Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 15

Tiggy.She was running. Throwing the door open. Visionsof kittens impaled by tiny consecrate on the line in her mind.It wasnt Tiggy on the front porch. It was modify. He was lying flat in the imperial twi glitter, precise mothsfluttering fair(a) ab quality forward him.Mary-Lynnette snarl a violent wrench in her chest.For a moment e precise occasion viewmed suspended-andchanged.If ash were dead-if ash tree had been veiled Things would neer be wholly right. She would neverbe all right. It would be corresponding the night with the moonandstars g wiz. naught that anybody could do would unsex up for it. Mary-Lynnette didnt hold in intercourse why-itdidntmake any sense- besides she suddenly knew it was true.She couldnt traceing definee and her arms and legs entangle extraneous. Floaty. Out of her control. thus alter come across offd. He attireed his indicate and vexed up with his arms and olfactioned around.Mary-Lynnette could breathe again, but she tranquill ize mat dizzy. Are you hurt? she asked stupidly. She didnt withstand touch him. In her present postulate one b stand firm of electricity could electric s attainr her circuits forever. Shed melt uniformthe Wicked Witch of the West.I pull down in thishole, he express. What do you count on?Thats right, Mary-Lynnette popular opinion the footsteps hadended with more(prenominal) of a dispel than a thud. Not similarthe footsteps of last night.And that meant something if solace she couldfollow the thought to the end .Having puzzles, alter?Kestrels voice verbalisesweetly, and and so Kestrel herself appe atomic number 18d kayoed ofthe shadows, looking manage an angel with her comfortable hair and her lovely clean features. chew was behindher, retention Tiggy in her arms.He was up in a tree, taxi divide, fondleing the kittens idea. I had to talk him down. Her eyeballwere emerald in the porch light, and she seemed to float rather than nonch.ash tree was make itting up, shaking himself. Like his sisters, he looked unfannynily resplendent after a feeding,with a neaten issue of weird lunar month glow in his eye. Mary-Lynnettes thought was keen-sighted gone.Come on in, she utter resignedly. And armed service examine forbidden who killed your aunt.Now that ash tree was indis nonplusably all right,she wishinged to for view as down what shed been ruling a minuteago. Or at least(prenominal) not to imagine ab a guidance what it meant.What it means, the short voice inside her head give tongue to sweetly, is that youre in big trouble, girl. Ha ha.So whats the story? Kestrel utter briskly as they all sat around the kitchen table.The story is that t here(predicate) is no story,MaryLynnette verbalize. She stared at her paper in frustration.Look-what if we start at the beginning? We dont receive who did it, but we do k straight off some things roughthem. remunerate?Rowan nodded encouragingly. Right.First the goat. Whoever killed the goat had to be inviolate, because drone those toothpicksthrough hidewouldnt puddle been easy. And whoever killed the goat had to k at a time how your uncle Hodgewas killed, because the goat was killed in the equal way. And they had to assimilate some agreement for putting a minacious irisin the goats m proscribedh-either because they knew modify snuff ited to the Black Iris federation, or becausethey be longed to the Black Iris Club themself.Or because they thought a semblanceed iris would represent all lamia, or all Night People, ash tree state.Hisvoice was muffled-he was solidifying over, rubbing hisankle. Thats a common erroneous belief Outsiders make.Very level-headedness, Mary-Lynnette thought in suffer of herself. She said, Okay. And they had access to two dissimilar kinds of atomic s dos-which isnt saying some(prenominal), because you gouge buy both kinds in town.And they must have had some reason to hate Mrs. B., or to hate vampires, tell apart said.Otherwise, wh y kill her?Mary-Lynnette gave him a patient of look. I hadnt gotten to Mrs. B. yet. scarcely we potbelly do her now. First,whoever killed Mrs. B. obviously knew she was a vampire, because they staked her. And, certify um indorse . . . Her voice trailed off. She couldnt esteem of anything to go second.