CHAPTER 1

Lucy

Saturday night

“You tried to eat your boyfriend’s face?”

Okay, so it wasn’t the most sympathetic response I could have

come up with, but I couldn’t help it. I was punchy from fatigue and

had what felt like an adrenaline hangover. And not only was I cov-

ered in ashes and bruises from fi ghting feral Hel- Blar vampires and

blowing up a ghost town, but I was sure there was some kind of

mistake.

Solange didn’t do stuff like this.

Well, usually.

She looked so wispy and pale she was practically translucent,

except for the blue veins that traced her collarbone. Her fangs

•2•

were out, all three sets. She held up a hand when I stepped closer.

Th e light glinted off the personalized royal medallion around her

neck. “Stay downwind,” she said tightly.

I frowned. “Are you telling me I stink?”

She nodded once, pained. “Blood.”

“Oh.” I’d been fi ghting Hel- Blar all night so she was probably

right. Only clearly she didn’t mind the smell.

She frowned. “And gunpowder? Why do—” Solange shook

her head. “Never mind, you have to help Kieran. Now.”

“Th at’s really his blood?” When she looked at me as if she was

about to burst into tears, I swore. “Shit. Where is he? What hap-

pened?” She pointed to the line of pine trees behind the oak, the

tall grass shivering around the exposed roots. I thought I saw a

black combat boot. I broke into a run. “Kieran!”

He moaned, propped up against a tree, blood running down

his neck and arm. Th ere was a bite mark just above his collar, the

fl esh ragged. Under all the red, he was the color of boiled mush-

rooms.

“Kieran, can you hear me?”

He swallowed, trying to speak. Th e movement made the

blood run faster, soaking his shirt. “Solange,” he croaked. “Help

Sol—”

“She’s fi ne,” I assured him. I took the bandanna I knew was in

his cargo pants pocket above his knee. It was standard issue for a

Helios- Ra agent. I wadded it up and pressed it over his wound,

trying not to feel nauseated. “Can you press here?” I asked him.

“As hard as you can.” I glanced over my shoulder. “What the hell

•3•

happened to you two?” I slipped my arm under Kieran’s shoulder

on his good side and tried to lift him. He weighed a ton.

“Don’t just stand there!” I shouted at Solange. “Help me!”

She stayed where she was.

“Solange!”

“I don’t know if I can!” she shouted back frantically.

“Th en call 911. What’s the matter with you? He needs an

ambulance.”

“You know they can’t come here,” Solange said.

“Can’t tell anyone,” Kieran agreed, moaning. “Th ey’d hunt her.”

While I certainly wasn’t going to let anyone hunt my best

friend— even if she had turned my own boyfriend against me just

last week— I wasn’t going to let her boyfriend bleed to death in the

woods either.

“We’ll take you to the school infi rmary, then.” I grunted, trying

to haul him to his feet. He stumbled, sliding up the trunk. He was

clammy and shivering. “We can tell them it was a random attack.

But we need to get you there now. You need stitches.” I tried not to

think about Solange’s teeth as the weapon that had gouged him.

At least she hadn’t gone for the jugular. Small comfort. Blood was

sticky on my hands. “Solange, I can’t get him to the van by myself.

I’m not the one with vampire strength.”

“I can still taste his blood, Lucy.” Her hands were clenched so

tight the knuckles looked as if they were outside her delicate skin.

“I can smell it everywhere. It’s in the grass, in the air, on me. I’m

not safe.”

I swore again, viciously enough to have made the proverbial

•4•

sailor proud. I fumbled for the nose plugs around Kieran’s neck

and tossed them at her, grateful that Kieran was still a vampire

hunter to his core, even if he was dating a vampire princess. “Put

these on.”

I was a student at the Helios- Ra Academy now too but I wasn’t

in regulation uniform, just my usual embroidered peasant blouse

and crystal beads. I hadn’t even started classes yet; I’d been too

busy killing monsters.

Solange clipped them on her nose, closing her nostrils tight

against the violent scents drenching the woods. Even I could smell

the coppery tang of blood, but it was making me queasy, not hun-

gry. Th e nose plugs gave her a momentary reprieve, and she was at

Kieran’s side so fast the wildfl owers fl attened around her. She

looked awful, but she took Kieran’s weight, and we dragged him to

the van. I opened the side door, and we slid him half onto a seat,

his feet still dangling out of the open door. I was panting and

sweating from the exertion. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d

slept. But I didn’t have time to stop, not yet.

