As we climbed through the broken window into Caleb's house, I reflected that, technically, we weren't even breaking and entering this time. Leon's entire view on vampires was based on what he'd read in Caleb's journals, and since those journals had been here – until Ava stole them – it was reasonable to assume that this was where Leon had been living. He definitely hadn't been camping out in the lodge, and it didn't make sense for him to pay for a hotel when he could stay in his dad's old house.

Luke dropped Leon onto the sofa a little harder than was necessary. Leon might have attacked Rachel to defend me, but that didn't mean Luke could forget that Leon had threatened his family. I wouldn't forget it either.

With Leon out of the way, Luke turned and swept me into a hug, holding me tightly against him. Usually I loved the feel of his arms around me, but this time he was putting a little too much pressure on my bruised back.

"Luke," I said, my face squashed against his chest. "Hurts."

He immediately let go, his face contrite.

"Hey, I meant don't squeeze so hard, not let go completely," I said, taking his arms and putting them back around me.

He smiled down at me, but his eyes were serious. His fingers very gently traced a pattern up my back. "How badly does it hurt?"

I shrugged and bit back a grimace as a twinge shot down my spine. "I've had worse." That wasn't even a lie to make him feel better. Rachel had only slammed me into a wall. When I was twelve, a vampire had snapped my arm and collarbone, ripped into my shoulder and fed on me like a piece of meat. A bruised back didn't come close to that.

Reaching up, I touched the bloody patch at Luke's hairline.

"It's nothing," Luke said, catching my hand and kissing the palm. "Just a scratch."

"That's such a cheesy macho thing to say."

He grinned. "I know. But you like it when I'm cheesy and macho."

"Whatever you say, Rambo."

Leon groaned and twitched, his good eyelid flickering open. "What happened?" he mumbled.

Luke glanced at me and lifted an eyebrow. Was it wise to tell Leon, whose stance on vampires was still hazy, that a vampire had kicked him in the head and knocked him unconscious? He'd protected me earlier, but that didn't mean he was ready to come over to our side. I still didn't know how he felt about vampires.

Leon's vision cleared, and he sat upright so fast that he clutched his hands to his head and moaned again. "That woman...the vampire..."

"Rachel,' I supplied.

"She kicked me." His fingers gingerly probed the side of his head.

I held my breath. This was it, the point when I found out if all my efforts in trying to reach him had paid off, or if they were about to fall completely to ruin. If he attacked Luke, if he tried to hurt him, then I'd stop him. And I'd kill him if I had to.

Leon's eyes shifted to Luke and an amazed expression crossed his face. "You saved me."

Luke didn't anything, but I recognised the casual tension in his body. He, like me, didn't know what Leon was going to do, and he was readying himself to fight in case this whole thing went wrong.

"Why would you do that?" Leon's voice was full of confusion and something that sounded oddly like hope.

"Because I'm a sucker for my girlfriend," Luke said.

I elbowed him. "Luke saved you because neither of us think you deserve to die." I didn't point out that that hadn't been our view an hour ago. "You're not a bad person, Leon, you're just very confused and very misguided. All I've ever wanted to do is show you the truth – that vampires aren't all evil."

My words might have been more effective if Rachel hadn't just kicked us all over Greylark.

"I can't...I don't know..." Leon trailed off, staring mutely at his hands.

Luke touched my elbow, jerking his head to the other side of the room where we could talk without Leon hearing us.

"He's not evil," I whispered once we were out of earshot. "He's just a hopeless, helpless guy and – and – " And I wasn't completely sure where I was going with this.

"And I think he's actually coming around," Luke said, glancing back over at Leon. His head was turned in our direction but his eyes were still fixed on his hands, lying loosely in his lap.

I pressed my palms to my eyes. "This is exactly what I wanted, exactly what I've been trying to do ever since Leon turned up, but it's not the same now, is it? I mean he kidnapped Riley."

In the heat of the fight, I'd been willing to overlook that, but now, with Leon in a small space, all I could think of was Riley's terrified face and haunted eyes when we finally found her on the floor of that outhouse. Equally I couldn't forget that Leon had just risked himself to save me.

"So what do you want to do?" Luke asked.

"I don't know."

He folded his arms and looked at me with knowing eyes. "We have two choices. One, we kill him now. I think I know what you'll say to that, and I completely agree with you. If Leon can be reformed – and I'm really starting to think that he can – then we can't kill him."

"What's option two?"

