Part 24
Drake kept his expression blank, the last thing he needed was anybody knowing what had happened between him and Ivory. Elle was giving him funny looks. Asfixia was suspicious.
Everything for him was going from bad to worse. He could have grabbed Ivory before she'd run and taken her back to Asfixia. Then again, Asfixia would have most likely killed her.
But *he* was the one who had let Ivory run. Even he knew, as weird as it might sound, that he knew he'd never forgive himself if something happened to Ivory because of him.
So he was rather stuck.
He had a few choices. He could run and find Ivory in and turn Daybreak. Or he could go to Daybreak, take Ivory out and convince her to run away with him.
Neither choice sounded appealing to him. All his life he'd been raised to believe that Night World was the only world and that humans and Daybreakers were idiots. If he kidnapped Ivory from Daybreak headquarters, which would probably be impossible anyway, and they ran away together, they'd have everyone hunting them down. And because anyone could be a Night Person, there wouldn't be anywhere for him to run with her.
Besides, they had tried dragging Ivory to the Night World mansion and convincing her darkness was best, and it had turned out to be a major fuck up. She had escaped. Well, at least that was Mace's fault and not his. Mace had paid anyway.
Unfortunately, it had resulted in the discovery of his soulmate connection with Ivory. Just his typical bad luck. Why did this have to happen to him? And why *now*?
"Drake?"
He ignored the voice, desperately wishing he could be anywhere but here. This was just so unfair.
"Drake!"
Elle snapped her fingers in front of his face. She was clearly not in a good mood. "What the hell is the matter with you?" she demanded.
"Nothing," he lied. He studied her. Elle was stunning, with her model's figure, perfect features, waterfall of golden hair, all enhanced by her Night World darkness. What man wouldn't want her? She had been his for the past three months.
Now she meant nothing to him. The minute he'd laid eyes on Ivory Blessingway, everything for him had changed and Elle had quickly slipped from his mind.
"Don't like to me!" she hissed. "You've been completely out of it ever since that stupid little witch got here. I've seen the way you look at her."
Drake didn't know what to say. Mainly because Elle was exactly right.
"Are you in *love* with her?" Elle stared at him, eyes blazing with fury.
Drake snorted. "Please. I was simply thinking of how we're going to find her and kill her." Was that a good enough lie? Would Elle believe him and leave him alone.
Elle's head tilted and she studied him. "All right," she said pleasantly after a few minutes silence. "If the girl means nothing to you, then you can be the one to kill her."
Sherry appeared in the doorway. "Are you two done yet? We have a world to destroy. It won't destroy itself, you know."
Elle nodded. "We're done. Drake's just volunteered to kill the Wild Power for us."
Drake sighed and followed the two girls out of the room. Now he'd done it.
* * *
Part 25
When Ivory woke the following morning she found herself disappointed that Drake hadn't come yet. She wasn't sure what she wanted to happen when - or if - he came.
She didn't think he was the right type of person to fit in Circle Daybreak. She doubted they would welcome him with open arms. She wasn't exactly sure she would fit in here herself.
The again, she hadn't met any of the others yet. She was just so confused. She was getting a feeling she didn't really belong on either side. She wasn't exactly Daybreak or Night World. So where did that leave her?
She didn't know. She dragged herself out of bed and took a long hot shower. She found clothes her size and dressed. She left her room and headed downstairs.
Bright sunlight lit up the place, everything here was shining, warm and friendly. Why didn't Ivory feel more relaxed? She wondered where all the people were. She stuck her head into the first room she saw. It looked like some sort of cozy den.
Hannah was on a window seat taking to a petite blonde. A boy who looked like a fairytale prince was sat in an armchair, hawk-like yellow eyes shining in handsome face. A third girl stood beside the window seat. She was tall and stunning with a mane of fiery red hair and sparkling blue-grey eyes.
Hannah saw Ivory and gestured for her to come in. "Don't be shy, come and meet the other Wild Powers."
Ivory came into the room and took a seat on the white couch.
