Reposted Chapter.

Chapter 10: Sunrise, Sunrise

Walking out on the tarmac, the wind swept across Nyssa's neck and she pulled tighter to Michael. He squeezed her back, kissing her hair and rubbing her back soothingly. They stopped briefly, waiting as the stairway lowered, a warm light eminating from the interior of the private plane. The crew came down the steps to greet Selene and Nyssa just buried her face deeper into her father's skin.

"It will be another ten minutes until the plane is ready, but you can board now," he heard the captain tell her. She thanked them and turned back to Michael. Her face softened as she saw Nyssa clinging to him fiercely. Walking over, she rubbed the child's back, kissing her shoulder briefly.

Before they left the house, they did a final check on Nyssa's stats. Within three weeks, she gained nearly fifteen pounds, putting her in the 90 percentile. She grew a full inch as well. "Its those hybrid genes; once she'd been norished properly, everything kicked in overdrive," Amelia joked, tickling the now less shy girl. Nyssa hugged her goodbye as they left the house; as well as better health, she began to form more relationships with those in the house. Thomas often came over to her just to say hi and ended up holding her or sitting with her for a few minutes. Even Victoria began to joke around with Nyssa.

But she didn't think about any of them at this moment. Right now, she was getting on a plane for the first time and Michael wasn't coming with her. "Daddy," Nyssa cried softly.

"Hey, hey. It's okay, princess." He pulled her back to look into watery blue eyes. "I'll be with you in a few days. And your going to be with mom, so you'll be fine." She sniffed a few times, trying to look brave but unable to keep the tears from falling. "Oh, baby girl," he whispered, hugging her close again.

"I love you, daddy," she whispered, hiccuping gently.

"I love you so much, princess." After a while, Nyssa began to talk to her parents more often. It was often in short, clipped phrases, but as she picked up on words and asked about things, her vocabulary improved greatly.

He kissed her on the cheek, forehead, nose and lips before handing her to Selene. Leaning down, he kissed his mate with a deep longing and passion. A lot could happen between now and when he arrived at the Montana safe house and he wouldn't risk them not knowing how much he loved them.

"Be safe," Selene whispered, a soft smile on her pale lips.

From the safety of the parking lot, Michael watched as the plane took off into the sunset skies. A tug at his heart reminded him that tonight, for the first time in long while, he would be sleeping alone.

Selene jolted awake, her heart pounding. Her eyes adjusted to the dimmed light of the cabin, all the windows pulled shut so Nyssa could try to sleep. As on cue, Nyssa shifted slightly, her head on a pillow in Selene's lap, her body curled up under her blanket. As her body relaxed back to normal, Selene traced the shape of one of the lilies printed on the fleece. One of the lycan girls made a blanket for Nyssa as a belated birthday gift from her and a few of the others.

The door to the private dinning area whooshed open and Samuel stepped in quietly. Selene's eyes perked up. "We will be landing in about ten minutes. Captain asks that we all buckle in in the main cabin. I have Robert, Jason and David ready to clear the area at the airport." She nodded and watched him leave.

"Nyssa," she called softly in a sing-song voice. "Nyssa, time to wake." The child moaned, eyelashes fluttering as she returned from dreams. She squinted, opening her eyes slowly as they focused.

"Hi momma," she whispered with yawn. Selene smiled, kissing her forehead. She went to speak when the PA crackled overhead.

"Good evening to everyone. This is your captain speaking. We will be landing in beautiful Montana in a few minutes. The local time is 11:45 pm as we are now an hour ahead of our original time. Its a clear cool night and there's a chance of flurries later on. Please return to your seats from take off and buckle up. We expect a smooth landing. Thank you for flying with us this evening."

They made a perfect landing, no bumps or skids as they touched the tarmac. Selene was glad to hear the engine's roar die down and quickly unbuckled her seatbelt. She helped Nyssa get her backpack on and watched as the hatch was opened and the stairs descended downward. She felt her hand being gripped and squeezed back. "Its alright, darling. We're here."

She moved forward first to thank the crew for their trip. Each of the two attendants nodded with big smiles, wishing Nyssa well.

