Just a quick warning. My. Longest. Chapter. Ever. BUTTTTTT It is about the final fight! I know it took ages, but it had to be perfect. I really hope you all like it, I really worked hard on it.

Hunter Hi! Here, I'm glad that you're back, I missed you! Frozen hearts Hi, I don't think you've reviewed before? Well nice to meet you and thanks for such a sweet review! Coco Well, here you go x Hannah Not very soon, but here anyway! Nightworld fan Please don't cry! Haha, though there may be a few sad moments, nothing said... I managed to put in the POV's of most of the people you mentioned and I hope you like my take on them.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Five.

People took their positions, occasionally glancing at the impending sun.

Four.

There was no movement except the wind that blew through the long grass. People stood facing their enemies on separate parts of the island, separated by a line that would cease to exist in a few seconds.

Three.

People tighten their grips on their weapons.

Two.

Praying.

One.

Ash's POV

Ash stood on the front line, just a metre away from the border.

Alec jogged down beside him, and they shared a bemused, steely glance at one another. As the sun began to rise Ash found his mind drifting to the hospital tent, thinking of Mare and the other healers who would almost certainly have their work cut out tending to the wounded. He had dark red war paint on his face and bare arms; he had been worried it would look girlish, he smiled to himself; bemused. The paint was intricate and mystical, and frankly Ash thought it was pretty cool.

Ash forced himself to concentrate; he glared at the animals and vampires before him. Picking out targets, the Dark Side would have obviously put their strongest fighters at the front, just as Circle Daybreak had done. The closest target seemed too focused on Quinn to care about him; and Ash had spied a familiar face in the crowd. Alder Redfern, his father. He smiled wirily at the man's stone face, separated by an invisible line. The man's gaze fell upon Ash's for a brief moment and a voice sounded in his head. Son or no son, I will kill you for your crimes. Ash merely smiled and raised his head in defiance of the man he used to follow.

James' POV

James stood next to Poppy, few things really made him angry, he was a calm type of guy, Poppy was excitable enough for the two of them. But one of the main things that really made him grit his teeth and a red haze descend upon his vision; was when Poppy was in danger. And she sure as hell was in danger right now. His grip tightened on his wooden sword, his blonde-brown hair that slightly curled just hid his focused eyes.

He knew Poppy was eyeing up a large tiger a few metres away, and he glared at a vampire which was staring at her. First him. Thought James, it would give Poppy one less thing to think about, and that could be the difference between life and death.

The sun began to rise, and as the first rays of daylight fell upon James, he moved. One of the first to cross the border he went straight for the vampire who was looking at Poppy. James had moved too quickly, and the vampire hadn't even realised the fight had even started before James had snapped his neck and plunged the wooden sword straight into his heart. He was dimly aware of Poppy attacking the tiger, pouncing on it much like the tiger would do in the wild; this confused the shifter long enough for Poppy to slit the tiger's throat. James watched, proud of his fiery soulmate before he delved back into the fight with the cool efficiency of a killer.

Morgead's POV

The fight had only been going 10 minutes, but there were already heavy losses. Morgead moved deliberately over the dead bodies below him as he attacked brutally. At the back of his mind he knew it felt weird to be fighting without the odd streak of red hair in his view, but his mind was clouded with the job and the job only. The things he killed he didn't care for, kill and move on, kill and move on, were the only thoughts circling around his brain. To stop to think about Jez or anything he cared about would make him slow, and therefore weak. And Morgead Blackthorn was not weak.

He slammed his boot into the chest of a dying vampire, sending it to the ground hard as it died. He was surrounded by bodies, and he gave a grim smile. In truth he did miss that red hair and the way her eyes flash when- suddenly a slash of pain soared down his back. Morgead gritted his teeth against the pain of the wood as he spun around; a young vampire stood there, newly made; probably only a year old. He was slow and didn't understand the full extent of a vampire's skill, treating it like a human's body. Morgead plunged the sword into his unguarded stomach easily; wincing as he pulled the cut on his back open further from the action.

Stupid. He criticised himself, he had allowed himself to think of Jez and he had been slow and gotten hurt. He glanced around and saw Poppy surrounded by vampires, and James occupied with a werewolf. He smirked; adjusting his grip on his sword before running into the circle.

