Drake Chronicles: 03 Out for Blood (5 page)

The way another vampire, a different girl this time, was admiring Quinn.

There was no doubt he was a player, and there was no doubt none of his girlfriends minded. I turned away, waiting for Kieran and Solange to finish their discreet snuggling. The council was already leaving, to spread the word of the coronation. I shivered lightly in my tank top as the night cooled.

“Hey, Buffy.”

I froze.

Quinn.

I turned slowly on my heel. “My name’s Hunter.”

“I know.” He grinned. He was wearing his medal ion around his neck on a silver chain. “But you’ve got the whole Buffy thing going. Though I think you might be cuter.”

I was
not
going to giggle. I wasn’t that kind of girl.

And hunters didn’t giggle at vampires.

It was an unspoken rule.

“You’re cold,” he murmured when goosebumps lifted on my arms. I was real y glad I
was
cold and didn’t have to wonder if his presence was making me shivery and ridiculous. He stepped closer to me, blocking the wind. Pretty much blocking everything. “Better?” he asked casual y, the way Spencer talked to me. Stil , he was real y close.

“Oh my God, Quinn,” Lucy interrupted, causing us both to jump. “Could you stop flirting for three seconds and come
on
?”

Chapter 5

•

Hunter

Wednesday Morning

Chloe was far too cheerful.

“Am not,” she insisted, sipping root beer out of a straw as loudly as she could to annoy me. “You’re just grumpy.”

It was possible she was right. I hadn’t even realized I’d spoken out loud.

I hadn’t gotten back until four o’clock in the morning and it was only eight thirty now. We didn’t get up this early even when we had classes, because they ran from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. and again from 8:00 P.M. to midnight. We had to be used to late hours in our line of work. And Chloe was usual y the last one out of bed, grumbling the entire time. I didn’t know how or why she’d become a morning person over the summer but I suspected it was just to bug me.

I pul ed my pil ow over my head. “Too early.”

“Just taking my vitamins,” she said.

“You don’t take vitamins.”

“I do now. Mom gave them to me after my last report card. And these gross protein shakes, which I conveniently forgot to pack.” She slurped more root beer.

Loudly.

“Don’t make me stake you.” I revealed just enough of one eyebal to glare at her menacingly.

She grinned. “Morning to you too, sunshine. Want a vitamin?”

“Who are you, evil pod person, and what have you done with Chloe?” I was too tired even to yawn. My eyes felt glued shut. I snuggled deeper into my warm blankets. Chloe final y finished her root beer and went back to her computers. The tapping of the keyboard lul ed me to sleep.

For about five minutes. Until the phone rang.

I threw a stake at it.

The receiver clattered to the ground and Chloe jumped, knocking her chair over.

She whirled around, pointing at me accusingly. “You scared the crap out of me.” I wasn’t too tired to grin. “Sorry.”

“You wil be, Wild.” She tossed the receiver back into the cradle. The academy was too cheap to spring for cordless phones like every other modern facility on the face of the planet. My cel phone tril ed, vibrating across the surface of my night table. I grabbed it, frowning at the display.

I sat straight up in my bed, swearing.

“Who is it?” Chloe asked.

“Bel wood.”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “About last night? York already nailed you for being a good person.”

I swal owed, flicking my phone on.

“Hel o?” I sounded hesitant, even to my own ears.

“Ms. Wild?”

“Yes.”

“This is Headmistress Bel wood. You wil come to my office, please.”

“I … what’s this about?”

“Don’t play games, Miss Wild, I haven’t the time. You left school property last night, after the dril .”

“Uh …” I just stared helplessly at Chloe while the headmistress continued to lecture me in that stern, dry voice of hers.

“I wil expect you in five minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I hung up and closed my eyes briefly. Grandpa was going to kil me.

“What happened?” Chloe asked.

“She wants to see me.”

“That’s never good.”

“Tel me about it.” I kicked free of my blankets, grabbing for my cargos and a Tshirt with the Helios-Ra High School logo printed on the front.

“You can’t be getting busted that hard for helping a Niner? Before school even starts?”

“No. For sneaking off campus last night.”

