Angel of Death (con't):

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PART 24:

"...The eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eight pipers piping--"

"No! It’s eight lords a leaping!"

"Huh? What are you talking about? It’s eight ladies dancing!"

Amused, Kavan looked up from the book he was reading. Destiny, Amaya and LeAnne had been sitting across the hall, on the rec. room couch for a while now, singing off-key Christmas carols. Away in a Manger, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Silent Night and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus had all gone well, but The 12 Days of Christmas were killing them. They had already fought over the four calling birds and seven swans a-swimming. Kavan wondered if he should tell them that it was really eight maids a-milking, but decided against it; they would probably bite his head off or something.

If nothing else, Kavan had to admit that their singing had put him in a festive mood. It had been almost two weeks since Conri had died and Thierry decided that he and Marcellus truly wanted to join Circle Daybreak. Thierry’s verdict had been long in coming--no wonder, since both Kavan and Marcellus had lied about joining Daybreak before--but even now, when he had been accepted, Kavan felt he did not belong. Not after all that he had done. Destiny still would not talk to him and Delano was more than a little hostile towards him. Chris was no better and for their friends’ and soulmate’s sake, Nick, Amaya and Colin were equally stony. Inside, Kavan was no less hard on himself. He still blamed himself for Conri’s death and although it was Christmas Eve, he was not at all happy.

"Hello beautiful," Nick greeted Amaya as he slid onto the couch beside her.

"Hey, Corona," Destiny called. "What about us?" She pointed to herself and LeAnne.

With a charming smile, Nick tipped an imaginary hat towards the two other women. "Well, hello to Beauty’s equally lovely friends."

The scene was so cheesy, Kavan had to work to keep from gagging. Still, somewhere inside, he wished he had that kind of closeness with someone. Now that Conri was gone, there was no one to talk to.

With a disgusted sound, Kavan dismissed the thought. He could not believe he had actually wanted to explore the cheese! Next thing he knew, he would be wallowing in corn and cheese. Ugh!

Returning his attention back to his Bernard Cornwell novel, Excaliber, he tuned out the world. It was not until someone else strode into the study, closed the door and called out his name, that Kavan put down the novel with a sigh. He supposed he was glad to leave King Arthur to his own depressing problems, but he was not in the mood to speak to anyone either.

Glancing up, he found himself looking up at Thierry. "Yes, sir?" he asked, hastily rising from his chair.

Thierry might have looked like a regular 19 year old, with his white-blond hair cut short and his boyish features, but one look into his eyes and you knew this was no regular teenage boy. The wisdom and experience, the sadness and pain shone through those dark orbs like fire burning behind ice.

Thierry gestured for Kavan to sit down again, then did the same. There was no hiding that he had not come just for an amiable afternoon chat; there was something on Mr. Lordy’s mind.

"Kavan," he finally began, "are you with us of your own free will?"

The Wild Power started at Thierry without comprehension. "Pardon, sir?"

Thierry shook his head, saying, "Drop the ‘sir’. What I’m trying to say is, are you here because you want to be, or because someone made you? I can’t help but notice that you seem to grow more depressed by the day. Marcellus, at least, has managed to settle in, more or less. But you, Kavan, what’s wrong?"

Now that he put it that way, Kavan understood all too well. "Of course I’m here of my own free will, s-I mean, Thierry," he lied. "And I’m perfectly happy here, really. I just felt that I needed some time to myself, that’s all."

The Lord of Circle Daybreak peered at him through eyes that said he knew Kavan was lying. Still, he did not comment as he rose from his chair. "Very well," he sighed, walking to the door. Right before he left, he turned around and added, "By the way, Conri’s death wasn’t your fault, Kavan. And if you would just accept that and move on, you might realize not all of us hate you."

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PART 25:

December 25, Christmas Day. Nick woke up that morning with a sick feeling in his stomach. Perhaps it was just because Amaya was lying on it, but he doubted that. As he moved to slide off the bed, she stirred and peeked up at him through one eye. "Where are you going without me?"

