“She’s sick,” I said steadily. I thought of the bats that followed her around. “Does rabies make people crazy.?”

“I have no idea. You think Solange has rabies?”

“I guess not.” I wrinkled my nose. “But the bats are new. And weird. Everything’s weird.”

Kieran pulled up into the student parking lot behind us, distracting me from any other theories. There were so many Hel-Blar roaming the area that the school was now allowing third-year students to patrol, not just fourth years like Hunter. As a third year I needed to be with a fourth year or an alumnus, and I could only go during certain classes. Since Hunter and I both wanted to keep an eye on Kieran, we alternated forcing him to patrol with us. Plus, it got me off campus, which was a bonus. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with prejudice and bullies tonight. We both needed the distraction as we tried to figure out what to do about Solange and Nicholas.

Nicholas.

Nope, couldn’t think about that right now.

“See you later.” Jenna waved at Kieran and headed back to the dorm.

“You know that you and Hunter aren’t even remotely subtle,” Kieran told me through the open window.

I just grinned at him. “Wave to the top-floor corner window over there. Lia’s got a crush on you.”

Kieran’s ears went red. “How does she even know I’m here?”

“I told her you were coming,” I said, sliding into my seat. I dropped my knapsack full of weapons at my feet.

“You’re a menace.”

“I was twelve once.” I shrugged. “A little crush in a place like this can make a difference. She’s got to think about something other than vampires.”

“What, like you?” he remarked drily, reversing out of the parking spot.

“Come on, drive like you’re cool,” I urged him, ignoring his very valid point. “Pop a wheelie or something. It’ll give her something to swoon over.”

He laughed despite himself. “I can’t pop a wheelie in an SUV, you lunatic.”

We left the school behind, exchanging the security lights for dark fields and snow-choked orchards. We startled a cat, and a coyote darted across the road, but there were no fangs or pale eyes. I tried to twirl my stake through my fingers as if it were a magic-trick coin.

“Turn left here,” I said about fifteen minutes later.

“I know what you’re doing,” he told me, but he turned anyway. The road cut through thick bushes and red pine groves. The moon was bright enough to cast blue moonshadows over the snow. If I squinted I could just barely make out a house light through the trees, close to the mountains. We passed the familiar landmarks: the lightning-struck ash, the boulder shaped like a bull, the hill where wild daffodils grew in spring.

My phone rang the very second we crossed onto Drake land.

“Lucy Hamilton, you just keep on driving.”

I gulped at Helena’s stern voice. “Oops. Bye!” I wrinkled my nose at Kieran. “Busted. Keep driving.”

We headed into town on the only country highway in Violet Hill. The high beams glittered on frost and ice and the wet black pavement. House lights began to pierce the gloom.

“I’m on campus duty,” Kieran said as he turned in the direction of the arts college tucked in by the lake. It made sense, since he looked the part, even if he wasn’t covered in tattoos or paint like most of the other local students. Violet Hill had a small arts college, mostly catering to visual arts and literature students. You got to know the look of them after a while.

“Still going to the Helios-Ra college in Scotland?” I asked.

“Let’s just get through tonight,” he answered.

We walked through three dorm parties and two pubs, but they were clean. I peered into all the bushes, looking for Hel-Blar. Wherever they were feeding tonight, it wasn’t here.

It wasn’t until a couple of hours later, when we were heading back to the academy, that we saw something. A concert had ended in one of the bigger pubs, and the cold streets were crowded with students and taxis. There were girls in short skirts, guys holding one another up, and couples making out as they wandered home.

And a slender girl oblivious to the cold, standing in the snow in a thin dress. No, not just standing.

Feeding.

“Stop!” I yelled. “Stop, stop, stop! That’s Solange.”

Kieran practically wrapped the SUV around a mailbox in his hurry to pull over. Someone cheered, thinking it was funny. I flung myself out of my seat before the wheels had stopped moving. Kieran grabbed my arm as I darted past him. Momentum swung me around so I was facing him, spitting curses. “The hell, Black.”

“It’s called stealth,” he snapped back, jerking me down behind the cover of the SUV. The fumes from the running engine turned to fog in the cold air, obscuring us. Kieran passed me a stake but I already had one in my hand. “And clearly, neither of you have it.”

He was right.

Solange stood near a circle of yellow light from a street lamp, clutching a girl in paint-splattered jeans, with short spiky hair and a nose ring. Her fangs gleamed as her red lips lifted in a delicate snarl. Seeing her wearing red lipstick and a long dress was nearly as weird as everything else. She hated dressing up.

“Shh,” Solange ordered when the girl struggled briefly. The girl went silent obediently. No one noticed them, but that was through sheer dumb luck. Any minute now someone would glance their way, someone would scream. Or the girl would die.