Lexi, you are the absolute coolest person in the world. The song is 'Straight Out of Line' by Godsmack.

Straight out of line
I can't find a reason why I should justify my ways

Kate ducked as her opponent took a swing at her head. She dropped low and checked the younger girl in the stomach. "It I'd had a weapon, you'd be dead, Sarah," Kate rose from her crouch. Sarah tried to retaliate with a crescent kick. Before she knew it, the girl was sprawled on the floor. "You telegraphed that one. On your feet," Kate ordered, "Don't try to hit me." Sarah sulked, her ego deflated, to a chair. She grabbed a bottle of water.

Kate surveyed the room; it was filled with a mish mash group of boys and girls, men and women, humans, vampires, witches and werewolves. And she had been chosen to lead them. "Fighting like that isn't enough anymore. Last month we were almost equal in size to the Night World; now, we've lost almost 2/3, 66%, of our humans. And do you know why?" A few tentative hands rose, "The Night World saw our move. We telegraphed it like Sarah telegraphed that kick. We can't afford to do that again. It's only a matter of time before we're attacked again. We must, must, be ready." Kate sighed inwardly. "Sarah, Mateo, David, Melody, Petunia, Jim, and Noche, go over to the gun range and start working with the handguns. In an hour or so switch to the rifles and machine guns. Ramero, will you take over in here?" The man nodded, and everyone went to there assigned stations. "Just page me or something if you need me." Ramero nodded.

Kate walked out of the gym briskly. "Kate!" she heard her soulmate and partner, Tamyn Coldise, call to her.

"Any news?" she asked.

"There's been a little progress. And I do mean a little. We've narrowed it down to age group and gender. He's, it's definitely a he, probably between the ages of 17 and 21, but that's only if he isn't a vampire. You know we mature differently than any other race."

"You're telling me. Have the psychics made any progress?"

"Not really," he shrugged, it wasn't nonchalant, "We're stretched so thin. If only we'd known we had a spy, a good spy, in our midst a month ago..."

"We wouldn't be having this conversation. It doesn't matter now, that's the past. What we really need are more fighters. My group, ugh, they...they're trying, and they're...decent...but in a fight--"

"Just being decent will get you killed. They of all people should know that."

She looked away, staring intently at the wall, and said, "I've started them on weapons training. We're focusing mostly on firearms."

"That's not the way of Circle Daybreak." The sentence should have been a reprimand but it wasn't. "But Circle Daybreak needs to change. Where'd you get the idea?"

"Blade, the vampire movie," he looked at her strangely, like it was surprising she watched vampire movies. Even though she was a vampire herself, well mostly anyway. "Emily likes--liked them. She was into that kind of stuff, ironic, isn't it?" Tamyn nodded, smiling. "I have some people working on modifying our ammo, but now we're just working on aim. I figure, even a head shot'll drop a vamp for enough time for them to run."

"Good theory, has it been tested?"

"No," she replied, "I'm just hoping for a lucky break."

"We haven't had enough of those. Do you want to change before the meeting?"

She looked at him strangely, "What meet—Shit!"

"You forgot," he smiled.

"I didn't forget, I…I…I forgot." She looked down at her wrist, and realizing she didn't have a watch on asked, "What time is it now, and when's the meeting?"

"10 o'clock, and you have a half hour."

"Okay, it's in the board room?" He nodded, "I'll be there." Tamyn took her hand and kissed it; Kate turned around and headed for their room. She stripped and went into the shower. After attacking her head with Pantene Pro-V for normal hair and the rest of her body with Zest she stepped out of the box that passed for a shower and grabbed a towel. It was one of the few things she'd salvaged from the mansion, a big pink and yellow fluffy towel that said 'Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. Love is not happy with evil but is happy with the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always remains strong. Love never ends.' A little underneath the Bible quote it said, 'I love you, Mom. Merry Christmas.' But Kate purposefully didn't notice that, she didn't have time too.

A quick search through the room told her that she needed to do the laundry, but eventually she found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, not something you'd expect a top-ranking agent of Circle Daybreak to wear, but it worked. Her watch said she had exactly one minute to make it on time, she ran the whole way. "I'm sorry I'm late," Kate offered no explanation, and took her seat next to Tamyn. It seemed they were still waiting for more people to arrive.