Despite himself, Nick had to smile at her loveliness. "Downstairs. I just didn’t want to wake you; you looked so content."

"That’s ‘cause I was dreaming of you, silly," Amaya retorted, swinging her legs out of bed and pulling on a housecoat. "Let’s go open our presents," she suggested with a huge grin, like an excited child. She took Nick’s hand and pretty much dragged him down the stairs in his pajamas.

In the rec. room, where the giant evergreen tree had been set up, other people were already waiting.

"About time you two got here!" Ash Redfern cried right before he plunked a large package into Nick’s arms. A smaller one was given to Amaya before he breezed off to surprise another unwitting victim.

"Hi Nick!" Chris called out when she caught sight of him.

For a second, he was ready to run. Sure, Chris had shown that she and Colin were an item now, but who knew what she was capable of on Christmas Day? Only a tug on his arm from Amaya made him stay where he was.

"Hey, guys!" Chris chirped quite cheerfully. "I just wanted to say thanks for the present! How did you know I liked LJ Smith?"

"Me, of course."

Chris let out a little yip as Colin wrapped his arms around her and tickled her stomach. "Where did you come from?" she demanded, feigning anger once she had pulled away from him.

Nick hid his smile from the flirting couple. What had he been afraid of? Chris was completely smitten. "Well, see you guys later," he called as he and Amaya walked away, but they hardly noticed.

Behind him, Nick heard someone asking Chris what she had gotten Colin for Christmas.

"He’ll have to wait until tonight," was her murmured answer, bringing a laugh from everyone around and a blush to Colin’s cheeks.

Nick was just suppressing another smile when Nilsson ran into the room in his flannel pajamas. When Nick saw this, all he could do was gape. What? Nilsson, in flannel?! This had to be an apparition!

"Quiet! Quiet everyone!" Nilsson hollered, climbing onto the coffee table. Nilsson screaming and climbing, another shocking first!

As everyone gathered around his frantic figure, the chauffeur/butler began to speak in a fast, worried fashion. "I am sorry to interrupt you like this on Christmas Day, but the Night World has begun their attack! Iliana and Delos have both been assaulted this morning on their way here. Both are not 10 miles away and we need agents to go to them immediately!" he paused for a long breath, then continued, this time calling out names. "Nick, Amaya, Destiny, Oriel, Rashel and Quinn, you are going to Delos’ aid. Delano, Braeden, LeAnne, Ash, Colin and Chris are going to Iliana. Thierry is in the garage, waiting to give you further instructions. Change quickly!" With that, the vampire scampered off the table and back up the stairs.

Everyone in the room was still silently recovering from the shock when the agents who had been named sprang into action. Those who were already dressed sprinted towards the garage while the rest ran to their rooms, then followed the others to the garage. Everything was happening so quickly that there was no time to think, only to act. It was not until they were on the road that the full meaning of this really began to sink in. Iliana and Delos, two Wild Powers, had been attacked and who knew what had become of Jez. Maybe she was perfectly fine, or maybe she was dead. Either way, if just one of those three had been captured or killed, the human world was lost.

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PART 26:

Delos had no idea where they had come from, but that hardly mattered when he was fighting for his life. Hopefully, he would have time to care later, if he survived.

The van was already up in flames. Delos had barely gotten Maggie and hhimself out alive. Davina and Belarius had not gotten out at all, but Donato and Jamal had managed to escape.

Now, a small circle had been formed around Maggie, the only human of the group. Donato, a werewolf, had just finished calling Thierry and Delos prayed reinforcements would arrive soon. He had already used his Blue Fire a number of times, but more Night People always seemed to be coming. Delos would have preferred to use the Fire at full blast, but this was a residential area and he could not blast a giant pothole into the road like he had in the Dark Kingdom. That would have been unfair to the resident humans, who were already receiving an unwanted Christmas surprise.

To his right, Delos saw Jamal fall to his knees, a wooden stake stuck in his left shoulder. The vampire who had embedded the weapon there brought out another stake and was about to finish it when Maggie whacked him in the head with a wooden club.

