- Author: Adelaide
Disclaimer: The Night World and its characters were created by L.J. Smith.
Summary: The continuation of Frozen Fire. In this part, two daybreakers join in holy matrimony. Another rather lonely Daybreaker takes an unexpected trip to Briar Creek Oregon (gee I wonder who…) And somebody disappears…this is the part where the mysterious music plays and everybody gasps. All together now!
Frozen Fire
September 21, 1999
Boston, Massachusetts
This time it wasn't a slow, layer by layer, degree by degree awakening. Something suddenly awoke her, the unknown force was urgent. Her eyes flew open and she sucked in air, as much as she could. But she couldn't get enough, she realized, panicking. It was as if her airways shrunk by the seconds, and the knot in her insides made her writhe painfully. Somebody held her frantic hands and gave her a glass of water.
Or what she thought was water. It smoothed the tightening in her stomach, let her breath freely, and brought back feeling and control in her limbs. It was like a power bar, except liquid, thick, and red… Mari stared at the nearly empty glass and then through it at the wall twenty feet in front of her. The glass shattered, the blood gave a crude coloring to the cream wall, even filling the cracks. Mari stopped herself. How could she have seen those cracks if she was near sighted? And how could she have thrown so far and fast?
Her hand fumbled towards her stomach and she couldn't find any scars or half healed openings. "Am I in hell?" She certainly wasn't going to heaven.
"No, this is the waiting room," a boy muttered, walking through a door and came out with a rag and a little broom and dust pan. She recognized him immediately.
"Valdis? What are you doing here?" She looked around. Although it was in pitch blackness, she could see the room was finely furnished with modern furniture. Black leather couches, big screen TV, impressive collection of DVD's and CD's . There was a spiral stair step going down and there was the rest of the abode.
"I live here. This is my apartment in Boston." Back to the east coast. Back to the Night World.
Mari was laying on a large bed that wasn't really in a bedroom, but rather the whole top floor. She lifted the cotton sheets and saw she was in a large Nike shirt. "Who changed my clothes? And what am I doing here? Why did you save me? How did you save me? I was nearly dead."
Valdis began to wipe the wall and sweep up the glass bits. "I changed your clothes, don't worry I didn't enjoy it. You're here because I didn't trust putting you in a Holiday Inn. I saved you because I'm getting paid to save you. And you were dead, for a while." Mari climbed out of the bed and stood on two wobbly legs, thankful the shirt hung past her knees.
"What do you mean, for a while? You're either dead or you're not. You can't…" He gave an impatient sound that was very close to a snarl and scowled at her.
"What are you, stupid? Did you expect me to take you to take you to a hospital? You wouldn't have survived as a human so you're surviving as a vampire. Get over it." Mari sat back down and the feeling of choking was coming back. She couldn't be, it was wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen. It was supposed to be her choice because it was her body and now somebody had changed her into a different person without her consent.
"Valdis, how could you?" Her voice matched the look in her wide, round eyes. Full of disbelief, which would soon border in denial or self hatred. "You…"she closed her eyes as if there were some bitter taste in her mouth, "…you, you changed me. You changed my body, my life, my…" Her full lips were twisting with burning anger as her voice rose. "You changed my world! You son of a bitch, how could you do this to me?" she roared again. She thought she cried her eyes dry before but now the tears were surfacing. "I didn't even want to…How could you do this to me?" she asked again, in a somewhat subdued voice. Mari had no idea why she was being so emotional in front of somebody she didn't want to let her guard down. All she knew now as that she was a monster that was never supposed to exist. She was supposed to die when Dorian killed her. Her hands moved up to try to wipe away the tears. Just as the rush of ire ebbed, another rose at the last thought. "Bastard! How the hell would you feel if you were transformed into a human without your consent? Just when things were going to be over, just when you were about to rest, someone changed your goddamn existence!"
When she met his eyes, Valdis was staring at her with utter contempt. "What's the matter with you?" he roared back, a look of desperation mixed with anger on his face. "You're better than before! Stop ranting like a lunatic, some people would love to have your power." Mari just shook her head and pulled her knees into the baggy shirt. It felt awful, to see Valdis yelling at her, and to have him see her so emotional. She felt the cold air press on her, and began to shake. That was strange, because no the temperatures didn't affect her. No, she wasn't cold, the world was. Everything and everyone in it…
"Stop it!" Mari realized numbly that she was sending out her thoughts. Valdis went on. "God, you're so depressing. Shut up. It's not that bad, you're adapting faster than other made vampires do when they first wake up. Most are irrational and can't control—never mind, you won't even listen. Deal with it. You won't be staying here long any way," he finished brusquely and descended down the spiral stair case. She had no idea why she felt relieved when she heard the TV turn on, meaning he hadn't left. Maybe because she needed him for money, transportation, and other means.
But she needed somebody to talk to and somebody to comfort her with the change. Her mind automatically showed her Dorian, smiling and holding his arms out for her. Dorian was her ideal of comfort and sweetness. The image rippled and the smile he had was a scornful smile. His arms weren't held out for an embrace but to capture and kill. He was looming closer with his charming, insane eyes.
"VALDIS!" she cried. Mari flew from the bed and scrambled down the stair steps. The TV was on but she couldn't find him. "Valdis!"
"What?" he called, obviously irritated. Valdis was lying on the couch, hidden from her view. Since he wouldn't move his legs, she sat on his calves and socked feet. Mari dropped when he pulled his legs out from under her. "What do you want?"
What did she want? She wasn't really sure and if she did know Valdis was the last person she'd turn to. Arguing with him would distract her, but for only so long. "Tell me what happened." That was something she needed to learn.
He sighed. "I went to go to the rest of the team that it was time to get rid of Dorian. He did his job and was then becoming nuisance. They agreed, I came in, and killed him. It had nothing to do with you. I could care less if he tore out your entrails if there wasn't any money involved. " He shrugged and she noticed that Valdis was keeping a safe distance away from her. Mari's eyes shot daggers at him. He responded by rolling his eyes.
Mari thought over her situation. "What do you want me to do?" she asked, feeling a small victory that her voice had returned to the icy tone she had used most of her life.
"Hunter's given up on you, I'm not surprised by the way. How could anybody believe a spoiled brat like you would cooperate is beyond me. You don't have to do anything, you moron. The council wants you alive, who knows why. Just lay low until January the second. After they're done with you, you're free to go. If I don't kill you first." Valdis concentrated on the screen.
Mari followed his gaze and found he was interested in an infomercial for a paper bag. "I'm free to go now," she informed him stiffly. She stood up and walked towards the door with a peep hole in it. She didn't want to look like an idiot and walk in the closet.
"You might want to put some pants on. Just a suggestion." Well, she'd look like an idiot in another way then.
Mari turned a blazing glare on him and calmed down instantly. Like he said, she was being stupid, again. He knew what would happen to her if a Night person got their hands on her. Permanently dead. What he suggested before was kind. Since when was he kind?
"Sit down. I have to tell you something."
"You know what," she began as she sank into a cushy leather seat across from him. "Your attitude has gotten a lot more shitty since I last met you," she observed in biting tones.
"Sorry," he said spitefully. "Being around you can make any one less than cheery." There was something like bitterness in his voice, but not quite. "While I was changing you, I…" He sounded enraged, not with her, but with himself. Yes, this Valdis was definitely moodier.
"Come on Valdis, spit out."
"Would you shut up and let me talk?" he yelled violently. To her dismay, she found herself sinking lower into the seat. He continued in a lower voice.
"Who is the last person in the world you'd think of marrying or being soul mates with? That you've met," he added hastily, knowing very well she would answer with "Donald Trump" just to be a smart ass.
Dorian was the first person to spring to her mind, but she was certain he didn't mean that. Mari thought long and hard and came up with the obvious answer
"You," she answered easily. There must have been dozens she could have said but it was easier to insult him this way. "I'm guessing your answer would be me. Where are you going with this?" Valdis' eyes darkened the moment she answered.
"Exactly," he said. "When I bit you I felt that thing." he muttered, and his eyes were kept averted. "That thing," he said a little bit more urgent.
Mari shook her head, not comprehending what he was so desperately trying to explain. "That thing is a really broad subject, Valdis. I need some more info here." If Valdis got this frazzled over something, it had to be important.
"I am not being this mad and moody for no reason, okay?"
"Oh, Valdis," she gushed brightly. "You're pregnant!" Her mockery nearly earned her a strangling, but her hero thought better of it.
"If you know what I know…," he muttered.
"Then help me know. I can't understand this sudden male PMS going on, unless you come right out and tell me."
"Maria..."
"Mari."
"Mari, you and me…we're, you know." A pregnant pause, during which she studied her nails. "Soul mates. I felt your mind, well your unconscious mind any way. And," He never got to finish.
Valdis. Her soul mate. It was such a stupid idea it was laughable. But Valdis never didn't want to tell her this to make her laugh. He looked serious and she almost believed him. Almost.
He was working for the same kind of people Dorian worked for. Of course he was lying. He never lied to her before, but then again there was always a first. Mari's mind hurt with so many words to say, to shout. Instead she simply stared at him, a humorless smile finding it's way to her lips. Quickly, her expression darkened, and anger radiated off her in heat waves. "Damn you, Valdis, wasn't Dorian enough?" she growled as she ran up the stairs. There was absolutely no way she could stay another minute, not with actors baiting her with enticing words at every turn. Apparently the only way to escape the liars is a vacation to a mime school.
Mari must have made skin contact with him before. She was sure of it and there had been no sparks then. Although she couldn't recall any isolated incident, there must have been a time when they touched. How could she spend months with the bastard and not touch him?
After finding some sweat pants that were barely hanging on by a long belt, she climbed down the stairs again to meet her "soul mate."
"You know what? You're sick. You, Hunter, every single one of you will do any thing and every thing just to save your own sorry asses, including fooling me. Well, don't expect me to stay around this time, not for the tragic love story to start all over again. I'm not some fucking love sick puppy who'll fall in your arms the second you say your lines! I'm not stupid!" Mari never felt this wrathful, which seemed more appropriate a word than angry, toward any one before. Tears, hateful tears, not tears for the loss of anybody, blurred her vision as she crossed toward her hero, her supposed soul mate.
"You think that I'd make this up? Believe me, the last thing I want is to spend the rest of my life with you!" he hollered back. Barely reaching his shoulder, Mari refused to cower with him towering and yelling at her.
"Congratulations, you're not going to have to. Just give me some money, and I'll be on my way." He had to give her something after what he did. Out of no where, she began to hurt, a new pain to add to her collection of feelings. Valdis was hurting her.
"Fine. But I don't want you thinking as you leave that I was another liar, getting paid to make you love me. Because I'm not. I'm not!" He grabbed the coffee table with one hand and violently flung across the room. The wood and glass masterpiece crashed loudly against the wall.
He has a very bad temper, she thought distractedly. Like yours is so much better, her mind returned.
For a moment he stared at the broken pieces and gripped at control. Valdis turned to her, his eyes alarmingly urgent. "I don't do that," he stressed heavily. "I don't. Don't even think I would pretend because…because…it's not worth it. You're not worth it. I've never lied to you before and I'm not going to start now." With frenzied motions that contrasted his stoic tone, he pulled out dollar bills out of his pocket and threw it at her.
"I don't give a damn if you haven't lied before because you are lying to my face right now," she said quietly. Mari had to swallow her pride as she bent to pick up the money on the floor. This is what my mother must have done, she thought with shame. Picking up money from a stranger after spending the night with him. "We are not soul mates. I'm not as stupid, blind, or naïve as I was before. And by the way, there is nothing you could do that could make me love something like you. Even if we were soul mates, I would never, ever love you." Calmly, she turned and walked towards the door, counting her foot steps. The door looked so achingly far away. One, two, three, four…
Valdis grabbed by her hand and roughly turn her around. She hadn't realized he had broken her fingers until she felt the bones mending themselves. That didn't matter any more.
It was nothing like what her friends' had said. Were they her friends? No, not really any way. Maybe they were lying about how the soul mate link worked. Because what she felt was like she was being pulled under water, letting the thoughts and feelings spread over her until she was floating through him. Mari didn't like it there. There was so much hatred, and murders. Killing his friends, his family to get his position, killing witches, and vampires to get more power. Immeasurable hatred for humans, for people who didn't do a damn thing to him. At least he was truthful to every one he murdered, she thought grimly. But what wounded terribly her was the fact she was in that group of humans he hated. It didn't matter what freak she had become now because he would always view her as vermin. Nothing but play things and a food source.
And this man was her other half. This evil person was supposed to make her whole, to complete her for the rest of her life. Neither of them wanted that.
Mari let go, not caring what he saw of her. It didn't matter any more because he didn't want to see her, to talk to her, he didn't even want to love her.
"You can't go, Maria." He didn't want her to stay because he wanted her. It was his job.
Mari had to laugh. He, after all that happened, he expected her to listen. She demurred softly, "Let me guess, you won't get paid by your bosses? My big brave Valdis cowering before another. Not so hard to imagine. Guess what? I. Don't. Care. I don't care about having El Diablo for a soul mate or about choosing sides.
"I'm leaving. Don't you dare lift a finger to stop me." On this third trip he didn't try to stop her. Before she walked out, Mari felt compelled to look at him. The moonlight made his blood red hair black. He was looking back at the TV, not caring if she left. Looks like the price on my head wasn't high enough, she thought bitterly.
Mari walked out, determined to solve a problem, one that would please a whole world. Question was, whose world would it be?
~*~*~*~
September 22, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada
12:03 AM
"How could he? We all trusted him," Hannah shook her head disappointedly.
"We were stupid. Mari's probably dead by now," Quinn's voice was flat and held no room for an arguments. Rashel didn't feel like fighting with him, but she didn't agree with him either. Mari could live, she was a survivor.
Then again, Dorian's betrayal could have taken a toll on her survival skills.
"If we're going to fight, we're going to need every body in Circle Daybreak," Thierry thought aloud. He had been saying things like that ever since the members arrived hours before. After resting and eating, the meeting had finally come to order.
Everybody was silent again, letting the leader's word bounce off the walls of the dining hall. It was the only place with enough room to fit the extra one hundred daybreakers who came to join the two hundred once they heard the news. And after hundreds of angry words and suggestions, there was no plan.
"What if we don't want to be here for the final battle?" a voice spoke up. Normally laid back, Ash sounded strained and stressed.
"And where do you plan to go?" James asked with a hint of annoyance. Poppy looked at him worriedly. Everybody was on edge.
"To my sisters. Is that a problem for you?" Ash's voice was challenging and he appeared to be eager for a diversion.
"Shut up," Nissa broke in the same time James said, "We are all putting our lives on the line here…"
"Stop it!" As always, they obeyed the Maiden. "We need to find the fourth wild power. Hunter has washed his hands of Maria and has set forth assassins to assure his victory. The Night World Council recently learned of her and we're not entirely sure what their choice of action is. Either way, live or die, the Night World will win. Trading threats and insults will not help us. Ash, can't your sisters come here, or with us when we fight?"
Ash sulked at the floor. Poppy answered for him. Tossing her coppery curls over her shoulder, she turned to Aradia. "It's not just his sisters, Aradia. He has a girl…"
"Oh please," James sighed and rolled his eyes. Poppy glared at him.
"Would you just shut up for a second? Ever since you got off the plane you've been nothing but grumpy."
"Grumpy isn't the word I'd use," Gillian mused absently. She sounded sleepy, having talked to James and Poppy throughout the whole flight.
"It's my soul mate okay? Remember I told you about Mary-Lynnette, James? Excuse me if I want to spend my last moment on earth with her. And no," he addressed to Quinn before his friend could ask. "She can't come here. She'll probably want to be with her family when the apocalypse comes."
"It's not as bad as you guys think," Maggie called. She and Delos were at the back of the hall. "You speak like there will be one big bang and everybody will be dead. But what you don't realize that if the Night World wins, we're going to need a place for humans that the Night People won't be able to get to. Other wise, if we just sit here and talk about the end of the world, they'll just enslave all your loved ones and the last time you'll see them is in chains."
This caused another dull roar from the crowd. Morgead stood on a chair and waved them to be quiet. "So what do you propose, Maggie? We build an underground kingdom? We don't have enough time. We never could have had enough time to build a world for the four billion that might have survived."
"But we could always try, can't we?" a new voice from the east entrance. It was a little boy with dark brown hair and an angelic voice. By his expression, they could tell he had been listening for some time.
Rashel left the folding chair she was sharing with Quinn. "Timmy, you're not supposed to be here," she chided in a motherly voice. Sometimes it didn't work, when he would become reckless and violent. She scooped him up and he rested his head on her shoulder. The daybreakers made sure to be quiet as she carried him up the stairs.
"That's another thing," Jez observed once Rashel and Timmy were out of view. "Who's going to take care of the kids while we're out at war? Some of these people have families, Thierry, they just can't take off. How many can be spared to take care of the children? With the witches joining us, there are at least hundreds, maybe thousands, children that aren't ready to fight but need to be protected."
