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.

10

Ash felt like death- and that was no surprise since the blood lust was killing him. For what seemed like hours he writhed on the floor as his muscles starved to death from lack of oxygen.

Then the door came flying off its hinges with an almighty crash.

Ash looked at the doorway with blurred vision, and saw a tall confident girl with long glossy black hair.

"Rashel!" He gasped in-between another twist of agony.

"The one and only." She replied, with a grim smile. She looked around the room and then saw Mary-Lynnette. "What happened!" She demanded, realizing that Mary-Lynnette had been turned.

"I-I had to turn her." Ash replied flatly.

"IF I FIND OUT THAT YOU CHANGED HER WITHOUT HER PERMISSION YOU WILL FIND OUT THE MEANING OF KITTEN'S CLAWS!" She yelled.

"No. She… agreed." Ash said desperately. "I-I never… wanted to change her… but she would… have died…if I hadn't."

Rashel calmed down- only slightly, and then realized that Ash was in pain. "I'll be the donor- this once mind you." She said, holding out her wrist steadily.

Ash couldn't believe that Rashel was offering to be a donor. "What will Quinn say?" He asked.

"Never mind him."

Ash hesitated, and then lunged for her wrist as his instincts took over.

Rashel found it hard to disguise her disgust- the one person she didn't mind drinking her blood was Quinn.

When Ash had drunk his fill, he got down to business. "I found the cure." he said, "Well… I more kind of drank it actually, so I am the cure."

Rashel looked at him questionably, but Ash was too engrossed in untying Mary-Lynnette. She decided to ignore how and focus on getting Quinn well.

Ash stood up, carrying Mary-Lynnette carefully in his arms- like a china doll, too precious to not be handled delicately. He stroked a strand of hair away from her face sadly.

"I sorry." He whispered. "If there was any other choice… I know you preferred being human." He turned to Rashel, bottling his feelings deep under the surface. "Let's go." He said determinedly. He just hoped that Mark would be able to accept having a vampire for a sister.

He stepped out the door than hesitated. "Um… do you know that way back? I was… unconscious getting here."

"I know you were. I was following you." Rashel said.

Ash turned to her, furious. "THEN WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING? MARY-LYNNETTE IS A VAMPIRE NOW- YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS FROM HAPPENING!"

Rashel backed off for a moment, and then came up to him, prodding him in the chest with her wooden sword. "Look here. As if I could take on all those nightworlders and that witch. I couldn't call for back-up as there is no back-up. Daybreak is having trouble keeping together as it is."

Ash calmed down- though only a little. "Hmm." He said non committal.

Rashel decided against teasing him- but she hid a faint smile at the though of the shin kicking Ash could receive from Mary-Lynnette now. She decided to launch herself into business. "The car's round here." She said, waving faintly in the direction.

"Whoa!" Ash cried as it was a silver sports car convertible.

Rashel smirked. "As if Thierry would let you drive that- he's seen the state of your driving. I'm driving."

Ash failed to hide the look of disappointment on his face.

Ash ran up to the front door of Thierry's mansion, as Rashel went to park the car, carrying Mary-Lynnette protectively. He swung the front door open and called for Thea.

Thea came running, accompanied by Mark. He gasped when he saw Mary-Lynnette and grasped Ash by the collar. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" He yelled. (It's amazing how protective brothers can be huh?)

Thea calmed Mark down; as Ash laid Mary-Lynnette on the same sofa he was on only a week ago.

"I had to turn her. She was going to die." Ash explained.

Mark replied with a grunt showing he didn't really believe him.

Ash turned his attention to Thea. "I have the cure."

"How?" Thea asked calmly.

"This witch made me drink it when she had me under her control- which Mary-Lynnette snapped me out of- but I still have the cure in my blood."

Mark snorted, signaling that he wasn't so sure if Ash had really been snapped out of it. Ash decided the best thing to do would be to ignore him.

"I'll have to use your blood to cure the others then." Thea said.

"Yeah." Ash said with a flicker of a grimace.

Thea collected Ash's blood in a vial, after Ash had used a wooden dagger to cut his wrist.

"You can go now." Thea told him, realizing that he wanted to see Mary-Lynnette. Ash gave her a thankful grin, flexing his wrist.

Ash went over to Mary-Lynnette and held her hand. The vampire blood had worked fast. Her skin was creamy-pale, and there wasn't a blemish to be seen. He regarded her closed eyes sadly. Her blue eyes would be forever tainted with silver.

He called to her with his mind.

Mare… you can wake up now…

Her eye-lids fluttered.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

Piscean Wisdom- Hope you liked this chapter- you're right- it is a good saying!

Tessadragon- Don't worry- I'm not pressurized. I just like getting each chapter done as soon as I get the ideas for it.

Dragonelemental- I don't think I'm evil. (OR AM I? Ha ha ha ha!) Anyway, I hope I don't go to Hell- I do update fairly quickly. I've already read your fanfic- it's in my alerts I love it, so keep updating!

Undeveloped Story- Update would be quicker, but I have a PHYSICS exam Wed and a History exam 2moz and I work as well. Grrr. (Could Hunter take my physics exam for me, do ya think?) Not to mention I'm hooked on reading other people's stories- especially Ash stories and Chris from Charmed- I'm starting to lose track of the plots now! So when people update I have to read a couple of chapters to recap! I hope I updated soon enough for you- I'm not sure whether you meant this Thurs-Sun, or next Thurs to Sun. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter- and I hope that your surgery goes well, whatever you're having done.

Emeraldorchid- Short but sweet- glad you like the story.