Ok as much as i would love it to be true i do not own the Night World it belongs to L.J.Smith and i only own the characters you don't reconise and the plot...I won;t do anything to them i swear...
Hope you guys enjoy it...Here it is...
Dragon Days
Chapter one: Hiding With Help
The hunt was on. Circle Daybreak were hunting for the leader of the dragons. The leader that had been awakened. That meant trouble. Blaise Harman had been the one assigned to this case. She was one of the two last remaining direct descendants of Grandma Harman who had been killed before the Solstice.
Blaise had been shocked when she had been chosen to chase up this assignment that had been placed top priority since Keller and Galen had reported a hidden alliance. She had thought one of the other longer serving agents or even her cousin Thea Harman would have been assigned but Thierry had specifically put her in charge and that he had that kind of trust in her humbled her usual stony exterior.
Thierry had been adamant that he wanted a witch on this assignment because the dragons had supposedly been woken up and it was the witches that had the power to put them back to sleep.
Blaise had taken this assignment on her own for the moment so that her movements were harder to track. Thierry had supported her decision and said that Poppy, James, Thea and Eric were on stand by when she needed them. Now she was out for information.
Blaise had left Las Vegas earlier that day after listening to Lupe. She couldn't believe somewhere in the organisation there was a mole! Did they want the Night World and eternal darkness to succeed? They obviously didn't know what was coming.
Kaitlin did. She had seen it.
She was the key.
The leader of the Wild Powers and she had seen what was coming and it had done nothing but strengthen her resolve to win.
Blaise was with her there. There was nothing else she hated more than to lose. She was going to win this fight if it was the last thing she did. Which if she was honest it very well could be.
Kaitlin and the other Wild Powers were now preparing to go into hiding. Kaitlin had put up a fight but her soulmate Nilsson had finally talked her round. Before Blaise had set out Kaitlin had come to her and told he to be careful. She said the dragons were strong and the leader the strongest of them all.
Kaitlin had given her a piece of amber on a sliver chain and had said, "It's for luck. Be careful Balise please."
Balise touched the amber now as she drove through a small town. She had been touched by the gift. Blaise liked jewellery she often created her own but she had decided that Kaitlin's positively charged crystal was probably the best she could get. Kaitlin was after all descendent from those dragons and were powers were like Daybreak had never seen. Kaitlin had more than Blue Fire.
She drove out of Las Vegas and wasn't sure where she should head. She knew that Daybreak was going to ground. Before she had set off Quinn, Rashel, Ash and Mary-Lynette had gone in separate cars heading running from the Night World. Bliase guessed they would head for California and head towards San Diego or San Francisco Thierry had safe houses and properties over there that only Daybreak agents used. Kaitlin had been the last of the four Wild Powers to leave. They were headed for a destination only the four wild powers and their soul mates, Thierry and Hannah were aware of. Daybreak's security was ten fold what it had been before. It was good before but now the organisation was like Fort Knox all because of one individual.
Bliase felt the same anger rise within her. How could someone do this? Did they want the end of the world to come? But then it was probably that they believed the lies of the Night World. She herself had once been among them.
She had once been of the Night World. She had once hurt humans. Human boys. Watched as under her spell and under her beauty they all cracked. Blaise had watched for the 'pop' as she called it. The boys were never the same after it.
She shook the memories of Randy, Troy, Kevin, Luke and so many others had been 'popped' or hurt by her antics.
Then Thea had fallen in love. With a human boy. Eric Ross. A boy Balise had thought would be so easy to break to stop him killing her cousin. Her sister. But everything she tried had just pushed Thea and Eric closer together.
She shook her head. She didn't do that anymore. She fought all the people who did that to people. She became an agent to make up for it.
She cleared her head of pictures of Randy crying blood because of the crescent shapes he had cut in his cheeks. She pretended she hadn't cared but she had been horrified. She loved playing with them but that had gone too far.
She hadn't meant for him to be totally mindless. He had nearly hurt someone else.
All your fault Balise
All your fault.
And now she had to make up for it.
Because seeing Eric and Thea together had shown her that Humans were the same as the Night People. They had the same emotions and same ideals and dreams. They were just physically less able to express themselves.
The Night People had that ability and some Balise included had flaunted it. So Daybreak was her penance. And she wouldn't let go until she had changed one life for every life she destroyed.
Thinking of all the schools she had been excluded from and all the lives she had destroyed she knew it was going to take some time.
She shook her head and concentrated on driving. Keller and Galen had battled the dragon in North Carolina but somehow Balise didn't think that was were the leader of the dragons was going to be.
