Chapter Six – The End of the World

Cass sat cross legged on the bunk in her new room, Poppy had brought her here and told her she was safe and to rest. She couldn't sleep though, her mind was still buzzing with information. The group had sat around talking for hours, asking Cass questions or else filling her in on Circle Daybreak. She was in shock to learn that not only vampires existed, but also werewolves, witches and basically all the monsters that had terrified her as a kid.

There were 'day-breakers', as they called themselves, all over the world. She understood the theory of it, a world where humans and non-humans could co exist happily. The facility here was one of many safe houses for day-breakers. It was positioned so that anyone in the city in need of sanctuary wouldn't have to travel too far.

The information she was really struggling to swallow was all the 'end of the world' stuff they'd told her about. She sure as hell didn't like the sound of some of the Night World people, if they were like Seth then yay for circle daybreak. But really the whole thing just sounded so action movie ish. Four powers alone have the ability to stop the apocalypse, if one falls then darkness prevails.

"Yeah right" thought Cass.

But she was more confident now that she was with the good guys, so she'd go with the flow, for a while at least.

"Knock knock" came a soft voice from the doorway.

Cass jumped up disorientated to find Poppy holding a tray and smiling at her.

"Thought you might be hungry".

She plopped the tray down on the small bedside table and joined Cass sitting on the bed.

"Did you sleep in those clothes? You look around my size, I'll lend you some stuff"

Cass looked down at her rumpled appearance, she must have dozed off eventually without undressing.

"Rashel spoke to Thierry last night, he wants to meet you. He'll probably be here pretty soon"

Cass searched her memory for the name, "He's the one in charge?" Poppy nodded.

"He founded Circle Daybreak ages ago, he and Lady Hannah run things".

Poppy jumped up off the bed and gestured towards the tray "Eat, I'll go get you some clothes"

She left the room at high speed leaving Cass to tackle what looked like scrambled eggs and coffee.

Thirty minutes later she had eaten, showered and changed. Poppy had brought her a plain tee shirt, jeans and clean underwear, she'd apologised for the lack of choice but explained she'd packed light to come here. She guided Cass back down to the games room from the previous night and once again they all took seats on the couches or floor. Cass noticed that Rashel and Quinn were missing but a new man had joined them. He seemed older than most here, maybe only a year or so older than herself physically, but his big brown eyes betrayed him, they showed a much older man inside. He stood and offered her his hand,

"I'm Thierry Descouedres, Rashel filled me in on your story, I'm here to ask you for your help".

Cass didn't know what to say. What could this man, this vampire, possibly want from her? He sensed her confusion and explained.

"We need you to continue working at The Below. We believe we may have scared Seth off for now but hope he will return for you. We have been tracking him for over a year but have never managed to capture him".

Her body began its shaking again, she couldn't face Seth yet, she wasn't ready. Her preparations for this day seemed childlike to her now. Poppy crossed the room and perched on the arm of her chair. She grasped Cass' hand in both of her own.

"You won't be alone" she whispered.

"No, of course" Thierry added "I have already arranged a body guard for you, one of my own in fact".

Cass didn't want to do this, but she couldn't bring herself to deny these people help. She agreed reluctantly that she would return to work the following evening. Thierry left soon after, explaining he had business elsewhere to attend to. Cass felt better when he'd gone, he was certainly intimidating. When she shared her concerns with Poppy she laughed.

"Yes he is, when I first met him I was terrified. James changed me illegally and I thought for sure that Thierry would kill me, but he's one of the good guys".

"Why did he change you?" Cass asked, genuinely curious as to why someone would choose to have to drink blood forever.

"I was dying" she explained "Pancreatic cancer. James offered me an alternative to death, how could I say no? Besides" she added "Now I get to spend eternity with my soul mate"

Cass' brow furrowed "Soul mate?"

The girls were interrupted by the appearance of Thea "Cass? Thierry asked me to do some training with you, are you ready?"

Cass looked confused but Poppy nodded encouragingly, so she followed Thea out of the room.

'Training' turned out to be learning how to block her mind. Thea explained that some vampires were telepathic. They believed Seth was, so Cass had to be able to shield her thoughts from him, otherwise he would know their plans as soon as he was close enough to her. She found shielding her mind easy in theory but Thea brought Jake in for her to practise with and it proved much more difficult with the real thing. He'd been able to get through her defences after just a few minutes which irritated her beyond belief. They'd kept at it for a few hours, until Thea was sure Cass would be able to shield herself against Seth. Finally Thea deemed Cass ready. She, Cass and Jake returned to the games room, all feeling exhausted. Rashel and Quinn had returned and both sat talking on one of the couch's.

"Any news?" Jake asked.

"He was a no show" Quinn replied, a note of disappointment in his voice.

Cass guessed they'd been waiting for Seth to show at the club again. She was relieved he'd stayed away, maybe he wouldn't show again tomorrow?.

Thea filled everyone in on Cass' progress shielding her mind. Rashel looked impressed, she stood up in one swift movement, smiling at Cass.

"Think you're up for bit more training?"

"What kind of training" asked Cass wonderingly.

"The best kind, combat training" She flashed a wicked smile at Cass.

"Yeah, now your talking!" Jake said excitedly.

The facility that currently housed them turned out to have a full size training room. One wall held various objects that Cass assumed must be weapons. Most of them seemed to be made of some sort of wood, although a few were metal.

"It's a shame Keller's not here, she could show you a few useful moves" Rashel mused.

She pulled down a few of the wooden weapons explaining that they would be most effective against vampire attacks. She handed Cass a small curved dagger, then spent an hour teaching her how best to strike using it. Most of the group took turns showing her various moves, mostly defensive. Poppy even joined in for a while saying she could use the practise. By the time they were finished, Cass was beyond exhausted. Poppy offered to show Cass back to her room but Jake jumped up first,

"I'll take her".

Cass waited for Poppy to argue but she remained silent, a slight smile on her face. She had no choice, she would end up walking around forever if someone didn't show her the way.

"OK" she said reluctantly.

He didn't say a word as they walked together. He seemed preoccupied with something. It suited Cass fine, she really wasn't sure she liked him and she was far too tired to feign interest in anything he had to say.

When they finally reached her room she turned to thank Jake but he spoke before she could open her mouth,

"Cass I'm sorry for what Seth did to you, and well, I just wanted you to know that not all Vampires are like that"

She wasn't expecting that but she recovered herself quickly "I know Jake, I mean I didn't, but now, after meeting all of you, I know you're not all monsters"

"You mean after meeting Poppy" he smirked at her.

She couldn't think of a reply so just smiled at him. He reached out his hand, hesitated then touched her shoulder lightly.

"You did well tonight kid" he said warmly.

He slid his hand down her arm slowly towards her hand. She made to stop him, feeling suddenly uncomfortable with the situation, but as his fingers brushed her bare skin, something strange happened to her. Her skin felt like it had been electrocuted, but in a good way. Tingles ran out from Jakes touch, up and down her arm, spreading quickly all over her body. A haze descended all around her. She panicked wondering what Jake was doing to her but one look at his face told her that he could feel it too. He looked stunned for a moment then he pulled his fingers away suddenly, staring at them as if he'd never seen them before.

"Jake?" Cass asked softly "what was that?"

She waited for a few moments but Jake didn't respond.

"Jake?" she repeated.

"I have to go" he croaked in a barely audible whisper.

He stalked down the corridor and disappeared from view leaving Cass thoroughly confused.