Drake Chronicles: 01 My Love Lies Bleeding (19 page)

And quiet as bats.

Still, my hearing must be getting sharper even as I grew weaker, because I could hear them skulking between the trees, trailing us, surrounding us like a pack of rabid dogs.

“They’re coming,” I whispered. “And I can’t outrun them like this.” Kieran nodded grimly, swinging an odd-looking gun out of its harness.

“Holy water,” he explained. I made sure I was well out of the trajectory of his modified bullets. “Stay behind me,” he said needlessly. I was already behind him, using a maple tree to prop myself up, a bouquet of sharpened stakes in my hand.

The smell of rotting vegetation and mushrooms was overpowering to my suddenly sensitive nostrils. I gagged.

“They’re here.”

Their speed alone was terrifying, along with the animal gleam to their eyes. They practically floated, pale as wraiths, slender to the point of being skeletal. Their fangs were sharp and pointed, but so was every other tooth in their head. One of them licked his lips at me.

“Just a taste, princess,” he drawled. “You might like it. What do you say?” I whipped a stake at his chest and he exploded into dust the color of lichen. All vampires crumbled to ash. If I died during the bloodchange, I’d turn to ash too, but it might take a few hours. Uncle Geoffrey claimed it was a Darwinian safety mechanism, to make sure we were never discovered as a species, even after we died.

And this was so the wrong time to be thinking about it.

The others hissed and snarled and all the hairs on my arms stood up. Kieran fired his gun. Light burst like embers whirling through the air, like a carnival trick. Another scent joined the wet rot: singed flesh, burning hair.

“There are too many of them,” Kieran grunted. I just grunted back and threw another stake. It missed its mark and was hurled back at us so quickly it pinned the flared hem of my dress to the trunk. Bark flew off in bits, biting into my legs. I swore and yanked myself free.

“Too close,” I murmured, nearly tired enough not to care if I fell over and was eaten.

“Stay with me,” Kieran snapped, firing again. A Hel-Blar flew like a rag doll, crashed into one of his friends. I was already on my knees. That patch of thick ferns looked so inviting. Kieran hauled me up with one arm, still firing with the other.

“You’re supposed to run away,” I mumbled through a yawn. “You promised.”

“The hell I did.” He shoved me behind a massive elm tree. “We have to get out of here. Any of your secret gates around here?”

The moonlight was almost as bright as sunlight, searing my pupils. Everything else was blurry. I squinted, tried to make out the shape of the trees around us, the valleys, the location of the river.

“Over there?” I suggested hesitantly. “On the other side of that valley. Maybe.” He kept firing, to give us some cover, and I concentrated on not passing out.

Those jagged rocks looked just as comfortable as the ferns. Just a little nap.

“Don’t you dare,” Kieran said sharply. “You can’t sleep yet.”

“But I’m so tired.”

“Keep moving.”

“Wait. The rocks . . .” I rubbed my eyes. “There’s a gate behind those rocks.”

“Good, get—ooof.” A dagger bit into his arm, cut through thick leather and skin.

Blood welled like plump raspberries. He gritted his teeth. “Just a cut. Keep moving.” I had to crawl through the undergrowth, feeling through the dead leaves for the handle. The iron was cool under my fingers, the rust rough against my palm.

“Got it.”

Kieran kicked out at a Hel-Blar who was far too close for comfort. He kicked out again, switched his gun for one that shot little vials. The first one hit the ground and broke open, releasing a cross between mist and powder. It was delicate as lace, hovering in the air. I felt funny, entranced by the way it clung to leaves and the Hel-Blar.

Hypnos.

“Stop,” Kieran commanded grimly. The Hel-Blar paused, confused. They hissed frantically but didn’t move. I didn’t move either. “You,” he said to the vampires straining against invisible chains. “You’ll get the hell out of here and you won’t come back. You’ll keep running until you’re clear out of the country. And if you try to drink a single drop from any human, you’ll walk straight into the next sunrise.” A howl, a grunt.

“Go.” They shuffled away. I lay where I was, unable to move. Kieran crouched beside me, his expression regretful but determined,

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Kier—”

“Shhh,” he interrupted. “Don’t say anything.” The Hypnos powder worked through me, making my limbs heavy, my voice falter. “I have to do this, Solange,” he murmured. He brushed a kiss over my forehead, gentle as moth wings. Anger and fear burned through me, betrayal was a conflagration that might burn the entire forest to the ground. When I’d suggested he betray me, I hadn’t thought he’d take me literally. I’d been a fool to trust him.

