Will had only just turned. Half the staff wouldn’t even know about it yet. None of the students would either.
“Okay, that’s weird.” Jenna turned a circle on her heel.
“Are you sure this is the right room?” I asked.
Jason frowned. “Yeah. I came down here to give him back a video game I borrowed at the end of last year. He was already unpacked and everything.”
“So his roommate hadn’t arrived yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“All right, so maybe they didn’t put anyone in this room because he was in the infirmary and it’d be weird.” I looked under the bed, which was swept clean. “But that doesn’t explain why they’d get all his stuff out before he was even out of quarantine.” I rubbed my arms, suddenly chilled. “Unless they knew he wouldn’t recover?”
“Educated guess,” Chloe said. “It’s possible. We all know Hel-Blar venom is nasty stuff.”
“So what do we do now?” Jason asked, perplexed. “What were you looking for?”
“I’m not even sure,” I admitted. “It’s just that the Hel-Blar who got him mysteriously turned to ash. And Will mysteriously mentioned something about a vitamin. That’s too many mysteries.” I wouldn’t look at Chloe even when she hissed out a disgruntled breath. I went over to the desk and opened all the drawers. “Nothing.”
“Closets are empty,” Jenna confirmed.
I did finally look at Chloe.
She narrowed her eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
She was going to be pissed at me for asking. No help for it. “You’ve been hiding your vitamins, haven’t you?”
She frowned. “What?” She backed up a step. “You saw me take one like an hour ago.”
Jenna and Jason watched us as if we were a tennis match.
“Why would she hide vitamins?” Jason wondered.
“Because I’ve been bugging her about them,” I said, not glancing away from Chloe. She shifted from foot to foot. It was her nervous tic so I knew my guess had been right. “So if you were Will, where would you hide your vitamins in this room?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged.
“Chloe, please. This is important.”
She gave a long, suffering sigh. “Okay, but you have to get off my case.”
Not a chance.
She surveyed the room thoughtfully. The first place she looked was the desk drawers, feeling for a false bottom. Nothing. We helped her check under the mattress, but there was nothing there but dust.
“This is stupid,” she muttered.
But I really felt like we were onto something.
She sat on the edge of the bed and checked under the lip of the night table.
Nothing.
Jenna and Jason were starting to shoot me weird looks.
Chloe lifted the lamp and stuck her finger inside the iron stand. She pulled out a small plastic bag with little white pills.
“Damn,” Jason whistled.
Chloe and I met each other’s grim gaze.
“These don’t look anything like my vitamins,” she said quietly.
Chapter 18
•
Quinn
I hit the ground just as the stake sliced past me. I grabbed for Nicholas’s ankle and he slammed into the dirt, kicking me off before he’d even landed. The second stake landed in a willow tree. The Hel-Blar paused. Lucy didn’t move.
“Lucy!” Nicholas was back on his feet before I could grab him again. I went for the nearest Hel-Blar, cracking my fist across his face, taking care not to get too close to his mouth. His answering punch nearly dislocated my shoulder.
So the Hel-Blar from earlier tonight had been tired because Solange had been kicking their asses.
Small consolation.
I broke a kneecap and used my last stake until there was dust on my boots. Nicholas flipped into the air, somersaulting over an attacking Hel-Blar, and landed in the river, blood-tinted water arcing up around him and splashing us. A human wouldn’t have noticed it in the darkness but it had the rest of us distracted, thirsty. One of the Hel-Blar licked his lips, studded with puncture marks from his fangs.
And then the frenzy hit.
The hissing was nearly loud enough to ripple the surface of the slow-moving river. Lucy became the focus of such gut-burning hunger, I wondered why it didn’t wake her up. She still wasn’t moving. I didn’t know how badly she was hurt. And there wasn’t time to wonder about it. I ran downstream and leaped over the water, coming back around to block access to Lucy from the other side. Solange, Nicholas, and I formed a ring around her, like petals to her blood-soaked center. Then Nicholas fell to his knees, shouting her name. She stirred once, faintly.
