The Golden Lily

"So, if you're off their radar, they probably don't have an international presence - or at least not a Russian one."

Angeline leaned forward, hands clasped, and regarded Clarence with a smile sweet enough to justify her name. "How do you know about them? How did you first run into them?" At first, he looked too terrified to answer, but I think her kindly attitude soothed him. "Well, they killed my niece, of course."

We all knew Lee had killed Clarence's niece, but the old man didn't believe this any more than he believed Lee was dead. "Did you see them when they did it?" asked Angeline. "Did you ever see them at all?"

"Not when Tamara died, no," he admitted. His eyes got a faraway look, as though he were staring straight into the past. "But I knew what signs to look for. I'd run into them before that, you see. Back when I was living in Santa Cruz. They like California, you know. And the Southwest.

Goes back to their sun fixation."

"What happened in Santa Cruz?" asked Dimitri.

"A group of their young ones began stalking me. Trying to kill me." The rest of us exchanged glances. "So they do go after Moroi," said Eddie. He actually moved closer to Jill.

Clarence shook his head. "Not usually. From what Marcus told me, they prefer Strigoi.

These were young, undisciplined members of their order going off on their own, without the knowledge of their superiors. I assume it was the same type who killed Tamara."

"Who's Marcus?" I asked.

"Marcus Finch. He saved me from them a few years ago. Fended them off during an attack and later got in touch with their order to keep those ruffians away from me." Clarence shivered at the memory. "Not that I stayed around after that. I took Lee and left. That was when we moved to Los Angeles for a while."

"This Marcus," I said. "Was he a guardian?"

"A human. He was about your age then. He knew all about the hunters."

"I suppose he would if he got in touch with them," Dimitri speculated. "But he must be friendly to Moroi if he helped you?"

"Oh, yes," said Clarence. "Very much so."

Dimitri looked over at me. "Do you think - "

"Yes," I said, guessing his question. "I'll see if we can find this Marcus guy. It'd be nice to get a source of info that's not one of these crazy warriors. I'm also going to report on all of this, actually."

"Me too," said Dimitri.

Although Clarence wasn't the expert on the hunters that this mysterious Marcus was, the old Moroi still had a surprising amount of info to share - info none of us had wanted to hear before. He verified what we'd already deduced, about the hunters' "devotion to the light." The group's focus was Strigoi (for now), and all of their hunts were carefully planned and organized.

They had a ritualized set of behaviors, particularly in regard to their younger members -

which was why the rogue group harassing Clarence had been stopped. From what Clarence had gathered, the group was quite tough on their new recruits, emphasizing discipline and excellence.

With the clock ticking down on Angeline's reprieve, we needed to wrap things up shortly thereafter. I was also in charge of taking Adrian home, since we figured it'd be best to eliminate any chance of Dimitri being followed back to Clarence's. Besides, I could tell Dimitri was anxious to begin putting certain things in motion. He wanted to finalize Sonya's departure and also confer with the guardians - in case Jill needed to be removed. Her face reflected what I felt about that possible outcome. We'd both become attached to Amberwood.

While he was giving some last-minute instructions to Eddie, I pulled Sonya aside for a quiet word. "I... I've been thinking about something," I told her.

She studied me carefully, probably reading my aura and other body language. "What is it?" she asked.

"If you want... if you really want it, you can have some of my blood." It was a huge, huge admission. Was it something I wanted to do? No. Absolutely not. I still had the same instinctive fears about giving my blood to Moroi, even for scientific purposes.

And yet, yesterday's events - and even the alley attack - had begun making me re-analyze my worldview. Vampires weren't the only monsters out there. They were hardly monsters at all, especially next to these vampire hunters. How could I judge the enemy on race? I was being reminded more and more that humans were just as capable as vampires of evil - and that vampires were capable of good. It was actions that mattered, and Sonya and Dimitri's were noble ones. They were fighting to destroy the ultimate evil of all, and as squeamish as I felt about giving my blood, I knew the right thing was to help them.

Sonya knew what a sacrifice this was for me. Her face stayed calm - no whoops of joy - and she nodded solemnly. "I have my collection kit here. I can take a sample before you leave, if you're sure."

So soon? Well, why not. It was best to get it over with - especially if Sonya would be leaving town soon anyway. We did it in the kitchen, which seemed slightly more sanitary than the living room. Sonya was no doctor, but whatever training she'd had, it was right in line with what I'd observed when getting physicals. Antiseptic, gloves, a new syringe. All the right procedures were followed, and after a quick poke of the needle, she had my blood sample.

"Thank you, Sydney," she said, handing me a plastic bandage. "I know how difficult this must have been for you. Believe me, this could really help us."

"I want to help," I told her. "I really do."

She smiled. "I know. And we need all the help we can get. After being one of them..." Her smile faded. "Well, I believe more than ever that their evil needs to be stopped. You might be the key."

For one second, her words inspired me - that I might somehow play a greater role in the fight against evil and possibly even stop it. Immediately, that thought was replaced by my old panic. No. No. I wasn't special. I didn't want to be. I would make a good faith effort to help, but surely nothing would come of it.

I returned to fetch the others. Adrian and Jill were having some earnest conversation in the corner. Eddie and Angeline were also talking, and I overheard her say, "I'll stay with Jill more at school, just to be safe. We can't have her be part of some accident or mistaken identity." Eddie nodded and looked impressed that she'd suggested it. "Agreed." Amazing, I thought.

I left soon with my carpool and swung by downtown to drop Adrian off. As I pulled up in front of his building, I saw something that made my jaw drop. Awe and disbelief rolled through me. In what was probably the most ungraceful parking job I'd ever done in my life, I brought Latte to an abrupt stop and was out of the car the second I pulled my keys from the ignition.