Wow! I've been away a while what can i say? I haven't got a defence other than my life is busy and i try and update every story i have equally so here it is at last. I think i would have been a bit embarressed if it had reached the year mark without a single update though but here it is i hope you enjoy it

Disclaimer: I own nothing but th plot...

MWth06: Thanx for the review! You're my first reviwer for this story thank-you so much! As for finding out whether Balise and Phil are soulates lets wait and see... Here is the next chapter deadicated to you!

Now on with the story!

Dragon Days

Chapter Four: Death Of An Agent

Balise came to and when she opened her eyes she realised that there was a blond haired guy looking down at her. His outline was fuzzy for a moment before it clicked that it was Phil North and then with a sickening rush everything came back to her and she sat up sharply.

Almost too late she realised she'd done the wrong thing because she was still in the car and Phil's face told her everything she needed to know. The car rocked and her stomach hit the floor.

The car rocked for a moment and Balise felt sure it was going to go over the side but it managed to stabilise itself and Balise physically sagged with relief. "We have to get out of here." Balise said glancing over the side and not liking the distance between them and the ground.

"We do." Phil agreed looking around for a way out. "This car is going to go at any moment I can see it." Balise said. She wasn't panicking, at least not yet, but what was the point in sugar coating the truth? It was going to over they just had to hope that they could find a way out of it before they went over with it.

"But it isn't going to take us with it." Phil said, "Not if I can help it." He had wormed his way out from behind the steering wheel. And managed to get the drivers side door open as the way the car had spun it had ended up being Balise's side of the car that was balanced over the edge.

"Balise I need you to start moving towards me." Balise looked over the edge and was struck by a sudden bout of fear, fear so strong she froze. The panic she had been fighting to keep away came roaring into her heart at the thought of moving in an already rocky car.

"I can't." She whispered. She thought it amusing that she could take on most of the Night World and fight with magic and not let her fear cloud her senses but now sat in the car she felt as if her limbs were frozen in place.

"You can." Phil said soothingly. "Come on Balise we have to get out of here and I need you to help me help you."

Balise closed her eyes and tried to forget there was virtually nothing between her and a steep fall down into nothing. With physical effort she tore her gaze from her side of the car and forced her to look at Phil and the fact he was trying to help her.

He smiled and his green eyes, so like Poppy's lit up. "That's it sweetheart, come on don't look down. Don't look at anything but me. Come on one step at a time."

She took a deep breath and did as he asked keeping her eyes locked on Phil's and then when she felt brave enough she moved one leg out and then the other and shuffled round.

The car rocked and she froze the car righted itself and she pushed with her hands pushing herself over the handbrake and the gear stick. "That's it Balise come on nearly there."

Phil kept his voice calm even though inside he was screaming. He couldn't believe it. Even after he had sworn he would never become involved in the Night World the night that Poppy and James had left it had found him anyway and now he was helping them.

He was choosing a side in a war that wasn't his own. He wanted nothing more than to be able to turn back but he knew that that wasn't an opinion now and he had known it the moment he offered Balise the help she needed back in El Camino. So for better or for worse he was in this war and all he could do was pray that they all survived to see the end of it.

Balise made it to the other side of the car and Phil grabbed her and pulled her clear. They stood on the road, Balise unable to stop shaking and the Phil had an idea.

"We need to push the car over the cliff." "What?" Balise said weakly. She had to have heard wrong there was no way she had heard right. "We need to make them think they got us. We need to make everyone think that we're dead that way no one will be on our tail and we'll be able to do this and then maybe I can go back to the life I had before all this." Phil said his face set in a sober line.

"Everyone?" Balise said quietly. She was in too much shock to really argue. She knew the dangers when she had joined Daybreak to be with her cousin the one person she loved most in the world but she hadn't realised those dangers would come to bite her in the arse so soon.

She hated herself for acting like a distraught damsel but if Phil hadn't been there to help her she was pretty sure she would have one over the cliff. She never wanted to feel fear like that again.