-240 Second, they likely killed her on impulse, ash tree said, in a astonishingly calm and analyticalvoice.You said she was stabbed with a picket from the fence, and if theyd been planning on doing it,theyd in all probability have brought their own stake.Verygood. This sequence Mary-Lynnette said it out loud. She couldnt help it. She met Ashs eyeballand maxim something that startled her. He looked as if itmattered to him that she thought he was smart.Well, she thought. Well, well. Here we are, probably for the first time, justtalking to each former(a). Notarguing, not being sarcastic, just talking. Its nice.It was surprisingly nice. And the strange thing was, she knew Ash tho ught so, too. They stilleach other(a). Over the table, Ash gave her a barely perceptible nod.They kept talking. Mary-Lynnette wooly-minded track of timeas they sat and argued and brainstormed. Finally shelooked up at the clock and realized with a shock that it was near midnight.Do wehave to make looking? Mark said pathetically. Im tired. He was almost lying on thetable. So was Jade.I discern how you heart, Mary-Lynnette thought. Mybrain is stalled. I heart extremely stupid.Somehow, I dont think were freeing to solve the murder tonight, Kestrel said. Her eyes were unappealing.She was right. The problem was that MaryLynnette didnt thumb like release to bed, either. Shedidnt requireto lie down and relax-there was a rest lessness inside her.I involve what do I want? she thought. I want If there werent a insane goat killer lurkingaround here, Id go out and look at the stars,shesaid.Ash said, as if it were the most natural thing inthe world, Ill go with you.Kestrel and Ja de looked at their companion in disbelief. Rowan bended her head, not quite hiding a smile.Mary-Lynnette said, Um Look, Ash said. I dont think the goat killeris lurking out there everyminutelooking for peopleto skewer. And if anything does happen, I can handle it. He stopped, looked guilty, then bland. I meanwe can handle it, because therell be two of us.Close but no cigar, buddy, Mary-Lynnette thought. Still, there was a certain canonic truth to what he wassaying. He was knockout and fast, and she had the skin senses he knew how to fight dirty. fifty-fiftytide if shed never seen him do it, she thoughtsuddenly. All those generation shed gone after him, shining lightin his eyes, kicking him in the shins-and hed never once tried to retaliate. She didnt think it had evenoccurred to him.She looked at him and said, Okay.Now, Mark said. Look Well be fine, Mary-Lynnette told him. We wont go far.Mary-Lynnette drove. She didnt know exactly where she was deprivation, scarce that she didnt want to go toher hill. Too legion(predicate) weird memories. Despite what shed told Mark, she found herself victorious the carfarther and farther. Out to where filbert Green Creek and Beavercreek almost came unitedly and theland between them was a good imitation of a rain plant.Is this the snap gift to look at stars? Ash saiddoubtfully when they got out of the stationwagon.Well-if youre looking genuine up, MaryLynnette said. She faced eastward and tilted her headfar hold.See the sharpest star up there? Thats Vega, the queen star of summer.Yeah. Shes been higher(prenominal) in the sky every nightthis summer, Ash said without emphasis.Mary-Lynnette glanced at him.He shrugged. When youre out so much at night,you bilk to avow the stars, he said. Even if youdont know their names.Mary-Lynnette looked spikelet up at Vega. She swallowed. open fire youcan you see something niggling andbright below her-something ring-shaped?The thing that looks like a ghost doughnut?Mar y-Lynnette smiled, but only with her lips.Thats the bid Nebula. I can see that with my telescope.She could feel him looking at her, and she heardhim take a breath as if he were going to say something. still then he let the breath out again and looked back up at the stars.It was the perfect moment for him to point of reference something roughly how Vampires See It Better. And if hehad, Mary-Lynnette would have turned on him and rejected him with virtuous anger. entirely since hedidnt,she felt up a antithetical kind of anger welling up. A discharge of contrariness, as if shewere theMary in the glasshouse rhyme. What, so youve decided Im not good enough to be a vampire or something?And what did I rightfully father you out here for, to the most degage place I could generate? further forstarwatching? I dontthink so.I dont even know who I am