Relieved, I followed him to the sidewalk. The streetlights glowed with amber light. A car passed us. I squinted, trying to see what it was Quinn had smelled, besides rotting mushrooms. I had to jog to keep up with him. Several houses down, near the corner, I finally saw what he saw.
A body sprawled at the edge of someone’s garden, half-tucked behind a parked car.
My jog turned into a sprint. Quinn got there first, then recoiled. A woman lay half-conscious, blood pouring from her throat. There were raw scrapes and bruises on her wrists. I pulled a bandanna out of my pocket and pressed it against her wound. She swallowed, eyelids fluttering weakly.
“Vamp . . . ire . . . ,” she moaned.
“A vampire didn’t do that,” Quinn disagreed immediately. “There are way too many scents on her. ”
“She was left on the street of a well-known vampire hunter,” I pointed out, thinking of what my grandfather would have done if he’d found her. “That’s not a coincidence.” I tucked us deeper into the shadows of the hedge. The last thing we needed was for someone to look out their window and call the cops. Or turn vigilante. Thank God, we were out of the range of Mrs. Gormley’s binoculars.
“You wait for your unit,” he said darkly as I reached for my cell phone. “And I’ll go deal with the Hel-Blar before they join the party.”
When I glanced up, he was already gone.
“Help is coming. ” I pressed as hard as I could on her neck. “Try to stay with me. Can you tell me what happened?” Her hands twitched. “Did you say a vampire did this to you?”
She moved her head, as if trying to shake it. “Vampires. Humans too,” she wheezed, pale as the snow around her. She shivered as shock set in. “Caves.” She shivered more violently. I tried to staunch the blood seeping faster through the bandanna. “Sun tattoo.”
Sun tattoo.
Helios-Ra agents had sun tattoos.
I felt hot and cold all over, that icy feeling of dread tingling under my skin again.
“Was it Dawn?” I asked. “Someone named Dawn?”
The woman didn’t answer me. She’d already passed out. I didn’t have time to try to revive her and press her for more details before a dark minivan with a Baby on Board sticker pulled up to the curb. That sticker worked better as subterfuge than anything else the League had previously implemented. No one looked twice as they drove by. The agents left the front door open to block us.
“Status,” the man asked, his bald head gleaming under the streetlights.
“Neck wound,” I said, getting out of the way. “Not Hel-Blar.” I couldn’t smell anything on her and more importantly, neither had Quinn.
I didn’t mention the sun tattoo.
I didn’t know who else to trust anymore.
The other agent pulled on hospital gloves before looking at the messy wound under the blood-soaked bandanna. “We need to hurry,” she said. They lifted her into the van and made a U-turn without another word.
I watched them drive away and didn’t move until Quinn’s wild laugh echoed from the woods, startling me out of my thoughts. I darted between the houses, back to the woods, and followed the sounds of fighting. I broke out of a thick clump of trees to the edge of the river, calculating escape routes and trajectory angles. Someone had to. Quinn had clearly never heard of procedure. He was fighting like he always did; all instinct and mayhem.
There were two Hel-Blar closing in, with a third on the crest of a hill behind him, the steady hum of the narrow waterfall masking his movements. He was the easiest to take out from my current position. A single arrow turned him into ashes. I only had two left, having wasted one shooting at Quinn. I also had half a dozen stakes, several daggers, and Hypnos secured in my cuff.
Quinn had led them into the river, the frigid water splashing around his knees. I knew why he did it: to cover the scents of battle so we wouldn’t attract any more undead visitors. I braced my back against a tree where I couldn’t be surprised from behind and lifted my crossbow, another arrow at the ready.
Quinn kicked a Hel-Blar so hard in the stomach she flew backward into the waterfall. The other clawed at him, saliva dripping from his sharpened fangs. The female scrambled back to her feet and I took aim but it was impossible to get a clear shot. Quinn and the other Hel-Blar were fighting too quickly and unpredictably. I’d have to get in closer.
“Don’t you dare!” Quinn shouted when I pushed away from the tree.
