Chapter five – Circle Daybreak

Cass followed Rashel at a flat out run, she silently thanked herself for working out every day. They eventually reached what Cass took to be an abandoned warehouse. There were a few of them around here, all with a look of gloom.

"Stay here" Rashel whispered to Cass, then she edged around the side of the building and disappeared from view.

Before Cass had time to panic Rashel was back. She gestured for Cass to follow her. They went around the back of the building and through a small wooden door. As she entered the warehouse she saw a black clad figure beside the door. The figures head nodded once at her but she was too stunned to reply.

"It's just a guard" Rashel whispered.

They crossed the big open room towards a couple of heavy duty barrels stacked next to each other. Rashel grasped the sides of one and began rocking it back and forth to move it a few feet forward. Cass tried to mimic her with the other barrel but it was like trying to shove a stubborn baby elephant. The girl had muscle, Cass was sure of that. When Rashel had moved both barrels she opened the small trapdoor they had been concealing.

"Usually Quinn or Jake would move these but we got separated on the hunt tonight. I'm hoping they're already here".

Cass just nodded, most of what Rashel had said so far made no sense to her at all. They went through the trapdoor one by one and emerged into an underground facility. It had a military air to it, Cass thought, like something you would see in a movie. They walked down a brightly lit corridor, past several closed doors. Finally they reached the end of the corridor and went through the last door. The second Rashel crossed the threshold she was grabbed by a black haired boy, Cass panicked but Rashel just laughed.

"Quinn you ass, put me down" He laughed with her but returned her to her feet.

"Get a room" a male voice said.

As Rashel and Quinn took a seat together on a leather couch in the room, Cass got a glimpse of the owner of the voice.

"You?" she gasped.

It was the boy from the club, the one who had tried to flirt with her.

"Me" he mock gasped in reply.

"What are you doing here?" Cass demanded.

"Ha! What are you doing here more like, what, you couldn't resist my charm after all?".

Cass opened her mouth to reply but was rescued by a third female in the room.

"Cut it out Jake, she just got here" turning to Cass she said "Hi, I'm Poppy"

The girl smiled warmly at Cass. Cass smiled back liking her instantly. She looked around the room, taking in her surroundings for the first time. They appeared to be in some sort of games room, there were couches and chairs scattered around in a semi circle, all positioned so the large screen TV mounted on one wall, was visible. Behind the seating area stood a large pool table, which was currently being used by a group of teenagers.

Cass still felt shaky from her encounter with Seth earlier and finding herself in a room full of strangers was doing nothing to settle her nerves. She took a seat in one of the armchairs near Rashel and turned to talk to her.

"Rashel? Any chance you could explain what is going on here. First I'm attacked by a boy I hoped I'd never see again, and then you spring out of nowhere and rescue me" Cass glanced at Jake, who had taken a seat on the other side of Rashel and Quinn "And then you bring me here and stalker boy over there turns up to ruin my night completely".

"Hey, what did I do?"

"Enough Jake" Rashel warned "Listen, what do you know about the vampire who attacked you?"

Cass bit her lip, she just wasn't sure whether to trust these people. But so far none of them had tried to hurt her, the opposite in fact in Rashel's case. She opted for the truth, or part of it anyway.

"I knew Seth from school, he transferred there when I was seventeen. He was an instant hit, every girl wanted him and every boy wanted to be him" Jake snorted but Cass ignored him. "He invited me to a party, it was a dare really, spend one night in a haunted house. It wouldn't have mattered what he'd asked me to do, I would have done it just to please him. We were drinking and well one thing led to another..." Cass wiped at her eyes as tears began to run. She hated to cry in front of the obviously cool Rashel, but the memories were just too painful for her not to.

Cass noticed the group from the pool table had gathered around, taking seats on couch's or just sitting on the cold concrete floor. She felt very intimidated by so many unknown faces staring at her. Rashel seemed to sense her fear.

"He attacked you" she supplied "Its what he does, he favours young girls" Rashel had a look of admiration in her eyes when she spoke to Cass.

"You must have been so scared" Poppy whispered. She had perched on the floor, leaning herself on the leg of a brown haired boy sat on one of the couch's.

Cass nodded at both Rashel and Poppy, unable to form any more words. She swiped at her eyes angrily, not wanting to waste yet more tears on Seth.

"You're lucky to be alive, he normally bleeds his victims dry" Quinn supplied.

"If tonight is anything to go by, he plans to rectify that" Rashel's words made Cass shiver again.

"The only question is, how did he find me?" Cass asked.

"I can answer that" It was Jake who spoke this time "He was watching you at the club. That's why I was there tonight. We knew he had his eye on someone. Unfortunately one of his boys attacked a girl outside and we were distracted. It's lucky Rashel managed to track him"

Cass was stunned, she'd though Jake was an ass but now she didn't know what to think. One thing was true though, without Rashel, who knows what would have happened.

"Thank you" she whispered at Rashel

The group introduced themselves one by one, the brown haired boy with Poppy was James, next to him sat a blond haired boy named Ash, next along sat a blond haired girl named Thea, she was holding hands with a boy named Eric, that brought her back around to Rashel, Quinn and Jake.

"So are there more Vampires then?" Cass asked after everyone had finished.

Everyone eyed Cass warily, except the blond boy, Ash.

"Most of us here are vampires" he laughed.

Cass panicked, was this a trap? She made to stand up, not really sure what to do.

"Sit down, we won't hurt you" Quinn snapped.

She still felt very unsure but perched herself back on the edge of her chair, waiting for someone to tell her they were joking.

"Cass, you're safe here, we're all day-breakers" Poppy supplied.

"Yeah, whether we want to be or not, right Quinn?" joked Ash.

Jake cleared his throat and smiled at her "Welcome to Circle Daybreak".