Chapter 9

It was growing dark as Ash left the house with his soulmate. The meeting with the Carters had taken a long time. Thought Mr. Carter was appalled at the idea that vampires existed, he eventually agreed to allow Ash to exchange Mary-Lynette. Ash was secretly thankful that they didn't tell him about the rest of the Night World – werewolves, shape-shifters, and witches. Now that would have been hard to swallow. For now, just having him know about vamps was enough.

"Do you wanna go grab a bite to eat?" he asked Mary-Lynette. "I'm starving."

"Sure," she consented, just happy to be away from her family's stares. They had been looking at her oddly since the exchange, as if they were expecting her to suddenly become savage and try to attack them.

"How about we head back to my place? I can make sure my sisters don't come home for a bit, and I can cook for you…" he trailed off into silence as he helped Mary-Lynette into the car.

Sure. Sounds great, Mary-Lynette told him silently as he sat in the driver's seat of the black car. It feels like we haven't really spent much time together – or any time together - since you got back.

I agree completely.

They sat in companionable silence until they pulled up at the Redfern home.

Wait here, Ash instructed as he opened the car door. He walked around the front end of the car, opening Mary-Lynette's door as only a true gentleman could, offering his hand to assist her out.

"May I escort you to dinner, madam?" he asked in a false English accent.

"You may," she replied in an equally false accent, taking his hand.

Ash put Mary-Lynette's hand on his through his arm, and they promenaded up the path to the front porch, continuing their eighteenth century façade. However, their entertainment was cut short as they opened the front door and stepped inside. A sarcastic-sounding voice came drifted through the dark from the shadows at the end of the hallway.

"Why Ash, it's so nice of you to finally drop in."

Rowan and Kestrel were driving around trying to think of something to do. Ash had asked them to give him some time with Mary-Lynette, and they were happy to oblige. Jade had opted to star for dinner with Mark and his family, so the two elder girls were left to find a way to entertain themselves.

Um, Rowan, Kestral, the two sisters suddenly heard in their minds. We kind of have a visitor. Go get Jade and come home. DON'T BRING MARK OR TELL HIM ANYTHING! The voice of their brother yelled quickly.

Rowan promptly turned the car around, speeding back to the Carter household to retrieve Jade. As they pulled up at the front of the house, Jade was already waiting for them. As she slammed the car door, Rowan stomped on the gas pedal, and the car shot forwards at an alarming rate. They made it to the old house in record time, bursting through the front door to find their brother in a defensive position, one arm holding Mary-Lynette safely behind his back. As the girls stepped forward to join their brother, their "visitor" stepped out from the shadows.

All three girls gasped as their recently widowed mother, Dahlia Redfern, stepping into view.

A/N: Sorry it took me a while to update and that its short (but it's sweet!). I was on a short "road trip" I guess you could call it, and found some paper and a pencil to write down this chapter. Managed to type it up in record time though! I hope you enjoy this, I'm still trying to figure out how to do this whole mother thing... Thinking I may have a good idea though. We'll see. As always, leave a review with any comments, criticism, suggestions, questions, errors that I have, anything; they're extremely inspiring! Happy Reading! (Also, if you haven't already, go see Harry Potter! It's AMAZING!)

Special thanks to:

Take Me To My Fragile Dreams: Thanks so much! I can't wait to write that part either! And no problem: working on some writing and will hopefully keep updating as frequently as possible! By the way, I love your pen name :)

kinanbon x3: Once again, thankyou. :) Your reviews always put a smile on my face! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully you liked this one too