“Okay,” he grudgingly agreed. “I’ll see you later.”
Classes went the way they always did on the first day. It was mostly roll call and a brief description of what we’d be expected to learn over the year. Ms. Dailey sent us away early; York made us run laps. I slept a little, mostly because I’d promised Jason, and then we had dinner and went to our respective rooms to start on assigned reading. Chloe wasn’t around but there were clothes on her bed. I couldn’t concentrate, so I went outside to sit on one of the stone walls around the decorative gardens by the front of the main buildings to watch the sun set.
The sky went sapphire, then indigo, and flared orange along the tree line. The stars came out one by one, clustered overhead in patterns I could never remember. I’d made up my own when I was ten: Dracula, a stake, a heart, a crossbow, a sun. I found them now as the crickets began their evening choir in the long grass at the edge of the woods. The harvest moon rose like a fat pumpkin growing in the fertile field of the sky.
Lights went on in the gym and the dormitory. I could hear the muffled sound of music from behind thick windows, the wind in the oak tree behind me, and the spit of gravel as a van roared up the path, lights out, hidden in the long weeds at the edge of the woods.
“Hunter,” Kieran called grimly. “We found something.”
Chapter 23
•
Hunter
Monday evening
I crossed over to the driver’s side, trampling wild chicory flowers under my boots. Kieran’s face was solemn and tense, fingers tight around the steering wheel.
“What’s going on?” I frowned up at him.
“We’ve got trouble,” he answered, tone clipped. “And we can’t talk about it here.”
“Is it about the vit—”
“Not here,” he cut me off, eyes widening in warning. He was right. There were cameras and microphones all over the place. We were probably being overly cautious since we were in the middle of a field, but something about his expression had me double-checking my pockets for stakes. “Get Chloe.”
My stomach dropped. Clearly this was bad news. “Chloe and I aren’t exactly talking right now.”
I could read the desperation in Kieran’s face. “Do whatever you have to do,” he said tightly. “Knock her over the head and hog-tie her if you have to.”
Gee, I can’t imagine why one of my oldest friends wasn’t talking to me.
“Does campus security know you’re here?”
He nodded. “I told them it was covert ops and to ignore anything I do.”
My eyebrows rose. “Seriously? Hart’s in on this?” He was the only one with the kind of power to order that kind of covert op.
“No.”
I paused, turned back. “No?”
“So we have to get out of here before I get busted.”
“Shit, Kieran.”
“I know. So hurry up.”
I was so going to get expelled on the first day of classes. And then Grandpa would kill me.
I fished my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Chloe’s number. She answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Chloe, I have to talk to you.”
“I’m busy.”
“It’s important.” There was a long pause. I could hear her breathing, labored and short. She must be working out again. I started walking toward the gym, pointing at it so Kieran would know where to meet us. “Chloe?” I tried to think about what would get her outside with minimal yelling and fighting. I didn’t think we could afford to attract that kind of attention, covert ops pass or not. “Look, Dailey wanted me to talk to you about her guild. We can’t be overheard.”
“Really?” She sounded startled and then pleased. I might have felt guilty if my jaw wasn’t still bruised from her sloppy punch. “I’m at the gym. I’ll be right down.”
“Meet you there. Side door.” I clicked off and cut across the lawn to the entrance tucked behind a wall and a copse of birch trees. It was dark and deserted enough that we might not get caught. She must have run down the stairs. She was still in her shorts and T-shirt, her hair in a ponytail. Her face was damp with sweat. She pushed the door open and looked at me warily.
“So?” she asked. “Does she want me to join the guild or what?” Kieran edged the van around the corner, blocking us from any passersby. She frowned. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted. “But Kieran has big news. He wants us to go with him.”
“Where? And why me—” She cut herself off with a huff of impatience. “Is this about the vitamins? God, Hunter, you’re, like, totally obsessed.”
“Just get in,” Kieran muttered, leaning out slightly. “We don’t have all night.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you psychos,” she said, sneering.
I glanced at Kieran. “How serious is this?”
“Very serious,” he assured me, hitting the button so the van door slid open. “ ‘Spider-Man’ serious.” “Spider-Man” had been our code word since we were eight, used only in times of great danger. Chloe was turning away, disgusted. I didn’t have a lot of options. I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed her shoulder and swung her back around toward us.
And then I punched her.
She staggered back, screeching. Not exactly covert ops. “Shit,” she clutched her face. “Shit, are you nuts?”
I hadn’t punched her hard enough to actually knock her out. She did look a little dazed though, so I took advantage of her momentary disorientation and shoved her into the van. She cursed as I slammed the door shut and Kieran locked it. I ran around the other side and got into the passenger side.
“I hope to hell you know what you’re doing,” I told him darkly, rubbing my sore knuckles.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chloe snapped from the backseat. “Did I hurt your knuckles with my face?”
“No more than I hurt yours with mine,” I shot back.
“Is that what this is? Revenge?”
“Chloe, don’t be stupid,” I said as Kieran shot the van into drive. We rumbled down the lane and out onto the road.