"I assume they at least *told* about the prophecies," Hannah said.
Ivory nodded. "Yeah. They seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the one that says ~Four less one and the darkness triumphs~."
The fairytale prince's yellow eyes rolled. "That's hardly surprising."
"Why didn't they just kill you?" the redhead asked.
Ivory wondered if she should be insulted. Then realised she'd been thinking the same thing herself. "I don't know," she answered.
"Anyway," Hannah said, sounding rather annoyed, "let's get on with the introductions." She pointed at each Power. "Jez Redfern from the Dayworld where two eyes are watching. Delos Redfern from the land of Kings long forgotten. Iliana Harman from the hearth who still holds the spark. Ivory Blessingway from the twilight to be with the dark."
"What does that actually *mean*, twilight to be with the dark?" Iliana asked, looking rather confused.
Ivory had wondered that herself. She had thought it was something to do with her soulmate connection with Drake. He was certainly dark enough.
Hannah just shrugged. "We're not exactly sure."
"Do you have a soulmate, Ivory?" Jez asked.
Ivory wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't told anyone else about her soulmate connection between herself and Drake, "Why?" she asked doubtfully.
Jez shrugged. "Well, maybe 'twilight to be with the dark' means a Daybreaker joined with a Night Person."
Exactly what Ivory was thinking.
"That does make sense," Delos said dryly. "But it isn't necessarily a good thing. How are we going to convince a *Night Worlder* to save the humans?"
"That's what the soulmate thing is for," Hannah said, getting excited.
Ivory wished she could share their excitement. She couldn't see *anything* convincing Drake to save humanity.
"Ivory? Do you have a soulmate?" Iliana asked. They were all looking at her so she realised she couldn't lie about it. So she told them about Drake.
"So how are we going to find him?" Iliana's constant questions were starting to get annoying. Ivory wondered how she could ever manage to fight in a battle.
"I don't think we'll have to find him," Ivory said slowly. "I believe he'll come to us."
* * *
Part 26
Elle scowled as she sat in the limo heading to the Daybreak mansion. Tension was heavy in the air as she Drake and Sherry sat in the limo in silence.
The millennium itself was two days away, but that wasn't what was what was bothering her.
It was Drake.
He was deliberately being a pain in the ass. She was convinced there was something going on between him and the stupid Wild Power girl. Asfixia was certain Drake was going to turn into a liability.
Twilight to be the with the dark...
According to Chantal the Blessingways were Circle Twilight witches. Or had been before they'd been dealt with.
Was Drake the ark to Ivory's twilight?
She had trusted Drake...god, even almost loved him. And now he barely glanced at her. She didn't want to kill him. He just needed to be tortured for a bit, get some sense knocked into his thick male head.
It was Ivory who needed to be killed. Four less one. All it took. No need for Drake to die. Ivory was going *pay* for stealing him away from her.
* * *
Ivory was more nervous than she could remember being in a long time. The last few days almost every waking hour had been spend training her, preparing her for the battle.
The Night World hadn't made any sort of move yet, but everyone know they wood.
Through their soulmate connection she could feel Drake coming closer. What happened when he actually *got* there, Ivory didn't know. She felt a little jealous, seeing all the other soulmate couples, not knowing how things would turn out with her own.
She sat in her room, watching the grounds she could see from her window seat. There was a brief knock on the door and Tala stuck her head in. "The dinner buffet's up."
"I'm not really hungry," Ivory muttered. She was too keyed up to eat.
"Nervous?" Tala asked.
Ivory sighed and nodded. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm not sure about this whole 'twilight to be with the dark' thing."
Tala frowned, trying to think of some helpful advice and failing. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see." She left, closing the door behind her.
Ivory's eyes rolled. That wasn't really what she wanted to hear. She was sick of sitting around and waiting. The sooner Drake came and the battle started, then the sooner it would be over.
A shiver ran down Ivory's spine, making her sit up. It seemed like she was about to get her wish.
* * *
Rashel ran into Thierry's office. "They're coming. There's a big black limo just pulling up in the driveway."
