Disclaimer: Still nothing. Alas.

*Also, this chapter skips from point of view to point of view. Changes in character/scene will be in bold.*

"Well, then, if there aren't any more additions to our group, let's go collect some bodies." Delos started toward the door. He hadn't made it halfway through when it opened once more. Apparently whoever had been on the other side had been listening. When he stepped inside, no one knew what to say.

No one, that was, except for one person.

"You," Mary Lynette gasped, blinking with disbelief. She strode forward, pushing Gillian aside. "You can't be here. No. You can't be alive. You're supposed to be dead. Dead. I stabbed you. Twice."

"So sorry." Ash said. He shrugged, looking bored. "What can I say? I'm not good at fulfilling expectations. Now, anyone miss me?"

Poppy's P.O.V.

Ash had barely finished his sentence when Mary-Lynette sprung forward, her nails curving into claws. Ash only just managed to dive to the side, and Mary-Lynette took off a chunk of wall where his head used to be.

"What the…?" Rashel demanded. "Mary-Lynette, what are you doing?"

"Oh, that's not Mary-Lynette," Ash said, and his voice wasn't bored anymore. It was full of hate. Before Poppy could even process it, he had lunged at Mary-Lynette and was taking out a wickedly curved blade and he was slicing off—

Poppy's thought broke off in horror. Even with her newly coordinated vampire skills, she couldn't help but stumble backwards. James caught her before she fell and both of them watched, too numb to make a move, as Mary-Lynette let out a roar so loud, so inhuman that none of them knew what to do.

And then she sagged to the floor, and Ash was leaning against the wall again, tossing something hard and curved up and down in his hand. It was a long moment before anyone spoke.

"What just happened?" Thierry finally asked, carefully, less Ash spring at any of them.

"Easy. That thing is not Mary-Lynette." He brandished the thing in his hand, and Poppy realized that it was a horn. "It was a dragon. A weak one, too, I might add. And stupid. It wouldn't have even had a chance at me if I hadn't been—er, surprised—by its appearance."

If Poppy needed any more proof than the horn in Ash's hand, she had it. Mary-Lynette's form was shimmering now, dissolving into a massive, scaled, hideous thing. Ohmygod. She had hugged that thing! She wrapped her arms around James harder, and squeezed, trying to get the memory out of her mind.

"So, if that was a dragon, then…where is Mary-Lynette?" Poppy asked, purposely keeping her eyes off of the dragon, and trained on Ash.

Because of this, she had a perfect view of his eyes, and the way that suddenly all and any good temper, humor, nonchalance, and most of all, normality was suddenly sucked away. Now there was an intensity that shook Poppy to her core. She had never seen James's cousin so—focused. And even more strange was the feeling that he had simply been masking the emotion all along. That this was Ash's true self. She remembered the glittering way Ash had tried to flirt with her when she had first turned into a vampire, and when she compared him to the Ash of now, they were two completely different beings.

"Well, now," Ash said, taking in a deep breath. He tried to mask the sheer intensity of his eyes, but failed. "That's the question, isn't it?"

Hannah's POV:

"Mary-Lynette? Oh no, what happened to you?"

Hannah stared in horror as Ash's soulmate was pushed into her room by some minion, who just as quickly shut the door. She had never actually met Mary-Lynette, but when Hannah had met Ash at Thierry's mansion she was all Ash had ever talked about. He had even showed her a picture of her, and this classic beauty with the thick chestnut mane and the defiant blue eyes exactly matched the mark. Except, in the picture she didn't have a thick, bloody line down her chest, or a nasty red welt on her cheek. Or the dozen other cuts or scrapes, for that matter. Besides a few slaps and the initial scuffle, Hannah and Maggie had been pretty much left alone. Mary-Lynette, it appeared, had not.

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" Mary-Lynette asked, and even though she was positively dripping blood onto the floor, she didn't look panicked or scared, just curious and a little bit resigned.

"My name is Hannah. I know your soul—I know Ash." She finished, not knowing if Mary-Lynette would like Ash being referred to as her soulmate. Ash had said something about Mary-Lynette being angry at him. Personally, Hannah understood about having a soulmate with a sketchy pass (Thierry had killed her, after all) but she couldn't understand not forgiving your soulmate. To her, taking Thierry back had been the only choice.

"Oh. Hello." Mary-Lynette said, and her voice was cautious. Appraising.

"I'm Maggie. That's Phil." Maggie said, making a move as if to wave, but then remembering that her hands were bound, as were Phil's. After the dragon had made his ultimatum, he had ordered someone to tie him up as well. But…Mary-Lynette's weren't. And the dragon was nowhere in sight.

The first prickle of excitement begin to well up in Hannah, deep inside of her.

"M'lynn. Mary-Lynette. Please. Hurry. Untie us, before he comes back. Hurry."

Confused but willing, Mary-Lynette scurried over to Hannah and started tugging at the tightly knotted cords that bound her hands.

"They're tight, so try not to move." Mary-Lynette ordered. After nearly three minutes—three prolonged, fearful, nerve raking minutes—she let out a sound of triumph. "There. You're good."

Hannah raised her hands up, and cautiously felt the deep red welts there. She squeezed her fingers, and her wrists throbbed, but beyond that, she was OK. She turned to Phil; Mary-Lynette was already working on Maggie.

"When did you get here?" Hannah asked, as she worked.

"I don't know. I think two days, but it's hard to tell time, here. All I know is, one moment I'm at Harvard, trying to get my major in astronomy, and the next Ash is calling me, panicked, saying he's in trouble, and he can't explain, but will I meet him in some safe house? The next thing I know, someone's grabbed me from behind and is trying to stuff me into a car. Of course, I kicked him on the shin, but he had backup."

