The Longest Night: A Drake Chronicles Novella (7 page)

“Stake.” Cal held out his hand.

Aggie paused. Just the thought of giving a vampire her last weapon was enough to send
more adrenaline pumping through her. The
Hel-Blar
pushed out of the branches, snapping his jaws and hissing. He’d keep coming until
someone stopped him. And she was too far away.

“Aggie,” Cal snapped. “Come on.”

She tossed him the stake. Training had her aiming for his heart without conscious
thought. He caught it before it could do any harm, shooting her a dark glance before
leaping at the
Hel-Blar
. He threw the stake and it slammed into the
Hel-Blar
’s chest. Cal was back at Aggie’s side before the disintegrating ashes hit the ground.

“You’re hurt. Did he bite you?” Cal’s fingers slipped under her hair to examine her
neck and the ragged, bloodstained holes in the sleeve of her coat. She tensed. His
eyes flared. “Aggie, did he bite you?”

“You
saved
me,” she blurted out. It went against the basic laws of biology. Against her entire
life up until now.

“But did he bite you?”

“No,” she said. “I just hit a rock when I landed. I’m fine.”

“Are you
sure
?”

“I think I’d remember if that thing bit me.”

She was still staring at him when a shout came from the woods. They glanced at each
other and then broke into a run. Aggie fumbled for the flashlight in her cargo pocket.
The moon was hiding and it was darker in the forest. The light would give her away,
but so would running into a tree.

Fletcher stumbled out onto the edge of the field. There was a gash under his left
eye and blood on his collar. “Watch out!” He shoved Cal out of the way. A stake slashed
between them, cutting through Fletcher’s arm. Blood dripped into the snow.

“Stand down!” Aggie yelled, wondering what hunter was mad enough to prowl around the
Hamilton farm. Cal gave chase before she could stop him. She wanted to follow him
but you didn’t leave an injured man on the field, and Fletcher looked awful.

He spat blood out onto the snow. “I was chasing that
Hel-Blar
.”

“We got him. Did he get you?”

“No.”

Cal emerged from the woods, shaking his head. “Whoever it was is gone. I can’t track
the scent with the
Hel-Blar
stench.”

“Some hunter,” Fletcher guessed. “I didn’t—” He looked down at the bleeding gash on
his forearm. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“This.” His eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted, landing face-first in the
snow.

Cal sighed and crouched down to sling him over his shoulder. “Let’s get him back to
the farmhouse.”

Aggie followed behind, searching the shadows even though she didn’t even know who
the enemy was anymore. She hopped the fence and headed to the back porch, which blazed
with enough twinkly lights to fill Rockefeller Center. Aggie barged into the kitchen.
“Cal’s got Fl— Gah!”

Nicholas had Lucy caged against the counter, an arm on either side of her, hands braced
on the cabinets. That kind of deep, dark kiss should have fogged the windows. It was
slow and thorough and blazed between them like fire. Nicholas pulled back slightly
but his gaze stayed scorchingly fastened on Lucy, even when he spoke. “Aggie, go beat
someone up.”

“I already did.” She absolutely, positively would not blush. The front door slammed
open. “Or Cal did.
Hel-Blar
. And something else beat up Fletcher. He’s in the living room.”

Nicholas pushed away from Lucy. “You know, most people collect stray dogs, not rabid
homicidal teenagers.”

“But I don’t know anything about dogs,” she grinned, before slipping past him to get
the first aid kit from the shelf by the door.

Fletcher was on the sofa, eyes closed. He’d gone from pale to gray-green. Lucy tapped
his cheek but he didn’t move. His lashes didn’t even flutter. “Put him in my car and
I’ll drive him to the academy’s infirmary,” she said. “They’ll want to keep an eye
on him.”

“But he wasn’t bitten,” Aggie said. “Another hunter had bad aim.”

“I know. It’s just a precaution,” Lucy replied. “Until he’s conscious and coherent
enough to confirm all the details.”

Nicholas carried him out to the car and the rest of the housemates descended, drawn
by the scent of blood and the dogs pacing up and down the hall.

“What happened to Fletcher?” Paige asked.

“Vampire,” Catelyn replied decisively.

“For all you know he tripped and fell,” Paige snapped. “You don’t have to blame every
damn thing on them.”

“You saw Fletcher,” Catelyn insisted. “Something attacked him. What more do we need
to act?”

“How about actual facts? We don’t actually know what happened in the woods. And we
can’t stake vampires just because they’re vampires.”

