Angel of Hope (con't)

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PART 10:

Delano, Leandra and Tehya McCormick, a small, black and red haired vampire with gray eyes, quietly surveyed the club.

Getting in had been fairly easy. Though the bouncer was a 600 pound gorilla shifter, he definitely hadn’t wanted to get into a fight with Delano Saldivar and Leandra Leon.

That was what had really worried the three teammates. A guy that looked like his only form of exercise was lifting a TV remote had known who Delano and Leandra were. Granted, not much about them, but enough to know they were Daybreakers and considered dangerous.

Leandra wondered what he had thought of Braeden.

"Well, everything looks fine," Delano whispered to his female accomplices. "But then again, these are Night People we’re talking about. They should be pretty good at putting on an innocent act."

The club was filled with Night People, as all Black Iris clubs usually were. This Kitchener club was where all Night People from a 1 hour radius came. Nobody really stood out of the crowd, which meant LeAnne had not yet made her appearance, had already left (though unlikely) or was in the restroom.

The latter turned out to be true.

With her acute sense of smell straining to detect anything that was human, Leandra was the one who first realized where their target was.

"Keep an eye on her," Leandra whispered to Delano and Tehya, then walked out of the club. Though unable to see Destiny’s team in the darkness, the lioness shifter knew they were watching. Giving the signal that LeAnne had been found and it was safe to go in, Leandra turned back around and joined the two vampires.

Tehya was toying with a pendant that hang from a fine silver chain around her neck. It had sun and moon merged together beautifully to form a tiny and detailed circle. The made vampire always seemed to be fiddling with it as if calling upon some kind of magic contained inside. Leandra wouldn’t be surprised if it did have some kind of enchantment attached to it, for it had a very antique-y feel. Soon enough, the lioness would learn her observations were true.

"They coming?" Delano asked.

"Yep," was Leandra’s reply.

As if on cue, Destiny and Ash came into the club. A few minutes later, Keller and Quinn followed. Being careful not to draw attention to themselves and not to appear as a group, they kept in touch by telepathy.

*You know,* Ash remarked all of a sudden, *I hope Mr. Bouncer Dude doesn’t tell anyone about who’s been coming in tonight. I mean, The Pharaoh, a human and us little Daybreakers all in one night is sure to be a bit suspicious.*

It was as though Braeden had heard what the Redfern had said. From his position at a pool table, the brown-haired vampire turned and looked directly at Ash. A small smile curved his lips and he proceeded to glance at every one of the Daybreakers, catch their eyes and direct a mental challenge. Then, he confidently turned on his heel, took LeAnne’s hand and strode out the back door, knowing the Daybreakers would follow.

Sure enough, despite the fact that everything about this sounded like a trap, all of the group started towards the exit. Keller and Quinn were the first to get there and disappear into the shadows.

*So, what’s it like out there?* Tehya asked her fellow made vampire once again fiddling with her pendant. She had been made long ago and so had perfected the art of telepathy.

*Actually,* Quinn replied to the whole group, *There’s no one out here that I can see and Keller says she can’t smell anything. But that might be part of the plan,* he added.

Delano gave a mental shrug. *Well, it’s working. We’re coming out there.*

Bad, bad idea.

@~~~>~~~>~~~~

Aaron Chandler stood shivering in the woods just behind the Black Iris, waiting for the cue from his boss.

This was only the made vampire’s third assignment and he was filled with anticipation and dread. Running a pale hand through his orangy-red hair, Aaron contemplated what he really had to lose if he died tonight. Nothing really.

He had been made into a vampire partly because he had been a runaway and wouldn’t be missed. The other reason had been because he looked as much like Hunter Redfern as a made vampire could get. With all the Night People at war with one another, the look-alike bandwagon was a popular one, Hunter included. Aaron was now the Lamia leader’s secret weapon against the world. That is, if he survived the night, which a cold certainty told him he wouldn’t.

If he had a choice, Aaron would run to Circle Daybreak in a heartbeat. He had never believed these Creatures of the Night were real. But now that he’d found the truth first hand, he at least didn’t want to be on the bad side. However, Aaron valued his life and that was exactly what Hunter Redfern was threatening if there was any betrayal on his part.