"Everyone." Phil said grimly. She went to argue but he sapped at her. "Do you think I like this idea anymore than you?" He didn't wait for her answer. "My mother has already lost her daughter and if she gets wind of this crash then she's lost her son too! I don't want this but it's the only way. They'll be back."

Balise suddenly understood Phil's reasoning and suddenly for the first time since she had entered El Camino the true Daybreak Agent shone through. She didn't like it but there were so many opportunities to do the things she needed too and no one would expect to look for her if she was dead. She looked at Phil and smirked. "Come on then being dead doesn't work well if people can see that clearly your alive."

Phil smirked and held out is arm. "Shall we Miss-I'll-Be-The-Boss-Now?" Balise shot him a look that said repeat any of this and you will die. Phil shrugged and said, "Would I?"

Together they worked on getting the car over the cliff. It didn't take much and Balise wondered how it had stayed perched so long and the she had a sudden thought and tossed her cell phone over the cliff just as the car blew up. She watched it as a fireball came crawling over the cliff.

Then with a second thought she ran to the side of the cliff and with a few words the fire danced higher and brighter again. Phil looked at her. "Well we've got to make it look like there is nothing left of us. They cant find a body since there isn't any the hotter the fire the less chance there is of that." Phil nodded watching the flames. "That makes sense."

"Come on we have to move," She said finishing the spell grabbing his hand.

"Daybreak and the Night World have eyes everywhere as soon as someone finds it they'll know we have to leave." Phil nodded and together they made their way along the road. Balise was getting nervous because it was in the open but Phil seemed to know where he was going.

"You know this road?" He nodded. "I've drove it enough. We can camp down in one of the caves further along the cliff and then we can move on tomorrow we just have to make sure we don't get caught."

Balise nodded. "Then we had better move." They quickened their pace and then started running when they heard the sirens. "The Night People and Daybreak will be here soon." Balise said. "Thea…" She whispered. "Thea's your cousin right?" Phil asked. "She's my cousin," Balise nodded, "But she might as well be my sister. This is going to kill her."

Phil nodded. "I doubt Poppy will take the news any better when they find out I was in the car with you." Balise hadn't thought of that. "I'm sorry Phil," She said softly. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this." Phil shrugged. "It seems that I was meant to be part of the Night World because no matter what I do it always seems to find me."

The sirens were getting closer and Phil and Balise had to sprint along the road. A little further along Phil tugged Balise into a cave barely big enough for both of them to fit. "We'll hide here until the road clears."

Over the next few hours officials came and went and Balise nearly broke when Thea came to the crash sight saw the car and broke down. Eric was the only thing that was holding her up. But Phil's hand on her shoulder kept her still. In the end Daybreak had been quicker than the Night World but Phil had been right if Daybreak had a mole no matter where he was in the world this would get back to Red Fern since everything else seemed too and this mission was too important.

Thea would kill her when she did find out but for the sake of the mission it was worth it. They watched as Daybreak covered up the crash and left about half an hour after agents from the Night World appeared and took what they could from the crash sight and then left.

Phil watched for another hour in case any humans came across the crash site although there was nothing to find it was possible that they might then he looked at Balise. "Come on. We have to go." Balise nodded and moved. She knew she was being pathetic but she knew that right now she couldn't be strong. She couldn't be her Night World- Bad-Ass-self, not that she had really since she'd joined Daybreak but she couldn't be.

Not now.

She knew she would have to be when they got to where they were going but right now she had just lost her sister for the foreseeable future and she felt like her heart was breaking all over again.

She felt Phil's arm around her and she let him lead her out of the cavern and out onto the road. The only indication that there had been a crash at all where a set of tire treads and even those where faded.

They walked along the road quickly to get out of the open, as quickly as possible they didn't need anyone seeing them now. Especially the ones that thought them dead.

Earlier that day…

Thea looked at Eric, "she's late again." Eric frowned. "I know and somehow I don't think after all the trouble she had getting to El Camino I don't think she'd do it again intentionally."