“Why not?” Catelyn had a steel-tipped stake in her hand suddenly. Noah snarled, showing
his fangs. Cal just looked tired. “They drain people. They
kill
.”

“Yeah, well, you bug me too and I’m not allowed to stake
you
,” Paige snapped, annoyed. “So chill.”

“And he did save Cal,” Aggie added reluctantly. “The gash on his arm was from a hunter’s
stake, not fangs.”

“You’re defending them? Are you turning into a blood-doll now too?” Catelyn sneered.
Aggie had her father’s dark skin and her mother’s Japanese features; she’d been called
names before, by idiots too countless to mention. “Blood-doll” made her hands clench
into fists the way no other insult could.

“Just like Lucy,” Catelyn continued. “It’s sick.”

“If she were a blood-doll, I wouldn’t be so thirsty,” Noah drawled.

And now Aggie was being defended by a vampire. Twice in one night.

Clearly, the world had gone completely insane.

“In fact, Lucy might make a nice snack, after I finish with you,” Noah added, just
to piss Catelyn off.

Nicholas came down the hall, quiet as smoke. There was no warning, no scuff of a shoe
on the floor or exclamation of anger. He used the edge of the table to gain height
and then punched down at a vicious and deliberate angle as he landed. Noah sprawled
on the floor, nose broken and fang chipped.

“The hell, man,” Noah croaked, spitting blood. “Isn’t that illegal or something?”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Nicholas replied with a kind of quiet fury that had
everyone going still and pretending to be invisible. “I’m not your teacher, parent,
or counselor. You’re in
my
house. More importantly, you’re in
Lucy’s
house. So you’ll show her some respect or you’ll wake up in a
Hel-Blar
nest in the mountains, without weapons, without so much as a stitch of clothing to
shield you. Understand?”

Noah wiped blood off his face, nodding tersely.

Aggie watched Nicholas stalk away. “Okay, that was hot.”

Paige shook her head. “You are so weird.”

* * *

The trees were thick with snow and the cold had already frozen the tip of Lucy’s nose.
She had her crossbow in one hand and a belt studded with steel-tipped stakes. It was
long past the time that regular, normal folk were in bed. She looped her arm through
Solange’s, grinning. “It’s just like old times, isn’t it?”

“What, wandering about in the middle of the night looking for someone to attack us?”
Solange asked wryly.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“You love it.” Solange wore her black hair in a single braid down her back, just like
her mother. Unlike Helena, there was already dried clay on Solange’s pants, instead
of blood.

“Kinda. And you’re really finally home for a while?” she asked as they continued to
tramp through the woods. “You’ve stopped beating yourself up and exiling yourself
on a self-imposed guilt trip? Literally?” she added knowingly.

“Sheesh, a degree in social work and psychology and suddenly you think you’re so smart,”
Solange said. She wrinkled her nose. “You’re right though.”

“The Battle of Violet Hill was not your fault.”

“Maybe not, but I sure made it worse.”

“Viola the undead vampire cow made it worse,” Lucy said very firmly. “Regardless,
I’m glad you’re back.”

“I ran out of countries to visit,” Solange smiled. “You would love the vampires in
Italy. They have a party in this tiny mountain village and their human friends make
blood-cakes. Plus, there are chocolate fountains everywhere. And in the deserts near
Morocco they have these midnight parades.”

“With all the new vampire tribes and traditions you know now, we could start a vampire
museum.”

“See, now I’m really scared because I don’t think you’re joking.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Lucy insisted. “And I’m going to set it up right in the
Helios-Ra gym.”

“You always were subtle.”

“Subtle takes too long. Especially with some of these hunter types. They’re kinda
dumb.” She grinned to soften the insult. “Hunter will explain it to them. She’s good
at that.”

They patrolled for another hour until Lucy started to limp. “I think my toes froze
and fell off.”

“I don’t see anything anyway,” Solange said. “Let’s go back.”

They were in the jeep when Lucy’s phone pinged. “Chloe traced an e-mail,” she told
Solange. “Going through the farm’s wifi or whatever. She monitors it for us, just
in case.” Lucy scrolled down the screen. “A recruiting e-mail from Whitethorn.” She
paused, stomach sinking. “Sent to Aggie’s laptop.”

* * *

“Aggie.”

Lucy stood in the doorway of the bedroom. Aggie put her camera down. She’d been thinking
it might be nice to walk in the woods with a camera again, as well as a stake.

