Title: Remember Me

Summary: One week of not remembering. One week without the past getting in the way. One week of freedom. R/I. Oh and there's a case.

Rating: T for now might become M in later chapters

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters all belong to Kim Harrison and blablabla.

Part: 1 of 10

Time line: Set some time post Kisten's death and the finding of his killer but I'm just ignoring the fact that Rachel technically gets shunned in that book(right?) and pretending it's all well and good in Rachel land.

A/N: Yes, I know the memory loss thing is cliché and has been done to death in hundreds of different fan-fics and probably as many different fandoms. Still I hope I can give it a little new twist as we wait for A Perfect Blood.

A/N 2: I think Ivy is by far the most interesting of all the characters in the Hollows and I hope I will do her justice as I play inside her head. This story is going to be told from Ivy's point of view and only hers.

One

I stared at the screen trying to focus on something other than the fact that it was ten past eight and Rachel wasn't back from the Ever After. She was supposed to have been back at eight and while Rachel was good at being late, Al was usually punctual. Surprisingly so - for a demon.

I focused back on the computer. One of my contacts had info on a kidnapped sixteen year old living vampire, but he would only meet at Stone. Stone was a newly opened club south of the river. They didn't have an MPL and I had heard some unpleasant things (or very pleasant depending on your taste) went down there. Not that I was really worried, but I would have preferred a coffee shop or the church. Still if my contact could come up with something that would let me help Lucy -the young vamp that had been kidnapped - it would be worth spending an hour feeling hungry and horny.

I yawned – bedtime for me had been over three hours ago – but it wasn't like I was going to get any sleep with Rachel in the Ever After. I got up to pour myself some orange juice just as I heard a soft noise out in the graveyard. It could have been Jenks and the rest of the pixies but a moment later I heard Rachel swear, confirming that she was indeed back. Filling my Vampiric Charms mug with juice I took a few quick steps back to my computer, hoping the relief I felt didn't show on my face.

"Hi, Ivy. Good thing you're still up," Rachel began to talk as soon as she entered the kitchen. "I really, really need some coffee." She reached for the pot I had put on fifteen minutes earlier, very well knowing coffee would be the first thing Rachel craved. The second would be a shower and after that she would fall asleep. Only after that would I be able to go to bed, knowing she was alright and sleeping across the hall. "I'm going to re-organize all my herbs later so if you could not be in the kitchen that'd be great. I mean I guess you could stay but I might get stuff on your computer if I need to use the table-" I frowned as she babbled.

"What's going on Rachel?" I asked suspiciously. If Rachel wanted me out of the kitchen, chances were she was spelling – which meant I didn't really want to be in the kitchen anyways. But Rachel usually just warned me she would be spelling. Unless she was doing something she felt I wouldn't approve of. Like a demon curse.

"If you're planning on being here for dinner," Rachel barely stopped to take a breath before continuing her prattling. "I thought I'd cook up that fish Mr.-Pimple-Face gave you. Maybe I'll make pasta, does pasta go well with that kind of fish?" she asked turning to me while biting her lip. Her small teeth nibbling on her lip distracted me for a moment. I didn't need an hour at a club – all I needed was a second with a redheaded witch biting her lip – for me to get hungry and horny. Fuck, I really was one messed up puppy.

"Yes," I assured her after a second. "With some cream and put it in the oven for a while."

"The pasta?" Rachel asked grimacing.

"I was thinking the fish," I clarified as I turned back to the computer deciding I didn't need the pair of new boots I had been staring absent mindedly at for the past few minutes.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Maybe I'll get some crabsticks on the way home," Rachel mumbled as she blushed slightly and turned to look under the sink for something – a spell pot I guessed.

"You heading out?" I didn't look up from the screen, hoping my fake casualness was convincing her. It was stupid for me to always want to keep track on her, but that didn't make me stop doing it. If she got herself into trouble, me knowing where she was might be the difference between life and death. And since Rachel only had one life (or more like one death) I really didn't want to take any chances with it. Unlike Rachel who seemed to think everything would just work out I was realistic. I knew the monsters out there. I had been one of them.

"Yeah, I'm going to my mom's. I want to ask her about a spell, I'll be gone a while... but you'll be here for dinner?" she got up with a large spell pot under her arm and a hopeful expression on her face.

Like I could have said no to that look, even if I'd wanted to. I was such a sucker.

"Yes. I'll be here."

