Hey all, yes i'm still alive though i'm sure you've doubted it the amount of time it's took me to complete this chapter...But anyway here it is...

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise though i wish it were different...

Anyway without anything further to say here is chapter five!

Eclipse At Dawn

Chapter Five: Tristan Nova

Despite her resolve to remain focused Lupe found herself thinking about Kaitlin more and more over the next two weeks.

Kaitlin was the fourth wild power and while Lupe was friends with Jez, Illiena and Delos and she respected them for their strength she was closer to Kaitlin.

She had seen Kaitlin at her best and at her worst. She had seen her come into her inheritance as Wild Power and Princess of the First House and then find her soulmate.

She had been one of the agents to go after Kaitlin after she was kidnapped by Red Fern and as she pulled out the Angel Stone that Kaitlin had given her she realised that her job was even more important than before.

She wasn't just doing it for Daybreak anymore. She was doing it for the friends who could be caught in the crossfire. Kaitlin had helped her. The Angel stone burned when she was in meetings so she knew the traitor was here, or at least someone who was not being truthful.

Now she just had to root them out.

Which was proving harder than she thought and it was making her more and more annoyed. Whoever they were they were clever and they were carefully covering their tracks. They were well within the trust network of the cell and Lupe found herself admiring their work.

They might be a spy and they might be trying to tear apart everything Thierry had worked for but damn, Lupe had to give it too them they were doing well. She knew they were but other than that she had no idea.

Now, what did she do?

The answer came less than three weeks after they had received the news that Kaitlin had gone missing. Lupe and her team had been pestering Thierry and Hannah for regular updates but as of yet there hadn't been any.

The other Wild Powers were safe in hiding and had been forbidden from searching for their sister and as much as it annoyed them they knew this close to the battle they had to do as they were told.

Lupe continued her search with almost an animal like ferocity. If Red Fern head her again… Well it just didn't bare thinking about. Kaitlin was strong but Lupe feared that even the fourth wild power that seemed so untouchable could only take so much.

The last confrontation with Red Fern had taken more out of her than she let on Lupe knew this and being half a world away from the search. She had a job to do here and Goddess, she would do it.

She met up with her team in the store room and they sealed the room and cast an approaching spell to let them know if anyone was close before commencing their meeting.

"So what have people got today?" Lupe said without little hope. She knew the spy was here but they were hiding their tracks so well that she couldn't pick them out. This was depressing her and it was also making her doubt her ability as a tracker to get the job done.

More than that her team could see it and it was worrying them. Lupe was the best but this mission, it was almost as though it had her by the throat and wasn't letting go.

Then of course there was the fact that Kaitlin had gone missing and that certainly wasn't helping matters not in the slightest. Kaitlin was the fourth wild power and the key to destroying whatever would come in the battle. If the Night World had somehow found away to get to her again then Lupe wasn't sure Daybreak would survive.

Not that she thought that Kaitlin would turn but even the Fourth wild power could only take so much. And Kaitlin had been through more than her fair share for Daybreak in the short time she had known she was one of them.

In some ways though Lupe knew that this would help her sort this mission out. She would do anything to help her friend and if that meant getting hold of the mole to find out Red Fern's plans then that was what she would do. She was beyond compromise this had gone on to long and she was determined to finish it once and for all.

She was heading back from the gym when she suddenly found herself on the floor. She looked up and was stunned to see one of the five she had been investigating standing over her grinning. Tristan Nova was a vampire a born vampire but his bloodlines were new. Only three hundred years old. Obviously all born vampires were born of Maya and her son, the monster that was Red Fern but only those privileged few could claim to be direct descendants.

Those like Ash Red Fern and his sisters and even James Rasmussen through his mother. Though Lupe knew that they had now had a change of heart, well James had never liked the more violent side of his nature but Ash had definitely changed.

Who knew Soulmates could cause such uproar.

Lupe looked up at Tristian and realised that his eyes were that confusing contrast between green and blue.

