The voice was shrill, almost hysterical.
Unbalanced, Rashel thought dazedly, looking around. The sound of her secret being yelled out loud
stunned her.
But just for an instant. The next moment she was moving swiftly between the rows of girls, looking for...
"Nyala!"
"I know why you're here!" Nyala sat up tensely. She looked just as she had when Rashel had seen her
last, cocoa skin, queenly head, wide haunted eyes. She was even dressed in the same dark clothes she'd
been wearing the night they caught Quinn.
"You're here because you were in on it all along! You pretend to be a vampire hunter-"
"Shut up!" Rashel said desperately. Nyala was shouting loud enough to be heard on the other side
of the door. She knelt on Nyala's bed. "I'm not pretending, Nyala."
"Then how come you're free and we're all chained up? You're on their side! You call yourself the Cat-"
Rashel clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Listen to me," she hissed. Her heart was pounding. All the girls around her were staring and she
expected to hear the cellar door open at any moment. "Nyala, listen. I know you don't like me or trust
me-but you've got to stop yelling that. We may only have one chance to get out of here."
Nyala's chest was heaving. Her eyes, the color of dark plums, stared into Rashel's.
"I am a vampire hunter," Rashel whispered, willing Nyala to believe it. "I made a mistake letting that
vampire go that night... I admit it. But I've been trying ever since to put things right. I got captured on
purpose so I could find out what was going on here-and now I'm going to try to get all these girls free."
She spoke slowly and distinctly, hoping Nyala could sense the truth of her words. "But, Nyala, if the
Night People find out I'm a vampire hunter-much less the Cat-they are going to take me out and kill me
right this minute. And then I don't think the rest of you have a chance."
She stopped to breathe. "I know it's hard to trust me. But please, please try. Do you think you can do
that?"
A long pause. Nyala's eyes searched hers. Then, at last, Nyala nodded.
Rashel took her hand off Nyala's mouth. She sat back on the bed and they stared at each other.
"Thank you," Rashel said. "I'm going to need your help." Then she shook her head. "But how did you get
here? How did you find the club?"
"I didn't find any club. I went back to that street with the warehouses on Wednesday. I thought maybe
the vampire might come back. And then-somebody grabbed me from behind."
"Oh, Nyala." Wednesday night, Rashel thought. The night Daphne saw Ivan carry in a new girl and put
her on a cot. That girl was Nyala. Rashel put a hand to her head. "Nyala-I almost saved you. I was there
the next night-when Daphne fell out of the truck. Do you remember that? If I had only known..."
Nyala wasn't listening. "Then there was this whisper in my mind, telling me to sleep. And I couldn't
move-I couldn't move my arms or my legs. But I wasn't asleep. And then he carried me into a warehouse
and he bit me." Her voice was detached, almost pleasant. But her eyes froze Rashel in place.
"He bit me in the neck and I knew I was going to die, just like my sister. I could feel the blood coming
out. I wanted to scream but I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything." She smiled oddly at Rashel. "I'll tell
you a secret. It's still there, the bite. You can't see it, but it's still there." She turned her head to show a
smooth unblemished neck.
"Oh, God, Nyala." Rashel had felt awkward trying to make gestures of comfort with Daphne, but
now she didn't think. She just grabbed Nyala and hugged her hard.
"Listen to me," she said fiercely. "I know how you feel. I mean-no, I don't know, because it hasn't
happened to me. But I'm sorry. And I know how you felt when you lost your sister." She leaned back
and looked at Nyala, almost shaking her. "But we have to keep fighting. That's what's important right
now. We can't let them win. Right?"
"Yes..." Nyala looked slowly around her bed, then up at Rashel. "Yes, that's right." Her eyes seemed
to sharpen and focus.
"I'm making a plan to get out of here. And you have to stay calm and help me."
"Yes." Nyala sounded more definite this time. Then she smiled almost serenely and whispered, "And
we'll get our revenge."
"Yeah." Rashel pressed her hand. "Somehow, we will. I promise you."
She walked back to her cot feeling eyes on her, although nobody asked any questions. Her own eyes
were stinging.
What had happened to Nyala was her fault. The girl had already been on the edge, and because of
Rashel, she'd gotten herself caught and attacked by a vampire. And now...
