Luke lifted one dark eyebrow as I gaped at him, and his lips twitched.

"No . . . um . . . that seat's free." My words tripped over themselves.

Luke folded his lean body into the chair opposite me. He stared at me for a moment, that half-smile still playing around his mouth. He had a good mouth, I noticed, his lips soft and kissable.

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?"

I started, realising I'd been staring at him like a brain-dead moron. "Kiara Morrow."

"I'm Luke."

"Luke . . .?" I drew out his name, waiting for the elusive surname to follow.

He shook his head. "Just Luke."

"I see." Okay, that was weird.

"Did you enjoy the party the other night?"

Not until you showed up, I thought. Out loud, I said, "It was okay."

Luke's eyes were dark grey, like steel and storm-clouds, and wherever they touched my skin it felt like sweet fire had brushed me. "I heard you went into Greylark."

I casually flicked my hand the way I'd seen Riley do. "It was nothing."

"You know people say it's haunted."

"I don't believe in ghosts."

He leaned forward and suddenly I felt like a bird, flying through the clouds of his eyes. "What would you have done if there had been a ghost there?"

The vampire flashed through my head but I firmly pushed it away. I didn't want to think about vampires, didn't want to think about my bizarre secret life. I just wanted to savour this moment.

"I don't know." It came out a whisper.

"Who are you here with tonight?" Luke asked, scanning Bar 64's top floor.

"Riley brought me to -" I paused, swallowing back the words I'd been about to say. I didn't want Luke to know I was here on a date. I wasn't interested in Joel, but if Luke knew why I was here, he'd probably walk away and that would be the last I'd see of him. I didn't want that to happen.

I swallowed the dryness in my throat. Why did he make me so nervous? It wasn't like this was the first crush I'd ever had. I'd even sneaked a couple of kisses without Noah being any the wiser, but Luke make me feel warm all over in a way I'd never experienced before. The butterflies weren't just fluttering inside me, their metaphorical wings were whipping up a hurricane. This must be what people meant when they talked about chemistry.

Luke studied me with those storm-cloud eyes and I studied him right back. He was still dressed in black, the sleeves of his t-shirt taut across his muscled arms. There was no logo on his t-shirt, no message or whimsical saying, as if he knew his natural male beauty didn't need decoration.

"This is a new look for you," Luke said, drinking in my Riley-altered appearance.

I bit my lip. "Riley wanted to pretty me up."

"You looked beautiful before." Luke blinked and abruptly closed his mouth as if he hadn't meant that to slip out.

I could only gape at him. Did that mean he'd been thinking about me? Something soft and warm blossomed inside me and I fought to tamp it down, remembering who I was and what kind of life I led. It didn't matter if Luke was the most gorgeous boy I'd ever met in my life and it didn't matter that he might actually be interested in me. Having friends was one thing, but there was no way I'd ever be able to fit a boyfriend into my life. There were some lines I could never cross.

The realisation was a fist to my gut, so real I had to fight to keep from doubling over. Sometimes having snippets of a social life was what kept me sane in my crazy world. Sometimes it just made the crazy that much worse, knowing I was within reach of the normality I'd always wanted. It was right there in front of me but it could have been a million miles away for all the difference it made.

A shadow darkened Luke's eyes as if he'd sensed my shift in mood.

That was when Riley bounded up the stairs. She froze when she saw us, a tube of lipstick in her hand held aloft like a wand. Her eyes flicked between me and Luke so fast it was like she was trying to keep up with a game of tennis.

"I think that's my cue to leave," Luke said, smiling at me. I wanted so much to tell him to stay but my throat had closed up. It was better he leave now and think I wasn't interested than pursue me and make me that much more aware that he represented everything I could never have.

Riley watched him walk away, open-mouthed. "What the . . . Kiara, I leave you alone for five minutes and you've got your hands on the hottest of hot property. I knew the makeover was a good idea."

I didn't bother telling her that Luke actually preferred me before the makeover. "I didn't exactly get my hands on him."

"More fool you. If I was in your position I'd have felt his whole body up and down by now."

"Riley. You're here with Alex, remember?" I mock-smacked her arm.

She reapplied the lipstick that Alex had slobbered away. "But Luke is the untouchable man. If I got a chance to touch him I wouldn't pass it up." She winked at me. "I'm sure Alex would understand."

I snorted, disbelievingly.

A dreamy look came into Riley's eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I like Alex, but Luke is . . . lickable." Her rainbow-nailed fingers flexed as if she was imagining reaching for something.

