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PROLOGUE:

A petite, sable-haired girl stumbled through the forest, gasping for breath. On one side of the trail, there was a fast flowing stream, the other, a sheer rock wall. The setting sun shone brightly through the trees and played on the highlights in her hair, making her an easily sighted target.

The shadow behind her easily kept up, playing the role of predator in the game of cat and mouse.

*God, I mean Goddess, how could I have let this happen?* The girl thought in desperation and regret. *How? Now I’m going to die. Just because I didn’t listen.* She thought back to when she had first been warned about the world of the Night. Of the creatures in children’s fairy tales that one wouldn’t have dreamed were real...

* * * * *
PART 1:

LeAnne Wong sat quietly in her last period history class, staring across and in front of her at Tier Brandon’s head. She sighed in contentment. God, he looked good, even from the back.

Tier Brandon was tall and muscular, but not in a wide sort of way. In his freshman and sophomore years, he’s been on the basketball team, but had decided not to join this year. Instead, he’d focused his attention on the arts. However, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that once senior year rolled around, Tier would be back on the team.

As if he knew LeAnne was thinking about him, Tier turned around for a second and winked at his girlfriend. That little gesture meant, ‘Meet me outside after class.’

In the year that had gone by since they had first started dating, LeAnne and Tier had made up a series of little gestures and hand movements that they used to communicate with each other. Being in the same class in every subject except gym, without permission to talk to one another, required that kind of thing. Besides, it was fun.

BRING!

"That damn bell sounds like the mating call of a frog," Tier muttered as LeAnne met him at the door.

"You say that every time," LeAnne pointed out, heading for her locker.

Her boyfriend gave a non-chalent shrug from beside her. "It’s true."

Destiny McNite ran up to the couple as soon as LeAnne had her locker open. Quickly dumping all her books into her friend’s locker, Destiny said cheerfully, "Hey guys! What’s up?"

Smiling, LeAnne sighed and rolled her eyes. She really liked Destiny. She had just shown up at school a month ago and she and LeAnne were already close friends. However, the way she seemed to almost stalk her was getting a bit annoying. LeAnne found herself looking at the taller girl and not for the first time, wondered about the her past.

Destiny McNite was a gorgeous girl, the kind that all the guys pinned after. In the 4 weeks that she had been at the high school, LeAnne had already lost count how many guys had asked her out. Destiny looked older than the 17 years she claimed to be and already had 5 month old twins. LeAnne had never dared ask who the father was, lest she endanger their newly found friendship. Her figure was slim and tall, about 5’10’’. Destiny always had a cheerful smile on her face, but it never quite seemed to reach her eyes. The dark blue pools held an eternal look of sadness and pain, like she’d lost something precious that would now forever be out of reach. LeAnne never commented on that either. She figured the girl would tell her when she felt ready.

"Well, actually, I was just about to ask LeAnne if she wanted to go out tonight," Tier replied, not looking angry, but obviously wanting Destiny to go away.

The dark-haired girl winced. "Oh, sorry. I was just dropping by to ask if you two wanted to go to the party at Delano’s place this Friday. But, you can tell me later," Destiny added. "I’ve got to be going anyway." With that, she waved good-bye, and walked away.

Tier looked after her, puzzled and said, "You know, I wonder about that girl. There’s something up with her."

His girlfriend shrugged and took his arm. "Time will tell."

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

Destiny McNite pushed open the double doors of Galt Collegiate Institute, or ‘The Castle’ as it was fondly called by it’s high school students and stepped into the surprisingly bright October sunlight. The first sight she beheld when her eyes had adjusted, was a couple making out on the bleachers. She sighed deeply. It felt like everyone had somebody except her.

Destiny closed her eyes against a sudden rush of tears. *Goddess, I miss him,* she mourned. In her mind’s eye, golden hair and innocent aqua eyes fringed by long, dark lashes appeared. "Devon," she breathed quietly in longing.

"Hey, Destiny. Something wrong?" The gentle voice behind her made the witch jump.

"Oh, Delano, hi," Destiny managed a shaky smile. "Yeah, I’m fine."

She wasn’t fooling anyone.

The Lamia smiled reassuringly at her. "I know it’s hard, Destiny. But look at it this way, you’re not going to be apart forever. You’re both Old Souls. Devon will be with you again."

"Yeah, and I’ll have to try and win him over all over again."

