Alyxandra Harvey - Bleeding Hearts (Drake Chronicles)

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Thank you.

Connor

The fact that we have to fetch our baby sister home because shes out later than we are is just sad, Quinn grumbled.

Gives me a chance to check out these dishes though, I said from halfway up an old-growth cedar. The trunk, mossy and glittering with gold-dust lichen, was big enough to support half a dozen tree houses. I was perched comfortably on one of its many massive branches, repositioning the angle of a hidden satellite dish. Whats it say now?

Quinn refreshed the screen on my laptop from down among the roots. They were like an old womans gnarled fingers from this perspective. Looks good, he called up.

I tweaked it anyway and double-checked it on my iPhone link before climbing down the branches as if they were steps. That was the last one for this section, I said, taking the last six feet in one leap. Ill have to disable the other ones. They might be in range of the camp. Id have to patrol nightly as well to block any new signals, even if the encampment was right up against the mountain and it was highly unlikely.

I knew that for a fact.

Id already tried.

A lot.

The Blood Moon was a rare vampire gathering, and no Internet or cell phones were permitted for securitys sake. I wasnt looking forward to that part. I mean, I dont care about the diehards who run around in corsets or fifteenth-century plate armor to represent their lineages, but the lack of Internet access is just barbaric.

I have a phone full of hot girls phone numbers, Connor, Quinn remarked as I stashed my equipment in the pack on my motorcycle. Before I delete them you should totally put the identical twin thing to good use.

I rolled my eyes. Twin or not, no ones going to believe Im you.

Well, not if you show up in a Star Trek T-shirt.

Okay, yes, I have watched every episode of every Star Trek , Battlestar Galactica , and Stargate ever created, but I have never owned a Star Trek T-shirt.

Just saying.

Forget it.

What about Hunters friend Chloe? You guys got your geek on until the late hours of the night a few weeks ago. Wed been helping Chloe and Quinns girlfriend, Hunter, figure out what was making students sick at the Helios-Ra Academy.

I shrugged one shoulder. We still e-mail, but its not like that.

He shook his head sadly. Who will carry on my fine legacy?

Youve got a girlfriend, not a terminal disease.

Still, Ive said it before and Ill say it again: with great hotness comes great responsibility.

Though Quinn wears his hair longer, we technically have the same face. But thats not why hes so popular with girls young and oldits something more indefinable. And hes always been like that. Hes the one who likes girls, and Im the one who likes comic books. Still, we get each other. We always have. I might have six brothers but I only have one twin.

I grinned at him. Try Duncan.

Yeah, right.

I might prefer computers to people, but Duncan was downright antisocial. Mind you, that doesnt seem to stop the girls from following him around, either. Quinn likes that sort of thing, but it makes Duncan mental. Which is part of the fun.

Guard, three oclock, I said with a sigh.

Quinn made a face and kicked his motorcycle into gear. We grinned at each other and took off.

The motorcycles growled as we sped around thick old trees and through giant ferns. We pulled into a narrow meadow, which was really more of a strip of wild grass and late-blooming goldenrod, and left our bikes in a row with the others. Between the oak trees was a path leading to numerous tents and vampires everywhere, talking, watching, unrolling family banners, and polishing swords. No cell phone signalsbut swords were okay. I grumbled to myself.

There were more guards than I even knew existed, wearing various family insignias and stationed by every tent. The Drake crest currently outnumbered the others, but vampires were arriving nightly from all over the world. There was another secret guard, the Chandramaa, rumored to be roaming around, but no one had actually seen them. Chandramaa was a Sanskrit word for moon, and they were as old as the language itself.

Aware that we were probably being watched, we warily followed the path out of the woods, into the open field. It went against everything our mother had ever taught us. Luckily Solange was easy to find, loitering on the outskirts with a guy, well out of the torchlight. His back was to us, and he didnt look familiar. It wasnt Kieranhumans were allowed only when attached to a vampire family, and vampire hunters werent allowed at all. He was tall, with black hair, and he was standing entirely too close to her.

Quinn scowled. Who the hell is that?

I scowled too. No idea.

Sol, he called out to her. Lets go.

She looked up at us, red-veined eyes narrowing warningly. In a minute. She clearly wanted us to stay where we were and butt out of her business.

Quinn and I exchanged a glance.

Not a chance.

We were crossing the field when it happened.

A vampire stepped out from between two sheltering dogwood trees. She looked Hel-Blar, except that her skin was a very light blue, not the usual mottled bruise color. Her smell was more like wet earth in spring than mushrooms, but it was close. Too close. She held a bow, nocked with an arrow.

Solange, down! I yelled, even as the vampire she was talking to knocked her back, covering her with his body. Quinn rushed at them. I grabbed a stake to try to throw the arrow off its trajectory.

There were assassins somewhere on the planet not currently gunning for my mother or my baby sister, but they were probably very lonely.

The arrow thunked into a tree. The paper wrapped around the shaft unraveled, fluttering like moth wings.

It wasnt meant for Solange, after all.

It didnt matter.

The woman was dust and ash, with only a thin dress and a yew-wood bow left lying in the grass to show shed ever existed. Even the odd smell of rich soil was gone, taken by the cold mountain wind. A crossbow bolt, painted the red of all Chandramaa weapons, had pierced her heart even as her messengers arrow bit through tree bark. She never had a chance.

There was a moment of silence, followed by the eerie sound of vampires moving too fast, like bat wings. Fangs and swords and even a katana flashed. Solange was pulled to her feet by the black-haired stranger. His hand passed over her shoulder with a familiarity I didnt like. There was a crowd gathering between us.

Hey now, Quinn said darkly, tilting his head to see around a guard built like a bull on steroids. Whats that about?

A woman wearing the royal crest snatched the paper off the arrow, skimming the message. Its for Helena.

Quinn and I both froze, then turned slowly to look at her. Solange did the same across the way.

A tribe wants a seat at the Blood Moon council. Its signed by Saga.

Who the hells Saga? Quinn demanded.

There were a lot of shrugs and curious stares.

Mom doesnt choose who sits on the council, I added. We didnt even call the Blood Moon. No one knew who called them; they just happened every hundred years or so. I held out my hand. Give me the message. Well get it to her.

I tucked it into the inside pocket of my coat, next to an ebony stake Id found in a family chest in the attic. The crowd dispersed, muttering and shooting us dark looks. A few hovered, hoping for more drama. Dont let the emo brooding vampires fool you; most vampires love gossip and melodrama as much as blood. The older they are, they more they seem to crave it. Which only partly explained why my life seemed to resemble a soap opera lately, and not even the sci-fi space opera type, which might have been cool.