Part 3
Celeste barged into Malachite's apartment without bothering to knock. He knew who she was. He wouldn't care. The place was littered with fast food boxes, dirty clothes just thrown around, magazines, CD boxes. A stereo sat in one corner, blasting out an annoying beat that Celeste didn't recognise. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. How could Malachite live like this?
She moved over to the bedroom, equally disgusting, and her toe bumped against something hard and immovable. She looked down and found a pair of dead eyes staring up at her, a dreamy expression on a face that would never see again. "Oh for God's sake," she muttered, stepping over the dead body. "Men!"
"What?" Malachite called.
Celeste opened the bedroom door to find him sat at his desk, his computer switched on, school books and papers everywhere. "God, how do you stand living like this? Ugh. I'm surprised you're not covered in ticks!"
"Watch for the rats," he said cheerfully.
Celeste looked down in a sudden panic, shrieking as she saw something with red eyes under the bed. "You're pathetic. You're lucky vampires don't get diseases or you'd be dead by now."
Malachite shrugged. "Rats make a good snack. Did you have a reason for coming over, or was it just to insult me?"
"No, this time I actually have a reason." She moved over to the bed, was about to sit down, and changed her mind, pulling a chair closer. She took off her jacket and spread it across the seat before sitting down. She could always wash the jacket later. "I need you to find some info for me. Jahmila Redfern."
"The jerk who's been eyeing the idiot Wild Power girl?" he asked.
"Yeah. Savannah's got a date with him tonight, they're going to some classy restaurant down town."
"If he's a Redfern what's he doing wasting his money?"
"He wants to impress her. I don't trust him. See what you can pull up."
She sat back, watching as Malachite logged onto the Internet. Malachite was her consultant for all things computerised, he was a technological genius, and hacker extraordinaire. He could break into anything. At least he had some use.
Recently the Night World had learned that Daybreak were trying to become more modern, get into the computer generation, they were putting up databases and info and things on various bad guys, monster reference tables, and stuff, for their agents to get easy access too. They had profiles of their members available. Of course, it was supposed to be well guarded, encrypted, but with her little genius, getting into it was no problem.
"Got him," Malachite said, smiling unpleasantly.
"He's Daybreak?" Celeste asked, disgusted again. She checked her watch. Ten past seven. "God, he's with Savannah right now."
"So we go to the restaurant and interrupt," Malachite suggested. "We can't let him tell her. She doesn't know what's going on. The less she knows, the better."
Celeste frowned. "I don't know where they're going."
"But we can sense other vampires in town, there aren't any more but us, and him."
Celeste's eyebrows rose. Malachite could be surprisingly smart sometimes. She liked to think of herself as the brainy one. She just took charge, anyway.
"Right, let's go."
She just hoped there was nothing really developing between Jahmila and Savannah. Ugh. Everything had been going fine until he showed up. And he was probably going to blab everything, being a damned Daybreak idealist.
That had to be stopped. She just hoped they weren't too late.
* * *
Part 4
The restaurant was one of those dreamy, fancy Italian ones. Savannah was impressed. She didn't know a single word of Italian but it didn't seem to matter. Jahmila looked so dreamy, dressed in a dark shirt and dark trousers. The darkness of him might have been scary to others, but she just found it incredibly sexy and alluring. She hadn't known guys like him existed in real life, and was over the moon that he'd picked her. Of all the girls in school, he'd chosen her.
But several times through out the meal, she had caught him looking at her in a very strange way. It wasn't the look that said a guy was wondering what you looked like with no clothes off, she'd seen several guys look at Celeste that way. It was something else...
Something she didn't know how to interpret.
But Savannah was too dreamy and in too much of a happy mood to care.
Maybe she should have.
* * *
The evening was going well, and Jahmila was pleased. He seemed to have had no trouble gaining Savannah's trust. She had been flattered by his choice of restaurant, he'd been relived about that. She was looking at him with a dreamy gaze, her soft blue eyes shining with pleasure.
Something seemed to be shimmering in the air between them, sparkly and silver. At first Jahmila had thought maybe it was something in the food. But then again...
He paid the bill and took her home. They sat out side her house, neither of them making a move.
"I don't want to go inside," Savannah admitted. "I'm having such a good time. I don't want the evening to end."
"Neither do I," he admitted. "We could go somewhere else." He needed to talk to her, to tell her what was really going on. Now she trusted him, she might understand.
But he didn't want to spoil a perfectly romantic date with stories and prophecies about destruction and death. Leave that for another night. Maybe if he took her to a horror movie or something and they got good and scared the impact wouldn't be such a blow.
But Savannah didn't seem like the type to enjoy horror movies. Maybe he'd have to think of something else.
