Disclaimer: The Night World is the property of L.J. Smith as are any of the
characters you recognise like Thierry, Hannah, Lupe etc.
Spoilers: All of the Night World books and my story Bound by Flame.
Author's notes: This is the first part of a sequel to my story Bound by Flame, you don't have to have read Bound by Flame to read this one. Also I'll only be able to get about one part a week out for the next few weeks because I have a load of college assignments. Anyway that's all, I hope you like the story.
Part 1.
There are soulmates who describe their connection as a silver cord connecting them, binding them soul to soul. There are others however, those who are bound by fire, joined by heat and flame. A fire that burns bright and long but fire cannot be controlled, it cannot be mastered and the fire that binds can burn.
Diablo Mandril was angry; no he was extraordinarily pissed off. He was 18 years old, lamia and a Dark Ninja; he should have been out trying to find the fourth wild power or trying to raid Daybreak headquarters or anything but being stuck in some hick town chasing a lone daybreaker. To make matters worse he was stuck in this little backwater with Cassian Ashcroft and Charlotte Adams. Nothing like watching the two of them suck face to make him want to get this job over as quickly as possible.
Cassian had once revealed to him while very, very drunk that he and Charlotte were soulmates. Diablo didn't believe in soulmates; it was a load of Daybreak crap as far as he was concerned. But if it were true, if he suspended his disbelief for a moment and considered the situation then he had to give definite props to Cassian for not going all soft and joining Daybreak as so many had, and to Charlotte too, he supposed, for having the good sense to give up her vermin existence and become a vampire. They weren't the worst partners he could have had. It wasn't a difficult job either, just one daybreaker.
He glanced at the photo that sat on the dashboard. Just another foolish daybreaker who didn't have a clue what was coming their way; who didn't know the trouble their decision to join Daybreak had got them into. Of course she had to have done something more than just be a daybreaker to warrant sending a Dark Ninja team after her. Diablo didn't know what it was she had done and he hadn't asked. He had his orders they were all he needed.
Wenona breezed in the doors of her high school and hurried to her locker. She was oblivious to the looks she was getting from people, envious glares from the girls along with blatant stares and surreptitious glances from the boys, which was why she didn't understand why her friend Aniela was grinning at her like a clown.
"What?" she asked.
"You really don't know do you?" Aniela replied.
"I really don't," Wenona told her, "so you'd better tell me."
"Just that everyone her wants you or else wants to be you," Aniela informed her.
"Why?"
Aniela laughed, "Because you're beautiful and nice and you've got this whole," she drew out the last word while she searched for a word to express what she meant, "serenity thing going for you. You're always so calm and happy like nothing could ever get you down. A lot of us would like to feel that."
Wenona shook her head, "I don't get it."
"I know you don't and that's cause you're happy how you are; you don't know what it's like to want to be another person."
"Do you?" Wenona asked her friend with concern.
"Sure, sometimes, I think most people do once in a while."
"Who do you want to be?" Wenona inquired interested.
Aniela laughed again, dark eyes twinkling, "I don't know, everyone. I really don't know, different people different days."
"But why would you want to be anyone but you?" Wenona asked.
"Look at me," Aniela replied.
Wenona did, Aniela was short with dark hair and eyes inherited from her Italian father and pale skin from her Scandinavian mother. Aniela also blamed her Italian heritage for her dumpy figure but Wenona tended to pin it on her love of junk food and hatred of exercise of any kind. She had a small, pretty face, which was more often than not smiling. Aniela was one of the nicest people she knew and her closest friend.
"What am I supposed to be looking at? I don't see anything out of the ordinary."
"Exactly," Aniela told her, "that's me, perfectly ordinary. Sometimes I'd just like to know what it's like to be different."
"Being different isn't necessarily a good thing," Wenona replied, "anyway come on Ani you know you're anything but ordinary."
Aniela smiled, "I guess but I'm not extraordinary either. Forget about it anyway. We'd better get to class."
Wenona sighed and followed her friend wondering why humans always seemed so unhappy with their lot. Maybe she was generalising a little but it always seemed to her like humans tended to concentrate on what they didn't have rather than what they did and that would make anyone feel unhappy.
Diablo sat in front of the slack faced principal as Cassian worked on her mind so she would believe that these young people in front of her were supposed to be there and had been enrolled in the school. They had the fake documentation all they needed was her to remember filling out a few forms and talking to a parent on the phone or something.
"Is this going to take much longer?" Diablo drawled.
"If you're going to keep interrupting me then yes it is going to take a little longer. Why don't you do it yourself if you're so worried about it?"