Delano nodded. "Well, that’s true. But, that’s better than nothing." He changed the subject. "Besides, we’re supposed to be here to recruit the next Dark Angel. When are you going to break it to her?"

A sigh escaped Destiny’s lips. "I don’t know. She seems to be happy with her life as it is and I don’t want to disrupt it."

"Destiny, in two years, her life’s going to be disrupted anyway," Delano pointed out. "Besides, we need to get her on our side. Otherwise, the Night World could get to her and she’ll destroy Jez, leading to, I hate to say the cliché but this time it’s true, the end of the world. If we can get that girl on our side, at least she couldn’t do Jez any harm and might even decide to protect her."

The witch looked away. "I know. If she and Tier decide to go to your place on Friday, I’ll tell her. Happy?"

"Are you?"

Destiny looked at her friend with dark, serious eyes. "I don’t know if I’ll ever be happy again, Delano."

* * * * *
PART 2:

The next morning, LeAnne caught up to Destiny as she was just shutting her locker. "Hi, Destiny! So, when should we be at the party?"

Destiny’s grin lit up her whole face, that is, except her eyes. The sadness was there in full force. "You’re going to the party? That’s great! I’d say about 7:30, 8:00."

LeAnne arduously repressed her desire to ask Destiny what was wrong. The pain in her eyes was almost unbearable. Instead, she plastered a cheerful smile on her face and said, "Great. Um....could you tell me a bit more about Delano? I know where his place is from the last party, but I can’t remember much about him."

"There’s not much to tell," Destiny shrugged. "He’s just a friend of mine. Pretty nice, about twenty-one, Italian, goes to University of Waterloo, yadda, yadda, yadda."

"Oh," LeAnne said. She had expected a bit more. Not that she had actually thought Destiny would all of a sudden burst out and admit that Delano was the father of her twins, but had expected at least some kind of hint that she liked him. LeAnne’s theory had always been that Delano was Destiny’s old boyfriend and that he’d broken up with her after he found out she was pregnant, but stayed in touch.

Realizing that Destiny was giving her a strange look, LeAnne gave a start. "Well, thanks. I should be getting to class now. See you Friday!" With that, the petite Asian girl gave a little wave of her hand and walked away, a bit stiffly.

Destiny raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her retreating figure. The halls were just about deserted now and she didn’t miss the fact that LeAnne was very tense. The witch herself felt the same way. Friday was in two days and at that time, she would have to tell LeAnne the truth.

On her way to her first class, Destiny grimly remembered Nick’s reaction to the news that he was a Dark Angel.

When Hunter had first told Destiny, Delano, Nick and Devon about the Night Warriors, Nick hadn’t had time to really let it sink in. After his brother’s death, the shifter hadn’t been able to really focus on anything.

Finally about three months later and Thierry had found the prophecy about him, did realization really dawn on Nick. He had had a fit. Confusion, anger, denial, the works. The blond boy had refused to believe that he could help save or end the human world, couldn’t accept that there was something as powerful as the Wild Powers and he was one of them.

"It just can’t be true!" Nick had insisted. "Magic like that just doesn’t exist anymore! Besides, I can’t have that kind of deadly telepathy! I’m a shape-shifter!"

Thierry had just hiked up a brow and responded. "Nick, if Devon were here, would you accept this?"

That shut Nick right up. At last, in a quiet voice, he said, "But he’s not here anymore." And of course, that had been the problem. Because of Nick, Hunter had chased them all and killed Devon. The shifter just couldn’t shake off the guilt. Besides, what kind of world was it that you had all the power you could dream of, but couldn’t save the one person that meant anything at all to you. Basically, Nick’s faith in faith itself had died along with his brother.

It had taken a long time to build up his will again, but Nick had done it. Still, the whole experience had been pretty horrific. Destiny just hoped nothing like that happened with LeAnne, though it was probably too much to hope for. Nick had known about the Night World and everything of that sort and had reacted so badly. LeAnne probably couldn’t deal much better.

*I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,* Destiny thought slipping into her seat just as the bell rang and class promptly began. This was going to be a long day.

* * * * *
PART 3:

Friday rolled around way too soon, in Destiny’s opinion. At six thirty, she found herself at the Circle Daybreak safe house where Delano, Nick (who had finally convinced Thierry that he could take care of himself) and Leandra Leon were staying in, getting ready for the party.

