Ash gently lifted Mare into his arms and placed her on the bed, before finding the supplies he needed to bandage her deeply cut arms. He pulled her in close and gently stroked her drying hair.
"It'll be ok Mare, I'm here for you and always will."
------
It was late afternoon before the pair left the room, Mare ensuring her bandages were well covered, she didn't need any difficult questions yet. Walking with Mare's slim figure beside him Ash showed her around most of the large house before they collapsed on the couch together, early for the meeting.
"So who owns this place" she asked looking around the huge lounge they were in
"Thierry does, he's a vampire too, a very old one but you'd never guess and his soulmate is…"
"Me" a voice came from the open doorway "I'm Hannah and you must be Ash's Mary-Lynette"
She held out a delicate hand for Mare to shake before taking her place across the room. No longer after that others began to join them, filling it and all paired with a soulmate. Mare meet them all, Ash's cousin James with his soulmate Poppy, Thea and Eric she'd already meet. Then there was Quinn and Rashel, Morgead and Jez who was also a wildpower whatever that was she thought. Gillian and David, Keller and Galen, Maggie and Delos, Thierry and Thea's sister Blaise. Thierry stood from his position next to Hannah and began to speak.
"As most of you know there is someone out there killing off soulmate couples and sending all other couples in hiding, often separate from each other in hopes to save their other half. We have to stop this now before they can get too far and cause the soulmate principle to yet again be forgotten. Gillian I have you the information on Gisele's whereabouts so find and protect her at all costs. Rashel you will get Andrew it will be hard so take your team with you, and no Jez you are not going Morgead stay with her and keep her here! Ash I've found a lead on the person doing this and I want you to go check it out soon."
Ash looked up at his name his hand tightening around Mare's
"But…" he began in protest
"No Ash, I need you to do this" Thierry answered "I won't argue about it"
He walked towards Ash and dropped a file into his lap. Opening the file he saw a blurred photo of the young girl about his age, a blond sheet of hair streaked with red hung down her back. 'FERN BLACKWOOD' the name read beneath the picture.
"I can't" Ash simply said throwing the folder to the floor.
"You have to Ash, you're the best I have and she's the best they've got, that's why she's the one doing this. It two days I need you to go to your old club and search her out, my agents say she should be there."
"I can't not yet anyway" he replied towards Thierry fiercely. "I'm not leaving Mare now, I've only just got her back and this mission is dangerous. You don't know Fern the way I do, she's brutal, fierce and has a mean temper. Not only that though but she will KILL me."
"Ash?" a thin voice whispered terror drifting on the surface
He turned to look at Mare pleading eyes looking into his sincere ever-changing ones
"Back at the cove Fern was the eldest daughter to the next most powerful pure blood vampires. Her father killed her mother when she was little because evidently her mother found her real soulmate, a human. Her father remarried but her stepmother ran off once she got the child that she wanted, leaving to live a quiet life in a small city no one knew. Her stepmother and brother were never heard of again. Then when she was nearly eighteen her father was killed but her real mother's soulmate before Fern hunted and killed him. That's when I meet her. She came to my club and we got together, it lasted four months before I up and left her in the middle of the night. That's when I found you when I went looking for my sisters. She's never forgiven me for that and I heard she's hated me ever since and has been out for revenge."
Ash pulled Mare into his arms her cheeks stained with fresh tears. She'd got the picture, and it wasn't good, it was hurting her to know this.
"It was my past Mare" he whispered "then I found you and I love you more than life itself"
She nodded slowly, the tears still falling.
"Ash" Thierry interrupted "the council hired her to rid the Nightworld of soulmate couples. I need you to do this"
"I'm taking Mare then" he replied stubbornly
"Fine, but I want Blaise, Keller and Galen to go with you too. I'm not having this mission screwed up because you're not focused. Keller will protect Mare while the others are back up; she'll also keep an eye on you from the corner. Okay guys"
Everyone nodded before exiting the room. Ash pulled Mare tighter into his arms kissing her glistening tears away.
"This is gonna be a hard one" Keller whispered as her and Galen left to return to their home.