"You know why," Diablo snapped, "if you want to wipe someone then I'm your man but suggestion and implantation is something completely different. It takes a certain type of vampire to do that kind of thing."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult," Cassian replied.
"It's an insult," Diablo told him stretching his long legs and yawning widely.
"He's just jealous," Charlotte said to Cassian, "can't stand the idea of anyone being better than him at anything."
"True," Diablo replied, "but that's a little too much like a witch power for me to want to be able to do it. You must have some witch blood somewhere in your family Cas, which might explain a few things actually," he theorised looking at Charlotte.
"Asshole," Charlotte muttered.
"And proud of it," Diablo said with a grin.
Charlotte snorted and bit her lip on a smile, "I've never met someone so unashamedly arrogant and so blatantly obvious about the fact they don't give a shit about anyone but themselves."
"Well I've had a lifetime's practice, at least I'm honest, most people do feel the same way about things I do; they just waste time trying to hide it from other people."
"You children finished?" Cassian asked, "Because it's almost show time."
"Ready when you are," Diablo told him, "We're all prepared to be the perfect little high school students. Right Lotty?"
"The name is Charlotte," Charlotte replied coldly.
"Hit a sore spot did I?" Diablo said with a grin.
"Her mom called her Lotty," Cassian told him causing Charlotte to stare daggers at him. "I didn't know it was a state secret," he muttered.
"Maternal issues," Diablo said languidly, "how very boring."
"My mother," Charlotte replied in even tones, "was a bitch."
"Join the club," Diablo told her, "we seem to have an incredibly large membership."
"I'd love to listen to you two swap wicked mother stories," Cassian said, "but I'm just about done so you may want to get your game faces on."
"Funny, he says the same thing when we're about to fight," Charlotte said with a smile, "I hardly think he expects us to use the same one."
"I don't know, I think it might be fun to see how she'd react to that, " Diablo said.
"We're not here to have fun," Cassian replied then grinned, "not yet anyway."
Diablo smiled, "Glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoys my work."
"Isn't it great when you can turn your hobby into a lucrative profession," Cassian said with a wide smile.
"You guys are such psychopaths," Charlotte told them both.
"I agree," Cassian replied, "but don't pretend you aren't too."
Charlotte grinned, "I won't say I don't like the money but I don't enjoy the kill quite as much as you two do."
"Nothing wrong with taking pride in your work," Diablo said with a smile that flashed an incredible amount of fang.
"Come on Char," Cassian said, "don't try and tell me you don't like what we do. I know you too well for that."
"You know me too well for anything, "Charlotte smiled, "but I guess I'll admit that I like that I'm good at it."
"That's my good little psycho in training," Cassian said with a grin.
"Psycho in training, I like that," Diablo murmured.
"If it means I turn out like you then I'm not sure I do," Charlotte replied.
"What if it means you turn out like me?" Cassian asked softly.
"That I think I could handle," Charlotte replied as Cassian came over to stand beside her.
"Gag me with a spoon," Diablo muttered, "you guys are way too lovey dovey for me. However the hell you got to be Dark Ninjas is beyond me."
Charlotte turned to him mouth open to retort but the principle's eyes began to flutter open. Diablo grinned at Charlotte pretty much just to piss her off and it worked. He knew she'd probably make him regret it later but it was fun watching her smoulder.
Aniela sat in her American History class wondering if Mr. Cartwright knew exactly how boring he was. Her theory was not only did he know but that he practised at it. No one could be that boring naturally, he had to practice at it, maybe even had professional training.
He droned on and on and on, she wasn't even sure what he was talking about; she'd lost track about ten minutes before. Wenona caught her eye and grinned, obviously she was as bored as Aniela was. Aniela rolled her eyes and grinned back but she didn't yawn though she really, really wanted to. She was very proud of her restraint.
She was just about to drop off to sleep when the door swung open and their principal march in followed by two guys and a girl. Mr. Cartwright looked up shocked and Aniela could understand how he was feeling, Mrs. Reed could be brusque but she was rarely rude, something had to be up.
While Mrs. Reed and Mr. Cartwright spoke quietly amongst themselves Aniela found her attention drawn to the three new kids. The girl was fairly tall and curved in all the right places. She had fair hair cropped tight to her head and a beautiful, oval face. She looked like she had hopped off the front page of a fashion magazine. Aniela disliked her immediately.
