I groaned. Something hurt. Then I realised what. Everything. And I was cold. Freezing. I thought vampires didn't have to deal with body temperature. If that was true, then why the hell was I so cold?
I opened my eyes, and found myself in some sort of stone cell. There were bars on a window high in the wall, and also on the window in the heavy wooden door. Pushing myself to my feet, I tugged on the handle. Locked. Of course it was.
There was a small bench cut into the stone of the wall, and one light-bulb hanging from the ceiling glowing faintly. What was happening? Where was I? Why wasn't Zeke coming to save me? Was he even alive?
I pounded on the door. "Come on, someone let me out of here! This isn't funny!" I shouted. Yelling like this was probably not going anywhere, but I had to try. I didn't know what else I could do.
"It is funny, you should see your face."
At the sound of Topaz's voice on the other side of the door, I shut up. It was because of her I was in here. Keys rattled and the door unlocked. Topaz stood there smiling. I was about to jump on her and rip her throat out I saw two huge black clad bodyguards behind her, both with some sort of crossbows loaded with sharpened wooden stakes.
I controlled my fury and remained where I was. "What's going on?"
"Come with me and you'll see."
I had never hated a person more than I hated her. She was playing with my mind, and she could do anything and I could do nothing. It made me so angry, and if I wasn't terrified of being staked, then I would have killed her before now.
But this was her turf and not mine. I didn't know what was happening and she did.
She led me up some stairs and into a hallway, up another flight of stairs to two huge wooden double doors. She knocked once, and went inside.
Inside it seemed like some sort of office. There was a huge picture window with a view of some city I didn't recognise. It was night time, the sky was black and starless, city lights winkled. There was a huge wooden desk, a mahogany sideboard with a crystal decanter and some bottles of drinks I didn't recognise, along with some crystal glasses.
The woman in the chair behind the desk was stunning. Her hair was raven black, her skin milky pale. Her eyes shifted colour from moment to moment. She wore a black business suit. Her dark lips weren't smiling, they were scowling. Obviously this woman was someone very important amongst the Night World, and I decided it was probably better for me to keep my mouth shut and not yell about why I was here, and what was going on.
"You're illegally made," the woman said bluntly. "And that's against the law. We have very strict laws here and they must be followed. You broke them, you'll be punished. As soon as we find your boyfriend, we'll punish him too."
I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to say here. Everything said was true. There didn't seem to be any point in denying it. I stared sullenly.
"Well." The woman smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile of forgiveness. Obviously Night People weren't very forgiving. And I dreaded to think what my "punishment" would be. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be pleasant. "At least you have the sense not to talk back. Now...the punishment..."
"Torture?" Topaz offered.
I fought the urge to turn around and glare. But my insides were shaking. I didn't want to be tortured. But from the way the woman's face lit up, I could see that what I wanted didn't matter in the least.
~Zeke where are you?~ I thought desperately. ~Why aren't you coming to save me?~
"What a *good* idea."
"Do I get to play?" Topaz asked, sounding like a child presented with a new toy.
The woman's head tilted. "Let someone else have fun for once. You did your job. Now finish it by bringing me the other one."
Topaz looked a little disappointed. "Spoil my fun," she muttered, sounding disappointed. She turned away and left. The black haired woman gestured vaguely, and one of the bodyguards poked me with the stake, moving me back the way I'd come.
All I could think was I didn't want to go.
* * *
Zeke groaned. Something wasn't right. Why was he so cold? Vampires didn't feel the cold. But this wasn't a physical feeling. It was something else. Something inside him. Something...something bad had happened.
"Seraphin?" he muttered. Where was she? She should be running to see if he was alright. But she wasn't. He couldn't sense her presence or her mind at all. Maybe she was unconscious. "I'm gonna kill you Topaz," he muttered, trying to focus.
When he did he found himself in some sort of small room. There was the bed he was lying in, and moonlight streaming through the open window. He heard a door open at groaned.
"Hey, you're up. At least you're not dead." The speaker was a small girl with a froth of strawberry blonde curls. A witch. But that was al he could tell about her.
