Chapter Six

I would be fearful if I thought for even a moment I had to be, Jacob.

This time Jacob did take notice of her voice lilting through his mind. The link between them was growing stronger, seemingly with every touch.

I am in your mind, Enforcer. I would know if I had anything to fear.

Jacob looked deeply into her intense violet eyes, seeing the confidence in them radiating at him like a warming light. It was the first time someone had called him Enforcer and had actually made it sound like a welcomed, affectionate term. He felt his heart constrict within his chest, his throat closing with emotional tension. Until that moment, he hadn't realized how much he'd longed for someone to like him with affection and warmth outside of the connection of his siblings and beyond the respectful acquaintance Noah provided.

The feeling was profound. He couldn't hope to hide it from her and he saw her eyes fill with moist compassion for his solitude, for all the abuse he'd withstood from the very race that needed him. Bella's kindness was a remarkable gift, one he would not squander. She was giving and trusting, always without thinking about what it would cost her. She was a sunshine that he could bask in without ill effect. He would be careful with her, or he would die trying.

It was that moment when he realized how easily he could lose his heart to her.

That perhaps he already had.

He guarded the thought from her, feeling that she was under enough pressure as it was. If she would be his, and Destiny knew he wanted her to be, he wouldn't have her doing so out of charity for his people or the pressure of his growing feelings for her. She had to make her choices free of those encumbrances. He could be satisfied no other way.

Isabella saw him working on heavy thoughts, but he was keeping them locked safely away from her. True, she shouldn't be nosing around in his head after the lecture she'd given him on privacy, but she'd grown used to sharing her feelings and impressions with him. It connected them, and she felt secure with that connection in place. She glanced at her hand, which was absently toying with the first closed button of his shirt, her knuckles snuggled warmly against the exposed skin above it She had read that the natural body temperature of a Demon was five degrees cooler than a human's, but somehow he always seemed so warm to her.

She flicked one finger across the button deftly, opening his shirt another few inches. She slid her entire hand beneath the fabric, concentrating completely on the smooth texture of his skin and the way it warmed to her touch. He sighed, his lashes fluttering down to obscure his eyes. When he looked up again, that black flame that was becoming so familiar was flickering in his gaze.

Jacob took a hand from the door and let it fall with purpose to the gaping lapels of her silk blouse. He began running the tip of a single finger over her skin in a leisurely fashion, from one side of her collarbone to the other. One little touch, Bella, and you turn me inside out. Can you feel it?

She could. She closed her eyes and let her consciousness meld with his, feeling from his perspective the way his body stirred and his blood warmed. His muscles flexed and tightened in anticipation, and she felt the heavy weight, pulse, and ache of the erection that strained with discomfort within his clothing.

Isabella was instantly fascinated. She couldn't help herself. The moment she slipped back into her own mind and flushing body, she slid her hands down the length of his torso, traveling the landscape of clothing quickly and succinctly until her fingers were gliding past his belt and along the stitching of his fly. Jacob sucked in a fast, brutal breath as she eagerly sought for his hardness through the fabric of his slacks until she was boldly and intimately cupping him in her happily situated hand.

"You are going to drive me mad," Jacob uttered in a strangled, dark pitch, his voice rumbling across her senses like the purring of a massive lion.

"Perhaps it's my inexperience, then, because I wasn't trying to make you mad," she remarked, curling her fingers slightly so that her nails made the next brush over the fabric confining him.

He groaned, the sound stirring up from deep inside of him, his body leaning into hers as if the simple pleasure she was giving him had weakened his ability to stand up straight. Isabella found herself enjoying that idea. Pleased with his reactions but dissatisfied with their cumbersome clothing, she raised both hands to the task of unbuttoning his shirt the rest of the way. She leaned toward him to stroke his solid flesh boldly as she bared it, dipping deep beneath the gaping shirt, her touch spanning his entire chest, his sides, and his back. Jacob was so lost in sensation that he didn't seem to realize his hand had instinctively moved to cradle her breast, kneading it gently through her bra.

He shuddered as her nails scraped lightly down the entire length of his back, her fingertips fanning and fluttering over his skin with gossamer curiosity. So simple a touch, yet so profound, and he felt the painful bliss low in his body, throbbing hard with demand.

"Be sure," he gasped suddenly, his hand squeezing her supple flesh, his thumb rolling over her distended nipple. "Be absolutely sure, Bella."

