypt was burning hotter andhotter with everything she saw here. This entire place is a snare, a gigantic Venus flytrap, she thought asshe took off her coat and added it to a pile on the floor.But if she wanted to shut it down, she had to delay cool, stick to her plan. Standing by a cast-iron column,she scanned the inhabit for vampires.And there, standing with a little group that in-duded Daphne, was Quinn.It gave Rashel an odd shock to see him, and she wanted to look away. She couldnt. He was laughing,and somehow that caught get to of her like a fishhook. For a moment the morbid lighting of the roomseemed rainbow-colored in the radiance shed by that laughter.Appalled, Rashel realized that her face had rose-cheeked and her heart was beating fast.I hate him, she thought, and this was true. She did hate him for what he was doing to her. He made herfeel unmoored and adrift. Confused. Helpless.She understood why those girls were clustered around him, longing to fling themselves into his darknesslike a bunch of virgin sacrifices parachuting into a volcano. I mean, what else do you do with a guy like that?she thought.Kill him. It would be the only solution even if he werent a vampire, she decided with sudden idioticcheer. Because prolonged contact with that smile was simply going to annihilate her.Rashel blinked rapidly, getting a grip on herself. altogether right. Concentrate on that, on the job to be done.She was going to have to kill him, but not now right now she had to get herself chosen.Walking carefully on her heels, she went over to join Quinns group.He didnt see her at first. He was facing Daphne and a couple of other girls, laughing frequently- toofrequently. He looked wild and a little feverishto Rashel. A sort of devilish Mad Hatter at an insane teatime party. and I just felt so totally awful that I didnt get to meet you, Daphne was saying, and I just wish Iknew what happened, because it was just so seriously weirdShe was telling her story, Rashel realized. At least none of the people listening seemed openlysuspicious. I havent seen you here before, came a contribution behind her.It belonged to a striking girl with dark hair, very lookout skin, and eyes like amber or topaz or a hawks.Rashel froze, every muscle tensing, trying to keep her face expressionless.Another vampire.She was received of it. The camellia-petal skin, the light in the eyes this must be the girl vampire whodbrought Daphne food in the warehouse.No, this is my first time, Rashel said, making her voice light and eager. My names Shelly. It was underwe ight enough to her own name that she would turn automatically if anyone said it.Im Lily. The girl said it without warmth, and those hawklike eyes continued to bore straight intoRashels.Rashel had to struggle to support on her feet.Its Lily Redfern, she thought, working desperately to keep an idiot smile pie-eyed on her face. I know itis. How many Lilys can there be whod be working with Quinn?Ive got a Redfern right here in front of me. Ive got Hunter Redferns daughter here.For an instant she was tempted to simply make a flash for her knife. Killing a celebrity like Lily seemedalmost worth well-favoured up the enclave.But on the other hand, Hunter Redfern was a harbour sort of vampire, with a lot of influence on theNight World Council. He helped keep other vampires in line. Striking at him through his daughter wouldjust make him mad, and then he might start listening to the Councilors who wanted to slaughter humans indroves.And Rashel would lose any hope of getting at the heart of the slave trade, where the real chicken feed were.I hate politics, Rashel thought. But she was already beaming at Lily, prattling for all she was worth. Itwas my friend Marnie who told me about this place, and Im really glad I came because its even betterthan I thought, and Ive got this poem I wrote-Really. Well, Im dying not to hear it, Lily said. Her hawklike eyes had lost interest. Her face was filledwith open contempt-shed dismissed Rashel as a hopeless fawning idiot. She walked away withoutglancing back.Two tests passed. One to go.Thats what I like about Lily. Shes just so absolutely cold, a girl beside Rashel said. She had curlybronze hair and bee-stung lips. Hi, Im Juanita, she added.And shes serious, Rashel thought as she introduced herself. Quinns group had noticed her at last, andthey all seemed to agree with Juanita. They were fascinated by Lilys cold personality, her lack of feeling.They saw it as strength. Yeah, because feeling hurts. Maybe I should worship her, to o, Rashel thought. She was finding toomany things in common with these girls.Lily the ice princess, other girl murmured. Its like shes not even really from earth at all. Its likeshes from another planet.Hold that thought, a new voice said, a crisp, laughing, slightly insane voice. The effect it had on Rashelwas remarkable. It made her back stiffen and sent tingles up her palms. It closed her throat.Okay, test number three, she thought, drawing on every troy ounce of discipline shed learned in the martialarts. Dont lose zanshin. Stay loose, stay frosty, and go with it. You can do this.She turned to meet Quinns eyes.