"We let him live. We give him the chance to try and put his life back together."

"But can we trust him?" I said. "Are the people we care about going to be safe if he's still walking the streets?"

I walked back over to Leon and sat on the coffee-table, facing him. "Ever since I met you, I have been trying to save you. I didn't want you to make the same mistakes as your father and spend the rest of your life hating a race that doesn't deserve to be hated."

Bringing up Caleb was risky, considering the near hero-worship Leon had shown his late father, but if Leon could truly be converted then he had to see who Caleb had really been. If he couldn't see that, he hadn't changed.

"If I could have saved Caleb, I would have," I said. I sensed Luke's surprise, but I didn't look at him. I wasn't sure that what I was saying was strictly true, but it wasn't a complete lie either. After Caleb killed Sophie, the only thing that stopped me from getting revenge was that Madeleine got there first. But back when I first met Caleb, before he'd done anything truly awful to me, I'd have tried to covert him if I'd thought there was even a chance. Caleb had shown me early on that there was no chance for him – he was rotten to the core. But Leon wasn't.

"But Caleb didn't want to be saved," I continued. "Look at me, Leon."

He lifted his good eye to mine, silent tears trickling down his face.

"Caleb killed my friend and he wasn't even sorry about it." I'd told Leon this before but I didn't think it had sunk in. This time it would. "You think vampires are evil because Caleb thought they were, but it's time for you to open your eyes." I gestured to Luke, standing next to me. "Luke isn't evil. His family aren't evil. Vampires and hunters have been killing each other for centuries, but enough is enough now. That's what I'm trying to do, help humans and vampires find common ground, to put a stop to the war that rages in the shadows."

I took Luke's hand. "I know I can't change everything, but together we can all take the first step towards a new future. But that future has to start here – with you, Leon."

I anticipated several different scenarios: Leon grudgingly acknowledging that I was right; Leon refusing to accept it and attacking; Leon refusing to accept it, but choosing to leave Dalwick rather than carry on down this road.

I didn't expect him to start crying.

It was like a dam had broken inside him, great noisy sobs spilling out of his throat. "I'm sorry," he sobbed. He actually fell off the sofa and awkwardly clutched my knees.

I shot Luke a vaguely panicked look and his lips twitched. It's not funny, I mouthed.

"I'm sorry," Leon sobbed again. "I thought I was doing the right thing, I really did."

Climbing to my feet, I prised Leon's hands off my knees. He stayed kneeling, gazing up at me, his face swollen and tear-blotched.

"Can you forgive me?" he said, addressing both of us.

Luke fixed him with a hard look. "I can, as long as you swear that you will never threaten my family or any other innocent vampires again."

Leon nodded, swallowing back another sob.

"We're really not the ones you should be apologising to," I told him. "Riley is. And I'm not letting you anywhere near her unless she agrees, which won't be for a good long time yet."

Or maybe never at all. Leon might not have physically hurt Riley, but the psychological damage from being kidnapped, tied up, and imprisoned, wouldn't heal overnight. Riley might never be able to confront Leon, and if that was the case, I'd never let him near her.

Leon fumbled for the edge of the sofa and pulled himself back up. "What do I do now?" he said.

"I don't know, Leon." Just because I'd fought hard to turn him from the wrong path didn't mean I could set him on the right one. "Take some time to get your life together. Maybe one day, when you've really had time to come to terms with all this, you can join us in trying to put a stop to this fight."

We left Leon in Caleb's house to contemplate his new future, and headed home, bruised and weary. There was no sign of Clara, which spiked my worry levels to the point that Luke almost had to restrain me from rushing back to the woods to look for her. He was as worried about her as I was, but it was better to get backup and head off in teams. As soon as we got home and told the others what had happened, Samuel and Elena insisted on teaming up with Ava to start the search.

"We're coming with you," I said.

Samuel glanced at me, then looked at Luke. "I think you two should stay here."

"No way!" I exclaimed. I wasn't going to sit around twiddling my thumbs while everyone else went off to look for Clara.

"You've done enough," said Samuel firmly, and Elena murmured in agreement.

I started to protest again, but Samuel laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Kiara, you can't do everything. Give yourself a break and let us handle this one."

"Clara'll be fine," Ava spoke up. "She can take care of herself."

"That's not the point," I snapped. Yes, I was tired and hurting, but Clara could be in trouble. That came before my personal comfort.

"Sweetheart, think for a minute. If you and Luke run around town with blood all over your faces then people will start asking questions. We can't afford that kind of attention," Elena said.

