Free Bad Bloods by Shannon A. Thompson Page A

that what’s supposed to happen?”
    “I don’t know.” My shoulders fell. “Michele
doesn’t know either, but I don’t want you around when it happens.”
No one would want Serena to die. She was too valuable as the only
bad blood that knew both the Northern Flock members and the
Southern Flock members, not to mention the blood camp victims. If
she was the only one left, she could share everything, but if she
died, we would all die with her. “I would only blame myself if
something happened to you.”
    “You can’t love me.”
    “Then give me a chance to in the future,” I
said, finally surrendering as I reached out and grabbed her hand
with the ID in it. “I want to have the chance to love you, to get
to know you, to spend time with you, to see the others meet someone
like you.” I pulled her into a hug, and she buried her face into my
jacket. “I want to live past this, and I want you to live too,” I
whispered against her golden hair. “This is a solution for all of
us. Help Henderson. Please.”
    She leaned back, but her hand stayed curled
up in my shirt, her right one against my heart. “And what am I
supposed to say to my flock?” Her voice wavered. “What about my
family?”
    “We’ll come up with something.”
    “And after the election?” she pressed. “Then
what?”
    “You stay with the Hendersons. You’ll have a
life.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t want that
life.”
    “Then you can slowly disappear again,” I
suggested. “Stephanie hasn’t been seen for years. It isn’t rare for
rich people to travel outside of Vendona.” I paused before adding,
“I’m sure Henderson has a plan.”
    “We should know the whole plan before we move
forward.”
    “We don’t have that kind of time.” We never
did.
    “How many weeks?”
    “Days,” I corrected. “They’ll pick you up in
four days.” She started to shuffle away again, but I touched her
face to catch her eyes. “It’s the only way we might win this.”
    She looked past me—right at the city—and I
half-expected her to disappear, to become the ghost she thought she
was, but then she saw me again. “I’ll do it,” she said, her gaze
ablaze with the reflection of the Highlands. “Under one
condition.”

 
     

    It had only
been a few hours since I left Daniel standing in Shadow Alley, him
to return to his flock, me to return to mine. But my flock wouldn’t
be mine forever. And I had always known that—deep in my bad blood
veins—but I hadn’t truly realized it until I was staring at my old
face, safely immortalized by a fake ID.
    The paperwork remained clutched in my hands,
despite the fact that Daniel had stolen it from Calhoun. I coaxed
him into allowing me to take it to Robert as proof, and he
relented, even though I had already asked him for one more favor in
return for my replacing Stephanie. One favor I was surprised he
agreed to. One favor I now had to get Robert to agree to.
    How I had thought about my one condition, I
didn’t know, but I knew it was right. My gut had desired it from
the beginning. And now, I had twenty-four hours to get a note back
to Daniel’s house, confirming or denying Robert’s role. Still, the
fact I was going through with it—taking Stephanie’s place, standing
by Henderson’s side, mocking the policemen who arrested me,
fighting the city that tortured me—churned my stomach with both
fear and delight. I calmed myself by thinking of Daniel’s eyes, how
the Highlands disappeared when he looked at me. How everything
disappeared.
    Damn the way he had control of me.
    Shivers ran up my spine as I stared at my
house, a house I wouldn’t be in for much longer if my plan worked
out. And my plans hardly ever did. It was the reason I’d spent an
extra hour wandering the streets aimlessly.
    My heart pounded as I opened the front door
and stepped inside. I already knew what awaited me. When I saw the
lights were on, I knew Robert had realized I was missing—again. I
left the house