We were almost at the end of the quiet little street where the roads and pavements petered away into the uneven ground and clusters of tree-trunks that separated Greylark Asylum and the surrounding countryside from the rest of Dalwick, when several shapes exploded from among the trees.

We should have been ready for it.

We should have been quicker to react.

But we were all focusing on the chosen battleground that lay beyond the woods, bracing ourselves for the upcoming fight and stupidly trusting that we were safe up until then.

Ethan went down first when a burly vampire kicked him in the back of the leg, while another darted up behind him and wrapped a thick arm around his throat. Struggling to breathe, Ethan fumbled for a weapon, but two more vampires seized his arms, holding them away from his body.

At the same time, a whole gang of vampires surrounded Clara. She cut down two in as many seconds, her knives flashing like streaks of silver, but there were too many for her to take single-handed.

As the vampires closed in on her, Luke and I sprang to the rescue, but we weren't fast enough. A fist ploughed into my stomach, punching the air from my lungs, and another vampire tackled Luke, riding him to the ground. I pulled out a knife, and my attacker delivered a spinning kick to my wrist. My whole arm went numb, shockwaves from the blow reverberating all the way to my shoulder. The knife flew out of my hand, vanishing into the undergrowth.

I ducked the next punch, but another vampire filled the space beside me, faster than I could blink. His fist caught me on the side of the head, and my ears rang with pain. I stumbled to my knees, groping for another knife, but I was dizzy from the blow to the head, and my fingers fumbled over the array of hilts in my belt.

Clara appeared through the fray, her face a mask of fury. The butterfly stitches on her cheek had come loose, and fresh blood streamed from the gash Rachel had given her. Both hands clutched knives which she drove into the neck of my attacker. He collapsed to the ground, choking on his own blood. Clara whirled to face the next foe – the vampire who'd kicked me. Spinning on his heel, he executed a crushing kick to Clara's stomach. She gasped and staggered back, but didn't let go of her knives.

Pulling a knife of my own, I launched myself at the vampire, but another one intercepted me, wrapping a thick hand around my throat and hauling me off my feet. Pressure burst inside my head, my lungs straining with pain as the vampire squeezed. A sadistic smile creased his face.

Fury punched through me and I stabbed him in the arm, shoving the knife through layers of flesh and muscle until the blade emerged on the other side. He screamed and dropped me, reeling away and taking the knife with him.

I had more.

But I didn't have enough to take on this many vampires. They were strong and well-trained and above all, organised. They'd caught us by surprise and now they worked in neat little groups to take us down, focusing their attacks on each individual.

We were simply outnumbered.

Clara was the second to be taken out of commission. The vampire with the spinning kicks must have trained in martial arts or something; he delivered a series of lightning-fast punches that put Clara on her back. His foot was on her throat in an instant, pressing down until she gasped. Clara didn't fight him anymore. Even as she struggled to breathe, she lay very still on the pavement, knowing the vampire would stamp down and crush her windpipe if she moved. But knives still decorated both hands, and her eyes were small stones of hatred, glaring up at him.

I backed away from the circle of enemy vampires closing in on me, frantically searching for Luke. A second cluster had him surrounded, and even as I lunged, fighting to reach him, three vampires wrestled him to the ground, twisting his arms behind his back.

Rachel flowed out of the woods, her face terrifyingly serene.

A snarl of pure hate leaped from my throat, but there were too many vampires between me and her. If I attacked, they'd take me down before I could get to her.

My hand tightened on my knife, my brain still struggling to process what was happening. If I could just gather my scattered thoughts, I might be able to objectively analyse the situation and come up with a plan. That's what Clara would do.

But I wasn't Clara, and I couldn't kick my brain into gear. I was scared. Rachel's vampires had come out of nowhere and taken us down like we were nothing. I'd put all my faith into this plan, and it was over before it had even begun.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to burst through the vampires surrounding me and kill Rachel with my bare hands.

But all I could do was stand there, frozen, staring at my captured friends and struggling to think of a way out of this.

Rachel approached the vampire that I'd stabbed, where he was curled on the pavement, whimpering. The hilt of my knife was still sticking out of his arm, and blood splattered the ground around him. She stooped over him and pulled the knife free, eliciting a scream of pain.