She didn't know how she knew. She just knew it wasn't. She thought of what Mother Cybele had said and what Keller had said.
"A witch who is not a witch we've made our own alliance."
She repeated the sentence that had plagued her and all of Daybreak for months. Now it was her job to figure it out.
She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove the car steadily out of Nevada. It was then that she saw it. The none descript car. The license plate was the same as the one that had been following her since she had took the first turning to leave Las Vegas.
She glanced in the mirror and flicked her hair to cover the fact she was checking out the driver. They looked like Night People and Balise realised she had a tail.
She automatically changed her plans. Wherever she had been going she wasn't now and changed lanes and took the first turn off to leave the highway. The car followed her.
Damn. She thought what now.
Her cell phone rang and she put her earpiece in and said "Balise." "Balise where are you?" It was her cousin. She looked at the clock and swore. She felt Thea smile. "So you know why I'm calling." "I missed my check in again didn't I?" Balise said closing her eyes briefly and took another turning the car turning at the same point.
Now she knew she was in trouble.
Hell. Hell. Hell.
"Thea I've got a tail." She said into the earpiece she knew she could about all this on the phones. Thierry had given all the agents phones that where secure lines. Brand new technology not on the market. New phones that couldn't be hacked even by the smartest of hackers.
"What?" Thea said her voice shaking with new awareness. "This car has been following me from when I left Las Vegas." Balise said plainly. "But you left for your location nearly three hours ago. You took the round about path as it was!" Thea said, "I know. And they've followed me all the way. I'd seen it a couple of times on the road but it's the highway. It could have been going anywhere."
"But it's never been off my ass for the past half hour. They're defiantly Night People." She checked the mirror. Yep. Defiantly. Shifters.
Hell.
Thea said "Balise where are you?" Balise watched a sign go past "El Camino" She read from the sign as she passed.
"That's where James and Poppy used to live."
Thea said at once. "I am well aware of that." Balise said as she followed the flow of traffic into the main street. The car lost her. She knew she needed to get away while they couldn't see her. "I do know where my cousin lived." She said sarcastically. She pulled into a residential area and pulled the car into a gap between the houses.
The tail went straight past. "I've lost them." She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good work Balise." Balise heard her cousin smile. "Looks like I'm hiding out in El Camino for a few hours." She said with cheer she didn't feel.
Balise always had been good at hiding her thoughts.
"I'm ditching the car until later. I'll check in, in an hour." "Okay be careful." Thea cut the connection and Balise breathed in and released a long breath. It was a good job she hadn't intended to go straight for the old burial ground, which was somewhere back east.
She got out of the car and locked it. She'd see if that car was anywhere in sight. She should move now but she wanted to keep a clean slate that tail had got the jump on her and she didn't like it.
She put on a pair of designer sunglasses on and walked out of her hiding place. She felt the pull almost immediately. There was a witch somewhere nearby.
Across the road.
She looked up. There was a group of boys laughing and joking on the other side of the road. One of them? She needed a friend around here. But then it was likely that they could still be affiliated with the Night World.
Thea hadn't mentioned any witches in El Camino apart from Gisele who was still very much a Night Worlder. The club therefore was a no go. Well. She could pretend but not if those shifters were there.
She had just decided that it just wasn't worth the risk when the five lads were over the road and around her.
The Balise fever had stuck again. She did not need this right now. "Not seen you around here before." One of the lads said "Are you new?" "Err. No not exactly I'm visiting my aunt and uncle." Balise said the lie easily.
"I'm just passing through." "Oh babe that's a shame." One of them joked and Balise smiled. All of the lads grinned back at her apart from one.
The blond one. He was tall, Viking-blond and handsome with striking green eyes. He was looking at her not, like the others with obvious interest but with obvious distrust. He'd said nothing.
She reached out and tired to find any source of magic but all she found was a brick wall. She was shocked. Her grey eyes met his green ones and as if realising what she was doing his eyes narrowed.
Her curiosity was captured. He didn't feel like a witch. There was nothing magical about him. But…there was something…
"Balise Harman." She introduced herself
"Gary Campbell" The mouthy one said "and these are my mates Carter Dawson," The sandy haired one grinned "Matt Anderson." The black haired one grinned "and this is Phil North." He indicated to the blond haired one.
Wait a minute!
Balise thought her mind going into over drive Phil North? Poppy's brother?
She looked at Phil again and said before she could stop herself "You're Poppy's brother." Everyone went silent and Phil went pale.
Oh No! Balise you daft idiot now look what you've done!