Not even for my best friend, who was suddenly licking her lips,

her teeth faintly pink, smeared with Kieran’s blood, her eyes red

veined and fi erce. I heard the dry rasp of bat wings, felt the shad-

ows of them moving toward us even if I couldn’t see them clearly

in the dark.

We were in so much trouble I nearly gave up right then and

there.

“Solange!” I tried to snap her out of the bloodlust. “Remember

who you are!”

•5•

“I think I fi nally am.” She was practically purring.

I’d known she was in a bad way when Nicholas and I found her

a few days ago, drunk on human blood, a willing donor passed out

at her feet. And then she’d attacked me for making comments about

the mysterious vampire Constantine, whom I’d never met but did

not like. I especially didn’t like the way she said his name, as if he

were hotter than Johnny Depp.

“Get in the van, Kieran,” I said, moving very slowly to stand in

front of him while he struggled to lift his heavy feet all the way in.

He pushed something at me, hiding it in the small of my back. It

was too square to be either a knife or a stake.

Taser.

“No, don’t go,” Solange said, pulling off the nose clips and toss-

ing them aside. “I’m still hungry.”

Apparently adrenaline, fear, panic, and guilt could only hold

out for so long against bloodlust.

Solange was gone.

I wasn’t sure who was standing in front of me. She might

have Solange’s ethereal beauty and her ballerina grace, but she

wasn’t Solange.

Oblivious, Kieran leaned toward her, as if I weren’t in his way.

Vampire pheromones.

Without his nose plugs, he was vulnerable. I’d grown up with

Solange and her brothers so I was mostly immune. Th eoretically.

Because, lately, Solange was breaking all of our theories.

Kieran didn’t even notice the bats swarming above us. I ducked

my head a little, trying not to scream like a child in a Halloween

•6•

haunted house. “Crap,” I said darkly, shoving him down into his

seat. “Solange, back off .”

“No.”

Kieran leaned farther forward, his blood dripping on the car

mat and out into the grass. He tried to shove me aside so that Sol-

ange could fi nish her dinner. I shoved back without turning around,

making sure to poke him hard in his wound. Th e fl esh was warm

and ragged and sticky under my fi nger. I decided I might just throw

up later. It was worth it though, as Kieran recoiled, hissing through

his teeth. Th e pain broke the lure of Solange’s pheromones, if only

for a moment. I elbowed him savagely so that he fell back com-

pletely into the van, and then I slammed the door shut on him.

Solange only smiled. Her eyes were veined in red, like an

autumn leaf. “I’m still thirsty,” she murmured.

I scowled, trying to remember the Solange I knew, covered in

clay and only wanting to be left alone. “Too bad,” I said through my

teeth, which weren’t nearly as impressive as hers. Her fangs gleamed

when her smile widened. Bats fl ew in a whirlwind over her head.

“Go away, Sol.”

“Mmm, I don’t think so.” She shrugged one shoulder. “You can

run if you like. I’m going to start with Kieran fi rst. You’d only taste

like lemons and ash. I can smell your anger.” She wrinkled her

nose as if I were spoiled meat. “It doesn’t enhance you, not like the

others.”

“Gee, I’m so sorry that the fact that I want to punch you right

in your princess nose might ruin your palate. We’re not bottles of

wine.”

•7•

She just shrugged again.

And then she was pressing me into the van, so close I could

see the blue under her skin, hear the fl ap of bat wings and the crackle

they left in the air. I couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t snap my neck just

to get to Kieran, slowly bleeding himself into a coma behind me.

So I did the only thing I could think to do.

I Tasered my best friend.

I wasn’t sure if it was the jolts of electricity running through

her or the proximity of the dawn, but she fell backward onto the

grass. I didn’t even have time to make sure she was all right. Tech-

nically, she was already dead, so a little shock wouldn’t hurt her for

long. Okay, 1500 volts, what ever. She’d survive, but Kieran needed

help now.

I paused.

She’d survive being Tasered, but not the dawn.

I’d have to bring her with me.

