Disclaimer: Anyone besides those that I've already stated owning are
copyright their respective creators.
Chapter 3
Amy smiled sheepishly while Alex moved up to stand beside her. The tiny vampire-witch's blue eyes and blonde hair gave her the appearance of a delicate china doll, although she was anything but. Alex looked like a "Ken" doll, with his eyes a deeper blue and his hair a shade darker than sunshine-blonde. The two soulmates made a good pair. "Well it's a long story, but-" he started to explain.
"Just give us the Reader's Digest version," Blaise interrupted, folding her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. The high-heeled black boot made a clicking sound on the floor.
"These are drop-outs of Circle Midnight and Circle Daybreak," a raven- haired girl replied, moving to Amy's other side. Emerald-green eyes burned with a fire all their own, and the Johnsons smiled warmly at Tyrna Goddard, their childhood friend.
"Drop-outs?" Angel asked, looking for more clarification.
"They don't want to die. Now that the Millenium is almost here, it started to sink in that there's really going to be a battle," Tyrna told her. The golden girl who had been in Ruby and Amber's room stepped forward and cleared her throat.
"Any Daybreakers that are here followed the six back there," she informed everyone, pointing to a group a little apart from the strangers.
"Thanks Kalli, we love you too," a brown-haired girl sarcastically said. Her chestnut-brown eyes were the color of her shoulder-length hair, and a hunter's light shown in them. Any 'shifter would recognize her and the boy next to her for what they were: Kindred spirits. Angel stared at her for a moment, realizing she knew the small group.
"Bobbi? Bobbi Cage?" At the mention of her name, the bobcat came forward and bowed respectfully.
"Hi Angel. We didn't know you were coming."
"We would've called, but you never left us your phone number," a tenor voice added as the boy next to Bobbi put his hands on her shoulders. Brown eyes glittered from beneath his mop of dirty-blonde hair, and he looked dangerous in a contained-fury sort of way.
"Hi Mike," Austin said as he waved. The mountain lion smiled back.
"Well as long as we're doing introductions, how about the rest of us?" another deep voice added. Eyes of silver-gray gave away his identity.
"Lucas!" Angel squealed, giving her cousin a big hug. Luke Redfern just grinned like a Cheshire Cat and introduced the golden one who had first spoken. She was waiting patiently for him to acknowledge her.
"Angel, this is Kalli Redfern. She's Garnet's grand-daughter too," he explained, smoothing down his unruly brownish-black hair. Angel's grandmother had been Garnet Redfern, first-born daughter of Hunter Redfern, who had been the most powerful lamia up until his recent death by a Wild Power. Garnet's eldest son had been Angel's father. Her youngest son must be Kalli's father. Luke's father was the middle son. Garnet's eldest daughter had married a Rasmussen, producing another line of lamia. Her second daughter married a Tyler, and that was still another branch. And the youngest child, another girl, had married a Johnson, who fathered three more boys. That eldest son had been Amber and Derrick's father, while the youngest had sired their cousin, Rain, a Midnighter. The middle son was father to Nissa, now a Daybreaker. The two Redfern girls shook hands.
"Pleased to meet you," Kalli greeted, her grip very firm and her yellow eyes never leaving Angel's face. The vampire princess liked her immediately, which was rare for her.
"Likewise." The three people behind Luke came into the light, the boy with his arm securely around one girl's waist and a contented smile on his lips. She looked very happy herself.
"Hello," the couple greeted everyone in perfect unison. Peter nodded at Patrick and his girlfriend Julie. His light-brown eyes and her hazel- green ones were filled with a sense that they had seen too much in a short time. The two made-vampires had first met at the CM facility two years ago, when Patrick had been a Night Raider. His friends, especially John, urged him to seek refuge in CD after he had made Julie a vampire without the Joint Council's permission. Ruby smiled at Julie, flashing her slightly pointed teeth. With a flip of her reddish-brown braid, the other girl flashed her extended canines at the wolf. Patrick just blushed a deep crimson all the way up to his dark-red hair.
"Impressive," the red-haired vixen replied. Meanwhile, the other girl was now standing next to Luke and looking the CS boys up and down.
"You can say that again," she commented to Ruby's statement, but meaning something else entirely. Blaise glared at her with cool eyes.
"Don't even think about it." Sapphire-blue eyes stared back into her gray ones, a hint of a smile in the look.
"I would never dream of it, wise Aphrodite. I was just assessing the toys you brought." Under her mahogany-brown hair her face held a secret smile, like she delighted in unnerving people.
"We aren't her toys," Daemon argued hotly. Luke put his arm around the girl and looked a bit embarrassed.
"You'll have to excuse Miss Allbright. Sometimes she likes to make trouble. But I guess some of you already know Melody." Amber smiled at the perky witch, who had been immense help with a band of Hunters last time they were here.
