Drake Chronicles: 03 Out for Blood (23 page)

Chloe snapped her seatbelt into place, sulking. “Where are we going?”

“To the Drakes’.”

We both stared at him, then at each other.

“Are you serious?” I asked. “We’re going to Quinn’s?”

“I get to see the famous Drake compound?” Chloe looked impressed despite herself. “I think you’re both messed up, but it’s total y worth it if I get to see that house.” She kicked the back of his seat. Hard. “But I’m stil tel ing Bel wood.”

“Fine,” he replied, unconcerned. “But first you’l shut up and listen to what we have to say to you.”

I half turned in my seat to face him. “What
do
we have to say to her?” I stil didn’t know why exactly we’d just kidnapped Chloe.

“Marcus analyzed the vitamin you gave Quinn,” he shot me a dry glance. “The vitamin you should have given
me
, I might add.”

“He was right there, it was easier.”

“Yeah, about that.”

Chloe leaned forward. “Hel o? Kidnap victim here. Focus.” She scowled at me.

“And you total y stole from me.”

“Yup.” I wasn’t the least bit sorry about it anymore either.

“It’s not a vitamin, Chloe,” Kieran told her seriously.

She rol ed her eyes. “Whatever. My mom gave them to me, Einstein. I think she’d know.”

“Chloe, your mom’s a biochemist,” I said quietly.

“And a doctor, so shut up.”

“She helped create Hypnos.”

“So?”

“So,” Kieran interjected, “it’s not a vitamin, not completely. It’s an anabolic steroid.”

“I
knew
it,” I muttered.

Chloe gaped at both of us. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Here’s proof.” Kieran tossed her a folder with printed biological breakdown of her pil s. “I need you to read that. When we get to the Drakes’, you can go online on a safe computer shielded from the League and do your own research.”

“Like the League can crack my computer security.”

“Al the same.”

She ignored him and started flipping violently through the pages. I could tel the exact moment she real y began to read and process the information. She went pale. When she looked up again, fear and anger and denial battled over her features. “Wel , so what?” she snapped, as if either Kieran or I had spoken. “So she gave me steroids. They’ve made me stronger and faster. How is that a bad thing?”

I plucked the paper out of her hands and skimmed it until I had answer for her.

“Have you grown a mustache yet?”

She blinked at me horrified. “
What?
”

“It says here that’s one of the side effects. So’s going bald.” She patted her hair a little frantical y. It was one of her vanities. “I’m fine.”

“You’l get acne too,” I continued ruthlessly. I wanted my friend back. “And aggression and mood swings.” I angled my head so she’d see the bruise on my jaw. “I think we can safely say you have both of those.” She winced. “I …”

“High blood pressure, liver damage, heart attacks, sterility, stunting your growth …

do you want me to read on?”

She shook her head mutely. “But they were helping me,” she final y said in a smal voice. “I feel stronger.”

“Chloe, they’re bad for you.”

“But …”

“Mustache,” I repeated.

She swal owed. “Nothing’s worth that.”

She sat back and stared blankly out of the window. I didn’t know what else to say, so I put the folder away. The trees and fields were dark, broken occasional y by the glint of moonlight or a cluster of stars through the leaves. The mountains loomed in the distance. Kieran drove for over half an hour before he turned into what looked like a field. There were tire marks in the grass but nothing else to mark it as anything but another field. Guards were discreet shadows. I caught the faint glimmer of light on a walkie-talkie. Kieran drove for another ten minutes before the tracks turned into a real lane leading to an old farmhouse.

It was impressive in its size. The logs looked like entire trees; the porch was wide and wrapped al the way around one side. The house itself was comfortably worn, like an antique. There were cedar hedges and oak trees and lamplight at the windows. Chloe let out an excited breath, briefly distracted from her own predicament.

“Wow,” she said.

I slid out of the van and just stared for a moment. This was where countless vampires had been made, where blood was sipped like wine, where humans walked a dangerous path, where hunters had no doubt died.

This was where Quinn had grown up.

I thought I saw a shadow move in one of the upstairs dormer windows but I couldn’t be sure. Even though I knew I was technical y safe here, that there were treaties and friendships protecting me, I was stil glad to have pockets ful of stakes and Hypnos powder secured under my sleeve.

