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"Hey, you guys made me deal with things when Zach's tribe was getting slaughtered," Delilah said. "And Camille had to take the reins with Bad Ass Luke. It's your turn now, Menolly."
I glanced at Chase. "Have anything to add to this, Johnson?"
He tugged on his collar, frowning as Delilah dropped a couple of the crunchy orange puffs on his impeccably black suit. But he didn't say a word, merely quietly moved them off and tossed them onto the coffee table. I caught his eye and smiled. If he was pissed that she'd dusted his Armani with cheese powder, he didn't say anything about it.
"No," he said after a moment. "No, because they're right. I haven't the faintest idea of what to look for. Given that you're… well…"
"Just say it." I scowled, wishing people wouldn't tiptoe around me so much. "I'm dead. Undead. A vampire. I'm scary as hell, I drink blood, and if you pay me enough I might consider running around yelling bleh bleh bleh! while pulling a Bela Lugosi with my long black cape!"
They all stared at me like I'd grown another head. Wade snorted so loudly that if he'd been alive, he would have blown snot all over his face.
I shook my head. "I know what I am. You aren't going to offend me by stating the obvious, so can everybody just relax and get on with life? I'm not going to rip out your throats for being blunt."
After a moment, Camille let out a delicate cough. "A bit high strung tonight, are we?" In a falsetto, she added, "Can't blame the hormones anymore, that's for sure."
I stared at her for a moment, repressing a smile. Chase darted a glance at her like she was crazy. Delilah was having an all-out affair with the junk food and ignoring everything else. Iris stared at the ceiling, pretending to examine the corners for cobwebs. And Wade… well… Wade just sat there, waiting for us to get it out of our systems.
"You know," I said softly, "you could keep that gorgeous figure forever if you'd let me take a bite out of your neck."
Camille's hand fluttered to her throat, but then she laughed. "Ask me again in two hundred years, okay?"
"Deal." I dropped the Big Bad act and laughed with her. "Can we finish this conversation? I'd like to have a little free time before I have to go to bed and there aren't many hours left until sunrise."
Chase rolled his eyes. "Then it's settled. You're the designated brains for this situation because you know what it's like to be a vampire. Both you and Wade have been down this road. So what do we do? Where do we look?"
I walked over to the window, staring out into the icy night. The winter was taking its toll on all of us, I thought. We were all jumpy and tired and worried about what was coming next, and yet… we had no choice. We did what we had to do and that was pretty much all she wrote.
"If I were a newborn vamp, where would I go? It depends on whether my sire called me to come to him—or her. Wade," I said without turning. "What's the procedure over here? Do most newborn vamps train with their sires like they do in Otherworld?"
He frowned. "I don't know, actually. We're so used to hiding that I don't think there's any real protocol for newborns. When I was turned, I found myself alone in my office. Apparently, even though I'd been missing for a couple of days, nobody thought to check there because it was a holiday and they thought I'd taken off for the beach. When I woke up, it took me a while to figure out what had happened. Well, after the hunger hit it was pretty self-evident."
"Hmm… living Earthside sure makes it hard on Supes, doesn't it? No guidelines, nobody to keep a watch over you. Even in the darker Blood Clans back in OW, they keep a watch on those they choose to turn, unless—as in my case—it was a spiteful act, meant to hurt others."
I pushed aside the memories that threatened to swarm up again. We didn't have time for me to give in to my anger. "If they're prowling the streets, they could be anywhere. But they'll be clumsy at first; they'll leave a trail because they won't really know what's happening to them. It takes a while to figure out what's going on."
Chase gazed at me, his eyes unreadable. "I won't even pretend to understand what happens during the transformation, but it can't be pleasant, even if you're a willing participant."
"It isn't," I said abruptly.
Wade gave a short nod and I could tell he was thinking about his own death and rebirth. "I suppose our first step is to figure out who sired them. I'll put out feelers in the community. Meanwhile, Menolly, keep your eyes open at the Wayfarer. The scariest part, really, is that whoever sired them, sired four at once. That's almost unheard of. I've never known any vamp to raise more than one newborn at a time, have you?"
"I don't know…" I thought back to Otherworld, to the Elwing Blood Clan and what they were capable of. "Dredge was picky about his kills. I knew that even before he caught me, from spying on them. Surely he wouldn't grab victims off the street? Especially humans? Most vampires looking to build a new nest are just as choosy. After all, you're going to be tied to these people for a long, long time."
Wade frowned. "Maybe something's changed? Or maybe it isn't connected to Dredge at all. Either way, we have to work fast because newborn vamps need to feed, and feed they will. If we don't get to them first, they'll go on a killing spree."
I motioned to Chase. "Get out your notebook."
He obeyed. "Okay, give it to me."
"First, you should monitor the hospitals and morgues for an increase in violent attacks. Four newborns can drink a lot of blood, and quite frankly, with as little as we've got to go on right now, we're probably in for a one-sided battle until we can get our shit together."
Delilah broke in. "You know, maybe it's time we acted on that idea about having a Supe community roll call. I know it's dangerous to keep information of that kind on record, but the way things are going we need all the help we can get. We can't make it mandatory, but let's at least start building the database. With Shadow Wing on the move and Degath Squad creeping in on scouting missions, we can't go it alone anymore."
Camille let out a long sigh. "She's right. We have to organize. The reins of the OIA are unofficially in our lap and we've got nobody left for us to turn to. Delilah, you get to work on the format for the database. Maybe we should have a summit meeting of the Supe community leaders at the Wayfarer? Ask the leaders of the various nests, clans, and packs to join us? Would that be okay, Menolly?"
"Oh yeah, that sounds like a butt load of fun." I made a face. "Just keeping peace between the Were groups will take an army, let alone when you add in vamps and Earthside Fae and visitors from Otherworld and everybody else who fits in the not-quite-human category into the mix. I think we should find another place to host it, though. The Wayfarer isn't set up for that kind of crowd, for one thing. And the gathering's guaranteed to be a little tense—we really don't want liquor involved. Our audience members just might take to breaking glasses and bottles over each other's heads."
"At least it's a place to start," Camille said.