I've never been so sure in my entire life. Come into my mind and you'll know that, just as I do.

He did as she beckoned and couldn't mistake the calm that was at the core of her stirring passion. She was, as she said, completely without doubt. Indeed, her curiosity was growing exponentially, and the desires and thoughts flitting through her mind about what she wanted to do, to try, to learn and know, pushed him well past any point of refusing her.

He removed his touch from her only long enough to wrap her slight body in his iron embrace, pulling her feet from the floor until her breasts rested high against his chest and her hair tumbled down over his shoulders, her mouth smiling just slightly before he captured it with a slight stretch of his neck.

As he kissed her breathless, he moved back across the room with her. Then, reluctantly tapering off his kiss, he kneeled on the bed and settled her gently in the center. She stretched out, the sexy, sensual movement and her teasing smile reflecting her pure satisfaction of her sway over him. But she had barely tasted what she would be capable of, and Jacob's blood ran like fire through his veins as he eagerly welcomed the realization. When she truly learned what her influence over him could be, he had a feeling he was going to be extremely lucky to be her lover.

With one hand, he skimmed through the remaining buttons of her shirt Jacob put his mouth on her freshly exposed skin. She took a deep breath and released it in a low, trilling sound of pleasure, her back curving up toward his skillful lips. He nuzzled her through the lace of her bra, his lips brushing the aroused peak of her nipple. Then his mouth was open on her, his teeth drawing her in with a gentle tug, the moisture of his now-suckling lips penetrating right through the lace. She convulsed in response to the pleasure tripping through her entire body, all from that one small point he attended to. She reached to touch his cheek, a silent summons, and he lifted his head a fraction of an inch as she slid the material of her bra aside for him, exposing the beautiful, dusky peak. His mouth returned to her with quick enthusiasm, his free hand skimming over her delicate ribs, the crescent of her waist, and the tender curve of her hip.

Her blouse and bra seemed to fall away from her in those next few minutes. She was suddenly bared from the waist up, her hands buried in his hair as he teased her aching breasts with his mouth. The exploring hands that roamed her body drove her equally mad with his artful combinations of caresses. She felt him find the inner leg seam of her jeans.

Jacob pressed his fingers up along the ridge of cloth slowly, enjoying how every inch upward was warmer than the last. He left her breasts and their now-raging sensitivity, finding her mouth hotly. He sucked and kissed the flavor of her kiss feverishly onto his tongue, making himself insane with the pleasure of it while reveling in her gasps and moans of wild pleasure as they filled his ears … filled his mouth.

Then she was pulling his shirt from his slacks, driven by the urge to feel his flesh against hers. Jacob satisfied the demand raging through her wild thoughts, lowering his hot skin into contact with hers, all the while continuing that leisurely path up the inseam of her jeans with his fingers. She was not even conscious of how she wriggled and writhed in attempts to make him speed up his journey. She was completely unaware of how every twist of her hot little body beneath his triggered desperately primal urges. Her scent permeated his every pore, making him growl, low and intense, as he finally cupped the core of all that wonderful heat in his fervent hand. His palm pushed against her mound and his fingers pressed tight to her. He groaned when he realized she was damp right through the denim.

Jacob was suddenly rising up on his knees, stripping off his shirt as he did so. His actions were torrid, punctuated by a feral, rough sound, but Isabella was far from intimidated. She urged him on in soft whispers of encouragement, raised her hips when he went to strip off her jeans and panties, unbuckled the thin belt at his waist eagerly. When he was finally completely nude, he crept back onto the bed, his hands moving her knees apart with the intent of lying directly up the center of her body. She had watched his approach with wide, anticipatory eyes, and Jacob was forced to hesitate when she inadvertently sent off an impression of anxiety. He reached for her mind, threading himself into her thoughts, seeking the cause of her apprehension quickly.

Is … is that normal?

Jacob tried not to smile, knowing there was a good chance he would get smacked for it. He followed her curious gaze at his body. Quite normal, he assured her. But then, unable to resist, he added: For a Demon.

She gasped, looking up into his eyes, taking only a second to see the amusement glittering through the flames of arousal.

"You are so mean!"

"You are so adorable," he countered, chuckling softly as he nuzzled the sensitive spot he had found on the side of her neck with his lips. This distracted her just long enough for him to close his hand around hers and guide her touch to him. "And now, you can choose to get me back … or not."

