Chapter 9.
A lurch that almost knocked her over flew straight at Mary-Lynette. It wasn't something physical, something that the others sitting with her could see, it was carried in the wind to her, something searing in its evilness.
Pain. An overwhelming sense of agony that she couldn't avoid, couldn't hope to run from, it burst through her heart, and she felt as though she was in a game of tug-of-war, where she was the rope and both teams were made up of linebackers.
She had to fight to gasp out each small breath of air. It hurt, oh goddess it hurt, and suddenly she felt the vomit rise through her chest and erupt in her throat – she was going to throw up, oh god she was – she pushed everyone else aside in her rush to the bathroom connected to Thierry's study. Leaning over the toilet, she puked until she felt there was nothing left in her body to get rid of.
"Ash," she whispered, forcing down the nausea, "Oh goddess, Ash," she could stop the tears from falling freely down her face, not even when Maggie walked through and put one gently restraining hand on her shoulder, "what's wrong, Mare?"
"I…" all of a sudden she wasn't sure, "I…I don't know," she shook her head, the quickness of the action forcing a wave of sickness on her again, she gulped it down and shook her head again – slowly this time – "I just felt so sick – it was agonizing – then the only thing I could think of was 'Ash' I don't know if I want him hear while I'm ill or if…"
"Or if he's hurt?" Maggie guessed, and Mary Lynette nodded slowly, "Oh Mare, I know it must hurt, I'm glad Delos wasn't allowed to go," she hesitated, realising that that wasn't the best thing to say to an upset girl missing her soulmate – who was probably being beaten or was fighting right then – "but he'll be fine. Ash can take care of himself, has been forever."
Mary-Lynette nodded, feeling the truth of the matter, and removed herself from the toilet bowl, flushing the vomit away. She wiped her mouth and Maggie got her a glass of glisteningly clear water from the basin, she took it gratefully, "I suppose we'd better get back to work, huh? So we can find Keller…"
"Yeah," Maggie smiled, "but with my role of supervisor, I hereby order you to take a break."
"Who made you supervisor?" Mary-Lynette asked weakly, feeling the effort with each word.
"Me. I am the Deliver, I sure as hell can be supervisor for a few moments," Maggie grinned, a self-mocking grin; she didn't believe a word that she was saying, "go on, Goddess knows the boys and I will be able to cope without you for an hour or two. Go take some sleeping pills and conk yourself out."
What a fun thought, Mary-Lynette was sure her inner-voice was attempting to be sarcastic, but it did actually seem like a better alternative to work to her, she nodded, "thanks Maggie."
"No problem," the other girl winked, "I might take a break myself. Last time I checked on Delos, he and Jez Redfern were debating how they qwere going to sneak out of the mansion and help," she rolled her eyes, "his testosterone is going haywire because he's been left here. It's all he talks about, all day, all night. You're lucky Ash was allowed to go."
Mary-Lynette tried to laugh, but found that she couldn't as she was overcome with another wave of sickness. She turned and threw up into the toilet again.
Suppose I didn't puke my insides out last time. There's still some there.
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Eric and David glanced at each other as they watched the two girls speed off in the direction of the bathroom, then David shrugged and they both got back to the tedious task of looking at the many documents Thierry had kept of Night World Cults and not-so-secret-now locations. It was boring work, and both of them wished that they could be with their soulmates, but Circle Daybreak seemed to think humans were weak children who needed protecting. Eric was almost surprised they let Rashel go. Then again, how could they stop her? She would take down as many Daybreak guards as she needed to, to be in this mission.
The phone rang, making both boys jump. They looked at one another for a long moment, silently arguing over who was going to pick it up. With a sigh, David reached over and took the phone from its holder, "Hello, Thie… yeah. Uh-huh. He's right here," he covered the receiver with his hand and whispered to Eric, "it's Thea, she's calling from Quinn's cell phone – she sounds upset."
Eric had had little feelings through the soulmate link between him and Thea that Thea was in turmoil, but he hadn't been able to do anything about it without leaving the headquarters – which he wasn't allowed to do – he had just sat, helpless, as he felt every tear. Now he didn't even bother greeting her before he asked, "Thea! Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"
"I…I…Yeah…I mean NO! I'm not hurt…" she was whispering, and she seemed to be choking her words out, "but oh goddess, Eric…you need to tell Mary-Lynette. Ash…Ash…he's… he got staked, I couldn't do anything for him!"
Eric felt his stomach turn itself over as he stared over at the stairs Mary-Lynette went up. But Thea was also the only medical witch they had thee, she must have been in charge of helping Ash, and there was no doubt his soulmate was going to be resenting herself over it. His first duty was to her, and that was why he didn't bolt after Mary-Lynette, he turned his back to David and spoke in a low voice, "it wasn't your fault, Thea. You know that."
"I know…I know," he heard the slight rustling of leaves, "but Blaise…she was drained. She's dead too, and I wasn't even there!"
