Page 78 of After Darkness Falls

Chloe bared her teeth. "I'm no child."

"Then stop acting like one. Carry on and you willdie. For good. Not even because of the ferals, not because of the gentry waiting for you at the bottom of this hill. Because without the blood of your clan, you're nothing but a corpse on borrowed time."

It was hard, so very hard, to truly take in anything—there was so much to look at and listen to. Her memories. The sound of the wildlife running in every direction, fleeing from the monsters. The ferals. A fight. The moon rising in the distance. After darkness fell, the world had been shadows to her until now. Now she saw through the fog, and it was beautiful.

She didn't want it to end. Not now. The thing inside her didn't either. It forced her to pay attention. Not just to Levi's words—to herself.

Her limbs had felt like they could soar, like she was stronger than anything—anyone.

Now she noticed the decline. The fatigue. How very dry her throat was, like sanding paper. Her hands, so strong a minute ago, were trembling.

"What's happening to me?"

"You're mid-transition, and you need Tom's blood. You have a night, at most, if you save your energy. Your stunt trying to sync with your raven familiars already cost you."

Shit.

She had no clue what he meant about syncing, but she certainly felt drained. Enfeebled, unexplainably.

"Next time, how about you warn a girl?" she retorted, without much heat, mainly because she didn't have the energy to summon up the requisite amount of ire.

"How about we concentrate on keeping you alive? You can tell me everything I did wrong if you're breathing by dawn."

Dawn seemed so far when night had only just claimed dominion over the hill.

Their heads snapped downhill as shadows approached.

The ferals.

Levi let go of her and turned to face them.

"You remember what I said last week?"

Yes. No. Maybe.

Thankfully, he spelled it out for her. "Run."

Oh. That.

She hesitated.

"What about you?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Don't insult me. I'll wipe the floor with that lot without breaking a sweat."

She knew he could take care of himself, but she could only concentrate on what he'd once said, how one feral bite was enough to turn any vampire into a mindless creature. What if they took him by surprise? Someone had to watch his back.

She stood her ground as the first line closed in on Levi.

Until now, she'd always seen a blur of unclear movements—one moment Levi was standing to her right, then to her left, and she couldn't detect the transition. Now, she saw everything, each of his graceful, precise moves. A leap to the first feral, his knee colliding with the side of its jaw, then using his neck to pivot mid-air, his boot kicking down three of them in one blow. The man was a machine.

A machine fighting one against a hundred.

She rushed forward just as someone leaped in the air, landing right in front of her on a crouch. Jack was still wearing a damn suit, not one hair out of place.

He watched her, his jaw tight.

Right. Her friend disliked vampires. She'd forgotten.

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