Chapter Three

Isabella opened her eyes, blinking rapidly to clear away sleep and gain focus.

She sat up suddenly, the quick movement belied by the sensation that she was dredging her body through heavy water. She groaned, her head throbbing, the urge to fall back onto the couch and sleep almost irresistible.

Then she remembered. Everything. In a sudden panic, she looked around for Jacob, terrified that she had let him down and allowed the two intruders to harm him. She spotted him the length of an enormous stone room away, his tall figure standing beside a fireplace that threw him into a myriad of golden lights and dark shadows. She sighed, relieved that he seemed as healthy as ever.

Jacob felt something slither warmly up the back of his neck and into his mind. The sensation of relief was so strong he could have easily mistaken it for his own, except there was something softer about it than he was capable of. He turned his head and saw her sitting up, looking at him.

He was less shocked this time that she had shaken off another attempt at putting her to sleep, but it still impacted him, especially knowing Noah had been behind this last effort. Jacob slipped his hands into his pockets, closing them tightly. He began to walk toward her, knowing he had to face her having hurt her, regret dragging at his heart with harsh sorrow. His steps never faltered, though. He was ashamed, but he was strong enough to admit when he had erred and to face the consequences.

Isabella watched him approach, his powerful, catlike grace emanating purpose. She felt her heart leap, remembering how he had touched her, the command of his embrace and the drugging sensuality of his kisses. She recalled how shockingly easy it had been for him to hold her body in thrall, how his masculine hands had felt running the curves of her figure, and the skill of elegant fingers that had demanded a blueprint of her.

Jacob came to a halt, still half the room away from her but inexplicably besieged by her thoughts as she remembered what he had done to her. Her vivid memory cast image after image into him, everything down to sensation and scent, so real in the remembering that it was as if he held her that very instant. His entire body rippled hard in response, his pulse pounding in his throat as she recollected that primitive, aroused feel of him.

Jacob was not a telepath or an empath, so how he was receiving her thoughts was lost on him. What was more, he sensed she was equally close to his mind, making it a profoundly intimate exchange. He should have been disconcerted by that idea, but something else had caught his attention instead.

He discovered no fear in her memories. Even as she wondered at her own abandon, thought about how out of character it all had been, there was no trepidation or regret. In fact, she was frighteningly accepting. Actually, she was curious, intrigued, and entertaining thoughts of what it would be like to be touched by him again, to kiss and taste his mouth. Jacob shuddered, his entire being tuning in to that siren call of her thoughts and body.

"Jacob."

His name was used as a warning, and it dragged him out of Isabella's enchantment of him, bringing his attention around to the three who had entered the room. Isabella looked also, recognizing the two males as the invaders of Jacob's house. She lurched to her feet, bristling defensively as she moved to place herself between them and Jacob.

The newest stranger was a woman. Isabella felt positive that she had never seen anyone so beautiful in all of her life. She was quite tall, wickedly long-legged, and had coffee-colored hair curling down in a beautiful cascade the entire length of her body. The white togalike gown she wore was light and flowing, except where it was bound snug beneath and between her breasts in a crisscrossed pattern with thick bands of intricate brocade. This flattered her flawless, tanned complexion and enhanced the green-gray color of her eyes. She held herself with a serene poise that reminded Isabella of a goddess, but the compassionate smile that warmed her refined features made her seem far more approachable than any of the men. She stood out like an angel amongst brooding devils.

"On behalf of my brother and myself, I welcome you to our home, Isabella," she said, her voice captivating with its exotic accent and sophisticated modulation. "Do not be afraid," the goddess continued, "no one here will harm you or allow you to be harmed. My name is Magdelegna. My friends call my Legna, and you may also if you wish."

"Where am I? Who are all you people?" Then, more strongly, her voice full of warning, "Why did you attack Jacob?"

The three other Demons watched with interest as the tiny human woman took yet another protective step back toward Jacob. The idea of such a fragile creature defending the Enforcer made their mouths twitch with amusement.

"It was not so much an attack against Jacob as it was an act of protecting you. When Elijah came upon you, he feared Jacob would unwittingly hurt you," Legna explained.

"Well," Isabella snorted, thrusting her fists onto her hips and jutting out her chin in irritation, "I'd call that presumptive, wouldn't you? He was just …" She realized exactly how they'd been caught and promptly blushed to the roots of her hair. "I mean …" She stamped her foot in frustration as they began to let their grins spread over their faces. She even heard Jacob chuckle softly behind her. "Well, what should it matter to any of you what we were doing?" she demanded belligerently.

"It does matter. It will matter to you as well once you know everything."

Isabella was instantly washed with dread and a heart-fluttering panic. A hundred things rushed through her head as she tried to fit a logical explanation to their disquiet. She latched on to the most likely. "You're married!" she declared, whirling around to confront Jacob.

"No. I am not married," he countered, his dark eyes radiating no humor at this point "Isabella, do you not find anything the least bit odd about how, exactly, I was attacked?"

The prompt made her hesitate. She remembered the wind, the vortex of power that had thrown them both about like dried leaves instead of human beings. She recollected the one called Noah stepping up to her one moment, and the next she was waking up here. She recalled being caught by Jacob after a five-story fall and fighting a horrible creature he claimed had once been a friend.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" she demanded. She actually wasn't afraid. She had been born with an insatiable need for information that overrode any fear she might have felt about being caught up in these peculiarities. She was realizing that she had been completely ignoring some very odd occurrences and, if she'd had one of those huge cartoon mallets right then, she ought to be bonking herself on the head with it and saying "duh!"

"First, we wish you to remember that you are in no danger from us," the one called Noah said, his smoky voice reaching out to reassure her.

"Hey, I broke Arnold Schwarzenegger's nose over there, don't forget. I'm not afraid of any of you." Isabella indicated Elijah with a jerk of her head. Elijah's face colored with embarrassment. She smiled inwardly. At least she had the blond's number. Besides, she was very certain that although he was maintaining a distance, Jacob wouldn't let a single one of them touch her.

"Isabella," Legna said, still gentle, still reassuring. "Though we may look a lot like you and others of your species, we are different."

"Species? What are you, like, aliens or something?"

"No, we are indigenous to Earth," Jacob said.

Isabella turned at the sound of his voice, suddenly feeling that whatever she was about to hear, she wanted to hear from him. "Then please explain. I'm not an idiot and I won't freak out like some serial heroine. Stop coddling me and just give me some answers."

"Very well." Jacob stepped closer to her, wishing he could be touching her as he told her what he knew was going to be nearly impossible for her, with her human convictions, to comprehend. The impulse frustrated him because it came even when he was consciously trying to control it "Human folklore is full of myths and legends about creatures that walk the night. You call them monsters. To us, they are just other species. To us they exist, just as we exist, alongside the human race. The Nightwalkers. The Dark Cultures. We who live best during the dark cycles of the Earth."

