Drake Chronicles: 03 Out for Blood (11 page)

His hair swung out to briefly curtain our faces. There was something in his expression that I couldn’t entirely decipher.

And then he stepped back abruptly, his familiar smirk erasing that mysterious warmth I’d glimpsed.

Chloe was the first break the silence. She let out a shaky breath.

“Is it suddenly hot out here, or what?”

Chapter 11

•

Hunter

Saturday morning

When I woke up the next morning, Chloe was stil sitting at her desk and frowning at her computer. I couldn’t imagine how she couldn’t have a wicked headache. Her shoulders were hunched, the monitor’s glare was annoyingly bright, and there were three empty cans of a sugary energy drink on the floor by her chair. Her usual y perfect hair was decidedly frizzy, pinned in a knot on top of her head. This was not the Chloe I was used to, perfectly polished and fashionable even in her pajamas.

She was also tapping her foot incessantly, like a woodpecker too frantic to realize it was hitting metal, not wood.

I sat up, blinking blearily. The light was pale at the windows, barely light at al . The forest was stil dark, as if it was as sleepy as I was. “Chloe?”

“Just a minute.” Her fingers clattered over the keyboard. She didn’t look up.

Something about her, the frenetic energy or the slightly manic way she was chewing her lip, made my stomach nervous. When she suddenly shoved away from her desk, cursing, I jumped.

“Damn it,” she seethed. “I real y thought I cracked it that time.” She glanced at me, at the window. “What time is it?”

I turned the clock radio around so its bright numbers could glow red judgment at her. “5:34.”

“Ew.”

Now that was more like the Chloe I knew.

“Why’d you pul an al -nighter?” I asked, trying not to sound worried. “It’s not like you have homework due. School hasn’t even started yet. And it’s way too early for classes anyway. Or for normal humans to function.”

“I didn’t mean to. I just got on a rol with the security codes. Wel , I thought I was on a rol , anyway. I’m so handing this in as my independent study.” She rubbed her red-rimmed eyes. “I feel like shit.”

“They have this new cure for that,” I said drily. “It’s cal ed sleep.”

“Ha-ha.”

“Are you gonna crash now or what?” I insisted. I could pul the plug on her computer but she’d probably scratch my eyes out. And it was too early for a catfight. She yawned and crawled into her bed. She was asleep before she’d even answered me.

I decided to take advantage of the early hour and the stil dormitory. It was so rarely quiet and today was Saturday. Al the students who weren’t already here would start arriving after breakfast. Courtney would almost certainly pawn off some of her less glamorous duties on me, and then tonight we were going into town for vampire bait night.

So if I was going to fol ow through on the possibly il egal idea I’d had last night before fal ing asleep, now was my best chance.

I grabbed my knapsack and stuffed it with supplies as Chloe began to snore. I didn’t bother changing out of my pajamas since I planned to go right back to sleep as soon as humanly possible, but I did stop by the bathroom. There was just enough light from the windows to make the hal gray instead of black. I stayed on the edge of the staircase so it wouldn’t creak, skipping the third and eleventh steps altogether.

As much as my grandfather was strict and ful of hunter pride, he’d given me awesome toys over the years—mostly old weapons, crossbows, and surveil ance equipment.

It was the latter I was planning to put to good use.

I didn’t have Chloe’s knack, and I could hardly ask for her help. After that
Hel-Blar
woman died and Wil mentioned vitamins, I knew something was up—I just had no idea what. We needed more information on this so-cal ed vitamin, but I didn’t know anyone in the science department I trusted enough to test the pil s I’d pocketed.

Chloe’s mom helped devise Hypnos, and apparently she had a hand in the vitamins too, but that kind of chemistry or biology or whatever was way beyond my scope.

But I did know someone who might able to help me.

Quinn.

If Kieran trusted him, surely that meant I could too.

Even if he was a vampire.

And I was a hunter.

When had life become so freaking complicated?

For the part of this mess where I was essential y accusing higher-ups in the league and my friend’s mother besides, I was on my own. I wouldn’t even tel Kieran about that right now. He was already walking a thin line by dating Solange and al ying himself with the Drakes. Not only would they have him under some kind of surveil ance, but he didn’t need extra flack for my unproven theories.