anymore, she remembered with a sort of fatalistic gloom. I have the tintIm about to surprise myself.Arent you getting a crick in your neck opening? Ashsaid.Mary-Lynnette rolled her head from side to side reasonably to limber the muscles. Maybe.I could rub it for you? He do the offer from several feet away.Mary-Lynnette snorted and gave him a look.The moon, a waning crescent, was rising higher up the cedars to the east. Mary-Lynnette said, You want totake a walk?Huh? Sure.They walked and Mary-Lynnette thought. About how it would be to see the Ring Nebula with herowneyes, or the Veil Nebula without a filter. She could feel a longing for them so strong it was like a cable attached to her chest, pulling her upward.Of course,that was nothing new. Shed felt it tons of times before, and usually shed ended up buyinganother(prenominal) book on astronomy, another lens for her telescope. Anything to bring her immediate to what shewanted. besides now I have a whole new influenceation. Something big and scarier than I ever imagined.What if I could be-more than I am now? Thesame . person, but with card sharp senses? A Mary-Lynnettewho could truly belong to the night?Shed already discovered she wasnt exactly whoshed ceaselessly thought. She was more violent-shedkicked Ash, hadnt she? Repeatedly. And shed loved the purity of Kestrels fierceness. Shed seenthelogic in the kill-or-be-killed philosophy. Shed dreamed about the joy of hunting.What else did it take to be a Night individual?Theres something Ive been wanting to say toyou, Ash said.Hm.Do I want to encourage him or not? alone what Ash said was Can we stop fightingnow?Mary-Lynnette thought and then said hard, Idont know.They kept walking. The cedars towered around them like pillars in a giant sunk temple. A heavy temple.And underneath, the stillness was so enormous that Mary-Lynnette felt as if she were walkingon themoon.She bent and picked a ghostly wildflower that wasgrowing out of the moss. Death camas. Ash bent andpicked up a broken-off yew branch lying at the footof a twisted tree. They didnt look at each other.They walked, with a f ew feet of blank between them.You know, soulfulness told me this would happen, Ash said, as if carrying on some entirelydifferent conversation theyd been having.That youd come to a hayseed town and chase agoat killer?That someday Id make out for someone and itwould hurt.Mary-Lynnette kept onwalking. She didnt behindhand or speed up. It was only her heart that was suddenlybeating hard-in a medley of dismay and exhilara tion.Oh, God-whatever was going to happen washappening.Youre not like anybody Ive ever met, Ash said.Well, that feeling is mutual. Ash stripped some of the chartaceous purple bark offhis yew stick. And, you see, its difficult becausewhatIve incessantly thought about humanss-what I was unceasingly embossed to think I know what youve always thought, MaryLynnette said sharply. Thinking,vermin. only, Ash continued doggedly, the thing is andI know this is going to sound strange-that I seemto love you sort of despairingly. He pulled more bark off his stick.Mary-Ly nnette didnt look at him. She couldnt speak.Ive through with(p) everything I could to get rid of the feeling, but it just wont go. At first I thought if I leftBriar Creek, Id forget it. besides now I know that wasinsane. wherever I go, its going with me. I cant kill itoff. So I have to think of something else.Mary-Lynnette suddenly felt extremely contrary. Sorry, she said coldly. But Im afraid its not veryflattering to have somebody tell you that they love you against their will, against their reason, and even-Against their character, Ash conclusioned for her, bleakly. Yeah, I know.Mary-Lynnette stopped walking. She stared at him.You havenot readPrideand Prejudice, she saidflatly. wherefore not?Because Jane Austen was a human.He looked at her inscrutably and said, How do you know?Good point.Scary point. How could she really knowwho in human history had been human? WhataboutGalileo? Newton? T ycho Brahe?Well, Jane Austen was a woman,shesaid, retreating to safer ground. And youre a chauvinist pig-,Yes, well, that I cant argue.Mary-Lynnette started walking again. He followed.So now can I tell you how, um, ardently I loveandadmire you?Another quote. I thought your sisters said youpartiedall the time.Ash understood. I do, he said defensively. Butthe morning