“Agreed,” Hunter said quietly. I knew she was thinking about Quinn. It could just as easily have been him who’d been abducted and tortured.
Even as angry as I was, the toll of the last few nights and the warmth finally spreading through my body again lulled me to sleep before I’d finished uttering death threats. I wasn’t sure how long I was out before Chloe slapped her keyboard loudly. “Stupid thing!”
I jumped, startled awake. Hunter and I were snuggled up together and Jenna was sprawled comfortably on Chloe’s bed. Jason had somehow ended up on the floor, but judging by his snoring it didn’t seem to bother him. Until Chloe rolled away from her desk, and her chair yanked out his hair. He jerked up but his hair was caught and he was stuck there, swearing. “Damn it, Chloe. Are you trying to crack a code or my head?”
She winced down at him. “Sorry.” She rolled her chair carefully away.
He sat up rubbing his head. She handed him a bag of chocolate macaroons from her desk drawer as a peace offering. He ate a handful, still bleary-eyed and rubbing his temple.
Hunter poked her head up. “Chloe, go to bed. It’s almost four in the morning. You can try again later.”
Chloe just reached for another energy drink.
Jason groaned. “Great. Like you need more caffeine.” He pushed to his feet. “I’m going to my own room before you run over something I might actually need one day.”
Chloe was already chugging the drink and trying to eye her computer balefully at the same time when it beeped at her. She hit a few keys and then lowered the empty can, wincing.
“The Gazette is running another headline about the Dracula Killer,” she said. “A college guy was found dead and drained of blood outside the library.”
“Another one?” I frowned. “But Solange is okay now,” I repeated. “She didn’t do this.”
“Not to mention that vampires generally clean up after themselves,” Hunter pointed out. “Something doesn’t add up with all these missing people, just like Theo said. It can’t just be vampires feeding.”
“It has to be Dawn,” I told her. “She’s obviously framing vampires.”
“That’s a pretty brutal way to do it. If she’s pro-human, then why kill so many of us?”
“Vampires make a convenient scapegoat. But why frame Solange at a high school field party of all places?” I wondered.
“Everyone’s after Solange, you know that. She’s an even more convenient scapegoat.”
“This sucks.” I scowled.
Hunter scowled back. “And who the hell is this Dawn anyway?”
“Can you guys grumble somewhere else?” Chloe muttered. “It’s distracting.”
Hunter burrowed back under the blankets, frowning thoughtfully. Jenna was still asleep somewhere under a pile of Chloe’s pillows. Jason and I parted ways on the landing to the second floor. Instead of going back to my room, I went to the bathroom and hid in one of the stalls to call Solange back. She answered on the first ring. “I think I’ll be successfully cured of any martyr tendencies by the end of the week,” she said drily.
“That well, huh?”
“Mom beat up a warrior with muscles the size of my head and it’s been politics and condescension ever since.”
“Yawn.”
“Yeah, it alternates between boring and terrifying. I spend most of my time apologizing and then not being allowed to talk as every vampire within a ten-mile radius gives a long speech about honor and traditions and basically hacking people up.”
“Fun.”
“You should have seen Dad’s face when the one guy went on about reintroducing human hunts and feeding zoos.”
“Dude.”
“I know, right?”
“Did you take down that stupid post?” I asked, remembering the feel of the iron chains on my wrists. “ ‘Cause I gotta tell you, that thing’s not helping our cause.” I could just imagine what Jody would do if she ever found out.
“It was the first thing I did,” she promised. “Once they stopped trying to kill me. What about you?”
“I went for a swim.”
“In November?”
“Wasn’t my idea.” I shut the lid on the toilet and sat down, leaning against the stall. “We’re looking into League secrets and trying to find out more about this Dawn person.”
The silence on the other end of the line was colder than the pond water. “Yeah,” Solange finally said. “I want a piece of her.”
“We’ll share,” I returned. “And give the rest to your mom. Kinda like the remaining pieces of Constantine. What happened to him anyway? Did your mom tie his entrails into a pretty bow?”
“He took off during the trial by combat,” she replied quietly. “Even his guards don’t know where he is. They’re just milling about all nervous and confused.”
“Pardon me if I don’t exactly feel sorry for them.”
“I really thought he was my friend,” she said in a small voice.
“He should be so lucky,” I said.
“Tomorrow I have to be tested by Kala in front of everyone to prove I’m me again.”
“You should be grateful it’s not my mom. She’d make you chant naked out in the backyard under the full moon.”
“I’d deserve it. Not that most of them believe I was possessed in the first place. Especially since Constantine’s gone and can’t admit to anything.”