Greywalker - Kat Richardson [93]
“Did you stir up any trouble yet?”
“Not trouble, but something. After I talked to you, I met with Carlos. Alice sent me to him, but frankly, he frightens me a lot more than she does.”
“Oh, yeah. Even some of the vampires are afraid of him.”
“From the story he told me, they ought to be. And Edward, too. Carlos is willing to risk helping us because he hates Edward that much.”
“He does?”
“Yes, and Alice hates Edward, too—though it’s more an expression of ambition with her. Hate seems to be the point on which everything turns, so that’s what I’ll push on. But we have to be careful. I cannot risk losing control of the situation to Alice or Carlos, which means you have to disappear for a while.”
“I’m not going to get in your way or do something stupid,” Cameron objected.
“That’s not the problem, Cam. I don’t want you to get hurt if anything goes wrong, and I don’t want you used against me. Once the mud starts to swirl around, Edward is bound to start looking for a person holding a stick. We don’t want him to think that’s you.”
“But what about you? Won’t he hurt you, too?”
“It’s possible, but that’s what you’re paying me for.”
“Man,” he said, shaking his head, “maybe I shouldn’t have asked you to do this. Maybe I should drop it.”
“We can, if that’s what you want . . . but one of the things Carlos told me makes me think you have no real choice.”
Cameron looked at me askance. “What did he tell you?”
“There’s a lot more to this vampire thing than just sucking blood. I don’t understand it all, but the impression I got was that without the right training and without the right . . . diet, you’ll just sort of waste away and die.” I paused a moment, wondering if this was why Cameron didn’t glow like the others.
I shook myself back to conversation. “Dropping your efforts to reconcile with Edward, or moving to another city and hoping for a fresh start, would be postponing the inevitable. And if you stay here, Edward will eventually have to deal with you as a threat to the community.”
“I’m not a threat! I’m not doing anything to anybody.”
“Your existence outside of the control of the community is, inherently, a threat. Think about it. And think about where to hide until it’s safe to come out.”
“I didn’t realize this vampire gig was going to require a security expert.” He stood up. “I can find a place. Don’t worry about me. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to stir mud.”
Once Cameron was gone, I swallowed my trepidation and started down into the Square to seek vampires.
The night was thick with spirits trailing Grey wakes or striating the darkness with columns of cloud-light. Friday night was party night whether you were dead or alive. The historic district, with its many one-cover-price clubs and easygoing bars, was a prime location for night creatures on the prowl. I had three names on the list in this area, but in spite of my best charms, only one would talk to me. The first just squirmed around and refused to say anything before telling me to go jump in the Sound. The next one had a tale of pettiness and manipulation that wasn’t much, for all his anger. The third threatened to kill me.
I gave up and was heading for my truck when I spotted a flash of red and turned my head.
Alice lounged under a streetlight and gave me her siren’s smile before sliding back into the dark. As she moved, I recognized her shape in the shadow. Just like the night after I’d met Quinton—the same shape and shadow, sliding into the fog-filled alley that had led me into the Grey. She’d been teasing me, the previous night. She’d said she knew who I was. Why had she been watching me for so long?
I worried it in my brain, but was too exhausted from pushing back against the Grey all night to get an answer. I shook it off for now and headed home. I felt better as the distance increased