Quinn was only smirking at me because he smirked at everybody.

Helena stepped forward, flanked in a semicircle by Liam and Hart on one side, the Council representatives and Isabeau on the other. The rest of us stepped back to form a loose clump of bystanders who eyed each other cautiously. We’d all lost family members to each other at some point in our history. You didn’t automatically forget that.

“Weapons down,” Helena said grimly.

The reaction was equally grim. No one wanted to be the first to relinquish any weapon, not in this crowd. Glances flickered back and forth, mouths tightened, hands curled into fists. No one moved.

Until Solange lifted her chin and pulled three stakes from her belt, holding them up so that everyone could see. Then she dropped them in the grass.

Silence. The kind you can only get when you’re surrounded by vampires. It made my shoulders tense.

Helena was the next to disarm herself. She had a small arsenal on the ground by the time she was done. Everyone else followed their lead until we stood in a circle of discarded stakes, swords, daggers, crossbows, and Helios-Ra UV guns.

The coronation was simple and quick; there were too many Hel-Blar in the area and too many unproven loyalties. I imagined the more traditional version was longer and full of grand speeches and costumes. This one was as impressive in its own way. At least, I thought so. The pine trees were solemn, silent witnesses and the wind was warm and smelled of wet earth, tossing the boughs aside to show us glimpses of the stars. A wolf howled in the distance. Fireflies glimmered all around us.

Liam’s voice was warm as whiskey and just as strong. “Do you acknowledge Helena Drake as the queen of the vampire tribes by right of conquest?”

One by one the representatives knelt, saying “aye.” The council members wore elaborate gowns and suits. Isabeau didn’t kneel, but she inclined her head respectfully. The Hounds offered fealty to no one but their Shamanka. Spencer would have given his left arm to meet that Shamanka but she wasn’t here. Apparently she never left her caves. Hart nodded as well.

I tried not to look as awed as I felt. Helena stepped forward. Her hair was in a long black braid down her back and she wore a sleeveless black dress with a wide belt that normally hung with daggers and stakes. Her boots made me drool. I was sure she could have concealed at least four different kinds of knives in them. I so had to get myself a pair.

“I promise to stand between the tribes and danger, to foster autonomy and respect between the families, the councils, and the society. I promise to be your queen until such time as my daughter might choose to relieve me.”

“Oh, Mom, not you too,” I distinctly heard Solange mutter. Kieran reached for her hand. She leaned into him. A few of the vampires stared at them. Someone hissed and was elbowed into silence.

Helena dropped to one knee after everyone else had risen again.

“I serve the tribes.”

Liam unwrapped a velvet bundle, producing a slender silver circlet. It was set with three huge rubies and smaller pearls. Liam crowned his wife, looking proud. Isabeau tilted her head faintly, frowning thoughtfully at the crown.

There was a round of applause and silver pendants were handed out to the assembled group. They looked kind of like Catholic saint medallions, only they were imprinted with the Drake insignia on one side and the royal symbol on the other—a ruby-encrusted crown and sword. I slipped mine into my pocket. I couldn’t wait to get back to the dorm where I could properly admire it.

The way another vampire, a different girl this time, was admiring Quinn.

There was no doubt he was a player, and there was no doubt none of his girlfriends minded. I turned away, waiting for Kieran and Solange to finish their discreet snuggling. The council was already leaving, to spread the word of the coronation. I shivered lightly in my tank top as the night cooled.

“Hey, Buffy.”

I froze.

Quinn.

I turned slowly on my heel. “My name’s Hunter.”

“I know.” He grinned. He was wearing his medallion around his neck on a silver chain. “But you’ve got the whole Buffy thing going. Though I think you might be cuter.”

I was not going to giggle. I wasn’t that kind of girl.

And hunters didn’t giggle at vampires.

It was an unspoken rule.

“You’re cold,” he murmured when goosebumps lifted on my arms. I was really glad I was cold and didn’t have to wonder if his presence was making me shivery and ridiculous. He stepped closer to me, blocking the wind. Pretty much blocking everything. “Better?” he asked casually, the way Spencer talked to me. Still, he was really close.

“Oh my God, Quinn,” Lucy interrupted, causing us both to jump. “Could you stop flirting for three seconds and come on?”

Chapter 5

Hunter

Wednesday Morning

Chloe was far too cheerful.

“Am not,” she insisted, sipping root beer out of a straw as loudly as she could to annoy me. “You’re just grumpy.”

It was possible she was right. I hadn’t even realized I’d spoken out loud.

I hadn’t gotten back until four o’clock in the morning and it was only eight thirty now. We didn’t get up this early even when we had classes, because they ran from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. and again from 8:00 P.M. to midnight. We had to be used to late hours in our line of work. And Chloe was usually the last one out of bed, grumbling the entire time. I didn’t know how or why she’d become a morning person over the summer but I suspected it was just to bug me.