Dawn again.
I had to physically stop myself from hissing at her name. Hunter reached for a stake out of habit before she realized it was just me and not a vampire. The hunters climbed into the van, cutting off their conversation. They drove to the smallest barn, which had been converted into sleeping quarters for families from out of town and traveling Helios-Ra hunters. Apparently it was full to capacity, which had never happened before. That was all very interesting except for the fact that I was frozen through and my fingers were numb.
“Let’s go,” Hunter croaked, sounding equally miserable.
We ran back to the dorms with considerably less stealth and grace. It was only sheer luck that had us back in the building and taking hot showers without getting caught. Feeling returned to my fingertips in hot sparks, burning under my skin and up my arms. I was still shivering slightly, even bundled in my flannel pajamas and Sarita’s bathrobe, which I borrowed off its hook. I snuck downstairs to Hunter’s room where everyone was waiting, also freshly showered and wearing every sweater they could find. Jason was pouring hot water from a plug-in kettle into cups filled with hot chocolate mix. I seriously considered kissing him for that. With tongue.
Chloe was already at the computer, her hair up in a towel, her eyes squinting at the computer screen. “I hope it was worth it,” I said, curling my fingers around the mug Jason passed me.
“Definitely worth it,” Hunter said. “We already know more than we did an hour ago.”
“Yeah, like the pond is freaking cold,” I said.
“Better that than being caught and expelled.”
“Better hypothermia than expulsion?” I asked through another violent shiver that trembled up my spine out of nowhere.
She waved that aside with a tired grin. “It wasn’t cold enough for that and we weren’t in long enough.”
I groaned, curling into a ball on her bed, still clutching my mug. “I feel like all of my bones turned into soggy noodles.”
Hunter crawled under the blanket next to me. Jenna rolled herself up in Chloe’s bed, moving over to make space for Jason. He slid in beside her after taking off the extra blanket and draping it over Chloe’s shoulders. “Now what?” I yawned.
“Now we wait for Chloe to be brilliant,” Jenna yawned back.
“Wake me up when the genius hits,” I murmured. My eyes were closing when my phone vibrated in the pocket of the bathrobe. There was a text from Solange. “Are you awake?”
It was so great to get a text from her, just like regular best friends, that I smiled at it goofily for a moment. “Oh God,” Chloe muttered. “You got something from Nicholas. I know a dorky Drake grin when I see one.”
“No, not Nicholas,” I said. “Talk soon,” I texted Solange back at the same time.
“Lend me your phone?” Hunter murmured. “Mine’s all the way over there on my desk.” It did look like miles away. I passed her my phone. She dialed slowly, as if her fingers tingled as painfully as mine did. Defrosting hurt more than the actual freezing. “Kieran, did I wake you up?” She yawned so widely she had to repeat herself. “Know anything about this Dawn person? Besides what Nicholas told Lucy?” She shook her head when we all looked at her, waiting for an answer. “Chloe’s doing her mojo. If she breaks the code can you crack some of your uncle’s files? Thanks.”
I took the phone back from her before she could hang up. “Call Solange, dumbass.”
Kieran groaned. “One crisis not enough for you, Hamilton?”
“Call her,” I repeated before hanging up.
“Dawn must be a Huntsman,” Jenna said, her eyes closed. “Or really old-school League.”
“And it sounds like she’s recruiting,” Hunter agreed.
“Is that a bad thing?” Chloe asked, still hunched at her desk. She’d broken out a bag of jelly beans and was munching through them mechanically. “I mean, don’t we need the extra help?”
“I guess it depends what she’s recruiting them for,” Hunter said.
“Evil,” I replied promptly.
“You can’t know that.”
“You didn’t see what she did to Nicholas,” I returned darkly. My tone was hard enough to crack stones. I remembered every scar, every bruise and every tear in his shirt. Most of all, I remembered that stark wild look in his eyes when he’d stumbled into the clearing where Solange had me pinned.
Chloe winced. “Sorry, I forgot about that part.”
