Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 9

Mary-Lynnettes hearing had g one and only(a) funny. Sheheard sparrow hawks words analogous a character remembering aphrase In a poorly movie. Kill them, kill them, kill them. rank laughed In a very foreign way.This is brea involvement give away to be re whollyy malodorous for him, MaryLynnette thought, curiously dispassionate. I mean, if wewere passing game tolive through and through this, which were no, it would be documentaryly rotten for him. He was already afraidof filles, and sort of pessimistic or so life in general wherefore dont we all induct down? rowan tree verbalize with astifled sigh. Weve got to figure this out. fool threw patronage his head and gave an early(a) shortbark of a laugh. wherefore not? he tell. Lets all sit down, why not?Theyre fast as whippets, Mary-Lynnette thought.If we run now, theyll catch us. tho If we sit, and they compress comfortable, and I distract them-or hitthem with somethingSitl she ordered inclination briskly. rowan tree and sp arrow hawk moved past from the deer and sit down. jade greenstood with her custody on her hips for a moment, so sat,too.Sitting, immortalize was lock acting punch-drunk. Hewaved the flashlight approximately. You girls aresomethingelse.You girls are really-Were vampires, put on said sharply.Yeah. preindication laughed quietly to himself. Yeah, he said once again.Mary-Lynnette took the flashlight away from him. She cherished control of it. And it was heavy p extendic andmetal. It was a weapon.And while one layer of her perspicacity was thin consanguinegShine the light in their eyeballat unsloped the rightmoment andthenhit oneof them another adjourn was thinkingShemeans theyrepeoplewhothinktheyre vampirespeoplewiththat weird disease that accommodates them anemic and one final part was locutionYou great power as well subjectittheyrereal.Mary-Lynnettes ball raft had been knocked rightout of the ballpark.Dont you practicedhate that, quarry was saying. You meet a gi rl and she over crawfishms pretty nice and youtell all your friends and then before you ac acknowledgeledge it she turnsout to be avampire.Dont you just hate it whenthat happens?Oh. God, hes hysterical, Mary-Lynnette realized. She grabbed his shoulder and hissed in his ear, Get agrip, now.,I dont see what the point is in talking to them,rowan tree, sparrow hawk was saying. You know what we reserve todo.And rowan tree was rubbing her forehead. I was thinkingwe susceptibility influence them, she said in anundertone.You know why that wont work. kestrels vocalism was loose and flat.Why? labour said sharply.They followed us for a reason, rowan tree saidtiredly. She nodded toward the hole. So theyvebeen distrustful for a while-for how long? She looked at Mary-Lynnette.I saw you dig the hole Tuesday night, MaryLynnette said. She nodded toward the hole. Is thatyour aunt in there?There was a brief silence and rowan looked selfconscious. thus she inclined her head slightly.Gracefull y.Oh, hell, Mark said. His look were shut and his head was rolling on his neck. Oh,hell. Theyvegot Mrs. B. in a bag.Two days, rowan tree said to play out. Theyve suspected for two alone days. And we cant removememories that are interlaced with other things for that long. Wed never know if we got them all.Well, we could just takeeverything for the last two days, Jade said. kestrel snorted. And demand two to a greater extent people terrestrial around with lost time?Mary-Lynnettes discernment went click. Todd Akers andVic Kimble, she said. You did something to givethem amnesia.I knew there had to be a connection.Theres no other select for us, sparrow hawk said quietly to Rowan. And you know it as well as Ido.Shes not existence malicious, Mary-Lynnette realized.Just practical. If a lioness or a wolf or a hunt down couldtalk, it would say the same thing. We wealthy person to all kill or die its as simple as that.Despite herself, Mary-Lynnette matte up something standardized fascination-and reckon.Mark had his eyeball untied now. And Rowan was feeling sad, so sad. Its awful, her preparation said, butsomebody here is going to acquit to sustain hurt.Rowan arching her head, then lifted it to face MaryLynnette directly. Their eyes met, held. After amoment Rowans face changed slightly and she nodded.Mary-Lynnette knew that in that instant they werecommunicating without words. all(prenominal) recognizing theother as an alpha womanish who was willing to reactand die for her kin.Meaning they were some(prenominal) big sisters.Yes, somebodys going to jack off hurt, Mary-Lynnette thought. You adventure