Disclaimer: - First Chapter


Chapter 9: Memories

A beautiful young girl with long black hair and smoky gray eyes with a cupid's bow mouth and skin the color of cream blossoms raced down the stairs, her heart soaring with delight. Her father was coming home, and he was going to bring a new tutor for her. Hopefully someone who knew how to have fun and teach nicely!

She met her mother at the bottom of the stairs. Both were wearing fine gowns, the daughter in a gown of silver with intricate neckline and a silver circlet on her brow, the mother dressed in ivory, empathising her pale skin and fair hair, with silver detail in the gown empathising her gray eyes.

Both mother and child smiled, and the front door opened to reveal a finely dressed man with black hair and humorous blue eyes, followed by a young man with hair the color of crimson and striking yellow eyes. The girl stopped, staring. She knew the second man was her new tutor, but she had expected someone… older.

"My little Star, did you miss me?" Pierre Lavoisier smiled down at his young daughter.

"Well, let me think -" Star pretended to think of something, then laughed and hugged her father. He greeted his wife, Marie, by kissing her lightly on the cheek, and then introduced then to Star's new tutor.

"Star, Marie, I'd like to introduce you to Star's new tutor, Hunter Redfern. Hunter, this is my daughter, Straslina Laurel, and my wife, Mariette. Now, Star, why don't you go and show your new tutor what you've learned?"

"Okay, papa. Je t' aimes." She smiled at him and, disappearing into the workroom with Hunter.

"So, what have you learnt so far?" Hunter's yellow eyes were intense, focussing on her.

"No niceties?" Star joked.

A smile broke over Hunter's face, and then it quickly disappeared. "I'm just your new tutor."

"Well, as papa says, you must at least be friends with your student." Star mock-pouted, jutting out her lower lip.

The corner of Hunter's mouth quirked upwards, and he held out his hand. "My name's Hunter Redfern, I am 25 years of age, and I am from Italy, a city called Rome. I have a mother, father, and no siblings. Is that enough, Straslina?"

Star grinned, and shook his hand politely. "Please, call me Star. All my friends do. And you already know everything you said about yourself about me, so the only thing you don't know is that I'm only 19 years of age."

Hunter smiled. "Now we both know the same about each other. Tell me, what have you learnt so far?"

Star crossed over to her cupboard, taking out parchment, her quill, and a bottle of ink. She went back to the chair, putting the items down on the desk.

"My former teacher, Jean Duval, taught me Maths, Biology, English and Geography." Star explained. She handed the parchment to Hunter, and her hand caught his. There were sparks, electricity thrumming on every nerve on her body, a pink haze, and Star pulled back quickly, her heart pounding. She looked at Hunter, and saw that his eyes were wide. There was a look of fear in them.

"What is t? What just happened?" Star asked. Her voice was low.

"I – I don't know. But… I have heard of it." Hunter's eyes looked troubled, a look of pain in them.

"What have you heard?" Star moved back a little, putting some distance between them.

"It's called the soulmate principle." Hunter said it with great reluctance, as though it pained him to say such things.

"The… soulmate principle?" Star asked.

Hunter took a step closer, reaching her, and tentatively she reached out her hand and grasped his, this time letting the sensation wash over her, and she felt a silver cord pulling at them, seeing its silvery brightness.

The next second she was in his mind, and felt herself fall. Hunter caught her and stumbled, gracefully sinking to the floor with her in his arms. They were inside each other's minds, and she loved him truly with all her heart then, seeing everything.

And Star found out everything there was to know about him.

A few months later, Pierre stormed into his daughter's workroom. The sight he encountered was one he expected, though he had come of a different matter.

Star was wrapped up in Hunter's arms, her textbook open to the same page it had been on last week, and when the door opened, Star glanced up sharply at her father, sensing some of his turbulent thoughts, and sprang apart from Hunter, the shock evident in her voice.

"Pap, I can explain -" She began, but her father cut her off.

"Straslina Laurel, you are to come to the drawing room, now." He turned and left the room. Without a word, Star followed him.

Star's mother and father were waiting for her in the drawing room. Her mother was standing next to the fireplace, a worried expression on her face. She looked at her husband who was standing next to her, a blank look on his face, and he nodded. Star's mother hurried forward, enveloping her daughter in her arms, and explained what was going on.

"Star, as you know, the king and queen are imprisoned, and the aristocrats are being taken to the guillotine. We are to lower our rank or leave France. We choose the former, and I am sorry, but you must end your tutoring and come with us at once. Hunter must go back to his country. Star, we don't care if you have feelings for Hunter, but everything depends on our survival, and we must leave immediately."

Marie looked at young daughter anxiously.

Star stood still, her expression stunned. Then slowly, she shook her head.

"Non, mama, papa, I cannot! I love him. Go, I shall stay behind." She stood her ground, willing them to understand.

They did.

They let her go.

Star and Hunter now inhabited the house, each day a burden. One day, the mansion was ambushed, Star dragged off in a cart. Her heart was pounding as they chucked her onto the floor in front of the guillotine. Choking on her fear, Star put her head on the block, her red evening gown in tatters. The crowd jeered, pelting her with rotten fruit and flowers. All peasants.

Star felt her vision blur, but then pandemonium broke out. The axe man hurried into the crowd, and Star looked up to see Hunter and several vampires laying into the crowd, making their way to the front. Hunter caught up to Star, and gently picked her up. "Marry me." Hunter whispered.

"Yes." Star laughed and blackened out.

Hunter carried her through the crowd and took her away from France. For several days she was unconscious, ad she finally regained her senses.

