left standing.”
“Why out there? There aren’t humans living anywhere near that place,” Drew replied, his thoughts flowing freely from him as though he had not meant to share them at all but could not stop himself. He also appeared unable to stop himself from pacing around the kitchen.
“Fear would be my guess,” Kierson said with a shrug, resting back into his wooden chair. “If you knew that you were about to sign your own death warrant by crossing a line you couldn’t come back from, wouldn’t you stay as far away from temptation as you could?”
“That’s hardly a relevant point, given that they will need to feed sometime,” Pierson rebutted.
“True, but Kierson might not be entirely wrong.” Drew stepped up to the edge of the kitchen table where the rest of us sat, placing his hands down firmly on it. “There is safety in numbers. Perhaps they are communing together to keep themselves in check. Keep themselves from falling off the wagon, so to speak.”
“It’s not fucking AA, Drew,” Casey snarled from the far end of the table. “You’re giving them way too much credit. My bet is that they’re coming together for a common goal, and it ain’t a good one.” He stood and mimicked Drew’s stance, leaning toward him. “Why don’t we just march down there right now and take them all out. Quick and easy.”
“We don’t know that they’ve done anything wrong yet,” Pierson pointed out.
“So we should wait until they do? Kierson saw what that one did the other night. Should we wait until we have an army of them about to rain down on the humans? I’m sure that would go unnoticed . . . Nobody would find it strange at all if a slew of Empties went shuffling their way through the city like the zombie apocalypse had finally come. Or maybe we should just say ‘fuck it’ to the treaty and clean this mess up like we should have in the first place. We’re not fucking diplomats, and we’re not fucking cops. There is no system of justice here. Ou ^entoke jusr job is to maintain the balance at any cost, and, as far as I can see, having those loose cannons running around town is a risk we can’t afford.”
“What we can’t afford is to behave like the days of old,” Drew rumbled, the two staring at one another as though reliving a conversation they’d long ago had.
“I liked the old ways,” Casey purred with a reminiscent smile on his face that reached his eyes. It gave them a menacing glint.
“As I recall, but that’s not how we do things anymore. Not everything needs to be a bloodbath, Casey.”
“Maybe,” he sneered. “But it should be.”
“All right, all right! Before you two start swinging, can we go see if my source was legit first? Then we can decide how to take them out if need be.”
All eyes turned to Kierson. Pierson looked puzzled, Drew surprised, and Casey enraged.
“When will we be embarking on this mission?” I asked. “I would like to go, if for no other reason than to learn more about the enemy.”
“They’re not the enemy per se, Khara,” Drew said, turning his attention to me. “They’re no different than any of the other supernaturals that roam this earth. The Breathers are entitled to their survival just like the rest of them. But if they do in fact have plans to breech the confines of the agreement en masse, then they will pay with their lives.”
“I am not concerned with how you classify them. I only wish to learn more,” I explained from my station next to Kierson. “If I am to stay in this city, I think that only stands to reason.”
His expression tightened, weighing my words carefully before he spoke.
“I’m not sure . . .” he hedged. “If things go south, I don’t know that I want you there.”
“If your mission is for reconnaissance, then I do not see the harm. And if I am truly one of you, was I not bred to do this? To police the boundary as you all do? How will I learn to do so if I am never exposed to the very
“Why out there? There aren’t humans living anywhere near that place,” Drew replied, his thoughts flowing freely from him as though he had not meant to share them at all but could not stop himself. He also appeared unable to stop himself from pacing around the kitchen.
“Fear would be my guess,” Kierson said with a shrug, resting back into his wooden chair. “If you knew that you were about to sign your own death warrant by crossing a line you couldn’t come back from, wouldn’t you stay as far away from temptation as you could?”
“That’s hardly a relevant point, given that they will need to feed sometime,” Pierson rebutted.
“True, but Kierson might not be entirely wrong.” Drew stepped up to the edge of the kitchen table where the rest of us sat, placing his hands down firmly on it. “There is safety in numbers. Perhaps they are communing together to keep themselves in check. Keep themselves from falling off the wagon, so to speak.”
“It’s not fucking AA, Drew,” Casey snarled from the far end of the table. “You’re giving them way too much credit. My bet is that they’re coming together for a common goal, and it ain’t a good one.” He stood and mimicked Drew’s stance, leaning toward him. “Why don’t we just march down there right now and take them all out. Quick and easy.”
“We don’t know that they’ve done anything wrong yet,” Pierson pointed out.
“So we should wait until they do? Kierson saw what that one did the other night. Should we wait until we have an army of them about to rain down on the humans? I’m sure that would go unnoticed . . . Nobody would find it strange at all if a slew of Empties went shuffling their way through the city like the zombie apocalypse had finally come. Or maybe we should just say ‘fuck it’ to the treaty and clean this mess up like we should have in the first place. We’re not fucking diplomats, and we’re not fucking cops. There is no system of justice here. Ou ^entoke jusr job is to maintain the balance at any cost, and, as far as I can see, having those loose cannons running around town is a risk we can’t afford.”
“What we can’t afford is to behave like the days of old,” Drew rumbled, the two staring at one another as though reliving a conversation they’d long ago had.
“I liked the old ways,” Casey purred with a reminiscent smile on his face that reached his eyes. It gave them a menacing glint.
“As I recall, but that’s not how we do things anymore. Not everything needs to be a bloodbath, Casey.”
“Maybe,” he sneered. “But it should be.”
“All right, all right! Before you two start swinging, can we go see if my source was legit first? Then we can decide how to take them out if need be.”
All eyes turned to Kierson. Pierson looked puzzled, Drew surprised, and Casey enraged.
“When will we be embarking on this mission?” I asked. “I would like to go, if for no other reason than to learn more about the enemy.”
“They’re not the enemy per se, Khara,” Drew said, turning his attention to me. “They’re no different than any of the other supernaturals that roam this earth. The Breathers are entitled to their survival just like the rest of them. But if they do in fact have plans to breech the confines of the agreement en masse, then they will pay with their lives.”
“I am not concerned with how you classify them. I only wish to learn more,” I explained from my station next to Kierson. “If I am to stay in this city, I think that only stands to reason.”
His expression tightened, weighing my words carefully before he spoke.
“I’m not sure . . .” he hedged. “If things go south, I don’t know that I want you there.”
“If your mission is for reconnaissance, then I do not see the harm. And if I am truly one of you, was I not bred to do this? To police the boundary as you all do? How will I learn to do so if I am never exposed to the very
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