We clung to the trunk, swearing. “Are you okay?” Christa asked.
“Fine,” he replied, sounding pissed. The Hel-Blar went to dust at his feet. “It’ll take a few minutes to boot up before we can recalibrate it. Just hang on.”
Once the satellite had little red lights popping up, he had me connect his laptop, which was in my backpack. Considering he’d had to fix my laptop one of the first times I’d met him because I’d accidentally pressed a button I didn’t even know existed, I thought he was being rather optimistic. He gave me a bunch of letters and backslashes to type in. The screen garbled at me, but when I read him what I saw he seemed satisfied. Until I got the blue screen of death. Even I knew what that meant.
“It’s frozen,” I called down.
“Turn it off and on again.”
“I tried that already.”
He climbed up to my branch. “Keep watch,” he said to me as we attached nose plugs over our nostrils. I started to climb back down, to be closer to Nicholas. He couldn’t fight off all those Hel-Blar by himself, no matter how kick-ass he was lately.
Connor opened his laptop and slipped straight into computer geek mode. He muttered words that made no sense to me, the same way Christabel muttered nineteenth-century poetry.
From my vantage point I could see a fresh wave of Hel-Blar arriving. Even on a purely moonless, starless night, I would have seen them. That many Hel-Blar were hard to miss. “Incoming!”
They swarmed around us, running to the battle. A few passed right underneath us and I had a fleeting hope that they’d all keep running by and Nicholas could scurry up the tree to safety. The last few found the ashes of their brothers coating the roots and screeched in fury. Half a dozen surrounded our tree and began to climb up. Nicholas did his best to stop them, grabbing their clothing and yanking them off even as he defended himself from fangs and fetid breath.
Christabel frowned down at me when I started to move. “Where are you going?”
“I have to help Nicholas.”
She pulled out of her bag a handful of the Hypnos-pepper eggs that Uncle Geoffrey duplicated from a mixture I’d stolen from school. Stakes and swords weren’t much use to her, but she could throw these like rotten eggs on Halloween night, if she had to.
She had to.
She lowered her backpack with the rest of her stash to me. I put my arms through the straps, wearing it over my chest for easy access. “Nic, heads up!” I tossed an extra pair at him when he looked up. “Connor,” I said, throwing my first egg. I was glad I was only halfway up the tree. Any higher and I would have been dizzy with vertigo by now. “You might want to hurry up.”
He glanced down, swore, and started to type faster. “I just have to wait for this to bounce to Chloe and her files. Chloe’s trying to activate Hope’s cell phone’s GPS tag. Now we just have to combine the codes and IPs with the GPS system. ”
I wasn’t really listening, I was too busy trying to toss eggs at the Hel-Blar without also tossing myself. I wrapped my ankle around a branch and leaned as far forward as I could. Cayenne pepper and Hypnos exploded. Above me, Christabel did the same.
“Go to sleep!” I shouted as the powder sank into their pores and drifted up their nostrils and down their throats. Two Hel-Blar tumbled out of the tree, arms and legs still curled as if they were climbing. Branches splintered as they fell. I kept throwing, as hard as I could. I kept them off Nicholas as he kicked them into the bushes.
By the time Connor gave a triumphant hoot, Hel-Blar littered the ground like dead cockroaches, hands and feet sticking up.
“Gotcha,” Connor said, grimly satisfied. He reached for his phone, dialing quickly as he clambered down to mid-tree level, behind Christabel. “Bruno,” he said. “Phase Two is complete, and Logan sent word that Phase Three is also done.” I couldn’t hear Bruno’s exact words but the smug triumph was clearly audible. Connor was equally smug when he added, “And now I have Hope’s exact location.”
Chapter 41
Solange
I couldn’t find my brothers.
There were too many bodies and too many battles and too much blood. I couldn’t even hear Quinn’s mad battle laugh over the noise. The Hel-Blar had finally found us. And though we’d been right about them forcing the hunters and the vampires to split their focus, the results were chaotic.