"But why?" Maggie blurted out. "Why you, I mean? Delos is my soulmate, and he's a wild power. So I understand kidnapping me, and Hannah is soulmated with one the most powerful vampires in existence…I think they kidnapped Phil because they knew at least one of us would try and help Poppy find him…but, well, why you? No offense or anything, but why go through all that trouble? Does Ash have some huge secret he's hiding, or something?"

"Well, Ash, no…I don't think." Mary-Lynette said, and Hannah instinctively turned to face her. Something about her tone made her think she was hiding something. "Not Ash. But, well…"

"What is it? Do you know something?" Hannah asked. "Something important?"

Taking a deep breath, Mary-Lynette turned toward her.

"Yes. Yes, I do." She said. "They've been trying to get it out of me for hours."

"What is it?"

"Not here." Mary-Lynette said. "Let's get these two free, get out of here, and then I'll tell you."

Hannah nodded, turning back to Phil. She was finally starting to get the knot free. Four more tugs, now. Three. Two more.

And—

The door slammed open.

Hannah dropped Phil's rope, and gaped upwards, her insides plunging with despair. They had been so close. So close.

It was the same auburn haired man who had given them water—the one who had reminded her of Jez, with his odd ringed eyes, no matter that his were green and hers were like a handful of mist. But that was impossible, of course, because nobody related to Jez would be working for a dragon. The man was holding a length of rope—he had been sent to secure Mary-Lynette, obviously.

"I—we were just, that is," Phil stammered, trying to be the face of logic for them, seeing as the rest of them had no idea what to say. Er, sorry, we're just trying to escape here…will only be a minute. "Um, seeing if…"

The man looked backwards, seeing if anyone was in the hallway, and then back at them, bewildered and confused and, Hannah realized, conflicted. Very, very conflicted. He wasn't sure what to do.

"Please." She said in a fierce whisper. She leapt to her feet, and strode closer to him, until he was backed up against the wall.

She looked up into his eyes, and they really were so similar to Jez's. So ridiculously similar. Hannah took a gamble.

"Please. If you care about Jez. If you care about her and her friends. Please."

Something wild sparked in his eyes at the mention of Jez, and Hannah knew that she had been correct in her assumption. This man was somehow related to Jez. The man was breathing deeply now, his chest going up and down so fast that Hannah was worried that he was having a break down. And then he reached into his jeans pocket. When his hand came out it held a wooden dagger. Before Hannah could ask what he was doing, the man plunged the dagger into his own stomach.

He crumpled to the floor, wheezing in pain, but holding in his screams. "Someone didn't check you well enough; this was in your shoe. Mary-Lynette retrieved it when she came in. I was taken by surprise."

"Thank you." Hannah said, her eyes wet. "Thank you so much."

All the man said was, "Tell Jez I'm sorry. There was no other way."

"Come on, Hannah." Maggie said, yanking her by the hand, just as Mary-Lynette finished Phil's ropes.

Hannah nodded.

They crept out of the room, and down the hallways. Hannah fervently hoped that the man would be okay. That the dragon would believe his story. Because if not, he had just committed suicide. The halls were incredibly creepy. All dark and shadowy, when the feeling that someone would jump out of the corner at any second. Hannah gripped Maggie's hand, and her friend squeezed back, a show of support on both side.

"There!" Hannah said, pointing to a pool of light. Trying not to scream with excitement, the four of them reached the door. Hannah was the one to try the knob.

Please don't be locked. Please don't be locked. Please don't be locked.

And miracles of all miracles, it wasn't. She pulled open the door and they flooded out into the streaming sun. All was going to be okay!

And then the door opened again. Hannah didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"Going somewhere?" A chilling voice whispered in her ear.

Jez's POV:

They had only just reached the address Sarah had given them when they saw a door open. Maggie, Hannah, a boy who had to be Poppy's brother, and—(as Ash's gasp would have her think)—Mary-Lynette all crept out the door. Delos was behind her, and she was almost knocked aside as he lunged forward, his mouth prepared to scream Maggie's name.

Snake-fast, she grabbed him by the collar, watching as Rashel did the same to Thierry, and as Keller grabbed Poppy with one hand and Ash with the other. Jez shared a look with Rashel and Keller, who both had the same instinct as she.

"Wait." She whispered in Delos's ear.

Sure enough, before a second had passed, the door had opened, and a tall, dark haired man (one with four little horns on the top of his head) had stalked outside, and bent down to whisper in Hannah and Maggie's ear.

Delos lunged forward once more, and it took all her strength to hold him in place.

"Wait." She hissed, more fierce this time. "Wait until he turns. Then we attack. All of us."

"Three." Rashel said.

"Two." Keller said.

That was when a dozen henchmen burst out from the building, looking around—for them. Someone had tipped them off. Jez cursed. Suddenly things had just gotten a lot worse. But there was no time to dwell on that, because there was no turning back now. This was full out war. And no matter what happened, there was going to be trouble. She turned to Morgead. Kissed him once, too quickly for him to do anything but exhale.

"I love you." She whispered, only for his ears.

Then she looked up.

"One." She said.

It was time.

Thank you so much for your kind reviews! I really enjoy reading them :D

Also, prepare yourselves, because there hasn't been many blows, yet, but what's a battle without a couple deaths? And not everyone's going to survive.

To see if your favorite soulmates make it, please keep reading! Thank you, all!