"Yeah, we know her," Marik replied as he and Austin exchanged glances with the smiling girl. They had been the ones to introduce Melody to Circle Starlight and the Night Raiders.
"Marik, you're blushing," Daemon informed him with a low whisper. The lamia quickly regained a hold on his emotions. Now Kalli began to introduce the other people with her.
"That's Nalaria Vale; the immortal mage, Lord Delvain Tremere; a made- vampire, Norei Oakheart; a witch, Jezabell; a panther 'shifter, Raven; a raven 'shifter, Crystal and Moonlight Redfern; my little sisters, the twins Chandra and Dagan Harman, along with their cousin Faith, Teia Drake; a dragon, and Acilacia Winterfell Redfern. She was Hunter's soulmate."
"Hunter's what?" Angel asked in astonishment, her gaze fixed on the fire-truck-red-haired woman with sizzling-green eyes. She moved with the grace of a 'shifter, vampire, and goddess all rolled into one. Later, Angel, Kat, and Blaise would try to figure out just how that was possible. And although she could pass for late twenties, every vampire in the room knew she was extremely old.
"I was Hunter's wife and soulmate, but that was centuries ago," her husky voice informed the young Redfern. Angel could only nod.
"Don't forget about us!" an indignant voice called across the room. A mop of curly orange-red hair fell just above the girl's shoulders, and her jade-green eyes were both serious and fun. Her light voice was musical, and like a melodious bell.
"Dahlia!" Kat yelled excitedly, running to embrace the older girl. Dahlia Drache opened her arms wide to catch her friend. Every 'shifter in the room bowed or curtseyed in the presence of their princess.
"Hi tiger," Angel said, winking at the lame joke. Dahlia wrinkled her nose and grinned.
"Hi yourself, lamia." The three girls who stood next to her hugged Kat as well, glad to see her.
"Unity Blaise," one of them said, her violet eyes calm and friendly. Her mousy-brown hair was up in a tight bun, bringing out her rosy cheeks and small mouth.
"Unity Skye," Blaise returned the traditional greeting. The two girls were cousins, except that Skye was an Eirne now, her father having remarried after her mother's death when she was a small child.
"Hello Sage," a soft voice greeted him, its owner stepping forward and bowing respectfully to him. Sage was speechless as he quickly returned the gesture. "Are you happy to see me?" Blue-gray eyes held in their depths the knowledge of centuries past.
"Always Leah," the other Old-Soul replied. Leah Martin nodded shyly while playing with a strand of golden-brown hair, twirling the shoulder- length piece around her finger. On top of being an Old-Soul, the quiet girl was also a lost witch. Jason was looking from Sage to Leah and back again, trying to figure out what was going on. He'd never seen his friend act so strange, especially around a girl.
"They like each other," a strange voice whispered in his ear as he felt warm breath on his neck. Turning around slowly, he stood staring into liquid-brown eyes. "Hi, I'm Lyca Richards," she introduced.
"Hello," he replied softly, continuing to stare at her. Her hair came to her chin in soft dark-brown waves, framing her tan face perfectly.
"Oooh, another wolf," Ruby quipped as she and Lyca looked each other up and down. A wave of power from each of the girls swept over everyone in the room.
"You must be Ruby. Nice to finally meet you." Lyca smiled a toothy grin, which Ruby returned.
"What was that about?" Derrick whispered to his sister.
"Ruby and Lyca just tested each other. They're equals." Then Amber whispered inside Jason's mind. 'Lyca isn't your type. Men are too easy for her.' He just blushed and patted her hand. Angel was looking around at the large group, her mind working overtime.
"Okay, why don't we all sit down somewhere and figure this out?"
"What do we need to figure out?" Matt Rasmussen asked. His pale-gray eyes were full of timelessness, as if he had seen the creation of the world. Tyrna smoothed down his light-brown hair, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"What we're going to do when the Millenium strikes," Julian clarified, finally speaking out loud. Alan, Matt's younger brother, scratched his head for a moment, making his dirty-blonde hair even more unruly.
"Well, James and Poppy are sitting all alone in one of the meeting rooms." That got CS' attention.
"James Rasmussen and Poppy North? The vampire soulmates from Circle Daybreak?" Austin asked, wondering who else would show up from the depths of the Night World. Hey, maybe the dead Hunter himself might even make an appearance the way things were going.
"Yeah. Poppy and Kalli talked James into ditching the hippies," John told them, his cinnamon-brown eyes showing a trace of disgust. Every CMer had nicknames for the Daybreakers, "hippie" being a pretty close description of what they were. Kalli locked eyes with him.
"Hey, I used to be a hippie." Lord Delvain rolled his black eyes and patted her shoulder. He looked about twenty or so, but was probably at least two or three hundred if he had the title of "Lord".