"Thank you," she addressed the captain. He made a face and leaned forward, indicating he couldn't hear her. As she leaned close, he took her hand tightly and brought her closer.

"Pretend you are talking to me," he whispered. Selene eyed him with flashing eyes, wanting know what was happening. "The Death Dealers are at the bottom of the stairs and waiting on the road to the safe house. A few of your men have betrayed you to them and they are going to ambush you for the girl. Let the crew exit first; they are armed and will take out the two on the bottom. Stay in here with her; we'll take you some place safe."

Selene felt her innards twist. Who would have betrayed us? She looked at the captain as they finished 'shaking hands'. His eyes were fearful and worried; he was true. He turned to the crew members with a big, fake smile.

"Ladies first," he said, florishing his hand before the door. The two women smiled back and walked towards the door. Selene watched through all the open windows as they climbed down the steps towards the two leather clad men.

In the blink of an eye, the women pulled out two small semi-autos, firing directly at the men. Selene grabbed Nyssa and pulled her back to the hallway between the main cabin and dinning area. "Stay here," she yelled over the gunfire. Nyssa nodded, covering her head with the blanket to drown out the noise.

Always at her side, she yanked her two hand-semi's out and ran toward the exit. As she came out, she saw three moving toward the plane. With 600 years of percision behind her, she raised both guns, quickly picking one of them off. They raised their Berettas, returning fire but the two quickly fell as Selene and one of the women took them out. When three lay dead, she turned her attention to the women. One ran the rest of the distance down the steps, coming to the other. She sat against the railing, blood stains on her right arm. Selene helped get her aboard, turning as she heard shouts.

Several Death Dealers came around the nearest hanger, raising their weapons but unable to hit them at that distance.

"Come on," the un-injured woman yelled, pulling Selene from the door. It was in that brief touch that Selene realized that the woman was a lycan. The plane started taxing away rapidly as they pulled the hatch shut and locked it.

The three women watched out the window as the Death Dealers drew close, but became much smaller as they turned onto the runway. Selene quickly ran to Nyssa, picking her up and strapping both of them into a seat. The plane lifted off the ground and the brutal scene behind.

"Is she alright?" Selene looked up as the captain sat across from her at the dinning table. She stroked a hair out of Nyssa's sleeping face. She looked a lot better than she was; after about twenty minutes of crying to the point where she couldn't breathe, she exhausted herself to the point of going back to sleep.

"She's fine." She looked at him with a icy gaze. "How did you know about the Dealers at the airport?"

"One of your guards, Jason I believe his name was, made the mistake of talking about the standing reward the vampires have on her capture. He joked with another about what he woudl do with his share of the money once they got her at the airport." He shook his head, sighing deeply. "A shame. They seemed like good men."

"They were. But they are of more interest to me dead than alive now." She paused before looking back at him, "I didn't thank you. You saved our lives and almost lost one of your own. I don't even know your name to do this proper."

He flashed a soft smile, "Its Kaleb and it was no problem. I'm not very sympathetic towards the coven anyway." He accepted Selene's handshake with a bow of his head. "Plus it would be a damn shame for a child that sweet to be put in the hands of those bastards."

Selene unconsciously tightened her hold on Nyssa, every possibility of what could have happened playing out in her head. She took a deep, cleansing breath before continuing, "Where are we going?"

"We will land at Allentown Airport in Pennsylvania. A jet is fueled for immediate departure for us there; you just need to tell us where to fly it."

A look crossed Selene's face. "Can we cross the Atlantic in the next jet?"

Kaleb looked at her puzzled but answered, "Yes, its a 767 so at full tank, we can go to Paris without an issue. Why?"

"Can we get to Budapest from here?"

A/N: I know nothing about jets, so humor me for the next chapter. In my opinion, they should be able to go from Allentown to Budapest. Thank you for all the reviews.

In regards to my side piece "You and I Both", I will be updating that with the next short story soon. Each story will be about a different time leading upto Nyssa's kidnapping. The next one will be about her conception. And all of your questions about how this story fits into U:E verse will be answered soon. Hang in there with me please.

EDIT: Thanks to Ithil for checking on that plane thing for me. I appriciate it!

until next chapter,

anthestria