Isabella tilted her head, seemingly taking in that bit of knowledge. He could feel her rapid thoughts as she tried to fit certain pieces of information together, discarded them, and then began anew. She was so intelligent, so sharp, and he marveled at the working of her practical mind.

"So, what are you telling me? That you guys are vampires?" The idea gave all-new implications to the encounter she'd had with Jacob, making her shiver with a feeling she blushingly refused to identify. It could explain why the others thought she would be in danger from him. Then again, weren't these people a little too perfectly tanned to be keeping out of the sun?

"No. We are not those, though they do exist," Legna said.

"They do? You're pulling my leg!" Isabella snorted with disbelieving humor.

"There is much more in the universe than can be known to man."

"Yes, but blood-sucking, undead monsters?"

Jacob chuckled softly, stepping up to her and reaching to touch gentle fingers to her face, the pads at the tips of them so clearly reverent as they glided over the soft curve of her cheek.

"Vampires take offense to those descriptions. Outside of some special abilities, weaknesses, and the need for blood, most Vampires are not too unlike anyone else you might know. You might know one or two and not even realize it."

"Oookay! Next you'll be telling me there is an Easter Bunny and werewolves!" Isabella exclaimed.

"Well, I cannot vouch for the Easter Bunny, but Lycanthropes are definitely to be found, though not always as wolves."

Isabella stared at Jacob as if he had sprouted canines and fur himself. "So," she murmured numbly, "if you aren't any of those things, then what are you saying that you are?"

"I will tell you, Isabella, "Jacob said softly, his fingers stroking her cheek once more, soothing her frayed nerves, "but remember, just because a word has terrible implications in your mythos does not mean that is really the way it is."

"Just tell me," she whispered, her large eyes pleading with him.

"We are called Demons. We are a race of elementals, immortal and gifted with nature-oriented powers. We are a highly civilized species with a strict code of honor, morals, and beliefs. We desire to peacefully coexist with your species, to protect our human friends from whatever baser sides there are to our natures. That was why Elijah drove me away from you, Bella. It is forbidden for a Demon to harm a human and, therefore, it is taboo for a Demon to … to try and mate with a human. It has always been that way."

"But …" Isabella shook her head, trying to clear it of a rush of implications and confusions. "Is that what that thing was in the warehouse? One of you? A … Demon?"

"Yes and no. Demons, for the most part, look as you see us now. We behave as civilized as you see us behaving now, the exception being occasional moments of primitive behavior which we try to monitor very closely. Saul, the creature you destroyed, was a perverted, corrupted Demon. It takes a very specific set of circumstances for that extreme transformation to happen, and it has not happened in over a century. Until tonight."

"What's more," Legna spoke up, drawing Isabella's attention, "tonight has been the first time that we know of that a human has been able to kill one of our kind. Attempted, yes. Succeeded, never."

"Also, on this night of firsts," Noah added, "is the first time Jacob, one of the most controlled and disciplined among us, has ever lost control with a human female. You may not see it, but that has a tremendous significance to us."

"Believe me, it was tremendously significant to me as well," she said dryly. "So you mean to tell me that you all can't be killed? Is that what you mean by immortal? Because if that's the case, that was one pretty dead immortal in that warehouse."

"We can be killed. By one another, by other powerful Nightwalkers, and … magic-users," Noah edited gingerly. "Immortal means that we are long lived, many of us centuries old."

"Centuries?" Isabella swallowed visibly. "How many centuries?" she asked Jacob.

"A little over six."

"Six hundred years?" Isabella found herself suppressing another one of those hysterical giggles she was prone to since meeting Jacob. "Talk about your older man. Oh, wait, you aren't even a man." Isabella's eyes grew huge as the implications of that particular realization hit her. "What … um … what would have happened if … I mean … if … uh … you know …"

This time everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably.

"Actually, we do not really know," Noah said. "It has never happened before. At least, not with uncorrupted Demons. The Transformed … well, there have been tragic instances where women and men have been found …"

"Torn apart," Jacob said bluntly. He had seen the stark reality of this. They were vicious and brutal fatalities. This was what compelled his vigilance and drove him to make no mistakes. His failures simply took too expensive a toll.

"However," Legna continued quickly, her compassionate eyes on Jacob's face, "we have always felt that such a mating would be too much for a human to survive, even with an uncorrupted Demon."

Isabella could believe that. Jacob's primal dominance had been consuming. She didn't want to think about what would have happened if Elijah and Noah had not shown up when they had. It was clear by the expression on Jacob's face that he was having a similar thought.

"I never wanted to hurt you. You must believe me, Bella," he said quietly.

"Jacob is telling you the truth. Something happens to our people at this time of year that makes our instinctive urge to mate very difficult to control," Noah explained. "We police ourselves strictly, but sometimes it gets the better of us."

"Wait. Wait a minute." Isabella threw up staying hands, shaking her head as everything she was learning tumbled around inside of it "This is a very imaginative story, but how am I supposed to believe any of it? I mean … you all look so normal. Disgustingly good-looking, but normal."

Jacob felt his lips twitch. This woman constantly made him want to laugh out loud. At himself, at their habitual solemnity, at everything he felt he had been taking far too seriously for far too long. Instead, he reached down and took both of her little hands in his, enjoying the way she curled her fingertips between his fingers, trusting him regardless of all she had learned.

"Do not be afraid," he murmured.

Isabella opened her mouth to ask him why she should be afraid, but a sudden sensation of lightness washed over her and took her breath away. She watched his strange eyes as her feet lifted effortlessly from the floor, her body following his lead as he drew them up into the air together. She threw her arms around his neck, her heart pounding with disquiet and adrenaline as they went higher. He felt her entire body tremble, like the quick flicks of a cat's tail.

"Destiny has made me of the Earth, Bella," he whispered softly in her ear. "I can manipulate gravity, communicate with all living things, and move tectonic plates against one another if I so choose. I can grow a seed to maturity with a thought and cause it to wither and die with another. I am able to feel the life forces of every living thing born of the Earth. I can hunt anything that travels the paths of this world with all the heightened senses of the most accomplished predators. I am Nature, and She is me."

Isabella exhaled a soft "Oh," watching now as they climbed higher away from the others who watched them, until they reached the rafters. It wasn't until she was looking down on everything that she realized they must be in a castle. It was the only thing they could be in that would match the walls, floors, and ceilings of the enormous room they were in.

After a moment, Jacob slowly lowered them back to the marble flooring, holding her protectively against himself as their bodies grew weighty once more. She saw worry in his eyes and his urge to be her protector. Even more, she felt it. She realized that she was developing an attunement with Jacob's emotions and thoughts. She didn't know how it was happening, but how could she ask that in the face of the fact that she had just flown around the room in his arms?

