Blood Prophecy

CHAPTER 14



Lucy


“What’s going on?” I asked, following Nicholas up the rope ladder. It swung slowly, spinning me around. My stomach wobbled. He climbed up so quickly the ladder only had time to make one more slow, sick spin before he crawled out the trapdoor and was leaning down to lift me out. Frost crunched under my boots. We were in a part of the forest that was mostly red pine, tall and lonely. It was like walking under giants’ legs.

“Royal guards,” he said. “They’re coming this way and they smell violent.” Nicholas sped up and I had to concentrate on keeping up. My school training and workouts with Hunter must be helping because I didn’t die after the first five minutes.

“We have to get you out of here,” he said urgently. “Whoever is possessing Solange is not exactly a people person, and the royal guards obey her without question.”

“We really need to find out who’s doing this to her.” I panted, my breath forming little white clouds in the frigid air. “So we can drag him or her the hell out of Sol.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Nicholas promised.

“Don’t blow your cover.”

He shot me a smirk over his shoulder. “Duh,” he added, because it was what I usually said to him when he told me to be careful or to stay undercover while he dodged stakes and other pointy things that were bad for his health.

“I don’t like leaving you here.” I squeezed his hand tighter. “Madame Veronique wants to kill Solange. Did you know that?”

He stopped so suddenly I nearly broke my nose on his shoulder. There would have been a certain karmic beauty to it. “Ow.” I rubbed my nose, eyes stinging. Nicholas’s eyes flared like ice. He tilted his head, like a wolf hearing the soft pad of a rabbit’s foot.

“No time,” he snapped. “We have to go up.”

“Shit,” I said, my heart responding to the darkness in his gaze. Adrenaline spiked through me like crystalized honey, sweet but sharp. “I suck at climbing trees,” I added, in case he’d forgotten.

“There are walkways up near the top branches,” he assured me. He peered up an impossibly tall tree, frowned, then moved to the next one.

“What are you looking for?” I asked, the back of my neck prickling. I jumped at every small shift of the wind.

“One of the ropes,” he replied. I darted between the trees, helping him search.

“Here,” I called softly after a few minutes. He was at my side before I’d finished exhaling.

“I’m going to go up first,” he told me. “And then I’ll pull you up. Just hold on tight.”

“Wait.” I stopped him as he closed his hands around the rope, arm muscles straining. “They took all my weapons at the camp.”

He pulled a stake from the back of his belt and handed it to me, before shimmying up the rope, unconcerned with little things like gravity and falling to a messy death. I wrapped the rope around my waist, then gripped it as tightly as I could. He hauled me up and I gritted my teeth and tried not to imagine what all my bones breaking when I fell would sound like. Sweat stung the rope burns on my palms. Nicholas pulled me up onto a circular platform that ran around the trunk. Narrow bridges led from tree to tree, from platform to platform. The smell of pine was thick and green.

“I never even knew this existed,” I said, staring at the intricate knotwork of bridges.

“It was built for the Blood Moon,” Nicholas said as we started across the first bridge. “As an escape route in case of Hunters or civil war or whatever. And I think the Chandramaa have the same setup, only closer to camp.”

It was sturdier than it looked and the rope handles made me feel more secure. “This is seriously cool,” I said, risking a downward glance. Bats dipped and whirled beneath us. “Terrifying, but cool.”

Nicholas slipped behind me to guard my back as we hurried between the treetops. “There’s this thing called gravity,” I reminded him as the rope bridge swung wildly and I tried not to throw up.

“There’s also this thing where I’d rather my baby sister’s minions didn’t eat my girlfriend.” He gave me a little push.

I ran faster, blood welling on my chafed hands. The air rushed past my face, and pine needles dragged through my hair and scratched my cheeks. It was like being beaten up by Christmas. It was too dark and too high for me to see any vampires down below, but Nicholas was running as if they were right there with us.

“Shit,” he said, just before Solange’s voice drifted up to us, sharp and arrogant.

“Nicholas, why are we playing hide-and-seek?”

He shot me a warning glance as we stumbled to a stop. “Because I’m not in the mood to share,” he called back, sounding bored. I tried to peek through the branches at her.

“Families share,” she returned as vampires moved below us, like beetles scurrying in the undergrowth. They weren’t trying to be quiet or stealthy, and there were enough of them that even I could make them out from this distance.

“I’m beginning to wonder about you, big brother.” Her tone changed, seemed to throb with power. Nicholas flinched. “So come down here and bring her.”

“Lucy?” he murmured.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going to need to run.”

Easier said than done.

“Maybe I could talk to her?” I asked dubiously. Nicholas just shook his head. I knew he was right but it still felt wrong to run away from Solange.

“Can you exorcise her?” Nicholas asked. There was sweat on his brow and his jaw was clenched. He was holding himself as if he were in the center of a storm.

“Well, no.”

“Then wait until you can.”

“Well, if you’re going to be all logical about it,” I muttered. I reached for his hand, squeezing tightly, while he struggled against the insidious compulsion.

“Lucy,” Nicholas said hoarsely. “Get out of here.” Even as he said the words, he tightened his grip on me and moved toward the nearest ladder.

I yanked on the back of his shirt. “Hey!”

“She’s stronger than me,” he said through his teeth. The veins on his neck looked stark, blue as ink.

“But she’s not stronger than us,” I insisted.

“Go,” Solange snapped at her guards. “Fetch them.”

I shoved my arm under Nicholas’s nose. “Drink.”

“No,” he said, going very still. “Lucy, get out of here.”

“Nicholas, you and I both know that’s not an option right now, especially since you’re currently cutting off the circulation in my arm.” I touched his hair, pushing a lock off his forehead. “And we don’t have time for angst. So drink.”