*Where did you get that?* Delos asked through their soulmate link and he felt Maggie’s mental shrug.

*Concentrate on the fight,* she reprimanded.

As Delos focused on the fight once more, he saw a werewolf in half-and-half form flying towards him. He was just about to move when he remembered that Maggie was behind him. "Oh, fuck," he choked out as the wolf landed on him, full force, and staggered with the sudden weight. Sharp claws dug into his chest and he could hear the cloth of his shirt tearing beneath the wolf. Delos could not help but think how stupid the wolf was. He had never channeled the Blue Fire from his chest, but he was sure he could do it.

A second later, the werewolf was just so much fur lying on the ground, along with a few of his colleagues.

However, as Delos was catching his breath, he heard Maggie scream his name. Whirling around to face her, he felt a sharp pain in his temple, then all was black.

@~~>~~>~~~

The Night People had come upon Iliana as quickly as they had Delos. But thankfully, her car was still intact and Nissa was still trying to drive it away. Of course, it was slightly challenging with a bunch of vampires and werewolves hanging all over the car and two flat tires.

BOOM!

Uh, make that three flat tires.

Beside Iliana, Keller was hollering obscenities at the Night People who stuck any part of their body through her window. The curses were accompanied by painful swipes of her retractable claws.

On Iliana’s left, Winnie was throwing witch fire as fast as she could conjure it up. In the front seat, Galen and Nissa had traded weapons. He had her fighting stick while she held his dagger. Both were desperately defending their windows from any vampire or werewolf that dared show his or her head.

Suddenly, there was the sound of smashing glass all around Iliana and her ears were filled with its ringing. Splinters of glass stabbed at her back and all of a sudden, she felt someone grab the back of her shirt. It was then that she realized that the back window had been broken and the Night People were reaching in for her.

"Keller!! Galen! Winnie, Nissa!! Help!!" she screamed as she was dragged backwards through the window of the car.

@~~>~~>~~~

When Jezebel Redfern arrived at the mansion, everything was chaos. Organized chaos, but still chaos, nonetheless. "What the hell is going on?" she asked her soulmate Morgead Blackthorn as they stepped over the threshold. She took her helmet off, shook her hair out, then just stared.

"Damned if I know," was his helpful reply.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Nilsson breezed up to Jez and hugged her hard. Morgead frowned and was about to object to this when the butler pulled away and spoke hurridly, "I can’t say how overjoyed I am to see you, Ms. Redfern!"

"Overjoyed? Jez? Nilsson, are you feeling okay?" Morgead asked, truly concerned. He and Jez usually drove the vampire up the wall with their antics.

Both Jez and Nilsson completely ignored Morgead. She asked instead, "What’s going on, Nilsson? Why is everyone so panicked? And why did you hug me?"

Nilsson shook his head in dismay. "Delos and Iliana were ambushed by the Night World on their way here. Donato and Keller managed to get their calls to us and we’ve sent agents to help them out. We weren’t sure if you were okay and we hadn’t been able to get through to you."

A sheepish smile lighted Jez’s face. "Oh, sorry, Nilsson. Morgead and I turned off our ringers and threw the phones in our bags."

Nilsson peered at Jez like he would a wayward child. "It would really save us all a lot of trouble if you would agree to have an escort, Ms. Redfern. That way, we would all sleep easier, knowing that you were protected."

Jez rolled her dark green eyes. "I have Morgead," she pointed out, just to spite Nilsson.

"You know what I mean, Ms. Redfern."

"Hey, look! They’re coming back!" Eric Ross, Thea Harman’s human soulmate shouted from his place by the window.

Nilsson immediately excused himself and rushed to the window to see for himself. Outside, two of the four cars that had been sent were driving back at an alarming speed. As they got closer, Nilsson could identify the two cars as being the ones who went to Iliana. Judging from their speed, the people inside were still alive; if they had been dead, there would have been no hurry to get to the mansion. Great, Iliana, at least, was almost safe. Now the question was, was Delos safe as well?

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