"Please don't start anything, Lady Kalli. They might not let us stay if you do," he wisely cautioned. Oh yeah, he was definitely a Daybreaker. She nodded and lowered her eyes with a sigh. Amy and Tyrna simultaneously smacked John upside his head. They wanted to mess up his hair too, but the spice-brown crewcut was too short.
"Ow!" he said as he rubbed his head and stared sorrowfully at them.
"Be nice," Amy warned. Moonlight and Crystal, tired of just standing around, were heading down the hall towards the meeting room already.
"Come on, slowpokes! Let's go see James and Poppy!" they called back impatiently. Hey, they didn't look older than twelve, so Angel cut them some slack. With shrugs and nods the large group thundered down the hall until they were in the meeting room. Sitting at the far end of a long pine table were the legendary soulmates James and Poppy, who looked up when everyone came barreling in.
"Hi everyone," Poppy greeted jovially. She slipped off her oak chair and came towards them, one pale hand outstretched and a friendly look in her mint-green eyes. Her hair was loose and falling to her elbows in copper curls. With her upturned nose, small mouth, and overall shortness, Poppy looked every bit the pixie she was rumored to be. She was actually a lost witch, but James had made her a vampire to save her from pancreatic cancer. No one ever brought it up around either of them, but they all knew.
"Hi Poppy," Kat answered, her mind in a whirl from too much excitement and not enough sleep. James came up behind his "sex pixie", encircling her waist with his arms, dark-gray eyes alighting on Angel and Kat, who stood at the head of the group. His gaze was at the same time cool and intense, and no one ever knew which emotion was true or not. James was a grandson of Garnet by his mother, unlike his first cousins Matt and Alan, who were James' father's nephews by his brother.
"Is this a reunion?" he wondered out loud, his soft voice like a gentle caress on the girls' faces.
"That's what I want to know," Angel told him as everyone took seats. Julian and Angel remained standing, and no one doubted that they were running the show. "First off, let's figure out why we're all here. There are people from three different Circles in the room right now. What brought you all here?" Alex stood up, ready to speak for the Night Raiders.
"We came here to escape Circle Midnight. Not only are they suicidal by going up against the four Wild Powers, but they ordered the eradication of Circle Starlight. Silver was our friend too." Dahlia stood to represent the four girls, her green eyes burning brightly.
"I don't know about anyone else, but I couldn't fight against my own brother. And we also got pissed when Silver died." Silver Virgata had been a white tiger/lamia with a rebellious attitude and a loyal heart. She had also been the one whom Dahlia had taken her tiger form from, although the 'shifter princess was only a regular Bengal tiger. Julian nodded to show he was satisfied with their answers.
"But how did the Daybreakers get here?" He waved his hand at the large crew seated across the table from the Midnighters. Amber had retrieved her Chronicler book and was feverishly writing all of this down. She would enter it into her laptop later. John cleared his throat and stood up.
"I called Patrick and Julie to tell them we were coming here. She said she knew how to get back here." Of course Julie would know how to find this valley again. She had been second-in-command of a large band of Hunters two years ago. They had tried to wipe out CM, but were killed instead. Patrick had saved Julie's life because he loved her. Angel had killed her brother -the lead Hunter- in self-defense. She would've killed the revenge-minded human if Patrick hadn't tackled her first and then tied her to a tree while Angel had just stared at the strange site. Night Worlders did not fall in love with humans. Well, they weren't supposed to anyway.
"And you told everyone else?" Angel wondered, her violet eyes wide and wondrous. Patrick squirmed a little, something he always did when Angel was around.
"I only mentioned it to Luke and Mike. I guess they told everyone else," he reasoned.
"I told some of the other vampires," Luke admitted.
"And he told me to warn the witches," Melody added.
"I had to alert the 'shifters," Mike protested as Bobbi nodded in agreement. Angel threw her hands into the air in exasperation.
"Warn everyone about what?" she asked point-blank. No one moved or bothered to answer. She wasn't even sure they were breathing.
"They're afraid of going against the Night World, their families, and their friends. And that's before the weird prophecies even start," a voice chimed in, breaking the heavy silence. All eyes turned towards the door to see a girl standing there, eyes like two points of blue fire.
"Rain!" Amber shrieked, abandoning her book and racing to embrace her cousin. Derrick was an inch behind her. The three Johnsons held each other for a few minutes, Rain's velvet-black tresses in startling contrast to Amber's ice-blonde ones. Peter blushed when the dark-haired girl smiled at him. He had once liked her when he had still been human. Of course, that was before he had met Ruby.
"What are you doing here?" Derrick asked when they broke apart.
"I can answer that," Delvain said as he stood and walked to the trio. He knelt and raised Rain's hand to his lips. "Welcome back, my lady." She raised him to his feet and pressed her lips tightly to his mouth.