“For sneaking—
what?
Hunter Wild, you went and had fun without me?” She sounded both stunned and hurt.

“Of course not.” I hastily tied my hair back. “I’l tel you al about it later. I gotta go.”

“
You
snuck out.” She shook her head as I hurried out the door. “And
I’m
the pod person?”

•

I ran al the way to the main building where classes were held. Headmistress Bel wood’s office was on the ground floor overlooking a rose garden she rarely stopped to enjoy. The school felt hol ow and eerie without the usual scuffle of shoes or locker doors slamming.

And almost as creepy was the headmistress, who belonged in a Victorian gothic novel, scaring the children in an orphanage. Her hair was pul ed back tightly, without a single strand daring to escape. She wore the same black suit she always wore and the same pearl earrings. If she’d had glasses, she would have been glaring at me over their rims. At least I was in proper school attire, but I hadn’t had time to brush my teeth or wash my face.

“Ms. Wild, have a seat,” she said when she saw me hovering in the doorway.

I swal owed and stepped inside her office, which was scrupulously neat, as expected. There were no mementos on her oak desk, no family photographs—

even though I knew she had two daughters.

But she did have York cluttering up her office.

He’d been standing in the corner by the window and file cabinet, no doubt hiding to take me by surprise. I stopped in the middle of the room, standing at attention.

Mostly so I wouldn’t give in to the temptation to throw something at his head.

“The headmistress asked you to sit down,” he said.

I sat down.

She put her pen down and looked at me, abandoning her paperwork. “I should tel you, Ms. Wild, that we instal ed new surveil ance cameras on campus over the summer.”

I was so total y busted.

And it was worth it. I’d been to a vampire coronation. Surely that was worth a lecture and some detention. I schooled my expression so that I looked properly chastised. If York thought for one second that I wasn’t suffering enough, he’d try harder to have me punished.

“You were caught on video sneaking off school property in the middle of the night.

I hardly need to tel you this kind of behavior is inappropriate. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Uh …”
Hart, who is technically your boss, invited me to see Helena Drake get
crowned in the woods?
Headmistress Bel wood would never believe me. And I wasn’t entirely sure if it had been a clandestine assignment. I hadn’t thought to ask, and no one had said. I’d have to cal Kieran. “I—”

“You’re not going to tel me that you were running laps or practicing dril s, are you?” she interrupted drily. “Because I can assure you, there isn’t a single excuse you could give me that I haven’t heard before or that would exonerate you.” Damn it, and I total y had one.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Ms. Wild, I am very disappointed in you. You have been a model student these last three years. I would hate for that to change,” she added pointedly. If her tone had been a weapon, it would have been a fencing rapier that drew blood with barely a scratch. York’s would have been a cudgel.

“Yes, ma’am.” I tried not to squirm or fidget.

She leaned back in her chair. “Two months’ detention, one month of kitchen duty, and three demerits.”

Crap.

“Three?” I gaped. We were al owed five per year; the sixth got us expel ed. I’d never even had one. York looked smug.

“And we’l have to cal your grandfather, of course,” he added.

Double crap.

“But …” I had no idea how to talk my way out of this one. I wasn’t prepared.

Another rule broken. I was
always
prepared.

So not fair.

“You may go.”

I stood up and went to the door, avoiding eye contact with York. It would just piss me off even more to see him looking so pleased. He real y did hate me. Weren’t teachers supposed to like everyone? Or at least fake it?

“Oh, Ms. Wild,” the headmistress stopped me at the door, one step away from freedom.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I don’t want to see you here again.”

“No, ma’am.”

I dialed Kieran’s cel the minute I was outside. The last of August’s sweltering heat pressed al around me. I was sweating by the time I reached the barn, which had been converted into the school gym. I got his voice mail. I swore for a good long minute before adding, “Was last night a covert op? Because I want my demerit points wiped. And you suck as an undercover agent. Didn’t you know there were new cameras?” And then I swore some more.

I stomped through the locker room, pul ing on my workout clothes with enough force to stretch the fabric. The locker door had a satisfying slam and metal ic reverberation when I kicked it shut. I was going to kick the stuffing right out of my favorite punching bag. Twice.

