Lucy
I knew Mom would knock on my door the minute she came home and heard the Smiths coming from my speakers. She’d given me all their albums the day I turned fourteen and swore they were the band that got her through high school.
“Uh-oh.” She poked her head in. “I heard the music. That’s not a good sign.”
I was curled up on my bed, the only light coming from a candle and my laptop screen on my desk. I’d texted Kieran to come over so I could talk to him and then buried myself in chocolate while I waited. She picked her way around the clothes and DVD cases scattered over the floor. “What’s the matter, Lucky Moon?”
I just shrugged and ate more chocolate. She sat on the edge of the bed and nudged me until I moved over and made space for her. She stretched out beside me and stared up at the sari material draped from the ceiling like a sultan’s tent. My walls were purple and covered in framed pictures and the antique glass doorknobs where I hung all my necklaces.
“Oh, Mom,” I finally said, feeling my throat burn. “It’s all messed up now.”
“What is, sweetie? Did you and Nicholas have a fight?”
“Why do people keep asking me that? Not everything is about boys.”
“Okay. Is it school? I know it’s not as exciting as boys and vampires, but I hope you’re worrying about it a little. Don’t you have midterms soon?”
“Mom.”
“Sorry. Not school, clearly. What is it, then?”
“Solange.”
She looked surprised. “You and Solange had a fight?” She should look surprised. The last time we’d seriously fought, it was over whether werewolves smelled like wet dog, and I’d pulled her hair. We were eight.
“Not really a fight,” I explained. “But it’s … weird now. They’re all keeping secrets from me, and I’m barely allowed to go over there. And she never answers her phone!”
Mom paused for a moment.
I didn’t like the look on her face. “What?”
“Maybe it’s for the best.”
I sat up. “What? It is not! How could you say that?”
She sat up too, drawing up her knees. The bells on her silver anklet sang softly. It was a sound that comforted me. Growing up, I always knew where my mom was in the house by the jingling of her anklet.
“Honey, I know you love the Drakes. We do too. But the fact is, you’re human. They’re not. You can’t pretend otherwise.”
I blinked at her. “You’re the one who’s always saying our differences shouldn’t matter.”
“I know.” She took a deep breath. “And I’m so proud of you for being loyal and strong and seeing people for who and not what they are. But the Drakes are dangerous right now. Helena and I both—”
“Wait.” I swallowed a thorny lump of anxiety. “You and Solange’s mom talked about this behind my back? You’re part of the freeze-out?”
“It’s not a freeze-out,” she insisted, wincing. “And I know you’re hurt, but we’re worried about you. We just want to keep you safe.”
All of a sudden I really understood how Solange felt.
And it sucked.
“I can take care of myself,” I said flatly.
“You’re sixteen years old.”
“So? I’ve been training with the Helios-Ra, and before that Helena showed me a bunch of moves,” I insisted. “I can fight better than Dad.”
She pursed her lips. “That’s not exactly a winning argument, Lucky. We don’t want you to fight.”
“Well, neither do I!” Which was a lie. Right now I really wanted to break someone’s nose. “But I’m fine. We’re all fine.” I wasn’t about to mention the Hel-Blar at the beach or the incident in the hall with Christabel. “Mom, you keep saying I can’t be like them, but I can’t be like you, either. I’m just me,” I said quietly. “And you can’t suddenly take away half my family and expect me to be okay with that.”
“I know.” She scrubbed a hand over her face, looking tired and older than usual.
I went cold, as if my belly were full of icicles. “And you can’t forbid me from seeing Nicholas.” I’d wanted my voice to be strong and calm and grown-up, but instead it squeaked like a little girl’s.
“We aren’t,” Mom assured me, half smiling. “I’ve been your mom for a long time. You think I don’t know just how well that would work?”
I could almost breathe again. “Okay.” I exhaled sharply. “Okay.”
“Just think about what I said.” She slid off the bed. “And clean your room and do your homework and eat your vegetables.” She winked. “I just wanted to say something mom-ish that didn’t involve mortal peril of some kind.”
“Mom,” I said quietly as she opened the door. She looked over her shoulder. “I’m not stupid. And I’m way more careful than everyone gives me credit for. So at some point you’re going to have to let me be me and trust that I know what I’m doing. Just like the Drakes are going to have to stop making Solange the princess in the tower.” I lifted my chin. “Because she’s not Snow White or whatever. And if this is some kind of a fairy tale, then I get to be a wolf or a witch or a wild girl, not the damsel in distress.”