"Nice clothes," Tamyn muttered to her.

"Shut up," she hit him lightly on the shoulder.

A few minutes later, everyone was assembled and Thierry entered. He greeted everyone and began to talk. "We have some agents stuck in Brazil. I can't send the plane to Rio de Janeiro to pick them up for obvious reasons." He looked at everyone in the room, "Any ideas?"

"A boat?" Someone asked

"There'd be a record of going through the Panama Canal. The team might get there, but they wouldn't get back."

"A spell?" a witch intoned.

Thierry raised his brows, "Rebeckah?" he asked Kate's mother.

"It's a good idea, but I'm not sure it could be done. There would be a great expenditure of power; not many witches could pull it off."

"Why don't we just forge some passports, send them down, and have our agents fly back on commercial planes?" Kate asked. It wasn't the single fluorescent light that made some of the Daybreakers appear green.

"That's not our way!" One balked.

"What good has 'our way' brought us? We still have people recovering from the attack on the mansion!"

"And whose fault is that?" he yelled.

"That was out of line!" Tamyn said, coming to his soulmate's defense.

Thierry put a hand up to silence them. "Samuel, let Agent Braxton finish her suggestion."

"Thank you, sir." Kate said, "It's probably the safest, and most cost effective way to get them here. The spell is…iffy, at best. This is an age-old method. It may be illegal, but do you think those agents will care?"

Thierry nodded slowly, still weary of giving his consent.

"May I say something, Thierry?" Rebeckah Braxton asked. Thierry nodded again. "We're trying to protect the human race. Our agents, being as few as they are, need to be kept alive. Circle Daybreak has always prided itself on being able to do the right thing. It's amazing that we haven't faced this problem before; we break Night World laws without even a thought, and this time I think we should do the same for human."

Most of the Daybreakers around the table were nodded, agreeing with Rebeckah Braxton and her logical reasoning. "It's settled then. Dakato," he looked at the witch, "Get on it. You have a contact that can get the forgeries. I want results fast, and I want them to be good." Dakato nodded. "Kate," Thierry turned to her, "How is the training coming along?"

"It's coming," Kate said. "But, if we were to be attacked again, we wouldn't be ready. I don't really think they'll ever be well enough prepared in hand-to-hand combat to be battle ready. I've started to train them using non-traditional methods, namely high-powered guns." She heaved a sigh, "I know Circle Daybreak doesn't condone such weaponry, but we've entered a new age. As long as the Night World has the upper hand I feel we should employ any means necessary to survive."

"I see, Agent Braxton." Thierry paused for a moment, "Are there any objections to training and arming our agents with firearms." No one said anything, "Good. I'll expect a progress report on my desk in a week, Kate." With that huge weight lifted off of her chest Kate nodded. She sat through the rest of the meeting silently contemplating all of the things that were being said.

***

"So," Mr. Bronson, the U.S. History teacher, began, "What years did the Civil War span?" No one raised their hands. "Come on, I promise not to punish you if the answers wrong."

Teresa raised her hand. Mr. Bronson nodded at her, "1861 to 1865."

"Good, and what year was the Emancipation Proclamation issued?" Again, no hands went up. "Guys, the test is tomorrow." Still no one volunteered, "Hmmm, Ben, do you know?"

"1863," he said.

"And what did it do? Marley?" He asked a girl in the back row.

"Uh…free the slaves?"

Another student raised her hand, "Kara."

"It didn't free the slaves," she said. "Technically it said that slaves were free only in the states that were in rebellion. But in…Kentucky, for example, slaveholders were allowed to keep slaves."

"Exactly, so then, what was the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation?" Ben raised his hand, "Yeah, Ben?"

"It was to keep England and France out of the war, right? Didn't the Union outnumber the Confederacy by like three to one? It would even up the odds if two other countries joined."

"That's right. But then why did the Confederates win most of the battles before Gettysburg? Ray?"

The student he called on seemed to know every detail about history in human existence. "The Union had bad generals whereas the South had Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The North didn't start to win most of its battles until U. S. Grant took control of the eastern troops."

"Good, now---" the bell rang, "Don't forget to study." Everyone filed en masse out of the room.

"Ben, wait up!" Teresa called as she exited the class. Her brother stopped, "Alex asked me to ask you…something." She said.