"Who're you?" Blunt, and to the point. "What the hell is going on here?"
The girl frowned and hesitated for a minute. "Hang on a sec and I'll go get the Boss." She went out into the hall. "Hey Keller!" he heard her yell. "Get your ass up here!"
"If I didn't like you you'd have been fired by now," another female voice said. Female? The Boss was a girl? She came into the room then. She was tall, black hair cascading around her, dark eyes shining. She wore a sleek black jumpsuit and small boots. She wasn't smiling all that much.
Someone else was poking their head around to see what was going on. Another girl. Small and delicate, with shimmery fine hair, and violet eyes. Another witch. Violet eyes and pale gold hair were Harman traits. So he was surrounded by gorgeous girls. If he didn't already have his soulmate, and if the situation wasn't so serious, he'd be thinking, great! I can have fun here!
"Who are all you people?" he demanded.
"We're the people who saved your butt," the dark haired girl said. "Though, why, it continue to allude me."
He was confused. Then he realised why. "You're Circle Daybreak," he guessed. Damn. Of all the people who could have saved him...but maybe it wasn't so bad. "Where's Seraphin?"
The delicate blonde was confused. "Who?"
They were all looking at him, and he decided he really had no choice. He sighed. "My soulmate. She's an illegally made vampire."
The dark haired girl didn't blink. "Iliana go back downstairs," she said, glancing over at the delicate blonde. "Don't argue with me."
"You're acting like I'm useless again," Iliana complained. "I can do something! I'm a Wild Power!"
Zeke could feel his eyebrows raise. Her? The girl was pretty, but way to delicate and dumb-looking to be a Wild Power. He'd heard the prophecies, as everyone had. But personally, he thought they weren't going to happen. Now, in the presence of a Wild Power, he was starting to think differently.
Iliana had stormed off now, silky hair flying, the glare she gave, now very scary. The strawberry-blonde nudged the dark haired girl with her elbow. The tall girl just looked at her. "What?" The strawberry-blonde rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"How about letting me in on what's happening here?" Zeke said again, trying not to lose his temper.
"We came across you last night, being attacked by a hoard of Night Worlders, you were obviously out numbered, and Winnie here," nodding to the other girl, "insisted we come and help out. There was no one else with you when we found you. We did our homework, and we can see you're not a very nice boy."
Zeke frowned. So these girls had no idea what had happened to Seraphin. "Do either of you guys have a cell phone?" Was there anybody who didn't have one these days?
Winnie pulled out hers and handed it to him. He took it and dialled Topaz's number. "Answer you bitch," he muttered.
She did. "Yes?" her voice was curt. Obviously she didn't recognise the number.
"Where is she?" he demanded. "What have you done with her?"
"Oh, it's you," she didn't sound too impressed. "What do you want? As if I didn't know."
"Where is she?"
"Vegas. The Council weren't very happy to see that you'd been naughty. They're looking for you, you know."
Of course they would be. "Why are so happy to tell me all this?"
"Because she'll be dead within the next twenty-four hours. Trinity's really having fun torturing her." He could almost see Topaz smiling. "'Bye now."
"It's not good news," Winnie guessed as she took her phone back.
"You think?" he snapped.
He shook his head, knowing the shock was plain on his face. He didn't bother to hide it. How was he going to get to Vegas and rescue her within 24 hours?
"Well?" The dark haired girl asked.
"Trinity Harman-Redfern is torturing my soulmate and is going to kill her in twenty four hours for breaking the law."
He saw them exchanged glances. Obviously they recognised the name. Who didn't? He realised there was no choice here. He couldn't find her alone. He was going to have to swallow his pride. Finally, he turned to the dark haired girl. "Look - uh - "
"Keller," she said finally.
He hesitated a moment. He closed his eyes and looked heavenwards. "I can't believe I'm going to do this." He opened them and looked at Keller again. "I need your help. I don't want Seraphin to die."
