Disclaimer: - First Chapter

Thanks to La Belle Morte and Gothic Girl 3000 for Reviewing.
And Medusa-Sparrow Descoudres, my lovely Muse, without whom I'd still be on my first story!
She does so much for me and I want her to know I appreciate it all...

Chapter 12: Coming Home

Ash stood on the hill and tilted his head back, watching the stars as they glimmered with an unearthly light. He saw the Milky Way, Sagittarius in the south, the Lagoon Nebula, the Star Factory that was 4500 light years away, Arcturus, The constellation Perseus in the northeast, Vega, the Queen Star of Summer, the Star Cassiopeia, the King Nebula, the Veil Nebula, and Cepheus, King of the Sky, a 5 pointed shape rather like a house.

He could see all these without binoculars or filters, because of his cat's eyes. He remembered Mary-Lynnette had once rudely given him an astronomy lesson. She had disliked him then. And now she was gone. But he still remembered her, and he would never stop loving her. Some things, like love, would never die. It would always be there, and would never go away.

18 years. 18 years had passed since she'd… died. He missed her, and was reminded of Morgan Rowlands. She had also lost her soulmate, possibly forever. But Ash knew that Mare would come back to him. She had promised. He remembered her last words. She had looked at him with her clear blue eyes, even though her chest was stained with blood.

"You won't forget me, will you?" Mare whispered.

"No. Never." He answered.

Mare smiled up at him, reaching up to stroke his cheek tenderly. "I will be back, I promise you."

He remembered her eyes closing over, even though he had shaken her, calling her name. But she had gone, left him all alone, even though she had promised him she would never go anywhere, would never leave him.

After that day, Ash had moved to Briar Creek permanently and had shut off all contact with the outside world. He wanted to be alone, to be just him and her. He saw her in dreams, but when he reached out to her, she always disappeared. He was trying to live with the loss every day, and still couldn't heal himself.

Jade and Mark had eventually found out they were soulmates, and Kestrel and Rowan had also found their soulmates. Rowan had married a witch called Adam Sangue, and Kestrel had moved in with a hybrid 'shifter, part-lion part-falcon, called Gavin Abforth. Mark had also become a vampire to be with Jade, and Mare's dad, his father in-law, had died. Claudine had died not long after, overcome with grief at her husband's and daughter's loss, though she was only Mare's step-Mom, and had left the house to Mark.

Ash twirled the binoculars in his hand. They had been Mare's once, and she had often wanted to be able to see the stars and planets more closely. Only reincarnated as a NightWorlder could she be one with the night as she had always wished.

As Ash's thoughts strayed, he remembered Morgan Rowlands. She had been a very powerful witch/vampire hybrid. Mare had taken to her, and hadn't been there when Morgan needed her the most. If Mare had known, it would have hurt her.

Morgan had been the youngest of all the soulmate couples and had been the peacemaker in the mansion. She was very skilled and was also very sensitive. She was a good fighter, and was the one person that had kept everything together. Everyone loved her – even Blaise looked out for Morgan before herself. Morgan and Callum had been the most compatible couple, and when Callum had died, Morgan had moved back to Widows Vale permanently like Ash had, and healed herself by forgetting everything.

Ash was getting a crick in his neck and was about to move his position when he heard a voice form behind him.

"if you're going to hold those binoculars even tighter, I think you'll break them. But not that I need them anyways." Ash turned around and saw someone standing a few feet away from him.

Mary-Lynnette.

His Mary-Lynnette.

A few steps brought him right up to Mare, and then he took her in his arms, their lips meeting perfectly in the middle as always. He felt a dizzying sensation, all lightning and stars, as the pink haze took effect and the soulmate principle re-opened the bond between them.

But Ash resisted, and reluctantly pulled away. Not here. Not now.

"So what were you saying about your binoculars?" he kept his arms wrapped around her waist, leaning back slightly to look at her.

Mare looked like her first ever incarnation, Hellewise. That was an understatement. She was Hellewise. With her long silky yellow hair and chocolate brown eyes, Ash realised that the only thing that changed throughout her reincarnations was her hair and eye color.

"I can star watch without my telescope now because I'm a vampire." Mare explained. "So I've got, what, another thousand of years as a vampire?"

Ash couldn't resist smiling, and a grin broke out across his face.

"What's so funny?" Mare narrowed her eyes and Ash laughed, a warm feeling spreading over him now that Mare was back safe and sound in his arms.

"It's good to have you back." He said.

Mare grinned, and her face glowed as if from within. "I know it is. Ash Redfern couldn't even breathe without his soulmate."

"I managed to breathe just fine for the last 18 years without you." Ash retorted, and Mare laughed.

"Oh, by the way, my name's Meredith Onomatopoeia." Mare pulled a face. "What sort of a name is that?"

Ash grinned.

Mary-Lynnette had finally come home.

What do you think? I tried to make it better than the last one, and I hope I succeeded. There isn't going to be a sequel to this, BUT they will come in another story, I promise you…

Thanks to those who read the stories and the others who took time to review.

Love you all!

xxx Queen Of Slayers xxx