Her hand curled open, that irrepressible tactile curiosity of hers leaping to the forefront as the heavy weight of his arousal rested in her palm. He slipped back into her mind, feeling her wonder as she discovered what it was like to touch a male so intimately for the first time. The first thing she noticed was that he was a contradiction of sensations, as hard as the iron his kind so feared, and yet that hardness was covered in velvety, hot skin. Soft and smooth at a surface touch, rigid and powerful with a stronger touch.

Her curious exploration went on, and Jacob broke out in a sweat as his entire frame shuddered. Her caress was pure ecstasy, forcing pulses of heat and incredible stretches of increasing hardness to the shaft between her curious fingers. She discovered the wetness her touch had milked from him, nuzzling it with her palm in such a way that a soulful groan was torn out of him. He rocketed into her mind, making her feel what he was feeling, causing her to cry out in delighted shock.

Feel this, Bella. Feel how you bum me.

He wrenched the command into her mind, and she obeyed him. She could feel the painful pleasure she caused him, could feel the impulses that raged through him because of every stroke, every embrace. She was panting out soft, excited sounds, totally unaware she was doing so, as she slid her palm along him from tip to base and back again. Need, stark with the howl of nature's wild soul, exploded into Jacob's mind and spirit. She felt it slam into her mind, scorching her psyche with its ferocious demands. She absorbed the brunt of it equally with him, and when they looked back into each other's eyes, the beast was at the ready in both of them.

Isabella heard the rumbling of a soft, beckoning growl. She realized the low, seductive call was her own, seeking the response of her mate. She vocalized again, the rolling sound a static-filled purr that sought to lure him closer. Jacob replied, the rumbling sound deepening and reverberating as it was expelled. He grabbed her toying hand by the wrist, his mighty grip painful as he pinned the torturous appendage to the pillow near her head. His eyes bored into hers, a midnight sheen that was reflecting the wild urgency scouring through his every vessel.

He lowered his head to the rise of her breast, baring his teeth as he did so. She was breathing so hard that her chest rose to meet him and she saw the satisfaction that rushed into his turbulent eyes. His teeth scraped over her and she felt them dotting across her skin. Again, he moved to the curve of her collarbone, up to the slope of her shoulder.

Then his hands were on her, flipping her over roughly, pressing her into the bed as his mouth pressed hard against her shoulder blade. His hands were at her hips, holding her in place as he used his thighs to push her up onto her knees, to seat himself against her with a savage dragging of her body over the rigid, hot length of his sex. Isabella was breathing in sharp gasps of pleasure as she felt his dominant stroke along the outer edges of her feminine folds. She felt her body flowering with craving, seeking and begging to be filled. The clamp of his teeth into the skin of her shoulder and the bruising force of his hands did nothing but intensify those desires.

Jacob felt the raging of his body, so close now as it was to the depths of the haven awaiting him, the slick welcome of her anticipation bathing him in invitation. Then she writhed back against him, demanding him with savage provocation, her wild little body seeking the fulfillment the throbbing hardness against her promised so hotly.

Jacob could not withhold.

He gripped her hips even harder, adding more bruises of intensity, and dragged her to the very tip of his rigid shaft She cried out his name with wild demand and he felt her instantly pushing back against him, trying to force what his hold on her prevented. But even the beast within him had waited too long for this to not savor it. While he taunted her, he enjoyed her little noises and desperate movements. He rubbed against her again and again, causing her to buck with mindless pleasure as he stimulated her every expectant sense. Then he was at that precious threshold, sweat dripping from his hair and onto the small of her back as the restraint punished him as badly as it tortured her.

Finally, he released.

Jacob plunged into her in one brutal clash of their pelvises. He had not meant to. He had meant to absorb every second of pleasure he could from the progression of entering her. However, a moment before his erotic dive into her body, she had called to him.

"Jacob …" she had gasped, her head thrashing wildly from side to side, her very flesh trembling against him. "Please! Come into me. Please …"

This had been the blade that had sliced through his last thread of control. Fast or slow, she was so tight, so blindingly hot and wet, so perfectly crafted for him that it was the most tremendous experience of his lifetime, to finally be matched deep within her.

