I threatened it didnt i! well here it is, Night World England :) thanks to Ki for replying to my
Authors plea
Circle Daybreak gets underfoot everywhere, even in the slightly sordid
underworld of London's Night World population, working out of Soho the London
council is less than pleased. And yet, all of this could be turned to good use, enter stage
left Artemis Redfern, Hunter Redfern's younger sister, she's been running the show since
he took his half breed kiddies and emigrated. And when the first lady of London's Night
gets a little peeved, people tend to die, quietly, and not so quietly.
She looked at her email readouts and smiled, it seemed today she had broken a profit,
again. She looked out of the office window over the thronging restaurant district.
Daytime in Soho, what was any better? Well she had to admit to herself with a slight
smirk, the night time was certainly interesting.
Turning away she looked through the one way mirror that separated her office from her
secretaries and smiled. The girl was preening in front of the mirror checking her lipstick,
pouting at what was actually a window. Shaking her head she moved out from behind the
large wooden desk and stretched.
The only problem with not looking a day over eighteen was the problems she tended to
have with her subordinates. She'd seen the rise and fall of Richard III for gods sake, she
didn't need lectures from vermin on how to run a business.
Which is why very few vermin made it into her company, those that did either believed
that she was a stalking horse for the 'real' Artemis Redfern or thought she was a child
genius. There was only one vermin that actually knew the truth, and his lips were rather
effectively sealed.
The thought of the current prime minister, weak kneed idiot that he was, actually
revealing the truth of the money behind his power base was ludicrous. Who'd believe
him if he told the worlds press that he was backed by vampires. The majority of which
were lead by an eighteen year old multibillionaire. He'd be locked away before he could
say 'garlic press'.
Of course, it was all true. The intercom on her desk beeped and balancing her hip on the
edge she leant over gently and pressed the white button that let her hear her secretaries
voice.
"Yes Siren?" A pause before a light breathy voice "Your two o clock appointment's here
Miss Redfern" she shook her head before answering "Thankyou, show him in" Siren
Agincourt was a circle midnight witch of astounding power, but you wouldn't think it
when she talked or walked, or did anything, she was also fanatically devoted. It was nice.
She walked back around the desk and looked out of the window, hearing the door click
open but not deigning to turn around until almost thirty seconds later. The man standing
in front of her desk was a beautiful sight to behold, dark brown hair with a sheen like
mahogany was cut into a loose style around his head, a light fringe cut across his
forehead, from there the narrow iron circles of designer glasses fitted with plain glass hid
but did not obscure eyes of the purest emerald.
He had to be around 6'2 and the long leather bikers jacket only emphasised the height.
The gold ring in his ear showed the same thing, he wasn't a man to be tangled with, but
she could feel the smile that twitched at the corners of her mouth. He was hard as nails,
but, he also had a son who was kicking up quite a dust in the old US of A if her sources
were to believed. It must run in the family, although hopefully not being soulmated to a
Daybreaker "Jared, it was good of you to come to this side of the town for this months
meeting" A shrug answered her Jared Blackthorn was an enigma, he also headed the dark
council in her name.
She sat perched on the edge of the desk and motioned him to the chair behind it, she
didn't keep another chair in the office, she'd found that either standing while she talked
or keeping the person she was speaking to standing was quite effective in her business
deals. Jared settled into the depths of her leather chair in a single cat like movement
before removing the glasses and looking up at her with deep jewel eyes.
"Daybreak seem to have bought one of the clubs in the district" she felt her eyebrows
raise, the district was exclusive, you had to be a card carrying member to get in and it was
strictly Night Worlders after lights out, Daybreak had lost agents in there, and vermin
were lost every night. The very thought brought a touch of a smile to the edges of her
mouth but it was gone when she fired a question off. "Which club?" he raised an eyebrow
as if to doubt the validity of her question but answered anyway.
"Lovers Downfall, although by the work going on it'll soon be renamed" she nodded, it
wasn't a good club to have been sold. But then it didn't belong to her, that had been
rectified within the rest of the district. She'd thought it had been rectified with this one, it
seemed she was wrong, and of course there would be hell to pay when she got hold of
Ebony Herodarkess, the midnight witches were getting a little over feisty. And that
simply would not do, especially selling out to the damnable Daybreaker's.
For a moment she watched Jared massage the bridge of his nose before she frowned
"What's with the haircut and dye job?" he almost smiled a little quirk at the corner of his
mouth "I spent a little time over the water" his voice had mellowed slightly loosing its
clipped accents and gaining the slightest hint of his Irish background around the vowels.
"America?" he nodded "The good old colonies, and when I was mistaken for my own son
four times I thought it best to change the look"
That won a laugh from her, she could imagine the looks that the Daybreaker's who'd
made the mistake would have received, "Did anyone who mistook you survive?" a slight
smile that she knew his son would probably never possess suddenly graced his lips, it was
old blood and deadly things happening after dark. "Of course not, my dear lady Redfern,
you seem to have forgotten. I am not my son" She shook her head in mock self reproach
"Of course, my mistake, did you catch a glimpse of the boy, which I suspect was your
reason for going"
His smile retreated to its corner "I carried out that little objective, he could be my older
brother" her eyebrows raised "How old is he now?" one of his eyebrows quirked "Close
on 21 and looking it, must be the Redfern he's keeping company with" She reached over
and slapped the shoulder of his coat "Its not my fault that so many of my brothers
descendants are turning into sappy Daybreaker's I find it a great disappointment. But
none of them have had the misfortune to take up with a half human"
That brought a flash deep in emerald eyes, annoyance tempered by humour. They'd been
irritating the hell out of each other since the Regency, they weren't going to stop now.
But they were friends and in the Night World's higher echelons that was rare beyond
belief. "No, but one of them IS a half human" she made a small moue of distaste, "Please,
don't remind me, at least Hunter tried to get rid of her." He nodded and rose from the
chair "I have to get gone now my lady, this club though?" She nodded, "I'll deal with it
as best I can, can I count on you for backup mon ancien ami ?"
He was moving towards the door before he turned to look at her and then he winked "Of
course, if I get to play with your secretary?" she sighed, an eternal child, he may only
look twenty years old, but honestly. "If you must, remember she's quite capable of
fending you off without me" a quickly smothered grin flashed onto his face "Ah but the
challenge Artemis, the challenge" And then he was out of the door and perched on the
edge of her secretaries desk, flirting with mischievous abandon.
Shaking her head she put her head down on the desk and laughed until she cried.