The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer Page B

shattering it, then caught another girl—Sara—and tore her left
     ear and a handful of hair from her head. She snarled in anguish.
    It became suddenly obvious that Riley was doing a very dangerous thing. There were a lot of us in here. Already Raoul was
     back, with Kristie and Jen—usually his enemies—flanking him defensively. A few others banded together in clusters around the
     room.
    I wasn’t sure if Riley was aware of the threat or if his rant came to an end naturally. He took a deep breath. He tossed Sara
     her ear and the hair. She recoiled away from him, licking the torn edge of her ear, coating it with venom so that it would
     reattach. There was no remedy for the hair, though; Sara was going to have a bald spot.
    “Listen to me!” Riley said, quiet but fierce. “All our lives depend on you listening to what I’m saying now and
thinking
! We are all going to
die
. Every one of us, you and me, too, if you can’t act like you have brains for just a few short days!”
    This was nothing like his usual lectures and pleadings for control. He definitely had everyone’s attention.
    “It’s time for you to grow up and take responsibility for yourselves. Do you think you get to livelike this for
free
? That all the blood in Seattle doesn’t have a
price
?”
    The little clusters of vampires no longer seemed threatening. Everyone was wide-eyed, some exchanging mystified glances. I
     saw Fred’s head turn toward me in my peripheral vision, but I didn’t meet his gaze. My attention was focused on two things:
     Riley, just in case he started to attack again, and the door. The door that was still closed.
    “Are you listening now? Really listening?” Riley paused, but no one nodded. The room was very still. “Let me explain to you
     the precarious situation we are all in. I’ll try to keep it simple for the slowest ones. Raoul, Kristie, come here.”
    He motioned to the leaders of the two largest gangs, allied for this brief moment against him. Neither of them moved toward
     him. They braced themselves, Kristie baring her teeth.
    I expected Riley to soften, to apologize. To placate them and then persuade them to do what he wanted. But this was a different
     Riley.
    “Fine,” he snapped. “We’re going to need leaders if we’re going to survive, but apparently neither of you is up to the task.
     I thought you had aptitude. I was wrong. Kevin, Jen, please join me as the heads of this team.”
    Kevin looked up in surprise. He had just finishedputting his arm back together. Though his expression was wary, it was also unmistakably flattered. He slowly got to his feet.
     Jen looked at Kristie as if waiting for permission. Raoul ground his teeth together.
    The door at the top of the stairs did not open.
    “Are you not able, either?” Riley asked, irritated.
    Kevin took a step toward Riley, but then Raoul rushed him, leaping across the long room in two low bounds. He shoved Kevin
     against the wall without a word and then stood by Riley’s right shoulder.
    Riley permitted himself a tiny smile. The manipulation wasn’t subtle, but it was effective.
    “Kristie or Jen, who will lead us?” Riley asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.
    Jen was still waiting for a sign from Kristie as to what she should do. Kristie glowered at Jen for an instant, then flipped
     her sandy hair out of her face and darted to stand on Riley’s other side.
    “That took too long to decide,” Riley said seriously. “We don’t have the luxury of time. We don’t get to fool around anymore.
     I’ve let you all do pretty much whatever you feel like, but that ends tonight.”
    He looked around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes, making sure we were listening. I held his gaze for only a second when
     it was my turn, and then my eyes flipped back to the door. I corrected instantly, buthis glare had moved on. I wondered if he’d noticed my slip. Or had he seen me at all, here beside Fred?
    “We have an enemy,” Riley announced.