Everyone was looking at Cora again; she could feel their eyes boring into her. She pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"Why?" She said simply exhaling in the girl's general direction her eyes flashing dangerously.

"You're not what I imagined." Poppy said smiling and not answering the question.

"Why are you here?" Cora asked again coldly and Taylor hissed at her rudeness. Cora ignored her.

Poppy continued to smile warmly at her. "Finn asked me to come." She replied.

Cora felt a ripple of anger, and was on her feet. Taylor moved in a flash attempting to push her back into the chair but Cora stood firm.

"Finns dead," Cora spat angrily.

Poppy was no longer smiling.
"I-I heard a rumour but I wasn't sure. When he used to run with the boys in New York, he was friends with James, my James." She said,
"He called James last year and asked us to come and talk to you guys. I met him a few times before he moved to England."

She moved over to Cora who froze, Taylor was so shocked that the girl was moving towards the danger she was momentarily stunned. Poppy took Cora's hand and said slowly.

"I'm sorry Cora." Their eyes met for a moment and all the pent up emotion inside Cora threatened to overwhelm her.

Her knees, for the first time in a long time felt too weak to stand on and she allowed Taylor to finally shove her into the chair.

The moment the eye contact was broken, the feelings were bottled back up again. Cora felt weak and anger flared in her again.

She picked up the cigarette which was now burning against the floorboards, and took a long and harsh drag of it closing her eyes which were stinging with moisture slightly.

No one had mentioned Finn's name in months, not since she had made it clear to them that she didn't want to talk about him, or what happened.

Taylor had found Cora unconscious lying on top of Finns dead body, she was near death herself and for a long time after had wished Taylor had never found her.

"Have you ever heard of The Wild Powers?" Poppy asked after a few moments of silence, they all shook their heads.

Poppy looked disheartened for a moment but pushed on.

"Surely you've heard of members of the Night world falling in love with humans?"

Cora had heard of this, the soul mate principal.

Harriet laughed, "Load of shite." Poppy laughed as well.

"To be honest, if you'd told me about Vampires, Shape Shifters, Witches, a few years ago I would have said the same thing. You love, you learn." She said wisely.

"I can't make you out, you're a vampire but you're something else." Taylor said.

"Witch," Cora answered instantly.

"Impressive," Poppy grinned. "Just believe me a moment, ok? You've never heard of the Wild Powers?" She asked again incredulously.

They all shook their heads again, Cora hissed slightly with impatience but Poppy ignored this.

"In blue fire, the final darkness is banished,

In blood, the final price is paid,

Four to stand between the light and the shadow,

Four of blue fire, power in their blood,

Born in the year of the blind Maiden's vision,

Four less one and darkness triumphs,

One from the land of kings forgotten,

One from the hearth which still holds the spark,

One from the Day World where two eyes are watching,

One from the twilight to be one with the dark."

"Very poetic," Cora said sarcastically.

"Cora! Don't you understand what this means?" Taylor almost shrieked.

"Yes I understand. She wants us to come and fight this war with them, a fight that has nothing to do with us. She thinks' we'll lay down our lives for a people who want us dead, and the way to persuade us is showing us evidence that we can't lose as we've got the unbeatable Wild Powers on our side. Am I right?"

Poppy blinked and shook her head.

"You're talking about The Night World Council and majority of vampires, and humans who attack through fear...animal instinct. I'm talking about Circle Daybreak."

"Circle Daybreaks finished, centuries ago." Cora replied but Poppy shook her head again.

"Did you not hear about Keller, Galen and Ilana? They bonded their blood, they married into the houses. The Shape Shifters and the Witches have joined circle daybreak."

"If you haven't noticed, we're a little behind the times. It's everyone for themselves here, no unity and no rules. The witches are protecting the humans but if you want to join them, you have to follow their rules. No shape shifting, no magic, no transforming of any kind, and why? All to keep the humans happy. What about us?" Cora wasn't shouting, but her voice had a harshness in it which made Poppy recoil slightly.

"It's not like that where we are!" Poppy said her voice raising slightly.

"So we come to your country to fight your war?"

"It's not a war we're talking about here, it's the fucking apocalypse!" Poppy shouted.

They all fell silent. Cora stood up, thinking as walked over to Emily, feeling her temperature and listening for her vitals. What would Finn do? She asked herself.

Taylor persuaded Cora to let Poppy stay with them for the night, and Cora headed to her usual position at the peephole.

_

Reviews please, (A)peace (E) x

(sorry about typos, I've broken my glasses)