Chapter 11

Mary-Lynette was scared senseless. She and Ash had simply been going to his house for dinner, and now she was being more or less held hostage by the Redferns' mother. Not to mention that one arm was throbbing with pain. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. They were building up just behind her lower eyelid. It was like a dam threatening to overflow. If something wasn't done soon to stop the water from building up, it would simply overflow and it may not be able to be stopped. When she heard Ash's voice in her head, she froze. She didn't want to let herself believe that Ash was talking to her through the soulmate link. If he was, that would mean that she was doing a horrible job of hiding her true emotions, and that he was worried enough to compromise his own safety, as well as that of his sisters. She couldn't let him do that. Despite this resolution, Mary-Lynette still found herself telling Ash that she was in need of help. Not her best decision, but it couldn't be helped.

Suddenly, the arms around her tightened, and Mary-Lynette was being dragged towards the living room. She was past fighting. By now, she had learned that it only ended with her getting hurt. The pressure being put on her arm by the woman's strong muscles caused it to throb painfully.

"Ash!" she managed to choke out before a hand was put over her mouth. It was tight enough that she was unable to move her jaw enough to bite or even lick the suffocating hand.

"Mary-Lynette!" Ash yelled back, following his mother and soulmate to the living room. "Hold on!"

Dahlia Redfern sat on the love seat, still holding Mary-Lynette tightly.

"Well children. This is your home. Feel free to sit," she remarked conceitedly as the four young vampires sat - the girls on the large couch and Ash on a matching chair.

"So Ash," she began again once they had taken their seats. "Don't think I didn't hear that little exchange earlier. Would you care to explain this little scoundrel to me?"

"As soon as you release her, I will be more than happy to explain," he retorted angrily.

"Oh, but look at us. We are fine sitting on this lovely couch of yours." Dahlia adjusted her position so that Mary-Lynette was seated beside her. However, her arm still remained over her shoulder so as to prevent her from escaping. Mary-Lynette could feel the lady's sharp nails digging into her shoulder. Thoughts of escaping gave her mind a wide berth.

"She comes over to sit with me first. At least you can grant me that. I'll make sure she doesn't escape." Ash said in his silky voice. For a moment, Mary-Lynette was almost frightened of her beloved soulmate. She had never heard so much hate in his voice. Not even when Jeremy had tried to kill him.

"Please mother?" he tried again.

After deliberating for what seemed like forever, Dahlia finally released Mary-Lynette, who ran to Ash as though she was being chased by some sort of bloodsucking monster. She was. She planned on keeping as much space between the frightening old hag and herself as she could. Ash embraced her when she reached him, but it didn't give her the same warmth and feeling of safety that it usually did. Something was amiss. Maybe it was the fact that her soulmate was steeled and unemotional.

He's trying to deny the fact that we're soulmates, she realized quickly. Deciding that it was wise to go along with the charade, Mary-Lynette positioned herself of Ash's lap, trying her best to look as though she was simply an easily-seduced teenager who was only there for one reason.

Dahlia was not buying it. She knew something was going on with her only son right from the moment he pulled up and began talking to the girl using telepathy. Only sensing one vampire, she correctly assumed that the girl was human.

"Ash? Who. Is. This. Girl." She made every word into its own sentence simply to make her point clear - not that it wasn't already. "She's no vampire, yet she clearly seems to know about us. Who is she? Why have you so carelessly blown your cover?" By the end, Dahlia was almost yelling at her children. Most of her wrath was focused on Ash. He tried to look as confident as he could with Mary-Lynette seated on his lap.

"Who said that we've blown our cover?" he asked innocently. "Mary-Lynette here is just a normal human being who's come for a good time." At the bit about having a good time, Ash's lips turned up into a smirk. If Mary-Lynette wasn't certain that Ash would never hurt her, she would have been terrified.

Still continuing on with their charade, Mary-Lynette attempted to pull away, realizing that it would cause her to appear more human. Human and frightened. Almost like she had been naive to the supposed danger until that point. Ash appropriately tightened his grip on her. To an onlooker, it would appear that he was restraining her; his strong fingers making her skin go white. Both were hoping feverishly that their story would be believed.

"Jade, dear," Dahlia began after observing Ash and Mary-Lynette. "Would you be so kind as to escort this - girl - to Ash's bedroom? She can be contained there until we are certain of what to do with her."

Jade got up and dejectedly took Mary-Lynette from her elder brother. His eyes were a dark silver. The look he gave her was filled to the brim with sorrow and pain. Jade tried her best to tell him it would be okay using only her eyes, but she didn't seem to be very good at it because his expression remained the same.

"Oh, and take Rowan and Kestrel with you too, please. I need to talk to your brother. Alone." The other two girls promptly got up and began following Jade and Mary-Lynette up to Ash's room. The three vampires had their heads bowed submissively. They were scared for their brother, but even more scared of their mother. Ash was strong. He would be able to withstand any sort of mental games which their mother played with him. Her wrath would have been worse had the girls chosen not to obey.

Mary-Lynette refused to leave her soulmate without putting up a fight. It took all three girls to get her up the stairs without hurting her. All the while, Mary-Lynette was trying to run down the stairs to Ash. She screamed his name out a couple times before she felt Rowan's hand clamp down over her mouth. She still kept struggling as they carried her up the stairs. Finally, one of Mary-Lynette's stray attempts at a kick found its mark. She hit Jade right behind the knee cap. Jade had been turned around for a second in order to sneak a glance at what was going on in the living room. Irritated at Mary-Lynette, the other girls dropped her, allowing her head to hit against the top stair with just enough force to knock her out.