“Let me out!” Chloe was yanking at the handle and screaming at the top of her lungs. If she got any louder my ears would bleed. She kept yelling, a wordless high-pitched sound meant to make our eyeballs explode.
When we were far enough away from the school, Kieran slammed on the brakes. Chloe hurtled forward, nearly breaking her nose on the back of his seat. She swallowed another shriek.
“Put your seatbelt on,” he demanded sharply, using the tone of an agent used to being obeyed. It was actually something he’d learned from his father. It wasn’t common knowledge, but Kieran was only a graduate and not actually a full-fledged agent. He needed to do two years at the college for that, but he’d decided to take the year off to find his father’s murderer. The profs had thought he was wasting his talents, that grief was warping him. But he’d been right. His father had been murdered—and by one of our own, no less. Hope was out of the picture now, but the damage was done. Still, Kieran had grown up a lot in the last few months. He wasn’t the same guy who’d poured corn syrup dyed with red food coloring all over the cafeteria floor to freak the new students out. People still talked about that prank. Especially since a notorious bully fainted at the sight of it.
Chloe snapped her seatbelt into place, sulking. “Where are we going?”
“To the Drakes’.”
We both stared at him, then at each other.
“Are you serious?” I asked. “We’re going to Quinn’s?”
“I get to see the famous Drake compound?” Chloe looked impressed despite herself. “I think you’re both messed up, but it’s totally worth it if I get to see that house.” She kicked the back of his seat. Hard. “But I’m still telling Bellwood.”
“Fine,” he replied, unconcerned. “But first you’ll shut up and listen to what we have to say to you.”
I half turned in my seat to face him. “What do we have to
say to her?” I still didn’t know why exactly we’d just kidnapped Chloe.
“Marcus analyzed the vitamin you gave Quinn,” he shot me a dry glance. “The vitamin you should have given me, I might add.”
“He was right there, it was easier.”
“Yeah, about that.”
Chloe leaned forward. “Hello? Kidnap victim here. Focus.” She scowled at me. “And you totally stole from me.”
“Yup.” I wasn’t the least bit sorry about it anymore either.
“It’s not a vitamin, Chloe,” Kieran told her seriously.
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. My mom gave them to me, Einstein. I think she’d know.”
“Chloe, your mom’s a biochemist,” I said quietly.
“And a doctor, so shut up.”
“She helped create Hypnos.”
“So?”
“So,” Kieran interjected, “it’s not a vitamin, not completely. It’s an anabolic steroid.”
“I knew it,” I muttered.
Chloe gaped at both of us. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Here’s proof.” Kieran tossed her a folder with printed biological breakdown of her pills. “I need you to read that. When we get to the Drakes’, you can go online on a safe computer shielded from the League and do your own research.”
“Like the League can crack my computer security.”
“All the same.”
She ignored him and started flipping violently through the pages. I could tell the exact moment she really began to read and process the information. She went pale. When she looked up again, fear and anger and denial battled over her features. “Well, so what?” she snapped, as if either Kieran or I had spoken. “So she gave me steroids. They’ve made me stronger and faster. How is that a bad thing?”
I plucked the paper out of her hands and skimmed it until I had answer for her. “Have you grown a mustache yet?”
She blinked at me horrified. “What?”
“It says here that’s one of the side effects. So’s going bald.”
She patted her hair a little frantically. It was one of her vanities. “I’m fine.”
“You’ll get acne too,” I continued ruthlessly. I wanted my friend back. “And aggression and mood swings.” I angled my head so she’d see the bruise on my jaw. “I think we can safely say you have both of those.”
She winced. “I …”
“High blood pressure, liver damage, heart attacks, sterility, stunting your growth … do you want me to read on?”
She shook her head mutely. “But they were helping me,” she finally said in a small voice. “I feel stronger.”
“Chloe, they’re bad for you.”
“But …”
“Mustache,” I repeated.
She swallowed. “Nothing’s worth that.”
She sat back and stared blankly out of the window. I didn’t know what else to say, so I put the folder away. The trees and fields were dark, broken occasionally by the glint of moonlight or a cluster of stars through the leaves. The mountains loomed in the distance. Kieran drove for over half an hour before he turned into what looked like a field. There were tire marks in the grass but nothing else to mark it as anything but another field. Guards were discreet shadows. I caught the faint glimmer of light on a walkie-talkie. Kieran drove for another ten minutes before the tracks turned into a real lane leading to an old farmhouse.
It was impressive in its size. The logs looked like entire trees; the porch was wide and wrapped all the way around one side. The house itself was comfortably worn, like an antique. There were cedar hedges and oak trees and lamplight at the windows. Chloe let out an excited breath, briefly distracted from her own predicament.
“Wow,” she said.
I slid out of the van and just stared for a moment. This was where countless vampires had been made, where blood was sipped like wine, where humans walked a dangerous path, where hunters had no doubt died.
This was where Quinn had grown up.
I thought I saw a shadow move in one of the upstairs dormer windows but I couldn’t be sure. Even though I knew I was technically safe here, that there were treaties and friendships protecting me, I was still glad to have pockets full of stakes and Hypnos powder secured under my sleeve.
