Ok guys dont hate me i know it took ages to post this sucker but its like huge!
And in my defense i was on holiday and chapter 11 and 12 have been written for about two weeks now but its taking ages to write em up so i swear on my life Chapter 12 is on its way. Oh and i hope u all hada great christmas andnew year!So that having been said...
And before i forget. I'm rubbish at remembering these! All the characters u reconise are L.J.Smith's Kaitlin, the plot and ny other characters u dont reconise i my own.
Onto the best bit... My reviewers...
Sexyirshbleep: Oh come on! Cliffhangers are the best bit! He he but yes i have more K/N in store so keep reading...
Mental Twitch: Thank-you heaps andas u requested i am still writing this story sokeep reading...
Piscean Wisdom: I love Jules too! and yes LONG LIVE JULESShe's one of my best creations and in anwser to one of your other reviews maybe i can do a story about Jules shes no ordinary dog, (winks and motions u closer hey read on and find out.)
Madmosielle Morte: Its important that i know u like it. thanks for the review keep reading...
DonAmy: i know you've read it now so what did u think? Winks anyway you know u like it
Laney1: Thanks, well this chapter isnt short its the longest one ive ever written, hence the reason it too so long. So i hope you enjoy it.
Now on with the story...
Not To Late For Love
Chapter eleven: Maybe Not
Kaitlin knew they were in trouble when she tried to reach for her powers that, as useless as they were, she knew could help if she could find the will to work them. They were there. Numbed by sliver and pain but they were there.
Kaitlin had never been so happy in her life to discover that she had not lost the powers she had. She started to relax and it was then she felt it. The tiny pulses of something else all together. So small she almost missed it.
Which was the whole point she realised.
She felt the devastation sweep through her and had to bite her lip to stop a fresh wave of tears.
They would never get away now.
Or at least she wouldn't. She would not let Nilsson die with her.
"Nilsson," She whispered through their soulmate link because he was more likely to hear her that way. "What?" He whispered back his mind touching hers gently. "You'll have to leave me." She whispered her voice waterlogged. She had thought they would get away.
They had been so close.
But she knew now that it wasn't to be.
She knew she would never get away. Nilsson had to leave. She would not see him captured as well. That would make it worse.
"Kaitlin what are you talking about?" Nilsson demanded. Sure they were in a tight spot but he would get her out of it. "You don't understand!" She sobbed
"We can't get away. They know where I am Nilsson they have a tracking device on me. It's in my skin. They'll always know where I am."
Nilsson stared at her and knew she was right. He couldn't feel the presence of a bug but if Kaitlin said it was there then it was there. And if it was as deep as she said then there was no way in hell he could reach it.
They would have to make a stand.
He mentally swore and Kaitlin smiled weakly. "Leave me baby." Nilsson did nothing but up his pace. There was no way he was leaving her and damn it if he had to fight then he'd find somewhere he could fight on his terms.
"No!" Kaitlin gasped, "Nilsson go! Leave me."
"Kaitlin," He said looking down at her with worried eyes. Worry for her. Not him. "No." he said running through an alley and up another weaving in and out the streets. "That's not an option." He stopped and glanced around.
This was where he would fight. It was the best place. Even though he knew he couldn't win it was nearest to Thierry's and perfect for the only plan he could think of. Because Kaitlin's was just not possible. He wasn't going to leave her.
He placed Kaitlin gently on her feet and his heart hurt when he saw her struggling for balance and he felt blind guilt course through him that he couldn't get her away from this.
He tore a piece of paper from a note book and scribbled a note to Thierry and called to Jules who looked like she could run another five miles and attached the note to Jules' collar and stared at her for a moment. Kaitlin frowned it was almost as if she was nodding.
Impossible! Wasn't it?
She shook her head and found Nilsson looking at her. "Send Jules to Thierry Kait." He said "What?" She screamed and winced as it tore at her throat. "No! You have to go too!"
"Kait, I'm not leaving. I failed you once and I can't face that I've failed you again only to leave you. My communications were knocked out by the Portal and I'm not a strong enough telepath to bring Daybreak here. No! Send Jules to Thierry she can tell him what went down. I'm not leaving. I'll die before I leave you. Send her to Thierry."