“Incoming!” I yelled at him. He knew better than to stay there, distracted and vulnerable. He finally rose to his feet, his eyes searing hot enough to have one Hel-Blar stumbling in his tracks. The rest just laughed.
“If she’s dead, you’re dead,” he promised darkly. He smiled. “Wait, you’re dead anyway.”
I’d worry about that smile later. Right now I had two crazed siblings to deal with. And no more stakes.
“Shit, give me your pack,” I said to Nicholas. He tossed it to me over Lucy’s body. Solange looked at her and bit back a sob. Her fangs elongated farther until I thought they’d fall right out of her head. Her flying roundhouse cracked a Hel-Blar neck. The woman fell, snarling, facefirst into the water. Solange turned her over and staked her in one move. There was blood on her clothes and I wasn’t sure how much was hers, Lucy’s, or various Hel-Blars’.
This was turning into a hell of a night.
To human eyes, the fight probably looked quick, colors smearing with the speed of our movements. Inside the fight, it felt like forever. Lucy needed help and she needed it now.
Try telling that to the Hel-Blar currently trying to chew on my face.
“Ow, son of a bitch!” He’d nearly taken a fang off. I hated to admit it but I’d been fighting vampires all night and dawn wasn’t far off. It was taking its toll. I kicked, I punched, I staked. The thick Hel-Blar ashes resembled a mist on the river. Solange took a blow to the kneecap and stumbled, going down. She flipped to her feet before either Nicholas or I could reach her. The last two Hel-Blar ran, scuttling off between the trees. Nicholas scooped Lucy up into his arms, pink water dripping from her hair.
Sunrise trembled on the horizon.
Solange was still snarling, the whites of her eyes now completely red.
She didn’t look right.
“Solange,” I said, trying to catch her attention. “Solange, focus.”
She hissed. The dark sky lightened to a pale gray, glimmering like a pearl. I felt the weariness of the dawn start to tug at my bones. Nicholas’s jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscles spasms from here.
“She’s still bleeding,” he ground out.
Solange licked her lips, stumbled back a step, howled. We both flinched.
“Get Lucy help,” I told him. “She can’t spend the night in one of the safe houses and you can’t wait for me to talk Solange down.” The safe houses were actually more like underground bomb shelters hidden throughout the forest in case any of us got caught far from home at sunrise. Some linked to the tunnels connecting our farmhouse to various parts of the area; others locked up tight, impenetrable. We had no way of knowing if Lucy could wait until sunset for medical attention. Nicholas hesitated, glancing at Solange, who was growling low in her throat.
“Just go,” I said, approaching Solange as if she were a wild beast. It wasn’t far off from the truth. Her internal tethers were new, untested. Fragile. She was strong, already stronger than anyone else so newly turned. But she might not be strong enough to completely control her inner vampire. It wasn’t an exact science. I just had to stop her from giving in entirely, and sunlight would do the rest. Assuming I could get her to safety before it dropped her like a stone in a deep pond. We were nothing if not susceptible.
Nicholas loo
ked wrecked, cradling Lucy against his chest. Her arm dropped limply. She’d never done anything limp in her life. Fear for her nibbled at me. Nicholas broke into a run so sudden, the air displaced all around him. Fallen leaves whirled at my feet. Solange took a step, following the scent of blood.
“Stop me,” she pleaded, even as she pulled a dagger from her boot. She suddenly looked so much like Mom, I felt disoriented.
“I’m trying,” I whispered, holding up one hand. “Solange, you’re okay.”
She laughed but there was no humor in it. “Quinn, we both know I’m not okay.” She swallowed, as if it was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She squinted at the sky. “God, it’s burning inside me. Did this happen to you? I don’t remember you guys being like this.” Her hair was damp. It took a lot to make a vampire sweat. We didn’t exactly run hot, temperature-wise.
“You’ll be okay,” I said soothingly.
“I can still smell the blood,” she said softly, as if she was talking about chocolate cake. She inhaled, nostrils flaring. “I have to follow it.”
“Wait.” I blocked her way. “Just wait a minute.”
“No.”
She shoved me and then vaulted over my flailing limbs, taking off between the pine trees.
