Read A Tithe of Blood and Ashes (The Drake Chronicles Book 7) for Free Online

leathers and sleek braid. It was her version of lounging at home in a housecoat.
    “It’s happening,” my mother said, pointedly and cryptically.
    “I can see that,” Helena replied. She looked at me, then Mom. “You haven’t told her?”
    Mom sighed. “I know.”
    “No time now,” Helena said. “Lucy, the Hel-Blar are drawn to you, I assume?” When I nodded she looked satisfied. Good. Come with me.”
    Quinn and Connor stayed behind to protect my parents. Nicholas slipped his hand into mine and squeezed briefly as we followed his mother out the kitchen door. I shrugged into my coat as mildew and green water smells curled through the snow, practically visible. I could hear hissing and clacking teeth and fighting.
    “Up you go,” Helena ordered, holding her hands out. She boosted me up onto the roof of the kitchen and I was really glad we lived in such an old little homestead bungalow. The wooden shingles made helpful stands to brace my feet against. The snow nibbled at my bare toes. I hadn’t had time to put on my boots.
    From this vantage point I could see Bruno, Nicholas’s dad, Liam, Logan and Sebastian, all battling Hel-Blar. Blood and ashes coated the ice and the garden fence. The feral vampires scuttled closer and closer, pale eyes gleaming hungrily when they saw me.
    Helena took two out with forward stab, a jab down over her shoulder, and then decapitated a third when she spun, sword extended. It was like watching the bloodiest ballet ever. They all moved so quickly, they barely left bootprints in the snow. The garden was a kaleidoscope of blue skin, white fangs, silver steel, and grey ash.
    And then the Hel-Blar all stopped, as if hearing some signal. I couldn’t hear anything beyond my own pulse throbbing in my ears. They turned as one and scurried away between the trees.
    “Dawn,” Liam said. “I’ve got it.” He was the only one old enough to be able to bear the sunlight. The unnatural vampire sleep wouldn’t claim him, not if he didn’t let it. Helena was pale, but she had a little more time, just not enough to get back out of the mountains to safety. The brothers already looked nauseous.
    “It’s clear,” Helena shouted into the open kitchen door. My parents burst outside just as I was shimmying down off the roof. The bones in my feet felt like iron. I stumbled, pain lancing up my ankles. Dad found my boots while Mom hugged me so tight she nearly strangled me with one of her braids. “Mom, seriously, what the hell?”
    “I’ll make tea.”
    “I don’t want tea.” I stepped back out of her embrace. “I want answers.”
    She rubbed her face.
    “Cass,” Dad said. “It’s time.”
    “I know.” Mom looked exhausted suddenly. “When you were little, you and Solange were cornered by a vampire who wanted to kidnap Solange for Lady Natasha,” she said, her voice shaking.
    I frowned. “I don’t remember that.”
    “You were five, “Helena murmured. “And it was over quickly.”
    I could just imagine. “Okay, but what does that have to do with the Hel-Blar invasion?”
    “After that, we found someone who could cast a shield spell.” Mom tried to smile. “To protect you.”
    “Cailleach?” I hazarded a guess. “Black Annis?”
    “Where did you hear that name? Never mind. The Cailleach is the Winter Hag in the old Celtic stories,” Mom explained. “Like the woman in the grey cloak you drew. She comes from the winter mountains. We gave you a shield of stone and ice.”
    It explained, a little, how I’d survived the Drakes for so long.
    “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
    “Because the shield can’t protect you from everything. It just gave you an edge, a little luck. And I love you to pieces, Lucky Moon,” Dad replied. “But you don’t exactly need another reason to be reckless.”
    He said reckless, I said spitting in the face of fear. Given my proximity to vampires and general mayhem, I figured there were two options : let fear turn me into a dumbass or a