“Hunter had a pair when she was a kid.” Chloe grinned. “I’ve seen pictures.”

Hunter narrowed her eyes. “Are we sharing embarrassing kid stories? Because I’ll remind you of—”

Chloe winced. “Sorry! I take it back!”

Hunter smiled smugly.

“I have a photo of Quinn dressed up like Batman, tights and all,” I offered.

Hunter’s smile widened. “I’ll remember that.”

“Do the Drakes sit around wearing crowns?” Chloe asked dreamily. “I’d love to be royalty.”

Hunter and I exchanged a glance.

“The Drakes aren’t like that,” I said. “Well, mostly. The brothers kind of act like princes, but that’s nothing new. They’ve always been bossy.”

Chloe sighed. “Can you imagine being a princess? It must be awesome.”

I knew Solange would much prefer to be a girl sitting in a car with her friends, like Chloe. Well, the old Solange would have preferred that. I really couldn’t tell with her now.

“So, anything else weird going on?” I asked. Hunter and I had taken to sharing strange intel with each other when we could.

“Besides the Hel-Blar, not really.” She turned onto a road that narrowed almost immediately to a dirt lane. Tree branches scraped at the windows. “There are a bunch of cabins down by the end of the lake,” she explained, interrupting herself. “Hel-Blar were spotted here last night.” She stopped the Jeep, parking it under a huge pine tree. “So we’re supposed to do a sweep. You?”

“My mom told me one of the New Age shops was broken into this week.”

“Why’s that weird?” Hunter wondered as we climbed out of the vehicle.

“The only thing missing was a basket of bloodstone.” Bloodstone wasn’t red as expected, more of a dark green with rust-colored veins. It was used for healing in New Age circles. But because of the name, it held some interest for the vampire tribes as well. I’d have to ask Isabeau if she ever used it for anything magical.

“Bloodstone?” Hunter repeated quizzically, adjusting the stakes on her belt.

“Yup.” I was a little proud. It wasn’t easy getting the scoop on something Hunter didn’t already know, especially if it wasn’t about the Drakes. “Not even a penny out of the till.”

“Huh. That is kinda weird.”

“I know, right?”

Chloe checked her weapons and tied back the enormous weight of her long black curls, pulling them out of her face. “Ready?”

I loaded my miniature crossbow with a bolt, keeping the rest in my pocket. My aim was my best weapon by far, and it kept me out of easy reach of any attacking vampires. “Ready.”

“Stay in visual range,” Hunter whispered, nodding at Chloe. “You take rear, I’ll take point.”

We crept through the trees, toward the faint glimmer of the lake. One of the cabins had a motion sensor light that flicked on as we passed. Hunter was on the edge of the light, out of range. Chloe and I had tripped it. Chloe looked as irritated by that as I was.

We patrolled the area, scaring a racoon, a porcupine, and two bunnies but no vampires. We eventually found claw marks in the mud on the edge of a garden and a thin trail of blood leading from there to the woods.

“It’s dry,” Hunter said. “Not tonight’s, maybe not even last night’s.”

But it ended at a pile of bones and fur.

“That better not have been someone’s pet,” I said ominously.

Hunter shook her head. “Looks like a badger.”

“I’m not even going to ask how you know that.”

“Definitely not an animal kill,” Chloe added, pointing to the dirt. “That’s a footprint.”

We did another sweep, ending back at the main lane leading out of the forest, away from the lake. The wind rained autumn leaves over us. Hunter frowned, holding up her hand and pausing. Chloe frowned as well, squinting to see what Hunter saw. I didn’t catch anything out of the ordinary either, just a bear-proof box for residents’ garbage and the glint of a soda can.

“Hear that?” Hunter asked so softly I had to strain to hear her. She pointed in the direction of a clump of cedars. It was very faint, like a pig snuffing the ground for truffles. I nodded, eyes widening. The snuffing sounded more ferocious now that I suspected it was Hel-Blar and not someone’s escaped pig. “We need to flush them out,” Hunter mouthed.

I nodded, pulling a hunting knife off my belt and jabbing the tip into my thumb. I swore under my breath. It hurt way more than it looked like it did in the movies. I squeezed the small puncture, letting blood drop onto the ground.

Chloe’s eyes widened. “You’re nuts!” she exclaimed, impressed, and fumbled for her weapons.

I shrugged one shoulder and wiped my thumb off so the blood wouldn’t make my grip on the crossbow slippery. Hunter raised a wickedly pointed stake. The snuffing got louder and turned to snarling. We could hear the clicking of jaws before we could see them. I lifted my crossbow, taking aim. The sound stopped abruptly. It was just as creepy as the snarling.

Hel-Blar exploded out of the trees. A wave of rotten-mushroom stench made me gag. There were four of them, wearing muddy rags of clothing, probably the same ones they were wearing when they’d pulled themselves out of their graves. I released the crossbow bolt. The faint whistle of the arrow in the air made one of them stiffen and pause so that it caught him under the collar bone. Not my best work. I reloaded and fired again, this time piercing his heart. He fell to ashes and torn clothing. He wasn’t wearing a copper collar.