James Rasmussen was due to arrive later that day; he was travelling through London and had called Poppy, whom had confirmed the rumour quietly over the phone that Finn was indeed dead.
Cora had pretended to be interested in the fires outside the peephole again whilst this conversation was taking place.
Emily was still not doing well; her body had sustained severe poisoning from the creature. She moaned loudly throughout the night, her body shaking whilst a fever took over.
Cora had stayed awake all night with her, trying to keep her temperature down.
Logan lay slumped in the chair next to the table sleeping restlessly whilst Harriet and Caddy stayed in Cora's room.
Taylor and Poppy had been talking well into the night, they attempted to keep their voices quiet but Cora could hear, even when she attempted not to.
"She's just been through a lot; she's a real softy deep down." Taylor had murmured to Poppy.
"I can see it when I look at her. The pain is still so raw; does she ever talk about him?" Poppy asked.
"No never. I don't ask anymore, things run a lot smoother if we don't talk about him. The last few months have not been easy." Cora had heard Taylor's voice break slightly here but she composed herself quickly and continued, "I could feel her anger towards me for a long time. She hated me for saving her when she wanted to die too. I still feel it sometimes."
It was at that moment when Emily had let out a yelp of pain which everyone awake had heard, and Poppy and Taylor's conversation had ended for the night.
Cora put a cloth onto Emily's head, and Emily's eyes opened blurrily looking up at Cora who smiled and whispered; "Morning."
Logan and Harriet were on patrol and wouldn't be back for a few hours still. Caddy who had obviously been listening from inside Cora's room burst through the door and was at the table side in a second.
"Emily!" She squealed, "How are you feeling?"
Emily took a rasping breath with great difficulty, "Shit." She croaked.
Cora laughed, whilst Caddy giggled nervously. Emily attempted a weak smile and Cora learnt down and kissed her on the forehead.
"Good to have you back lady."
Taylor and Poppy had emerged from the room and wandered over to the table.
Taylor was watching Cora with her usual suspicious expression.
Cora looked at her, nodded and then smiled at her. Taylors shoulders relaxed and she flew forward wrapping her arms around Cora.
"I knew you'd save her!" She shrieked.
Cora hugged her back; and tried to put a lot of unspoken meaning into it.
Taylor had stuck by her through everything, and she'd never really realised how much she'd been asking her to put up with.
Cora bit her own wrist and offered it to Emily as her blood would help her heal a lot quicker than any of the others.
_
They had agreed to meet James at the barrier just outside of Leeds. It was a dangerous area, filled with vampire dens and a few banished Shifters.
"We will move as one. Splitting up in that kind of area would be too risky. Once we've met James and move as one. If we do get split up, meet on the corner outside the old bank near the iron bridge."
Cora had ordered Logan to remain with Emily who was still very weak. Everyone else had volunteered to assist in bringing James in.
They began to move quickly through Seacroft, towards the town of Tadcaster where the large metal wall rose up, a good twenty feet tall.
There were all kinds of enchantments put on it, to stop people getting over. Poppy and James had contacts on the other side, and for 30 seconds at 2am there would be a gap in the barrier so James could hop the wall.
"Who knows about this barrier opening?" Harriet asked Poppy as they walked past the old burned out church.
"James and just my contact on the other side, she's circle daybreak and a witch. She won't tell anyone." Poppy replied, aware of everybody listening to her reply.
Cora could hear a van revving a mile or so away, she had run ahead to scout the area out. She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. She could smell a vampire den about two hundred metres away, they were feeding.
Cora transformed her body, it changed quickly and easily. The animal instinct inside her was roaring up, but her vampire senses kept her routed to the spot.
Cora had been born to a werewolf mother and a vampire father.
It had gone unreported so as far as Cora knew she was the only one of her kind.
When she transformed her canine teeth had more of a wolfish shape to them and her skin not as pale as a regular vampire.
Her eyes lightened to an almost luminous yellow and there was always the feeling of madness behind her stare. The kind you get with a wild animal under attack.
At 2 minutes to 2, even Cora was struggling to stand still as the air filled with the anticipation. Caddy was rubbing her small but powerful hands together.
Poppy was positively writhing with excitement, and constantly checking her watch.
Taylor had positioned herself at Cora's shoulder habitually, and at one minute to two, she placed put her hand forward leaning Cora back slightly to murmur into her ear.