Thierry was instantly alert. "Is that all?"
Rashel shrugged. "I doubt it, but that's all I could see."
The rest of the Daybreakers were gathered in the dining room. Some of them had clearly sensed something was going on.
They stopped talking when Thierry appeared in the doorway.
"Okay everybody. This is it."
* * *
Part 27
Drake frowned as the limo pulled up in front of the Daybreak mansion. It was highly unlikely that they were just meekly going to submit and hand the Wild Powers over.
Despite what everyone said about them, he knew they weren't stupid.
"So what's the plan?" he asked Elle caustically. "You're going to walk up and ring the doorbell?"
Elle glared at him. Then smiled. "I'm not. *You* are."
Drake's eyes rolled. He should have expected that. He got out of the limo, watching as the people started streaming out of the mansion. Glancing behind he could see a wall of darkness gathering.
Had Asfixia sent every Night Person she could get her hands on? He wouldn't be surprised if she had.
~Do you want to ring the bell, or shall I?~ Sherry's voice said in his mind.
Drake ignored the quote. He wasn't in the mood for humour right now. He walked up to the army of Daybreakers. "I want to talk to Ivory," he said, settling for bluntness.
Ivory appeared from somewhere in the crowd. She didn't look any happier than he did. She took his hand and led him inside the mansion.
Drake could feel the cold eyes on his back as the two of them went inside the mansion. He didn't expect them to actually give him and Ivory any privacy.
"So," he said.
Ivory smiled faintly. "So."
They stood there looking at each other.
* * *
Rashel gripped the wooden stake in her hand. She followed Drake and Ivory silently.
They were standing there in the entrance way, looking at each other in silence.
Circle Daybreak had come so far and sacrificed so much to get where they had. They had put so much effort into this period of time.
She was *not* going to let Drake talk Ivory away from the.
Without warning she lunged forward and plunged the stake through Drake's back, directly into his heart.
* * *
Ivory screamed as the vampire hunter appeared out of nowhere. Blood splattered on her face. Drake smiled at her. ~I love you,~ his voice said in her mind. ~You know?~
~No!~ she shouted at him. ~No! Don't you dare die on me! You're the dark to my twilight!~
Ivory could feel heat and anger welling up inside her. Rage was overtaking her, consuming her so she felt nothing else.
Nothing but a growing hotness inside her and a burning.
She let the blue fire out.
* * *
Something was happening inside the mansion. Elle didn't know what, but she knew it wasn't good. She could almost feel the tension from everyone standing around.
The ground had begun to shake.
A flash of blue lit her vision.
And the world exploded in flame and chaos.
* * *
Epilogue
~January 1st 2001~
Well, nothing had turned out how Ivory had expected it to. She sat in the window seat of her new mansion in her very own enclave, as promised by Asfixia when she'd first stepped into the Night World mansion.
Glancing out the window the dark sky spread out, stretching endlessly, dotted with the occasional stars. She hadn't actually meant to use her blue fire against the Daybreakers.
But that bitch had *hurt* Drake. She had tried to take him away from her. All Ivory had wanted to do was protect him, everyone else had their soulmates. She just wanted hers.
So things had turned out rather badly for the Daybreakers. Four less one. Ivory didn't really remember much after she'd let the fire out.
She must have passed out or something. She remembered waking up to finding herself in Drake's arms. A celebration of darkness had been going on the background.
All Ivory remembered feeling was shock. The Night People were thrilled they had won. She had been given everything she had been promised.
She didn't know what had happened to all of the other Daybreakers. Had they all been destroyed? Were some of them out there hiding, planning a revolution?
It was impossible to tell.
She cheered up a little when she felt Drake's arms slip around her and hold her close. "Lighten up," he told her, kissing her neck. "We're together now."
Ivory nodded. "I know." She kissed him, feeling the wonderful white light of their soulmate connection sparking. As long as Drake was there with her, she could face anything.
Maybe, just maybe, things weren't quite settled yet.
