All of this chapter will be in Zhalia's POV. The words written in italic is her flashback.

Disclaimer- I don't own Huntik.

Chapter 2

Zhalia POV.

She watched the two teens duel each other. Lok laughed as he struck down Sophie but soon regretted it as Sophie yelled 'Bubble lift' and raised him up high in the air... Threatening to release him and allow him to fall if he didn't stop laughing.

Zhalia smiled faintly... Wondering what she would be like today if her upbringing had been different. She couldn't even remember what her parents look like; let alone know who they were. The only thing she knew about her family was their last name... 'Moon'.

Klaus had been the parent which she never had, throughout the time she was growing up. There had been a time when she thought that her work in the Organization been doing good for others, though as she grew older and more knowledgeable she learnt the truth.

Now she had to go back to been undercover... Infiltrate the Bloodspiral.

She had only returned to the Huntik safe house in Venice the previous night because she wanted to see how Sophie was coping after discovering the murderer who killed her parents was in the Bloodspiral group.

Most importantly though she needed to give a full report to Dante on the Bloodspirals actions ever since the Huntik teams last encounter... there was too much to right down in words.

The leaders of the Bloodspiral hadn't suspected a thing, for all they knew she was on a mission trying to recover the trail of Sophie Casterwill... Though when she returned she would tell them nothing, only that the mission had been a failure and no trace of Sophie or the group had been found.

Everyone's reactions from when she returned last night would remain in her memory forever.

#Flashback#

The shadows from the dark streets provided the perfect hiding positions along the alleyway towards the safe house. It was half an hour until midnight and everyone in the houses around her were already sleeping. The only hint of life in the safe house was the faint light which seeped under one of the heavy curtains which hung over the large windows.

Taking a quick glance around her Zhalia dashed through a dim streetlight and crouched back in the shadows of a large mailbox.

As soon as she was positive that no one was following her she continued to slink in the shadows until she was standing before the safe house where the Huntik team were keeping a low profile for the time been.

Looking around trying to find an entrance she finally noticed that the second story of the building had a window which was slightly open.

"Hyper stride." Zhalia whispered and leap towards the window.

Before gravity had a chance to pull her back down she gasp hold of the hard edge of the window frame and with her free hand pushed the window up, then slipped into the vacant room.

She quickly turned to secure the window shut, making sure that it was closed completely and locked, to ensure that any unwanted visitors wouldn't take the same route as her.

The whole house was quiet and the only room which was been used at that moment was the library.

The room which had the light seeping under the thick curtains.

She paused outside the door to listen, a faint murmur of disbelief filtered through the wooden door. A sound of laughter started... It was a familiar laugh, Lok's.

Finally Zhalia placed her hand on the cool doorknob, tightening her fingers around its form then pushed it slightly open.

Lok and Den were sitting at one of the tables playing a game of chess, which by the looks of it, Lok was winning at. Cheret hovered over Den's shoulder whispering advice to the boy.

A couch which was positions a few feet away from them was occupied by a pale faced girl who was almost completely buried under a pile of blankets and pillows.

Her eyes had started to get dark rings underneath them. Probably from a lack of sleep, most likely caused by the discovery of the man who murdered her parents. Sophie was listlessly watching the boys; not taking in any of her other surroundings.

Zhalia finally pushed the door completely open. "I would have thought that Dante would have better security for this place."

Lok, Den and Cheret all snapped their heads up and looked at her in awe while Sophie let her eyes slowly scan the room across to her.

"What makes you think that I don't have good security?"

Zhalia gasped in surprise and spun around to see Dante standing directly behind her, just stepping out of the shadows.

"I was able to get in..." She started slowly.

"And I knew about it, and then followed you down the hall, without you even knowing I was there."

She fought down a blush and coughed, "Well at least you do have OK security then."

Dante chuckled and led her into the room where Lok and Den were still trying to get their thoughts straight.

"Zha...Zhalia! What are you doing here?" Lok finally exclaimed.

"I wanted to check in to see how you guys were going. I'll have to leave by midday tomorrow." She cast Dante a glance to alert him that she later expected to have a conversation with him in private.

After Lok, Cheret talking to her about their latest plans and Den asking how his brother Harrison was, Lok and Den returned to their game.

It suddenly dawned upon her that Sophie hadn't spoken a word the entire time, she turned around to face the girl whose eyes had been following her every movement.

Dante appeared at Zhalia's side, and before Zhalia had the chance to ask, explained the situation.

"Sophie has been fairly quiet since she found the man who killed her parents. Don't take it personally."

Zhalia nodded then quickly strode over to the bundled up girl and sat next to her on the couch.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching Dante look up files in his hologram. Den and Lok playing chess with Cheret hovering above them.

Zhalia and Sophie had been a lot more tolerable of each other ever since the professor incident, at first the team had been surprised at how they were happy to work together but now they took it for granted.

"Zhalia."

She jumped, surprised to hear Sophie voice. "Yes."

"Do you know the precise location for any of the Bloodspiral hideouts?"

Zhalia looked closely at Sophie. "No... Not exactly, but I have an idea on where they might be."

That seemed to grasp Sophie's attention as life seemed to fill her eyes. "Does Kier stay around any of them in particular?"

Zhalia realized where this conversation was heading. "No, all of the main leaders of the Bloodspiral tend to move around a lot, so no one detects them."

"Oh..."

Sophie had been quiet for the rest of the night until Den and Lok took her to her room then went to their own for the night. The storm was starting to brew when Zhalia and Dante spoke, and before they retired for the night Dante informed her that he would write to her about their plans after he met with Guggenheim, as she would have already left to return to the Bloodspiral.

#End of Flashback#

Den appeared at the door just as Sophie had Lok begging for mercy again and quickly raced in to assist Sophie. He was always eager for the opportunity to defeat Lok.

It looked as though Sophie was feeling slightly better, but Zhalia would find out for sure later off Lok.