Drake Chronicles: 03 Out for Blood (20 page)

He rose into a crouch, looking feral and predatory. “Do I make you nervous, Hunter?”

I stopped, glaring at him. “Excuse me, I know seventeen painful ways to kil you.

You don’t make me nervous.”

“I know seventeen different ways to kiss you.”

I ignored the flare of heat in my chest and focused on the fact that it was clearly a line. I tossed my hair off my shoulder. “I’m not one of your groupies.”

“Good,” he said, suddenly serious. He didn’t bother denying that he had groupies.

That made me like him even more.

I was in so much trouble.

“Look, Quinn, what are you real y doing here? Do you have info on that pil I gave you?”

“Not yet. But I got your text about Wil ,” he replied, straightening. He only towered over me a little. “And I thought you could use some company.”

“You came for me?” Yup. So much trouble.

He nodded, touching my hair and tangling his long fingers in the ends, as if it was a fire and he was as cold as he was winter-pale. “What are you doing up here?”

“Retrieving personal property,” I explained, mesmerized by the feel of his hand as he tugged me a little closer, winding my hair around his wrist like a golden rope.

“From the coat rack?” he whispered, puzzled. He must have seen me staring at it.

I nodded, wondering why my voice felt like it had faded away completely. I cleared my throat. “Yes, but it’s stuck in the bottom.”

“Al ow me.” He let me go so abruptly I stumbled back a little. He lifted the coat rack and turned it upside down, as if it weighed no more than a broom. The microphone tumbled out and I caught it before it hit the ground. He grinned, shaking his head.

“Your personal property is surveil ance equipment?” I shrugged, slipping it into my pocket. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

I peered out of the doorway, making sure it was clear before I started to creep back down the stairs. I paused on the landing. Quinn was right behind me.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I’m going with you.”

“I don’t remember inviting you,” I said drily.

“That’s a vampire myth,” he shot back just as drily. “I don’t need to be invited. I would have thought they taught you that here.” He winked. I rol ed my eyes. He fol owed me and I let him. Gladly. The truth was, I didn’t think I wanted to be alone just yet. I was wired and exhausted and worried.

And I liked having him around. He was distracting. In a good way.

He paused, nodding to Chloe, who was stil sound asleep on the common room sofa. “Want me to pul her hair?”

I grinned, shaking my head. He took a step forward.

“What are you doing?” I grabbed his arm.

“I’m going to sniff her.”

I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You’re worried about those vitamins, right? I might be able to smel them in her blood and I
might
be able to tel if they’re messing her up.”

“They’re definitely messing her up,” I muttered, touching the bruise on my jaw. “But go ahead. That could help. Just don’t wake her up.”

“Hel o? Give me a little credit. Vampire stealth, remember?”

“Vampire arrogance, you mean.”

“That too.”

It went against a lifetime of training to crush on a vampire and, worse, to watch him skulk toward one of my friends. My hands actual y twitched. But I stayed where I was. I trusted Quinn Drake, despite the fact that I was the latest in a long line of vampire hunters.

He was graceful as moonlight, fluid and pale as he draped over Chloe. She slept on peaceful y, utterly unaware. Not exactly proof of the effectiveness of our education. Then again, right now, neither was I. Quinn was a dark silhouette out of any standard vampire horror movie, leaning over, teeth gleaming. And I just waited trustingly, patiently, hopeful y.

Grandpa would pop a blood vessel if he could see me now.

I pushed that out of my mind and watched as Quinn’s nose hovered along the line of Chloe’s neck, sniffing as if she was a fine wine. His fangs lengthened. I tensed, took a step, stopped. He inhaled, or whatever passed as a smel -seeking inhalation for the undead, and then recoiled sharply.

He didn’t speak as he approached, just jerked his head down the hal toward my room. Later, I’d have to ask him how he knew that was my room. Right now, I just wanted to know why he was wiping his nose as if he’d snorted pepper. I shut the door quietly behind him. The single lamp lit on my desk cast his face into shadows.

“Wel ?” I demanded.

“Those aren’t vitamins,” he said.

“I
knew
it!” I winced nervously. “What are they?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “There are vitamins in there—they have a very distinctive smel . But there’s something else too.” I wiped my damp palms on my pants. “She’l never believe me. When can you get the lab results from your brother?”

