Forever Night (Darkness Falls Book 3)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

I don't know who was more shocked – me or Rachel. Her mouth actually hung open, and the knife dangled slackly in her fingers. I'd have relished the look on her face if I hadn't been caught so totally by surprise myself.

A second bolt cut through the air, plunging into the chest of one of Luke's captors. The vampire toppled backwards with a startled grunt and fell to the pavement, his face fixed in a permanent expression of surprise.

I spun around and disbelief jolted through me.

Marc, the closest thing Noah had ever had to a friend, the man who'd hunted vampires for as long as I could remember, stood behind me, wielding a crossbow. His face was set in grim lines. A gaggle of dark-clothed people stood behind him, all similarly armed.

Before I could process the fact that he was here, and before Rachel could recover her composure, Marc reloaded the crossbow and pointed it at her chest.

"Let them go," he said.

Rachel's face twitched, like she was trying to decide if she was fast enough to dodge a crossbow bolt.

"I'll only ask once more." Marc's voice was calm, but his words contained a steady threat.

Scowling, Rachel gestured with her hand, and the vampires pinning down Ethan and Clara released them and stepped back. My friends picked themselves up from the ground, promptly drawing fresh weapons. But Luke remained pinned. There were only two vampires holding him down now and he probably could have fought free of them, but the tension in the air was strung out tighter than a piano wire. If Luke started a scuffle, he might end up being the one who got shot.

I'd seen crossbow bolts plunge into his flesh before; I couldn't bear for it to happen again.

Clara and Ethan both shot me uncertain looks. Marc had left the team because he didn't agree with Noah's actions against me – Noah's failure to rein in Caleb, which had resulted in Sophie's death, his bull-headed stubbornness that had driven Ethan and me to abandon the team, and his telling Leon that Luke's clan had killed his father, even though the vampire responsible had already been killed – but that didn't necessarily mean he had abandoned hunting. For all we knew, Marc still considered Luke as much of an enemy as Rachel.

Marc briefly met my eyes, before gesturing at Luke's captors with his crossbow. "Him too."

Clara's eyes widened, a gesture that I mimicked. Ethan just looked confused. While I'd never been particularly close to Marc, I'd never thought of him as a bad man – not like I used to think about Noah. Yes, he was part of the team and part of the life that had held me prisoner for so long, but he'd never been cold like Noah. All the same, he was the last person I'd expected to come to my rescue.

Rachel's jaw clenched tightly, but even she, for all her arrogance and conviction in vampire supremacy, knew she wasn't faster than a crossbow. I was almost disappointed. If she'd tried something, Marc would have shot her and ended all our troubles. Of course, that would deprive me of the savage glee of doing it myself.

Rachel made another gesture and her vampires released Luke. He picked himself up, his eyes black with rage, fangs clearly showing.

"Everyone okay?" Marc asked.

Clara touched her bloody cheek and winced. "Just peachy," she muttered.

Luke moved to my side. I ached to put my arms around him and reassure myself that he wasn't hurt, but I wasn't taking my eyes off the psychotic vampire in front of me. Marc had her covered for now, but he couldn't keep her here forever. Sooner or later one of us had to strike.

I reckoned the only reason he hadn't struck already was because Rachel's vampires would attack before he had a chance to reload. I couldn't tell which side had more numbers now, but Rachel's followers didn't strike me as the sort to stand idly by if she was dead. They'd fight back with everything they had, and I didn't believe this group was the sum total of Rachel's army. There were more of them out there, maybe hidden among the trees, maybe already gathering in the fields around Greylark.

Rachel had promised them the world, and they wouldn't give that up without a fight.

Rachel's eyes roved over us, fury twisting her face into a savage mask. "How touching," she sneered, but her voice shook with anger.

She'd counted on outwitting and outmanoeuvring us, and now she was on the losing end. I resisted the urge to throw her a smug smile. We hadn't won yet and I wasn't going to let cockiness get the better of me. Not until Rachel was actually dead.

Clara pressed her sleeve to her cheek, mopping up the worst of the blood. "What are you waiting for? Shoot the bitch," she said.

Marc fired the crossbow.

But Rachel had moved the second Clara spoke, pushing the closest vampire in front of her as a shield. The bolt thunked into his shoulder and he screamed.

"Kill them," Rachel roared, and her vampires surged forward.

The fight was brief. It was soon clear that, thanks to Marc and his reinforcements, we outnumbered Rachel's minions more than two to one. Knives carved gleaming patterns through the shadows, and blood flew in glistening arcs. Screams and gurgles rose into the air.

Over the fracas, I heard a window slide open in one of the houses further down the street, and someone started to yell something at us. His shout abruptly cut off when he saw what was going on, and the window slammed shut. From this distance, he wouldn't be able to see the gleaming fangs of our attackers and the one vampire on our side; he would only have seen a horde of people fighting in front of the woods. No rational person wanted to be involved in that. Hopefully the guy who had started to shout was bolting his doors and crawling beneath his bed to hide.

It didn't take Rachel's vampires long to realise that they were fighting a losing battle. The ones still alive scattered, two or three fleeing down the street and the rest disappearing into the woods, living to fight another day – or night. They were either saving themselves for the battle that was yet to come, or they had lost faith in their crazed leader.

I didn't think they had come this far to lose faith that quickly, not with everything that Rachel had told them she was planning for the world, which meant they'd be back.

Rachel herself had long since fled, melting into the darkness that cloaked the woods, but I didn't for one second think that she was running from us. No way would she give up that easy, not at this point.

I signalled to Marc's two nearest fighters, and pointed after the vampires escaping down the street. "Go after them."

I'd do it myself, but I had to get to Greylark. The vampire group that had attacked us couldn't be Rachel's full force – just because her initial plan had failed didn't mean she'd given up on the greater scheme.

I needed to get to the asylum to make sure that my own forces were ready for battle.

The two men hesitated, looking at Marc for approval. No doubting who the leader of that group was.

Marc didn't question me. He made a gesture with his crossbow, aiming in the direction the fleeing vampires had taken. "Do as she says."

They took off after the vampires. That was out of my hands now, but if they reported back that those vampires had escaped, I would do everything I could to hunt them down. This mess would end tonight and that meant no more loose ends. Both Rachel's forces and Madeleine's ugly legacy would be wiped out for good.

"We need to get to Greylark," I said.

"The asylum?" Marc looked confused. "Why?"

"Just trust me."