Hearts At Stake - By Alyxandra Harvey Page 0,24

out of his room, all freaked out.”

We both turned to look at him. I thought he might be blushing— if vampires could blush, that was.

“The house smelled wrong,” he muttered. He glared at us. “Shut up.” Then he went up the stairs. I raised my eyebrows.

“He’s getting weirder.”

Solange snorted, pulled out a handful of nose plugs, air freshener sprays, and a bowie knife from my plastic bags.

“So are you.”

I waited until we were alone before I hustled Solange into her room.

“What are you doing now?” she muttered when I shut her door and pressed my ear to the wood for a moment to make sure no one was listening. And by no one, I meant Nicholas.

“Okay, I should totally be a spy.” I grinned at her. “All I need is some funky accent and I could be a Bond girl.”

She groaned. “What did you do?”

“I stole this from Kieran, right after I punched him.” I pulled out a small book from the inside pocket of my jacket. It looked innocuous enough, slender as a poetry chapbook, with a simple font and a sun illustration on the front cover. It was the title that stood out: A Field Guide to Vampires.

Solange read it, blinked, read it again, and then stared at me. “A Field Guide to Vampires? Is that a joke?”

I laughed out loud. “Nope. Just a little souvenir from the Helios-Ra.” We sat on her bed and set the guide on the blanket in front of us. We skimmed the index, snorted at the pompous introduction and the pseudo medieval oath new recruits had to take. There was a bunch of stuff on hunter protocol that could come in useful someday. There was also a whole section on the Drake family, and a page devoted just to Solange, listing her stats, like she was a rare kind of frog one could search for in a swamp.

“It’s kind of creepy.” She made a face. “I’m starting to feel like the bearded lady at the carnival.”

“I would never let you grow a beard,” I assured her, trying to lighten the mood. If she hunched her shoulders any tighter, her collarbone would shatter. “I’m way too good a friend for that.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“All in a day’s work.”

“I can’t believe they study us like that. I mean, did Kieran sit in a classroom and learn that I wear cargo pants and like pottery? And how do they know that anyway? And I’m not solitary, damn it, I just don’t like crowds.” She paused. “Okay, so maybe I am solitary, so what? And my nickname is not ‘Princess Solange.’ Give me a break.”

I tugged the book out of her hands before she could twist it in half. It flipped open. “Hey, no way. I’m in here too.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You are not.”

“I totally am.”

“Okay, that’s going too far.”

“Apparently, I’m brash and reckless.” I snorted. “Better than being a mindless droid to some secret society.” I did a double take. “Did you know one of my strengths is annoying Nicholas?”

She laughed despite herself. “Okay, that part’s true.”

“Shut up, he’s the one who annoys me.” I tapped the book thoughtfully. “Hmmm.”

“Oh, God. That ‘hmmm’ is never good.”

I ignored her and reached for the phone. “They know all about us, shouldn’t we know a little about them too?”

“How? You can’t just phone up a secret society.”

“Maybe not. I mean, Kieran might not have a MySpace page, but he has to live somewhere, doesn’t he? He’s not like Black Ops or anything, right?”

“I guess not. Wait, what are you doing?” she asked as I dialed 411.

“Shh. Hello? Kieran Black in Violet Hill. Address unknown.” I covered the mouthpiece. “I need a pen.” She ran to her desk and practically threw one at me. I wrote on the back of the guide. “Thank you,” I said before hanging up.

Solange and I smiled at each other, and it felt like the smile of two lionesses about to take down a gazelle.

I pushed each number as if I were squishing a bug. Kieran picked up on the first ring.

“Mom, for the third time, I’ve got the milk—”

“It’s not your mom,” I interrupted, smirking at Solange.

“Who is this?” he asked suspiciously.

“It’s Lucy.”

He made a very gratifying choking sound. “What? I never gave you my number.”

“You’re listed, genius. So you can add that to your little guidebook. I’m not only reckless, I’m resourceful too. And Solange isn’t solitary, she just doesn’t like you.” She had a weird look on her face. “Are you okay?” I