FicWad

e--qui-nox {ee-kwuh-noks, ek-wuh-noks}
– noun

The time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is pointing neither away nor toward the Sun, making night and day of equal length all over the earth and occurring about March 21 (vernal equinox or spring equinox) and September 22 (autumnal equinox). One effect of equinoctial periods is the temporary disruption of communications satellites. The Sun's immense power and broad radiation spectrum overload the Earth station's reception circuits with noise and, depending on antenna size and other factors, temporarily disrupt or degrade the circuit. The duration of those effects varies but can range from a few minutes to an hour.





“We have a problem,”

The people inside the warehouse continued to stare at Izzy, Joe tilting his head slightly at her sudden arrival. She rolled her eyes and stepped inside, ignoring their grunts as she invaded their property. She looked around the warehouse, reminiscing of her time in the building. She smiled slightly and walked into the living room, closely followed by the men and Evie, who all clearly didn’t trust her. Patrick’s hand shook slightly as he placed his stakes on the table in the front room, and sat opposite Izzy, taking in her features as she looked around.

“You redecorated.” She observed, and they nodded before Andy spoke up.

“Yeah, about a year ago. Why are you here, Izzy?” He asked, and raised his gun a little higher, the stake inside of it clearly aimed right at her heart. She noticed him holding it protectively and laughed quietly, turning to look at Evie. She ignored Andy’s question and smiled at her.

“Hi best friend,” She laughed, and eyed the stake in Evie’s hand. Evie laughed too, and walked over to Izzy, standing in front of her and holding the stake to her throat. Izzy didn’t flinch, simply smiled and stared right into Evie’s eyes. Even Evie’s hate for this woman couldn’t stop her from looking away at the evil in her eyes. She wanted more than anything to be able to meet Izzy’s glare, but her eyes were too dark and intense to even think about having a staring contest with her.

“We haven’t been friends since the day you left us, so don’t piss me off or I swear to god I’ll kill you,” Izzy laughed loudly at this, while the other men in the room placed their weapons down, including Joe with his spatula, feeling that Izzy wasn’t here to hurt them. Patrick walked over to Evie and put his hand on her shoulder, and she softened her gaze when she saw him. He motioned for her to sit down, and she did as she was told. Patrick gazed at Izzy, and after a few seconds, sighed, and sat opposite her once more. Izzy continued to stare at Evie, and Evie continued to avoid it. The others sat down with Patrick and Evie, and they all looked at Izzy, waiting for an explanation of her sudden arrival. She sensed this, and sighed, before explaining.

“I’m here because you’re in trouble. I’m in trouble. The whole fucking neighbourhood is in trouble.” Pete scoffed slightly, and Izzy glared at him, making him nervous at the way she growled, showing her teeth very slightly. He hunched over, and kept quiet. Izzy continued, the guys not interrupting her again until they needed questions answered.

“William is back, as you may have noticed, and I don’t plan on letting him take over again. New York didn’t like him; people hated him there and stood up to him, with the help of the most powerful vampire, apart from him, there, of course.” She grinned at her giant ego, and the men nodded.

“We heard about that vampire,” Joe started, “He was supposed to be the only one that had a hope of stopping William for good.” Izzy looked outraged, making Joe terrified of what he had said, not realizing he had said something to offend her.

“What makes you think it’s a he?” She spat, and Joe looked uncomfortable.

“I just thought-” Izzy smirked evilly.

“You thought wrong. That vampire was me; I just kept a low profile.” All the other people in the room widened their eyes, and Patrick spoke up.

“You? But you left with William. You left us. Why would you attack him? Wasn't he good enough for your majesty?” Izzy softened her gaze, and Andy and Joe looked at each other when they realized he was the only person in the room who could say something like that, and get away with it. Maybe she did care about him after all.

“I did leave with him. But like I said, I left for you. I’ll talk about that later.” She breathed heavily. “Anyway, I’m here to tell you I need your help, if I’m actually going to be the one that stops him.” They all looked uneasy, and Pete recovered his confidence and spoke up.