He opened his door and went round to open hers. She smiled and him and took his hand as he walked her up the path to her house. The silvery shimmery thing was still hovering around them, and he wondered if Savannah could see it too. He suddenly knew when he kissed her it would be the discovery of a life time...
* * *
Savannah didn't want to go inside. She wanted to stay out in the starry night with Jahmila. He made her feel so good. There was something in the air between them that made her feel as if she were floating. The sudden strike of love? She waited for him to kiss her. She felt when he did, she would discover all she needed to know...
* * *
Celeste and Malachite waited in the dark shadows at the side of Savannah's house, watching as Jahmila and Savannah arrived. They stood by the door, staring at each other with gooey eyes. Celeste felt like she might be sick. She didn't like the feel of the magic in the air hovering around them. Any Night Person could sense it. They had to stop it before it could deepen, and Jahmila blew everything.
Malachite grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.
* * *
"Hey guys!"
Savannah blinked, the dreamy atmosphere suddenly shattered. She looked around to see Malachite and Celeste hurrying up the drive. Damn.
"What do you want?" she snapped, annoyed. They had the *worst* timing.
"We were just in the neighbourhood and thought you guys might like to go to a late movie with us," Celeste said cheerfully.
"Come on, it'll be fun," Malachite said.
"I'm kind of busy right now," Savannah snapped, nodding her head towards Jahmila, who looked just as pissed off as she felt.
Jahmila looked at her and managed a smile. "Maybe I should go," he said. "I'll see you in the morning." And he left then, and drove away.
Savannah turned to glare at her friends. "What the hell was that all about?" she snapped. "I really like that guy and you two probably turned him off me."
Malachite snorted. "You can do a little better."
Savannah glared at him. "Why? Cause you're jealous?"
Malachite glared back at her, he opened his mouth to say something but no sound came out. Celeste didn't look any happier.
"The hell with it," she snapped, and stormed off.
Savannah was confused. "What's her deal?"
Malachite sighed. "I guess I'd better go after her. See you."
"Bye." He disappeared into the night after Celeste. Savannah sighed herself, and went indoors. Damn. Damn. Damn. They'd ruined everything. She had been certain when Jahmila was about to kiss her she would discover something. Something about herself...and about him. Something big and life changing.
Now she could only guess what.
* * *
Part 5
Jahmila was angry. He stalked up and down in his motel room, trying to calm the ranging storm of emotions washing around inside him.
Fury was there, definitely, and hatred, an ugly combination. Damnit. Those fucking Night Worlders certainly knew how to ruin the moment. They had somehow *known* where he and Savannah had been and would be.
But of course they knew, he realised with a sinking. Savannah thought they were her friends. She'd tell them, or at least the girl, Celeste, if she had an important date.
Which meant if he told her about Daybreak V. Night World, and she thought he was insane and ran away, she would run and talk to Celeste, who would fill her head with a load of crap about how the Night World was *better.*
Or then Celeste might simply kill the girl, since humans weren't supposed to know about Night World. The prophecy clearly stated Four less one was all it needed for the Night World to triumph.
It was surprising to him, that, why if the Night World knew about Savannah, they hadn't killed her right away, the minute they'd found her.
It was something he'd never know.
His mind drifted back to the weird shimmery connection between himself and Savannah. Discoveries were about to be made before they'd been interrupted.
He wondered if he'd ever get another shot with her. He could only hope.
* * *
Celeste stalked around Malachite's apartment, kicking things, throwing things, breaking anything she could get her hands on. Malachite was annoyed. "Why can't you go wreck your own apartment?" he snapped.
Celeste glared at him, blonde hair flying as she whirled around. "Cause I *like* my apartment. I don't like yours. Besides," she added with a snort. "It's not like you're gonna notice the difference with the squalor you live in."
Malachite opened his mouth to protest, then shrugged and let it go. Celeste had a point. It was rare, but it happened.
"Well, look at the bright side," he offered. "At least Jahmila didn't actually *tell* Savannah anything."
Celeste sighed. "You can't say you didn't notice the shimmery thing in the air."
"The sweet caresse of twilight," Malachite said with a snicker in a bad French accent.
Celeste stared him, wondering what the hell a powerful vampire was doing quoting *The Lion King*. Her eyebrow raised.
"What? It's fitting," Malachite snickered.
Celeste threw a book at him. He snatched it out of thin air before it could hit him. "Be serious," she snapped.
He sighed. "All right, all right. Yeah, I noticed. Maybe they're soulmates, maybe they're not, but we got there before anything could happen."
Celeste sighed herself. That was true at least. "All we have to do is make sure it doesn't happen again."
Malachite smiled unpleasantly. "Well, I can think of a solution for that one."
Celeste looked at him. "Oh?"
"Kill him."
Celeste laughed, a sound like glass shattering. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."