The front door swung open. I recognized Solange as she came down the porch steps, pale as a birch sapling, graceful as a white bird. The last time I’d seen her she’d been dressed for the Drake coronation. Now she wore old jeans and sunglasses. She smiled softly at Kieran.

He smiled back, taking her hand. “Thanks for letting us do this here.”

“Mom and Dad are at the caves, so we should have most of the night.” She turned to us. “Hunter, hi. And you’re Chloe?”

Chloe nodded meekly. I’d never seen her so demure.

“What’s the matter with you?” I hissed at her as we fol owed Kieran and Solange inside.

“She’s royalty!”

“And a vampire, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Chloe paused. “Nope, princess trumps vampire.”

“Does not.”

“
So
does.”

This was the real Chloe. The glimpse was enough to make me feel hopeful and confident. Even the foyer had her ogling again. I’d never been inside a vampire’s house before either. The marble floors and crystal chandeliers were impressive, but I preferred the fire snapping in the hearth in the living room off to the right, and the worn sofas.

Somewhere, Grandpa was having a seizure.

I wouldn’t have expected it to be so comfortable and, wel , normal. I knew better than to rely on stereotypes, but thought I’d see at least one red satin dressing gown and maybe a coffin or two.

Al I saw were shaggy gray bears barreling at us from al directions.

“Jesus.” I stumbled back, fumbling for a stake. Kieran stopped my hand.

“Dogs,” he murmured.

My heart leaped uncomfortably. I let out a nervous giggle. “I real y thought those were bears.”

“Bouviers,” Solange explained, snapping her fingers once. “Friends,” she said, and the enormous dogs sat obediently, tongues lol ing. A wolfhound puppy with legs like stilts slid across the hardwood floor leading from the kitchen, nearly kneecapping me. I grinned and crouched down to pat his head.

Lucy laughed, fol owing him at a more sedate pace, a bandage under her hair.

There was a peach in her hand. “Hey, Hunter.”

“Hey.” It was stil startling to see a human girl so very comfortable in a vampire’s house. She dropped down into a chair, throwing her legs over the arm and swinging her feet. Nicholas Drake sat across from her, watching her bite into the peach. It seemed intimate somehow, private. I looked away, wondering why I felt like blushing.

“I need to cal my mom,” Chloe said.

“Kitchen’s free,” Solange offered.

“Thanks.” She paused in the doorway, cel phone in her hand. “Hunter, come with me?”

I fol owed, joining her at a harvest table with ladderback chairs. The kitchen was spotless. I couldn’t help but look for a jug of blood. Chloe’s foot tapped nervously as she waited for her mom to pick up.

“Mom?” she said. “I know you’re in the lab, this wil only take a minute.” She paused. “Those vitamins you gave me are making me feel funny.” She met my gaze bitterly. “Yes, I’m sure. Yes, I’m taking the right dose. I don’t want to.” She listened for a long moment. She was going to tap her foot right off her leg at this rate. “But … I know … but … Mom?
Mom
? Hel o? Damn it!” She turned off her phone and put it back into her pocket. “She’s hiding something,” she said with grim certainty. Her chair scraped the floor when she stood up. “Kieran,” she cal ed out. He came to the door, Solange at his side.

“Is there a computer I can use?”

He looked at Solange and she nodded. “Connor’s got a few in his room,” she answered. “I’l show you.”

She led us up a wide staircase. “What are you going to do?” I asked Chloe.

“I’m going to break into my mom’s files and find out exactly what’s going on.”

“Good,” I said earnestly. “About time.”

Solange took us up to the third floor, which had a sitting room and rows and rows of doors. With seven brothers al living up here, it kind of looked like a floor on our dorm. Solange knocked on a door and pushed inside. Quinn looked up from his computer.

“Quinn, where have you—” I stopped, confused. “You’re not Quinn.” He had the same features, but his hair was short and he didn’t have that lazy smirk.

“His room’s next door.” Connor smiled. “And he’d tel you he’s prettier, but I’m smarter.”

I shook my head. “Twins,” I final y clued in. “Sorry, I’d forgotten.” Chloe let out a reverent sigh. “Nice system,” she said. She took inventory and spat out a bunch of technological jargon that had no resemblance to English as far as I could tel . “Sweet.” She final y came back to words I understood. She cracked her knuckles. “Which one can I use?”