“Why us? Not only did you betray us and attack us, but we’re not even that strong, you’d be better off with someone else,” He folded his arms and huffed, and Izzy forgot her soft gaze she had for Patrick, and the fire in her eyes returned when she looked at Pete.

“Because I know how you fight, I don’t have to learn your tricks and the way you guys are, the way you behave, I already know. Plus, you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for-” She paused, and stared at Pete. “Except you, Pete. You’re a mess, I saw you trying to fight off William the other day, haven’t you had any vampire training?” It was Pete’s turn to light a fire in his eyes this time, and the rest of the guys and Evie cringed, knowing Izzy had hit a sensitive spot.

“I’ve had training, thank you, and I don’t think I’m going to let you speak to me like-” He was interrupted by Izzy, who held up her hand, making him unable to speak. The rest of them looked partly appalled that Izzy dared to do this to Pete, and partly amazed at the fact she even had the power to do such a thing. He widened his eyes and grabbed a stake off of the table, throwing it at Izzy. It sped towards her neck, but Izzy simply grabbed it as it approached her. Although it sped quicker than any of the humans in the room could see, Izzy had made no effort at all out of grabbing it. She sighed and put the stake on the table, and let her hold on Pete go. He took a deep breath and huffed again, fed up of the power she had over him. Izzy smiled.

“Like I said, no real training. Sure, you’ve thrown a few stakes at a board, but that’s vampire hunter training. You haven’t had vampire training. I can teach you some things if you want, but we haven’t got much time, apparently a friend of a friend of mine is coming over to inform me on William’s next moves, apparently he has inside information we could use-” Andy interrupted her, causing the blacks of her eyes to become even darker in annoyance.

“You expect us to help you, after all this time of you being away, after you drop in on us unexpectedly, and on top of that you expect us to trust some person we haven’t even met? I don’t think so...” He laughed, and picked up his stake again. Izzy rolled her eyes.

“Please, put it down Andy, you know you wouldn’t be able to do anything to me with that. Besides. This person that’s coming, I don’t even know him, I haven’t met him before. He’s some kind of witch. I don’t know. Anyway, with it being less than a month to the Equinox, he’s offered to teach how to use that day to our advantage...” It was Andy’s turn to roll his eyes, and he placed the stake back on the table. Pete grumbled.

“Equilux.” He muttered, and Izzy raised an eyebrow.

“Take the stick out of your ass, Pete,” The guys raised their eyebrows. “It’s called the Equinox because that’s how people know it. Just because you did a bit of research into it doesn’t mean you know all about it, so please deflate that ego of yours.” Joe laughed at this point. Evie also smirked, realizing the Izzy in the room at the moment could possibly be an Izzy that she recognized. Izzy thought for a moment, and jumped to her feet, making everyone in the room nervous again.