* * *
Celeste barged into Malachite's apartment without bothering to knock. He knew who she was. He wouldn't care. The place was littered with fast food boxes, dirty clothes just thrown around, magazines, CD boxes. A stereo sat in one corner, blasting out an annoying beat that Celeste didn't recognise. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. How could Malachite live like this?
She moved over to the bedroom, equally disgusting, and her toe bumped against something hard and immovable. She looked down and found a pair of dead eyes staring up at her, a dreamy expression on a face that would never see again. "Oh for God's sake," she muttered, stepping over the dead body. "Men!"
"What?" Malachite called.
Celeste opened the bedroom door to find him sat at his desk, his computer switched on, school books and papers everywhere. "God, how do you stand living like this? Ugh. I'm surprised you're not covered in ticks!"
"Watch for the rats," he said cheerfully.
Celeste looked down in a sudden panic, shrieking as she saw something with red eyes under the bed. "You're pathetic. You're lucky vampires don't get diseases or you'd be dead by now."
Malachite shrugged. "Rats make a good snack. Did you have a reason for coming over, or was it just to insult me?"
"No, this time I actually have a reason." She moved over to the bed, was about to sit down, and changed her mind, pulling a chair closer. She took off her jacket and spread it across the seat before sitting down. She could always wash the jacket later. "I need you to find some info for me. Jahmila Redfern."
"The jerk who's been eyeing the idiot Wild Power girl?" he asked.
"Yeah. Savannah's got a date with him tonight, they're going to some classy restaurant down town."
"If he's a Redfern what's he doing wasting his money?"
"He wants to impress her. I don't trust him. See what you can pull up."
She sat back, watching as Malachite logged onto the Internet. Malachite was her consultant for all things computerised, he was a technological genius, and hacker extraordinaire. He could break into anything. At least he had some use.
Recently the Night World had learned that Daybreak were trying to become more modern, get into the computer generation, they were putting up databases and info and things on various bad guys, monster reference tables, and stuff, for their agents to get easy access too. They had profiles of their members available. Of course, it was supposed to be well guarded, encrypted, but with her little genius, getting into it was no problem.
"Got him," Malachite said, smiling unpleasantly.
"He's Daybreak?" Celeste asked, disgusted again. She checked her watch. Ten past seven. "God, he's with Savannah right now."
"So we go to the restaurant and interrupt," Malachite suggested. "We can't let him tell her. She doesn't know what's going on. The less she knows, the better."
Celeste frowned. "I don't know where they're going."
"But we can sense other vampires in town, there aren't any more but us, and him."
Celeste's eyebrows rose. Malachite could be surprisingly smart sometimes. She liked to think of herself as the brainy one. She just took charge, anyway.
"Right, let's go."
She just hoped there was nothing really developing between Jahmila and Savannah. Ugh. Everything had been going fine until he showed up. And he was probably going to blab everything, being a damned Daybreak idealist.
That had to be stopped. She just hoped they weren't too late.
* * *
Part 4
The restaurant was one of those dreamy, fancy Italian ones. Savannah was impressed. She didn't know a single word of Italian but it didn't seem to matter. Jahmila looked so dreamy, dressed in a dark shirt and dark trousers. The darkness of him might have been scary to others, but she just found it incredibly sexy and alluring. She hadn't known guys like him existed in real life, and was over the moon that he'd picked her. Of all the girls in school, he'd chosen her.
But several times through out the meal, she had caught him looking at her in a very strange way. It wasn't the look that said a guy was wondering what you looked like with no clothes off, she'd seen several guys look at Celeste that way. It was something else...
Something she didn't know how to interpret.
But Savannah was too dreamy and in too much of a happy mood to care.
Maybe she should have.
* * *
The evening was going well, and Jahmila was pleased. He seemed to have had no trouble gaining Savannah's trust. She had been flattered by his choice of restaurant, he'd been relived about that. She was looking at him with a dreamy gaze, her soft blue eyes shining with pleasure.
Something seemed to be shimmering in the air between them, sparkly and silver. At first Jahmila had thought maybe it was something in the food. But then again...
He paid the bill and took her home. They sat out side her house, neither of them making a move.
"I don't want to go inside," Savannah admitted. "I'm having such a good time. I don't want the evening to end."
"Neither do I," he admitted. "We could go somewhere else." He needed to talk to her, to tell her what was really going on. Now she trusted him, she might understand.
But he didn't want to spoil a perfectly romantic date with stories and prophecies about destruction and death. Leave that for another night. Maybe if he took her to a horror movie or something and they got good and scared the impact wouldn't be such a blow.
But Savannah didn't seem like the type to enjoy horror movies. Maybe he'd have to think of something else.
