Free A Killer First Date by Alyxandra Harvey Page B

bottle out of his bag. The faint moonlight and the perimeter of lanterns around us made it look like cranberry juice. It wasn’t.
    And then Quinn was there, sauntering between us, his smirk easy and charming but his stance deceptively alert.
    “Shouldn’t you be taking it easy?” he drawled. He always drawled when there were other people around, but when we were alone he was surprisingly sweet. Especially for someone who was so eye-scorchingly hot.
    “This
is
taking it easy,” I told him, drinking from the water bottle Chloe handed me.
    “Yeah, no one’s bleeding.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Or needs stitches. It’s like watching old ladies drink tea.”
    “Not quite,” Quinn said softly. Spencer had his back turned and when he faced us again, he was pale under his tan. Quinn’s blue eyes cataloged him briefly. “I told you, you weren’t ready.”
    Spencer’s smile was wan. “I’m ready for
normal
girls.”
    Chloe and I grinned at him. “Aw,” Chloe said. “That’s so sweet.”
    Quinn shifted so that his arm crossed me protectively. I briefly considered flipping him over my shoulder, just to prove I could.
    “You know,” he said conversationally, as if he wasn’t trying to shield me. “Most people who’ve recently been poisoned and had a blood transfusion might consider napping as a new hobby.”
    Chloe laughed out loud. “Oh, Quinn, you might be pretty but you have a lot to learn about vampire hunter girls.”
    “Like how to duck,” Spencer added, his voice sounding more normal. He was still standing on the other side of the clearing though. “I’m going to go.”
    I nodded. “Okay. Be careful.”
    “You too.”
    “And answer your damn cell phone,” Chloe called after him. “Why do you think we got it for you?”
    We both turned to Quinn. “Is he really okay?”
    He nodded. “Actually, he’s doing really well. Was he always this laid-back?”
    “Yeah. He was always the only one who didn’t freak out during exams and end-of-year battle testing.”
    “I know you’re really good at it, but maybe don’t beat him up for a while. It makes it that much harder to chain the hunger.”
    “Oh. Okay.”
    His smile was easy again and he winked. “Ready to go?”
    I looked at my leaf-strewn hair and mud-stained cargo pants. “Not quite.”
    I darted behind a tree to change into the dress I’d brought in my gym bag. I pulled out my hair tie and brushed out the stray leaves. Then I traded my boots for Converse sneakers but kept the denim jacket with Hypnos stakes in the sleeves and pockets. The League and the school had issued alerts that students were to be fully armed when off campus. There were just too many
Hel-Blar
vampires around Violet Hill right now for anyone to be complacent. I grabbed my knapsack, which held a miniature crossbow and other necessities, and passed Chloe my gym bag.
    “I’m going to head back,” she said, plucking a stray leaf from my hair. “Someone has to cover for you while you have all the fun.”
    Since it was Saturday night and I was in my last year, I was technically allowed off campus. I wasn’t breaking the rules.
    Unless, of course, you counted dating a vampire as breaking the rules.
    I felt certain the league would. Grandpa certainly did. But times were changing and it was suicidal to pretend otherwise. For one thing, Quinn Drake hadn’t flirted with another girl in more than two weeks. Biblical types might have been murmuring about the apocalypse by now.
    He tossed his dark hair off his face, raising an appreciative eyebrow at my short dress, even though I had to wear cropped leggings underneath, in case I had to fight. “Ready?”
    I smiled back, my stomach doing that slow burn it always did when we were alone.

Lucy
     
    The carnival didn’t look as cheesy under the stars, with the lights glinting off the dark water of the lake. I could smell popcorn and the ever-present pine from all the forests around town. I waited near the ticket booth,