"What?" he sounded annoyed, but he was smiling.

"I don't remember," she let out a laugh. "Knowing Alex it probably wasn't that important."

"Knowing Alex?" Ben roared as they headed to their lockers, "I don't want you 'knowing Alex' he's a dog, Resa." He ruffled her hair.

She swatted at his hand. "I've known Alex just as long as you have. What's the problem?"

"I see the way he looks at you. Nombre de Dios, Resa, he looks at you like he's the big bad wolf and you're a little lamb!"

"Alex?" She asked disbelieving, but intrigued by the idea,

"No," Ben said, "Don't even start thinking about it. It's--"

"Hola," Alex said. "Sup?"

"Oh, nothing much," Teresa said, "Ben's just making a total ass of himself." She opened her locker and stuffed her history book inside. "You're a junior, you can take me off campus for lunch. I feel like eating some real food." She smiled back at Ben, daring him to say something.

"Yeah, cool," Alex replied, "Ben, you game? How about Pink's?"

"You loco, man? All those tourists crowd there now." Ben retorted.

"What about El Lavabo, you know, that café on McKinley Ave.?"

"If we're going to make it, we have to go now, you guys," Teresa said. "Come on."

***

"Watch where you're going!" Rena said as she was jostled from behind at the café.

"Sorry," the black teenager, he couldn't have been older than 18, responded.

"Whatever." Rena turned towards the counter where the person behind the register looked at her expectantly, "Three Cokes, three Sprites, a Diet, three turkey sandwiches on white, and two on rye."

"That'll be $33.68," the disgruntled employee muttered, barely audible. Rena handed her $35. " $1.32 is you're change. Please step down to pick up your food." She gave Rena a bubbly, fake smile.

As Rena waited for her food, she caught herself sneaking glances at the boy next to her. He was kind of cute, in a totally not her type, R&B star type of way. His hair was cut short; it probably wouldn't even feel like stubble if she rubbed her hands against it. Even though he was wearing a long sleeved shirt, she could tell his muscles were well defined. "Your foods ready," he said.

"What?" Rena answered, dazed.

"Your food," he pointed.

"Oh, yeah," she shook her head and smiled up at him, "I'm such a spaz today."

"Don't worry about it," he said smoothly, "A lot of girls are awed by my presence."

Rena laughed. "I'm sure," her tone was disbelieving.

"Oh my god," Teresa leaned over and whispered to Alex. "Ben is actually flirting with someone he doesn't know. Have you ever seen him do that?"

"Well," Alex said, "Who wouldn't want to flirt with a hottie like that?" Teresa hit him on the shoulder. "Hey," he put his arm around her shoulders, "I promise I won't flirt with her, besides I'm with you, Chiquita, I don't need any other girl."

Ben turned around to look at his companions. "Alex, no la toque!" Alex and Teresa ignored him. He turned back to the girl. "I'm Ben Lukas," he would have offered to shake hands but she was carrying two bags, one with the sandwiches and another with the pop bottles.

"Rena," she replied shortly. Glancing down at her watch she said, "It's been nice meeting you, Ben Lukas, hope I see you around." She walked away quickly.

"Bye, Rena no-last-name," he uttered softly.

'What were you thinking?' Rena asked herself as she walked back to the house. 'He could have been anyone, and you have a boyfriend, you idiot. Just don't think about it. It was nothing.' She continued walking briskly; she couldn't get the boy out of her head. 'He's *human*, Rena. And he's probably already forgotten about you. Just focus on the mission.' Once she arrived at the house, she put the food on the table and yelled, "Foods here!"

When they were done eating Rena pulled Timon aside, "Did you get the van?" He nodded. "Okay," she said, "Let's start loading up." Within two hours the van was packed with weapons and a decent communication system. "Does anyone actually know how to use this?" Rena asked.

"They told me how," Timon started, "It mostly depends on us using these walkie-talkies. Supposedly it only looks complicated. I think I'll go with the old press the on button approach." He pressed a green button on the far side of the sound board. "Now, talk into you're walkie-talkie."

Rena pressed the button that allowed her to communicate, "Hello?" Her voice came out through the speakers in the car. "Good," she said after she turned the device off. "Are we ready?"

