The Longest Night: A Drake Chronicles Novella Read Free Page B

the
     place.”
    “Why do you think she attacked me out here?” Cal muttered.
    “One of these times, one of you is actually going to succeed,” Lucy pointed out. “What
     then?”
    “Cake?” Aggie supplied. Lucy’s eyes narrowed. For a girl barely older than they were
     and wearing three different crystals, she could be surprisingly scary. “Sorry,” Aggie
     added.
    Cal just stood stiffly, fangs poking out from under his top lip. Lucy didn’t even
     blink. Yen would have dusted him by now. Instead, Lucy fished a stake, a cell phone
     covered in rhinestones, gum, and a tangle of nose plugs from her pocket. She handed
     him the nose plugs. “Put these on.”
    They helped block the lure of warm blood, especially after a battle. Aggie should
     have worn hers to block Cal’s vampire pheromones. Rookie mistake.
    “I can’t believe you turned the water on us in this kind of weather.” Aggie shivered
     so violently she nearly bit her tongue in half.
    “Maybe next time you’ll think twice,” Lucy said with an arch and thoroughly unapologetic
     smile. “You’ve both earned yourself meditation time.”
    Cal’s shoulders slumped. “Damn it,” he muttered.
    “That’s ‘om’ to you,” Lucy corrected cheerfully.
    * * *
    Aggie forced herself to walk slowly, every muscle in her body screaming at her to
     run. If she ran, her sister Yen would think she didn’t trust her.
    At nine years old, Aggie knew two things for sure: a vampire had killed her dad, and
     Yen and Aggie were all each other had left. If Yen wanted Aggie to hang out in Central
     Park at midnight, she would do it. Even if there was sweat pooling under her arms
     while the December wind blew frigid and sharp as fangs. Yen took care of her. She
     was only sixteen but she knew which restaurant and grocery store dumpsters had the
     freshest food, and where to sleep without getting hassled by social services, cops,
     or gangs. She even took Aggie to the library so she “wouldn’t grow up stupid.” And
     Mrs. Boneta at the deli always had a cup of hot chocolate for her, ever since the
     night Yen had knocked out a thief just as he’d been about to pistol-whip Mr. Boneta
     for the cash in the register.
    It wasn’t so bad really.
    Until the sun went down.
    Mostly, Aggie hid and waited anxiously for Yen to come back from hunting vampires.
     But for the first time, Yen needed her help. At Christmastime, people in thick coats
     thronged the park for skating and snowball fights and there were pretty red bows everywhere.
     It was nice, even if it got dark too early. But this year, people were going missing.
    Aggie pretended to limp away from the skating rink as though she had blisters, her
     stolen skates dangling over her shoulder. Tonight was just pretend, but Yen had promised
     she could try actually ice skating in the morning. She’d also told her to cry because
     it would be more believable. Aggie didn’t have to pretend that part. She was cold
     and scared and it was really dark away from the skating rink lights.
    “Daddy?” she asked tremulously. She was supposed to act as if she was lost. If her
     father were still alive, he’d never have let her get lost.
    “Well, what have we got here?”
    But he wouldn’t have been able to protect her from vampires either. Not like Yen.
    Aggie wiped the tears off her cheeks, where they were growing uncomfortably cold.
     “I’m lost,” she said in a small voice. “Can you help me?”
    “Even better.” The first vampire grinned, flashing her fangs. “I can help myself.”
    There were two of them, all hunger and cruel beauty. For a moment, Aggie was mesmerized.
     She’d heard that vampires were ugly monsters and she’d expected some kind of stench
     or bloody saliva. But these girls were only a little bit older than Yen. One wore
     a baby-doll dress with little pink bows. She looked like a birthday cake, sweet and
     special.
    Aggie had paused for too long. If she’d been alone, they’d have drained