Delano had come to the city of Cambridge, Ontario two months before Destiny to get to know some people. Because of his efforts, humans and Daybreakers alike from the high school and university were going to be arriving at any moment. Also, since this was the night Destiny was going to break the news to LeAnne about the Night World, some special Daybreakers were also flying in from Las Vegas.

Gabriel and Selena, Destiny’s children were being baby-sat by Lupe Acevedo. The witch knew they were in good hands. Nonetheless, she made a mental note to call at around ten, just to make sure everything was fine.

The front doorbell rang and Nick emerged from his room to answer it. "I can’t believe they’re coming already!" He muttered under his breath.

Delano smiled. "Hey, you’re the one that talked Thierry’s ear off to get here. Don’t complain. It was your choice."

"Oh, be quiet!" Nick said irritably, opening the front door.

Leandra Leon stood in the doorway, looking, as always, beautifully fierce and golden.. A smile lit up her pretty features. "Is it possible to get male PMS?"

Nick tried scowling, but couldn’t quite hid his look of embarrassment. So he just opened his arms, preparing for a hug from his girlfriend.

In reply, the lioness shifter dumped a paper bag full of junk food into Nick’s waiting arms. "Hey!" he objected.

A glare, though playful, from Leandra made Nick shut up and head for the kitchen. He remembered the last time he had made his girlfriend mad. Goddess, he’d almost landed himself in the hospital.

Chuckling, Delano said, "Hey Leandra. So, what’d you get?"

"Oh, just the essentials," she said with a shrug, then proceeded to counting them off. "Chips, pop, tampons..."

Delano placed a hand over his heart in mock horror. "I hope you’re not planning to serve tampons to the guests! The indignity!"

"Why not?" Destiny spoke up. "Hi Leandra," she said, giving the other girl a hug. "I haven’t seen you in the LONGEST time! Every time I come here, you’re gone, making me put up with Nick and Delano!"

Leandra - not too rudely - snorted. "Well it’s no picnic trying to get a hold of you either!"

The doorbell interrupted Destiny before she could answer. After that, it just didn’t stop. Soon, the music was blasting and Destiny found herself getting more and more anxious. The time to talk to LeAnne was coming soon.

Right after she had called Lupe at 9:30, Destiny saw the pretty Asian girl making her way towards her, a huge smile on her face. "Nice party," she commented as soon as Destiny was in earshot. "A lot of hot guys, too," LeAnne added, lifting her brow.

This made Destiny laugh. "What about Tier?" She pointed out.

"Oh, he’s still my honey, but that doesn’t mean I can’t LOOK."

Destiny smiled, but remembered her mission. "Uh, LeAnne?" She asked tentatively, "Could I talk to you?"

From her tone, LeAnne could tell Destiny wanted to say something important. "Okay, sure. Where to?"

"How ‘bout over there?" Destiny suggested. She indicated a fairly quiet place outside.

"Sure."

When the two girls reached their destination, LeAnne waited patiently for Destiny to speak. However, all she did was look around and bite her lip, looking very unsure of herself.

Finally, in exasperation, the little Asian girl burst out, "Are you going to tell me or what?"

An apologetic look appeared in Destiny’s eyes. "Oh, I’m sorry. I just, well...I’m not sure how to begin." She thought for a moment, then hesitantly spoke again. "I guess I’ll start off with a bit about me. I’m sure you’ve been wondering who the father to Gabriel and Selena is, no?" The witch asked the question with her voice and eyes.

LeAnne managed an embarrassed smile.

Destiny gave her own small smile in return and a far-away look entered her eyes. "He’s dead."

LeAnne could feel her eyes widen and her mouth pop open. She was struck dumb. Never in her dreams would she have expected this! God, no wonder Destiny always looked so sad. To have the one you loved die... LeAnne didn’t know what she would do if Tier were suddenly plucked away from her life.

As if she hadn’t noticed her friend’s reaction, Destiny continued with only a slight pause, "However, that isn’t really the point. What matters if HOW he died. You see, LeAnne, my boyfriend was killed by a vampire."

Now, this was something LeAnne just couldn’t take in. The fact that Destiny’s boyfriend was dead, she could handle, but vampire? LeAnne came to the decision that her friend was definitely loony. Maybe her boyfriend’s death had driven her over the edge. Or maybe none of this insane story was true at all.

Seeing LeAnne’s disbelief, Destiny said gently, "I know you don’t believe me, I didn’t expect you to accept it so easily. Most humans don’t, but it’s all true, LeAnne. You have to believe me, because I need your help. WE, need your help."