Isabella was so filled by Jacob she wondered why she did not burst. There was a flash of pain, but no more or less than the few bruises she'd already forgotten. She could not be bothered with it. There was far too much calling for her attention, calling for her pleasure. Jacob was calling for her, a low-seated rumble in his breast boiling up and over her shoulders as he bent over her small frame, letting them both absorb his first invasion.

She was not patient enough to wait for him. She tilted her hips and pulled herself forward, reveling in the hard slide of granite moving within her body, instinctively flexing feminine muscles to keep him seated within herself. Jacob's reaction was explosive in both sound and action. He cursed, again an impassioned compliment taken in context, and then released a soul-rending groan. He reached for her neck, his long, powerful fingers grasping and curling around the delicate column. His opposite hand drove up from her hip to her waist, the perspiration coating her skin making it a slick movement. Jacob reseated himself again, a thrust so profound and rough that it actually lifted her knees off the bed. A rowdy, primal sound erupted from his lips as she squirmed eagerly in compliance, her rough breath rasping beneath the press of his index finger on her throat.

The room trembled, the Earth reflecting his loss of control, the glass chimneys of gaslights and the panes of stained-glass windows jingling as the tremor increased. Jacob surged into her again, rooting himself as deeply in the sacred ground of her body as was possible. All the while, the bed was vibrating with the quaking of the house's foundations.

She was scorching heat, captivating wetness, the impossible tightness of her first sexual experience.

Jacob … don't … please … don V stop. Never stop.

Jacob groaned softly, moving with a slow, punctuated rhythm within her. He rode into her tight, wonderful body and reeled from the fervent high that resulted. Her passion was a sparkling prism of light and want, guiding him closer to her in the ways beyond the physical. He had no thought of controlling the vibrating world outside of the sphere of their awareness. Jacob understood only that he now shared space with the relentless, feral creature that vocalized, felt the need to mark her with teeth and the lengthening of nails that scored her soft body in long red lines. But at the same time she was too beautiful not to drag his heart and soul into the mixture. For that moment, he truly felt as though everything about and within him was coming together cohesively.

‘Jacob," Bella purred in encouragement "Oh, yes …"

He smiled with sly pleasure when his name passed her lips in that sultry manner, that spur of beckoning need that she could not cloak. He pulled back, reveling in the slick sensation for a second. Isabella gasped out, overwhelmed with a sense of grasping loss, her hips writhing back toward his instinctively.

It is not enough, little flower.

She didn't have time to ask. He left her, making her whimper in her shock and dismay. But then he was turning her over again, this time with amazing gentleness, drawing up her legs, coaxing them around his hips as he lay over her stretched-out body.

I must taste your mouth, little flower, while I am inside you. I must look into your eyes and see your pleasure.

So he seized her mouth with great need, devouring the delicacy she provided for him as he breached deeply into her eager body.

"Bella," he groaned against her mouth, repeating the depth of the thrust and being rewarded with amazingly increased feedback. Heat. Embrace. Eager, excited moisture. Everything about her drawing him in. She was perfect. He had never known such perfection—had never, in all his centuries, come anywhere close. This was a meshing of body, mind, and soul. It was enough to make him curse himself for waiting so long to be with her, even though he'd only known her for a few days. For possibly allowing her to get away, although he knew he could never have held her if she had been forced to his embrace.

Her scent, her textures, and her thoughts, they all surrounded him and filled him as he was filling her. He knew in that second, as he moved energetically within her body and felt the matching rhythm coming to her so naturally, that he was indeed fulfilling Destiny. He slipped into Isabella's mind, feeling the build of pleasure climbing hot and tense within her. He slid his hands over her, sought sensitive spots, purposely fanning the focused flame. It was incredible to feel it from her perspective, the growth of her first taste of release, of ultimate ecstasy. He guided his movements within her by following the sharp flutters of pleasure that whirled through her awareness at first one thrust and then the next He learned the best way to cause her the keenest delight.

She began to gasp with each successive movement he made inside her, her hands clutching his shoulders violently, her thoughts screaming her euphoria into his soul. And suddenly Isabella exploded, a screaming starburst of rapture that flashed hot and bright, the purity of her bliss forcing him to join her in the cataclysmic release.

"Isabella!" Jacob had to claim her by name as he felt the detonation of climax raking through him. He came with violent, lurching spasms of pleasure that went on and on until he was pulsing the deepest parts of his soul into her. The intensity was so profound, he was certain that by the time it ended, she would know his every secret dream, need, and hope.