“Shit,” I said. “Th is is just the worst night ever.”

I approached her carefully, nudging her with the toe of my boot.

She lay still, pale and slight. “If you bite me, I’m biting you back,” I

muttered, crouching down to lift her up. When she didn’t open her

eyes and try to eat me, I felt marginally better. I dragged her awk-

wardly toward the van and stuff ed her into the front seat. “If you

wake up cranky, I’m so Tasering you again.” I ran around to the

driver’s seat. “I’ve already blown up a town to night, so don’t think I

won’t.”

Th e bats, angered, dive- bombed me. I tucked my head into my

collar and ran faster, hollering. Th e screaming didn’t scare the bats

•8•

off but it made me feel better. I felt one catch in my hair, then

bounce off my shoulder.

“I really hate everybody right now,” I said, diving into the front

seat. I yanked the door handle just as another bat hit the glass. Sol-

ange was slumped next to me. I kept the Taser in my right hand,

contorting to start the van with my left. Kieran shifted in the

backseat. “Don’t die,” I told him sternly.

He tried to chuckle but it turned into a wet gurgle. I hit the gas

pedal and peeled out of the fi eld, kicking up clods of dirt and

grass.

“Don’t wake up,” I chanted at Solange. “Don’t wake up.”

Th e bats followed us like a black, leathery cloud. Th eir eyes

were red when they dipped down into the spear of the headlights.

“Don’t wake up,” I said again. “And don’t be such a ste reo type.

Bats. God.”

Th ey were so thick now, it was hard to see. I prayed really hard

that I wouldn’t drive us right into a tree. I craned my neck. Th e

Taser was heavy, making my wrist ache. A bat hit the windshield,

cracking it like a rock. Blood smeared the glass.

“I’m sorry!” I yelled. “Get out of my way, you stupid fl ying

rodents.”

Another hit, and another. A crack snaked through the wind-

shield. Fur and blood matted in the fi ssure. Bile burned the back

of my throat.

Solange stirred.

I jabbed the Taser at her but she was faster. She dodged out of

the way. Th e van wobbled precariously as I fought to keep hold of

•9•

the steering wheel. Kieran was passed out in his own blood. Sol-

ange glanced back at him and licked her lips. It was a tiny moment

of distraction and likely the last one I’d get. I stabbed the Taser

at her again. It glanced off her shoulder, but it was enough to freeze

her, her face contorting.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I repeated over and over as I

slammed on the brakes. She fl ew into the dashboard. I reached

over her while she was still stunned and opened the passenger door.

Th en I shoved her out as hard as I could into the grass.

She sprawled, bats circling overhead like vultures. I sped away

with the door still open, banging against tree branches. Th e smell

of pine and cedar mixed with Kieran’s blood. I looked into the

rearview mirror. Solange sat up slowly.

I hit the gas harder.

ALSO BY ALYXANDRA HARVEY

The Drake Chronicles in reading order:

My Love Lies BleedingBlood Feud

Out for BloodBleeding Hearts

. . .Haunting Violet

. . .Stolen Away

Blood Moon prelims UK ppi-v.indd iiBlood Moon prelims UK ppi-v.indd ii 27/04/2012 15:1827/04/2012 15:18

Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney

First published in Great Britain in July 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP

First published in the USA in June 2012 by Walker Publishing Company, Inc.175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

Text copyright © Alexandra Harvey 2012

Th e moral right of the author has been asserted

All rights reservedNo part of this publication may be reproduced or

transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopyingor otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 4088 3190 8

Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives Plc, Bungay, Suff olk

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

www.bloomsbury.com

Blood Moon prelims UK ppi-v.indd ivBlood Moon prelims UK ppi-v.indd iv 27/04/2012 15:1827/04/2012 15:18

OUT NOW

Blood MoonALYXANDRA HARVEY

Praise for My Love Lies Bleeding, the first installment in the Drake Chronicles

‘Harvey builds an engaging world of vampire cultures balanced with a smart mix of darkness and humor’” Publishers Weekly

“‘Witty, sly, and never disappointing . . . Fun, funny, and a relief from Twilight wannabes, this first installment in the Drake Chronicles has lots to offer for savvy readers and gives vampire addicts a nice

twist on their usual fare’” Booklist