He finally lifted my arm, his touch cold and gentle. He didn’t look away as he sank his fangs into me, breaking the delicate skin of my wrist. The pain was swift and sharp, like pricking myself with a needle. I couldn’t help but think of Sleeping Beauty as a soft lethargy whispered through me. The need to close my eyes, to rest, to drape myself around him without resistance was seductive, tempting. Wrong.

“Nicholas, stop.”

I tugged on my wrist. His fingers tightened in response. His throat muscles moved as he swallowed. His eyes glittered, his inner beast prowling dangerously near the surface. I really didn’t want to stab my boyfriend. He hadn’t drunk enough to do me any harm, but if he took any more, I’d be too light-headed to fight.

“Nicky,” I snapped.

Right before I punched him in the nose.

He jerked back, with a silent snarl. His tousled hair fell back over his eye, obscuring the mist-gray glint of his irises. I arched my eyebrow at him, knuckles feeling bruised. He slowly wiped my blood off his lower lip, looking miserable but like himself again. I poked him hard in the chest before he could get all broody about it. “Don’t,” I whispered. “Did it work?” I mouthed. He paused, then nodded. We shared a quick, grim smile.

“I’m coming,” Nicholas called down, disgruntled. “Call off your dogs.” It would buy us a few minutes. The vampires paused, scattered through the trees, one of them halfway up a rope dangling from the pine behind us. I didn’t think he’d spotted us yet. The wind made the branches creak ominously. It was enough to cover our sounds now but once I started running, they’d hear my footsteps.

“I’ll draw them off,” Nicholas whispered in my ear. It was almost a kiss. “You run like hell.”

I nodded, reaching back to activate the GPS tag so Hunter and the others could find me. He sent me one last complicated glance before he hurried across the bridges leading away from me. I ran as fast as I could, the bridges swaying and creaking under me. I glanced back just long enough to see him land in a crouch, his hair falling into his gray eyes. The combination of the movement and the height made me feel queasy and light-headed, but I pushed through until I found one of the ladders. I shimmied down the length of it, the chafing on my palms leaving streaks of blood on the rope. I kept running, dodging branches and jumping over fallen trees.

I had no idea where I was or how to get back to the school van. At first that didn’t matter but now that I was hopefully far enough away from Solange, I couldn’t keep running blindly. Moonlight gave a blue glow to the snow that had managed to fall between the pines. It was enough to keep me from running into trees but not enough to get my bearings. People died in the Violet Hill mountains. Experienced hikers and climbers got lost and wandered for days until they succumbed to exposure. The cold air slapped at my burning lungs. I slowed to a limping jog.

I pulled the GPS tag off the hem of my shirt, squinting at the stamp-sized screen. Chloe had MacGyvered it especially for me, so that she could find me, but I could find her as well. I followed the blinking red dot, trying not to run into any trees. Branches scraped at me. Snow dislodged and fell all over me, soaking into my clothes.

And then I didn’t need the GPS anymore, I just had to follow the sounds of fighting.

I reached the edge of the woods to find the van running, high beams on. Jenna was sliding out of the driver’s seat, a crossbow in her hand. Chloe climbed over the seats to take over the steering wheel. Hunter was clinging to the roof, using the second crossbow. There were at least five Hel-Blar that I could see, snarling as they surrounded the van.

Hunter’s bolt slammed into the one standing between me and the van and he erupted into a cloud of putrid-smelling ash. I leaped over the stained and tattered remains of his clothing. “I’m weaponless,” I shouted at Hunter. “And I have better aim.”

She slid off the roof without a word and I vaulted up to take her place. Jenna took out another Hel-Blar just as Hunter lured the nearest one away from Chloe’s door. “Get in the damn van!” Chloe yelled. “Lucy’s back. Let’s get out of here!”

“We can’t just leave them here,” Hunter argued, dancing out of the reach of a blood-encrusted arm. The Hel-Blar attached to it clacked his jaws. Hunter staked him, using a roundhouse kick to shove the stake deep enough into his chest. “There are farmhouses nearby.”

“Oh my God,” Chloe shot back. “You’re going to be the reason I’m going to get killed before I can convince one of the Drake brothers to date me.”

One of the Hel-Blar landed on the hood, fangs flashing. The smell of slimy mushrooms made me gag. Chloe jerked back reflexively and then scrambled to slam her door shut. She honked the horn.

“Oh, like that’s going to help,” Jenna muttered, leaping onto the roof behind me.

I shot a crossbow bolt at him, catching him in the eye. Blood and stench splattered the windshield. Chloe shrieked. “Sorry! Sorry!” I yelled as she turned on the wipers. The next arrow caught him in the chest and went straight through his heart. Blood and ashes clumped in streaks, flung back and forth by the wipers. Jenna straightened behind me, shooting arrows at the Hel-Blar shambling behind us. He fell apart still gnashing his fangs.

Hunter was fighting the last one, a female who was shrieking and snarling. The sound was so high-pitched and awful it made my teeth hurt. I aimed my crossbow at her but Hunter shifted in the way. She threw one of her stakes. It went under her collarbone at a weird angle and stuck there. When she growled down at it, Hunter triggered the stake strapped to her forearm. It shot forward and she staggered, turning to dust.

Jenna and I slid into the van as Hunter raced toward us, her blond ponytail swinging cheerfully. She was barely inside when Chloe slammed the van into reverse. She slid through the icy mud, the van lilting dangerously as it careened toward the dirt road. The smell of burning rubber and exhaust replaced the reek of green water.

“What is that thing?” I glanced enviously at the stake-holder on Hunter’s arm as I caught my breath. “Because I totally want one for my birthday.”