The pretty little Asian’s features were now a mask of horror and denial. "No. No, Destiny. You’ve got it all wrong. There’s no such thing as vampires. And there’s nothing I can do to help you or whoever ‘we’ is. You’ve got it all wrong!" But there was a hint of doubt in her voice and it was all Destiny needed to be assured that this wouldn’t turn out to be a total disaster.

Destiny reached out towards her friend. To her surprise, the girl didn’t cower away. "Look," Destiny said, gazing kindly but steadily into LeAnne’s dark eyes. "I know this is hard and you’re probably scared out of your mind. But I promise you, nothing bad is going to happen. I just want to show you something." With that, she led her friend through the throng of guests that were in and outside the house, towards Delano’s bedroom.

"Destiny..." LeAnne began to object, but stopped in mid-sentence. She had arrived in front of a bedroom door and inside stood five teenagers. All were beautiful and all projected a mysterious air.

Upon LeAnne and Destiny’s entry, all five teenagers looked up expectantly. LeAnne drew a sharp intake of breath. It was the first chance she had to look at their eyes. All were unnatural, impossible. Human eyes could never look so wise and predatory at the same time.

"LeAnne," Destiny said quietly, shutting the door behind her, "I’d like you to meet some of my friends. Nick, Rashel, Keller, Quinn and Ash." Destiny indicated to each person in turn and five sets of warm smiles greeted the petite Asian girl.

Trying hard not to look too terrified, LeAnne managed a shaky, "Hello."

"Hi," the group murmured back.

A hesitant smile played on Destiny’s lips. "LeAnne, as I was getting at earlier, there’s a society called the Night World. It’s made up of not only vampires, but witches, werewolves and shape-shifters. I didn’t expect you to believe me without some proof, so these people are here to show you."

Then, Destiny indicated a tall, cat-like guy with blond hair. LeAnne remembered his name as Ash, and Destiny introduced him as a vampire.

Slowly, LeAnne nodded, not wanting to believe that this was happening, but bracing herself for the worst. But nothing could have prepared LeAnne for what came next. She knew this Ash guy was supposed to be a vampire, but oh God, was she freaked out to see fangs start to protrude from his mouth. The colour of his eyes turned metallic and hungry and seemed to glow with an inner demonic power. LeAnne’s eyes grew large and terrified. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop herself. Opening her mouth, a blood-curdling scream escaped her lips and pierced the air.

* * * * *
PART 4:

LeAnne’s scream ended almost before it could, in a sense, really begin. Immediately, Quinn came up behind the Asian girl, slid an arm around her and clamped a cold hand on her mouth. The temperature of the hand alone was enough to cut LeAnne’s shriek short.

Rashel raised a brow and despite the seriousness of the situation couldn’t help but comment, "Should I be jealous, love?"

A smile worked it’s way to Quinn’s lips, but he didn’t let go of LeAnne. Trying to sound soothing, he said, "Look, we’re not going to hurt you. We want to help you. I’m going to let you go now, promise not to scream or run away?"

The little Asian girl nodded fearfully. As the vampire let go of her, LeAnne was breathing hard like she’d just finished running a marathon.

Ash, fully human-looking now (or at least as human as he could be) stared pointedly at Quinn. "Look at what you’ve done now! The girl’s about to have a heart attack!"

An unamused snort came from the short, dark-haired vampire. "Me? If you hadn’t shown her your hideous little troll-face she wouldn’t have screamed at all!"

A heated argument immediately broke out and for a moment, everyone forgot about Destiny and LeAnne.

Nick and Rashel had taken Ash’s side while Keller and Quinn were both trying to suggest that it was the Redfern’s fault nothing was going as planned. Then, Rashel pointed out that there was no plan and shut everyone up for a whole of 2 seconds. After that, they were off yet again, finding something new to complain about and spitting insults at each other a mile a minute. It was an all out verbal war if LeAnne ever heard one. God, she would have laughed her head off it she wasn’t scared out of her mind.

The fact that there were real vampires and werewolves that could swat you like a fly at any given instant was terrifying enough. But now, five of these creatures were in a cramped little bedroom with LeAnne and all steaming mad. The human girl darted a frantic glance at the door, but Destiny was blocking her only way out.

