Disclaimer: The Night World is the work of L.J Smith. Only the story is mine and a few extra characters. Alexa, the clichéd villain- she's mine. I apologise if this chapter makes no sense but I have never been to America before, so I don't know all the right words to use- please tell me if I am wrong

6

Mary-Lynnette went downstairs for breakfast. She had spent the past week learning about Circle Daybreak- and using the private Jacuzzi. As far as she was aware, mark and Ash's sisters were enjoying it as much as she was. She was prouder of Ash than she could say, even though his work put them both in danger. She was a little shy of Thierry and Hannah though- they seemed so pensive.

Ash had been healing quite nicely- they had had a lot of trouble getting him to stay in bed- he wasn't really the kind of vampire to lay around and be able to keep himself totally occupied- though he had used the chance to catch up on his literature- he could quote more than Mary-Lynnette could now. Mary-Lynnette sniggered, remembering the look on his face when she had handed him a copy of 'Dracula' to read.

"Something funny?"

Mary-Lynnette jumped a mile. "James?" She turned. "Um…yeah. Just remembered the look on Ash's face…"

"When you handed him Dracula. You know, he's the last person I ever thought would read books. He tried to read on the sly when he first got here. The look on our faces must have been a Kodak moment when we caught him." James smiled.

Poppy joined them halfway down the stairs. "I think the look on his face was worthy of note!"

"He kept that one quiet." Mary-Lynnette laughed.

Poppy turned to talk to her. "I think he can come down for breakfast today."

"I'll go fetch him", Mary-Lynnette smiled and raced up the stairs.

Mary-Lynnette swung the door open- to reveal an empty bed. The sheets were tousled but she couldn't see a sign of Ash in his room.

She darted down the stairs, catching up with Poppy and James. "He's not there."

Poppy turned, puzzled. "What?"

Mary-Lynnette continued, breathless. It was a mansion, after all. "His room is empty. He's not there."

A lazy voice spoke in her ear, "That's because I'm behind you, you dunderhead."

"You. You…" Mary-Lynnette pointed at him furiously.

Ash stepped back, astonished. "I-I thought I'd surprise you." James was trying hard to suppress a smirk. Ash stepped forward, bristling. "Anything to say?"

James lost his grin. "No. Have you?"

Poppy looked at them, her smile fading. "Oh dear."

Mary-Lynnette looked at her, caught in the middle of her warpath. "What?" She saw Ash about to jump on his cousin. "No."

Ash and James totally ignored her. They were practically circling each other now.

She had an idea. She went up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Ash." She said, trying to snap him out of it.

"Hmm?" He murmured, slightly distracted, but not really looking at her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Poppy dealing with James.

"What the heck." Mary-Lynnette decided to bring out the big guns. She grabbed him and kissed him full on the lips. The pink haze circled them.

Um… Mare.

Yes?

Perhaps I should do this more often.

The kissing or the fighting?

Definitely the kissing. This is nice.

Mary-Lynnette agreed with him on that one. She paused, and then spoke to him again mentally.

Something's wrong.

Are you going to start saying that I kiss like a gorilla?

No… There's something missing.

What? With my kiss?

Mary-Lynnette pulled back from the kiss.

"Not with the kiss. With you. Something's not right. I can feel it."

Ash looked at her strangely. "You're probably just being paranoid. Don't you think that I would notice if part of me was missing?"

Mary-Lynnette replied with the usual shin abuse.

Luckily- for Ash- Thierry walked towards them rather hurriedly- preventing any further attempts at shin kicking from Mary-Lynnette.

Mary-Lynnette looked at him. It was hard to know what Thierry was going to say. His eyes held thousands of years of knowledge.

"Someone's leaked Circle Daybreak information. One of our safe houses is under attack." He said. "Naturally I'm going to have to ask everyone to have their mind read."

James, Poppy, Mary-Lynnette and Ash replied in unison, "We've got nothing to hide."

"Jinxed!" Poppy burst out. Thierry looked at her, with one eyebrow raised. "Sorry, I couldn't resist." She looked at her feet rather ashamedly.

Somewhere else…

Alexa chuckled throatily over her crystal ball. "Do they think I'm stupid? I've had Ash's memory of leaking the information wiped." She looked at her perfectly manicured fingernails. "That Mary-Lynnette could pose a bit of a problem though. She came close to discovering the truth."

She paced around her lair thinking for a moment. "I know the perfect way to deal with her. I'll have Ash as my own. I'll use him to kill his soulmate- leaving her with her last tormenting memory- her soulmate being mine."

Alexa looked into the crystal. "Perhaps I should bide my time… Ash is still useful to me, leaking information…"

I found time to update- even with two exams one today! Hee hee!

Jinxed4Ever- There you go- another chapter to tell you what's happening.

Undeveloped Story- Maybe you ought to give Hunter a trip to the blood bank? He seems very hungry. Backs away- "Please don't let him eat me..!" I've ordered one of those new imaginary shelves- it shrinks and expands to fit the size of your head- how could you live without one!

Angie Kirk- Hi! There's nothing wrong with your fanfic- stop dissing yourself, it's good- I enjoyed it anyway. Thanks for the very positive review! Don't hesitate to offer constructive critism if you find anything wrong! Here's another evil cliffhanger then. Hee hee!

Operation Ivy- I like twists too…

Mary Lou Out Of Order-Exams- I hope that I can still live up to that review! And I love clichéd villains too. I was going to give Alexa a furry cat- but I thought that that might be going a bit too far!