Angel of Death (con't):

* * * * *
PART 30:

"Shit," Jez muttered as she hung up her cell phone with a bang.

"What’s wrong?" LeAnne asked, concerned.

The Wild Power turned and paced the floor of the airport before facing the group and explaining, "Thierry says that there’s no way to get to Iliana since she’s on the plane. We knew that, it’s not a big problem. But Delos has definitely already arrived at the Dark Kingdom. Thierry might be able to warn Kavan beforehand, but it’s doubtful."

"Fuck," Morgead spat out before struggling to calm himself down. Now was not the time to make a scene. "What are WE supposed to do?"

"We wait for reinforcements to come in, then we go out to the Outback and take care of those S.O.B.’s." Jez replied quite happily.

Morgead stared at her quite incredulously. "What, we’re just going to sit around here for twelve hours and hope that we don’t attract attention?"

"No, we’re going to check into a hotel under the fake ID’s provided for us."

"Why can’t we just stay with the Australian branch of Circle Daybreak?" LeAnne asked innocently.

Jez shook her head. "It’s too risky. That’s the first place the Night People are going to check when we don’t get there when they expect us. It’s better if we go to a hotel. We’ll be called when the reinforcements get here." Then, bending to pick up her luggage, Jez jerked her head towards the door. "Let’s get going."

Nissa sat twiddling her thumbs and staring out of the plane window, into the clouds. She believed that they were currently over Japan, but it was hard to tell; there was zero visibility, even for a vampire.

"Okay, question for you guys," Dion suddenly burst out, ready to explode from boredom. "Why is Winnie the Pooh called Pooh? What, did Christopher Robin just decide he liked Pooh? What’s up with that?"

Iliana, Nissa, Keller, Galen and Winnie simply sat there staring at him for long seconds. That had to have been the stupidest question they had ever heard, but it DID get you thinking. Why WAS that damn bear called Pooh?

"Beats me," Keller finally said. "Hey, Winnie, you two share a name. Any ideas?"

The strawberry-blond witch sniffed in indignation. "My name is Winifrith, not Pooh, thank you very much. And no, I have no idea."

Although some of the Daybreakers apparently could not care less about Winnie the Pooh, the others were getting into it. "Obviously, that is the kind of name only humans could come up with," Nissa pointed out. "It’s a classic."

Galen laughed aloud. "Classic? Maybe, but it’s definitely unique."

"Wait!" Iliana exclaimed. "I’ve got it! Have you ever noticed that he never wears pants? Could that have something to do with Pooh?"

Dion burst into laughter. "Oh, that’s hilarious," he gasped. "That’s just too funny."

Keller rolled her gray eyes at the ceiling, then bud into the giggles of her friends. "Look guys, we have other things to worry about other than Winnie the Pooh and his pants. We’re almost there. Now, we have to decide, what do we want to do first?"

"What are our choices?" Galen asked. He had calmed down, but there was still a grin a mile wide on his face.

"We can grab something to eat in Beijing, do a bit of sightseeing, or just go to the hotel. Take your pick."

Iliana smiled apologetically, saying, "I’d love to go sightseeing or something, but I’m really tired. You guys can drop me off at the hotel and go check the city out without me."

"No, we’ll stay with you, won’t we guys?" Dion answered, surveying his friends, who all nodded. "After all, who knows what kind of weirdoes are in Beijing?" Little did he know that he would soon get an unpleasant answer to that question.

"I am so happy that we got a big boat," Colin commented as the waves tossed the craft this way and that.

Chris took one look at him from her seat on a wooden bench and teased, "Yet you still look as green as seaweed."

Colin narrowed his eyes and tried to look menacing, but only managed to look sicker.

"Yeah, you’re SO tough," remarked Ash with a smirk as he passed by them to the stern of the boat where Quinn was manning it with Rashel.

"Hey Colin!" Kavan called from the bow of the boat, where he was sitting, staring out into the bay. "Could you come over here a sec.?"

Unsteadily, Colin lurched over to Kavan. "What is it?" he asked, none too kindly, for the short journey had made him all the more ready to up-chuck that disgusting microwaved cardboard the airlines called food.