Keller's POV

She stood, in her graceful panther form next to Quinn and Rashel. She twitched her tail, counting down. Three, two, one. At one she pounced at a now in range vampire. Her powerful jaws clamped down on the woman's head and she ignored the warm blood spilling into her mouth. As Keller held the woman Rashel threw a wooden dagger into woman's heart for good measure. As Keller dropped the woman's corpse, out of the corner of her eye she saw a leopard crashing into a vampire that had been heading straight for her. She ran over to her soulmate, giving him a low growl of greeting and thanks. She bit deeply into the vampire's torso. Her gaze drifted upwards as she bit, working her way through the vampire's tough skin. She could see flying shifters, and up on the cliff face were the witches, sending orange flames at them and people below.

Quinn was attacking smoothly, he didn't make unnecessary movements, he was lethal and controlled. He occasionally gave Rashel a hand, but she always repaid the favour. They were a strong team and Keller was proud of them.

Mare's POV

The hospital was busy. Busier than anyone expected. There were patients on the floor, on the counters, on the grass. Anywhere there was space lay a body. There were a group of werewolves who were into their forties; and too old to fight, so their job was to take the dead bodies, and to take them to a clearing in the forest so they were out of the way. The dead bodies would then be collected by loved ones and given burials.

Mare ran though the tent, carrying bandages, people were screaming and crying, and she barely knew who to turn to first. She ran to a random bed holding a panting witch. The witch was not even older than 18, and had warm chestnut hair, in truth she reminded Mare of Rowan.

"Listen, it's okay. You've been stabbed; I need to take the knife out." She yelled to the witch over the sound of the hospital.

The witch nodded and gritted her teeth. Mare took hold of the Iron knife lodged in the witch's stomach and pulled hard. The knife came out with a shriek belonging to the witch. Mare threw the knife under the bed and quickly pressed the bandage against the wound trying to prevent blood loss.

The witch paled, her screams were cut off by a gurgle. She tilted her head to the side and coughed up blood. Mare helped her, putting her into the recovery position which they learnt in school. She relived that she still remembered what to do. The witch was still coughing up blood, a rich, desperate sound. The witch heaved loudly, the blood sticking in her throat, clotting. Her eyes went wide, as if realising what was about to happen before she slumped to the side, dead.

Mare didn't want to get upset. Silently she lifted up her left hand and made a C shape with it. Within a few seconds a burly werewolf had come and picked her dead body up, and carried her away. Mare used the dirty bandages to quickly mop up some blood before a new patient had filled the witches bed, just seconds after her death.

Mare summoned up a reassuring smile, her new patient's leg had almost been entirely taken off, and Mare ran off in search of clean bandages. She ran though the tent as fast as her pregnant body would let her. She suddenly heard a loud scream, not a scream of pain, like those that were all around her, but a scream of terror.

She looked up to see the hospital being attacked.

Mare wanted to scream in anger; she ducked behind a counter, trying to gather her thoughts. There was no point in running for help, she couldn't in her condition and she was sure that some of the nurses must be doing that. Her blood was boiling, to attack a hospital was horrendous and she wanted to kill the attackers more than she had ever wanted to kill anyone in her life. She stayed hidden though; she was slow and she couldn't protect her patients. She was racking her brains for a plan when a shadow fell over her.

Mare screamed as she was lifted brutally by the hair by a werewolf. He was somewhere between human and wolf form and his eyes were rabid. She could feel Ash dimly in her mind, and she sent out a desperate plea for help to him. The werewolf seemed to move in slow motion, he pulled his large, hairy fist back, and with a look of pure madness, brought it forward, hard into Mare's pregnant stomach.

The wolf dropped her and fell over having been stabbed as Mare fell to floor; sobbing while clutching her stomach. She looked through her blurred vision to see that she was sitting in a pool of her own blood. She screamed out desperately as she clutched her stomach, her tears falling to the floor, mixing with her blood. She couldn't move, she just kept thinking Oh please, oh please, oh please. Over and over in her head.

Her baby Eve was dead.

