My Love Lies Bleeding (14 page)

I rifled through her reticule until I found her cell phone. It had turned itself off when she’d fallen and the plastic was
cracked, the screen flickering blue when I finally managed to turn it on. I pressed the code to activate the GPS chip. We
weren’t that far from the farmhouse. Someone would find her in time.

But I couldn’t let them find me.

My brothers had nearly been captured and my aunt was hurt, all because of me. I couldn’t bear it if she died or my parents
were killed fighting to save me. And Lucy would jump in over her head if she thought it would save me. Even Kieran was putting
himself in danger for me and going against his training. I couldn’t let any of them sacrifice themselves for me. I just couldn’t.

They all wanted to save me, but I just wanted to save them.

And there was only one way to do that. I’d always known it, but I’d hoped I was wrong. Kneeling in the forest with my aunt’s
burned body convinced me I’d been right all along.

I pulled out my own phone and didn’t turn it on, only placed it gently on the ground. And then I smashed it repeatedly with
a stone until the case cracked open and the insides were dented beyond repair. I looked up at Kieran, knew my face had gone
hard by the way he looked back at me.

“I need your help.”

“Hurry up,” he said.

“I can’t make the dogs pee any faster.” He didn’t look at me, turning sharply when something rustled in the bushes. “You look
like secret ser vice. All you need is a black suit and shiny shoes.”

“I’m just being careful.”

“Says the girl with a row of wooden stakes strapped to her chest.” He paused. “And are those pink rhinestones?”

“They are,” I said proudly. “Who says you can’t vanquish in style? And see this one?” I pointed to the stake next to the one
I’d decorated with pink rhinestones. It had a skull and crossbones drawn on with black marker. “Pirate theme.” He just shook
his head at me. I shrugged and tugged on Mrs. Brown’s leash when she wriggled her entire front end into a rosebush. Her bottom
wagged furiously. “Get out of there,” I told her. “Before you get a thorn up your nose.”

It took another tug to convince her I was serious. She waddled backward, covered in pink petals. The light from Hope’s window
above us made a square of yellow on the grass at my feet. It caught on something hanging from the trellis underneath the ledge.
I had to stretch up on my tiptoes to reach it. It was a large bronze sun with jagged rays on a leather thong. I plucked it
down, wondering if Hope had lost it when she’d hung out the window, trying to convince me to give up the sordid life of a
bloodslave.

“Let’s go,” Nicholas said, opening the door to let the big dogs inside. Mrs. Brown nipped at their heels, grinning her canine
grin when they jumped to get away from her. Nicholas ushered me into the safety of the conservatory, his hand on the small
of my back. I could feel the coolness of his touch through my shirt. It was dark here as well, full of lilies and orange trees
and rare red orchids. A moth fluttered at the glass ceiling, as if the moon were a candle burning over our heads.

Nicholas didn’t say anything, and he didn’t move away, either. Instead he dipped his head lower, his mouth brushing the skin
under my ear and then trailing down to the side of my neck. My head lolled back. Part of me waited for the scrape of teeth,
but there was only his lips and his tongue. I was the one who turned slightly and bit gently on his earlobe. His hand pulled
me closer against him. It was a struggle to remember why we hadn’t gotten along all these years. I couldn’t think of a single
thing to bicker about.

I couldn’t think at all, actually.

I was all warmth and shivers. Night-blooming jasmine sent out sweet tendrils of scent. If I closed my eyes, I could believe
we were somewhere exotic, in the jungle or a secret garden in India. I had just slid my arms around Nicholas’s neck when the
lights flashed on, then off. We froze.

“Alarm,” Nicholas whispered. “Someone’s opened the tunnel door in the basement.”

We hurried down the hall, just as Logan came running down the stairs, his hair still wet, his shirt half-buttoned. There was
a shadow in the doorway to the steps leading downstairs. When it stepped forward, it became London, her fangs out as usual.
Her hair, usually so strictly slicked down, was a mess of oil- dark spikes.

“You!” I hollered and launched myself at her. My temper burst like a pie left too long in the oven. Nicholas’s arm clamped
around my stomach, holding me back. I felt like a cartoon character, punching and kicking at air and cursing. London just
stood there, pale and quiet. That had me calming down more than Nicholas’s struggles to contain me. I’d never seen London
when she wasn’t sneering at me or shooting her mouth off . She didn’t do meekly repentant. It scared me as much as, if not
more than, everything that had happened so far.

“I’m fine,” I muttered so Nicholas would let go. I pushed my hair out of my eyes.

