Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined (Twilight #5)(118)

Edythe hesitated, thinking before she answered. “I got a good look at her mind tonight,” she said in a low voice. “I’m not sure if there’s anything I could have done to avoid this, once she caught your scent. It is partially your fault.” She looked at me from the side of her eye for a second. “If you didn’t smell so ridiculously delicious, she might not have bothered. But when I defended you… well, that made it a lot worse. She’s not used to being thwarted, no matter how insignificant the object. She thinks of herself as a hunter—as the hunter. Her life is consumed with tracking, and a challenge is what she loves best in life. Suddenly we’ve presented her with an amazing challenge—a large clan of strong fighters, all determined to protect the one vulnerable element. You don’t know how euphoric she is right now. It’s her favorite game, and we’ve just created the most exciting round ever.” Her tone was full of disgust. She took a deep breath. “But if I had stood by, she would have killed you right then!” she hissed with frustration.

“I thought… I didn’t smell the same to the others… as I do to you.”

“You don’t. But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t still a temptation to every one of them. If you had appealed to the tracker—or any of them—the same way you appeal to me, it would have meant a fight right there.”

I shuddered.

“I don’t think I have any choice but to kill her now,” she muttered. “Carine won’t like it.”

“I don’t like it,” I whispered.

She looked at me, surprised. “You want me to spare her?”

I blinked. “No—I mean, yes. I don’t care if she… dies. I mean, that would be a relief, right? I just don’t want you… What if you get hurt?”

Her face went hard. “You don’t have to worry about me. I don’t fight fair.”

I could hear the tires cross the bridge, though I couldn’t see the river in the dark. I knew we were getting close.

“How do you kill a vampire?” I asked in a low voice.

She glanced at me—her eyes were hard to read. When she spoke her voice was harsh. “The only way to be sure is to tear her to shreds, and then burn the pieces.”

“And the other two will fight with her?”

“The male will. I’m not sure about Lauren. They don’t have a very strong bond—she’s only with them for convenience. She was embarrassed by Joss’s behavior in the meadow.…”

“But Joss and Victor—they’ll be trying to kill you?” My voice was raw, like I’d sandblasted the back of my throat.

“Stop. You focus on staying safe. You do whatever Archie tells you.”

“How am I supposed to not worry about you? What does that even mean—that you don’t fight fair?”

She half-smiled. It didn’t touch her eyes. “Have you ever tried to act without thinking of that act first? Aside from involuntary muscle actions like breathing and blinking, it’s terribly difficult to do. Especially in a fight. I’ll see every single thing she plans, every hole in her defense. The only one who can hold his own against me is Archie—since he can see what I decide to do, but then I can hear how he’ll react. It’s usually a draw. Eleanor says it’s cheating.”

She seemed relaxed—like the idea of fighting the hunter and her partner was the easiest part of this whole mess. It made my stomach twist and plunge.

“Should Archie stay with you, then?” I asked. “If he’s a better fighter than the others?”

“Eleanor can hear all this, you know. She’s offended, and also not thrilled with that idea. It’s been a while since she was allowed to really brawl, no holds barred. She plans to keep me and my cheating ways out of this as much as possible.”

That made me feel a little bit better, which wasn’t fair to Eleanor. I looked over my shoulder again, but I couldn’t see her expression.

“Is she still following?” I asked.

Edythe knew I wasn’t talking about Eleanor. “Yes. She won’t attack the house, though. Not tonight.”

She turned off onto the invisible drive. Archie’s headlights followed. We drove right up to the house. The lights inside were bright, but they didn’t do much to light up the surrounding trees. The yard was still black. Eleanor had my door open before the truck was stopped. She pulled me out of the seat, ducked under my arm, threw her arm around my waist, than ran me through the front door with my feet a foot off the ground, like I was a giant rag doll.

She burst into the big white room with Edythe and Archie on either side. All of them were there, already on their feet. Lauren stood in the middle of their circle. A low snarl rumbled in Eleanor’s chest as she set me next to Edythe.

“She’s tracking us,” Edythe hissed, glaring at Lauren.

Lauren’s expression was unhappy. “I was afraid of that.”

Archie darted to Jessamine’s side and whispered in her ear. They flew up the stairs together. Royal watched them, then moved quickly to Eleanor’s side. His eyes were intense and—when they flickered unwillingly to my face—hostile.

“What will she do?” Carine asked Lauren.

“I’m sorry,” she answered. “I was afraid, when your girl there defended him, that it would set Joss off.”