Fandom: Night World, LJ Smith

Disclaimer: I only own what you don't recognize.

Dedication:

Summary: The fourth and final Wild Power needs to be found, and time is running out. Circle Daybreak is taking more desperate measures. But is accepting the aid of a traitor to the Night World desperation or brilliance? And what about their own agent - loose cannon Belladonna Turner?

Author Note at the end.

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Where There's Moonlight, I See Your Eyes

Chapter Five

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"So who was that guy?" I asked Nick, as I tossed my bag into a corner of the room and wandered around, poking my head into the adjoining doors and opening and closing drawers. Nick suddenly appeared at my elbow when I opened a drawer in the bedside cabinet and he slammed it shut.

"That was Lukos. He's someone you need to stay away from. He's a real Night Person." His tone was sarcastic.

I shot Nick a surprised look. He'd started to show more and more emotion since we'd set off on this damn fool crusade. I wondered why. Ah well, not the time to psychoanalyze the vampire – the memory of him bawling me out in the alleyway was still present, not to mention the memory of me apologizing.

Yeah, what was up with that?!

"What do you mean, 'real' Night Person?"

Okay, so I lied. What can I say? Nick, as exasperating as he is, is one of those people who you need to understand, if you know what I mean.

Nick just coolly looked me over. I bristled under his silver-gray gaze – for some reason, Nick possessed an inane talent for pissing me off; making me feel cheap, powerless, substandard, or useless.

"If you want to take a shower or change –" here he paused and that nearly-invisible smirk darted across his face for a split-second. "The bathroom's over there."

I glared at him for a moment. He didn't even flinch but just gazed back, his beautiful face impassive and his stance unreadable. Scowling, I grabbed my small canvas bag and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me just loud enough to convey my displeasure but not alert the entire household to the fact that a very angry, very aggressive human teenager had taken sanctuary in a bathroom and was very close to breaking her only ally's annoyingly perfect nose.

The bathroom was spacious, clean – I've always thought that bathrooms are the best places to snoop around in. Medicine cabinets and so on. But this one was depressingly bare – a half-tube of toothpaste, and that was all. I dumped my bag on the counter, glad that I had brought my small travel pack – shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and face wash were all there in tiny bottles. Hey, what can I say? I'm well-organized. If only Mrs. Gregory could see me now – now who's unprepared, bitch? Um, I mean…hi.

From what I had seen, the Night World set up their agents pretty well – Nick's room was pretty spacious, with an adjoining bathroom. They must have enlarged and added rooms once they procured the house, because for such a large place there didn't seem to be very many people.

I quickly showered and changed into something a little less stupid and a lot more comfortable – short jean shorts and an orange tank top. Something you could move in, you know? When I left the bathroom, Nick was nowhere to be found. My heart raced as my logical mind immediately jumped to the worst-possible conclusion – that this was a trap. And yet, once again, I couldn't convince myself that this was true. After all, I reasoned, if this was a trap I would've been attacked the moment I stepped through the door. I took a deep breath and then seized this opportunity to begin snooping around the bedroom itself. The small chest-of-drawers next to the bed was empty. The closet near the door was full of clothes, Nick's clothes. Mostly black, grey, or white – not a surprise at all.

All in all, the room was exceedingly bare – the closet, the chest-of-drawers, and the double bed made up all of the furniture.

Well, this was going to be fun, wasn't it?

My sardonic musings were interrupted when I heard the opening door quietly. I didn't bother to turn around – I could tell by the icy-warm feel to the room that it was Nick. Instead, I walked to the large window that took up an entire wall – the one furthest from the door – and drew the curtains slightly, squinting into the blackness. My eyes widened.

"Nick, what the hell is that?" I motioned for him to come over, and then turned in irritation when he didn't move. Nick raised an eyebrow. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "The big hole in your backyard."

Nick stood and joined me at the window. "It's the back way out. The only way across is by that rope." he tapped at the glass lightly, pointing out to me a thin rope that I could vaguely make out. To get out, one would have to move hand-over-hand, like you do on monkey bars in jungle gyms.

"Why the hell is the back way out made like that?"