“Where the hell have you been?” Logan demanded, advancing on London with the kind of fury I’d never thought to see on his
pretty face. “We thought you were dead. Or had betrayed us right into that bitch’s hands.”

“I didn’t know,” she said softly, wretchedly. “I swear to you, I didn’t know.” She lifted her chin, expression hardening so
that she looked a little more like herself. “Where’s everyone?”

“Trying to find Solange,” Logan told her. “Who gave herself up to save us all. You included.”

“I didn’t know Natasha set the bounty. I’ve served her for years, loved her like a mother. How was I supposed to know? Or
do you not remember that she was there for me when the Drakes weren’t?” I hadn’t heard about this particular blemish on
the Drake family tree. I’d just assumed London was crabby all the time because it was in her biological makeup. “She asked
me to bring Solange to her, to put an end to any rumors that might start a civil war. And she thinks Montmartre will take
her back when there’s no threat to her crown.”

“Damn it, London,” Nicholas muttered.

“I thought I was helping. And I’m oathed to her service, to the royal court.” London whirled on him. “What was I supposed
to do?”

“Not hand your own cousin over to that bitch, for a start,” Nicholas shot back.

London’s eyes narrowed. I assumed she was going to launch into a vicious tirade, but instead she took three steps toward me
so fast I bumped into the wall behind me trying to get away from her. Rage poured out of her. If I wasn’t immune to her pheromones,
I might have passed out at the onslaught. As it was, it made me vaguely light-headed. Nicholas half stepped in front of me.

“Stop it, London.”

“Where did you get that?” she demanded. She grabbed the bronze sun hanging from the strap of stakes between my breasts. Her
grip was so hard, the bronze dented. I was trapped between her, Nicholas, and the wall.

“I just found it. Get off of me.”

“Do you know what this is?”

“No. I found it under Hope’s window.”

Her pale eyes went pink at the edges. I’d never seen that before. I leaned back to get away from her even though there was
nowhere to go.

“Hope? Hope is here?” She whirled, glared at Logan. “Where is she? Where’s the Helios bitch?”

“She’s an honorable hostage. She doesn’t get hurt, Solange doesn’t get hurt.” Logan blocked the staircase.

“She’s a traitor.” She said it so quietly I nearly didn’t hear her. I did hear her teeth grinding together, however.

“What are you talking about?” Logan demanded.

“I went back to the court after I left you. I still have friends there despite the bounty, friends that will help the Drakes,
should it come to that. Hope is double-crossing Helios. She has her own unit, secretly plotting with Lady Natasha. If Hope
helps Lady Natasha get rid of Solange and any Drake threat to her throne, Lady Nata-sha, in return, helps Hope gain control
over the Helios-Ra by refusing to treaty with anyone but her.”

“Lady Natasha would never treaty with humans,” Logan said quietly. “She’s always refused.”

“Exactly. It would be quite a coup for Helios. And Lady Nata-sha gets her own human army, ready to wipe out any vampire who
doesn’t serve her.”

“Well, that’s just freaking great.” Logan jerked his hand through his hair. He blocked London when she tried to dart around
him. “You can’t kill her,” he insisted. “Solange’s safety might just depend on it. It was a fair exchange at the time.”

“I’m not worried about Solange right now.” London snapped the sun disk from the strap, yanking me forward with the sudden
momentum.

“Hey!” I stumbled and then straightened, glowering. “Ouch, damn it.”

“Do you know what this is?” London yelled at us, holding up the sun. “Do you have any idea?” She tossed it on the floor and
spat on it. “This calls Hope’s unit to her. They knew she was here— they’ve known all along.”

“She offered herself,” I whispered, glancing at Nicholas. “Remember? Hart said he’d stay, but Hope insisted.”

“It’s a declaration of war,” London continued. “It means they’re on their way here right now, to set her free and kill anyone
in their way. We have to get out of here.”

“We can’t just hand the farm house compound over to them, even saying they can get past Bruno and his crew,” Logan said.

“But someone does have to warn the others,” Nicholas argued.

“Call them,” London said. “But do it fast. We have to get out of here.”

“They’re in stealth mode. The phones’ll be off ,” Nicholas said. “And I’d bet anything either Mom or Dad or both of them are
on their way to the courts right now. You know Dad’ll try and talk his way out of the bounty. He’ll be walking right into
her hands.”

