what else could be more important than finding Jez? He should be ecstatic that his cousin was alive and safe, shouldn't he?
"What's up?" I asked, taking a step closer to him, prying his fingers from my arms so that our joined hands could hang loosely between us.
"Nothing," he mumbled, not even bothering to hide the lie in his voice. A spark of worry ignited inside of me, that something had happened while he'd been gone. Maybe something
had gone wrong, something that had nothing to do with Jez. I looked him over, just as he'd done to me earlier, looking for any sign of injury. "You're not hurt are you? Do I need to
go fetch Thea or Gillian?" I asked in concern, despite not being able to find any obvious wounds.
"No, no," he said with a small laugh, amused by my worrying. "I'm not hurt, it's nothing," he said, absently swinging our joined hands in a pendulum motion. As his eyes lifted to mine, I could see that the stormy grey colour had fade into a rainy blue, telling me he was calmer but still unsettled.
"It's obviously not nothing, Ash," I said, my voice gently pleading with him to tell me what was wrong. I felt kind of hypocritical that I was demanding to know what was the matter
with him, when I was hiding away my own problems.
"It's fine," he said, nodding his head as if he'd just come to some kind of decision. "It's all going to be okay. I'll make sure of it," he said, more talking to himself than to me. "What
is?" I urged, desperate to find out what had made him so emotional.
Instead of replying, he pulled me back into a hug, burying his face into my hair. Even though I wanted answers, I needed his comfort more. So instead of arguing and demanding
that he tell me what was wrong, I rested my head against his chest, feeling the thrum of his heart through the soft cotton of his tshirt. That was what a heart should sound like,
like a bird beating its wings.
"I missed you," I said quietly, my voice muffled against his shirt. Instantly I realised how clingy that made me sound, missing him after less than a day. But still it was true. He was my partner in crime and I felt lost without him.
"I missed you too," he answered, placing a kiss against the skin of my forehead. Those lips felt so sweet and gentle brushing against my skin, so delicate and warm that I needed
them. I couldn't let them go, I needed to feel them for just a little longer.
Rising lightly up onto my tiptoes, I tilted my head up pressing my lips against his in a moment of utter bliss. He didn't need any encouraging as his mouth moved against mine in
perfect synchronicity, moulding us together. My eyes fluttered closed as I lost myself in the feel of him, every cell of my being yearning for him.
My hands twisted their way into his locks of ash blonde hair, my fingers intertwining with individual strands. My skin tingled where Ash cupped my neck with his hands, impossibly
gentle in his touch. Bursts of delightful warmth travelled up my neck from his contact, into my cheeks, which were undoubtedly flushed. Effortlessly, I guided his head closer to me,
closer than we already were, so that our bodies fit together, like they were made as two parts of a whole.
At my movement, he deepened the kiss, somehow making it even more passionate and wonderful, his soft lips hungry against my own.
I couldn't help the sigh of pleasure that slipped through my parted lips as his hands moved, feather light, down my shoulders to the small of my back, leaving trails of fire blazing
across my skin. Ash's new grip allowed him to press us even further together, bonfires burning hot where our bodies made contact.
The soulmate bond hummed between us, enclosing us in its warmth. I felt as if I was surrounded in a golden glow, filling me with life and happiness. As long as I was in this golden
bubble that no one could reach apart from Ash and me I was safe, and nothing could bring me down.
A cough burst the bubble we were in, drawing our attention back to the outside world. As soon as I realised we weren't alone, I jumped back in surprise, flaming red and short of
breath. Ash on the other hand, had no such reaction. He groaned as our lips parted, but only slightly loosened his hold on my waist, refusing to let me escape completely. There
was no objection on my part to standing this close to him.
"Am I interrupting something?" Rashel asked, smirking from her position in the doorway. Her emerald eyes glowed mischievously as she took in the scene before her. "No," I
hurried to say, at the same time Ash said, "Yes." We both glared at each other for our individual answers, him still sporting an expression of great satisfaction at my pink cheeks.
"Should I go?" Rashel asked, barely concealing the laughter behind her tone, as she tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear. "No," I said hurriedly, extracting myself from Ash's
hold, ignoring his pouty face as I did so.
"Was there anything you needed?" I asked, trying desperately to stabilise my breathing and pounding heartbeat. From Rashel's look of amusement, it was clear I wasn't doing a
very good job.
"Uh, no. I just heard that Ash was back and came to say hi. I didn't realise he'd already be engaged in other activities," she answered, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning
casually against the doorframe. "Hi," Ash spoke from behind me in an extremely cheery voice that told me he was far prouder of himself than he should be.
"Hi," Rashel returned, and was about to say something else when another head bobbed into veiw beside her. "So the great and marvellous Ash has returned," Quinn said as he
rested a long arm around Rashel's shoulders. She leaned into him as she spoke, her face breaking out into a smile that could only be achieved by being around one's soulmate.
"Yes, and he's been a busy, busy bee from what I just saw."