Somehow Mom spotted Kieran and me the moment we stepped off the ladders leading down from the platforms. There was a gash on her arm where something sharp had sliced through her sleeve and then her skin. Her eyes flared so pale, they were like frozen water. I didn’t know where the rest of my family was, except for Aunt Ruby, who was hunched over one of the dead hunters, collecting treasures from his pockets. She considered anything shiny a treasure; coin, knife, safety pin. She moved on to rifle through the discarded clothing of a dusted vampire.
Mom kissed my forehead and then pivoted, dragging her dagger across the throat of a Hel-Blar. He gurgled as she finished him off with the stake in her other hand. “Take cover,” she ordered me, spinning away again, her braid lifting behind her.
She left a trail of ashes ending in an unconscious Huntsman. He’d tried to stake her and she’d backhanded him into a tree. The Huntsmen had figured out that we were trying not to kill them. They had no such qualms.
And then the Host caught sight of my mother and me fighting together and they went as mad with bloodlust as any Hel-Blar I’d ever seen.
The sight of so many familiar brown tunics, all painted with Montmartre’s crest, made me freeze for a moment.
A moment too long.
I knew better. I’d trained for hours the way most girls spent hours reading books or shopping at the mall or learning to play the piano. I knew how to riposte and parry with a fencing foil, how to throw daggers and axes, how to execute a proper roundhouse kick. But in that second, all I could see was Montmartre as he’d grabbed me and the feel of the tiara as I’d shoved it through his chest.
The rest of his warriors, still loyal to his memory and the torch of blood vengeance, closed around us like a fist. They moved with military precision.
Luckily, so did Kieran.
Chapter 42
Lucy
We ran all the way to the platforms, trailing jaw-clacking Hel-Blar.
There was so much adrenaline coursing through me, I felt sick. “This was a better idea in theory.” I panted, even though between Nicholas on one side and Christabel on the other, my feet barely touched the ground.
Nicholas managed to find an actual rope ladder, not just a rope with knots for handholds. Connor went up first so he could hang down and lift us up when we got within reach. I followed Christabel. Nicholas stayed on the ground, a long dagger in one hand and a stake in the other. He broke into a run when we were too far up the tree to stop him, drawing the Hel-Blar off our scent.
“Damn it,” Connor said, practically tossing me up on the platform. “Why does he keep doing that?”
I raced across the platforms, keeping my eye on Nicholas, willing him to stop running so I could cover him properly with my bow. Connor dropped back down to the ground, darting after his brother. Christabel and I kept going, leaping over the broken boards and skirting small fires. I choked on smoke, eyes tearing.
It wasn’t long before we were back on the edge of the battle and the Hel-Blar abandoned us in favor of the fallen wounded, who were bleeding in the snow. Nicholas and Connor went for the nearest ladder, pulling it up behind them once they’d reached a platform. We ran until we found Chloe sitting on the rough planks, rubbing the back of her neck. She was hunched over her laptop. Jenna had lashed herself to a branch by her waist. She straddled it, feet dangling on either side. I had to duck under her boots. These platforms must have been used by the Moon Guard because there were rails and makeshift roofs, baskets of food, and a jug of water. I took a long drink, only now realizing how thirsty I was.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
Jenna just grunted and loosed another arrow
. Chloe was slightly wild-eyed. “I much prefer computer hacking to actual hacking,” she said. “I’m sending Hope’s coordinates to Hart,” she added to Connor.
“And Hunter?” I asked, peering over the side.
Hunter still hadn’t moved away from her grandfather’s body. She was defending it with grim precision, her blond ponytail swinging behind her. Quinn stayed at her side, dispatching a Hel-Blar and knocking aside a hunter with the same blow. Jenna shot another arrow, taking out a Hel-Blar who strayed too close to them. I reached for my own arrows, nocking one to the bowstring even as I widened my stance for better balance.
I searched for Solange, finally spotting her at the edge of the clearing with Kieran and Helena, all surrounded by Host vampires. Nicholas saw them too.
“Stay here,” he ordered as I shot an arrow through two Host, turning them both to dust. “Please,” he added desperately. Since I was better able to help from up here, I didn’t argue. He kissed me quickly, fiercely, and then he was gone over the railing. He landed nimbly and I covered him as he crossed the battlefield toward Solange.
