My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey Read Free Book Online

Drakes are human, or were mostly. And they’ve never gone all rogue and fangy on the general populace. Don’t
     they teach you anything at that hotshot secret academy?”
    “How did you know about the academy?” He was trying not to look startled.
    “Please. It’s kind of obvious.”
    “You don’t understand.”
    “I understand exactly,” I said.
    “They’ve brainwashed you.”
    “Hey, you’re the one in some kind of hunter cult.”
    He narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t a joke, Lucy. The Drakes killed my father.”
    “They did not .”
    “You don’t even know who my father is.”
    “I know you’re an idiot.”
    He looked at me for a long silent moment as if he was searching for something. Then he looked at my cup.
    “Can I have a sip?” he asked. “I haven’t had anything to drink all night.”
    I didn’t trust him, obviously. He’d scaled several fences and snuck onto a heavily guarded vampire land with less than polite
     intentions. Still, it was only tea. How dangerous could that be? I stepped closer. I lifted the cup to his lips and he drank
     gratefully.
    “I’m sorry,” he whispered, smiling sadly. He slipped his right hand under his left cuff and there was a small cracking sound
     and a puff that looked like powdered sugar from a vial sewn into his sleeve. The heavy scents of chocolate and lilies hung
     between us. It made me want to sneeze.
    “I’m pretty much immune to vampire pheromones,” I informed him loftily, crossing my arms.
    He didn’t look disappointed or defeated.
    “You’re not immune to this blend,” he said.
    “Yes, I am. I don’t know what you think—” The room wavered slightly, like I was seeing it through heat waves coming off asphalt.
     “What the hell?”
    Another puff of powder.
    “This is a special blend.” He sounded briefly apologetic. “No one can resist it for long.”
    “You’re not going to get away with this.” All the colors looked weird, as if they were full of light. The red of the velvet
     drapes looked as if it were dripping blood. “I’ll scream.” I opened my mouth.
    “You will not scream,” he said calmly.
    I closed my mouth. The taste of cocoa and flowers made me gag. There was something else laced under the flavors, but I couldn’t
     place it. Licorice, whiskey, something. I felt faint, befuddled. And underneath the vagueness, fiery anger.
    “Untie me, Lucy.”
    My hands fluttered forward.
    “No,” I whispered, watching them as if they belonged to somebody else. I curled my fingers into my palms. Sweat beaded under
     my hair, on my face. My glasses slipped down my nose. “No.”
    “Untie me, Lucy,” he demanded, more forcefully. “I’m impressed. Few people need a repetition. But you can’t win against it—
     you’ll only hurt yourself trying.”
    I fought the compulsion frantically, and lost. The knots loosened, fell free. When his hands were unbound, he wiggled out
     of the shoulder ropes and then bent down to untie his ankles.
    “Stay there, Lucy. Don’t make a sound, don’t make a move until I’m gone.”
    I struggled and strained but it was like sticky chains held me tight. The Drakes were going to kill me. I had freed their
     only advantage, who was now lifting the window open and slipping out into the ragged garden. At least he didn’t know about
     the silent alarms. Still, they weren’t enough. I watched him hop the decorative stone wall, run across the field, and slip
     into the forest. The sun beamed brightly on his head. I heard footsteps, a soft curse, and Nicholas’s furious voice.
    “What the hell have you done?”
    The release was abrupt and total. My muscles felt like water. My vision grayed and I crumpled to the carpet. I didn’t pass
     out but it took me a moment to open my eyes again, a longer moment for all the furniture to settle back down into their proper
     places. Nicholas was crouched beside me, eyes gleaming.
    “You little idiot.”
    The last of the spiderweb-sticky film of