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.He followed her up the stairs, noting that Chaplin wasn’t barking any longer.When he got to the top of the landing, Mariah was waiting, sans lantern, her hand on the door, which she’d already opened to a slit.He didn’t know why she was hesitating, but he had his own reasons for doing the same.The smells, the sounds beyond the door.Gabriel put his hand on Mariah’s shoulder and opened the door the rest of the way, revealing the crowd of Badlanders gathered in her home.Zel, the oldster, Sammy, Chaplin.even Hana and Pucci, all in front of Mariah’s bank of glowing visz monitors.And they didn’t look happy.In fact, they seemed stunned at the sight of Gabriel with Mariah.Head down, she bustled out from behind Gabriel in her blanket and went straight to her quarters, where he guessed she was going to change into real clothes.Everyone’s gazes followed her.But when she disappeared, that left Gabriel to take the remainder of their scrutiny.Luckily, he was used to it by now.Chaplin, who seemed to scent what had transpired between Gabriel and Mariah, had his head cocked, as if he were stunned to realize that his mistress had survived being near Gabriel and his vampire hunger.Gabriel used his mind to say, Don’t worry, boy.And that was the extent of it.The dog, or anyone else, didn’t have to know more than that.As if still attempting to reconcile this with that, Chaplin turned his back on Gabriel to look at the monitors, and Gabriel guessed that the dog was punishing him now instead of Mariah.Well, then.After this matter with Stamp was concluded, Gabriel would take more time to assure the canine that he wouldn’t be around much longer as a threat to any person or relationship.He came the rest of the way into the room, and everyone but Chaplin stirred, crossing their arms in front of their chests, wiping at their noses with odd, fidgety don’t-know-what-else-to-do motions.The oldster, with his eyes squinty as he peered at one of the viszes, pointed to an outside view, the volume turned up so they had a clear show of Stamp standing near Mariah’s main entrance.“There he is, counown the minutes until we either come out or stay in.”Gabriel watched Stamp on the night vision.The kid’s tall, slim body was garbed mostly in a material that hugged his long legs, just as leather would.Behind the kid, Gabriel could see flashes of Stamp’s crew as they leaped by the lens while wearing their FlyShoes.They all had white kerchiefs in hand, as if bringing positive intentions with them.To Gabriel, it seemed like one big game, those hankies a mocking salutation.They had come in peace.Sure.The oldster added, “We all met here because Mariah’s got the best bunch of visz screens, thanks to her father.Also, she’s got the finest weapons.”Sammy, his stocky body swaddled in all that orange-and-brown hemp clothing, nervously licked his lips.“Stamp keeps telling us that there’s no need to fret about coming outside to meet him.He’s here on the up-and-up.”“He says,” Zel added, standing by the monitors, holding an old pistol at her side, “that they caught whatever’s been attacking his men, and they want to have us take part in a ‘memorial service.’ ”What was this? “They caught it?”“That’s what he says,” Zel added.“He didn’t say how, but I have to admit—this situation could be a mighty relief.”The others agreed most emphatically, and Gabriel kept his eyes on them, because he wasn’t sure why they’d be so suddenly optimistic when the mood had been wary.Strange, these people.Remote, secretive, and contrary.Again, Gabriel thought of Annie and what they might be hiding about her.“It could get Stamp off our backs,” Zel said, “if we go out there and accept this truce.”“But,” the oldster said, coming back to that abandoned wariness, “there’s a great chance that he’s none-so-subtly luring us out, like they tried to do with Chaplin last night.”“I don’t know,” Gabriel said.“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but why doesn’t he just bust on in here and attack if he means harm? Why put on such an elaborate ruse unless they really are offering a resolution?”From the way the others nodded, Gabriel knew that this had occurred to them, too.“Either way,” Sammy added, “I’ll be janxed if this is any kind of real memorial service for a creature they caught.From the way those jerks are partying out there, an execution would be more like it, and I don’t have the stomach for that.”“Yup.” The oldster finally met Gabriel’s gaze.“Make no mistake—Stamp’s here to drive home some kind of point.I only wonder if we refuse to come outside as he asks, how sharp that point’s gonna be.”Gabriel looked to the visz, where Stamp was standing, watching his men while he casually planted his hands on his hips.Despite his faults, the kid had it in him to be reasonable.But any relationship he did develop with this community would be on Stamp’s terms.He’d be the one defining what a good neighbor should be, as he’d proven during the previous house call.On the visz, Gabriel saw Stamp hailing a vehicle in the near distance, directing it into the monitor’s circle of vision.A rumbler, boasting a jetlike body held up by massive, thick, sawlike wheels that spit up dirt as it came to a spewing halt.Three men spil out, jumping from the heightened body to the ground, all of them in joyful spirits.Gabriel came closer to the group, and the Badlanders shifted, as if his very presence still unsettled them.But maybe it wasn’t him at all.Maybe it was the danger outside, and he was the only one who’d been able to get them to move.Zel spoke.“We need to decide what action to take.Now.”From a spot in the corner, Hana ducked out from under Pucci’s protective arm and wandered closer to the group, her wide brown gaze fixed on the visz.But Pucci latched onto the back of her robes, impeding her.At the same time, he put forward his idea for how the community should proceed.“Let Stamp tell us a little more about what’s happening, and then we can decide.”Hana glanced back at her man but didn’t contradict him.“Well,” the oldster said, “I seem to remember you were the one in favor of waving our own white flags in Stamp’s face.Shouldn’t we just go out there and pussify ourselves first off, Pucci?”The man seemed to bulk up even more under his brown shirt, lowering his head, using his heft as an imposing response.“Stamp’s got backup out there.So far, I’ve counted seven men as they’ve crossed the lens’s fields, and we don’t know if there’re even more out of range.”“So much for your career as a diplomat, Mr.Big Talk.”While the oldster continued dealing out stings, Gabriel wondered what was keeping Mariah.He gravitated toward her quarters, arriving at the dark fringe of her room, where he was halted by the sound of her—the angry vital signs lulled by the peace he’d instilled.And it was the peace that seemed to draw a line from him to her, yet at the same time, it kept him calmer than he’d ever been, less hungry, more satisfied.“Mariah?” he asked.A pause.Then, “Still in here
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