"Something's up Cora, I can sense it. What aren't you telling us?"
"Vampires," Cora replied equally as quiet, "about thirty of them about 200 metres away. They must have caught our scent by now. If they move when the barrier is open, there might be a lot of trouble."
Taylor nodded and patted Cora's shoulder and let go, remaining routed to the spot behind her.
A few years previously, a witch had opened up the barrier after her partner had been killed by a group of humans.
There had been fighting for weeks as the barrier had stayed open, until the witch who had opened it was killed.
Hundreds had died, including Caddy's father and brother.
Cora and Taylor had fought off the group of Shifters who'd ransacked her house and found her unconscious hidden under her bed.
Once she was well enough, the subject of her leaving had never arose and she had been with them ever since.
Cora heard her watch click onto 2am, and took a deep breath.
"Be on your guard, we need this to go as smoothly as possible."
As soon as the barrier had opened a siren sounded, causing everyone to jump. Cora rushed towards the wall and spun with her back towards it blocking anyone from coming towards it. Poppy leapt at the wall and peered over.
"James, now! Come on!" She shrieked, and Cora felt Poppy and James land behind her.
"Cora let's go!" She heard Harriet shout.
"The barrier is not closed. No one is to get through." After another 20 seconds, the barrier closed and the siren was silent. Cora could sense the vampires still within their den.
The air outside was still, and there was an uneasy feeling between them all as they began to move back towards Contravene.
Logan unbolted the door and allowed them all to walk inside.
Cora headed towards the peephole as everyone else moved towards the sofas and chairs to relax.
"Any trouble?" Logan asked walking out of the bedroom Emily had been moved to sleep in.
"No, it went ok, didn't it Cora?" Poppy asked loudly, clinging to James arm. There was a few moments silence and then Cora spun around so fast that Harriet and Poppy both gasped in unison.
"Shit. They followed us. Logan, get Emily quickly. We need to be ready to leave." Everybody was on their feet again.
"Cora, what are you talking about? I thought you said that they couldn't make us leave?"
"I didn't count on this. We have to move. Now!" Cora's voice was commanding but the tone of panic had everyone listening. "Logan, will you please fucking get Emily!"
Logan moved quickly back into the dark room. Whilst Taylor moved towards the peephole, Cora caught her arm on the way past and shook her head but Taylor pulled her arm from her grip to look.
"Oh goddess!" Taylor cried, her hands uncharacteristically flying to her throat.
There were at least 100 vampires outside, and not just vampires, the vampires were stood alongside the black, rubber skinned creatures. Cora had never seen so many, at least 30 of them.
"Poppy can you contact your friend. Now they've found us it isn't safe for us here right now. We'll have to jump the wall." Cora said urgently.
"Jump the wall!" Caddy hissed, "We're running away?"
"Yes," Cora replied her voice calm again, "We cannot beat those demons, not without knowing more about them, and not without help."
"We've taken out a few hundred vampires before no problem. This is our fuckin' place; we should fight those bastards off." Harriet growled in a hostile voice, and Caddy chimed in with a "Damn right."
They were both surveying Cora in a way she had never seen them look at her before; she could feel disgust in their gaze.
Cora felt her frustration and anger boil over quickly, her short temper flaring.
"If you stay here you will die." She kept her voice cold and icy, but she knew they could sense the anger vibrating from her.
"We won't know that, unless we fight, we can-"
"Listen to me!" Cora yelled at them.
She could never recall ever losing her temper like this at any of them before, and maybe it was this that made them take notice.
"If they touch you, it's like poison to your system, they're like nothing I'd seen before and they've grown in numbers. Me and Finn tried to take out a group of five on our own. Finn died and I was left with this." She pulled up her sleeve revealing the deep gauges etched into her arm. "If you stay, you will die. Emily was touched by just one and you saw what happened to her."
Emily who was being supported by Logan emerged from the room.
"When do we leave?" She croaked with a wry smile at Cora.
Taylor moved in front of Cora for a second, and then put her hand on the back of Cora's neck and pulled their foreheads together, the way they used to when they were children.
"Are you two coming or not?" Taylor spat turning to face Caddy and Harriet who both were looking uncomfortable and torn.
James stepped forward and held out his hand to shake Cora's, and gave a calming smile.
"I will contact Phoebe now. We will have a way out of here, and I can organise a flight for tomorrow."