Ash's POV

He knew. He just knew. He wanted to be with Mare now more than anything. He felt her pain and it mirrored his own. She needed him more than ever and Ash was damned going to be there. He attacked harder; working his way through the crowd and towards the hospital tent. Word had gotten out that it had been attacked, and he wasn't the only one trying to get to it.

As he crashed into the tent, he quickly stabbed a werewolf which was eating the heart of dead witch with warm chestnut hair like Rowans. He ran into the centre of the tent, somehow though the link he knew where he would find Mare. He suddenly saw her, pressed against a counter, silently crying. He ran over to her and took her wordlessly into his arms, not caring about the blood surrounding them.

"She's- she's dead." Sobbed Mare against his chest.

And Ash did something he had never done in his entire life. He cried.

Thierry's POV

Thierry had never really appreciated the numbers, but there were thousands of people here, all fighting for a cause; and even though the numbers of wounded were great, there were still hundreds of people without even a scratch on them. He was standing in the forest, near to the beach with Sydney, Delos, Iliana and Jez. There was a tense silence between them all, worried about their friends and family.

Thierry faced them. "I'm not going to do yet another speech." He said with a smile. "Because you don't need one. All of you will work together, and you will win, I promise." Thierry paused; he wasn't really sure what to say next. "Do you all have a weapon on you that will cut through your own skin?" He asked.

The group gave murmuring replies; they all had multiple weapons or Iron, silver and wood. In the distance there were sounds of screaming and crying.

Thierry nodded once, he had been in charge of Circle Daybreak for a long time, and built it up from only six members. Now it was all riding on four 17 year olds, but Thierry smiled slightly, if his entire life had to rest on any four teenagers, he could hardly think any group better. Delos, a natural leader. A prince in his own right, he was controlled, dedicated and a strong fighter. Jez, Fiery was a good way to describe her, she was wild and dangerous, but she was loyal and head strong. Iliana, Iliana always thought of others before herself, she could be overlooked, but she was an intelligent girl and well liked. And Sydney, although Thierry hadn't known her long, he was glad he had met her. She was kind, fun and clear headed, she completed the four.

"Right." He said calmly. "You four, onto the beach."

"Are you not coming with us?" Asked Delos, confused.

"No, you don't need me. All you need to do is be all you can be. We will have people around keeping an eye on any sneaky attacks, but otherwise you lot are on your own."

"Thierry, we don't even know what were supposed to do?!" Groaned Jez in frustration.

"No, but you will. Sydney has done this before, trust me. You'll be fine." Smiled Thierry. He knew his calm, secretive manner would infuriate the four, but he had no more of an idea than them. He just needed them to think that he knew; so that they would be able to work it out. And he really hoped they worked it out.

Sydney's POV

Sydney frowned slightly, she didn't know what to do, but she agreed with Thierry, they should get down to the beach.

"Let's go." She said seriously.

She took Jez's and Iliana's hands, and she saw Jez take Delos' hand so they stood in a line. And so they walked down to the beach. A unit.

Xxxxx

Where is he?" Growled Delos. They were standing on an empty beach.

"Calm down." Said Iliana sensibly. "We don't even know who we are waiting for, Nathan or Arach."

Sydney bit her lip, twirling her blade around her hand. Who were they waiting for? Was a huge dragon going to turn up?

There was movement in front of them and Sydney tensed.

Nathan stepped out of the undergrowth. He glanced at the four of them, and smirked. "Well, fancy seeing you here, but indulge me before we start with the whole fire, killing stuff. How do you see this playing out? You guys give yourselves a paper cut, point it at me, and then go home singing show tunes?" He asked. "Perhaps If I were just a vampire that could have worked."

"Just a vampire?" Blurted out Sydney, confused.

"You're not the only one who is an Old Soul." Smirked Nathan. "In fact, I was there ten thousand years ago too, except I wasn't called Nathan. I had a different name. Arach." He lifted up his mop of hair to show three dragon horns upon his head. Except these horns were different, they were a rich red colour, tipped with black. And they gleamed in the sunlight, they shone.

Before Sydney had time to react Delos had moved, he had detached himself from Jez and was running at Nathan. Nathan grinned and faced Delos, and when Delos leaped to knock Nathan to the floor, Nathan used Delos' movement to throw him behind him, so Delos landed on his back, hard, with Nathan standing over him.

