Paul settled in the mess hall tackling his double deckered roast beef sandwich.  Which was quite a feat in itself.  Clearing out an entire covern sure whet an appetite.  But Paul felt uncomfortable.  Eyes were on him.  And not just because of the huge gash on the side of his face from the rocket launcher or the vampire blood-stains on his trenchcoat.  These were female eyes. As Paul shifted to get a look he saw a particularily pretty female named Michelle approach him.

"Hey Paul, how's it going?"

"Fine," he mumbled through a mouthful of roast beef.

"I hear you took out an entire covern.  Sounds dangerous."  SHe smiled.

"It wasn't just me.  Fort and Griggs were there.  And John.  A slayer.  They saved my butt a few times."

"Don't be so modest.  I'm sure you delivered the final blow to the leader."

"Well technically-"

"Who cares about technicalities!"

Paul sniggered.  "Okay cut the crap Michelle.  Why are you talking to me?"  Paul took a vicious bite out of the sandwich preparing for the sure to come barrage of taunts and jeers from the females.  Get his hopes up and then dash them.  Everyone did this to the Omega.  Even Clara did something like this to him once.  That especially hurt.  He waited.  But nothing came.  Michelle only giggled and seductively slipped her hands over his shoulders.

"I want to spend the Luna Eclipse with me."  Paul nearly choked on the hunk of beef in his mouth.  He sat there coughing and hacking.  SHe panicked an began slapping him on his back.  Which only made him cough more.  Ater a few minutes he settled down enough to talk.

"Why would you *cough* ask an Omega?"

She giggled again.  "Haven't you heard the new rumour?  Loxley's the omega now.  FIrst he was nearly killed by you,"  she smiled there, "and then he was beaten by the new wolf Nikoli."

Paul burst into a fit of laughter. "Loxley an Omega? Okay joke's up.  Get serious here."

She looked at him smiling devilishly.  "Oh I'm dead serious.  You still haven't answered my question.  Do you wish to spend the Luna Eclipse with me?"  Suddenly Paul couldn't find words to say anything.

"I- uh-"  She cut him off.

"Perfect!  See you then Paul."  She flashed him another smile and walked off trying to make herself look attractive as possible.  And it worked.  Paul's gaze lingered on her form before being snapped out of his stupor.  He shook his head and mumbled, "Gotta find someone to took to."  He got up and made his way to the only person who had showed him kindness before.  Daphne.

Paul sighed.  "Well I've been asked to the Luna Eclipse by Michelle." 

"Good for you!  SO why are you here?"

"Do you not see what's the matter with that?  I was an Omega!"

"Was an Omega?"

"Yes supposedly Loxley is the new Omega.  He was beaten up by the new wolf who called him an Omega."

She snorted.  "Serves him right."

"Do you mind if I come in?"  He made his way to push the door open.  But she held firm.

"Actually I do mind.  I'm a bit... busy right now.  Personal stuff."

Paul was slightly taken aback.  "Oh sorry."  He sniffed the air.  She had a distinct smell all over her and coming from behind her. Fort.  He smiled knowingly but continued on.

"I have one question.  Would I be betraying Clara by going with Michelle?"

-----------

Nick walked on his own usual route.  As he walked he began to think.  And immediately his thoughts turned to Daphne.  He shook them off disgusted with himself.  Amazing how much the Luna Eclipse affects wolves.  Friendships turn into crushes.  But he had enough with love.  He knew about Nathaniel FOrtesque and Daphne.  Everyone did.  Every moment he couldn't be with her hurt him.  He sighed.

"Such is the way of love."

Love is not fair.  But to quote one of his favourite books Love is patient, love is kind.  He knew there was someone out there for him.  And all he had to do was wait.  Nick didn't feel alone.  It felt like someone was following him.  And this person had a nasty feeling that raised his hackles.  He heard voices over to his left.

"We need to go now!”

That was Anita?  When did she return?  Oh well.  Might as well see what's wrong.  He joged off in the direction of the voice.  And was greeted with Anita and Loxley smashing into him.

"Oh hello Anita."

Crispin checked his phone. He had one missed call, from his daughter. He listened to the panicked message Anita had left him. Crispin took a big whiff of the air, searching for Anita's scent. When he found it, he whirled the car around in a 180-degree drift and floored the gas pedal.