“She’s torturing vampires and humans,” I reminded her. “And she hurt my boyfriend. So she gets a big, fat, karmic, steel-toe boot up the ass.”
“Agreed,” Hunter said quietly. I knew she was thinking about Quinn. It could just as easily have been him who’d been abducted and tortured.
Even as angry as I was, the toll of the last few nights and the warmth finally spreading through my body again lulled me to sleep before I’d finished uttering death threats. I wasn’t sure how long I was out before Chloe slapped her keyboard loudly. “Stupid thing!”
I jumped, startled awake. Hunter and I were snuggled up together and Jenna was sprawled comfortably on Chloe’s bed. Jason had somehow ended up on the floor, but judging by his snoring it didn’t seem to bother him. Until Chloe rolled away from her desk, and her chair yanked out his hair. He jerked up but his hair was caught and he was stuck there, swearing. “Damn it, Chloe. Are you trying to crack a code or my head?”
She winced down at him. “Sorry.” She rolled her chair carefully away.
He sat up rubbing his head. She handed him a bag of chocolate macaroons from her desk drawer as a peace offering. He ate a handful, still bleary-eyed and rubbing his temple.
Hunter poked her head up. “Chloe, go to bed. It’s almost four in the morning. You can try again later.”
Chloe just reached for another energy drink.
Jason groaned. “Great. Like you need more caffeine.” He pushed to his feet. “I’m going to my own room before you run over something I might actually need one day.”
Chloe was already chugging the drink and trying to eye her computer balefully at the same time when it beeped at her. She hit a few keys and then lowered the empty can, wincing.
“The Gazette is running another headline about the Dracula Killer,” she said. “A college guy was found dead and drained of blood outside the library.”
“Another one?” I frowned. “But Solange is okay now,” I repeated. “She didn’t do this.”
“Not to mention that vampires generally clean up after themselves,” Hunter pointed out. “Something doesn’t add up with all these missing people, just like Theo said. It can’t just be vampires feeding.”
“It has to be Dawn,” I told her. “She’s obviously framing vampires.”
“That’s a pretty brutal way to do it. If she’s pro-human, then why kill so many of us?”
“Vampires make a convenient scapegoat. But why frame Solange at a high school field party of all places?” I wondered.
“Everyone’s after Solange, you know that. She’s an even more convenient scapegoat.”
“This sucks.” I scowled.
Hunter scowled back. “And who the hell is this Dawn anyway?”
“Can you guys grumble somewhere else?” Chloe muttered. “It’s distracting.”
Hunter burrowed back under the blankets, frowning thoughtfully. Jenna was still asleep somewhere under a pile of Chloe’s pillows. Jason and I parted ways on the landing to the second floor. Instead of going back to my room, I went to the bathroom and hid in one of the stalls to call Solange back. She answered on the first ring. “I think I’ll be successfully cured of any martyr tendencies by the end of the week,” she said drily.
“That well, huh?”
“Mom beat up a warrior with muscles the size of my head and it’s been politics and condescension ever since.”
“Yawn.”
“Yeah, it alternates between boring and terrifying. I spend most of my time apologizing and then not being allowed to talk as every vampire within a ten
-mile radius gives a long speech about honor and traditions and basically hacking people up.”
“Fun.”
“You should have seen Dad’s face when the one guy went on about reintroducing human hunts and feeding zoos.”
“Dude.”
“I know, right?”
“Did you take down that stupid post?” I asked, remembering the feel of the iron chains on my wrists. “ ‘Cause I gotta tell you, that thing’s not helping our cause.” I could just imagine what Jody would do if she ever found out.
“It was the first thing I did,” she promised. “Once they stopped trying to kill me. What about you?”
“I went for a swim.”
“In November?”
“Wasn’t my idea.” I shut the lid on the toilet and sat down, leaning against the stall. “We’re looking into League secrets and trying to find out more about this Dawn person.”
The silence on the other end of the line was colder than the pond water. “Yeah,” Solange finally said. “I want a piece of her.”
