When Darkness Falls (Book 1, the Darkness Falls Series)

Star in the Dark

This was no normal girl, he was sure of it.

But who was she? How could he not have noticed her before?

"A dare is a dare, Kiara," said the red-haired girl.

The blonde – Kiara – rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but we're not kids anymore."

The tension in her posture didn't relax and her eyes didn't lose that wary look. There was something almost predatory about her, a cat among the pigeons. Normal girls didn't look like that. Normal girls didn't shoot suspicious looks at the shadows around them as if they expected monsters to leap forth. Normal girls didn't seem quite so averse to mingling with other kids their own age.

Her friend nudged her. "That's why we turned Truth or Dare into a drinking game."

Luke hadn't even realised anyone was playing games tonight. It was all very well indulging himself by coming to these parties, but he still had to remain on the outside. Even if he watched the human world for a lifetime, he could never truly be part of it, and he could never afford to get close to anyone. Maybe it was better if he just went home. Standing on the outskirts of human happiness only made the shadows in his own life seem more pronounced.

"Guys, Kiara's doing it," the red-haired girl yelled, clapping her hands.

Her announcement was met by scattered claps and cheers.

Doing what? Luke wondered. He'd tuned out for a minute or two, and hadn't heard what Kiara and her friend were talking about. It shouldn't matter to him what she was doing – he was a vampire and she was a human. They were from two different worlds, and those worlds could never meet.

So why wasn't he leaving? It wasn't hard – the swathe of woodland that separated the meadows from the town lay just behind him. All he had to do was turn around and start walking. He could leave this bonfire and this party and these people behind, and let the shadows swallow him up again. But his feet didn't want to move. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from Kiara.

She was striding away from the party, following the land as it sloped downwards, towards –

Suddenly Luke understood.

The sprawl of land around them was uninterrupted countryside as far as the eye could see, except for the lone building that stood out like a blocky tumour amid the many shades of green. Greylark Asylum. It was an ugly building of weathered grey stone, the walls interrupted by dozens of dark windows glaring out like blinded eyes. Abandoned for years, it had come to be considered a haunted spot by locals, and it wasn't uncommon for kids to dare each other to venture inside and brave the possible ghosts that lived there.

Finally Luke's feet started to move, but not leading back into the woods and away from the party. He found himself following Kiara. No one saw him leave, and Kiara had no clue he was there. Beyond the light cast by the bonfire, the countryside was wrapped in shadows, and Luke had vampire stealth on his side. He was a smudge of darkness, moving swiftly through the night in Kiara's wake. With her blonde hair streaming out behind her and the determined stride that carried her swiftly across the field, she looked like a bright star cutting through the darkness. And Luke was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.

He reached the asylum before she did, and climbed through one of the broken windows. Old shards of glass crunched under his feet. Luke didn't believe in ghosts but, looking around the ruined asylum lobby, he could understand why other people did. The whole place screamed haunted, from the smashed windows to the weeds stubbornly punching their way through the concrete floor, and the wallpaper that peeled in strips off the wall. Cobwebs hung everywhere, thick with dust, making the whole room seem grey and ghostly.