"There are too many problems. How are we going to take care of everything in three months?" Nyala asked.
"If we find Mari we won't have to worry about them," Thierry pointed out.
"But will she be willing to fight by our side is another matter." Hannah mentioned quietly. The room fell into silence. Nobody had thought of that possibility.
"It was the Night World who betrayed her, wasn't it? Why should she want to fight for them?" Gillian became doubtful with each word.
Aradia spoke up in a calm, collected voice. "She has nobody to trust now. She needs to decide if she wants to fight at all."
~*~*~*~
October 13, 1999
Motel somewhere near Boston
"I'm just curious, not vain," she told herself when she finally opened her eyes. Mari frowned. There was no change. She had the same shining black hair that fell to her waist, the same slightly slanted amber eyes. Frustrated, she took off her shirt.
"That's all?" As far as she could tell, the only visual difference was the fact that her chicken pox scars were gone.
Satisfied, she changed into the shirt and sweat pants she bought at the street corner from Valdis's apartment. It was only minorly embarrassing to shop at the same store where ten year olds shop, but at least the clothes fit. It was far from her usual jeans and black and white tops. The shirt was a sickening pink and the white sweats had blue butterflies on the front pockets, but she would just have to make do. He had given her one hundred dollars and she intended to use it wisely, at least until she found a more stable way of living.
She took the bundle of clothes in her arms and dropped them in the trash can. It made her heart ache that they smelled like him. Mari corrected herself. Her heart was only an organ to pump blood to the rest of the body. Her mind was making up the emotion and she could make it go away.
"That's strange," she told the empty motel room. She could literally sail through her thoughts and arrange them to her will. It was like floating through Valdis's mind except now she was in a more familiar terrain. When she couldn't remember past the age of four or three, she could dive easily into her memories of such an early youth. A stranger appeared, one who looked like her but had sparkling blue eyes and dark brown hair. Even in a faded memory she could see that the woman was as small as her.
"My mother," she said in wonder. Mari was looking at the woman through an infant's eyes, with love and complete, unwavering trust. Then the woman was singing to her and rocking her to sleep. Such a lovely tune, and the woman had a hypnotic voice. Mari heard an angelic squeal. Was that her laughing? The woman laughed in turn and kissed her nose.
The other memory she had was her mother's death. The run down apartment was scattered with broken and overturned furniture. "They sure made a mess just to kill one person." She could here somebody crying about her baby. Then a face loomed over her, and a young Dorian lifted her out of the crib. He couldn't have been no more than thirteen in her mind. Mari pulled away from her mind and felt herself in her body.
"I wish I could have killed him," she muttered solemnly. Dorian used to be the one she could turn to. Now she didn't have any body. She was supposed to have friends, but they were people who needed until the New Year. She was supposed to have a soul mate, but he didn't want her. He was loyal to the Night World and the Night world only.
Well maybe not loyalty exactly. It wasn't very loyal of him to stab his best friend in the back, literally, when he thought the other vampire was a threat to his new friendship with a council member. More like loyalty to the highest bidder. There was no changing that. By saving her life, he was already going back on his boss. If Mari and Valdis met at different times, in different lives, it might have worked out. But Valdis wasn't going to help a daybreaker when demons were his leader.
"It's not like I would have made him convert to Circle Daybreak. I wouldn't do that, try to change him. I just wanted somebody to make me feel better," she pleaded pathetically. But nobody was listening, she was alone. Then again, Hunter was probably sending some assassins to her room as she thought.
"No." She wasn't going to be killed like her mother and she wasn't going to wait for death. Mari stood up and winced at the pain in her side. The glass of blood wasn't enough. She was going to have to find a donor. Somebody was bound to be at the bar across the street..
An hour later, she stood over a thirty something man who had too many tattoos. Of course she could have hunted down some animal, but an animal didn't deserve being sucked dry. They didn't plot, lie, or kill for fun. He definitely deserved it, he had abused to many girl friends, and whores in his lifetime to go unpunished. There was another car coming by but the driver couldn't see her in the wall of bushes and trees. Nobody went to where she took the man. There was a barb wire fence that she sliced through to get on the land that belonged to somebody who wasn't taking care of it. After slitting the throat where she had bitten, she jumped over the fence just to show off to the animals who were watching. She was sure the crows and worms would take advantage the carcass as soon as she left. Now she had to find Hunter, and fly to whatever state he was in.
~*~*~*~
October 20, 1999
An enclave off of Maine
"This was a wonderful plan," he boasted to Traces. His first plan had gone terribly awry, but things had picked up at the end.
Traces didn't answer, he almost never did. Hunter didn't usually look at the help when he spoke to them. Bragged mostly. He continued, "She's probably off somewhere killing herself. Killed by some daybreaker who didn't recognize her in her new form. And with her gone, I'll teach all those council members not to underestimate me." Hunter paused, and concluded he couldn't really blame them for underestimating a supposed dead man. "And that traitor Thierry. I'll teach the whole world," he finished merrily. He was in a good mood. After draining a pretty little girl and hearing news that Maria was a vampire, he was just ecstatic. "I wonder how long it took her to adapt."
"Not very long." Hunter allowed himself gasp before controlling himself and spun his chair around to find his best spy dried like a raisin on the floor. Maria smiled sweetly at him.
"That was my best spy. How am I supposed to replace thousands of years experience?," he yelled at her through clenched teeth.
She gave a little shrug. "You kept him a little preoccupied. A good spy should always be aware of his surroundings. Don't be surprised to find a little trail of dead guards in your secret entrance. So hard to find good help these days, isn't it?" Mari sat in a Victorian love seat and widened her smile at him. "We need to talk."
Hunter calmed. He knew exactly how to handle the situation. "Didn't Dorian explain things perfectly before?" Instead of faltering, the girl maintained her pleased countenance.
"Yes, but now we must discuss the current terms." Dorian was not a weakness any more; he tried a new tactic.
"How current? Are you willing to discuss how your Circle Daybreak friends will die on December thirty first?" She laughed amiably. Damn.
"No, Hunter you seem to be unaware of the current events. I no longer have any friends. Except family. To the Night World, I am Maria Redfern, am I not? How about letting one of your relations live till January the second? Afterwards you can do what you please. Just tell your minions to abort the mission for the time being."
Hunter replayed every word she said back to him. Two problems. "What will you be doing between now and January second? Playing spy for Thierry?"
Mari didn't even blink. "Have you no faith in me? Or are you deaf? No, no spying for that man. I'm just going to take care of unfinished business, that's all." Hunter finally figured out what happened. His little girl had gone tragically mad.
"Fine," he agreed, surprising himself. "but you will be monitored. My people will make sure you're not tattling on me or plotting to kill me for that matter. Otherwise you dispatch whoever you want. Don't cause me any trouble darling."
Mari stood up and stepped over Traces to lift up a tapestry. "Don't worry, I'll behave." She exited silently.
Hunter was more than ecstatic now. Just in pure bliss. Of course he'd have to have two dozen vampires check her story and watch her, but he was sure she was being honest. Maybe he didn't have to kill her, keep her after the millennium to keep the slaves in check. He leaned farther back into the chair. It was nice to have an obedient daughter.
~*~*~*~
October 23, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada
"Hunter has sent you a love letter," Gillian hollered once she reached Thierry's floor. She burst into his study and covered her eyes with her free hand. "You've got mail."
Hannah laughed. "We were just kissing. A love letter? Thierry is there something you should tell me?" Thierry sat up and took the envelopes from Gillian's hand.
"Hey, that one's mine. It's from David," she chirped happily and snatched it away from him. "What does he say?" she asked seriously, and sat on the floor.
"Time for another meeting. Hunter literally wants to battle."
Two hours later, they were once again gathered in the dining hall. The number had decreased to a hundred, the others dispersing around the world to attend to other business.
"What is it?" Ash called tiredly. Clearly eleven o' clock was not the best time to talk to him.
"I got a letter from Hunter. He says, and I quote, 'perhaps the best way to settle our differences that refer to the ruling species should be settled on the battle field.'"
"Them's fightin' words," Poppy drawled with a Texan accent.
"He's suggesting that we play war? Night World against the rest of the world?" Rashel asked with interest.
"Wrong," Morgead droned, drawing out the word so he sounded like a buzzer. "Do you think the rest of the human population would jump at the chance of fighting side by side with the vampires, witches and shape shifters three months before the possible fall of the dominant species? Remember, in their view, some of us are looked as unholy creatures of the night that should never exist. Nope, it's gotta be Night World against Circle Daybreak and the rest of the world can be the audience."
"Wonderful speaking skills," Eric commented. Morgead bowed.
"Where does he propose this battle? We can't exactly hold it in the back yard, if you assent," Galen said in a calculating voice.
"Will you believe me when I say Iceland isn't the only island next to Greenland?" Thierry asked.
"Judging by your voice, I'd say yes," Maggie concluded.
"There's an island about the same size some ways southwest of it. I know it sounds strange that it has remained undiscovered, but it's the same deal with the enclaves. When scientists, whalers, or anybody else looked towards it, they didn't see the huge island with castles and villages. All that they saw was the ocean that went on to the North Pole. Some explorers thought they sailed through it, but in reality they sailed around it, the spell creating the illusion in the mind. It's simple once you think about it," he finished with a shrug.
"Does this happen to be the Damned Clan Island? Originally a post hell experience for those who committed treason against the Night World?" Thea inquired.
"Looks like some of us would be going to the right place," Delos muttered from the window.
"I remember Grandma Harman talking about that place. But Hunter stopped using it as his personal torture chamber when there were just too many traitors to keep in line."
"Focus people," Fayth called with a slightly raised voice. "This could be a trap," she pointed out to Thierry.
"Hunter may be any things, but when he wants a fight he wants a fight. He wouldn't ruin it by letting his employees kill his opponents before he sees them. No, by the looks of it, Hunter wants a true man to man combat. No tricks. Once again, the man is certain he will win."
"The odds are in his favor," Delos admitted.
"We don't have a choice," Keller stated flatly. Thierry glanced at her and nodded his head.
"But what Thierry was thinking along the lines were: go to war, have Daybreakers in disguise on the other side, and they would get close to Mari and then, um, get her," Hannah finished weakly.
"Eloquently put. But since we have some of the world's best strategists at hand, let's see if they have anything better," Thierry replied, and then ignored Poppy's suggestion to kidnap Colin Powell, followed by Keller's sarcastic response of resurrecting Winston Churchill. The daybreakers began to leave.
"And what was the point of the meeting? You guys could of had this without waking the morning impaired up," Ash yawned as he walked slowly out of the room.
"To inform us. And at least it was short," Gillian pointed out. Ash reached over and ruffled her light blonde hair. It was as if the girl didn't know how to complain.
"When is David coming to visit? I have that brotherly duty to give him the third degree, you know."
"He wants to come over and I don't want to stay. But since I have at least two other weeks, he'll probably be here by next Wednesday. You're not seriously going to be yourself around him, are you?"
They reached Ash's door. "I'll think about it."
"Isn't weird how we all know what's going to happen, but we're still being normal?"
"Yeah, sorta. Besides, I think it will all end all right. Mari's with us, she's with them, she's with us…it's kinda stupid you know? Like Hannah says, whatever happens was supposed to happen."
~*~*~*~
October 30, 1999
Mari's apartment, New York
Mari silently shut the door, crept up the stairs, and collapsed on her bed. She never felt this tired before. With all the work she had done in the past week there was no time left to sleep until she decided she was going to rest when she felt like it.
In her opinion, all the hours of combat training produced nothing. And Hunter didn't even bother about the blue fire running in her blood. Clearly he thought there would be no point in making her practice with it because she wasn't going to use it. Or maybe he was afraid of it. But if she wanted to keep Hunter off her case, she would be a good little girl. She'd do anything to decrease the meetings with the overbearing, presumptuous reptile. After the first time she met up with him, she had almost thrown up. Who wouldn't, considering she had to be polite to the man who designed and destroyed her life?
Mari had no idea why she was training for a battle. She scoffed at the idea of brawling side by side Hunter.
"Why January 2nd? That's so far away," she whined into the pillow. "And that means two months more. BUT," she said loudly, suddenly sitting up. "What if Hunter doesn't *want* to kill me? That'd suck."
Mari didn't believe arguing with one's self was a healthy habit, but she wasn't talking to herself. Mari was talking to her mother, her real mother. "And then there's the whole soul mate dilemma. God, I am just screwed up and I ruin everything around me." It wasn't self pity, just merely stating a never ending fact.
Mari pictured her mother would assure her and comfort her. Her mother. Gwendolyn Marks. Her father's name was Teddi Tybal. Mari pictured he was just a man who was looking for a good time. Just a stupid man who meant nothing to her. She had no idea why her last name was Tybal, but she didn't feel like changing it. That wasn't important. But her mother was important to her, truly important. She was the only woman who cared for her not caring if she was a wild power or not. Gwendolyn was the only one who ever did that.
"It would have never worked with Valdis, would it?" she asked her softly. "Because he would always look at me as a wild power, never as his soul mate. The Night World comes first, and there was never a second until he met me. That's why he hates me, because I'm a problem that he's not allowed to kill off. I saw all of this in two seconds, mother."
And then her mother would say something motherly like, "I'm sure he doesn't hate you." or, "You could find somebody so much better."
"But you never met your soul mate so you don't know what you're talking about," she snapped. Mari lay down on the bed again, mind whirling with ideas to solve her problems. There had to be a solution, the last being suicide, which she was sure wouldn't be too bad considering she should have been dead for a while now.
"I have to stop doing this. I am not insane, I never will be." Mari desperately wanted to believe that but how could she when she was talking to somebody who was dead for eighteen years? Then that feeling came back, that feeling of apathy to both the worlds she knew. There was no way she could sit around in her apartment while there was the climatic battle deciding the fate of the world going on. The phone rang.
She knew who it would be because there was only one person who knew the number. He was also the only one who knew where she lived. Let Hunter talk to the answering machine.
"Darling, I know you're there but I can forgive your rudeness when I remember that you must be tired after training. After thinking for a while,"
"Not your best skill," she spat at the machine.
"…don't want to fight in the Final Battle. I completely understand. There would be far too much blood and gore for your taste and I would hate myself if you were hurt. But,"
"Oh there's always a 'but.'" she said in a muffled voice with her face flat in a pillow.
"…there. So that when we win, I can present you formally and properly to Night World. Everybody will mark you as an icon of the triumph in the Final Battle. There will be a place for you on a hill overlooking the field of violence so that you'll be out of harm's way. Of course I wouldn't dream of forcing you to stay out there alone so there will be two…"
Mari stopped listening. Her life, on the scale of one to twenty, was close to negative ninety. She hated the idea of war and now he was going to make her watch it.
~*~*~*~
November 8, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada
"…and since that nobody has thought of a more feasible plan, we're forced to fight. I'm not going to make you to come along, so if you feel this plan is too stupid then you can leave now." Nobody moved.
"Are humans being allowed to go?" Delos asked gravely.
"Those with fighting experience. Otherwise they're going to watch over the children with the elderly witches. And there is no saying otherwise. I understand that this may be difficult, parting with some of your loved ones, but there is no other way," Thierry answered in earnest.
"What are our numbers without the members who will not fight?" Rashel asked with a little wobble in her voice.
"Around the world, roughly ten thousand," Lupe answered from the back.
"How many in the Night World who will fight?" Keller tried to keep neutral.
"Thirty thousand. Probably maybe a little less than that who will be on the enclaves during the battle. To ensure that the Night World will live on if there was a chance of defeat," Quinn listed the facts automatically, absently staring at Rashel. Grasping the idea that Rashel might die and he couldn't stop it. All he could do was die with her. Many of the Daybreakers were sharing that thought.
"What if we started to learn how to fight now? Could we leave in December?" David sounded so hopeful Ash felt sorry for him.
"What are you doing? You're going to stay and watch the children," Gillian protested.
"So are you," Hannah told her quietly. Gillian stared at her blankly before recovering.
"What? But I have powers, I can fight. You know I can, you've seen me…"
"You're too soft," Morgead told her shortly. "Even if you could make a whole in the world, we all know you would cry if you stepped on an ant. I doubt that you could kill."
David opened his mouth but came up short. "I can't think of a defense," he whispered to Gillian. She shrugged and sat back in her seat with a stormy look.
"The groups around the world will all take flight around seven am on December twenty ninth. The witches will arrive first to put up wards around our camp. We meet on our side of the island. They stay on their side of the island, we stay on ours until Hunter sends word," Thierry acknowledged in the same serious tone.
"Two enemies on each side of the field and they charge at each other. Is that what he means?" James asked dully.
"Why do I feel like we're going to lose?" Val asked miserably.
"Because you're a pessimist," a serene Thea answered.
"These months will pass by before we know it. Better get some sleep," Thierry declared standing up.
"It's only one AM," Jez said softly. There was no point in arguing. The Elder shrugged and left the room, his soul mate thinking for a moment before she followed him.
"Come on, we can't do much just sitting around," Morgead said gruffly and led Jez out of the room. Soon most of the Daybreakers were leaving the room, mostly in pairs until Ash and a few others were left. The others were all talking, holding hands, or hugging.
