While Ethan and Riley went to fetch Ava and Clara, the rest of us started cobbling together a plan. It was crazy and risky and full of holes, but it was the only one we had. And I was determined to end this, flawed plan or not.

When Ethan and Riley returned with backup, I sat everyone down at the table and explained to them what we were planning.

Clara rested her chin on the heel of her head, her expression thoughtful, but Ava's face paled. "It's too dangerous," she said.

"I've already had this discussion," I said, shooting Luke a sideways look, "and I'm not going to have it again. I know what I'm doing."

"But you said how strong she was –"

This conversation would take us around in circles and I'd had enough of that. "Ava, if you were so worried about my safety, you shouldn't have raised me to be a vampire hunter," I said, my voice sharp as a blade.

Ava went very still, her eyes glassy. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. Looking at her then, the sudden shock and fear on her face, I wasn't sure she fully realised what she'd put me through as a child. She didn't appreciate exactly how violent and dangerous my life had been. Despite all the progress we'd made, hot anger wormed through my stomach. I'd been twelve years old when an enemy vampire had ripped into my shoulder, tearing flesh and snapping bone. It was the worst injury I'd ever received, and she hadn't spared much thought for my safety then. She was trying to be my mum now and I was trying to accept her, but her efforts didn't erase all the bad stuff that had come before.

I looked away from the hurt on her face before slivers of guilt could crawl into my heart. I didn't have time to deal with this now. Ava and I could sort out the complicated tangle of our relationship when Rachel was dead, not before.

"The last thing we want is to start a war on the streets. We need to ambush Rachel out of town, away from the risk of human casualties," I said. If Rachel thought she was outnumbered or in trouble, she would have no problem using innocent townspeople as human shields. We couldn't allow that. She had to be dealt with as quickly and cleanly as possible. "The best thing we can do is lead her into the meadowland beyond the woods." The vast swathe of countryside surrounding Greylark was just far enough outside Dalwick that most people wouldn't hear a fight, and the woods made reaching the meadows so awkward that even if someone did hear, the police wouldn't reach us in time. Or so I hoped.

"And how are you planning to ambush her?" Clara asked. For once she wasn't playing with a knife, but her fingers curled and uncurled like she was imagining the weight of one in her hand.

"That's where you come in. I want you, Ava, Leon, and Ethan to head into the woods before dusk and take up position there. Spread out so you can see as much of the woods and town as possible, but don't go so far from each other that you can't help if someone gets in trouble. Samuel and Luke can head out and join you the second it gets dark."

There was always the chance that Rachel was watching the house, but if she was, at least she'd only see Samuel and Luke going into the woods. She wouldn't know about the others already hiding out, and I was banking on her being arrogant enough to take her chances with just two. Well, three including me. She'd faced three of us back in Greylark; I couldn't believe she'd hesitate to do the same again.

"What about me?" Riley piped up.

"You're not coming," said Ethan at once.

She scowled at him. "The hell I'm not –"

"Riley, you're not coming," I said, cutting short the escalating squabble.

She turned wounded eyes on me. "But I can help."

I shook my head. "Not this time. I know you're brave and I know how much you want to be a part of this, but the reality of the situation is that you don't know how to fight. We all do, and Samuel and Luke have vampire strength to help them."

"So you're saying I'm a liability." Riley sounded unusually quiet, her face crumpling as realisation sank in.

"That's a blunt way of putting it." Though I wasn't sure I could think of a nicer way. "Riley, you need to understand that Rachel won't go down easily. There will be a fight and it will get bloody. I can't have you in the middle of that – for everyone else's sake as much as your own. If Ethan and I know you're there, we'll constantly be looking out for you and making sure you're okay, and we just can't afford that kind of distraction. I'm sorry."

Another time she would have argued or insisted that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. But her eyes turned to Ethan as the weight of my words hit home. If she did something stupid, like sneak along after us, one of us could get hurt – maybe even killed – trying to protect her. She wouldn't take that risk.

"May I ask why I don't appear to be included in this plan?" Elena said.

I took a deep breath, hoping she'd be as amenable as Riley. For all her gentle exterior, Elena could fight. She'd fought alongside us against Madeleine's rogues and she could do so again. But that wasn't what I wanted. "I need you to stay here with Riley."

