Chapter 11.

"How many times do I have to tell you people?" Thierry fumed. Jez, Delos, Eric and David stood before him, restrained by guards all three guys squirming like kids who know what they're doing is wrong but do it anyway and know they're facing the consequences, Jez looking perfectly calm even though Thierry's deadly gaze and Hannah's disappointed one was solely on her – she was used to that, she tried to escape often - "especially you, Jez, that what we do is for your own protection? You and Delos are needed, you can't run off to a place where people like you are dying!" he turned to Eric and David, "and you two: Blaise, Ash, Raven, Red, Blossom," he ticked them off on his fingers as he spoke, "three vampires, a shape shifter and a witch have already fallen! What were you two going to fight them with?"

They exchanged glances that seemed to ask just that, "actually I was just going to try and find Gillian," David said, looking at the floor.

"And I just wanted to bring Thea back," Eric added.

Hannah squeezed Thierry's arm, a reminder not to get too mad. They understood better than anyone what it was like to be apart from one another, and now they had most of the soulmate couples separated for what could be the last battle they ever faced. It wasn't fair, and if Keller weren't so important, she'd be wondering whether it was worth it.

He sighed, and Hannah knew he was going to let them off the hook with nothing but a 'please, please try not to do it again,' but the door to the left of the office burst open before he could say anything. The bundle of red that jumped through and promptly tripped over the desk chair seemed to be in a reckless sprint, breathing hard, they all looked over at her.

"Poppy, don't you ever knock?" Hannah asked with as much joyousness as she could manage given the situation.

Poppy pulled a face as though knocking was something she'd never heard of before, then recovered quickly, David looked over, hoping for the best, but she just shook her head, sorry to be disappointing him, "We haven't found Gillian yet, but we decided one of us had to come back," she refrained from adding that that one had to be her because Winnie and Morgead thought she was too reckless, "we needed to tell you that we…got information…from a vampire. A respected, evil one, Josef. He told us that he'd heard Keller was being held in a warehouse just outside Vegas." She paused, "I stopped at a few other clubs on my way back, and everyone I talked to agreed."

Thierry had sat down and dropped his head to his desk in annoyance as she was talking, now it bounced up as though on a spring, "what?" he yelled, "you're telling me that we've sent them to the wrong place? That we've lost Ash and Blaise and Raven and…in the wrong place!" he cursed, "I'm an idiot," but Rashel had told him the place was the most likely place for them to take Keller, and when it was as heavily guarded as it was, he had assumed she was right. Now, to find out he'd lost five of his best agents, for nothing, it was despicable…

"It's not your fault, Thierry," Hannah whispered, but Poppy rushed on, "and a few told me it was North east of Vegas too, so that should narrow it down."

Thierry nodded, turned and pressed a button on some fancy electronic equipment lying on his desk, pressing a communicator to his ear, "Rashel? Quinn?" he waited for a few moments, "we found out that" a long hesitation, "yes…" pause "that's what I was going to tell you" a silence that seemed to go on forever, none of them in the room with Thierry even dared breathe, "I see…I'll send a helicopter straight away."

"there have been no more dead," he told the others briskly as he reached for his phone, but his hand wavered there, and they all got the idea that he had something he didn't want to tell them, "but there have been three people hurt: James, Holly and Thea," Poppy stopped bouncing and grinning and seemed to deflate in front of him, Eric sat down on the floor with a thud as though his legs could no longer contain him, Thierry reached for the phone, "I'm sending a helicopter to take Thea and Holly to the nearest hospital," he turned to Poppy, "of course, James will have to come here, so I'm sending a car for him, you can drive it if you want."

Eric's voice was gruff; he was surprised he could even get his words out. Or his one word anyway, "Thierry."

The vampire sighed, "it's probably against my better judgement, but go wait outside, the helicopter will come get you," he looked hard at both of them, "none of them is going to die, James had a stake through his side and Thea's been stabbed through the stomach, but they'll both live," he turned away, "wish I knew whether I could say the same for Holly."

Quinn surveyed the room quickly, positive that every last vampire had been finished off. The whole of the warehouse had been checked, and there was nowhere for Keller and the Draches to be.

They had lost so much in the wrong place. His best friend, and four good friends from Circle Daybreak. James lay on the floor, panting large raggedy breaths as he held something Thea had given him to his side. Holly Albert, a witch, was lying on the floor, unconscious, a puddle of blood surrounding her as Thea tried to start work on her, ignoring her own blood. Quinn sighed and stepped over to where Rashel was sitting, her hand on her ear, "I can't believe that I was wrong! I can't believe that a normal warehouse was so heavily guarded!" Rashel let whoever was on the other end get out a few words, then went on, "we're coming back to the mansion! Because they're not here, you know. We've searched the whole place and James and Thea are bleeding all over, stabbed in the side and the stomach. And Holly's near dead, you're gonna have to come and get them."

She sounded so authoritive, so commanding, that Quinn was surprised when she turned to him and said, "that was Thierry," most people were in awe of the first ever made vampire, they wouldn't boss him about. But that was Rashel all over. He stared at her beautiful face, at her wide green eyes, and he realised that – if Ash hadn't jumped in front of the stake – he would never have seen her again, never have got to revel in her bossiness and her strength, and – when she felt like it – her kindness and sensitivity, her optimism. He had never felt this way about anyone; he had thought he had loved Dove…but that…that had been nothing, compared to what he felt for Rashel.

Turning, she said, "it's a sobering thought, isn't it?"

That I love her more than Dove? He thought momentarily before realising she wasn't reading his mind, "what is?"

She pointed off towards where she was looking, at two girls huddled together: Rowan and Kestrel, crying over the loss of their brother, Quinn felt a sadness looking at them, as though he should go over and talk to them, but he knew they didn't entirely trust him anyway, he nodded, "and he has a soulmate at home who's gonna be so distraught. I can't stand the thought of you dying and leaving me," she put her arms around him, "and I can't stand the thought of you being upset when I eventually die."

Quinn gulped, he tried not to think about that often. He didn't want to imagine that when Rashel finally died of old age, he'd be left alone. Again. As he had been all those years, he tried to push her away.

"So I'm not going to die. I want you to change me."

He stared at her, his mouth open, and he snapped it shut before she noticed. Where had the Rashel he knew gone? The one that resented vampires so strongly would have killed him had he even suggested such a thing. He stared.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," she muttered, reading his mind, "two of my best friend's are vampires. Oh, and you are. I've learnt not to hate them. You." She paused, "I don't want you to be lonely."

He could barely speak. It was what he had wanted from the beginning, but he had to wonder if Rachel's pain at having to watch her friends die was speaking, he found his words, digging through a lump of bile as he spoke, "are you sure? Living forever isn't all it's made out to be…"

She kissed him, and he stopped caring, "yes, I'm sure. As long as we're together and fighting, it'll be great." With his vampire hearing, Quinn could hear the blades of a helicopter nearby, he looked towards the unconscious lump on the floor, then beyond her to James, who was being helped up by his soulmate. Strange. He hadn't heard Poppy come in. "I'll get Holly," he said to Rashel, "you help Thea to the helicopter."

She nodded, "see you outside, then yodelled to the others, "Okay, you guys, come on, we're leaving now!"

Reluctantly, the sisters and other Daybreakers followed Rashel and Quinn out of the room.