“The Chandramaa,” I croaked. Constantine was just standing on the deserted path, broken. He swayed, looking worse than I felt, and I was the one about to be torn apart by an angry mob.
“Vampire tradition allows us a royal execution if all the tribes agree.”
“But I was possessed! Can’t I abdicate? Name a regent or something?” I was really starting to hate vampire traditions. There was no fairness to them, no second chances. Just a stake in the heart if you made a mistake, like medieval law. I’d seen the Middle Ages firsthand and it wasn’t all pretty dresses.
“That seems fair,” a girl pointed out, the pink daisy in her hair incongruous against all the fangs and bloodshot eyes.
“Not good enough,” Lars argued fiercely. The Furies shouted their agreement. “She nearly exposed us all. My own son fell to a Huntsman just last night because of her recklessness.”
“Murdering a sixteen-year-old girl won’t bring him back,” his wife said wearily.
He growled like a wounded bear. “If they won’t grant me an execution, then I demand blood debt. Her life for my son’s life.” He smiled then, and it made me take a step back. “Trial by combat.”
“Are you kidding?” I blurted out. He was more than twice my size. All I had were bats. A few circled over us, squeaking.
“If you insist on that antiquated tradition,” my father suddenly interjected loudly from the edge of the crowd, his eyes flashing, “then my daughter has the right to name a champion to fight in her place.”
“Fine. Who will it be? You?” He chuckled condescendingly. “The peacemaker?”
“No,” my mother corrected, stepping out from behind my dad, her smile cold and dreadful. “Me.”
Lars blanched.
If I’d been five years old still, I would have added a “nah-nah-nah-boo-boo.”
The crowd fell silent. He let go of my hair and I scrambled out of his reach, rubbing my tingling scalp.
“You can still withdraw with honor,” Dad said gently. “And we can reconvene the council and continue with the real work of the hour.” Lars spat on the ground. “Guess not,” Dad added mildly. “Before you begin, know that my daughter was the victim of possession and has been exorcised. The Hounds’ handmaiden will attest to it.”
“The one allied to your family?” someone scoffed loudly. “With your own son initiated? What do you take us for?”
“Are you maligning Kala?” Finn asked quietly. He was tall and blond and usually so silent it was creepy. He could have given Sebastian lessons. He was also thousands of years old and I hadn’t seen him since Isabeau had first arrived at the courts. Those months felt like years.
Whoever had spoken lost herself in the crowd.
“Choose your own shaman,” Dad suggested. “And have my daughter tested.”
“No, we’ll decide now,” Lars insisted.
A Chandramaa guard stepped forward, holding two quarter-staves with pointed tips. She was tall, with short black hair and the red insignia stitched onto her sleeveless tunic. She gave Mom the black-tipped staff and Lars took the white one. They each had a red feather attached, like the one the guard wore in her hair.
Someone I didn’t know placed the crown on the ground between Mom and Lars. More Moon guards stood in a circle, defining the battling ground. Lars’s clan stood behind his wife, fists over their hearts in solidarity. “Dad,” I said, holding his hand tightly, as if I was still a little girl. “Has anyone realized this is the twenty-first century? This isn’t justice.”
“I know,” he squeezed my fingers. “Don’t worry,” he added, but I could see the way his jaw clenched. Mom was the only one who didn’t seem bothered. She actually looked pleased.
“To the death, I presume?” she asked lightly, swinging her staff experimentally to get the feel of it.
“Yes,” Lars replied.
“No,” his wife broke in hotly. “I’ve lost my son; I won’t lose my husband too.”
Lars raised his eyebrows. “Alva, she’s tiny.”
Alva looked disgusted. I had the distinct impression that if she’d had an iron skillet nearby she’d have clobbered him over the head with it. “Don’t be an ass.” She pointed at the guard, fangs extended. “First blood.” Lars grumbled but didn’t say anything else when his wife shot him the kind of look I thought only Mom could wield.
Mom inclined her head. “First blood is acceptable.”
