I made sure I walked Riley home after the party ended. She was swaying from the vodka, her dyed-red hair falling out of its ponytail. I'd stopped drinking as soon as thoughts of my parents entered my head, almost as if they were standing behind me, scolding me. Riley had said my parents were super-strict but she didn't know the half of it.

A pang of envy shot through me when I dropped Riley off at her house and she let herself in with the key. Since her parents divorced, her mum was desperate not to make her only child feel smothered. And if that meant letting her go drinking and partying, so be it.

I wished I had an ounce of that freedom.

Dalwick was a stone's throw from Petersfield but the sprawl of surrounding English countryside made it seem isolated from the rest of the world. My family lived just off Gilmont Avenue - roughly a ten-minute walk from the party - in a four-bedroom detached house with a grey slate roof, double-glazed windows, and a concrete garage tacked onto the side. The curtains were always drawn, keeping any neighbours from peeking in. We'd only been here four months so I didn't think of it as home. I'd never thought of anywhere as home - we never stayed in one place long enough.

I pushed open the front door and stepped into the brown-carpeted, floral wall-papered hallway. The previous owners didn't have much taste when it came to interior design, but Noah refused to let us waste money trying to change anything.

The living room door on my right side was ajar and a grating sound came from inside. I poked my head around the door.

Clara sat cross-legged on the floor. A gleaming selection of knives was spread out on the plywood coffee-table in front of her; another knife in her hands that she was methodically sharpening with a whetstone. The discordant scrape of metal on stone made my ears hurt.

"You're late," she said. It was a statement rather than an accusation. She knew how strict my parents were. but her opinions on the subject were something I'd never know. Clara wasn't exactly the sharing type.

I shrugged and tried to look innocent.

"Noah and Ava aren't here." Still she didn't look up from what she was doing. "There was a vamp sighting a few miles away so they've gone hunting with Marc."

"Oh." My heart sank. If my parents were hunting, they probably wouldn't be back until tomorrow. I'd have to wait until then to tell them what I'd discovered.

"I think Noah wanted you to go with them but you weren't here." Clara finally laid down her knife and looked at me.

"I was out with Riley." My voice sounded small.

Clara had been a lone vampire hunter before she'd joined the team, and though she'd lived with us for more than a year, she still unnerved me. It wasn't that she kept to herself and refused to talk about her past. It wasn't the grim necklace of vampire fangs she wore, or the jar of vampire teeth she kept in her bedroom. It was the cold, dead look in her eyes. That never changed. Something had happened to her, in her past, that had scoured all the emotion out of her and it showed. In all the time I'd known her, I'd never seen her smile.

Clara nodded curtly and turned her attention back to her knives. I took the opportunity to back out of the room and head for the stairs. My bedroom was at the far end of the landing. I pushed open the door and tiptoed inside. The room was furnished simply; two beds, a small chest of drawers, and a chipped mirror in the corner. Since we moved around a lot, Noah never let us get weighed down with too many possessions. A good vampire hunter always travelled lightly.

Sophie was already asleep, her jumble of blonde curls poking out from under a plain grey duvet. Obviously Marc and my parents didn't think their hunt was a dangerous one or Sophie, as the team nurse, would be standing by to deal with potential injuries when they returned.

I got ready for bed and slid under the covers as quietly as I could so I didn't wake her. Sleep came to me in minutes, but with it came the nightmares.

I was back at the bonfire, staring at Luke through the flames. His stare burned hotter than any fire and I felt that heat curling through my body. It made me squirm but not in a bad way. I found myself walking towards him, my feet moving of their own accord. Luke didn't say anything, just watched me approach, his gaze molten.

Then someone started screaming. I wanted to react but I couldn't. It was like I was in slow-motion, as if I was trying to move my limbs through tar. A vampire was here, I knew it, tearing into unsuspecting teenagers like they were bits of meat. I tried to rush forward, to stop the vampire, but the ground had grown roots to hold me in place. My fists flailed uselessly at the air.

The vampire rounded on me. I could only stand, helpless, as it advanced. Its mouth was smeared with blood. I couldn't move . . . couldn't fight . . . couldn't breathe. The vampire pounced on me, sharp fangs tearing into my shoulder. Pain ripped through me and I screamed.