"Do it now."
Kaitlin looked into the stubborn set of Nilsson's jaw and knew nothing would move him. How could he think he'd failed her? He got her out of there it wasn't his fault they'd changed her with gene therapy!
She never hated them as much as she did then.
She looked at him and knew he wouldn't leave. She loved him so much she thought her heart would burst.
She looked at Jules and told her to go to Thierry and told her the way. Showed her the house and told her to run.
It looked like the last thing Jules wanted to do. And Kaitlin thought incoherently how human her dog seemed and then reflected how at times of danger the brain manages to think of the most stupid thoughts.
She reached out for Jules and ruffled her hair and then told her to run. She sent her running across the city.
She sent her to Thierry.
And Kaitlin felt the familiar pull in her heart as Jules left her.
She shook her head and tensed as seconds later she left the pull of the life force of other Night People and Nilsson dropped into fighting stance. Seconds later he was in fighting mode but there was so many!
Nilsson was a Vampire Hunter and one of the best and his skills were not to be scoffed at. He hurt many of the pursuers, and Kaitlin knew they were grudgingly impressed but she also knew that it would make no difference.
He was the best. But they had expected to fight the best and they got behind him and clubbed him over the head with Snakewood. Kaitlin screamed on impact. Even a vampire couldn't take many of those blows especially wood.
She was suppressed quickly. Her old injuries were hardly healed and although she hurt two of them the others simply got to her. She screamed in fury. Her fury affected them all and they flinched but it wasn't enough. They had captured her again.
Nilsson knew what was coming. He was fighting a losing battle and what was worse was that he couldn't get to her. He'd placed himself in front from of her determined that they wouldn't get around him but he knew that they had and he felt the blow hit him.
He saw stars.
Shit! No vampire could withstand a blow like that! His vision went white and he tried to clear it. He swayed and he felt himself falling.
He swore again.
He had failed her.
Again.
He knew Kaitlin was a formidable enemy but she was hurt and hurt badly. Standing had hurt her and he blacked out knowing that that blow to the back of his head had been Snakewood. He felt himself blacking out and could think of nothing but Kaitlin…
Kaitlin can't have been out more than a few minutes, and she conceded, it wouldn't have taken much to subdue her in her current state and that infuriated her. But those few minutes that she had been out had been enough to bundle her into a van, which she realised, was now moving.
She sat up and realised they hadn't even bothered to tie her up. She agreed with their assessment she was no more than a rag doll and had been treated as such.
She was such a fool!
What happened to the Kaitlin who had promised that she would never be a victim again?
She growled as she vented her pent up anger. She heard a noise behind her and spun as fast as her bruised body would allow her to do and gasped.
Nilsson was on his side and out cold. She crawled to him and smiled weakly at the comparison between them. She looked (and felt) a wreck her muscles were screaming and everything hurt. Nilsson on the other hand, looked great.
Despite her ability to heal fast constant contact with sliver had stopped that. As a result Nilsson could heal faster than her. She wondered how she hadn't noticed that before. Then shook her head. Like that mattered now.
She stroked the hair back from Nilsson's face and cringed at the lump that marked his otherwise perfect complexion. Even a vampire couldn't stand many blows of that force. No wonder he had been knocked out.
Yet he was so damn good looking it was unbelievable. His hair was loose and he looked like some forgotten sleeping warrior. She put her hand in his and felt him start to come round. She breathed a sigh of relief.
His eye lids fluttered and his eyes came into focus almost at once. "Hey," Kaitlin whispered. "Hey," he whispered back "Don't ever do that to me again." They said together and then Nilsson smiled and pulled her close.
After a moment he pulled her to her feet. They hadn't restrained him either. The place they were on route to must be like Fort Knox. "Where are we?" Nilsson asked scanning their moving prison. For agents the first port of call was always escape.
"In a moving vehicle on route to somewhere." She said and then added "to a bunker controlled by Red Fern I'd guess." Kaitlin shrugged. In fact she was certain of it. Before she'd been knocked out she'd felt that that had been their captors destination.
