This is a little bonus chapter, set just before Forever Night starts. It was originally written for the Wattpad Block Party, and now I'm posting it here for anyone who didn't get a chance to read it. Hope you all enjoy this little trip into Rachel's head.

*************************************************************

There was, Rachel thought as she followed a young woman down the street, something intensely satisfying about hunting down your own prey. She'd only been following the woman for a few minutes, but already her blood tingled with excitement. She licked the tips of her fangs, anticipation making her mouth water.

The woman, of course, had no idea she was being followed. She strolled down the street, blithely unaware, while the vampire clung to her like a shadow. Someone like Rachel, someone smart and cunning and experienced, was born to hunt. Most of the people she killed never even knew she was there until she ripped out their throats.

It was one of the prominent reasons that Rachel knew vampires were superior to humans. Vampires were the lions in the grass, the wolves at the door, the tigers in the jungle – stronger, faster, better evolved than humans. Vampires were predators; designed to kill.

Her target turned a corner, heading down an alleyway that cut behind the back of a row of houses. Dalwick was only a small town, nestled among the patchwork fields of the English countryside, and its plethora of alleys and twisty little back-streets made for perfect hunting grounds. Especially once dusk had crept across the sky and the town was lit only sporadically by streetlamps.

The ping of an incoming text message sounded from the woman's pocket, and she paused, pulling out her phone and examining it.

Seizing her opportunity, Rachel flowed up behind her prey like water over silk. The phone flew from the woman's hand as Rachel grabbed her and spun her around, and the screen shattered where it hit the concrete ground.

Rachel sank her fangs into the woman's neck. Hot blood rushed into her mouth and she closed her eyes in bliss. There was nothing sweeter or more delicious in this world than fresh human blood. She couldn't fathom how so many vampires were content to survive on bagged animal blood rather than hitting the streets and stalking it down themselves. Where was the thrill of the hunt? Where was the exquisite tingle of real human blood?

There was too much blood in a human body for a single vampire to drain, but when Rachel had drunk her fill, she dropped her victim to the ground and watched the woman slowly bleed out.

Other vampires knew not to leave evidence of their existence lying around – there were always hunters sniffing at the edges of their lives – but Rachel wasn't like other vampires. She could see the world for what it was truly meant to be – ruled by vampires. They were smarter and stronger, superior to humans in every way. Maybe humans were greater in number, but that didn't mean the planet should belong to them. Birds were greater in number than humans, but no one would allow a brainless chicken to be in charge. The way Rachel saw it, humans were little better than chickens. They squawked and flapped and scratched out pathetic little lives in the dirt, but they weren't vampires. They didn't deserve to run the world.

And they wouldn't for much longer.

Another vampire slunk out of the shadows, his eyes fixed on Rachel and the body lying at her feet. "Are you sure it's a good idea to leave her here like this?" he said.

Rachel favoured him with a patient smile. "Darren, we've been over this," she said.

Darren's bearded face pulled into a grimace. "I know, but you do realise how dangerous this is, right? This is exactly the sort of thing that brings hunters running."

Rachel crouched over the body, smoothing strands of blood-sticky hair away from the woman's face. "There's only one hunter I want to come running, and that's little Kiara Morrow."

Even the brat's name set Rachel's teeth on edge. Humans only existed to be prey for vampires, but there were always those who developed big ideas about fighting back. They were the people who became hunters. They subverted the natural prey/predator order, and Rachel considered it her personal duty to wipe them out.

A few weeks ago, one of them had gone a step further and actually got a vampire to fall in love with her. That was something Rachel couldn't wrap her head around. Humans were food. The ones who were cocky enough to call themselves hunters needed to be killed quicker than the rest, and the thought of a vampire willingly mixing with a human made Rachel's flesh crawl. It took playing with your food to a whole other level.

But sixteen-year-old vampire hunter Kiara Morrow had done the impossible. She had managed to make a vampire fall in love with her. She had managed to make a vampire clan take her in as if she was one of their own. It was sickening.

When Rachel first heard about Kiara, she had travelled to Dalwick to find and destroy her. Only it hadn't turned out quite as she'd planned. Rachel would never, ever admit that she had been bested, but her last encounter with the little hunter had left her seriously injured. She had underestimated Kiara and she wouldn't make that mistake again.

Leaving vampire kills lying around was a clear message to Kiara and any other hunters – a message proclaiming that vampires were no longer willing to hide in the shadows, no longer willing to hide their true natures.