I jerked awake, my hair sticking to my sweat-damp forehead, my heart stuttering wildly. Just a dream. Just a horrible, vivid dream. The vampire hadn't followed me out of Greylark. It hadn't invaded the party and started killing people. And once I told my parents where it was, that vampire would never have the chance to hurt anyone again.

My watch read quarter past three, and I groaned. It was way too early to get up but I wouldn't get back to sleep. I never did after a nightmare.

Sliding out of bed, I headed for the door. I was halfway down the stairs when I realised someone was moving around in the kitchen. It was a tread too light to be Noah or Marc so I guessed it was my mum.

"Ava?" I said, peering round the kitchen door.

My mum turned and looked at me. She was an attractive woman but there was a hard cast to her features, a muted version of the coldness reflected in Clara's. There was a jaded, bitter look in her eyes that barely softened when she looked at me.

"What are you doing up, Kiara?"

I shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. How did your hunt go?"

"We didn't find the vamp. We're going back tomorrow to try again." Ava fixed me with a steely eye. "Your father was hoping you would join us tonight, get a little more experience in the field."

"I'm sorry, I was out." I wilted under my mum's glare. She still had the knack of making me feel five inches tall.

"With that Riley?" Ava pursed her lips in disapproval.

I nodded and Ava stepped closer to me. "You smell like smoke." Her voice was accusing.

"I wasn't smoking, Ava. We went to a little party and there was a bonfire, that's all." I was glad I'd brushed my teeth so she couldn't tell I'd been drinking.

Ava scrutinised me but I kept my face as blank and innocent as possible. For a brief moment I wished I could actually talk to her, the way normal mothers and daughters did. I wanted to tell her what a great time I'd had with Riley, and that there'd been a good-looking boy at the party. I wanted to have the sort of conversation other people had. But it was pointless. Ava didn't think much of Riley, and if I mentioned Luke, she'd tell me I shouldn't be wasting my time on boys. Since she'd never even allowed me to call her Mum, I was pretty sure that quality mother-daughter bonding wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Ava put a hand on her hip. "A party? Was there drinking?"

"No," I lied.

It was all I could do not to crack under the pressure of her stare. "You expect me to believe you went to a teenage party and there was no drinking?" Her words were weighted with skepticism.

"I wasn't drinking," I amended.

"I should hope not. We've taught you better than that. Alcohol clouds the mind and -"

"Dulls the reflexes, I know." I finished the sentence for her. It was a lesson she'd been drilling into me for years. A good vampire hunter never drank. It slowed you down, left you vulnerable, blah, blah, blah.

"You shouldn't have been wasting your time at a silly party. You should have been out with your family, hunting that vampire."

"The one you didn't find." It slipped out before I could stop it.

Ava's gaze narrowed. "Watch your mouth, young lady. You don't have enough experience in the field. At the very least you should be training rather than frittering your time away at parties." She said the last word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.

I opened my mouth to tell her that actually it was a good thing I'd gone to that party because I'd discovered a vampire all by myself. Oddly, it was the look of disappointment in my mum's eyes that stopped me. I'd rather she look at me with anger than with that awful disappointment, like I'd failed her yet again.

"Is there something else you want to tell me, Kiara?"

I could win some brownie points if I told her about the vampire. It might even be enough to wipe that look off her face. But I still found myself saying no. Nothing else had happened tonight that she needed to know about.

Ava nodded. "Get to bed. You've got college in the morning."

She didn't say goodnight nor did she look back at me when she left the kitchen. I slumped against the wall, my head spinning. Why hadn't I told her about the vampire? The answer came in a flash. I could tell her about the vampire and ease the disappointment in her eyes, or I could kill the vampire myself and finally win the approval I'd craved from her all my life. Other sixteen-year-olds wanted lifts or shopping days from their mums. I just wanted mine to look at me like she actually cared.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Tomorrow night I was going back to Greylark. Tomorrow night I was going to kill a vampire.

The first problem with my plan was that I'd never embarked on a solo hunt. I'd killed vampires, but only when I'd been with my parents or the medley of other hunters that made up our team. Killing a vampire when you know your six-foot-two dad has your back is one thing. Killing a vampire when you have no backup is another. It was daunting to say the least.