"Down, girl." I smacked her arm again. The happy warmth I'd felt around Luke was already fading and in its place was a little green spark of jealousy. Riley might not always have fit in with the socially popular crowd, but one thing she never lacked was confidence. That made her appeal to boys in a way that mere prettiness couldn't. She was my friend but the thought of her trying to get her hands on Luke ignited a surge of anger in me. I knew it was stupid. I'd just reminded myself there could never be anything between us, but I couldn't bear the thought of Riley going after him. Yet at the same time I had no right to stop her. She seemed to like Alex now but things could change. If the situation ever arose that Luke might return Riley's interest, I could hardly object.

Something tightened in my chest, a dull ache, and I suddenly wished I'd never met Luke. That way he wouldn't have shown me what I couldn't have.

Greylark Asylum loomed out of the darkness, a great beast crouching on the landscape. I felt like a mouse in the shadow of a lion as I gazed up at the massive stone structure.

Last night Riley had sensed I wasn't really keen on Joel, and had done her best to make me feel better by breaking off her lip-locking sessions with Alex and spending the rest of the evening with me. I appreciated her concern, but it had stopped me from making an early getaway and getting back here where I was needed.

I had got out of the house tonight by telling Noah I was going for a run. That, at least, he approved of.

The asylum doors were still ajar from the last time I'd been here. The doorway was a black mouth, cobwebs hanging like fangs. I imagined a long tongue unfurling from the asylum's depths and pulling me inside.

A sliver of doubt wormed through my mind and I shoved it down. I could do this. If the vampire was here, I was going to kill it.

Holding my head high, I approached the door. Something skittered inside the lobby and I held my breath until I saw the distinct gingery tail of a fox disappearing into the shadowy recesses.

I pulled a knife from my belt. The cold weight of it was comforting in my hand, the blade catching what little points of moonlight managed to penetrate the grime-choked windows. A lot of vampire hunters still favoured the traditional wooden stake as their killing tool, but knives did the job just as well, as long as you hit the heart. Plus, they made better offensive weapons than a stake. Vampires were fast, and getting close enough to impale them was easier said than done. Sometimes maiming them was the best way to get them down so you could deliver the killing blow, and it was easier to maim with a sharp knife than a wooden stake.

I climbed the stairs slowly, each footstep an exercise in precision. It was imperative that the vampire didn't hear me coming. Assuming it was here. I didn't want to think about how angry I'd be if the vamp didn't show again and turned this into another wasted night.

The stairs ended at the third floor and I braced myself, scanning the corridor on either side of me. Nothing. The wind sighed through a broken window-pane and set the cobwebs flapping like panicked ghosts, but there was no vampire. Still, it was early; the sun had only just gone down,

Dagger in hand, I prowled the deserted rooms, trying not to think about what might have happened in here in days past. The popular rumour was that Greylark had subjected its patients to horrific experiments and that the souls of those poor people were still trapped in the building, their screams stained into the stonework. It all sounded a bit clichéd to me, but I didn't doubt that it had been a horrible experience for anyone incarcerated in this place.

Something stirred. It sounded like a footstep scraping on the stairs.

I stiffened, my fingers curling tighter around my knife. Adrenaline kicked through my body, and my heart started to pound.

This could be it.

The footsteps were louder now, heading my way. I'd been careful to wash with unscented soap before coming out so I wouldn't give off a distinctive smell, but it was possible the vamp had picked up my natural human scent. The sweet scent of blood.

My lip curled in disgust.

I pictured myself as a bear trap, one of those with the sharp metal jaws. I was not the prey, I was the predator. Once the vampire was close enough I would snap my metal jaws shut.

A shadow, darker and more solid than the rest, paused just outside the room I was hiding in. Every inch of my body was taut and still, like I was a stone statue that could spring into lethal action at any second.

Hunt.

Find.

Kill.

That was what I was here to do.

I lunged at the vampire. My body crashed into it, riding it to the ground. The vampire grunted as it took the brunt of my weight. I brought my knife flashing down. It would have been a killing blow if the vampire hadn't twisted its whole body, faster than I thought possible, and bucked me off. I fell against the wall.

The vampire started to climb to its feet and I threw myself at it again. My heel aimed for the back of its knee, but it pivoted out of the way and my neatly executed kick turned into a graceless stumble. The vampire grabbed my arms, pulling them behind my back. Its fingers twisted my wrist and the knife slipped from my fingers. I tried to wrench free but the vampire was much stronger than me, in spite of all my training sessions. It wrapped its arms around me, pinioning my own arms at my sides.

Panic exploded through me. Oh, God, Noah had been right. I wasn't ready for this, I needed more training. I'd been so determined to prove myself to my parents, and now I was going to die because of it.