Chapter 6

Desperate Mesures

Lily woke up with a pounding in her head and an aching in her arms. She woke fully alert, something, her brothers had told her, all vampires did. She couldn't account for the aching head, but the reason her arms ached was that they were tied tightly behind her back. She flexed her muscles, trying to break the cord around her wrists to no avail.

"Nice to see you're awake Lily. You'll find you can't break the ropes tying you, it's bast cord," a voice said. Lily thought back to her lessons with her brothers and Jason's voice came to her.

"Vampires are impervious to metal, bullets, and everything else except wood, that's one thing the movies got right, that and fire. A stake through the heart will kill us, just as wooden handcuffs or bast cord would inhibit us," Jason had said.

She came back into reality as three people walked in front of her. She gasped as she saw Patty and Lane, Alder she wouldn't have expected anything different, but Patty and Lane were here friends.

"Let me go," she said.

"We can't be doing that, now can we? After all I still don't know just what you are," Lane's voice made her freeze. If he found out he would kill her, she wasn't supposed to exist.

"What do you mean?" She asked, hoping to throw him off.

"I mean for the past seventeen years you haven't exhibited one incling of being a vampire or even knowing the Night World exists, and suddenly you're showing up at the Black Iris and drinking blood. So I ask again, what are you Lily?"

"I'm a Lamia," she whispered.

Lane shook his head, his eyes were fierce as he watched her. "I've been watching you Lily, for seventeen years I've been watching you. It was my assignment from the Night World council to befriend you. While I was watching you I noticed something odd, everyone in your family were vampires but you and your brother, who had his own watcher. I thought for a while you were playing stupid, then I thought perhaps you were adopted. What I couldn't understand was why the council was watching an obviously human girl. What are you to merrit such notice?"

"Perhaps she's like that Wild Power that was found a few months back, half human," Alder said suddenly, a thoughtfulness to his face.

"You mean that's true? Verman can breed with vampires?" Patty asked, a look of horror across her face that matched Liliy's.

"Apparantly," Alder said, watching Lily closely. Lily glared at him, watching her reflection in his ice blue eyes. A thought entered her head as she watched him, and in that instant she knew that Alder knew who and what she was, his thoughts were open to her, his mind was bared.

"You bastard," she whispered. Alder smirked at her, picked up the wooden club and bashed her over the head. Lily blacked out again.

Shiloh, Jason, and Noah waited for Lily to get back. It had already been an hour since they left each other.

"Can you feel her anywhere?" Jason asked, pacing in front of the car.

"No, not anywhere. It's like she disappeared," Shiloh said.

"Or was knocked out," Noah said, making both his brothers stop and look at him.

"Who could have-" Jason started but was cut off by Shiloh's articulate cry of,

"Alder."

"Where would he be? How can we find him?" Noah asked.

Shiloh and Jason turned and looked at one another, there was only one way.

"Ash," they both said at the same time.

"Get in the car," Shiloh said.

They had been driving from one place to another all night looking for Ash. They started out at the Black Iris again where a witch told them she had last seen Ash on his way to his Aunt's house. When they reached there she sent them to, oddly enough, Alder's house. After finding out no one was home they had debated waiting there for Alder, but decided it would be a very long wait indeed if he did have Lily.

It was only when they gave up and decided to go home that they found him. He was sitting on their front porch waiting for them to get home.

"Ash, get in the car," Jason yelled as they pulled into the driveway. Ash brushed a lock of Ash blond hair out of his eyes before standing up and walking lazily over to the car. He opened the back door and hopped in next to Noah.

"Where have you guys been? Your mom was expecting you home hours ago, and didn't I hear her mention your sister, you know the one I was never allowed to meet?" Ash smirked lazily.

"That's why we need your help," Jason said, turning around in the front seat to look Ash in his ever changing eyes. They were yellow at the moment, but Jason knew they would turn black by the end of the tale. Jason spoke quickly as Shiloh drove away from their house, he couldn't go home until he had some news of his sister, any news.

"So you think it was Alder then?" Ash asked as Jason finished his story. Jason gave him a scathing look. "Alright it probably was, what can I do?"

"When we saw him he told us he was looking for you, we figure if anyone can get ahold of him it's you," Shiloh said.

"He's not looking for me to give me a hug or anything, he's looking for me to kill me," Ash said nonchalantly.

"Why?" Noah asked from beside Ash.

