"Not a human." The words were disclosed dispassionately by Blaise. "The Californian Wild Power's just been found. Her name is Jez Redfern."

"Her soulmate Morgead was brought here, as well as a couple of others; her cousin Claire, and," Hugh smiled disparagingly, "Another Old Soul called Iona."

"Another one?" Rowan asked with an incredulous smile. "At this rate, you're going to be well outnumbering the rest of us. And I thought that the main number was going to be made up of made and lamia vampires!"

"Quinn and Rashel have already set off after Lily Redfern, Azarius and Pierce Holt, one of the gang Morgead and Jez used to head," Fayth added at the general look of confusion by the others lounging in the room with her. "Jez was in a pretty bad way when they brought her back. She's only just started regenerating herself again. Being only half vampire and all."

Fayth, Rowan, Hugh, Chess, Blaise and Thea were sitting around together talking over this first Wild Power and what the finding of her would mean to everyone here.

"I still can't believe it. I didn't know that it was possible to have a half vampire, half human hybrid," Rowan murmured. "Did you know that she hasn't been using her vampire powers for over a year now?"

The way she said it, sounded as though she were scandalized by the very thought. Fayth and Chess caught each other's eyes with a smile of mutual understanding. Even for vampire's with human soulmates, they could never quite understand how the different kinds functioned without certain abilities that they took for granted.

"So when do we get to meet her?" Thea asked, looking at Hugh as though he should have the answer. After all, he had been one of the ones to bring her here from California.

"When she's ready, I should assume," Hugh surmised. "You must think of what an overwhelming force the group of you make. Especially when it's a Wild Power coming to meet you all for the first time."

Thea had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. Fayth grinned and Blaise looked bored.

"Well, while this has all been very interesting," she began, making to stand up and leaving her sentence open as she headed for the outside door.

It wasn't long after that she heard someone calling her name from behind her. When she ignored it, knowing exactly who she would find calling her, the voice came again, this time inside of her head. Sighing heavily, Blaise turned around to face Kestrel's older sister.

"What is it, Rowan?" she asked tiredly.

"Look, I've heard things between you and Kestrel," the lamia vampire began.

"Great to know that she's been talking over her problems with everyone," Blaise muttered.

"Not everyone, Blaise," Rowan said, attempting to soothe the witch. "Is it true, what she says? Are you and Kestrel. . . soulmates?"

Blaise tried to come up with a scathing remark that would properly shut the eldest Redfern sister up on the subject for good. However, looking into the older girl's eyes, Blaise couldn't find it within herself to come out with any of her usual style retorts.

"I don't know what to think anymore," Blaise said in resignation. "That's what Kestrel thinks. It could be true, I suppose," she ended weakly.

"But if you are. . ." Rowan drifted off as though she couldn't believe Blaise's stance on the subject. "I mean, you're here. There is no reason for the two of you not to be together here. And even so, it's not even like either of you are human. Why do you fight against it?"

"Rowan, I don't mean it personally but, it's none of your business. Do you think you might stay out of it and leave me and Kestrel to deal with it ourselves?" Blaise asked, going for her usual harshness of tone and failing. Rowan was able to see past it anyway.

"Will you?" Rowan questioned. Blaise just raised her eyebrows. "Will you leave yourself and Kestrel to deal with it yourselves?"

"Fine," Blaise burst out. "If it will keep you off my back about it. Do you think I could go on a walk now, by myself?"

Rowan held her hands up in surrender. Blaise just looked at her once more before turning on her heel and setting off, trying to set the vampire's line of questioning firmly from her mind.

*

Quinn and Rashel were stalking along a trail that a vampire of Lily Redfern's description had last reported to be seen. They had been following it for days now, starting in California, but as of yet, nothing.

"I think you've lost your edge, honey," Rashel murmured, using the endearment specifically to get at her soulmate.

"Shh," Quinn hissed, but Rashel could tell by the narrowing of his eyes that he had not missed her quiet jibe. Minutes later, her turned back to face her. "There's nothing around here that we're going to find tonight."

There was a distinct shuffling sound, followed by an 'oomph', by which time both Quinn and Rashel were firmly on guard stances. However, the short female vampire that faced them looked neither dangerous or about to attack, and slowly, Rashel let lax some of her defenses.

"I think your girl here is right," the vampire quipped. "If you thought there was nothing around here, you have lost your edge. That is, if you had one before."

She tilted her head to the side considering as she peered at the vampire and vampire hunter respectively.

"You neither of you are from around here, are you?" she questioned with curiosity.