They both held out their left hands, palm up. The Chandramaa guard scored them lightly with the tip of a ruby-handled blade until blood welled to the surface. They flung the drops over the crown and stepped back; the fight had automatically begun.
Lars attacked first, his staff missing Mom so narrowly I yelped. The pointed tip slammed into the dirt with such force it sounded like a horse’s hoof hitting the ground. It stuck slightly when he went to swing it again. Snow and earth flung in every direction. Mom ducked and used her own staff for leverage. She swung around, using her locked legs as a battering ram. Her boots smashed into his chest. Lars staggered backward, knocking down several bystanders.
He swung low, hoping to catch more across the knees. She leaped up nimbly, slamming the butt of her staff into his shoulder. He howled, bones cracking. But she hadn’t cut through his skin and there was no blood. The fight continued.
Their staffs cracked against each other, like bones breaking and skulls shattering. Mom deflected a downward blow by reaching up with the staff in a horizontal position. Lars parried her next attack by smashing it aside. She danced backward and then extended, flipping the staff in both hands as if it were a sword. She thrust forward, hitting his sternum. She feinted low and when he went to block she caught him in the throat. He gagged, his muscles contracting viciously. He slammed his staff down into her upper thigh, catching her at such a brutal angle that her leg gave out. She fell to one knee.
“Helena,” Dad breathed.
Mom shifted her hold on the staff and instead of using it to get back on her feet, she jabbed up, hitting Lars under the chin. The staff kept going, hitting his mouth and nose. Blood splattered into the ground.
“First blood!” the Chandramaa guard announced. “Surrender your weapons.” Her compatriots rushed in to disarm Lars and my mother. Mom limped over to where he was sprawled in the dirt, blood oozing from his split lip and cracked nose.
“I’m sorry your son died,” she said bluntly. “But my daughter was a victim of the same person. She’s gone now. I hope you find some comfort in that.”
“Enough,” Alva said, when Lars swore, fists clenched. There were tears mingling with the blood on his face.
The guard used the end of one of the staffs to hook the crown and toss it at me. “It is done.” She bowed in my direction. “Hail the queen.”
I cringed, holding the bloody crown clutched in my hands.
Chapter 27
Lucy
Thursday night/Friday morning, past curfew
After Nicholas walked me to school, I still had two classes left. I went to each of them, taking conscientious notes and doing drills until sweat soaked the back of my shirt to make up for skipping so much this past week. Connor snuck me a text to let me know that everyone was okay so I was even able to concentrate.
I was washing my face in the deserted girls’ bathroom minutes before curfew when I heard a “psst.” I splashed more water on my face, thinking one of the taps must be leaking.
“I said, psst.”
I turned off the water. “Um, hello?” I looked over my shoulder. Chloe’s head poked out of one of the stalls, her wild hair ruthlessly scraped into a tight ponytail. She wore a black T-shirt and black leggings. I blinked at her. “Are you a cat burglar now?”
She eased out, casting a suspicious glance under the other stall doors. “We’re breaking into Bellwood’s office,” she whispered so low it was barely audible.
“What, now?”
She nodded. “I hacked an e-mail that said all the teachers are in a meeting with Hart right now and mos
t of the other hunters are out patroling. It’s now or never.”
“Is there any particular reason we’re breaking into the principal’s office?” I asked curiously.
“I can’t break her encryption,” Chloe answered crankily. “But there’s definitely something going on. And the last time something was going on I nearly grew a mustache and students died.” She paused in the hallway. “So are you in?”
“Of course, I’m in,” I replied. “What a question.”
“What about . . .” She nodded to my dorm room door, where my roommate lay in her perfectly made bed.
I glanced at my watch. “Lights out,” I said drily. “Sarita is nothing if not punctual.”
“Won’t she tattle?”
“I still have my permission slip for tonight,” I told her.
We snuck down the back stairwell where Hunter and her friend Jason waited. He had a kind, gentle smile. I’d met him a few times in the cafeteria during meals. Hunter shook her head. “How much backup do you think we need?” she asked Chloe. “It’s like sneaking a herd of elephants.”
