Free Blood Warrior (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #4) by Jennifer Malone Wright

mane anywhere. Dahlia.
    Her hair fell over her bare shoulder,
the tendrils standing out against the black of her dress. The
driver released her hand and she wiped it on her skirt as if he had
a severe case of cooties and she didn’t want to catch
it.
    “ This is either really
lucky or just a big pain in our asses,” Drew whispered.
    As if she had heard him, Dahlia’s back
straightened and tilted her head to the side. We all crouched
lower, waiting for her to spot us as she turned and scanned the
general area we were hiding in.
    After a moment, she shook her head as
if she may have imagined something and carefully ascended the steps
into the lobby of the hotel.
    “ Let’s go,” Luke
whispered. “It’s too dangerous here right now.”
    We followed along with Sarah and
Anthony leading the way again. I didn’t pay attention to where we
were going because I was too shocked to really care. Dude, Dahlia
being here was a total game changer. Sure, I still wanted to find
Korina, but killing Dahlia was really, really high on my to-do
list.
    Before I realized it, we had walked
several blocks and were at a park that was situated along the
river. The nasty brown Mississippi didn’t look quite so ugly at
night. The moon provided a gentle glow that rested lightly upon the
slowly moving waters.
    We gathered close to the water and
Anthony pointed at a docked river boat. It was the kind of vessel
that I’d only seen in pictures and movies. The interior of the boat
was lit up and I spotted a few slight movements from the
inside.
    “ That river boat,” Anthony
began, “belongs to Korina. It is one of her financial endeavors
that she has acquired over the years.”
    Luke squinted his eyes. “Financial
endeavors?”
    Anthony nodded. “We vampires also have
need for currency, which means that we must have businesses and
investments. Korina purchased this river boat for exactly those
purposes. People were hired to run the business so that she did not
need to do it. The manager does all the work and deposits the
profits into an account for her every month.”
    On closer inspection, I could see the
words “Korina Korina” scrawled on the back. Yup, that was
definitely her boat. “Do you think she’s there?” I wondered
aloud.
    “ It is possible,” Anthony
replied, also staring out over the waters. “Absolutely worth
investigating.”
    I adjusted my bow over my shoulder.
“Well, let’s do it. We are running out of time.”
    As a group we trekked down to the
dock, creeping quietly over the wooden structure and hoping that
none of the boards would creak beneath our feet.
    Surprisingly, no one was guarding the
river boat. I suppose that was the difference between Korina and
the Vampire Council, she wasn’t worried about the humans, she was
just living her life.
    We had divided into teams of three as
we boarded. I was with Drew and Luke. Anthony had been teamed with
Gavin and Sarah. It was strange because I’d originally thought that
we were going to have a problem between Anthony and Sarah, but they
seemed to really be getting along good.
    Drew, Luke and I rounded deck of the
boat, glancing in the windows as we passed them. Near the other end
of the vessel we finally found signs of life on the inside. I
leaned up against one of the panels between the windows so that I
could peek in.
    Two vampires sat on a Victorian era
couch, near a bar that ran the width of the interior. Both were men
and each of them held a drink in their hand. They both had on
slacks and white button up shirts. One of them had a blazer on over
the shirt, but his tie was loose, like a business man who was
relaxing after a hard day at the office.
    I glanced up at Drew, who was looking
in from the other side of the window. He pointed his gun toward the
vampires and then held the forefinger of his free hand to his lips
to signal that we proceed in silence.
    We moved on, finding the entrance just
around the corner. I closed my eyes, then opened them again