Ok so those that have ead this before will have noticed some changes...

yes i have finally spaced out the first five chapters like i promised i wud

And yes i know it took me longer to update than planned college is doing my head in sorry for the wait

So to those of u that have waited for th update here it is...

Once again u will now be aware i own the plot Kaitlin, Gavin, Rose, Delilah the res belongs to our idol L.J.Smith

Now to my reviewers...

DF N NW Fan: As always ur review was great to read yes Kaitlin is in trouble isnt she? Maybe Nilsson will get to her and maybe not. Im not through with her yet (winks) read on and find out

Sharon H:So pleased u like it i enjoywriting it read on....

Kunegunda: ive updated for u (winks) im so pleased ur enjoying it. i thinkud rock at a Night World Story i'd review it. Go for it! U'll be great.

Right so on with the stroy...

Not Too Late For Love

Chapter Nine: Princesses Don't Do Well In Captivity.

Bright flashing white lights and the sound of rain. Kaitlin opened her eyes and waited for her vision to clear. That had been on hell of a physic punch that Gavin had given her and to say Kaitlin was unhappy was an understatement.

Gavin a Nightworlder? No Way!

But the evidence was there before her. He had been being interrogated by Circle Daybreak and then had kidnapped her when the chance had arisen. She felt stupid at the thought. How could he have got the jump on her that way? She shook her head furiously and then took in her surroundings. She found she couldn't move and that was thanks to a rather ingenious gadget called handcuffs that locked her the chair she found herself sitting in.

Oh perfect!

She pulled on the chain and found it didn't give. As her wrists pulled on it she found she felt so tired she thought she'd die. And that was when she realised…Hell! Sliver! She stopped pulling then. She needed her strength if she was going to get the hell up out of there. Which she sure as hell was. It was only then when she started looking for ways of escape that she recognised where she was being held.

Bastard!

She was dead.

She was back in her own room. The one she had left what seemed like a lifetime ago when in fact it had only been a matter of days. She cursed. She was helpless here. Not only had they got her back into her old world where she had less power she also could no longer feel the link between her and Nilsson. And that scared her more than she had ever thought would be possible.

Nilsson.

What if she never saw him again?

No! No! She thought furiously I will see him again. I will. I am not going to die here.

But she wasn't so stupid to think that wasn't a possibility. Gavin may have been her brother but that was in another life. A one in which the Night World and the Wild Powers had not come into the equation. She had felt his desire for power and for the Night World to once again be on top.

A world where the humans would fear the Night World and not the other way round. A world where the Night Worlders and particularly the Shifters were on top. The fact that she was also a shifter seemed to have slipped behind the fact that she was now the key. She was the Wild Power and the key to unlocking the power behind the Old Powers.

Kaitlin herself wasn't sure how they were going to do this when she herself didn't even know how to do it. Hell she wasn't even in control of her powers yet! So she might even die for nothing. That was not an option she wanted to contemplate.

She took in all her surroundings. It was amazing but she was shocked at how much notice she actually hadn't taken despite spending most of her life in this room and now her life could very well depend on it she was looking at every angle as a possibility for escape.

Her wrists were burning she could feel welts forming round her wrists and sapping her strength damn the confines of being a shifter! It was stupid she was weakening from sliver poisoning but she still couldn't find the power she was meant to have as part of the Shifter race.

She tired to shut out the pain. She could feel the burning spreading from her arms. She knew she wouldn't die from it. But damn it still hurt. To try and take her mind off it she felt for her soulmate connection. It was there. She could feel it pulling at her heart. It was there. But it was weak. Nilsson…She'd die if anything happened to him. If they'd hurt him shed make them pay.

It was enough that they'd kidnapped her but if they had hurt him or any of them even the tiniest amount then shed kill them.

At that moment the door to her room-now prison opened and Gavin, Rose, Delilah, her adopted mother Angie and her adopted father Red came through the door. She did a double take.

Oh Shit!

Oh Hell was this bad!

