Drake Chronicles: 02 Blood Feud (6 page)

CHAPTER 4

LOGAN

My brothers are idiots.

Anyone can see that under the scars and the attitude, Isabeau is more fragile than she looks. And as a reclusive Hound princess, her first introduction to the royal family shouldn’t be a dose of Hypnos and four idiots gawking at her.

If I’d managed not to gawk, they sure as hel could have. She was beautiful, fierce, and utterly unlike anyone I’d ever known.

It was real y hard not to gawk.

Much better to pace outside her door with one of our Bouviers sitting at the top of the stairs watching me curiously.

“This sucks, Boudicca,” I told her. “I don’t think we inherited Dad’s diplomacy.”

She laid her chin on her paws. I could have sworn she rol ed her eyes.

I hovered by Isabeau’s door for another fifteen minutes until I started feeling like a stalker. Solange came down the hal from her room and met me at the staircase.

“She’l be fine, Logan.”

“I know.”

She tilted her head. “Did you change your shirt?”

“No.”

“You total y did.” She grinned. “Too bad your girlfriend tried to kil my boyfriend.”

I snorted. “Too bad he dosed her with drugs. And she’s not my girlfriend. I just met her. And lower your voice, would you?” She raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

“Shut up, princess.” I mock-glowered at her. She narrowed her eyes at the term “princess.”

“I wil dye al your pirate shirts pink,” she threatened.

I just grinned. “I’d stil make them look good.” She paused on the landing, her expression turning serious.

“Is it true an assassin tried to stake Mom?”

“Who told you that?”

She poked my shoulder. Hard.

“Ow,” I said, rubbing the bruise. “What was that for?”

“For thinking I’m dumb and avoiding giving me an answer.”

“I don’t think you’re dumb.”

“Then stop trying to shield me, Logan.”

“No.”

She made a sound of frustration in the back of her throat.

I sighed. “Fine. Yes. Some girl tried to stake Mom. No one was hurt.”

“Montmartre?”

“Yeah, she wore his insignia.” I hated to admit it. Especial y when her face went hard and her eyes flat. “But she staked herself before we could get any answers.”

“Damn it.” She slapped the wal , rattling the crystal chandelier above us. “He’s trying to make me queen by kil ing Mom.” above us. “He’s trying to make me queen by kil ing Mom.”

“Looks like,” I admitted. I slung an arm over her shoulder. “But it’s not going to happen.”

She rubbed her arms as if she were cold. Vampires didn’t real y get cold, so it was more habit than necessity. “I hope you’re right, Logan.”

“I’m always right.”

She chuckled, which is what I’d intended. “Careful, you’l be as vain as Quinn soon.”

“No one’s as vain as Quinn,” Lucy said from the bottom of the stairs. She was carrying a mug of hot chocolate and a handful of cookies. Taking advantage of her stay with us, she was gorging herself on white sugar and junk food. She had more issues with her mom’s tofu casserole than the fact that everyone currently around her drank blood.

“Where’s everybody?” I asked. A fire popped in the hearth but the living room was empty. So was the kitchen.

“Fixing the wal outside,” Lucy replied.

The north side of the farmhouse was a mess of scorched and water-damaged logs. The wraparound porch had taken the brunt of the attack when Hope busted out of the guest room and returned with the rest of her crazy rogue Helios-Ra agents.

Bruno spent so much time in the home-improvement stores since then muttering his bewilderment at us on his cel phone that we’d started hearing “noises” in the woods so he’d stay home and patrol the perimeters. Hope had a lot to answer for.

So did Montmartre. It real y sucked that we hadn’t gotten a chance to make them pay horribly and at great length.

Defeating their plans didn’t seem to be enough. A little vengeance might have been nice, regardless of what Dad said in his “rebuilding stronger” speeches. Truth be told, we were al just glad Solange had survived the bloodchange and the various attempts to abduct or kil her.

I was real y glad not to be sixteen anymore.

Because being sixteen in our family just plain bites.

