Free My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey Page A

anger and guilt and worry I’d been carry ing around all day. I punched him right
     in the nose. He reared back, grabbing his face.
    “Shit, shit!”
    “That’s right, you sneaky bastard.” I leaped to my feet, panting. “Use me against my best friend, will you?”
    He reached into his pocket. I got to mine first, took out the pair of nose plugs I’d stashed there, just in case, and I shoved
     them in.
    “Oh, no you don’t,” I snapped, smug as a cat with a mouthful of canary feathers. I was going to redeem myself, if I had to
     punch him ten more times to do it. My knuckles felt bruised, sore. Vindicated.
    There was the teeniest, tiniest possibility my mom was right about my temper.
    Kieran just blinked at me, bewildered. “Who taught you to punch like that?”
    I smiled grimly. “The Drakes.” He shifted, as if he was going to get up. “Uh-uh. You stay right there or I’ll scream so loud
     half the town will come running. You might be part of some secret club, but I can still get you arrested for being a creepy
     stalker.” I noticed the way he was trying to look at the back of my neck, and my wrists. “And what the hell are you doing
     now?”
    “You don’t have any scars.”
    “What?”
    He pushed himself up so he wasn’t sprawled in the dirt. His nose looked sore but I hadn’t actually broken it. “Bloodslaves
     have scars, from the feedings.”
    “Don’t use that word, it’s insulting. And it makes me want to kick you. Hard.”
    He held up his hands, palms out, as he stood up fully. I took a step back, raised a fist. I could see the hilt of a knife
     in the top of his boot.
    “You have to know that vampires murder people.” I could tell he was thinking about his father. Sometimes it was a real pain
     that my own father had encouraged such a strong sense of empathy in me. He couldn’t have taught me math?
    “Kieran, humans murder all the time. And the Drakes aren’t killers. They’re not Hel-Blar , they know how to control themselves.”
    “They’re all the same.”
    “Don’t make me punch you again. My hand already hurts.”
    He nearly smiled. “You might be as scary as Helena Drake, one day.”
    “I intend to be.”
    “You’re well on your way.” He wiped blood off his face ruefully. A car passed by on the street.
    “Leave them alone, Black.”
    “It’s not that simple.”
    “It is too. Helios-Ra has a treaty or what ever, so stick to it.”
    “I’m a new agent. I only just turned eighteen. Do you really think I’m in charge over there? I have orders, just like everyone
     else.”
    “That’s convenient,” I sneered, gathering up my bags before turning away. “And totally lame.” I stopped at the driver’s-side
     door. “Don’t be a lemming, Black.”
    When I got back to the farm, one of the guards stepped out where I could see him and shook his head disapprovingly. Ooops.
     I was already flinching when I let myself out of the car and Nicholas opened the screen door. So much for sneaking out and
     then back in, none the wiser. Nicholas’s nostrils actually flared.
    “Lucky.”
    I flared mine back and felt like an idiot.
    “Nicky.”
    I pushed past him, then wished I could go back out onto the porch to fight with him. I’d take that over Solange’s pale, worried
     face any day.
    “Lucy, are you okay?”
    “I’m fine, Sol. I just needed supplies and to feed the cats.” I dropped my bags, felt Nicholas come up behind me. She looked
     so relieved, it gave the guilt sharper teeth. No one else could make me feel so bad without saying a single word. Bruno was
     doing a pretty good job though, looking like a disappointed parent before he went out to patrol.
    “I’d have fed your bloody cats,” Nicholas muttered. He saw my drugstore bags, looked at me incredulously.
    “You went to buy lipstick? At a time like this?”
    “Yeah, that’s right, and an exfoliating mask. Don’t be an ass. I went for supplies.”
    The sun filtered in through the window, and he