Blood Moon (9 page)

“She’ll be okay, right?” Solange asked. “I mean, Aunt Hyacinth survived holy water.” Scarred, but survived. And vampires didn’t scar easily.

“Hyacinth had Madame Veronique’s blood,” Geoffrey said, rummaging through his case. “That’s what saved her. And I have none.”

Vampires didn’t drink other vampire blood as a rule. It served no nutritional purpose. Unless it was the blood of an ancient from your own lineage—then it could heal you. Madame Veronique was the oldest living Drake, according to all the family stories. Her twins, born in 1162, were our first direct ancestors and the reason our particular branch of the family tree turned into vampires on our sixteenth birthdays.

“Well, where is she?” Logan asked. “Can we bring her here?”

“Would she even help?” I asked. “She’s not exactly puppies and rainbows. And you know how she feels about London’s side of the family.” London had served Lady Natasha, not believing that she’d wanted Solange dead. She’d nearly handed us all over into a trap.

“I have her blood,” Solange announced softly. We turned to stare at her. “Well, don’t I?” she asked Uncle Geoffrey. “I drank that tiny bit to heal me through my bloodchange. Is it still inside me?”

Uncle Geoffrey blinked. “I honestly wouldn’t know. But it’s worth a try.”

Solange approached the sofa. There was enough blood being
pumped into London’s veins that she was lucid, her eyes half-open. But her lips were already dry and cracked, as if she’d been ill for weeks and was severely dehydrated. Before Uncle Geoffrey could pass Solange a lancet, she’d already sliced her wrist open with her triple fangs. A trickle of blood moved down her arm and she hurried to press the cut over London’s mouth. London swallowed thickly, painfully; once, twice, three times. Bats whispered at the tent ceiling, their shadows huge and distorted by the torchlight.

At Uncle Geoffrey’s nod, Solange pulled back, pressing the edges of her cut together to help it heal faster. London’s gaping wound didn’t magically heal but it did look slightly less angry. Geoffrey fussed over her for a few moments then nodded, satisfied. “Well done, Sol,” he said proudly. “I think she’ll be fine, eventually.” He pulled empty test tubes out of his case. “Fascinating. If I could get more blood from you … I never thought to test—”

“No.” Solange backed away. “No more tests, Uncle Geoffrey.” She fled the tent before anyone could stop her.

Chapter 7
Lucy

Sunday night

I snuck off campus using the route Hunter showed me earlier. Between her and Quinn, they kept it free of school surveillance, and it was the best way for me to see Nicholas. It was getting darker so much earlier now that winter was approaching; we had more hours available to us before my new school curfew, which, despite Bellwood’s warnings, I had to ignore tonight. I waited until I was securely hidden inside the forest before taking out my cell phone. Nathan, a friend of mine from my old school, answered on the first ring.

“I’m still mad at you,” he informed me in lieu of a hello.

“I know,” I said. “If it makes you feel any better, there are way more mean kids here.”

I could practically hear him frowning. “I thought art school kids were supposed to be cooler than the rest of us.”

“So did I.” I’d lied to him about my new school. Nathan was strictly a civilian and knew nothing about vampires or vampire hunters. The only thing he knew about Nicholas was that he was hot. And it had seemed the most believable excuse to have my parents send me off to some artsy alternative school in the mountains. “I miss you guys.”

“You wouldn’t miss us if you came back,” he grumbled. “Tell your mom that school’s bad for your chi or whatever.”

“Can’t. Nonrefundable deposit.”

“That bites.”

I snorted a laugh. “You have no idea.”

“There’s a party in Megan’s backfield Saturday night. Last one before the snow hits. You’re coming.”

“It’s cold.”

“So what, Grandma? Too busy hanging out with guys in black turtlenecks talking about Picasso?”

“Picasso?”

“Isn’t that what art students do? And I’ve seen you draw, Hamilton. I can’t believe they even let you through the front door.”

He wasn’t wrong. “I’m on the music track.”