“Jason’s the best at locks,” Chloe reminded her.
“And I’m just here because I’m nosy,” I added helpfully.
“Just don’t get caught,” Hunter said.
“I already have enough detention, thanks.”
“I’m not worried about your detention.” She snorted. “I’m worried about mine. We’re looking at expulsion if this goes wrong.”
I beamed at her, smiling wide. “What could go wrong?”
“Exactly.” She checked her watch. “Jenna is already up a tree on lookout. I’m going to take the back door to the building. Lucy, you keep a lookout inside the building, outside the office door when Jason and Chloe go in. Everyone’s got their phone on silent mode?”
“Sir, yes sir!” I gave her a mock salute. She just stuck out her tongue at me. “If Sarita could see you now, she’d be crushed,” I added with pretend-sorrow.
“Let’s go,” Hunter suggested, rolling her eyes at me. “And be careful. Most of the agents are out on patrol but you just never know.”
I stopped teasing once we were outside because she was right, we could get in a lot of trouble for this. The moon was bright over the snow, which made it all that much harder to sneak about. We darted from tree to tree, giving the infirmary with its bright lights a wide berth. Hunter was already ahead of us, picking through the gardens. I saw the bushes shiver when she did a weird acrobatic back bend. “What is she doing?”
“Avoiding the cameras,” Chloe explained. “I temporarily deactivated the ones in the office but if I tampered with too many of them it would be a red flag.”
“I’m a little scared of how efficient you guys are.”
“This coming from the girl who regularly punches vampires in the nose and lives to tell about it.”
The building was quiet with all the classrooms dark and empty. Classes had ended over a couple of hours ago and as promised, Bellwood’s office was also deserted. We picked our way past the lockers, our shoes scuffing on the polished wooden floors. Jason led the way down the hall and Chloe and I pressed our backs to the wall, waiting for him to deactivate the lock. He had a bag filled with old-fashioned lock picks, complicated listening devices, rings of keys, and plastic cards. After about ten minutes of patient fiddling, which would have had me screaming with frustration, the door swung open on oiled hinges.
Chloe kissed his cheeks with a louder squeak than the hinges. “You are brilliant.”
“The windows have the serious security,” he said modestly. “No one’s dumb enough to try this from inside.”
“Except us,” she said proudly. “I want those passwords.” She rubbed her hands together like a villain in a bad movie.
“If you hear anything, flash a light at us,” Jason whispered, handing me his flashlight. “The office might be bugged.”
It was both boring and surprisingly nerve-racking to be lookout. I was used to being thrown into events without warning, but all this careful listening and excruciating waiting was making my palms sweat. I jumped twice at the sound of my own heartbeat, mistaking it for footsteps. A half hour later, when my back teeth hurt from clenching them so tightly, Chloe practically skipped out of the office. She waved a data stick at me. Her smile was huge and smug as a cat’s. “Got ’em.” She beamed.
The return trip to the dorms wasn’t nearly as smooth.
For one thing, a van of hunters returned just as we were stepping out of the building. Jason didn’t speak, only shoved us back inside. We stumbled against one another just as the spear of headlights swept across the pathway. The van rumbled across the lawn, straight to the infirmary.
Hunter popped out of the bushes beside us, frowning. “That’s not good.”
Chloe yelped and elbowed me in the boob. “Shit, Chloe!” I yelped back.
“Shh,” Hunter added. “Hello? Stealthy, remember?”
“Tell that to my left boob.”
We eased around the building, trying to find a safe spot to hide to get a better look at the van. Jenna dropped out of a tree and Jason clamped a hand over Chloe’s mouth so her startled scream wouldn’t give us away. The van stopped and the headlights went out. Hunter motioned us to the pond but didn’t follow. Instead, she went low, and headed to the van. We dashed away, then crouched in the darkness to watch and wait. We lay in the long grass, our feet tucked against the bank of dark water. The snow seeped into my pants, making me shiver.