As she tested this newfound ability, she felt something telling her that his desire for her was merely curbed and controlled, not gone as she had begun to suspect. For some reason it gave her a sense of relief. Reckless though it might be, there was a very powerful part of her that did not want to be just a passing primal urge to him.

She stepped out of the circle of his arms and looked at Elijah.

"The wind?" she asked.

"Destiny has chosen me for the Wind," he said in resonant tones as he swept out his hands in a showman's gesture, even while he winked at her. "Atmospheres, temperature, air, these are mine to beckon." And he did, sweeping a breeze through the room just strong enough to make Legna's gown ruffle. Suddenly, without even a flash of light or warning, Elijah's form dissipated into thin air, becoming the air. His voice swirled all around her as he playfully lifted her hair up from her shoulders, drawing it into a banner that fluttered high above her head, making her laugh. "The weather sways to my will, the tempests and pressures of it mine to manipulate. I can infuse a place with life-giving oxygen or remove it completely. The Wind is the breath of life, and She breathes through me."

"Elijah," Jacob snapped out, a dark glare of disapproval tinged by a perceptible gravitational shift meant to add to his warning. He didn't like Elijah playing with her, and he was making it very clear.

"Destiny has chosen Fire for me," Noah injected as Elijah's form faded back in and the breeze died down, shifting focus back to the disclosures. The way they spoke, with such pride and reverence—Isabella was thrilled by the energy of it. She gasped when Noah's powerful body turned hazy and then swirled into a column of smoke. He lingered in this form for a moment before becoming solid once more. "I am the lava that pulses deep in the Earth's core, the conflagration that bums away the old so that the new might be born in its wake. I am that which boils and seethes and is volatile and explosive. I am the warmth of the sun, the manipulator of all energies. Fire burns in me and for me, and She is all that I am."

"Fire and Earth Demons are among the rarest of our breed, the most powerful of our kind," Jacob said. "Noah is King. Our leader."

"But fire cannot live without air," Elijah remarked, an impudent gleam in his green eyes.

"Air cannot be purified without the Earth," Jacob countered.

"Gentlemen, please." Legna spoke up, sighing in exasperation. "Shall Bella and I leave the room so you can measure each other on the tabletop?"

Isabella laughed outrageously. Legna had dared to say such a thing to these men of phenomenal power! Then it occurred to her that males of the species might not be the only ones with abilities of such magnitude.

"What about you, Legna?"

"Destiny gifted me with the Mind," she admitted quietly. "I am illusion, that which is created and real only in the Mind. I am the embodiment of empathy, logic and reason, impulse and desire. I desire to be somewhere, and there I will appear." She gave an example of that by exploding into a cloud of smoke heavily scented with sulfur. A second explosion brought her reappearance behind a gasping Bella. Unable to help herself, Isabella laughed and applauded the feat. "I am seduction, charisma, and pacification," Magdelegna finished. "These are the true powers of the Mind, and She shares them with me."

"Wait a minute, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Mind? What happened to Water?"

"Not in this room, but I shall call for a Water Demon if you desire," Noah offered graciously.

"So that means there are five different kinds of Demons? One for each element? Although the Mind element is new to me."

"Actually"—Jacob smiled kindly—"it is true, humans only believe there are four elements. Currently we have six. Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Mind, and Body."

"Currently?"

"You never know what the future holds. Mind Demons only appeared about four hundred years ago. It is evolutionary."

"I see." She glanced at Legna, her brow knitting in thought.

"You are curious about something?" Legna prompted.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but it seems like they can come into a room and blast things away, but what you have is more … benign?"

"Female Demons are very different than their male counterparts. Our abilities tend toward, shall we say, the more insidious nature of our elements. Those parts of all elements that have potent effect but are not noticed outright until it is too late. For instance, a female Fire Demon. She can manipulate temperature to a small degree when held in comparison to a male like Noah, but temperament is where her true Fire is found. Fire burns in all of us, in our rages, our passions, our jealousies, and so forth. Imagine the ability to manipulate such things. Passion alone has changed the face of the world."

"Luckily, we only have three Fire Demons in existence," Elijah joked, elbowing Noah in the ribs in amusement.

"One of which is Noah and Legna's sister, Hannah," Jacob explained sotto voce.

"Also," Legna continued, clearly warmed to her topic, "there are shared abilities, ones that cross not only sexes but elements as well. For instance, Elijah can become the fog, a weather condition, but so can a Water Demon, because that is what fog is. Both male and female Mind Demons can teleport, but only males are telepaths and only females are empaths."

"I get it."

And she did. Somehow, it all made sense. To have such power at one's fingertips, she thought, was a daunting prospect. It had the potential to corrupt so absolutely, as the saying went. Yet not this proud, self-censuring race. There was comfort for her in that, because she needed something to counteract the unnerving understanding that things like werewolves and vampires were actually real. She also saw very clearly why they kept themselves a secret from her race. If humans ever found a means to entrap Demons, they could be used and perverted in the extreme.

That was when the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"What happened to Saul? You said he was Transformed. How? You were hunting him," she added, turning to look at Jacob. ‘That's why you asked me if I had seen anything. And when we found him, that bluish light … the other man … tell me, Jacob. What happened?"

"He was captured. We call it Summoning. There are certain humans, known to us as necromancers, who long ago learned a secret method of Summoning a Demon, entrapping him, and bringing his powers under their domination for a period of time." Jacob's jaw tightened grimly. "With every command the magic-user makes, a transformation begins, advances, and eventually, a Demon becomes what you saw—a mindless creature without control or a sense of right and wrong. It is our worst nightmare."

"Oh my God." Isabella brought a hand to her mouth, her eyes expressing her horror. "You mean that could happen to any of you?"

They all nodded in grim unison and Isabella felt her stomach turn over in protest. These beautiful creatures? Their grace, vigor, and determined sense of right and wrong, destroyed? Perverted into one of those drooling, mindless gargoyles?

"Why are you telling me this? Aren't you afraid I'll somehow endanger you? Why do you trust me? I mean, for heaven's sake, I've killed one of you. Oh!" She gasped in horror. "I didn't mean to! I swear!" Tears leapt into her large violet eyes and Jacob could not resist the urge to enfold her in his arms. He drew her to his chest, cradling her head in one large hand, soothing her with soft sounds as she shuddered in revulsion.

Noah was fascinated by Jacob's tender gestures with her. These were not the actions of a Demon bent solely on an act of lust. The more he watched, the more the Demon King saw that something was connecting Jacob to the little human, something he couldn't quite fathom yet. "Isabella," Noah addressed her, "we look on what you did as an act of mercy. Saul was far beyond our help. If you did not destroy him, Jacob would have been forced to."

"It would have been worse for Saul to survive as a monster, harming anyone of any race he came across," Legna pointed out gently. "Isabella, if you had evil intent, if you meant to harm any of us, I would know. I would feel it in your emotions. As it is, all I feel is honesty and remarkable courage."

