Free My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey Page B

flinched away, even though it was specially treated glass and he was in no
     danger. He looked tired enough to fall over. Even the shadows under his eyes had shadows.
    “You should be in bed.”
    “I was in bed,” he said pointedly. “Until you went shopping.”
    “I needed nose plugs.” I lifted the pair hanging on a string around my neck. “And they’ve already come in handy.”
    He narrowed his eyes at me.
    “Why?” He grabbed my wrist. “Why, Lucy?”
    I tugged back but couldn’t break his hold.
    “Because.” I stopped pulling. I’d only dislocate my own wrist. “I ran into Kieran Black. Literally.”
    They both stared at me.
    “What?” Solange finally squeaked.
    Nicholas turned my hand over. His eyes flared, went the color of frost, at the blood on my knuckles. I shrugged sheepishly.
    “I nearly broke his nose.” I half smiled. “I’ll have to try harder next time.”
    He dropped my hand, stepped back. There was something fierce in his face, even when he smiled faintly.
    “I guess I should be glad I’m not the only one you punch.”
    I made a face at him and dropped into a chair. I was starting to ache in muscles I didn’t know I had. There were still roses
     everywhere, and the smell was overpowering.
    “Did he hurt you?” Solange’s face was stony.
    “No, I’m fine.” I watched Nicholas trying not to weave on his feet. He looked as if he were standing on a particularly wave-tossed
     boat. “Go back to sleep,” I said with more gentleness than I’d planned. I paled when something occurred to me. “You didn’t
     tell your parents, did you?”
    “No,” Solange said. “I only just found your note. I didn’t even get a chance to tell Nicholas. He just stumbled out of his
     room, all freaked out.”
    We both turned to look at him. I thought he might be blushing— if vampires could blush, that was.
    “The house smelled wrong,” he muttered. He glared at us. “Shut up.” Then he went up the stairs. I raised my eyebrows.
    “He’s getting weirder.”
    Solange snorted, pulled out a handful of nose plugs, air freshener sprays, and a bowie knife from my plastic bags.
    “So are you.”
    I waited until we were alone before I hustled Solange into her room.
    “What are you doing now?” she muttered when I shut her door and pressed my ear to the wood for a moment to make sure no one
     was listening. And by no one, I meant Nicholas.
    “Okay, I should totally be a spy.” I grinned at her. “All I need is some funky accent and I could be a Bond girl.”
    She groaned. “What did you do?”
    “I stole this from Kieran, right after I punched him.” I pulled out a small book from the inside pocket of my jacket. It looked
     innocuous enough, slender as a poetry chapbook, with a simple font and a sun illustration on the front cover. It was the title
     that stood out: A Field Guide to Vampires .
    Solange read it, blinked, read it again, and then stared at me. “ A Field Guide to Vampires ? Is that a joke?”
    I laughed out loud. “Nope. Just a little souvenir from the Helios-Ra.” We sat on her bed and set the guide on the blanket
     in front of us. We skimmed the index, snorted at the pompous introduction and the pseudo medieval oath new recruits had to
     take. There was a bunch of stuff on hunter protocol that could come in useful someday. There was also a whole section on the
     Drake family, and a page devoted just to Solange, listing her stats, like she was a rare kind of frog one could search for
     in a swamp.
    “It’s kind of creepy.” She made a face. “I’m starting to feel like the bearded lady at the carnival.”
    “I would never let you grow a beard,” I assured her, trying to lighten the mood. If she hunched her shoulders any tighter,
     her collarbone would shatter. “I’m way too good a friend for that.”
    “Gee, thanks.”
    “All in a day’s work.”
    “I can’t believe they study us like that. I mean, did Kieran sit in a classroom and learn that I wear cargo