He opened his door and went round to open hers. She smiled and him and took his hand as he walked her up the path to her house. The silvery shimmery thing was still hovering around them, and he wondered if Savannah could see it too. He suddenly knew when he kissed her it would be the discovery of a life time...
* * *
Savannah didn't want to go inside. She wanted to stay out in the starry night with Jahmila. He made her feel so good. There was something in the air between them that made her feel as if she were floating. The sudden strike of love? She waited for him to kiss her. She felt when he did, she would discover all she needed to know...
* * *
Celeste and Malachite waited in the dark shadows at the side of Savannah's house, watching as Jahmila and Savannah arrived. They stood by the door, staring at each other with gooey eyes. Celeste felt like she might be sick. She didn't like the feel of the magic in the air hovering around them. Any Night Person could sense it. They had to stop it before it could deepen, and Jahmila blew everything.
Malachite grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.
* * *
"Hey guys!"
Savannah blinked, the dreamy atmosphere suddenly shattered. She looked around to see Malachite and Celeste hurrying up the drive. Damn.
"What do you want?" she snapped, annoyed. They had the *worst* timing.
"We were just in the neighbourhood and thought you guys might like to go to a late movie with us," Celeste said cheerfully.
"Come on, it'll be fun," Malachite said.
"I'm kind of busy right now," Savannah snapped, nodding her head towards Jahmila, who looked just as pissed off as she felt.
Jahmila looked at her and managed a smile. "Maybe I should go," he said. "I'll see you in the morning." And he left then, and drove away.
Savannah turned to glare at her friends. "What the hell was that all about?" she snapped. "I really like that guy and you two probably turned him off me."
Malachite snorted. "You can do a little better."
Savannah glared at him. "Why? Cause you're jealous?"
Malachite glared back at her, he opened his mouth to say something but no sound came out. Celeste didn't look any happier.
"The hell with it," she snapped, and stormed off.
Savannah was confused. "What's her deal?"
Malachite sighed. "I guess I'd better go after her. See you."
"Bye." He disappeared into the night after Celeste. Savannah sighed herself, and went indoors. Damn. Damn. Damn. They'd ruined everything. She had been certain when Jahmila was about to kiss her she would discover something. Something about herself...and about him. Something big and life changing.
Now she could only guess what.
* * *
Part 5
Jahmila was angry. He stalked up and down in his motel room, trying to calm the ranging storm of emotions washing around inside him.
Fury was there, definitely, and hatred, an ugly combination. Damnit. Those fucking Night Worlders certainly knew how to ruin the moment. They had somehow *known* where he and Savannah had been and would be.
But of course they knew, he realised with a sinking. Savannah thought they were her friends. She'd tell them, or at least the girl, Celeste, if she had an important date.
Which meant if he told her about Daybreak V. Night World, and she thought he was insane and ran away, she would run and talk to Celeste, who would fill her head with a load of crap about how the Night World was *better.*
Or then Celeste might simply kill the girl, since humans weren't supposed to know about Night World. The prophecy clearly stated Four less one was all it needed for the Night World to triumph.
It was surprising to him, that, why if the Night World knew about Savannah, they hadn't killed her right away, the minute they'd found her.
It was something he'd never know.
His mind drifted back to the weird shimmery connection between himself and Savannah. Discoveries were about to be made before they'd been interrupted.
He wondered if he'd ever get another shot with her. He could only hope.
* * *
Celeste stalked around Malachite's apartment, kicking things, throwing things, breaking anything she could get her hands on. Malachite was annoyed. "Why can't you go wreck your own apartment?" he snapped.
Celeste glared at him, blonde hair flying as she whirled around. "Cause I *like* my apartment. I don't like yours. Besides," she added with a snort. "It's not like you're gonna notice the difference with the squalor you live in."
Malachite opened his mouth to protest, then shrugged and let it go. Celeste had a point. It was rare, but it happened.
"Well, look at the bright side," he offered. "At least Jahmila didn't actually *tell* Savannah anything."
Celeste sighed. "You can't say you didn't notice the shimmery thing in the air."
"The sweet caresse of twilight," Malachite said with a snicker in a bad French accent.
Celeste stared him, wondering what the hell a powerful vampire was doing quoting *The Lion King*. Her eyebrow raised.
"What? It's fitting," Malachite snickered.
Celeste threw a book at him. He snatched it out of thin air before it could hit him. "Be serious," she snapped.
He sighed. "All right, all right. Yeah, I noticed. Maybe they're soulmates, maybe they're not, but we got there before anything could happen."
Celeste sighed herself. That was true at least. "All we have to do is make sure it doesn't happen again."
Malachite smiled unpleasantly. "Well, I can think of a solution for that one."
Celeste looked at him. "Oh?"
"Kill him."
Celeste laughed, a sound like glass shattering. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."
* * *