Free Drake Chronicles: 03 Out for Blood by Alyxandra Harvey

hissed back.
    “Okay, listen up, people,” Kieran raised his voice so that it was al gravel y and impressive. I wasn’t particularly impressed since we’d grown up together and I’d force-fed him mud pies when we were little, but it seemed to work on everyone else. Lia actual y sighed.
    Only a thirteen-year-old vampire hunter would get a crush in the middle of a vampire attack.
    I was a little bit proud of her actual y.
    “The tunnel exit is no good,” Kieran continued. “We had to barricade it behind us and set fires to keep the Hel-Blar from using it. Someone’s tipped them off about it.
    That’s not our concern right now. Our only goal is to take as many out as possible and stay alive in the process. Don’t be a hero or I’l have Hunter take you down.
    That said, the lights should keep the worst of them away. In the meantime, I want everyone bunkered in the tenth-grade common room. It’s the easiest one to defend and the windows are barred.” That had less to do with protection and more to do with a prank Kieran and his friends had apparently pul ed in tenth grade.
    “What are you waiting for?” Kieran shouted as the Hel-Blar came down the stairs.
    “Go! Monitors on perimeter,” he added, though they were wel trained enough to do it anyway. I stayed where I was.
    “Hunter, go,” Kieran said, drawing a stake.
    “Give me a break.” I took out my own stake and stepped aside just enough to keep Quinn out of my way and vice versa. “Your arm’s busted. You need me.” Kieran didn’t have the time to argue with me. He couldn’t have changed my mind anyway. He was the closest thing to a brother I had and I wasn’t about to leave him behind. Not when the other students were plenty wel protected now. And while I trusted that Quinn was a good fighter, he was dangerously cocky too.
    Three Hel-Blar came from the top floor and another two from our right. Quinn laughed before throwing himself at them. He actual y laughed.
    “Is he insane?” I asked, flinging a stake at one of the Hel-Blar on the right.
    “Pretty much. Duck!”
    I ducked. Kieran’s stake whizzed over my head and pinned the second vampire to the wal . Another stake finished him off. I held my breath until the ash settled.
    Breathing in dead vampire dust is just as gross as it sounds.
    We’d dispatched them al when Quinn turned back to us, grinning. “That was fun.”
    “You’re—” I cut myself off as the shadow of a smal er, more cunningly hidden Hel-Blar dropped from the ceiling ledge. She landed behind Quinn, every fang exposed.
    “Quinn, down!”
    Quinn dropped into a crouch, revealing a stake in each hand. Before he could spin and jab up with his weapons, I threw a pepper egg. He blinked at it with the kind of astonishment that would have been funny in any other circumstance. The black-painted egg-shaped container was thin and made to break on impact. When it struck the last Hel-Blar in the face, it splashed a combination of ground glass, cayenne pepper, and Hypnos into her face. She recoiled, screeching and clawing at her red, watering eyes. One of Quinn’s stakes pierced her heart and finished the job.
    We joined Kieran on the next landing and stood there for a long moment. The only sound was Kieran and I panting. The house was quiet.
    “I think that was the last of them,” Kieran said final y. “I’l go up and do a sweep.
    You guys watch the front and back doors.”
    I led Quinn down to the end of the staircase. I stood on the last step, able to see not only the front door but right through the broken windows to the lawn. He stood next to me on the ground, facing the other direction, toward the back door. My one step advantage made us almost the same height. Our shoulders touched, the banister between our bodies. Adrenaline was stil flooding through me, making me feel inexplicably like giggling.
    “You guys throw eggs now?” Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow. “What the hel ’s that about?”
    “It’s a ninja thing,”