Daphne woke feeling content if not a little sore in places she had forgotten she had as she stretched. She felt warm arms around her and opened her eyes to see Nathaniel smiling at her like a Cheshire cat. “You’re looking happy this morning,” she commented.

“Why wouldn’t I? You’ve made me very happy,” Nathaniel said with a cheeky grin.

As Daphne sat up she noticed that her room looked like a war zone. Her furniture was either broken or knocked over. Various pictures frames had been thumped from the wall and some had their glass smashed on the floor.

“I guess I owe you some new furniture,” Nathaniel said scratching his head and looking a little embarrassed.

Daphne chuckled she had lost how many times and how many ways they’d come together last night. It had been pretty obvious that Nathaniel had never been with another wolf before. At first he had treated her like she was going to break. But then he’d started to realise she was much stronger and more vigorous than any of his previous partners during the Luna Eclipse.

“There’s probably not a lot of point in getting me new furniture until the Luna Eclipse passes,” Daphne said casually.

Nathaniel raised a brow looking intrigued, “Does mean you want to see me again tonight?”

Daphne smiled at him devilishly, “Do you think you could stay away?”

Nathaniel laughed, “I thought you said it was rude to answer a question with a question.”

Daphne slapped him playfully, “Now I’m just trying to be a saucy vixen.”

Nathaniel grabbed her by her upper arms and pulled her close to him, “You’ve succeeded,” he said as he planted a kiss on her lips.

Daphne broke off the kiss before it led to other things, “I’m going to have a shower and then I suggest we have some breakfast.”

Standing up, Nathaniel considered following her into the shower, but he did feel rather hungry. He slipped on his pants and picked up the rest of his clothing. Vampire blood, various slashes and holes made the outfit a little unsuitable to wear. He thought it best to go back to his own room and change.

Nathaniel walked to the bathroom and stuck his head in the door, “I’m going back to my room to change. Wait for me and I’ll come to breakfast with you.”

“Deal,” Daphne said as she shampooed her hair.

Nathaniel took a moment to leave, he really was smitten with her, and he just hoped it was more than the effect of the Luna Eclipse. He picked up his things and headed back to his room. It was early and there were very few wolves up. Nathaniel also took a shower although he was loath to wash off Daphne’s scent. He liked the smell of her on his skin.

Daphne met him at his door. She was wearing a pair of three-quarter length jeans and a low cut sleeveless shirt that had him wondering why they had left her room. He shook his head. Apparently the potency of the Luna Eclipse had not waned.

She took his hand and they walked side by side to the mess hall. Daphne decided that she needed more than fruit this morning. She went for eggs on toast with a sausage on the side. She put a dab of barbeque sauce on everything and found a table to sit at.

Michelle quickly sat down beside Daphne much to her surprise. “I can’t find Paul, have you seen him?”

Daphne cut a slice off her toast and lifted it to her mouth, “Not since last night.”

Michelle’s eyes widened until Nathaniel sat opposite Daphne, “He wasn’t sure what to do with you.” Nathaniel rumbled as he took a bite out of some bacon.

“Oh,” Michelle replied. “I’ll go look for him.”

“You do that,” Nathaniel growled.

“No need to be rude,” Daphne said as she had sliced the end off her sausage and dipped it in the sauce.

“Paul’s timing was less than convenient,” Nathaniel grumbled.

Daphne shook her head and then noticed Nikoli at the breakfast bar. She felt a little guilty about taking him dancing, however she never actually made a move on him. “Nikoli may be a little annoyed at me this morning. I went dancing with him last night.”

Nathaniel looked up at her possessively, “Is that why you were dressed as you were?”

Daphne nodded, “I told you I’d had dreams about you, I couldn’t sleep.”

This seemed to placate Nathaniel for now.

Arriving at the coven house with Audrey, Ashryn and Striker were made aware of some of the more recent events. A young male and female vampire, Matthew and Lola, walked up to him obviously troubled.

"Where've you two been? The were's are going nuts! A couple of them took out Max at the door and demanded to talk to D. The she-were said something about a couple of demons running loose." Matthew sounded under a lot of pressure.

Ashryn glared at Matthew, "Then perhaps you should be telling D about this and not me, you idiot."

Lola looked sadly at Ashryn, "He left with Joo-Eun a while back and hasn't returned yet."

