Drake Chronicles: 02 Blood Feud Read Online Free PDF Page B

like he was choking back a laugh. Solange and Nicholas stil hadn’t said a word. Lucy turned to stare at them. “What is wrong with you two? She saved Solange’s life.” The irony that the human was more comfortable around me than the other vampires was not lost on me.
    “I’m a Hound,” I murmured.
    Lucy shrugged. “You could sing boy band songs al day long and I wouldn’t care.” She shuddered. “You don’t, do you?” That seemed to distress her more than the fact that the Hounds were rumored to be mad kil ers.
    Logan rol ed his eyes. “I don’t think she’s had a lot of exposure to boy bands, Lucy.”
    “But you do wear bone beads,” she said, ignoring him and nodding at the beads hanging from the braids twisted at the nape of my hair. “Cool.” She tilted her head. “You don’t look crazy.”
    “You’re like a runaway train,” Logan groaned at her. “Can’t you shut her up?” he asked his brother pleadingly.
    “How?” Nicholas said somewhat helplessly.
    “Kiss her, you idiot.”
    I happened to appreciate honesty, so it was impossible not to like her. She reminded me a little of Magda. “I guess you don’t look crazy either,” I told her.
    Nicholas snorted. She jabbed him in the stomach with her elbow. “Be nice.”
    “You first.” He rubbed his sternum. “Ouch.” Solange stepped forward. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “You took me by surprise.” She licked her lips. She stil looked frail, for a vampire anyway. I wondered how she could resist the temptation of Lucy’s heartbeat fil ing the house. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m in your debt.”
    “We al are,” Nicholas agreed.
    “It’s nothing.” I looked away, embarrassed. “We have no love for Montmartre.”
    “Jerk,” Lucy muttered. She stepped forward, breaking the uncomfortable silence by linking her arm through Solange’s and then through mine, gingerly. Surprisingly, I let her. “Come on,” she said cheerful y. “You guys can watch me eat chocolate.” The front door opened behind us.
    “Solange, are you—”
    He didn’t finish his greeting.
    Vampire hunter.

CHAPTER 3
    Isabeau
    I didn’t think, I just reacted.
    A Helios-Ra agent should not be able to breach the security of the Drake house now that they were the ruling family, especial y when he had a broken arm. I might not consider them my ruling family particularly, but I wasn’t about to let Solange get staked by a hunter after al the trouble we’d gone to to save her.
    Shockingly, I was the only one who felt that way.
    If I’d had a moment to let the group’s reaction, or lack thereof, register, I might have wondered at it. They merely glanced at the intruder and were now positively aghast that I was flying through the air, double fangs bared.
    I didn’t like hunters.
    This one was fast, I’d give him that. He slipped on the nose plugs that hung around his neck. It took him far less time to realize I was attacking than it had taken the others. The look of surprise on his face might have been comical if he hadn’t been reaching for the release button on the Hypnos powder I knew was hidden in his sleeve. Once the secret was out about their new drug, it had spread like wildfire through the underground informants.
    “No!” Solange yel ed, but I wasn’t sure whom she was shouting at.
    I landed in front of the hunter before the Hypnos powder bil owed in front of him, but only barely. I dropped into a crouch and rol ed out of the way. I’d never actual y experienced Hypnos, but I’d heard enough about it to want to avoid it. It had been created by the Helios-Ra as one more weapon in their arsenal in their fight against our kind.
    Vampire pheromones could befuddle humans, could make them forget what they had seen or done, and could even make them succumb to us without the faintest threat of violence, if the vampire was strong enough. The Helios-Ra had grown tired of battles ending with their hunters wandering around perplexed and