"Do you see that boat over there?" Kavan pointed out a white boat about the same size as theirs, 15 meters long with a glass partition between the wheel and the rest of the boat.

"Yeah, so?"

"Is it supposed to be there? I mean, it’s about the size to fit into that empty space back at the dock."

Colin shrugged, not really caring either way. "I’m sure there’s no connection. After all, didn’t Thierry say that a owner had left the boat at the island for us? That’s probably it."

Kavan was still dubious. "If you say so."

By then, they had almost reached the island. Carefully, Quinn pulled up by the other boat, frowning. "I got the impression that the guy had just left a small motor boat."

"Maybe not. Maybe he decided to be hospitable," Ash suggested, then muttered, "With the kind of money Thierry’s paying him, he better be hospitable."

"Yeah," Quinn agreed, picking up some of their luggage. "The price that prick asked for was way beyond reasonable."

Colin was the first to stumble to shore, then reached back and beckoned for the luggage. "Let’s just get inside, okay? I think I need to lie down."

Chris’ laugh resonated through the trees as she jumped off and put her arm around her waist. "You’re so cute when you’re sick."

"Then I’d rather be ugly and healthy," he muttered with a twinkle in his chocolate brown eyes.

Suddenly, there was a shout from the small cottage which was built upon a gentle hill protruding from the center of the island. Instantly alert, the Daybreakers exchanged startled glances before sprinting for the hilltop.

Ash was the first to arrive, followed by Chris. The tiger shifter gasped and reached out to Quinn, who have been the one to yell. He had taken some of the luggage to the cottage and not had an arrow sticking out of his left shoulder, the bags scattered and forgotten on the doorstep.

"What the hell?" Ash breathed, pushing the injured Quinn absently behind him just as a dozen arrows came lancing out at them from the darkness of the tall trees surrounding the small clearing in front of the cottage.

Instantly, the Daybreakers formed a circle around Kavan, a practiced action that took to thought.

While Kavan reached between Chris and Rashel for the luggage as some kind of protection from the arrows, his protectors were all pulling out their guns. The sudden barrage of arrows had stopped for a second and it was a desperate race to see who could load and shoot first.

As it turned out, the Daybreakers won, but they had no idea WHERE to shoot. Chris contented herself with shooting into the darkness but before the others could follow suit, a single arrow shot out of the surrounding trees. It landed a hair’s breath away from Kavan’s hand, where he had reached the luggage. The Wild Power’s sea-green eyes rounded with terror and surprise. The arrow had been so close, it was a miracle it had missed... But Kavan soon found out that he might not have been so lucky after all, for a second later, the arrow began to smolder, then burst into flames.

It was the beginning of the nightmare.

Nick froze where he stood beside Delos. He knew that voice all too well. That raspy texture was new, acquired by too much smoke inhalation, but the tone of voice could never be mistaken.

Surprisingly, Nick felt no shock at Hunter Redfern’s appearance, simply an exasperated annoyance. Truly, he had anticipated this. Something inside of him had known Hunter would be here; he always was. Although there were four Wild Power’s to choose from, Nick had known the Redfern would pick Delos. After all, Delos’ guard was chock-full of his greatest enemies while Jez, Iliana, and Kavan’s were not. The only other person who had been a possibility had been Kavan, but, obviously, Hunter had decided Delos’ party would be better prey.

As Hunter’s party emerged from the shadows around Black Dawn castle, Nick found their positions quite ironic. This time, Delos was the one standing where the nobles had been, with Hunter watching them calculatingly. At least Nick knew for certain that no Blue Fire would be coming from the Night Worlders to fry him and that made him feel so much better. Suddenly, behind him, Nick heard Marcellus D’Alimonte gasp. To the left of Hunter, his sister Keiara, had stepped into the light. Nick himself was quite astounded to see this. He had expected Keiara to be elsewhere, probably in Canada, harassing Kavan. If she was here, that meant Hunter had a much more powerful force than the Daybreakers could easily counter, if at all. He must be planning to go all out here, planning on getting rid of Delos; thus, winning the war.