Nick shrugged. "It's harder for anyone to escape."

It made sense, in a sort of stupid way. Someone had dug this huge – and I mean huge hole behind the house. It was more like a small valley. It was perhaps fifteen, twenty feet deep? And the only way across it was that thin rope slung across from one side to the other. This valley coupled with the huge gate and fencing that went across the front and sides of the house meant that there was pretty much only one way in – or out. I felt a shiver of premonition.

I turned to Nick and starting talking, anything to get my mind off the uneasy feeling I had about that ominous, man-made (or at least vampire-made) gorge.

"So what did you mean earlier with that whole 'real Night Person' crap?"

Nick gracefully sprawled onto the bed and looked up with languid eyes. "Hmm? Oh. Simply that you should try your best to stay out of his way – I realize that you're too stupid to realize when you're in a dangerous situation, but do try."

Deep breaths, Bee. You're going to need this lousy, arrogant, infuriating jerk for the next few days. Deep breaths. I began counting backwards from ten. Nick saw my lips moving and this only served to amuse him, as his lips twitched slightly – I assume that meant amusement. It's so hard to tell with a block of ice.

"It's not stupidity," I informed him coolly.

"No, I suppose not. It's just your ridiculous brand of pride and your obsession with control that brings out that absurd courage you have."

Excuse me? "Excuse me? You, of all people, are calling me obsessed with control? You, a vampire who hypnotizes girls just so he can have the upper hand?"

Nick closed his eyes, his arms crossed behind his head. "As I said earlier – the hypnosis isn't really necessary on my part."

"And as I said earlier, you are the most irritating and infuriating idiot I've ever met in my entire life. Wait, no, I didn't say that earlier – my bad." I bit out sarcastically.

"It's nice to see how our views of each other are so similar." The tone and inflections of his voice didn't even change; he didn't even skip a beat.

I don't know which I loathed more – how he never misses a thing and always has a cutting reply ready, or how he always seems to know what's going on before I do.

Oh, whatever. I threw my hands up and turned back to the window, squinting at the chasm. Of course, precisely seven seconds after I'd calmed down and wasn't feeling quite so murderous, the Ice Prince spoke.

"In this house, there are five Night People altogether – myself, Lukos and Tigris – both shifters, and Morel and Schaden, vampires. Ragnar has houses like these spread out over the entire country, and whenever he needs something done in a certain place, he'll travel to that place. That's why it's been so hard for Daybreak to locate him – he's always on the move. Lately, he's taken to traversing from house to house to leave the Crowley Crystal – he'll return here in a few days to move it to another place, so we have to work quickly."

I plopped down on the bed, on the side opposite to where he was laying. "Okay, so when can we get it? Is it heavily guarded?"

Nick raised an eyebrow – I'd come to realize that as a habit of his which really pissed me off. To the max.

"It's guarded by two people at all times, but if you're planning a smash and grab mission, don't bother – it'll end up as four against two, and a human girl will be useless against a full-grown Night Person."

"Two?" I asked curiously. And this is the cool part – I swear to God, I saw Nick flush slightly – in embarrassment, anger, I don't know – but his face actually reddened. Would wonders never cease? I'd seen a smile; I'd seen anger, and now, a blush!

"Well, I presumed that you wouldn't be doing this alone," he said haughtily, running a hand through his white-blond hair.

"Okay, um…thanks. So, what do we do?"

I couldn't believe this. I, Belladonna Turner was asking a leech what to do? The world was officially going to end.

Wait, that's right. It was going to end, unless aforementioned leech helped me.

"In a few days, Ragnar will be arriving to take the crystal and move it to another safe house. Every time he arrives, there's a briefing in his study, the room just down the hall. The crystal is kept in the attic. The night he arrives, when we are all in the study, you will sneak up to the attic and take the crystal. When you touch it, you'll set off the wards – fortunately, all we could set up were alarm wards as the Crowley Crystal doesn't allow powerful magic to be worked in its vicinity. So once you touch it, magical alarms will go off – run downstairs and get out, you'll have time as I'll distract everyone else. It's a definite that Ragnar will order us to split up and search to find you – I'll opt to search outside."