Elena frowned, a wrinkle appearing between her pale eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because this fight is going to get bloody." I stared round at my friends and family, hoping that really was sinking in. I wasn't fool enough to think this would be simple. Outnumbered or not, Rachel would fight tooth and nail, and she was strong enough to inflict serious damage. We could take the bitch down but we wouldn't walk away unscathed. Not all of us anyway. "And we need someone standing by to help us when we get back."

Something panged in my chest. That used to be Sophie's job. She'd been a hunter herself before a vampire attack crippled her and she was forced to retire. Instead of giving up, she'd taken on the role of team nurse, standing by to mop up, stitch, and bandage any injuries the team might sustain on a hunt. Riley was capable of that, but there were seven of us heading out, two of them vampires. If Luke or Samuel were injured, someone would need to get them blood so they could heal. Riley couldn't do that if she was busy patching the rest of us up.

Elena didn't argue, but a shadow of pain passed across her face, the echo of which I felt in my chest. It was the thought of the people we loved getting hurt. If I could do this alone, I would, and spare everyone else whatever Rachel would do to them. But I couldn't do it alone. I needed these people. That didn't make the thought of their pain any less terrifying.

I reached inside myself and dredged up fresh courage. "Once everyone is in position, I'll try and lure Rachel into the woods where you'll all be waiting to ambush her. If we can drive her out into the meadows, she'll have nowhere left to run."

"And how are you planning on luring her out?" Luke said. His face was clouded with worry, all the possible ways this could go wrong flickering through his eyes.

"I'll be out on my own after dark. Rachel will come," I said.

"You can't know that for sure," he persisted.

"Call it an educated guess. The first time she attacked me in the woods, it was just you and me." The memory of her knocking Luke out made my face hot with rage. "The second time, I was alone. She knows she's stronger than me and she likes to intimidate me. If I'm out on the streets, alone at night, she won't be able to resist coming after me."

"And you don't think she'll suspect anything?" This was from Clara, now resting both elbows on the table, her face drawn in hard lines as she considered everything I was saying.

"If it was anyone else I'd say yes, but this is where we have an advantage. We know Rachel's weakness." I waited a beat to see if anyone else knew what I was going to say, but they just stared back, waiting for me to finish. "Arrogance," I said. "Rachel is blind in her conviction that vampires are completely superior and humans are just ignorant prey. She's too arrogant to pass up an opportunity to get to me. And we have another advantage – she thinks I'm scared of her."

"And if she gets you before you reach the woods?"

"She won't." I injected as much confidence as I could into my voice. "I'm fast, remember? Besides, she'll want me in the woods." Each time Rachel had attacked me, she'd either done it in the woods or in Greylark – away from the prying eyes and bright lights of Dalwick. If she really wanted to hurt me, she'd do it where none of my friends could hear me scream.

A cold smile touched my lips. She was the one who'd be screaming.

Clara flattened her hands on the table. "Sounds like we have a plan." She gave me a wry look. "Not a particularly stable one, but a plan nonetheless." She nodded at Ava. "We should nip home and grab more weapons."

"Oh, Noah will love that," I said.

"Who said I was going to tell him?"

"Good luck doing anything in that house without him knowing," I said. "What are you going to do if he tries to stop you taking anything?"

Clara's face turned chilly, and she bared her teeth in a wolfish grin. "He won't, not if he knows what's good for him."

The thought of Clara taking on Noah brought a smile to my lips. If anyone was woman enough to take Noah down a peg or two, it was Clara.

As Clara and Ava got up to leave, Luke snagged my elbow and pulled me into a corner of the kitchen. "I'm really not happy about this," he muttered.

"I know. But I also know you're not going to try and stop me."

Luke tried to smile but it fell flat. "I couldn't even if I wanted to." His hand found mine, pulling me against the hardness of his body. "Tonight's going to be dangerous, Kiara."

"Don't start getting fatalistic on me. We'll come back bloody, but we'll still come back."

Luke gazed at me and the look in his eyes took my breath away – love and lust and fear, almost frightening in its intensity. Without words, I knew what he was saying, what he was asking. There was something he wanted to do before tonight.

