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How?”
    He was staring at the ground, jaw
clenched, perfectly still and silent. After a long moment, he looked up, and his
eyes were still molten. His gaze dropped to her mouth, his lips parting, and
then he looked away, and Ashlyn frowned in spite of herself.
    She almost hesitated, having seen
some of his moodier moments back when Lord Angelo was still alive. But she’d
never before caved to his darkness, and she wasn’t about to now. Instead, she
flopped down gracelessly on the ground in front of him, pulling one boot over
her foot. “What’s the matter, Lockhart? Did you give me the vampire kiss of
life or something? You don’t have to feel embarrassed about it. Vargo and I
have already had some hot and heavy make-out sessions that were epic , I am telling you, epic . It takes more than a single smooch
from a vampire to freak me out. Just consider me all grown up now.” And totally over you and your meaningful
angsty silences, she thought but did not say. She pulled on her second boot
and stood, brushing leaves off her pants.
    He didn’t meet her eyes this
time, but held out one hand, the hand without his glove. Ashlyn looked down at
it, not comprehending. His hand was heavily bandaged, old blood seeped through
to stain the gauze covering his palm.
    “Vampires heal fast, right?” she
said.
    “Vampire blood has healing
properties,” he answered quietly.
    “Vampire…blood,” she repeated.
    Oh.
    “Oh,” she said, and frowned. “You
gave me your blood? Like a transfusion?”
    “Like a…drink,” he corrected her.
    His obvious reluctance was
aggravating. “Oh, Drake, is that what you’re beating yourself up over?” she
said incredulously. “You used vampire blood to help heal my bones? I thought it
was something serious, like a new magic or whatever. Geez. Freak me out, why
don’t you.”
    “Vampire blood can be used to
overcome its drinker’s free will,” he said, and his words were clipped, like
she’d somehow managed to offend him.
    “Do I look like I’m in any danger
of losing my free will?” Ashlyn replied, perhaps a little too snidely,
spreading her arms out and turning for inspection. “Seriously, Drake. Thank you
for your concern, but believe me, losing my free will is the last thing I’m
worried about right now. I’d probably be more concerned about becoming a
vampire, but that takes a lot more than just one drink, right?”
    “Yes,” he said. “The conversion
to vampirism takes weeks, even months, and requires several instances of
blood-drinking.”
    To cover up the way her stomach
twisted at his response, Ashlyn stomped around and pulled herself up onto the
horse, fuming silently for several long moments before she looked down at him
again. “Are you coming? We need to find Skye.”
    He paused for a moment, looking
as though there was something more he wanted to say, but eventually he shook
his head and swung up onto his own horse.
    They rode in silence for quite
some time, with Ashlyn seething quietly. Drinking blood was gross enough in
itself, but it had been a necessary thing, given the situation. Yet somehow
he’d made her feel dirty with his reluctance to admit to the act- almost like
she wasn’t worth the effort. Knowing Drake and his ever-changing moods, she
wasn’t sure whether to be offended or just chalk it up to his usual lack of
manners.
    “Where do you think we’ll find
Skye?” she asked finally.
    “He was leading them west,” Drake
said. “If his plan succeeded, then he should have been able to drive them back
again and escape into the forest.”
    “Using the earth stane,” Ashlyn said, nodding as she remembered Skye’s uncanny
skill with combat magic. During their battle with the general of the DEMON
Army, Skye had save her from falling to her death by using earth . If anyone were able to escape the shift army using magic, it would have been Skye.
    “He planned to circle back and
head east to meet us, once he was certain he’d not been followed,”