Damn it, I was not going to be outdone by my baby sister.
We raced through the forest, the sun burning at our heels. I didn’t even know if she was racing to Lucy’s blood, to the safety of the farm, or just away from me. I only knew I had to stop her.
There’s one sure way to stop a vampire.
Blood.
I had to make myself an easier target than a wounded human.
I reached into my pocket, leaping over a fallen moss-draped tree trunk. I still had the test tubes of blood Hunter had given me. It wasn’t much but it might be enough to stop Solange, to give her the strength to find her control again.
I stopped running, acorns and needles crunching under my feet. I popped the lid off one of the glass tubes and flicked a few drops out. Hunter’s friend’s name was on the label: Chloe.
“Solange,” I called out. “Can you smell that? I’ve got fresh blood here for you.”
“What is that?” she asked. I couldn’t see her but at least she’d stopped running.
“It’s human blood, Sol,” I said tauntingly. “It’s better than animal blood. Don’t you want a sip?” I felt like a freaking drug dealer. This night was not exactly going according to plan. I waved the tube, trying not to react to the scent myself. My fangs elongated a little and saliva filled my mouth. We avoided human blood. It was so easy to become addicted. “Just imagine how it tastes.”
She came around an oak, the leaves hanging over her head like a crown. She was as pale and slender as a shaft of moonlight. She moved slowly toward me, feral and predatory.
I waggled the tube. “Come on, Sol. I know you want it.”
The sun steadily pushed its way over the horizon. I could see it in the fatigue in Solange’s face, under the hunger. And I could feel it in my bones, turning them to water. I struggled against it. This was definitely the worst part of being a young vampire. If we got caught out here we’d be vulnerable. If the sunlight didn’t weaken us to the point of death, something else would come along and finish the job. A well-meaning hiker who’d take us to the hospital where lab tests would prove disconcerting, or else an anti-treaty Helios-Ra hunter who knew exactly how to dispatch us. Or even a human loyal to a vampire family who didn’t particularly care for the Drakes.
I had to hurry.
I circled around so that I was in the lead and then headed toward the farmhouse.
“Come and get it,” I told her grimly.
We were on Drake land when she caught up to me.
“Give it to me!” Her nails scraped into my hand. She grabbed the tube and licked the glass rim, tilting it for a greedy mouthful. There wasn’t much in there but she gulped at it like it was water and she’d been lost in the desert for a year.
Then she spat the whole mouthful out without swallowing.
“Gross. What the hell’s in there? Tastes like medicine.” She grimaced, throwing the tube at my head. I caught it and slipped it back into my pocket. There was just enough blood left to smear the inside of the tube, like stained glass. One thing was for sure—Chloe’s vitamins were definitely not vitamins.
“There’s blood at the house,” I told her. “We’re nearly there.”
I grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward the squares of lamplight. We reached the house just as the light sent spears of fire between the branches. Solange was asleep on her feet, sliding onto the porch floor like a silk scarf. The lethargy was so sudden, so deep that I was limping when I fell, dragging her through the door.
Chapter 19
•
Hunter
Sunday afternoon
The next day came entirely too soon. Will was still dead, we didn’t know if Spencer would get better, and now my head felt like I’d landed on it repeatedly during the night even though I hadn’t gotten drunk.
All in all, not exactly an improvement.
Chloe made a weird sound, like a grunt, as she pulled her pillow over her head. “I hate my life,” she added.
“I hate your schnapps,” I said, squinting at the alarm clock’s digital numbers: 2:03 P.M. It felt way earlier. “It makes you snore like a horse.”
“Karma,” Chloe maintained from the depths of her covers. “That’s what you get for stealing.”
I snorted. “You steal chocolate from me all the time.”
She poked one eye out from her pillow. “You know about that?”
“Well, duh,” I said. I shuffled from the hall to the bathroom. It felt as if I hadn’t gotten any sleep at all. There were way too many students running around, unpacking and reconnecting with friends they hadn’t seen all summer. Someone squealed.
