Disclaimer: Night World characters and ideas belong to LJS. Everything unrecognised is mine.
Summary: A tale of love, dispair, betrayal and murder set in the Night World.
Part 1
The fire crackled all around. Gabrielle looked around desperately for a window to get out. The whole assignment had gone completely to hell.
She ran out the door, ignoring the flames on either side, her only thought was to get out into the cool night air. The hell with it. She didn't care anymore.
How come lately, everything seemed to be going wrong? But being trapped in a burning building at the moment was the least of Gabriella's worries.
She shrieked with competent outrage when she felt strong arms grab her and throw her. She sailed through the air, landing painfully. She dragged herself to her felt, a shattering pain in her ankle.
"Here, I've got you," a soft male voice said. The same strong arms that had thrown her helped her up.
She glared at Tate Redfern furiously. He just looked back at her, sandy hair falling over one eye. Why did he have to be so annoyingly gorgeous. "This is all your fault, you know," she snapped at him.
Tate just grinned and shrugged. "What can I say? A little spark of adventure every now and again can't hurt."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. Typical Daybreaker. This was so unfair. There was a real cosmic injustice in this whole damn soulmate thing.
Tate just held out a hand to her. Gabrielle stared at it for several minutes. She glanced back at the house they had just escaped from. The fire lit up the night like a solar flare. He'd saved her from that.
With a heavy sigh, she reached out and took the hand he offered.
"I can't believe this is happening to me," she muttered.
* * *
It should have been a good thing, but at the time the sudden changing in her life was completely overwhelming. It had all collapsed, her dreams of ruling in darkness.
The soulmate connection had shattered everything for Gabrielle. Most people she'd met at Circle Daybreak who had soulmates raved on constantly about how wonderful the soulmate thing was. How there was room to grow and develop in Daybreak, and such.
After a while Gabrielle just tuned them out. She had heard the whispers about her. Could she really be trusted? Was she going to be of any use to them?
Was this all some sort of elaborate plan and she was a spy for Dante Bloodthorn, a new and upcoming head of a vampire family starting to drown out the Redferns.
(After the death of Hunter and Maya the Redferns were starting to lose their credit with the Council. New families were raising their heads trying to get a look in)
But none of that was really interesting to Gabrielle anymore. Her mind kept replaying the whole scene over and over. She was supposed to kill Tate Redfern, only to discover a soulmate connection with him.
Her eyes rolled. Typically cliché of the Night World at the moment. No one seemed to be able to kill the targets they were hired to get. The Council must be having a field day.
"Gabby?"
Gabrielle bit her lip. She hated the stupid childish nickname, but she knew Tate would just continue to call her it cause it annoyed her. "What?" she asked.
He sat on the window seat beside her, wrapping his arms around her. "You okay? You're kind of moody."
Gabrielle just shrugged. What was she supposed to say? "It's just all...a little overwhelming."
Tate kissed her softly. Gabrielle almost forgave him as the white light of their soulmate connection sparked. "Lighten up, you'll get used to it. I just came up to tell you dinner's ready." He left her alone.
Gabrielle sighed, turning back to the night. She wasn't sure about living in the Daybreak mansion. But it was better than staying at home where she knew people would be hunting her now she had changed sighed.
She left the window seat and went out onto the balcony, gazing up at the dark sky. She had always thought that the Night would be her one true home.
Was it? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure of anything anymore.
* * *
Dante Bloodthorn was not a happy vampire. He stormed around his mansion, smashing and ripping anything he could get his hands on. He just couldn't believe it.
Gabrielle! Gabrielle! His Queen of the Night! Dark star! His perfect twisted thorn of darkness! Gone! Gone! Stolen away by those stupid fucking Daybreakers.
He sighed, collapsing in his chair. It was just so unfair. Totally unfair. He sighed and lit a cigar, taking a long drag. He sighed, pushing his black hair out his eyes red eyes. He could feel a smile curving his lips.
Gabrielle wasn't going to be gone for long.
He had a plan.
* * *
Part 2
It was a set up Thierry was getting rather bored of, groups of Night Worlders getting together and deliberately breaking all the laws, causing as much trouble as they possibly could...