And now it was too late.

CHAPTER 22

Lucy

Sunday evening, later still

“I don’t know how I let you talk me into this,” Nicholas muttered as we ducked into the corridor. “It’s a bad idea.”

“It’s brilliant,” I insisted with more certainty than I actually felt. The corridor was damp and cold and confining and hardly gave us an advantage in a fight. But the only alternative was the woods, which were swarming with renegade Helios agents.

Sometimes my life was just weird.

Nicholas stayed close, his arm stretched behind him so that his hand could grip mine. I tugged experimentally. He tugged back.

“I’m losing feeling in my fingers,” I complained. He relaxed his hold, infinitesimally.

His eyes caught the glow from the torchlight, reflected it like a wolf ’s eyes might. He wasn’t just the Nicholas I’d argued with since I was little, he wasn’t even the Nicholas that had kissed me senseless yesterday; he was another Nicholas altogether. The hunter had risen to the surface.

I should probably be worrying about the fact that I was about to walk into the vampire courts instead of staring at his butt. Staring at his butt made me feel less like hyperventilating.

“Breathe,” Nicholas murmured, sounding half-strained, half-comforting. “Your heart’s not meant to skip beats like that.”

I wiped my free hand on my pants, hoping the palm he was holding wasn’t as sweaty. I’d changed into a pair of Solange’s cargos, assuming they looked more like something a secret agent would wear than my velvet skirts and beaded scarves.

There was clay all over the left leg. It made me feel like crying for some reason. I was trying so hard not to imagine the hundreds of horrible things that might have happened to my best friend. She had to be safe. Absolutely nothing else was acceptable. Nicholas’s thumb made small soft circles over my knuckles. I released my pent- up breath. My eyes stopped burning. We could do this. We had to, it was that simple.

“I’m okay,” I whispered.

“I—” He cut himself off , squeezed my hand once, hard. My heart stopped, then leaped into overdrive. I couldn’t hear anything except the blood rushing in my ears and the drip of water, even though I was listening as hard as I possibly could. He sniff ed once. I tensed all over; even my eyelids felt tight. He held up three fingers. Since he wasn’t speaking, not even a whisper, I assumed it was vampires.

Footsteps were suddenly audible and they were incredibly close. I reached for one of my stakes, wondering suddenly if I was really going to be able to stick it into someone’s chest. As a theory it worked fine; as an actual attempt to shove a hunk of white thorn wood through bone and flesh and heart, I wasn’t so sure. In any case, I didn’t have the time to consider my options. Nicholas pushed me against the damp wall. His hand fisted in my hair and tugged my head until my neck was exposed. He ripped off the Drake cameo I’d forgotten to take off. His eyes met mine, his lips lifting slowly off his teeth. His canines were sharp, long, and gleaming like pearls. I wasn’t quite as immune to his pheromones as I’d assumed. I was mesmerized, and he pressed even closer to me.

And then we weren’t alone anymore.

I could tell he knew the moment the hall disgorged the three vampires, but he didn’t turn or freeze or give himself away. He only dragged his mouth over the arch of my bare neck until I shivered. My crossbow was slung back, hanging behind me.

“Hey.” One of them snickered.

Nicholas kept his back to them—risky, but not as risky as giving himself away as one of the Drake brothers. His teeth scraped my throat. I shivered again.

“Busy,” he drawled at them. “Get your own.”

“No time to have a drink,” they replied. “Hunting the Drakes. Seen any?” Nicholas shrugged one shoulder.

“At the farmhouse, usually. Second door around the corner will get you out into the woods.” And straight into the eager, waiting arms of Hope’s agents.

“Thanks.”

He only grunted, nibbling my ear. My hair fell over his face, veiling his features.

We stayed as we were until even he couldn’t hear the receding footsteps anymore.

He pushed away from me as if it was the hardest thing he’d ever done. His jaw was clenched so tightly, the muscles in his cheek jumped.

“That was close,” he ground out.

I nodded, trying to catch my breath. “Thank God they were in such a hurry.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he whispered.

“Oh.” I stayed where I was, even as he leaned against the opposite wall, jerking his hand viciously through his hair. “Are you okay?”

