Sudden fear shot through me, a bolt of ice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I'd told myself that I wasn't afraid of Leon, but it wasn't me I was frightened for. It was Luke. He was a vampire and Leon was a vampire hunter. Even if he couldn't match Luke in physical strength, that didn't mean he wasn't hiding a lethal weapon somewhere on his body. A memory seared my mind - Luke shot down by Caleb's crossbow, those horrible black bolts jutting out of his flesh. Almost without realising it, I placed myself in front of Luke. The fear filling me was worse than if I'd been afraid for myself - it was a wrenching blackness in my heart, mixed with steely determination. Whatever Leon wanted, whatever he tried to do, he wasn't getting his hands on my Luke.

Leon didn't seem to notice my protective stance or the sudden tension clogging the air. He just stared at me, as if waiting for me to say something.

Warily I studied the hunter. Leon looked like hell. His cheeks and chin were coarse with unshaven fuzz and his eyes were ringed with dark circles. His clothes were so creased I wondered if he'd been sleeping in them.

"What do you want, Leon?" I tried to keep my voice civil - or at least neutral.

I sensed Luke shift behind me, his tension mingling with my own as he realised who the man in front of us was.

Leon's fingers played with the crumpled hem of his shirt, his movements twitchy. "I've done everything I can to track down the clan that killed my father, but I'm not getting anywhere," he said.

Good. Out loud I just said, "Oh."

Leon's eyes narrowed and fresh unease jolted through me. I had the sudden feeling that something was either already happening or was about to happen, but I wasn't sure what. And without knowing what it was, I was powerless to stop it.

Leon took a step closer and I resisted the urge to back away. The last thing I wanted for him to think I was afraid of him. As far as Leon knew, I was just Kiara Morrow, teenaged vampire hunter, out with her perfectly normal, perfectly human boyfriend. If I gave him any reason to suspect otherwise, Luke's life could be in danger. Although I couldn't help noticing that Leon didn't hesitate in talking about vampires in front of Luke, so he either assumed my boyfriend already knew who I really was, or he was too exhausted to care about monitoring what he said.

"I went back to Noah for help, but he refused," Leon continued.

I stared stupidly back at him, everything I thought I knew falling to pieces once again. Noah had refused to help Leon? Why? Maybe Ava had finally said something when she got back from our meeting at the diner. Maybe Clara and Marc had finally voiced their dissatisfaction over what Noah had done. Maybe Noah had even realised his mistakes on his own. Unlikely.

"I'm not really sure what you want me to do about that, Leon," I said in that same carefully neutral voice.

Leon's face crumpled, his thin shoulders slumping. "I don't understand. Why won't your father help me? He knew this clan was still in Dalwick - he must know who they are."

"If he did, don't you think he'd gone after them himself already?" The thought of Noah going after the clan made me feel physically sick, but it was imperative that I maintain the guise of vampire hunter. If Leon knew that I was with the clan, he'd have a lead back to them.

Leon raked his fingers through his hair. They might share the same eyes but Leon didn't look at all like Caleb. The expression on his face was real human anguish, the kind that might have inspired pity from me if this had been any other situation. Caleb had never been capable of that kind of emotion. The only thing he understood was hatred. I wanted so badly to believe that there was more to Leon.

"Look, Leon, maybe it's time you just dropped this," I said. "The vampire that killed your father is dead -"

"But how do I know that?" he cried, throwing his hands up in a jerky motion. I heard a slight catch in Luke's breathing; he probably thought Leon was about to take a swing at me. "If Noah's so unwilling to help me now, how do I know that anything he ever told me was true? What if he was lying? What if the vampire responsible is still alive? What if -"

"Leon," I interrupted. "She's not." This at least was one thing I could put to rest. "The vampire who killed Caleb is dead. You have my word on that."

"But how do you know?" He sounded helpless and childish.

I levelled a hard look at him. "Because I'm the one who killed her."

Everything seemed to happen very fast. Leon gaped at me for a split-second, then he charged forward, babbling barely-coherent thank-yous. At the same time, Luke dodged around me, placing himself in front of me with vampire-speed, protecting me from what he perceived as a possible threat.

Leon skidded to a halt, seeming to notice Luke for the first time. Suspicion hardened his eyes to slits. "Who are you?" he said.

No one said anything. My heart thumped in my chest, adrenaline quickening in my veins.

Leon looked Luke up and down, the hostility never fading from his face. "You're not one of Noah's team. I've already met Marc, and you're definitely not either of the women."

"I'm Kiara's boyfriend." Luke didn't offer his name, nor did he relax. Nothing about him was overtly aggressive - his fists weren't clenched, and his face was as neutral as mine - but there was a coiled tension about him, a snake about to strike. Anyone familiar with violence would have recognised it. Leon certainly did, and his eyes narrowed even more.

"Noah didn't mention you."

I opened my mouth to point out that Luke was nothing to do with Noah and his team, when something stopped me. Leon thought Luke was a hunter. It was plain that Luke knew about vampires, so his being a hunter was the only logical explanation. We were on shaky ground here. One misstep could spell disaster. I should have lied and simply corroborated Leon's assumption that Luke was a vampire hunter, but I was afraid that if I did, Leon would try and involve us both in his crusade against the clan. That wasn't happening. But there was no way I could tell him the truth either.