This wasn't a battle anymore. This was war.

Rachel straightened up again. There was a spot of blood on her wrist and she slowly licked it off. When vampires ruled the world, they would hunt every night with impunity. As soon as the sun went down, an orgy of blood and violence would begin, and Rachel couldn't wait.

Darren stared at the ragged wounds in the woman's neck, the blood pooling on the ground around her, and his eyes gleamed with desire.

"If you want one, then take one," Rachel told him. "That's why they're here – to feed us."

Darren's hesitancy made her want to wring his neck. It was blindingly obvious that humans should live in fear of vampires, rather than the other way around, but she had to be patient with him. He'd spent a lifetime hiding from hunters, suppressing the predator inside him, and it wasn't easy to shake that off – even if he agreed with Rachel's principles.

No vampire should cower in fear from a human.

Rachel glided towards him. "This world belongs to us," she said. "We are vampires, and it is our right to take what we want, when we want it."

For years, Rachel had been content with simply slaughtering would-be hunters, but Kiara Morrow had changed everything. Somehow the brat had got it into her head that humans and vampires could live peacefully as equals – a concept that made Rachel retch. Humans were vermin. They would never be on the same level as a vampire. Kiara had perverted the natural order to such an extent that something drastic had to be done.

It was time for vampires to step out of the shadows.

"Come with me," Rachel said when Darren still hesitated. "I'll remind you what it is to be a true vampire."

It didn't take them long to find another target. Since Dalwick was only a small town, plenty of the locals got around on foot. There was always someone walking to and from work, out jogging or walking their dogs – always someone for a hungry vampire to kill.

Rachel spied several possible victims within a few minutes, but she waited for Darren to make his choice. He wouldn't learn to embrace his full nature if she had to hold his hand every step of the way.

Finally Darren's gaze fastened on a man stepping out of a nearby pub. It wasn't late – the western horizon was still painted with the faintest traces of sunset – but already there was a distinct wobble in the man's gait. Even a vampire with very little hunting experience could take a drunk.

"What are you waiting for?" Rachel said when Darren glanced back at her. "Go and get him."

A wolfish grin split the vampire's bearded face, and he set off after his prey. Rachel followed at a more leisurely pace. She could show other vampires the light, but they had to be willing to take the first steps into it. They were no good to her otherwise.

She found Darren and his victim in a small concrete area that ran alongside a cluster of houses. Hidden behind a thick shield of parked cars, Darren had wrestled the man to the ground and torn into his throat like a starving dog. Blood was splashed everywhere. Darren's beard was soaked with gore, but his grin was wild.

Vampires who survived on dead animal blood couldn't imagine how incredible human blood was. It was like waking up and truly seeing the world for the first time. This was what Rachel wanted all vampires to experience.

"How do you feel?" she asked, leaning one hip against the nearest car.

Darren's grin widened, his fangs emerging through the bloody tangle of his beard. "Never better."

"Do you understand now what I am offering? Do you understand the way the world should be?"

He nodded, his eyes shining. He had tasted the future and he liked it.

"Then I can count on you?" Rachel pressed.

Darren climbed to his feet and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What do you want me to do?"

"Kiara Morrow has to be stopped. More than that, she has to suffer."

Killing her wasn't enough, not anymore. Rachel wanted to destroy her first, and that meant killing everyone the girl loved – everyone she was even connected with. First her friends, then her family, and finally the vampire boy whose heart she had stolen. Then and only then would the little hunter die, when everything and everyone she loved had been ripped from her. That was when Rachel would claw the jagged shards of her silly human heart from her chest.

"Where do we start?" Darren asked, his eyes gleaming.

Rachel gave him a smile that could cut glass. "There's a little bungalow on the corner of Mayview Road where a hunter named Leon lives. He's friends with the girl."

Darren cracked his knuckles. "Time to pay him a visit, then."

"Indeed."

"Then what? Drain him?"

Rachel held up her hands. Her nails were long and filed to deadly points, sharp enough to slash through skin and flesh. "I think something a little more dramatic is in order." She clenched her fists and her sharp nails cut into her own palms. "We're going to visit Leon and then I'm going to tear his head off."

Kiara Morrow would rue the day she had stood up and proclaimed herself equal to vampires. By the time Rachel was through with her, the girl would be a broken-down, hollowed-out shell, begging and pleading for death.

That was a moment Rachel would savour for a very long time.