The rain poured down, falling so quickly it ran between her eyes and blinded her as she stumbled along down the sidewalk. The sound of it was like a waterfall, deafening and all-consuming, so deliciously needed but overpowering in its intensity. Hugging her books closer to her chest, the raven-haired girl stumbled through the water, running for the safety of a nearby tree. Wiping her damp hair out of her eyes, she blinked through the water still running down her face, trying to get her bearings.

The sky was dark, forboding and tempestuous, and she felt that excited leap in the pit of her stomach as she sensed the storm heightening. She must get home before it grew any worse. Against the blackness of the sky, the trees appeared a vibrant green, and the whole world had transformed into an angry version of itself. Although she never admitted it, Allison enjoyed this side of the world. Deep down, she'd always been drawn to a darkness she couldn't explain, and she'd waved it away her entire life by focusing on school and moving when her father decided they'd stayed in one town for too long.

Peering through the downpour, her eye landed on a black sedan parked nonchalantly across the street, several doors down. Through the rain, it was impossible to see the driver - if there even was one - but the sight of the car sent a chill through her. She recognized it, had been seeing it often lately, but it was always too far away for her to get a good look.

She still didn't believe in coincidence.

Gathering her books and purse closer to her person, she huddled and prepared herself to dive back out into the torrent. Her long, slender legs carried her quickly into the rain, and she instantly lost sight of the world around her as the rain consumed her. Her senses prickled, disliking not being able to have a clear view of that mysterious car that had been stalking her, and she picked up her pace as her heart beat mightily in her chest.

Suddenly, strong arms grabbed her, rendering her helpless and dragging her off the sidewalk. She screamed, already spooked by the car, and dropped her books as she instinctively fought against her assailant. She was drug backwards even as she continued to kick, and she sensed fighting was useless. The arms only released her when they had drug her into the semi-darkness between two nearby houses, and she whirled to glare at her kidnapper.

It was Jackson.

"Shhh!" he urged, clamping a hand over her mouth and grabbing her, shoving her unceremoniously against the wall of the house. She glared at him hotly with her brown eyes, but he shook his head and pointed with his free hand back the way they had come.

Her eyes fought to adjust through the rain, but she saw the black sedan moving next to the sidewalk as if stalking its prey. The car came to a halt with a slight whine of its brakes, and a dark-clothed figure stepped out to retrieve the books she'd dropped when Jackson grabbed her. Thumbing through the books, the figure looked back and forth, up and down the street. Jackson and Allison stiffened simultaneously, and his blue eyes fixed her with a fearful gaze.

The figure seemed to sense their presence and looked up, toward the alley between the houses.

"Kiss me," Jackson urged, water running down his symmetrical face, his fingers going to her chin to turn her head to face him. She could barely stare at him with disbelief and shock before his mouth covered hers in a smothering kiss.

She braced herself, her hand gripping the strap of her purse as his lips consumed hers. Fear gripped her heart, the fear of the unknown represented by the mysterious black sedan, and she closed her eyes against the kiss. Scott would hate him for this - and he would find out - but right now she sensed Jackson wasn't playing games with her. She felt the urgency in the kiss, the tenseness in his body as he kissed her. She could feel the eyes of the predator watching them, trying to focus on them through the rain, and her heart picked up the pace.

Her desire to live overpowering her anxiety about kissing a boy who wasn't Scott, she instinctively reached up, her arms encircling his neck and her fingers lacing into his hair. She kissed him back, roughly and dispassionately, businesslike even. He felt her react, and he pushed back as if it were a game of tug o' war and not a fight for their survival against a faceless threat.

Rain drenched them both, pouring from the roof of the house where they stood. The liquid ran down her cheeks between them, and her fingers were soaked from the water running through his hair. For the briefest of moments, Allison lost herself in the kiss, forgot it was merely for survival. When she came to her senses, her brown eyes snapped open, and she looked hastily toward the road. The black sedan was gone.

Sighing in relief, she realized she still had her arms draped around Jackson's neck, and she laughed nervously, her hands sliding down and resting on his chest, subtly pushing him away from her. "What was that all about?" she asked, clearing her throat and taking a deep breath.

Jackson shrugged and smiled that cocky smile of his, "Maybe I just wanted an excuse to kiss you."

Playfully punching him, she fixed him with a chiding gaze. "Really, Jackson. I'm not stupid enough to believe that."

His shoulders raised and fell as he drew in a deep breath and exhaled, running his hand over his forehead and back into his drenched hair, slinging water upward in the process. "Demons have been following you."

Allison's chocolate brown eyes widened in disbelief, and she snorted in his face, pulling her black hair out of her face as the rain made it stick to her olive skin. "Demons don't exist. Trust me, if they did, my family would know about them."

Jackson rolled his eyes, fixing her with a deprecating gaze he reserved for basically everyone who wasn't him. "Your family didn't know I was a kanima, it was Derek that figured that one out, so don't pretend you know everything. You're just an initiate anyway. I don't imagine your father is letting you do much ever since you tried to murder Boyd and Erica." He cocked his head and raised his eyebrows knowingly, smirking.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him. Jackson had always imagined he was better than everyone else, and he was a cocky bastard. However, she had never been intimidated like him unlike the rest of the school, and she wasn't about to allow him to demean her.

"On the contrary, the females are the leaders in my family."

Jackson shook one finger and smiled. "Ah, but you're not a woman yet, Allison. Screwing McCall in the backseat of his mom's car doesn't count."

Her mouth fell open slightly, irritation and anger rising in her chest. "You're a jerk, Jackson."

He shrugged noncommittally, "I've been called much worse, but I do have to say it's never been immediately after I saved someone's life."

Looking away from him, she stood in stubborn silence, staring off through the rain in the direction the sedan had disappeared. She didn't want to thank him, but if he was right and she'd been trailed by demons for the past few weeks, then he had indeed saved her life. Finally, she looked back at him and uncrossed her arms.

"Thank you."

He nodded and smiled a smile that seemed genuine (at least as genuine as she'd ever seen him). "I do care whether you live or die, Allison, despite what you may think."

She instantly remembered the claws of the kanima clamped around her throat, the paralyzing poison tickling her skin as it threatened to render her entirely helpless. She felt his hot, reptilian breath in her right ear, moving her hair with every intake and exhale. She felt the lithe tail whipping around her feet, caressing her shins and daring her to move.

"Um... thanks." She swallowed heavily and moved off into the rain, headed for the sidewalk which would carry her home and away.