Keller and Winnie exchanged glances again. Keller was frowning. Zeke waited. They had to say yes. They were damned Daybreakers. They helped anybody who needed their help. Or they were supposed to.
Keller left the room. Zeke didn't say anything, just paced up and down. Finally Winnie said, "Will you sit down for a minute? You're making me sea-sick, and we're nowhere near the sea."
"If your soulmate was about to die you'd be pacing too," he snapped, but he sat down. About ten minutes later Keller came back.
"All right, all right," she said. She didn't sound to happy. "Thierry says we have to save her. We have to go into the Council's head-quarters and get her out."
"Nissa!" Winnie yelled. "We've got an assignment!"
A fourth girl came in, tall with minx coloured hair and eyes. "What?" she asked. Keller explained the situation again. Impatient, Zeke stood. "What are we waiting for?"
"You're not going anywhere," Keller said sharply, meeting his eyes directly.
"*What?*" His hearing was working, right?
"Thierry's orders," Keller said. "You stay here with Iliana and Galen. Someone'll come later and take you back to Daybreak head-quarters, also in Vegas, and when we find your girl, we'll take her back there."
"Fuck that, I'm going," he snapped. "She's my *soulmate*. What if you screw it up?"
"We don't screw up!" Winnie said, offended. "We're the best."
Zeke looked around them, finding it hard to believe. He was picking up vampire signals from Nissa. And Keller was a 'shifter clan name. A vampire, witch and shapeshifter? At least they weren't human.
"Look," Nissa said finally. "If you go, we rescue her, you guys'll be all mushy and smoochy, and cost us valuable time which we could be using to escape. If just the three of us go, then we won't be mushy and smoochy and we'll get her out much faster. Okay?"
"No," Zeke muttered. "Not okay at all. But I don't get a choice, do I?" He glared at Keller.
"You want to get your soulmate back? You do what we say. Got it?"
He scowled. He hated being told what to do. Especially by girls. Sometimes, it could be fun, but this wasn't one of those times.
"I hope you know what you're doing," he said sullenly.
"Of course we do," Winnie said, waving dismissively. "Don't worry."
Don't worry? Were they kidding?
* * *
I opened my eyes, and found myself in some sort of stone cell. There were bars on a window high in the wall, and also on the window in the heavy wooden door. Pushing myself to my feet, I tugged on the handle. Locked. Of course it was.
There was a small bench cut into the stone of the wall, and one light-bulb hanging from the ceiling glowing faintly. What was happening? Where was I? Why wasn't Zeke coming to save me? Was he even alive?
I pounded on the door. "Come on, someone let me out of here! This isn't funny!" I shouted. Yelling like this was probably not going anywhere, but I had to try. I didn't know what else I could do.
"It is funny, you should see your face."
At the sound of Topaz's voice on the other side of the door, I shut up. It was because of her I was in here. Keys rattled and the door unlocked. Topaz stood there smiling. I was about to jump on her and rip her throat out I saw two huge black clad bodyguards behind her, both with some sort of crossbows loaded with sharpened wooden stakes.
I controlled my fury and remained where I was. "What's going on?"
"Come with me and you'll see."
I had never hated a person more than I hated her. She was playing with my mind, and she could do anything and I could do nothing. It made me so angry, and if I wasn't terrified of being staked, then I would have killed her before now.
But this was her turf and not mine. I didn't know what was happening and she did.
She led me up some stairs and into a hallway, up another flight of stairs to two huge wooden double doors. She knocked once, and went inside.
Inside it seemed like some sort of office. There was a huge picture window with a view of some city I didn't recognise. It was night time, the sky was black and starless, city lights winkled. There was a huge wooden desk, a mahogany sideboard with a crystal decanter and some bottles of drinks I didn't recognise, along with some crystal glasses.
The woman in the chair behind the desk was stunning. Her hair was raven black, her skin milky pale. Her eyes shifted colour from moment to moment. She wore a black business suit. Her dark lips weren't smiling, they were scowling. Obviously this woman was someone very important amongst the Night World, and I decided it was probably better for me to keep my mouth shut and not yell about why I was here, and what was going on.