Logan pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Let’s at least warn Bruno.” He dialed, waited, his mouth tense. His fangs seemed longer, sharper. He hung up after a moment
of quiet, clipped conversation. “Good news and bad news.” He started up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When the rest
followed, I had to grab the back of Nicholas’s shirt to keep up. “They found Aunt Hyacinth. Bruno’s gone to get her.”

“So, we’re on our own,” London said grimly.

“Aside from the guards. What’s that noise?” Nicholas frowned as we rushed down the hall. Boudicca barked loudly, scratching
at Hope’s door. It took Logan only one kick to break down the door.

The sound was the whirling of helicopter blades.

And Hope was launching herself out of the window, toward the rope. The trees bent, leaves whipping into the room from the
force of the wind. The sound of the engine shook the walls. A painting fell off the wall, glass breaking.

Three vampires and a large dog leaped at Hope and not one of them reached her in time.

She swung out of reach, her blond ponytail and strappy sandals incongruous against the helicopter as the armed agents pulled
her inside. Arrows rained through the window once she was safely out of the way. An arrow thudded into the bed, three into
the floor, another missed Logan’s ear only because London shoved him behind the dresser. I leaped toward Boudicca, grabbing
for her collar. I tugged her behind the door, Nicholas pushing us both when we weren’t moving fast enough for his liking.
He cursed the entire time.

“You lunatic, leave the damn dog.”

“Shut up, she’s a member of this family, too!”

“And she knows how to get out of the way.”

“In your family you drink blood. In mine we look after animals.”

Boudicca was growling, straining against my grip, trying to get back to the window.

“If you two are done yelling at each other,” Logan said drily. “They’re gone.”

“But the rest are coming,” London said. “Ground crew,” she added when we just stared at her. “Do you really think they’ll
let this opportunity pass them by? They know half the family’s scattered, looking for Solange or Hyacinth.”

“Well, shit.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll go,” Logan declared.

“You can’t,” I said, chasing him down the stairs.

“I damn well can.” He nodded at Nicholas. “Get her in the safe room and lock her in.”

“Bite me, Logan,” I shot back hotly. “You can’t just go barging into the courts, you idiot. You’re a Drake, and every bounty
hunter in the country is out for your blood.”

“So? We can’t just let the rest of them go in blind.”

“I know that. I’m suggesting you and London stay here and defend the farm.”

“And you?” Nicholas asked silkily, suspiciously. “What exactly do you think you’ll be doing?”

“Hope was so keen on having me join up with the Helios-Ra,” I said, crouching down to pick up Hope’s dented sun pendant. “So
why don’t I?”

I would have glared at him but it was taking all of my concentration just to drag one foot in front of the other.

“Stop saying that,” I muttered. I hoped I wasn’t slurring my words. Even my tongue was tired. Nighttime helped, my metabolism
was already stronger when the sun was down. Come morning though, I just knew I’d pass right out. Passing out didn’t worry
me so much; it was not knowing if I was going to wake up again.

It was nearly my birthday. No party, obviously; no silver-wrapped presents or cake for me— just blood pudding. Gag. I couldn’t
help but remember my brothers’ desperate fights to survive their bloodchanges. They’d weakened so much so fast, it was almost
like they were in a coma. It hadn’t lasted long, but it hit hard and heavy. Only the elixir of Veronique’s blood would give
me a fighting edge.

An elixir I no longer had.

I couldn’t think about it. It wouldn’t do me any good and, anyway, if I had to do it all over again, I would. I stumbled over
a tree root, caught myself on an oak branch, and nearly put my own eye out. Kieran caught my elbow. I had to blink rapidly
so there was only one of him, not two dancing blurrily with each other.

“You’re getting worse.”

“If you tell me I look awful again, I am so going to kick you in the shin.” I yawned, swayed slightly. “Tomorrow.”

“Just try not to fall asleep before you hit the ground. You’re harder to catch that way.” I knew he was trying to sound confident,
but I could smell the worry on him. I could actually smell it, like burned almonds. Weird. I sniffed harder. He raised his
eyebrows at me. “Are you smelling me?”

I smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry.” I rubbed my nose. “You’re worried about me. It smells like almonds.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Weird, right?” I sniffed again, frowned. “And I smell stagnant water or mud or something.”

“I smell like an old pond?”

I shook my head slowly while my exhausted synapses finally fired straight. My mother’s training flooded me, my brothers’ stories
heard from the privacy of the stairs leading to the attic.

Kieran froze, but only briefly. “Out here? Now?”

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.

“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.”

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.”

Hypnos.

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.