*But won’t you probably be dead anyway, after tonight?* His conscience asked. After all, he was going to be up against John Quinn, Ash Redfern, Raksha Keller, Destiny McNite, Delano Saldivar, Leandra Leon and who knew who else? These were all practically legendary Daybreak figures. Goddess, he was so dead.

A flash of movement distracted Aaron from his thoughts. It was the signal. The fight was about to begin.

Composing himself, Aaron stealthily skulked through the shadows and got into his position.

Just when he had thought he would be able to handle this, a little voice in his head whispered, *You’re going to die.* And he knew it was true.

* * * * *
PART 11:

There was no warning when the attack first started,

The seven Night People tensely watched for a sign that would tell them something was about to happen, but it never came.

It felt like the trees themselves had come uprooted and rose from the ground to attack the group. One minute, everything was still and the next, Tehya McCormick was lying on the ground with a stake protruding from her stomach.

However, there was no time for the six Daybreakers to come to Tehya’s aid. They were all caught somehow in the fight that had broken out in a matter of seconds. It would have been too late to help her anyway.

"Ash! Behind you!" Leandra cried just before a club came smashing down on his head.

Moments later, the same club made the lioness shifter’s mind go blank.

Hopelessly, Destiny watched as Ash and Leandra were both carried away by two huge vampires. She couldn’t believe this was happening. How could everything have gone wrong so fast? Destiny felt weak and useless. Goddess, she was barely strong enough to help herself at the moment.

Just as she felt she so weak she was going to faint or do something equally stupid, Destiny caught sight of a flash of red hair. Her head jerked up and who she saw before her made her blood boil and adrenaline pump through her veins. Hunter Redfern.

It certainly looked like him and Destiny forced her way to him as soon as she made the connection in her mind, breaking off a sharp and heavy tree branch along the way.

Hunter Redfern. Her soulmate’s murderer. Oh, Destiny was going to make him pay.

If she had been thinking properly, Destiny would have noticed that this vampire didn’t project the same kind of aura of power that Hunter did and he didn’t fight with the same fluid grace. But nothing was really in focus at the moment. All Destiny knew was that she hated Hunter Redfern and was determined to see his death.

Something took over Destiny right then. Nothing could stop her. Goddess, she was on warpath.

The red-haired vampire noticed Destiny just seconds before she struck. But this guy had good reflexes. Quickly, he dodged and was only nicked in the shoulder.

The new and not-exactly-improved Destiny cursed under her breath and chased after ‘Hunter Redfern’ as he dashed into the surrounding forest. "I’m going to get you, Redfern!" She called tauntingly after him. "You’re not going to get away this time!"

@~~~>~~~>~~~~

Aaron was already panting after 10 minutes of the chase. Technically, being a vampire, he wasn’t supposed to be THAT winded. But he had been ‘old’ when he’d been changed. 20 was always an iffy age to change a human into vampire and he’d never quite recovered from his death.

Behind Aaron, Destiny’s leering voice carried through the forest. God, she was fast for a little witch. It was almost as if she were possessed.

Even further behind, Aaron could detect the sounds that indicated both the Night Worlders and Daybreakers were following he and Destiny. But they’d never get to Aaron in time. He knew he was going to die.

*Might as well face it,* the vampire thought in defeat and stopped in a clearing. But a thread of hope still remained, *Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe she’ll realize I’m not Hunter.*

Moments later, Destiny McNite emerged from the evergreens. A slow, malicious grin lit up her face, making her beautiful features look demonic. "I see you’ve decided to be a man about this Hunter. I’ll admit, I’m impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you."

A surprising calm seemed to have overtaken Aaron as he realized his death was inevitable. He even had time to think, *Do I really look that much like a 500 year old vampire with a mid-life crisis?*

Even as the thought was swirling around in his mind, the witch attacked.

At first, Aaron tried to block her blows. No matter how calm one person got, they still had that primitive instinct to just plain survive. But it soon became obvious that Destiny McNite was too skilled a huntress to let a few half-hearted blows keep her from her target.

The first time the stake sank into his flesh, all Aaron felt was white-hot agony. But soon, it got better, even to the point that in was almost blissful. *So this is really death,* the made vampire thought in wonder as Destiny stabbed him unrelentingly, again and again. Then, everything was black. Aaron Chandler was dead.