At that moment Thea realised she'd been that she hadn't done her sweep for Night World activity. She activated her computer and did her sweep. As the Satellite went over a Las Vegas and the surrounding towns and cities that she saw something that made her heart stop.

She saw two cars speeding along a highway and then one crash into the side of the cliff and it hung there. She zoomed in on the licence plate and her heart was in her throat.

"No." Thea said flying towards the door with Eric half a step behind her. "Thea!" Eric called. "Wait!" "No." Thea said "I can't Balise can't wait!"

In ten minutes there was a team put together for recovery and in twenty minutes they were well on their way.

Thea would not sit still. "Can't we go any faster?" She snapped. "I'm trying." David said his teeth gritted. "Cars only go so fast we're already ahead of the recovery team. I'm trying as hard as I can Thea!" "It's not your sister on the line here!" Thea snapped.

"She's my friend." David snapped. "I don't want anything to happen to her either but there is only so much we can do. I can't make this car go any faster. I know from James the Night World agents haven't even set off I'm doing as best as I can."

In her heart Thea knew that was true but she couldn't loose Balise she'd already lost Illenia for the time being and her grandmother had already been killed in this war she couldn't loose Balise as well.

David saw Thea's despair and quick look at Gillian who nodded he pushed the car again and it shot forward with a groan. It obviously didn't like going at 110mph continuously. "If we have an accident along here I am going to kill you." David said not taking his eyes off the road now. "You have my permission." Eric said clutching Thea's hand.

They rounded the corner and how David managed to control the car was beyond Thea's comprehension but she was suddenly pleased that he had been taking lessons from Jez, Morgread and Ash who were some of their best drivers.

But then Thea recognised the road and said, "David slow down. I recognise this." David did as she asked and when she said stop he did his best to come to a complete stop.

"This is it." Thea said softly as they got out the car. Eric looked back up the road and back the way they had came and nodded. "It looks like it see the skid marks on the road?" "Oh Goddes no." Thea moaned. They scouted the site and Thea's heart lurched when Gillian yelled, "I found it!"

Thea had never ran so fast in her life. She got to the side of the road and her heart plummeted. The car had gone over the cliff and all that was left of it was a burnt out shell.

Eric looked at it and swore. Ever the genius he whispered that burnt hotter than any fire usually would. Thea wiped tears from her eyes. "Do you think she got out all right?" Thea scouted the road and picked up her sister's magical signature along with someone else's that seemed similar but she couldn't quite place.

"She was here." Thea said pointing. David came over and nodded grimly. "She will have been look at the tire treads, the car was balancing here." Thea looked over the cliff. "She's alive I know she is." Gillian grabbed Thea's hand. "Sweetie there is no way she could have survived that." Gillian said gently. "And even if she did she would be on the road side waiting for us or have rung to tell us she was in trouble."

Thea shook her head. "I know she's alive." Eric squeezed Thea tighter to her. "We'll send the recovery team down there." David said. "We need to find out what happened." "I'm sorry Thea." Gilliam said tears rolling down her face. "No!" Thea said sobbing. "No. She's not dead. She can't be dead."

"Thea honey, No one could have survived that. Even a witch as strong as your sister." David said softly. That was when Thea broke down. Eric held her and when she couldn't stand up anymore he picked her up and took her back to the car.

David and Gillian waited for the recovery team it didn't take long for them to clean up the mess but what they did say is that there had been two people in the car. Both of whom had died in the crash. When Thea had been told this she got a sick feeling in her stomach.

Balise had been in El Camino at the time there was only one witch there that Thea was certain was with the Daybreakers if he had had to choose a side. Thea just hoped she was wrong otherwise Poppy would be in the same position as her. She vowed to find out before anything was said to Poppy because she had her own mission to run and until they were certain there was no way she was going to say anything.

The Daybreakers returned to their bases with heavy hearts Thea and Eric's even heavier at the thought of having to tell Poppy that her brother could have been involved in the crash.

Meanwhile Balise and Phil now totally under the radar of both groups continued towards their mission with the propose of fulfilling it.