“League,” he told me shortly. “Keep your mouth shut, Lucy.”

I was, frankly, mutinous.

“I mean it,” he said. “These are hunters, not students. Different rules. And not everyone’s pro–vampire treaty.”

“Fine,” I muttered, crossing my arms.

A woman approached us first. She was wearingjeans and combat boots and looked perfectly normal. “Black,” she greeted him. “Got the call.”

Another hunter followed her, young enough to be a new agent. He had that kind of swagger. Kieran had it too when we first met him, but I made it my mission to kill the swagger. I eyed the newcomer consideringly. Kieran stepped back, nudging me. Spoilsport.

“Thanks for coming, Janelle,” Kieran said to the woman. “Mom doesn’t know.”

Janelle looked relieved. “Good.” She nodded to the other hunter. “Diego, take the back.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Janelle glanced at me. “Student?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“I’m taking her back to campus,” Kieran lied smoothly. “I need to know my mom’ll be safe when I’m not here.”

“Detail’s here for the foreseeable future,” Janelle assured him. “So go on, before this one gets bathroom duty.” She cracked a smile my way. “Trust me, it’s not worth it.”

Kieran popped his head into the house to tell his mom he was going and then came back, holding a second helmet for me. We drove away, the scratched-up bike grumbling and muttering to itself.

Chapter 21

NICHOLAS

Lee and I came up with another escape plan.

I’d take the screws out of the grate that blocked his cell from mine, but slowly so no one would notice me hunkered down in the same spot for too long. There were enough shadows that one of us could hide. The next time the guards came to take one of us away, the other one would launch out of the opening and take them by surprise. After that, the plan involved a lot of staking and breaking of various bones.

It might have worked.

But we didn’t get the chance to find out.

One of the Hosts came for me before I’d managed to loosen all of the screws. Lee was trapped in his own cell, patiently seething. The Host grinned at me, showing one nicked fang.

“Time to go, pretty boy.”

I got to my feet before he could reach in and drag me out. It just felt better to walk on out on my own two feet, even if my knees felt full of electricity. I wanted to dash for the exit with every bit of my being, but there was another Host guard and two more human hunters in my way. I shifted toward them anyway but the guard at my back kicked me at Frankenstein and one of his metal tables. Ominous instruments clanged together.

Frankenstein looked up from a notepad in front of him. “Excellent. Thank you. Secure him to that post and then give us space, if you would.”

I struggled, determined to make everything as difficult for them as possible. I managed to dislocate the shoulder of the hunter assisting him but the Host guard was too fast. I was chained to the post, the blue-tinted light from the camping lanterns winging over us. It barely took any time at all.

So much for my great revolt.

“Now where shall we start?”

Frankenstein’s ruthlessly pleasant chitchat was grating, building the itch of foreboding. I thought I caught a glimpse of Lee’s grizzled beard out of the corner of my eye, pressed at the bars of his cell. I yanked on the chains once. They were heavy, cold iron, and locked tightly.

“What’s the point of this?” I asked, cringing back away from the sharpened railroad spike he held in his hand. “You won’t get a ransom if you kill me.” Keep them talking, Dad would have said. Keep calm and negotiate.

Mom would say kick him in the balls.

But there were chains looped around my ankles.

Frankenstein used the tip of the spike to pull the frayed edge of my shirt away from the dirt-and-blood-encrusted arrow wound. The rusty point of the spike sliced through the ragged flesh that hadn’t had a chance to knit together. Blood seeped. I gritted my teeth and refused to react. A shrill scream echoed from one of the cells.

Frankenstein smiled, almost gently. “This is noble work Dawn has charged me with.”

“Dawn? Is she the one behind this?” I asked. “What does she want?”

“She’s very clever. She knows it’s not enough to kill the vampire, but one must find out how he works so we might eradicate the plague from humanity.” There was an unholy glint of mad joy in his eyes. Blood and viscous fluid were dried to his leather apron.

“Are you Helios-Ra?” I asked, hoping to keep him talking, desperately searching for a way out of the chains. “Or a Huntsman?”

“I was Helios-Ra,” Frankenstein said, whipping his head back to stare at me. The point of the spike pressed deeper. I clenched my jaw against any sound of pain. It might be the only currency I had left, and I wouldn’t hand it over until I absolutely had to. “Before they kicked me out. Said I was unstable, said I needed help.” He spat. “Bah. They didn’t know genius when they saw it, no one did, not even my own parents. Not until Dawn. Not until the worm in the heart of the Helios-Ra ate at the rose.” He laughed. “Treaties.” He jabbed deep with the spike and I jerked back, grunting. Muscles split, blood oozed. “They make us weak, vulnerable to the plague.”

“Then why the humans?” I forced out, cursing. “Why do this to your own kind?”