64 That Will Have To Do (1/2)
He couldn't really blame her for that so off he went. He couldn't destroy the trees though because of how much Ruby loved them. She had told him all about redwoods as they worked in the gardens one day.
The way her eyes lit up when she talked about plants brought peace to his chaotic soul. It had from the very beginning though he hadn't realized it then.
Ruby invaded his heart slowly like a weed breaking through cracks in the sidewalk. She broke down his defenses slowly but surely until he was able to care about another fae again. He would do anything to see her again.
Ash lay on the ground and looked up at the towering trees above him trying to calm his frenzied mind. He had gone mad once before grieving for the loss of his kin but this was an entirely new kind of madness.
He lay there losing his mind for an indeterminate amount of time until the werewolves showed up. Blair led them out to where he was and looked down at him with a mixture of pity and fear in her eyes. She definitely thought he had gone insane.
He got up and brushed himself off, trying to reclaim his lost dignity. These mercenaries could not think he was crazy because they would not follow a crazy person on a suicide mission.
”Hello,” Ash said in an aloof tone. ”Thank you for coming. I require your assistance in tracking a fairy and breaking into a vampire coven on a rescue mission. None can be left alive. Are you up for it?”
The alpha, a burly man with a thick beard and a scar on his eyebrow eyed him dubiously. ”I'm up for anything but what about you, man? You look like death warmed over. Can you even fight?”
His jaw set. ”I'm going to have to. They took away everything that was precious to me and I cannot let that slide.”
The werewolf shrugged. ”If you say so. I'm Sirius, by the way. Blair said your name was Ash? It's a pleasure working with you.”
The two of them shook hands and got down to business. ”Do you have a last known location for the fairy?” Sirius asked.
”Yes!” Blair cut in. ”She was going to the bed-and-breakfast on Rochelle Road.”
”Then that's where we'll start. Do you have something that belongs to the fairy we're tracking on you?” he asked Ash.
On him? The only thing he could think of was the hair tie he had been using but that might smell more like vampire than earth fairy now. He held up the end of his braid. ”This hair tie is hers but I've been using it for nearly two weeks.”
Reluctantly, he took it off and pinched the end of the braid shut with one hand while Sirius held it out for everyone to sniff. Once he was done he handed it back and Ash retied it around the end of the braid.