"Then we get on your bike and get the hell out of Dodge."

"You do have a flair for saying the strangest things."

"That's nice. Now, when exactly is Ragnar arriving?" I asked, already distracted by the possibilities and ideas forming in my head.

"It's undecided. Soon." Nick looked up suddenly. "Someone's coming."

I leapt from the bed and glanced around quickly, trying to figure out what to do. No Night Person is going to believe that Nick and his 'pawn' had been having a nice, civil conversation for the past hour. Nick rose to his feet quickly and without warning, pushed me gently against a wall, looming over me. My eyes widened in fear, and his frostlike orbs did the same, only in admonition.

It was at this moment that a loud knock came from the door and without waiting for an answer, it swung inwards. Lukos, the shifter I had met earlier, was standing in the doorway, smiling widely.

"Hey Nick!" he paused, and cleared his throat. "I can see you're having fun, but can you save it for a moment? I've got a message from the boss." Then he paused for a long moment. "Hang on – Nick, your…her eyes are tracking."

Oh shit! I hadn't realized – I hadn't kept my face blank! I'd been following Lukos with my eyes, I'd been alert.

I saw frustration flit across Nick's face – he hadn't been expecting Lukos to be so observant, I guess. Time for some quick thinking on my part.

"Like, hi!" I chirped, wriggling from Nick's grasp and bounding over to Lukos, pasting a wide, bright grin on my face. "I'm Donna!" I held out my hand to shake, giggling girlishly. "You must be…Luke? Nick told me all about ya!"

Lukos looked at my hand as though he'd never seen one before and cast a questioning look at Nick, who merely shrugged; an elegant, graceful motion. Lukos grabbed my hand in his own rough, callused one and shook. It was all I could do to keep the bright, vapid grin on my face when in reality all I wanted to do was grab the silver dagger in my bag and perforate this guy.

"So, like," I harped on, "it must be totally cool you know, all of y'all living together! It's like a frat house, only cooler. You know, I'm looking into joining a sorority myself, and I'm, like, totally excited! It's going to be so much fun, and –"

"Donna?" I turned and shot a warning smile at Nick who caught my eyes. "Don't you think you've said enough?"

I took the cue and pasted a blank expression on my face, as though Nick had just used his telepathic powers on me instead of giving a subtle warning.

Lukos shook his head. "Man, you seriously know how to pick them."

Nick leaned against the wall, the picture of ease. "I didn't exactly choose her for her scintillating intellect," he informed Lukos.

"No, I didn't think you would." Lukos agreed, chuckling. I tried to suppress a sneer. It wouldn't do for those shark-like eyes to catch me moving.

"Anyway, I just came in to tell you that Ragnar will be turning up tomorrow night at sunset, okay? Message just came through."

"Yes. Thank you." Nick answered, still not shifting from his position. Lukos looked puzzled for a moment, then, after shooting a creepy look my way, left.

I immediately snapped out of my 'hypnotized' state and crossed to Nick.

"He's turning up tomorrow! I'll steal the crystal tomorrow, and then we can return to Daybreak!" Nick didn't look at all fazed. "Nick, we'll find the fourth Wild Power! I think we actually may have a chance at winning this war, thanks to you! You –"

"Will walk out of your life forever." Nick stated firmly, eyes unreadable and fixed on mine.

Well. Screw you too, buddy. I mean, I know I'm not the friendliest girl around, and only mildly likeable, but still!

We stood there for a moment, each of us trying in vain to figure out what the other was thinking. I could see that he was trying to make the silence so uncomfortable that I would feel compelled to break it – he knew me far too well already. And me? Well…I was thinking about how at this very moment he didn't look like a murderous, bloodthirsty vampire, not with his hair falling into his eyes boyishly. He looked rakish, arrogantly handsome. His cold gray eyes were magnetic.

I inched closer without even realizing, so immersed was I in naming the color of those orbs – like moonlight when the moon is so round and full and perfect that there is no yellowish tinge to it, no reddish glow – but it was perfectly silver. Or maybe they were the color of stormy clouds, gray and moody – as close as Mother Nature could get to silver. And yet, I could glimpse hints of blue, a tinge of green. I was closer still, so close that I could make out every pale, silvery eyelash –

Nick straightened suddenly, clearing his throat, and my own eyes widened – I backed away speedily, dismissing my momentary fascination with his eyes and squashing down the cheated and disappointed emotions that were welling up in me.

