“Outright war.” Kieran exhaled sharply. “Damn.” I glanced around surreptitiously. “I count five vampires, three hunters.”
“Two more vampires in the back,” Nicholas added. “And one outside with two more hunters. And Dr. Frankenstein there.” He barely glanced at the man in the leather apron. Fear and fury made his eyes gleam like broken pearls. “He just likes torture. He thinks he’s a scientist.” He ground his back teeth. “But he’s just an ordinary zealot.”
“That’s enough chatter,” one of the Host barked at us. “This isn’t a party, children.”
We stopped talking, waiting for them to get bored and turn their attention elsewhere.
“Weapons?” Kieran asked under his breath, his lips barely moving.
I shook my head. “They took my stakes,” I said. I reached casually down to adjust my pants. “Shit. My phone too.”
They both shifted to check their own pockets, then nodded. “So we’re down to the element of surprise to get us out,” Kieran murmured. “Great.”
“And my teeth,” Nicholas murmured back. Kieran’s eyes widened. He moved over, shielding us. I lifted my wrists and Nicholas’s fangs elongated. He sliced through my ropes. I kept my hands held together so it wouldn’t be obvious.
“It’s not just us,” Nicholas said. “Them too.” He glanced at the dirty faces surreptitiously watching us from the cells. “They’ll fight if we can get them free. Regardless, once we get Lucy out, we get everyone else out too. Before or after the fight.”
“Agreed.”
I eyed them both. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that,” I stated as calmly as I could. “We will all get out of this together.”
“Lucy.”
“Nicholas.” I raised my eyebrows. “You know you need me. We’re already hopelessly outnumbered. And I’m a better shot than you. So be reasonable.”
“You first.”
“Oh God,” Kieran groaned. “We’re doomed.”
Chapter 33
Solange
I was too far away to stop the Huntsmen from grabbing Nicholas, and then I had to hide from the Host vampire who was trailing them, taking up the rear guard. I followed him as quietly as I could. I’d never been this far into the mountains before so I wasn’t sure of the terrain. I finally caught the distinct glow of lantern lights and fire from the mouth of a cave a few yards up into the rock.
I heard the stomp of boots, then the unmistakable sound of running and panting. Flashlights bobbed between the trees. I scaled a shaggy pine tree, narrowly avoiding being spotlighted. I stayed where I was, peering down as dozens of hunters marched past me. I caught glimpses of military cargos, guns, stakes. Walkie-talkies burbled. I heard “Base secure” and “Operation Dawn underway” followed by “wait for the signal” I stayed still until I was sure they’d all passed by.
“Okay, that was weird,” I muttered.
I climbed higher until I could lean out and get a better look at the cave. The smell of pine resin was interrupted by blood, iron, sweat. My fangs hurt in my gums. I couldn’t see inside, but there were Huntsmen on guard detail, and human hunters as well. And when the wind died down, I could hear just fine.
Kieran.
I gripped the branch so hard, bits of the moss and bark broke off. I forced myself not to jump down and attack, to instead listen carefully until I knew what was going on. He didn’t sound as if he was in pain, only angry.
And not alone.
Nicholas answered him, and then Lucy.
I had to get them out.
I waited for what felt like a hundred years, as useless as Snow White after her bite of the apple. I strained to hear more but someone barked at them to be quiet and they fell silent after that. I could only hear the scrape of metal on metal, and someone weeping.
I didn’t have time to go for help so I was going to have to do this on my own.
I had Mom’s training, Dad’s creative thinking, my own pheromones.
And I had more than the Drake name.
I had me.
I smiled for the first time. Because there was one thing the Host wanted more than to kill Hounds and avenge Montmartre.
Me.
And if everyone insisted on seeing me as a helpless little girl, then that’s exactly what I’d be.
First I had to lure some of the hunters away, to even the odds as much as possible. I climbed down the branches and scouted the area, choosing a patch of cedar surrounded by boulders from some long-ago avalanche. I hid myself carefully and then broke a twig between my fingers. It snapped like a gunshot.
“What was that?” one of the hunters asked his companion.
“Mountain lion maybe?” he replied, sourly. “What do we care? We’re missing all the action.”
“Then we may as well do our job right,” the first hunter shot back. I cracked another twig. “I’m going,” he said. “Cover me.”
“I’m telling you there’s nothing out there.”
I waited until he climbed down far enough to be out of sight of the others before I reached out and punched him. He staggered. Lucy would be proud. I caught him before he crashed through the branches. His lip was split and he was unconscious.
After a long moment, his companion came to the edge of the overhang. “Hey, Jordan, you okay?”
A short pause.
“You taking a leak, man?” He sounded nervous now. I could smell the sweat on him and hear the sudden increase in his heartbeat. “Jordan?”