"It's good to be back, my lord," she replied in a breathy whisper. Amber was stunned by her cousin's display of passion.
'What's going on? You never mentioned anyone in your letters,' she whispered in the other girl's mind.
'I wanted to surprise you.'
'You did,' Derrick assured her, butting into the conversation.
"Can you three do "Family Circle" later?" Blaise asked, her hand playing across Julian's arm. Angel was used to it, so she put her mind to more pressing matters.
"What prophecies?" The Daybreak witches were looking at each other and shifting nervously in their seats.
"Tell them," Rain insisted, her eyes shifting to the girls. Melody finally looked up.
"Aradia had a vision."
"She's always having visions," Matt shot back. Chandra and Dagan stood up, violet eyes shining in defiance.
"But her vision coincides with a prophecy that Grandma Harman had written years ago," they replied in perfect harmony. Amy elbowed Matt to sit down and shut up. Tyrna gave him a chiding look. The twins were referring to the now-dead Crone of the witches. Aradia was the blind Maiden, always having visions of the future. Mother Cybele was now the leader of the witches, her Mother duties having shifted when the Crone died.
"What prophecies?" Angel asked again, annoyance clear in her voice. Dagan brushed a strand of blue hair out of her eyes.
"When Darkness rises and Light descends, then begins the fight. But there's Light in the Darkness, and there's Darkness in Light," she recited.
"Twilight has fallen, the Night will not yield. Starlight shines on the bloody battlefield," Chandra added, smoothing her green bob.
"The Goddess commands them; they hear her voice. Children of the Starlight: Destiny's choice," Melody finished softly.
"What does that mean?" Marik wanted to know.
"We have no clue," Nalaria told him, her black eyes glittering against her coffee skin.
"No one can figure it out. Aradia only said she saw a final battle between CM and CD," Norei added, orange-red hair like a frame of fire around her bronze face.
"Okay, so we've figured out why we're all here. What do we do for five days while we wait for the Millenium?" Lyca brought up. Just then- as if things weren't crazy enough -two more people burst into the room, faces flushed and out of breath.
"You-guys-won't-believe-this. Circle-Midnight-is-here!" the girl panted, trying to catch her breath.
"WHAT?" the entire room shouted. Nalaria conjured up two glasses of water and gave them to the two teens.
"Circle Midnight has a caravan a few miles away. It looks like we're not the only ones who knew about this place," the boy explained when he finished the water. His hazel eyes flicked to Sage as a smile curled his lip and showed his dimples. He absent-mindedly ran a hand through his silky white hair, which had a bluish tint to it. "Hiya Sage."
"Hello Jake," the other wolf greeted his friend. Jake Lupo had been a part of the group a few years ago, but had since rejoined CM. The copper-haired girl at his side was Lillian Hawke, another lost member. While Jake was a white wolf, she was a falcon.
"Oh, this is great. Circle Midnight is coming and these two are playing "This is Your Life"!" she yelled. Lilli had no patience when danger was approaching. Something about survival would always kick in.
"We can't stay here," Leah reasoned with Old-Soul logic. They always tended to state the obvious.
"But where can we go?" Skye asked her. Julie stood up swiftly.
"The Hunters' had a hideaway a few miles east of here. I can take you all there if someone can get the gear." Peter and Patrick vaguely remembered going there, and Melody also knew of its existence.
"Julian?" Angel asked automatically, looking up into his strange blue eyes. He smiled and planted a delicate kiss on her cheek.
"Your wish is my command." He vanished without another word. Angel turned to find everyone still sitting down.
"What are doing? Everyone follow Julie and get the hell out of here!" Chairs were knocked over as everyone ran out of the room. Amber made sure she grabbed her Chronicler book, and then proceeded to follow the others. Once outside the 'shifters all changed so they would be able to run faster. The vampires grabbed the witches and pulled them along to keep the group together. Cars and vans were now descending into the valley, forcing them all to run faster.
"Hurry!" Alex yelled at his gang while making sure Amy was at his side. Faith tripped over a root, but Derrick picked up the small witch and kept going. Dagan and Chandra sighed with relief when they saw their cousin was all right. Kalli and her sisters held hands as they ran, helping each other out. Lilli and Raven soared above the group, keeping their eyes on the landscape behind and in front. Lyca and Ruby led the wolves to the front of the group, their senses alert for unseen dangers. Dahlia, Jezabell, and Peter were the sweepers, nudging along any stragglers. Julie and Patrick were just in front of the wolves, leading the group to safety. Finally they reached a small cabin and squeezed through the door. As soon as the falcon and raven were inside, Julie pushed a section of a windowsill and the floor began sinking. When they were all on the bottom watching the elevator rise, a few people collapsed from exhaustion.
"Break time!" James called out, slumping against the rock wall. Poppy sat beside him, resting her head against his chest. No one argued otherwise, so they all sat there for a while just relaxing and wondering what they were going to do next.