Nick glanced at his watch. "It's nearly four AM. I'm going to turn in."

The moment he said those words, I could feel the sinking feeling in my stomach. Wait, forget sinking. More like plummeting, falling, crashing and burning as one tire rolls out of the flaming wreckage. As if on cue, the both of us turned and surveyed the one bed.

Nick was the first to move this time – he strode over to the bed and grabbed a pillow and passed over the thick comforter, picked up the thinner blanket.

"You can have the comforter – I know how easily you get cold," he murmured, which would have been sweet if it wasn't for that DAMNED SMIRK crossing his face. I'm telling you, every time I saw that knowing expression, it was all I could do to not knock him down, fall on top of him and –

Whoa, okay, that image ended up in a different place from where I meant it to go. I shook my head. I was obviously suffering from Stockholm syndrome – where you feel as though you have bonded with your kidnapper. Not that he'd kidnapped me, strictly speaking, but…

Anyway. Come to think of it, that long ride had totally tired me out as well – not to mention the heavy-duty acting I had to do. Maybe it doesn't seem like much, but I had to act like a bimbo. ME. BIMBO. You see how those two words don't fit?

I slowly sank onto the bed, doing the breathing exercises that Jez had taught me. Yes, I may have seemed calm, but come on! I was deep in the heart of enemy territory, my only ally was a vampire as perfect as an ice statue but of dubious nature, and I had one day – ONE DAY to perfect Nick's hastily thought up plan.

Well, okay, the plan was pretty much foolproof, but you never know.

I sighed and bounced up and down on the bed a couple of times. Truth be told, I felt a little bad – the bed was huge, had I been in this situation with any of the Daybreakers, male or female, there would've been no qualms about sharing a bed.

DAMNIT I was feeling GUILTY?! Okay, first fear, then an apology, and now GUILT? The desire to treat the Ice Prince like a normal human – like a friend?!

I had to be nuts.

Ah well. If you're going to be crazy, do it right. I opened my mouth to tell Nick that I didn't mind us sharing a bed, but then I caught sight of him and was frozen to the spot. He was taking off his shirt. The shirt that had allowed me to make out every sinew in his back, the shirt that looked as though it was painted on. Once that was off, he unbuttoned and yanked off his jeans.

OHHH THIS WAS NOT GOOD. I tried my best to snap back to reality and not be quite so enthralled with the way his skin glowed above and below his black boxer-briefs – geez, was everything this guy owned black? I had to swallow several times to try and push down the rising urge to cross over to him and find out if his body was truly as hard as it looked, whether his skin was as perfect and unblemished as it appeared to be. If before my pulse had raced upon feeling his well-muscled body against mine, now it was a hundred times worse – or better, depending how you saw it – because I could see the smooth and flawless skin of his torso, the little trail of hair that ran down his flat stomach.

I must've made some sort of noise then, because he looked up at me, his eyes quizzical. I hastily tried to reform my face into a neutral expression – and I can safely say that I failed miserably. How do I know? Well, that irritating smirk of his appeared on his perfect lips again.

"I, um…" I tried to make my mouth and tongue work, but for some reason, the connection between my brain and every other part of my body chose that precise moment to fail. The smirk appeared again momentarily, and then the spell was broken as he flopped onto the floor, his hands behind his head, propping it up.

I shook my head violently – now that I wasn't confronted with his perfectly-muscled body directly in my line of sight, thoughts seemed a little clearer.

"I just wanted to say that it's kinda stupid for you to be sleeping on the floor – I mean, the bed is pretty big…" I trailed off miserably. WHAT WAS I DOING? Did I really want that distracting, absolutely perfect specimen of a male body next to mine all night?

Well, yeah, obviously. What red-blooded female wouldn't? But I couldn't believe I was acting this ridiculous over a vampire for crying out loud! Maybe he wasn't strictly the enemy, but he wasn't exactly a Daybreaker! Besides. He wasn't that great-looking. I mean, he's gorgeous – but he's right on that fine line between handsome and deadly dangerous, if you know what I mean.