He couldn't stand it, seeing couples at every turn. Within less than a second, he made a decision.
Five minutes, two floors, and ten rings later, a groggy, irritated girl picked up the phone. "Do you know what time it is? I'm very happy with my long distance plan right now, so stop calling. Honestly telemarketers have no hearts," she said, her voice becoming more distant.
"Wait," he called urgently. "Mary Lynette, it's me, Ash. I have to talk to you."
~*~*~*~
November 13, 1999
Mari's Apartment
"I'm going to have to kill him, because if he's still around, I'll always think about him and I hate thinking about him," she went on. It was times like these when she wished she either had a girl friend or was an entirely different person.
"Kill who?" Gwendolyn asked.
"Valdis. Stupid, mean, cruel, evil Valdis. He's not good enough to be my soul mate. He's just this other half of me that I'm embarrassed about, like a zit. But my zit is equal to Hunter and that's not a good thing." Mari decided that she wasn't insane for talking to her mother, she was just having an imaginary friend to take away the loneliness. Four year olds had imaginary friends and nobody called them insane.
Gwendolyn had no reply for that.
"But what I'm worried about is the fact that if he is my other half, the one that I am meant to be with and if he…goes away, then I'll spend the rest of my life feeling heart breakingly alone."
"But what if you went with him? Then you wouldn't be alone for the rest of your long life, just for a few seconds."
Mari stared at the image of her mother, eyes wide with shock. Her mother was suggesting that she commit suicide? True, she had considered it time and time again, but it was strange that some one who should love her was telling her to kill herself.
But when she looked closer she saw her "mother" wasn't her mother at all. It was Gwendolyn's dainty body but the other features were different. Soft, shining black hair and angry amber eyes. It was herself. "Oh, go away!"
As if she was a flame to blow out, the small girl was gone from her bed. "I am not insane. It all depends on one's definition of insane and I am not insane."
There were only forty eight more days until the Final Battle. Forty seven till she had to fly to that Damned something island with Hunter. With sudden lucid thoughts, she realized she didn't want Valdis to die while she watched.
An hour later she was out the door to find him. There wasn't enough time to fully understand why or what she was going to do but it was clear that she had to find him. She had to find Valdis and talk to him about the Final Battle. Not to mention about her and him and their entire screwed up situation.
~*~*~*~
November 13, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada
For one day the house hold was filled with laughter and gaiety. It had seemed so long when they actually celebrated something important that it was necessary to have a party that the bride insisted upon not having. But in the end, Keller loved the attention the wedding reception had given her and Galen. After the wedding, they crowd (which would have been larger if some daybreakers had not flown back home to their families for the Thanks Giving holidays) followed the happy couple into the ball room.
"I would have never thought this was going to happen a few weeks ago," she whispered to Galen as they swayed to the slow music on the dance floor with every body watching. He kissed her cheek softly before answering.
"I've known ever since I met you this would happen. I just didn't know our marriage would happen so soon. Is that what you mean?" She nodded her head and laid it against his shoulder.
"Do you like my wedding dress?" she asked with a gentle laugh. In such short notice, she had to borrow one from Hannah. The silk cream dress reached her ankles and was held up on her shoulders with two thin straps. In the right angle, light would show the spray of roses that were cleverly embroidered in a shade lighter than the silk.
"You could have showed up in fig leaves and twigs and still look amazingly beautiful. I'm just happy we're here."
"I wish your parents were here," she replied sadly.
"I know, but they couldn't make it. You know they would have died to see you in a dress," he whispered, giving them both a laugh. Every where in the hall, there were flashes of camera light that would make them both a little dizzy.
As the song ended, Galen recalled the day. Waking up at four was a usual routine but the rest was just a dream. He had Quinn and David help him with the ceremony rituals and Ash to calm him down. As Thierry escorted his soul mate down the aisle, he stood so still he thought he'd explode. And how could he forget the deafening applause that spread across the ball room when they kissed? Yes, it had everything that was usual in a dream. Galen was happy he was awake.
They took their seats between Thierry , Hannah and Winnie, Nissa. After a number of toasts that seemed to be spoken by every body in Circle Daybreak, Thierry was one to give the last before every body retired to their rooms.
"And I know that you guys would just hate to see our bride and groom go," he said with a smile. As he expected, there were loud protests that told him to send them away.
"I have decided to send them to the safe house in Canada. You'll have the huge cottage all to yourselves. No arguments. Consider it a gift from me and Hannah since we didn't get you a blender."
Keller stood up. "But what about Iliana? I'm supposed to be her…"
But Iliana already had the answer for that. "There's no way I could keep you in the mansion for your honey moon, Keller. Besides me and Winnie already packed your bags. Galen's too. They're in the limo. Now it's off with you two love birds so that we could finally get some sleep around here."
"I'm game," Galen announced with eagerness. Keller and Galen gave thank you's and laughs as they passed through the massive crowd. There was so many pats slapped onto Galen's back that he almost tripped twice.
When they left the mansion, wedding bubbles were filling the air as the day breakers blew them with all the air in their lungs. Before Keller followed Galen in the limo she threw the bouquet of white roses and baby's breath over her head.
"Out of my way!" Iliana hollered as a circle formed around her so that she could be the only one who would catch the flowers. "I won't be able to reach it!" she yelled. Val stepped from behind her and lifted her up by the waist so that she could snatch it in the air. "I'm getting married!" she declared happily as he settled her back on the ground.
"I'd throw the garter, but Keller just won't allow it," Galen shouted from his seat.
"Whipped!" his friend teased. With that note, Keller settled herself next to Galena and the group of Daybreakers waved them good bye.
"Oh I hope a month and a half is enough for their honey moon," Iliana said sleepily. She decided she needed some sleep. In two days, Iliana would be on her way home for Thanks Giving.
"It's enough," Ash told her as he went in his room and came out with two suit cases. "How come I don't get a limo to the air port?"
"Because you don't have a wedding, yet," Quinn informed him. "Come on I'll walk you to the door. Rashel, I'll meet you in a few minutes." She nodded.
"Bye Ash," she yawned as she trudged up the stair steps.
"Bye Rashel. Come on Quinn, you need to help me through the treacherous path to the door." Ash offered his friend a bag which Quinn refused.
As they walked closer to the garage doors the playful banter quieted down. As they loaded his bag in the trunk of the emerald green Toyota Landcruiser.
"Tell Mary Lynette that I hope to meet her some day, okay? And," Quinn didn't know where to begin. He wanted to say the right words in case the two friends never saw each other again.
Ash was sharing the same thoughts. "You take care of yourself when you get to that island. I don't want to come back to the mansion minus one best friend. And tell Rashel to take care of you out there. I know what a candy ass you are."
"You've been looking at my ass?" he asked. They laughed and Ash buckled himself into the driver's seat. "I'll see you later, Quinn." He meant it. Ash wanted to come back and see that everybody was fine, nobody was killed. But that would be impossible. All he could do was hope Quinn would survive. Quinn, Rashel, Iliana, Delos, Morgead, Jez…everybody. He wanted every body to live.
"You will," Quinn said again in a somber voice to match his face. There was no need for hugs or good byes. Ash nodded and left Quinn standing as he backed out of the garage.
~*~*~*~
November 30, 1999
Boston, Massachusetts
"I spent a week trying to find him. Where is he?" Mari didn't need to fight or threaten anybody. Under the men's calm expressions, they were probably quaking in fear of the wild power. Mari felt she had more control when men three times her height were afraid of her.
Nobody gave her trouble any more. And there was no need for worrying about the vampires who were supposed to be keeping her out of trouble. She gave them the day off after she fed last night on an alcoholic man who was beating his step son. Well, they didn't exactly want the day off, Mari just made them leave. Not one of them dared to protest.
The man snapped her out of her thoughts. "We have our orders, Mar" Mari cut the man off before he could finish.
"It's ma'am, you idiot. Did I or did I not ask you where he was? My patience is running thin, boys." Mari knew for a fact they were afraid of her by the way they weren't attacking her. She knew every single of one of them, maybe not their names, but she knew they were her guards before she left the castle.
"He's on an enclave." The man who said it attempted an authoritative tone but squeaked when she looked straight at him.
"Doing what? Who's going to stay here and order you around?" Mari loved hearing her voice in chillingly imperious tones.
"I'm the leader while he's gone," a tall man answered in a humble tone. Then Mari realized that he wasn't tall, he was just tall to her. Most people I've described as tall probably really aren't tall, she thought with realization. Wait, focus. You have a job to do, she told herself.
"Valdis is rather ashamed of this, but seeing as his father was killed and his mother insist upon it, he's getting married. It was arranged in a hurry, he's marrying a nice girl from another lamia family." Mari stopped listening and walked out the door with the minion in mid sentence.
As soon as she stepped out of the ugly ware house, the winter winds blasted her with their chills. By the brightness of the hum drum gray clouds, Mari guessed it was two o'clock. Mari wished she could feel the cold and shiver, but that would be human. Something she could never be again. And she had Valdis to thank for that.
Even if she didn't feel the cold winds, she dressed for it. With a lovely light yellow sweater and jeans, plus a light blue thick winter jacket, she was determined to look like a normal teenager. Mari climbed in the black Ferrari Hunter gave her and sped towards the coast. Hunter was bound to have a yacht some where.
To comfort herself, she shifted her thoughts to her mother. She didn't feel like talking to a forced image of her, just the true memories she had of her. As a quest to kill time, Mari always tried to remember the song that she would sing to her.
But some how her thoughts always drifted to Valdis. Her soul mate. Not hers for long. It was ludicrous for her to see him again. After all her parting words to him were deliberate threats. What was also ludicrous was that she was happy to learn was marrying some other girl, probably far more gorgeous than she could ever hope to be. And Mari would be alone for the rest of her life, which would be longer than she thought proper.
Valdis would be happy without Mari, with a girl who wasn't ungrateful for her vampire powers and wouldn't yell at him and challenge him at every conversation. She would love him and he would love her and every body would live happily ever after. Except for Mari Tybal.
With a firm hand on the wheel, she dialed the only number she knew. "Hunter?"
"I thought you wouldn't call me that any more." What was it with this man and being a father figure?
"Father," she said sweetly, despising the word. "I need to get to an enclave." Mari realized he probably needed an explanation before lending an eighteen year old a yacht. "I've been getting sick of being surrounded by so much vermin. I need to get to an enclave, where there are people worthy talking to. I'm tired of being on the mainland so…I need a yacht." At least she wasn't lying at the last part.
After a pause, Hunter sighed. "That is understandable. But do you really expect me to loan you a yacht? You can barely handle the Ferrari." Too true. The only reason she had no trouble talking to him and driving was because the high way was going straight and there was a very high speed limit. Other wise she terrified fellow drivers on smaller roads that curved.
Mari also knew that Hunter was testing her for something. Hunter was plainly a spoiled child to be amused so she had to play along. "Father, I need comfortable means of sea worthy transportation and you have it. Are you going to supply it or shall I hijack some fishing boat and show the world a vampire island?" Mari could almost see a smile spread over Hunter's ugly face.
"Of course I'll supply it." He quickly told her the directions to a port. Mari absorbed everything and almost hung up the phone when he asked, "By the way, which enclave?"
"Oh whatever I see first. It couldn't be too hard to find one, right?" Hunter agreed. She waited until she heard him hang up before tossing the phone in the passenger seat.
When she finally arrived at the port, she ordered the captain to teach her the basics and then sent him away. Then she was out on the Atlantic Ocean watching the sun's colors shrink from the waves as it sunk below the horizon. She turned the wheel when she felt like it, not totally sure if she knew where she was going. Something was drawing her to him, faint, but steady. It was the soul mate link, an unwanted stream that ran through both of them. Since it meant nothing to Valdis, Mari was also bent on paying it no attention.
All she was going to do was talk to him. There were no feelings to cut off because that would need feelings to be there in the first place. She never cared about Valdis, he never cared about her, so the conversation she planned to have with him was going to be stilted, if he didn't send her away or kill her first.
Denial rambles on and on, doesn't it, her subconscious taunted viciously. Dammit, stay subconscious; as in I don't hear you!
But she would have to come up with an excuse other than closure to talk to him. There was always that small chance he would listen to her on what should be the happiest day of his life. Her mind went blank. Then came the memory of talking to herself or mother of killing him. Killing Valdis would solve many problems, but Mari knew if she showed up with a wooden stake she wouldn't get very far.
Absently, she began to hum the tune of the song that she tried to remember earlier. It was slow and was sure to be something about love. Mari liked to think her mother was a daydreamer and often thought about meeting her true love. Strange that a hooker would be thinking that, but Mari could always hope. Gwendolyn must have thought of finding "the one" at some point of her life. If she was alive, Mari would have told her finding the one wasn't what most women expected it to be. It wasn't all about having each other with never ending love, staying up all night talking to him, waking up wanting to see him, or going to sleep to dream about him.
Finding "the one" was hell.
For the first time, Mari saw the island that must have been in view for fifteen minutes. In the cloudy night, it was invisible to the human eye. Only Night People and nocturnal animals could have seen the specks of light that came from the stone mansions that were buried deep in a dense forest. To her it was unreasonable for vampires to live in a forest. Remembering the captain's instructions, she parked, if that was the right term, the yacht at the end of the long dock and stepped onto the fore deck into the cool crisp night.
She wasn't dressed for a wedding reception, that was for sure. Even if she was in a dress no doubt it would be far too modern on a time warped island. And she had yet to make up a reason for seeing him. But deep down inside her, in the depths of her mind that she never knew existed or only existed just for him, she knew the true reason.
Mari wanted to see him before he went off to the Final Battle and some how got himself killed. She wanted to argue over something stupid with him one last time.
"Getting a little bit cheesy there," she told her self and leaned away from the railing.
"I don't recall seeing you on the guest list," a voice cut in through the serenity of the waves' soft lapping. Inhaling a deep breath and turned to see Valdis.
It made her knees weak just too look at him. Normally she would have laughed at his fifteenth century clothes but the solemnity in his voice and the anger clearly written on his breath taking face stopped her.
"Although I am sure that my mother would be thrilled to have a wild power at our wedding reception. She's a bit of a social climber." To her surprise her offered a gloved hand as she stepped off the yacht. She took it lightly and then snatched her hand back as soon as she steadied herself on the dock. He raised an eyebrow at that and faced her squarely.
"I had to talk to you. I felt this would be my last chance," she explained quietly, looking past him to the water. It would be easier for her to talk if she didn't look at his eyes.
"Really? By your parting words the last time we met, I was hoping you would come with a stake with my name written on it." Valdis was either terribly unhappy or drunk and making jokes.
"I wasn't thinking clearly at the time."
"Of course, you changing species and all, who wouldn't be nonplused? I must say, Mari dear, you haven't changed at all since we last met. Have you noticed?" The stranger she thought was Valdis sat down on the dock, where his feet almost touched the water.
"Chicken pox marks are no longer in existence," she contradicted him cautiously and sat a few inches from where he invited her to sit.
"Ah, yes I remember seeing those. There's one right under your…"
"Shut up," she snapped, furious at herself for blushing. Mari had no clue why they were sitting and teasing each other like old buddies. It made her feel better to hear Valdis when he wasn't angry about her existence.
"Yes, I guess that one disappeared. It was kind of shaped like a heart. Well, let's get this over with, this last meeting between soul mates. I don't want it to become too dramatic, do you?"
Mari felt the tiny hope that was building inside her collapse. She learned that Valdis could sound friendly and congenial yet still be cruel and insensitive. She made a vague agreeing motion with her head.
"Small talk, so it could be pleasant. Like 'The Way We Were' when they meet on the street and they have to be cordial to each other. Have you ever seen that movie?"
"No," she answered half heartedly. "Um, won't they miss you? After all there is a reception going on without you." Valdis dismissed that with a wave of his hand.
"Probably won't even notice I'm gone. They're better off actually, I would just ruin the wedding portraits with my dreary frown. It's all about politics you see. My family is just a bit higher up on the social ladder. Pearl Laurel will move up in the Night World society. She's already pregnant, you know." Valdis was strangely serene as he spoke, as if every thing was as is in the world.
His last words made her sick. "So you knew her before you were married?"
He gave a little laugh at that, as if recalling a prank gone wrong. "No. Pearl's a sweet girl really, almost perfect. But I can't overlook her nonexistent resistance to the sexual temptation that surrounded her. I'm sure by now every one who's worked for her has gotten a ride." He stopped smiling now, just staring down at the water. "My innocent little slut. Harlot. Tramp. Wench. Wanton." Valdis went on, but Mari couldn't recognize a few words. The other insulting names would have been understood in Shakespeare's time, but Mari couldn't even spell them.
"What is another word?" he asked miserably. Now this was a Valdis she could talk to. She hoped he would stay in his misery for the rest of the night. "I feel like it is terribly obvious."