“We’ll share,” I returned. “And give the rest to your mom. Kinda like the remaining pieces of Constantine. What happened to him anyway? Did your mom tie his entrails into a pretty bow?”
“He took off during the trial by combat,” she replied quietly. “Even his guards don’t know where he is. They’re just milling about all nervous and confused.”
“Pardon me if I don’t exactly feel sorry for them.”
“I really thought he was my friend,” she said in a small voice.
“He should be so lucky,” I said.
“Tomorrow I have to be tested by Kala in front of everyone to prove I’m me again.”
“You should be grateful it’s not my mom. She’d make you chant naked out in the backyard under the full moon.”
“I’d deserve it. Not that most of them believe I was possessed in the first place. Especially since Constantine’s gone and can’t admit to anything.”
“He’d just lie anyway.”
“Not if my mom was there.”
We both thought about that for a moment then shivered. “I should warn you,” I added. “The papers are still printing stories about the murders and disappearances. There were two more tonight.”
“You know I had nothing to do with those, right?” I could tell she was pacing at vampire speed from the soft whooshing sound in the background. “Damn it, everyone’s going to think it was me. I have to find out who’s doing this.”
“We will,” I assured her. “Somehow.”
“Do you think . . .” She trailed off uncertainly.
“What?” I pressed.
“Never mind.”
“Like that’s going to happen.” Especially since I had a feeling I knew what this was about. “Spit it out, Sol.”
“Well,” she continued reluctantly. “Do you think Kieran thinks I did it?”
“No, of course not. But speaking of which, has he called you yet?” I demanded.
“No.”
“Have you called him?”
“No.”
“Are you both doing this on purpose to make me nuts?”
“Oh right, like that’s our fault,” she scoffed. “You were born that way. Too much tofu.”
I smiled. “I missed you, fangface.”
“Me too.”
“Enough to call Kieran?”
“You’re obsessed.”
“I also happen to be right,” I pointed out. “You can’t just leave it like this.”
“Let me just get through tomorrow night.” She paused. “Lucy, I’m going to try to formally abdicate.”
“Can you do that?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t think anyone ever has. But I’m going to change a few things first.”
“Like what?” I asked. “And, cool.”
“I want to set up some sort of council so there’s no need for kings or queens.”
“Dismantling the monarchy.” I grinned. “You little rebel. It’s always the quiet ones.”
“I just don’t think one person should represent all these different tribes, especially not with new ones like the Na-Foir coming out of hiding. And I definitely don’t think that someone should be me.” She sounded disgusted. “I mean, I’m sixteen. Why does no one seem to notice that? Especially since they’re all like three hundred or whatever. This whole system is stupid.”
“You really mean it,” I realized. I hadn’t heard her sound so animated since she’d gotten a new kiln.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think,” she said drily. Her voice changed. “And London died because everyone’s first reaction is to get all stabby.”
“Preaching to the converted,” I agreed. “I mean, that sedative that your uncle used to knock you out? Why the hell aren’t we using that? Maybe not on Hel-Blar,” I amended. “But at least when we don’t know anything about the person we’re fighting.”
“Exactly!” she nearly shouted. “God, I wish you could come with me to this council.”
“You’ll be great,” I said firmly. “You’ll kick vampire ass, I’ll kick Helios-Ra ass and then we’ll celebrate with hot fudge sundaes.”
“Deal.”
Chapter 28
Solange
Friday night
Kala’s ritual testing wasn’t as awful as I’d thought it would be.
All I had to do was stand in the center of nearly a hundred vampires while Kala circled around me with her dog-tooth rattle and her clinking amulets. Isabeau followed behind her, carrying an abalone shell and a hawk feather, wafting sage smoke over us. Four other Hounds stood in each direction, each with a dog at their feet, and each playing a drum.
