The Second Life of Bree | Page 6

―So how come Riley gives you such a long leash?‖ I asked,
wondering about the relationship there. The more time I spent
with Diego, the less I could picture him being in tight with Riley.
Diego was so… friendly. Nothing like Riley. But maybe it was an
opposites-attract thing.
―Riley knows he can trust me to clean up my messes.
Speaking of which, do you mind running a quick errand?‖
I was starting to be entertained by this strange boy. Curious
about him. I wanted to see what he would do.
―Sure,‖ I said.
He bounded across the dock toward the road that ran along
the waterfront. I followed after. I caught the scent of a few
humans, but I knew it was too dark and we were too fast for
them to see us.
He chose to travel across rooftops again. After a few jumps,
I recognized both our scents. He was retracing our earlier path.
And then we were back to that first alley, where Kevin and
the other guy had gotten stupid with the car.
―Unbelievable,‖ Diego growled.
Kevin and Co. had just left, it appeared. Two other cars
were stacked on top of the first, and a handful of bystanders
had been added to the body count. The cops weren‘t here yet
—because anyone who might have reported the mayhem was
already dead.
―Help me sort this out?‖ Diego asked.
―Okay.‖
We dropped down, and Diego quickly threw the cars into a
new arrangement, so that it sort of looked like they‘d hit each
other rather than been piled up by a giant tantrum-throwing
baby. I grabbed the two dry, lifeless bodies abandoned on the
pavement and stuffed them under the apparent site of impact.
―Bad accident,‖ I commented.
Diego grinned. He took a lighter out of a ziplock from his
pocket and started igniting the clothes of the victims. I grabbed
my own lighter—Riley reissued these when we went hunting;

Kevin should have used his—and got to work on the upholstery.
The bodies, dried out and laced with flammable venom, blazed
up quickly.
―Get back,‖ Diego warned, and I saw that he had the first
car‘s gas hatch open and the lid screwed off the tank. I jumped
up the closest wall, perching a story above to watch. He took a
few steps back and lit a match. With perfect aim, he tossed it
into the small hole. In the same second, he leaped up beside
me.
The boom of the explosion shook the whole street. Lights
started going on around the corner.
―Well done,‖ I said.
―Thanks for your help. Back to Riley‘s?‖
I frowned. Riley‘s house was the last place I wanted to
spend the rest of my night. I didn‘t want to see Raoul‘s stupid
face or listen to the constant shrieking and fighting. I didn‘t want
to have to grit my teeth and hide out behind Freaky Fred so that
people would leave me alone. And I was out of books.
―We‘ve got some time,‖ Diego said, reading my expression.
―We don‘t have to go right away.‖
―I could use some reading material.‖
―And I could use some new music.‖ He grinned. ―Let‘s go
shopping.‖
We moved quickly through town—over rooftops again and
then darting through shadowy streets when the buildings got
farther apart—to a friendlier neighborhood. It didn‘t take long to
find a strip mall with one of the big chain bookstores. I snapped
the lock on the roof access hatch and let us in. The store was
empty, the only alarms on the windows and doors. I went
straight to the H‘s, while Diego headed to the music section in
the back. I‘d just finished with Hale. I took the next dozen books
in line; that would keep me a couple of days.
I looked around for Diego and found him sitting at one of the
café tables, studying the backs of his new CDs. I paused, then
joined him.
This felt strange because it was familiar in a haunting,
uncomfortable way. I had sat like this before—across a table

from someone. I‘d chatted casually with that person, thinking
about things that were not life and death or thirst and blood. But
that had been in a different, blurry lifetime.
The last time I‘d sat at a table with someone, that someone
had been Riley. It was hard to remember that night for a lot of
reasons.
―So how come I never notice you around the house?‖ Diego
asked abruptly. ―Where do you hide?‖
I laughed and grimaced at the same time. ―I usually kick it
behind wherever Freaky Fred is hanging out.‖
His nose wrinkled. ―Seriously? How do you stand that?‖
―You get used to it. It‘s not so bad behind him as it is in front.
Anyway, it‘s the