"We are telling you all of this because it is our belief that you are somehow a part of our future." My future. Jacob fought the urge to personalize it "You displayed some uncanny abilities last night, Bella. I believe that Destiny chose to cross our paths, even to the point of throwing you out of the window." She laughed shakily at that as he rubbed warm hands gently over her shoulders and arms and explained himself. "Being creatures of the elements, we believe in Destiny and all things inevitable. The change of the tide, the altering face of the Earth, life and death. These are natural destinies. Individuals have special destinies, things we will do that Destiny has designed for us to do. You have joined our destiny for a reason, and we wish to find out what it is."

"Why?" she asked, her voice hitching sensitively in the query as she tried valiantly to push back her tears. "I mean, so far all I have done to your people is kill one, beat the tar out of another, and drive you to—" She broke off, flushing. "Why the hell would you want anything to do with me after all that?"

"I wouldn't say you beat the tar out of anyone," Elijah spoke up, his chin jutting out belligerently.

The comment compelled Isabella to laugh through her tears. She cast a sideways look at Legna T see some things are a constant between the males of both our races."

Legna chuckled and nodded in response. Elijah grumbled under his breath.

"So what do we do now? I mean, how do we find out how I fit into the whole destiny thing?"

"History inevitably repeats itself, becoming the template for the future," Noah said. "Perhaps I am wrong when I say no human has ever killed a Demon before. Researching history may shed some light on this unique situation. Since it has been a century since we last saw a necromancer, we ought to reexamine the components of a Summoning and the recorded details of a transformation. Perhaps it will lend us a clue as to why at the same time as these magics are renewed, so did you appear. We will go to our library. It is quite vast and contains a complete history of our people."

Isabella's head came up sharply, her eyes gleaming with sudden avarice.

"Did you say library?"

It was a few days later when Isabella climbed the stairs from the library slowly, leaving the cool, dry environment and rubbing at the ache in the lee of her shoulders. Sunlight was pouring in through the windows set high in the stone walls of the enormous hall she found herself in as soon as she stepped out of the door leading to the underground vault of books.

Her surroundings were eerily quiet, bereft of activity and life. She wasn't wearing a watch, but she suspected it was close to ten or eleven in the morning. It was so strange to be in full daylight in a castle that was reputed to be the center of a culture, and yet there was not even a hint of activity. Her breaths seemed to echo in the rafters of Noah's home. Stone loomed all around, and while there were pieces of fine furniture in the Great Hall, everything was very simplistic in its way. It was the sparseness in so much space that gave the feeling of stepping back in time. That and the fact that there was no electricity. However, the important stuff was compensated for in one way or another. There was gas lighting, fairly modern facilities, and every amenity she could think of—except a phone.

The library itself was a database, most of it sectioned into its own fascinating logic of reference. The system was impressive, as was the sheer antiquity of the recorded data itself. The Demons were dedicated historians, and there were thousands and thousands of books and scrolls for every century, every era. Noah, she had discovered, was a scholar like herself. He was unspeakably proud of his library, eager to share it with someone new who appreciated its value as much as he did. The labyrinth of books, shelves, tables, and cases stretched beneath the entire foundation of the enormous castle—beyond that, even, Noah had confessed to her. There were vaults that continued on at all four compass points. These, he had told her, held the very oldest and most delicate works. There were things in those vaults, the King had told her, that even the longest-lived Demons had never seen or heard of. The library, he promised, was so vast that it would take far more than even a Demon lifetime to ever know everything it held. In the present, Demon scholars were recording as faithfully as their predecessors had done before them. The world was growing by leaps and bounds, and they were scrambling to keep up with it.

But the King, the scholars, and all other Demons were in their beds. The business of their lives hung suspended until the shadows of dusk began to fall. Isabella looked up and around herself. There were windows everywhere and the Great Hall was full of light, except none of it was plain. Every inch of glass was stained. The pictures were breathtaking, an artistry like nothing Isabella had seen before, depictions of everything from mythology to a clever reproduction of Monet's Water Lilies. The effect was light, but in brilliant rainfalls of color.

Isabella stood in the center of the room, splashed with a kaleidoscope of warm daylight. From what she had been told, and what she had even more recently read, this was what made daylight most bearable for Demons. The direct onslaught of the sun acted like a fast-acting narcotic. Unconsciousness would come with overwhelming speed to the unprotected Demon who found himself caught out in pure daylight. Even these sprays of muted color were so powerful in effect that a Demon could do little more than curl up for a contented sleep within it. The sun, Noah had told her, did not harm them as it did most other Nightwalker species. It made them vulnerable to harm. It was nearly impossible to resist the pull to sleep, making it difficult for all but the most powerful Demons to master any semblance of function during the cycle of the sun. Isabella was pleased the sun did not actually cause harm to Demons. At least they could see the sunrise, provided they had that level of power. From her understanding, most other Nightwalker breeds would burn to a crisp if they even thought about attempting it.

Isabella suddenly sensed she was no longer alone. Jacob watched as she turned her head quickly, her fall of hair fanning out like a black, fringed shawl for a moment before settling with a silken swish against her back and shoulders. She moved her body into the turn as well, the flexible lean of her figure all curves and shapeliness, her back and waist arching as she tried to find him. He felt the throb of his own pulse, deep down the center of his body, the innate response just from watching her move.

She was a mimic, he was realizing. She picked up scents wherever she went and either made them a part of herself or became in sync with them. Mixing with her own clean scent was the odor of books and dust from the library and the soft aroma of ash from the fireplace that remained always burning in Noah's Great Hall. She smelled enticingly of home and wisdom, earth and familiarity, and an innocence of sensuality that was deeply tantalizing. It was, he realized, the essence of nature that she wore. These were Earth's trademarks, and to Jacob, a Demon of Earth, it was ambrosia. It tugged at him, beckoning, whispering of how very much it suited him, until every fine hair on his body was stirring with electric interest.

Jacob stepped out of the shadows of one corner of the Great Hall, his long, lean body filling the vast hall with its quiet but commanding presence. Isabella nervously rubbed her hands along the denim on her thighs, erasing the sudden moisture that coated them at the simple sight of him. Her heart doubled in beat, lurching against her ribs as if it were frustrated to be imprisoned away from him. Even knowing all that she knew, even though he himself had warned her she should have a healthy fear of him, her body practically sang for him when he entered the room. Everything about him beckoned her interest. His assured and authoritative aura was a palpable thing, his dark clothes wrapping around his fit body with sexy sophistication and telling tales about the physique they concealed. He wore expensive slacks, the material a brushed silk that matched his shirt in quality and color. The black dress shirt was worn in a relaxed manner, the first couple of buttons undone beneath his tanned throat, the cuffed sleeves rolled halfway up his fit forearms, exposing the dark dusting of hair on them. No watch or adornment of any kind, the simple silver buckle to his slim leather belt the only hint of decoration. He stood a room away, his legs braced apart as if he were rooted to that place in the marble floor, but still she felt his energy and his warmth. It was as if he stood at her back, close enough to exchange body heat, his head bowing so his breath stirred her hair.