Nick raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine over here."

"If you're sure…" I said, feeling relief and disappointment wash over me in equal measures.

Nick turned onto his side, away from me. I stared at the back of his head for a moment, wishing I could run my hands through that silver-blond hair – it looked so soft from where I was.

"Belladonna, would you mind not staring at me?" came Nick's cool voice, muffled slightly by the fact he wasn't facing me.

Curses! I was so off-guard by his apparent ESP that I nearly didn't notice he'd called me Belladonna. Ah well, I wasn't exactly shocked by now – it didn't sound too bad coming from him, really. From anyone else, it sounded stupid, pretentious, and affected. It inspired two ideas – either a scary Goth chick with innumerable piercings, or a well-starched little Victorian schoolgirl.

But when Nick said it, I had to admit it didn't like either of those stereotypes. It sounded like the steady fall of rain, felt like the wind through bare trees and over still water.

"I was just thinking that you looked really uncomfortable," I said smoothly, pleased with my own quick thinking. "Not that I really care about you personally, but it wouldn't do for my escape driver to be so stiff he can hardly move tomorrow."

Of course, even as I spoke this, I knew it was absolute bullshit. I knew that, as a vampire, he wouldn't feel a damn thing. But it sounded plausible, and that was the important thing.

Nick sat up and fixed me with those unearthly beautiful eyes. I still hadn't been able to find the perfect words to describe them – maybe they weren't really the stormy gray of rain clouds. Maybe they were more…I don't know. The color of moonbeams, with an edge like that of a steel knife – breathtaking, yet with a trace of wintry bitterness, of ruthlessness.

Nick shrugged slightly, a graceful, smooth moment of his shoulders. Standing, he grabbed his pillow and I hastily turned away, lying down and facing the wall so that there was no chance of my seeing his bare torso.

"And, um, turn off the lights while you're up," I ordered, squeezing my eyes tightly shut.

I heard the faint click of a light switch, and deemed it safe to reopen my eyes. I could see only vague outlines and shapes, thanks to the pearlescent moonlight filtering through the crack in the curtains. I turned my head slightly and caught sight of Nick – only his eyes and hair visible in the dimness – the former glowing silver and the latter shining like a stray moonbeam.

In fact, that described Nick well; I realized as he lay down and closed his eyes, seemingly dropping off to sleep immediately. His breaths didn't get heavier, but his breathing rhythm did slow almost imperceptibly.

He was like a moonbeam – capricious, mysterious, serene yet tempestuous, the epitome of restrained wildness. What was that song lyric, I tried to remember…how do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? That was him alright – impossible to pin down to anything yet still there, anticipating everything but precipitating nothing. I could glimpse part of his abdominal muscles where the moonlight laid across him – his skin moved slightly, so slightly, as he breathed – his body reminded me of silk wrapped around steel. I clenched my hands, resisting the urge to reach out and touch him, to see if he really was as flawless as he looked.

It was a pity, really, that in reality he was full of flaws – he was passionless, cold, had probably done so many things that Daybreak wouldn't approve of…

And yet, wasn't him helping Daybreak a redemption, of sorts?

He was…shit, why couldn't I think of anything? He was…well, he had that annoying smirk – he was arrogant, and exasperating and INFURIATING…although that could all be dismissed as my point of view.

I turned over to face the ceiling, exhausted. Trying to pinpoint one of Nick's flaws that would be recognized by everyone was more tiring then everything else that had happened that night. I yawned widely, surrendering to the darkness that was suffusing my vision.

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Whee. We're getting nowhere, and fast – and that's just the best. Thanks to all my lovely reviewers – you make me all squeeful. Ah, the wonderfulness of pointless fluff. This fic, I mean, not the reviews. FLUFF IS LOVE.

Notes

Tigris – means 'tiger', I think.

Morel – a type of fungus. Hey, it's qualifies as lamia name!

Schaden – German for 'harm'.

Lukos – Greek for 'wolf'.

- WalkThruTheFire.