Beautiful eyes

She thought and then stopped herself. Whoa! Where had that come from? She didn't have time for this nonsense. Tristan offered his hand but Lupe had already picked herself up from the floor. "Thanks but I managed." Tristan nodded still smiling and retracted his hand. "An independent one aren't we Lupe?" Lupe nodded.

"Always have been always will be it's the only way I know." Tristan nodded. "Wow you really know what you want don't you?" Lupe shrugged. "Of course. I want the downfall of the Night World. Isn't that what every Daybreaker wants?"

Lupe smirked inwardly as she watched his reaction carefully he answered quickly enough. "The Of course." Was there and the determination was there, the determination to see it through but there was that little flash of anger in his eyes and that tiny spark of hesitancy that had Lupe interested.

She decided that in this case confrontation was the best policy any of the other agents would have done the same in her position it was the nature of being a Daybreaker.

"That's not what you want Trisitan?" She asked lifting an eyebrow and crossing her arms. He looked at her and his eyes flared blue. She could feel anger coming off him but Lupe was not intimidated she had been around the Nightworld too long to be. She had also seen the brutalities of the world she belonged to and one lone angry vampire did not scare her.

"Of course it is!" He seemed offended Lupe thought. "Then why did you hesitate just then?" She asked. Tristan looked at her and then looked at the floor and pulled a hand through his hair "look this isn't easy for me ok? The Nova's are one of the hardcore Nightworld families I'm going against everything I've ever known just to be here. I know it's right but every so often I wonder whether I'm doing the right thing."

He looked up at Lupe. "I maybe a new recruit and I may not be the lightest of the light but I will fight. You just have to understand that the Nightworld was my home and to turn my back on it for something that none of them condone is not an easy thing."

Lupe shook her head. "No it's not. But sometimes it's the small things we do that make the biggest difference. You may not think you are but you are making a difference just by being here, just by being here you're increasing our numbers and our chances of winning."

Tristan smiled and nodded. He seemed a bit better for hearing this and he put his hand on her shoulder. "You're a good listener Lupe thanks for understanding." With that he walked off leaving Lupe feeling a little shell-shocked without really knowing why.

One thing she was sure of though was that she certainly wasn't sure she wanted to have left just then. She shrugged and shook her head. She had other things to worry about now. She was due to meet her team in the gym in five minutes and to get there she would have to run.

She picked up speed and ran round through the halls coming to the gym to find her team were already training. Shell and Toby were sparring with metal and wood while Mary. K and Danny were practicing their martial arts and all of them were certainly managing fine without her.

She entered the gym and picked up a silver bar, she hadn't really done this before but she had seen Kaitlin sparring with it and thought it had been a good idea. It dulled her senses slightly, which only enhanced them the next time she sparred with something that wasn't dangerous for her.

She starting sparring on her own and was shocked when something clanged with her bar. She looked up to see Danny smirking at her. "Watch your surroundings honey you wouldn't want anyone to get a jump on you." He was smirking and Lupe scowled.

The reason he was enjoying this so much was because it wasn't very often that Lupe was found to be an easy target. She swung her bar away and sparred with Danny for a few minutes before stopping.

Mary K. came over and looked at her. "Penny for them honey." She said sweetly. "Oh nothing." Lupe said. "I'm just a bit frustrated I thought we'd know more than we do by now."

Mary K. nodded looking sympathetic. "We all are sugar." She said smiling. "We're too used to being able to solve it quickly this is the first huge challenge we have had in a while. So we're just gonna have to stick with it."

Lupe nodded knowing that they were right. It was just so frustrating and as she had been doing she took it out on the training session. By the end she was dripping with sweat but her temper had disappeared and she was smiling and laughing with her friends.

Before they all left to go their separate ways to their rooms they agreed to meet early in the morning for another meeting with Xavier and Thierry. They weren't moving forward and they needed to deicide what they needed to do next.

Plus Lupe was anxious to hear from Thierry to see if he had heard anything about the whereabouts of Kaitlin and Nilsson. The other Wild Powers had finally called in safe but Kaitlin was still missing.

Lupe mentally shook her head. Where ever Kaitlin went she seemed to attract trouble and that was what was bothering Lupe the most. She hoped her friend was all right.