It was a good plan, Nick would give him that, but he would make sure it was not so easily realized. He was just preparing to launch his first mental attack when Delos spoke up.

"Hello Hunter," Delos said voice and face both without expression.

A slow, feral grin spread across Hunter’s face, reaching his eyes. "Hello Delos. Still playing the knight in shining armour, I see. Well, it won’t last, I’ll guarantee you that. You’ll be dead before sunrise."

"And how do you plan to guarantee that?"

The grin grew wider. With a barely perceptible nod, Hunter signaled for his men to advance. Apparently, he was done with the word games.

Immediately, Nick, Delano, Amaya, Destiny and Marcellus formed the practiced circle around Delos and Maggie. Delos could only use his Blue Fire if he was alive; the circle was designed to keep him breathing and to give him time to collect himself before he blasted anything. And he had better collect himself quickly, for his guards would be defeated within minutes from the sheer volume of the enemies.

It was impossible to tell how many of them there were. The clouds blanketed them all with large flakes of snow and managed to block out any light from the moon at the same time. The only sure thing was that they were helplessly outnumbered and the Night People planned on attacking from all sides.

Before they actually began, however, Keiara halted the Night People and faced her younger brother. "Join us," she offered, extending her hand out to him. "Join me, and be by my side, where you belong."

Everyone held their breath. If Marcellus deserted, they were in even more trouble; they needed every ally they had. Nick braced himself for Marcellus’ deflection, but it never came.

Sadness welled up in Marcellus’ emerald eyes. It was a bitter sadness, a hurt sadness, for he felt like his every essence was shattering from this choice. Keiara had been his life, his world for centuries, but he could no longer abide by her rules. It was then that he knew one of them would be dead by the Millennium, slaughtered at the hands of the other, if he did not join her. But even with that realization, he could not accept what she offered.

"I’m sorry," he whispered, almost inaudibly. "I can’t."

A whirlwind of emotions floated through Keiara’s violet eyes at that moment as she dropped her hand limply to her side. Anger, loss, sadness, loneliness and disbelief, to name a few. Then, her face hardened into a mask devoid of emotion, and, with a wave of her hand, signaled her men to attack.

* * * * *
PART 31:

Hastily, Kavan flinched back from the burning luggage in terror. How the hell had the Night World managed that? One second, it was a normal arrow and the next, everything was going up in flames!

Suddenly, a shout from Ash made Kavan whirl around. Rashel immediately pushed his head back down, but not before he saw the--up until now--invisible enemy leap from the surrounding trees in alarming numbers.

"Hand me something sharp," hissed Kavan up to Quinn.

Understanding Kavan’s motives, Quinn shook his head. "There’s too many trees. If you use the Blue Fire, this whole island could go up. That’s NOT going to help."

Kavan nodded grudgingly, comprehending the reasoning. Still, he felt completely useless until Colin hissed down at him "If you really want to help, get your gun out. Or have you forgotten about it?" All this was said at the same time Colin aimed his own gun and shot at one of the advancing Night People.

A scream echoed through the still, tense night air. As Kavan groped in the dark for his gun--which he HAD forgotten--he knew that one of the enemy had just met their end, but there were many more out there. And the shrill scream seemed to have triggered a reaction among the Night People, for all of a sudden, they were all rushing at the Daybreakers in a giant mob.

*Be ready to run for the boat,* Quinn warned mentally. A second later, just before the enemy was upon them, he gave the signal and Chris and Ash began shooting a path through the mob. Rashel helped the injured Quinn--the arrow had been taken out, but that just left the wound bleeding freely--while Colin sandwiched Kavan between himself, Ash and Chris.

To their surprise, less than half the Night People followed them. They soon found out why when they reached the dock. Everything that might burn was on fire. The flames cast by the wooden dock and the Daybreakers’ boat bathed everything in a blood-red light. On the other boat, the Night People were beckoning for their collages to join them before the Daybreakers caught up. There was a frenzy of activity to scramble aboard the boat right before the sound of a motor sliced through the night.

With a calm she did not feel, Chris sighted down her arm and shot down three monsters in a row. It felt good, but that still did not change the fact that they would not make it to the dock in time to stop them all. Then again, to go down there was suicide; even with three dead, they outnumbered the Daybreakers.