"You're illegally made," the woman said bluntly. "And that's against the law. We have very strict laws here and they must be followed. You broke them, you'll be punished. As soon as we find your boyfriend, we'll punish him too."
I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to say here. Everything said was true. There didn't seem to be any point in denying it. I stared sullenly.
"Well." The woman smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile of forgiveness. Obviously Night People weren't very forgiving. And I dreaded to think what my "punishment" would be. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be pleasant. "At least you have the sense not to talk back. Now...the punishment..."
"Torture?" Topaz offered.
I fought the urge to turn around and glare. But my insides were shaking. I didn't want to be tortured. But from the way the woman's face lit up, I could see that what I wanted didn't matter in the least.
~Zeke where are you?~ I thought desperately. ~Why aren't you coming to save me?~
"What a *good* idea."
"Do I get to play?" Topaz asked, sounding like a child presented with a new toy.
The woman's head tilted. "Let someone else have fun for once. You did your job. Now finish it by bringing me the other one."
Topaz looked a little disappointed. "Spoil my fun," she muttered, sounding disappointed. She turned away and left. The black haired woman gestured vaguely, and one of the bodyguards poked me with the stake, moving me back the way I'd come.
All I could think was I didn't want to go.
* * *
Zeke groaned. Something wasn't right. Why was he so cold? Vampires didn't feel the cold. But this wasn't a physical feeling. It was something else. Something inside him. Something...something bad had happened.
"Seraphin?" he muttered. Where was she? She should be running to see if he was alright. But she wasn't. He couldn't sense her presence or her mind at all. Maybe she was unconscious. "I'm gonna kill you Topaz," he muttered, trying to focus.
When he did he found himself in some sort of small room. There was the bed he was lying in, and moonlight streaming through the open window. He heard a door open at groaned.
"Hey, you're up. At least you're not dead." The speaker was a small girl with a froth of strawberry blonde curls. A witch. But that was al he could tell about her.
"Who're you?" Blunt, and to the point. "What the hell is going on here?"
The girl frowned and hesitated for a minute. "Hang on a sec and I'll go get the Boss." She went out into the hall. "Hey Keller!" he heard her yell. "Get your ass up here!"
"If I didn't like you you'd have been fired by now," another female voice said. Female? The Boss was a girl? She came into the room then. She was tall, black hair cascading around her, dark eyes shining. She wore a sleek black jumpsuit and small boots. She wasn't smiling all that much.
Someone else was poking their head around to see what was going on. Another girl. Small and delicate, with shimmery fine hair, and violet eyes. Another witch. Violet eyes and pale gold hair were Harman traits. So he was surrounded by gorgeous girls. If he didn't already have his soulmate, and if the situation wasn't so serious, he'd be thinking, great! I can have fun here!
"Who are all you people?" he demanded.
"We're the people who saved your butt," the dark haired girl said. "Though, why, it continue to allude me."
He was confused. Then he realised why. "You're Circle Daybreak," he guessed. Damn. Of all the people who could have saved him...but maybe it wasn't so bad. "Where's Seraphin?"
The delicate blonde was confused. "Who?"
They were all looking at him, and he decided he really had no choice. He sighed. "My soulmate. She's an illegally made vampire."
The dark haired girl didn't blink. "Iliana go back downstairs," she said, glancing over at the delicate blonde. "Don't argue with me."
"You're acting like I'm useless again," Iliana complained. "I can do something! I'm a Wild Power!"
Zeke could feel his eyebrows raise. Her? The girl was pretty, but way to delicate and dumb-looking to be a Wild Power. He'd heard the prophecies, as everyone had. But personally, he thought they weren't going to happen. Now, in the presence of a Wild Power, he was starting to think differently.
Iliana had stormed off now, silky hair flying, the glare she gave, now very scary. The strawberry-blonde nudged the dark haired girl with her elbow. The tall girl just looked at her. "What?" The strawberry-blonde rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"How about letting me in on what's happening here?" Zeke said again, trying not to lose his temper.