Every window in the house exploded, the tension of the conflicting twists of their casements finally reaching the breaking point Jacob jerked Isabella's head to his chest, his broad back and shoulders protecting her from the shower of colorful glass that rained down from the stained glass picture window above the headboard of the bed.

It was several long, breathless minutes before either of them could move. Isabella suddenly realized the room beyond them was in chaos, and she wriggled her head out of his protective hold to view the destruction. Furniture was toppled and glass was strewn everywhere, including the bed they were lying in.

Finally, she looked up into his eyes, ignoring the concern so clearly reflected in them and smiling like a cat that had just discovered the birdcage was unlocked.

"It's a good thing you don't live in California," she remarked.

"Are you kidding? With all those active fault lines?"

Jacob touched her nose with a fingertip a moment before their bodies faded to dust. The next she knew, she was solid again and all the surrounding glass had been swept away.

"Neat. I bet you make a fabulous houseguest," she laughed, allowing him to draw her up over his body as he rolled onto his back.

"I am an excellent duster," he said.

"So I noticed." Isabella slid a knee on either side of his hips and slowly sat up, pressing her hands on his chest as leverage, still feeling a little weak after their tumultuous activities.

Jacob smiled, drinking in the incredible vision she made straddling him, her bare breasts and body marked with the branding of his mouth and hands, her tumble of hair curling like silky black smoke all around her, one stray tendril of it hooking around her left nipple. He stacked his hands behind his head and basked, not caring if she knew how self-satisfied he was.

"Well, you look very pleased with yourself," she noted, her hands going to her hips in that familiar gesture. Jacob wondered if she realized how it made her breasts thrust out in an all-too-fetching manner. Unable to resist, he removed a hand from behind his head and followed that curl of hair hooked stubbornly around her nipple.

Isabella held her breath and then sighed at how the simple touch stirred her so deeply. Just when she thought she was completely exhausted, she found she wanted him all over again. She was beset with the sense of having a lot to catch up on. It made her lips twitch and her eyes sparkle with renewed hunger.

"Oh boy," Jacob groaned. "I know that look."

"Do you?" she asked archly, reaching to trace the muscles of his chest with a fingertip.

"Even if I could not share your thoughts, little flower, I would know. It is the look of a young person who has just discovered their libido."

"Is that right?" She splayed her hands over his ribs, leaning forward on them until she could touch his nipple with her tongue, all the while maintaining her lock on his eyes.

"Did I mention," he groaned, "that I am probably too old for this?"

She rolled her eyes, apparently not impressed by his perspective. She scraped her teeth over the little nub her attentions had created.

"Aren't you sore?" he attempted.

What‘s your point?

Isabella opened her eyes, drawing in a sharp breath as a chill washed over her. She was staring into darkness, the cloud-covered moon outside the only light, and even that barely made it past the empty casements of the windows. Jacob was lying heavily over her body, an arm curled possessively around her midsection, a thigh trapping one of hers beneath his, his face buried so deeply into her neck that she could feel the touch of his lips on her skin. She would have enjoyed the sensation of waking up in such a way, should have enjoyed it, in fact, but there was something not quite right. She shuddered, and not because she was cold, although she was just about freezing wherever she was not in contact with Jacob. Bella was suddenly overcome with a creepy feeling about the night, a foreboding sensation crawling up her spine. She knew that she didn't want to be lying down or naked just then, nor did she want Jacob to be asleep. She acted on the instinct, pinching his shoulder firmly, making him start out of sleep rudely, but as the sensation of dread continued to fill her she knew there was no time for niceties.

"Ow. What the hell…?"

"Get off me."

Jacob responded immediately, the tone of her voice compelling him to obey without question. She slid out of bed, the low, quick movements she made to retrieve her clothes putting Jacob on full alert. He stretched out his instincts even as he too got out of bed and crouched low to the ground. He drew on his pants as Bella, several moves ahead of him, crept up into the narrow frame of the window that had been above the headboard, balancing on the balls of her feet on the sill.

Wait for me, he commanded.

Can you feel it?

No. Tell me what you are feeling.

I don't know. It's … dark. It feels evil.

He watched as she touched her fingers to her tongue and peered at them in the dark. He sensed what she was looking for. She was tasting the unmistakable tang of blood in her mouth, but it wasn't her own.

