Forever Night (Darkness Falls Book 3)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Back when I was a hunter, I'd fought gangs of vampires before. I was used to taking on more than one opponent at a time, but if I thought that would prepare me for battle, I was wrong.

A true battle was nothing like a fight.

A true battle was terrifying.

There was no time to strategise, no time to formulate a plan – just a sudden explosion of violence. A snarling vampire surged up in front of me and I lashed out with one of my knives, slicing his face open. He screamed and fell back, not dead, but no longer in any shape to fight. In a battle like this, that was sometimes the best you could hope for – if you couldn't flat-out kill your enemy, at least make sure they were no longer a threat. Any other time, the cruelty of it would have sickened me, but there was no time for sentimentality.

Another vampire charged at me and I sliced open her throat, leaping over her body before I could tell if she was dead.

My knives felt pitifully small in my hands, compared to the seething crush of fighting bodies all around me, and I spared a moment to wish I'd been able to get my hands on a sword. Then again, I'd never practised with one so I was just as likely to cut off my own legs as I was to take down an enemy. Noah had never trained us to use swords because they were very hard to conceal.

I stabbed a vampire woman in the eye and her terrible scream pierced my ears. When I pulled the knife out of her face, there was something thick and jellylike clinging to the blade. Nausea curdled my stomach. When this was over, I'd have enough nightmares to last me the rest of my life, but I'd gladly bear them if they were the price to pay for eliminating Rachel.

As soon as she crossed my mind, I suddenly spied her through the fray. She wasn't fighting, but standing by the open asylum doors, watching everything. After all her talk, she was nothing but a coward. She was happy to pick on people and start fights when she was sure she could win them, but when she came up against something like this, she slunk off with her tail between her legs.

Luke appeared at my side. His face was blood-spattered, but I didn't think any of it was his. There was no time for either of us to ask if the other was okay. Standing around and talking in the middle of a battle was a good way to get yourself killed. You had to keep moving, keep fighting.

An enemy vampire took a swipe at Luke's back, and I slashed so hard with my knife that I almost severed the man's wrist. At the same time another vampire grabbed my shoulder, but Luke seized him by the throat, forcing him to the ground and pummelling him to a pulp.

I leaped over them, trusting that Luke could handle himself. I had to get to Rachel.

I fought my way through the crowd, hacking, stabbing, and slashing. At some point I realised that Clara was fighting alongside me. Fresh blood leaked from the cut on her cheek, and her hands and arms were gore-splashed. Her face was fierce with the light of battle, and her knives dripped red.

She met my eyes, followed the direction of my glare, and gave a short nod. I didn't understand until she moved ahead of me, slicing a bloody path through the crowd. Realisation sunk in. She was helping me get to Rachel.

After the vampire had sliced open her cheek, Clara had sworn revenge, but now she was handing all that over to me because she understood that I needed it more than she did. Rachel had taken so much from me and she wasn't getting away with it. I wouldn't let her.

Clara was a cyclone of death, slashing through the vampires that blocked our way to Rachel. Her knives flashed faster than I could see, fresh blood splattering her face and arms, painting her like some medieval warrior.

The bearded vampire who'd attacked me in the diner suddenly reared up in front of me, clapping a meaty hand on my shoulder. Without missing a beat, Clara swung round and buried a knife in his back He roared with pain and punched her, hard enough to send her to her knees. Shaking blood from her nose, Clara came at him again and they traded blows.

I hesitated. The bearded vampire was strong and he seemed to be evenly matched with Clara – I was terrified to leave her with something that she might not be able to handle.

My protective instincts screamed at me to stay and help her.

My fighting instincts hungered for vengeance against Rachel.

"Kiara, go," Clara yelled, swiping at the bearded vampire with her knife.

She'd made up my mind for me. Much as I wanted to stay and fight at her side, taking Rachel down was more important. If she escaped, then nothing we did tonight would make any difference. Everything we'd fought and suffered for would be in vain. Rachel would be back. Clara wanted me to go after Rachel and end this, and she would never forgive me if I wasted that opportunity and stayed to help her.

So I left her, and carved my own way out of the fray until the pitted stone walls of Greylark Asylum rose up in front of me. Behind me, the battle raged on, but my own battle was yet to come.

Rachel was inside this building; I was sure of it. The cowardly bitch had slipped through the doors while the rest of us slaughtered each other outside – so much for all her big talk about vampire superiority.

I stalked towards the open doors. A snarling face appeared in front of me, and without missing a beat, I stabbed the vampire in the chest. He fell back and I stepped over his body, my eyes fixed on the doors.

Nothing would keep me from getting to Rachel this time.

The asylum doors opened into almost total darkness. Although it was only meant to be temporary, Clara had done a good job boarding up the many windows so our vampires could stay here safely during the day. The downside was that, even though I had pretty good night-vision, I could barely see a thing. The faint trace of moonlight trickling in through the open door behind me was the only light cutting through the dense shadows.

That didn't stop me.

This was where this whole thing had started – with me meeting a vampire in an asylum.

This was how it was going to end – with me killing a vampire in an asylum.