“I wasn’t sure which text it was what you wanted to look at, exactly, so I thought it would be easier if you just came in,” Sierra said, holding the front door open for me. “Thanks,” I said, smiling as I passed her. She flicked her honey-toned hair over one shoulder before following me inside. “Sorry about the mess,” she said sheepishly. I hadn’t noticed it. “Oh. Don’t worry about that.” I paused before softening. “I kind of have tunnel vision today, anyway.” I nodded her head to one side, gesturing towards a towering stack of books beside a brimming bookcase. Behind, through the window, the sea shifted, shades of grey blurring as the sky met its shuddering surface. “Then you’ll want to have a look through these,” she said, crouching down beside the staggering pile. “I tried to r

I slammed my foot on the brake, hurtling too fast towards the next bend in the road. Time was ticking by, and I needed answers. With every passing second another innocent person could be taken by the darkness. I swung out of the corner and forced the accelerator down, as far as it would go. I’d shoved my head through the doorway when I’d stopped at home to grab my car. My Dads needed to know what was happening, and I’d wanted to get changed. Veronica’s blood was soaked into my thin jumper, and it coated the sleeves of my jacket. Then I’d remembered the trick I’d used the night my face had been cut, leaving it forever scarred: blood was the best bait there was. With blood covering my torso, there was no way Cyrus would be able to hide his vampiric nature from me. It would give me a definitive answer, one that even his charm and seduction could not evade. “What’s going on, Ca

The one-two click-clack of the mysterious footsteps drew closer. I held back a shudder, desperately trying to keep up my pretend display of unconsciousness. I longed to crack an eye open, but I held still and took another deep breath. The footsteps came to a halt beside me. I exhaled, as steadily as I could. Something piercing and cold touched the bare skin of my knee, digging in to the graze there. Hot blood pooled around the point of contact. I winced. “I know you’re awake,” a nasal, woman’s voice drawled. “I can hear your heart beat. It’s quicker, now.” Slowly, she dragged the pointed object away from my knee. With a sigh, I opened my eyes. She was pulling off her heel to wipe it clean – red soled, I noted: a Louboutin. I only recognised it because Rebecca had spent more hours staring at them online than studying when we were at college, and I had never been so glad for

At first, I did not wish to cling to the light. My eyes tried to open, tried to stare blearily up at the stars, and I yanked them shut. The dark was simple: no pain, no morality, no consciousness. I ached to return, but then I realised that the presence of pain meant something incredible. I was alive. Somehow, I had survived. I worked my jaw. My mouth was dry, my tongue pressed to the back of my front teeth. I licked my lips. My head burned, my temples throbbing, one far worse than the other. I shifted, rocking to one side, and my neck soared with pain. Then came a stab in my side, and a flame licking my wrist. Everything was agony, and life did not seem worth the hurt. As I let myself sink back into the darkness, my woozy head lolling against something warm and firm, I heard a voice. It rocked, waves crashing in the night, and then I realised that the sounds were not one and the same, but two separate noises. T

“Callie?” My name, sleep-worn and grumbled, sounded like a lifeline. My heart thudded loudly in my chest. “Dad. I – God, they’re there.” I turned to Cyrus and mouthed, “Where did you find me?” He squinted at me, deciphering my words, before mouthing back: “Below.” He added a jaunty point to the ground, and I shook my head at him, hoping I understood. There was nothing sleepy about my Dad’s voice. “It’s almost four in the morning. We thought you’d got carried away dining with your vampire beau. What happened?” Thank God they hadn’t come for me; thank God Cyrus had. But my lips stilled. Four in the morning? I squinted into the night, searching for a glimmer or peach or tangerine to mark the first rays of the rising sun. The midwinter sky was still dark, with not even the merest shade of pale blue to suggest