Intrusion by Dean Murray Page B

area vampires are a
natural byproduct."
    "Wait. Vampires? Like
suck-your-blood, cheesy, fanged guys with bad hair?"
    Rachel shook her head. "No, like immortal
parasites who we've managed so far to mostly keep unaware of our
existence."
    It was a lot to process, but based on the way
that Rachel was avoiding meeting my eyes now, I was pretty sure
that wasn't the end of it.
    "Okay, Rach. Spill it."
    "So the vampires are bad enough, but
the other reason we aren't allowed out to the East Coast is the
Coun'hij."
    I felt a shudder work its way from
my center out to my shoulders. It had been the Coun'hij, one of
them at least, who had taken away my memories. All I remembered
from that night was waking up in the cavern below the estate
surrounded by the pack, all of whom were bruised and
bloodied.
    That didn't count, of course, the
three pack members who had been killed that night. Part of me
wasn't interested in pursuing this particular topic with Rachel,
but the rest of me was absolutely driven to know everything I
possibly could about my tormentors.
    "Okay so I get the vampires bit.
They don't know about us so they don't come after us, which is
probably a good thing since if they are anything like the popular
culture version they could reproduce at some pretty alarming rates.
Why does the Coun'hij care though?"
    Rachel's shrug was almost an
apology. "I'm not really sure. There are a few theories running
around. The Coun'hij isn't exactly popular with the various packs,
so it's entirely possible that they are just trying to keep their
base of operations secret."
    "Right, except they don't need to
feel threatened by the rest of us. The guy who ripped my memories
out of my head isn't even very high up their ranks. What could the
other packs possibly do to a group that powerful?"
    "Don't overestimate them, Jess. They're the
scariest thing our people have had to deal with in several
centuries, but that doesn't make them unbeatable. Half of their
advantage is that they always get to pick the timing of every
confrontation. All it takes is one or two hybrids manifesting a
truly powerful ability and deciding not to throw their lots in with
the Coun'hij. That and the ability to pick our own time and
place."
    "Is that what Alec was planning on
doing?"
    I was definitely into forbidden
topics now. Looking in as an outsider, more or less, it was easy to
see the scars in the pack dynamic that our decade-long standoff
with the neighboring pack had left. Everything I'd been able to
tease out of Isaac or the others sounded pretty bleak.
    The rival alpha,
Brandon,   had   manifested a really uber ability, and all of the smart money
had us ending up as goners sooner rather than later since nobody on
our side was even remotely in that class. We'd been outnumbered,
and outmuscled.
    That had all changed the night that
Alec had been backed into a challenge match with Brandon. Out of
nowhere Alec had finally manifested an ability, and it had been a
game-changer. Draining your opponent's energy from several yards
away didn't sound like anything to get that excited about, but the
visual Isaac had described flat gave me chills.
    Both packs had collapsed to the
ground, the next best thing to lifeless corpses waiting to be dealt
with. The effect had been temporary, and once Alec stopped sucking
everyone dry it was only a matter of time before our natural
vitality took over and people started moving around again. Still,
the whole pack had been convinced that we had it made. The next
time we got into trouble, we'd just expected Alec to flip the
switch on his pocket nuke. Game over.
    Only it hadn't worked out that way. Instead it
hadn't come when called, and the pack had paid the price of not
giving the Coun'hij what they wanted.
    I debated trying to probe a little
more, but it wasn't worth the potential trouble. Alec wasn't
telling anyone much of anything where his power was concerned.
Nobody was talking about it, but it was an open secret among the
pack that