Her adopted father had been none other than Red Fern. The core leader of the Night World now Hunter had been taken out. He had let his great Grandson do the work while he had taken care of Kaitlin. The fourth Wild Power. Now Hunter had been killed it was the time to act.

Daybreak had the other Wild Powers but they had the key. Red had been waiting for her to show some kind of power. He had known they had intercepted the right baby when she looked so much like her twin brother. And then he had watched her grow. Kaitlin was quiet and observant. Perceptive too. These were classic traits of the Shifter race.

And then to make sure he had acquired Jules the red setter. Jules had very quickly become Kaitlin's dog. They were inseparable which is why Red wasn't letting Jules anywhere near Kaitlin now. But he was aware that Jules knew Kait was in the house.

Kaitlin stared at him with new awareness. Ahhh. Yes. Her time with Daybreak had certainly made her more aware. Now. He could use this. Kaitlin being so important had to know whom the leader of Daybreak was and more importantly who killed Maya he could use this.

He stared at her and was astonished when she stared him down. Not a hint of mind control. Ok this might be a little more complicated than he had thought. He had always thought Kaitlin's character, although there was no mistaking it was strong was placid and in many ways pacifist but this proved otherwise.

"That might have something to do with the fact your holding me captive Red Fern." She said shocking the whole room into silence.

Good enough for him. Kaitlin thought savagely. They always had underestimated her even when they were all her family. Now they were nothing more than kidnappers, and they had taken her from her real family. Galen and Daybreak.

That made her angry.

She fit in there. But of course they had made her feel out of place here in order to make her powers come through. Bastards. She hated them.

She could hear Jules behind the door. She wanted to be in. She could feel Kaitlin's distress and her hate and so she hated them too. She wanted to be there with Kaitlin, to protect her. She reached out for her and told her to be patient to be there for her if she needed her. She quietened and waited for her chance to help her master. The fact that she was there made Kaitlin feel better despite the fact she now knew she would be lucky to live through this.

Red Fern had no regard for human life. Or any life. Especially not her life. She might be a shifter but this shifter was the key to Daybreak winning against the darkness when the Night World would be better served letting the Darkness engulf it.

She continued to look at him and she was sure that he was trying to get some kind of control over her but she knew it wasn't working and that made her laugh.

"Who is the leader of Daybreak?" Red said quietly. Kaitlin laughed and laughed. Their faces looked astonished. "Yeah because that's wise of me. Look Red Fern you may have not given me much credit but I'm not stupid. I don't even need to be a Shifter to know there are no two ways about it.

You are going to kill me. I am going to die at your hands but I am not going to die a traitor. I'll never give them away no matter what you do to me." "We can do a lot to you." Red said Kaitlin laughed, "I know that. But it's still better than siding with you people. Its amazing you knew I was the Fourth Wild Power when you intercepted me and became my…" she spat out the next word "Father yet even when I knew nothing of the Nightworld and now your even less of one. Does the Darkness matter so much to you that you would kill the only daughter you've ever had? Was I that much of a disappointment to you that you can kill me so easily?"

Despite her resolve not to cry tears splashed down her face. She hated that she still cared enough to ask. And then when she looked up she saw shock coming off him in waves. He was as evil as they came the most powerful vampire after the first Maya herself yet he was shocked.

Kaitlin was shocked to see that somewhere under all that darkness and death he had come to care for her. But the survival of his race had to come before his adoptive daughter.

Kaitlin should have known. So why did it hurt so much. The sliver was slowly sapping her strength and she found she didn't have the will to care anymore.

"Kait," Gavin spoke for the first time since entering the room. Her head snapped up. "Only those who care for me are allowed to call me Kait." She spat anger roaring through her replacing the pain and it felt good. He opened is mouth but no words came out he had gone deathly pale.

"How did you get through the portal?" Red asked in the same tone as his last question. Kaitlin said nothing. She hated them more than she thought possible. "She said she had come through the books in her room." Rose said steel in her voice.

