Blood Prophecy

CHAPTER 38



Lucy


“Nicholas!” Connor grabbed his arm and nearly got decapitated before Nicholas realized who it was. “We need backup. Now. Because if this works, we won’t be safe anywhere.” He paused, frowning at Quinn, who looked up at his twin with his fangs extended. Hunter crouched over her grandfather, in shock.

Connor took a step forward, but Quinn shook his head. “Go,” he mouthed.

“Wait for me!” I scrambled after Nicholas and Connor and they turned as one. Nicholas didn’t even look back, he just put his arm out behind him so I could grab his hand. He towed me around bloody skirmishes, his firm grip a comforting anchor. I tried not to notice the smell of blood, the moans of pain, the red staining the snow.

We raced between the trees, circling around to the edge of the camp and then up into the mountains. By the time Connor had taken us to one of the caves, my lungs burned and my calf muscles were tight as bowstrings. Inside the damp cave, Christabel was arguing with Saga and Aidan.

And clearly getting nowhere.

“We don’t owe you,” Saga fumed. “Aidan saved you, you ungrateful wretch.”

“If he hadn’t kidnapped me, he wouldn’t have had to save me!” Christabel yelled back.

Saga didn’t even look our way, but the dagger she threw would have caught me right in the stomach if Connor hadn’t reached out to grab it, even as Nicholas tackled me to the cold ground. I landed hard, my breath knocked right out of my already strained lungs. Nicholas turned his head to glare, his eyes a deadly silver.

“That’s my cousin!” Christabel shouted.

I coughed painfully as Nicholas eased off me.

“Oh, Lucy, I’m so sorry,” she said, reaching down to help me up. Her grip nearly broke my fingers. When I squeaked, she winced. “Sorry! I keep forgetting I’m like the Incredible Hulk.”

Nicholas stayed between me and Saga. She didn’t looked particularly sorry, mostly amused. Aidan just looked tired.

“You brought a human to our home uninvited?” Saga asked, her red hair like fire down her back. “You ought to know the consequences.”

“My family,” Christabel snapped.

“We’re your family now.” Saga shrugged.

“Then act like it,” she shot back smugly.

“I thought we’d been through this already,” Aidan interjected, trying to sound reasonable. They both bared their fangs at him.

“If you want to be part of vampire society so badly,” Connor said, “then be a part of it. Especially now that it needs your help.”

“And where were the lot of you when we needed help?” Saga scoffed.

Now that daggers weren’t being thrown at me, I couldn’t help but glance around curiously. The cave was full of pelts and weapons and the usual coolers of blood bags. Saga and Aidan were both so pale, even more than Christabel. They were nearly translucent, the blue of their veins like gasoline trails. Saga wore rolled-up jeans and a silvery breastplate. Aidan had a bear-tooth amulet around his neck that my father would love. His hair was straight and black, and he was distractingly handsome. My heart must have sped up because Nicholas nudged me with his elbow. I tried to look innocent.

Christabel narrowed her eyes. “Fine,” she said smoothly. “Then let me quote your precious Ann Bonny.” Saga was nothing if not a pirate at heart. “If you would have fought like a man you needn’t die like a dog.”

“Nice,” Connor approved quietly.

“I looked it up,” she admitted. That was pure Christabel. She’d be speaking in rhyming couplets any second now.

“I’m not dying for your precious camp,” Saga said. “We have too much left to accomplish when this is over. But I like your sister well enough.”

“You do?” Connor looked startled. Frankly, so was I. After Viola, Solange wasn’t exactly winning any popularity contests.

“She broke the crown into pieces and gave us our due,” Saga explained, as if we were dumb. “Of course I like her. So for that reason, we’ll give you a few of our pets,” she offered finally. “And the wild ones will find you soon enough, if they haven’t already” She shook her head at us. “You’re barking mad, you are.”

Aidan slipped away to give the order to release some of the Hel-Blar. They screeched and howled, sending shivers up my spine. There was something deeply unsettling about watching them scurry and scuttle down the mountainside.

“Now what?” Christabel asked. “I’m not exactly trained for battle.”

“Got a poem for this?” Connor teased her. “Not ‘The Highwayman,’ ” he added. “I finally read it to the end. She kills herself to warn her lover off a trap.”

She wrinkled her nose. “It’s romantic.”

He laughed. She poked him but she was smiling too. No one saw the soft girl under her tough girl quite like Connor did. And no one saw the tough guy under the geek like she did. I was happy for them both, despite the circumstances.

“I hate that I’m a liability to you guys,” she said. “I should stay up here, shouldn’t I? I’ll only hold you back.”

“To be honest, I’d feel better if you were safely up here,” he admitted. “But between my mom and Lucy I’d have been terrified to suggest it.”

“Hey,” I said. Then I glanced at Nicholas. “And don’t get any ideas.”

Christabel sighed. “I can’t see how I can help down there.” She slid him a glance. “You could stay with me.”

“How about I find us one of the better hidden satellites,” he suggested. “We can all go together and if we’re lucky, no one will even notice us.”

Do I even have to say it?

We were totally noticed.