“Let’s just get this over with,” he growled.

“How are we going to find your parents?” I asked as we started jogging down the corridor.

“If they’re not already at the courts, they should be in the woods just outside. This way.” He pushed open a grate in the ceiling and made a stirrup out of his linked hands for me to step up into. I leaped, he threw, and I landed half in the dirt with my legs dangling. I scrambled out of the way. He shot up out of the earth, landing in a graceful crouch. He tossed his hair off his face.

“Let’s go.”

The wind was warm, pushing its way between the leaves, but there were no other sounds—not a single cricket chirping or a rabbit dashing for safety. I walked as carefully as I could, trying not to break any twigs to give away our location. The mountain crouched over us, solid and filled with secrets. I used to worry about bears this far into the wild, not vampire queens.

We ran for a while, until I had to stop, panting, and rest against an elm tree. My lungs burned and sweat soaked my hair. I pressed a hand to my chest.

“Just a minute,” I gasped. “Just a minute.”

Nicholas looked around, nostrils flaring.

“Nothing,” he said, his fists clenching. “I can’t smell them anywhere— it’s all Lady Natasha and her damned Araksaka.” He slapped at a low-hanging branch. “Solange doesn’t have any time left.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “But she’s stronger than you think.”

“Not during the bloodchange. She’ll be out cold.”

“Even then,” I insisted stubbornly. “You don’t know her like I do.”

“Lucy.” He looked beaten. “Listen, you have to face—”

“No,” I interrupted fiercely. “You listen. We will find her. We will save her. Period.

Okay?” I blinked back tears, fighting a bubble of hysteria in my throat. “Okay?” He stepped closer, and I had to wipe my eyes so he wasn’t blurry.

“Shh.” He touched my cheek very gently. “Okay, Lucy. Okay.” I pushed away from the tree even though my legs still felt like jelly. “So we keep looking.”

He looked at me for a long moment and then nodded. “If Mom’s planning to attack the courts, she’ll do it through the side entrance there. No one ever uses it anymore.

If they’re not there, we’ll leave a message for them.” I armed my crossbow. He winced.

“Careful with that thing.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

We climbed through the brush, using tree roots as handholds, scattering pebbles underfoot no matter how carefully I stepped. The entrance was blocked with rocks.

They weren’t there.

Nicholas didn’t lose his temper again, only crouched and made marks on the rock with the edge of a broken stone. There were no marks already there, waiting for him to decipher. His parents hadn’t been this way after all.

“And if your dad was the one with the plan?”

“Then he’ll already be in there, talking treaties.”

“They might still be looking for Solange, might have found her and brought her home.”

“Maybe.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Plan B.”

I stared at him, the back of my neck prickling. “Plan B?” He nodded grimly. “Royal guard, coming from the west.”

“Shit.” I fumbled for the set of handcuff s we’d found in the weapons room. We’d made sure to open the links in the chain that secured them together so he could break free if our plans went awry, which they already had. He held out his wrists and I snapped them shut. I, at least, got to keep all of my weapons, though he had made me hide my pink rhinestone stake. I added a swagger to my walk. I was pretty sure all Helios-Ra agents learned the swagger along with how to sharpen their weapons and the proper way to apply holy water.

“Why are you limping like that?” Nicholas demanded.

“I’m swaggering,” I informed him.

“You look like you’re wearing a diaper.”

Charming. And I had a crush on this guy.

Wait.

I had a crush on this guy?

“Now what?” he asked. “You’re making weird faces.”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Never mind.” One crisis at a time.

Speaking of a crisis.

Two of Natasha’s Araksaka came at us, quick as wasps. The insignia of Natasha’s house was tattooed over the left side of their faces: three detailed raven feathers.

One was a huge oiled man who belonged on the set of Conan the Barbarian. The other was a petite black-haired woman whose smile was feral enough to make my palms sweat again.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“I’m here to collect the bounty,” I announced, my voice cracking only slightly. I tossed my hair off my face in a way I hoped looked cool and nonchalant and not like a nervous tic, which it most definitely was. The woman sniffed, narrowed her eyes.

“Human.”

“Go away, little girl,” the man said brusquely. “You don’t want to come in here.” The woman took a step closer. “Humans don’t collect bounties,” she snarled.