And anyway, it was far more likely that if the vitamin was making Chloe act weird, it was because she was taking it too often. Maybe she was even al ergic to it.

There were too many questions that didn’t make sense and not nearly enough answers.

So I was bugging the eleventh-grade common room.

Also, I was going to have to steal a sample of Wil ’s blood from the infirmary.

I had no idea if this sort of thing could get me expel ed or if I could plead extra credit. I hoped I never had to find out. It was worth the risk, though. This is where Wil would hang out when they final y released him from the infirmary.

I only had three reliable microphones and just one of them had a motion sensor. I hid one under the couch, tucked behind the ugly brown fringe and a gross lump of gum no one was likely to want to breach. Another one I slid inside the removable drawer handle on the bottom left of the dresser under the bul etin board. I figured those would be the two most likely places students would gather to talk. There was no point in tapping the communal phone; they only used it to cal home when they were out of minutes on their cel phones.

I could hear the faint sounds of someone padding down the hal toward the bathrooms. I had just enough time to duck behind the coat tree, stil thick with discarded and lost clothes from last year. The student ambled past, scratching parts of his anatomy I didn’t need to know about.

I unscrewed the knob on the top of the coat rack and dropped my last microphone into the pole. Luckily the microphone was an old-fashioned one from WWII and fit into a bal point pen–like casing. Unluckily, it dropped straight to the bottom, where I might never get to fish it out again. I couldn’t risk trying to shake it loose now either.

Cursing, I ran al the way back to my room.

I slipped under the sheets, the muggy August morning already too humid for blankets. Chloe was stil snoring. I rubbed the coronation medal ion I wore around my neck and hoped I knew what the hel I was doing.

This had every indication of going horribly wrong.

Into the breach, then.

I lay there, staring at the ceiling, and wondered what exactly I was going to say to Quinn.

•

“You’re late,” Courtney snapped at me later that morning.

“I’m not late because I didn’t have an appointment,” I replied. And I was late because I’d been at the infirmary, stealing a test tube of blood. Theo wouldn’t let me in to visit Wil , but he left me alone in the waiting room after wheeling the cart of blood samples into one of the examination rooms to await pick-up. Al I’d had to do was reach around the curtain. The only difficult part was making sure I had the right sample. Apparently there were a lot of students with the weird flu that was going around because there were a lot of tubes in the tray. The thought of that many needles had me cringing.

So did the fact that I’d stolen a vial of Chloe’s blood as wel . But at least they hadn’t reached the end of the alphabet yet for the yearly checkups, so I was off the hook with needles for another week at least.

“Just stand over here.” She actual y snapped her fingers and pointed behind her.

I stared at her. “Woof.” I was glad I’d worn my favorite pair of pink cargos. She’d coveted them since we’d roomed together last year. Smal , petty revenges were al I was likely to get.

And about a hundred demerits for poking her eyes out if she kept glaring at me like I was some disgusting substance she’d just stepped in.

She sniffed and ignored me. Fine by me.

The staircase was packed ful of wide-eyed students and parents lugging suitcases. The dorm felt like a beehive, vibrating with sound and energy. There’d be stings by the end of the day, no doubt. Lia was hovering in the common room, trying to get a look at her roommate before having to introduce herself. Courtney smiled at al the parents and introduced herself politely and pretended I didn’t exist.

She wiped her hands with alcohol sanitizer after every hand she shook. Another student had been carted off to the infirmary with a high fever this morning.

I slipped my cel phone out of my pocket and texted Kieran to get Quinn’s phone number. I texted him quickly and tried not to obsess over every word.

Need to ask you a favor. Can you come by the school Sunday night? Meadow, midnight. Don’t tel Kieran. Hunter.

It wasn’t like I was asking him out or anything. I was only asking for a professional courtesy. I shouldn’t worry about whether or not I sounded too formal or curt or if he’d think I had a crush on him.

Because I didn’t.

Mostly.

It was only natural to be curious about Quinn. He was a vampire, for crying out loud, and a Drake. He was becoming a friend of Kieran’s too, so that made him a friend of mine.

And so what if he was gorgeous.

