Drake Chronicles: 03 Out for Blood (2 page)

“I didn’t exactly tel him,” I admitted. “I said I was going out for extra credit.”

“Final y.” Chloe pretended to wipe away a tear of pride. “She’s sneaking around and flat-out lying. Our little girl.”

Spencer and I both ignored her.

“So what was it like?” he asked eagerly. “Tel me everything. Any rituals? Secret vampire magic?”

“Sorry, nothing for your thesis,” I told him. “But a princess from the Hounds tribe was there.”

“Get out,” Spencer stared at me. “You are the luckiest. What was she like?”

“Quiet, intense, French.” Like the other Hounds, she’d had two sets of fangs.

“She had amulets around her neck.”

“Can you draw them for me?” he asked immediately.

“I could try.”

“You two are
boring
.” Chloe huffed out a sigh. “Quit studying—we haven’t even started classes yet. Tel me about the Drake brothers. Are they as yummy as everyone says?”

“Total y.” I didn’t even have to think about that one. “It was like being in a room ful of Johnny Depps. One of them even kind of dressed like a pirate.” Chloe gave a trembling, reverent sigh. Then she narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t you dare leave me behind next time.”

“I think it was a one-time thing. Hart was there and everything.” Hart was the new leader of the Helios-Ra and Kieran’s uncle. “It was mostly treaty talk. I stil don’t know why I was invited.”

“Because you’re good at that stuff,” Chloe declared loyal y. “Idiot,” she added, less loyal y.

I hadn’t felt particularly skil ed, more like the bumbling teenager at a table ful of adults. I’d had to remind myself more than once that I’d been invited, that I wasn’t obviously useless or an outsider.

Especial y when Quinn Drake smirked at me.

Al the Drake brothers were ridiculously gorgeous, but he had that smoldering charm down to an art. The kind you only read about in books. I’d always thought it would be annoying in real life.

So not.

Although the fact that he cal ed me “Buffy” al night was less fun.

“You have a funny look on your face,” Chloe said.

“I do not.” I jerked my errant thoughts away from Quinn. “This is just my face.”

“Please, you never turn that color. You’re blushing, Hunter Wild.”

“Am not.” Quinn wasn’t my type anyway. Not that I knew what my type was. Stil . I was sure pretty boys who knew they were pretty weren’t it.

I was spared further prodding and poking when the lights suddenly went out.

The emergency blue floor light by the door and under the window blinked on.

Spencer and I jumped to our feet. The windows locked themselves automatical y.

Iron bars lowered and clanged shut.

“No! Not now!” Chloe exclaimed, blowing harder on her toes. “They’re going to smear.”

“Isn’t it too early for a dril ?” I frowned, trying to see out to the pond and the fields leading to the forest al around us. It was dark enough that only the glimmer of water showed and the half-moon over the main house where Headmistress Bel wood lived. “I mean, half the students aren’t even here yet.”

“Chloe’s the one who’s supposed to know this stuff,” Spencer said pointedly.

“I haven’t had time! I just got here!” She swung her feet to the floor and balanced on her heels, wriggling her toes. Usual y she hacked into the schedules and found out when the dril s were happening so we’d have some warning. She was disgruntled, scowling fiercely. “This sucks.”

“Maybe it’s not a dril ?” Spencer asked. “Maybe this one’s real?”

“It’s total y a dril . And I’m registering a complaint,” Chloe grumbled, slinging her pack over her shoulder. She didn’t go anywhere without her laptop or some kind of high-tech device. “I’m stil on summer vacation, damn it. This is so unfair.”

“Glad I didn’t change out of these,” I told her, pul ing a flashlight out of one of my cargo pants’ many pockets.

“If you spout some ‘be prepared’ school motto shit, I am so going to kick you.”

“Like you’d risk your nail polish,” I said with a snort, pushing the door open. “Let’s just go.”

Chapter 2

•

Hunter

There were students in the hal way, grumbling as they tried the front door.

“Locked.” Jason sighed, turning to face us. He’d had a crush on Spencer for two years but Spencer had a crush on Francesca. Or had, anyway, but I seriously doubted he’d switch teams entirely.

“Everything’s locked,” Jason said. He was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt. Chloe nearly purred at him even though it was a lost cause.

“Blue light over here,” someone cal ed out from the other side of the common room.

