Part 2

"Not another bloody Wild Power!" Elisabetta whined, staring at Orion in disbelief. She was so sick of hunting down supposed Wild Powers. Most of them usually turned out to be lost witches. Everyone on her team was also pretty tired of trying to solve the "witch who wasn't a witch" mystery as well.

"Supposedly this one's the real thing," Orion said, flashing her a dazzling smile.

Elisabetta's dark eyes rolled. So were the last - how many? - four girls they'd hunted. Two of them were dead. The other two were now working as Night World agents. Not that it was going to be much help. So far this whole end-of-the -world thingie didn't seem to be going very far.

"What makes you so sure that is girl's the Wild Power?" she said tiredly. Elisabetta was starting to wonder if Circle Daybreak were getting as sick of looking for this person as they were.

She knew she wasn't the only Night Person bored with Wild Powers. Why couldn't something new come along?

"The orders came from the Night World Council, they seem pretty sure," Orion said, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

Elisabetta even found herself smiling as his lips started moving down his throat. "Don't even *think* about biting me," she said in sing-song voice.

"Oh come on," Orion muttered, his tongue running over her neck. "Just a tiny sharp pain..."

Elisabetta squired out of his arms, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. "Dream on. So where are we heading this time?"

"Kansas."

Elisabetta barked a laugh. "You've *got* to be joking."

Orion flashed another of his dazzling smiles, pausing in front of a mirror to admire himself, his nicely chiselled features, blond hair messed up attractively right. "Sorry Dorothy, there's no place like home, right?"

Elisabetta's eyes rolled. "You're not from Kansas." She shook her head, wondering how she'd ever managed to get herself paired up with a jerk like Orion Redfern. They had been working together for almost two years. Still, he managed to drive her nuts with his high-school-jock attitude. Granted, they were still both seniors, but from a Night Person, and a Redfern at that, she would have expected more from him.

"What's the story with the girl then?" Elisabetta asked, looking at the picture Orion had given her.

"Don't know. They just said they wanted her no matter what the cost. Her name is Sati Meyer."

Elisabetta tossed the picture to one side. The girl looked like your average girl-next-door type. She doubted the girl would turn out to be anything more. It seemed to be a total waste of time.

"They already know, don't they?"

Orion nodded. "Apparently they've got Garret Redfern on their search-and-find mission."

Elisabetta was surprised. "Your brother? I thought he was dead." Well, at least Garret would provide them with something of a decent challenge.

"That's not going to be a problem, is it?" Orion was looking at her with narrowed eyed. "You won't hesitate to kill him if necessary?"

Elisabetta just glared at him, Okay, so she'd messed up once, and he'd never let her forget it. When Garret had disappeared she had convinced herself that he was dead. How foolish of her. Now he had shown up again, working for *them*.

"No," she snapped. "Leave it."

Orion looked at her for several minutes, then nodded. "All right. The flight leaves at nine tomorrow morning."

Elisabetta sighed. Great. Wild Powers and Garret to worry about. "Who's he working with?"

Orion shrugged. "Lareina Somebodyorother. A shifter."

Name didn't mean anything to Elisabetta. Competition had never been much of a problem for her before. Garret had resurfaced after hiding for almost two hundred years, then. Now he was a Damned Daybreaker.

Didn't mean he had to stay that way.

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