Isabella shivered and licked her suddenly parched lips, unaware that his keen hunter's eyesight became riveted on the action. "I need to speak with my sister," she said after what felt like ages of silence. "I know Noah sent a male Mind Demon back to New York to ‘implant' her with the impression that I would be gone for several days so she wouldn't wonder where I disappeared to, but I want to talk to her on the phone just the same."

"There is no phone here," he replied.

Then he was moving toward her, his ground-eating stride like the stalking of a grand jaguar, graceful and calculated and a rippling symphony of muscle. It made the large room seem suddenly very small. His dark eyes were restless for the whole of the journey, moving quickly and succinctly, yet all of this rapt observation remained focused forward, limited only to the space in which she stood. When she realized that those black, bottomless eyes were fixated on her and her alone, when she could feel the rough, possessive urges behind them that he was struggling to hold in check, her heart insisted on pounding hard enough to burst her rib cage. She was practically panting for breath by the time he reached her.

Jacob stood toe-to-toe with her, disregarding all sense of personal space. He reached out, hesitating briefly as he searched her eyes. Satisfied with whatever it was he saw, he brought his fingertips to the rise of her cheek. She could feel them vibrating with his intensity. He caressed her, drifting like her own hair against her, shaping her face with a soft reverence that made her throat ache with response.

"I will take you to a phone. You can even go home if you like. I do not want you to feel that we expect you to neglect your life."

The sentiment was in earnest, Jacob reflected, but it was followed quickly by the sensation that he should not allow her out of his sight. He could not understand this grasping need he had to keep her close, especially when he was so aware of how dangerous it could be. He was obsessed with the craving to touch her, even if it was just this simple caress he was indulging in now, the tracing and learning of her lovely pixie features. It made him feel sublimely grounded, a singular relief after the oppressive tension that he suffered whenever he was kept too far away from her.

He watched her constantly, day and night, even while the sun dragged at him and demanded his obedience in sleep. He was exhausted, yet here he was again, midday, sitting in the shadows above the library just so his senses could feel her movement below his feet and listen to the soft litany of her mind as she studied and reasoned out the information she was absorbing.

" We will take you to a phone, Isabella/

Legna, who seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, delivered the correction. Isabella felt Jacob bristle instantly, a sensation of prickling discomfort skipping down the nape of her neck as she absorbed it from him. He took a slow, decided step back from her, giving her room to breathe, but somehow her breath seemed to strangle in her chest at the separation. She shook her head and glanced from one to the other. Legna's countenance was as serene as always, though it was very obvious that she had been disturbed from her day's rest. Jacob's features, however, were a dark storm of energy and emotion. His forehead creased with frown lines and his brown-black eyes radiated something bordering on hostility. Isabella's entire chest tingled with the rush of it, his prickling emotions popping like fireworks in her brain.

"Thank you, but I am sure I can manage on my own," Isabella insisted, her feelings tom between her upset that Legna had been disturbed from her rest and that Jacob was just plain disturbed. All she wanted was for everyone to be calm and to go about their normal routines.

"Isabella." Legna spoke again in that soft, compelling voice of a diplomat, which Bella had discovered was Legna's role in her brother's court "Though we do not wish to curb your freedom, Noah has expressed great concern at the thought of you leaving our circle of protection. Please consider, knowing all that you do now, the dangers that might present themselves to you. Until we know the nature of your significance to us, and ours to you, we would feel much safer if you were to remain here or remain protected by allowing for a Demon escort when you travel."

"Legna …" Jacob warned, the threat in his voice coming through with sheer masculine authority. "We have no right to ask such a thing of her."

"Actually," Isabella spoke up, cutting off the female Demon's retort, "I wasn't planning on leaving. I just wanted to talk to my sister, touch base, say hi. You know, boring stuff like that. It's a pretty mundane task and certainly not worth all this concern. Honestly," she said, looking down at her dust-covered hands and rubbing them together, "you'll have a pretty hard time getting me out of that library of yours. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. So complex, so …" She looked at Jacob, meeting his eyes even though their intensity so overwhelmed her. "Your culture is fascinating. I can't even begin to fathom how far back these records go. The dedication it must have taken to build that archive is incomprehensible. You couldn't drag me away if you tried."

Isabella took her eyes away from the compelling depth of the black gaze he had fixed on her so raptly. She was a conundrum to him, and she knew it. She could sense that his reaction to her mere presence was an overriding confusion and a moral storm within him. She felt the urge to retreat back to the library, to place herself at a safe distance from him. Not that she was afraid of him—actually, to be honest, her surprising lack of fear in the face of such fearful prospects was what disturbed her. She was not using discretion in her thoughts or the impulsive reactions of her physiology when he was near. Like all things, wisdom came with experience. She had nothing to draw on for guidance when it came to the way she felt around Jacob.

"You do not owe us so much of your time, Bella," Jacob said, extracting her from the circle of her thoughts. "In fact, we are the ones who owe you. Why do you make our trouble your own so willingly?"

"You said it yourself," she replied quietly, not even realizing that her feet were taking her toward him, closing the gap between them of their own volition. "I'm somehow a part of all this. Somehow my destiny has become linked with yours."

Legna might as well have not been there for all they were aware of her in that moment The King's sister was overcome by a sensation of connection, an electric joining between the two of them that was blatant as well as ignorant of the forbidden borders it toyed with. As an empath, Legna was a conduit for the sexual and emotional tension in the room. She was flushed with it, her skin misting with warmth. These were permissible feelings, in spite of the fact that they were the most intoxicating collection of desires she had ever felt as an empath.

Noah had made her duty clear. She was to monitor the Enforcer. At the slightest hint of uncontrolled behavior, she was to summon the King with all due haste. But she sensed no threat, no rampant moon-fed lust. She had felt it in the past in men and women brought to face Noah by Jacob's hand of justice. It was a wild, ferocious thing. It clawed away at common sense and respect, shredding away even the smallest thought of consideration or control. Control was the key here. The Enforcer's emotions surged like a wild, dark tide within him, yet there was still control. Jacob practically vibrated with it, clearly using every resource he owned to manage his impulses and desires. She would not call out to Noah until she felt the first crack in that formidable mental fortress. Jacob was a proud creature. If she called for interference without cause, he would be hurt and embarrassed, and she could not bear the idea of causing him that pain.

"Believe me," Isabella was saying softly to the Enforcer, who was paying rapt attention to her every word and movement, "I want to know the answers to these questions much as any of you do. I can feel …" She hesitated, and Jacob watched as she clutched a small fist over her breastbone. ‘There is something inside of me. I can't explain it, but it's not all me. I mean, it's not familiar to me. It's as if something alien has sprung to life inside of me and this … this new life comes with a seeking sensation that overwhelms even my voracious curiosity. Can't you feel that?"