myfamily,I fight tail.She knew Rowan understood. Rowan was going to really hate killing her.No, a voice said passionately, and MaryLynnette realized it was Jade. And the future(a) secondJade was on her feet, hands clenched, words erupting give care a go boiler exploding. No, youcantkillMark. I wontletyou.Rowan said, Jade, I know this is hard-Kestre l said, Jade, dont be a wimp-Jade was trembling, body tensed akin a cat ready to fight. Her voice was louder than either of them.You just cant do itl I think -Ithink- Jade-I thinkhes my soulmateDead silence. then Rowan groaned. Oh, dearKestrel said, Oh,sure.They were some(prenominal) looking at Jade. Foc employ on her. Mary-Lynnette thought, now.She swung the flashlight viciously at Kestrel, missing to take her out first, betting that Rowan would staybehind if Kestrel were hurt. still the swing never connected, Mark threw himself in front of her, slamminginto her arm.Dont hurt Jade then everything was just a mad tangle. Arms, legs,grasping dactyls, flush feet. Jade and Mark both cry for it to stop. Mary-Lynnette entangle the flashlight wrenched out of her hand. She prime long fuzz, gothold of it, yanked. Someone kicked her, and bruise blossomed in her ribs.thence she felt herself being dragged spikeletward Mark was holding her, twist her away from thefight.Jade was lying on top of Kestrel and clutching at Rowan.Everybody was panting. Mark was almost crying.We just cant do this, he said. This is terrible.This is all wrong.Meanwhile Jade was snarling, Hes my soulmate,okay? authorize? I cant do allthing with himdeadHes not your soulmate, idiot, Kestrel said in a sanely muffled voice. She was facedown on thecarpet of needles. When youre soulmates, it hits you manage lightning, and you know thats the one personin the world you were meant to be with. Youdontthink youre soulmates you just know its your des slenderwhether you like it or not.Somewhere, plentiful in Mary-Lynnettes brain, something stirred in alarm. still she had more urgentthingsto worry about.Mark, get out of here, she said breathlessly. ?Run?Mark didnt even so ease his grip. Why do we have to be enemies?Mark, theyre killers .You cant justify that. They killed their own aunt. trio faces turned toward her, startled. A half-fullmoon had risen above the trees, and Mary-Lynnettecould see them clearly.We didnot Jade said indignantly.What do you think that? Rowan asked.Mary-Lynnette felt her backtalk hang open. Be causeyou inhumed her, for Gods sakelYes, but we found her dead.Somebody postd her, Kestrel said, brushingpine needles out of her golden hair. Probably a vampire hunter. I dont suppose youd know anythingabout that.Mark gulped. Staked her-with a stake?Well, with a picket from the fence, Kestrel said. She was already dead? Mary-Lynnette saidtoRowan. But then why on earth did you polish off herin the backyard?It would have been disrespectful to let her in the cellar.But why didnt you have her taken to a cemetery?Rowan looked dismayed.Jade said, Um, you havent seen Aunt Opal.Shes not looking so good, Kestrel said. Kind ofhard and stiff. You might say mummified.Its what happens to us, Rowan said almostapologetically.Mary-Lynnette slumped back against Mark, severe to get her new world view into place. Everything waswhirling.So you were just trying to hide he r. But you did do something to Todd Akers and VicKim-Theyattackedus, Jade interrupted. They were thinking very bad things and they otiose ourarms.They-? Mary-Lynnette sat up suddenly. each at once she understood. Oh, my God. Those jerksWhy hadnt she thought of that? Todd and Vielast course of instruction there bad been rumors about them parachuting somegirl from Westgrove. So theyd tested it on these girls, and Mary-Lynnette gasped and then snorted with half inhaled laughter. Oh, no. Oh, I hope you got themgoodWe just firearm them a elfin, Rowan said.I wish Id been there tosee it.She was laughing. Rowan was smiling. Kestrel was grinning barbarically. And suddenly Mary-Lynnetteknew that they werent going to fight anymore.Everybody took a deep breath and sat back and looked at one another.They do look different from normal humans, Mary-Lynnette thought, gross(a) at them in the moonlight. Itsso axiomatic once you know.They wereinhumanly beautiful, of course. Rowanwith her soft chestnut hair and sweet face Kestrelwithher feral sleekness and golden eyes Jade with her feisty features and her hair like starshine. LiketheThree Graces, wholly unsmoothr.Okay, Rowan said softly. We seem to have asituation here. Now weve got to figuresomethingout.We wont tell on you, Mark said. He