64 That Will Have To Do

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.

Sirius's pack consisted of eighty werewolves broken up into squadrons of twenty each commanded by a Beta. Only one squadron followed him into town while the rest stayed put to await further orders. It would be a bit conspicuous if they all moved together in town.

Once inside the bed-and-breakfast the wolves began sniffing around after paying off the owner. After a few minutes, a wolf named Kevin held up a small rectangular object for his boss to inspect.

"Sir! This device smells strongly of the faint scent we got from the hair tie!"

Ash picked up the phone and flipped it over. He recognized that rose-patterned phone case. "This is Ruby's," he said faintly.

He unlocked the phone—they had used the same passcode because she was the one who set his up—and saw the background was that dumb selfie he had sent her where he was holding up his braid.

Why would she choose that instead of using one of the factory settings? Did she think he looked funny or…did she care about him a fraction as much as he cared about her?

Ash's heart ached at the sight and he held the phone against his chest briefly before handing it off to Sirius. "The scent should be stronger on this. Show it to everyone."

He nodded and everyone headed back to the forest. As Sirius passed the phone around, as was left explaining the situation to everyone speaking as loudly as he could. Werewolves had exceptional senses of hearing and smell but there were a lot of them there and he didn't want anyone to miss anything.

"Listen up! We are looking for Ruby and Flora Gardner. Both of them are earth fairies but Ruby is likely to be wearing a human glamour with curly brown hair and blue eyes. Flora is a small child under the age of fifty with brown skin and vines for hair," Ash explained.

"We are up against sixty-four strong vampires, many of whom have extensive combat training. Their leader is named Dorian Cromwell but he is difficult to distinguish in a crowd of other vampires. He is the strongest of all so keep your guard up no matter who you're fighting.

"These enemies will not let you leave alive if they see you. Kill them or be killed yourself. They slaughtered my entire coven, not even sparing a seventeen-year-old infant. You have to kill every single one of them or they will come back to bite you.

"To kill them you have to destroy their cores, which are located in the smalls of their backs. You'll know you found it when you pull it out because it will be glowing red. Crush it into dust to get the job done.

"I know their castle is located in Washington State but do not have an exact location. That is where your tracking will come in. It will be hidden behind a blood barrier so we will have to stake out the area until we find one of their vampires to get in. Any questions?"

A chorus of no sirs filled the air and Sirius ordered everyone to run at top speed through the forests, not stopping until daybreak. They had an awful lot of ground to cover.