THE END.
Drake kept his expression blank, the last thing he needed was anybody knowing what had happened between him and Ivory. Elle was giving him funny looks. Asfixia was suspicious.
Everything for him was going from bad to worse. He could have grabbed Ivory before she'd run and taken her back to Asfixia. Then again, Asfixia would have most likely killed her.
But *he* was the one who had let Ivory run. Even he knew, as weird as it might sound, that he knew he'd never forgive himself if something happened to Ivory because of him.
So he was rather stuck.
He had a few choices. He could run and find Ivory in and turn Daybreak. Or he could go to Daybreak, take Ivory out and convince her to run away with him.
Neither choice sounded appealing to him. All his life he'd been raised to believe that Night World was the only world and that humans and Daybreakers were idiots. If he kidnapped Ivory from Daybreak headquarters, which would probably be impossible anyway, and they ran away together, they'd have everyone hunting them down. And because anyone could be a Night Person, there wouldn't be anywhere for him to run with her.
Besides, they had tried dragging Ivory to the Night World mansion and convincing her darkness was best, and it had turned out to be a major fuck up. She had escaped. Well, at least that was Mace's fault and not his. Mace had paid anyway.
Unfortunately, it had resulted in the discovery of his soulmate connection with Ivory. Just his typical bad luck. Why did this have to happen to him? And why *now*?
"Drake?"
He ignored the voice, desperately wishing he could be anywhere but here. This was just so unfair.
"Drake!"
Elle snapped her fingers in front of his face. She was clearly not in a good mood. "What the hell is the matter with you?" she demanded.
"Nothing," he lied. He studied her. Elle was stunning, with her model's figure, perfect features, waterfall of golden hair, all enhanced by her Night World darkness. What man wouldn't want her? She had been his for the past three months.
Now she meant nothing to him. The minute he'd laid eyes on Ivory Blessingway, everything for him had changed and Elle had quickly slipped from his mind.
"Don't like to me!" she hissed. "You've been completely out of it ever since that stupid little witch got here. I've seen the way you look at her."
Drake didn't know what to say. Mainly because Elle was exactly right.
"Are you in *love* with her?" Elle stared at him, eyes blazing with fury.
Drake snorted. "Please. I was simply thinking of how we're going to find her and kill her." Was that a good enough lie? Would Elle believe him and leave him alone.
Elle's head tilted and she studied him. "All right," she said pleasantly after a few minutes silence. "If the girl means nothing to you, then you can be the one to kill her."
Sherry appeared in the doorway. "Are you two done yet? We have a world to destroy. It won't destroy itself, you know."
Elle nodded. "We're done. Drake's just volunteered to kill the Wild Power for us."
Drake sighed and followed the two girls out of the room. Now he'd done it.
* * *
Part 25
When Ivory woke the following morning she found herself disappointed that Drake hadn't come yet. She wasn't sure what she wanted to happen when - or if - he came.
She didn't think he was the right type of person to fit in Circle Daybreak. She doubted they would welcome him with open arms. She wasn't exactly sure she would fit in here herself.
The again, she hadn't met any of the others yet. She was just so confused. She was getting a feeling she didn't really belong on either side. She wasn't exactly Daybreak or Night World. So where did that leave her?
She didn't know. She dragged herself out of bed and took a long hot shower. She found clothes her size and dressed. She left her room and headed downstairs.
Bright sunlight lit up the place, everything here was shining, warm and friendly. Why didn't Ivory feel more relaxed? She wondered where all the people were. She stuck her head into the first room she saw. It looked like some sort of cozy den.
Hannah was on a window seat taking to a petite blonde. A boy who looked like a fairytale prince was sat in an armchair, hawk-like yellow eyes shining in handsome face. A third girl stood beside the window seat. She was tall and stunning with a mane of fiery red hair and sparkling blue-grey eyes.
Hannah saw Ivory and gestured for her to come in. "Don't be shy, come and meet the other Wild Powers."
Ivory came into the room and took a seat on the white couch.