Now Rashel was worried about Nyala's sanity, even if they did manage to get off the island.
She's right about one thing, though, Rashel thought. Revenge. It's the only way to wipe out the things that
have been done to these girls.
The fire in her chest was back-as if there were coals where her throat and heart ought to be. She let it
harden her and burn away any stray thoughts of mercy for Quinn. Strange how she kept having thoughts
of him, long after she'd made the resolution to kill him.
"Is she okay?" Daphne said worriedly. "I remember her from the warehouse."
"I know." Rashel took the lockpick and sat on Daphne's cot. She began to work at Daphne's shackles.
"I don't know if she's okay. The vampires haven't been living in harmony with her." She glanced bitterly at
Fayth, who just looked back gravely and steadily.
"Nobody thinks all the Night People are good," Fayth said. "Or all the humans. We don't approve of
violence. We want to stop it all."
"Well, sometimes it takes violence to stop violence," Rashel said shortly. Fayth didn't answer.
"But why was she calling you a cat?" Daphne asked.
Rashel could feel Fayth's gaze on her. "The Cat. It's the name of a vampire hunter, one who's killed a lot
of vampires."
Daphne's dark blue eyes widened slightly. "Is it you?"
Rashel sprung a lock. Somehow, with these two girls staring at her, she didn't feel quite so brash as she
had a moment ago. She didn't feel terribly proud of being the Cat.
Without looking up, she said, "Yes." Then she glanced behind her at Fayth.
Fayth said nothing.
"There's going to be more killing before this is all done," Rashel said. "And I can't think of anybody who
deserves it more than the vampires who brought us here. So you let me take care of that, and we won't
argue about it. All right?" She sprung the other lock on Daphne's shackles. Daphne immediately stretched
her legs luxuriously, then swung them to the floor. Fayth just nodded slowly.
"All right, then. Listen. The first thing we've got to do is get these girls organized." Rashel moved to work
on Fayth's chains. "You're both good talkers. I want the two of you to go around and talk to them
individually. I want to know who's going to be able to help us and who's still under mind control. I want
to know who's going to be a problem. And I especially want to know who has any experience with
boats."
"Boats?" Fayth said.
"No place on this island is safe. We have to get off. There are four boats in the harbor right now- if we
can just find somebody to handle them." She looked from Daphne to Fayth. "I want you to bring me
back at least two sensible girls who have some chance of not sinking a powerboat. Got it?"
Daphne and Fayth glanced at each other. They nodded. "Right, boss," Daphne murmured, and they
started off.
Rashel sat, weighing a chain in her hand and
thinking. There was no need to tell Daphne-yet-that she didn't plan to ship out with the boats.
Half an hour later Daphne and Fayth stood before her beaming. At least Daphne was beaming; Fayth
was wearing that grave smile that was starting to drive Rashel crazy.
"Allow me to introduce Annelise," Daphne said, leading Rashel to a cot. "Originally a native of Denmark.
She's done the race circuit in Antigua-whatever that means. Anyway, she says she can handle a boat."
The girl in the cot was one of the oldest there, eighteen or nineteen. She was blond, long-legged, and
built like a Valkyrie. Rashel liked her at once. "And this is Keiko over here," Fayth said in her simple
way. "She's young, but she says she grew up around boats."
This one Rashel wasn't so sure about. She was tiny, with hair like black silk and a rosette mouth. She
looked like a collector's doll. "How old are you?"
"Thirteen," Keiko said softly. "But I was born on Nantucket. My parents have a Ciera Sunbridge. I think
I can do what you're asking-it's just the navigation that worries me."
"There isn't anybody else," Daphne stage-whispered in Rashel's ear. "So my advice is we trust the kid."
"I think the navigation will be straight west," Rashel said. She smiled reassuringly at Keiko. "Anyway,
even the open ocean will be safer than here." She gestured to Daphne and Fayth to come back to their
corner.
"Okay. Good job. You're right about trusting the kid; I don't think we have any other choice. We
definitely need two boats for all these girls. What else did you find out?"
"Well, the ones that are still under mind control are the ones that came with us," Daphne said. "Juanita
and Missy. And the one that might cause trouble is your buddy Nyala. She's not completely hinged, if
you know what I mean."
Rashel nodded. "The mind control may be a problem-how long did it take to wear off the others,