"Wait, didn’t Thierry say there was another dock on the other side of the island?" Kavan exclaimed hopefully.

Colin shook his head, breathing heavily from the dash down to the dock. "That must be where the other Night People went. But we’ll never make it in time. Besides," he added as Quinn slid down to sit on the dirt path, leaning against a tree and clutching his shoulder in pain, "It wouldn’t be fair to make Quinn run after people who are already gone."

He was right. By then, the enemy was gone, but not before they had raided the cottage, the Daybreakers soon found. There was no food left in the house and the phone lines had been cut. All the furniture was shredded and lay on their sides in a jumbled mess. Springs stuck out of mattresses and stuffing spilled out of cushions. The glass of the windows were shattered beyond recognition. The only things left serviceable were the tap and electricity.

"Well, boys and girls," Colin announced sardonically as he ripped a strip of cloth from his T-shirt and bandaged Quinn’s shoulder. "It looks like we’ll be camping out tonight, seeing as how our cell phones burned up with our bags and there’s nothing to keep out the elements but our winter jackets."

"Wish I had a parka," Kavan muttered, shivering already.

"Okay, I am approaching over-tired mode," Winnie announced happily as she bounced around in the back of the taxi. And it was strange little taxi, too. The Chinese called it a "mian bao che" or bread car, because it was shaped like a bread loaf. It looked like something one would find in Europe, and since it was so narrow, was perfect for the tight packed streets of Beijing.

Their Daybreak guide and interpreter for the stay, a shy leopard shifter named Ling, just gazed apprehensively at the petite witch, looking like he wanted to move away but was too polite to.

"Don’t worry," Galen assured Ling sympathetically. "She’s always like this."

Ling still looked unconvinced, but he nodded, pushing up his wire-framed glasses.

Dion suppressed his yawn as he glanced out the window. "Is it just me or are the pedestrians going faster than us."

"Rush hour," Ling explained in his quiet, unobtrusive voice. He was a man of few words, although, unlike many other shy people, he still managed to come off as polite.

"Still, I’ve never seen this before."

Ling smiled for the first time since the others had met him. It was smile as small and quiet as his voice, yet made him look like the knowledgeable parent explaining the facts of life to his small children. Which, to an effect, he was. "Mr. Vitani, you have not lived in a city with over a million people. It is always like this and believe me, if I had thought that we would not have gotten lost on bikes, I would have chosen those as our mode of transportation."

Iliana smiled sweetly at him. "Thank you, Ling. We believe you. We just wish we would get to the hotel soon. We’re all so tired."

Just a glance from Iliana seemed to make Ling’s face light up. If he had not been so shy, Dion would have worried. "I can imagine how you must be very tired, Ms. Harman." Although Iliana was technically a Dominick, none of the Daybreakers could keep that in mind and she had long since given up trying to fix it.

Finally, after 45 minutes, they arrived at Holiday Inn. If they had been in Nevada, they would have arrived half an hour earlier, but Keller was the only one to complain. Dion would have as well, but Iliana kept him in line.

After checking in, Ling helped the others bring their luggage to their third floor rooms. He would be sharing a room with the guys while the girls split into twos and took the other two rooms.

"I’m so glad we’re here!" Dion exclaimed, stepping out of the elevator. He dropped his bags and took Iliana by the hands pulling her out of the elevator after him. When she was out, he suddenly picked her up in his arms and twirled her around, laughing.

Setting her down again, she grinned up at him, saying quietly, "What was that for?"

An intense look seeped into Dion’s storm grey eyes. He pulled Iliana close to him, burying his face in her hair. "You know I love you, right?"

"Of course," Iliana replied tenderly, then added, "I love you too, but we should probably get going."

Reluctantly, Dion let her go, but kept her hand. Slowly, they made their way towards the others, who had passed them exchanging knowing looks and ooh’s and ahh’s.

"Do you smell something?" Dion asked as they approached the room doors.

