Disclaimer: I do not own the Nightworld; it belongs to L.J. Smith. I am making no money from writing this. It is for entertainment purposes only. I do own Khalida and Silverfang though so if you want to borrow them you will have to ask me first.

Author's Note: I had some inspiration and was able to get this part done earlier then I expected. The next part hasn't been started yet so please give me some time to work on it. I would like to thank everyone that has reviewed so far.

It will take a while to get the next part out since school has gotten quite hectic at the moment but I'll try to write when I get the chance.

Remember to review people!

Khalida's Story

By: Kynthia

Part 2

Arriving at her apartment Khalida tossed her keys onto the table by the door before locking it. She hadn't run into any of her neighbors, which was a relief since she didn't have to worry about anyone spotting the bloodstains. Not that it mattered when she could have gone into their minds and convinced them they hadn't seen a damned thing. Although, she thought with a slightly crooked smirk, the looks on their faces would have been worth it.

Her apartment was in an upscale area of the city, which meant most the people in it had led pampered lives. Hell the majority of them probably would have fainted at the sight of a paper cut. The image of her neighbors horrified faces pulled a chuckle from her before she tossed her jacket over the arm of a black leather sofa.

Walking over to the counter in the never used kitchen she spotted the red light blinking on her answering machine and hit the button. She hadn't been expecting any calls. Since she rarely gave out her number let alone her home number to anyone she knew it had to be important. With a click and a mechanical whir sound the tape played.

"Vampire hunters are in the area looking for you. They have already gotten some of my people." Beep.

They hadn't left a name but it hadn't been necessary. Khalida recognized the voice as that of a fox shifter she knew who had taken to calling herself Silverfang. Like Khalida, Silverfang did jobs for the Nightworld Council on occasion. While Khalida was an assassin by nature Silverfang had the natural patience and skill to be an effective spy. Normally hunters in the area weren't a big concern even if they were looking for her. If Silver had felt it was necessary to warn her then she knew it wasn't the normal situation.

Not worrying about the dried blood on her jeans Khalida threw herself into a plush leather armchair with her cordless phone in one hand and propped her feet onto the edge of a rather expensive looking glass topped table. If either were to be ruined she could easily replace them. When you could live as long as she could you understood the beauty of interest.

Lifting the phone she began to dial the phone numbers of some people she knew of that might have some information on the new hunters. When new players entered the game somebody always seemed to know something. An hour later she knew that there were two of them working as a team and were calling themselves, ridiculously enough, the Serpents. Apparently they had ripped off a move from the vampire hunter the Cat by carving some sort of symbol into the bodies of their victims. Nobody had yet to tell her exactly what that symbol was.

Snickering silently at the name Khalida began to dial what would probably be the last call she made tonight. Silverfang answered on the third ring. She would probably know more then anyone else did as usual.

"Silver," said a cold and annoyed voice that picked up.

"I got your message and was wondering what else you could tell me about the Serpents."

"Those little assholes have made some dangerous enemies," Khalida raised her eyebrows in surprise to hear the normally cool and collected girl's voice crack with anger. "I had a job to get some information out of a witch and when I showed up they had already killed her. You have no idea how much money they cost me."

"When I go after them I'll bring you back a souvenir," replied Khalida easily.

"Deal," Silver said as she calmed down before continuing in an emotionless monotone. "Not much is known about them but from what I've found out there are two of them, a boy and a girl. They could be related but we don't know for sure. They don't just kill vampires but shifters and witches too. They have also killed Daybreak agents but never the human ones. Their faces haven't been seen so they aren't completely nuts. They are good fighters to be human and have apparently tortured several of their victims before killing them but from what I know about those cases they were ones where the body wouldn't be found for a while so they must just do it for kicks when they have time too."

"Do you know where they do most of their hunting?"

"They haven't been around long but traces of their kills have been found in Vegas and L.A. so they get around," she hesitated briefly before asking, "I know you don't like having a partner and neither do I but I want to help with this one got it?"

"Got it. Why don't we start by shaking down the resident hunters and see what they can tell us," the dark haired vampire suggested with a shrug knowing that the other girl couldn't see the movement.

"Sounds good to me," said Silverfang. They hung up after making their plans and Khalida thought over the conversation. She wasn't concerned; vampire hunters came after her often. It was just surprising that these went after witches too. It was rarely done because witches so rarely killed.

The fact that she and Silverfang had decided to partner up on this one surprised even her. Neither was very trusting and even though they considered themselves allies they weren't really friends. They had a mutual respect for one another that would allow them to work together though.

Khalida pushed herself out of her chair and headed to her bedroom to get a change of clothes and go to the bathroom to clean up before getting some sleep.

Watching the blood stained pink water slip down the drain of her shower was oddly calming. Pulling on some clothes to sleep in she let her long damp tendrils of black hair lay wet on the back of her black silk nightshirt. She checked her face in the still steam-covered mirror briefly to make sure there was no more dried blood. Seeing her almost white pale green eyes looking back at her from an oddly pink face was a bit of shock. The scolding shower had made her complexion a bit more life like at least for the moment. Khalida raised a hand to normally death cold cheek to feel warm flesh under her fingertips. Her mind began to race to a time when looking like the rest of the living wasn't such a surprise. Without realizing it she had squeezed her pale eyes shut and growled silently to herself. The new train of thought had just jumped the rails.

Opening her eyes she glared at the mirror as her complexion began to take on its normal marble white coloring. A wave of fury was taking over her senses as she watched her eyes bleed from green to red only the pupil shown from the crimson depths. There was no way she would remember that time. That time is over! Those memories are long dead and will not be dug up!

She restrained from slamming her fist into the mirror before stomping into her bedroom in annoyance. Khalida had to get some sleep since she had to meet up with Silver the next night.

*****

Veronica and her brother Sid had watched the witch as she walked down the street. They needed to question her about the whereabouts of the monster. The witch was walking towards their hiding place and in a moment they would grab her and force her to tell them what she knew about the red eyed demon that had killed their parents. If she didn't give up the information willingly then she would learn just how cold-blooded serpents were.