got unity. If anyone can do this, we can.
She picked up her knife almost absent-mindedly. It was a piece of art, a valued possession, and she
didn't want to lose it.
They walked down the stairs side by side. Music was still blasting from the gathering room at the end of
the hall. It hadn't been that long, Rashel realized. The whole world had changed since she'd been in this
hallway-but somehow it had all happened in minutes.
Now, Quinn said silently before they went in. There shouldn't be any danger-/ don't think they'll be
stupid enough to attack me-but be alert anyway.
Rashel nodded. She felt cool and businesslike, and she thought she was perfectly rational. It was only
later that she realized they had walked into the room like little lambs into the tiger's lair, still dizzy and
reeling from the discovery of love.
Quinn went in first and she could hear voices stop as he did. Then she was walking through the door,
into that ruddy flickering room with shadows dancing on the walls.
And there they were again, those handsome young guys who looked like a TV-series ensemble. They
were looking at Quinn with various expressions of interest and surprise. When they saw her, the
expressions sharpened to pleasure and inquiry. "Hey, Quinn!" "Hi there, Quinn."
"So you've arrived at last. You've kept us waiting long enough." That from the dark one who was
looking at his watch. Quinn said, "Turn off the music." Someone went to a built-in mahogany cabinet and
turned off an expensive stereo.
Quinn was looking around the room, as if to appraise each of them. "Campbell," he said, nodding
slightly. "Radhu. Azarius. Max."
"So you're the one who brought us here," Campbell said. He had rusty hair and a sleepy smile. "We've
all been dying to find out."
"Who's that?" someone else added, peering at Rashel. "The first course?"
Quinn smiled fractionally, with a look that made the guy who'd asked step backward. "No, she's not
the first course," he said softly. "In fact, unfortunately, all the courses have disappeared."
There was a silence. Everyone stared at him. Then the guy with the silver-blond hair said, "What?"
"They've all-just-disappeared." Quinn made an expressive gesture. "Escaped. Vanished."
Another silence. Rashel didn't like this one. She was beginning to get an odd impression from the group,
as if she were in a room, not with people, but with animals that had been kept past their feeding time.
"What the hell are you talking about?" the dark one, the one Quinn had called Azarius, said tightly.
"What kind of joke is this?" Campbell added.
"It's not a joke. The girls who were brought for the bloodfeast are gone," Quinn said slowly and
distinctly, just in case anybody hadn't gotten it yet. Then he said, "And as a matter of fact, it's a good
thing."
"A good thing? Quinn, we're starving."
"They can't have gone too far," the silver blond said. "After all, it's an island. Let's go and-" "Nobody's
going anywhere," Quinn said. Rashel
moved closer to him. She was still nervous. These guys were on the edge of getting out of control. But
she trusted Quinn, and she could tell they
were afraid of him. And, she told herself, they'll be
even more afraid in a minute. "Look, Quinn, if you brought us here to-" "I didn't bring you here. In fact, I
don't know who brought you here, but it doesn't matter. I've got the same thing to say to all of you. There
isn't going to be any bloodfeast, now or ever. And anybody who objects to that can take their problem
to the Council."
That shut everyone up. They simply stared at Quinn. It was clearly the last thing they expected.
"In fact, if you don't want the Council to hear about this, I'd advise everybody to go home quietly and
pretend it never happened. And to have a headache the next time anybody asks you to a bloodfeast."
This silence was broken by somebody muttering, "You dirty..."
Meanwhile, Rashel's mind had begun to tick. Just how were these guys going to go home quietly? There
weren't any boats. Unless the host brought one when he came-if he came. And where was he, anyway?
And where was Lily?
"Quinn," she said softly.
But somebody else was speaking. "You'd tell the Council?" a lean tough-looking guy with brown hair
asked.
"No, I'd let Hunter Redfern tell the Council," Quinn said. "And I don't really think you want that. He
might put it in a bad light. Raise your hands everybody who thinks Hunter Redfern would approve of this
little party."
"Do I get a vote?"
The voice came from the doorway. It was deeper than the voices of the young guys in the room. Rashel
recognized the sound of danger instinctively and turned. And later it seemed to her that even before she
turned, she knew what she would see.
A tall man standing easily, with a girl and a child behind him in the shadows. He was colored by the
flickering ruby light of the fire, but Rashel could still see that his hair was red as blood. And his eyes were
golden.
Golden like hawk's eyes, like amber. Like Lily Redfern's eyes. Why hadn't she realized that before?
The face was a face she would never forget. It came to her every night in her dreams. It was the man
who'd killed her mother. The man who'd chased her through the climbing structure, promising her ice
cream.
All at once, Rashel was five years old again, weak and helpless and terrified.