I ignored him, of course. It was the only way to deal with outright crazy Drake martyrdom. Lucy taught me that. I crept closer, keeping my footing steady in the icy snow. “Quit hogging the monsters,” I shouted back. “I’m ready!”
He pivoted sharply, swearing, and elbowed the Hel-Blar nearest to me in the jugular, then the forehead, and lastly, the sternum. He did it in such quick succession there was no defense. The Hel-Blar sailed backward, landing with an icy splash at my feet. I staked him quickly, not wanting to waste an arrow. I used my heel to drive the stake through his rib cage and into his heart. He crumbled to ashes, drifting away on the sluggish current. Quinn dispatched the last vampire with an antique stake I was sure he’d stolen off a Helios-Ra agent somewhere along the way.
Silence returned to the snow-dusted forest. Quinn rinsed his hands in the river, running his wet fingers through his hair. “Well, that was fun,” he said, flipping his now-damp hair off his face. Adrenaline made his smile even more dangerous than usual. I actually felt seared by it, even several feet away. He caught my eye.
“Wanna make out again?”
Chapter 30
Lucy
Sunday night
When I’d told Solange I was going to kick Helios-Ra ass, scrubbing toilets wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
Hunter didn’t look any more thrilled than I did, kneeling on the cold tiles with sponges and spray cleaner. Only Chloe looked cheerful, but that was mostly because she was perched on the counter, tapping away on her laptop.
“Hey, this is your detention too,” Hunter grumbled. She was wearing bright yellow rubber gloves and a disgruntled expression.
“I’m working.” Chloe snapped her bubble gum. “I’m cracking codes so you can crack heads.”
“This detention is archaic,” I muttered from the back shower stall where I was scrubbing mildew out of the grout. It was just past midnight and we had half an hour to finish this last bathroom before curfew and lights out. We’d finally reached the top floor, after an hour of inhaling bleach fumes. “Not to mention disgusting.”
“Hunters tend to hit each other a lot without creative and powerful deterrents,” Hunter said, pushing her hair off her face with her elbows.
“All we did was sneak out.”
“Yeah, but she was pissed. This is her favorite weapon. And Bellwood says it’s as much about teaching us not to kill each other as it is about teaching us how to kill vampires.”
“I don’t know,” I said, moving to the next stall. “This kinda puts me in a murdering mood. Speaking of which,” I added when the door swung open and Jody came in for the third time that night. There were several pounds of dirt and melting snow on her boots. She smirked.
“You can’t possibly have to pee again,” Chloe said. “And this isn’t even your floor.”
“So?” She shrugged. “Anyway, I’m looking for an earring I dropped.”
“You are not,” I grumbled.
She opened all the stall doors, making sure to knock as much muddy water off her treads as she went into each one, pretending to look. “I guess it’s not here,” she said, just before knocking over the bucket. “Oops,” she said with a cold, insincere smile as dirty water seeped over the floor.
“All right, that’s it,” Hunter snapped, jumping up so she wouldn’t get soaked. “I’ve had it. Jody, I’m the floor monitor for this section and you’re not allowed up here anymore.” She narrowed her eyes while I grinned behind her. Chloe caught my eye and also grinned. It was so rare that Hunter lost her temper. I kind of wished we had popcorn
for the show. “You’re being childish and a bully, two things I know Bellwood disapproves of.” “And you’re a traitor, Wild.”
“I’m getting tired of that accusation,” she said mildly. “Especially from a cheater.”
Jody scowled. “What are you talking about?”
“I know you cheated on your kickboxing demonstration last week.”
Jody paled, before blustering. “You can’t prove it.”
“I don’t have to,” Hunter said. “I just have to suggest you show the class that move again so we can learn from you. Only this time you won’t get a chance to bully your opponent beforehand, because I’ll volunteer. And I promise I won’t fold at the exact right moment.”
Jody muttered something under her breath but since she did it while fleeing, none of us cared.
“You totally blackmailed her.” I beamed at Hunter.
