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"I heard soet hurt - Kristie needs meus?"

Riley’s face changed It was like I could see his shifting tactics written on his features His eyes widened, suddenly anxious

"I’ to meet us, to help us, but I haven’t crossed her trail So I need to find her"

"But there’s no way you can find her before Raoul gets to the yel ow-eyes," I pointed out

"I have to find out what’s going on" He sounded genuinely desperate "I need her I wasn’t supposed to do this alone!"

"But the others"

"Bree, I have to go find her! Now! There are enough of you to overwhelet back to you as soon as I can"

He sounded so sincere I hesitated, glancing back the e had come Fred would be halfway to Vancouver by now Riley hadn’t even asked about hio’s down there, Bree," Riley said urgently "He’l be part of the first attack Didn’t you catch his scent back there?

Did you not get close enough?"

I shook o was there?"

"He’s with Raoul by now If you hurry, you can help hi second, and then I looked south after Raoul’s path

"Good girl," Riley said "I’l go find her and we’l be back to help clean up You guys have got this! It et there!"

He took off in a direction perpendicular to our original path I clenchedto the end

But it didn’t feel like I had a choice I headed south in a flatout sprint again I had to go get Diego Drag him away if it came to that We could catch up with Fred Or take off on our own We needed to run I would tel Diego how Riley had lied He would see that Riley had no intention of helping us fight the battle he’d set up There was no reason to help him anymore I found the huo’s Was I going too fast? Or was the hu ely counterproductive hunt - sure, ould find the girl, but would we be ready to fight together e did? No, we’d be clawing each other apart to get to her

And then I heard the snarling and screaht was happening and I was too late to beat Diego there I only ran faster Maybe I could stil save him

I s - carried back to me on the wind The sound of mayhem was louder Maybe it was al?

I dashed through a heavy fringe of srassy field I leaped over a rock, only to realize in the instant I flew past it that it was a headless torso My eyes raked the field There were pieces of va purple into the sunny sky Out fro bodies darting and grappling as the sounds of va torn apart went on and on

I looked for one thing: Diego’s curly black hair No one I could see had hair so dark There was one huge vampire with brown hair that was al, and as I focused I watched him tear Kevin’s head off and pitch it into the fire before leaping on someone else’s back Was that Jen?

There was another with straight black hair that was too s so fast I couldn’t tel if it was a boy or a girl

I scanned quickly again, feeling horribly exposed I took in the faces There weren’t nearly enough va those that were down I didn’t see any of Kristie’s group There must have been a lot of va were strangers A blond vaold in the sunlight

We were losing Bad

I started backing toward the trees, not o He wasn’t here There was no sign he had ever been here No trace of his scent, though I could distinguish the sers I had ed to Diego I would have recognized even a finger

I turned and real y ran for the trees, suddenly positive that Diego’s presence here was just another of Riley’s lies And if Diego wasn’t here, then he was already dead This fel into place for ht I must have known the truth for a while Since the h the baseone

I was a few feet into the trees when a force like a wrecking bal hit round An arm slipped under my chin

"Please!" I sobbed And I ht back, thoughme to bite and claw and rip the ene to work Riley had lied about these weak, older vampires, too, and we’d never had a chance But even if I’d had a way to beat this one, I wouldn’t have been able to ht in me

Suddenly I was airborne I crashed into a tree and cruo was dead I couldn’t get around that

The blond va intently atHe looked very capable,at me He wasn’t crazed like Raoul or Kristie He was total y in control

"Please," I said again, wanting hih he stil held hied He looked at et There was a lot of knowledge in that face, and so else Empathy? Pity, at least

"Neither do I, child," he said in a cal ourselves"

There was such honesty in his odd yel ow eyes that it made me wonder how I had ever believed any of Riley’s stories I felt guilty Maybe this coven had never planned to attack us in Seattle How could I trust any part of what I’d been told?

"We didn’t know," I explained, somehow ashamed "Riley lied I’m sorry"

He listened for a moment, and I realized that the battlefield was quiet It was over

If I’d been in any doubt over who the winner was, that doubt was gone when, a second later, a female vampire avy brown hair and yel ow eyes hurried to his side

"Carlisle?" she asked in a confused voice, staring at ht," he told her

The wo

"She’s so frightened, Carlisle Couldn’t we"