Suddenly, a loud guffaw sounded from the huddle of teenagers. LeAnne spun around to see that all five Daybreakers had stopped arguing and were looking at her with smiles on their faces. The insanity of the situation hit LeAnne then and a burst of anger and amusement. "Is this the way you guys want to explain to me about this Night Land thingy? Lord, you’re pathetic! This isn’t the way to go at it at all!"

A puzzled silence filled the room. Obviously, the Night People hadn’t been expecting this. It was almost like LeAnne had accepted the Night World, even if she did call it the Night Land like some sort of amusement park. The Asian girl herself didn’t know where that little outburst had come from.

"Um, look, LeAnne is it?" Keller began. "We’re not sure what got into us. It’s just that when Ash and Quinn are together..." At that moment, Nick, Rashel, Ash and Quinn all provided comments.

"Things get nasty. Oh, but not in the sense that it sounds like-"

"They love each other, really! Goddess, sometimes I think Quinn likes that guy more than he loves me-"

"It’s the whole vampire family in-fighting thing-"

"We’re not THAT bad-"

Destiny sighed in exasperation. Those guys were off in their own little world again. "LeAnne," she stage whispered, "Let’s go. They’ll find us later."

Feeling dazed, LeAnne just nodded and slowly backed away from the five.

As soon as they were out, Destiny grabbed her hand and led her to another empty room. Behind them, she shut the door and turned to face LeAnne. "Look, those guys were a bad example. I shouldn’t have brought them here. But that’s beside the point now. The Night World is real, LeAnne. You can’t deny that now. Not after what you saw Ash do."

"Maybe it’s a prank. Did you and Delano plan this? Is this a joke? Please say it is!" LeAnne pleaded.

"It’s not a joke, LeAnne," Destiny replied grimly.

*Breathe,* The Asian told herself. Shakily, she asked her friend, "Okay. Let’s just say for a second, this is all true. What were those guys in the other room? Were they all vampires?"

"No. Ash and Quinn are vampires, though not the same kind. I’ll explain about that later. Nick and Keller are shape-shifters. Werewolves are kinda just another branch of shape-shifter, by the way. Nick is a macaw shifter and Keller is a panther. As for Rashel, she’s human. She’s Quinn’s soulmate and a vampire hunter."

LeAnne’s breath was coming out more ragged than before. All she could manage was to nod.

Smiling sympathetically, Destiny sat beside her friend on the bed. "It’s hard to take in, I know. I mean, I wouldn’t have even told you if this wasn’t important. But it is. You see, you’re special, LeAnne."

"Yeah? Tell me something I don’t know." LeAnne tried to joke.

Destiny didn’t smile. "You’re in danger, LeAnne. I wouldn’t joke about this. I’m not crazy, like you may think. My boyfriend WAS killed by a vampire. And he was murdered because the vampire was trying to get to my boyfriend’s brother, Nick.

"As long as he’s touching you, the shape-shifter you just met in the other room has the power to kill you with a flick of his mind. He was born to kill or protect one of the most powerful beings in this world. And so were you," Destiny emphasized the last sentence.

"K-kill?" LeAnne stammered, then as she thought more about what Destiny had said, her voice strengthened. "No! I’m not a killer! I’m not powerful and I can’t kill! I WON’T kill!"

Destiny sighed in frustration. "Goddess, LeAnne! I said kill or protect. Either one. Besides, you can say no all you want. That won’t change the fact that you’re a Dark Angel. You can’t change what was fated to be."

LeAnne couldn’t think of a way to get out of this point. She had always believed in fate herself, she couldn’t go against that belief just because it was convenient. There was only one argument left to try. "What makes you think that I’m one of those Dark things? How can you be sure?"

"Well," Destiny began, "that explanation could take a very long time. There’s some scrolls I’d like to show you, but I have to get them mailed here. Anyway, it’s getting late, we should get back to the party before anyone starts worrying. The last thing we want is Tier marching in here while we’re looking through the ancient scrolls."

LeAnne didn’t feel the same way about her boyfriend bursting in, but kept quiet as Destiny went on.

"Do you think you could come back here on Monday after school?" Destiny inquired.

Monday after school...that was a practice for senior band, but LeAnne nodded. She didn’t plan to show up anyway.

"Good. Now, go out to the party, but don’t tell a soul about what happened, all right? Not even Tier," Destiny warned.

Without answering, LeAnne scrambled out the door and away from the monsters that had flipped her world upside down. Never in her life had she been so glad to be surrounded by strangers.

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