“Stupid boy,” she hissed, trying to get out of his grip. Strong as she was, I knew she could do it in a second. Raquel tried to rush forward, but I prevented her.
“I’ve cut you slack for Bianca’s sake,” Lucas said. He and Charity were struggling in the underbrush; he was managing to hold her arm back, but only barely. “No more. We’re through.” With that he pushed her forward, full strength, into a tree. Charity smashed into it face-first. At first I expected her to scream in outrage, but instead she slumped into unconsciousness. Lucas was still holding her against the tree—and, I realized, against the broken-off branch that jutted from the trunk and had acted as a stake.
“You killed her!” Raquel gasped.
“Can’t do that for real.” Lucas looked chagrined. “She stole my knife.”
“Just let her fall,” I said. “I know that’s going to, well, ‘unstake’ her, but it’ll take a few minutes before she can pursue us. In that time, we can reach the transport, right?”
Lucas didn’t like the plan, but he knew it was our only choice. He took off running, and as Raquel and I followed, I saw Charity slump to the forest floor.
The “transport” turned out to be the van I’d seen before. When we jumped inside, a few people were already waiting—Kate, who was in the driver’s seat, and Dana, who had a black eye and a cut lip. The sight of her made me queasy inside; Mom would have been the person who did this to Dana, but if they were fighting and Dana was still here…“What happened?” I whispered. “What happened to the vampire you were fighting?”
“Lady jumped out a window.” Dana’s words were thick because of her swollen lip. “You ask me, that’s cheating.” Mom had made it. I slumped against Lucas in relief. Vic and Balthazar were probably safe as well. But what about my father? Or the teachers I knew or Ranulf or so many people—the humans, too, because fire didn’t discriminate when it killed.
Lucas put his arm around me as he asked, “Where’s Mr. Watanabe?”
“They got him,” Dana said.
A terrible silence fell in the van. Raquel was looking from Dana to Lucas to me, clearly incredibly confused, but she must have understood this wasn’t the moment for questions. Lucas put his forehead on my shoulder, and I held him tightly.
Enjoy each other, Mr. Watanabe had said. He’d had a sweet smile. I wondered if he was with Noriko now, if there was anything after death for humans that didn’t involve being a vampire or a wraith. I’d never asked myself that before.
Kate started the van. As we pulled away, I watched the fire-haloed silhouette of Evernight Academy shrink in the rearview mirror until it disappeared entirely.
The rendezvous point turned out to be a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, one half filled with enormous crates. I had no idea what was inside them, and I thought Black Cross didn’t either. It was just a place the hunters could use to regroup.
Dana held an ice pack to her face, and Eduardo was at work bandag-ing a cut on Kate’s shin. As they cleaned and repaired their weapons, most of the hunters remained silent, either from grief or exhaustion. But I could tell that they all thought they’d done what they had to do. I wanted to tell them they were wrong—that they’d been lied to—but I knew they wouldn’t listen.
Lucas and I sat on one of the crates, leaning our backs against each other. Raquel stood next to us, wrapped in a blanket one of the hunters had given her. Slowly she repeated, “The whole school was full of vampires. The entire time.”
“Basically,” I said. “There were human students, too—you weren’t the only one. Vic, for instance.”
“And Ranulf,” she said. I shook my head, and Raquel gaped at me.
“Ranulf? But—was Balthazar—was he a vampire, too?” I nodded. Lucas said, “And all the teachers. Used to be nothing but vampires until a couple of years ago.”
“Wait, wait, wait. That can’t be right. Bianca, your parents are teachers.”
In my weariness, I think I would have blurted out the truth if Lucas hadn’t put a warning hand over mine. Revealing that I was part vampire in the middle of a group of Black Cross hunters could have been the last thing I ever did.
Eduardo answered the question for me. “We believe Bianca was kid-napped as an infant. Probably her real parents were murdered, so two vampires could play house.”
Raquel covered her mouth with her hands. “When did you find this out? Oh, Bianca, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Lucas cut in so I wouldn’t have to reveal how long I’d known. “I came to Evernight last year to investigate why they were letting humans in as students.”
“That’s why you got into all those fights!” Raquel said. “God, I always thought you were this total hothead creep.”
“Wow,” Lucas said. “I’m touched.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
“I’m honestly sorry I thought that about you. Obviously I’m not such a great judge of people.” Raquel sat down on a nearby crate, shaking her head in bewilderment. Then her expression shifted from confusion to awareness, and she met my eyes with new comprehension. “The vampire thing explains Erich, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
She slumped over. “I knew that school wasn’t right.”
“I doubt they’ll have any more human students for a good long while,” Kate said. “Or any students, given the damage we did. Which means we can cross Evernight Academy off our list of concerns.” Maybe they could. I couldn’t. I knew I had to get back there, to find out who had lived and who had died, how my parents were—so many things. But how could I go back, now that Mrs. Bethany knew I’d been seeing Lucas all year? For all I knew, she might blame me for the part I’d played in attracting Charity’s attention and bringing all this to pass. I knew better than ever how lethal Mrs. Bethany could be. No, I’d have to wait.