Thea had spent the afternoon with her cousin, putting the finishing touches on the charm for Mary-Lynette, it had taken her three days, but at last it was finished. It was a small azure stone held in the claws of a silver owl which was in turn attached to a delicate silver chain. Azure was said to ward off evil intents, she had worked a small spell into the silver it was warm when danger was near, acting as an early warning device. Thea knew exactly why Ash wanted to protect his Soulmate, she spent a lot of time worrying about Eric, it was hard for a human to be involved with the Nightworld, but with Thierry Descouedres at the helm of Circle Daybreak it was getting easier. She smiled as she placed the necklace into a small box; she had heard all about Mary-Lynette Carter from Rowan, she was dying to meet the girl who gave Ash Redfern a run for his money.
Ash stood on the balcony outside the magic shop; he watched the hustle and bustle of the world go by. The evening air was cool and crisp, a refreshing change from the searing heat of the California day, the sky was bright and clear, not a cloud to impede his view of the stars. Ash heard the telephone ring inside the store, once, twice, three times before his cousin Thea answer it. Ash, not for the first time that evening, wished he could be in Briar Creek with Mary-Lynette, gazing at the stars.
Ash turned his head slightly, hearing the glass doors slide open; Thea was standing in the doorway, not coming any closer to him. He frowned, sensing that there was something wrong, he turned, hoping it was nothing serious and that it wouldn't involve him having to leave the magic shop, he was tired and just wanted to rest. "What's wrong Thea?" he asked, walking towards her.
"Why don't you come inside Ash, I've finished with the charm?" she said, nervously twisting the moonstone ring on her right hand. Ash was astute enough to know when something was wrong; he was suddenly swamped with such a feeling of complete dread that he had to hold onto the doorframe for support, something was obviously very wrong. Recovering his composure he followed Thea back into the shop, walking over to the couch and longed his lean frame on the arm. "Okay Thea," he said patiently, "do you want to tell me what's going on?" he asked fixing his prism coloured eyes on her. She looked at him intently, pondering, as if unsure what to say. "For god's sake Thea will you tell me what is going on!" his voice held a note of authority although he never raised it.
Thea paused to pick her words carefully. "Ash, something has happened," she stammered. He rolled his eyes; pushing himself up from the arm of the couch he walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I can see that Thea, are you going to tell me what?" he asked gently. He wondered for a moment if something had happened to Eric or perhaps Blaise, but in his heart he knew, the moment he had felt the dread wash over him he knew, it was Mary-Lynnette.
"Its Mary-Lynnette, she's missing." She said. Ash's eyes flashed and danced with lightening, a feeling of complete and utter terror consuming him. Mary-Lynette was his love, his Soulmate, his life, the one person he lived for. He couldn't live with out her, didn't want too. "Missing? How?" he was amazed he was able to keep his voice neutral, low and purring.
"I'm not sure, Jade doesn't exactly know. Apparently she went out to star gaze on Friday night and never came home." Thea put her hand in Ash's and gave it a squeeze; her eyes clouded over, she could feel his pain. Ash didn't know what to say, didn't trust himself to speak. His first instinct was to lash out, to hurt something, anything, anyone, to race as fast as he could to Briar Creek, to his sister and Mark and shake the truth from them. It was Sunday now, and Mare had been missing since Friday, nearly three full days ago. "Why didn't someone contact me before now?" he asked, anger and sorrow making his voice crack. "They tried Ash," Thea replied. "They contacted Nilsson and Lupe at the Mansion, but no one had seen you. Thierry sent Lupe out to search for you but obviously she wasn't able to find you. Jade called here to leave a message with Blaise and I in case you showed up here." Thea could understand Ash's pain, she didn't know how she would cope if anything ever happened to her Soulmate Eric.
"I need to go to Briar Creek. I need to look for her, I need to find her." He said, his voice was chocked with emotion, he couldn't help it. He had left Mare in Briar Creek safe a year ago next month, his time was nearly up he was so close to getting her back The last thing he had said to her to her was to believe in him, that even when they were far apart that they would be looking at the same sky, that a year wasn't a long time that they would survive it and be reunited, and yet just at the end of their time she had been taken from him.
"No," Thea said, "Jade said that Mark and herself have been called to Vegas, Thierry wants to see them." Ash looked up at her in surprise. If the Lord of the Nightworld was getting involved in this there was obviously something that he wasn't being told. "Jade said to meet them there in the tomorrow they are going to drive up tonight." Ash moved away from her, paced for a moment, trying to calm himself, collect his thoughts. "Okay I'll head there now." It was his only reply as he raced for the door.
Thea rushed to catch up with him. "I'll come with you Ash, you never know you might need an extra pair of hands, and a witchy pair at that." Ash smiled gratefully, he felt helpless and he hated feeling that way, he had a feeling he was going to need all the help he could get. He was going to have to keep his emotions in check and focus on the task in hand, which was finding Mary-Lynnette.
It was close to nine pm when Ash and Thea left for the mansion. They had left the magic shop with provisions, going to Ash's apartment to collect some of his things. Arriving at the mansion, after breaking a few speed limits, Thea had gone to see if you she could find Blaise and see if Eric had arrived, she had called him earlier asking him to meet her there. The mansion looked deceptively quiet, few lights were on and the corridors were empty, Ash headed straight to the games room, where he found his cousin James and his Soulmate Poppy playing pool.
James looked up as Ash walked in. He felt sorry for his cousin; he had been through hell with Poppy and he could sympathize with his pain, even if Ash had been the cause of most of his problems. "How are you holding up Ash?" said James.