"That is the portal you idiot!" Red turned on her. "We know she used it. I want to know how." "Would it help if I said I didn't know? Apart from you all nearly killed me. You must have known I get thorough though I mean Shades was there to meet me and nearly killed me for you." "He only didn't kill me because he was staked before he could. Oh what a damn shame eh? You'll have to do it yourself. What a mess. Killing the fourth Wild Power. But at least the world will end."

Delilah came forward and slapped her across the face. It stung and things got quite interesting as punches were thrown. Kaitlin had always winced when reading about beatings but in real life you could disappear somewhere where the pain disappeared and she could watch with little or no feeling.

It was Gavin in the end who pulled her off and Kaitlin hissed at him from beneath a swollen lip. Red looked on his emotions hidden. "Tell us what we want to know and all this will stop."

"Go to hell." She whispered

And then she added "oh I'm sorry after you kill me you will of course be there. You fools. The darkness will wipe you out as well. It will know no bounds," the words were spilling from her lips like ice, she had no idea where they were coming from but she knew that they were true.

Angie swallowed and Rose yelled, "You lie!" Red hissed, Delilah went for her again and Gavin went ashen. Kaitlin looked at Angie then. Something had changed. She didn't believe Red anymore seeing the girl she had come to know as a daughter again her loyalties were torn.

Kaitlin felt sorry for her and then hated herself for it. Angie was to blame for what happened to her as much as the others. She smiled up at them and said, "you think a Wild Power would lie. I know what's coming I've seen it before. You do not. It will be the end of all of you." the words made no sense and yet all the sense in the world.

"Shut up!" Red said at last advancing on her and punching her in the stomach. Kaitlin gasped in pain and shock and feel forward in the chair the sliver cuffs once again touching her skin. Burning spasms advanced up her arms but she was more concerned about the fact she couldn't breathe.

In those moments her kidnappers left her. She reached for Jules and she felt her pain and her hate. Kaitlin told her to be quiet and wait. She felt Jules' agreement and felt her lay down outside the door and wait for her chance to help her master.

It was then that Kaitlin realised that she may never see Nilsson or her twin again. And then the tears that she had been fighting against since the first punch had connected with her split over her cheeks.

Galen was going insane. His sister was missing! Missing and in danger of losing her life. When they had realised that Nilsson had gone ahead of them there had been pandemonium to try and catch up with him because they knew that if Galen's mood was deathly his would be just as bad or worse because of his connection with her. Galen had vowed that he would personally kill whomever it was that was hurting his sister. And he knew they were because his body felt achy and bruised and his arms were on fire. But he could live through it because it was just a reflection of what his beloved twin was feeling for real.

He was so scared that they wouldn't get to her in time. Nilsson had gone on a one-man mission and turned off his communicator. Nilsson had the reputation of being an Iceman in the Training school his training and teaching of the agents was immaculate so Galen knew that his mood would be steel now.

He knew what it was like to think that you'd lost your soulmate and this was worse because Kaitlin was being hurt by those she had once trusted.

Galen had wanted to join the hunt for his twin but Thierry had had none of it. Instead he was left to have to bring a message to his parents. A message that their daughter had been kidnapped.

Keller had said that she should go with him but they needed her at the Safe House and he needed to tell them alone. She understood. She knew how much he missed Kaitlin already.

He pulled up outside the First House and was given clearance and his old bodyguard Max got in the car and said, "What's going on Galen? The House is in Uproar." "You don't want to know." Galen said quietly "where's my parents?" Max nodded he knew better to ask when Galen was in one of his deathly moods. They didn't come often but when they did he was dangerous.

He took over driving the car without comment and drove round to the back where the leaders of the First House conducted there private affairs Galen practically leaped out the car before it had stopped and ran for his parents private quarters hating every step that brought him closer but knowing they had know that their daughter was once again in danger.

He didn't bother knocking he fell in the door and his parents looked up at him they were in the middle of a meeting, an important one by the looks of things but as so as they saw the look on his face they stood up and said "this meeting will continue tomorrow." "The advisors knew better than to argue with them and left within seconds. The doors closed behind them and Galen was left alone with his parents.

