Blood Prophecy

CHAPTER 35



Solange


We ran for a long time.

Lucy and Kieran were slowing down, pressing their sides. Not so long ago I would have felt the same painful stitch under my ribs, the same burn in my lungs and legs. Now I could run all night. Well, until dawn anyway.

“I’m out,” Kieran panted at his uncle, having called him on my cell phone. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.” He paused, snorting incredulously. “I’ll tell her but you’re nuts if you think she’ll listen.” He hung up and glanced at us. “He’s going to call the cops on Hope’s unit,” he explained even though I’d heard every word as if it had been spoken right into my ear. Lucy probably couldn’t hear over her own heartbeat right now. It was loud enough to sound as if she’d smuggled a rapid-fire shotgun under her shirt.

“The cops,” Lucy echoed. “Can we do that?”

“The other alternative is to fight through the siege at the headquarters, and then people will die. They can’t even sneak out through the secret passageway since all the Helios-Ra agents there already know about them. “But,” he said, smiling darkly, “hanging around a house filled with highly suspect weapons is still totally illegal. And downright crazy if you start talking vampires.” He dialed the phone again as Lucy leaned weakly against the nearest tree.

“Go on ahead,” she said, taking slow, deep breaths.

“No,” Nicholas and I both said.

“We’ll catch up.”

“No,” Nicholas repeated calmly, handing her a bottle of water from the huge pack he’d taken out of the caves. It was stocked with supplies for the average hiker and vampire killer.

“Hunter,” Kieran said into the phone. She started bombarding him with questions, orders, and threats almost before he’d finished saying her name. “I’m with Lucy,” he cut her off. “We’re fine. Hart’s fine too. He says that under no circumstances are high school students allowed to fight this battle.” He rolled his eyes, looking younger than the blood on his sleeve and the bruises on his face might suggest. “I already told him that. Where are you now?” He checked the GPS on my phone quickly. “We’re not far. See you soon.”

“You know, one day we’ll go on a double date without swords or stakes of any kind,” Lucy said cheerfully, slinging her arm through mine.

“Oh, right, just as soon as my boyfriend and I stop having to save each other’s lives.”

My voice carried farther than I’d planned.

Kieran’s head turned sharply in my direction. Lucy grinned at me sympathetically as I realized just how loudly I’d spoken.

My words hung in the air like giant neon balloons. I swallowed, feeling a flush creep up my cheeks. “I mean . . .” I looked away, mortified. “We should go.”

I ran so fast they had no chance of catching up with me. I stopped and waited for them, once I’d stopped feeling like I might choke on my own stupid embarrassment. Luckily, by the time they did, we had more pressing problems. Nothing like a little war to distract you.

I couldn’t even look at Kieran as we waited for Hunter and the others. When they showed up there was a small group of them, including Quinn. Hunter rattled off her friends’ names: Chloe, Jason, Jenna, Drew, Griffin, Kelly, Regan, and Tyson, among others. They exchanged wary glances, sticking close together. Other than Hunter, only Chloe and Jason didn’t seem particularly fazed.

“Is it true you overthrew the monarchy?” Chloe asked me. She looked disappointed when I nodded.

Despite not being able to look at Kieran, I also couldn’t quite stop myself from sneaking little glances at him. He was standing close enough that his sleeve brushed mine when he shifted.

I forced myself to stop being an idiot.

“Between Chloe and Connor, we intercepted and tracked the call to ambush the camp,” Hunter was explaining. “All landlines to headquarters are down. I managed to get a hold of Spencer and he’s going to mobilize whatever Bower vampires are willing to go in with us.”

“Sebastian, Marcus, and Duncan are still inside the camp with our parents and aunt and uncle,” Quinn added. “Logan’s gone to see if he and Isabeau can rally any of the Hounds to help us, and Connor’s with Christabel trying to get the Na-Foir to fight too. Not convinced on that end, I gotta say.”

“Well, Saga likes a good fight,” Lucy put in. “So that might help.”

“So we have a secret Black Lodge of students, a handful of vampires, and some weapons?” Hunter asked. “I’m not loving the odds yet.”