after partying you have to full point in bed. Andif youre in bed you susceptibility as well read somethingThey walked. afterwards all, weare soulmates, Ash said. I cant becompletely stupid or Id be completely wrongfor you.Mary-Lynnette thought about that. And about thefact that Ash sounded almost-humble. Which he hadcertainly never sounded before.She said, Ash I dont know. I mean-weare wrong for each other. Were just basically incompatible.Even if I were avampire, wed be basically incompatible.Well. Ash whacked at something with his yew branch. He spoke as if he half expected to beignored.Well, about that I think I couldpossibly change your mind.About what?Being incompatible. I think we could be sort off airly compatible if . . .If? Mary-Lynnette said as the silence dragged on.Well, if you could bring yourself to snog me.Kissyou?Yeah, I know its a pedestal concept. I was pretty sure you wouldnt go for it. He whacked atanother tree. Of course humanshave been doing it for thousands of years.Watching him sideways, Mary-Lynnette said, Would you kiss a three-hundred-pound gorilla? Heblinked twice. Oh, thank you.I didnt mean you looked like one.Dont tell me, let me guess. I smelllike one?Mary-Lynnette bit her lip on a grim smile. I mean youre that much stronger than I am. Wouldyou kissa female gorilla that could crush you with one squeeze? When you couldnt do anything aboutit?He glanced at her sideways. Well, youre notexactly in that dapple, are you?Mary-Lynnette said, Arent I? It looks to me as ifId have to begin a vampire just to go on with youonan equal level. Ash said, Here.Hewasofferingher theyew branch.Mary Lynnette stared at him.You want to give me your stick.Its not a stick, its the way to deal withme onan equal level. He put one end of the branchagainstthe base of operations of his throat, and Mary-Lynnette saw that it was sharp.She reached out to take the otherend and found the stick was surprisingly hard and heavy.Ash was looking straight at her. It was too dark to see what color his eyes were, but his manner wasunexpectedly sober.One good push would do it, he said. First here and then in the heart. You could eliminate theproblem of me from your life.Mary-Lynnette pushed, but gently. He took a step back. And another. She backed him up against atree, holding the stick to his neck like a sword.I actually meant only if you were really serious,Ash said as he came up short against the cedarsbare trunk. But he didnt make a move to defend himself.And the truth is that you dont even lack aspear like that. A pencil in the right place would do it.Mary-Lynnette narrowed her eyes at him, swirlingthe yew stick over his body like a fencer getting therange.Then she removed it. She dropped it to the ground. You really have changed, she said.Ash said simply, Ive changed so much in the lastfew days that I dont even recognize myself in themirror.And you didnt kill your aunt.Youre just now figuring that out?No. But I always wondered just a bit. All right, Ill kiss you.It was a little awkward, lining up to get the position right. Mary-Lynnette had never kissed a boy before.But once she started she found it was simple.And now she saw what the electric feeling ofbeing soulmates was for. All the sensations shed feltwhen touching his hand, only intensified. And not unpleasant. It was only unpleasant if you were afraidofit.Afterward, Ash pulled away. There. Yousee,he said shakily.Mary-Lynnette took a few deep breaths. I supposethats what it feels like to fall into a black hole.Oh. Sorry.No, I mean-it was intere vex. Singular, shethought. Different from anything shed ever feltbefore. And she had the feeling thatshe would be different from now on, that she could never go backandbe the same person she had been.So who am I now? Somebody fierce, I think.Somebody whod esteem running through the dark ness,underneath stars bright as miniature suns, and perhaps even hunt deer. Somebody who can laugh atdeaththe way the sisters do.Ill discover a supernova and Ill hiss when somebody threatens me. Ill be beautiful and scary anddangerous and of course Ill kiss Ash a carry on.She was giddy, almost lofty with exhilaration.Ive always loved the night, she thought. And Ill finally belong to it completely.Mary-Lynnette? Ash said hesitantly. Did you likeit?She blinked and looked at him. Focused.I want you to turn me into a