“She’s getting on my nerves. She needs to learn how to save her bullying for Hel-Blar instead of everyone around here.” She jammed the wooden doorstop under the door to keep it closed.
“That was just beautiful,” I insisted, reaching for the mop. “I’ll wash the floor, since she was only doing it to get to me anyway.”
Hunter leaned against the counter. “We shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves,” she said as I pushed the mop through the gritty puddle.
“Never mind, we can—” Chloe stopped swinging her feet, her expression turning as serious as Hunter doing drills. “Got something.”
We both froze, then hurried over to huddle next to her, trying to read her computer screen. “What did you figure out?” Hunter asked.
“That I am as awesome as we always suspected,” she replied, cracking her knuckles. “I’ve finally cracked the encryption code. I should be able to download and read all those e-mails now.” She scrolled, reading quickly. “Bellwood had a few sent to her,” Chloe whistled. “Her reply was . . . scary. I didn’t even know she knew how to swear.” She read for a few more minutes, frowning when it didn’t load quickly enough for her. “I think we’re going to need the Black Lodge,” she said quietly.
“Why?” Hunter asked.
“Because I think I just found a list of targets.”
“Targets?” I repeated. “What, like for assassination?” Chloe nodded. “Let me guess, Drakes?”
“Worse.”
Hunter and I blinked at her. “Worse?”
“They’re at least used to it . . . This list is for human targets.”
Hunter looked vaguely nauseated. “A hit list?”
“Dawn placed bounties on a lot of important people,” Chloe said. “Hart. Kieran.”
Hunter instantly reached for her phone and started to text.
Chloe bit her lower lip. “Oh.”
“What?” Hunter and I cried at the same time.
“Your grandfather,” Chloe explained, wincing.
“He’s on a hit list?” Hunter gaped. “I have to warn him—”
“No,” Chloe interrupted softly. “Hunter, you don’t understand. He’s the one who sent the e-mail.”
Hunter stared at her. “That’s not possible.”
“It’s his IP address,” Chloe said miserably.
“Check again.”
“I already—”
“Check again.”
Chloe checked three more times. “I’m sorry, Hunter.”
“You can’t possibly think he’s Dawn,” she said, starkly. “That doesn’t even make sense. And he would never hurt Kieran.”
“He didn’t write the e-mail,” Chloe agreed. “He just passed it on. There’s one IP that pops up way more frequently but it’s bouncing off a bunch of other places. That has to be Dawn. It’ll take me a while to pin her down, even with Connor’s help.” She clenched her jaw. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”
The lights blinked off suddenly and then flicked back on with such intensity it was like a physical slap. Spots exploded behind my lids every time I blinked, as if I’d been staring into the flash of a camera. The lights went out again. Each of our cell phones rang and steel bars clamped down over the window. “Now what?” I asked as a red emergency light blinked over the door.
Hunter and Chloe exchanged a grim glance. “Lockdown,” Hunter said.
“What the hell is lockdown?” I asked.
“Usually we get speed drills, to test our response times for escape. Red light means this is something else,” Hunter explained, going to the small window and peering out. “All I can see is the roof from here,” she said, sounding just as formal and stern as Kieran had sounded the first time I’d met him. School training was taking over. “But the UV lights aren’t on, so this isn’t a vampire attack.”
Chloe’s keyboard tapping became violent. “Signal’s down too.”
Hunter kicked the doorstop out of the way and yanked the door open. I felt my way along the counter, less sure of myself in the shadows. Chloe snapped her laptop shut and slung the case over the shoulder.
“Bathroom duty and creepy fascist midnight drills,” I muttered, following them down the hall. Red lights blinked at all the windows and along the walls. “As if regular high school isn’t bad enough.”
Doors opened, ninth grade students peering out fearfully. Hunter paused. “You know what to do,” she called out. “Get your kits and meet at your assigned exits.”
“I don’t think this is a test,” Chloe whispered.
“I know,” Hunter whispered back. “But they’ll only panic if we tell them that.”