"I assume they at least *told* about the prophecies," Hannah said.
Ivory nodded. "Yeah. They seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the one that says ~Four less one and the darkness triumphs~."
The fairytale prince's yellow eyes rolled. "That's hardly surprising."
"Why didn't they just kill you?" the redhead asked.
Ivory wondered if she should be insulted. Then realised she'd been thinking the same thing herself. "I don't know," she answered.
"Anyway," Hannah said, sounding rather annoyed, "let's get on with the introductions." She pointed at each Power. "Jez Redfern from the Dayworld where two eyes are watching. Delos Redfern from the land of Kings long forgotten. Iliana Harman from the hearth who still holds the spark. Ivory Blessingway from the twilight to be with the dark."
"What does that actually *mean*, twilight to be with the dark?" Iliana asked, looking rather confused.
Ivory had wondered that herself. She had thought it was something to do with her soulmate connection with Drake. He was certainly dark enough.
Hannah just shrugged. "We're not exactly sure."
"Do you have a soulmate, Ivory?" Jez asked.
Ivory wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't told anyone else about her soulmate connection between herself and Drake, "Why?" she asked doubtfully.
Jez shrugged. "Well, maybe 'twilight to be with the dark' means a Daybreaker joined with a Night Person."
Exactly what Ivory was thinking.
"That does make sense," Delos said dryly. "But it isn't necessarily a good thing. How are we going to convince a *Night Worlder* to save the humans?"
"That's what the soulmate thing is for," Hannah said, getting excited.
Ivory wished she could share their excitement. She couldn't see *anything* convincing Drake to save humanity.
"Ivory? Do you have a soulmate?" Iliana asked. They were all looking at her so she realised she couldn't lie about it. So she told them about Drake.
"So how are we going to find him?" Iliana's constant questions were starting to get annoying. Ivory wondered how she could ever manage to fight in a battle.
"I don't think we'll have to find him," Ivory said slowly. "I believe he'll come to us."
* * *
Part 26
Elle scowled as she sat in the limo heading to the Daybreak mansion. Tension was heavy in the air as she Drake and Sherry sat in the limo in silence.
The millennium itself was two days away, but that wasn't what was what was bothering her.
It was Drake.
He was deliberately being a pain in the ass. She was convinced there was something going on between him and the stupid Wild Power girl. Asfixia was certain Drake was going to turn into a liability.
Twilight to be the with the dark...
According to Chantal the Blessingways were Circle Twilight witches. Or had been before they'd been dealt with.
Was Drake the ark to Ivory's twilight?
She had trusted Drake...god, even almost loved him. And now he barely glanced at her. She didn't want to kill him. He just needed to be tortured for a bit, get some sense knocked into his thick male head.
It was Ivory who needed to be killed. Four less one. All it took. No need for Drake to die. Ivory was going *pay* for stealing him away from her.
* * *
Ivory was more nervous than she could remember being in a long time. The last few days almost every waking hour had been spend training her, preparing her for the battle.
The Night World hadn't made any sort of move yet, but everyone know they wood.
Through their soulmate connection she could feel Drake coming closer. What happened when he actually *got* there, Ivory didn't know. She felt a little jealous, seeing all the other soulmate couples, not knowing how things would turn out with her own.
She sat in her room, watching the grounds she could see from her window seat. There was a brief knock on the door and Tala stuck her head in. "The dinner buffet's up."
"I'm not really hungry," Ivory muttered. She was too keyed up to eat.
"Nervous?" Tala asked.
Ivory sighed and nodded. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm not sure about this whole 'twilight to be with the dark' thing."
Tala frowned, trying to think of some helpful advice and failing. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see." She left, closing the door behind her.
Ivory's eyes rolled. That wasn't really what she wanted to hear. She was sick of sitting around and waiting. The sooner Drake came and the battle started, then the sooner it would be over.
A shiver ran down Ivory's spine, making her sit up. It seemed like she was about to get her wish.
* * *
Rashel ran into Thierry's office. "They're coming. There's a big black limo just pulling up in the driveway."
