buildings and streetlights shining pale gold.
And that was a shame, because she was in terrific form tonight; she could feel it. She was every
bloodsucking leech's worst enemy. She could stake six of them before breakfast and still be fresh for
chemistry first period at Wassaguscus High.
Rashel stopped suddenly, absent-mindedly melting into a shadow as a police car cruised silently down
the cross-street ahead. I know, she thought. I'll go see what the Lancers are up to. If anybody knows
where vampires are, they do.
She headed for the North End. Half an hour later she was standing in front of a brownstone apartment
building, ringing the buzzer. "Who's there?"
Instead of answering, Rashel said, "The night has a thousand eyes."
"And the day only one," came the reply from the intercom. "Hey there, girl. Come on up."
Inside, Rashel climbed a dark and narrow stairway to a scarred wooden door. There was a peephole in
the door. Rashel faced it squarely, then pulled off the scarf she'd been wearing. It was black, silky, and
very long. She wore it wrapped around her head and face like a veil, so that only her eyes showed, and
even they were in shadow.
She shook out her hair, knowing what the person on the other side could see. A tall girl dressed like a
ninja, all hi black, with black hair falling loose around her shoulders and green eyes blazing. She hadn't
changed much since she was five, except in height. Right now she made a barbaric face at the peephole
and heard the sound of laughter behind the door as bolts were drawn.
She waited until the door was shut behind her again before she said, "Hi, Elliot."
Elliot was a few years older than she was, and thin, with intense eyes and little shiny glasses that were
always slipping off his nose. Some people would have dismissed him as a geek. But Rashel had once
seen him stand up to two werewolves while she got a human girl out a window, and she knew that he had
practically single-handedly started the Lancers-one of the most successful organizations of vampire
hunters on the east coast.
"What's up, Rashel? It's been a while."
"I've been busy. But now I'm bored. I came to see if you guys had anything going." As Rashel spoke,
she was looking at the other people in the room. A brown-haired girl was kneeling, loading objects from
boxes into a dark green backpack. Another girl and a boy were sitting on the couch. Rashel recognized
the boy from other Lancers meetings, but neither of the girls were familiar.
"Lucky you," Elliot said. "This is Vicky, my new second-in-command." He nodded at the girl on the
floor. "She just moved toBoston ; she was the leader of a group on the south shore. And tonight she's
taking a little expedition out to some warehouses in Mission Hill. We got a lead that there's been some
activity out there."
"What kind of activity? Leeches, puppies?"
Elliot shrugged. "Vampires definitely. Werewolves maybe. There's been a rumor about teenage girls
getting kidnapped and stashed somewhere around there. The problem is we don't know exactly where,
or why." He tilted his head, his eyes twinkling. "You want to go?"
"Isn't anybody going to ask me?" Vicky said, straightening up from her backpack. Her pale blue eyes
were fixed on Rashel. "I've never even seen this girl before. She could be one of them."
Elliot pushed his glasses higher on his nose. He looked amused. "You wouldn't say that if you knew,
Vicky. Rashel's the best."
"At what?"
"At everything. When you were going to your fancy prep school, she was out in theChicago slums
staking vampires. She's been inL.A. ,New York ,New Orleans... even Vegas. She's wiped out more
parasites than the rest of us put together." Elliot glanced mischievously at Rashel, then leaned toward Vicki.
"Ever heard of the Cat?" he said.
Vicki's head snapped up. She stared at Rashel.
"The Cat? The one all the Night People are afraid of? The one they're offering a reward for? The one
who leaves a mark-"
Rashel shot Elliot a warning look. "Never mind," she said. She wasn't sure she trusted these new people.
Vicky was right about one thing: you couldn't be too careful.
And she didn't like Vicky much, but she could hardly turn down such a good opportunity for vampire
hunting. Not tonight, when she was in such terrific form.
"I'll go with you-if you'll have me," she said.
Vicky's pale blue eyes bored into Rashel's a moment, then she nodded. "Just remember I'm in charge."
"Sure," Rashel murmured. She could see Elliot's grin out of the corner of her eye.
"You know Steve, and that's Nyala." Elliot indicated the boy and girl on the couch. Steve had blond hair,
muscular shoulders, and a steady expression; Nyala had skin like cocoa and a faraway look in her eyes,
as if she were sleepwalking. "Nyala's new. She just lost her sister a month ago," Elliot added in a gentle
voice. He didn't need to say how the sister had been lost.
Rashel nodded at the girl. She sympathized. There was nothing quite like the shock of first discovering
the Night World, when you realized that things like vampires and witches and werewolves were real, and
that they were everywhere, joined in one giant
secret organization. That anybody could be one, and you'd never know until it was too late.
"Everybody ready? Then let's go," Vicky said, and Steve and Nyala got up. Elliot showed them to the door.
"Good luck," he said.