Except that Chloe was already using it.

“Okay, now you’re just freaking me out,” I said, stopping to watch her roundhouse kick. It was stil a little sloppy, lacking power. Her thick curls were damp and tied back in a messy knot. Her gym shorts and sneakers were brand new.

“If you’re on York’s radar, then so am I,” she grunted. “And if I fail his class this year my mom wil kil me. Over and over again.”

I went to the bag next to hers. I stretched for a few minutes and then taped my hands.

“So are you doing time or what?” she asked, trying an uppercut. The bag swung back and nearly batted her across the room.

“Two months’ detention, kitchen cleanup, and demerits.” She paused. “You got demerits?” The bag swung again, hitting her in the hip and shoulder. She stumbled. “You’ve never gotten a demerit.”

“I know,” I said grimly. “If you let your hip pivot just a little when you do that punch, it’l be stronger. And use your first two knuckles for your jab.” I flicked on the ancient stereo in the corner with the toe of my shoe and turned up the volume until the windows rattled slightly. We stood side by side and punched and kicked the punching bags for a good half hour without talking. My lungs were burning and my face felt red and sweaty when I final y stopped. Chloe was bent over, panting and gagging. I handed her a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” she croaked.

“You’re overdoing it,” I croaked back. “I’ve never seen you work out that hard.” She wiped her face with a towel and shrugged. “Then I guess I’m due. I can’t fail the year, Hunter.”

“You’re not going to,” I assured her. I’d never heard her this worried. She did so wel in al of her computer classes and was already assigned to the Tech department. Her combat skil s wouldn’t hold her back from any of that.

She sighed. “You know I’m not very good at this stuff.” I finished my water and threw the bottle into the recycling bin. “Wel , I am, so no worries. Listen, we can practice together. It’l be fine.”

“Yeah?” she asked hopeful y.

“Of course.”

She grinned, looking slightly less panicked. Then she hiccuped and grimaced.

“Good, ’cause that protein powder tastes like crap. Mom sent me a new tub.” She scowled. “And if it makes me fat, I’m wiping her hard drive.” Chapter 6

•

Quinn

Thursday evening

“God, Quinn, how many freaking girls’ phone numbers do you have on this thing?” Connor shook his head, scrol ing through my cel phone address book.

I shrugged, grinning. “I can’t help it if I’m irresistible.” Sitting on the edge of his bed, I leaned back against the wal . Moonlight filtered through the open window. The wind tasted like pine needles and smoke. “You’d get more girls if you ever actual y left your computer.”

He didn’t even look up. “If I didn’t spend so much time on that computer, you’d never get your phone working again. Or your laptop. I keep tel ing you not to open e-mail attachments from people you don’t know.”

“She was real y hot.”

“And now your computer’s down.”

I grimaced. “And my phone. Is that a virus too?”

“No, genius. It’s just so crammed ful of texts from girls sending you smiley faces and x’s and o’s that it’s clogged up and buggy.”

“Can you unbug it?”

Now he did look at me, al affronted techie. “Of course I can debug it. Question is, can you stop getting girls’ phone numbers?”

“Hel , no. And why would I want to?”

He did whatever it was he did, hitting buttons, muttering curses, taking the innards of any technological implement personal y until it bowed to his wil . And then he grinned smugly, reaching for one of the bottles of blood in the bar fridge by his bed.

He opened one for himself and then tossed me one, along with my phone.

“There. It’l work but it won’t be completely reliable until you delete some of those contacts.”

I scrol ed through the names regretful y. “You’re cruel, man.”

“I prefer Evil Genius.” He turned back to his computer.

“You should have more fun, twin of mine,” I suggested.

“Or you could have
less
fun and leave some for the rest of us.”

“There’s no such thing.” I left him to his machinations and went downstairs, trying to remember who Karin was and why she’d sent me a sonnet about my hair. The lamps were dim, the dogs snoring in the foyer. The front door opened and Logan and Isabeau came in, Isabeau’s wolfhound trotting at her side.

I waved at them but didn’t stop. I could hear someone’s heartbeat in the back corner where the library joined the living room and the kitchen. It was going a little too fast for my liking.