“That makes more sense. Anyway, the party. If you bail on me I will never forgive you. And Linnet will cry. You want that on your conscience?”

“Oh, please. Linnet won’t cry. But I won’t bail,” I promised.

“You better not. So, any cute boys at that school?”

I thought about Hunter’s friend Jason. I’d have to ask around if he had a boyfriend. “Some.”

“Good. Bring them.” Nathan hung up.

I switched on my flashlight as I tramped deeper into the woods. Most of the moonlight was blocked by thick spruce and pine. Since I didn’t have vampiric eyesight, I’d walk into a tree if I wasn’t careful. The trail was barely a suggestion, but there were white ribbons tied around branches to mark the way. The path ended abruptly in a small clearing thick with late-blooming goldenrod. I thought I might still be technically on school property. No wonder Hunter had commandeered this spot for her secret tryst. The wind was frigid and nibbled hungrily at my fingers and the tip of my nose. I slipped on the stripy mittens my mom made for me. Like everything else she touched, it still smelled faintly of Nag Champa incense. I felt vaguely homesick.

And then Nicholas came toward me through the field, the tall yellow flowers bending around him, and the stone of worry lodged in my throat loosened. He was sleek and dark and beautiful, the way thunderstorms are beautiful. I never got tired of the way he smiled at me, both solemn and wicked. Even if he wasn’t exactly smiling right now.

The goldenrod brushed my shoulders and I slapped it out of the way. Nicholas didn’t speak, just pulled me up against him, holding me pressed to his chest, his face buried in my wind-tangled hair. I stroked his back, the muscles cool and hard even through his shirt.

“What is it?” I whispered. “What’s wrong?”

“Everything but you,” he said hoarsely. Even though I’d known him most of my life, had seen him fall out of trees and trip over his own feet when we were growing up, even though we’d played countless pranks and honed our sarcasm on each other, he could still make me melt. And that still took me by surprise sometimes.

When he finally looked at me, his features were calm but fierce in their stillness. He was suddenly all predator, that beauty sharpened and deadly. I shivered, not afraid of him but afraid
for
him. There was something stark in his gray eyes, glinting in the moonlight.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Apocalypse, disaster, blah blah blah. I feel like we’re constantly living out a season ender of
Buffy
.”

“With any luck this won’t be that bad.”

“Notice your luck lately?” I asked. “A hundred rabbit’s-foot charms wouldn’t help you.” Not that I’d ever do that. I happen to like bunnies and cutting off their feet is barbaric.

“True. You know, you could’ve been attacked by the same vampire that got Kieran last night,” he said, and I knew that wasn’t what he was really upset about. “What if it was an ambush?”

“It was,” I snorted. “But I handled it. Solange didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what? Wait, she was there?”

I stepped back. It was hard to think when he was standing that close to me. Embarrassing but true. “Hell yeah, she was there. I Tasered her.”

He blinked. “You used a stun gun on my baby sister?”

“Right after she tried to eat Kieran and then have me for dessert.”

Nicholas just blinked at me again. It was rare that I could surprise him into speechlessness. He lowered himself slowly down to the ground as if he were suddenly an old man too weak to stand. The weeds and grass swallowed him up. “She could have killed you.”

I sat too. “But she didn’t. And she didn’t
want
to, that much was obvious.”

“Still.”

“Yeah. Still.”

“I can’t believe she didn’t say anything,” he added tightly. “And I just went with her to see Kieran.”

“He’s okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. Except they broke up.”

“They
broke up
?” I reached for my phone. No voice mails except the one Nicholas had sent earlier and no texts. I switched it on. The dial tone chirped in my ear. “It’s not broken.” I scowled. “She didn’t even call me! Is she all right? Does she need ice cream?” Not that she really ate anymore, but some rituals were sacred.

“She used her pheromones,” he said, his fangs poking out. “She compelled me to back off and leave her alone. She’s getting stronger, Lucy.”

