Anarchy (Hive Trilogy Book 2)(20)

"Is this the first child to ever be turned vamp?"

The small talk which had been going on died off, and all eyes were suddenly on me. Ryder's hand snaked out and covered my mouth before I could speak again, before I could demand information.

His voice was all casual-like: "Yeah, as far as we know. The Quorum are really strict about that law. This girl was a random accident."

I wasn't confused at all by his sudden defense of the Quorum. He was reminding me that despite their repeated searches of the Hummers, there was a chance they missed a listening devices and we should be cautious about what we said.

Dammit!

Our speed picked up and we pretty much screeched around the corner and onto my old street. The large trees which lined the sidewalks were looking a little barren. Winter was coming, and the chill in the air told me it was going to be brutal this year. Pulling up in front of the familiar little house, pangs of homesickness shot through me hard. It was easy sometimes to compartmentalize my life, push away the losses, but seeing it again  …  there was no way to forget.

The five of us piled out. Ryder was at my side in seconds. We moved from the car to the opposite side of the road, away from my house.

"I'm not sure what they're using to bug us, but there's every chance your mother's place is compromised also. They can be very thorough, and they'll be looking for your father, with the Original blood so strong in your system."

The boys closed in tighter. "Every year there are a few cases of children being turned, far less than there used to be, say a hundred years ago. Vamps are policed pretty closely now. Still, there is always one screwed-up vampire who likes little kids and decides he wants one around forever."

Okay, that was just freaking sick.

"So what happens to the kids who are turned?" The second Hummer was parking behind ours now. We'd draw attention if we stayed out here any longer.

"I don't know of any vamp children in the Hives around us. They're all transferred out to European Hives. Apparently they have the facilities to deal with them. The virus messes with children. They never age, and their brains don't develop properly after the change. They're too young to deal with the virus."

Jared snorted, and I turned to him. "They're transferred on the books, but I've visited hundreds of Hives over the years, plenty through Europe, and I've never seen a single child. So who knows what happens to them."

Sam didn't speak, but the way his muscles were trembling, rage was consuming the silent enforcer.                       
       
           



       

"Is that girl in danger?" My voice rose slightly, even though I was trying to keep it locked down. "You better not have stopped me from curing her, thereby giving the Quorum time to kill her."

Because I was starting to see that was what the vampires did with the children. If they were difficult to control, if the virus messed with their minds, they would either have them locked away in some dungeon somewhere or they'd kill them. They wouldn't risk the bad publicity and possible war with the humans.

"We have a few days," Ryder said. "They never do anything until all of the media attention dies down. It's all secret, hush-hush stuff, and right now there's too much attention on our Hive. It gives us time to plan things out properly. If we're going to cure her, we have to make sure there's no chance of getting you or the rest of us killed."

I calmed slightly, even though I was fuming inside at the extra few horrible points I could add to my "vampires are assholes" list. Could they actually stoop so low as to murder children who had done nothing wrong except be preyed on by evil itself?

Hell yeah they would.

I was beyond words as we made our way back across the street and up to the front porch of my mother's house. The others were already waiting for us, Jayden pretty much bouncing on the spot as he tried to guess what we'd eat.

"Will there be green bean casserole? Mashed potatoes  …  oh man, I love mashed potatoes."

Just the sound of his inane babble, and Oliver's encouraging yet disinterested responses, was enough to lighten my mood. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, calming myself and sucking down as much of the negative energy as I could. Today was about family and enjoying stolen moments together. The vampires would not ruin it for me. Dealing with them could wait until tomorrow.

I rang the doorbell, which felt odd, but now that I carried around a bunch of large ash enforcers with me, I didn't want to just barge in and give Mom and Tessa a heart attack. Standing there, I let my senses free, and found that if I really concentrated I could feel the warmth of humans inside my house. I never spent much time outside of the Hive, so it was odd to realize that the warmth, heartbeat, scent  …  everything really, was different to the ash. We had heartbeats-it wasn't like we were dead-but it was different; ash heartbeats were slower. Humans were so much more  …  full of life. I was glad we had all chugged down blood before leaving this morning, enough to keep our hunger controlled for most of the day. We could act like humans again.

The lilac and spearmint scent hit me first, so familiar, so many memories associated with it. Then the door swung open and the still-youthful and beautiful Joanna Bennett stepped into view. My mom's blonde hair was piled up on top of her head and her cheeks were flushed, which was how she looked when she was cooking. Yep, the frilly white apron topped off the outfit perfectly.

"Charlie Anne," she practically shrieked as she pulled me into a hug. "I've missed you so much, baby. A few emails and one drunk Tessa pick-up is just not enough time."

I sank into her, laughing, careful of my strength. It was easy to forget how breakable humans were. I could easily hurt her without realizing it. "I've missed you too, Mom. It's so great to be back here."

The scent of food was already wafting out of the open door. A mixture of everything good in the world was currently in my mother's kitchen. I was so sure about it.

"Mom, I was supposed to be helping you cook," I said, as we finally pulled back from our hug and moved into the front hall. Jayden was practically skipping as he followed along behind us. Which, honestly, he pulled off, despite his massively muscled frame.

"I just got a head start since there were so many of you coming today. It's wonderful to have a full house."

Another blonde popped up in front of me, and thankfully this time she wasn't covered in her own vomit.

"Tessa!" I threw my arms around her and pulled her close. Our hug lasted almost as long as with my mother. The boys sidled around us, following my mom into the kitchen area. Tessa and I remained locked together.

"I'm sorry I showed up like a hot mess at the Hive," she mumbled against my shoulder. "I just get really depressed some days. I can't cope with you being gone, with the loneliness. Even Blake  …  like today, he can't be here because of the sun. I'm always on the outside of your lives."

I gave her an extra squeeze. "You know the saying, babe: the grass is always greener on the other side. You have serious FOMO, but there's nothing you need to fear you're missing out on. The Hive is dark and deadly."                       
       
           



       

The look on her face told me she was tuning me out again. I forced myself not to bitch-slap her. Despite the fact that I was so happy to see her, she was also pissing me off a lot lately with this moronic stubbornness of wanting to become a stupid vampire.

Pretending the tension between us wasn't there, she flashed me a smile and linked her arm through mine. Her face was only lightly made up today and she looked pretty, fresh-faced, and healthy. "So Blake is meeting with the Quorum again tonight. Apparently they have conferred with other Quorums, and the international vampire council. They're the ones who keep track of the world numbers or something. We should have a decision in the next week."

My mouth dropped open. "Tessa!"

She elbowed me sharply. "Shh, don't ruin this day. Your mom and I have been planning it for a week."

I gave an exasperated sigh. The pissed-off was growing, but I didn't bother to argue with her again. There was almost a hundred percent certainty they would deny the request. It was next to impossible to change humans any longer. The human-vampire truce was on shaky grounds, and we didn't need more bad publicity, especially with the newly-turned child. Actually, if anything good could come out of that horrible happening, it was that Blake's odds of being granted permission to turn Tessa were probably now at minus one.

I relaxed as we crossed through the sunny living room and into the open-plan dining area which bordered the kitchen. The extension on the dark wooden table was open, and extra chairs had been brought in. There were already settings out, ten of them by my count, delicate white china which we had inherited from my grandparents. They had passed on ten years ago, but it was almost as if they were here with us when we used their stuff. It wasn't just the china. Everything in this room held a memory for me. It was home.