I turned my bedside lamp back on and paced the length of my room, waiting for Kieran. Next to my laptop was a bronze statue of Ganesh that Dad had given me on my first day of high school. Ganesh was an elephant-headed god from India who was believed to remove obstacles. I kept him on my desk because outside of the vampire world, I didn’t know a bigger obstacle than homework. Which I should probably be doing right now, as Mom suggested, but who could concentrate?
Tired of waiting, I yanked open my window and stuck out my head.
My forehead bonked Kieran’s and bounced off.
“Ow!” we both yelped, grabbing our heads.
“I always knew you had a hard head.”
“Ha-ha,” I grumbled, rubbing my hairline. “I was pretty sure yours was soft.”
He was in his usual black cargos and T-shirt. He’d cut off his ponytail but wouldn’t tell me why or how it happened. Which just proved there was a good story attached. I’d have to ferret it out later when I had time. I slipped into the garden and folded my arms expectantly. “What the hell’s up with Solange?”
He frowned. “I thought you’d know. You’re her best friend.”
“Someone should remind her of that.”
“She’s still not talking to you?”
“Not really.” The grass was cold under my bare feet. My toes curled in.
Kieran looked worried. “She’s not really talking to me, either,” he admitted.
I stared at him. “What? But you see her all the time.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked as if he were trying not to blush. “She doesn’t talk much. She won’t ever take off her sunglasses. And she only ever wants to make out. I can barely get her to say three words to me.” He winced, disgusted. “God. Could I sound more like a girl?”
“Please. You should be so lucky.”
Still, Solange just wasn’t the type to be all about the kissing and nothing else. She was too reserved for that, too elegant. I was the one who probably liked kissing a little too much.
“That’s not like her,” I finally said.
“I figured.” He shifted from foot to foot. “And I kind of need to talk to her. Which is hard to do, even with nose plugs.” Vampire pheromones were notorious for making humans befuddled and bewildered. Just as Nicholas sometimes wore his so he wouldn’t be distracted by the smell of my blood, vampire hunters wore them so they couldn’t be brainwashed by vampire pheromones. I was so used to them from growing up around the Drakes that I was mostly immune. So far.
“Talk to her about what?” I asked.
“I’m … uh … well, I’m going to college to finish my training. Now that the Helios-Ra is in good hands, I want to be a real agent. I don’t want to coast on my family name.”
I’d forgotten that he technically wasn’t an official Helios-Ra agent. He’d dropped out of the last two years of his training to hunt down his father’s killer, who he’d mistakenly assumed was a vampire, and a Drake at that.
“Well, good for you, I guess,” I said. “I suppose you’re not so bad for someone who was trying to kill my best friend and her entire family.”
“I never tried to kill Solange,” he argued. He paused. “The college is in Scotland.”
I blinked. “You’re leaving?” Could this day suck worse?
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Have you told Solange yet?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t had a chance.”
“I can’t know this kind of thing if she doesn’t know! There’s a code. You have to tell her.” I waved my hands frantically at him. “Right now!”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” he asked, frustrated. “I told you, there’s not a lot of talking.”
“Ew. Get your tongue out of her mouth and talk to her, dumbass.”
He glared at me. “It’s not that simple.”
“It is too,” I insisted. “I’m dating a vampire; I get it. They’re yummy.”
He sighed, looking a little embarrassed. His ears were actually red. “Lucy, you’re practically immune to pheromones. I’m not. And Solange’s are stronger than any vampire I’ve ever met. She’s … different.”
I wanted to kick something. I should know exactly what was going on, why and how Solange was different. No amount of yoga was going to neutralize the anger and hurt burning inside me.
I fisted my hands. “Okay, look. I’m going to see Solange tomorrow night and I’m going to figure out what the hell’s going on. You better talk to her first.”
“How?” he asked helplessly.
I rolled my eyes. “Use the phone, idiot.”
“Oh.” He blinked, as if he’d never actually considered that. Honestly, boys. “I guess I could do that.”
I just shook my head. “Some vampire hunter. Don’t they teach you anything at that school?”
“You tell me. You’re practically one of us now.”
I gaped at him. “Am not!” He just grinned at my agitation. I stepped on his foot. It wasn’t exactly effective since I was barefoot and he had his combat boots on. “Stop it.”
He glanced at his phone when it trilled discreetly. “I gotta go. Another bulletin.”
“What now?” I asked, trying to read the screen. He flicked it off and slipped it into his inside pocket. Spoilsport.
“Murder and mayhem, the usual. We’re being run off our feet. The Hel-Blar are organizing.”
“Is that even possible?”
“The blood chills.” He grimaced, agreeing.
“They were at the beach earlier.”
“I know. Hunter called it in.”
“We heard some kind of whistle. And it actually scared them. That’s weird, right?”
He nodded.
“Know what it is?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. So watch your back, hippie.”
“You too, 007.”