And about to get eaten.
“Shit!” I yelled, abandoning any pretense at dignity or stealth. I launched into a run, the twisted reeds grabbing at my feet. I slipped and fell, my knee hitting a rock. Pain shot up my leg, water soaking into my jeans. I flailed forward out of the bog. The branches poked and bit at me and I put my arms up to shield my face so I wouldn’t lose an eye.
The Hel-Blar closed in. The screeching and clacking of jaws behind me made me run faster, made me sweat.
The first Hel-Blar was the closest behind me. He snarled and spat, and was also the first to fall into dust at the end of one of Quinn’s crossbow bolts. He was perched up in a tree like a particularly vicious squirrel, laughing. Connor darted out to block the next Hel-Blar. He flung a stake, hurling the Hel-Blar off his feet and pinning him to a pine tree like an insect. It didn’t kill him, but at least it took him out of the fight temporarily.
The female curled her hands like claws, clacking her pointed needle teeth at me. She howled incoherently when I darted out of the way. My ankle hit the edge of a big rock and I stumbled, landing on my tailbone. The Hel-Blar laughed, stinking of pond scum. A crossbow bolt slammed between us, flinging mud and stones. I flung handfuls of dirt at her face until she blinked madly, covering her eyes.
Connor was fighting the other two and they circled him like hyenas with fresh meat. Their dusky blue skin and bloody teeth made them even more frightening. They widened their jaws, showing off their fangs. My own automatically extended in reaction.
Connor drove his heel into the stomach of the one nearest to him and ducked a wild swing from his howling companion. He came up, stake held against his forearm, the way he’d once taught me. The force drove the weapon into the Hel-Blar’s chest, sliding up under the skin, the muscles, and the ribs to pierce his heart. Ash clouded the cold air. Connor kicked the last one into the woman who was still trying to grab at my feet. They both sprawled in the dirt with the crack of bones and teeth.
But he’d forgotten about the one pinned to the tree.
We all had.
He’d pushed through the stake so that there was a ragged hole in his shoulder, bleeding sluggishly. “Connor!” I shouted, but I was too late.
Connor flew over me and hit a trunk, falling into the undergrowth. The tree shuddered, raining pine needles. Quinn dropped down off his branch, a stake in each hand. He jammed one of the stakes into the shoulder of the Hel-Blar who’d hurt Connor. The Hel-Blar shrieked, trying to yank the weapon out. Quinn shifted so he was shielding me.
Connor shook his head as if it was ringing, as he pushed himself back up. “Quinn, behind you!”
Quinn spun, his arm extended and stake out. He caught the Hel-Blar Connor had thrown at the woman. More ash and blood splattered and Quinn flipped out of its trajectory. Connor spun, jamming his stake into the woman’s chest as she leaped at me again. She snarled and then crumpled to ash.
Connor flipped his hand over, catching the collar before it hit the ground. He smirked, just like Quinn.
“Got it.”
Chapter 10
Lucy
I spent most of my classes reading the books Spencer recommended, which I hid under my desk. When Jody ratted me out and Ms. Kali demanded to see what I was reading, I wasn’t sure which one of them was most surprised to find that it was Ancient Magical Traditions and Secret Societies.
“Actually, the revised edition is much better,” Ms. Kali remarked with a dry smile, handing me back the book. “But you might try reading it during your free period.”
I read all through my lunch period, my free period, and even in the halls walking to class. I found out all sorts of weird things.
Scatter seeds in front of a particular family of Eastern European vampires and they will be compelled to count them instead of chasing you.
Vampire hunters wear wild roses to protect themselves.
I really wanted to see if I could convince Kieran to run around wearing pink roses in his hair.
In China, the vampire is known as jiang shi.
I was on my way to the gym, with the shadows long and purple over the fields, when I read a passage that made everything click in my head. It was so loud I was surprised no one else heard it.
Hunters in a sixteenth-century banished Black Lodge drank vampire blood, believing it would make them immune to the vampire’s power. This practice is merely superstition and not to be added to the modern hunter’s arsenal.
I remembered a night in my backyard when Solange and I were thirteen. We camped out in a tent, telling my parents we wanted to watch a meteor shower when really we just wanted to eat the chocolate bars Solange snuck over in her sleeping bag and giggle. Giddy with sugar, we’d decided to become blood sisters. We made little cuts on our smallest fingers and pinky swore an oath to be friends forever.
Our blood had mixed.
I wasn’t mostly immune to vampire pheromones just because I’d grown up with the Drakes.
I had Solange’s blood in my system.
Which is why she couldn’t compel me, even now that she was strong enough to compel other vampires, right down to members of her own family. And Nicholas was with her right now. However noble his intentions, could he stand against her compulsions?
Only if he had her blood in his veins.
But he was unreachable at the Blood Moon camp. The other Drakes were beyond exiled, they were condemned to be shot on sight. If they were going to have the slightest chance to undo whatever had been done to Solange, they’d need this information. They’d need to know what Nicholas was doing inside the camp.