Quinn burst into laughter as he guessed Rashel's meaning, which wasn't hard considering the blood in my cheeks was only just starting to calm back down, and Ash was still
smirking like he'd just gotten away with something. "Wow, you don't take your time, do you mate?" Quinn said through the breaks in his laughter. "Not back a day, and already
you've started fornicating."
"We were not fornicating," I snapped hotly, to absolutely no effect. "And who even says fornicating anymore?" Ash added, although he looked a lot less outraged at the accusation
than I did. Shaking my head, I turned my back on the two immature boys to go and get myself a glass of water.
As I reached the sink, I saw what looked like an envelope sticking out of Ash's back pocket. Turning on the tap to fill my glass, I asked, "What's that?"
All heads in the room turned to face me, expressions of puzzlement and questioning staring at me. "What's what?" Ash asked, leaning his elbows back against the kitchen counter. I
nodded to his pocket where the envelope was poking out. "Did you drop by the post office while you were out?" I joked, taking a sip of water.
The blood drained from Ash's face as he placed a protective hand over the pearly white paper. "Uh, no, I uh. It was just something I picked up," he stammered, scratching his head
with his free hand and avoiding eye contact. God, when had Ash become such an awful liar?
I frowned at his reaction placing my glass down and taking a step closer to him. He automatically shoved the envelope deeper into his pocket, hiding it from the rest of us.
what is it? I asked, hoping that he'd give me some sort of answer if the others couldn't hear. His eyes flicked up to meet mine, swirling with an emotion that was a mix between
nervousness and fear.
It's nothing, he replied, his eyes begging me not to ask questions. I couldn't help but feel that this envelope was what had put him in such a frantic mood earlier, and was the reason
he was so panicked when he came in. Whatever was inside couldn't have been good. But still, I felt an insistent need to know what was inside, an itch to rip it open and see what<
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had scared Ash. I didn't want to see it just for my own curiosity either, though that was part of it, I knew that if Ash showed me the contents of the envelope, I could reassure him, make him feel better. I just had to know what was inside.
"Ash, you do realise you're not supposed to just pick up random letters off the street, right?" Quinn said with a forced lightness, no doubt hoping to ease the sudden tenseness that
had filled the room. It was obvious to everyone that Ash was hiding something.
Please, just tell me, I begged taking another step towards him until I was right in front of him; my hand rested on his shoulder as I looked into his eyes. Whatever it is you can tell me, I tried again my mental voice filled with sincerity. Whatever was in that envelope, he didn't have to carry it alone.
I don't want to worry you, his voice said, ringing through my head. It won't, I insisted, squeezing his shoulder. Maybe I should have taken a leaf from my own book. I wouldn't tell
Ash about the blood or the collapse for the exact same reason he'd just given me. Maybe we were both stronger than we gave each other credit for.
"Please," I whispered out loud. He closed his eyes tightly shut, trying to hide whatever emotion was hidden there. I knew it couldn't be easy for him to keep whatever it was from
me, so I knew it must be bad for him to have deemed the alternative worse.
He nodded his head, opening his eyes again. "You deserve to know," he said quietly, extracting the envelope from his pocket. As he held it out to me, I noted that the room was
now empty, and that Quinn and Rashel must have slipped out at some point, as silent as shadows. I was grateful that they'd taken the initiative to do so. I assumed Ash didn't want
whatever was in this envelope to be public knowledge.
I stared at the surface of it for a second, trying to imagine what might lie inside. Was it a letter to do with the apocalypse? Had the Night World already found the last wild power,
and this was a letter to gloat? I knew that anything to do with apocalypse would make Ash feel down, and he'd be worried about telling me due to my human status. But if that were
the case, surely Ash would've given the letter straight to Thierry.
The only way to find out was to open it and see. I reached out for it, gripping the corner tightly in my fingers. "It could be nothing," Ash said, not letting go of the envelope. The
tone of his voice made me think that he didn't believe a word of what he'd just said. But still, I nodded in acknowledgement to his statement, even if we both knew it was untrue.
Reluctantly, he let go of the envelope, giving me full control over it. It had already been opened so I could easily slip my fingers inside and pull out the contents. A pained look
crossed Ash's face as I took out a photograph and a note.
My eyes fixed on the photo first, pouring over the image, taking in every detail. The girl in it was quite obviously me, in fact I was pretty sure it was my yearbook photo, as I
recognised the generic smile that was expected of every student. My brown eyes had been scratched out with what I assumed was a pin of some sort. The scratches were too thin
to have been done with a knife, but a pin would be the perfect size. I also noticed that in the picture the ends of my hair were more flickey than I would have liked them to be, and
I felt a wave of embarrassment that everyone at school who had the yearbook would see my flickey hair.
Next I moved on to the note, which held only six words: Ready or not, here I come.
How original, I thought to myself. I'd seen that line used on many a horror film, although I had to deduct points on delivery in this case. On horror films the message would have
been written in blood on a mirror or a wall. This person really needed to up their game.
"Mare?" Ash asked carefully, as if afraid that I was a bomb that could go off at any wrong move. His eyes searched my own, trying to gather my reaction. His own eyes were filled
with worry, his brow furrowed in concern.
