Hearts At Stake

chapter 20

Lucy

Sunday evening

While Logan cleaned up, I took the dogs out again. The gardens were different at night, scraggly and thick. Crickets sang cheerfully from the fields bordering the forest. The moon was yellow and hung in a tatter of clouds like lace. Nicholas was standing guard by the back door and scowling into the darkness. His eyes gleamed.

“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 service. All you need is a black suit and shiny shoes.”

“I’m just being careful.”

“Bruno’s out there and we’re barely three feet from the door. Besides, no one’s after me.”

“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 their 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 Natasha, 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 Natasha 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?”