One of the boys stood close to the girl, a possessive stance whether he realised it or not. His face was all sharp angles and lines; he had high, prominent cheekbones and a sharp chin. A pair of large, very soft looking lips were all that kept his face from being too sharp, too stark. He was medium height for a guy, which made him about the same height as the girl maybe an inch or two shorter; it depended on how high the girl's heels were. He wore a tight t-shirt to show off his well-defined muscles, the kind of muscles you got from weight lifting or heavy manual labour. Aniela was betting on the weight lifting; he looked like someone who worked on his appearance.
That left one guy, he was tall, very tall about 6ft 1" or 2" and wore a pair of expensive sunglasses and a sardonic smile. He had short, curly blond hair and an extremely handsome face. He had a strong, square jaw, a straight, roman nose and soft, sensuous lips. His long legs were clad in a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt clung to a flat muscled upper body. Aniela didn't know what it was but there was something slightly nefarious about him, as if all black was less of a fashion statement and more of a lifestyle choice.
Wenona scrutinised the new kids with interest, new people in town were few and far between, new Night Worlders in town were an anomaly but 3 new Night Worlders turning up all at once that was very, very strange and it gave her a deep sense of foreboding. Of course she could just be being paranoid; they could all be there for a perfectly innocent reason the fact that she couldn't think of one right then didn't mean anything.
Mrs. Reed left the room abruptly leaving Mr. Cartwright to make the introductions. Cassian Ashcroft, Diablo Mandril and Charlotte Adams, Wenona felt vague recognition at the names but she couldn't quiet remember why she recognised them. They were all definitely Night People, vampires. The boys were lamia and Wenona was pretty sure the girl was made. Maybe she had been changed illegally by one of the boys or something and that was why they were here, yeah that was probably it.
The blond had taken off his sunglasses and was now staring right at her. Wenona felt a chill run through her; darkness clung to the boy just like the dark clothes he wore. There was something incredibly unnerving about the way he looked at her, something beneath those eyes and cool façade, she felt fear rise in her throat but he turned away and she convinced herself she imagined it.
Diablo turned away quickly from the witch girl. There was something in her eyes that said she could see right through him, that she could see straight into his soul and what she saw there wasn't pretty. It was hardly news, he'd never proclaimed to be a pure soul but to have someone look at him like that, look at him like they could see his very essence; it wasn't a pleasant thought. He didn't know why but something about her almost made him feel sorry there wasn't something good in him for her to see, almost.
Spoilers: All of the Night World books and my story Bound by Flame.
Author's notes: This is the first part of a sequel to my story Bound by Flame, you don't have to have read Bound by Flame to read this one. Also I'll only be able to get about one part a week out for the next few weeks because I have a load of college assignments. Anyway that's all, I hope you like the story.
Part 1.
There are soulmates who describe their connection as a silver cord connecting them, binding them soul to soul. There are others however, those who are bound by fire, joined by heat and flame. A fire that burns bright and long but fire cannot be controlled, it cannot be mastered and the fire that binds can burn.
Diablo Mandril was angry; no he was extraordinarily pissed off. He was 18 years old, lamia and a Dark Ninja; he should have been out trying to find the fourth wild power or trying to raid Daybreak headquarters or anything but being stuck in some hick town chasing a lone daybreaker. To make matters worse he was stuck in this little backwater with Cassian Ashcroft and Charlotte Adams. Nothing like watching the two of them suck face to make him want to get this job over as quickly as possible.
Cassian had once revealed to him while very, very drunk that he and Charlotte were soulmates. Diablo didn't believe in soulmates; it was a load of Daybreak crap as far as he was concerned. But if it were true, if he suspended his disbelief for a moment and considered the situation then he had to give definite props to Cassian for not going all soft and joining Daybreak as so many had, and to Charlotte too, he supposed, for having the good sense to give up her vermin existence and become a vampire. They weren't the worst partners he could have had. It wasn't a difficult job either, just one daybreaker.
He glanced at the photo that sat on the dashboard. Just another foolish daybreaker who didn't have a clue what was coming their way; who didn't know the trouble their decision to join Daybreak had got them into. Of course she had to have done something more than just be a daybreaker to warrant sending a Dark Ninja team after her. Diablo didn't know what it was she had done and he hadn't asked. He had his orders they were all he needed.
Wenona breezed in the doors of her high school and hurried to her locker. She was oblivious to the looks she was getting from people, envious glares from the girls along with blatant stares and surreptitious glances from the boys, which was why she didn't understand why her friend Aniela was grinning at her like a clown.
"What?" she asked.
"You really don't know do you?" Aniela replied.