Nervous energy sizzled through my veins. I felt like I was being backed into a corner and my fighter's instincts were responding accordingly.

Tension filled the air like smog, and the way confusion darkened Leon's eyes as he looked from me to Luke then back again, told me that he felt it too.

"You are a hunter," he said. "Aren't you?" His voice dripped suspicion.

Luke didn't say anything. The conundrum running through my head had to be running through his too. Was it better to lie and claim he was a hunter, and risk Leon trying to rope us into his schemes, or keep quiet and hope Leon would lose interest?

"You know about vampires so you must be, but -" Leon broke off, shaking his head. "The way you moved just now, it was almost like you're a vampire yourself."

My breath painfully hitched in my throat. This wasn't just shaky ground - we were teetering over a potential minefield. And I had the horrible feeling that Leon had just put his foot on a mine.

Leon laughed, and I almost jumped, my nerves fraying. "Almost," Leon said, "but that's impossible."

The tension in my chest eased a fraction. Maybe the situation wasn't as bad as I'd thought. Maybe we could still salvage this. Then Luke turned and, fatally, looked back at me, wordlessly asking me what to do. He should have agreed with Leon's assumption. I should have said something to draw Leon's suspicions away. We both screwed up.

The metaphorical mine exploded.

The colour drained from Leon's face, his eyes slitting, his mouth flattening into a hard line. "My God," he whispered. "You are, aren't you? You're a goddamn vampire."

He lunged.

I darted around Luke and delivered a straight leg kick to Leon's gut. He let out a noise like a balloon deflating, but didn't go down so I spun on my heel and landed another kick to his collarbone. Leon crumpled to the ground and I stood over him. He fumbled at his belt, presumably reaching for a weapon, and I planted a foot on his wrist, pinning it down.

"What the hell is this?" Leon squawked, writhing on the ground.

I increased the pressure on his wrist until he gasped with pain. Luke moved towards us, but I flung out a hand to stop him. "Luke, don't."

Surprise sparked in his grey eyes. "Kiara, I can help -"

"Don't." I stared at Luke, willing him to listen to me - to trust me. I knew what I was doing and I'd explain it all once Leon was out of the way.

"You're with a vampire? A filthy, bloodsucking parasite," Leon cried.

There was a time when hearing such insults hurled at the boy I loved would have hurt me. Now I just rolled my eyes. I'd heard it all before.

"Save your breath, Leon," I told him.

His eyes locked with mine. He was breathing heavily, the veins in his neck standing out like cord. "Does your father know about this?"

I almost laughed. "Yes, Noah knows. That's why I'm not with the team anymore."

Maybe I shouldn't have told him that, but I felt a sudden, unexpected rush of protectiveness concerning Ava and Clara. Noah could go to hell and Marc could follow him there, but the two women of the team had, in their own way, showed me they cared recently. I didn't want Leon going back to the team's house and stirring up trouble because he thought they'd been keeping things from him.

Leon's stare snapped to Luke, and hatred glowed like hot coals in his eyes. "But...he's a vampire."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, Sherlock, I hadn't noticed."

He wriggled again and I pressed down on his wrist, grinding it against the ground. Leon hissed in pain, his eyes flicking back to me. The hatred in them dimmed, replaced by confusion.

Maybe I was grasping at straws, but his expression gave me hope. When Caleb unearthed my relationship with Luke, he'd fired as much hatred at me as he had at Luke. He'd wanted us both dead. But Leon didn't look at me like he wanted to kill me. He just looked confused, and I had to hope that this was an indication that his heart wasn't as blackened and twisted as his father's had been. I had to hope this meant there was a chance of reaching him.

But I couldn't do it tonight. Leon might look at me with confusion, but when he looked at Luke his eyes were twin lasers of pure hatred. There was a time and place to reason with him, but this wasn't it. Leon needed space, both to lick his wounds and mull over what he'd learned.

I stepped back from him. He didn't immediately scramble to his feet, but sat up, his eyes darting between us. His hand flexed, but didn't shoot to his belt where I suspected he had a weapon. Again, I had to take that as a positive sign. If this was Caleb, he'd be on his feet right now and trying to cut my throat. Whatever fanatical hatred possessed him, I really wanted to believe it didn't burn in Leon too.

I laced my fingers through Luke's, and gave Leon a hard look. "We're going to walk away now, and I suggest you do the same." I didn't add 'or else' even though the words were echoing through my mind. Threatening Leon wasn't the way to reach him, not if I wanted him to understand that we weren't the enemy. But equally, he needed to understand that Luke and I were very capable of taking care of ourselves. Twice I'd shown Leon that, and I'd do it again if he threatened anyone I cared about. Just because I didn't want to kill him didn't mean I wouldn't hurt him if he pushed me to it.

Leon didn't say anything as we walked away, and he didn't make any move to follow us. We took turns checking over our shoulder until we were several streets away and Leon was left behind, but there was no further sign of the vampire hunter.