Part 5

The assignment should have been easy enough, but for some reason witch Bianca Heartsease was getting a very bad feeling about it. Spying on their own spy. It made her uncomfortable.

"Do we really trust her?" Bianca's partner shifter Payton Arnold asked in a low voice as they followed Gabrielle at a distance.

If it looked like Gabrielle was going to be trouble or fail in her assignment, then they were to kill her. Apparently some new rule Thierry had invoked, to cut down on the number of Night World spies sneaking into Daybreak safe houses.

Personally, Bianca wasn't too keen on the idea. What if it turned out they were wrong and ended up killing an innocent person? But times in the war between Daybreak and Night World were becoming darker, and rules had to be tightened, punishments harder.

Bianca realised how relieved she would be when the whole stupid millennium thing was over, then would know who won, once and for all. Anyway, she wasn't supposed to be thinking about that.

"I don't know," she answered softly. "We'll just have to play along and see how it goes."

Getting into the group of renegades didn't seem too appealing either, but it looked as if they had no choice.

"This isn't going to be fun," Payton commented dryly as they headed inside the mansion.

Bianca didn't say anything. The sooner they got this over and done with the better.

* * *

Dante stood in his office, the only light a dying fire, bathing the room in a soft, reddish glow, creating a dark atmosphere, which he liked. He watched out the window as the three Daybreakers walked up the driveway and into the mansion.

He'd known they'd get there sooner or later. He wasn't sure if he was pleased or not to see Gabrielle was one of them. It was what he had expected, he knew if he set this whole thing up, then she would come for her chance at revenge.

Seeing her with *them* created a stab of something inside him he wasn't sure how to explain it. It wasn't the stupid soulmate, Tacy should be dealing with him.

The constant knocking on the door annoyed him. Even more irritating was the fact the person was coming in without waiting to be invited. "What is it, Eris?" he asked

The reflection of another of his informers, vampire Eris Noir appeared in the window. Silky blonde hair framed her delicate features. She might seem to the casual observer rather dull. Most of them usually ended up rather dead. "They're here," Eris told him. "And she's one of them."

Dante nodded, not looking at her. "I want to see her, send her up."

Eris nodded and left. Dante sat in his chair, waiting for Gabrielle to come to him.

* * *