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"I'm so sorry, Poppy." She heard someone say. It didn't help. A moment passed.

"We'll find someway to get him back."

But would they?

"They won't have killed him."

How did they know that?

"I'm so, so sorry, Poppy."

Well, and so was she. Phil was gone. Kidnapped. By them. And it was all her fault.

Thierry's Point of View:

"Thierry? Are you OK?"

Thierry Descouedres was startled out of his reverie by the voice of his soul-mate, Hannah Snow. Normally he was always 100 percent happy—elated, flying actually—to hear her sweet, soulful voice, but today was an exception. He wasn't annoyed or angry at her, of course—he could never be. But he had bad news, and she could always read him like an open book.

"What's wrong?"

Just like that. How had she known so fast? And now how to say what was needed to say?

"Well, you know Poppy…" he trailed off, and she flashed him a look that said, 'Well, of course I know Poppy.' Because the fact was that everyone in Circle Daybreak knew Poppy North. It was impossible not to. She was always helping someone, always cheering someone up, always flitting around their humongous hideout like a little pixie, and always just doing something in general. He knew that Hannah had taken an immediate liking to her, and what he had to say was not helpful upon that fact. He decided to just go straight for the point. "Her brother, Phillip—she may have mentioned him before—was kidnapped today."

There was a moment of silence as Hannah tensed. "Oh, no. Poor Poppy. She must feel terrible."

Thierry shifted again. "Well…actually. She may not know yet."

"Not know? Thierry! You have to tell her—it's her brother!"

"I know, I know, I know." He tried to placate her. It was almost funny, in a sense. He could never get use to how she ordered her around like that, unlike anyone else he knew, and even funnier, how he always took her commands without question. "But James knows, and so it's only a matter of time before—,"

The door to Thierry's room burst open.

"Thierry!" Poppy moaned, staggering in. James was close behind her, trying to soothe her obviously frazzled nerves. "Thierry—what am I going to do?"

"Oh Poppy," Hannah seemed almost as heartbroken as Poppy was as she enveloped the much smaller girl in her arms. "I'm so sorry."

"As am I," Thierry managed to add, if a bit awkwardly. He may have been the Lord of the Night World but he definitely wasn't the Lord of sentimental situations.

Poppy managed a hiccup. "E-everyone keeps saying that! A-and I appreciate it, you know I do…but sorry won't help Phil. I don't want any sentimental gushings right now…I don't need them. I need to find Phil."

This was an area that Thierry was much more comfortable on. "I understand. Here's what I know: Phillip was still working in one of our more secluded Daybreak hideouts as of yesterday, still experimenting with his new witch powers. Besides him, no one else at the hideout was, in any way I know of, associated with any of us at the main Circle Daybreak center. I believe the others simply found out about that center, and infiltrated it until they knew all the basic information, including Phillip's connection to you, and sub sequential the rest of us, including our four wild powers. They probably kidnapped him, hoping to get information about us."

Thierry watched with sympathy as Poppy's breath caught at the many ways they could try and 'persuade' him to give them information…information that Thierry knew he didn't have. Poppy's knees buckled, and James arm snaked gently around her waist.

"What can I do?" Poppy asked.

"I don't know, Poppy. I don't even know if he's still alive—,"

A little whimper escaped Poppy's mouth and he instantly regretted his words. Especially when Hannah turned to him and gave him 'that look'. The look that meant 'Thierry! Why would you say that?'

"I'm sorry—I didn't mean it like that. I was just saying that there, um, might be a slight possibility that maybe…"

The doors burst open again. Really, did Thierry have no privacy? Had anyone ever heard of knocking?

"Lord Thierry," Sarah Strange addressed him quietly, with a small little wave. On either side her two companions/guards—Mal and Kierlan—flanked her.

"Something wrong?" Well, of course there was, because God forbid something ever go right…

She paused, hesitating for an instant. "I don't know. But I just had another vision."