“I guess I should help them out,” I said reluctantly. Manual labor was brutal on the wardrobe.

“Hel , yes, you should,” Nicholas cal ed out, emerging from the basement with an extra toolbox and a saw. Lucy grinned at him as he hauled the back door open.

“Tool belt,” she said, licking hot chocolate off her lip. “Yum.” The wind shifted and I could smel the warm blood moving under her skin. We al could. Nicholas took a step back, looking vaguely pained.

She frowned at him. “What’s the matter with you? You look nauseous.”

“I’m fine,” he said through his teeth. “Stay inside. It’s not safe.” She rol ed her eyes. “Quit fretting. It’s perfectly safe, there’s al of you and like a gazil ion guards.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he muttered, easing outside into the shadows to busy himself at a pile of cut logs. Tension made the tendons on the back of his neck strain. Lucy stared after him for a long moment before closing the door behind him.

I fol owed him, grabbing a stainless-steel thermos fil ed with blood from the cooler on the deck. I tossed it at him. He caught it and turned away to drink. It wasn’t easy for a young vampire to it and turned away to drink. It wasn’t easy for a young vampire to resist the taste of fresh human blood. It was even more difficult when your new girlfriend was staying at your house while you struggled to tame the biting thirst. Now that Solange was newly turned, she had started to sit at the opposite end of the room and Lucy had been forced to move into one of the guest rooms, with a lock inside the door. We’d grown up with her and would never intentional y hurt her, but a young vampire was more animal than human in those waking moments after the sun went down. It was some sort of biological imperative. Our bodies forced us to drink what our brains would rebel against.

Otherwise, we’d die.

“Hey, man, you’re doing good,” I told him quietly as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“She doesn’t get it,” he said. “Not real y.”

“She gets it more than anyone else ever could.”

“Stil .”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Stil .”

Quinn, Connor, Marcus, and Duncan were ripping off the parts of the logs that were unsalvageable. I grabbed a hammer and tried not to be so aware of Isabeau inside the house.

Nicholas ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “When did this al get so complicated?”

“Girls are always complicated,” I told him. “You know that.” He half smiled. “Some more than others.”

I thought of the scars on Isabeau’s arms and the haunted look in her eye. “Got that right.”

We got to work, mostly fol owing Duncan’s lead because he almost had a clue as to how to fix a wal . When we needed plaster for some reason I couldn’t quite fathom, I went out to the garage to find some. On my way back, I paused, goose bumps suddenly lifting.

A noise in the woods.

Something quiet, subtle.

And unwelcome.

I couldn’t alert my brothers without alerting whoever was lurking in the woods as wel . I set down the bucket of plaster dust and doubled back toward the front door and woods on the other side of the lane. I peered into the shifting shadows of the rosebushes and cedar trees. The faint moonlight glinted off the Jeep in the driveway. The lamps burned softly at the windows. I smel ed roses, newly cut oak logs, blood, and lilies.

Lilies were never a good sign.

Montmartre smel ed like lilies. And while I doubted he was loitering in the woods outside our farmhouse, I had no problem believing he’d sent minions to do his dirty work.

He was after Solange again, just as she’d said.

He wanted her to be queen, as the old prophecy claimed, and more importantly, he wanted her to be
his
queen. He thought he could rule in her place, using her as a figurehead.

And after tonight, he apparently thought if he took Mom out of the picture, Solange would fal in line.

He
so
didn’t get Drake women.

And he real y needed staking.

I was happy to oblige … if he would just stand stil long enough.

CHAPTER 5

Isabeau

When the Hypnos powder final y wore off, it was quick as summer lightning. I reared up as if I’d been jolted ful of electricity. Charlemagne barked once and I laughed out loud.

The ability to control my limbs again was intoxicating. I felt as giddy as a debutante at her first bal . Even the cel phone vibrating in my pocket didn’t bother me.

“Magda.” I grinned into the receiver. No one else would be cal ing me.

