Er, sorry it's taken me so long to write any more. I'm a slacker who can never commit to anything. Thanks everyone who reviewed. Part 4 is partly written, (actually on paper! Not just in my head!), so hopefully you won't have to wait too long for it...

SpiritOfEowyn: yup sure, but you may have to wait awhile til it's actually finished!

Birdhead : yay! recognize anything in this part?

I own nothing but the plot. The rest of the credit goes to L.J. Smith, except for the lyrics which belong to The Feelers, who ROCK!

3. Into Venus.

Rowan, you are a rather nasty older sister, said Ash as he came out of his bedroom the next morning.

"Oh, get over it Ash. You were just so mopey, you deserved it."

"Fine, whatever." Ash sighed, annoyed, then gave Rowan a flashing smile. "Guess what she did when she saw me?" The smile became slightly wicked.

"Kissed you," said Rowan, rolling her eyes.

"Nope. That was the second thing. Guess again."

"I don't know Ash," said Rowan, slightly exasperated.

"Stop being irritating and tell us Ash," said Kestrel.

"She punched me in the jaw."

Rowan and Kestrel burst out laughing. "Really? She did that?" said Rowan when she had regained her composure. "She told us once that the first thing she wanted to do when she saw you was knock you flat!" This started Rowan and Kestrel off again.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Where's Jade this morning? Still in bed?"

"Nope. She's off with Mark again. It must be a 'good' patch at the moment."

"Oh. So... how have you guys been? Okay?"

Rowan smiled gently at him. "Ash, if you would rather be somewhere else, just go. We all know why you're here..." he was already out the door.

"That was kind of rude," said Kestrel with a glare towards the door.

"That's our brother for you," replied Rowan with a knowing smile.


When Ash arrived on Mary-Lynette's door-step, Claudine answered the door.

"Hi, is uh, Mary-Lynette in?"

Claudine looked at him suspiciously. "Weren't you here last summer? I thought you didn't like each other?"

"Yes, well, things change I suppose," said Ash giving her a flashing grin, with what he hoped were beguiling blue eyes.

Thankfully Mary-Lynette had heard him at the door "Oh, good you're here early. Claudine, I'm going out, I'll see you later, bye!" She pushed Ash out of the door and quickly shut it behind her.

They walked quickly to Ash's car and hopped in. "Now what?" asked Ash.

"I don't know, Briar Creek, or just drive somewhere?"

"I'm kind of sick of driving. Let's go to Briar Creek."

They drove in comfortable silence until they got to the town. "I need gas," said Ash as he pulled into the gas station.

He had just finished filling the car and had gone inside to pay when a silver, very expensive looking car pulled up next to Mary-Lynette, who was standing by the pump. An anxious-looking guy with steel-blue eyes looked her up and down. "Are you Mary-Lynette?"

Mary-Lynette looked at him in shock. "Yes, who are-"

"Good. Where's Ash?"

"He's inside paying-"

The door on the other side of the car opened and a girl Mary- Lynette hadn't noticed in the shadows stepped out. She was lithe and graceful, with long dark hair and green eyes. "I'll get him," she said, and strode over towards the shop.

Mary-Lynette found herself starting to get angry. "What's going on? Who are you?" she demanded of anxious-guy. Looking at him closer, she noticed that he was actually really good-looking, not that she was interested. Very good looking. In the same sort of way as... Ash. "Are you..." she trailed off.

Anxious-guy gave her a quick apologetic smile and relaxed a bit. "Sorry, I would have liked our first meeting to be less tense, but we've got to get you and Ash out of here." Mary-Lynette's eyes widened.

Before she could say anything, Ash and the girl came hurrying back out of the store, speaking rapidly.

"How did he find out?" Ash was asking.

"We don't know. There must be an informant at Thierry's. The point is that we have to get the two of you out of here, now."

"What about the girls?"

"They'll be fine; they're only after the two of you. In their eyes, your sisters haven't committed any serious offences."

"Well, we're going to have to go and see them, because Jade has been in and out of love with Mary-Lynette's brother all year." He paused to get his breath. "This is going to take some sorting. Hey Quinn," Ash said to the guy in the car. "How much time have we got?" he said, looking at both of the strangers.

"Two, maybe three days at the most. They have to get here from the East Coast, bit we're not entirely sure when they left. We've got to get the two of you out of here by the end of tomorrow or else it will be too late."

By this point Mary-Lynette was frustrated and very confused. "What the HELL is going on?" she yelled.