Ash flashed him a dangerous smile, one that James knew all too well. "I'm not sure, no one seems to want to tell me what is going on." He replied, his voice was low and deadly. Poppy walked over and stood beside him. She was small and looked pixie like next to Ash's lean cat like frame. Despite all the problems that he had caused and despite the fact that he had almost turned her over to the Circle Midnight High Council she had a lot of affection for him, he was almost like an older brother to her, he reminded her in many ways of Philip, only bigger, bader and much much meaner.
"I know it's hard for you Ash, but we are all here to help you. Thierry has called everyone here to help - even the wild powers." She laid a hand on his arm. Ash looked down at her; now that he understood the Soulmate principle and what it meant to have a Soulmate he couldn't fathom why he had wanted to hurt her. "Thanks, little dreamer." He found himself smiling for the first time since he had discovered that Mary-Lynette was missing. "What I want to know is why had Thierry has got involved. Not that I'm complaining of the extra help." He shrugged out of Poppy's grasp and began to pace, "We are wasting time sitting here waiting for everyone, we should be out looking for her. I need to be doing something, anything, not just sitting here." He nearly shouted the last statement, but managed to get his emotions back in check. Anyone who knew him well couldn't help but notice the pain reflected in his eyes which at this moment were bright green.
"I know Ash, but Thierry hasn't told us what was going on, any of us, only to be here this evening and that it was urgent, it wasn't until we got here that Lupe told us what had happened, we know as much as you know I promise. Just have a little faith, if anyone can help Mary-Lynette its Lord Thierry and Lady Hannah. We'll just have to wait." Replied Poppy. Ash looked at her for a moment then turned and stalked out of the room, he was going to find Thierry; he wasn't going to pander to the Lord of the Nightworld, not when it was his love that was on the line.
Ash walked purposely down the corridor, a predatory look on his face, he was going out of his mind with worry, maybe everyone else was happy waiting on Thierry but he wasn't, it was his Mary-Lynette that was missing, his love, and he wanted her found. He didn't want to be sitting around waiting for someone else to tell him what to do. As he neared the kitchen he heard voices coming from Thierry's study. Without knocking he walked in.
Thierry was sitting behind his desk, with the phone glued to his ear. Opposite him was his Soulmate Lady Hannah. Hannah turned towards him and he could see the pain reflected in her eyes, the mirror of his own. What on earth is going on? He wondered, to make Hannah look like that. Thierry put his hand up and indicated that Ash was to take a seat. He moved numbly, all the time thinking of Mary-Lynette. Hannah leaned into him and said. "Try not to worry Ash, we will do everything that is within our power to help you." She sounded so sad, so lost. Thierry put down the phone and fixed his golden eyes on Ash. "Ash, I'm so sorry I don't know what else to say." He held Ash's gaze for a moment.
"How about telling me what's going on? Where is Mare?" He said quietly, there was no use in shouting it wasn't going to get him any answers.
"I suppose you must wonder why I called you here," he said. Ash just looked at him. Thierry was the Lord of the Nightworld, the first vampire to be created by Maya, even Ash follows his orders, most of the time, but he was finding it very hard to maintain control.
"I had wondered, I want to be out there doing something, looking for her, not wasting time in Vegas, but Thea said you wanted us all here. So here I am. What I want to know is why? Why are we sitting here doing nothing? What is it you are not telling me?" he said with more force than he intended to. Thierry raised his eyes brows and frowned.
"I know how you feel Ash, I know you feel helpless," this time it was Hannah that spoke, "Sitting here will not find Mary-Lynette, but please, before you do anything, listen to what Thierry has to say." Her eyes were pleading with him. Out of everyone who knew him Hannah was one of the only ones who could understand his pain; after all she had suffered so much of her own. "Tell me, " he said quietly, no longer sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"When Mark called the mansion to look for you, he spoke to Lupe because he couldn't reach me." Said Thierry, as he spoke Ash noticed him shuffling through some papers as if he was looking for something. "He explained to her about Mary-Lynette's disappearance. Of course she was concerned, as we all are Ash, but when Mark mentioned finding a charred circle and a crystal rose on the hill she became increasingly worried and asked Mark and Jade to bring the Rose right here to Vegas." Ash looked at Hannah, this was all news to him, and he was getting more annoyed about being kept in the dark. He had no idea what this Rose had to do with anything, though it was painfully obvious that everyone else seemed to.
"Okay so what does all this mean?" He asked, his voice was defensive now, he felt like he was deliberately being kept in the dark. He glanced to his right as he saw Lupe stepping out of the shadows, he hadn't even known she was there. Lupe's main job was to be Thierry's bodyguard, she took her job very seriously, and she was very good at it.
"Do you know anything about the histories of the Nightworld?" she asked, Lupe was a shape shifter, and no matter how often Ash saw her in her human form he couldn't help but be reminded of the wolf that was inside her, that was reflected in her amber eyes.
"Not very much," he admitted rather sheepishly. "I never was much of a scholar." He flashed his teeth at her. Lupe ignored him and continued, "I happen to have spent a great deal of time studying the histories, especially while we were having all the trouble with Maya and Lady Hannah."
"Lupe, we have more pressing issues at hand, if you could get to the point." Said Thierry clearing his throat and sending her a small warning look. "
"Sorry," she mumbled, "Anyway, as I was saying, I remember reading about something which happened about 100 years ago or their abouts'. It wasn't directly connected to the Nightworld but it sparked the interest of Circle Midnight." Ash looked at her intently; his eyes flashing gold through silver and finally to obsidian black if Circle Midnight were involved they would be made to pay.