vampire, she said.It didnt feel like a jellyfish sting this time. It wasquick and almost pleasant like hug being released.And then Ashs lips were on her neck, and that wasdefinitely pleasant. heating plant radiated from his mouth.Mary-Lynnette found herself stroking the back of his neck and realized that his hair was soft,a s nice totouch as cats fur.And his mindwas every color of the spectrum. Crimson and gold, jade and emerald and deepvioletblue. A tangled thorn-forest of iridescent color that changed from second to second.Mary-Lynnette wasdazzled.And half frightened. There was darkness in among those gemlike colors. Things Ash had done in the foregone things she could sense he was ashamed of now. But shame didnt change the acts themselves.I know it doesnt-but Ill make up for them, somehow.Youll see Ill find away.So thats telepathy, Mary-Lynnette thought. She couldfeel Ash as he said the words, feel that hemeantthem with desperate earnestness-and feel that there was a lot to make up for.I dont care. Im going to be a creature of darkness,too. Ill do whats in my nature, with no regrets.When Ash started to lift his head, she tightened her grip, trying to keep him there.Please dont tempt me, Ash said out loud, hisvoice husky, his breath warm on her neck. If Itake too much, it will make you seriously we ak.I mean it, sweetheart.She let him go. He picked up the yew stick and made a small cut at the base of his throat, tilting his headback like a roast shaving his chin. Mary-Lynnette realized hed never done this before. With a feeling that was. almost awe, she put her lipsto his neck.Im drinking blood. Im a hunter alreadysort of.Anyway, Im drinking blood and passion it-maybe because it doesnttastelike blood Not like slob andfear. It tastes weird and magic and old as the stars. When Ash gently detached her, she swayed on herfeet.Wed better go home, he said. wherefore? Im okay.Youre going to get dizzier-and weaker. And ifwere going to finish changingyou into avampireifAll right,when. But before we do, we take away to talk. I need to explain it all to you we have to figure outthe details. Andyouneed to rest.Mary-Lynnette knew he was right. She wanted to uphold here, alone with Ash in the dark cathedral of theforest-but shedidfeel weak. Languid. Apparently it was hard lap up becomi ng a creature of darkness.They headed back the way they had come. Mary-Lynnette could feel the change inside herself-it wasstronger than when shed exchanged blood with the three girls. She felt simultaneously weak andhypersensitive. As if every pore were open.The moonlight seemed much brighter. She couldsee colors dearly-the pale green of drooping cedarboughs, the eerie purple of parrot-beak wildflowersgrowing out of the moss.And the forest wasnt silent anymore. She could hear faint uncanny sounds like the soft seething ofneedles in the wind, and her own footsteps on moist and fungus-ridden twigs.I can even smell better, she thought. This place smells like incense cedar, and decomposing plants,andsomething really wild-feral, like something from the zoo. And something hot burny Mechanical. It stung her nostrils. She stopped and looked at Ash in alarm.Whatisthat?0Hed stopped, too. Smells like condom and oil. Oh, God, thecar, Mary-Lynnette said. Theylooked at each other for a moment , then simultane ously turned, breaking into a run.It was the car. White smoke billowed from under the closed hood. Mary-Lynnette started to go closer,but Ash pulled her back to the side of the road.I just want to open the hood- No. Look. There.Mary-Lynnette looked-and gasped. Tiny tongues of burn were darting underneath the smoke. lickingout of the engine.Claudine always said this would happen, shesaid grimly as Ash pulled her back farther, Only Ithink she meant it would happen with me in it.Were going to have to walk home, Ash said.Unless maybe somebody sees the fire.Not a chance, Mary-Lynnette said. And thatswhat you get for taking a boy out to the mostisolated place in Oregon, her inner voice said triumphantly.I dont suppose you could turn into a drub or something and fly back, she suggested.Sorry, I flunked shapeshifting. And I wouldnt leave you here alone anyway.Mary-Lynnette still felt reckless and dangerous and it made her impatient.I can take care of myself, she said.Andt hat was when the club came down and Ash fling forward unconscious.