With the Council in disarray they thought they had a better chance at getting away with it. They seemed to have forgotten that Circle Daybreak was still fully operational.
He was getting tired of sending his agents into the groups to infiltrate them and stop the group. Normally discovering a soulmate connection with whomever they were supposed to kill...
Something about all these former dark lords - or ladies - suddenly converting when this happened seemed to him to be a little suspicious.
But no one else seemed to notice it. Maybe they were all planning a revolution from within. It sounded pretty far-fetched, even to him.
But then again, in his life time, he'd seen a lot, so maybe it wasn't all that surprising that they would be planning something no good. Well, he'd dwell on that later.
He had the same old problem to deal with right now. At least it took their mind of the upcoming millennium deal, which was also starting to drag. Another thing he wanted over and done with.
He *needed* that last Wild Power. But that was a different matter, and this matter had nothing to do with Wild Powers. (He wondered if everyone was as tired of the subject. Why couldn't the Night World come up with more original ideas to brake the rules?)
The meeting was supposed to start in a few minutes. With a heavy sigh he headed into the meeting room. At once the groups of people shut up and sat down in a disciplined and orderly manner. No messing around.
The boss was here with a new assignment. ~Why can't I retire?~ he thought moodily. Sometimes he wanted to give up with the whole thing, take Hannah away and spend the rest of his life with her without worrying about battles and renegades, and all the other monotonous stuff he had to bother about on a daily basis.
But that wasn't who he was. This was his life. What he had chosen to run, so he might as well make the most of it.
"As most of you might have heard" ~or are probably pig-sick of hearing of~ he thought "There's a new group of renegade Night People, the sooner we stop them, the less chaos they cause. I need some volunteers."
There were soft mutterings amongst the group, but hardly anyone was raising a hand.
"Do we know who's in charge of this group?" Rashel asked.
Thierry frowned. He wasn't exactly sure of that one. But rumours had come to him telling him it was someone from one of those new families trying to overtake the Redferns. "I believe it's something to do with the Bloodthorn clan," he answered. He knew if it *were* the Redferns Rashel would have been one of the first to volunteer. A hand near the back of the room was going up. "I'll go."
The voice was laced with cold hatred.
Thierry frowned, trying to see the figure. "Identify yourself, back there."
The young woman who stood up was tall, with a mane of curly black hair cascading around her. Her creamy-pale skin was smooth and flawless. Her blue eyes were hard, cold and glittering like chips of ice. She was fairly muscular for a girl, without being *too* muscly. "Gabrielle Darkstorm."
From what he knew Gabrielle was fairly new to the whole Daybreak scene, one of these Night World operations to kill the good guys gone wrong with a soulmate connection to another of their agents. "Why do you want to go?" He wasn't sure yet if this girl would be trusted.
The girl scowled. "Let's just say I have a score to settle with a few Bloodthorns."
He exchanged glances with Hannah, who clearly didn't look comfortable about sending Gabrielle on the task. "Don't you think you might be..." Hannah searched for words. "Rushing in too soon?"
Gabrielle was looking at her, her eyes narrowed. "You think I can't do it?"
Hannah looked embarrassed. She obviously *didn't* think Gabrielle could do the assignment. "Well, it's just that sources have told us the leader of this clan is Dante Bloodthorn, and didn't you have something going with him?"
"What if this is a trap?" the guy sitting next to Gabrielle protested. Gabrielle's newly-found soulmate Tate Redfern.
Gabrielle's eyes rolled. "I don't care if it is or not. I'm *going*, and I'll kill him." She looked at Thierry.
Thierry sighed heavily a second time. "All right."
When the meeting broke up Hannah followed him into his office. "Are you *sure* that's a good idea? Sending her right away?"
"I'm not sending her alone," he answered. He understood what Hannah was thinking, as he was thinking exactly the same thing himself. "I'm sending two others with her." He smiled a little. "She doesn't know that, of course."
"Do you trust her?" Hannah asked, meeting his eyes.
Thierry didn't know. He couldn't answer her because he didn't know the answer himself.
