Author's note: Well, after a long and unplanned hiatus, I finally got around to posting the last chapter of this fic. A sequel is in the works, but it may be a while before I get to it.

Rebirth

14. Leaving Town

We thought that once we saw Stark and Shekinah off to the airport that our job would be over. Man, were we wrong. They hadn't even been gone a day when Eliante called us into her office. Unfortunately, we knew what she was going to tell us, and it wasn't going to be good.

"Shekinah is in grave danger." She said with a mournful sigh. "Neferet is going to kill her on the night of the Full Moon ritual."

"Why then?" Isis asked. "Why on that night in particular?"

"She needs the blood of one of the prefect council to be spilt so she can resurrect a sleeping demon." Eliante stated. "This must be stopped, but I fear that sending a formal team of investigators would only speed up Neferet's plans."

"Then how do you plan to stop her?" Shannon asked. I was wondering about that myself. How does one go about stopping a powerful rogue priestess?

"A small team will arrive in Tulsa under cover of daylight." The elder vampire stated. "This team will guard the High Priestess from the shadows, unknown to Neferet or whatever minions she may have. Should something go wrong, they will be charged with alerting us and getting as many students as they can to safety."

"Great idea." Jephthah stated. "But who's going?"

Eliante smirked. "Why, Jephthah, I'm sending you and Esarosa."

I'm fairly sure my eyebrows achieved orbit and my jaw dug a hole to China. "Me?" I pointed at my own chest. "You're sending me to stop a rogue priestess? With all due respect, have you lost your mind?" I hadn't even been an Adult for a week yet. I'd be lucky to get an instructor position somewhere. Warriorship…that was out of the question for someone like me.

"Not at all." She shook her head. "You and your circle will be the main surveillance team." Her brown eyes met mine. "Esarosa, I know this is a lot to ask of you, but can't you see it, child? Do you think that it was mere chance that you ladies came together? No. Nyx does not deal in blind chance. If you turn down this offer, help will arrive from another source, for Nyx looks after her children. But who knows that you have come to us for such a time as this?"

"But we're not warriors!" Angel protested. "I—I thought only male vampyres could be warriors!"

"Not true." Isis shook her head. "There have been many clans of female warrior vampyres over the years. But still, why us? Most of us won't last long without an adult coven with us."

"Well, there's Esarosa and myself going. That makes two." Jephthah thought out loud. "Any other adults we know we can spare?"

"Miko, what about Matt and Brett?" I asked. "Matt's a sixth former, so he's almost an adult, and Brett's not far behind. Would they be good with tagging along for this?"

"I can ask and see." She shrugged. "Other than them, I don't know who we can spare."

"They will suffice." Our priestess assured us. "Now I suggest you all pack your bags. You will leave as soon as you finish."

"Is this everyone?" Shannon asked, looking around our little group. She had her essentials packed away in a suitcase and a backpack with her huge gray and white tomcat Merlin resting contentedly in his cat carrier. Angel stood to her right, what little she owned crammed into a large duffle bag, and no cat. Next to her, Isis had her suitcase standing next to her, her Abyssinian named Bastet happily purring in her arms. Miko, Matt, and Brett had just walked up, bags ready and cats in their own carriers. Kyo (Miko's orange tabby) and Sabrina (the Siamese-esque stray Brett owned) looked none too happy to be confined, while Callie (Matt's shorthair calico), just seemed happy to be going somewhere.

"I think that's everyone but Jephthah." Isis observed. "Wonder what's holding him up?"

"Sorry it took so long. One of my cats kept hiding under the bed." I looked over to see our missing member walking up, compensating for his light travelling bag with a rather large cat carrier. Inside were a near identical pair of small grey and white tabby cats. The only difference to the casual observer (like us) being that one had gold eyes, while the other had these gorgeous blueish-green ones.

"They're so cute!" Angel gushed. The girl loves cats, but sadly hasn't found her bonded kitty yet. "What are their names?"

"Jerry and Teaser." He said quickly. "Can we get going now?"

"No, wait a minute." I held a hand up. "You named them after characters from Cats?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked, his face turning a little pink around the cheeks.

"You like musicals!" I laughed. "Our big, manly fencing instructor likes musicals with talking cats!"

"Laugh it up, dog-breath." He snipped. "Can we go now?"

"I suppose we'd better." Miko said. "It's gonna be a long train ride to Tulsa."

"How are we gonna pass the time?" Brett asked.

"Charades?" Angel offered.

"We'll see." I said, picking up my carry-on bag with my free-hand while using the other to keep a hold of Diego's leash. "Let's get to the train station first though, okay? We don't wanna miss our ride."