"I really don't," Wenona told her, "so you'd better tell me."
"Just that everyone her wants you or else wants to be you," Aniela informed her.
"Why?"
Aniela laughed, "Because you're beautiful and nice and you've got this whole," she drew out the last word while she searched for a word to express what she meant, "serenity thing going for you. You're always so calm and happy like nothing could ever get you down. A lot of us would like to feel that."
Wenona shook her head, "I don't get it."
"I know you don't and that's cause you're happy how you are; you don't know what it's like to want to be another person."
"Do you?" Wenona asked her friend with concern.
"Sure, sometimes, I think most people do once in a while."
"Who do you want to be?" Wenona inquired interested.
Aniela laughed again, dark eyes twinkling, "I don't know, everyone. I really don't know, different people different days."
"But why would you want to be anyone but you?" Wenona asked.
"Look at me," Aniela replied.
Wenona did, Aniela was short with dark hair and eyes inherited from her Italian father and pale skin from her Scandinavian mother. Aniela also blamed her Italian heritage for her dumpy figure but Wenona tended to pin it on her love of junk food and hatred of exercise of any kind. She had a small, pretty face, which was more often than not smiling. Aniela was one of the nicest people she knew and her closest friend.
"What am I supposed to be looking at? I don't see anything out of the ordinary."
"Exactly," Aniela told her, "that's me, perfectly ordinary. Sometimes I'd just like to know what it's like to be different."
"Being different isn't necessarily a good thing," Wenona replied, "anyway come on Ani you know you're anything but ordinary."
Aniela smiled, "I guess but I'm not extraordinary either. Forget about it anyway. We'd better get to class."
Wenona sighed and followed her friend wondering why humans always seemed so unhappy with their lot. Maybe she was generalising a little but it always seemed to her like humans tended to concentrate on what they didn't have rather than what they did and that would make anyone feel unhappy.
Diablo sat in front of the slack faced principal as Cassian worked on her mind so she would believe that these young people in front of her were supposed to be there and had been enrolled in the school. They had the fake documentation all they needed was her to remember filling out a few forms and talking to a parent on the phone or something.
"Is this going to take much longer?" Diablo drawled.
"If you're going to keep interrupting me then yes it is going to take a little longer. Why don't you do it yourself if you're so worried about it?"
"You know why," Diablo snapped, "if you want to wipe someone then I'm your man but suggestion and implantation is something completely different. It takes a certain type of vampire to do that kind of thing."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult," Cassian replied.
"It's an insult," Diablo told him stretching his long legs and yawning widely.
"He's just jealous," Charlotte said to Cassian, "can't stand the idea of anyone being better than him at anything."
"True," Diablo replied, "but that's a little too much like a witch power for me to want to be able to do it. You must have some witch blood somewhere in your family Cas, which might explain a few things actually," he theorised looking at Charlotte.
"Asshole," Charlotte muttered.
"And proud of it," Diablo said with a grin.
Charlotte snorted and bit her lip on a smile, "I've never met someone so unashamedly arrogant and so blatantly obvious about the fact they don't give a shit about anyone but themselves."
"Well I've had a lifetime's practice, at least I'm honest, most people do feel the same way about things I do; they just waste time trying to hide it from other people."
"You children finished?" Cassian asked, "Because it's almost show time."
"Ready when you are," Diablo told him, "We're all prepared to be the perfect little high school students. Right Lotty?"
"The name is Charlotte," Charlotte replied coldly.
"Hit a sore spot did I?" Diablo said with a grin.
"Her mom called her Lotty," Cassian told him causing Charlotte to stare daggers at him. "I didn't know it was a state secret," he muttered.
"Maternal issues," Diablo said languidly, "how very boring."
"My mother," Charlotte replied in even tones, "was a bitch."
"Join the club," Diablo told her, "we seem to have an incredibly large membership."
"I'd love to listen to you two swap wicked mother stories," Cassian said, "but I'm just about done so you may want to get your game faces on."
"Funny, he says the same thing when we're about to fight," Charlotte said with a smile, "I hardly think he expects us to use the same one."
"I don't know, I think it might be fun to see how she'd react to that, " Diablo said.
"We're not here to have fun," Cassian replied then grinned, "not yet anyway."
Diablo smiled, "Glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoys my work."
"Isn't it great when you can turn your hobby into a lucrative profession," Cassian said with a wide smile.
"You guys are such psychopaths," Charlotte told them both.
"I agree," Cassian replied, "but don't pretend you aren't too."
Charlotte grinned, "I won't say I don't like the money but I don't enjoy the kill quite as much as you two do."