Chapter 3
Amy smiled sheepishly while Alex moved up to stand beside her. The tiny vampire-witch's blue eyes and blonde hair gave her the appearance of a delicate china doll, although she was anything but. Alex looked like a "Ken" doll, with his eyes a deeper blue and his hair a shade darker than sunshine-blonde. The two soulmates made a good pair. "Well it's a long story, but-" he started to explain.
"Just give us the Reader's Digest version," Blaise interrupted, folding her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. The high-heeled black boot made a clicking sound on the floor.
"These are drop-outs of Circle Midnight and Circle Daybreak," a raven- haired girl replied, moving to Amy's other side. Emerald-green eyes burned with a fire all their own, and the Johnsons smiled warmly at Tyrna Goddard, their childhood friend.
"Drop-outs?" Angel asked, looking for more clarification.
"They don't want to die. Now that the Millenium is almost here, it started to sink in that there's really going to be a battle," Tyrna told her. The golden girl who had been in Ruby and Amber's room stepped forward and cleared her throat.
"Any Daybreakers that are here followed the six back there," she informed everyone, pointing to a group a little apart from the strangers.
"Thanks Kalli, we love you too," a brown-haired girl sarcastically said. Her chestnut-brown eyes were the color of her shoulder-length hair, and a hunter's light shown in them. Any 'shifter would recognize her and the boy next to her for what they were: Kindred spirits. Angel stared at her for a moment, realizing she knew the small group.
"Bobbi? Bobbi Cage?" At the mention of her name, the bobcat came forward and bowed respectfully.
"Hi Angel. We didn't know you were coming."
"We would've called, but you never left us your phone number," a tenor voice added as the boy next to Bobbi put his hands on her shoulders. Brown eyes glittered from beneath his mop of dirty-blonde hair, and he looked dangerous in a contained-fury sort of way.
"Hi Mike," Austin said as he waved. The mountain lion smiled back.
"Well as long as we're doing introductions, how about the rest of us?" another deep voice added. Eyes of silver-gray gave away his identity.
"Lucas!" Angel squealed, giving her cousin a big hug. Luke Redfern just grinned like a Cheshire Cat and introduced the golden one who had first spoken. She was waiting patiently for him to acknowledge her.
"Angel, this is Kalli Redfern. She's Garnet's grand-daughter too," he explained, smoothing down his unruly brownish-black hair. Angel's grandmother had been Garnet Redfern, first-born daughter of Hunter Redfern, who had been the most powerful lamia up until his recent death by a Wild Power. Garnet's eldest son had been Angel's father. Her youngest son must be Kalli's father. Luke's father was the middle son. Garnet's eldest daughter had married a Rasmussen, producing another line of lamia. Her second daughter married a Tyler, and that was still another branch. And the youngest child, another girl, had married a Johnson, who fathered three more boys. That eldest son had been Amber and Derrick's father, while the youngest had sired their cousin, Rain, a Midnighter. The middle son was father to Nissa, now a Daybreaker. The two Redfern girls shook hands.
"Pleased to meet you," Kalli greeted, her grip very firm and her yellow eyes never leaving Angel's face. The vampire princess liked her immediately, which was rare for her.
"Likewise." The three people behind Luke came into the light, the boy with his arm securely around one girl's waist and a contented smile on his lips. She looked very happy herself.
"Hello," the couple greeted everyone in perfect unison. Peter nodded at Patrick and his girlfriend Julie. His light-brown eyes and her hazel- green ones were filled with a sense that they had seen too much in a short time. The two made-vampires had first met at the CM facility two years ago, when Patrick had been a Night Raider. His friends, especially John, urged him to seek refuge in CD after he had made Julie a vampire without the Joint Council's permission. Ruby smiled at Julie, flashing her slightly pointed teeth. With a flip of her reddish-brown braid, the other girl flashed her extended canines at the wolf. Patrick just blushed a deep crimson all the way up to his dark-red hair.
"Impressive," the red-haired vixen replied. Meanwhile, the other girl was now standing next to Luke and looking the CS boys up and down.
"You can say that again," she commented to Ruby's statement, but meaning something else entirely. Blaise glared at her with cool eyes.
"Don't even think about it." Sapphire-blue eyes stared back into her gray ones, a hint of a smile in the look.
"I would never dream of it, wise Aphrodite. I was just assessing the toys you brought." Under her mahogany-brown hair her face held a secret smile, like she delighted in unnerving people.
"We aren't her toys," Daemon argued hotly. Luke put his arm around the girl and looked a bit embarrassed.
"You'll have to excuse Miss Allbright. Sometimes she likes to make trouble. But I guess some of you already know Melody." Amber smiled at the perky witch, who had been immense help with a band of Hunters last time they were here.