Rashel was about to shake her head 'no' when Quinn put a sharp hand on her arm to stop her.

"Who are you to ask that of us anyway?" Quinn asked with measured hostility.

The girl vampire raised her eyebrows slightly towards Rashel who answered with a small smile.

"Leave off, Quinn. I think she's fine," Rashel appealed for the vampire's sake. Then, looking at her more closely, she asked wonderingly, "Say, you wouldn't be one of Morgead and Jez's gang, would you?"

As soon as the first Wild Power and her soulmate's names were mentioned, a visible change lightened all over the female vampire's face.

"You know Jez and Morgead?" the vampire asked, stunned.

Rashel gave another small smile.

"They're with us at the moment," she answered. "It was from them that we were told there was some trouble over this area."

"Lily Redfern and her lot," the vampire replied with a nod. "Ever since all that stuff about the Wild Powers erupted around here there's been no end of troubles."

Rashel kept her mouth shut then. Even she decided that it would be too much to reveal that in actual fact, it was Jez who was one of the Wild Powers. It was all too obvious that this member of her old gang was still in the dark over that little bit of information. She looked briefly across to Quinn to see what his next line of questioning would be.

"This is Rashel, and I'm Quinn," he rejoined, apparently deciding on another, more friendly line of questioning this time. "If you were a member of Jez and Morgead's gang, surely you won't mind telling us of your name?"

The girl vampire looked with hesitancy towards Rashel for a moment, obviously judging their trustworthiness. They must have passed some internal test, for a moment later, the vampire was looking at Quinn again, all expression of evasion wiped clear from her face.

"Raven Mandril," she replied. "And the gang doesn't exist anymore. Not since Pierce betrayed us with Lily." She spat the name out with hatred.

Now it was Quinn's turn to look towards Rashel a moment, before offering, "Well, we're going after her and hers right now. You're welcome to come and give us whatever help you're able if you want to?"

"Circle Daybreak, isn't it?" Raven asked, once again surprising both of them. "Oh, it's okay, Morgead told us about it, asked if we wanted to go with him and Jez. I don't know about the others, they didn't seem to keen about it, but me. . . as long as we're going against Lily, I ain't got no problems against it."

Rashel shrugged at the expression on Quinn's face at Morgead's evident openness.

"It's not as if the Council and everyone don't already know about us," she murmured. "We're hardly the big secret anymore. Besides, it makes it easier now that she knows what she's getting into from the start." Rashel glanced back towards Raven with a friendly expression. "We'd be happy to have you along with us."

*

Timmy was missing. James and Poppy had been searching around the mansion and its grounds for hours. As time moved on, they grew more and more frantic about what his disappearance might mean.

"Poppy, what's the matter? You've been running around every time I've seen you today as though you'd lost something," Gillian said with worry.

"Timmy," Poppy answered. "It's Timmy that's lost. And with Rashel and Quinn away. . ."

Poppy didn't need to go on. Gillian already knew how serious this could be.

"Come on, let me get David and we'll help you look for him," Gillian offered without hesitation.

"Thanks," Poppy murmured, before setting off anew as though a new sweep of the grounds might find something that had in other times escaped her notice.

*

"Timmy's missing?" Jade questioned, worrying her lower lip when Gillian found herself, Mark and David all in the boy's room.

"That's right. And we need to find him and get him back here. Soon as possible," Gillian emphasized.

"Looks like that's our quiet afternoon finished for the day," Mark decided, making a big effort out of getting up until Jade took his hand in hers and let him after her. The four of them split into two search groups.

*

"Any luck in finding the kid?" Ash asked, coming upon James after news had all but spread across the whole of the Circle Daybreak mansion.

"Not yet," James answered tersely.

"How long have you been searching so far?" Ash asked, falling into step with his cousin.

"Hours?" James said. "I don't know. I haven't really been keeping track. At first, I really thought it would only be a matter of moments until we flushed him out of his immature hiding place."

"Don't think it's just a hiding place he's gone to now," Ash put in. "We might have to start thinking of other possibilities."

"I know." All the same, James thought, he didn't want to be the one who reported to Thierry about it.

"I guess the only question is, would he have gone straight to him, or stopped somewhere along the way," Ash mused.

"What?" James asked facing him, totally lost now.

"To Hunter," Ash said, as though speaking to a particularly slow child. "You've got to know that's where he would have gone. The man's been a sire to him, kept him by his side all these years. You don't think the pull would be this strong?"

James gave it a couple of moments of consideration before deciding that Ash's possibility was a more than likely one.