“Can we stake her?” Jenna begged, coming out of one the stalls and wiping her mouth. She stood at the mirror looking miserable. Even her freckles looked miserable. Then she winced at her choice of words. “Sorry.” She filled the sink with cold water.
“Any word from Spencer?” I asked.
“None.” Jenna shook her head, then moaned at the movement. “But as soon as I’m sure my head won’t crack right open, let’s go see Theo.”
“Okay.” I finally caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. “Gack!”
Never mind the haggard combination of my too-pale complexion and dark smudges of fatigue; there was also a mottled bruise under my cheekbone from last night’s fight. I poked it gingerly, hissed out a breath. Jenna toweled her face, finally looked at me, and winced.
“That looks painful.”
“I guess I should learn to duck faster.” I poked at it again and sighed. “At least he didn’t give me a black eye.”
“How’s Chloe?”
“Same. Seen Jason yet?” Someone let one of the bathroom stall doors slam shut and Jenna clutched her head and whimpered. “Ow! That’s it,” she said, shuffling down the hall like an old lady—or an asylum patient. “I’m calling Jason. I hope the phone rings right in his ear. He’s so not escaping this hangover.”
Simon walked past us, eating a sandwich. I didn’t know him personally but Jenna had been crushing on him from afar for two full years. She tried to smile at him.
Instead she threw up on his shoes.
“What the hell, man?” He leaped back, crashing into the wall. “Gross.”
Jenna turned bright red and ran all the way back to her room.
I felt sure she was never going to drink again. Simon just stood in the hall. “What is wrong with the girls at this school?” he muttered.
I eventually wove my way around suitcases and went back to my room. Chloe was still a lump of disgruntled blankets.
“Are you dead?” I asked.
“Zombie,” she answered. “Don’t tell my Supernatural Creatures prof. She’ll try to decapitate me.” She pulled her blanket over her face. “On se
cond thought, decapitation sounds soothing. Hook me up.”
“Try aspirin first,” I suggested, handing her the bottle after shaking two out for myself. I downed an entire bottle of water and felt marginally more human. Still, I didn’t want to do anything but lie there and feel pathetic.
I definitely didn’t want to answer the door.
“If that’s another one of your Niners …” Chloe’s threat trailed off menacingly, as if she couldn’t think of anything bad enough to inflict on whoever dared knock on our door.
The second knock had us both snarling. I swung the door open, scowling. “What already?”
Ms. Dailey stood on the other side, eyebrow raised drily.
“Oh, um, Ms. Dailey.” I flushed. Chloe smothered a snort of laughter.
“Hunter.” Ms. Dailey smiled knowingly. “May I come in?”
I stepped aside to let her pass. “Is Spencer okay?” I couldn’t think of another reason why she’d be here in our dorm room. My heart fell into stomach.
“Spencer’s condition is unchanged,” she assured me. “And he is receiving the best care possible. His parents are on their way here to the school today.”
“Oh.” So he was sick enough that his parents had been called. We’d known that already, of course, but this just made it feel more awful. More final. “Can we see him?”
“You know that’s not possible,” she told us gently and glanced at Chloe, who finally sat up, her curly hair looking like a bird’s nest squashed on one side of her head. “He’s in quarantine.” She pursed her lips. “Which is why I won’t be commenting on your obvious hangover, Chloe. After last night, I suppose you all deserve a break.” She speared her with a stern glare that had Chloe squirming. “I won’t tell the headmistress about this, but you’re on kitchen duty until Christmas break. And if anything like this ever happens again, you’ll be expelled. Understand me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Chloe murmured. It was pretty cool of Dailey not to bust her.
“Good.” She turned to me. “Now, Hunter, there is something I’d like to discuss with you.”
I tried to make my brain work. “Yes?”
“I am starting my own student group. The Guild will recruit the best of the best to help take out the new Hel-Blar and other threats. I’d like to formally extend an invitation for you to join us. You’ve exhibited leadership, team spirit, courage, loyalty, and resourcefulness time and time again and you ought to be rewarded for it. And I’m very proud of you for resisting whatever party was going on here last night. We could use you.”