I pressed myself against him, my heart picking up speed. "I don't think we can," I whispered.

Clara and Ava were discussing the best weapons to take, and the others were paying close enough attention that not even Samuel and Elena's vampire hearing would pick up what we were talking about. But I didn't want to spell anything out, just in case.

"I don't want us to go out tonight without..." Luke trailed off and swallowed, heat melting in his eyes.

Love for him rushed through me. I wanted this as much as he did, and Luke was right – tonight was going to be dangerous. Would it be so bad to steal an hour for ourselves first? Desire warred with logic. There was still the toe-curling awkwardness of Samuel and Elena possibly overhearing us. Pride wasn't one of my flaws, but if my boyfriend's parents overheard us while we were...I'd probably die of embarrassment.

But maybe if we just sloped away while everyone was talking...

Ava approached us. "Can I talk to you, Kiara? Privately."

Luke bent to kiss my cheek. "You're right. The interruptions aren't funny anymore," he whispered.

I told myself there'd be other times. This wasn't the right moment anyway, not with the house full of people. Luke and I would get our moment and when we did, it would be perfect.

I took Ava into the living room to talk, closing the door behind us. Ava actually seemed nervous, looking anywhere but at me, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips.

"Kiara, I know –" She broke off and closed her eyes. "I know I haven't been a good mother to you."

That was an understatement I wasn't cruel enough to point out.

Ava opened her eyes. "And I also know how incredibly lucky I am that you've given me a second chance, even though I haven't exactly fulfilled it the way I should."

"I appreciate you saying that, but is this really the time?" I said, glancing at the closed door.

"Yes. There's something I need to give you and I want it to be now in case...something goes wrong tonight."

That got my full attention. "Don't talk like that. No one is dying tonight." It was a foolish, naive thing to say. For all my confidence, I couldn't guarantee what would happen. I certainly couldn't guarantee that no one was going to die, but I still had to say it. If I didn't, then it felt like we were walking into this fight with the shadow of death already hanging over us.

"Of course not." Ava said it like she was reassuring a scared child, and though it annoyed me, I didn't call her out on it. "But even so, I feel like I need to do this now." An uneasy grin crooked her lips. "I don't really know how to do this."

I just stared at her, waiting, not sure what I was supposed to say.

Ava pulled a small box from her pocket and handed it to me. "I got you a present. I know it won't make up for years of..." She fumbled over her words and awkwardly pushed the box into my hands. "Anyway, it's the least I could do."

I opened the box. Inside, nestled on a twist of tissue paper was a small key. Mystified, I looked up at Ava. "I don't understand."

"Look under the key."

Moving the tissue aside, I found a thumbnail photo. I squinted at it and my heart almost stuttered to a halt as I focused on the faded canary walls and empty window-boxes of the house I'd fallen in love with. "I don't understand," I said again, my brain refusing to process what it saw.

Tears sparked in Ava's eyes. "It's your house, Kiara."

I almost dropped the box. "What?" My poor brain just couldn't kick into gear. This wasn't happening.

"I overheard you and Luke talking about it so I tracked it down and –" Ava shrugged, excitement glittering in her eyes. "And I bought it for you."

Everything seemed to grind to a halt around me. I heard Ava's words but they couldn't sink in, bouncing dully off my eardrums. I'd already had one dream come true and it was Luke – I couldn't possibly have another.

I raised my eyes to Ava's face, but my vision blurred with tears. I couldn't find words and when I did, the question that came out was, "How? You can't possibly afford –"

I broke off, finally understanding. Ava's getaway money, everything she'd saved for a possible future outside hunting and then planned to use so she could leave the team and start again. She'd given it all up for me.

"I can't – this is too much." I tried to hand the box back to her, unable to comprehend the enormity of the gift, but Ava put her hands behind her back.

"It's my money and I'll choose what I spend it on." Her lips curved in a smile, and it was the smile I always wanted to see from her – just a mother looking at her daughter. "I know how much I've screwed up your life, Kiara, and there's nothing I can do to change that. But I can give you a future, both you and Luke."

Tears spilled down my cheeks and I threw myself into my mother's arms, hugging her like I'd never thought I'd be able to. She hugged me back, putting her arms around me and burying her face in my hair.

"Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you...Mum."