"I can feel that," Jacob responded sympathetically. His soulful black eyes brushed down Isabella's small body, lingering on the way back up to her gaze. "I can feel your hunger to know. It effervesces in my brain like sparkling water. Though I did not know you before this, I know there are new places in your mind that were not there before, coming alive."

Legna felt her heart slam still with shock. Jacob was Earth. Only a Demon of Mind could read such thoughts, feel such finely tuned empathy. Jacob's knowledge was far too personal … too intimate. It was also more than what Legna herself could sense. It seemed as though with every progressive hour, it was harder and harder for her to sense from Isabella. She was becoming like a blank place. Jacob should have no empathic abilities whatsoever, except perhaps with his prey during a hunt, yet it was clear that the Earth Demon knew more about the workings of Bella's mind than she did.

Jacob's lashes lowered slowly as he took an obvious deep breath through his nose, the slight movement of his head and the concentration in his expression telling that he was analyzing the sense he was using. It was such a basic, animalistic thing to do, so clearly predatory and aggressive.

"And senses." Jacob and Isabella spoke together, their voices pitched together perfectly. "Everything is so much more than it was before."

The recital rattled Magdelegna to her very core. She had never seen anything like this before. Her senses were awash with emotionally charged information, forcing her to recoil and draw up her hardest defenses. Legna's knee-jerk response to this was to call for Noah with all of her mental capabilities.

Isabella was so startled by the flash of bursting flames so close to her that she nearly fell over. Jacob reached out instinctively to steady her, but his broad wrist was caught in an iron grasp before he could touch her. Jacob jerked, his eyes slicing across Noah's reach with vicious irritation until he met the King's implacable gaze.

"Do not touch her, Jacob."

"Let go of me," the Enforcer commanded, his low voice full of volumes of outrage and threat.

"I know you would not intend to harm her, Enforcer, but we both know that intentions will be for naught the moment you touch her. She has proven to be a dangerous hire. Do not torture yourself further with her nearness."

Isabella flushed at the Demon King's high-handed behavior and his insulting references to her. "Uh, excuse me? I resent being treated like Typhoid Mary!"

Noah ignored her, his full attention on Jacob. The King had evidently been rousted from his bed on abrupt notice, his black hair tousled with sleep, causing the reddish highlights within to stand out in the sunlight He was matched with Jacob in height, but it was clear by the muscles laced tightly over the whole of his broad body that he had weight and basic physical strength over the Enforcer. Isabella could see this very clearly because he wore nothing but a pair of gray shorts made of a soft cotton material that was far too revealing.

The unexpected awareness made Isabella jerk her eyes to neutral territory, and red splotches burned over her face and chest. Jacob felt the reaction sparkle across his skin like fire, felt her embarrassment and its causes like a splash of acid in his brain.

Noah heard the low predatory sound rumble up from Jacob like a fast-rising storm. The King instinctively braced himself, knowing he might be forced to deal with Jacob at his moon-fed worst. He made the mistake of thinking Jacob was going to attack him.

Jacob used his breathtaking speed to spin past the other male, breaking Noah's hold on him at the same time he was snatching Isabella up from the floor and sweeping her a good ten feet from the other male. He swung her around to his back, placing himself between her and her line of sight to the Demon King.

Noah's fists clenched, his body rippling in preparation as he turned to face his wild friend. Jacob greeted his clearly visible aggression with another territorial snarl. Isabella's heart was pounding with fear and dismay. She knew what had set Jacob off. She could feel it radiating through their shared psyche. Possession, protection … and outrage. Around all of this was wrapped a sheer animalistic territoriality. Jacob was of the Earth, of nature and all of her creatures. Isabella realized then that there was no separating that from him, no matter how civilized and intelligent a man he became. With morals and instinct combining, Jacob saw Noah as an insult and a threat to his feelings of possession for her.

Stuffed back away from Noah as she was, Isabella could only find one other person to appeal to. She looked to Legna, her wide violet eyes begging the female Demon to do something, praying that the empath would understand what was happening. Legna's gray-misted eyes, such a perfect duplicate of her elder brother's, were averted. Because the room was filled with so much volatility, she had barricaded her mind against the storm around her. Yet the moment Isabella broadcasted her need, her desperation of emotion, the empath looked up at her quickly.

Why can't you feel Jacob? Why can't you understand what is happening? Isabella wondered desperately. Was she misinformed about the beautiful diplomat's power? She was so new to this; perhaps her concept of their power was mostly imagination.

This thought was easily discarded when a billow of heat radiated off Noah, the burst hitting them like a suffocating desert wind. The Demon King's fist uncurled, opening with an outward flicker of fingers, and a ball of fire erupted into his palm.

"Legna, get your charge to safety," the Demon King commanded, his smoky voice rough and reeking of his threatening power.

There was an awesome rumbling sound and Isabella felt the earth shudder beneath her feet. She reached out to grab Jacob's shirt, clutching it for balance even as the protective arm he held behind himself tightened to draw her closer.

"Noah, wait!"

The cry came from Legna, who braved the intense heat surrounding her antagonistic brother and grabbed the arm that he had loaded with fiery ammunition. Noah's first reaction was to reabsorb the fireball so he would not bum her.

"Oh, thank God," Isabella uttered on a low, relieved sigh. She buried her face into Jacob's back as she continued to cling to him for support.

"Legna!" Noah castigated his sister with a rough growl of temper.

"Noah, it is not what you think. Stop!" She pulled harder when he tried to shake her off. Legna was well aware of how difficult it was to draw her brother back from confrontation and anger once something lit the match. It was the essence of Fire, and it wasn't his fault. She felt his justification, felt his turbulent upset that he was being forced to face down a friend. He was angry. Angry at the Hallowed moon, which he thought was brutalizing Jacob, brutalizing all of his people and beating their honorable spirits down into shame and low beastly behavior. "Noah, listen to me," the empath said, her voice pitching low and soft, the tone musical and sweet. Isabella felt a change go through Jacob, minor but detectable. The low rumble of sound that had been boiling up from his throat quieted to just an occasional crackle of warning. "Jacob is not maddened by the moon," she continued, that velvet softness of words flowing over both tense men and Isabella. "Hear me, my beloved brother. I feel what he feels. I know. Trust me to know."

"Jacob would never threaten me if he were sane," the King argued, but he had finally looked away from his target, meeting his youngest sister's imploring gaze.

"Unless," she replied softly, "you did something he felt threatened Isabella. Noah, you must remember that there is something that connects them, something that draws them to each other."

"That accursed moon is the cause," Noah bit out.