The front door swung open. I recognized Solange as she came down the porch steps, pale as a birch sapling, graceful as a white bird. The last time I’d seen her she’d been dressed for the Drake coronation. Now she wore old jeans and sunglasses. She smiled softly at Kieran.
He smiled back, taking her hand. “Thanks for letting us do this here.”
“Mom and Dad are at the caves, so we should have most of the night.” She turned to us. “Hunter, hi. And you’re Chloe?”
Chloe nodded meekly. I’d never seen her so demure.
“What’s the matter with you?” I hissed at her as we followed Kieran and Solange inside.
“She’s royalty!”
“And a vampire, remember?”
“Oh yeah.” Chloe paused. “Nope, princess trumps vampire.”
“Does not.”
“So does.”
This was the real Chloe. The glimpse was enough to make me feel hopeful and confident. Even the foyer had her ogling again. I’d never been inside a vampire’s house before either. The marble floors and crystal chandeliers were impressive, but I preferred the fire snapping in the hearth in the living room off to the right, and the worn sofas.
Somewhere, Grandpa was having a seizure.
I wouldn’t have expected it to be so comfortable and, well, normal. I knew better than to rely on stereotypes, but thought I’d see at least one red satin dressing gown and maybe a coffin or two.
All I saw were shaggy gray bears barreling at us from all directions.
“Jesus.” I stumbled back, fumbling for a stake. Kieran stopped my hand.
“Dogs,” he murmured.
My heart leaped uncomfortably. I let out a nervous giggle. “I really thought those were bears.”
“Bouviers,” Solange explained, snapping her fingers once. “Friends,” she said, and the enormous dogs sat obediently, tongues lolling. A wolfhound puppy with legs like stilts slid across the hardwood floor leading from the kitchen, nearly kneecapping me. I grinned and crouched down to pat his head.
Lucy laughed, following him at a more sedate pace, a bandage under her hair. There was a peach in her hand. “Hey, Hunter.”
“Hey.” It was still startling to see a human girl so very comfortable in a vampire’s house. She dropped down into a chair, throwing her legs over the arm and swinging her feet. Nicholas Drake sat across from her, watching her bite into the peach. It seemed intimate somehow, private. I looked away, wondering why I felt like blushing.
“I need to call my mom,” Chloe said.
“Kitchen’s free,” Solange offered.
“Thanks.” She paused in the doorway, cell phone in her hand. “Hunter, come with me?”
I followed, joining her at a harvest table with ladderback chairs. The kitchen was spotless. I couldn’t help but look for a jug of blood. Chloe’s foot tapped nervously as she waited for her mom to pick up.
“Mom?” she said. “I know you’re in the lab, this will only take a minute.” She paused. “Those vitamins you gave me are making me feel funny.” She met my gaze bitterly. “Yes, I’m sure. Yes, I’m taking the right dose. I don’t want to.” She listened for a long moment. She was going to tap her foot right off her leg at this rate. “But … I know … but … Mom? Mom? Hello? Damn it!”
She turned off her phone and put it back into her pocket. “She’s hiding something,” she said with grim certainty. Her chair scraped the floor when she stood up. “Kieran,” she called out. He came to the door, Solange at his side.
“Is there a computer I can use?”
He looked at Solange and she nodded. “Connor’s got a few in his room,” she answered. “I’ll show you.”
She led us up a wide staircase. “W
hat are you going to do?” I asked Chloe.
“I’m going to break into my mom’s files and find out exactly what’s going on.”
“Good,” I said earnestly. “About time.”
Solange took us up to the third floor, which had a sitting room and rows and rows of doors. With seven brothers all living up here, it kind of looked like a floor on our dorm. Solange knocked on a door and pushed inside. Quinn looked up from his computer.
“Quinn, where have you—” I stopped, confused. “You’re not Quinn.” He had the same features, but his hair was short and he didn’t have that lazy smirk.
“His room’s next door.” Connor smiled. “And he’d tell you he’s prettier, but I’m smarter.”
I shook my head. “Twins,” I finally clued in. “Sorry, I’d forgotten.”
Chloe let out a reverent sigh. “Nice system,” she said. She took inventory and spat out a bunch of technological jargon that had no resemblance to English as far as I could tell. “Sweet.” She finally came back to words I understood. She cracked her knuckles. “Which one can I use?”
As she made herself comfortable in front of a computer on a desk made of a wooden door on blocks, I looked around.
“Where’s Quinn?” I asked when I couldn’t pretend not to care for a second longer. I did not like the look Kieran and Connor exchanged. “What?”
They both winced but wouldn’t answer me. Dread was a ball in my belly.
Solange was the one to answer. I tried not to react to the tips of her fangs poking out under her top lip. “Quinn’s hiding.”
I blinked. “He’s hiding? From what?”
“From you.”
My mouth dropped open. Then my eyes narrowed, remembering the way he’d begged me to run away last night, the way he’d licked a drop of blood off my hand, the way he’d ignored my text message.
“Well, that’s just stupid.”
Chapter 24
•
Quinn
I knew Hunter was in the house even before she started pounding on my bedroom door. I could smell her, taste her.