* * *
Summary: A tale of love, dispair, betrayal and murder set in the Night World.
Part 1
The fire crackled all around. Gabrielle looked around desperately for a window to get out. The whole assignment had gone completely to hell.
She ran out the door, ignoring the flames on either side, her only thought was to get out into the cool night air. The hell with it. She didn't care anymore.
How come lately, everything seemed to be going wrong? But being trapped in a burning building at the moment was the least of Gabriella's worries.
She shrieked with competent outrage when she felt strong arms grab her and throw her. She sailed through the air, landing painfully. She dragged herself to her felt, a shattering pain in her ankle.
"Here, I've got you," a soft male voice said. The same strong arms that had thrown her helped her up.
She glared at Tate Redfern furiously. He just looked back at her, sandy hair falling over one eye. Why did he have to be so annoyingly gorgeous. "This is all your fault, you know," she snapped at him.
Tate just grinned and shrugged. "What can I say? A little spark of adventure every now and again can't hurt."
Gabrielle rolled her eyes. Typical Daybreaker. This was so unfair. There was a real cosmic injustice in this whole damn soulmate thing.
Tate just held out a hand to her. Gabrielle stared at it for several minutes. She glanced back at the house they had just escaped from. The fire lit up the night like a solar flare. He'd saved her from that.
With a heavy sigh, she reached out and took the hand he offered.
"I can't believe this is happening to me," she muttered.
* * *
It should have been a good thing, but at the time the sudden changing in her life was completely overwhelming. It had all collapsed, her dreams of ruling in darkness.
The soulmate connection had shattered everything for Gabrielle. Most people she'd met at Circle Daybreak who had soulmates raved on constantly about how wonderful the soulmate thing was. How there was room to grow and develop in Daybreak, and such.
After a while Gabrielle just tuned them out. She had heard the whispers about her. Could she really be trusted? Was she going to be of any use to them?
Was this all some sort of elaborate plan and she was a spy for Dante Bloodthorn, a new and upcoming head of a vampire family starting to drown out the Redferns.
(After the death of Hunter and Maya the Redferns were starting to lose their credit with the Council. New families were raising their heads trying to get a look in)
But none of that was really interesting to Gabrielle anymore. Her mind kept replaying the whole scene over and over. She was supposed to kill Tate Redfern, only to discover a soulmate connection with him.
Her eyes rolled. Typically cliché of the Night World at the moment. No one seemed to be able to kill the targets they were hired to get. The Council must be having a field day.
"Gabby?"
Gabrielle bit her lip. She hated the stupid childish nickname, but she knew Tate would just continue to call her it cause it annoyed her. "What?" she asked.
He sat on the window seat beside her, wrapping his arms around her. "You okay? You're kind of moody."
Gabrielle just shrugged. What was she supposed to say? "It's just all...a little overwhelming."
Tate kissed her softly. Gabrielle almost forgave him as the white light of their soulmate connection sparked. "Lighten up, you'll get used to it. I just came up to tell you dinner's ready." He left her alone.
Gabrielle sighed, turning back to the night. She wasn't sure about living in the Daybreak mansion. But it was better than staying at home where she knew people would be hunting her now she had changed sighed.
She left the window seat and went out onto the balcony, gazing up at the dark sky. She had always thought that the Night would be her one true home.
Was it? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure of anything anymore.
* * *
Dante Bloodthorn was not a happy vampire. He stormed around his mansion, smashing and ripping anything he could get his hands on. He just couldn't believe it.
Gabrielle! Gabrielle! His Queen of the Night! Dark star! His perfect twisted thorn of darkness! Gone! Gone! Stolen away by those stupid fucking Daybreakers.
He sighed, collapsing in his chair. It was just so unfair. Totally unfair. He sighed and lit a cigar, taking a long drag. He sighed, pushing his black hair out his eyes red eyes. He could feel a smile curving his lips.
Gabrielle wasn't going to be gone for long.
He had a plan.
* * *
Part 2
It was a set up Thierry was getting rather bored of, groups of Night Worlders getting together and deliberately breaking all the laws, causing as much trouble as they possibly could...