“Pete, get up. We’re going to do some training before this man arrives.”

~~~

“You hit like a girl. Again, Pete.”

Pete hit Izzy's hands again, and again, until he was hitting her palms with full force, the most he could pull out of himself. The rest of them watched intently, watching both the anger on Pete’s face, the punches he gave to Izzy’s hands, and the mixture of amusement and determination on Izzy’s features. Finally she let her hands fall, and Pete glared at her and he breathed heavily.

“Not too bad once you got going. Now,” She said, and pulled her jacket off. Patrick couldn’t help but stare, he had been married to this woman, and she was standing in front of him, looking sexier than he’d ever seen her. Joe noticed this and slapped him in the arm, and Patrick immediately snapped his head back up to her face, not even looking at Joe. Joe smirked, and turned back to Izzy and Pete.

Evie was watching Izzy too, but in a different light. She watched the gleam in her eye, as she taught Pete what she knew. She couldn’t decide if the old Izzy was back, or whether this was some elaborate story to get them all wrapped around her finger again. She hoped the old Izzy was back, for Izzy’s sake, for Patrick’s sake, but most of all, for her and Pete’s sake. If Izzy was back, maybe their mess of a marriage could be saved by a few words from Izzy, to both of them, on how to cope with this mess. She snapped her head up from her thoughts, as Izzy smirked at Pete.

“Now, I want you to react. You should feel it in your gut, when something is about to happen. What you feel could be my fist flying at your face, it could be a fly about to get squashed outside, or it could be Joe about to drop dead. You don’t know, all you know is that something is about to happen. You need to learn to distinguish between the feelings, so you can calculate exactly what is about to happen.” Pete nodded, and then looked to Joe, who looked completely terrified after Izzy mentioned him ‘dropping dead’. Of course Izzy was ad-libbing and knew Joe wasn’t about to die, but all things considered, Joe was slightly nervous around Izzy, and being told he was about to drop dead didn’t bode well for him.

“React.” Izzy simply said, and stood still for a moment while Pete gathered himself. He creased his eyebrows together before tilting his head. Izzy smiled for a moment, completely still.

Then after a few moments of silence, Izzy spun and threw a punch at Pete’s face. It was faster than any of the others could even comprehend, let alone see, but Pete had been concentrating hard, and slowed things down. He grabbed her fist, spun it, kicked his leg under hers, making her topple. He flung her over his shoulder, smacking her to the floor. She closed her eyes for a second, and Pete thought he’d knocked her unconscious. He was about to ask her if she was alright when she spun on her back, while simultaneously kicking her leg underneath her, bringing Pete down, flat on his face.

The next ten minutes carried on like this, Pete and Izzy both throwing punches and kicks, one bringing the other down on the floor, then being pushed over themselves.

They were stopped abruptly when the alarms went off, and everyone went upstairs to the front door to see who was calling. It looked like Izzy’s visitor had arrived, and Izzy wiped the sweat off her face and chest before staring at the screens for the cameras outside. Joe looked over her shoulder and crunched his eyebrows together while looking at the figure at the door. He had a strange glow around him, and his profile was blurry, making it impossible to distinguish features and such. Joe shook his head, evidently having had enough freaky stuff for one day.

Izzy turned around, still sweating, and Patrick again, couldn’t help but stare. Joe noticed once more, and decided he would later make fun of the man, even though he knew Patrick was just lusting after a long lost love. Izzy went to the door accompanied by Evie and Joe, and opened it carefully. Both she and Evie stood in awe at the doorframe at this man, and stared at him as he walked past them all and perched himself in the living room. The men in the room followed him into the room out of annoyance that he invited himself in without saying a word, Evie and Izzy followed him because of a sudden dreamy expression that had taken over their faces. The guys didn’t notice this however, and turned to the man.

“Who the hell do you think you are, inviting yourself in without saying anything?” Andy growled, and the man simply stared at him with naturally wide eyes.

“I’m sorry Mr. Hurley, I just thought introductions would be enjoyed more comfortably in the pleasure of your lounge.” Andy frowned at the man, wondering how the hell he knew his name. The man answered even though he never voiced this thought.

“I know everything Andrew, including your names.” He turned to the other three guys, and acknowledged them with a nod of the head. “Peter, Patrick, Joseph. Lovely to meet you.” The three men glared, and Pete sat down opposite the man.

“Well we’re not mind readers, so we don’t know your name.” He looked expectantly at the man, and he smiled kindly.