For once, Mari could understand it. He was held back by these chains that he could break, but because doing so would mean losing his whole world. She had read enough paperback romances from the Renaissance to understand. Mr. Shakespeare also showed how a simple rejection of one's proposed fate would destroy a life. Here Valdis was experiencing it. He was probably thinking, Who am I to object? Could it be so bad to have an arranged marriage? Mari knew the answer and she knew that he knew too. Of course it was bad; it was humiliating. To have a wife that didn't respect him and have his peers laughing at him because he didn't satisfy her. Mari hurt for him.
Valdis was still awaiting an answer. Instead Mari did the only thing that she could think of. Slowly, she unfolded her hands and reached out and held his. Through the thin leather she could feel warmth from his hand. Strange how she couldn't feel the cold but she could feel his warmth. After a moment, she felt Valdis' fingers close over her own.
Both were glad he had his gloves on. The last thing they needed was the soul mate link to ruin the first peaceful moment they shared together. Mari's fingers were pinched as he tightened his fingers. It was as if Mari was the only thing to keep him from drowning. What he didn't know was that Mari needed him the same way.
The pair were staring at their feet, Mari's much smaller and farther away from the ocean than his. Out of the corner of eye, Mari so his face and smiled. There was something about seeing a man's face in complete darkness. For most women, that would be difficult unless they had the unnatural powers the Night Women had.
Valdis was not in the least obscured. With her eyes, Mari could see his well muscled, but not so muscled so that it was sickening, body and his stunning face. Before when she thought his looks were not as exotic as the other vampires. By being in a world so used to strange and dazzling colors, having his cruelly beautiful, and some would say "normal" coloring made him a rare prize.
His proud, usually frowning lips were still frowning but seemed to soften a bit. His eyes, which switched from electric blue to pale green with whatever was around him, were hooded and the ever rolling storm in them seemed to quiet down.
Lost in her thoughts, Mari smiled, just a little. She couldn't help it, having these mushy thoughts about the man she planned to kill days earlier. Mari didn't have to worry about hearing his thoughts, or him hearing hers. Shields took care of that.
Despite the tiny bit of annoyance at the thought of soulmates having shields with each other, Mari never lost her-head-in-the-clouds smile. Valdis looked at her out of the corner of his eye and caught it. He turned his head so that he could see her better. After several heart beats, he returned the smile, slowly and maybe amusedly.
But then he noticed something. Mari had no clue what, but she knew his expression darkened the moment he met her eyes. Violently, he let go and threw her hand at her and stood up, making her feel vulnerably small.
"Whore," he growled through clenched teeth. Mari sat, staring up at him. She shook herself free of the strange trance he caused and stood up to meet his eyes better. Before she could speak, he continued harshly.
"That's the word, what my wife is. It seems that now we are both accustomed to them." Valdis was being utterly baneful. Mari stopped her unnecessary breathing. At a sluggish rate, his words and their meanings sunk in, making her visibly shake with fiery anger.
"What gives you the right?" Mari asked, her voice trembling with barely leashed rage. It was fighting its way out, only to find her skin as its barrier, making her whole body quake uncontrollably. "What gives you the right to be this way?"
Valdis laughed. He had the audacity to laugh at her, his velvety, scornful chuckles filling the stiff silence. "Right? I don't need a right to be the way I am, Mari."
"That's not what I meant. This," she said, pulling off his gloves and holding his hands in the blink of an eye, "is what I meant."
Mari was plunged head first into his thoughts. She didn't bother to feel them, she let them swim over and around her as she forced him to meet her. "How did you become to be like this?" she asked, letting her appalled feelings for him crash into him. "You've had two loving parents, three older kind and protective brothers, and yet you end up being so evil. Too weak a word, I know, but I'd rather not fill this hell hole with more profane thoughts." Mari no longer cared about his chiseled features or the pitiful problem he was in. She threw a cursory glance at the memories as they floated past her. "How can people put up with you? How could have a person as sweet and caring as you mother bore such a malevolent damnation such as you? She should have killed you at birth, it would have been a kind thing to do for the world."
Just as she hoped, Mari felt the searing pain that ran through him as he listened. It didn't matter if she felt the same pain, because the pleasure of hurting him made up for it. Nobody insulted her mother, nobody. "It's a comical tragedy, your life. Killing this person, that person, putting on that show of belligerency to cover up the wretched boy hiding behind it. A child would laugh at your attempts of toughness," she sneered mercilessly.
Mari couldn't bear the thought of leaving him untouched, he had to be punished.
But Valdis could take only so much from his nemesis. "At my attempts? Look at you. But you can't, you can't see yourself. That shell, that ugly shell, has caked over you so much it's impossible to get back the real you." Tendrils from his mind wrapped around her, drawing her closer to the pain.
"When I look at you all that's there is this wretched mask that covers up that stupid vermin underneath. That's all you are because that's all what you ever wish you were. Because you sink to their level, you become their equals. Well, you're not their equal. You never will be again. You're my equal!" The already unstable atmosphere quaked, threatening to drown them both. Valdis' words were a burning knife in her heart, making her stumble back from him.
The earlier intent of torturing him was immediately forgotten. Mari wrenched her sweaty palms out of his hands. But he didn't want to stop. A rough hand darted out as quick as a snake and clamped around her neck. Once again Mari was plunged and washed away to Valdis.
"You're equal to me, to the other Night World people. But it was a mistake changing you because you're too weak. The only thing that's keeping you from killing yourself is me and your mother." Mari tried to pull away and remember she'd only fed the other night and that wasn't enough to fight him. His stabbing words were pounding into her head. "The disgusting prostitute you call your mother has more worth than you could achieve in your life time. Think about it, Mari, do you mean anything to any one? Hunter amuses you for his sake, the Daybreakers are sick of your games, you were a mistake to your mother, and your father didn't even know about your existence.
"What else? The adoptive family was ashamed of you and your looks. And I, your soul mate, don't give a shit about you! And you call me pathetic? You, of all people, say I am a damnation. People care about me, Mari. Can you honestly say the same thing?" He pushed her away with such a savage force that she almost fell in the water.
To her surprise, she didn't even feel like crying. It would be a waste to cry tears over him. "I used to think that the reason you act the way you do was because you thought it was honorable in a vampire's eyes. That it was your duty to keep the humans in line, because you thought you were doing the right thing. But that's all just bull shit, isn't it? There is no reason for your behavior, there is no reason for the way you life your life."
For fun, he told her mentally, the virulent force of his thoughts hurting her mind again. "There is no good reason," she corrected herself.
"Leave. I mean it, before I hurt you."
"It's too late for that!" Mari cried, the hurt and anger evident in her voice. She controlled herself, she didn't want to show him that she took his insults to heart. "You don't exactly have a gentle touch," she said, her voice impersonal and cool as she rubbed her neck for show.
"Gentle with gentle people. Like Pearl."
"I do hope you manage to get an appointment so that you will have children of your own. Women like your wife are busy, you'll see." She turned to him looking straight into his eyes, unable to stop her mouth. "What kind of freak are you, not even good enough to give good sex to a nymphomaniac, who should be satisfied with a toothbrush?"
He backhanded her the split second she paused. Her head whipped to the side, tears coming but she made them leave just as soon. How dare he do that? True they had meant to hurt each other, but she never thought physically.
"I know how to handle her, just as I handled you now. I can't believe they screwed this up. How could anybody think we would be soulmates? I want obedience and compliance in the women around me, all women. Those who don't learn, are punished," he said coldly, and rather satisfied with himself.
"I hope," she said, her voice dangerously hollow, "you don't have plans to have any kids." She kneed him the groin, and grimaced, knowing she hit her target. It wasn't enough. As he stumbled away, she gave a little, but powerful, snap kick to his groin again, to make his expression show more pain than hers did. While he was still down, she turned away.
"Leave now." He was sprawled face down on the dock.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Mari seemed to be reduced to snappish tones and nothing else. Valdis waited on the dock until the yacht was miles away from him. With her flawless eyes, she met his gaze when he sat up steadily until he turned his back to her and stood, after some difficulty, and walked away.
"Good bye," she heard him mutter under his breath.
"Good bye," she whispered back.
~*~*~*~
December 2, 1999
Mari's apartment
"You what?" Hunter sounded only mildly surprised.
"It was an accident. I have no idea where that other yacht came from," she said. She had been sitting on her couch and staring at the painting he sent her for hours until she finally decided to tell him. She wasn't afraid. It would take a lot more than Hunter to make her afraid.
"Who was on the other yacht?"
"Don't worry about it. Just a vampire couple." Who were talking about what a cute couple Valdis and Pearl made. "And once they found out who I am, they even made it sound like it was their fault."
"How did they hit you?"
"Weren't you listening? I hit them. They were anchored and I accidentally," casu consulto "hit them. It's no big deal."
"Let me get this straight. In the vast ocean that happens to be void of any confining roads, you collide with a yacht, which I presume is in equal in size of my own. It was staying still. Still. It was not moving."
"I think we covered that definition."
"You were unable to sail around it because…?"
"I didn't see it. You're not going to take away the car are you?"
"No, I have hundreds on end. Good bye."
Mari sat back on her white leather couch and stared at the painting. It had two lovers trying desperately to stay together. They're hands were straining toward each other, but one the girl's side sunlight and clouds were dragging her away and on the man's side the moon and stars were pulling him away. They would forever being reaching out toward each other, but never meet.
"What the hell were you thinking when you sent this to me?" she yelled to a Hunter who couldn't hear him and threw the cell phone at it. Then she calmed down and watched silently as the cracks began to spread like a web over the doomed lovers faces.
~*~*~*~
December 4, 1999
Briar Creek, Oregon
"I'm coming!" Mary Lynette ducked under her bed and groped blindly for her gloves. It was already ten thirty and Rowan told her to be at their house at ten.
"I'm leaving," her brother threatened.
"I'm coming!" she yelled again. "Aha!" She scrambled from under her bed and pulled on one yellow glove and one green. She frowned at the sight of her mismatched hand and the looked at her mirror. Some strands of her brown hair floated, the static caused by the friction from the under side of her bed and her blue eyes were unnaturally happy. "Mark! Mark, wait."
He was sitting calmly on the couch when she came down. "What took so long?"
"Just had to find my gloves. Come on let's go," she hurried, dragging him to the door. "Claud, we're going to the sisters for a while! Bye."
"Bye! Be back by um…twelve thirty! I wouldn't want you to get stuck at the Redfern's if the storm popped up tonight.
"Kay," Mark called.
"You do realize that you have two different gloves on, right?" Mark asked as they walked in a fast pace to the Redfern's home.
"Yeah." After that they didn't talk. It was too windy and cold. Old Mr. Hank at the air conditioner and space heater store said that there was going to be a storm brewing soon. Maybe this was it. In a silent understanding, they slowed their pace as soon as the house was in view.
"Did he say why he was coming?" he asked after a while, words faded by the wind.
"He said he needed to be with me. I suppose that's part of the truth any way."
Mark nodded. Mary Lynette sighed, thinking about her brother. Mark wasn't sure what to think of Ash. He liked that Ash made her happy when he visited, and then he hated him when he left her. And he didn't trust him, Mary Lynette wasn't the only one who could see that.
"What was that sigh for?"
She shrugged. "Just thinking about stuff." Mary Lynette forgot about that problem. She used to tell Mark whatever was on her mind, but she just couldn't describe some things to him now. It would be just too weird to talk to him about Ash. Mark knew that too, but it still bothered them both when she evaded questions like that.
Jade greeted them at the door. "Hey guys, watch out for that hole." Mary Lynette had no idea why she said that; after all, who could miss it? They always put the task of fixing it off, so instead they put a nice welcome rug over it that said How long are you going to stand there?
She ushered them into the living room, where Rowan's friend was talking. One Patrick White, a sophomore in Mary Lynette's college who, in her opinion, thought far too highly of himself. Patrick went to the same high school she did, but she only remembered him as the snobby upperclassman who wouldn't have noticed her if she bit him. Unfortunately, he noticed her in college and, like her, went home early for the Christmas vacation. The boy was convinced it would only be a matter of time before Mary Lynette gave in to his "charms."
But he was also dependable, honest (sometimes too honest), and Rowan trusted him completely. In short, Mary had to put up with him. She was surprised when Rowan once said that she found his advances toward Mary Lynette amusing.
"Hello Mary Lynette," he drawled, purposely making his voice husky. She rolled her eyes and gave a wave. She crossed the room and sat on the couch, making them a room apart. Patrick decided to sit next to her.
"Ash is coming soon," she said haughtily. And she hoped that she was telling the truth. Rowan told her that he might be running late, possibly even coming the next day.
"And how long is he staying?" Oh Patrick I hope Ash beats the crap out of you, she couldn't help thinking. He was looking at her, probably didn't notice she was wearing her favorite blue sweater and jeans; his eyes looked as if they had x ray vision. Patrick would stop ogling her once he met her soul mate.
"That's undecided. I can't wait till you meet him, Patrick. You'll get a kick out of him." Literally.
"Well, we do share the same interest." He scooted over, and she scooted over, until she met the arm rest and had no where to go. Mary Lynette saw Rowan smiling as she left the room.
"Mutilating morons who hit on his girl friend? Because he does that, you know." Mary wished that Ash was there to prove her point.
"I don't have a girl friend…yet." Mary Lynette looked around the room to see if any one cared to stop him. There was Jade and Mark on the ottoman, Rowan checking Patrick's work on the floor, Kestrel reading some ancient looking book and…
It was at that time when they heard a short zzzz and the lights went out. The sisters had no trouble seeing and she could hear Kestrel move to the kitchen. Mary Lynette tried to follow her and ended up banging her knee against the coffee table.
Kestrel yelled, "There's no candles in the cup boards."
"You haven't bought any, you don't need them," Mary Lynette muttered. In the darkness she could only hear people moving around her and guessed that some people moved upstairs to find some candles. She hoped that Patrick was one of them and fell down the stairs, breaking both arms so that he wouldn't try to touch her.
She felt a warm arm hook around her waist. Then again Patrick may have stayed down stairs. "Patrick, if that is your disgusting hand touching me, I am going to chop it off and serve it to you a la flambe. Understand?"
Much faster than Patrick could ever be, the person behind her spun her around and kissed her. All too soon, the lips pulled away. "Um…I thought that…because he was…never mind." She pulled Ash back to her lips. Again, he pulled away sooner than she wanted him too.
"Who's Patrick?"
"Guy. Guy who was here. He's a guy." Before she could kiss him again, Ash brought her to the ottoman and pulled her into his lap.
"Oh he's a guy? Couldn't figure that one out. Guess how long I'm staying."
Mary Lynette couldn't see his face, but she could tell he was smiling. "Forever?"
"If I can. I know seeing me every summer and winter isn't enough, but apparently being in Circle Daybreak means I have to go on missions. Who would have thought?"
"Did you set this up? Lights going out, making every body leave the room…"
"Nope. But it was all very convenient. I forgot to get gas before I got here and with the snow storm coming, I went as fast as I could to get here. And of course with my luck, it ran out and I had to run here." He stopped talking and then they just sat and thought together, Mary Lynette couldn't tell how long. It felt like there was no time in their minds, as if just holding each other could carry through the years. Nobody came down to check on them, she supposed they were still looking for those silly candles.
After an eternity, Mary Lynette felt him look at some one. "Hey Jade, go down to the basement and replace a fuse in the fuse box."
"You just got here and you're already bossing people around," his sister said, but Mary Lynette guessed she left when it stayed silent. Two seconds later, Mary Lynette heard the same zzzz noise they heard earlier and saw Ash's grinning face.
The sisters were the first to return to the living room, and then Mark and Patrick came walking down the stairs. "That's Patrick," she whispered very close to Ash's ear. "Maim him for me." Ash laughed aloud, making Patrick finally notice him.
"Hi," Ash greeted him in a friendly voice. Since Ash didn't couldn't get up with Mary Lynnette in his lap, Patrick had to walk over and shake Ash's offered hand. "I take it your Patrick?"
"Yeah, Patrick White. I guess your Mary Lynette's Ash." She was glad to see that Patrick lost all his arrogance in Ash's presence. Clearly he wasn't entirely too happy of her position in Ash's lap. Neither was Mark.
"You know Mare, there's enough room for you to sit beside him. No need to burden Ash…"
"She's as light as a feather," Ash cut off cheerfully and then kissed Mary Lynette's nose lightly.
Then he turned to Patrick, who had an obviously jealous expression on his boyish face. "Don't you have some where to go?" At first Mary Lynette thought he was being rude, but Patrick simply nodded and walked out the door without so much as a good bye.
"Mind control," Mark muttered disgustedly. Only he and Rowan seemed to be bothered by Ash's action.
"Hey," Mary Lynette said brightly. "Make him streak around town!"
"Do that in the summer when he won't freeze to death," Kestrel suggested coolly. The sisters found themselves a seat on the couch. Mark had the floor.
"What's going on?" Jade asked. The sisters always asked Ash about the Final Battle and what actions were being taken.
"The Final Battle is going to be on the Damned Clan Island. Man to man combat for those who know how to fight. We have all of the witches on our side and about less than half of the shape shifters. The other half, some would say the smarter half, is going to fight with Redfern and about a hundred other dragons," he informed them. By his tone, Mary Lynette guessed dragons were bad things.
