The Survivors: Point of Origin (book 2)

Encounter

"GET AWAY FROM HER!” EVERETT ROARED. A LOUD GROWL BUBBLED out from deep in his chest, and he snarled, exposing his shiny white teeth. He crouched close to the ground, a predator waiting to pounce. “I said put her down!”

Derek had Adelaide by the neck of her nightgown. She was shaking and gasping for air, her eyes wide in terror.

“Derek, put her down!” I screamed. He laughed maniacally. I hadn’t spoken to him in years, but now I vividly remembered images of him sucking blood from a dying girl’s body in my visions — twice. He looked just as threatening now, his mouth inches from Adelaide’s throat. “Let her go! You aren’t here for her!”

“No, but she could be an added bonus,” he said, running his nose along Adelaide’s neck. Everett lunged.

“Everett!” I cried, but they already had him. Four of my brothers had met him mid-jump, their agility and speed matching his own. He couldn’t escape. He may have been the strongest vieczy in his family, but that was no match for the four bloodthirsty ones holding him. I knew I was helpless against my siblings if they turned on me, but I wasn’t afraid for myself.

“Now, now, Sadie,” Derek said. “We won’t hurt your little boyfriend...yet.” He motioned for two of the others. He released Adelaide to them and walked toward me. Even with these six preoccupied with Adelaide and Everett, there were still twenty-one other ruthless creatures crowding the living room.

“What do you want?” I hissed.

“Sadie, we’re family. I don’t even get a hello?” Derek said, pacing now. We haven’t even hurt your stupid friends yet, so why are you so angry now? he thought. I suddenly remembered that none of them knew I could read minds.

“Hello,” I said petulantly. I flipped through his thoughts for plans or information that could help me. I was hit with a strange electric current the second I tuned into Noah’s mind, now purposefully. Noah seemed not to notice, but since Ben had told me Noah could connect to my mind in some way, so I had to be careful.

Ginny, I think Noah can hear us, I said quickly. I looked at him, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze.

“That’s a little better,” Derek said. He was circling me. “We don’t want to bother you, but it’s been brought to our attention that you’ve done one hell of a job adjusting to the world outside the walls of the old homestead, and we were thinking maybe you could help us out.”

I was about to throw some retort Derek’s way when Everett’s thoughts stopped me. Don’t let them know what you know.

I swallowed. “How can I help you? Everything I know about the human world is stuff you don’t care about, like cars and nice clothes.”

Good, Everett said, encouraging me.

“We were thinking more along the lines of how you operate so quietly. We seem to be attracting the attention of humans wherever we go. They tell each other when they find dead bodies,” Derek said. It was interesting to watch members of my family, other Survivors, interacting with the world when they understood so little of how it worked.

They think you’re one of them! Everett screamed in his head. I nodded slightly, never looking in his direction, but I was confused. Hadn’t Everett told me I smelled more like a human than a witch or anything else? Couldn’t they tell?

“Humans care a lot about death,” I said. “They take it very seriously. You can’t just go around killing whoever you want without repercussions. There are whole teams of people — police, they’re called — who will catch you and imprison you for killing.”