Her words got through to me where Ava's and Samuel's hadn't. Rachel had split my lip when she elbowed me and my chin itched with dried blood. A patch of blood matted Luke's hair to his forehead and there was a red smear on his throat where Rachel's sharp nails had dug in. The more people saw us like this, the more trouble we could potentially invite.

"So let us clean up and we'll come with you," I said.

Luke put his hands on my hips. "Compromise? You guys go on ahead and we'll catch up."

Samuel nodded. "Fair enough."

They had barely closed the door when Luke swept me into his arms, kissing me with a passion that took my breath away.

"Forget cleaning up," he murmured. "You did it. You got through to Leon."

"We did it," I corrected him. I couldn't take all the credit, especially not when I was sure it was Luke's saving of Leon that had really swayed him.

Luke threaded his fingers through my hair. Every touch of his lips sent tingles zipping through me. "But this is your crusade. You're the one who decided to try and make a difference, and that means every victory is yours."

"No," I whispered. "My fight is your fight. My victory is your victory. Everything I have, I share with you." I nibbled his lower lip. "And everything that I am, I want to share with you."

Suddenly everything that had happened tonight, all the fear, pain, and frustration just melted away. There was just me and Luke, and the passion blazing between us.

Desire darkened his eyes as he caught onto the meaning in my words. "You mean –"

"Yes." It shouldn't have been a romantic moment – we were both bruised and battered, and there was a lethal enemy still out there – but I felt strangely powerful, like I'd just climbed a mountain and was standing at the top, gazing out across the world. I was ready for this.

We fumbled our way up the stairs, our mouths pressed together, hands roaming over each other, and into Luke's bedroom. He closed and locked the door behind him.

I stood in the middle of his bedroom, nervousness warring with excitement. Ever since I realised I was in love with Luke, I'd known this moment was coming, but that didn't stop the sensation that I was stepping off a ledge and falling into something I had no experience with. It was fear of the unknown rather than any fear of it hurting, or my inexperience disappointing him.

Luke turned to me, and in the darkness of the room his eyes shone like moonlight. I could read everything in those eyes, the same combination of nerves and anticipation that I felt, a slight touch of fear that he wouldn't please me, but most of all his pure love for me, lighting up his face like a beacon.

He closed the gap between us, guiding me onto the bed. My heart raced, my hands feeling suddenly shaky.

"We don't have to," he whispered, bracing himself over me. "I mean, if you're not ready –"

I silenced him with a kiss. "Luke, I want this."

He moved his lips down my throat, kissing the line of my collarbone. I pulled off my t-shirt, and his butterfly kisses moved along to my shoulder. I tensed, abruptly self-conscious of the knotted scar tissue that sprawled there. It wasn't like Luke hadn't seen it before, but this time it felt somehow...different. I wanted to feel beautiful.

Luke seemed to sense my hesitation for he raised his head and met my eyes. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life," he whispered. "From the first moment I saw you, Kiara, I knew there would never be anyone else for me." He kissed the ugly patch of scar tissue, his lips gentle, almost reverent. "There isn't a single part of you I don't find beautiful."

I melted beneath him, arching my back as his lips glided from my shoulder –

"Luke? Kiara?" Clara's shout echoed beneath us.

"I don't believe it," I exclaimed, flopping back on the bed. It was like the world was playing some giant joke with us, interrupting every time we tried to take this step.

Luke started silently laughing, pressing his forehead against mine.

"It's not funny," I hissed.

"Yes, it is."

We sat up and I reached for my t-shirt, pulling it over my head. I'd felt ready for this, and now that moment had been snatched away. But it couldn't be helped. If we didn't go down, Clara would probably come up, and that was a situation we'd all want to avoid.

Luke and I would just have to wait.

We unlocked the door and hurried out, almost colliding with Ethan as he emerged from his own room, his clothes and hair distinctly rumpled. We shared a look and an awkward silence, each guessing what the other had been up to.

Clara called our names again, and we headed downstairs, Ethan trailing behind us. A wave of guilt rolled over me. I'd been desperate to find Clara until Luke and I had been left alone, and then I'd virtually ditched her in favour of going to bed with my boyfriend. Rachel could have been killing her. I wasn't just guilty; I was ashamed of myself.

"You never know. She might be about to tell that she's killed Rachel, and this whole nightmare is over," Luke said.

But of course that wasn't the case.