"Cause I fell in love with a human, kid, against Night World laws. Alder's been looking for me since it became semi-common news, I'm an outlaw."

"So it's true then? You found your-" Shiloh cut off, not wanting to say it, but he didn't have to.

"My soulmate," Ash finished for him.

"Thought that was just a rumor," Jason said.

"Well it's not, and you can see why I wouldn't want Alder to find me."

"But what if you were to just call his cell phone, he'd pick up wouldn't he?" Noah asked.

Ash shrugged, "possibly, unless he knows I know he wants me dead."

"Can't we try it? And if nothing else you won't have to go anywhere near Alder, we can take care of it if you tell him to meet you somewhere," Shiloh growled.

Ash looked from one brother to the next, noting the look in their eyes. If they found Alder they would most likely torture him until they had Lily's where abouts and then kill him.

"It's what he deserves," Noah said. Ash looked at the boy who had obviously read his mind even though he was blocking his thoughts. Marry Lennet entered his thoughts then, her lovely face, how much he missed her. He had promised her he would make up for his past, if not now then when.

Ash nodded, "I'll do it," he said as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed his cousins number. He had to help.

"Who is it?" Lily heard someone say. She was disoriented and had no idea what was going on as she woke up.

"Ash," she heard another voice say, she could hear his smile in his voice.

"Don't answer you fool, we're busy," a female voice said.

"I am hear under direct orders to find Ash, that takes charge over your little grudge," the smiling voice said and she heard the beep of him answering a phone. "Ash," he said, "it's good to hear from you, I didn't know you were in town." Silence pervaded for a minute before the voice laughed and began talking again. "Yes I think we can do that, but not tonight I have… plans. How about tomorrow? I'll see you there." A beep sounded again and she knew the phone was off.

"You're meeting him tomorrow? But we might need you," the female said, and suddenly everything became clear. She had been kidnapped by that vile creature that had been on the phone, Alder, and her friends Lane and Patty.

"I have orders to kill him and that's what I'm gonna do, got it?" Alder growled. She could feel the fear radiating off the other two in the room as Alder spoke, and something else, an animal smell, something feral. A smile came to her lips as she realized what it was.

"What are you smiling about?" Patty said, realizing she was awake.

"I just realized something," Lily said, the smile never leaving her face.

"What?" Lane asked.

"That's for me to know, and you not to," Lily smirked. Alder slapped her across the face, her smile never faltered. She didn't care, even wanted to be hit, her escape depended upon it; though not from Alder, or Lane, she needed Patty.

"Stupid bitch," Lane said. "You need to figure out what's good for you real fast."

"And you're going to tell me what's good for me, I suppose?"

"I know what's good for you Lily, and that's for you to do as we say."

"Possibly, but at the moment I think I'll just do what I want."

"You can't do anything you want, you're all tied up," Patty laughed.

"What are you gonna do with me?"

"That's for us to know, and you not to," Alder smirked, and they walked away.

A vision filled her head as they walked away, it was her dream of standing on the cliff while Patty and Lane laughed at her and pushed her off, only this time Alder was standing next to her bleeding, a stake piercing his side.

"I swear I don't know where they took her," vision Alder cried as the stake was driven further into his side by a tall, lanky, ash blond boy.

"I think you do," someone from behind the blond boy said. Lily saw Shiloh smiling visiously down at Alder. "And you're going to tell us." The stake was driven in further.

"The Bluffs," Alder screamed, his voice echoed around the basement where she suddenly found herself, her basement.

"Let's go Ash, my parents will take care of him," Shiloh said. Ash nodded and walked away.

Lily burst out laughing, making Patty, Lane, and Alder turn and stare at her. She didn't stop when they beat her, she didn't stop as they threatened her death, the only thing that made her stop was the wooden club they bashed her over the head with. It didn't matter though, she had what she needed, and she had seen their doom.

Hope you liked that, I couldn't get it out of my head until I wrote it. I must admit I love this story, All May be Lost I am writing for the fans, but this I am writing for myself. Please review and tell me what you thought, if your confused, ect. You know the drill by now I'm sure.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ash, Mary-Lennet, Redfern, Lamia, the Night World, Circle Daybreak, the Black Iris, dhalia, foxglove, rose, Theirry, the council or anything I may be forgetting in this disclaimer. I do own Lily, Alder, Lane, Patty, Shiloh, Kaleb, Jason, Josh, Noah, Tom and Kathy Ambrose…and anything else not in L J Smiths books.