"What happened to the fourth wild power?" Mark asked. He wasn't as nearly as up to date as his sister.
"Went back to Hunter. Where have you been?" Ash exclaimed exaggeratedly.
Mark took it to heart. "Mary Lynette doesn't exactly tell me everything you guys talk about," he snapped defensively. Ash raised his eye brows, but kept his mouth shut.
"You say any one who fights can go to this island?" It was clear what Kestrel had in mind.
"You can't go," Jade protested. "You might get killed!"
"Of course, Jade, it is a battle after all. Who are you to tell me what I cannot do?" Despite her spiteful voice, Kestrel her sister's concern touched her. Then Ash spoke.
"Of course you won't go. I won't let you." Kestrel sighed. She hated it when Ash got that macho man, head of the house hold voice.
"It is Kestrel's choice," Rowan spoke up softly.
"Well, it's a stupid choice," Mary Lynette snapped. She wasn't exactly too fond of Kestrel, but she didn't want her to die.
"That's all a matter of opinion," Kestrel corrected. "We'll talk about this tomorrow. I have a week or two before I leave."
"The hell you do!" It had become a custom that Ash and Kestrel fought whenever he came to visit. But this time it seemed to be worse than last summer, when they actually fought each other to the ground. Ash was yelling so loud Mary Lynette slid off of his lap so that he wouldn't be so close to her ear.
He didn't notice, just stood up to loom over Kestrel.
"You're not going to tell me what to do…"
"I'll call Thierry, he'll tell you not to go…"
"Well, if you won't go…"
"Father will kill me if he finds out that I let you…"
Mary Lynette looked back and forth from Kestrel and Ash. She felt like she was intruding on family business. And from Mark's nervous gestures, she could tell her brother felt the same.
Rowan was trying to cut in. "If you're going to fight could you please do it in a calm manner so that…"
"Kestrel, did you hear me when I said dragons? DRAGONS! And the odds are it's five or more Night Worlder to each Day breaker. And how long has it been since you've fought some one?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kestrel's voice became eerily calm when he said that.
"You might have become…well, maybe you're not ready to fight."
"I've fought before."
"With what, a three legged dog?"
"As a matter of fact, it just so happens…" It was at that point when she lunged at Ash. Mary Lynette barely had enough time to jump out of the way when they crashed into the ottoman. Rowan, Jade, Mark, and Mary Lynette silently watched them for a few minutes, then ten, then twenty, until Jade spoke quietly.
"Ash shouldn't have said that. Nobody questions Kestrel's fighting ability." Mary Lynette and Mark somberly nodded in agreement.
Ash pinned Kestrel on the floor, which was how he won the last fight. She met his eyes, which were now a startling black. Kestrel looked over at Mary Lynette and gave a sudden smile. She pushed herself down from under him and kicked him in the knees. Then she pushed him off and landed a hard one in his stomach.
It looked like Ash couldn't decided whether to hold his stomach or his knees. He knew he was lucky, Kestrel wasn't really trying to hurt him.
"This was sort of an example of how siblings fight each other, training for real life. Like baby wolves," Jade chirped, not at all disturbed by the brawl.
Kestrel stood over Ash and, without saying a gloating word or sending a bragging thought, held out her hand. With a dark look, he accepted it and she helped him up.
"A few years ago, I wouldn't have been able to done that. We'll discuss this tomorrow." And nobody said a word to object.
~*~*~*~
December 12, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada
"They said yes!" Even through the phone, Delos could see Maggie's beautiful smile. He laid back in his bed, and began folding a piece of paper he found under his bed. Delos always had to keep his hands busy when Maggie went back home.
"Are you sure I won't be intruding? I know Christmas is a family time…"
She sighed, making static in his ear. "Delos, my family has been dying to have you over since last summer. After all, you only met them once before and two weeks aren't nearly enough. Besides, Christmas isn't the only time I'll need you. I have my Winter Ball, remember?"
"When is that?" he asked, naturally depressed at the prospect of milling around in an uncomfortable tuxedo for four hours.
"December twentieth. When are you going to leave?"
"Tomorrow. And, after Christmas in the Neely household, I'll leave for the island December twenty sixth. How is Miles?" There was pause. A long pause. "Maggie?"
"He told Mom and Dad yesterday."
"Told them what?" Delos guessed the paper was forming into some kind of flower; that or an ornately folded ball of paper.
"He told them that occasionally he sprouts wings so he could go to the mall. Yup," she said when he didn't answer, "jumped right outta the shifter closet."
It was his turn to pause. But he didn't want to draw it out. "How did they take it?"
"Well, first they were laughing like crazy. Then, when Miles kept telling them it was true, they thought he was crazy. When I told them it was true, they thought both of us had gone nuts. Dad was ready to call the medical help he thought we needed when Miles played show and tell."
Delos laughed. Maggie always made the most serious of situations comical.
"Then they just had to believe us. Problem was, Mom started thinking she passed some deformed gene down to him and was afraid I was going to catch it. As if being a hawk was contagious!"
Delos looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "So what did you tell them?"
"Weeeeeeell…he told them what how it happened. He told them about Sylvia, and I told them about meeting you and consequently…"
Delos finished for her. "They know I'm a vampire. I thought you said they've been dying for my visit?"
"They are," she quickly assured. "They're just going to look at you in a whole new light. Delos…it's not like they're afraid or disgusted with you or anything. Curious maybe, but just because they know you're a vampire doesn't mean they're going to treat you like a freak. Otherwise, Miles would be in the streets right now."
Delos didn't really know her parents, so he couldn't really argue. "You know better than I do."
"Of course I do. Hold on wait." Delos knew that meant somebody was going to get her off the phone somehow, it was the only way to make her stop. "Miles has to call a girl. Her name is Cassia," she whispered in a scandalous voice. In the back round, Delos heard Miles yelling at her.
Delos didn't blame him, they'd been talking for three hours. "Give me all the details about his new girl later."
"All right, oh wait I can't. Dad says I've been talking too much on the phone, so he's limited me to two calls a day."
"That's okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow, then."
"Love you."
"Love you too. Bye."
"Bye."
Delos hung up. He rose from the bed, and walked to the closet. He supposed spending time with Morgead has influenced him, because the floor of the closet was completely covered with dirty laundry. Morgead's pile was much taller though.
"Hey, Delly."
"Hello Jezebel."
"It's Jez."
"Well then, it's Delos. Is there anything you need?" Delos decided everything on the hangers were clean and began to throw the shirts into the suitcase on his bed.
"I came here to tell you that you can't use that suit case."
Delos took all of his clothes in his arms, walked over to the suitcase, and dumped it all in. "Why not?"
She walked over to him. "Because when you zip it up like so and then carry it like this," she held it up by the handle. The zipper suddenly broke loose and all his clothes came tumbling out. "The front part can't handle it. I came over to tell you that you could use mine or Morgead's."
"Hmm, let me think. Yours, the white one with red and pink roses over it, or Morgead's simple, black one. It's just so hard to decide…" Jez made a face at him.
"Okay, he said you could get it in his closet." Delos gathered his clothes from the floor and listened to Jez's footsteps down the empty hall. Just a few weeks earlier, he couldn't listen to hers without hearing half a dozen other friends walk down the hall. But more and more of the Daybreakers were leaving recently, leaving Las Vegas to go to some quaint little town where their family lived. The last good byes. Delos wasn't doing exactly the same thing, but he was hoping to become part of a family once he left the Neely's.
"Delos." He turned at the soft voice and crossed the room to kiss Hannah's hand. She was, after all, the Lady of the mansion and deserved the respect a woman of authority. Delos couldn't understand why the other men didn't do the same.
"Lady Hannah," he said formally but warmly.
Hannah opened her mouth, and Delos expected her to protest at his address, but she seemed to be concerned with something else. "Delos, may I speak with you for a moment?" He nodded.
"About the Final Battle," she started as she sat down on his bed. "I know that Thierry said that those with fighting experience are the only ones allowed to go…"
"For a good reason," he cut in.
"I have to. You don't understand, if I could just get to Mari…"
"She'd kill you in a snap. Lady Hannah, she didn't cooperate when she was with us, why the hell would she cooperate when she's with the enemy?"
Hannah waved her hand in the air as if sweeping all reason he just told her out of the way. "But, if I could just talk to her for a moment …"
"What will you do? Now, mind you, I'm just humoring a hopelessly hopeful woman."
"Talk to her. Not just talk to her, but…talk. Oh, you just don't understand!" Hannah exclaimed impatiently when Delos kept the "humoring the hopelessly hopeful woman" look.
"Oh, I understand perfectly. You think you're going to have a little chat with the sweet Mari while our people get slaughtered. Listen, I know you think the best of people, and you may even think that everybody has a little good in themselves. But not everybody does. And even if Mari did have that irritating conscience in her mind, it died when Dorian betrayed her."
Hannah almost believed him. Delos knew everything about logic, psychology, and analyzing people and their situations. Because of his upbringing as a weapon, his mind as sharp as a honed knife. Ninety nine percent of the time he was correct about those matters. But not this time.
"Delos, you can look at her hand and tell me about her breakfast. You could tell me about her whole life in two seconds. But what you can't do is tell me what's going on in her mind. Nobody has any idea why she's hiding all the time."
Damn, he thought. She's using that Old Soul wisdom trickery thing. "Hiding?"
"Don't you see it? If I could just talk to her, or even for just five minutes, maybe I could understand. I want to understand her, Delos. Mari can't even figure out for herself what's making herself so miserable."
"How would you know that? Maybe something's made her change. Every day, Night World citizens go to the Day World and there are those humans who go to the Night World. Mari Tybal first came to the Night World, and she's going to stay with them."
"Delos, have an open mind…"
"I can't. Looking at everything's that happened…" He threw up his arms, not finishing the sentence. Delos wasn't angry, he never got angry with Hannah, but as always there was that sense of despair at the world.
"Delos, please help me. I know Jez won't help me because she is more stubborn than you. Iliana would be too afraid. I need you, not as a wild power, as a friend. Please help me."
For the briefest of moments, Delos appeared torn, making Hannah hope just a little bit. "But if you die, Thierry…"
"Thierry would accept my death, and wait patiently for my rebirth. True, he would experience grief…"
"I don't want to cause that grief," he interrupted gruffly.
"You won't, I will. Delos, if you're going to help me, we're wasting time now. And if you're not, then I'll find a way. If there's one thing I got, it's determination."
Delos thought. He sat so still, Hannah, if she were a stranger, would mistake him for a well painted statue.
"Let me here your proposal, and I'll think about it."
~*~*~*~
December 13, 1999
Mari's apartment
Thirteen days. It had been thirteen days since she last spoke with him. She had concluded and contradicted herself at who was at fault, but looking at all the facts, Mari knew it was herself. She, after all, had sought him out. And with each passing day, she wasn't certain if her emotions was healing or deteriorating. When Mari returned to the mainland, she was simply livid. Not thinking clearly at all, she drove every which way until dawn. By some miracle, she found her way back home and slept. Then all she did was sit and think, going out only when she was on the verge of blood lust.
Every word that had been spoken that night was painful, but true. Neither of them wanted to admit it. In a sense, Mari did sometimes consider herself equal to humans and above vampires. But what he said about her mother…Mari would never become accustomed to that. It seemed impossible that the gentle, loving woman in her memories would sell her body to strangers.
Hunter had worried she was becoming withdrawn and had literally bought her a friend. Brooke something, who Mari guessed was brought embarrassment to the family one way or another and becoming her friend was the only way to climb her way up on the social ladder. Each time the bubbly, yet artificial red head tried to call or visit, Mari always brushed her off, not at all bothering with the proper etiquette.
The phone rang. Lying idly on the bed, Mari decided to let the machine take it, as it had done to the other phone calls. After a series of beeps, Hunter voice filled the still room.
"Mari, I learned from your friend, Brooke Willow, that you are having problems. What happened? You never answer any calls, and the last I heard from Brooke is that you dismissed her a week ago. For all I know, I could be talking to your mummified corpse. At least pick up the phone so that I'll know you're alive. After all…"
Mari swiftly rose from the bed and threw the phone across the room, the cord unplugging with it. That ought to show him she was still alive.
Maybe she wouldn't die on January the second. She planned to die at the Final Battle. Originally, she wanted to do so before, maybe on the plane or boat, but then she remembered she was going to be surrounded by at least a dozen guards. Hunter wanted a thrilling performance to be remembered as the Night World victory. Mari was nothing but a prop.
Nevertheless, the warriors were going to see a show, that was certain. Some people, many of those wise, would say suicide was a coward's death, that it was giving up on life. Mari believed it wasn't cowardly or defeat at all, for she had died long before she ever knew about the Night World. The warriors, those valiant and those malicious, were going to have the best seat to the end of the Day World.
~*~*~*~
December 16, 1999
Los Angeles, California
"BOO!" Poppy jumped out of the closet.
Phil simply looked at her and slowly raised his arms. "Ah."
"Oh you're no fun," she pulled him into the living room. "James, Philip has arrived," she called in her best imitation of Nilsson.
James emerged from his bed room, pulling on a shirt. When she turned to her brother, she saw his eye brows were raised. Maybe it looked like they…
"James spilled coke on his shirt just before you came."
"You spilled it on me. Hi Phillip," he said offering a hand. Her brother eyed it and then shook his hand briefly. Even after all this time, Phil was still a…
"Dork," she finished out loud. "You going to stay for dinner?" Poppy asked.
"What are you having?" he asked, sitting on the couch.
"I'm making pizza," she called, skipping to the kitchen. James sat in the comfy chair across from him.
"She's ordering pizza," James corrected. Phil nodded. As always, an awkward silence filled the room when Poppy left them alone. Both knew how long Poppy took when ordering a pizza, she always tried to get something everybody wanted.
"So…where is this island?"
"Near Iceland. I can't stop Poppy from going," he added miserably, knowing where the conversation was going to end up.
"I don't want her killed, James," Phil warned him.
"You think I want that? Believe me I've tried everything to make her stay at the mansion, but it seems your sister has a silver tongue when it came to asking Thierry about this."
Phil gave a wry smile at that. "Let's gag her and lock her in some basement," he suggested.
He was only half joking. Here, his little sister was going to fight a battle that would determine the fate of the world in the new millennium, and he was going to sit at home and twiddle his thumbs. Phil was used to being the stronger one, the athlete. He should be the one trying to protect Poppy, because she was supposed to be a delicate little girl, full of happiness, sunshine, and all the other mushy stuff older brothers thought of little sisters. Her twinkling green eyes were like a child's to him, and they weren't meant to see all the carnage and blood of war. But Phil had no way to intervene. And Poppy was a little bit different than the girl he grew up with.
As if reading his thoughts, but Phil knew James wouldn't dare, Poppy's soul mate sighed aloud, "I can't let her see that, Phil. All the gore, and dying people right in front of her…she's just not used it. But what if she does get used to it? I can't imagine Poppy being ruthless and murderous."
"How was she able to convince Thierry if everybody knows that she's not a killer?"
James concentrated for a moment, trying to remember the conversation. "She may not be a killer, but she can defend herself. It's instinctive. She…"
"Are you guys talking about me again?" Poppy swept into the room and sat on the floor. Despite the seriousness of the matter, a tiny smile still played on her lips, as if it were a permanent condition. "Look," she began, losing the good humor. "I know you guys think that I'm…well, not weak, really, but in a way, that's exactly what you think I am. That I'm just this little angel, too gentle for all this fighting. But it would just be torture for me to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs (no offense Phil I'm sure you'd do more) while my soul mate is out fighting for my whole former species? It's like Superman, he saves people because he has the power to. He uses his faster-than-a speeding-bullet speed to save people because…um…what else would he use his power to?"
Phil gave her a look, wavering between stern and amused. Then he turned to James. "Is that what she said to convince Thierry?"
James smiled. "Hmm, something along those lines, except with bigger words and she left the man of iron out."
"Steel," she and Phil corrected simultaneously. Poppy gave a tinkly laugh, and tossed back her red hair. James had to smile.
Poppy looked around, taking in the cozy sight of three young beautiful people just hanging out. "We ought to be models. Or a band, after all you can't go wrong with our looks. We'd be…um…Super Band!" James laughed harder and Phil put his smiling face in his hands.
"That's a great idea," Phil commented smoothly. "If we survive New Year's Eve, let's hire a manager and publicist."
"We wouldn't be able to afford one. Thierry would have to loan us some money," James added. Poppy stood up.
"Sometimes I think you guys don't ever take me seriously. And what do you mean 'if we survive'? Of course we'll survive, you got to think positive idiot." She walked over to the couch and punched her brother in the arm. He winced.
"Hey!" Poppy began brightly.
"Hey!" Phil mocked her.
"What did you get me for Christmas?"
"Bubble wrap. And James here got you tissue paper."
"Ha. Ha. Is that a joke or is it a clue? Does that mean you got me something fragile?" Once again, she caused the men to laugh.