"WHAT!" Nilsson exploded "What in hell's name does Red bloody Fern have to do with any of this?" "Everything." Kaitlin smiled but there was no humour there. Nilsson turned to face her,
"Red Fern hasn't been seen for more than seventeen years, since before the Maiden lost her sight has he?" Kaitlin asked knowing the answer. They continued to look for escape routes but both knew the only way out was through the looked doors. They'd have to wait until they stopped.
"No." Nilsson frowned "But…" "I'll tell you why he hasn't been seen." Kaitlin said cutting him off. "Because he hasn't even bloody been here!" She said getting slightly hysterical now. "But I'll tell you where he has been. He was in another world he became Robert "Red" Drake playing Dad to Kaitlin Drake. In other words…" She said looking at Nilsson who looked lost for words.
"My father."
"How?" Nilsson gasped He couldn't understand how this could have happened. He'd been watching her for years and he'd seen nothing.
Kaitlin smiled reading his thoughts. "Wild Power memories are stronger than those of normal humans or Night People. Red's mother was a powerful witch Nilsson. He was half witch. He knows things that I suspect only the Crone would have known."
"He had to make sure that nothing he did triggered my memory because I can remember everything now. Even being snatched in the first place." She smiled again. "Trust me Red Fern is in on this and he will not be pleased his…" "Daughter" She stressed it with her fingers as inverted commas "ran away from him."
"So prepare for the face I am probably going to get the crap beaten out of me." She thought for a second and then said "Again."
Nilsson said nothing he could not believe the depth of Daybreak's failure, HIS failure to keep her safe. Red Fern had gotten to her from the moment of her birth. They had failed and failed on a catastrophic level.
"They still don't know about where I came from." Kaitlin said looking at him, reading his thoughts again. "They still don't know… I'm Aurora Drache. She finished speaking in his head.
He knew what she was doing…
Trying to ease the guilt. But it wasn't that simple. Sure they knew nothing about her being from the First House but that didn't make the fact he could have lost her any less real.
And it terrified him.
Because had Kaitlin not gotten through the portal Red Fern would have certainly killed her. Because she would not be taken by the darkness. That knowledge crippled him.
"How did they know?" He asked weakly. Kaitlin shrugged and the he head snapped up. "We're stopping." Nilsson positioned himself in front of Kaitlin but they swamped them as they tried to get out. Kaitlin said nothing as she was dragged from the van.
She was stronger than they give her credit for. Nilsson was pulled out last; the most force keeping him quiet and then they were separated.
Jules knew she was being followed. But she also knew that they would soon lose interest. She had to get to Thierry. It nearly tore her heart in two to leave Kaitlin but she knew she had a job to do. Jules ran the tail in circles. Because Jules had known she was being followed. But then she was no ordinary dog.
She kept running. Someone was still trying to catch her. But she was still on step ahead of them. She knew Las Vegas. She had been here before. She felt her pursuers pull away and ran on with a heavy heart.
Kaitlin and Nilsson had been captured.
She was more than tempted to go back and help but she knew she could help Kaitlin more by completing the task both Nilsson and Kaitlin had set her. Las Vegas was a big city and she kept having to avoid Night People because she was sure most walking the streets were in agreement, if not in league with the Night World.
Damn it the Daybreakers seemed in short supply. She frowned and ran round the back of a Black Iris club and across and up onto a private drive. The black roses framed her entrance and she breathed a sigh of relief. Nearly there.
Once at the door she jumped up and hit the doorbell and barked the SOS and code that she had imprinted on her memory. That would make Thierry aware she just hoped to hell he was here. There was a commotion behind the door and then Thierry pulled back the door.
"JULES!" He yelled, "What are you doing here?" "Being invited to a party!" She replied sarcastically. He pulled back the door and she trotted in. "I have a message from Nilsson." She reported. "It's in my collar. It's not good news Thierry." She warned.
He pulled the note from her collar and read:
Thierry,
I managed to get Kait back in here in Las Vegas but we were followed and I know we're about to be surrounded. There's too many to hold off but I'm not leaving Kait. I'll get her out of this if it's the last thing I do. Tell her I love her because to get her out of this I fear I'll have to stay.