"An amplification. It is true, and we all know it. The Hallowed moon amplifies everything we feel. In Jacob's heart, in the very core of his being, he is a protector of innocents. Usually human innocents. That is what he will always do first and foremost. Even against you. Also, this is his greatest fear, that he would have to battle you one day for the sake of an innocent." Legna reached out to smooth a loving hand through her brother's hair as she continued to murmur soothingly to him. "Combine these, and the smallest perceived offense becomes like stepping into a Vampire's territory without invitation." The comparison made the Demon King lift his brows in understanding. The burn of battle faded from his jade eyes and he flicked a less aggressive gaze in Jacob's direction.

Magdelegna stepped around Noah and moved in between the two powerful men fearlessly. ‘Jacob," she said, again her voice pitched like honey, reaching to calm the inadvertently triggered beast within Jacob. "No one will harm Isabella. We would never do that. We could never do that when you are her protector."

"You cannot keep me away from her."

Isabella drew in a sudden breath when he spoke. It was the first civilized thing he had done in what seemed like ages, even though his voice was rough and devoid of all civility.

"We will not. Not unless you are going to truly harm her, as you know we are bound to do."

Isabella peeked around Jacob's tightly flexed biceps so she could see his expression. His tanned features were still drawn and dark, still aggressive, but there was reason entering his glistening black eyes. She felt his mind and emotions settling further down under Legna's subtle power to coax and soothe. Isabella suddenly realized that Demon females did indeed have power that was not to be underestimated. Legna could potentially be a very dangerous woman.

"I will never harm her. I will lay down my life before I will allow myself"—his eyes glanced acidly at Noah—"or anyone else to cause Bella hurt."

"When did I cause her hurt?" Noah protested with indignation. "I never even looked at her."

"But she looked at you."

Isabella gasped and ducked back behind Jacob's back. She winced hard as her face blossomed with mortifying heat. She buried her face against his back and prayed for a sudden sinkhole to open beneath her.

Comprehension dawned on Noah's face like a brilliant sunrise. He opened his mouth to speak but was too flabbergasted to form the words. Isabella could hear the step of his bare feet on stone as he came up to Jacob. Jacob was forced to take a step forward for balance because she was trying so hard to bury herself in his spine.

"I see," Noah said at last, "that this is my fault after all. Isabella, you will forgive me, but you are the first human ever to be an extended guest in my home, and I was not thinking of common courtesies."

"I never meant for this to become such a big deal," she muttered.

"I will be more careful in the future. I hope you can forgive Jacob and me for our aggressions. We … we are … There is a great deal of responsibility and control that must come with powers of such potential volatility as the males of my people are created with. But in the end, we are still elemental beings. I made the mistake of underestimating the true sense of guardianship Jacob felt where you are concerned."

Noah exchanged a silent, intense look with Jacob that went further than that politely explained apology. Jacob had deemed Isabella his property, a female under his protection and possession. When the King had inadvertently embarrassed Isabella by his lack of proper clothing, it had made Jacob aware that she had been looking at him, another powerful male, and that had been absolutely unacceptable to Jacob in his unsteady state of mind. The Fire Demon had mistaken the following aggression as an attack on Bella, an attempt to kidnap her from their censured protection.

However, to be honest, Noah had no idea how to explain this peculiar connection the Enforcer seemed to have with the little human female. The entire situation was very disconcerting.

The Enforcer had not yet overcome his initial impulses to spirit Isabella away from Noah's presence. It was important to their relationship that he gave Jacob the opportunity to regain control of himself with dignity. He knew Jacob well enough to know how he must be smarting already in the wake of having had Elijah whip him back into line. Now there was this misunderstanding on top of that No one could be harder on the Enforcer than he was on himself, and Noah was trusting that it was that part of Jacob that would regain control.

"Excuse me while I get dressed," Noah said politely. He glanced at his sister, knowing that she would not be afraid to be alone with them. Removing his presence was probably the best thing for him to do just then, though he would return quickly. He knew Legna understood that she was expected to gently extract Isabella from Jacob's embrace in order to help ease the tumultuous emotions her nearness intensified. If Noah dared try such a thing, he'd likely lose a limb.

The King swirled into a sudden cloud of smoke. The cloud moved toward the stairs and the upper rooms in the north wing of the castle.

Legna had already chosen an approach.

"Bella," she said, automatically using the nickname Jacob had given her, "how do you like the clothing I loaned you?"

Bella moved as far to one side of Jacob as the clamp of his hand on her hip and arm across her body would allow, so she could see the other woman.

"It's very comfortable," she said. "You must have had to hem everything a great deal."

"Nonsense," Legna brushed off the detail. "Clothing is easy to replace and I was glad to help." Her eyes sparkled with warm teasing. "Besides, if we let you run around naked there would have been vine swinging, chest beating, and maybe even some marking of territory." Legna wrinkled her nose and gave a little shudder.

"That's quite enough of that, Magdelegna."

Absolutely 100 percent Jacob filled that smart reprimand. It made Isabella's heart leap happily, the flood of relieved emotion washing out of her until Jacob chuckled softly. He exhaled a long, decompressing sigh, closing his eyes briefly as all irrational impulses eased with Noah's departure. What it left was a smarting conscience and sheen of regret as he recalled his primitive behavior. He looked at little Bella, her dark head tilted so she could see past his arm to talk with Legna. He worried what she must think of him by now. Her mind was focused solely on her relief and her amusement with Legna, so he had no hint.

Jacob's entrapping arm lowered to his side, but his long, elegant fingers twitched slightly, as if they wanted to touch Isabella in spite of his command of them. The Enforcer's jaw became grimly set and he swore softly in his native tongue before turning his back on Isabella and moving to put a safe distance between them. His mind working properly again, he knew Noah would be back just as quickly as he had left and that he needed to withdraw from her himself, make it his own decision, or there would be another confrontation. Even though this had been a misunderstanding, he had been unable to voice his feelings like a civilized, intelligent being, something that had never happened to him before.

This, he realized, was the wicked humor of the Hallowed moon. He had seen healthy glimpses of his more bestial half during intense battle or hunt, but even then he had maintained logic and cunning, that which ruled important skills like fighting tactics. Never had he felt such a complete shutdown of wisdom and consideration. He hardly felt any true regret for what had transpired. Prickling within his psyche was a sense of triumph, the feeling that he had defended what was his and that he wished to revel in the success. Jacob felt the surge of response within himself and he could not control the feeling, could not banish it from existence.

Isabella was still trading innocuous conversation with Legna, moving close enough so the taller beauty could reach out to gently rub Bella's arm. There was no rush of possessiveness inside him as he watched the empath radiate her quickly growing attachment to Isabella. He knew this quickening friendship was because Legna was the only other one beside him who had met Bella and known instantly every good and noble quality within her. The female Mind Demon, he understood, would come to love Bella one day.