The other vampires shifted restlessly. They were fascinated by the reclusive Hounds but they didn’t trust them enough to truly enjoy the spectacle of a rare magical ritual. Mom and Dad, my uncle, my aunt, and all of my brothers stood together in a half-moon shape. Lucy’s cousin Christabel stood uncertainly with Saga and Aidan, who had Hel-Blar on leashes, their mushroom stench adding to the miasma of anger and fright. Connor stood with our family, but his eyes never left Christabel. I’d even invited Madame Veronique and her handmaidens so she could stop trying to kill me, assuming I was Viola. I knew Viola had crossed into cruelty and evil, had trapped me and used me, but part of me couldn’t help feel a little sorry for her. How different would her life had been if she’d known who she was? If she’d had my family instead of Madame Veronique?
The representatives of the Raktapa Council sat at a long table. The other vampires who still supported Viola, without even knowing it was her they supported, had taken to leading their humans on leashes like pets after I had the post demolished. Constantine’s men stayed close to them, eyeing me hatefully. Chandramaa stood inside the circle and were stationed on the path. In the center, to my left was a small table holding the royal crown.
There was a nefarious kind of tension clinging to everyone and everything. It hadn’t been here at the start of the Blood Moon but now fear hung in the air, sour and fetid. Too many had lost loved ones to hunters, and too many eyes were searching for blood-drinking murderers. The secure haven of the encampment didn’t feel particularly secure anymore.
Still, the ritual itself was easier than the one in the caves where Kala had shown me the prophecy being spoken.
Until she came at me with a sharpened dog bone, like a cross between a giant knitting needle and a stake.
I had to force myself to stand utterly still, even as my every nerve ending screeched for me to fight back, to run, to dodge, anything. Since she wasn’t instantly turned to dust on the tip of a Chandramaa arrow, the ritual obviously had been approved beforehand. I’d ordered them to let Kala do what she had to, but that was when I’d thought the worst thing I might have to do was chant in my underwear. Mom took a step forward.
Kala jabbed the pointed tip into each of my wrists, and once over my heart. The cuts were shallow but they bled quickly and swiftly. The Hel-Blar clack
ed their jaws together and howled so viciously, Aidan had to struggle to keep them contained. Kala ignored them all, the screeching, the muttering, the hissing. She only cared about the blood currently dripping into the snow.
She touched her fingertip to the rivulet trickling from my heart and smeared the blood over her forehead, then mine. Isabeau held a small bowl carved from stone under my wrists until my blood gathered there like wine. She passed it to Kala who drank from it, taking a small ritual sip. There was no hunger to it, her fangs were always extended but they didn’t look any sharper or longer than usual. She was deep in her magical trance, seeing things the rest of us couldn’t see. The drumming got louder, faster, like a thousand humming bees. It made me feel slightly disoriented.
When Kala lifted her head from the bowl, the whites of her eyes were red. The drumming stopped abruptly, as one. No one moved, no one spoke. Even the wind seemed to be holding its breath. Kala didn’t move but it was obvious she was somewhere else. Less obvious to the others perhaps, that she was prowling through my inner landscape. I could feel her prying open doors and rusted locks, peering under the bed for monsters. It was the strangest feeling and not altogether pleasant. My teeth chattered.
“Spirit,” Kala whispered in a creepy singsong voice. It was all wrong, like a doll in a frilly pink dress holding a butcher knife. “Spirit.”
Wounds that still ached, throbbed inside my head. I was being scraped raw.
“Viola,” Kala snapped. “Show yourself.”
I shivered all over, knees buckling. I landed in the bloody snow. But there was no voice, no sense of vertigo or disconnection.
“The last test,” Kala announced.
I looked up at the sound of weeping.
Constantine.
I blinked, confused. It took a moment to realize the weeping wasn’t inside my head. A pack of the Hounds’s dogs milled about his ankles, snapping and growling to get him moving. There were bloody bite marks on his calves. His hair stood on end and his eyes were bloodshot and red. He was weeping loudly, brokenly. He looked nothing like the charming, witty vampire who had saved my life from the Furies and kissed me in the Bower. He looked, quite frankly, insane.