Shadows Rising (Darkness Falls Book 2)

Chapter Three

I sat on a chair in the kitchen, my blunt nails tapping an irregular rhythm on the tabletop in front of me. The clan had taken the news surprisingly well - though, I supposed that, as vampires, they were horribly used to hunters gunning for them.

My eyes drifted over the faces at the table around me: Samuel, Luke's adoptive father who'd rescued Luke from a burning building when he was just a child; Elena, Samuel's wife, who sat next to her husband, her small hand resting on his much larger one; Ethan, the closest thing I had to a brother, a hunter who'd worked with Noah's team for years before realising vampires weren't the monsters we'd been led to believe. He'd left the team with me and come to live with the clan. And then there was Luke, my boyfriend, the person I'd give anything for. He sat next to me, his gorgeous eyes - like steel and storm-clouds - resting on me. He'd had his hair cut recently; when we'd met, it was almost touching his shoulders, now it was only just past his ears. I preferred it this way. The skin at the back of his neck was soft and I liked to stroke it.

A month ago, the clan had been much larger. Now there were several faces missing. Madeleine I'd killed myself, since she'd tried to kill me and had almost killed Luke in the process. I didn't feel any regret over her death, nor did I much care that Nolan - the only member of the clan I'd never actually met - had drifted away. But I did regret the loss of Anna and Alice. The mother and daughter had lived with Samuel's clan for years, wanting nothing more than to stay out of the way of hunters.

Then I'd come into their lives and turned everything upside down.

They'd both fought alongside me against Madeleine and her rogue vampires, but after that night they'd made the decision to leave the clan and start afresh somewhere else. I didn't blame them since all they'd ever wanted was a quiet, safe life, but I couldn't help the pang of guilt that shot through me every time I thought about them. I wasn't the only reason they'd left, but I was a big reason. The fact that I currently lived in their old bedroom didn't make things any easier.

Ethan clenched his fists, scowling. "How did no one know the old bastard had a son?"

"Did he ever strike you as the paternal type?" I pointed out. From the moment I met him, Caleb had made no secret of his contempt for me. To him, I was nothing more than Noah's brat. I completely understood why someone like Caleb hadn't broadcasted the fact that he had a kid of his own. Not to mention that by Leon's own admission, Caleb never had anything to do with him, and the old hunter was so crazy that most of the time he probably didn't remember he even had a son.

"But he doesn't know that you're no longer with the team?" Elena questioned. Her eyes were wide with concern, and tiny ripples creased her forehead.

"I don't think so."

Luke took my hand, gently squeezing it. "He'll find out, probably sooner than later. He knows Noah, he knows where the team lives - it won't take him long to realise you're not there."

"That doesn't mean he'll know where I am," I pointed out.

"No, but what do you think Noah will tell him when Leon asks?" Ethan said.

"Honestly? I don't know. The last thing Noah will want is to admit that his daughter openly turned her back on hunters and went to live with a clan of vampires."

Luke squeezed my hand again, but this time I sensed anger coiling through him. "Then why tell Leon about us in the first place? Noah knows that Leon will come after us, and he knows that you'll get caught in the crossfire. If he cared about your safety, he would have told you about Leon, warned you what was happening."

Something roiled in my stomach, a cold, sick feeling. I'd been aware of all this, but it hadn't really sunk in. My father hated me, I knew that, but did he really want me dead? I couldn't quite come to terms with that. But Luke was right. Noah had had ample opportunity to contact me and tell me about Leon. I wasn't stupid enough to tell him where I lived now, but he had my number - he could have called any time. He'd deliberately chosen to keep his mouth shut, even though Leon might kill me along with the clan.