With the Council in disarray they thought they had a better chance at getting away with it. They seemed to have forgotten that Circle Daybreak was still fully operational.
He was getting tired of sending his agents into the groups to infiltrate them and stop the group. Normally discovering a soulmate connection with whomever they were supposed to kill...
Something about all these former dark lords - or ladies - suddenly converting when this happened seemed to him to be a little suspicious.
But no one else seemed to notice it. Maybe they were all planning a revolution from within. It sounded pretty far-fetched, even to him.
But then again, in his life time, he'd seen a lot, so maybe it wasn't all that surprising that they would be planning something no good. Well, he'd dwell on that later.
He had the same old problem to deal with right now. At least it took their mind of the upcoming millennium deal, which was also starting to drag. Another thing he wanted over and done with.
He *needed* that last Wild Power. But that was a different matter, and this matter had nothing to do with Wild Powers. (He wondered if everyone was as tired of the subject. Why couldn't the Night World come up with more original ideas to brake the rules?)
The meeting was supposed to start in a few minutes. With a heavy sigh he headed into the meeting room. At once the groups of people shut up and sat down in a disciplined and orderly manner. No messing around.
The boss was here with a new assignment. ~Why can't I retire?~ he thought moodily. Sometimes he wanted to give up with the whole thing, take Hannah away and spend the rest of his life with her without worrying about battles and renegades, and all the other monotonous stuff he had to bother about on a daily basis.
But that wasn't who he was. This was his life. What he had chosen to run, so he might as well make the most of it.
"As most of you might have heard" ~or are probably pig-sick of hearing of~ he thought "There's a new group of renegade Night People, the sooner we stop them, the less chaos they cause. I need some volunteers."
There were soft mutterings amongst the group, but hardly anyone was raising a hand.
"Do we know who's in charge of this group?" Rashel asked.
Thierry frowned. He wasn't exactly sure of that one. But rumours had come to him telling him it was someone from one of those new families trying to overtake the Redferns. "I believe it's something to do with the Bloodthorn clan," he answered. He knew if it *were* the Redferns Rashel would have been one of the first to volunteer. A hand near the back of the room was going up. "I'll go."
The voice was laced with cold hatred.
Thierry frowned, trying to see the figure. "Identify yourself, back there."
The young woman who stood up was tall, with a mane of curly black hair cascading around her. Her creamy-pale skin was smooth and flawless. Her blue eyes were hard, cold and glittering like chips of ice. She was fairly muscular for a girl, without being *too* muscly. "Gabrielle Darkstorm."
From what he knew Gabrielle was fairly new to the whole Daybreak scene, one of these Night World operations to kill the good guys gone wrong with a soulmate connection to another of their agents. "Why do you want to go?" He wasn't sure yet if this girl would be trusted.
The girl scowled. "Let's just say I have a score to settle with a few Bloodthorns."
He exchanged glances with Hannah, who clearly didn't look comfortable about sending Gabrielle on the task. "Don't you think you might be..." Hannah searched for words. "Rushing in too soon?"
Gabrielle was looking at her, her eyes narrowed. "You think I can't do it?"
Hannah looked embarrassed. She obviously *didn't* think Gabrielle could do the assignment. "Well, it's just that sources have told us the leader of this clan is Dante Bloodthorn, and didn't you have something going with him?"
"What if this is a trap?" the guy sitting next to Gabrielle protested. Gabrielle's newly-found soulmate Tate Redfern.
Gabrielle's eyes rolled. "I don't care if it is or not. I'm *going*, and I'll kill him." She looked at Thierry.
Thierry sighed heavily a second time. "All right."
When the meeting broke up Hannah followed him into his office. "Are you *sure* that's a good idea? Sending her right away?"
"I'm not sending her alone," he answered. He understood what Hannah was thinking, as he was thinking exactly the same thing himself. "I'm sending two others with her." He smiled a little. "She doesn't know that, of course."
"Do you trust her?" Hannah asked, meeting his eyes.
Thierry didn't know. He couldn't answer her because he didn't know the answer himself.
* * *
