We spread out a blanket and dug into the food right away. We sat shoulder to shoulder, angled out so that we could see in all directions and no one could sneak up on us.
“So what’s the scoop?” I asked, wiping mayo off my top lip. “Any word on Will?”
“Nothing new,” Jason said. “He’s stable enough but they’re still waiting to see which way he goes.”
“It was weird.” I frowned. “Really weird, the way that Hel-Blar just disintegrated.”
“Something’s up,” Jenna agreed, her red hair caught back in a messy braid. Her sneakers had little stars all over them.
“The Niner boys are whispering about some kind of pill that will make them stronger,” Jason said, shaking his head. “I totally don’t want to narc but, man, I’m going to have to if I can’t figure out where they’re getting it from.”
I went cold.
“Wait. What?”
“They’re saying it’s some kind of vitamin that makes you stronger.”
“Will mentioned something about taking vitamins,” I said quietly. I looked at Spencer pointedly. “And Chloe’s taking all these vitamins and protein powders.”
He frowned. “But her mom gave her those. She’s a doctor and a biochemist.”
“True.”
Jenna tilted her head. “If they really are vitamins, who cares? I mean, I’m taking vitamin C right now. My roommate’s got that flu and I really don’t want to catch it. If they need to think it makes them better fighters, where’s the harm? It’s not like they’re on steroids.”
“I guess.” I wasn’t sure why, but I wasn’t convinced.
“But we all agree we need to find out what’s going on, right?” Jason asked. “I mean, with the Hel-Blar and all the secrecy and some of the teachers being all weird?”
Spencer lay on his back, soaking in the sun and abandoning his watch. No one was paying attention to us anyway. It was too nice a day.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said yawning. His dreads spread out around him like honey-pale snakes. “We always do.”
•
I didn’t see Chloe for the rest of the day. But when I went back to our room Friday evening after dinner there was a note on my pillow. It was in her handwriting and read, Sorry. I think I have a wicked case of PMS. She’d left a chocolate bar and a new romance novel as a peace offering. I wasn’t mad anymore, but I was still worried.
So I did what any vampire hunter would do.
I snooped.
I felt bad going through her stuff but I couldn’t help myself. It was no use booting up her computer and going through her files; some of that encryption stuff may as well have been in ancient Babylonian for all that I understood it. Her gym bag was by her bed though, the zipper half open. I could see the white plastic cap on the bottle with the prescription sticker poking out. I plucked it out of the bag, along with the second bottle I found underneath it. That one was a popular brand of protein powder. I looked inside and sniffed it but it seemed innocuous enough. Not that I really knew what I was looking for.
The second label described the contents as a multivitamin and it had Chloe’s name on it and her mom’s. They looked normal and even had the regular gross vitamin smell.
I should let this go. I was being ridiculous.
But it didn’t stop me from pocketing one of the vitamins in case I needed to get it analyzed later.
I was probably just being paranoid. It happened sometimes to hunters. And PMS could totally account for Chloe’s weird mood swings and sudden obsession with working out and combat practice. Still, I kept searching.
I didn’t find anything, though—just her normal assortment of nail polishes and data sticks and computer parts, and her secret bottle of peach schnapps in the back of her closet in her left rain boot. She hid a bottle there every year.
I was being a paranoid idiot.
I closed the closet door with a determined snap. I had enough to worry about with Courtney and the Niners and Will to be rifling through my friend’s stuff.
Like the fact that Quinn was waiting for me in the clearing in the woods right this very moment.
The sun had fully set while I was rummaging through Chloe’s things, which meant Quinn was out there with Kieran and Lucy. Kieran had gotten permission for me to train Lucy as long as we did it out of sight of the school and kept it quiet. It wasn’t a precedent they wanted to set, and there was something about insurance as well. Whatever. I didn’t want an audience. I felt self-conscious enough knowing Quinn would be there.
I took the bag of supplies I’d packed earlier and ducked out of the dormitory, cutting through the gardens to the woods. I avoided the squares of light falling over the grass from the infirmary. The woods were quiet and warm, thick with the smell of pines and the yellow lilies from the edge of the pond. I followed the glow of light on the other side of the pine grove to the clearing where Kieran had already set up a perimeter of lanterns.
I paused at the sound of a footfall behind me. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” Spencer returned good naturedly. “And we’re not getting left out of another night of your stealthy fun.”
Chloe was beside him, smiling hesitantly. “Okay?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Okay. As long as I can kick your ass in the name of training.”
“Deal,” Chloe slung her arm through mine. “I want to get a look at one of the famous Drake brothers.” She lowered her voice. “I really am sorry I snapped at you.”
“I know.” And I’m sorry I went through your stuff, I thought. But I didn’t say it.
Quinn, Lucy, and Kieran were waiting for us in the meadow. Quinn was leaning against a tree, looking dangerous and hot.
“Yummy,” Chloe murmured to me. Quinn flashed us a grin. I fought a blush.
“Vampire hearing, remember?” I murmured back.
She shrugged, grinning back. I tried not to feel jealous of the way he winked at her. I turned my attention deliberately to Lucy. She was wearing an embroidered peasant top with jean shorts and Doc Marten boots. Her hair was in a straight bob, her glasses dark-rimmed.