Spencer groaned. “So it’s a speed dril ?”

“Looks like,” I agreed.

We fol owed the rest of the students heading down the hal to the basement door.

Good thing it wasn’t a stealth test, since it sounded like a herd of elephants thundering down the stairs.

“I hate this hole,” Chloe said as we reached the damp basement. She shook her phone. “Nothing ever works down here.”

“I think that’s the point.”

“Wel , it’s stupid. This whole school’s stupid.”

Spencer and I just rol ed our eyes at each other. Being deprived of Internet access always set Chloe into a snit. It was her forte, after al , and she hated not coming in first.

The trapdoor leading into the secret tunnel was already open. There were sounds of fighting up ahead and very little light. The objective was to get through the tunnel, up a ladder, and onto the lawn. No one elbowed or tripped each other; it was too early in the year. Come midterms and exams there’d be insurrections and mutinies down here.

I heard a squeak from behind us and whirled toward the sound, reaching for the stake at my belt. There was always a stake at my belt. Grandpa never asked me the usual questions growing up like, “Did you brush your teeth?” and “Have you eaten any vegetables today?” It was always, “Got your stake?” But I wasn’t dealing with a vampire or a training dummy. Just a ninth-grade student who was pressed against the wal , crying. She looked about thirteen and there was blood on her nose.

“Hunter, are you coming or what?” Spencer asked.

“I’l catch up,” I waved them ahead and ducked under one of the rigged dummies that swung from the ceiling, shrieking. The girl cried harder, trembling.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said as she stared at me. “I’m Hunter. What’s your name?”

“L-Lia,” she stuttered. Her glasses were foggy from the combination of tears and damp underground air.

“Is this your first day?”

She nodded mutely.

“Wel , don’t worry, Lia, it gets better. Where’s your floor monitor?” I asked her.

She was way too young to be dealing with this. I couldn’t believe her floor monitor hadn’t bothered to keep an eye on her. When I found out who she was, I was so going to give her an earful.

“I don’t know.” Her stake was lying useless at her feet. “I want to go home.”

“I know. Let’s just get out of here first, okay?”

“Okay.” She pushed away from the wal and then jumped a foot in the air when a bloodcurdling shriek ululated down the hal , fol owed by eerie hissing.

“Never mind that,” I told her. “They add al the sound effects to train you not to get distracted. You read about it in the handbook, right?” She swal owed. “Yeah. It’s worse than I thought.”

“You get used to it. Look, we need to run down this hal toward the ladder and climb up to get outside. There’s going to be dummies swinging at you with red lights over their hearts. Just aim your stake at the light, okay? Think of it like one of those Hal oween haunted houses.”

“I hate those,” she said, but sounded annoyed now, not nearly as scared. She scooped up her stake, holding it so tightly her knuckles must have hurt.

“Ready?”

She nodded.

“Go!”

I took the lead so she wouldn’t panic again. The first “vampire” came at me from the left and I aimed for the red light. The second came from the right; the third and fourth dropped from the ceiling together. I let one get away to give Lia a chance to stab at it. It was nothing if not a good way to release frustration. It caught her in the shoulder but she managed to jab the red light.

“I got one!” She squealed. “Did you see?”

“Behind you,” I yel ed, throwing my stake to catch the one swinging from behind her. The red light blinked out and the dummy came to a sudden stop, inches away from Lia’s already sore nose.

“Okay, that was cool,” she squeaked, apparently over her little meltdown. The adrenaline was doing its work—I could see it in the tremble of her fingers and the slightly manic gleam in her eyes. It was better than panic.

“Nearly there,” I told her over another recording of a grating shriek. “Go, go, go!” We ran as fast as we could.

“Jump that one.” I leaped over a dummy crawling out of a trapdoor. The tunnel was empty of other students but I could see a faint light up ahead. “Nearly there.” When we reached the ladder I pushed her in front of me. She scrambled up like a monkey. She had good balance if nothing else.

I was the last one out.

Two teachers and al of the students waited in a clump, watching for us. Lia’s face was streaked with dirt and dried tears and her lip was swol en, but at least she was smiling.

“Wel , wel , Miss Wild.” Mr. York held up his stopwatch with the most condescending sneer he could muster. “Apparently you’ve gotten rusty over the summer. What wil your grandfather say to hear a Wild came in dead last?” He was enjoying this way too much. It was no secret that Mr. York hated my family, and Grandpa in particular. He’d been on my case since my first day at the academy.