That's when Sydney moved. She jumped onto Nathan's back while Jez got to work on trying to get a horn off. Power exploded out of Nathan, and threw Sydney and Jez off of him; Sydney fell to the ground with a rush of air escaping her lungs. She took a moment to stop her vision spinning, and she saw Iliana running for the dragon, a silver knife clutched in her hand. She ran at the dragon and swiped at one of the horns, putting all her strength behind it, and unbelievably she managed to get the left one off. Nathan roared, black energy crackled at Iliana, knocking her a good few metres away.

Nathan snarled and began to change. Sydney saw the man of the present turning into the dragon of the past. A large scaly body, red eyes and claws, a tail the length of a bus with horns on the end. Sydney glanced at Iliana, she was the only one of the four that had encountered a dragon that had actually changed into a dragon, but she was too busy groaning with pain. Sydney racked her brains, a part of her blood had shape shifting blood in it from the first house of the shapeshifters, what would Galen and Keller do?

Then she knew. A shape shifter was weakest when changing forms, and Sydney only had a few seconds. She got up, ignoring the pain in her entire body and ran at the dragon, holding her silver dagger tight in her hand. The human bit of Nathan seemed to be peeling away to reveal the monster, and Sydney jumped.

She jumped onto the snout of the dragon, looking into its livid red eyes, but Nathan was still changing and was helpless to move. Sydney reached into her boot and pulled out another silver dagger so she had one in each hand. With one hand she launched her knife at the base of a horn with all her might; and the other she stabbed into one of the dragon's red eye.

The dragon roared in pain and fury, and shook her off, but when Sydney fell to the ground, so did something else. The dragon's second horn.

"Sydney!" Yelled Delos. Sydney pushed her aching body up, to see Jez, Iliana, and Delos standing to the right of the dragon, in his blind spot. The dragon was too busy roaring in pain to notice Sydney as she ran over to her friends.

"It's time." Said Delos.

They each solemnly took out a dagger and ran it up their arms, only this time it was different. It was as if their fire knew what this was resting on, and instead of the fire bursting out of their hands like it normally did; as their blood fell to the floor it began to catch alight. The fire spread out, capturing them in a circle of flame, which grew and grew, closing inwards. Sydney saw that her hand was immersed in flames, but she felt just a light tickling sensation. The fire raged on; drowning out the sounds of the dragons roar.

The dragon let loose a channel of dark energy, sent directly to the group, but the fire leapt up, blocking it and creating a wall of blue. Sydney stood in flame, though she barely noticed it. The fire began to consume the dragon, but unlike when it touched the four it burned into the dragon, burning into the horn. The fire raged along with the dragon, but the fires strength and power greatly outweighed Nathan's and as the last horn burned away, so did the dragon, leaving only a smouldering outline of the great beast that was there just moments before.

Silence.

"We won!" Screamed Jez.

Sydney, Iliana, Jez and Delos celebrated, whooping. Ten thousand years, and they had won. Thierry ran into the clearing and gave them all a huge hug.

"Now, let us have peace." Smiled Thierry.

Xxxxxxx

Delos, Iliana, Jez, Sydney and Thierry ran to the top of the cliff face where the battle was still raging on.

"Why are they still fighting?" Asked Jez desperately. "We won, Nathan is dead, the fights over!"

"Nathan was just one man. I fear that the dark side do not consider the death of one man as the end." Said Thierry seriously.

"So we have to kill every single one before the fight ends?" Asked Delos.

"I certainly hope not. Remember, many of them don't even know that Nathan is dead. Perhaps they will stop once they know their leader is dead."

"Right then, lets tell them." Said Jez determinedly.

"How?" Asked Iliana, there were shouts and screams below them, it was too noisy to simply call for quiet.

"We get their attention." Smiled Sydney. She held out her arm much like they had done just minutes before. She saw Delos, Iliana and Jez copy her movements out of the corner of her eye. She ran the wooden blade up her arm for the first time in the new 10,000 years. The others did the same, following her lead. She closed her eyes, held her arm to the sky and let the fire go, her friend's fire following only a few seconds behind. She opened her eyes to see the sky alight; the fire burned above them, blocking out the sun and descending to create a dome over the island.