Lupe went to bed that night exhausted she'd thrown everything she had at the punch bag in the gym until she was sweating so much it was clouding her vision. She needed to make some headway but she wasn't sure how she was meant to do it. She knew the mole was here somewhere. She trusted Kaitlin's judgement but where the hell was he/she hiding?

The new recruits had raw wounds many of them had been caught in the crossfire and now there anger was driving them to choose a side, to fight. She could see the battle lines being drawn and she needed to act fast.

But now, she needed to sleep. Acting was for tomorrow.

Lupe knew she was dreaming. She had to be she was in a place that was too surreal to be real. She was wondering through a place she knew well on a well worn path as if she had been here many times before in her mind she knew she had but it had been a while since she had been there she knew she had been hiding and now for some reason she didn't want to hide anymore. She followed the path debating whether to Change or not and deciding against it for the time being. She loved being a wolf but she decided that there was much more to see and understand as a human.

She followed the path watching the scenery change and enjoying the feel of the son on her face. Just as she was rounding a corner she heard rustling in the bushes off to her left. She tensed her eyes and ears alert. Something always had to spoil it. Nothing was ever simple not in Lupe's life. She felt the Angel stone round her neck burn and she jumped. As quickly as it had come it was gone and she stood listening again.

Just as she had decided it was time to Change she heard another noise in the bushes. This time she called out. "Whose there?" She dropped down into a defensive position she had had too much experience with the Night World to take any chances she. "I'm warning you!" She called.

Just then a figure stepped out of the undergrowth and Lupe stood dumbfounded as Tristan Nova made himself known. "What are you doing here?" She snarled. She wasn't about to let her guard down yet. There was no way! He was still a suspect despite the story he had given her earlier in the day.

"I was about to ask you the same question." Tristan said his eyes flashing. "I have no idea." Lupe said. "Well are you going to fight me or not?" Tristan asked his eyes dancing with mocking amusement, which only served to make Lupe more annoyed than she already was.

"I don't fight on demand." She said scathingly. Who the hell was he to demand her anyway? "Besides you don't want to fight against me." She smirked. "You just might loose."

Tristan scoffed and put his hands on his hips. "You're very sure of yourself aren't you?" "I have to be." Lupe shrugged. "You don't stay alive otherwise. Besides I'm a werewolf, being a good fighter comes with the territory."

Lupe almost gasped as she said that. What the hell had possessed her to say that? She had just given away some valuable information about herself! What the hell was wrong with her? But something told her she was safe to do so.

Tristan lifted an eyebrow. "A werewolf huh? Wow that's some firepower in that little package?" Lupe spluttered. He DID NOT just say that! Tristan laughed seemingly amused by her unease.

"Oh come on!" He laughed, "You can't possibly be offended." Lupe wasn't she just wasn't used to this kind of attention of course she wasn't about to admit that to him.

"What you think just because you give sleezy compliments the women will fall all over you?" Lupe asked.

He shrugged with a quiet confidence. "It works on most women." "Good job I'm not most women then isn't it?" She snapped back. At this Tristan looked at her properly. "Yes. I think it is."

Then in two steps he was in front of her and had her pinned against a nearby tree. "It is a good job because I don't think I'd be as nearly as attracted to you if you were like most women."

Then he kissed her and it was like everything she had thought it would be. It was like everything Kaitlin and the others had described. Pink haze and gold lightening. She could almost see into his mind and then the moment was over and they both pulled apart and looked at each other.

"Well this will be interesting." Tristan said his eyes glistening as though he was about to feed.

"Possibly." Lupe said weakly.

Then they were kissing each other again and that was when the world tilted and Lupe was falling.

Lupe sat bolt upright in bed sweat covering her forehead and a blush creeping it's way into her cheeks. She couldn't believe that she had dreamt that! What was wrong with her she had never had any inkling of being attracted to anyone before, why the hell did it have to happen now.

"Oh bloody hell." She muttered.

Little did she know what a few rooms down a certain vampire was sat up looking at the stars thinking the exact same thing.