“Am I going to need a fake nose and a trench coat?”
“And Chloe’s going to ask York for after-school training help and act all clumsy and weak.”
She sighed. “I guess I should be used to that.”
“Are we ready?” I asked, sounding like a drill sergeant. “We need evidence and we need it soon.”
“Sir! Yes, sir!” Chloe shouted with a mock salute.
I made a face at her. “Let’s just go. Last class ends in an hour.”
•
I took the first shift, creeping around the pond to perch on a boulder at the edge of the woods, where I had a good view of the teachers’ residence. If York left the building for any reason, I’d be able to see him and follow him. I felt a little like a detective in the old movies Grandpa loved so much.
Thinking about Grandpa just made me feel worse.
Helios-Ra and our duty to our hunter ancestors was the glue that had held us together after my parents were killed. I barely remembered them, but I remembered Grandpa dressing up like Van Helsing one Halloween and scaring all the little kids dressed as vampires. He’d taught me how to clean a wound properly, how to look for patterns in the movements of leaves and litter that betrayed a nearby vampire moving too quickly for human eyesight. He gave me my first stake. There’d been tears in his eyes last year when he got my report card. He’d always been proud of me.
Not anymore.
And I’d always been proud of the Helios-Ra.
Not anymore.
The difference was, I intended to do something about it. I wanted to be proud of the League again. And proud of myself. I wanted to make it right.
Making it right was surprisingly boring.
I sat on that rock for two hours, until my legs cramped and I’d nearly staked a chipmunk and a raccoon and traumatized a bunny.
All the rooms in the teachers’ hall stayed dark. Even the motion lights stayed dark outside in the garden, where the animals liked to overturn the compost bin. The windows reflected the trees, the moon, the sky. Chloe was long since in bed, and Jenna wouldn’t relieve me for another two hours.
I was staring so hard at the residence that when Ms. Dailey spoke softly behind me, I fell right off the rock.
I leaped back to my feet, going red. “Ms. Dailey!”
“At ease.” She smiled gently. “Hunter, what are you doing out here?”
“I … uh … I couldn’t sleep.” I wondered why she was out here so late.
“Are you worrying about our little problem?”
I nodded. “We found out it’s even worse than we thought,” I explained in a rush. “It’s some kind of weapon against vampires that uses students as carriers. It’s sick.”
She tilted her head. “Ingenious, actually.”
I blinked at her. “Sorry?”
“I had such high hopes for you, dear girl. You’ve always been particularly talented. A little too clever, clearly, and now, sadly, misguided as well.”
“Misguided?” I echoed. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t think that scene with your grandfather wouldn’t be all over school, did you? As well as your unfortunate and disgusting affiliation with that vampire.”
I took a step back. Her expression was still pleasant but she didn’t sound like the Ms. Dailey I knew at all. The instinct to run vibrated through me.
Before I could take a single step, she pulled a syringe from behind her back.
She stabbed me right in the arm with it.
I swore and jerked back but the needle was stuck in my muscle, pumping its clear liquid into my veins. I scratched at her face, managing to get her blood under my nails before the dizziness assaulted me. I stumbled.
“What did you do to me?” I panicked. My tongue felt swollen; my feet felt as if they were on backward. I stumbled again and fell to my knees. She watched me dispassionately.
“I’m rather grateful you chose to hide yourself away here, where no one will hear you. Very considerate of you.”
My fingers shook as I yanked the needle out of my arm. It tumbled into the grass. “What is this stuff?”
“I think you know, a smart girl like you. It’s a rather potent overdose of TH. I’m afraid you left me no other choice.”
“What? No!” I clawed at my skin. My veins felt as if they were getting warmer, as if all of me was burning up. My breaths became shallow and short. “It was York. York.”
She laughed lightly. “He’s far too pedantic for this sort of genius.”
“But he picks on all the weak students.” I was beginning to slur. I felt like I was hit by the worst case of the worst flu ever.
“Caught that, did you? Yes, his temper made my work much easier. I knew exactly who the worst students were, as they made him the angriest. He was so scared for them, you see. He wanted them to get stronger and be able to protect themselves.” She circled me, waving her hand to dismiss him. “This is much better. If they are going to die by a vampire’s hand, they may as well become weapons in themselves. A sacrifice for the League. And so eager to comply when they think it’s a secret pill to make them stronger. It takes a while for them to weaken, and by then—think of the vampires they might infect. Especially if they’re like you, Hunter.”
“I don’t see … you … sacrificing yourself,” I spat. I tried to turn over but I was too heavy. The effort had me gasping.
“There’s no use struggling. I gave you quite a high dose. You might survive it. I hope you do, at least for a little while. Then you can take out that Drake brat as well.”
She wanted Quinn to drink from me and die.
“Go to hell,” I croaked.
Dailey pursed her lips. “To think I picked you for the next Guild leader. I had such hopes after the Hel-Blar attack, and after you staked Will.”
“You’re crazy.” I had to call Theo. I fumbled for my cell phone but my hands weren’t working properly. I couldn’t scream either. I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.
