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

Chapter Three

I ducked another punch and swung one at Noah. He batted my arm aside like I was annoying him and cuffed me around the head. It was hard enough to make me stagger back. 

On the other side of the room, Ethan glanced up, his face set with concern. He'd said to Noah before that he should go easier on me. I might have been trained to hunt and fight, but as a sixteen-year-old girl who barely reached five-four in heels, I could hardly be expected to equal my burly father in combat. The best I could do was use my superior speed to dodge Noah before he could hit me.  

My concentration slipped for a second and Noah neatly tripped me. I hit the mats, rolling over and away from the kick Noah aimed at my ribs. I rolled to my feet, darting away from him. My lungs ached, my eyes burning with exhaustion. Sweat trickled from my hairline. 

We kept up the training for another five minutes before my father surprised me with a burst of speed. He slammed his arm into my chest, flipping me onto my back. The breath was knocked out of my lungs, and for a moment all I could do was lie on the floor and gasp like a dying fish. In my periphery, I saw Ethan on his feet, his whole body taut with the urge to run to me and make sure I was okay. But he wouldn't dare, not with Noah there. Nobody went against Noah in our house. 

Noah stared dispassionately at me as I gasped at his feet. He was a thousand times colder than Ava could ever be, and I hated how helpless he made me feel. I forced myself to climb to my feet, determined not to flinch as a wave of pain swept over me.  

"You should have seen that last blow coming," Noah said. 

It wasn't worth trying to defend myself. Nothing I said would make the slightest bit of difference. I kept my eyes fixed on the padded floor. 

"You're not training enough, Kiara," Noah accused. "You need to be faster, stronger. We'll train again tonight." 

That brought my head up. "No, I can't." 

"Excuse me?" Noah's eyes were like steel.  

"I . . . I've got plans tonight. I'm going out with Riley," I blurted out. It was the most plausible excuse I could think of on the spot. It wasn't like I could tell the truth, that I was heading back to Greylark to confront the vampire. Noah's disappointment in my fighting abilities only made me more determined to prove him wrong by bagging my first solo kill.  

"You've been wasting a lot of time with that girl lately." 

I gritted my teeth. The time I spent with Riley was the closest to normal I ever got, and I was determined to enjoy every second of it.  

"We can't train tonight. Aren't you supposed to be hunting?" I pointed out. 

Noah blinked, surprise flickering across his face. That little detail had obviously slipped his mind. "You should still be training," he said, quickly recovering. 

"I'll do a couple of hours when I get back from college." I wasn't sure if that was a lie or not. Ethan wouldn't rat me out if I didn't train, but I was still afraid Noah would find out somehow. Disobeying him equalled serious trouble. I didn't get special treatment just because I was his daughter. 

Noah pulled off his padded gloves and tossed them in the corner. "Make sure you do."  

Ethan shook his head as Noah stalked out of the room. "You shouldn't press his buttons like that," he admonished.  

"Are you kidding me?" I shoved sweaty hair out of my eyes and glared at him. A year older than me, Ethan was another of the hunters that made up our team. Noah and his best friend Marc had rescued Ethan from a vamp attack a few years ago. He'd come to live with us, and had learned to hunt and kill in the process. It was vampires that had reduced him to an orphan at a young age, and vampires that would have taken his life when he was living on the streets if it hadn't been for Noah and Marc. It was small wonder he embraced a life of hunting them.