I daydreamed through my Drama class, earning myself several rebukes from my lecturer as well as some snide comments from Georgia. I barely heard a word they said.

Hunt.

Find.

Kill.

The mantra repeated itself over and over in my head. It had been taught to me almost since birth, the simple instructions that governed a vampire hunter's life. While that was going through my mind, it was difficult to concentrate on anything else.

After Drama, I found myself sitting in the canteen, staring at an empty plate in front of me. The smell of frying burgers, drifting out from the kitchen, would have tantalised me any other day but right now I wasn't hungry.

I didn't even notice Riley drop down beside me until she jabbed a sharp elbow in my ribs. And not noticing Riley took some doing, dressed as she was in a tartan skirt with her usual purple Doc Martens. Her bright red hair was twisted into pigtails.

"What's up, daydreamer?" She pulled a sandwich from her rucksack and took a huge bite of it. A blob of mayonnaise stuck to her lip-ring.

"Huh?" I was slow to react.

A wicked smile spread across Riley's face. "You're kind of distracted today. Thinking about a guy, maybe?"

"Why does it always come back to that with you?" I groaned.

"C'mon, spill. You were thinking about Luke, weren't you?"

"No," I said, but I felt my cheeks turning pink as I remembered Luke's burning stare.

"I knew it. You've got the hots for the mystery man," Riley crowed.

"I don't." But it was useless to deny it; once Riley had an idea in her head, it tended to stick.

"You should make a move on him," she urged around a mouthful of sandwich.

"How? No one even knows his last name or where he lives."

Riley chewed her lip. "Good point. Okay, but next time we see him, can you at least flirt a little?"

"Why do you care so much?"

"Firstly, you're my bestie and I want to see you find a nice guy. Secondly, I've seen loads of girls throw themselves at Luke, including Georgia, FYI, but none of them have ever got anywhere -"

"So what makes you think I have a chance?" I interrupted.

Riley stared at me. "Hel-lo. Do you own a mirror, K-girl? You're hot property and you should show it off more."

I ducked my head as she tried to tuck my hair behind my ears. I knew I scrubbed up nicely but the last thing I wanted was to draw attention to myself. "I don't want to show off anything," I mumbled, thinking of my scars.

"Kiara, he was staring at you last night. Guys don't just stare at girls if they don't fancy them."

"He disappeared as soon as I looked at him."

"Okay, so maybe he's shy. But Kiara, imagine the look on Georgia's face if you bagged him. She's always bragging about how she can have any guy she wants, but she's never been able to get her greedy mitts on Luke."

"Hey, I'm not going to use Luke just to get at Georgia."

Riley pouted. "I guess."

She started talking about something else, but my mind was already drifting away from her, away from Luke, and back towards Greylark Asylum. It was so easy for Riley to chatter on about everything and nothing; she wasn't planning to take a life tonight.

Hunt.

Find.

Kill.

By the time Riley finished her lunch, I had it all figured out. If I wanted to kill the Greylark vampire, I had to take it by surprise. That meant showing up at the asylum during the day while the vampire was vulnerable, and waiting there until night fell. Then I could catch it off-guard the way it had caught me last night.

My brow furrowed slightly as I remembered how the vampire hadn't come after me. Maybe I'd hurt it worse than I'd initially thought except . . . it hadn't felt like I'd landed any particularly damaging blows. The worst I could have done was bruise the bloodsucker and it would have healed those bruises by now. I couldn't hope that it was weakened from our brief scuffle last night. If I didn't go in expecting it to be at full strength, I risked losing the element of surprise.

Vaguely I became aware of Riley scolding me for not listening but I could hardly hear her over the mantra in my head. All I wanted was for the college day to end so I could get out of here and be on my way to Greylark. Anticipation hummed through me. Maybe I should collect the vampire's fangs like Clara did. I pictured myself with a necklace of teeth around my neck. If anyone asked, I could just say they were shark's teeth.

I reached up to touch my neck, envisioning the cold weight of teeth hanging there. Something like unease mingled with my anticipation. No, I wouldn't ever be comfortable parading around trophies of death. I wasn't Clara and I didn't want to be. All I wanted was for the people I called family to look at me with some respect.

Tonight I would take my place among them as a true vampire hunter. Tonight things were going to change.