All the best
Nilsson
"Shit!" Thierry said with feeling.
"Yes." Jules said grimly. Then she looked up at Thierry and said "I hope you realise that running the other way while Kaitlin was being captured nearly killed me. That's not my job Thierry." Thierry looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "I know we really didn't mean to put you through this." Jules frowned. "You made me Kaitlin's familiar for a reason Thierry."
"I nearly died when I couldn't find her. Then I find her room empty and filled with blue light. I realised she had to have gone through the portal. Why didn't you call for me?"
"She has Nilsson now." Thierry said "and besides I didn't want you discovered." She knew he had a fair point. "Yes." She nodded "She did before. He watched her more closely than even you are aware I think. He couldn't stand being away from her but couldn't figure out what that could mean." She shook her head in disgust "You people are so blind to what's right in front of your face."
Thierry's reply was cut off as Jules went very still and then spun round hackles raised and nearly brought the house down with the amount of noise she was creating.
Thierry dived for the door and was furious when she didn't find anyone. There was nothing but a disk on the front step. He picked it up gingerly and went back inside.
"You need to play that." Jules said as Quinn and Rashel burst into the room. "It's nothing guys." He said to them. "I'll explain later." They nodded eyeing Jules with a mix of distrust and confusion then they left the room.
"Though I warn you it might cause a bit of a shock." Thierry looked at Jules. "You know what's on this?" "An idea." Jules corrected, "It won't be nice." Thierry nodded and inserted the disk into his player. The screen flickered on and he swore and gasped at the contents. "Shit, Shit, Shit." He said once it had finished and dived for the phone connecting to the secure line for the First House.
This was turning out to be the biggest disaster of Daybreak's career.
Galen paced his room like a caged leopard. His sister was missing and all he could do was pretend that Kaitlin had no ties to the Shifter race to keep her safe. But he also knew that her time was running out.
The pain he was experiencing could only be hers and he knew she was dying. He felt trapped that there was nothing he could do to stop it. There was a knock on the door and he turned as his parents entered "Any news?" He asked without a beat. His parent's faces were pale and drawn. He had never seen them look so defeated.
Galen had always assumed the ice that surrounded his parents was from the fact they had been great warriors now he knew that it was because they had lost her daughter and for her safety they could tell no one.
"She's coming back." He told them. Because he had to believe that it was true. His parents hugged him saying nothing and when they pulled away both had tears in their eyes. "What is it?" Galen asked uncertainly. "Thierry called we're needed at Daybreak now." "Oh goddess." Galen whispered, "Did Thierry say what it was about?"
"You know what its about." His mother said with tears streaming down her face.
"Aurora."
Galen shook his head furiously No!" He whispered, "She's not dead! I know she's not dead!" "We never said she was dead son." His father said in a dead voice. Galen felt as if the world had fallen away. This couldn't be happening but he knew it was.
"Lets go."
At Daybreak Thierry was waiting for them on the steps. Thierry looked as grief stricken as Galen felt. Thierry ushered them all inside the house and they followed him into the office. His laptop was facing him. He motioned for them to sit. They say down dreading the worst. He held up a disk.
"Oh God." Galen said "Its Kaitlin." Thierry said grimly "I've seen it and it's not nice." "NO!" Galen said. His father's face went ashen and his mother cried into her husband's shoulder. "No, no, no." Galen whispered Thierry grasped his friend's shoulder. "Do you want to see it? I won't make you." "Yes." All three of them said. They all knew they had too.
Thierry nodded and said, "It appears that Nilsson did find her and free her but they were surrounded and recaptured. Nilsson is now imprisoned with Kaitlin because he refused to leave her."
Thierry knew looking into the faces before him that he wouldn't be able to change their minds so he inserted the disk and waited.
Galen had to suppress a yelp as Kaitlin's face appeared on the screen. She looked up and her green-gold eyes were blazing with silent fury. She was hurt badly and there was no mistaking that she was terrified. But she was defiant. She was not going to let her fear show.
