Free Wicked (The Drake Chronicles Book 1) by Clover Donovan

laughing.
     
                  “It’s not funny,” Ethan picked up a miniature pumpkin and chucked it at Adam’s back. It knocked into him and he curved back, laughing even harder.
     
    “Okay, I’m sorry. I should have told you. But it’s not going to feel like that again. That was a shitty undetectable portal. The actual portals are more like doorways and the council knows when they are being used. We can’t risk anything right now.” Adam explained as he turned to Ethan.

 
    Out of nowhere, Adam thrust a clump of damp hay into Ethan’s face and took off down the patch. Ethan spit out pieces of the musty hay and turned to see where Adam had gone to.
     
    He couldn’t see Adam at all. He was hiding. The town square that rested across the street was empty as well, except for a man sitting on a broken bus bench, clearly sleeping.
     
    A miniature pumpkin hit Ethan in the head and he spun and tossed himself into a pile of hay. It didn’t hurt at all, but he was faking it so Adam would come out of hiding.
     
    If he wanted to play, then Ethan was going to let him have it. Just like he wanted, Adam ran out from behind a large tree and got down on his knees, turning Ethan’s body over.
     
                  “Shit. I’m sorry,” Adam said as Ethan’s eyes flew open and he keeled over in laughter.
     
                  “You ass, I thought I hurt you.” Their eyes locked for a moment after laughing, Adam’s face looming but several inches from Ethan’s. Ethan’s eyes moved down to Adam’s lips.
     
                  “I tell you I heard something crash into the patch,” a man’s voice interrupted them.
     
    Adam grabbed Ethan by his hand and they rapidly coursed through the patch and hid behind the largest pumpkin Ethan had ever seen.
     
                  “Oh come off it, Winchester,” said another man’s voice. They both had heavy accents and they were each wearing a dark red hooded trench coat.
     
    Their faces were entirely obscured by the hoods, but the one on the left lifted his crooked nose into the air and engulfed the night.
     
                  “I can smell blood,” the one named Winchester observed, giggling. Ethan looked down at his knee and cursed under his breath. How the hell could he smell blood?
     
                  “Blood, you say?”
     
                  “Dark blood,” Winchester corrected himself.
     
                  “Bollocks, your nose is off. I will check for myself,” The other man lifted his face up and smelt the air like a hunting dog.
     
                  “They are vampires,” Adam tensed as he gripped Ethan’s hand tighter.
     
                  “I can smell the dark blood,” the other man finally said. Winchester backhanded the man with enough force to knock him to his knees.
     
                  “ I told you .”
     
                  Ethan remembered Mason teaching them how to take down the nocturnal fiends. It shouldn’t be that hard. All he needed was something wooden and sharp.
     
    Around them, wooden fence was free for the taking and sooner than Adam could hold him back, Ethan ran up to a portion of the unsteady fence and kicked at it.
     
    He broke off two long, jagged chunks and threw one to Adam. The vampires jerked their heads toward the giant pumpkin and hissed, the hoods of their cloaks falling back, revealing their pallid long faces.
     
                  “What are you doing?” Adam yelled.
     
                  “I know how to kill them, don’t you?”
     
                  “I do. But they aren’t regular vamps. They are elders; they can’t be killed with a wooden stake. I was trying to think of a way to sneak off but now we’re screw—” Adam didn’t get to finish.
     
    A vampire lodged itself onto Adam’s back, knocking him to the ground. Adam coughed,