Lots of guys were gorgeous.

Of course, he was the first one to make me feel like blushing when I so much as thought his name. Like right now. Damn it.

“Oh, hel o, Hunter.” One of Grandpa’s friends smiled at me, effectively distracting me from my mental freak-out.

“Mr. Sagasaki.” I smiled back. His hair had a lot more white in it than the last time I’d seen him. He hadn’t made it to our family barbecue this year, which is when I usual y saw him and his son, who was standing beside him, a ful foot tal er than last year.

“Oh, cal me Louis, honey. You’re practical y family.” Mr. Sagasaki grinned. “I used to change your diapers, after al .”

At the sound of his name, several heads turned. Courtney’s eyes widened and she stood straighter, smoothing her hair back. Louis was a hunter with the kind of reputation it took decades to build. He had a record seventy-two vampire kil s and had once taken out a
Hel-Blar
nest al by himself, two doors down from a grade-school bal et recital. I wasn’t sure about that part of the rumor but I knew he was good. He had the scars and the faded tattoo on his upper arm to prove it.

“Mr. Sagasaki. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Courtney held out her hand. “My name is Courtney and I’m the girls’ ninth-grade floor monitor.” He shook her hand. “This here’s my son, Martin.”

“Hey, Hunter,” Martin said, trying to hide his relief at seeing a familiar face. It probably wasn’t cool for a fourteen-year-old boy to appear the least bit nervous about his first day at the academy. It hadn’t been cool for me as a thirteen-year-old girl either, but Grandpa got me into classes a year early out of sheer stubborn pride that I could do better than anyone else.

“Hey,” I said. “Stil a mean shot with that crossbow?” He nodded proudly. Over his head, his dad winked at me.

“Glad he’s in good hands, Hunter,” he said, urging his son forward so they could unclog the traffic jam of people trying to move around them. “You too, Kel y.”

“It’s Courtney,” she corrected, but he was already out of earshot. She glowered at me. “I’m the floor monitor. You shouldn’t hog people like that. It’s rude.” I rol ed my eyes. “I’m not going to ignore a family friend because you’re insecure.” This was possibly part of the reason why she hated me so much. I just couldn’t let her weird bragging and overcompensating go by unremarked. I went back to checking my phone before I could say anything else.

No reply text from Quinn.

Maybe he wouldn’t answer. Maybe he was busy with his tongue in some girl’s mouth.

Maybe I was an idiot.

It was noon, the hottest, brightest part of the day. He was a vampire. Duh.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and vowed never to mention to anyone that a straight-A vampire-hunter student had momentarily forgotten that vampires didn’t waltz about in broad daylight.

Talk about being off my game.

I went back to standing at attention and tried to look like someone you’d trust your thirteen-year-old kid’s safety to, someone my grandfather would be proud of.

Not like someone daydreaming about a vampire.

Chapter 12

•

Quinn

Saturday evening

I couldn’t stop thinking about Hunter.

If I’d been any one of my brothers, I would have mocked myself mercilessly.

Because she wasn’t just human, she was a hunter. I suddenly had way more sympathy for what Solange was going through. Although, at least Hunter didn’t smel like food to me. Mostly.

But she did smel damn good regardless.

I wondered if she’d gotten into trouble for wandering around campus with a vampire. Or if that boy we’d taken to the infirmary had turned and now there was one more
Hel-Blar
that needed to be put down. If they kept attacking like this, it wouldn’t be long before the residents of Violet Hil began to wonder what kind of creatures lived in the mountains and the forests on the edge of town. Soon it wouldn’t be safe for anyone to go out at night—but try tel ing that to the col ege students and the wilderness freaks.

There were stories already, and stories were never good. We relied on secrecy, and the common belief that vampires don’t exist, to keep us safe. But the current pop culture obsession with al things vampire wasn’t helping us any. We real y had to get a handle on this
Hel-Blar
infestation, and fast. Mom was sending out patrols, and Kieran said the Helios-Ra were scouting as wel .

I couldn’t help but wonder if Hunter would be recruited for one of those patrols.

She was good enough. I’d seen that for myself. And Hart had cal ed her into the meeting at the caves last week and to the coronation. That said something.