"Kaitlin is missing." He said in a whisper. His parents were on him in a second. "WHAT?" His father yelled, "How could this happen his mother whimpered. "You said she'd be safe at Daybreak." "There was a massive breakout at one of the Safe Houses we lost Kaitlin in the confusion. It is thought that Gavin Drake is the culprit. He being the one Kaitlin lived with for the seventeen years of her life outside our realm." "Oh Goddess!" his mother whispered

"We must do what we can to help the search!" his father said heading for the doors. "Thierry has forbidden any of us from taking part because if we do get Kaitlin back and they find out about her connections to us then the Night World might be tempted to use us as a weapon against her."

His father stopped in his tracks. "Kaitlin has been hurt enough I wont have her hurt again." Galen said "Its out of our hands now. We have to believe that Daybreak can bring her back." Galen gulped hating himself for giving in. thinking of how hard he had fought this but in the end it was the same. They could put Kaitlin in more danger because few knew her links to the First House. Galen just prayed that his twin would survive because he knew he'd been lost before but if she was gone forever he didn't think he'd cope.

Nilsson had torn out of the Safe House like a bat out of hell. He knew he had to find her. He had to find her because if he didn't he didn't think he could live without her.

He knew the key to finding her was in where he found her in the first place. He couldn't stop thinking about her. The first time he'd found her long blond her had been a damp tangle round her face and her eyes so like her twin's had been round with shock and disbelief and also fear. Fear that she had no control and fear of being a victim.

That had scared her more than the attack its self had. He thought about how he would feel if he never found her.

NO!

He couldn't think that way. He had to find her. His sanity and will to live depended on it. He couldn't live without her. He wasn't alone when she was with him. She understood him, made the ice around his heart disappear.

HE HAD TO FIND HER!

He owed it to her. He had promised to protect her and he hadn't been there when she needed him. If anything happened to her he would never forgive himself. He had hijacked one of the bikes. It was his but it had been out on loan for one of the agents.

Well the loan had expired he needed it now. His heart contracted when he realised what his pride and joy was. A Ninja. Kaitlin's bike had been a Ninja. He wanted her to be able to ride with him and it only give him one more reason to kill whoever held her captive.

He thought about how he was going to kill each one as slow as hell for the pain they had put her through. Stake each one slowly and painfully. By the time he came to the alleyway he had first found her he mood was a killer.

He was ready to kill.

Just then spasms of pain racked through him and he gasped and had to grit his teeth against the pain.

Kaitlin…

He felt her scream and felt her tears and knew he was going to break every bone in their bodies one for every tear and every hurt they had put her through.

He took off his helmet and inspected the alleyway where he had found her. there was nothing here. No trace of her.

Then he remembered that she had said that she'd ram from Shades for about three blocks and that she felt as though she'd hit her head. He closed his eyes trying to remember what she'd told him and what she had seen when he had been inside her thoughts.

Then it hit him.

He knew where the portal was!

He dived on the bike and powered over to the back of the nearest Black Iris. It was so simple. Bring her though the portal near a Night People hang out and a kill will not look suspicious. Killing a vermin that got too close.

He swore.

He just hoped he wasn't going to be too late.

Kaitlin felt like she was walking a tight rope between life and death. one wrong move and she'd be tossed into the oblivion with no way of coming back. She felt weak because of course that's exactly what they were after.

But she felt so weak.

She knew a few of her ribs were cracked just taking a breath was killing her. she had had one hell of a beating up and hated that once again she had been played for a victim when she had promised herself she never would again.

She was going to die here.

She knew that now. She just wished she had been able to tell Galen how much she loved him.

And Nilsson. She wished she could tell Nilsson how much he meant to her. but then that was never to be and she would rather never see them again and know they were safe than see them and put them in danger.

I love you Nilsson she whispered

As she said this there was a crackle to the left of her. She stiffened and closed her eyes.

Then blue light filtered in behind her closed eyelids. It couldn't be.

She opened her eyes and dared to hope.

To believe in miracles.