“I’m just doing what must be done. With all these treaties and the Hel-Blar infestation, we’re losing our focus.” She was lecturing me as if we were in class. “I had to test you all, to see who was worthy to be a member of my Guild. I set blood traps for the Hel-Blar and they came like rats to cheese.”
“You got the Hel-Blar to attack the school?” She’d had me totally fooled. York hadn’t been the culprit. He was actually the good guy—even though he was a jerk. Dailey was the psycho. I’d had to stake Will because of her. Spencer was sick because of her, at least indirectly. I was drugged and poisoned and crumpled on the ground because of her.
I really, really hated her.
I would have spat at her if I hadn’t been so thirsty and dehydrated, burning up with fever.
And I was apparently hallucinating too.
“Get the hell away from her,” Quinn snarled, leaping to stand in front of me in a blur of pale skin, long dark hair, and sharp fangs. Dailey took a step back, startled.
“You’re too late,” she said. “I’ve already dosed her. It’s in her blood.”
“What’s in her blood?”
I squirmed, as if fire ants crawled under my skin. “Quinn,” I panted. “Call Theo and get out of here. She’s nuts.”
Instead, he punched her. Her nose cracked and she howled. Quinn patted through my pockets.
“What are you doing?”
“I know you must have rope somewhere … got it.” He turned away for a brief instant, leaving trails of light and color like a smeared oil painting. He tied Dailey up and was kneeling at my side before I took another labored breath. His fangs extended farther, gleaming.
“You can’t bite a teacher,” I whispered through dry lips.
“I’m not going to,” he assured me. “I’m biting you.”
Chapter 29
•
Hunter
He didn’t understand.
If he drank my blood, it would kill him.
I struggled fruitless
ly as his mouth descended on my arm, closing around the puncture hole the needle had made.
“No,” I moaned. “No.”
His fangs bit deep and I cried out. The blood burning my veins rushed toward the sucking of his mouth. I tried to pull away but he anchored me down, holding me still. The grass was cool and prickly under me.
“Don’t,” I begged, tears stinging my eyes. “It’ll kill you.”
He lifted his head, eyes blazing.
“It’s killing you,” he said harshly, spitting out a mouthful of my blood. A welt formed at the side of his lip. It looked painful. He went back to the wound, drawing my poisoned blood out of my veins and into his mouth. He spat more into the grass. He kept sucking the poison out and spitting as fast as he could, the way you would a snakebite. The ceiling of stars and cedar branches overhead whirled.
I was fading.
If I closed my eyes the pain would stop, Quinn would stop. He’d be safe.
My eyelids were heavy and I let them close.
Epilogue
•
Hunter
Friday night
When I woke up I was in the infirmary.
The lights were too bright, washing everything out as I blinked furiously, eyes stinging. I was exhausted. I tried to move, moaning when it proved to be too much work. My arm was bruised and burning.
“She’s awake!” Quinn was at my side first, holding my hand. He was paler than usual, nearly gray. The blue of his eyes was paler, the shadows underneath darker. “You scared the hell out of me.” He kissed my forehead.
“You’re alive.”
“So to speak.”
“Am I … am I a vampire?”
“No, you’re just a stubborn know-it-all who thinks she can do everything by herself,” he answered tenderly. “You didn’t drink my blood, remember?”
“Don’t hog her,” Chloe said, brushing him aside with a grin. He leaned over enough to let her in but didn’t let go of my hand. Jenna and Jason and Kieran stood on my other side.
“What happened?” I asked. My throat felt singed. I reached for some water and Quinn grabbed the cup so quickly he spilled half of it down his arm and into my hair. I drank the rest gratefully, greedily.
“You’ve been out for two days. You had to have blood transfusions,” he explained.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I was sick as a dog there for a while, but I’m fine.”
“Dailey?” I asked.
“Under house arrest until you’re well enough to testify against her,” Kieran answered. “Don’t worry about it now.”
“She tried to kill me,” I said, affronted. “And Quinn. And she poisoned Will and the others.”
“Hart’s handling it personally,” Kieran assured me.
“Bellwood’s furious,” Chloe added cheerfully. “It’s like the stick up her butt caught fire!”
“Dailey’s not going anywhere,” Kieran added.
“Damn right she’s not,” I muttered. I patted myself down, searching for my left cargo pocket but finding only a paper hospital gown. I craned my neck. “Where are my pants?”
“Your stuff’s here.” Chloe plucked up my pile of clothes from a shelf behind me. She dropped the pants on my lap. I smiled even though it cracked my dry lips. I pulled a microphone out of the pocket.
“I recorded everything she said,” I told them smugly. The effort made me cough. “It was meant for York. I guess I owe him an apology.”
“He doesn’t have to know we ever suspected him,” Chloe protested. “He’s been a jerk to you. And he yelled at me in class just this morning.” She frowned. “He freaked Mom out in my report card last year. He said the usual stuff about me not living up to my potential, but since she’d just heard about the TH, she kind of panicked. She hadn’t figured out who was in charge of it, so she snuck me those steroids, just in case. To make sure I was off the TH radar. She was trying to protect me in her own weird way. Mothers.”
