Her vision blurred.
"Let's get it inside," Rowan said. "Jade, are youall right?"
Jade was taking In ragged, whooping breaths. Shesounded the way Mary-Lynnette felt. Mark leaned over to help pull her out of the hole.
Rowan and Kestrel were lifting the goat by its legs.Mary-Lynnette was backing into the house, teeth clamped on her already-bitten lip. The taste of copperwas like a blood dot in her mouth.
They put the goat on an old-fashioned patternedrug in the entrance to the living room. Jade's whooping breaths turned into gasping sobs.
"That's Ethyl," Mary-Lynnette said. She felt like sobbing too.
She knelt beside Ethyl. The goat was pure white, with a sweet face and a broad forehead. Mary Lynnette reached out to touch one hoof gently. She'dhelped Mrs. B. trim that hoof with pruning shears.
"She's dead," Kestrel said. "You can't hurt her."Mary-Lynnette looked up quickly. Kestrel's face was composed and distant. Shock rippled under MaryLynnette's skin.
"Let's take them out," Rowan said.
"The hide's ruined already," Kestrel said.
"Kestrel, please-"
Mary-Lynnette stood. "Kestrel, shut up!"
There was a pause. To Mary-Lynnette's astonishment, the pause went on. Kestrel stayed shut up.
Mary-Lynnette and Rowan began to pull the little wooden stakes out of the goat's body.
Some were as small as toothpicks. Others were longer than Mary-Lynnette's finger and thicker than a shish kebab skewer, with a dull point at one end.Somebody strong did this, Mary-Lynnette thought.
Strong enough to punch splinters of wood throughgoat hide.
Over and over again. Ethyl was pierced everywhere. Hundreds of times. She looked like a porcupine.
"There wasn't much bleeding," Rowan said softly."That means she was dead when it was done.
Andlook here." She gently touched Ethyl's neck. Thewhite coat was crimson there-just like the deer, Mary-Lynnette thought.
"Somebody either cut her throat or bit it," Rowansaid. "So it was probably quick for her and she bledout. Not like ..."
"What?" Mary-Lynnette said.
Rowan hesitated. She looked up at Jade. Jade sniffled and wiped her nose on Mark's shoulder.
Rowan looked back at Mary-Lynnette. "Not like Uncle Hodge." She looked back down and carefully loosened another stake, adding it to the pile theywere accumulating. "You see, they killed Unde Hodge this way, the Elders did. Only he was alivewhen they did it."
For a moment Mary-Lynnette couldn't speak. Thenshe said, "Why?"
Rowan pulled out two more stakes, her face controlled and intent. "For telling a human about theNight World."
Mary-Lynnette sat back on her heels and lookedat Mark.
Mark sat down on the floor, bringing Jade withhim.
"That's why Aunt Opal left the island," Rowansaid.
"And now somebody's staked Aunt Opal," Kestrel said. "And somebody's killed a goat in the same wayUnde Hodge was killed."
"Butwho?" Mary-Lynnette said.
Rowan shook her head. "Somebody who knowsabout vampires."
Mark's blue eyes looked darker than usual and alittle glazed. "You were talkingbefore about a vam pire hunter.
"That gets my vote," Kestrel said.
"Okay, so who around here is a vampire hunter?What's a vampire hunter?"
"That's the problem," Rowan said. "I don't knowhow you could tell who is one. I'm not even sure Ibelieve in vampire hunters."
"They're supposed to be humans who've found out about the Night World," Jade said, pushing tears outof her eyes with her palms. "And they can't get otherpeople to believe them-or maybe they don't want other people to know. So they hunt us. You know, trying to kill us one by one. They're supposed toknow as much about the Night World as Night People do."
"You mean, like knowing how your uncle was executed" Mary-Lynnette said.
"Yes, but that's not much of a secret," Rowan said."I mean, you wouldn't have to actually know aboutUncle Hodge to think of it-It's the traditionalmethod of execution among the lamia. There aren't many things besides staking and burning that will killa vampire."
Mary-Lynnette thought about this. It didn't getthem very far. Who would want to kill an old ladyand a goat?
"Rowan? Why did your aunt have goats? I mean, I always thought it was for the milk, but..."
"It was for the blood, I'm sure," Rowan saidcalmly. "If she looked as old as you said, she probablycouldn't get out into the woods to hunt."
Mary-Lynnette looked at the goat again, trying tofind other dues, trying to be a good observer detached, methodical. When her eyes got to Ethyl's muzzle, she blinked and leaned forward.
"I-there's something in her mouth."
"Please tell me you're joking," Mark said.
Mary-Lynnette just waved a hand at him. "Ican't-I need something to...hang on a sec." Sheran into the kitchen and opened a drawer. She snagged a richly decorated sterling silver knife and ran back to the living room.
"Okay," she grunted as she pried Ethyl's teeth farther open. There wassomething in there-something like a flower, but black. She worked it out with her fingers.
"Silence of the Goats," Mark muttered.
Mary-Lynnette ignored him, turning the disintegrating thing over in her hands. "It looks like aniris-but it's spray-painted black."
Jade and Rowan exchanged grim glances. "Wellthis has somethingto do with the Night World," Rowan said. "If we weren't sure of that before, weare now. Black flowers are the symbols of the Night World."
Mary-Lynnette put the sodden iris down. "Symbols, like ... ?"
"We wear them to identify ourselves to each other.You know, on rings or pins or clothes or things like that. Each species has its own kind of flower, andthen there are other flowers that mean you belongto a certain dub or family. Witches use black dahlias, werewolves use black foxglove; made vampires use black roses ..."
"And there's a chain of dubs called the Black Iris,"Kestrel said, coming to stand by the others. "I
know because Ash belongs to one."
"Ash... " Jade said, staring at Kestrel with widegreen eyes.
Mary-Lynnette sat frozen. Something was tugginginsistently at the corner of her consciousness. Some thing about a black design....