When Mary-Lynette opened her eyes, she found herself looking at a fairly plain, nondescript room. She was lying on a cloud-like bed with a splitting headache. As she slowly sat up, holding her head, Rowan looked disapprovingly at her from a desk in the corner.

"What happened?" she asked, her head feeling murky.

Rowan sighed. "You decided to put up a fight. You're lucky you had some vampire blood in your system, or you'd have more than a headache right now."

"That still doesn't explain what happened." Mary-Lynette insisted.

"Well," Rowan sighed again out of annoyance. "Our mother wished to speak to Ash in private, so she asked us to escort you up here. You put up such a fuss that you were drawing too much attention to yourself, so we had to knock you out."

Mary-Lynette was in a state of disbelief. Rowan, calm level-headed Rowan, angry at her for not wanting to leave her soulmate alone with that - that - monster! Granted, it was their mother, but still! She could easily kill any one of them!

"Where's Ash then?" she asked in a panicky voice.

"Downstairs. He hasn't called us for help or anything yet, so he's fine. Don't worry." Leave it to Rowan to go from being mad to super calm.

Mary-Lynette simply nodded, fuming inside as the memories slowly came back to her of what had just happened. She remembered a young looking lady who spoke as though she had seen centuries pass by - perhaps she had. Ash had been pretending that he only meant to seduce Mary-Lynette.

What if it wasn't really an act? A little voice in her head nagged. Mary-Lynette did her best to quash the irritating voice, but she knew it was still there.

No, she told herself. Ash loves me. I know he does.

But he left you before. Gr. That stupid little voice was back! Ash was her soulmate. There was no way that he would have made everything up. He loved her. She just had to believe.

"Rowan," Mary-Lynette began after a few moments of silence. "What exactly was the purpose of us not telling your mom about us?" She knew Rowan would know what she meant without mentioning names in case her mother was listening below for names.

"If my mother knew about you two," she began seriously, "she would report us to the Night World Authority and we'd all be sentenced to death - all of us. That includes your family if she were to find out."

Mary-Lynette simply stared in shock as the reality of the situation sank in.

"Mare?" she heard a tiny voice from a corner. Jade. The only Redfern who called her Mare. She must have picked it up from Mark.

As Mary-Lynette turned her head to look at Jade and noticed Kestrel sitting beside her as well, looking extremely vexed. Mary-Lynette couldn't blame her. First her Mom had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, then her brother's soulmate decides to make a scene. Great. Just another reason for Kestrel to hate her.

A loud thud from below caused Mary-Lynette to snap out of her little world of thoughts. As she looked around at the other girls, Mary-Lynette could tell that something wasn't right. They seemed too worried. Her heart pounding against her breastbone, it took every ounce of strength not to call out to Ash through the soulmate link to be sure he was OK.

It's fine, she thought to herself. If Ash was hurt, I'd be able to feel it. Wouldn't I?

Unless he's purposely cutting you off because he doesn't care what happens to you. Dammit! That voice was back again! Why do you think you're up here while he's down there? He's either trying to get you killed, or get himself killed so he doesn't have to spend his life with a nerdy, ugly little thing like you!

Rowan started towards the door to go make sure everything was alright, asking Jade and Kestrel to watch Mary-Lynette, who seemed to slowly be going into hysterics for no apparent reason.

You know it's the truth! He told you so himself that night when you first kissed! He even said to you '"I've done everything I could to get rid of the feeling but it just won't go."'. You remember that night. As much as you want to believe otherwise, he meant what he said about wanting to not love you.

Mary-Lynette was struggling with the voice now. It was a fierce battle that only she could hear.

You know he doesn't love you. He left you, remember?

But he came back!

Only to dispose of you. Why do you think he waited so long?

It was only a year! He was killing me a dragon!

But that year alone almost killed you. Don't even try denying it. You seem to love him more than he loves you.

No! He loves me just as much!

Things have been different since he came back though. He's been more distant.

No…. No…. That's only because of my heart. He's just worried about me.

Worried about you? Perhaps in the sense that he now has to think of an excuse to not change you. Did you think his mother showing up here was a coincidence? I think not.

"NO!" Mary-Lynette finally screamed out loud at the voice. It couldn't be true, could it? Ash loved her. She knew that. But, what if the voice was right? It did seem to have some pretty good insight into the situation.

Not thinking straight, Mary-Lynette ran to the bedroom door, and opened with shaking hands, hoping Kestrel and Jade wouldn't try and chase her. If they did, she wouldn't stand a chance. She had to see Ash. To make sure that he loved her. That everything they had wasn't just a lie. As she dashed down the stairs, her vision suddenly went black and her chest seared. The anxiety of the situation was getting to her. The last thing she heard was her name being yelled from two different directions.

A/N: Hello again my wonderful readers! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know there's a lot of passing out/getting knocked out and such, but it all is key to the plot (or shall be eventually). I know it makes Mary-Lynette seem a little weak, but that's the point. Though normally she's strong and independent, her helplessness is important at this point in the story.

As always, please review. They make me smile like crazy and help me write things faster. :)

So, anyone have any ideas about that annoying little voice?

Special thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 10! You're all amazing!

Thanks for reading! And happy writing! :D