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  “Who knew you were so traditional?” I turned, teasing.

  “Who knew you were such a rebel?” He slid his arm lightly over my bandage and clasped my hand. The stitches from his bite would come out tomorrow. There’d be a scar, but I didn’t mind so much. He tugged me through the field, tall grass brushing against my knees.

  He led me into a copse of birch saplings. He’d spread a blanket on the ground and lit candles in glass jam jars. He even hung a few lanterns from the branches and they hovered like fireflies. It was beautiful.

  “We’re having a picnic,” he announced.

  “But you don’t eat.”

  He shrugged. “But you do.”

  We sat down and he handed me a thermos of hot chocolate. There were baskets of chocolate chip cookies, a cherry-chocolate cake, sugar-dusted strawberries, and a tower of macaroons.

  I grinned. “Finally, real food.”

  I ate until the sugar buzzed through my veins. Quinn lounged beside me, the candles pouring honey light over his pale cheekbones. He licked chocolate frosting off my finger, grinning darkly. He was everything my grandfather feared: reckless, wild, predatory.

  And he was mine.

  ALYXANDRA HARVEY studied creative writing and literature at York University and has had her poetry published in magazines. She likes medieval dresses and tattoos and has been accused of being born in the wrong century—except that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream. Alyx lives in an old Victorian farmhouse in Ontario, Canada, with her husband, three dogs, and a few resident ghosts.

  www.alyxandraharvey.com

  www.thedrakechronicles.com

  ALSO BY ALYXANDRA HARVEY

  The Drake Chronicles: Hearts at Stake

  The Drake Chronicles: Blood Feud

  Copyright © 2010 by Alexandra Harvey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  First published in the United States of America in December 2010 by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.

  E-book edition published in December 2010

  www.bloomsburykids.com

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Walker BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

  Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

  Harvey, Alyxandra.

  Out for blood / Alyxandra Harvey.

  p. cm. — (The Drake chronicles)

  Summary: As a senior at the secretive Helios-Ra Academy, eighteen-year-old vampire hunter Hunter Wild just wants to make it through her last year of school, but in order to do so she might have to betray her grandfather and date a vampire.

  ISBN 978-0-8027-2168-6 (paperback) • ISBN 978-0-8027-2169-3 (hardcover)

  [1. Vampires—Fiction. 2. Schools—Fiction. 3. Grandfathers—Fiction. 4. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.H267448Ou 2011 [Fic]—dc22 2010008658

  ISBN 978-0-8027-2256-0 (e-book)

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Ad Card

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Epilogue

  About the Author