As she made herself comfortable in front of a computer on a desk made of a wooden door on blocks, I looked around.

“Where’s Quinn?” I asked when I couldn’t pretend not to care for a second longer.

I did
not
like the look Kieran and Connor exchanged. “What?” They both winced but wouldn’t answer me. Dread was a bal in my bel y.

Solange was the one to answer. I tried not to react to the tips of her fangs poking out under her top lip. “Quinn’s hiding.”

I blinked. “He’s
hiding
? From what?”

“From you.”

My mouth dropped open. Then my eyes narrowed, remembering the way he’d begged me to run away last night, the way he’d licked a drop of blood off my hand, the way he’d ignored my text message.

“Wel , that’s just stupid.”

Chapter 24

•

Quinn

I knew Hunter was in the house even before she started pounding on my bedroom door. I could smel her, taste her.

“Quinn Drake, I know you’re in there.” She knocked again, harder this time.

“Hunter, go away,” I said darkly.

“Like hel . I know what you’re doing. So just stop it.” Silence.

I could feel her anger radiating through the door. She turned the knob but it only opened a couple of inches. The chain lock went taut at the top.

She craned her neck, glared at me through the smal opening, and took a step back.

And then she kicked my door in.

Was it any wonder I was fal ing for her?

The chain ripped out of the wal , the snap of wood reverberating down the hal .

She stepped through the doorway, glowering.

I shook my head, refusing to let her see how happy I was to see her. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

“
I
can’t believe you’re hiding from me.”

“Hunter, you’re not Wonder Woman, for Christ’s sake. You’re a good hunter, no doubt about it, but you’re human. You’re fragile.”

“If you cal me fragile again, I wil personal y break off your fangs and wear them as earrings.”

I stalked toward her. “But you
are
fragile,” I insisted, my hands closing around her shoulders before she could even see me move. I knew that to her I was a blur of pale skin and long dark hair and the glow of unnatural blue eyes. I pressed her against the wal , slamming the door with my boot at the same time. We were alone.

And I was just as pissed off as she was.

I had to make her understand. Even if she hated me for it. “You don’t like to admit it, but I’m stronger than you are, and faster.” I was so close that her legs, her hips, and her chest touched mine. Every time she took a ragged breath, it pushed her closer to me. “And I’ve tasted you now.” I leaned in, lips moving over her throat, aching to taste her again. She might have been the canary to my smug cat. She’d hate that. “And I can never forget your blood on my tongue.”

“I know what you’re doing.” Her voice was endearingly breathy. She swal owed.

“I’m just making my point.” I said.

“You’re being an ass.” But she tilted her head so I could continue nibbling.

Centuries of her hunter ancestors rol ed over in their graves.

“I could kil you, Hunter.”

“Mmm-hmmm. I could kil you right back.”

“This isn’t a joke.”

I seized her mouth, and for a long, hot moment there were no more words, no more warnings. Just tongues and tastes and lips seeking lips. I fisted my hand in her hair and hers hooked into my belt loops. And, as usual, it was over far too soon.

I pul ed back abruptly, violent need and control twisting inside me. “I won’t risk you.”

Her eyes narrowed into slits. “You’re trying to protect me,” she seethed.

“And that’s a bad thing?” I just didn’t get her sometimes.

She dril ed her finger into my chest. “When you make decisions for me, yeah, you’re damn right it is.”

“I’m just trying to do the right thing. I’m a vampire.”

“Duh.”

“And you’re not.”

“Again: duh.”

“I could hurt you. I could lose control.” I claimed her finger, my grip cool and utterly unbreakable. She’d have better luck snapping her own wrist in half than breaking my hold.

“If you were anyone else, I’d have kneecapped you by now.” She poked me hard.

“So give me break,” she said. “You make out with girls al the time.”

“They’re not you,” I replied quietly.

“Kieran’s human,” she pointed out. “And Solange is even younger than you. She turned barely two weeks ago. Should I be worried about him?”

“I don’t know.”

“And Lucy?”

“I don’t know.”

She pul ed back just enough to meet my troubled gaze. “Do you like me, Quinn?”

“It’s not that simple.”