“I’m so going to learn to kick your ass.” She smirked at Quinn. “And your brother’s.”
“Where is Nicholas?” Kieran asked.
“He’s locked in a closet,” Lucy said with grim satisfaction. After a moment of stunned silence, Quinn snorted out a laugh.
“You locked your boyfriend in a closet?” I asked.
“Cool,” Chloe approved. The rhinestones on her earrings caught the blue lantern light.
Lucy shrugged. “Serves him right. He locked me in there last week.”
Kieran rolled his eyes. “He was trying to save your life.”
“Whatever. Don’t make me lock you in there too.” She rubbed her hands together excitedly. “Come on, Hunter. Show me some stuff.”
“Yeah, Buffy,” Quinn grinned amiably at me, pushing away from the tree as we stepped farther into the clearing. “Show us your moves.”
Lucy shoved him gently toward me. “Use him as your vampire dummy.”
“Hey now.”
“This was your idea,” she told him. “You’re the one who wanted me armed and dangerous.”
“What the hell was I thinking?”
She kissed his cheek, as if he really was her big brother, then turned to me expectantly.
“First, I need to see your style,” I said.
“Steamroller,” Kieran said blandly.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Can I practice on him?”
I swept my arm out in invitation, grinning. “Be my guest.”
She danced back and forth like a boxer, but she was all grace and little technique.
“Just run at him,” I suggested.
She lowered her head and charged him like a demented bull. Kieran waited until the last possible second before stepping out of the way, smirking. Lucy stopped herself, but only barely. Another step and she would have brained he
rself on a tree. She whirled.
“Damn it!” She pointed at Kieran and Quinn. “Don’t you dare laugh.”
Quinn pressed his lips shut with exaggerated care.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Take a swing at him now.”
Kieran backed up so fast he nearly tripped over his own feet. “No way. She already punched me in the face once.”
“Me too,” Quinn said. “She has really good aim.”
“Good. I can work with that,” I replied. “Kieran, pretend to attack her.”
He looked dubious but complied. When he grabbed Lucy’s shoulder, she turned into a wildcat. She flared, kicked, bit. I was pretty sure I even heard her hiss. After a few minutes, Kieran was scratched and bruised and she was panting and red-faced.
“Not bad,” I told her. “But you’ll wear yourself out long before you do any actual damage.”
She thumped her chest. “I’m starting to get that,” she huffed. “I think my heart just exploded.”
“We should probably stick to stealth and escape. I can show you how to inflict the maximum amount of damage with minimum force, which will buy you time to run away.”
Quinn pinned Lucy with a fierce and knowing glance. “But you actually have to run away, brat.”
She made a face. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Show me your aim.” I handed her three rocks and pointed to a slim birch. She tossed her hair back off her face, took a deep breath, and launched them. She hit the trunk dead center every time. Spencer whistled through his teeth, impressed. Chloe looked like she was ready to start taking notes.
“Is it true Hope tried to recruit you?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Lucy grumbled. “As if I would turncoat for some cheesy comic-book league.” She paused, winced. “Oops. Sorry.”
I shrugged. “Hope wasn’t true Helios-Ra.” Never mind that Grandpa had been rather sympathetic to her ultimate goals. Since Lucy had proven herself with her aim and the turn in conversation was making everyone uncomfortable, I showed her our altered ninja eggs.
She blinked. “I’m going to throw Silly Putty at vampires?”
When I explained what was in them, her eyes shone.
“Okay, these I officially love.” She proved her point by juggling them, ending with a bow and a flourish. “Let’s see you do that, 007,” she teased Kieran.
“You should get yourself some Hypnos,” I suggested. “I can’t give you any because it’s against school rules. But if you get some, I can give you an old tear-gas pen you can fill up and tuck in your sleeve. And I have a bunch of eggs without the Hypnos.”
“Uncle Geoffrey probably has a stash of the stuff by now,” Quinn told her. “Not that I approve,” he said to me.
I wasn’t the least bit apologetic. “You have pheromones, we have Hypnos. Call it even.”
“We’re not the ones selling our weapon on the black market and taking unfair advantage. We only use our glamour to protect ourselves.”
“First, we don’t sell it.” I raised an eyebrow. “And second, are you really trying to tell me you’ve never used your pheromones to steal a kiss?”
“I steal them the old-fashioned way,” he said. “With charm.”
“Lucy, aim for the big swelled head when you throw those eggs,” I said.
“I usually do.” She grinned.
“You should also get a staff or a walking stick, something you can attach a blade to or sharpen to a point. It’ll keep your attacker out of biting range.”
Quinn kicked up a long stick with his boot, throwing it to me.
“Show me,” he said as I caught it. I twirled it once. I admit I was showing off a little. If he was going to insist on seeing me as one of the guys and a fellow soldier, I was damn well going to out-soldier him.
“Come on, Buffy,” he urged, pale eyes twinkling.
“Any time, Lestat,” I shot back.
We circled each other in a slow, predatory dance. It was easy to forget we had an audience. His blue eyes were sharp and hot, like the heart of a candle’s flame. It could warm me or burn me clean through.