Phil eyed her with obvious hate and then his eyes became huge with understanding. "You're James' cousin." Balise nodded and then Phil smiled "I haven't seen James around I hear he's staying with your aunt for a couple of months how is he?"
Balise was lost for words. Phil had just covered her blunder like it was a walk in the park. "Where is James is he coming to visit his parents?" They both knew the answer to that and Balise said "No. He's attending high school with me in Las Vegas. Hs parents thought a change would do him good."
They all knew what she was talking about. But no one mentioned it. Poppy's 'death.' Then he turned to the guys and said "I'll catch up with you later. I'm gonna walk Balise back to her aunts." No one argued with him.
Phil North was not the same person he had been before his twin's death. He was still easy to talk to, still star of the school but they knew he needed to talk to Balise James wasn't around and they knew James had felt bad about Poppy's death.
When they had gone Phil turned to look at her and said, "Are they ok?" "Yes. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just you're like her." Phil laughed, "I'm as different from her as I can get. We were different before but now." He sighed. "No. I don't mean like that."
Balise trying to find the words. Oh my god! What was happening to her? She was getting tongue tied around a guy. That was defiantly a first. Guys were usually the ones to get tongue-tied. But Phil looked perfectly at ease.
"Look," Phil said, "I know what you mean." He grabbed her elbow and steered her across the road and talked low. "But James said that as long as I left you all alone you wouldn't come near me so what's the deal?"
Balise wasn't sure what the deal was. She looked up at Phil. He was looking at her with his arms crossed waiting patiently for an answer. "Things have changed." Balise found herself saying.
"With the Night World I mean." She said then she and Phil glanced around and she said "look I think you need to know this stuff since your sister is involved and I kind of need a place to hide out for while so is there anywhere we can talk a while?"
Phil nodded "My parents aren't in we can talk there." He guided her to his house.
Phil couldn't understand why he was doing it.
He'd known she was a Night Worlder on sight. She walked with the same ease as James and Poppy did. Total control and confidence and it made her stick out. Especially if you knew what you were looking for.
He didn't want to be part of that world that James and Poppy were apart of but this girl, he was attracted to her. He wasn't sure it was sexual attraction; god knew she was beautiful enough to have that effect. It was something else that compelled him to talk to her.
He shut the door and they walked into the living room. "Phil I know you don't want to hear this but I need help." Balise couldn't believe she'd said the words but that didn't make them any less true.
She had known as soon as she had discovered she had a tail. She knew she was in more trouble than she bargained for and although she had Daybreak to back her up she needed outside help.
She needed to get out of El Camino without leaving a trace to follow. "No. I'm sorry Balise but I won't become apart of that world. I don't belong there like you do." "But you're a witch!" She said desperately. "All witches belong to the Night World." "I'm a lost witch." Phil corrected "that means I can live normally with my friends."
"Your sister is part of that world!" Balise said and wondered why it was so important for him to help her. What was going on with her she was usually so cool. It was like the old Balise Harmen had disappeared replaced by someone else.
"My sister is a vampire. And had she not been she would have died. My sister isn't part of my life any more." Phil said and Balise could feel the pain radiating off him as he said this.
"But Phil she needs you!" The words tumbled from her mouth before Balise could stop them. "What do you mean?" Phil demanded suddenly. "I thought you said they were ok!" "They are but…" Could she tell him? She searched for the words when there was a knock at the door.
Phil jumped a foot in the air and dived for the window. He looked out and swore. "Hide!" He said "Why?" She asked "Night People. Go!" She didn't need telling twice.
Phil calmed his nerves and went to the door. He opened it and two boys stood there. "Hey," He said casually. "Hey, do you know a Blaise Harman?" They said "The Crone's granddaughter? Shouldn't every witch?" Phil laughed, the shifters started and said "which circle?" Phil pulled his dahlia off his coat and said "Twilight."
"Oh, she's meant to be in town have you seen her?" "No, sorry guys. Besides Blaise is the party animal isn't she? What would she want here in El Camino?" "Good point. Sorry to bother you. If you see her will you call us. We want to hook up." Phil smiled "Sure."
He closed the door and called to Balise "You can come out now." Balise walked back in from her hiding place in the kitchen. "So you're not a witch huh?" She asked smiling shakily. "Ok fine. So a lot of Night Worlders have been coming through here lately looking for James and his bastard of a cousin Ash. I decided if they thought I was a Night Person they wouldn't push me around."
"After all if I'm one of you I'm not vermin am I?" He smiled grimly and Balise didn't know what to say. For the first time in her life she was speechless and it scared her.