Slowly and casually, like she was savouring every step, Rachel approached Luke, pinned down on the pavement. He glared up at her, his eyes stormy with hatred.

My muscles were so taut it was painful. If she hurt Luke, I was going to shove my knife down the bitch's throat.

Her eyes never leaving my face, Rachel crouched over Luke and touched the blade to his neck, just hard enough that I could see the pressure of that sharp edge against his skin.

"I've heard some very interesting rumours about you, little hunter," she purred. "That you allow your pet vampire to feed from you if he is injured." Her eyes slid over my neck and it made my skin crawl. There was something obscene in the way she said it, as if she was exposing my intimate acts with Luke for the whole world to see and laugh at.

I would never be ashamed of opening a vein for my boyfriend, and I gritted my teeth, refusing to rise to the bait. Luke's life was literally on the line here, but if I panicked and attacked, I was doing precisely what Rachel wanted. She'd kill him before I could get my hands on her.

Rachel pressed the knife harder against Luke's throat, but he didn't flinch away or cry out like she was hoping.

Somewhere among the fear and rage, I felt a spark of grim satisfaction. We'd never dance to the mad bitch's tune.

"What do you think would happen if I cut his throat?" Rachel asked, looking at Luke's neck and then back up to me.

If I could have kept my expression neutral, I would have done, but the terror I felt at seeing Luke like this was something I couldn't keep off my face. I was so scared for him, I was shaking.

"Do you think you could get to him in time to save him?" Rachel asked. She tilted the knife slightly so I could see how close it was to breaking the skin.

I didn't know if Luke could survive having his throat cut. Vampires had incredible powers of healing, but only if they had access to blood. While I would gladly give Luke every drop of blood in my body if it would help him heal, I couldn't do that without getting close to him. And Rachel wouldn't let me get close, not when she could let him bleed to death in front of me. Even if I could get to him, there was no guarantee I could save him. Vampires were tough but they weren't invulnerable. Some wounds were too much for even them to heal.

"Is there a point to this, or do you just get off on making threats?" I said.

Maybe if I pissed her off enough she would come over here to teach me a lesson. At least then she'd leave Luke alone.

The smug grin on Rachel's face faded, her eyes turning hard and dangerous.

I pressed recklessly on. "And you're a goddamn liar. You gave your word that this would be a fair fight."

It was childish to get so angry over having been lied to, especially since I'd seen enough of the world to understand that some people were all too willing to stab others in the back, and especially considering that this was Rachel we were talking about, but I really had thought she would stick to her word. I'd gambled everything on it and lost, and that made me so angry and so disgusted at my own naiveté. Rachel was sick and twisted, and she'd done a lot of terrible things to me, but she had never lied. Until now.

The vampire stood up, spreading her arms wide. "What can I say? I'm an opportunist."

Her efficiency was almost admirable. By appearing to stick to her word, she'd separated us – Samuel and Elena were at Greylark with the rest of the vampires – and then ambushed my little group, knowing that we'd be easier to take down when we weren't expecting it. By appearing to stick to her word, she'd lulled us into a false sense of security, and then struck while our guard was down.

"Cut the head off a snake and the body dies with it." Rachel looked so pleased with herself it was sickening. "All I have to do, little hunter, is kill you and your friends, and your silly little fighting force will fall apart."

That was what had happened with Madeleine and the rogue vampires that had flocked to her side. After I'd killed her, the survivors had scattered, no longer willing to stand up to an angry team of hunters and an equally angry vampire clan without someone to lead them. What if the same happened to the little army I'd fought to build? That was something I had genuinely never considered. That night in the asylum when I had rallied them to my side, I truly thought that they would fight for me no matter what, but one thing I really needed to learn was not to make assumptions.

I had put my trust in Rachel's word and now I was going to lose everything because of it.

"You lying bitch." My voice was deceptively calm, betraying none of the rage tearing through me. "I swear, if it's the last thing I do, I am going to kill you."

Rachel laughed. "Your futile threats do amuse me, little hunter." The mirth vanished from her face, replaced by a cold hunger, the look of a predator readying itself to strike.

She nodded to the vampire with the martial arts skills, the one whose foot was still pressing on Clara's throat. "Kill her."

"No," I screamed.

The vampire raised his foot to crush Clara's throat –

– something zipped past me, and a black crossbow bolt buried itself in the vampire's eye.