I neatly slotted both the note and the photograph back into the envelope, handing it back to him with a steady hand. Ash looked at it for a second in bewilderment before taking it
and sliding it back into his pocket. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something, to share my feelings.
In truth I didn't know what to say. The contents had clearly had more of an effect on Ash than they did on me, and he was probably waiting for me to burst into tears or start
screaming or something. I didn't feel like doing either of those things, because whilst the photo and message were obviously threats, I'd seen worse taped to lockers at high school.
I may never have been a victim to such bullying, but I'd known people who had, so I guess I didn't feel all that worried because I'd seen it all before.
Maybe if I'd been sent a severed head, or a dead kitten, or even a goat impaled with wooden stakes, I would have been more freaked out. But this, well, it seemed kind of amateur
after dealing with the likes of Jeremy Lovett.
"What?" I asked, as Ash continued to stare at me. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, before opening it yet again, making him look like a fish. It would have made me
laugh in any other circumstance. "Well, are you okay? Do you need a shoulder to cry on or anything? Because you can have mine if you want it," he said, still not lifting his gaze.
"Thanks, but I think I'm good for now," I said, noting how my voice lacked any emotion. His eyebrows lifted in surprise, a worried kind of surprise. "Really?" He asked doubtfully,
and I nodded to show him that I meant it. "Okay then," he said, warily. "Do you want to hug it out?" He asked, and I could tell that he was trying to encourage me to do something,
to release my fear, or anger or whatever. The only problem was that I had none. If anything, I felt kind of numb, like my brain hadn't made up its mind yet to what emotion it
should feel.
Every time I asked her how she was, she said she was fine. Every time I asked her how she was coping with the current situation, she said she was handling it. But I knew she
wasn't really handling it. She was ignoring it.
It had been almost three days since I'd shown MaryLynnette the note and the photograph, and in that time she barely said two words about it. I'd tried to bring it up numerous
times in conversation, but she'd always change the subject, shutting down any of my attempts to gage how she was feeling. To anyone else she seemed fine, lively, bubbly,
unfazed. But I knew her well enough to know that she wasn't as good as she pretended to be.
Straight away I'd noticed that Mare had begun looking over her shoulder every few minutes, as if expecting to see someone following her. She was more jumpy than usual, flinching
at loud noises, twitching at sudden movements. None of these things would have been noticeable to anyone who wasn't looking out for them, in fact everyone thought she was
getting along just fine at the Daybreak mansion. I knew she wasn't.
Her edginess wasn't what was concerning me though. After receiving a message that could only be received as a threat, her behaviour wasn't unusual in the slightest. The thing that made me worry was the fact that she was bottling all of her feelings up, pretending that there was nothing to be afraid of. Keeping all of those emotions locked up couldn't be
healthy, and I couldn't help but wish that she'd just scream or cry or lash out or just do something. Instead she was pulling off an entirely flawless act of being a normal girl,
relaxing in the living room giving everyone bright smiles that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"How's she doing?" I jumped slightly at the voice beside me, not realising someone had approached, even with my vampire senses. I turned my head slightly to see a shock of red
hair. "Okay, I guess," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
"Yeah, she looks it," Jez said, her eyes following MaryLyn
nette as she went to sit next to Jade. She looked safe enough talking to my sister surrounded by half of the Daybreaker
population, so I managed to tear my eyes off my soul mate for a minute to look at my cousin. "Then why do you ask?" I said, noticing how my voice sounded emotionless.
Now it was Jez's turn to shrug, her eyes flicking to mine for a brief second. "I don't know," she said, although something about her told me otherwise. I raised my eyebrows, hoping
she'd continue. "It's just she seems a little too okay, if you know what I mean?" I nodded my in answer as she continued. "I mean, I get that she's a strong girl and everything.
She'd have to be, living a life like this. But hell, even I'd be unnerved if I was given a picture with my eyes scratched out."
I took a deep breath and let out a sigh as Jez finished speaking, knowing that everything she said was true. It wasn't normal for someone to have next to no reaction to something
like this. Jez was one of the most hardcore people I knew but in the days after her capture I could see that even she was shaken up by this whole thing. Sure MaryLynnette hadn't
been kidnapped and stored in an old warehouse, but still, this couldn't be easy on her. And yet, she'd carried on like nothing had ever happened. At first I'd just thought she was in
shock, but now I realised she was in full on denial.
"Do you think I don't know that?" I asked, worry making my voice harsher than I'd intended it to be. A hard look from Jez told me that she didn't appreciate my tone, and I knew I
was lucky that I hadn't gotten a slap for it. "Sorry," I muttered. When I spoke again, I made sure to soften my tone, knowing that none of this was Jez's fault. "It's just that I can't
stand not knowing what's going on inside her head. She keeps telling me she's fine, but I just wish she'd tell me how she's really feeling." Frustration welled up inside me even as I
spoke. I understood why Mare felt as if she had to keep up a strong façade in front of the others, especially in front of Mark, she didn't want to appear weak. But why couldn't she
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