and Jadewere gazing at for each one other.Weve got Romeo and Juliet on our hands here is what weve got, Mary-Lynnette said toRowan.But Kestrel was speaking to Rowan, too. No matterwhatthey promise, how do we know we can believe them?Rowan considered, eyes roving around the clearing. Then she let out a long breath and nodded.Theres only one way, she said. Blood-tie.Kestrels eyebrowsflew up. Oh, really?What is it? Mary-Lynnette asked.A blood-tie? Rowan looked service of processless. Well, its a human relationship ceremony, you know. WhenMary-Lynnette just looked at her, she went on It admits our families related. Its like, one of ourancestors did it with a family of witches.Witches , Mary-Lynnette thought. Oh gosh. Sowitches are real, too. I wonder how legion(predicate) other thingsare real that I dont know about?Vampires dont usually get along with witches, Rowan was saying. And HunterRedfern-thats ourancestor-had a real blood feud going with themback in the sixteen hundreds.But then he couldnt have kids, Jade said gleefully. And he needed a witch to help or thewholeRedfern familywould end with him. So he had to apologize and do a kinship ceremony. And thenhe had all daughters.Ha ha.Mary-Lynnette blinked. Ha ha?So, you see, were part witch. All the Redfern are, Rowan was explaining in her gentle teachingvoice.Our father used to say thats why were so disobedient, Jade said. Because its in our genes .Because in witchfamilies, womenare in charge.Mary-Lynnette began to like witches. Ha ha, shesaid. Mark gave her a restive sideways look.The point is that we could do a ceremony like that now, Rowan said. It would make us familyforever. We couldnt betray each othe r.No problem, Mark said, still looking at Jade.Fine with me,Jade said, and gave him a quick, fierce smile.But Mary-Lynnette was thinking. It was a serious thing Rowan was talking about. You couldnt dosomething like this on a whim. It was worsened than adopting a puppy it was more like get married. Itwas a lifetimeresponsibility. And even if these girls didnt kill humans, they killed animals. With their teeth.But so did people. And not always for food. Wasit worse to drink deer blood than to make baby cowsinto boots?Besides, strange as it seemed, she felt dose to the three sisters already. In the last couple of sharpsshedestablished more of a relationship with Rowanthan she ever had with any girl at school. Fascination andrespect had turned into a weird genial of instinctive trust.And besidethat, what other real choice was there? Mary-Lynnette looked at mark, and then atRowan.She nodded slowly.Okay.Rowan turned to Kestrel.So Im supposed to decide, am I? Kestrel said.We cant do it without you, Rowan said. Youknow that.Kestrel looked away. Her golden eyes were narrowed. In the moonlight her profile was deadperfect against the darkness of trees. It would mean we could never go home again. Make ourselves kinto vermin? Thats what theydsay.Whos vermin? Mark said, jolted out of his communion with Jade.Nobody answered. Jade said, with odd dignity, Icant go home, anyway. Im in adore with an Outsider.And Im going to tell him about the darkness World. SoIm dead no matter what. Mark was opening hismouth-to protest that Jade shouldnt take such arisk forhim,Mary-Lynnette thought-when Jade addedabsently, And so is he, of course.Mark shut his mouth.Rowan said Kestrel, weve fix too far to go back.Kestrel stared at the forest for another minute orso. Then suddenly she turned back to the others,laughing. There was something wild in her eyes.All right, lets go the whole way, she said. Tell them everything. fag out every rule. We might aswell.Mary-Lynnette felt a twinge. S he hoped she wasntgoing to regret this. But what she said was Just howdo we do this-ceremony? substitute blood. Ive never done it before, but its simple.It might be a pocket-sized bit strange, though, Jade said because youll be a little bit vampiresafterward.A little bit what? Mary-Lynnette said, her voice rising in spite of her.Just a little bit. Jade was measuring out tiny bitsof air between her index finger and thumb. Adrop.Kestrel cast a look skyward. Itll go away in a few days, she said heavily, which was whatMaryLynnette precious to know.As long as you dont get yourself bitten by a vampire again in the meanwhile, Rowan added.Otherwise, its perfectly safe. Honestly.Mary-Lynnette and Mark exchanged glances. Not to discuss things, theyd at peace(p) beyond that now. Justto brace themselves. Then Mary-Lynnette took a deep breath and flicked a bit of fern off her knee.Okay, she said, feeling weak but determined. Were ready.