"Yeah, we know her," Marik replied as he and Austin exchanged glances with the smiling girl. They had been the ones to introduce Melody to Circle Starlight and the Night Raiders.
"Marik, you're blushing," Daemon informed him with a low whisper. The lamia quickly regained a hold on his emotions. Now Kalli began to introduce the other people with her.
"That's Nalaria Vale; the immortal mage, Lord Delvain Tremere; a made- vampire, Norei Oakheart; a witch, Jezabell; a panther 'shifter, Raven; a raven 'shifter, Crystal and Moonlight Redfern; my little sisters, the twins Chandra and Dagan Harman, along with their cousin Faith, Teia Drake; a dragon, and Acilacia Winterfell Redfern. She was Hunter's soulmate."
"Hunter's what?" Angel asked in astonishment, her gaze fixed on the fire-truck-red-haired woman with sizzling-green eyes. She moved with the grace of a 'shifter, vampire, and goddess all rolled into one. Later, Angel, Kat, and Blaise would try to figure out just how that was possible. And although she could pass for late twenties, every vampire in the room knew she was extremely old.
"I was Hunter's wife and soulmate, but that was centuries ago," her husky voice informed the young Redfern. Angel could only nod.
"Don't forget about us!" an indignant voice called across the room. A mop of curly orange-red hair fell just above the girl's shoulders, and her jade-green eyes were both serious and fun. Her light voice was musical, and like a melodious bell.
"Dahlia!" Kat yelled excitedly, running to embrace the older girl. Dahlia Drache opened her arms wide to catch her friend. Every 'shifter in the room bowed or curtseyed in the presence of their princess.
"Hi tiger," Angel said, winking at the lame joke. Dahlia wrinkled her nose and grinned.
"Hi yourself, lamia." The three girls who stood next to her hugged Kat as well, glad to see her.
"Unity Blaise," one of them said, her violet eyes calm and friendly. Her mousy-brown hair was up in a tight bun, bringing out her rosy cheeks and small mouth.
"Unity Skye," Blaise returned the traditional greeting. The two girls were cousins, except that Skye was an Eirne now, her father having remarried after her mother's death when she was a small child.
"Hello Sage," a soft voice greeted him, its owner stepping forward and bowing respectfully to him. Sage was speechless as he quickly returned the gesture. "Are you happy to see me?" Blue-gray eyes held in their depths the knowledge of centuries past.
"Always Leah," the other Old-Soul replied. Leah Martin nodded shyly while playing with a strand of golden-brown hair, twirling the shoulder- length piece around her finger. On top of being an Old-Soul, the quiet girl was also a lost witch. Jason was looking from Sage to Leah and back again, trying to figure out what was going on. He'd never seen his friend act so strange, especially around a girl.
"They like each other," a strange voice whispered in his ear as he felt warm breath on his neck. Turning around slowly, he stood staring into liquid-brown eyes. "Hi, I'm Lyca Richards," she introduced.
"Hello," he replied softly, continuing to stare at her. Her hair came to her chin in soft dark-brown waves, framing her tan face perfectly.
"Oooh, another wolf," Ruby quipped as she and Lyca looked each other up and down. A wave of power from each of the girls swept over everyone in the room.
"You must be Ruby. Nice to finally meet you." Lyca smiled a toothy grin, which Ruby returned.
"What was that about?" Derrick whispered to his sister.
"Ruby and Lyca just tested each other. They're equals." Then Amber whispered inside Jason's mind. 'Lyca isn't your type. Men are too easy for her.' He just blushed and patted her hand. Angel was looking around at the large group, her mind working overtime.
"Okay, why don't we all sit down somewhere and figure this out?"
"What do we need to figure out?" Matt Rasmussen asked. His pale-gray eyes were full of timelessness, as if he had seen the creation of the world. Tyrna smoothed down his light-brown hair, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"What we're going to do when the Millenium strikes," Julian clarified, finally speaking out loud. Alan, Matt's younger brother, scratched his head for a moment, making his dirty-blonde hair even more unruly.
"Well, James and Poppy are sitting all alone in one of the meeting rooms." That got CS' attention.
"James Rasmussen and Poppy North? The vampire soulmates from Circle Daybreak?" Austin asked, wondering who else would show up from the depths of the Night World. Hey, maybe the dead Hunter himself might even make an appearance the way things were going.
"Yeah. Poppy and Kalli talked James into ditching the hippies," John told them, his cinnamon-brown eyes showing a trace of disgust. Every CMer had nicknames for the Daybreakers, "hippie" being a pretty close description of what they were. Kalli locked eyes with him.
"Hey, I used to be a hippie." Lord Delvain rolled his black eyes and patted her shoulder. He looked about twenty or so, but was probably at least two or three hundred if he had the title of "Lord".