Having a Drake for a boyfriend and one for a best friend was a full-time job.
Chapter 43
Solange
Kieran stepped in front of both Mom and me and shot one of the guns off his belt. It didn’t fire bullets or holy water. Instead, flares exploded with fiery trails, blinding the Host who were coming for us. Red flashes seared the darkness for a blinding, eye-stabbing moment.
Mom was already flipping over Kieran’s head, landing in front of him once the flares had burned out. Trails of light burned into my eyelids like comets every time I blinked. The Host closest to us shouted, covering their faces. There was a pause in the fighting as everyone was silhouetted in impossible red light.
I snapped out of my momentary panic and balanced my mother’s flip by sliding low through the snow, stake in hand. I went left as she went right and we made our own fist, closing deadly fingers around the Host. They didn’t notice right away, assuming they had the upper hand because there were more of them.
You’d think they’d have figured out not to underestimate my mother by now.
As for me, I was happy to be underestimated. I’d finally realized being underestimated could be a powerful weapon. I stood still, pretending to be frozen with fear again.
They turned toward me, eyes flaring and fangs flashing.
Mom’s sword turned hilt over tip above their heads and I reached up to grab it out of the air. The familiar weight of a sword in my hand made me smile. I used it to knock a stake out of a vampire’s hand, flipping it to Kieran. He caught it, immediately going into a fight stance. The world narrowed to my sword, the crunch of snow under the boots of approaching Host, the hiss of anger as they got closer to me, and the sound of bat wings.
And then Kieran went down.
He vanished from sight as Host closed around him. An arrow flew out of the trees behind us. It hit one of the Host and she stumbled back, clutching at the shaft embedded in her stomach. Blood welled between her fingers. Hel-Blar howled at the edge of the circle, trying to join the fray when they smelled her fresh blood.
I still couldn’t see what had happened to Kieran.
I leaped forward, decapitating the Hel-Blar and stabbing the nearest Host. When he doubled over in pain, I kicked him out of the way. The next Host crumbled to ashes when I slid the tip of my blade into his chest. I was yanking the sword free when a blow caught me on the back of the neck. I stumbled and fell hard to my knees. Bats lowered like a curtain. Shielded, I crawled forward in the boot-churned snow.
Kieran was bleeding from a cut over his eyebrow and there was a gash on his knee through a tear in his cargo pants, but he was alive. Relief made my eyes water. We scrambled to our feet, standing back to back against the rest of the Host. Nicholas was suddenly there too. Bats and arrows shot between us, as if the very air wanted us to fight back.
But there was one weapon left in Hope’s arsenal and it was far more dangerous than rogue units, stakes, and Hypnos powder. None of us could defeat it, not even my mother.
Actual dawn.
Chapter 44
Lucy
There were bodies everywhere.
Jenna and I had run out of arrows and we were leaning against the tree, shaking out our exhausted arms when the sun shot its first rays between the bare trees. Fires belched smoke and heat. The bats had finally flown away to some nearby cave. The snow was red with blood.
I searched the bodies for familiar faces. Unconscious hunters lay next to sedated vampires. Hunter still refused to let anyone near the body of her grandfather. Bellwood’s leg was broken. Jenna made a strange sound. I glanced at her. “What?”
She shoved past me, sliding down the rope so fast her hands must have chafed raw. I ran to the other side of the bridge and saw her grab Tyson and try to lift him up. He didn’t respond. When she looked up at Chloe, Nicholas and me, she shook her head, tears running down the soot and dirt on her face. I felt my own eyes burn hotly in response.
Night faded slowly, lightening from black to gray until finally a warm glow seeped between the trees.
Solange was the first to fall.
Kieran caught her up in his arms and dashed over bodies and ashes to get her to the safety of the bunker under the Drake tent. Helena followed behind, pulling a hood up over her head to shield herself. Her footsteps dragged and I knew it was strictly force of will that made her able to run that fast. She’d be fine under the cover of the tent, but the bright sunlight reflecting off the snow was too much for her. It was too much for most of the vampires. Liam and Uncle Geoffrey searched for the brothers, finding Quinn, Logan, and Isabeau. Connor stumbled out of the woods, carrying a passed-out Christabel before he fell over himself. Marcus and Duncan were helping each other, stumbling like drunken college students as I shimmied down the rope.