"Do It." An invisible voice said
"No!" Kaitlin ground out. A masked figure appeared on the screen and pulled out a knife and cut her with it. Kaitlin fought the urge to scream but pain was written all over her face. "Sliver." The masked guy said savagely to the screen. Then he pulled Kaitlin's hair and said "You'll do it if you know what's good for you.
Kaitlin looked up into his face and spat at him. That earned her another slap across the face. Kaitlin's head jerked sideways and that's when her face filled with real fear. A new voice cut in. "Do it or your boyfriend dies."
The camera panned round to reveal Nilsson who up until that point had been calm and his face impassive. His eyes went huge as his eyes rested on Kaitlin. He was tied up and flanked by two guards.
He saw Kaitlin and his face visibly drained of colour "Kaitlin!" He yelled he tried to get to her and the guards pulled him back and forced him onto the floor and positioned a stake over his heart and held a hammer above him.
"Do it! Otherwise I swear I'll put this stake through your boyfriends heart." Kaitlin watched the speaker with undisguised hate. She didn't even seem to notice that there was a sliver blade positioned over her throat. "Don't do it Kaitlin!" Nilsson said staring up at his guards unafraid.
The masked figure with the hammer lifted it and Kaitlin screamed "NO!" there was a piece of paper shoved in her face. "Then read it."
Kaitlin spat something and she was slapped again. Nilsson hissed as wood cut his skin and Kaitlin screamed, "I'll do it! Leave him alone." The camera zoomed in on her face and she looked into the camera and read in a deadpan voice,
"Circle Daybreak,
I have been forced to read this message."
She gasped as sliver cut her skin again and she shot the doer a look of pure loathing. So much so he took a step back. She turned back to the camera and Galen and his parents let out a gasp.
Her eyes were blood red.
"Right yeah." She said sarcastically "my mistake I've been asked to read this message. You will have course realised by now that I and one other of your agents are missing. We are being held hostage for the good of the races. Your agent Nilsson will be set free with a promise that Daybreak will be left alone and have immunity when the Nightworld takes control if you surrender the other Wild Powers to us now. We await your answer."
She looked into the screen then and Galen heard his sister's voice. "Galen I know you're there. Don't do it. They're lying it's a trap. Don't let Jez, Delos and Illiena come here. Take care of Nilsson because I'm not coming home. I love you."
Her eyes went from red to green-gold in a flash and she screamed "NO LEAVE HIM ALONE!" And the screen went dead
Galen's father jumped to his feet. "We can't leave her there!" His mother was still staring at the screen where her daughter had appeared. Galen looked at Thierry "We need a Daybreak meeting." He said in a dead voice. Thierry nodded "I know but you needed to be aware first." "Call them all in now." Galen said, "The longer we wait the less time Kaitlin and Nilsson have."
Thierry nodded and came round the table and give his friend a brotherly hug and then they motioned to his parents and set to work.
Galen looked around the conference room. Everyone was there. They'd all been sent to look for Kaitlin but everyone knew that if anyone could find her Nilsson could and being called back they thought it was good news.
One look at Galen's face told a different story. Galen himself clung to Keller's hand for support. Even she wasn't sure what this was about but if it agitated the ever-calm Galen then it could only be his twin.
Galen stared into the faces he knew and said, "my sister," he had to stop for breath it was so difficult to think of her. "As you know was taken by the last remaining Night World ring leaders." There were hisses and murmurs of hate towards the people involved.
"We now know that she was taken back through the portal and subduing using…sliver." He and all the other shifters in the room cringed. "We know that Nilsson rescued her and that, despite his best efforts were re caught." Thierry said taking up where Galen had left off. "Nilsson couldn't have got through Grandma Harman's Portal." Thea said, "Who said it was Grandma Harman's portal?" Thierry said shocking Thea into silence.
"It was another witch who had powers just as powerful as Grandma Harman and Nilsson could get through the Portal because there are stronger magics than those of wards." He shot Thea and Eric a knowing look and despite the situation they managed a weak grin.
"They were recaptured and because Nilsson knew they would not get away he sent our only secret back to me." Everyone looked at Thierry then and he simply turned to the door and whistled. Everyone's jaws dropped as Jules bounded in.