All three of them looked at her in surprise. Ash recovered the quickest, looking at her with a very worried expression. "My father has found out about us, about you." He took a deep breath and looked at her with dark green, concerned eyes. "He's sent people to kill us both." He looked back at Quinn and the girl. "We'd better go back to the house. My sisters need to know about this too."


Ten minutes later, after a quick introduction, Mary-Lynette, Ash, Quinn, Rashel, Rowan and Kestrel were seated around the kitchen table at Burdock farm. Ash glanced around. "Where's Jade?"

"Still with Mark," said Kestrel with a roll of her eyes.

"Quinn, could you call her? You've got the best range, and she's more likely to respond to someone who isn't a sibling," said Rowan.

Quinn nodded shortly and his eyes shadowed for a moment. The other vampires around the table all winced slightly. "She's coming."

A minute later, Jade burst in the kitchen door, dragging a pissed- off looking Mark behind her. They sat down and Jade looked around worriedly. "What's going on?" Then she looked at Quinn. "Why are you here, anyhow, and with a human? I thought you hated them?"

"You should read my letters more often Jade, and then you might have known about what happened to Quinn," said Ash.

"That's beside the point anyhow," said Quinn. "Your father has found out about Ash and Mary-Lynette. We're not sure how, but he has. He's found out about some of the other soulmate pairs in Las Vegas as well, but they're all protected by Thierry, and Rashel and I can take care of ourselves. Ash and Mary-Lynette are the most vulnerable out of all of us, being isolated out here. We have to get the two of them out of here as quickly as possible.

"What about us?" asked Rowan. "And Mark? And Mary-Lynette's family?"

"You three will be overlooked as long as Ash isn't here and so will Mary-Lynette's family as long as she isn't here, but – Mark was it?" Mark nodded at Quinn. "You and Jade had better keep apart, I mean don't even look at each other at school, until someone from Circle Daybreak gives you an all-clear. Understood?"

Jade and Mark nodded quickly, then looked back at Ash and Mary- Lynette. "What are you going to do Mare?" asked Mark.

Mary-Lynette looked at Ash, then back to Quinn. "Would we be safe in Los Angeles for awhile?"

"Probably. Ash, do you have any connections there?"

"Apart from people from the club, only Poppy and James. Are they still safe?"

"Yes. James has kept very little contact with his family, so they don't know or care what happens to him. Fine, if you can move to LA that would be ideal. Vegas at the moment is a bit risky, until the spy is found anyhow." Quinn looked around the table. "So. Mary-Lynette and Ash are going to go and live with James and Poppy in LA. Do we have any objections?"

"Um, Mare, what are you going to tell Dad and Claudine?" asked Mark.

"The truth, or at least part of it. I applied to UCLA and got in. I can go to college there instead, and I've got the paperwork to prove it. I'll just have to move out a little sooner than we thought."

Mark looked really shocked. "Wow. So you're really going to go?"

Mary-Lynette smiled sadly at her brother. "I don't think I've got much choice really."

There was a moment's silence until Rashel spoke up. We want to be out of here by midday tomorrow. Let's get to it."


The next twenty-four hours was a blur for Mary-Lynette. Announcing to her Dad and Claudine that she was leaving, packing, trying to fit all her telescope pieces and binoculars into bubble-wrap bags, her posters and planispheres, telling her friends, quickly sending off her acceptance letter to UCLA, saying goodbye to Mark and the girls, and before she knew it, she was driving out of Briar Creek with Ash. They had decided to dump Ash's car in Mad Dog Creek and take Mary-Lynette's truck as it was less likely to be tracked, even if it did fall apart halfway to California. They had left Quinn and Rashel behind, posing as telephone repairers, but really installing protections on Mary-Lynette's house so that no one would be able to track them through her family.

Ash stretched out beside her in the passenger seat. "I really should apologize," he said. "If I hadn't come, perhaps no of this would have happened."

"I know Ash," said Mary-Lynette. "But this probably would have happened anyway. No matter what happens, I'd rather have you with me than to never see you again." She sighed and concentrated on the driving for awhile. "It's kind of weird you know."

"What is?"

"Well, we've been apart for an entire year, and now I've left my family behind, for good pretty much, and so have you. It's just the two of us."

Ash caught her eye briefly and gave her a smile. "Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"Oh, I don't know. I'm going to miss my family... and you're a bit of a poor second..." she shot him a teasing grin.

"You wound me, my love. I am shocked!"

The gentle teasing banter continued as Venus rose into the sky off to one side, and went on as it faded into the night sky and they left Briar Creek farther and farther behind.

Come my little Venus,

Can't you feel?

It's in all of us,

Like the light that will see you soon

Give up yourself,

And dive into the moon...