Shadows Rising (Darkness Falls Book 2)

Chapter Nineteen

Our old house loomed over us. It seemed less intimidating now Ethan was by my side, sharing all the anger and disgust I felt at having to come back here again. Briefly I wished that Luke was here too, holding my hand and lending me strength, but the sun was well and truly up. Luke hated being stuck inside, unable to help me, but he didn't have a choice.

I strode up to the front door, lifting my fist to bang on it, when Ethan surprised me by pulling a key from his pocket.

"Is that...?" I didn't need to finish the question. I knew what the key to this house looked like; what I didn't know was why Ethan still had one. I'd chucked mine down a drain the day I left this place.

"Why do you still have your key?" I asked.

Ethan grimaced apologetically, turning it over in his hands. "When I came to live with you and the clan a month ago, I didn't know how things were going to turn out. I honestly didn't know if I could handle living with vampires, so I kept my key. Just in case."

I suppose I couldn't blame him. Even after Ethan realised that vampires weren't all the monsters we'd been led to believe, it was a huge step for him to abandon the team that had been his family, and move in with people that he'd spent a lifetime believing were the enemy.

Ethan stuck the key in the lock and turned it. The front door swung open. Nothing stirred inside, and I realised the team didn't even know we were here. There was next to no chance of sneaking around in the clan's house, thanks to the vampires' enhanced hearing, but this house was occupied by humans, and they were a lot easier to sneak up on.

We made our way to the kitchen, and I couldn't suppress a shudder. Last time I'd been here, I was so angry I couldn't think straight. This time I was following my own advice and trying to keep a lid on my temper, and when I stood in this room all I could see was Caleb plunging a machete into Sophie's chest. The floor had been scrubbed clean of her blood, but I could still pinpoint the exact spot where she died.

Ethan touched my shoulder, his own eyes clouded with sadness, and I knew he was thinking the same thing.

"When this is all over, we should go and see her," he said.

It had been weeks since her death, but neither of us had been able to visit her grave yet. The grief was still too raw.

Blinking away burgeoning tears, I straightened my shoulders. Callous though it was, I couldn't waste time mourning the dead. Not now anyway, not with Riley's life on the line.

The door opened behind us and we both spun round to see Clara coming in. She stopped dead, her eyebrows shooting up towards her blonde fringe. Warily I eyed her. She was still part of the team and this was still her home – we had no right to be here. But there was no hostility in Clara's face, only surprise. Quietly she closed the door behind her.

"How are you kids doing?"

Interesting that she didn't ask what we were doing here. She didn't seem to care that we'd snuck in – she didn't even ask how we'd got in. I remembered what Ava had said about the team becoming fractured in my absence. If Clara's loyalty to Noah was waning, then it wasn't surprising she wasn't giving us the Spanish Inquisition.

"Where's Noah?" Ethan said. The anger he'd struggled to control was back in his voice.

I didn't know if it was because he hated Clara simply for being part of the team, or if it was because the last time he and Clara had been together in this kitchen, they'd ended up in a physical fight. It was that terrible night when Caleb learned who Luke really was, the terrible night that he tried to kill me but ended up killing Sophie instead. In the confusion that followed, the team hadn't been sure who was on whose side, who could be trusted, who was a friend and who was an enemy. Neither Ethan nor Clara had been hurt in the scrap, but that didn't mean Ethan didn't still harbour bad blood over it.