Hunter crept along the edge of the gardens, as close to the front door as she could. She stopped halfway up the path, hiding behind a juniper. She tossed something into the bushes and then ran to join us as the van’s front doors opened. She slid into the grass as if she were playing baseball. The swan gave a loud indignant honk. “I hate that bird,” she muttered.
Two hunters stepped out onto the path, wearing their full gear under the cover of winter coats. When Hunter fished a small black surveillance gadget out of her pocket, we could hear the sound of their footsteps as they went around to the back of the van.
“Wireless surveillance amplifier,” she explained with a smile equally as smug as Chloe’s when she’d danced out of Bellwood’s office. “There’s only one bug left inside the infirmary. They keep doing sweeps.”
“Where do you get this stuff?” I asked. “Seriously, do you stockpile it?”
“Kieran stole this for me last week from his uncle’s basement. It’s last year’s model so no one will miss it.”
“I had no idea the boy scout was such a delinquent,” I said, impressed. “He keeps surprising me.” We tucked ourselves deeper into the frostbitten grass as the hunters began to talk. Chloe couldn’t help but inspect the surveillance gadget.
“Another body,” the man said wearily when Theo came out of the infirmary. “She died on the way here.”
Theo shook his head. “Damn it, I feel as if I’m running a morgue instead of an infirmary.”
“Keep her under surveillance,” the female hunter said as she slid the gurney out of the van. “If she doesn’t turn we’ll put her back where we found her and call the authorities.”
“And if she turns?” Theo asked, even though I could tell by the look on his face that he already knew the answer.
“We stake her.”
“She’s not instantly evil,” I whispered furiously. “She’d just be a vampire.” In my indignation, I must have been louder than I’d thought because the hunters reached for their stakes.
“Shit.” Hunter started to scuttle backward. “Into the pond,” she added, sliding under the cold water. We followed as quickly and quietly as we could. The hunter stalked our way as the icy water stole my breath. Even though I wanted to scream at the shock of it, there was no air left in my lungs. It wasn’t as cold here as in the mountains and the snow was still merely decorative, but it was still too damn cold for a swim. Chloe’s head popped up beside mine and we curled into the weeds. Jason’s lips were already blue.
<
br /> The hunters were getting closer.
Too close.
The woman had a gun at her belt and looked like she was in the mood to shoot first and ask questions later. My fingers cramped with cold as I held onto the bank, trying not to move my legs and create any ripples.
Just as they were crossing into the longer grass, Hunter dove under the water and yanked on the swan’s leg. It squawked and hurled itself into the air, flying so erratically in its surprise that it clipped one of the hunters in the ear. They stumbled, cursing and ducking.
We crawled out of the pond as quickly as we could. The water made my sweater three times as heavy as it had been and filled my boots. My teeth chattered. Even my bones were cold.
“That damn bird still lives here?” the guy muttered as they turned away from the pond and went to push the sheet-covered body up to the double doors. The fluorescent lights were cruel and uncompromising, falling brightly over bloodstains. Theo peered under the sheet and frowned as we huddled close to one another, trying not to die from exposure. Hunter, being Hunter, had the foresight to leave the transmitter in the grass, so we would still hear them talking. She’d even knocked Chloe’s data stick out of her hand, since she was still clutching it like a little girl at her first carnival with her first cotton candy.
“She was alive when you found her?” Theo asked.
“Barely, but yes.”
“Those bite marks are too perfect for all the blood she lost. And those cuts on her wrists are older, as if she was chained up.” Theo shook his head. “These damn disappearances and attacks are getting stranger and stranger.” The door shut behind them and we couldn’t hear what else he had to say.
“Solange didn’t do that,” I whispered, my knees creaking as I pushed off the snow. “She’s herself again. Plus she’s been at the camp.” My jeans felt like they were frozen right onto my skin.
“I can’t help but wonder if this Dawn chick would get better results,” the female hunter muttered, as she and her partner left the infirmary. “ ‘Cause we’re shit useless these days.”
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