Striker looked at Ashryn, then at Lola, "No one tried to contact him?"

She looked at each of them in turn, then dropped her head in sadness "We tried. No luck."

Ashryn sighed, "Lola, this is Audrey. She'll be staying with us a bit. Set her up with guest quarter for the time being."

Audrey was led upstairs by Lola as Striker and Matthew followed Ashryn to his quarters.

"Now, Matthew explain to me exactly what happened here..."

Nikoli continued to watch them, he had barely eaten, seeing Fort with Daphne was upseting him. Fort began to turn his head, and Nikoli looked over at a piece of fruit as if he were debateing with himself wether or not to go and get it. Nikoli ate his sandwhich decideing that he should leave rather then wait here long enough to actually consider attacking Fort. He stood, and walked past their table. He paused for a moment, ignoring Fort's slight growl. "I wanted to tell you that I enjoyed last night, Daphne." He said, smiling slightly. He left, not walking quickly.

Anita led the two males and heard a car screech to a halt up ahead. She lifted her nose and caught the faint scent of Crispin. She smiled as she realised that her father had received her message.

“This way!” Anita shouted as Nick and Loxley ran along behind her. Anita leapt into the backseat of Crispin’s car. Nick hopped in beside her and Loxley lumbered into the front seat. Crispin floored it and the car sped always.

Anita looked over her shoulder but nothing came out of the forest. “Thanks Dad,” she said as she patted Crispin affectionately on the shoulder.

“Not a problem, Anita.” Crispin said warmly as they returned to the coven. It was time to start the hunt.

-

Nathaniel simply raised a brow at Nikoli’s comment. He’d known where Daphne had been most of the night and it had been with him. “I get the impression Nikoli is looking for a fight.”

Daphne shrugged, “Blame it on the Luna Eclipse. I seem to be rather popular at the moment.”

Nathaniel looked her up and down, “I know why.” He grinned wolfishly at her, “I’ve got personal experience.”

She slapped him playfully on the wrist, “Shh, here’s not the place to say such things.”

Nathaniel continued to grin and took another mouthful of his breakfast. He spotted Anita as she walked through the door and his attention diverted to his mother, “Something’s wrong.”

Daphne turned to see where he was looking. She saw Anita and her face looked grave. “I have a feeling that it’s game time.”

John had got something to eat, and sat down, turning on the TV and DVD. Predaotr was in the DVD player, as it usualy was, and he opend a bag of chips as it started. His cell rang. He pulled it off his belt, and opend it. "Yeah?"

"Its Fort. You might want to be ready, its gona happen soon."

"Any Idea whe-" John began but Fort had hung up.

He turned off the movie, he would need to get some sleep. He wondered why Fort had hung up so fast. "Goddamn Luna Eclipse." He muttered.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nikoli had left, first going to the cave that he had used as a seperate living area. He picked up a bar of iron and headed to a small clearing. He stepped into a hut he had built, covering the door with deerskin. He put the iron in the fire that still burnt in the center. He sat on the ground and waited. Later he pulled the glowing bar from the fire, and placed it on an anvil. He began to hit the metal slowly shaping it into a flat sharp blade. He stepped outside, and lowered the metal into a bucket of water. Soon, when the metal had cooled he took it and wrapped a strip of leather around the machete's handle. He decided to put out the fire, and left.

D and Joo-Eun returned to the coven two hours before daylight.

"What the hell is this business with werewolves and demons? The girl wants to form an alliance, so what? They're the enemy, let them fight these demons on their own. Matt, come here."

"What is it, D?"

"Hold still."

In a vent of frustration and rage, D punched Matt square in the stomach, sending him back about 30 feet.

"I only feel a bit better. From now on, if any fleabag comes wandering here for help, you tell them no, or I'll rip your damn head off. Got it?"

Everyone else seemed to agree just fine, after they finished looking at Matt, who was still on the ground in pain.

Ashryn spoke out first. "Oh, D, we brought back the girl you wanted."

D was returning to his throne. The others crowded around the table.

"Good. I'll inspect her later. Where's she off to?"

"Lola is preparing a room for her on the second floor."

"Alright. You two didn't happen to come across that insolent bastard Valiant, did you? If anyone does, kill him, if I don't do it yet. He's become a nuisance to me lately, and I would like to see his head on a silver platter."