Oh, please let it be good—please, please, please…Thierry mentally begged. After all, sometimes it was hard to be a ruler when all the cards were against you in life. Sometimes you just wanted to have the night for your own…watch a DVD or two, snuggle up with your soulmate…things like that.

"It was a room. Brightly lit and very roomy, with gold walls and a large chandelier. There was a single chair in the middle of it. And a boy was tied to it—he looked, well, human. I don't think he was a vampire, but maybe he was a shifter? Or a witch? I don't know, I still haven't had much experience in this…but anyways, he was tied up and this man was staring at him really hard—and—and the guy had horns on his head. Four of them. Tiny though, I could barely see them through his hair."

And then before Sarah could continue Thierry slumped to his haunches, and then onto the floor.

"Dragon."

The voice of him and three others echoed throughout the now completely silent room. He took a moment to give some composure to his stance and then stood up. He opened his mouth but Poppy's words were out before his.

"Oh, Sarah! What did he look like? What did the boy look like? Do you remember?"

"I—yes. I remember him." Sarah paused in discomfort, and Thierry watched with interest as both Mal and Kierlan reached out a hand to stroke her palm at the exact same time. The two looked straight up as they saw each other's hand, and both gave a hard glare at the other before reluctantly letting her go altogether. "In fact…Poppy…it's the strangest thing, but…he—he reminded me of you."

Poppy gasped. "Phil. Oh, no. A dragon! I have to go—I have to go save him. I can't just sit here and do nothing! I can't, Thierry you realize that, don't you?"

Thierry paused—he knew that Poppy should go, but on the other hand what if she didn't come back? Dragons were deadly dangerous…and on their turf, all the more.

"Yes, he realizes that." Hannah's voice confirmed. "He realizes it so much that he's going to let me go with you."

"What?" That got his attention. "What did you just say?"

"I'm going with her, Thierry."

"No. Absolutely not—it's too dangerous."

"I'm not arguing with you on this one." Her mouth was set in that all too familiar way. Her eyes flashed a ruddy ice grey at him, daring him to say another word. But he couldn't let her go. He had already lost her so many times!

"I'm not letting you go!"

"Thierry's right Hannah—Daybreak needs you here." Poppy joined, sounding sorrowful but convinced.

"Well, you need me with you! Don't argue that! Thierry, for Lord's sake I can take care of myself. Rashel personally taught me how to use a knife, and she's one of the best! I may not be the greatest, but I'm not bad."

"But—,"

"Come on Poppy. We'll need to prepare. Our first stop will obviously be the Circle Daybreak center that Phil was kidnapped from. And from there we'll go wherever."

Thierry sensed he was fighting a losing battle, so he did the only thing he could think to do. "Fine. But I'm coming with you."

Hannah turned, placing one delicate hand on his chest. He concentrated on ignoring the startings of the gentle haze that always surrounded him whenever she got too close, and tried to listen to the words coming from her mouth. "No, Thierry. They really do need you here. You're the Lord of Circle Daybreak, Thierry. You have your own responsibilities. And I think you know that. Now, come on Poppy. We have a lot of work to do."

Hannah grabbed Poppy's hand and pulled, before hesitating for a second. She turned toward him with a meek smile, rose on her tiptoes, and gave him one quick kiss on the lips. A kiss that lasted only five seconds, but still managed to smolder. "I promise: I'll come back."

He nodded, too choked up to say anything to her. He watched with growing discomfort as she, Poppy, and James left the room together. His own heart seemed to pull against his chest, trying to make him follow Hannah. What if she got hurt? What if she was kidnapped? What if she died? What if—

"Don't concentrate so much on that." Sarah's voice startled him—he hadn't realized that she was still in the room. "I'm sorry to say that pretty soon, their little expidenture will be the least of your worries. You have some preparing to do yourself."

Okay! So that's chapter two! Please review! Good, bad, all appreciated! :D