“And some tranq guns,” Lucy said. “I stole three.”

“And I hid a bunch of them up a tree near the Bower,” I added.

“You did?” Quinn asked. “When? Why?”

“Lucy and I were talking and it gave me some ideas. I got some of Uncle Geoffrey’s sedative and loaded a bunch of dart guns, just in case.”

“Because of London,” Nicholas guessed quietly.

“Partly.”

“There’s the Chandramaa too,” Quinn added before the moment stretched from awkward to sad. “They’ve got Mom’s ferocity and Lucy’s aim.”

“Aw, thanks.” Lucy beamed at him.

“But they were decimated earlier tonight,” I broke in. “Their numbers are definitely depleted.” When they stared at me I just waved it away. “Vampire assassin. Long story.”

“So maybe we need a new enemy,” Kieran suggested slowly. “One both sides have to stop fighting each other to defeat.”

“Like who?” Hunter asked.

“Saga’s Hel-Blar.”

Nicholas gaped at him. “Why not just throw a live grenade and blow everyone up instead? Be quicker.”

“Those Hel-Blar aren’t quite as feral as the others,” I pointed out, agreeing with Kieran. “At least not while they’re wearing the collars.” I rubbed my neck. “It suppressed my pheromones. It does the same for them in some weird way.”

“Do we still not know how those work?” Hunter asked.

“Magic,” I said. “At least partly. So basically, no. No idea.”

We spread out between the trees, moving as quietly as we could. The students all had compasses with the coordinates Connor had sent Chloe. My brothers and I just followed the scent of the night, which was already tainted. It was faint but wrong, and very hard to describe, something between burning petals and wet, rusty iron.

I hung back, keeping pace with Kieran. “Can I talk to you?”

He stopped, turning to face me. His eyes were so dark, like a moonlit night. I tried not to stare at the faint scar on his throat. “I was hoping . . .” I trailed off, biting my lower lip. “That is, I know you’re going to the college in Scotland. But I wondered . . .”

“Solange, what are you trying to say?”

I drank in the sight of him, standing so tall and patient with the snow and the bare black trees all around him. “I’m saying I still love you,” I replied, forcing myself to be brave. If I could face the kind of fight we were about to walk into, I could face this. He deserved better than my shy, awkward fear. Especially now. I wanted him to remember me, not Viola. “And I know I hurt you but I’m hoping maybe you could give me a chance to make it up to you.”

“You fought your way back to me,” he replied, just as quietly; but his smile was like an ember, catching fire to all the cold inside my chest. “That’s all I care about.”

And then he finally kissed me.

It was like a first kiss, tentative, gentle, searching. I could remember who we used to be, could follow the trail of all the nights we’d spend talking, walking on the beach, driving around. I could follow them like fireflies, like shooting stars, like sparks.

Everything melted away for one brief, beautiful moment. The kiss seared through me as he slanted his mouth over mine. Our tongues met, our fingers tangled, our bodies touched. I could have kept kissing him for hours, if we’d had the time.

We parted reluctantly and kept walking through the snow silent and smiling.

The others were silhouettes all around us, but I could still hear them. I caught the occasional glint of light off a metal zipper, the rasp of a stake being passed anxiously from hand to hand. “So you’ve changed your mind about Solange?” Lucy was asking the girl with the red hair.

“No way.” She snorted. “I’ll do this for the League and for you and Hunter because you’re sisters-at-arms, but she’s a vampire.”

“She’s a girl.”

“Who drinks blood.”

“Please,” Lucy scoffed. “I’ve seen you eat marzipan. On purpose. That stuff’s just gross.” She paused. I could hear her smirking. “So did Tyson ask you out?”

“Tell you what,” Jenna shot back. “If I don’t die horribly tonight, I’ll worry about my love life. It can wait.”

“Take it from me,” Lucy said drily. “If you’re waiting for all this drama to be over before making your move, you’ll be waiting forever.”

And then the nervous chatter, the sidelong glances, the checking of weapons all fell away.

There wasn’t room for anything but what we were about to do.