"Please don't start anything, Lady Kalli. They might not let us stay if you do," he wisely cautioned. Oh yeah, he was definitely a Daybreaker. She nodded and lowered her eyes with a sigh. Amy and Tyrna simultaneously smacked John upside his head. They wanted to mess up his hair too, but the spice-brown crewcut was too short.
"Ow!" he said as he rubbed his head and stared sorrowfully at them.
"Be nice," Amy warned. Moonlight and Crystal, tired of just standing around, were heading down the hall towards the meeting room already.
"Come on, slowpokes! Let's go see James and Poppy!" they called back impatiently. Hey, they didn't look older than twelve, so Angel cut them some slack. With shrugs and nods the large group thundered down the hall until they were in the meeting room. Sitting at the far end of a long pine table were the legendary soulmates James and Poppy, who looked up when everyone came barreling in.
"Hi everyone," Poppy greeted jovially. She slipped off her oak chair and came towards them, one pale hand outstretched and a friendly look in her mint-green eyes. Her hair was loose and falling to her elbows in copper curls. With her upturned nose, small mouth, and overall shortness, Poppy looked every bit the pixie she was rumored to be. She was actually a lost witch, but James had made her a vampire to save her from pancreatic cancer. No one ever brought it up around either of them, but they all knew.
"Hi Poppy," Kat answered, her mind in a whirl from too much excitement and not enough sleep. James came up behind his "sex pixie", encircling her waist with his arms, dark-gray eyes alighting on Angel and Kat, who stood at the head of the group. His gaze was at the same time cool and intense, and no one ever knew which emotion was true or not. James was a grandson of Garnet by his mother, unlike his first cousins Matt and Alan, who were James' father's nephews by his brother.
"Is this a reunion?" he wondered out loud, his soft voice like a gentle caress on the girls' faces.
"That's what I want to know," Angel told him as everyone took seats. Julian and Angel remained standing, and no one doubted that they were running the show. "First off, let's figure out why we're all here. There are people from three different Circles in the room right now. What brought you all here?" Alex stood up, ready to speak for the Night Raiders.
"We came here to escape Circle Midnight. Not only are they suicidal by going up against the four Wild Powers, but they ordered the eradication of Circle Starlight. Silver was our friend too." Dahlia stood to represent the four girls, her green eyes burning brightly.
"I don't know about anyone else, but I couldn't fight against my own brother. And we also got pissed when Silver died." Silver Virgata had been a white tiger/lamia with a rebellious attitude and a loyal heart. She had also been the one whom Dahlia had taken her tiger form from, although the 'shifter princess was only a regular Bengal tiger. Julian nodded to show he was satisfied with their answers.
"But how did the Daybreakers get here?" He waved his hand at the large crew seated across the table from the Midnighters. Amber had retrieved her Chronicler book and was feverishly writing all of this down. She would enter it into her laptop later. John cleared his throat and stood up.
"I called Patrick and Julie to tell them we were coming here. She said she knew how to get back here." Of course Julie would know how to find this valley again. She had been second-in-command of a large band of Hunters two years ago. They had tried to wipe out CM, but were killed instead. Patrick had saved Julie's life because he loved her. Angel had killed her brother -the lead Hunter- in self-defense. She would've killed the revenge-minded human if Patrick hadn't tackled her first and then tied her to a tree while Angel had just stared at the strange site. Night Worlders did not fall in love with humans. Well, they weren't supposed to anyway.
"And you told everyone else?" Angel wondered, her violet eyes wide and wondrous. Patrick squirmed a little, something he always did when Angel was around.
"I only mentioned it to Luke and Mike. I guess they told everyone else," he reasoned.
"I told some of the other vampires," Luke admitted.
"And he told me to warn the witches," Melody added.
"I had to alert the 'shifters," Mike protested as Bobbi nodded in agreement. Angel threw her hands into the air in exasperation.
"Warn everyone about what?" she asked point-blank. No one moved or bothered to answer. She wasn't even sure they were breathing.
"They're afraid of going against the Night World, their families, and their friends. And that's before the weird prophecies even start," a voice chimed in, breaking the heavy silence. All eyes turned towards the door to see a girl standing there, eyes like two points of blue fire.
"Rain!" Amber shrieked, abandoning her book and racing to embrace her cousin. Derrick was an inch behind her. The three Johnsons held each other for a few minutes, Rain's velvet-black tresses in startling contrast to Amber's ice-blonde ones. Peter blushed when the dark-haired girl smiled at him. He had once liked her when he had still been human. Of course, that was before he had met Ruby.
"What are you doing here?" Derrick asked when they broke apart.
"I can answer that," Delvain said as he stood and walked to the trio. He knelt and raised Rain's hand to his lips. "Welcome back, my lady." She raised him to his feet and pressed her lips tightly to his mouth.
"It's good to be back, my lord," she replied in a breathy whisper. Amber was stunned by her cousin's display of passion.