The night air was cold and the music coming from inside the club loud. I was already feeling hungry. I'd need to call a friend or go and see Rynn after I met with my source and before I went home for dinner. I would have enough time, it might be dark out but it was February. It was dark before six every day. I glared at an annoying pink balloon hovering by the entrance We want to Overload your Senses. Happy Bloody Valentine's Day. It wasn't Valentine's Day until Friday but it seemed the people at Stone didn't really care.

At least that was the impression I got as I walked through the throngs of people, most of them involved in something Rachel might call dancing, but I called sex with clothes on. Stone was clearly popular to be this packed at eight, but that was Cincinnati for you. People could party before midnight - no problems.

My phone rang – the ID caller letting me know it was Rachel. I glanced around and saw a neon sign pointing me to the bathroom. I pushed my way over there as the phone kept on ringing.

"Rachel?" I said as I closed the door to the bathroom, shutting most of the music out. It was thankfully quite large and only smelt vaguely of urine and a dozen other odors I didn't want to define. As I answered I felt very confused to why she was calling me when she knew I was meeting with a source. She wouldn't do that without a good reason.

"Is this Ivy Tamwood?" a voice I after a second recognized as Alice Morgan's – Rachel's mom – asked pleasantly. I felt my heart pick up speed.

"Is Rachel alright?" I asked holding my breath.

"Yes, yes. She's fine. Sort of, but I think you should get over here. To my house." Alice didn't sound too upset but the fact that she wanted me to come over made me imagine horrible scenarios of spells going wrong and/or some demon showing up to drag Rachel into the Ever After. Both frequent nightmares of mine, even if they're only second to the dreams where I am the one killing her - to the times when I wake up thinking I can still taste her blood.

"Is she alright?" I asked again more forcefully.

"No need to get pissy," Alice's voice rose a bit. "I told you, she's fine."

"Put her on the phone," I demanded but the woman on the other side only sighed. Then she hung up. I pulled the phone from my ear to look at it, not quite believing she had actually hung up on me. The woman was almost as frustrating as her daughter.

I texted my source that I needed to re-schedule for tomorrow, both pissed at Rachel for; pulling me away from a job AND getting more worried by the second. Why would she need me to come over. Most days Rachel liked to pretend she didn't need anyone, something usually had to go really wrong for her to call me.

Three adolescent vampires, one girl and two boys were admiring my cycle when I got out to the open area that functioned as a parking lot for the club. The scattered when they realized who I was, giving me mixed looks of awe and fear. I ignored them, hating the way they still looked at me even though it had been a long time since I had been Piscary's scion. Not long enough though. I doubted it would ever be a time when the world would forget. Maybe when I'm dead...

It was still very much winter outside, but the black ice that had nearly made me crash my cycle when I got it out of storage the other week had melted away. The roads were relatively safe but I'd stake myself twice if I crashed my cycle because of carelessness and slippery roads. Still, I drove slightly above the speed limit wanting to get to Mrs. Morgan's house as soon as possible, mostly to keep myself from speculating on what could have happened to Rachel. I had always been one to expect the worst and my mind was coming up with one horrible thing after another.

I knocked hard on the door and then tried the handle without waiting. The door was unlocked and swung in. Careless. I took two fast steps in, not smelling any blood or the sulfur smell Al or some other demon would have left behind if one had shown up. I relaxed a little bit.

"Good, you're here," Alice said as she came into the hall. "Take those snowy boots off before-"

"Is she alright?" I asked as I slipped off my leather boots, worried that Rachel wasn't there to greet me in the hall. She would know her mother's call had worried me; if she could she would have been in the hall to make sure I didn't freak out. Something bad must have happened. The not knowing was the worst part. I needed to know what had happened, so I would know just how bad it was.

"Now dear there's no need to panic," Alice said, her striking resemblance to Rachel making me have to look at her a few seconds more. Every time I saw the older witch it shocked me how much a like they looked. They could pass for sisters.

"Where?" I asked the redwood sent coming from both Alice and the house mixing completely with Rachel's familiar scent making it impossible for me to pin point where in the house she was.

"Living room, but I…" I brushed passed her down the hall, past the kitchen and into the living room. I stopped and stared for a moment.

"Hi," Rachel said as she smiled at me from the couch. She looked calm. I wasn't quite sure what the emergency was until she continued. "I'm Rachel, my…uh…mom…says I know you?"

Thanks for RxR!