One voice I recognized but couldn't place immediately said, "Trista and Clan Scarlet have made some good points about raising the age, the queen will likely approve." When I found him through the sea of vampire faces, I didn't miss the worried glance he shot me. Mr. Atonal.
"I'm sure yourqueenwould approve of anything that makes it harder to become a vampire," a young woman snarled.
Most of the people who seemed to be on Trista’s side were the young female vampires I’d seen in her home, and the vampires from the two other clans. The rest of Clan Dusk, Lysa, Dreven, and a lot of huge, young men, seemed to be on the side that the age shouldn’t be raised. I got the sense the young men were part of Clan Dusk, even though I’d never seen them in their shared home.
Tensions were rising as the debate continued and I got the sense that old wounds were being alluded to and old rivalries were coming to the fore once again. Vampires, it seemed, had a long memory. It also felt like they were being careful with what they said because we were there.
More than once someone started to speak before cutting themselves off and glancing in our direction. Had we been invited as a form of crowd control as well as me getting an opportunity to get a better read on Trista and the others?
When Dreven adjourned the meeting, we stood to leave.
But Trista pointed a finger at us. “Please wait.”
When the rest of the vampires were gone, Trista waved us over to sit at the table with her. We all obeyed, because there was no reason not to. “Listen, I know who you are.” She stared at Carol as she said it. “And I know who you are to Bryan.”
Carol’s eyes widened. “Do you? Where is he?”
But Trista shook her head. “I’m afraid I don't know. I wasn’t a part of what happened to him, and I’d help him if I could. But I wanted to talk to you guys. I know I’ve been preoccupied with my coven and the changes since Quillan’s death but learning that Bryan hasn’t been seen for this long is worrisome. I actually think he might be in terrible danger.”
Daniel leaned forward. “Why would you think that?”
“Secrets,” she whispered. “Coming back was dangerous because of his secrets.” She leveled her glare on Carol. “I know why he came back, but I also wish he hadn’t. At least for his own sake.”
Poor Carol ducked her head, embarrassed. I opened my mouth to defend her, but Lysa kept talking.
“Quill told me how much Bryan loved you.” She finally looked away. “I suppose if I loved someone that much, I’d come back too. I just… don’t think Bryan knows how to work the vampire system the way he needed to. Change can’t be made with anger and accusations. There’s a process. And yet, no matter how much I explained that to him, he didn’t care. He wanted the process of turning young humans to stop. Now. Today. I wanted that too, but knew it wasn’t possible. I asked him to wait for our meetings, wait for the judgment of the three covens, but he said he couldn’t.”
“Are you and Bryan friends?” I asked, surprised.
She hesitated. “Not friends exactly. But we were both Turned right out of high school. His situation was different than mine. And yet, we both learned a lot from what happened to us. Mostly that at eighteen we were children and that what happened to us was wrong. We bonded a little over it since he’s been back. He understands that I’m not the enemy, but also the way we want to go about making changes isn’t the same.” She sounded really sincere. And tired.
It seemed like Trista was likely not responsible for Quill’s murder or Bryan’s kidnapping. At least, she seemed nice enough and the other vampires seemed to respect her. There was no neon sign pointing to her as the murderer. Yet, we weren’t any closer to figuring this thing out.
“People think Bryan killed Quillan,” I hedged, trying not to look at Carol.
Trista laughed. “Bryan had nothing to gain from his death except revenge. And Bryan wasn’t as interested in revenge as he is in making sure future generations are more protected. I don’t think for a minute he had anything to do with Quillan.”
“So who did stand to gain something from his death?”
Trista stiffened, and I knew instantly that she was hiding something.
“Trista?”
She shook her head. “That’s… complicated.”
“Complicated how?” I asked.
“Someone took Bryan! We need to help him!” Carol cut in.
Trista gave her an apologetic look. “I wish I could help, but I can’t. And we need to get going. This place closing up.”
As we stood to go, Trista’s head jerked in the direction of the door. Seconds later, so did Daniel’s.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
“Someone is fighting,” Lysa said. “Outside.”
She disappeared with Daniel hot on her heels. Whoever was fighting, it must have been bad to make the two of them move like that.