"God, this is more serious than I'd even given credit for thinking," James exhaled.

"You're not joking," Ash returned.

*

"I've been able to keep a link on him thus far," Thierry revealed when Hugh, Chess and Hannah came to report the news to him after everyone else had shied away from the job. "He hasn't gotten into contact with Hunter again yet, but that is definitely where he is heading."

"Why don't you stop him?" Chess asked.

"It would be a useless endeavor. There would be nothing to stop him from doing it again next time, only with more information to report back to Hunter with," Thierry said dolefully.

This was as down as Hannah had ever seen him in the short time they'd had together in this life. She worried about the pressure gathering on top of him.

"In either case, we have more pressing matters to worry about than the antics of a four year old appearing vampire," Thierry said, "As cold as that may sound. Rashel will have to understand that we couldn't keep him here. There was no way that we could have helped him after all the years that. . ."

He stopped and took a breath, the three Old Souls watching him carefully.

"Grandma Harman has had another dream. We have reason to believe the Dark Kingdom has already captured and is currently holding the second Wild Power. It's not going to be so easy to get this one back to us."

Hannah squeezed his hand comfortingly.

"Come now, we'll let everyone else in on it. You just concentrate on the finding out of relevant news. We'll organize this next mission," Hannah offered.

Thierry gave a tired smile.

"You are sent from Divinity, my love," he murmured, pulling gently on her arm that had squeezed his hand and drew her into a tender, lasting kiss.

When they finally pulled away, Hannah looked dazed, murmuring softly, totally forgetting of the other two still present in the room until Hugh cleared his throat discreetly.

"We'd better get onto that now," he murmured, looking away subtly as Hannah blushed lightly before Chess took her arm and led her out of the room with a smile directed towards Thierry before the door closed behind them all.

*

"We've just heard news from a spy within the Dark Kingdom," Hunter greeted his eldest daughter just as she entered into the walls of his private house. "They think that a Wild Power is not only kept there, but has been taught his art without outside Night World interference. . ."

"We had a tale," Lily interrupted him in a growl.

"I assume you. . . took care of it?" Hunter questioned, changing direction as swiftly as she and without show of undue emotion.

"No," Lily spat in disgust. "Not as well as I would have liked. After the confrontation against those stupid Daybreakers, we were not up to proper form."

"Well then, next time, I'm sure," Hunter said, watchfully.

Lily scoffed.

"Damned Daybreakers," she muttered. "So, another Wild Power to snuff out before they get to him, is it?"

"We'll get them in the end," Hunter repeated, his mood for sharing now passed. "But for now. . . How is Pierce coming along for you?"

"He worked well against his old gang members," Lily replied. "Gave us an element of surprise that worked in our favor, but it wasn't enough. I doubt that we will have any continued need of him in the future though," she ended dismissively.

"I will leave that to your discretion. For now though, I have an interesting development to bring to your attention," Hunter said, a strange expression coming over his face. "Word has reached the witches of what we stand for. Some have even grown a rather pointed interest in us."

Lily narrowed her eyes. She couldn't see where her father was going with this, and she wasn't in the mood for games at the moment. In the short period of months, they had lost far too much from their side. It had all began with that vermin loving Quinn, the traitor! Boy would she have words to say to him the next time she came across him on even ground.

"Where I am going with this, dearest daughter," Hunter said reprovingly, as he saw the thoughts forming in her mind, "Is that some have arrived here to us. Lily, I would like you to meet Vivienne Morrigan, Selene Lucna and Sylvia Weald, all witches of Circle Midnight."

Lily only looked down on them with superiority. Selene raised her eyebrows at the only living daughter of Hunter Redfern.

"Nice to meet you too," she replied with heavy irony.

Lily sniffed derogatively, before turning to Hunter again and blocking the three witches completely out of her line of vision.

"I'm retiring to my quarters. I don't wish to be interrupted, no matter what." That last bit was directed quite pointedly as Lily turned and swept away up the stairs and out of sight.

*

Rashel, Raven and Quinn were not long in returning to Circle Daybreak after their trail had gone cold. It was Fayth who revealed the news to Rashel of her brother.

"Timmy," Rashel murmured, sorrow flooding into her eyes, but before it could be given the chance to seep over, she turned her head away. "Excuse me. I'm going up to my room."

Quinn gave a slight stretch of his lips before following after his soulmate, feeling the tears that she would not show. Raven and Fayth were left alone in the room together.

"Hi. My name is Fayth," she introduced, at a partial loss.

"Raven," the vampire replied. "Can I go in to see Jez and Morgead?"

*