* * * * *
PART 12:

"Destiny! Destiny! Stop it!" Delano screamed as he seized her wrists. In his grasp, Destiny tried to break free, and would have succeeded if Keller and Quinn hadn’t come to the Lamia’s aid.

Slowly, Destiny’s breathing began to calm and sanity emerged through the dark chaos that had been in her eyes. "What..." she whispered and her eyes wandered to the body of the vampire boy she’d just slain. "Goddess," she gasped in horror and disbelief. "Did I..."

"Welcome back," Delano said grimly. "Yeah, you did that."

Destiny’s breathing became laborious and she rocked back and forth and fought to gain control of the tears welling up inside. She had worked so hard to keep her feelings inside, to prove that she was strong and could handle life without Devon, but everything was threatening to break at the seams now. "Goddess," she moaned over and over. "Goddess, he wasn’t Hunter. I killed him. Oh, Goddess."

Strong arms wrapped around Destiny just then and much as she hated to feel the weakness of it, she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer and sobbed into Delano’s shoulder.

"It’s okay, things are going to be all right," the Lamia whispered gibberish as he rubbed her back soothingly. "If you hadn’t killed him, someone else would have. He looked too much like Hunter."

Just as Destiny began to calm down and almost believe what Delano preached, full memory rushed in like the tide. "Ash and Leandra! Oh! Tehya!" She swerved around to face Quinn and Keller. Quickly, they looked down and averted their gazes. They both seemed very fascinated by the moss growing on the tree trunks to the left and right of Destiny.

"Tehya’s dead," Quinn whispered at last. "We tried to help, but really, it was too late as soon as the wood pierced her body."

"But she did give us her necklace," Keller added, and she thrust out the pendant on it’s now broken silver chain for Destiny to examine. "She said something about helping us win, but we couldn’t really understand. We were in a hurry to get to you and she was in a hurry to die."

Destiny drew in a shaky breath. As far as she was concerned, she had just been the cause of 2 deaths tonight and might be the death of two more. "And Ash and Leandra?" She asked almost inaudibly, dreading the answer.

"We don’t know," Delano said just as quietly. "They were taken around the side of the club and we lost sight of them. But I expect there should be a ransom note in our mailbox before noon tomorrow. Right now, we have to get home and get some rest. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day and Gabriel and Selena must be missing their mom." Quickly Delano ushered them all away from the now mummifying body.

Destiny couldn’t be happier to get away. They’d have to call the Circle Daybreak clean up crew in Toronto to clean up tonight’s mess.

* * * * *
PART 13:

As Delano predicted, the ransom notice came early the next morning. But the price was not money. The Night World wanted a Dark Angel in exchange for Ash and Leandra. And the only Dark Angel they had was Nick.

Being terribly in love with his girlfriend (or so he claimed), Nick would definitely have exchanged himself for her if the other Daybreakers had allowed it. But naturally, they objected profusely and said they would find a way to get Leandra and Ash back without giving anybody to the Night World. Besides, Quinn had also pointed out, what made Nick think The Pharaoh would give his prisoners back at all? He wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy blood-sucker alive.

That day, Destiny went through her daily routine feeling like a hollow shell. She had not forgotten the vampire she’d murdered in the clearing the night before. When she had pursued him, a part of the real Destiny had been fighting to get out and stop herself, for she realized that the boy wasn’t Hunter Redfern. But the grief she’d suffered after Devon’s death, the anger she felt towards Hunter, the emotions had been too strong. When her eyes closed, Destiny could still see the vampire boy beneath her, as she stabbed him over and over, crying out in pain. And in her minds eye, slowly, the vampire was replaced by her love, her Devon, as the last traces of life left his aqua eyes and his body became limp with death.

How many times that day had she had to slip out of the classroom and hide in the washroom as her tears overwhelmed her? Never had she felt such deep sorrow as she did now, save when Devon had died.

Ash and Leandra had been kidnapped and would only be given back if replaced by a Dark Angel.

Tehya and that young vampire were both dead, one of them leaving behind a beautiful necklace with a mysterious purpose none of the Daybreakers had been able to understand.