A girl our age came out of her room, wrapped in a purple bathrobe. “Not another drill.” She sighed.
“Not quite,” Hunter replied between her teeth. “Keep an eye on them while I find out what’s going on, Courtney.”
“Hey, I’m the floor monitor here, you’re just my assistant.”
We just kept walking. Her door slammed shut. A girl squeaked and scrambled back into her own room, also slamming the door. The rest of us just naturally followed Hunter’s lead, even when she kept repeating that she didn’t know what was going on either.
“Keep it together,” Jason told his group. His flashlight beam swung over the faces of very young, nervous-looking boys.
Students milled about in every common room as we made our way downstairs.
“I thought Chloe had all the drills mapped out,” Jenna asked as she fell in beside us.
“This isn’t on the official list,” Chloe explained in undertones. Jenna immediately reached for a stake.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
“Speed drills lead us out the side, through an obstacle course in the basement. Fire drills just lead right out to the front lawn,” Jenna replied. “This one appears to be leading us nowhere.”
“Can I have your attention, please.” It wasn’t a request. A man’s voice cut through the chatter. He stood by the front doors, wearing vampire fangs tipped in gold on a chain. Huntsman.
“That’s weird,” Jenna whispered. “They’re way out of their jurisdiction.”
“We have entered lockdown for your own protection,” he continued. “Please return to your rooms immediately and await further instructions.”
“Where’s York?” Hunter asked, confused. “He’s always in charge of drills and evacuations.”
“He’s busy, Miss Wild,” someone else replied, coming down the hall from the common room. Since she wore the standard Helios-Ra field gear, Hunter backed down. I could tell she was still desperately trying to figure out what was going on though.
“Back to your rooms,” the agent repeated sharply. “Now!”
“Couldn’t have announced that in the first place?” Jason muttered as he tried to corral his students back up the crowded staircase. We all moved quickly and with a surprising lack of conversation. Even Jody couldn’t be bothered to hiss a snide remark at me when she bumped into me.
Sarita was already in our room, of course, and sitting on the edge of her neatly made bed. Her hands were clenched tightly around a stake and she
jumped nervously when I came in. The movement was jerky enough to see, even under the very faint red light from above the door. I flicked the regular light switch but nothing happened. I sighed and dropped onto the edge of my own, considerably more rumpled bed. I dragged my hunter kit out from underneath.
“This is still more fun than detention,” I said.
Sarita just sat there looking tense.
“I’m sure everything’s okay,” I offered awkwardly, trying to reassure her. On the scale of scary-ass things that had happened to me this past week alone, this ranked pretty low.
“I hate drills,” Sarita admitted softly. “They give me panic attacks. I’m much better with regular exams.”
“You’ll do fine,” I assured her, choosing not to share Hunter and Chloe’s opinion that this was no ordinary drill. She might sink into a full-blown anxiety attack. Better to smile encouragingly. “Just breathe deeply.”
After about five minutes of sitting in the dark, a knock sounded at the door, startling us both. It seemed excessively loud in the silence. Sarita squeaked. It swung open to reveal the agent from downstairs. Sarita visibly relaxed when she saw the regulation cargo pants.
“Lucy Hamilton.”
I stood up slowly. “Yes?”
“Come with me.”
I frowned. “Where?” I was trying to remember what I could possibly have done this time to be singled out like this. It seemed an excessive reaction to sneaking out past curfew.
“Just come with me, please.”
“Go.” Sarita pushed me gently. “She’s an agent.”
I wasn’t raised a Helios-Ra hunter, so I didn’t find the sight of black cargos particularly reassuring.
“Is something wrong?” I asked when we were out in the empty hallway.
“It’s your friend Solange,” she answered. When she went down the back stairwell, I followed at a dead run.
“What happened? Is she okay?” I stumbled outside to the deserted campus. The Huntsman stationed out front nodded to us as we crossed to the van idling on the lawn. Two more agents and another Huntsman slid the door open. I frowned at his trophy necklace, feeling a trickle of unease beneath the instinctual panic at the thought of Solange being in trouble.
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