Bleeding Hearts
Page 69

I could smell the faint taint of smoke even before we came out of the trees. We stayed in the shadows, circling around the crooked street of the ghost town to assess the situation from a safe distance. The charred remains of the maze were sad lumps of blackened tree trunks and burned barbed wire. The pen where Saga had kept some of her Hel-Blar was empty. There was movement, a shifting of shadows by the wooden houses. A window broke and there was a shout. Footsteps scraped the dirt. A door slammed shut repeatedly, caught by the wind.
Quinn’s phone vibrated in his inside coat pocket. I wouldn’t have heard it if I’d still had regular human hearing. He skimmed the text, then motioned for us to follow him. We went around back, aiming for a narrow alley between two houses. We met Nicholas along the way.
“What’s the word?” Quinn asked.
“Just got here,” Nicholas said. “Had some trouble with a Hel-Blar.”
“I’ll go this way.” Quinn nodded toward one of the alleys. He and Connor exchanged a look before he raced off. We joined Lucy, Hunter, and another girl at the end near the street. They were armed with so many stakes, they looked like porcupines. Nicholas rushed forward.
Behind us, a Hel-Blar jumped out from a pile of firewood. He clacked his jaws, grabbing Connor’s shoulder. Connor whirled, dislodging his hold. Nicholas turned back to help but Connor had already staked the Hel-Blar. Mushroom-colored ash drifted to our feet.
“You made it.” Lucy breathed. She was incongruous in her peasant blouse and crystals next to her friends’ military-style cargos. She hugged me tightly. “Are you okay?”
I thought about it. Not long ago I hadn’t even been able to recite my favorite poem. That had been the scariest part.
“ ‘One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize tonight,’ ” I quoted. “ ‘But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.’ ”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Back to normal.”
“Whoa,” Chloe said. “You’re kinda blue.”
“Not Hel-Blar,” Connor explained. “Na-Foir.”
“Na-Foir? What the hell’s that?”
“A new breed of vampire,” he said. “Well, old breed.”
Chloe groaned. “Seriously? Like we don’t have enough weird names of vampire tribes to memorize for exams already?”
“The hunters had staked half the Hel-Blar by the time we got here,” Hunter said. “A whole bunch more were released after that. They’re everywhere, and the fight called the others hiding in the mountains.”
“And the hunters?” Nicholas asked, flattening himself against the wall and sneaking a peek down the road.
“Mostly on the rooftops now,” Hunter replied. “Where’s Quinn?”
“He went around the other side,” Connor replied. “Stealth mode.”
A war whoop and a mocking laugh belied that comment.
Hunter sighed. “He’s across the street, being a lunatic, you mean.”
“That’s stealth mode for him.” Connor threw us a grin before rushing out to help his twin. I watched him disappear into the saloon. It sounded like a bar brawl was going on in there, between the splintering of furniture and the breaking of bottles.
Hunter looked at Nicholas. “He’s not following any plan I’ve ever heard of.”
“Does Quinn ever?”
“We were going to do a quiet sweep.”
A Hel-Blar flew out of the saloon doors, rolled off the porch, and exploded into ashes.
“That’s Quinn’s version of a sweep,” Nicholas replied.
“The Hel-Blar are running loose, one of the hunters is dead, and the others are talking about setting the whole town on fire,” Lucy updated us.
“I nearly did that,” I said. “It could work, unfortunately.”
“They have the gasoline for it,” Hunter said. “There are jerricans down by what’s left of the maze there, and a big guy with a lighter.”
“Anyone seen Aidan or Saga?” I asked. Saga was more like Quinn; she’d have been shooting her way through the hunters with her blunderbuss. That she wasn’t meant she couldn’t.
Lucy shook her head. “Every time we move from this spot, the Hel-Blar think it’s dinnertime.”
“I was about to go out there and be the distraction,” Chloe said, “until Quinn decided it was playtime.”
“Aidan might be with Saga in that house on the right. The one with the blue hand nailed to the door.” I stepped out of the alley toward it.
Nicholas and Lucy yanked me back. “Whoa,” Nicholas said. “Hang on a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute,” I pointed out.
“And you don’t have the proper training yet,” he shot back. “So just wait.” He jerked his hand through his hair as Quinn let out another yell across the street. I hoped he didn’t get Connor killed. “Lucy, Christabel, and I can head for the house,” Nicholas suggested to Hunter. “Why don’t you and Chloe see what you can do about the gasoline. Don’t let anyone light it.”
Hunter nodded. She and Chloe snuck out the back of the alley, where we’d come in. Nicholas threw a stake behind them, catching the Hel-Blar who’d caught their scent and darted after them. The Hel-Blar clutched his wounded arm, turning to snarl at us. Blood oozed between his fingers. Lucy’s crossbow bolt hit him right in the heart. His blood was still dripping, caught in midair as he turned to ashes.