Keller, Galen and Ling all tried to detect what Dion was talking about while a disconcerting feeling of premonition settled over the group. For the first time since their arrival in Beijing, everything was utterly silent.

Listening closely, a soft tinkering sound could be heard behind the door to Keller and Iliana’s room. Winnie cupped her witch fire between her palms while Dion drew his gun and flung open the door.

A little squeak sounded from the cleaning woman inside. "Oh, sorry, sorry," she repeated over and over in her broken English, frozen in terror with duster in hand.

Ling immediately pushed past the other Daybreakers, who were apologizing profusely and putting up their guns. "It’s alright, xiao jie," he assured her in Mandarin. "We’re sorry. We mean you no harm."

Before everyone had time to calm down and sort themselves out, a second cleaning girl passed by down the hall. She was Asian as well, but her eyes, which reflected the light back at you, betrayed her for something other than human.

In the confusion, no one noticed the strangeness of her eyes. In fact, no one noticed her at all until something small and smoking landed on the floor between the Daybreakers and the cleaning woman. By then, it was too late; the gas bomb was happily releasing its noxious contents.

"Fuck, what is this?" Keller gasped, clinging to Galen as they all fell to their knees. It was last words the Daybreakers heard before they fell into darkness and the Night People, in gas masks, stepped out of the surrounding rooms.

Nick felt like he was drowning. A feeling of claustrophobia and tired calm was enveloping him and he was having a hard time breathing. He knew he was working too hard. It had been too soon since he had last went all out with his powers to do it again, but this was a desperate situation. At least the Night People were also weakening. The thought brought a grim smile to his lips.

Suddenly, a bolt of Blue Fire from Delos flew over Nick’s head, making him duck instinctively. In front of him, two vampires fell back , burning, taking out a few of their colleagues behind them. Beside Nick, Amaya was shooting into the solid wall of Night People. But, as soon as one row fell back, another would fill its place, crushing the dead and dying bodies beneath their feet. Nick shuddered, hoping he would not meet such an end.

On the other side of the circle, Destiny, Delano and Marcellus were fighting side-by-side, their animosity forgotten. When a wolf leap for Delano’s throat, Marcellus cut its face open with his blade. Delano returned the favor when the exhausted Marcellus was wrestling with another wolf and losing. Destiny was throwing out witch fire at an alarming rate, but everyone was tiring, Delos included.

Out of nowhere, the arm of a vampire lashed out and slashed Marcellus across the chest, then the abdomen, in quick succession. He staggered, both from the pain and surprise. Seeing the weak spot in the circle, the Night People rushed in, overwhelming him in seconds. Destiny and Delano, who were closest to him, were the first to try to dig their way towards him, but their efforts were in vain.

"Stop!" the unexpected shout came out of the darkness and held so much authority that everyone froze.

Nick and the vampire he had been battling stopped in mid-struggle, both turning in Keiara’s direction. She slowly emerged from the darkness, pushing Hunter Redfern’s wheelchair in front of her. She surveyed the scene and as if that motion was the signal for them to move, both Daybreakers and Night People alike followed their gaze.

The view from where Nick stood was grim. Although the Night People still outnumbered the Daybreakers, the only deaths were on Hunter’s side. Their small army had been diminished to almost half and bodies littered the snow-covered ground, staining it black in the dim light of the stars.

"Let us call a truce for today," Keiara said, getting to the point. "It would be best for all of us to be able to see who we were fighting." She did not look at Delos as she spoke. Instead, her steady purple gaze was upon Nick. "Agreed?"

Nick glanced back at Delos, who, despite the uneasy expression on his face, nodded. "Agreed," the shapeshifter said quietly, daring to shoot a quick look at Hunter. He looked less than pleased, but somewhat defeated. Nick wondered what Keiara had promised him to get him to concede to this. It must have been something big.

Keiara nodded once, in a queenly manner, before turning both herself and Hunter swiftly around and marching in the darkness. Still, even in her speed, Nick did not miss the worried glance Keiara gave to Marcellus as her people stepped away from him and followed her.

*Take care of my little brother,* she whispered into Nick’s mind right before her ruby-hair disappeared into the darkness.

* * * * *

Fanfic Page

Home