"Funny you mention him, boss. We did run into him, but it was only a short bit before we got back here. He said something about him going to the wolves to help go against you but we didn't really care."

"Damn right you shouldn't care about a waste like him. I'm going to continue my search tomorrow, by the way. Joo-Eun will be coming with me too."

"Yes, sir. Uh, what are we going to do if those werewolves come back about the demons?"

"If I happen to be here, I may or may not listen to their bedtime story. If I'm not here, then they can wait in the dungeons or come back during the day. Go tell that to Savage so he remembers it. And tell him not to bother our new guest, either."

"Right-o. Will do."

Ash ran off to tell Savage the news. D, Matt and Striker remained at the table, where they continued to discuss other things, until D sent them off to get some sleep.

Anita found Nathaniel and quickly told him of what she, Loxley and Nick had experienced.

"Sounds like our demon friends alright," Nathaniel said as he scratched his chin.

"Should we start hunting them?" Daphne asked.

Nathaniel shook his head, "I'm waiting on someone else to join us."

"Who exactly?" Anita asked.

Nathaniel smiled, "Oh I think you should wait until he arrives. I can't do his presence justice."

Daphne raised her brow at the sarcasm in Nathaniel's voice, "Something tells me we're in for a real treat."

Anita crossed her arms and looked at Nathaniel, "Is it someone you've worked with before?"

Nathaniel shrugged, "Maybe..."

Anita didn't look impressed as she had an inkling as to who Nathaniel may have called upon.

"I suggest we get our weapons ready," Nick suggested.

"I second that," Paul said with a grin, "By the way where is Griggs?"

-

Michelle walked into the mess hall and made a bee line to Daphne. She dragged her away from the others despite the depth of conversation.

"I found Paul!" Michelle said excitedly.

Daphne smiled and noticed that Nathaniel looked annoyed at her departure. "That's great Michelle," she said politely.

"He's looking for someone to be his life mate. I'm so excited I've had a crush on him for so long. I was never able to say anything because he was the Omega and I was terrified the others would hurt him." Michelle gushed.

Daphne was surprised by that, "So you've wanted to be with Paul for a while then?"

"Ever since he came to our pack," Michelle admitted, "He has the most dreamy eyes."

Daphne looked over to Nathaniel and smiled, "I guess you'll just have to let him know how deeply you feel about him."

Michelle looked nervous, "What if he thinks it's only an effect of the Luna Eclipse?"

"Now that I don't have an answer to," Daphne said as she looked at Nathaniel again.

D was interrupted in his sleep. It was Savage who disturbed him.

"D! There's gunfire going on somewhere!"

"Why did you wake me up to tell me that there is gunfire! (D punches Savage and sends him flying into the wall) going about, when you haven't even told me where the gunfire is coming from?"

"I thought it might be the werewolves and their demons.. from earlier, y'know. I thought.. maybe we could help them...ow, you suck..."

"You're a vampire, those lycanthrope animals are not to be trusted. They are the enemy. These "demons" haven't gone about coming towards us, probably because they know I'm here, but as long as they don't disturb us, we don't disturb them. And that means no helping werewolves. Got it? Now go back to sleep, we'll need our strength for the night. I sense your bloodlust is rising. Have you fed recently?"

"Not for a week, sir. But I was--"

"A week? Ugh, you can't take care of yourself. This is like babysitting. Here, take this."

D threw a tiny red capsule to Savage, who bit down on it, and warm liquid spat into his mouth, feeling better than ever.

"Thanks, boss. Sorry for waking you."

"Eh, don't do it again unless it's something worth seeing me for. Now get."

John should be sleeping, but he couldent. He was wandering the streets, looking for something to do. Unfortunately Murk Valley was a very boring place. The only thing he could do was go to a movie, or a club, and half the clubs were controlled by vampires. He didnt want to go to a movie either. He decided to continue to walk around, maby he would run into someone.

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  Daphne had left. Currently that was good, he could listen and think about the plan.But she had left with Fort and that was bad. If he had been younger, and therefore less in control of himself, Nikoli would have killed him by now, but things were different. And, though he hated to admit it, Nikoli was glad he was here to help with the demon. He tried not to think about Daphne, or Fort, and listend to the others.