The buzzer rang. Poppy left them to go to the intercom and pressed a button. "Who is it?" she asked in her deepest voice.
"Pizza delivery," a boy answered. To her, he sounded fifteen-ish.
"What are you trying to pull? Did Roselli send you? We didn't order any pizza, punk. Don't think you're gonna come up here and get me with you caliber um thing, I know better. I've got a big machine gun up here and I'm not afraid to use it…" She felt a strong arm loop around her waist and was carried so that she was behind James.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" the boy pleaded.
"Sorry about that. I have a slightly crazy girl here and she gets a little bit carried away. Big fan of the Godfather movies and then she tries to create a bit of her own mobster problems, you know the type. Come on up, we don't have any sort of artillery up here." James pushed the button.
"Um," the boy answered, his voice squeaking. "Um, right away sir."
James turned to Poppy. "What?" she asked innocently, looking up at him. Since James didn't have the heart to scold her, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
She gave a whoop. "I thought they stopped this in the Ice Age," she said, struggling to get out his hold. Poppy gave another little shout when James threw her on the couch next to Phil, who only looked slightly interested.
"Your sister's nothing but trouble, Phil." There was a knock and James went to get the door.
"You think I haven't learned that already?" Phil called. Poppy crossed her arms across her chest, sunk lower in the couch, and stuck her tongue out at Phil. He calmly gave a cool, bored stare until she turned away.
"Here is half pepperoni and half sausage large pizza," James announced as he came into the living room for a second. He went into the kitchen and returned with three paper plates.
"Can you believe that some people just like cheese?" Phil asked, mouth full.
"Like who?"
"Mari ate cheese only pizza," Poppy pointed out. For a moment, James' gray eyes darkened.
"Really" Phil murmured. He didn't know much about the subject, only that she had earned the trust of virtually everybody in Circle Daybreak and then betrayed them.
"Oh, well we know how Mari is, fickle. One day she likes cheese, another she likes veggie, one day she's with Circle Daybreak, the next she's with the Night World. Fickle," James said lightly.
"Hey now, that's not fair. I don't think Mari's the type to be wishy washy. I'm sure something important changed her mind."
"Time to change the subject," Phil said abruptly after a long, quiet moment. Poppy shrugged and continued to devour her pizza slice.
Phil and James kept up the small talk while Poppy ate and thought. Mari must have had a good reason to leave them, and Poppy respected that. Mari wasn't stupid and she wasn't easily persuaded so she must have gone to the Night World on her own free will. But all of that didn't matter to Poppy.
Poppy thought of Mari as friend. An indifferent, sarcastic friend, but a friend nonetheless. And she always thought of herself as Mari's friend. The event of Dorian's betrayal and then Mari's made Poppy a little sad. Poppy had accepted Mari and Dorian with open arms, which showed how gullible she was. Poppy hoped she wouldn't be so easily fooled in the Final Battle.
~*~*~*~
December 19, 1999
On a mountain somewhere in Canada
Keller silently slipped from under Galen's arm and crept out of bed. After putting on a robe, she tip toed lightly to the living room and started towards the fire place, where the fire had long died out, but stopped when she passed the front window.
Gleaming snow, twinkling as if glitter had been tossed on it, powdered the trees and the neighboring mountains. Pink and purples hues were rising on the east, foretelling the arrival the sun, whose heat would be futile in the frozen paradise. Keller leaned further to the window, until her nose pressed against the frost laced window. Her eyes narrowed so that she could study the delicate and intricate designs on the glass, hand painted by Jack Frost himself.
She had no inkling how long she simply stood there, eyes moving from the window to the breath taking view outside the window, because such tranquillity made seconds stretch for an eternity. Like tendrils of her warm fuzzy thoughts, arm closed around her from behind, bring her from one comforting thought to another.
"If you keep crossing your eyes, your face will freeze like that," her husband whispered very softly in her ear, not wanting to disturb the peace. It felt wonderful to think of Galen not just as a boyfriend, and a soul mate…he was now her husband. Light as butterfly wings and warmer than the sun or anybody else could be, Keller felt his sweet lips press against her hair and then her cheek.
The cabin, the snow, and the presence of her husband were Keller's definition of heaven. Never before had she ever felt such bliss and contentment, so copious that she would forget time and the rest of the world for days at a time. They spent the nights huddled in front of the fire and Keller could barely remember how they spent their days.
Sadly, it could only last for seven more days. Hearing her thoughts, Galen drew his arms tighter. "Let's not think about that, okay? Look, I built the fire," he whispered. Keller was about to turn when she saw a movement in the shadows of the trees.
"Galen, look over there." Keller made the mistake of turning her head towards him. When she turned back, there was no sign of life at all.
"Where?" There was a loud knock at the door. Keller pressed the window open and cautiously peeked outside.
"Hate to crash the newly weds' haven, but this has got to be cut short."
"Nissa," Galen greeted her at the door. "You're just the bearer of bad news aren't you?"
"It's written all over her face," Keller mumbled and made herself cozy next to Galen on the rug in front of the crackling fire, their favorite spot. Nissa seated herself on the overstuffed love seat in front of them, arms, and legs crossed.
"Nissa, I'm not in the mood to be mad at you right now, so lose that apologetic face and spill it." Keller never knew she could ever feel this calm, to the point where she didn't get mad when she had every right to be.
"Hunter is playing fair, you guys know that. But we learned recently that a renegade group isn't. At exactly twelve o'clock p.m. on December thirty first, a massacre will begin on the west coast and if they're not stopped, they'll slowly continue on eastward."
Blunt, was the first thing that came into Galen's mind. The second thought was damn and then a list of other foul words. "As if the Final Battle isn't enough," he sighed.
"What are their first cities that are planned to attack?" Keller asked, already moving to their rooms to pack her bags. Galen knew he'd have to pack his own bags, Keller wasn't happy enough to do that for him. Plus she just converted into mission mode and that wasn't the best time to ask for favors.
"We could only assume it's largely populated cities. Los Angeles, San Francisco, you know the deal. At least from what we heard from the girl we tortu…questioned. After desperate questioning of course," Nissa called.
"Thank Goddess they're not attacking small towns. It would only take them an hour to wipe the population of Briar Creek."
~*~*~*~
December 23, 1999
Briar Creek, Oregon
"Make it stop. Just stop," he moaned. Frustrated, he buried his head under the pillow. But the banging just wouldn't go away. Ash sat up and threw his pillow at the door. He then realized he was absolutely furious with a rectangular piece of wood and calmed down.
Ash took as much time as possible and opened the door. "It is eight thirty. EIGHT THIRTY. Nothing is so important that it can't wait till twelve," he said, leaning against the door frame.
Rowan punched him so hard he almost fell back. God, you leave them alone for a while and your sisters become she-hulks, he thought sleepily.
"Ash! Kestrel's gone! And here you are sleeping on your lazy ass when you should be looking for her!" Ash's pale blue eyes widened noticeably. First, Rowan had to be terribly mad because she was swearing, and second…Kestrel was gone.
"She left each of us a letter, good bye letters as if she's already dead! How come I didn't hear her? I should have hear her leave, why didn't I hear her…"
Ash stopped her pacing and pushed her into a sitting position on his bed. It was a devastating blow to her, possibly losing a sister. Ash understood that losing a member of their lethal trio would just paralyze Rowan and melt Jade into a puddle of tears. And although he never admitted it, Ash had somewhat of an emotional attachment to his little sister as well.
"Where did she go?" Ash asked, pulling on a shirt and some jeans. Jade appeared in the door way, cheeks wet, and eyes filled with fresh tears.
"She went to Las Vegas. She's going to Thierry and then she's going to the Damned Clan Island and then she's going to die!"
"Wow, thanks, Jade, for your refreshing words of optimism," he growled brusquely as he zipped up his pants.
"Go after her! Bring her back!" Rowan was yelling at him.
Being caught between two livid sisters would normally do two things: make him equally hysterical or make him run, as fast as possible. But before he could choose an option, Mary Lynette, his soul mate extrordinaire, appeared and handed Jade a box of tissues.
"He doesn't have to go after her," she told Rowan calmly. Ash gave a sigh of relief. The last attempt to bring Kestrel back to where she didn't want to go wasn't exactly a success. His darling Mary Lynette had some genius plan that didn't involve him at all.
"All he has to do is call Thierry and make him send her back here. You can do that right?" Okay, maybe Mary Lynette wasn't so darling after all. Right now she was just being business like, not even giving him a hello. Ash saw a folded up letter in her hand and guess Kestrel had really left a letter for everyone.
Mary Lynette and his two sisters had him against the wall, literally and figuratively. "I'll try," he promised.
~*~*~*~
December 25, 1999
Washington, in Washington I guess.
"Delos! Delos wake up!" Delos glanced at the radio clock. Four o'clock was usually considered whisper time in the Neely household. But according to Maggie's terribly loud orders in his ear, Christmas morning was a special exception.
"DEL~" Delos clamped a gentle hand over her mouth while he shrugged on his flannel shirt. He nearly staggered when she dragged him out of the guest room and to the living room, where her brother was already shaking the brightly wrapped presents. Jake was lying at his feet, but he wagged his tail and jumped up when he saw Maggie.
"Where are your parents?" Delos asked, snatching the gift from Miles' hand. It was from him and he didn't want Miles to ruin the surprise.
"I don't know, I woke them up just before I got you. Guess they must have went back to sleep," Maggie shrugged and went to the master bedroom to waken her parents.
A few minutes later, Maggie's parents plodded into the living room, extremely tired but happy. Delos supposed they were used to rising at an ungodly hour every December twenty fifth.
"Daddy first," Maggie said, making Miles' a little bit more impatient. Delos watched with a smile as her father received a watch from Maggie, a tie from Miles, and two new shirts and a tackle box from his wife, all the while feigning surprise. Then Delos handed him his large, flat present, almost shyly. This time he was truly surprised, Delos was sure because he had just bought the present yesterday.
"Oh, well Del, thank you," he said graciously as he held a chiaroscuro of the Neely family, set in a wooden frame carved by an Arlin witch. Fall leaves, deer, fish, and mountains surrounded the penciled picture of the family.
"Maybe we'll have to add you in someday," Maggie's mother said with a twinkle in her eyes. Delos refused to blush, but he did look away as the family laughed.
The lady of the house hold was given a new yellow bath robe from Miles, ruby and diamond earrings from her husband, and an oldies cd from Maggie. From Delos, she received an antique record needle, for the ancient record player in the basement that she never thought she could play again because she broke the needle as a child. From the wistful gleam in her eyes when she spoke of it, Delos knew she wanted to listen and sing along the old records her mother had sung to her. So it would be a perfect gift.
"Delos this is simply wonderful," Mrs. Neely thanked him. He nodded, unsure of what to say.
Next was Miles, who quickly ravaged the gift wrap of each gift, not reading who it came from. Maggie gave him a cd, Mr. Neely gave him a stereo system, he received a bottle of some expensive cologne from his mother, and Delos gave him new climbing equipment. Everything that Miles had was replaced by Delos' gift.
"You saved me a year's worth of shopping. Thanks." Delos was glad Miles didn't become too emotional with giving thanks like his parents.
"And now Maggie," Miles announced. He handed his sister his poorly wrapped present, which was a new CD player and some fuzzy slippers. From her parents, Maggie got a gift certificate at a store in the mall and some new shoes.
"Here…I had Miles wrap it for me," he added, causing everybody to give a laugh. It was heavy, not wrapped at all, but a simple white box. When she opened it she pushed aside the thin tissue paper and saw a scroll, made entirely out of silver. Shining gems twinkled at her from the encrusted positions sprinkling the scroll and beside it was a vial of crystal clear water. On the glass of the vial were tiny delicate drawings and unfamiliar words, Maggie could only guess what they meant.
On the silver scroll this was inscribed:
My Dearest Maggie,
To the darling girl that saved my life,
Who showed me her world and welcomed me.
Who lifted me from hell and gave me heaven,
I thank the stars for sending me such an angel.
My darling, if I was to praise you,
It would take my life time and still I would not list all you virtues.
And if there were a chance, I would hold you soft and kiss you softer.
Earth shall become cold and barren if I don't have your warmth and light.
I shall love you for all eternity, and still I fear that may not be enough.
Knowing that you share the same heart makes me happier than you'll know.
I will not treat you like a goddess, not like a queen, but as my equal, forever.
Nothing, no person or obstacle, would ever keep me from you.
From your love,
Delos
"These quartz, they're from that cave I took you the first day I met you," he whispered, hugging her from behind.
"Oh, well, Maggie, let your old parents see that," her dad said and she handed them the shining scroll. A few minutes of reading, her mother squealed and squeezed her husband's arm. Maggie knew her mother was hearing imaginary wedding bells.
"And the water?" she asked in a low voice, holding up the vial, which was about the size of her forefinger. Maggie guessed she already knew the answer.
"From the water in the cave," he nodded. "And these," he said, pointing to the painted lines, "are just little signs of love and magic."
Before he could continue, Maggie turned around and pressed her lips against his, while her family discreetly left the room.
~*~*~*~
December 25, 1999
Somewhere in California
"Hey, let's stop at that Wendy's. I have a craving for some frosties."
"Are you peeking?" Phil asked sharply, making Poppy face the front again.
"No," she said innocently next to him. James chuckled lightly behind them. He hadn't said anything in a while. Maybe because he's tired, Poppy thought. After all it is six thirty.
"Can I take this off, now?" she whined to her brother, pointing at the red scarf tied tightly around her head, covering her eyes.
"No, but you will be able soon. If you do, you won't get your Christmas present," he warned her with a smile. As he expected, she smiled back. Phil didn't worry, he knew she would close her eyes so that she wouldn't ruin the surprise.
After about ten minutes or so, Poppy did every annoying thing possible, from clicking her tongue to flicking his ear, until she felt Phil park the car. Now she closed her eyes. Phil's hand led her out of the car and they walked for a few minutes, holding hands.
She thought about how he would do so crossing the street when they were younger, much younger.
From her other senses, Poppy guessed that she was in some type of woods. The smell of lumber was cool and crisp, and she could hear the faintest noises of forest animals. And although she couldn't hear any footsteps, through their bond she could feel James walking behind them. From Phil's firm steps and her own walking, she guessed they were walking on a dirt pathway. But then the ground beneath her changed, it felt damp and sunk slightly under her feet. They must have stepped on the grass, into a clearing.
Phil let go, and since she still had her eyes closed, Poppy felt very alone.
"Merry Christmas, Poppy," she heard James whisper. He sounded far away, very far. Then arms circled her.
Normally her reaction would be to jump back, but she froze. Because the embrace felt familiar, and the scent was comforting. All her senses, they were telling her, reminding her. It was like reading a long forgotten book. Poppy wrapped her arms around the woman.
"Mom," she sobbed out in a whisper and laid her head on the warm shoulder. She felt slender, soft hands run through her curly red hair and her mother's arm was squeezing around her tightly.
"Oh, God, Poppy. My little Poppet." Both women were crying. "Oh," her mother gave a shaky laugh. "Get this thing off," she said as she moved to untie it. Then Poppy looked straight into her mother's eyes.
"You look so pretty," she said shyly, feeling like a toddler. Like she was an innocent, wide eyed girl who needed her beautiful, strong mother to protect her from the world.
"Thank you, honey." For the first time, it looked like Poppy's mother didn't know what to do. Then Poppy reached forward and kissed her mother on her cheeks.
"I missed you a lot, Mom."
She nodded, joyful tears spilling from her eyes as she did so. Without coming up with any verbal response, Poppy was once again pulled into a hard hug. For one who was so articulate, seeing her mother Poppy so happy, and strangely quiet.
For an eternity, the stood there, in the hushed clearing as the sun slowly crawled her way up to the sky. While Poppy simply rested her head on her mother's shoulder, she thought about what happened in the past hour. Maybe it wasn't the best, or even most proper reunion, but the feelings she had were just indescribable. There was a time when the elation was just too beautiful and painful to say, because any word in the English language would be too weak. That's why we're standing here, absolutely silent, she thought dreamily.
"No proper words to say this, but…well, I still can't think of anything to say." Poppy broke free from her mother and sprang to hug Phil, as hard as she could.
"Oh, Phil. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou…"
"Air seems pretty good right now," her brother gasped.
"Oh. Oops," she giggled as she loosened her hold around his waist. Sometimes she forgot about her strength. Poppy jumped up so she could hug her tall, right now too tall, brother. "Oh, Phil. This is the most wonderful, bestest, greatest, amazingest, gift ever in my whole entire life. Phil, thank you so much!" she almost shrieked in his ear. Being this happy, Poppy forgot all about grammar.
As much as Phil wanted to get her mouth away from his ear at the moment, he hugged her around the waist so that she could have an easier time thanking him. With her feet dangling in the air like that, she was almost kicking his shins in her excitement. "Hey it was mom's present, too. Kill two birds with one stone," he shrugged.
"Oh thank you, Phil. This means so much to me," his mother said and kissed his cheek and, because Poppy refused to budge, she hugged both of them. Phil was feeling a bit sheepish.