It is an illusion. Remember that. Your empathy is real to someone else, not yourself. Jacob was behind her, peering out over her shoulder, still trying to find what she had such a powerful hold on.

Suddenly, Bella gasped and whirled around.

But she was a moment too late.

The intruder in the room swung something out into the darkness, connecting with the back of Jacob's head and sending him crashing into the dresser beside the bed. Bella cried out, leaping into the shadowy room from the sill she was perched on and making unerring contact with the malevolence that had struck Jacob down. Her hands slammed into its chest, grabbed fistfuls of fabric, and yanked forward as she brought her knee up into its vulnerable belly. Then she shoved back and snapped the hard flat of her palm into the attacker's nose.

The invader reeled back, but only slightly. The recovery was swift considering the force of her assault. The intruder swung out, fisting her so hard across the face that her head snapped back. Bella was stunned, but in some part of her mind she was aware that she wasn't even a fraction as injured as she should be. It swung at her again and she blocked with her forearm; it punched and she leaned swiftly out of range, then she shot the edge of her hand hard up into its vulnerable throat.

Its cry of pain was male and short lived. He reached up and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her so hard by it that she did a complete 180 on the heel of her foot She was falling back, off balance, into her foe, even as a queer blue light suddenly erupted into the room, highlighting the raised hand it was coming from as he reached for her throat "Demon bitch!" he hissed at her, coughing for her satisfaction from her last strike.

The blue bolt of magic that shot from his fingertips lanced through her with shocking pain, causing her entire body to convulse, every hair on her standing at attention from the electrical charge.

"His name! Tell me his name!" He had released her hair, his arm locking around her throat and choking her as he sent another bolt of energy through her body. She seized for a long minute before he cut the bolt off from her and let her fall slack in his grasp. "Give me his name, or I will kill you."

"Never," she croaked, without even knowing why she should be protecting Jacob's name from this monster. All she knew was that if she didn't break free soon, she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen or he was going to fry her from the inside out.

He loosened his hold so he could draw a knife from his sleeve and hold it to her throat "Feel that, demon whore?" He pressed the blade into her flesh. "It's made of iron. I assure you, it has all the spells necessary to cut your head from your shoulders."

That's when Isabella finally absorbed the fact that he thought she was a Demon. She suddenly saw an advantage to it, screaming out as if the iron was causing her pain.

"Yeah, that's right. Hurts, doesn't it? Now give me his name or I'll kill you! Then after I kill you, I'll kill your lover. Look!"

He jerked her around so she could see Jacob lying on the floor. He even caused the room to brighten with his magic so she could see the blood pooling around Jacob's body. The vast emptiness of thought from him terrified her far more than the sight of his blood. Panic welled up in a distant corner of her mind, her heart aching in response, but she angrily pushed it all aside and focused.

"I bet you're wondering how I took him out so easy. Well, you'll find out if you don't open that mouth of yours and give me his name! "

"His name …" she croaked.

"Yes, tell me," he said eagerly.

"Bond. James Bond."

Isabella slammed her head back, crashing into his face with her skull. She saw brilliant stars at the impact, but still she grabbed the hand with the knife in it and bit him as hard as she could. He shrieked, but she locked her jaw until the knife dropped from his fingers. Then she whirled around and sent her knee up into his groin with every last ounce of her newfound strength. He fell to the floor with another screech, writhing in pain, cupping his abused privates. Isabella tossed her hair back and glared down at her victim.

"Have a nice sex change, you son of a bitch."

With that, she swung out her foot and kicked him in the head. He lost consciousness with a little whimper, his head snapping and then lolling back in her direction. She nudged him hard with her toe in his pained parts, knowing it would take impossible control for him to fake unconsciousness under the circumstances.

Satisfied, she dropped to Jacob's side, oblivious to the fact that she was kneeling in his blood. She searched in the dim light for the wound it was coming from. At first all she found was the blood in his mouth, apparently from biting his tongue after striking his head on the dresser during his fall. It wasn't until she turned him over that she discovered a deep gash in his shoulder and the back of his head. They were in line with one another, so whatever he had been hit with had been long as well as sharp. Probably another cursed blade of some kind. Probably made of iron.

Isabella began to feel the tight grip of fear locking around her chest. She remembered from her reading that iron in the hands of a necromancer could kill a Demon. The vital, magnificent being who had been making such incredible love to her only a short while ago could very well be dying in her arms.