Chloe pul ed a hideous grimace behind his back.

“It’s my f-fault, sir,” Lia stammered. “Hunter stopped to help me out.”

“Did she now? Wel , admirable as that may be, this is a speed test.” He made a mark on his clipboard.

I real y wanted to stake that clipboard.

“I hardly think Hunter should be penalized for showing group loyalty,” Ms. Dailey interrupted. “We are teaching them loyalty and courage, aren’t we? As wel as speed?”

“Be that as it may, this test is timed. Rules are rules.”

“Her floor monitor should have been looking out for her,” I muttered.

“What was that, Miss Wild?” Mr. York asked.

“Nothing, sir.”

“I distinctly heard
something,
Miss Wild. Students, quiet down please. Miss Wild is having trouble being heard.”

God, he was a pain in my ass.

“I was only wondering where her floor monitor was.” First day and I was getting reamed out for helping someone. This just sucked.

He frowned at his clipboard. “Courtney Jones.”

I had to stifle a groan. Of course it would be Courtney. We’d been roommates in tenth grade and frankly, I don’t think either of us was over it yet. To say we didn’t get along and had nothing in common was a gross understatement. She was so in league with the nasty swan.

Courtney stepped forward, smiling winningly. “Yes, Mr. York?” Kiss-ass.

“Is this student on your floor?”

“Yes, Mr. York.”

“And did you leave her behind?”

“
No,
Mr. York.” She sounded stunned and deeply grieved. Mr. York, of course, total y fel for it. At least Ms. Dailey pursed her lips. It was a smal victory but the only one I was probably going to get. “Lia was right behind me, sir. She told me she was fine.”

Lia was blinking like a fish suddenly hauled out of a lake. “I—”

“I see,” Mr. York said, tapping his lips with his pen as if he was deep in thought. I shifted from foot to foot. Spencer shot me a commiserating wince. I winced back.

“Seeing as you are so concerned with the ninth graders’ welfare, you wil be Courtney’s assistant. You can be in charge of al their delicate sensibilities and making sure they get through dril s.” Which, loosely translated, meant Courtney would get her big single room on the fourth floor and “floor monitor” on her transcripts but I would be doing al the actual work. And she’d get to boss me around. She smirked at me.

“Do you have a problem with that, Miss Wild?” Mr. York snapped.

“No, sir.” I sighed. I refused to slump, even though I real y wanted to. I was so not going to let him see how much he’d just screwed up my last year for me. I didn’t know anything about taking care of ninth graders—or Niners, as we cal ed them.

And my course load was already approximately the size of an Egyptian pyramid.

The big one.

“Good. You’re dismissed,” he barked at everyone before stalking across the lawn toward the teachers’ apartments. Ms. Dailey patted my shoulder before fol owing him. Courtney sneered at me and flounced away.

“I’m sorry, Hunter,” Lia said, looking like she was about to burst into tears again.

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her.

“I didn’t mean to get you in trouble,” she said. “But I’m real y glad you’re one of our floor monitors now.” She lowered her voice. “Courtney’s a bitch.” I laughed despite myself. “Yes. Yes, she is.”

Chloe and Spencer descended, al inflamed with righteous indignation on my behalf. Chloe shook her head. “I guess York stil has it in for you. Jerk.”

“That was total y unfair,” Spencer agreed. “You should see the headmistress.”

“No way,” I said. The only teacher worse than Mr. York was Headmistress Bel wood. “She’d only tel me I was whining anyway.”

“I guess. She’s not exactly big with the warm and fuzzy.” Chloe slung her arm through mine. “Come on, we’l go drink hot chocolate and watch some old
Supernatural
episodes on DVD. Dean Winchester always cheers you up.”

“I thought our last year was supposed to be fun,” I said, kicking at dandelions as we skirted the gardens toward the now-unlocked front door.

From the direction of the pond, the swan honked mockingly.

•

No one felt like staying up very late after that. We watched a couple of episodes and then went to our rooms. The hal s were quiet. Chloe marched to her desk and turned on her computer with a determined click and set her laptop next to it. The screens flickered to life, pooling pale light over the carpet.

“I thought you were tired,” I told her.