"We came across you last night, being attacked by a hoard of Night Worlders, you were obviously out numbered, and Winnie here," nodding to the other girl, "insisted we come and help out. There was no one else with you when we found you. We did our homework, and we can see you're not a very nice boy."
Zeke frowned. So these girls had no idea what had happened to Seraphin. "Do either of you guys have a cell phone?" Was there anybody who didn't have one these days?
Winnie pulled out hers and handed it to him. He took it and dialled Topaz's number. "Answer you bitch," he muttered.
She did. "Yes?" her voice was curt. Obviously she didn't recognise the number.
"Where is she?" he demanded. "What have you done with her?"
"Oh, it's you," she didn't sound too impressed. "What do you want? As if I didn't know."
"Where is she?"
"Vegas. The Council weren't very happy to see that you'd been naughty. They're looking for you, you know."
Of course they would be. "Why are so happy to tell me all this?"
"Because she'll be dead within the next twenty-four hours. Trinity's really having fun torturing her." He could almost see Topaz smiling. "'Bye now."
"It's not good news," Winnie guessed as she took her phone back.
"You think?" he snapped.
He shook his head, knowing the shock was plain on his face. He didn't bother to hide it. How was he going to get to Vegas and rescue her within 24 hours?
"Well?" The dark haired girl asked.
"Trinity Harman-Redfern is torturing my soulmate and is going to kill her in twenty four hours for breaking the law."
He saw them exchanged glances. Obviously they recognised the name. Who didn't? He realised there was no choice here. He couldn't find her alone. He was going to have to swallow his pride. Finally, he turned to the dark haired girl. "Look - uh - "
"Keller," she said finally.
He hesitated a moment. He closed his eyes and looked heavenwards. "I can't believe I'm going to do this." He opened them and looked at Keller again. "I need your help. I don't want Seraphin to die."
Keller and Winnie exchanged glances again. Keller was frowning. Zeke waited. They had to say yes. They were damned Daybreakers. They helped anybody who needed their help. Or they were supposed to.
Keller left the room. Zeke didn't say anything, just paced up and down. Finally Winnie said, "Will you sit down for a minute? You're making me sea-sick, and we're nowhere near the sea."
"If your soulmate was about to die you'd be pacing too," he snapped, but he sat down. About ten minutes later Keller came back.
"All right, all right," she said. She didn't sound to happy. "Thierry says we have to save her. We have to go into the Council's head-quarters and get her out."
"Nissa!" Winnie yelled. "We've got an assignment!"
A fourth girl came in, tall with minx coloured hair and eyes. "What?" she asked. Keller explained the situation again. Impatient, Zeke stood. "What are we waiting for?"
"You're not going anywhere," Keller said sharply, meeting his eyes directly.
"*What?*" His hearing was working, right?
"Thierry's orders," Keller said. "You stay here with Iliana and Galen. Someone'll come later and take you back to Daybreak head-quarters, also in Vegas, and when we find your girl, we'll take her back there."
"Fuck that, I'm going," he snapped. "She's my *soulmate*. What if you screw it up?"
"We don't screw up!" Winnie said, offended. "We're the best."
Zeke looked around them, finding it hard to believe. He was picking up vampire signals from Nissa. And Keller was a 'shifter clan name. A vampire, witch and shapeshifter? At least they weren't human.
"Look," Nissa said finally. "If you go, we rescue her, you guys'll be all mushy and smoochy, and cost us valuable time which we could be using to escape. If just the three of us go, then we won't be mushy and smoochy and we'll get her out much faster. Okay?"
"No," Zeke muttered. "Not okay at all. But I don't get a choice, do I?" He glared at Keller.
"You want to get your soulmate back? You do what we say. Got it?"
He scowled. He hated being told what to do. Especially by girls. Sometimes, it could be fun, but this wasn't one of those times.
"I hope you know what you're doing," he said sullenly.
"Of course we do," Winnie said, waving dismissively. "Don't worry."
Don't worry? Were they kidding?
* * *