"Oh, please," she prayed on a sob, "please let Legna hear me!"

LEGNA! Her mind screamed the Demon empath's name, the pain of her heart howling behind it. LEGNA! HELP ME!

Legna jolted in her seat, making Noah look up from the chessboard between them. Her face drained of color and Noah knew instantly something was exceedingly wrong.

"Legna?"

"Isabella …"

Noah lurched to his feet, coming around the table and drawing Legna up.

"Tell me!"

"She's terrified … Jacob. Something terrible has happened to Jacob. She needs us."

Isabella was sobbing by the time Noah and Legna materialized dramatically in the middle of the room. Noah's first act was to toss a ball of fire up at the ceiling, letting it hang harmlessly suspended as it cast light on the scene. Legna went directly to Isabella's side, crying out softly when she saw Jacob and all of the blood spreading around. Noah immediately noticed the other male lying unconscious on the floor. The smell of the necromancer struck Noah physically, turning his stomach with its malevolent stench.

"Legna," he commanded, "call Elijah." Then he looked at Jacob, his lips pressing into a grim line. "And Gideon."

Legna gasped, looking up at her brother in shock.

"Surely there is another medic, Noah. Gideon despises Jacob."

"There is none older, wiser, and more skilled than Gideon. Call him."

"He will not answer."

"He will. Call him. Obey me now."

Legna swallowed and moved away from the others, finding a distant spot so she could concentrate on her task Noah knelt beside Isabella, who was rocking slightly in her grief, her small hands pressing to the wounds on Jacob's body in an attempt to stem the flow of blood.

"How did this happen?"

"I don't know," she hiccupped. "He didn't even sense the necromancer. I did, but he didn't. I don't understand. Jacob can sense anything."

"That is one of many questions, Isabella. Right now we are going to focus on getting Jacob a medic and then taking that monster into custody. I promise you, I will not rest until I have answers."

"He kept asking for Jacob's name," she murmured numbly. "Why? Why would he want his name?"

"I will explain later," Noah promised. He lifted his head as a violent breeze rushed into the room, swirled, and connected into Elijah. The warrior took a quick glance around and shot Noah a look.

"Elijah," Noah warned, holding up his hand. "Just take the necromancer safely away from here."

Elijah nodded and with a flick of his wrist, he and the necromancer vanished into a rushing gust of wind. No sooner had Elijah left than a Demon Isabella had never seen before appeared in the burst of smoke and sulfur created whenever Legna departed and arrived.

Isabella's eyes widened when she saw the silver-haired male for the first time. The thick, shoulder-length hair was belied by the features of a male no more than forty and a vital physique to boot. She realized that this was the one called Gideon, and she also sensed that he was far older than the others in the room. It was in his carriage and the way he looked around at the chaos of the room with serene, cool eyes. Those eerie eyes matched his silver hair perfectly. Even if she had not heard Noah say so, she would have known he had tremendous power. He reeked of it.

His eyes trained on her, his pupils contracting slightly.

"A human."

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Isabella snapped, having had her fill of Demons making that distinction as if she carried some kind of plague. "Yes, it's human. It's also going to get pissed off if it doesn't get some help for Jacob damn quick!"

"From New York," Gideon noted, his eyes flicking over Jacob's inert form. "He has been struck with an iron blade. Ensorcelled. Until the spell is removed, it will leave the wound open and bleeding. Your attempts to stanch the bleeding with your hands are useless."

"Noah," Isabella said quietly, her words hissing out from between clenched teeth. "Tell this jackass that if he doesn't heal Jacob ASAP I'm going to kick his holier-than-thou ass all over the continent."

A silver brow lifted in curiosity.

"She is rather irreverent for a Druid," Gideon remarked.

Noah's head snapped up, his eyes widening in obvious shock.

"You know she is a Druid? How can you tell?"

"Quite easily, I assure you." Gideon forestalled the enraged woman's next verbal threat with a raised hand and knelt beside the Enforcer. "It is better he is not conscious. I do not imagine he would enjoy knowing it is I who will heal him."

"He holds no ill will toward you, Gideon," Noah said quietly. "In fact, your self-exile has weighed heavily on him."

