Languish by Alyxandra Harvey

exposed roots. I thought I saw a black combat boot. I broke into a run. “Kieran!”
    He moaned, propped up against a tree, blood running down his neck and arm. There was a bite mark just above his collar, the flesh ragged. Under all the red, he was the color of boiled mushrooms.
    â€œKieran, can you hear me?”
    He swallowed, trying to speak. The movement made the blood run faster, soaking his shirt. “Solange,” he croaked. “Help Sol—”
    â€œShe’s fine,” I assured him. I took the bandanna I knew was in his cargo pants pocket above his knee. It was standard issue for a Helios-Ra agent. I wadded it up and pressed it over his wound, trying not to feel nauseated. “Can you press here?” I asked him. “As hard as you can.” I glanced over my shoulder. “What the hellhappened to you two?” I slipped my arm under Kieran’s shoulder on his good side and tried to lift him. He weighed a ton.
    â€œDon’t just stand there!” I shouted at Solange. “Help me!”
    She stayed where she was.
    â€œSolange!”
    â€œI don’t know if I can!” she shouted back frantically.
    â€œThen call 911. What’s the matter with you? He needs an ambulance.”
    â€œYou know they can’t come here,” Solange said.
    â€œCan’t tell anyone,” Kieran agreed, moaning. “They’d hunt her.”
    While I certainly wasn’t going to let anyone hunt my best friend—even if she had turned my own boyfriend against me just last week—I wasn’t going to let
her
boyfriend bleed to death in the woods either.
    â€œWe’ll take you to the school infirmary, then.” I grunted, trying to haul him to his feet. He stumbled, sliding up the trunk. He was clammy and shivering. “We can tell them it was a random attack. But we need to get you there
now
. You need stitches.” I tried not to think about Solange’s teeth as the weapon that had gouged him. At least she hadn’t gone for the jugular. Small comfort. Blood was sticky on my hands. “Solange, I can’t get him to the van by myself. I’m not the one with vampire strength.”
    â€œI can still taste his blood, Lucy.” Her hands were clenched so tight the knuckles looked as if they were outside her delicate skin. “I can smell it everywhere. It’s in the grass, in the air, on me. I’m not safe.”
    I swore again, viciously enough to have made the proverbialsailor proud. I fumbled for the nose plugs around Kieran’s neck and tossed them at her, grateful that Kieran was still a vampire hunter to his core, even if he was dating a vampire princess. “Put these on.”
    I was a student at the Helios-Ra Academy now too but I wasn’t in regulation uniform, just my usual embroidered peasant blouse and crystal beads. I hadn’t even started classes yet; I’d been too busy killing monsters.
    Solange clipped them on her nose, closing her nostrils tight against the violent scents drenching the woods. Even I could smell the coppery tang of blood, but it was making me queasy, not hungry. The nose plugs gave her a momentary reprieve, and she was at Kieran’s side so fast the wildflowers flattened around her. She looked awful, but she took Kieran’s weight, and we dragged him to the van. I opened the side door, and we slid him half onto a seat, his feet still dangling out of the open door. I was panting and sweating from the exertion. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept. But I didn’t have time to stop, not yet.
    Not even for my best friend, who was suddenly licking her lips, her teeth faintly pink, smeared with Kieran’s blood, her eyes red veined and fierce. I heard the dry rasp of bat wings, felt the shadows of them moving toward us even if I couldn’t see them clearly in the dark.
    We were in so much trouble I nearly gave up right then and there.
    â€œSolange!” I