The Golden Lily

The pamphlet also didn't mention much about any of the shared history they claimed to have with the Alchemists.

Before we went to Clarence's, Eddie scoured Latte for any sort of tracking device. The very idea creeped me out, the same way being watched at Adrian's did. There was a feeling of violation to it all. It was only my lack of faith in their technology that made me feel somewhat better.

"It seems unlikely they'd be that advanced," I told Eddie, as he wiggled under the car. "I mean, that pamphlet looked like it had been made on a 1980s copy machine. I don't know if that's because they've had the pamphlets sitting around that long or if that's the actual machine they still use... but regardless, they don't scream high tech to me."

"Maybe," he agreed, voice slightly muffled. "But we can't take any chances. We don't know what they're capable of. And for all we know, they're trying to hook up with the Alchemists to score technology."

Chills ran through me. It was an outrageous thought: that the Alchemists and this violent fringe group could be related. It had been crazy when Adrian and I had speculated about it and was hard to accept even in the face of mounting evidence. At least now I had enough information to take to my superiors without being ridiculed. Even though I'd never heard of hunters like this, it seemed plausible that somewhere, at some point, they'd tried to connect with my organization. Hopefully someone in the Alchemists could help.

Eddie scooted out from under Latte. "You're clean. Let's head out." Jill and Angeline were waiting nearby, both tense and anxious. Jill gave Eddie an admiring smile. "I didn't know you knew how to do any of this. I never would have even thought about it."

He wiped sweat off his forehead. "You thought guardian training was all about hitting and kicking?"

She flushed. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Can you tell me about some of this stuff sometime?" asked Angeline. "Seems like I should know it."

"Sure," said Eddie, sounding like he meant it. She beamed.

He'd been much easier around her ever since her attitude had become more serious and restrained. I think some of that good behavior had played a role in me getting permission for her to join us tonight. She was still technically on suspension, but I'd managed to get a special exemption on the grounds of our family's so-called religion. I'd used a similar excuse when Jill had been suspended last month, in order to take her to feedings. Even still, we were on very strict orders with Angeline tonight. She couldn't be out for more than two hours, and the price was adding an extra day of suspension to her sentence.

We took an abnormal route to Clarence's, and Eddie watched behind us carefully, looking for any signs of pursuit. He tried to explain some of the things I needed to watch for when I was on my own. I was so nervous, I hardly heard. After a tense ride, we made it safely to Clarence's. There, we found Adrian already waiting for us. Dimitri had apparently been downtown earlier and picked Adrian up - no doubt taking all the same precautions Eddie had for travel.

I'd given Eddie and Dimitri some of the info on the hunters, but everyone else required a more thorough explanation. We gathered in our usual spot, the formal living room, and Dimitri paced around the room, bracing for an attack at any moment. Clarence looked on from his chair with that typical distracted gaze. When I held up the pamphlet, however, he came to life.

"That's them!" he cried. I thought he might actually spring up from the chair and rip the pamphlet from my hands. "Those are their symbols!" Most of the same alchemical symbols that had been on the sword were strewn across the pamphlet's front. "That circle. I remember that circle."

"The gold symbol," I confirmed. "Or, I guess in their case, the sun symbol since they're so obsessed with light and dark."

Clarence looked around frantically. "They're back! We have to get out of here. I came to this city to escape them, but they've found me. We have no time. Where's Dorothy? Where's Lee? I must pack!"

"Mr. Donahue," I said, in as a gentle a tone as I could manage, "they don't know you're here. You're safe." I didn't know if I believed that and hoped I was convincing.

"She's right," said Dimitri. "And even if they did, you know I wouldn't let them hurt you." There was such confidence and strength in the way Dimitri spoke that I had a feeling that we'd believe him even if a group of Strigoi were invading, and he said, "It's fine, you're safe."

"If what you're saying is true," said Sonya, "I'm the one that's in danger." She seemed much calmer than I would be in that situation.

"They're not going to hurt you either," said Dimitri sharply. "Especially if you don't leave this house."

"The research - " she began.

" - is nothing compared to your safety," he finished. There was a look in his eyes that said he would tolerate no arguments. "You need to get back to Court. You were planning on it anyway.

Just make the trip early."

Sonya didn't look happy about that. "So I leave the rest of you in danger?"

"Maybe we aren't," said Eddie, though the tension in his body said otherwise. "From what Sydney said - and their mini-manifesto - their focus seems to be Strigoi, not Moroi." He glanced over at Jill. "Not that we can let our guard down. If they've mistaken Sonya for a Strigoi, who knows what other craziness they might do? Don't worry. I won't let them near you." Jill looked ready to swoon.

"That's a good idea," I said. "They still think the Moroi are a threat but not as much as the Strigoi."

"Kind of like the Alchemists," said Adrian. He was sitting in a corner armchair and had been quiet this whole time. I hadn't seen him since the night of the dance or had any communication with him, which was odd. Even when he wasn't sending me pathetic e-mails about the experiments, he almost always had some witty quip to pass along.

"True," I admitted, with a smile. "But we're not trying to kill any of you. Not even Strigoi."

"And there's the problem," said Dimitri. "These warriors are convinced Sonya used to be a Strigoi and is using some trick to disguise herself."

"Maybe they have some tracking or inventory system," Sonya mused. "They keep tabs on various Strigoi in the country and then try to hunt them down."

"And yet they didn't know about you," I pointed out to Dimitri. His face stayed neutral, but I knew it was hard for him to be reminded of his Strigoi days. "And from what I know... you were much more of a, um, notable figure than Sonya." He'd essentially been a Strigoi mobster.