Thierry was instantly alert. "Is that all?"
Rashel shrugged. "I doubt it, but that's all I could see."
The rest of the Daybreakers were gathered in the dining room. Some of them had clearly sensed something was going on.
They stopped talking when Thierry appeared in the doorway.
"Okay everybody. This is it."
* * *
Part 27
Drake frowned as the limo pulled up in front of the Daybreak mansion. It was highly unlikely that they were just meekly going to submit and hand the Wild Powers over.
Despite what everyone said about them, he knew they weren't stupid.
"So what's the plan?" he asked Elle caustically. "You're going to walk up and ring the doorbell?"
Elle glared at him. Then smiled. "I'm not. *You* are."
Drake's eyes rolled. He should have expected that. He got out of the limo, watching as the people started streaming out of the mansion. Glancing behind he could see a wall of darkness gathering.
Had Asfixia sent every Night Person she could get her hands on? He wouldn't be surprised if she had.
~Do you want to ring the bell, or shall I?~ Sherry's voice said in his mind.
Drake ignored the quote. He wasn't in the mood for humour right now. He walked up to the army of Daybreakers. "I want to talk to Ivory," he said, settling for bluntness.
Ivory appeared from somewhere in the crowd. She didn't look any happier than he did. She took his hand and led him inside the mansion.
Drake could feel the cold eyes on his back as the two of them went inside the mansion. He didn't expect them to actually give him and Ivory any privacy.
"So," he said.
Ivory smiled faintly. "So."
They stood there looking at each other.
* * *
Rashel gripped the wooden stake in her hand. She followed Drake and Ivory silently.
They were standing there in the entrance way, looking at each other in silence.
Circle Daybreak had come so far and sacrificed so much to get where they had. They had put so much effort into this period of time.
She was *not* going to let Drake talk Ivory away from the.
Without warning she lunged forward and plunged the stake through Drake's back, directly into his heart.
* * *
Ivory screamed as the vampire hunter appeared out of nowhere. Blood splattered on her face. Drake smiled at her. ~I love you,~ his voice said in her mind. ~You know?~
~No!~ she shouted at him. ~No! Don't you dare die on me! You're the dark to my twilight!~
Ivory could feel heat and anger welling up inside her. Rage was overtaking her, consuming her so she felt nothing else.
Nothing but a growing hotness inside her and a burning.
She let the blue fire out.
* * *
Something was happening inside the mansion. Elle didn't know what, but she knew it wasn't good. She could almost feel the tension from everyone standing around.
The ground had begun to shake.
A flash of blue lit her vision.
And the world exploded in flame and chaos.
* * *
Epilogue
~January 1st 2001~
Well, nothing had turned out how Ivory had expected it to. She sat in the window seat of her new mansion in her very own enclave, as promised by Asfixia when she'd first stepped into the Night World mansion.
Glancing out the window the dark sky spread out, stretching endlessly, dotted with the occasional stars. She hadn't actually meant to use her blue fire against the Daybreakers.
But that bitch had *hurt* Drake. She had tried to take him away from her. All Ivory had wanted to do was protect him, everyone else had their soulmates. She just wanted hers.
So things had turned out rather badly for the Daybreakers. Four less one. Ivory didn't really remember much after she'd let the fire out.
She must have passed out or something. She remembered waking up to finding herself in Drake's arms. A celebration of darkness had been going on the background.
All Ivory remembered feeling was shock. The Night People were thrilled they had won. She had been given everything she had been promised.
She didn't know what had happened to all of the other Daybreakers. Had they all been destroyed? Were some of them out there hiding, planning a revolution?
It was impossible to tell.
She cheered up a little when she felt Drake's arms slip around her and hold her close. "Lighten up," he told her, kissing her neck. "We're together now."
Ivory nodded. "I know." She kissed him, feeling the wonderful white light of their soulmate connection sparking. As long as Drake was there with her, she could face anything.
Maybe, just maybe, things weren't quite settled yet.
THE END.