After receiving an affirmative from everyone she proclaimed, "Load up." She pulled Shea over to the side, "Can you drive?" She asked. "I don't actually have my license. And I figure you know the way to their house best." Shea nodded. "Right. Let's go."

Four hours later, they pulled in front of a one-story ranch that was being devoured by flames. "Oh no," Mackenzie said, "We're too late."

"No, let's check it out," this was from Ramon. "Maybe they got out."

"He's right, kill the engine," Rena agreed, "Shea, Jett, Raleigh, and Timon, go and check it out. Ramon, climb into the driver's seat, if something goes wrong," she addressed to the four being sent out, "Run like hell back here, Ramon, if you see them running, start the engine. Do not hesitate to use the walkie-talkies."

"Alright," from Shea.

"Go."

Shea and the others exited the van; they split up in groups of two. Timon and she were paired, as where Jett and Raleigh. "There's a place in the backyard where they might have gone," she told her partner as they walked into the darkness. "Cal said it was his hidey-hole in case they ever got attacked."

"Let's check it out." They walked around the house, ever mindful of the flames, to the yard.

"It's right around here. Cal!" Her call was soft, but it carried.

"Shea?" they both heard the reply.

"Come out, Cal, we're here to get you and your family out of Las Vegas." They could already see the shadowy outline of him and his family. When he was right in front of her, she threw her arms around him and said, "I missed you, you idiot. Don't let it happen again."

"Aw, Shea, you know you love me."

She hit him lightly. "Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, I'm Shea, one of Cal's friends, and this is Timon, this is going to sound strange but, we need to get you out of the city. Please don't ask questions now."

"I don't understand," said Mrs. Taylor. "What's going on?"

"We'll explain later," Timon reiterated, "Please, come with us." He spoke into his walkie-talkie, "We have recovery."

A staticy voice replied, "This isn't the military, Timon. You don't have to sound so official."

"There's a van waiting for us in front of the house, it's waiting to take us back to L.A. Our organization has a number of houses there." Shea tried to sound like an adult. "Please, I can't promise that this will make sense to you later, but we do have good reason to get you out of the city."

They looked at her expectantly.

"Do you remember when Cal was shot last month?"

"Shea, no," Cal protested.

"How could we forget?" Mr. Taylor asked.

"Mr. Taylor, our enemies shot Cal because he got in the way. We now believe that they will target you and your family until you all are dead. Do you understand me?" He nodded. "If you come with us, I will promise you that our organization will protect you to the best of our ability. But we won't force you."

"What is this organization?" asked Mrs. Taylor.

"It's called Circle Daybreak, Mom. I've been a member since I was fourteen. I know these people; they're telling the truth. Please, can we just go?"

"How do we know this isn't some prank?" It seemed illogical, but Mrs. Taylor inquired anyway.

"It would be a little extreme, don't you think, Mrs. Taylor," said Timon, "for us to burn down your house as a prank."

"He's right, Cheryl." Mr. Taylor agreed.

"Frank."

"No, Cheryl, I think we should go." They looked at each other, having a conversation with their eyes that only people who have known each other for a long time can.

"Alright," Cheryl Taylor conceded. "But I expect a really good explanation."

"You'll get one, Mrs. Taylor."

They walked back to where the non-descript gray van waited and climbed in. Cheryl threw her hands up and didn't ask questions. Frank greeted each of the team and went to sit in back with his wife. "Kenzie?" Shea asked before they left, "Will you drive? I want to catch up with Cal."

"No prob, Petunia," the witch responded.

Once everyone was settled Mackenzie put the van in gear and drove all nine people and herself back to L.A. "Next time we get attacked," Shea told Cal after they sat down, "You are not fighting. And if we have to run again, you are coming with us."

"Shut up, Petunia," he murmured with his eyes closed.

Shea laid her head on his shoulder. "I don't know what I would have done if we couldn't find you, you stupid human. I really don't."

"Well you did, now, really, shut up, I'm tired."

"You shut up," she replied childishly.

"No, you."

"No, you."

"No, you."

"Why don't both of you shut up," Ramon suggested from his seat in front of them, on the left of Rena.

Shea and Cal stuck their tongues out in unison at the back of his head, then they collapsed into fits giggles. For one moment in a horrendous month, they both had a sense of normalcy.

Straight out of line
I don't need a reason, you don't need to lie to me

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