I stared at him. “Again? She did that to you again?” Just last week she’d forced him to kick me out of the farm house because I’d mouthed off about the annoyingly mysterious Constantine.

Nicholas just sat there looking shell-shocked and hurt. Fury sizzled inside me. It was bad enough she’d attacked me, but now she was messing with my boyfriend.

And that just would not do.

Fury turned to rage, burning like an ember inside my chest.

Nicholas winced. “You’re mad.”

“You think?”

“No, I mean you’re
mad
.” He licked his lips.

“Oh, right. Sorry.” I took a few deep breaths, and added a few
Om Namah Shivayas
for good measure. When Nicholas stopped looking like he was in pain, I let out one last long breath. It went to mist in the cold air, like dragon’s breath, which was apt as I felt angry enough to breathe fire.

Oops. Another deep breath.

“We have to tell your parents,” I said when I was calm enough to unclench my fists. “We can’t keep covering for her. Not now.” A part of me felt like a traitor. My job as best friend was to cover for Solange. But we were in way over our heads. We couldn’t save her from herself without help.

And fast.

“I know,” he said, sounding just as conflicted. “But she saved me tonight too.”

I went cold. “What?”

“London was attacked. I got caught by a Huntsman, and he would have had me too, if it weren’t for her. They’re worse than Helios-Ra hunters.”

“Are you okay?” I catalogued the mud and grass stains on his clothes, the tear in his shirt collar, the blood I hadn’t noticed on the cuff of his left sleeve.

“I’m fine,” he assured me.

“You and I know her better than anyone else. What do you think she’ll do?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “That’s what scares me.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. We don’t have much time as it is.” He handed me a set of car keys.

I frowned at them. “Aren’t those mine?”

“Yeah. Duncan got your car from the garage and fixed it himself. It’s parked on the road outside your school.”

I smiled brightly. “I love your brother.”

“Hey, now.”

“It’s okay, I love you more.”

“Good, because he said not to drive it in the rain. Once he’s done with Aunt Ruby’s Mustang and the Blood Moon stuff, he’ll fix it up right.” His hands closed around my elbows and lifted me right off the ground.

I squeaked. Then flushed. “I never made that sound,” I informed him loftily, as he pulled me over to sit in his lap. “And hi.”

“Hi.” He grinned crookedly, brushing his hand along my jaw and into the hair at the nape of my neck. “I’m calling a time-out on all the worrying.”

I linked my hands together around his neck. “Okay.”

“The Blood Moon starts soon.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I know.” I didn’t want to admit how weird I felt about not being able to contact him or Solange or their brothers. Or any of the Drakes for that matter. I even missed their dogs.

He shrugged out of his jacket, pulling something out of the
inside pocket. I was confused at first; it wasn’t a stake or a dagger or a weapon of any kind.

“It’s a CD,” he said, giving it to me. “I made you a mix. For when we’re apart.” I knew if he’d still been human he would have been blushing. Back then I would have teased him mercilessly about it. But now I just wanted the CD.

“You made me a mix?” I was dangerously close to simpering. I straightened my spine. “Thanks,” I added. “What’s on it?”

“Listen to it and find out.” His thumb brushed over my mouth. “I kind of miss you already,” he said softly, leaning in to nip at my lower lip.

I nipped back, and the kiss fell with dizzying speed into need and want until even the back of my knees tingled. He kissed me as if we had all the time in the world, as if it weren’t cold outside, as if winter weren’t coming, or the dawn, or any of the dangers that waited for us outside this field. I kissed him back as if he were right, as if there were only the two of us, as if the only worry we had were my curfew. He fell back, bringing me with him. We reclined in our own little world of grass and clover with only the stars to see us. Kissing him was addictive; it was breath and blood and chocolate.

And then reality came crashing down around us.

“Hey, vamp lover, we know you’re out there.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I lifted my head, recognizing Ben’s voice. I was still sprawled on Nicholas. “They
followed
me?”