The fighting stopped abruptly and the gaze of everyone on the Island was on Jez, Sydney, Delos and Iliana. Delos took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Listen to me!" He bellowed. The island was miles long but the dome caught the sound, amplifying it ten times over. Delos' voice could be heard clearly all over the island. "Listen to me, all of you. The fight is won, Nathan is dead! The next ten thousand years will be ruled by all those who are ready to accept the new world, and to let the Dark Side die with Nathan. The fighting will stop. Now!" He roared.

Amazingly there was a simple silence before the sound of falling weapons.

"Their giving up! We won!" Whispered Iliana to Sydney excitedly.

Sydney smiled at Iliana it seemed almost too easy, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind guiltily. They had won, and no one she was close to had been hurt badly; why couldn't she enjoy it? "Because I can't get away from the feeling that Nathan had one more trick up his sleeve." She whispered to herself.

"What?" Asked Jez.

"Nothing." Said Sydney quickly.

Suddenly there was a flurry of movement beside her and a small girl with copper curls hurled herself into Sydney's arms.

"Winnie, hey!" Laughed Sydney.

"We won! Oh my gosh! I'm going to celebrate tonight, and you are going to call your dad and tell him that the world is safe thanks to you and some gorgeous friends!" She giggled. "Alec's phone is in your tent, I'll go get it."

Sydney was being to laugh with relief and happiness when a scream came from her tent.

Winnie!" Gasped Sydney, she and the other three ran to her tent where Keller and Nissa were standing over Winnie, who had an iron knife lodged in her stomach.

Winnie's POV

Winnie coughed and gave a small smile at her horror struck friends. Nathan had left a contraption that was set to go off when someone entered Sydney's tent, it must have been intended for Sydney but had taken out her instead. Breathing heavily she looked up at the group around her. "Sydney?" She whispered.

Sydney moved closer and bent her head.

"You always were a good friend, I loved teaching you." She coughed again, she felt like her lungs were full of blood.

"Don't start saying your goodbyes, we will fix you we-" Sydney started but Winnie put a finger on her lips before continuing in a weaker voice. "I'm glad we won. Thank you, I don't mind dying for you." Sydney was shaking, her hands trembling she wiped a tear off Winnie's cheek.

"You saved my life" Whispered Sydney. "Thank you."

Winnie smiled weakly before saying. "Keller? Nissa?" Her voice trembled slightly. Both stepped forward.

"I had fun with you guys. We grew up together. We used to train together, and we fought together." He voice was fading slightly. Keller nodded a tear in her eye. Nissa took one hand and Keller leant forward and hugged the smaller girl.

"I'm so sorry."Keller whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

Winnie forced a smile, her lip trembling a little. "I'm tired." She admitted; it suddenly felt like she was seeing and hearing everyone through a tunnel. Her body hurt and she just wanted to sleep.

I know, go to sleep" Keller choked out. Winnie nodded slightly, her eyes drifting to a close, she was awake of Keller holding her but the rest was a blur, but she forced her eyes open to say. "I'll miss you. Tell Philip I love him, and don't forget me." She closed her eyes, falling down into a deep sleep that she knew she would never awaken from. She knew she and Philip would never have children, she would never see her family again, she would never fight with Keller and Nissa again, but she still fell deeper and deeper. Content.

Against the small and brave girl Keller wept. She held her until the girl with the copper curls smiled one last time and breathed one last breath before going limp in Keller's arms. Her last smile fading from her lips.

"I'll never forget you" Whispered Keller.

Xxxxxxxx

Winnie's dead! Noooo, so is Mare's baby! But so is Nathan, so yay I guess. Anyway that was the final fight, I hope I gave it justice, and even though I'm sad that there are only two more chapters, I love writing this. So if you've read all the way up to here, and never reviewed, now would be the time to since my last 60,000 odd words have built up to this last moment. L J Smith wrote nine books leading up to this time, and I really hope you liked it.

I promised I would finish this in February, so the last chapter of the book will come out on the 28th, (The day after my birthday!) And the epilogue a week after.

Just quickly, did anyone pick up on the werewolf that Ash stabbed that was eating a witches heart, was the same witch that Mare had tried to treat? Just wondering...

Till next time!

(And YES there will be a next time, so you all better be there!)