“Of course, I am Gabriel.” Pete scoffed, choking on the air he was breathing.

“Like, angel Gabriel? That’s hilarious.” He laughed again, the man huffed very slightly.

“No, not like angel Gabriel. My name is Gabriel Saporta. I don’t mind you calling me that, but I would prefer Gabe, if you would be so kind.” Pete raised his eyebrow and rolled his eyes.

“Then I’m Pete. Not Peter.” Gabe nodded, and looked to Joe and Andy.

“I assume you two prefer Joe and Andy, then?” He asked, and they nodded. He then turned to Patrick, who anticipated the question.

“I’m, yeah, Patrick is fine.” He sucked in a breath, and Gabe nodded again. He seemed to have a calming effect on the room, as the guys trusted him after only a few minutes and a name exchange. It was also at this point that Pete noticed the girl’s expressions. He raised an eyebrow and looked to their line of vision, which seemed to be Gabe, then back at them. He tilted his head before poking Joe who was next to him, and pointed to the girls who were unaware of anything around them. Joe looked confused for a moment before walking up to them and waving a hand in front of each of them in turn. After getting no reaction, he turned to Gabe who suddenly realized why they were having a problem getting the girl’s attention.

“Oh yes, sorry, I tend to have that effect on females, I have no idea why. Girls?” He asked, and both raised their eyebrows before smiling dreamily.

“Uh?” Evie asked, and Pete frowned at the fact his wife was practically drooling over this man. Gabe laughed and clapped his hands once, which seemed to snap the two out of their state. They both looked confused for a moment, before flushing red at the fact they had just stared at this man for a good five minutes. Izzy looked the most embarrassed, and she shook her head to get rid of the urge to jump this man, and regained her composure.

“So, er, you’re here to, er,” She couldn’t seem to finish her sentence, and slapped her forehead, trying to remember what she was about to say.

“You’re the one Daniel sent?” She managed to get out.

“Yes,” He started, and Izzy and Evie both smiled girlishly at his voice. Izzy regained herself from this quickly, slapping herself in the forehead again, ignoring Evie who continued to swoon unapologetically. Gabe continued.

“Daniel said you needed help, magical help. With the Equinox approaching, a magical day in itself, I suppose I can be of use in your fight against this, William.” Izzy nodded, seemingly back in control of her hormones, unlike Evie who now had a continuous smile plastered to her face. Pete’s expression because of this grew more and more irritated, and the longer Evie stared at Gabe, the less Pete liked him.

“Okay, so, how can you help?” Izzy asked, and the room was surprised how quickly she put her trust into him, as well as how nice she was being to him. This caused Patrick too, to get jealous quickly, and he and Pete sat with scowls on their faces.

“I am not a vampire, and have little experience dealing with them. I do however deal with magic, and with this battle I fear that vampire magic alone will not be enough-” He was interrupted again as the alarm system sounded again, snapping Evie from her trance and making everyone go to the screens again. Another figure stood outside the door, again with a glowing aura and blurry profile. Izzy crushed her eyebrows together before turning to the guys who looked her questioningly.

“Weren’t expecting anyone else were you?” Andy asked, and Izzy shook her head, confused. Gabe smiled and patted Andy on the shoulder.

“That’ll be my accomplice. I was expecting her, I figured you would want all the help you could get.” He smiled, and pushed them all into the living room while he opened the door. They wondered aloud why they were being put out of eyesight, and he explained he needed to ‘talk’ to his assistant. They sat in the living room and waiting, trying to make out the hushed voices in the hall. Even Izzy and Pete, who both had incredible hearing, couldn’t make out what they were saying. Pete huffed at this and mumbled something about ‘magic is cheating’ and slumped back in the chair.

As the hushed voices stopped, Gabe turned the corner with his ‘accomplice’. The four men in the room suddenly felt what Izzy and Evie felt when they looked at Gabe, and sat with their mouths hanging open at the woman in the doorway to the living room. They too seemed to be unable to bring themselves out of the effect that she had on them, and Izzy and Evie sat amused at the drool from their mouths. Even Patrick, who was normally a perfect gentleman, especially when Izzy was around, was staring at her like an idiot. Gabe laughed, and the woman rolled her eyes, clapping her hands once, making all the guys feel uncomfortable at the state they were just caught in. Gabe held out his hand and the woman curtseyed.

“I would like you to meet my assistant, Tiffany.” They all waved, the men still staring, and Joe seemed more entranced than the other three put together. He gulped as she shifted her gaze to him, and he suddenly seemed ready to pass out. Tiffany smiled at him, and he widened his eyes.

“Hi,” He squeaked.