As she watched him go, she felt a little uneasy, and hoped that this J was as good at wards as Ash had said.
Jenny sat down heavily on the velvet padded love seat and stared at her friend. Audrey at least had the dignity to look ashamed as she wound a lock of hair around her finger. Jenny looked at the pendant of a black dahlia that hung on a silver chain around her friends neck, with the new knowledge of what it meant. Her friend was a witch. A witch! And even worse, she'd kept it from her all this time. After all they'd been through, Audrey hadn't trusted her to keep the secret.
"Jenny, you don't understand. If I had told you, someone would have found out. They'd have killed you. Me too. I couldn't tell you." Audrey looked sincere, and from what Jenny had heard of the Night World, she didn't doubt it. What a horrible thing to have to keep secret. And even worse to have to live with these Night People, especially the vampires. They sounded horrible, bloodthirsty, cruel...
"Why are you telling me now?" The thought had just come to Jenny and had immediately intruiged her.
Audrey bit her lip, but the Stayfast lip colour didn't budge onto her teeth. "Well... The witches aren't a part of the night world any longer. We and the 'shifters split from the vampires - most of us, anyway - so now I can talk about it." Audrey stopped, but it was obvious there was something she wasn't saying. Raising her eyebrows in a silent question, Jenny eventually got an answer. "Circle Daybreak got in touch with my parents, said that the Maiden had seen that someone in this house was crucial to the Millenium battle. They're sending people over to protect us."
Pursing her lips, Jenny ran over what Audrey had just told her in her head, looked over at Micheal, who just shrugged. He hadn't a clue, either. "Would you like to explain?" She asked, trying to keep an annoyed colour out of her voice. Their finals were in a month, and she had revision to be doing.
"Circle Daybreak are the good guys. The Maiden - Aradia is a witch, our age, who see's the future sometimes." All three of them turned to see the guy in the door frame, who smiled and gave a little wave. Jenny stared. It was hard not too. He was gorgeous. Ash-blond hair and eyes that were blue - or was that purple? She could swear his eyes were changing colour as she watched. Seeing that none of them recognised him, he introduced himself. "Ash Refern." Out of the corner of her eye, Jenny saw Audrey straighten a little bit and clench her fist. Ash held his hands up in self defense. "I'm one of the good guys, too. Thierry told you that, didn't he?"
Audrey's mother entered the room behind Ash, putting a hand on his arm. "It's true, Audrey. Mr. Descoudres told us all about Ash here." Jenny could have sworn Mrs. Myers, in complete contrast with her daughters reaction, was looking almost dotingly at him. "He's got a human soulmate." Audrey's expression softened, and she smiled lightly, her gaze shifting over to Michael for a moment. Jenny felt a tug at her heart as she watched, but forced the pain away. She could think about that, about Tommy later, when she didn't have all this to think about. Watching Ash, she looked away quickly. He was watching her with those strangely beautiful eyes. He really was too good looking. Reminded her of... another. One she'd rather not think of right now. "So, are you gonna introduce these people I'm protecting?"
"Oh, of course." Audrey seemed a lot more relaxed with Ash now, and Jenny wondered what had made her so uptight in the first place. She sighed. She'd been wondering about more things in the past hour than she usually did in a year. "This is my boyfriend, Michael, and this is Jenny." As she was watching him out of the corner of her eye, Jenny noticed Ash' eyebrows rise, and shock in his currently blue eyes. A shade of blue that shook her. It was just the colour of the sky at dawn. Waving the worries away mentally, she told herself this guy was _not_ Julian, Julian was dead. Though the thought didn't make her happy. If anything, it made her depressed. Forcing herself _not_ to think of him, for the second time in as many minutes, Ash gave an apologetic smile, and took his mobile out of his pocket.
"Of course, I'm not the only people here to guard you. Winnie, Lupe and Nillson are downstairs with a small army of Nillson's guards. And I think I need a backup witch. Mrs. Myers tells us that you never really practised protective or fighting aspects of your powers, and Winnie's a fighting witch. I'll call J, he'll whack a forcefield up that'll keep out a damn dragon. Not that they'll come. Probably."
Jenny paused, and decided to ignore that last. She didn't want to know. Audrey did stare at him for a moment though. Ash went out of the room, but left the door open, and Jenny couldn't help eavesdrop.
"J? Yeah, 'm okay. Uh, I kinda need your help. Yah, a mission." A pause. "Yeah, Lupe's here. With Nillson. Sorry, but I really need you. Aradia had a vision. No. Well, I dunno. Maybe. But." Another pause. "Thank you! Yeah, the big house at the end of Westchester Drive,
As she watched him go, she felt a little uneasy, and hoped that this J was as good at wards as Ash had said.