Gideon didn't respond. He touched Jacob's pale face in a caress that could almost be considered affectionate. The Ancient's eyes closed and he released a long exhalation of breath. Isabella gasped when the wound beneath her hand began to knit together. She made a small sound of relief, mixed with a sob.

"He needs blood. Noah, come."

Noah moved to kneel beside Gideon without hesitation. He extended his arm, and Gideon grasped his forearm just above the wrist with one hand, his other reaching for a similar hold on Jacob's left arm. Color suddenly flared into Jacob's complexion, even as it drained slightly from Noah's. Isabella was aware she was witnessing some kind of transfusion, one without needles or threat of outside contamination. It was incredible, and she was grateful beyond words when Jacob finally stirred.

"The scar will remain forever. That I cannot heal," Gideon admitted regretfully.

"It doesn't matter," Isabella whispered, stroking Jacob's hair and face tenderly. He groaned softly, and she bent to press her lips to his. ‘Jacob. Jacob …" she whispered, kissing his mouth again and again.

Gideon cast a pregnant glance at Noah but didn't speak aloud at the incredible irony of the Enforcer having a human female touching and kissing him with obvious intimacy and affection.

"He will not wake just now. He needs to rest" Gideon passed a hand over Jacob, who promptly relaxed and began to sleep. "I suggest you take him somewhere safe. If one necromancer can find him here, it is likely that another can as well."

"I will bring him to my home," Noah assured the medic.

"Another? You mean there are more than just the one?" Isabella demanded. "I thought it was only one necromancer."

"It is never only one. However, you … you are a singular curiosity. A human and Druid hybrid." He reached as if to touch her and was rewarded with a flash of movement that found his wrist caught and twisted in her hold. He didn't react with pain, however, just that lifted brow of curiosity. In an equally swift motion, he broke her hold and caught her wrist.

Isabella gasped as white light rocketed up her arm and through her body.

"The necromancer tried to electrocute you, yet you survived," Gideon murmured. "You heal rapidly. Your blood is most peculiar and—" Gideon stopped speaking and for the first time his expression registered clear surprise. ‘You are not mortal."

"What?"

"Gideon …" Noah warned.

Gideon looked at Noah sharply. ‘You knew," he said directly.

"He what ?" Isabella spluttered. "He knew no such thing! There is no such thing. I'm human and therefore mortal. You got your wires crossed or something, pal."

"That is impossible," Gideon said simply. Isabella had a sudden urge to slap him. She settled for jerking her wrist out of his hold.

"Noah, take us out of here," Isabella begged. "I want Jacob safe. Now."

"Of course. There will be time to talk when Jacob is stronger."

With that statement, Noah leaned over to touch Isabella and Jacob, and the three of them disappeared into a column of smoke that promptly slipped out of the room.

Gideon rose up to his full height, watching their progress as they faded into the night He then turned his diamondlike eyes until they narrowed on the female Demon who had remained so still and quiet that she had gone unremembered. An interesting feat, considering the remarkable presence of the beauty.

"You have grown strong, Legna," he remarked quietly.

"In only a decade? I am sure it has not made much of a difference."

"To teleport me from such a great distance took respectful skill and strength. You well know it."

"Thank you. I shall have to remember to feel weak and fluttery inside now that you complimented me."

Gideon narrowed his eyes coldly on her. "You sound like that acerbic little human. It does not become you."

"I sound like myself," Legna countered, her irritation crackling through his thoughts as the emotion overflowed her control. "Or have you forgotten that I am far too immature for your tastes?"

"I never said such a thing."

"You did. You said I was too young to even begin to understand you," She lifted her chin, so lost in her wounded pride that she spoke before she thought "At least I was never so immature that Jacob had to punish me for stalking a human."

Gideon's spine went extremely straight, his eyes glittering with warning as she hit home on the still-raw wound. "Maturity had nothing to do with that, and you well know it. It is below you to be so petty, Magdelegna."

"I see, so I am groveling around in the gutter now? How childish of me. However can you bear it? I shall leave immediately."

Before Gideon could speak, Legna burst into smoke and sulfur, disappearing but for her laughter that rang through his mind. Gideon sighed, easily acknowledging that her laughter was a taunt meant to remind him that with her departure, so too went his easy transportation home. Nevertheless, he was more perturbed to realize that he'd once again managed to say all the wrong things to her. Perhaps someday he would manage to speak with her without irritating her.

However, he didn't think that was likely to happen this millennium.