“Maybe tomorrow. I’l make him hurry.”

“God, her
mom
gave her those.” I rubbed my arms, suddenly cold. “And she’s hidden a whole stash of them somewhere so I can’t even flush them. Wel , maybe something here wil convince her.”

“Is that why you bugged that room upstairs?”

I nodded. “I thought Wil was going to get better. And that whatever he was into, some of his friends might know about it. I don’t know. But students keep getting this weird flu that doesn’t get better. Something’s just off.” I fumbled the microphones out of my pocket and switched the first one on. The quality wasn’t very good; the scratchiness of the background was louder than the voices, but it was better than nothing. I’d set the motion sensor recorder to switch on and off throughout the evenings and late at night. I figured there was less chance of people whispering in the common room at lunchtime when anyone might hear them. It was mostly complaints about classes and people leaving milk out of the fridge in the kitchenette. I listened for about a half hour, fast-forwarding where I could. Quinn leaned against my door, patient in a way I hadn’t thought he was capable of being. He was usual y teasing or taunting or eager for a fight. I was seeing another part of his personality, quiet and thoughtful but just as intense.

“Nothing,” I said, dejected. “I guess it was a stupid idea.”

“Wait.” He pushed away from the wal . “Let me hear that one again.” I handed it to him, showing him how to rewind. He held it up to his ear. “It’s faint but …” He listened harder and I suddenly envied him his supernatural senses. I’d never envied a vampire before. I was too fond of sunlight and spaghetti and ice cream.

“Got it,” he said, his eyes flaring triumphantly. He rewound again and repeated what he heard for my benefit.
“Are you sure this stuff works? Shut up, you moron,
someone will hear you. It’s pretty steep for a bunch of vitamins. I told you, they’re
better than vitamins—watch it. Leave it, we’ll never get behind that TV. It weighs
a ton.”

I shot to my feet. “They dropped some!”

He nodded smugly but stopped me from reaching for the doorknob. “Let me go.”

“What? Why?”

“For one thing, I can move an ancient TV that weighs a ton without making much noise.”

“Oh. Good point.” Use the tools you’ve got. It was a hunter motto. And it made sense, even if my tool, in this case, was a vampire.

He was only gone long enough for me to notice the flashing light on my answering machine and to press play. Grandpa’s gravel y whiskey-and-cigar-smoke voice rumbled out of the speaker. For some reason it made me feel like crying. I missed his confidence and certainty. It was in short supply right now. Even if I cringed at the actual words he was saying.

“Hunter, honey, I got a cal from the school. Heard you did good. I know it’s hard, but you did what you had to do. That’s what hunters do and that’s what Wilds do.

And you saved your friend’s life, the way I hear it. Your headmistress was making noise about seeing the school psychologist but I told her you don’t need that quackery. You be strong. You’re a good girl. I don’t want you going soft over a
Hel-Blar
. Vampires need kil ing, you know that.” My bedroom door shut with a soft click. Quinn raised an eyebrow at me. I winced, knowing he’d heard every word of my grandpa’s message.

“He means wel ,” I said defensively.

“Okay,” Quinn replied with deceptive nonchalance.

“He raised me the only way he knew how.”

“Okay,” he said again.

I frowned. I didn’t know why I was justifying Grandpa. He was a good man. So was Quinn. One wasn’t mutual y exclusive of the other.

My head was starting to hurt.

“Did you find it?” I asked, changing the subject.

He nodded, sitting next to me and holding out his hand, palm up. The white pil looked innocuous. Hard to imagine that something so smal was making such a big mess.

“It doesn’t look like Chloe’s vitamins,” I said, confused. “Hers are huge and yel ow.”

“I know,” he said grimly. “These aren’t vitamins.” I blinked. “Wait. So there’s
two
kinds of pil s making the rounds now? What the hel is
wrong
with people?” I sat back, disgusted. “It does explain why we keep running in circles.”

Quinn was staring at the pil as if it were a coiled cobra that might strike at any time. His nostrils twitched, his jaw clenched.

“Okay, what?” I asked uncertainly.

“This thing’s poison,” he answered through his teeth.

“Seriously? Is that what made Wil sick? Not just
Hel-Blar
?”