"Mi cara, you are awake." Hunter came towards her and hugged her. She looked over his shoulder, staring at the room. It was unfamiliar to her.

"Have you been here long? Where am I?" She asked, searching his face.

He held her hand, looking at her solemnly. "Mi cara, you are in my castle in Roma, Italia. I'm sorry, but you can't ever go back to France. I am sorry, but I couldn't let you die. Forgive me."

She shook her head. "You haven't done anything wrong, ma aimes. I couldn't bear to be without you. I love you."

Star passed by her room, walking with her head down so no one would recognise her. She had seen Hunter's past, and he had promised he would change for her, but he hadn't, she was sure of that. She had seen some of the evidence on his private papers. The baby in her arms gave a tentative cry, and she hugged it to her, soothing it. Marie, named after Star's mother, was a wee little thing, and she demanded a lot of attention.

"Shhhhhh, ma bebe." Star crooned to her in French, and crept down the stairs softly. It was the middle of the night and Star wanted to get away from there as fast as possible, hoping no-one would recognise her.

As Star made her way to the castle gates, shielding the infant against the icy wind, she thought over her present situation, Being Hunter's soulmate had unlocked her own reminiscences of her past life as an awakened Old Soul.

Star looked down at Marie as she neared the gates. Hunter didn't want a child, so Star had successfully managed to hide the pregnancy and bring up Marie discreetly with the help of a few loyal servants.

Marie seemed happy enough with what was going on around her and all Star wanted was the best for her baby.

Star looked up in time to see that she was at the gates of the castle. The guardsman was asleep, and Star looked behind her one last time at the place she had grown to love and hate, and slipped through the gateway to the universe beyond.

Star adjusted her scarlet wig over her long hair, holding Marie by the hand as she crossed the streets of Rome to her house. She unlocked the door and set the vegetables down on the kitchen table, scooping up Marie and setting her in the chair.

Marie was quite a lovely child, with long fair tresses and cornflower blue eyes that she received form Star's father. Star smiled at her young daughter lovingly, roasting some vegetables in the cooker as she peeled some onions.

There was a knock at the door, and Star opened it to see Alina, Star's confidante, outside the door. Alina came in hurriedly, draping her coat across the coat stand.

"Star, I'm so sorry, but I have some bad news." Alina said quickly.

"What is it?" Star asked.

"Hunter knows." Alina said.

Star's eyes widened.

She was in BIG trouble.

The next day, Star went to Hunter's castle to resolve their issues. The gateman let her in without a word, and Star went right up to Hunter's office.

"I'm here." Star held Marie firmly against her. "Now tell me what you want, monsieur."

"'Monsieur?' Don't I mean anything to you now, mi cara?" Hunter's voice was ice cold.

Star forced herself to look at him squarely. "What do you want?"

Hunter's eyes narrowed. "You."

Ash woke up, jolted awake. He was sure he had seen a shadow at the end of his bed. He looked next to him and saw that Mare was awake. She was frowning, her eyes alert.

"You saw my dream, didn't you?" She asked softly.

Ash nodded. "I didn't know Hunter had a soulmate. Mr. I-have-so-many-lives didn't exactly seem like the type to have one, the way he was so adamant against it."

Mare looked like she was thinking. "I remember that – he was a bit sad when he was pretending to be sad. I think it's what happened before my last dream, and that she escaped again somehow, and he never saw her again."

Ash raised his eyebrows. "You know a lot about that."

Mare shrugged. "I don't know how I know. But I think – Star sent us these dreams, somehow. I don't know why, but I don't know if she's alive. I can usually tell if I sense the power she used, but I can't tell. I wonder why…" Mare trailed off.

"She sent you those dreams." Ash finished off.

Mare nodded, and then frowned again, extracting a piece of paper from under his pillow. "I found this."

Ash took the paper from her, reading it.

Marie,

I don't know if you remember me, you might probably do since we are the same, but I want to tell you not to come looking for me, and all I want to say is that I wish you happiness in your lives. You were the best daughter anyone could hope for. I love you, and I'm sorry.

Star.

Ash looked across at Mare, who was crying softly. He hugged her to him, giving her all the comfort he could. "So you're Marie?"

Mare nodded. "I remember now. When I… killed Hunter, I think something must have happened to her. And I never got to say goodbye. What do you think happened to her?"

Ash thought for a moment. "I think… I have a sneaking suspicion that she was turned into a vampire and died when… Hunter was destroyed. It's what usually happens in cases like those."

Mare smiled. "You're probably right." She stared off into the distance, lost in thought. "I wonder if she'll be back, somehow."

Ash arched his eyebrows. "She will."

The next day, Thierry met them in his office. They were the only people in the mansion; all the others had gone on their individual honeymoons.

Thierry got to the point straight away. "Everyone's moved away, except for Nilsson and Lupe, but they're on holiday, and Morgan and Callum are in Widows Vale, so you're my last hope. You might decide to stay there anyways. The thing is, there are still a few rogue NightWorlders, and I have reports they're gathering together. I know you're fully capable, and I'm asking if you can go there and stop it, if you can. Do want to take on this assignment, officially?"

Ash glanced at Mare. "Sure."

"Do you want to take anyone?" Thierry asked.

"No, that's okay." Mare replied.

Thierry smiled at them. "Will today, afternoon be okay? The sooner it's over and done with, the sooner you can get back and relax. If you need anything, just ask."

Ash nodded. "Yes to going today afternoon, and no to needing anything."

"Thanks." Thierry looked pleased.

"It's okay." Ash and Mare started heading towards the doorway. Mare hesitated, and looked back at Thierry. "Where is this place that we're going to, anyways?"

Thierry grinned. "Briar Creek."