Shadows Rising (Darkness Falls Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Rachel charged across the room. Her blonde hair was like fire in the dark, her lips peeled back from sharp fangs.

Leon screamed and threw himself backwards; the chair rocked, tilted, and crashed to the floor.

I didn't even have time to get up – it all happened too fast. Rachel sailed past me, throwing an elbow into my mouth on the way. I hit the floor and tasted blood.

"No," I shouted, scrambling to my feet.

Rachel loomed over Leon, her black coat hanging from her like tattered wings. She looked like some terrifying fallen angel; no wonder Leon was screaming.

And then Luke was there.

He flashed past me, seized Rachel by the back of the neck and threw her. Rachel flew across the room and crashed into the far wall. She was on her feet in an instant, but Luke was already standing between her and Leon. His eyes were molten steel, his fangs gleaming like dagger-points in his mouth.

Love surged inside me for this beautiful boy who'd risk himself to save a man who hated him, simply because he knew I'd had second thoughts about killing said man.

Picking herself up, Rachel laughed. "Oh, how sweet. The vampire wants to protect his hunter."

"She's not a hunter," Luke growled.

She waved a hand, dismissing his words. "I know all about your silly little relationship, but enough is enough. You've had your fun with this" – she shot me a disgusted look – "toy, but it's time to stop playing around and let the natural order take place." She sounded like she was speaking to a child, and not a bright one at that. "Humans are food, prey."

Anger blazed white-hot inside me. After everything, all the times I'd tried and failed, I had finally been getting through to Leon. I had finally started to open his eyes to what vampires really were, and now Rachel was reinforcing all his old fears and prejudices.

And the way she spoke about my relationship with Luke? It made me want to stab her eyes out. What Luke and I had was real. Each of us was half of the other's heart and soul, incomplete unless we were together, and Rachel mocked us like we were stupid children wasting our time on a passing fling.

"I'm not going anywhere," Luke said.

The smile vanished from Rachel's face. "You want to defend your little pet, is that it? Don't be ridiculous, Luke. You and I are vampires, the top of the food chain. She is human, a mewling, snivelling, dirty little grub that exists only for our food and our pleasure." The smile reappeared, but it was a savage slash of expression. "I do hope you at least got the pleasure out of her."

My face flamed.

"I don't think you understand, Rachel," Luke said, and his voice was low and deadly. "If you touch a single hair on Kiara's head, I will rip you apart."

She looked at him in genuine astonishment and, inappropriate though it was, I fought back a laugh. She really had thought that Luke would just stand aside and let her kill me.

Rachel's astonishment didn't last long. A snarl was all the warning Luke had and then she was upon him, a blur of fists and feet and savagely snapping fangs. The force of her attack threw him back, but only for a second. Luke might not be the brutal, bloodthirsty killer she was, but he was fast and he was strong. Whether he was fast and strong enough to match Rachel remained to be seen.

I scrambled over to Leon. His eyes were squeezed shut, tears sliding down the sides of his face. I struggled with his knots, but Clara had done a good enough job on them that it took me longer than I liked to get them undone. When I finally picked them apart, Leon's arms and legs flopped uselessly to the side, stiff and numb after being tied up for so long.