"Meet Jules Kaitlin's familiar." Thierry said simply. "FAMILIAR?" Blaise yelled standing up "No Night Person has had a familiar for over 300 years. It's against Night World law!" "I am well aware of that Blaise." Thierry said nodding.
"But Kaitlin's situation was quite different and as a result Kaitlin became the first person to have a familiar in about, as you say, 300 years."
"I came straight from the ally where I left Kaitlin and Nilsson." Jules said suddenly transforming into a beautiful girl with coffee coloured eyes and long flaming hair the same colour as her coat had been.
A gasp swept round the room and she grinned. 'We familiars have our own brand of magic." Then she became serious "I know what has happened to my charge and she is in pain and dying and I not willing to let her die. I brought a message from Nilsson and for that I still live." She paced the stage.
"I must communicate with all of you now I cannot stay in human form now and I can only communicate with Kaitlin, Galen because you are her twin and those who knew of my existence Thierry, Nilsson, The Maiden and The Crone when she lived. When I return to my animal form."
"I warn you all remember the prophecy. One less and darkness prevails. You have all been hurt and nearly gave your life in the fight against darkness but if there is one person you are likely to lose now it is Kaitlin. She the Old Power's daughter yet she won't leave unless Nilsson and die before she sees anyone of you killed. But remember she is the key without her no one can win."
With that she turned back into her animal form and left. But her unsaid words echoed round the room "Don't let her down guys."
Thierry said nothing and then said to Galen do I show them? Your call."
The room grew cold as they saw Galen's face drain of colour. But he knew they needed to see it so he nodded.
Thierry nodded knowing how hard it would be for him to go through his sister's pain all over again and put the disk in the player.
Galen nearly twisted Keller's hand off watching the disk all over again while the room got more and more icy as they watched it. When Kaitlin's face disappeared there was a murderous atmosphere.
Daybreak did not like it when their agents were tortured. Sure Daybreak themselves had taken agents for information but they had never tortured Night World agents and their soulmates. Read their thoughts maybe, bout ever torture. Never.
"We need a plan." Hannah said thinking Thierry's thoughts aloud. "Anyone got any ideas?" "We go in all guns blazing. We go in attack, shoot, keep shooting and get them out of there." Rashel said. She was always good at attack and if she could take Night World agents out as well, then that was excellent.
"Sounds like a plan Shelly." Quinn said flashing his soulamte his sexist smile. "It does sound like a plan Delos said suddenly "We'll have to go in fast and hard and shoot everything that moves and never give it up because I know where theyre keeping Kaitlin and Nilsson."
"Where Delos?" Galen said nearly taking Keller's hand off. She suppressed a yelp. "It's a Night World Bunker." Delos said "One of the last in existence and someone high in the council is involved because only high ranking members use it." "Delos," Quinn said "I was Hunter's adopted son for centuries and an elder on the council and I've never been there before."
"Very few have." Delos said "It'll be heavily guarded and a bastard to get into." "Where is it?" Galen said, "I don't know the four times I went I was blind folded." "But I do know." Thierry said suddenly.
"I'm an elder and considered a huge influence on the council I was shown the way. Delos you're right I just wasn't taking notice!"
"It is quite understandable." Delos said nodding "Kaitlin is the main focus and the only reason I recognised it is because that wall behind Kaitlin's head is where they forced me to kill my teacher." Maggie grasped his hand and smiled at him.
"I'm going to plan out the route. Delos come with me we're going to get Kaitlin and Nilsson out of there." Delos stood up "The rest of you." He looked round the room "Suit up." Hannah and Maggie followed their soulmates into Thierry's office and Daybreak sprung into action.
DONT SHOOT!
holds up a white flag to surrender.
Ok before you guys totally murder me...
Kaitlin and Nilsson had to be captured again. I know I know creul but its part of the plot and its needed dont worry you'll see them against im not finished with them yet.
coughs and looks points down.
i promise that chapter 12 will be here soon and i promise to try and keep u waiting long but can i possibly ask u to review so i know what u think
Please???
Thanx guys