“Anyway, don’t worry about that stuff.” Jason patted my hand. “Just get better.”
“She’ll get better as soon as you all get to class,” Theo interrupted, elbowing them aside.
“Wait,” Jenna said, eyes glowing. “One more thing.”
She and Jason shifted over. Spencer grinned weakly at me from the next bed. His dreads spread out over his pillow.
“Spence!” I squealed. “I would so hug you right now if my head didn’t weigh seven hundred pounds.”
“Ditto.”
“You’re better! You’re out of quarantine!”
“Also, a vampire.”
I tried to sit up. The room wobbled. I lay back down with a thump. “What?”
“Turns out your Quinn here accidentally discovered the antidote to TH in humans,” Theo said. “Vampire blood.”
“Okay, I haven’t been in chem or bio class in a while but … huh?”
“Spencer got a transfusion too,” Theo explained. “For one thing, Will transmitted some of the TH poison to Spencer, and we had to get that right out of him. That’s what was stumping us—before Quinn’s help. If he hadn’t sucked it out of your veins, we might not have done enough transfusions with Spencer. Even so, the medications didn’t cure his Hel-Blar infection. We had to give him even more blood so he wouldn’t go feral. The doctor might get an award for that, actually. If she doesn’t get kicked out of the League for technically creating a vampire, that is.”
“I guess that means I graduate early,” Spencer said.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Theo cleared his throat menacingly. Chloe, Jenna, and Jason left but Quinn and Kieran stayed behind. Theo took my pulse and had me follow his flashlight with my eyes.
“Looking much better. How are you feeling?”
“Like a truck hit me and a bear ate my arm.” My stomach growled. “And I think I’m starving.”
“That’s what I like to hear. I’ll get some food sent over.” He eyed Quinn and Kieran malevolently. “Five more minutes and you both get lost. Don’t make me tell you again.” He smiled at me. “Doctor will be in to check on you soon.”
“They’re talking about giving you a medal.” Kieran grinned.
I winced. “No, thanks.”
“You’ll at least be the valedictorian.”
I saw some daisies in a basket on the side table. “Who are those from?”
“Your grandpa,” Kieran replied. “He’s a stubborn know-it-all too.”
“Is he here?”
He shook his head. “He won’t come, Hunter.”
I swallowed, trying not to let my lips wobble. “He’s still mad.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Quinn offered.
“No!” Kieran and I burst out together.
“He’ll just try and stake you,” I explained apologetically. “You can’t rush him.”
Theo glowered from the doorway. “Out!”
Quinn kissed me lightly. “I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
Spencer and I were left alone with the ticking and beeping of the machines and the tubes pushing liquid nutrients and medications into our bodies. There was enough blood being fed into Spencer via those tubes that I wasn’t in danger, not the way I would have been if I’d been lying around with any other newly turned vampire. He touched his fangs and then jerked his hand away.
“Vampires are in now,” I said quietly. “Don’t you read? All the girls will be hot for you.”
He tried to smile. “And I don’t have to study for any exams this year like the rest of you. I guess I’m officially a dropout now.”
“Oh, Spencer. It’ll be okay. Things are changing.”
“Yeah, I leave you alone for a week and you start making out with vampires.”
“I told you,” I teased, making my voice bubbly and high. “They’re like totally trendy!”
“Dude.”
“But you can’t hide away and brood and go all melancholy. That’s so yesterday. Plus, I’ll kick your ass.”
After a long moment he spoke again. “I’m going to miss the sun.”
“I know.” I turned my head. “We’d miss you more if you were dead.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Thanks.”
“Besides, just think, now you can go hang out with the Hounds and ask them all sorts of magic questions.”
He brightened instantly. “True.”
I shot him a watery grin when Theo wheeled my supper tray in. “And I don’t have to share my chocolate pudding with you ever again.”
•
Spencer was discharged the next night.
I didn’t know where he’d gone, but Quinn promised to help him with the transition to his new undead life. I wasn’t allowed to leave the infirmary for a full week, and even then it was only after promising that I’d take it easy and wouldn’t even look at the gym for at least two more weeks—and then only with a doctor’s permission. The doctor whom Grandpa would still talk to since he refused to talk to me. I’d called him twice and each time the conversation was the same.
“Are you still seeing him?
“Yes.”
And then he’d hang up on me.
But I wouldn’t let that ruin everything else. I was alive. Quinn was alive. Spencer was … a vampire but at least he wasn’t completely dead. Savannah and the twins were recovering, though slowly. Dailey was being held by the League disciplinary committee pending a full investigation. And Hart had called me personally to invite me to form a Black Lodge of carefully selected students, apparently the first at the school in at least three decades. It was a subgroup within the League that no one knew about except its members and the head of the Helios-Ra. None of the teachers even knew, except for the headmistress. We’d be like a secret roving band of spy-warriors. I couldn’t wait.
“Now, that’s a dangerous smile,” Quinn murmured, his voice tickling my ear. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back against his chest. I leaned into him, my smile turning even more wicked.
“What are we doing out here?” I asked. I’d gotten a text to meet him out by the pond.
“Same thing I’m always doing: trying to get a proper date out of you.”