I didn’t even know how to feel until Nicholas collapsed.
Logically, I knew he wasn’t hurt. It was just the dawn, taking him away. But I reacted as if he was Tyson or Hunter’s grandfather or any of the piles of unidentified ashes blowing over the churned-up snow.
I leaped over bodies to land crouched beside him, bow in hand, snarling protectively. Aunt Hyacinth was the one who came to take him away, being the eldest and the most able to withstand the sun. There were gashes in her corset and her bustle had long since deflated. She put Nicholas over her shoulder and stalked away as I watched, panic receding slightly.
Jason stood next to Sebastian, looking worried. Sebastian was slurring his words, trying to stay upright. Aunt Hyacinth stopped momentarily and frowned at Jason. “Well? Bring him, boy!”
Jason hurried to comply, putting an arm under Sebastian’s shoulder and supporting his weight. Chloe joined Kieran, who now had his arm around Hunter. Her eyes were red but dry, like embers. “Bruno found Spencer,” Hunter told us. “He’s all right. They took him to the Drake tent.” Numbly, we watched new hunters arrive down the path. Jenna stood next to us, in shock.
Hart was in the lead, snapping his gaze immediately onto Kieran who had just returned from the tents. “Are you all right?”
Kieran just nodded, exhausted. Hart took stock of the area, swearing wearily. He sent the Helios-Ra agents who’d come from town with him to help the others. There were the sounds of struggles and swearing behind us. The hunters who hadn’t been sedated and had started coming out of the woods to finish off any vulnerable vampires were being blocked by Hart’s unit. I felt sure anyone attempting to storm the Drake tent would get a fangful of Helena.
Paramedics picked their way through the mess. Theo was already stabilizing Bellwood’s leg. Ms. Dailey hadn’t survived the gunshot to her belly. More teachers came to help. Mr. York arrived to relieve the rest of the Black Lodge, still guarding the drugged hunters, some of whom were stirring awake.
I took notice of everything, but nothing made sense. I was running on the last sour dregs of adrenaline and shock. There was blood o
n my jeans and I didn’t even know whose it was.
Liam doubled back to join us, covered in a thick coat with a hood. Blood trickled from various wounds and the sleeve of his coat was ripped, but from fang or knife, I couldn’t tell. He was pale as glass but perfectly upright and coherent. “Everyone’s accounted for,” he said, after kissing the top of my head. “You’re grounded,” he said as an afterthought, before turning to Hart.
“Is it done?” Hart asked.
Liam nodded. “We’re ready for you.”
“Are you sure it’ll work?”
“Sure enough,” he replied.
“And how long will it last?”
“Until the new moon,” Liam said. “That should give the authorities plenty of time.”
“Anyone know what’s going on?” I asked Hunter, Kieran, and Chloe. They all shook their heads, as confused as I was. When Liam and Hart walked away, we followed. They led us to a pile of boulders on the edge of the battleground. Bruno and his men had Hope handcuffed and her guards tied up on the ground. Hart motioned to a woman with a small camera. She switched it on to record and aimed it at Hope.
“Okay, that’s weird,” I whispered. “I mean weirder than usual. Right?”
“Hope,” Liam said, his pupils dilating dangerously. Hope shrank back from the compulsion cast by his pheromones but she had nowhere to go. Bruno held her in place. “Do you have anything to confess?”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. It opened again, as if she couldn’t help herself. Her eyes rolled in her head like a wild, panicked horse. “I, Hope MacAllister, confess to killing Roarke Black. I also organized the kidnapping of Kieran Black and Lucy Hamilton. I confess to other kidnappings and forcible confinement and the draining of blood from several victims taken from Violet Hill, attributed to the Dracula Killer.” Sweat beaded on her upper lip. She shook her head desperately. “No,” she moaned.
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