Oh God, not Blaise too. Sure, she had tried to kill him and take him from Thea forever at first, but Eric would forgive her anything for what she'd done in the end, saving him and Thea from death, leaving Thea with all her witch powers intact. She had stopped hating humans – had become a good person, and now…look where it had gotten her.
"Oh god, Thea. You have to come back to the mansion, you can't be out there," he heard his voice quiver out before he even processed what he was going to say, "it's too dangerous."
"I have to," she muttered. More rustling. "Quinn and me will be inside the warehouse in a few seconds, Eric, I need to try and help the injured. I'm the only one who can," she paused, "I don't know if I'll be coming back," her voice gave away the fact that she not only 'didn't know' but she highly doubted that she would, "but tell Mary-Lynette that Ash loves her, that they'll meet again but that she isn't to do anything stupid. They were his last words – she has to know. And Eric? I love you, more than anything in the world. remember that. Always."
"Thea, please!" a desperate voice called out – my god is that me? – but all he heard in return was the sound of a dial code. He stared at the phone in disbelief. She'd hung up on him. His soulmate had hung up on him. He gulped, put the phone down, and looked over at David, who was staring at him.
"Ash and Blaise…they're dead, and Thea wont come back, she thinks she's going to die there," Eric closed his eyes in pain, then reached a decision, "I'm going to talk to Mary-Lynette, then I'm going after Thea."
"Don't be an idiot," David said harshly, "you aren't doing Thea any favours whatsoever by going and getting killed."
"I've helped her before," he shrugged, even though he felt like crying, "I might only be human, But I can still help."
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David was alone in the study, staring at a document that he had read four times and still wasn't sure what it said, the phone rang and David realised that this was starting to get monotonous, he picked it up and answered, "Hello. Descouedres residence…"
"David? Is that you?" a male voice cackled down the line. It was a bad connection, like someone had taken a sweet wrapper and rolled it across the receiver, he finally figured it to be Morgead, "Yeah, Morgead, it's me, I suppose you want Jez?"
"Uhh…actually no. I'm calling from a pay phone, and it's gonna have to be quick because Poppy only has so many quarters, but man, Gillian's missing."
David got up from the slump in his seat and sat up poker-straight, "what exactly do you mean, missing!"
"Missing, as in she's disappeared, kaput – gone. We left the club to interrogate a vampire, we didn't want her to see it so we left her, we went back and she wasn't there. We've searched for hours."
"Why the hell did you leave her there? You," he couldn't think of a name bad enough, instead sinking back down into his seat, "I have to find her."
"We don't think she's dead," Poppy put in helpfully, she must have been standing away from the phone, because her voice was a whisper.
"Goddess, no, I'd have felt that," David tried to breathe, but his lungs felt as though they were collapsing, he stared at the phone, "I'll have to tell Thierry about this."
"Yeah," Morgead agreed, "I've gotta go, Poppy's ran out of quarters. I'll phone if we find anything," David momentarily wondered how he was going to do that with a serious lack of quarters, but didn't ask. He didn't intend to be around, he was going to have to find Eric.
After all, they needed a plan if they were both going to try and get out of the mansion.
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"Mary-Lynette, can I come in?" she heard a voice through her door and she almost said no. she had the feeling it was going to be bad news, and she didn't want anything to break the peaceful feeling she had lying in bed in the dark.
"Yeah, come in Eric."
He did, opening the door then sitting on her bed, looking away from her as though he didn't know what to say, "Mare, Thea just called…I have some bad news."
"It's Ash, isn't it?" she asked, "he's hurt, isn't he? Are they sending him back? What's wrong with him?"
Eric looked at the floor for the longest time, and she started to get desperate, "Thea said he wanted you to know he loved you, that he would see you soon, that you shouldn't do anything stupid. There was nothing Thea could do for him, Mare…he's gone."
She stared at him. Oh goddess no, it couldn't be true. She'd sent him away for a year – she'd sent him away! – and they'd only just been together a couple of months now. The world wasn't that cruel, he couldn't be…
"No! you're wrong! You're lying! I'd know it, I'd know it! You're lying…" she trailed off, knowing she was being irrational but not caring, "Or maybe Thea is…maybe you misunderstood. But he isn't DEAD – I'd know!"
Eric stood up, walked to the door, perhaps thinking she wanted to be alone. Goddess, she didn't, but he went anyway, he paused in the doorframe, "we're not lying to you, Mare. We don't have any reason to, and I think you don know…you just don't want to admit it."
Then he left the room, leaving Mary-Lynette, crying – the tears spilling down her cheeks, "Oh goddess, Ash – I'm so sorry!" was there any point in going on any more? Not if Eric and Thea weren't lying.
"It's a misunderstanding, he can't be," she cried against the bed covers.
(((Well…At least I managed a whole chapter without Character death this time…It'll finally go back to Keller, Galen and Elle Panter when I can work up the stamina to write the next chappie)))
