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.The music might just save these girls' lives.She pulled Rudi out of the way and nodded to Daphne.Daphne stood at the head of the stairs, silently waving the girls out.Faythled the way with the Valkyrie Annelise and the tiny Keiko behind her.Theother girls hurried past, and Rashel was proud of how quiet they were."Now," she whispered, pushing Rudi back into the stairwell."One lastquestion.Who's throwing the bloodfeast?"Rudi shook his head."Who hired you? Who bought the slaves? Who's the client, Rudi?""I don't know! I'm telling you! Nobody knows who hired us.It was all done onthe phone!"Rashel hesitated.She wanted to keep questioning him-but right now theimportant thing was to get the girls off the island.Daphne was still waiting in the kitchen, watching Rashel.Rashel looked at her and then helplessly at Rudi's bushy brown head.Sheshould kill him.It was the only smart thing to do, and it was what she'dplanned to do.He was a conspirator in the plan to brutally murder twenty-fourteenage girls-and he enjoyed it.But Daphne was watching.And Fayth would give her that look if she heardRashel had done him in.Rashel let out her breath."Sleep tight," she said, and hit Rudi on the headwith the hilt of her knife.He slumped unconscious and she shut the cellar door on him.She turnedquickly to Daphne."Let's go."Daphne almost skipped ahead of her.They went out the back door and picked upthe hiking path.Rashel moved swiftly, loping across the beaten-down wild grass.She caught upto the string of girls."That's it, Missy," she whispered."Nice and quiet.Nyala, you're limping;does your leg hurt? A little faster, everybody."She made her way up to the front."Okay, Annelise and Keiko.When we getthere, I'll take care of the guard.Then you know what to do."Page 72 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Find which boats we can handle.Destroy whatever we can on the others andset them adrift.Then each take half the girls and head west," Annelise said."Right.If you can't make it to land, do your best and then call the CoastGuard.""But not right away," Keiko put in."Lots of islanders use ship-to-shoreradio instead of telephones.The vampires may be monitoring it."Rashel squeezed her shoulder."Smart girl.I knew you were right for the job.And remember, if you do call the Coast Guard, don't give the right name of theboat and don't mention this island." It was perfectly possible that there wereNight People in the Coast Guard.They were almost at the bottom of the cliff, and so far no alarms hadsounded.Rashel scanned the moving group again, then became aware that Daphnewas behind her."Everything okay?""So far," Daphne said breathlessly.She added, "You're good at this, youknow.Encouraging them and all."Rashel shook her head."I'm just trying to keep them together until they'renot my problem anymore."Daphne smiled."I think that's what I just said."The wharf was below them, the boats bobbing quietly.The ocean was calm andglassy.Silver moonlight gave the scene a postcard look.Ye Olde QuaintMarina, Rashel thought.She loped to the front again."Stay behind me all of you." She added toDaphne, "I'll show you what I'm good at."A few feet of rocks and sand and she was on the wharf.Eyes on the shack,knife ready, she moved silently.She wanted to take care of the werewolfwithout noise, if possible.Then a dark shape came hustling out of the shack into the moonlight.It tookone look at Rashel and threw back its head to howl.CHAPTER13Rashel knew she had to stop the guard before he could make a sound.Thevampires' mansion was on the farther cliffs, overlooking open sea rather thanthe harbor, and the music ought to help drown outside noises-but the greatestdanger was still that they would be heard before the girls could get away.She launched herself at the werewolf, throwing a front snap kick to hischest.She could hear the air whoosh out as he fell backward.Good.No breathfor howling.She landed with both knees on top of him."This is silver," she hissed, pressing the blade against his throat."Don'tmake a noise or I'll use it."He glared at her.He had shaggy hair and eyes that were already half-animal.Page 73 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Is there anybody on the boats?" When he didn't answer, she pressed thesilver knife harder."Is there?"He snarled a breathless "No." His teeth were turning, too, spiking andlengthening."Don't change-" Rashel began, but at that moment he decided to throw her off.He heaved once, violently.A snap of her wrist would have plunged the silver blade into his throat evenas she fell.Instead Rashel rolled backward in a somersault, tucking in herhead and ending up on her right knee.Then, as the werewolf jumped at her, sheslammed the sheathed knife upward against his jaw.He fell back unconscious.Too bad, I wanted to ask him about the client.Rashel looked shoreward, tosee that Daphne, Annelise, and Nyala were on the pier with her.They were eachholding a rock or a piece of wood broken from the jagged pilings of the wharf.They were going to help me, Rashel thought.She felt oddly warmed by it."Okay," she said rapidly."Annelise and Keiko, with me.Everybody else, stay.Daphne, keep watch."In a matter of minutes she and the boating girls had checked the boats andfound two with features they thought they could handle.and with fuel.Anne-lise had removed a couple of crucial engine pieces out of the others."Took out the impellers and the solenoids," she told Rashel mysteriously,holding out a grimy hand."Good.Let's set them adrift.Everybody else, get yourself on a boat.Find aplace to sit fast and sit down." Rashel moved to the back of the group whereFayth had her arms around a couple of the girls who looked scared of settingout on the dark ocean."Come on, people." She meant to herd them in front ofher like chickens.That was when it happened.Rashel had an instant's warning-the faint crunch of sand on rock behind her.And then something hit her with incredible force in the middle of the back.Itknocked her down and sent her knife flying.Worse, it sent her mind reeling in shock.She hadn't been prepared.Thatinstant's warning hadn't been enough-because she had already lost zanshin
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