"Well, I had to," he started, but couldn't finish. He couldn't let his sister go off to her death while her mother couldn't see her before. The pain that Phil felt for maybe a few days after Poppy "died" was what his mother lived with for years. He couldn't let that happen. "And what are you thanking me for? You really should thank James," Just as he said it, Poppy spied James standing a few feet away from them, looking at the ground.
"Oh James," she squealed as she ran to him, nearly knocking him over as she leapt into his arms. The teetered for a moment, Poppy unaware of their loss of balance as James softened the fall for her with his body.
"Ouch," he breathed out while Poppy's arms embraced his neck like a boa constrictor.
"Oh, James this is the best gift anybody has given me. Gee, I don't even know how to begin to thank you…"
James stroked her silky curls while she tried to sum up her indescribable feelings. "Poppy, you don't need to thank me. I'm doing all the best things I can, to prove to the universe that I deserve you. You deserve all of this, you deserve anything you want. And I'll always be there to give it to you."
"Awe shucks, James," Poppy giggled, noticing how she sounded shaky to her own ears. "You've reduced me to tears on Christmas Day. I love you so much, I could never tell you how much," she told him, her voice muffled as she laid her head on his shoulder.
James didn't tell her he loved her back; instead he let her feel it. During the little quiet time afterwards, while he watched Poppy and her mother chatter and hug and cry, he realized that he meant what he said. He would always be there for her, no matter what. No person is going to stop him, and that meant no damn battle either.
~*~*~*~
December 25, 1999
Briar Creek, Oregon
"I mean it Thierry, if you're covering for her, you'll be sorry." Ash never knew he could muster that much courage to talk to his boss that way. But even in doubt, he managed to sound like an icicle through the line and he knew that Thierry would be surprised.
"Are you threatening me, Ash? That is not the proper way to ask for help," Thierry replied in an equally menacing tone.
With cold formality, Ash said, "I do not mean to disrespect you sir. But family duties come before any job or association and if it comes to challenging an Elder, so be it. I am merely doing what I think is necessary."
After a sigh, that to Ash seemed to last forever, Thierry answered, "I'll do what I think is best Ash. That's all." And with that there was a click and then a dial tone.
Ash leaned against the wall and finally hung up the phone when those annoying busy beeps began. Great. Three girls, two sisters and a soul mate, demanding him to fix a huge problem, and his boss…no, his friend wasn't even trying to help.
By the time Ash counted the twentieth time he had banged his head on the wall, he heard footsteps pattering up the stairs. Light, yet confidant and quick, efficient…Mary Lynnette. If it had been his sisters, he wouldn't have even heard them.
"Hey buddy, stop that," she said and pulled him away from the wall, cupping his face. "The only person allowed to beat you up is me." Ash only gave a faint smile in response. Mary Lynnette felt wetness as her soft fingers touched his cheek. "What's the matter?" she whispered.
Ash shrugged, and then cleared his throat. "Oh just that my little sister is on her way to certain death, and there's no where to turn for help. I'm powerless to stop her. What would my father say? His only son can't even stop his daughter from dying, he's just a weak hearted little good for nothing…" Ash would have continued had not Mary Lynnette hugged him tightly and stopped his lips with a quick light kiss.
"Stop that. You know she's not exactly a 'little' sister any more."
Ash had to chuckle softly at that. "That's what she wrote in my letter."
"I'm sorry we all pushed you around before," she apologized softly while weaving her hands through his blonde hair. "Just by caring, you're being a great big brother. And an even better boy friend." Ash had no clue as to what to say for that, so instead he pulled her closer, so he could be cheek to cheek with the most wonderful girl in the world.
It wasn't until Mary Lynnette heard somebody say, "Yes she's been hear for quite a while now…" that she opened the eyes she never knew she closed. Over his shoulder she saw that it was already eight o'clock and moonlight was pouring in one of the room's windows.
"Ash, we have to get moving," she told him, playing with the ends of his hair at the nape of his neck.
"Okay."
"Well, sweetie, you're going to have to put me down." For a moment Mary Lynnette thought he wasn't going to oblige, but after waiting patiently for five minutes her feet finally touched the ground.
"I know this isn't going to fix everything, but if this is what Kestrel wants to do, then she's happy. Be happy for her happiness, just like she was for us." And with that, Mary Lynnette bounced down the stairs. He supposed it was she was supposed to help with the Christmas dinner he and his sisters, the remainder of them any way, were invited to. It left him utterly amazed that Mary Lynnette could become smarter than she already was.
Later that day…
"The apple strudel was delicious Mrs. Carter," Jade remarked politely. Ash raised his eyebrows across from her. This was a Lady Jade Redfern performance at its best. Manners at the dinner table page 101.
I'm surprised you haven't eaten with your hands, he remarked silently to her with a smirk. Jade glared at him.
Don't ruin things Ash, she shot back and then sent an image of her sticking her tongue at him. He laughed aloud, safe from any curious stares because most of the family, along with Rowan, was moving to the living room. There they would open presents.
Ash didn't pay attention to what Mary Lynnette's parents received frankly because he didn't care. His gift to them was shared with Rowan's, whatever that was. He tried to care mind you, but Mary Lynnette just kept on distracting him. She was absolutely stunning in her dark blue velvet dress, lighter blue stars embroidered in just the right places. He couldn't help but notice how the dress, with its sleeveless and scoop neck top and the mid thigh hem, made her look innocent and alluring at the same time. Her chocolate brown hair hung loosely around her shoulders and down her back in beautiful curls. Even her blue eyes appeared prettier.
She caught him staring at her and made an annoyed motion with her hand, telling him to pay attention. Whose turn was it now…ah, yes Jade. Ash watched absently while she opened sweaters, perfume assortments, and other things he didn't even know the name or purpose for. He saw Jade pick up a small box, wrapped in plain brown paper and caught her eye.
"You'll like that, it's from me," he said confidently.
Jade gave him a suspicious look and ripped open the present. It was a gold necklace with a little kitty as the charm, emeralds encrusted as its eyes. Extreme details were wrought in, whiskers were noticed, and the jeweler had even marked lines and little claws at the feet. Like a greedy child she was, in Ash's opinion, Jade squeaked with pleasure when she saw it.
"Oh, Ash, thank you! Are these emeralds? How did you remember they're my birthstones? Thank you so much!"
Birthstones? Ash had no idea, but he wasn't about to admit that.
Next was Rowan, who received a few things similar to Jade's, but also books and antiques. From Ash, she received a leather bound copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Took quite a time to haggle the shop owner to a price that Ash thought suitable. Much as he expected, he was thanked by a warm hug, which he awkwardly returned.
Ash wondered vaguely why Mary Lynnette hadn't opened her presents until, after a few moments, he finally realized they were going around the room, not in a family order. Oh, he thought. That's why it was his turn now.
From Jade…a cd. Not the most original idea, but then again (in his opinion) Jade wasn't the most creative girl. From Rowan, a silver Rolex. Very nice, he thought as he pictured himself wearing it and looking…hmm what does a Rolex make one look like? Rich? Important? No matter, it was very nice any way. From the Carter's, all except Mary Lynnette, he received…laptop?
"So it will be easier to communicate with Mary Lynnette," Mark said lightly. "Just in case you happen to lose your cell again." Ash did not ignore Mark's hidden meaning behind the words, he knew the boy hated him when he left Mary Lynnette or failed to make contact.
"Thank you," he said politely to his parents, not looking at Mark.
"I'll give you your present later," Mary Lynnette told him after she unwrapped her presents.
"And I'll give you yours," he replied. He didn't want to tell Mary Lynnette that he accidentally left her gift next to Kestrel's in his room.
After some more talking and then good byes, Ash walked his sisters back to their house, which Ash noticed, Jade rolled her eyes at.
By silent understanding, Ash found Mary Lynnette as he walked to back to her house, half way there. She was still in her blue dress, but she also had a matching cape over it.
"You're pwetty," he greeted her with a childish voice as he pulled her to him. "Bewwy pwetty." He felt his girl tip toe and kiss his cheek.
"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself." Ash looked down at himself after she stepped back. He was wearing khakis, a blue, and rather stiff from little use, collar shirt and a dark tie.
"This old thing? Look what I got," he started, suddenly feeling the urge to see her face light up with surprise. After digging in his pocket, he found the cream envelope and handed it to her.
"Oh don't dawdle," he pleaded childishly as she began to study the envelope at all angles. With a little laugh that sounded like angel music to his ears, she carefully opened it and pulled out two pieces of paper.
"This is a picture of an observatory. And a letter. That's my present?" She didn't sound bratty as one would expect her to be, just mildly surprised.
"Yup, the letter is from a friend of mine who owns that observatory with that huge telescope that you see right there," he rambled excitedly. "After many months, I convinced him to let you have it." Mary Lynnette dropped the letter and its contents. Fortunately, Ash was quick enough to catch them before they fell into the snow.
"Mine?"
"Well…ours to be exact."
"And he just let us have it?" she asked incredulously. How could any one part with such a thing?
"Of course not. After serious pleading, and I mean serious, I had to resort to other means. Don't look at me like that, I didn't kill anybody, just few little deals here and there. Nothing treacherous enough for Melrose Place, Mary Lynnette, you're looking at me as if I was the devil. Aren't you happy?" Ash finished worriedly as he bent down a little to look Mary Lynnette straight in the eyes.
She blinked as if seeing him for the first time and gave an unexpected shriek, throwing her arms around his neck.
"Oh my god! Ash, this is wonderful!" Ash wrapped his arms around her waist as she began to slip down him. He also winced as she began to babble about all the things they could do, her voice a little too loud right next to his ear.
"I thought you'd like it," he said to her, the ever present confidence in his voice. She pulled her head back and gave him a kiss, to thank him and also to shut him up. She didn't want him to start bragging.
"It's in Arizona. Don't look so surprised. You thought I wasn't listening all those times you said all that stuff about air being dry or something. What do you want to call it?"
Mary Lynnette thought for a moment. "I don't know. Let's not think about that yet. Here I have to give you your present now."
She hopped down and then reached for a blue velvet purse, now partially wet from sitting in the snow for so long, and dug around inside. To his surprise, his present was also in an envelope.
Unlike Mary Lynnette, but more like Jade, he tore the envelope open excitedly and found a letter, which was written in Thierry's hand writing.
"Ash," she began, gently taking the letter away from him. "I know how you joined the Circle Daybreak for me, and how much you think of it as a burden than a duty. And I know how much you want to learn so…" Without knowing how to say it herself, she put the letter in between them and pointed to the last sentences.
I will let you go and pursue your dreams, Ash. Should you feel a need to fight by my side again, say the words. Otherwise, I wish you luck.
Boss and friend,
Thierry
"You got me fired for Christmas?" he crowed joyously as he swept her once again into his arms. With sudden strength from his happiness he tossed her in the air before catching her and kissing her hard.
Gasping for breath she pushed him away and said, "And, since you've done so much work, he'll be willing to pay for your tuition in college, that is if you want to go." As she had hoped, Ash smiled again and pulled her closer.
"Thank you, my lovely little Mary Lynnette. Thank you so much," he whispered before he kissed her, gentler than before but with equal passion.
"You make me depressed when you leave every summer and winter. This way you'll never leave me," she murmured, thinking aloud.
"We'll visit our observatory next summer," he mumbled against her lips. "I promise, no matter what, we'll make it to next summer." Mary Lynnette pulled his lips back to hers, knowing what his tone meant but did not want to pursue it.
~*~*~*~
December 25, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada
Once they arrived, Keller and Galen slept fitfully entwined in each other's arms in the reck room. Under the circumstances, it was decided that they house sit for Thierry while he was away. Keller decided she didn't feel like visiting any of her friends' families for the holidays and Galen's parent's were far too busy to accommodate guests or even celebrate the season.
Thierry only paused for a moment behind the couch and looked at the newly weds. Not wanting to awaken them, he left them a note on the television before leaving for Hannah's home. He had little to say, other than congratulations and where their presents were located.
Gale slowly opened his eyes. "What kind of idiot slams door when people are sleeping," he grumbled. He immediately regretted speaking aloud when he felt Keller stir on top of him.
"He did not slam the door. We're just jumpy," she corrected sleepily, snuggling closer to him. Galen shifted a bit uncomfortably. "What?" she asked looking up at him.
"I'm just a little ticklish when you do that," he answered and then showed a little amount of space between his fingers. "Just this much," he said.
She gave an interested "hmm" and then eased off a little. "I'll use that later. Galen…I've been thinking and…I didn't get you a present. With all the mayhem going around, it never occurred to me. I'm sorry."
He gave a soft laugh. "What a relief. You and me, we got the same kind of minds. I didn't get you a present either." He stopped smiling when he saw Keller was truly upset at his forgetfulness. Funny how she never got this emotional over problems before. A few hours before, Keller had been unbelievably distraught and then angry when she learned the mansion was virtually empty and there would be no one to see once they arrived. And now here she was, near tears because they forgot a little detail. Oh well, he thought as he moved to sit up and let Keller lay her head in his lap. He would just deal with these little mood swings, perhaps it was a new bride occurrence.
"We could pretend the gifts everybody else got us are from each other. I know it sounds silly, but it's the best I could do honey. Unless you want to go out now, but I doubt we could find a shopping place open on Christmas…" He stopped when she laid a finger on his lips.
"That will be fine. Besides, we just got married. What more of a present could we get?" Keller said happily. Galen simply looked at her. She was acting as if he had been the one who overreacted.
"Well, since we're up," she began in a brisk business like manner, suddenly standing before him, "let's get to work. There are calculations that need to get done if we want to save the major populations of the west coast."
"There's the Keller I know and love," he mumbled as she dragged him away. They worked on numbers for the rest of the afternoon, battle tactics, and dinner.
As they settled into bed Keller almost fell asleep until she felt strong arms pull her swiftly to the right side of the king size bed and a gentle mouth nibbling at her neck.
"Keller, are you all right?" her husband whispered into ear. "You've been acting strange all day."
Keller turned until she was facing her husband nose to nose. "I think it was those tofu chips our pilot let us have. Yuck." Galen laughed at her crinkled up face as she remembered the taste.
"And then you had a really light lunch," Galen added remembering the dinner mints bowl going empty as they worked in the kitchen. "Not to mention unhealthy. I forgot how weird you get with lack of food."
Without warning, Keller jumped from the bed and over Galen to the bathroom. After a few moments, Galen heard spewing and then the flushing of a toilet. Soon a wobbly Keller appeared at the door way, holding her stomach.
"I don't think that almost-expired-but-smells-all-right milk helped at all. Me and my dairy product attachments," she mumbled after she gargled and crawled into bed next to a worried Galen. Oh yes, he thought, cats and their milk….
"Are you sure you're all right? Maybe you could take some medicine…" Keller shook her head.
"Let's just go asleep Galen. We have a busy few days a head of us, so let's just have our quiet time now, huh? We'll sleep now and then work later…"Keller trailed off as she yawned and let the sleep take over her, leaving Galen yet again surprised. Keller never fell asleep so fast.
Shrugging, he gathered her into his arms and fell asleep to the calm steady rhythm of her heart beating against his.
~*~*~*~
December 25, 1999
Clayton, California
"It's nice to finally meet a few more of your new friends," Aunt Nanami said politely after the introductions were finally taken care of. It was actually more than a few, more like ten or so. To Jez's surprise, Claire quickly made new friends for every visit to the mansion.
"And it is simply a pleasure to meet the woman who created this fair being here," Warren returned, making Claire blush and her mother's eyes widen for a moment. There was nothing more than friendship there, that was certain, but just for the fun of seeing Claire turn beet red, he would say something that would convince a bystander otherwise.
"He's just being a ham," Nissa cut in and rescued Claire from batting off insinuations and meaningful looks from her mother. Mrs. Goddard gave a polite but still hopeful nod at her daughter and her friend before excusing herself to welcome other guests.
Nissa looked around and spotted Jez and Morgead walked in an unassuming air to the back porch to meet the setting sun. She started after them, but Jez's friend, Raven Mandril, caught her in conversation and soon she forgot about the couple.
"Everybody's here," Jez said in what should have been a cheerful voice, but was heard as gloomy. Morgead simply nodded in agreement from his lawn chair to her across the patio table.
"You'll get lots of presents then," he commented in a lazy voice after a while. Jez nodded. As a rule, they never formally gave each other Christmas gifts, simply because there was nothing good enough to give to each other. There would be gestures of course, dinners, walks on the beach…all the endings to the romance movies. The first year they were together, they tried very hard to give the most meaningful gifts and ended up competing on who could get the first and best gifts. It was only natural, after all those years of competing and testing each other…well, old habits died hard.
This year, they had both decided to drop the loving custom to spend time at the Goddard's Christmas party, with Jez's family. But, with all the time he had spent there and how many times he talked with them, Morgead was accepted as one of the blood as well.
For a few moments, the silence resumed as they watched the last bit of sun slowly fall behind the horizon of trees. That was as far as she could see it, but undoubtedly Morgead could still see it through the trees and even farther.
