Hourglass Read Free Page A

movement coming closer. We were being surrounded.
    “Mom,” Lucas said softly, “somebody should guard Bianca and Raquel in the warehouse. They can’t fight yet, and they’ll be looked at as—traitors, something like that. The vampires would target them.”
    From his place at the corner of the lot, a crossbow in his hands, Eduardo said, “Running away now?”
    Lucas’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t say I should be the one. But somebody ought to be with them just in case.”
    “Just in case the vampires get through? Best way to prevent that is by having all our fighters at the front,” Eduardo shot back. “Unless you’re simply looking for an excuse.”
    One of Lucas’s hands balled into a fist, and for a moment I thought he might hit Eduardo. Calling Lucas a coward was manifestly unfair, but this wasn’t the time to argue about it. I put a hand on his arm, trying to calm him.
    It was Kate who intervened, though. “Eduardo, can it. Lucas, get them in the warehouse.” She never looked away from the horizon, from the attackers she knew were coming. “We need all three of you to start packing our supplies. Fast as you can.”
    Eduardo turned to her. “No way are we running from this, Kate.”
    “You like fighting more than you like staying alive,” Kate said, never meeting his eyes. “But I try to think like Patton. I don’t run this group so everyone can die for the cause. I run it so the vampires have to die for theirs.”
    The shapes in the brush all rustled as one, moving closer. Lucas tensed, and I realized he could see them in the dark as well as I could. Ever since I’d first drunk his blood, he’d developed the first stirrings of vampiric power. That meant he knew what I knew: We didn’t have much time. Minutes, maybe.
    “Raquel, come on,” Lucas said, but she stubbornly remained by Dana’s side, shaking her head.
    “This isn’t safe,” I tried. “Please, Raquel, you could be killed.”
    Her voice trembled as she answered, but she said only, “I’m done with running.”
    Dana set aside the crossbow she’d been loading and faced Raquel. Her entire body seemed to vibrate with energy. She had been the one to spot the vampires, the one who had known about the danger longest—and she was already in battle mode. Yet she spoke gently to Raquel. “Packing up our stuff isn’t running. Okay? It’s something we need to do, because we’re going to have to get out of here, either after the fight or during it.”
    “Not if we win,” Raquel began, but stopped when she saw Dana’s expression.
    “They know our location now,” Lucas said. “More vampires will come. We’ve got to run. Help us get ready to run. That’s the best thing you can do right now.”
    Raquel never looked away from Dana as her face shifted from determination to resignation. “Next time,” she said. “Next time I’ll know how to fight.”
    “We’ll be in this together next time,” Dana agreed. Her gaze shifted to the brush and the pursuers. Nobody needed vampire senses to know how close they were now. “Get your butt out of here.”
    I grabbed Raquel’s hand and pulled her back into the warehouse. After a few days being confined here, always with dozensof people around, I felt weird seeing it almost empty. The blankets were disheveled, and some of the cots had been tipped over in the rush. Still in shock, I started folding a blanket.
    “Screw the blankets.” Lucas headed toward the weapons lockers. Almost everything had been taken by the hunters, but there were still a few stakes, arrows, and canisters of holy water.
    “We get the ammo ready. The rest we can replace.”
    “Of course.” I should have thought of that. But how could I? My brain was stuck, like when the needle of Dad’s record player caught in the scratches of his old jazz records: Are my parents outside? Is Balthazar? Will Black Cross kill people that I care about, people who are probably only trying to rescue me?
    Outside I heard a shout—then