Part 4

"He's up to something, I'm sure of it," Darcy said. She sat in the underground club with her best friend Frost Bloodthorn.

"What makes you so sure?" Frost asked, pulling her teeth out the neck of the human she was feeling on. He lay across her lap, a goofy smile plastered across his face as Frost stroked his bare chest like he was a pet. His damp dark hair was squashed against Frost's flat stomach.

Loud speed metal music blasted out from the DJ' booth. Human dancers in cages twisted and writhed with the music. The dance floor was packed with Night People, and God knew what else, looking for a good time, all the same.

Darcy had been waiting for Aidan to show up. He'd said he would, but hadn't made an appearance yet. "Aidan was drooling over that vermin bitch Sydney."

"And you're jealous because...?" Frost turned her human over so he lay on his back, her hand running up and down his spine. "Want some?" she offered.

Darcy winced. "No thanks. And I am /not/ jealous."

That wasn't it. She was sure of it. Just concerned. Humans were nothing but food, and it was forbidden to drool over them. That was the way it was for Night People, that was how they had survived. It did them no good to get involved with vermin. Vermin had that irritating habit of being afraid of what they didn't know and going nuts trying to do something about it.

"Have you talked to him?"

"He won't answer me," Darcy said moodily.

"So leave it at that."

Darcy shook her head. "I can't. Where would vermin people be?"

Frost shrugged. "There's supposed to be a party at Shaine Krystaline's."

Darcy sighed. Great, bimbo central, she thought. She knew for a fact that Sydney didn't run with that crowd. She was no one special, so why should someone like Aidan be interested in her at all?

"I don't know why she annoys me so much, she just /does/," she admitted. Not that that really made her feel any better. She didn't know if Frost could give her any decent answers as to why.

"You could ask the witches to find something," Frost offered.

Darcy made a face. The only witches were Daybreak, and the last thing Darcy wanted to do was find herself turning to them for advice. She certainly wasn't ready to sink that low yet. "He was stood at the bitch's locker, blathering to her about how he was the one she had been dreaming of."



She shook her head in utter disgust, grabbing the Vodka bottle from a passing waitress. Who backed off as Darcy just looked at her, eyes flashing briefly. She took a large swig. "Can you believe anyone would be that stupid? Destiny and humans don't mix."

"I guess." Frost was oddly silent at this comment, she had knocked the human off her lap all together, no longer interested in him. He couldn't quite manage to drag himself to his feet, making a gargling sound in his throat, grabbing for Frost's leg. She kicked his hand away with her heel. She stood up, walking away.

Darcy watched her go, eyebrow raised slightly in disbelief. What the hell was all /that/ about? She sighed heavily, taking another mouthful from the bottle. Frost was one of those wild girls who didn't seem to care about anything. She coasted through life and had about as much depth as a bed sheet. Or at least that was the image she tried to portray.

She stood up, leaving the bottle on the table. As much as she dreaded the thought, it looked like she was going to have to enter alien territory at the vermin party to get some answers.

* * *

"Try not to kill her, we'll make it up to you later." Shaine hoped her voice sounded calm, reasonable. If she acted scared, then there was no way Zaire would ever agree to her plan. She wished they were in a nice bright area instead of the smoky dive he liked to hang out in.

"Why can't I kill her? It's not my policy to leave humans alive when I'm done playing with them."

"Carmel said you were on bored." Shaine folded her arms, watching him carefully.

Zaire shrugged, his grin almost manic. "Yeah, but who's to say once I get into this I might change my mind?"

Shaine threw a wad of cash at him. She'd promised Aidan she'd help him with this one. She liked to think the idea of soulmates was actually possible. Maybe she didn't agree with any of Circle Daybreak's other principles, but soulmates was as old as the Ancient Powers. Aidan was absolutely certain that the spell he and his friends had cast pointed him to Sydney.

To make the thing work, Sydney needed to be a Night Person, and if they could do that /before/ the literal lightning blow of the connection, all the better.

Bringing a cold blooded killer into the deal was sort of a last resort, cause she didn't have any other ideas in mind at the moment. She had hoped he would agree for cash, it wasn't like getting more of it would be a problem for her, but how useful was cash to vampires like him, really?

Zaire looked at the money, then pocketed it. "I /suppose/ I could make an exception," he said he said, as if leaving Sydney barely alive was going to be a great burden for him. "You owe me, sweat pea."

Shaine nodded, standing up. "Great. My place, sometime around nine." She breathed a huge sigh once outside, though not quite of relief. So everything was set. She was even smiling as she went home to get ready.

* * *

"If you say I told you so, I'll hit you," Adila said before Elenia could open her mouth.

Elenia just smirked triumphantly, though Adila didn't see why. They knew nothing more than the fact that Shaine and her Night World bitch squad were going to do something to Sydney Nightingale.

"What do you know about a vampire named Zaire?" Adila asked. That tiny scarp of information was the one that had been bugging her the most. Carmel had sounded scared when she'd told Shaine he was on bored.

"Zaire Redfern?" Elenia had frozen, staring straight ahead, and wouldn't turn to meet Adila's eyes. "Haven't you /heard/ of him?"

Adila shook her head. "No. Who is he?"

"Vicious psycho killer. No vampire hunter has managed to catch him yet. He's somewhere around three hundred. I heard he was one of Hunter's enforcers, made by him, which is how he got the Redfern name."

Adila tried not to shudder. Great, a powerful vampire who just happened to be a friend of Hunter Redfern. How could two ordinary Daybreak witches manage to take on a guy like that?

"And they're letting him loose at Shaine's party - we /must/ get to Sydney before anything happens!"

They were both sat in Adila's car watching Shaine's house from across the street. The party was in full swing already, people coming and going everywhere. Sydney had already gone in with Roane Darkthorn, and hadn't come out yet. Adila wondered how she managed to put up with him, Roane was the type of vampire who thought the world owed him a favour.

"It's not like we can just /walk/ in there," Adila pointed out.

Elenia shook her head. "I don't care. I have to stop this. I have to stop Zaire." She was out the car and running for the party before Adila could stop her.

Elenia liked to help out when she could, sure, all Daybreakers did. But neither of them were experienced at this type of thing, particularly against powerful vampires they didn't know. Elenia would be dead before she knew what hit her. The last thing Adila needed was this Zaire Redfern character pissed at them.

She got out the car herself, and hurried to find Elenia before she did something stupid.

* * *