Free Blood Run by Christine Dougherty

glanced at Promise. Promise shrugged her shoulders the tiniest bit, and Lea stumbled after Mark, as if released from a tether.
     
     

Chapter 6
    “We can get her some of those heavy padded blankets just like the ones I use for Ash,” Promise said, running her hands over Snow’s muzzle. The horse was tall and broad, and she was dappled across her wide chest and ankles with light gray spots. Her mane and tail started out dark gray and faded to white. “Appaloosa in her genes, huh?” Promise turned to smile at Peter as her hand continued down the horse’s neck to pat her shoulder.
    “Yeah, and something else, too. Something bigger, maybe even Clydesdale. She’s strong,” Peter said.
    Promise glanced at Snow’s feet. They didn’t have the extra hair, but her ankles were thick and powerful looking. Promise nodded. “She could probably kick Ash’s butt.”
    Peter laughed. “Maybe, but he’s got longer legs. He could just run away from her. Hey, want to go for a ride? Then the horses can meet.”
    Promise checked the sun. It was afternoon, but not too late. If they didn’t go far, they should be okay. But a thread of unease wormed through her. She pictured Mark standing over Peter and the angry spark she’d seen in Peter’s eyes. She couldn’t shake the thought: he is, at least in part, a vampire .
    “Well, maybe we should get Snow settled in first, let her rest up,” she said, her words tumbling together. “Did Mr. West tell you which room you’d be in? A lot of people don’t want to live with a horse, so it can be–”
    “I wouldn’t hurt you,” he said, his tone mild, and she turned in surprise.
    “What? Why do you say that?” she said, then dropped her eyes to her clenched hands.
    He stepped closer, and Promise held her ground. She looked up. He was less than a foot from her. The light from the doorway was at his back, and his eyes had darkened to the slaty shade she’d seen when he was in the principal’s office. His face was grave but not angry. “Give me a chance, Promise. There’s something good between us; you feel it too, don’t you?”
    With him this close, her eyes were level with the scar on his neck, and it seemed to pulse with the beat of his heart. She raised one trembling finger to trace it. “What happened? Will you tell me?”
    He reached up for her hand and grasped it lightly without pulling it away from the scar. “Yes. I’ll tell you,” he said, and his tone held an odd mix of resignation and relief. “Help me get Snow taken care of first. She needs water, and she needs to eat. Then I’ll tell you everything I remember.”
    They spent the remainder of the afternoon getting Snow settled in. Rumors had spread quickly about Peter, especially after the scuffle in the cafeteria with Mark. The children, boys especially, looked at him with awe, and the older people were suspicious and gave him a wide berth. Promise understood their skepticism, but was not moved by it. They would come around, or they wouldn’t. It didn’t much matter to her.
    Promise discovered something about herself that she may never have discovered had the vampire plague not occurred and had she not decided to actively seek out her brother…she found out that her own path might very well diverge from everyone else’s. She no longer felt the ties and pressures to stay with the herd , and she found that to be acceptable.
    Peter and Snow had a small room to themselves. There were no windows, but it got enough light with the door propped open. At night, Peter would have to use a lantern the same as everyone else. There would be something especially confining about a cinderblock room with no windows, though, Promise realized.
    It took longer to get Snow and Peter settled than Promise had thought, and at four fifteen–fifteen minutes to absolute curfew–she stood from the blankets she’d been laying out and looked to where Peter was struggling to get the cot open. His tongue peeked out from the side of his