“It’s toxic to humans,” Quinn explained. “But it’s absolutely fatal to vampires.” The silence felt charged, like a battery about to explode. I grabbed the pil off his hand, as if it might start leaking acid. He shook his head once. “It’s only fatal if ingested.”

“So people are taking vampire drugs now? Along with some weird vitamin? That doesn’t make any sense.” I wrapped the pil inside a tissue. “Can you get your brother to analyze this too?”

“Hel , yes,” he said, putting the little package in his pocket. “I want to know what this is. I’ve smel ed it before.”

“Where?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know. I can’t remember.” He sounded annoyed with himself.

I scooted back to lean against the wal , the blankets twisting under my legs.

“Spencer wasn’t taking drugs or vitamins or any of that stuff. He barely takes aspirin.”

“Spencer was bitten by a
Hel-Blar
,” Quinn said, also moving back to sit next to me. “He’s not a mystery.”

“Then why is his stuff al gone from his room?”

“It is?” Quinn looked surprised. “Is he that sick?”

“Theo says Spencer’s badly off, but stable. The meds are helping him more than they helped Wil . But his room’s empty, just like Wil ’s was. And there’s that flu everyone’s worried about.”

Quinn whistled through his teeth. “Look, obviously I’ve never real y trusted the Helios-Ra, and maybe I’ve lived in Violet Hil too long, but this has ‘conspiracy’

written al over it.”

“I know. And I won’t let what happened to Wil happen to Spencer.” My throat burned. “I had to stake him,” I added in a very smal voice. “I
had
to.”

“I know,” he said softly, sliding his arm around my waist and tucking me into his side as if he was trying to protect me. It was kind of sweet. I let myself lean into him.

“He was
Hel-Blar
,” he added. “He wasn’t Wil anymore.”

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

“Because it’s true.” His hand stroked my back up and down, softly, soothingly.

“It doesn’t feel like that. It feels like a betrayal. I couldn’t help him, Quinn. I’ve never felt so helpless.”

“Hunter, the last thing you are is helpless.” He sounded so sure. I couldn’t stop the first tear from fal ing.

“I don’t want Spencer to die.”

“He won’t die.” His lips were in my hair.

“You don’t know that.”

“I know about bloodchanges, Hunter. And Spencer is strong and healthy. He has a better chance than most.”

I wanted to trust the little bubble of hope in my stomach, but I couldn’t.

“Wil didn’t even recognize me,” I said brokenly. “And it happened so fast. Why did he have to attack Chloe? Why did I have to be the one to stake him?” More tears fel and I didn’t try to stop them this time. I cried because I couldn’t not cry anymore.

Quinn just held me, not saying a word. His hand cradled the back of my neck, running through my hair. I sobbed and trembled and sobbed some more until I felt weak and dehydrated. And a little bit lighter.

I sat up. Quinn’s shirt was wet. “Sorry,” I said hoarsely.

“Don’t be.” He touched my face, lightly skimming over my bruises so that I barely felt his fingertips. I wiped my nose on my sleeve, feeling wel enough not to want to look like a disgusting mess.

“Thanks,” I murmured.

He leaned in, closing the distance between us. His eyes stayed on mine. I didn’t think, I just leaned in too. I kissed him first and his hands closed around my shoulders, pul ing me closer. I slid my tongue along his, feeling warmth tingle throughout my body, melting the ice that had been creeping inside of me. He kissed me so thoroughly I felt naked, even though not a single button was undone. We were ful y clothed and I had blades in the soles of my shoes and a stake in a harness in the smal of my back but I’d never felt more exposed, or vulnerable. Stil , I wasn’t scared. I wanted more.

It became a kind of duel fought with lips and tongues to see who could make the other feel more, need more. I made smal noises in the back of my throat. His arms were lean and strong under my hands and his hair fel to curtain our faces, smel ing like mint shampoo. We tried to get closer to each other but it wasn’t physical y possible. We didn’t care. We were so determined, nothing else mattered.

Until we tumbled right off the bed and landed in a lump on the floor.

“Ow,” Quinn muttered. He rubbed his elbow. My shoulder shook. “Hunter. It’s okay. Are you hurt? Hunter?” He sounded horrified.

I was laughing too hard to answer. He tipped my face up, saw the soundless chortle, heard the wheeze as I tried to haul in a breath. His answering grin was quick, fol owed a chuckle of his own. And another.