That was when he realized he would never be able to move far enough away from Isabella. The thought heated up his entire consciousness, making his breath come deep and swift. She was following him everywhere. Her presence clung to him like a static charge. He slowly stroked his eyes along the curving length of her, his eyes resting on her with blatant hunger reflected in their depths. He could not have hidden it under any circumstances. Not even knowing he was being so closely monitored as he was could dissuade the surge in his appetite for her.

"Jacob …" Legna said suddenly. "Jacob, do not—"

Her eyes flicked anxiously to a point beyond his shoulder, and he realized that Noah had returned to the room. He did not need to look behind himself to know. All of his senses reflected the imposing presence of the Demon King: his smoky scent, the rustle of his now fully clothed body, and the authority that eddied off him even when he was at rest Isabella looked at him when Legna spoke to him, the glisten of her purple eyes in the gaslight like an arrow straight through his heart. How was it possible? How could a human woman make him feel like he had sworn he was never destined to feel? She stirred him so deeply, and all she was doing, once again, was looking at him.

"Legna?" Noah queried cautiously.

"Jacob is—"

"Jacob," the Enforcer said sharply, his harsh eyes pinning the female Demon in place, his sensual mouth pressed into a severe frown, "is fine. Be aware, young one, that there is a large difference between what I feel and what I act on. My control is beyond anything any of you will ever be capable of, so do not think it is you who keeps me in line. Either of you."

Isabella did not miss the fact that Jacob's reference to Legna's age was some sort of purposeful insult. The lovely female's cheeks flared with color, her elegant hands closing into fists. Isabella sighed, rolled her eyes, and placed both of her hands on her round hips.

"All right, that's enough. Everyone go back to your corners. Heavens. If I thought I could be responsible for setting three perfectly intelligent friends at each other's throats, I would have never crossed that threshold." She pointed to the large entranceway far across the Great Hall for emphasis. "Or"—she hesitated, then looked at the opposite side of the room, which also had an exit—"that threshold."

Jacob felt a smile settle over his lips and he cleared his throat. The sound purposely drew her attention, and, again with great purpose, he looked up over his shoulder to one of the stained glass windows, which had a small hinged window in its bottom that was perpetually left open.

"That threshold?" she asked, her voice pitched high with surprise. He felt her heart miss a beat in her shock and he felt bad for the spike of laughter that tried to lance free of him. He had a feeling that if he laughed, she would be far more threatening to him than Noah had been.

Legna, however, had no such control. She giggled irrepressibly and then quickly laid a hand over her betraying smile when Bella whirled to glare at her indignantly.

"I am so very sorry," she said behind the muffle of her hand. "It is their fault."

The empath pointed to her brother and his Enforcer, and Bella could see that behind their forcibly stoic expressions, their eyes were bright with laughter at her expense. Isabella grinned, turning her eyes to study the pattern of the marble veins in the floor as they both began to laugh.

Jacob's tension of the past few hours dissolved instantly with his amusement. "Go on, Bella, let Legna take you to call your sister," he said after he had regained his composure. "But do not keep Legna out in the daylight too long. She is not so strong as I and her brother. I have a few things to do before I rest for the day." He looked at Noah for a long minute. "I trust you have things to do here as well?"

Noah realized that Jacob was warning him that the idea of him accompanying Isabella around was not a welcome one. The King had not intended on doing anything but returning to his interrupted sleep once all was settled. In spite of the recent altercation, he was still taken aback by the possessiveness behind the veiled threat.

True, Jacob's loyalty to him was deeply ingrained in everything he did, but Noah had no illusions to cover the fact that Jacob had somehow marked this woman in his mind as his possession. Noah knew it was inherently a dangerous and unhealthy attitude for Jacob to indulge in, simply because he had no right to do so. On the other hand, he could not escape a niggling sensation in the back of his brain that this provocation to be Isabella's defender meant something very important. It was too curious, too deeply grooved in the remarkable to not signify something of import He would have to mull it over while he slept. Noah hoped that when he woke he would have clearer thoughts and perspectives on the matter. Madness, necromancers, and whatever it was that allowed Isabella Russ to turn all of Noah's most powerful friends and allies inside out in their efforts to protect her—Noah instinctively knew these were all connected. All he needed now was some sort of clarity as to why.

"I am returning to my chamber," Noah announced, more for Jacob's peace of mind than anything. "Legna, do not hesitate to call me if you or Isabella should need me." He paused for all of two seconds. "Also, should your safety be threatened in any way, I suggest you call out to Jacob as well. He may be able to reach you far faster than I can."

Noah was highly aware of the sudden release of tension from his Enforcer's body. Noah had wanted to put Jacob's protective instincts at ease, and he had succeeded with incredible diplomacy. The knowledge that he would not be left out of the loop seemed to relax the Earth Demon greatly. Noah used the rather boring convention of the stairs to exit the room this time.

Jacob decided that a quick exit would be the only way he could make himself put necessary distance between himself and Isabella. So, without so much as a wave, he turned in a burst of movement, becoming a shower of dust that streamed swiftly upward and out that high, narrow window of colored glass.

‘That is extremely cool," Isabella sighed.

"I suppose it is," Magdelegna agreed with a laugh, smiling warmly as she reached to rub Bella's shoulder in a gesture of friendly comfort. "Shall I take you to a phone?"

"Why aren't there any phones here?" she thought to ask.

"Well, the best way I can explain it is that technologies like electricity and telephones do not always agree with Demons. We believe that because we are so rooted in nature, there is something about man-made technological objects that just does not work properly when we are too close to them. They … go haywire' I believe is the phrase. They develop glitches."

"Oh," Isabella said softly.

"Sometimes, nothing happens at all." Legna shrugged. "Other times, just our nearness makes things get … haywire. It is one of the reasons Demons do not integrate fully with humans. You are very dependent on your technologies. Many of us prefer to live in isolation … in rural settings like this one."

"In places where archaic methods of living are not so out of the ordinary," Bella mused. "I see." She paused for only a few beats. "One last question?"

"I doubt it will be your last," Legna laughed. "All your questions are welcome."

"How is it you are all awake? I thought you had a powerful compulsion to sleep in the daytime."

"Accomplished Elders such as Noah and Jacob can put off this compulsion for sleep with effort and a lifetime of power control. Younger Demons, such as myself, are far more susceptible. This morning has been taxing for us all." She held out her hands and Isabella noticed for the first time that they were shaking. "We do not like to show weakness. Jacob and Noah hide theirs well, although Noah may not be affected. I am never sure, but his ability to manipulate energy … I suspect he could remain awake nonstop for days if he desired it He is of Fire, and few of us fully understand the abilities of male Fire Demons."

"I'm sorry. I had not meant to stir everybody up. Why don't we do this later when it becomes dark? A few hours will make no difference to me or to Corrine."

"Are you certain?"

"Positive. No sense putting you through such an effort for something that can so easily wait"

"I would be fine," Legna assured her. "Just a yawn here and there."

"Still. I'm going back to my books. Come get me when you wake up."