"Nothing wrong with taking pride in your work," Diablo said with a smile that flashed an incredible amount of fang.
"Come on Char," Cassian said, "don't try and tell me you don't like what we do. I know you too well for that."
"You know me too well for anything, "Charlotte smiled, "but I guess I'll admit that I like that I'm good at it."
"That's my good little psycho in training," Cassian said with a grin.
"Psycho in training, I like that," Diablo murmured.
"If it means I turn out like you then I'm not sure I do," Charlotte replied.
"What if it means you turn out like me?" Cassian asked softly.
"That I think I could handle," Charlotte replied as Cassian came over to stand beside her.
"Gag me with a spoon," Diablo muttered, "you guys are way too lovey dovey for me. However the hell you got to be Dark Ninjas is beyond me."
Charlotte turned to him mouth open to retort but the principle's eyes began to flutter open. Diablo grinned at Charlotte pretty much just to piss her off and it worked. He knew she'd probably make him regret it later but it was fun watching her smoulder.
Aniela sat in her American History class wondering if Mr. Cartwright knew exactly how boring he was. Her theory was not only did he know but that he practised at it. No one could be that boring naturally, he had to practice at it, maybe even had professional training.
He droned on and on and on, she wasn't even sure what he was talking about; she'd lost track about ten minutes before. Wenona caught her eye and grinned, obviously she was as bored as Aniela was. Aniela rolled her eyes and grinned back but she didn't yawn though she really, really wanted to. She was very proud of her restraint.
She was just about to drop off to sleep when the door swung open and their principal march in followed by two guys and a girl. Mr. Cartwright looked up shocked and Aniela could understand how he was feeling, Mrs. Reed could be brusque but she was rarely rude, something had to be up.
While Mrs. Reed and Mr. Cartwright spoke quietly amongst themselves Aniela found her attention drawn to the three new kids. The girl was fairly tall and curved in all the right places. She had fair hair cropped tight to her head and a beautiful, oval face. She looked like she had hopped off the front page of a fashion magazine. Aniela disliked her immediately.
One of the boys stood close to the girl, a possessive stance whether he realised it or not. His face was all sharp angles and lines; he had high, prominent cheekbones and a sharp chin. A pair of large, very soft looking lips were all that kept his face from being too sharp, too stark. He was medium height for a guy, which made him about the same height as the girl maybe an inch or two shorter; it depended on how high the girl's heels were. He wore a tight t-shirt to show off his well-defined muscles, the kind of muscles you got from weight lifting or heavy manual labour. Aniela was betting on the weight lifting; he looked like someone who worked on his appearance.
That left one guy, he was tall, very tall about 6ft 1" or 2" and wore a pair of expensive sunglasses and a sardonic smile. He had short, curly blond hair and an extremely handsome face. He had a strong, square jaw, a straight, roman nose and soft, sensuous lips. His long legs were clad in a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt clung to a flat muscled upper body. Aniela didn't know what it was but there was something slightly nefarious about him, as if all black was less of a fashion statement and more of a lifestyle choice.
Wenona scrutinised the new kids with interest, new people in town were few and far between, new Night Worlders in town were an anomaly but 3 new Night Worlders turning up all at once that was very, very strange and it gave her a deep sense of foreboding. Of course she could just be being paranoid; they could all be there for a perfectly innocent reason the fact that she couldn't think of one right then didn't mean anything.
Mrs. Reed left the room abruptly leaving Mr. Cartwright to make the introductions. Cassian Ashcroft, Diablo Mandril and Charlotte Adams, Wenona felt vague recognition at the names but she couldn't quiet remember why she recognised them. They were all definitely Night People, vampires. The boys were lamia and Wenona was pretty sure the girl was made. Maybe she had been changed illegally by one of the boys or something and that was why they were here, yeah that was probably it.
The blond had taken off his sunglasses and was now staring right at her. Wenona felt a chill run through her; darkness clung to the boy just like the dark clothes he wore. There was something incredibly unnerving about the way he looked at her, something beneath those eyes and cool façade, she felt fear rise in her throat but he turned away and she convinced herself she imagined it.
Diablo turned away quickly from the witch girl. There was something in her eyes that said she could see right through him, that she could see straight into his soul and what she saw there wasn't pretty. It was hardly news, he'd never proclaimed to be a pure soul but to have someone look at him like that, look at him like they could see his very essence; it wasn't a pleasant thought. He didn't know why but something about her almost made him feel sorry there wasn't something good in him for her to see, almost.