Read Online Drake Chronicles: 03 Out for Blood by Alyxandra Harvey - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Alyxandra Harvey
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and dumped me in the center of the foyer. The crystal beads rained down on our heads, skittering into the broken glass from the window. The Hel-Blar didn’t stay sprawled on the ground for long. The smel of wet mushrooms was overpowering. He snapped his teeth at me, al pointed and needle-sharp. I shoved a stake through his chest and he crumbled into ash, leaving behind an empty pile of clothes.
I didn’t exactly have time to pat myself on the back.
Several more Hel-Blar came racing out of the woods, like blue beetles. There were thumps upstairs, a shouted curse. They must be on the roof as wel . The tenth and eleventh graders would have already barricaded themselves in their rooms or else gone for the secret passageways leading outside when Jason turned on their silent alarms. I should get back upstairs and help him corral the Niners. I kicked the ash off my boots and took the stairs two at a time, slipping in a pair of nose plugs.
It didn’t make sense. Vampires didn’t attack the academy as a rule, at least not in the last few decades, and the Hel-Blar never had even before then; why would they bother now? They didn’t have a leader or political aims, just an overwhelming hunger that usual y chose the path of least resistance.
Another beast came through the broken window and raced up the stairs behind me. I barely heard him, only felt the press of air ful of rotting vegetation and copper. There was blood on his chin.
I went low because he expected me to jump and leap out of his way. Instead, I dropped and swept my leg out, catching him in the ankles with the steel toe of my boots. I activated the tear-gas pen in my sleeve because he was moving too fast for the blade in my boot to be useful. Hypnos wafted out in a puff of white powder, like confectioners’ sugar. He was already leaning over me, his saliva dripping onto my shoulder, by the time I could bark out an order and be relatively confident there was enough Hypnos in his face to do the trick.
“Drop!”
He col apsed on top of me like a load of bricks.
I wiggled out from beneath him before his teeth could accidental y graze my neck.
There was nothing more contagious than the kiss of a Hel-Blar , no matter how doped up he was. His pupils were dilated, ringed with a tiny sliver of pale gray. His skin was tattoo-blue and mottled.
Grandpa would have told me to stake him then and there. He was Hel-Blar , after al , the most vicious of the vicious. But I couldn’t just take out a wil -less, unarmed opponent, even if he was dangerous, even if it was tactical y sound. It just felt wrong.
I shoved him away, making sure to use enough force to crack a few ribs. I might have more scruples than my grandfather, but I wasn’t soft. And I didn’t want him staying here to jump back into the fight after the Hypnos wore off.
“Go back to your nest,” I snapped. “And stay there. Don’t hurt anyone on the way.”
“I wil kil you, little girl—”
“And shut up,” I added.
He stumbled down the steps, making weird growling sounds in the back of his throat.
I knew the precise moment Jason reached the main alarm switch. The altered tanning-bed bulbs set al around the dormitory, from windowsil s to garden landscaping lights, seared through the darkness. It was high-powered UV light with the same toxic effect on vampires as sunlight. It wouldn’t make them burst into flames like movie vampires, which would have been a hel of a tactical advantage.
But it would at least weaken them considerably. And it should convince any other vampires coming this way to turn back.
I met Jason on the third floor, trailing students heading for the secret passageway door.
“You al right?” he asked.
I nodded. “Two down.”
“This is unbelievable,” he snarled. “They’re coming down from the roof too. There are at least three upstairs.”
“I saw that many coming in through the back,” an eleventh-grade girl, stil in her pink pajamas, offered. “From the
I didn’t exactly have time to pat myself on the back.
Several more Hel-Blar came racing out of the woods, like blue beetles. There were thumps upstairs, a shouted curse. They must be on the roof as wel . The tenth and eleventh graders would have already barricaded themselves in their rooms or else gone for the secret passageways leading outside when Jason turned on their silent alarms. I should get back upstairs and help him corral the Niners. I kicked the ash off my boots and took the stairs two at a time, slipping in a pair of nose plugs.
It didn’t make sense. Vampires didn’t attack the academy as a rule, at least not in the last few decades, and the Hel-Blar never had even before then; why would they bother now? They didn’t have a leader or political aims, just an overwhelming hunger that usual y chose the path of least resistance.
Another beast came through the broken window and raced up the stairs behind me. I barely heard him, only felt the press of air ful of rotting vegetation and copper. There was blood on his chin.
I went low because he expected me to jump and leap out of his way. Instead, I dropped and swept my leg out, catching him in the ankles with the steel toe of my boots. I activated the tear-gas pen in my sleeve because he was moving too fast for the blade in my boot to be useful. Hypnos wafted out in a puff of white powder, like confectioners’ sugar. He was already leaning over me, his saliva dripping onto my shoulder, by the time I could bark out an order and be relatively confident there was enough Hypnos in his face to do the trick.
“Drop!”
He col apsed on top of me like a load of bricks.
I wiggled out from beneath him before his teeth could accidental y graze my neck.
There was nothing more contagious than the kiss of a Hel-Blar , no matter how doped up he was. His pupils were dilated, ringed with a tiny sliver of pale gray. His skin was tattoo-blue and mottled.
Grandpa would have told me to stake him then and there. He was Hel-Blar , after al , the most vicious of the vicious. But I couldn’t just take out a wil -less, unarmed opponent, even if he was dangerous, even if it was tactical y sound. It just felt wrong.
I shoved him away, making sure to use enough force to crack a few ribs. I might have more scruples than my grandfather, but I wasn’t soft. And I didn’t want him staying here to jump back into the fight after the Hypnos wore off.
“Go back to your nest,” I snapped. “And stay there. Don’t hurt anyone on the way.”
“I wil kil you, little girl—”
“And shut up,” I added.
He stumbled down the steps, making weird growling sounds in the back of his throat.
I knew the precise moment Jason reached the main alarm switch. The altered tanning-bed bulbs set al around the dormitory, from windowsil s to garden landscaping lights, seared through the darkness. It was high-powered UV light with the same toxic effect on vampires as sunlight. It wouldn’t make them burst into flames like movie vampires, which would have been a hel of a tactical advantage.
But it would at least weaken them considerably. And it should convince any other vampires coming this way to turn back.
I met Jason on the third floor, trailing students heading for the secret passageway door.
“You al right?” he asked.
I nodded. “Two down.”
“This is unbelievable,” he snarled. “They’re coming down from the roof too. There are at least three upstairs.”
“I saw that many coming in through the back,” an eleventh-grade girl, stil in her pink pajamas, offered. “From the
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