“No Hypnos,” he murmured.
“No pheromones,” I countered, though I didn’t know how much actual control he had over that sort of thing.
He was quick, of course. Vampires always were. But we’d been trained to focus on that blur of movement, on the displacement of air, on the tiny meticulous details that might just save our lives.
When he came at me I had to convince my reflexes that I wasn’t actually allowed to stake him. The first part of him that was close enough to un-blur was his fangs. They were mesmerizing, but not so mesmerizing that I didn’t swing out and catch him in the sternum with the end of my stick. I could tell by the flare of his grin that he felt the impact. I’d never met anyone who enjoyed a skirmish quite so much. Even Grandpa saw it as duty before pleasure. With Quinn, it was almost like he was flirting with me.
I couldn’t be sure if he was going to lean in to tear out my jugular or kiss me senseless.
Instead, he kicked out and tripped me, but when I fell backward his hand was at my back to catch me. My left arm crossed between us, fist pressed over his heart to prove my point. I might have staked him in that moment, if the situation were different.
But I might not have been alive to do it.
His fangs rested tenderly on the inside of my throat. The length of our bodies pressed close together. I felt the coolness of his skin and wondered if the heat of mine felt like a burn to him. It was the first time I could actually understand the seduction and the allure of baring your throat to a predator. It had always seemed like madness to me, or the result of reading too many novels. It still did. But there was the barest sway of my body toward him.
His hair swung out to briefly curtain our faces. There was something in his expression that I couldn’t entirely decipher.
And then he stepped back abruptly, his familiar smirk erasing that mysterious warmth I’d glimpsed.
Chloe was the first break the silence. She let out a shaky breath.
“Is it suddenly hot out here, or what?”
Chapter 11
•
Hunter
Saturday morning
When I woke up the next morning, Chloe was still sitting at her desk and frowning at her computer. I couldn’t imagine how she couldn’t have a wicked headache. Her shoulders were hunched, the monitor’s glare was annoyingly bright, and there were three empty cans of a sugary energy drink on the floor by her chair. Her usually perfect hair was decidedly frizzy, pinned in a knot on top of her head. This was not the Chloe I was used to, perfectly polished and fashionable even in her pajamas. She was also tapping her foot incessantly, like a woodpecker too frantic to realize it was hitting metal, not wood.
I sat up, blinking blearily. The light was pale at the windows, barely light at all. The forest was still dark, as if it was as sleepy as I was. “Chloe?”
“Just a minute.” Her fingers clattered over the keyboard. She didn’t look up. Something about her, the frenetic energy or the slightly manic way she was chewing her lip, made my stomach nervous. When she suddenly shoved away from her desk, cursing, I jumped.
“Damn it,” she seethed. “I really thought I cracked it that time.” She glanced at me, at the window. “What time is it?”
I turned the clock radio around so its bright numbers could glow red judgment at her. “5:34.”
“Ew.”
Now that was more like the Chloe I knew.
“Why’d you pull an all-nighter?” I asked, trying not to sound worried. “It’s not like you have homework due. School hasn’t even started yet. And it’s way too early for classes anyway. Or for normal humans to function.”
“I didn’t mean to. I just got on a roll with the security codes. Well, I thought I was on a roll, anyway. I’m so handing this in as my independent study.” She rubbed her red-rimmed eyes. “I feel like shit.”
“They have this new cure for that,” I said drily. “It’s c
alled sleep.”
“Ha-ha.”
“Are you gonna crash now or what?” I insisted. I could pull the plug on her computer but she’d probably scratch my eyes out. And it was too early for a catfight. She yawned and crawled into her bed. She was asleep before she’d even answered me.
I decided to take advantage of the early hour and the still dormitory. It was so rarely quiet and today was Saturday. All the students who weren’t already here would start arriving after breakfast. Courtney would almost certainly pawn off some of her less glamorous duties on me, and then tonight we were going into town for vampire bait night.
So if I was going to follow through on the possibly illegal idea I’d had last night before falling asleep, now was my best chance.
I grabbed my knapsack and stuffed it with supplies as Chloe began to snore. I didn’t bother changing out of my pajamas since I planned to go right back to sleep as soon as humanly possible, but I did stop by the bathroom. There was just enough light from the windows to make the hall gray instead of black. I stayed on the edge of the staircase so it wouldn’t creak, skipping the third and eleventh steps altogether.
As much as my grandfather was strict and full of hunter pride, he’d given me awesome toys over the years—mostly old weapons, crossbows, and surveillance equipment.
It was the latter I was planning to put to good use.
I didn’t have Chloe’s knack, and I could hardly ask for her help. After that Hel-Blar woman died and Will mentioned vitamins, I knew something was up—I just had no idea what. We needed more information on this so-called vitamin, but I didn’t know anyone in the science department I trusted enough to test the pills I’d pocketed. Chloe’s mom helped devise Hypnos, and apparently she had a hand in the vitamins too, but that kind of chemistry or biology or whatever was way beyond my scope.
But I did know someone who might able to help me.
Quinn.
If Kieran trusted him, surely that meant I could too.
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