The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2)(114)

"How?" I demanded. "How did this happen?"

Jill took a deep breath, ready to accept her blame. "When she dropped off the costumes and gave me the scarf, she asked if I'd let her take a picture to see how the colors photographed.

She had some of the other accessories in the car, and I put those on too. She wanted to prove to me that with the right coverage, she could hide my identity. But I never thought... I mean, she didn't say she'd use it. God, I feel so stupid." Maybe not stupid, but certainly naive. I nearly crumpled up the magazine. I was furious at Lia. Part of me wanted to sue for using a picture of a minor without permission, but we had much bigger problems. How wide was this magazine's circulation? If Lia had only put Jill's photo on display in California, maybe no one would recognize her. Still, a Moroi model could raise eyebrows. Who knows what kind of trouble this was going to cause for us now?

"Sydney, I'm sorry," said Jill. "What can I do to fix this?"

"Nothing," I said. "Except to stay away from Lia." I felt ill. "I'll take care of this." I really didn't know how, though. I could only pray no one noticed the picture.

"I'll do whatever you need if you think of something. I - oh." Her eyes lifted to something behind me. "Maybe we should talk later."

I glanced back. Trey was walking toward us. Another problem to deal with.

"Probably a good idea," I said. Jill's heartache and publicity would have to go on the back burner. She left as Trey came to stand beside me.

"Melbourne," he said, attempting one of his old smiles. It faltered a little.

"I didn't know you were still around," I said. "I thought you'd left with the others." The Warriors had scattered to the wind. Trey had said before that they traveled for their "hunts," and Master Angeletti had also mentioned gathering from various places of the country. Presumably, they had all returned to where they'd come from. I'd thought Trey would simply disappear as well.

"Nope," he said. "This is where I go to school, where my dad wants me to stay. Besides, the other Warriors never had a permanent base here in Palm Springs. They'll move on to wherever..."

He couldn't finish, so I did. "Wherever you get a tip-off about monsters you can brutally execute?"

"It wasn't like that," he said. "We thought she was one of the Strigoi. We still do." I scrutinized his face, this guy I'd thought was my friend. I was pretty sure he still was. "Not you. That's why you threw the fight."

"I didn't," he protested.

"You did. I saw you hesitate when you could have taken out Chris. You didn't want to win.

You didn't want to kill Sonya because you weren't sure she really was Strigoi." He didn't deny it. "I still think they should all be destroyed."

"So do I." I reconsidered. "Well, unless there's a way to save them all, but that's unclear." Despite how much I'd said while advocating for Sonya, I wasn't quite comfortable letting him on the secrets and experiments. "If the Warriors travel around, what'll happen the next time they're in this area? Or even ll.A.? Will you join them again? Will you travel to the next hunt?"

"No." The answer was hard. Blunt, even.

Hope surged in me. "You've decided to split off from them?" The emotions on Trey's face were hard to read, but they didn't look like happy ones. "No.

They decided to cut us off - me and my dad. We've been outcast." I stared for a few moments, at a loss for words. I didn't like the Warriors or Trey's involvement, but this wasn't quite what I'd been trying to achieve. "Because of me?"

"No. Yes. I don't know." He shrugged. "Indirectly, I guess. They don't blame you personally or even the Alchemists. Hell, they still want to team up with the Alchemists. They figure you just behaved in your typically misguided way. But me? I'm the one who pushed to let you in, who swore everything would be fine. So, they blame me for the lapse of judgment and fallout that came from it. Others are taking the blame too - the council for agreeing, security for not stopping the raid - but that doesn't make me feel better. Dad and I were the only ones exiled."

"I... I'm sorry. I never thought anything like that would happen."

"Wasn't your place to," he said pragmatically, though his tone was still miserable. "To a certain extent, they're right. I was the one that got you in. It is my fault, and they're punishing my dad for what I did. That's the worst part of all." Trey was trying to play it cool, but I could see the truth. He'd worked so hard to impress his father and ended up causing the ultimate humiliation. Trey's next words confirmed as much. "The Warriors have been my dad's whole life. To be kicked out like that... well, he's taking it pretty badly. I have to find a way to get back in - for him. I don't suppose you know where any easy-to-kill Strigoi are, do you?"

"No," I said. "Especially since none of them are easy kills." I hesitated, unsure how to proceed.

"Trey, what's this mean for us? I understand if we can't be friends anymore... seeing as how I, uh, ruined your life's work."

A hint of his old smile returned. "Nothing's ruined for good. I told you, I'll get back in. And if it's not by killing Strigoi, who knows? Maybe if I learn more about you guys, I can bridge the gap between our groups and get us to all work together. That would score me some points."