Forever Night (Darkness Falls Book 3)

Chapter Twenty-Two

I almost slammed on the brakes, but my wits reasserted themselves just in time, keeping me from making an emergency stop in the middle of the road. No matter what else happened, I had to drive carefully and normally so I didn't attract any more attention.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked.

"Riley was the only one of us safe at home because – as far as we know – Rachel doesn't know where she lives. But those vampires got a good eyeful of the car and the licence plate. Dalwick's not a big town and it won't be hard for them to track down a black Audi." My hands tightened on the wheel and I only just remembered to stop when the traffic lights flashed red. "If the vampires can find the car, they can find Riley's house, which means she and her mum are now in danger."

Frustration made me want to bang my head on the wheel. Couldn't we just catch a break? Couldn't one single thing just go smoothly?

Riley was silent for a moment, her lips scrunched up like she was about to blow a bubble. "Maybe I could go the drastic route – ditch the car and tell my mum I was carjacked."

Luke pulled a face. "I'm not sure that'll work."

"It's not safe anyway," Ethan added. "If you ditch the car you'll have to walk from there, and there's no way you're walking anywhere tonight, not with those vampires around."

I murmured my agreement. We'd almost lost Riley twice - once to Leon, and once to Rachel's vampires. Maybe I couldn't always protect her, but I'd be damned if I just stood by and let her walk into danger.

Riley tapped a blue fingernail against her lip, pondering the problem. She'd pulled her phone from her pocket, but it sat in her hand, the screen dark. While she thought, I pulled the car to the curb and let the engine idle. We'd left the vampires behind, but I still kept a sharp eye on the wing and rear-view mirrors. If any of those vampires did catch up to us, I would run them over until they were nothing but pulp.

"I'd rather come back with you," Riley said, gazing at Ethan. "If the streets are crawling with vamps, then I'm better off staying with the people who know how to deal with them."

"Right, and how are you going to explain that to your mum?" Ethan asked.

Defiance flashed across her face, her mouth pulling into a firm line. "You know what? I really don't care what she thinks. She's so wrapped up with Derek or Daniel or whatever the hell his name is, that I doubt she'd even notice I was missing." Her eyes widened, her forehead wrinkled with indignation. "And he's not even a good guy. He ferrets, for God's sake."

I had no idea what that meant, but Riley looked so outraged that I thought it better not to question it. We needed to solve this particular problem rather than getting sidetracked by something irrelevant.

Riley gave a sharp nod as if she'd just decided something, and called her mum. "Straight to voicemail. Typical," she said, rolling her eyes. She waited for the beep. "Hi, Mum, it's Riley. Listen, I'm not coming home tonight. I'm taking the car to go on a road-trip with my boyfriend and I don't know when I'll be back. Thanks, bye."

She ended the call and folded her arms, managing to look nervous and pleased with herself at the same time.

Luke burst out laughing. I was too dumbstruck to speak, and Ethan wore a look of pure horror. Like me, he'd been raised to obey his parents – or the closest thing he had to them – and, unlike me, he hadn't been able to shrug that off so easily. A tiny part of him might always cling to that good little soldier mentality.

"You – you can't do that," he spluttered.

Riley shook her streaky hair off her face, totally unrepentant. "I just did. My mum does stuff like this all the time, so she can't get mad at me for following in her footsteps."

"But what are you going to do now? Where are you going to go?"

"With you – oh." Riley fell silent as realisation sank in. She couldn't go back with Ethan to the clan's house as it was still undergoing restoration for the fire damage. Ethan was currently staying with Samuel and Elena at their friend's house, which had to be awkward enough without him introducing his girlfriend to the mix. Not to mention, he couldn't exactly invite her to move into a house – temporarily or not – where he was only a guest.

"Crap," Riley sighed, deflating. "Didn't really think that through, did I?"

Luke looked at me, silent communication in his expression. He didn't even need to ask.

"You can stay with us, Riley," I said.

"Really?" Her face brightened, but dropped again a second later. "Oh, I can't do that. You guys have only just moved in."

"I think this is a little more important than that," Luke pointed out.

Riley looked to me, her face crinkled up with uncertainty. She probably thought that Luke and I were making full, physical use of having our own space at last, and I wasn't going to correct her, What we did – or in this case, didn't do – was our own business and I wasn't about to broadcast that information to everyone, but regardless, Riley's safety came before me and Luke's private life.

"You're staying with us, Riley. End of discussion," I said.

I revved the engine before she  could protest, and the car purred away from the curb, heading for home.

I parked the car directly outside my little house. Gazing at it through the windscreen, I felt a sudden surge of affection. The house I'd just left was dead and empty, but the one I'd come back to was a home, a place of love and laughter. The cruel gift of Leon's severed head had tainted it, but it would not ruin it. Even if I had to use it as a temporary base of operation in the fight against Rachel, it would not be ruined.

I wouldn't let it.

This was something that Rachel would not take from me.

Clara helped unload the weapons, her eyes gleaming coldly. She probably knew each blade by weight, shape, and balance. We stored the bulk of them in the spare room – my house might be our current base, but that didn't mean I wanted the whole thing to look like a warzone.

I was heading outside to check that we hadn't missed anything in the boot of the car, when I froze.

A large group of people had appeared on the street opposite and were striding across the road towards me. My hackles rose and my hand shot to the knife at my hip, my fingers curling around the handle.

The few metres still separating us meant I couldn't see their fangs, but the fluid way they moved told me they were vampires. Every instinct in my body was on high-alert, adrenaline starting to pump, my limbs automatically shifting into a fighting stance.

If these vamps thought they were getting into my home, they were very, very wrong.

I pulled out my knife and the vampires abruptly stopped, nervous energy pulsating from them. A few of them exchanged uncertain looks.

"I don't know what you want, but if you're working for Rachel, you're going to regret it," I warned, my voice ringing out firm and clear.

"We're not working for Rachel," said a voice from among the group, one that sounded very familiar. The vampires parted to let two people walk forward, side by side.

My eyes narrowed, then widened in recognition as I gazed upon a pair of faces that I'd really never thought I would see again.

"Hello, Kiara," said Anna. Her daughter, Alice, stood at her side. "We're back."