I didn’t exactly have time to pat myself on the back.

Several more Hel-Blar came racing out of the woods, like blue beetles. There were thumps upstairs, a shouted curse. They must be on the roof as well. The tenth and eleventh graders would have already barricaded themselves in their rooms or else gone for the secret passageways leading outside when Jason turned on their silent alarms. I should get back upstairs and help him corral the Niners. I kicked the ash off my boots and took the stairs two at a time, slipping in a pair of nose plugs.

It didn’t make sense. Vampires didn’t attack the academy as a rule, at least not in the last few decades, and the Hel-Blar never had even before then; why would they bother now? They didn’t have a leader or political aims, just an overwhelming hunger that usually chose the path of least resistance.

Another beast came through the broken window and raced up the stairs behind me. I barely heard him, only felt the press of air full of rotting vegetation and copper. There was blood on his chin.

I went low because he expected me to jump and leap out of his way. Instead, I dropped and swept my leg out, catching him in the ankles with the steel toe of my boots. I activated the tear-gas pen in my sleeve because he was moving too fast for the blade in my boot to be useful. Hypnos wafted out in a puff of white powder, like confectioners’ sugar. He was already leaning over me, his saliva dripping onto my shoulder, by the time I could bark out an order and be relatively confident there was enough Hypnos in his face to do the trick.

“Drop!”

He collapsed on top of me like a load of bricks.

I wiggled out from beneath him before his teeth could accidentally graze my neck. There was nothing more contagious than the kiss of a Hel-Blar, no matter how doped up he was. His pupils were dilated, ringed with a tiny sliver of pale gray. His skin was tattoo-blue and mottled.

Grandpa would have told me to stake him then and there. He was Hel-Blar, after all, the most vicious of the vicious. But I couldn’t just take out a will-less, unarmed opponent, even if he was dangerous, even if it was tactically sound. It just felt wrong.

I shoved him away, making sure to use enough force to crack a few ribs. I might have more scruples than my grandfather, but I wasn’t soft. And I didn’t want him staying here to jump back into the fight after the Hypnos wore off.

“Go back to your nest,” I snapped. “And stay there. Don’t hurt anyone on the way.”

“I will kill you, little girl—”

“And shut up,” I added.

He stumbled down the steps, making weird growling sounds in the back of his throat.

I knew the precise moment Jason reached the main alarm switch. The altered tanning-bed bulbs set all around the dormitory, from windowsills to garden landscaping lights, seared through the darkness. It was high-powered UV light with the same toxic effect on vampires as sunlight. It wouldn’t make them burst into flames like movie vampires, which would have been a hell of a tactical advantage. But it would at least weaken them considerably. And it should convince any other vampires coming this way to turn back.

I met Jason on the third floor, trailing students heading for the secret passageway door.

“You all right?” he asked.

I nodded. “Two down.”

“This is unbelievable,” he snarled. “They’re coming down from the roof too. There are at least three upstairs.”

“I saw that many coming in through the back,” an eleventh-grade girl, still in her pink pajamas, offered. “From the gardens.”

“What the hell is going on?” I shoved my hair back into its ponytail.

“It does seem rather sophisticated for the Hel-Blar,” Jason muttered as we rounded the corner and came up against the wooden panel door. “Let’s go,” he called out to the other students. “I’ll take point.”

“But they’re outside too,” one of the ninth-grade boys said.

“We can’t stay here,” I told him. “Anyway, the tunnel leads far enough away, near the road and the van parked under the willow trees.”

“That broken-down, rusted old thing?”

“It only looks broken down,” I said grimly. “And there are two more vans hidden deeper in the woods. Now move.”

“Don’t argue, Joshua,” Lia said, shoving him to get him going. Her hands were trembling and her hairline was damp with sweat, but she was keeping it together. I turned my back to them, watching for Hel-Blar. We could hear their footsteps creaking through the ceiling. The old wooden floorboards were meant to be creaky like that, to teach us how to move quietly and give us fair warning if someone was sneaking around.

The light pouring through the windows was almost blinding. It should weaken them, but if they were in a battle frenzy they could still do a considerable amount of damage before they realized they should retreat. The secret passageway door slammed open. I was still guarding the rear so I had to look over my shoulder when I heard Kieran’s terse voice.

“Exit’s blocked,” he said.

“Crap,” I muttered. “Sophie, take my position,” I said, turning to stare at Kieran. He was in regulation cargos, a strap of stakes over his good shoulder. “What are you doing here?”

“Talk later.”

“Bet your ass,” I muttered. “And what do you mean the exit’s blocked?”

“Dead end, Buffy,” Quinn said, coming out of the passageway behind Kieran. He looked just as gorgeous as ever, even covered in dust. His hair was loose, his eyes blue as fire.