“Isabeau? Is that you?” Magda demanded.

“Of course, who else would it be?” I stretched to make sure I could. Then I did a backflip somersault.

“Are you giggling?” she asked incredulously. “What did they do to you?”

“Hypnos.”

There was a pause, a choked cough. “And that’s funny why?”

“It’s not,” I assured her. “But it’s just worn off.”

“Are you in trouble? What are they doing to you? Don’t they know you’re a princess, or whatever? I’m getting Finn.”

“No!” I stopped her before she could get going. “I’m fine. It was an accident.”

“Are you
sure
?” she pressed suspiciously. “They’re not like us, Isabeau.”

“I know,” I said. “Believe me. Even their humans are odd.” Even though I hadn’t met many humans since I’d been pul ed out of the grave, I was fairly certain Lucy was unique.

“They have humans there?”

“A girl. And some guards.”

“Did you taste her?”

“I don’t think they’d like that.” I could just picture the look on Nicholas’s face.

“Is the Hypnos as bad as they say?”

“Yes.” There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. “Worse even.”

“Bastards.”

“Keep your voice down,” I told her. “We’re supposed to be here as diplomats, remember?”

Magda snorted. “I’m not the diplomatic sort.” I snorted back, feeling better. “I know.” Before she’d accepted me as a sister, Magda had been jealous of my closeness with her mentor, Kala. She’d tried to cut off my hair in a fit of pique.

After I’d broken her fingers, she’d immediately warmed to me and had been fiercely loyal ever since.

“How is it over there?” I asked.

“The Drakes are al right, so far,” she grudgingly admitted.

“But most of these courtiers don’t want us here.”

“Should I come back?” I wondered, concerned.

“As much as I’d prefer it if you were here, we’re fine. We’l see you tomorrow. I’l eavesdrop as much as I can until then.”

“Good.” She was exceedingly skil ed at it. “I’l do what I can here.”

“Watch your back.”

“You too.”

I slipped the phone back into my pocket and then searched the room for traps, cracks in the wooden shutter that might let in the sunlight, anything out of the ordinary. I even sniffed the blood in the fridge but it smel ed fine. They would have thought me paranoid, but Hounds were accustomed to looking after themselves. Between Montmartre and his Host and the disdain of the rest of the vampire community, we couldn’t afford to let our guard down.

And I couldn’t sit in this room much longer. I had work to do.

“Come on,” I told Charlemagne, pushing open the door.

“Let’s go.”

I had planned to go back downstairs but changed my course when I heard Lucy’s human heartbeat from the other end of the hal , around the corner. I found her standing at the window with Solange.

“Isabeau.” Solange searched my face with worried eyes. “Are you feeling better?”

I nodded. “Where’s your hunter?”

She flinched. “He went home. We thought it would be best.” Her eyes went from worried to warning. “He’s under Drake protection.”

“So am I, or so I’ve been led to understand.”

“Of course you are,” Lucy said, her nose pressed to the window. “Misunderstanding. No big deal.”

window. “Misunderstanding. No big deal.”

Solange quirked a half smile. “You might try complete sentences, Lucy.”

“Can’t. Busy.”

I was curious despite myself. “What are you doing?”

“Drooling,” Solange explained fondly.

“I total y am,” Lucy admitted, unrepentant. “Just look at them.” Lucy moved over to give me space. She was watching five of the seven Drake boys repairing the outside wal of the farmhouse, under our window. I had to admit they made an impressive picture, handsome and pale and shirtless, muscles gleaming in the moonlight. I couldn’t help but look for Logan, but he was walking away.

Solange leaned back against the wal , bored. “Are you done yet?”

“Hel no,” Lucy said. She’d left nose prints on the glass.

Nicholas smirked up at her. She blushed. “Ooops. Busted.”

“I told you they could hear your heartbeat,” Solange said.

“Even from up here.”

“I can’t help it. Even if they al know they’re pretty and are insufferably arrogant,” she added louder. “Can they hear that?”