Although their purpose for leaving the jovial company had long since departed and the darkness of night was soon coming, they did not move from their restful positions. Morgead often looked over at Jez, and take in her silk silver blue dress that accentuated her curves and her eyes and the beauty of her face, her eyes. Sometimes Jez would catch him and stared into his own green irises and smile.
"I bought you a present, but I didn't want to give it to you in front of everybody," Morgead finally murmured. He was completely sure it was the wrong time and place, but the urgency was strong.
Jez watch him for a moment with interest and the tiny twinge of guilt, for she had not bought him a present. Then just a little bit of annoyance for buying her something when he knew very well it was untraditional. But the dead seriousness in his eyes stopped her from snapping at him.
Morgead seemed to hesitate, which was very uncharacteristic. His eyes hardened, as if someone had just given him a kamikaze mission and he was ready to plunge in head first.
With swift and rather jerky movements, he rose from his chair and moved to stand in front of her. He caught Jez looking at him with puzzlement in her silver-blue eyes, but ignored it to dig into his pockets. Something was missing…
"Oh, there it is," he said in a way that suggested he had lost his lighter. Before she could see what it was, he swooped down to grab something square from under the chair he vacated moments before.
"Well?" she barked impatiently when he just looked up and gazed at the stars.
"Hey, I'll give you the present when I feel like it," he snapped back out of habit. Out of all the important, peaceful moments she had to go and ruin it.
"What's the point of announcing you have a present and then giving it centuries later?" she shot back, and stood up to meet his eyes.
"Centuries? Now that I see how you feel, I don't think I should give a gift to such a greedy little girl," he replied in a mocking voice. His mind was coming up full of comebacks, but he knew he could go only so far without getting physically injured. His ego would just have to bear the bruises.
There. There, he started it. He had wound her up and then gave her nothing for a release from her curiosity. "I'm greedy? I'm greedy? Why you…you…hypocritical, dim witted, egotistical pig!"
"If I'm…all that stuff you just called me, then you're a stuck up, stubborn, ill tempered…foul shrew!" Morgead wasn't entirely sure that it meant what he thought it meant, he hadn't seen that Dickens movie for a few years now. And he immediately regretted the words as soon as he saw Jez's eyes (that were beautiful a moment before, but was now helped Morgead as a flashing on road signs that showed danger) darkened and then flashed silver in a split second.
Obviously, the insult meant the same as it had in Great Expectations, for Jez responded in the most ferocious, feral snarl Morgead had ever heard from someone, who was in human form at least. Then, while he was still numbly pondering of what her next actions would be, he felt two hands shove at him with the strength and determination of a bulldozer and the speed of Jez. Before he knew what happened, he felt the air rushing from behind him and an uncomfortable thud on mulch and azalea bushes. Looking straight above him, he could see Jez standing over the railing.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Morgead Blackthorn just fell twenty feet from this patio, nearly missing the rose bushes, and must have injured his head. Thanks heavens there's nothing valuable in there, otherwise we'd have trouble." Jez gave an artificial, game show host laugh. "Let's ask him how he feels. But wait…we don't care! Let's ask him if he will kindly give his girlfriend the Christmas present now. Morgead…give it!"
Jez's merry laughing was stopped when he tossed the gift up at her, hitting her squarely on the forehead. It didn't hurt, but her ego was sorely wounded for letting such an easy blow land. "Ow!" she yelled down at him. The stream of angry words was abruptly dammed when she observed the velvet box he had so rudely struck her with. She was so engrossed with the tiny gift that she didn't look up when Morgead leapt from the ground to the railing.
"There's more inside," he said in a mocking, but gentle tone.
"Genius alert," she murmured. Slowly, she poked a finger underneath the lid and let it swing open by itself. Jez gasped, and made Morgead smile. "Earrings? But where's the other one? Morgead, did you pawn it?"
He frowned. "Fine, if you want to make a mockery of this beautiful moment, you don't get the present," he sulked loudly. His hands made an attempt to grab it, but she held it to her protectively.
"I was just kidding!" she exclaimed. When she saw him relax, she added, "I knew the whole time it was a toe ring. But kind of fancy just to sit around in my shoe, don't you think?" Before she could stop him, the box was quickly torn from her grasp and was fit snugly in his pocket.
Morgead, with an absolutely devilish gleam in his eyes, wrapped his hands around her waist and tossed her over the railing. She let out an ear bleeding shriek, arms flailing wildly for something to hold on to. Once again, her opinion of herself plummeted at the thought of how she simply stood there when she should have been noticing any muscle twinges. Unfortunately, Morgead had tossed her directly above the roses that he had narrowly missed.
Just as she shut her eyes and was about to pivot in the air so she could land on her feet, a strong, warm hand lashed out from above her and pulled her up, but not completely.
"Are you going to accept this or not?" Morgead flashed his teeth briefly and held up the diamond ring shaped like a crystal, the golden band melted and carved into a rose.
"If I don't, I don't think I'll drop to certain death. Besides, a forced answer is hardly romantic." Despite this bantering, her heart was soaring, and she was having some slight trouble getting air in and out of her lungs. And it was definitely not because of her current dangling position. Looking up into his emerald eyes, she could see the excited twinkle there too. The anticipation and suspense was killing them both, yet they still let it drag on.
"Let me up, you gorilla." Although she still kept the mischievous and knowing smile on her lips, she winced a bit at her last insult. Apparently, the high elevation was affecting her brain; a "gorilla?" Surely there was a more effective term to insult him.
"Do you want to get married or not?" Morgead called, obviously loving the test of patience.
"Oh, is that the most popular proposal going on these days? Gee, how could a girl refuse?"
"It makes me wonder why you're still hanging there and not swooning in my arms. Say yes or no."
"Yes or no," she repeated sweetly and tossed her flaming hair back. Morgead noticed distractedly that even in the night time, the red waves were still shining and vibrant.
"I could wait here all night," he warned.
"Then so can I. Ask me properly and then we might get some forty winks," she commanded.
"What if I don't?" he challenged in an equal demanding voice.
Without a word, she let go of his hand (while he cursed himself for not keeping a stronger hold) and grabbed to the railing that was beside it. Using it as a gymnast would use the bars, she easily swung herself over him, a blur of blue and red against the black sky. Morgead took his time turning, knowing there would be a smug smile to meet him.
Silently, she gestured towards the ground and Morgead bent down on both knees. It was a gesture of surrender, not at all the romantic marriage position she wanted. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and he quickly corrected it.
"Jez Redfern, the most annoying and loving girl I know, will you do the honor of marrying me? I may regret this later, but that extra alcohol in the eggnog is just having a strange effect on me!" He was almost yelling the words now, as if he wanted the stars to share the conversation, but kept his eyes staring unflinchingly to hers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that not only the stars were involved with their serious chit chat, but also a number of faces were casually lined up against the windows.
Jez took a step closer. No more teasing, no more playful games. She let a hand run through his hair, so soft it felt like she was touching silk itself. Who ever thought of the one knee proposal anyway, she thought absently. Morgead never lost eye contact with her, but by the way his eyelids drooped ever so slightly let her know he enjoyed her touch.
Not comfortable with the difference of heights, she kneeled in front of him and wrapped two arms around his neck. "You know," she said in a voice that somehow came out low and husky, "I had my share of the eggnog. Looks like it's affecting me too…because I'm saying yes. Yes, Morgead Blackthorn, what did you think I'd say!" Despite her low voice, the excitement and eagerness wouldn't have been more obvious if she yelled it. He slipped the ring over her wedding finger.
Tired of the wait and impatient as always, his hand tangled its way into her mass of red hair and Morgead's lips capture hers. Jez was momentarily taken by surprise at his passionate, almost rough kiss. His lips were burning into hers, slowly driving her into the demanding state he was obviously in.
Every time we kiss each other…she began dreamily.
…it's like the first time, Morgead completed the thought in a gentle tone contradicting the way his lips bruised hers. Every time I look you, I feel the same way when I first fell in love with you. OH DAMN IT!
Jez was about to start when she suddenly heard voices, distant and fuzzy, outside of the small world they retreated to. Oh, she thought. That's why.
Jez broke the kiss just as Morgead did, and both turned to glare at the sickeningly cheerful faces at the windows, now openly spying. "Damn it all to hell," she agreed, annoyance clear in her voice.
Her aunt slowly opened the door, a sneaky smile on the face. "Children," Aunt Nanami started, "did what I think just happened…happen?" Morgead rolled his eyes at the word "children."
"Well did you see a flying dragon come down and eat the azalea bushes? What do you think happened?," Jez responded smartly, but sweet enough so that her aunt wouldn't become too miffed. Beyond the small woman, she could see the rows of faces laughing at her remark.
"Oh hell," Morgead swore as he picked himself up and helped Jez. "I just proposed to Jez. Is that all right?" Morgead had a way of being tactless and yet so strangely polite (such as asking if marrying his soul mate was all right and being completely serious) Jez found herself smiling at him.
"Why of course it is," a new voice assured him. Her uncle.
"Well, I'm glad I'm sharing this wonderfully romantic moment with my aunt and uncle," Jez murmured. Her uncle gave her a mildly rebuking look.
"Come on," her aunt said. "Let's go tell everybody inside."
"Actually, just that one couple in the bathroom that missed our performance," Morgead whispered in her ear as he led Jez into the house. Jez turned and kissed his cheek at the last moment of semi privacy before they faced the ecstatic crowd waiting in the living room.
~*~*~*~
December 25, 1999
Boston, Massachusetts
The silence was so strong it was deafening. Rashel had no clue why, but sometimes in completely quietness she would hear a continuous high pitched beep. She wasn't sure what made that happen, but it irritated the hell out of her. Even the flaming logs, which were supposed to be crackling to make the Christmas evening cliché, kept dutifully silent.
"Aren't we chatty John?" Rashel said calmly, eyes staying on the fire. They could have watched a television show, but her soul mate didn't keep a TV, due to the lack of time spent in the apartment. Neither of them would have known what was on any way. She hadn't said it because she was uncomfortable with the stillness. In fact, Rashel was quite content of staying on the sofa, curled up in her John's arms. She knew that other couples of Circle Daybreak were spending the Christmas night similarly.
Somewhere in the modest apartment, an antique grandfather clock chimed. Rashel counted…one. That was it, just one. She had stayed longer than she had intended. It was so easy to lose time, because when she and John held each other…Rashel sighed. There simply was no such thing as time then.
"Would you like to stay here for the night?" he asked in a normal tone, not in the least uncomfortable in asking her. No matter how frank the conversation got, somehow Quinn was never bothered to ask her anything.
Rashel turned to give him a sharp look, but only to receive a calm look in return. "I'll be a gentleman Rashel. Really. What dirty little idea did you have forming in your brilliant mind?" He said it all in an innocent voice, never skipping a beat.
For a moment, she wasn't sure if she should be irked for accusing her as such, or to smile at his compliment. She chose the former.
"Of course not. Lord knows you were though. Hundred years old you maybe, but you still got the body and…bodily functions…"she said casually but with a gleam in her eyes, "of an eighteen year old man."
Quinn grinned against her hair. He was glad that he had no comment for that, for any that he could come up with would surely earn him a slap in the face and a Christmas evening alone. After another lapse of quiet time, he murmured, "Then it seems that I am seeing an older woman. You are after all, nineteen." It was true. When they had first met, she had been seventeen and he, well his body, was eighteen. Now the tables had turned.
Rashel thought about it for a minutes. "You're right. I'm a regular cradle robber," she grinned. As always, he caught her by surprise by cobra quick precision and speed to press his lips upon hers. She wasn't sure if he did it by impulse, or just to stop her talking. Either way, she always found herself kissing back.
When she pulled back, she forgot what she was saying and simply laid her head on his shoulders. It was just the two of them and he loved it this way. They had been to Christmas parties, birthday parties, graduation parties…Quinn was happy they were alone, especially now.
"Have you called everybody and told them our Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukah, and holiday greetings?" he asked suddenly.
"No," she answered smoothly, "they already called. Mostly to ask us again if they wanted us to come to their parties. You were off somewhere, and there is still lots of messages on the answering machine if you want to hear them."
"You want to know what your present is?" He waited until she nodded. "I'm going to let you drive my BMW again." He didn't react to the slight elbow jab at his stomach.
"Oh that! The other car appeared from no where, John. You know I'm a good driver. You were just so possessive of that hunk of metal, you used that tiny accident as an excuse to have it all to yourself." She was happy though, that she would have transportation now, unlike the six months where she was banned from using it.
"Now, now don't say such harsh words. In my day we only had horses to use and we had to feed them. Hunk of metal indeed…"
Rashel smiled, knowing in a small way she was right. "Did you want a Christmas present from me? I'm sorry, John, I didn't get you one," she apologized, guilt thick in her voice. He tightened his arms around her.
"Stay here, with me. Keep an old man company. Don't want to be lonely on Christmas night. That will be my Christmas present." Rashel turned to him and sighed. Rashel knew that her John rarely went so far as a puppy dog face, as most men knew how strong that weapon was, but when he did…she melted. Right into a puddle in his lap.
"Okay," she breathed, hardly aware she was agreeing. Quinn lost the wide eyes and slightly drooping bottom lip to give her another kiss, this time more forceful.
~*~*~*~
December 25, 1999
Somewhere else in Boston
It had been a beautiful October day. That was the first thing she remembered, and then she recalled the farm they visited. Everything had been perfect, even the deformed, brown pumpkins made it all picturesque. And they all held hands and laughed, as if one could get lost in the flat field of pumpkin rows. It was such a Kodak moment, her feelings for the memory wavered between nostalgia and disgust.
It was her present to herself. Never mind the stupid sweaters and perfumes from that piece of fluff Brooke, and forget the priceless and expensive trinkets from Hunter. It was all worthless. But memories weren't worthless at all; they were all she had left. And remembering them was an option she hadn't given herself in a long time, too long.
Mari remembered the time Robby came home from the hospital. Her little brother, with big, wondering blue eyes and shining dark brown hair, almost black. Her father whispered to her, "Look princess, look. He looks just like you." She agreed very solemnly.
It was now strange to remember that moment. Her brother, a boy she was never related too, bore resemblance to her. That changed as he grew older. His dark hair gradually lightened, and his eyes remained round, while hers were almond shaped. Nevertheless, people still recognized them as relatives. What a joke.
After all many said Mari tanned very much like a second cousin on her father's side. There was no reason to doubt her heritage. Mari wished she hadn't.
Her mother, Carol Yolken. She too had brown hair, but later on dyed it blonde in her middle aged years. From the age twelve and up, all Mari could remember were argument after argument with the woman. But before that, they were the best of friends. Maybe that was why they never got along during her teen years.
And her father. He had been Swedish, tall and nothing short of a Viking. A booming laugh that shook the hanging pictures on the walls, but he also had a quiet and reasonable voice that was just as powerful. Try as she might, Mari could not find single fault in the man. In death, it was hard to find any flaw in anybody one was close to.
And I killed them all, she thought, depressed, in her bed. One o'clock and all she could do was think about the family she formerly belonged to. They didn't lie to her. They didn't question her motives for every move she made. She learned from Hunter that they truly thought she was a Yolken. He had her switched with their true daughter, so she could grow up in a happy home. It had been internal agony to laugh with him about her past.
Don't think about that, she ordered herself. Think about the happy things. She thought about picnics, birthday parties, and other familial events before the fire. It was all she had left.
~*~*~*~
December 27, 1999
Las Vegas, Nevada
Thierry woke the couple up with a polite slamming of the door. Galen was the first to open his eyes but soon closed them when Thierry pulled the curtains open jerkily.
"Why? What is it?" Keller asked sitting up with a hand to hold up the blanket over her chest.
"Have you seen Hannah?" he demanded. Galen noticed his movements weren't fluid as usual and there were dark bags under his eyes. "Has Hannah been here?" he demanded with more volume when they merely sat there.
"No," Galen answered slowly, cautiously. "We thought she was with you…"
"She was! She was with me one moment at her parents house…and when I woke up her parents said she left already. She left without me! Her parents wouldn't tell me where, I'm not even sure they knew. I was hoping…I was hoping that she was here just for some cute little trick to worry me…"
Mutely, Keller shook her head. The mature motherly Hannah she knew was not the sort to play such a trick. Thierry looked at them one last time with narrowed eyes, his ridiculous suspicion louder than a siren. With a frustrated growl rumbling deep in his throat, Thierry stormed out the room.
Since sleepiness fled them with the new problem at hand, the two began to climb out of bed. In their silence, they could hear doors slam louder than the prior. Thierry was checking each room, which was quite a task considering the size of the mansion. By one last slam that echoed down the hall, Keller and Galen were already dressed and ready for the flight to the island. The footsteps farther down the corridor seemed angry themselves. Thierry's fury could be felt through the walls, and possibly through out the entire mansion.
"WHERE THE IS SHE?"
"I saw you—my anger became admiration;
And now, all my wish, all my hope's to regain you." George Gordon, Lord Byron