Destiny had just gotten a letter that morning threatening not only Ash and Leandra, but her children if the Dark Angel wasn’t delivered in 48 hours. Though this note, Destiny had not told anyone else, not even Delano, about for they already had enough problems and she hoped that the threat was empty.

And last but most definitely not least, LeAnne was still being completely influenced by Braeden. Why just today, she had come to school in a short, tight pleather skirt and tiny red tank top with a leather jacket over it all. Definitely NOT her usual get-up.

All day, Destiny did her best to keep an eye on LeAnne, but also tried desperately to stay out of her way. A confrontation was exactly what she didn’t need right now. The witch was an emotional wreck while LeAnne seemed to be stronger than ever and Destiny didn’t need emotional break-down added as another strike to the list of weaknesses the Night World undoubtedly had on her. Last night had proved to them that Hunter Redfern was definitely a delicate subject and who knew what they would do about that.

It wasn’t until lunch that Destiny realized LeAnne was being watched by Rashel, Keller and Quinn and stopped tailing her. She really didn’t have the energy anyway.

Finding a clean bench in the deserted amphitheater was easy enough, but shaking off her thoughts of Devon were a different matter. That is, until Tier Brandon showed up.

"Destiny!" he called, not exactly sounding very friendly. "There you are! I have to talk to you!"

From his tone, Destiny could tell she was going to be yelled at. But for what, she hadn’t a clue. "What is it, Tier?" She asked tiredly.

Tier’s dark eyes flashed with anger and for a second, Destiny almost believed he would strike her. "You know perfectly well what it is I’m here about," he growled. "What have you done to LeAnne? First, it’s the talk about vampires, then that gothic Black Iris club and now the clothes and the attitude. You’ve changed her somehow and I want you to undo it! Now!"

This guy had it so wrong, yet was so right at the same time, Destiny almost burst into a fit of giggles. But she had to stay calm and try to get him to do the same. "Tier," She began, "look, I haven’t directly done anything that’s changed LeAnne. You have no right coming here and accusing me of something you can’t prove and isn’t true. I know you care about LeAnne, so do I. Think about it, why would I want to hurt her?"

The taller boy just stood where he was, chest heaving as if he’d just finished the 10k, with a hopeless look in his eyes. It was plain that he realized Destiny had no reason to do any such thing to LeAnne, but the alternative was just too horrible to think about.

"Braeden," Tier and Destiny said in unison as he sank down on the bench below her.

"But how?" Tier asked a few minutes later after he’d cooled down. "I mean, how could a guy just...so, so totally take control of her?"

A bitter laugh came from Destiny, she seemed to be specializing in those lately. "You have NO idea what kind of guy Braeden Soterios is."

"Is that why you wanted me to talk to him instead of you doing it yourself?"

The witch glanced at Tier in disbelief. Goddess, he thought Braeden was Gabriel and Selena’s father! That’s what he really thought! Then it struck her that a lot of the kids at school must be wondering about her children. Most Night People had heard about her story, so didn’t ask many questions, but these humans didn’t know a thing about the Night World and therefore were clueless about her. "No Tier, Braeden was never my boyfriend. I’ve always hated him with a passion. THAT’S why I didn’t want to talk to him. We’re mortal enemies."

"Oh. Well, how do we stop him?"

How to tell Tier without letting him know about the Night World? Sure, it was now legal for Circle Daybreak members to let humans in on the secret of the Night World, but Destiny didn’t need a hysterical on her hands right then. "I don’t know. He’s not some normal guy, Tier. He doesn’t listen to anyone and he has enough power to play by his own rules. You try to cross him and you’re dead."

Tier scoffed, "He’s just a teenager, Destiny. Same as you and me. You make him sound like a serial killer!"

It was Destiny turn to laugh. "Tier, you don’t know this guy! He can seduce any girl and probably any guy if that’s what he wanted to do."

Head between his hands, Tier bowed down in defeat. "Then what do we do?" His question was muffled, as he was talking to the ground.

Goddess, he looked so desperate and afraid. There was no way Destiny could put him through this. At least telling him about the Night World might make him better prepared for what was definitely going to happen in the future. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to let him know what she could never take back, "Look, Tier. There’s this place called the Night World..."

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