'What's going on? You never mentioned anyone in your letters,' she whispered in the other girl's mind.
'I wanted to surprise you.'
'You did,' Derrick assured her, butting into the conversation.
"Can you three do "Family Circle" later?" Blaise asked, her hand playing across Julian's arm. Angel was used to it, so she put her mind to more pressing matters.
"What prophecies?" The Daybreak witches were looking at each other and shifting nervously in their seats.
"Tell them," Rain insisted, her eyes shifting to the girls. Melody finally looked up.
"Aradia had a vision."
"She's always having visions," Matt shot back. Chandra and Dagan stood up, violet eyes shining in defiance.
"But her vision coincides with a prophecy that Grandma Harman had written years ago," they replied in perfect harmony. Amy elbowed Matt to sit down and shut up. Tyrna gave him a chiding look. The twins were referring to the now-dead Crone of the witches. Aradia was the blind Maiden, always having visions of the future. Mother Cybele was now the leader of the witches, her Mother duties having shifted when the Crone died.
"What prophecies?" Angel asked again, annoyance clear in her voice. Dagan brushed a strand of blue hair out of her eyes.
"When Darkness rises and Light descends, then begins the fight. But there's Light in the Darkness, and there's Darkness in Light," she recited.
"Twilight has fallen, the Night will not yield. Starlight shines on the bloody battlefield," Chandra added, smoothing her green bob.
"The Goddess commands them; they hear her voice. Children of the Starlight: Destiny's choice," Melody finished softly.
"What does that mean?" Marik wanted to know.
"We have no clue," Nalaria told him, her black eyes glittering against her coffee skin.
"No one can figure it out. Aradia only said she saw a final battle between CM and CD," Norei added, orange-red hair like a frame of fire around her bronze face.
"Okay, so we've figured out why we're all here. What do we do for five days while we wait for the Millenium?" Lyca brought up. Just then- as if things weren't crazy enough -two more people burst into the room, faces flushed and out of breath.
"You-guys-won't-believe-this. Circle-Midnight-is-here!" the girl panted, trying to catch her breath.
"WHAT?" the entire room shouted. Nalaria conjured up two glasses of water and gave them to the two teens.
"Circle Midnight has a caravan a few miles away. It looks like we're not the only ones who knew about this place," the boy explained when he finished the water. His hazel eyes flicked to Sage as a smile curled his lip and showed his dimples. He absent-mindedly ran a hand through his silky white hair, which had a bluish tint to it. "Hiya Sage."
"Hello Jake," the other wolf greeted his friend. Jake Lupo had been a part of the group a few years ago, but had since rejoined CM. The copper-haired girl at his side was Lillian Hawke, another lost member. While Jake was a white wolf, she was a falcon.
"Oh, this is great. Circle Midnight is coming and these two are playing "This is Your Life"!" she yelled. Lilli had no patience when danger was approaching. Something about survival would always kick in.
"We can't stay here," Leah reasoned with Old-Soul logic. They always tended to state the obvious.
"But where can we go?" Skye asked her. Julie stood up swiftly.
"The Hunters' had a hideaway a few miles east of here. I can take you all there if someone can get the gear." Peter and Patrick vaguely remembered going there, and Melody also knew of its existence.
"Julian?" Angel asked automatically, looking up into his strange blue eyes. He smiled and planted a delicate kiss on her cheek.
"Your wish is my command." He vanished without another word. Angel turned to find everyone still sitting down.
"What are doing? Everyone follow Julie and get the hell out of here!" Chairs were knocked over as everyone ran out of the room. Amber made sure she grabbed her Chronicler book, and then proceeded to follow the others. Once outside the 'shifters all changed so they would be able to run faster. The vampires grabbed the witches and pulled them along to keep the group together. Cars and vans were now descending into the valley, forcing them all to run faster.
"Hurry!" Alex yelled at his gang while making sure Amy was at his side. Faith tripped over a root, but Derrick picked up the small witch and kept going. Dagan and Chandra sighed with relief when they saw their cousin was all right. Kalli and her sisters held hands as they ran, helping each other out. Lilli and Raven soared above the group, keeping their eyes on the landscape behind and in front. Lyca and Ruby led the wolves to the front of the group, their senses alert for unseen dangers. Dahlia, Jezabell, and Peter were the sweepers, nudging along any stragglers. Julie and Patrick were just in front of the wolves, leading the group to safety. Finally they reached a small cabin and squeezed through the door. As soon as the falcon and raven were inside, Julie pushed a section of a windowsill and the floor began sinking. When they were all on the bottom watching the elevator rise, a few people collapsed from exhaustion.
"Break time!" James called out, slumping against the rock wall. Poppy sat beside him, resting her head against his chest. No one argued otherwise, so they all sat there for a while just relaxing and wondering what they were going to do next.