“We need to talk.”

“Are you breaking up?” Paige teased. Her smile died at the look on Lucy’s face.

“Bring your coat. We’re going out,” Lucy added, walking away.

Paige winced at Aggie. “Dude. What’d you do now?”

She reached reluctantly for her sweater and her coat. “Nothing.” Probably.

Lucy waited in a dark green truck. Nicholas’s brother Duncan had brought it over the
night before. “Get in,” she said through the open window. Her red and white striped
scarf was relentlessly cheerful against her grim expression.

Aggie slid into the seat. It already smelled like Nag Champa incense. There was a
blue eye-shaped bead dangling from the rear view mirror. “It’s Greek,” Lucy explained.
“It keeps the evil eye away. Solange brought it back for me.”

“Am I expelled?” Aggie blurted out as Lucy backed down the driveway. The sun glinted
off the icicles dripping from the trees.

“You ask that a lot.”

Aggie noticed that Lucy hadn’t actually answered the question though. They drove for
nearly a half an hour before Lucy pulled over. A path was already cleared through
the trees. “Who did this?” she asked.

“Nicholas and Quinn,” Lucy answered. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“You need your eyes open, Aggie, and speciesism’s blinding.”

“I don’t trust vampires,” she said. “They’re the reason my sister is dead.”

“I know,” Lucy said. “I’m not saying vampires are all fluffy bunnies and lollipops.
But neither are humans. We need to figure our shit out.”

“Is that why you never turned?” Aggie asked. They all wondered about it. It seemed
as good a time as any to ask, with only the snow and the bare trees all around them.

“‘I’m more useful as a human right now,” she replied.

“But you’ll turn one day? Really?”

“Who else is going to save Nicholas’s butt? It’s a full-time job.” Her smile faded.
“Too many people died at the Blood Moon battle for us to let this town turn on itself.
One civil war is enough, thanks very much.”

The path led them to a circle of pale birch trees, drooping with snow. A bright red
ribbon tied was tied around each trunk. In the center was a boulder with a lantern.
Lucy took a packet of matches from her coat pocket and lit the candle.

“What is this place?” Aggie asked, feeling nervous for no reason.

“It’s a Spirit Stone,” Lucy explained. “Like the memorial gardens for fallen hunters
at the academy.” There were names inscribed in the rock, starting at the bottom and
spiraling up to the top. “Except each one of these represents the name of a vampire
who died at the Battle of Violet Hill. Not just on that one night, but the weeks leading
up to it. And these are just the ones we know about.” She pointed to a name. “London
was Solange’s cousin. She was only nineteen.”

Aggie felt trapped. “I know what you’re doing.”

“Do you?” Lucy asked mildly. “Good. Then pay attention. The shape of your teeth or
what you drink for breakfast doesn’t make you a bad guy. You know what does? Stringing
people up in the woods to die. Draining someone of their blood when all you need is
a mouthful to survive. And the inability to recognize that someone else’s life is
just as sacred as yours.”

“But they’re not technically alive,” Aggie said quietly.

“They love. They laugh. They die. If that’s not living, what is?” Lucy looked her
right in the eye. “So remember that, the next time a group like Whitethorn tries to
recruit you.”

* * *

They found Kali’s clothes the next day.

There was a ragged hole in the back of her shirt at heart level.

Lucy tried not to cry. Someone called Aggie “Mary” under their breath. Everyone watched
her suspiciously, waiting for more fang trophies or some kind of fit of rage. Lucy
did regular sweeps for holy water booby traps. Aggie mostly stayed in her room, especially
when she thought she could smell Yen: pine sap and bubble gum. She’d used pine needles
from the trees in Central Park to rub on her clothes so she smelled cleaner than she
sometimes was. Washing up in public bathrooms wasn’t always easy. Every time she looked
in the mirror, she didn’t know who she was looking at, herself or Yen.

And she knew she hadn’t touched Kali, but she was starting to have to remind herself
of that.

She decided to go for another walk, even though the last one hadn’t worked out that
well. The cold was a welcome distraction, slapping at her like angry hands. Lucy and
Nicholas were sitting by the solstice fire. Lucy set up a cauldron full of apple cider
and judging by how wide her eyeballs were, she must have drunk enough to be running
on pure sugar. A jeep crunched up the driveway and disgorged a black-haired vampire
girl and a Helios-Ra agent. The famous Solange Drake, and to a vampire hunter, the
even more famous Kieran Black.