“It would seem,” Noah said, at last breaking the hush, “that our future as a race is going to change dramatically. The Council will need to discuss the ramifications of this in detail. I want it made clear that at this time no one is to approach any human being under any circumstances. The laws that have governed us toward them will remain in place until we can revise them. The Enforcer will still punish those who cannot control that impulse. Is this clear?”
“Clear, and wise,” Elijah agreed. “I will loan my warriors to Jacob at a moment’s notice should there be any need for it.”
“Actually, that brings up something that must be addressed immediately,” Noah said. “The Druid, Isabella.”
Jacob stiffened in his seat, his fingertips tensing on the tabletop. Noah had not discussed bringing up Isabella to the Council with him. He had been prepared for all Gideon had imparted, but he had no idea what the King was thinking.
“It will be the duty of every person in this room to see to it that Isabella’s safety and security amongst our race is paramount. This woman has brought salvation to us. We must recognize that and afford her the respect her actions on our behalf have garnered. It was she who discovered the prophecy, and for no other reason than having our best interest in her heart. We who have not treated her so kindly to date.” Noah’s eyes flicked to Ruth and a couple of the others, and each had the grace to lower their eyes.
“The prophecy has mapped out her future, and it is our responsibility to see that she fulfills it in good health and spirits.” Noah paused long enough to look at his Enforcer. “The role of the Enforcer will change for all time. His responsibilities, already vast, will no doubt triple. Gideon and I have discussed this in great depth, and we feel that Isabella’s training as Enforcer should begin immediately.”
There was a communal indrawn breath from all sectors of the room, and Noah was highly aware of Jacob’s eyes narrowing on him dangerously. Jacob was concerned with Isabella’s safety, and Noah didn’t blame him. But there was a method to his actions.
“So young? What can she possibly—” Ruth began.
“I do not recall opening the subject to debate,” Noah said stonily, the look in his smoky eyes sending a bolt of alarm down Jacob’s spine. He could only imagine how Ruth felt being on the receiving end of it. “This is a momentous day in the history of our race,” the King continued, instantly shaking off the power he had used to quell Ruth. “This is the day we return all the wrongs we have committed to rights. Isabella will be the first to join our brethren, but she will not be the last. Think of the gift we have been given. At last we have the solution to a peaceful existence.” He caught Jacob’s gaze and held it intently. “Jacob and Isabella will be the gateway leading us to that future. They will guide us to the Druids we so desperately need. Jacob’s blessing has unlocked the future for us all.”
If it could have been, the silence in response was even heavier than that of earlier. Jacob swallowed thickly, looking away from Noah as gratitude swam through him. The King had just made a statement that would change the way the Enforcer was viewed for all time.
Enforcers, Jacob corrected himself.
Enforcers.
Isabella threw her head back, releasing a spray of perspiration from her brow. She was drawing in large amounts of air, her body crouching down low to the ground as she caught a telltale movement in her adversary’s posture. A moment later, Elijah turned to air and rushed at her violently.
“No fair, you cheating bastard!” she shouted, taking two steps and springing into his attack, diving through the force of his approach as she might dive into water, completely streamlining her small body and allowing him to pass over her without buffeting her in the slightest. She hit the ground in a somersault, rolling up onto her feet with a triumphant cry.
Elijah materialized instantly, his laughter coming a moment earlier than his solidification.
“Damn me, Jacob, but she thinks fast!”
Isabella was jumping up and down, laughing and taunting Elijah. She posed, flexing her tiny biceps as if she were as powerful in shape and musculature as the warrior was.
“Super Druid wins again!”
Jacob was chuckling at her antics, giving Elijah a shrug that asked the warrior what else he might expect from the mate of the Enforcer. Isabella loped across the lawn and sprang into Jacob’s waiting arms, her arms winding around his neck as her legs kicked up into his cradling embrace.
“Tell him to stop cheating!” she demanded, kissing him until he was too breathless to do anything but obey.
“Stop cheating,” he commanded the warrior before he caught her flighty mouth tightly onto his.
“Oh, brother. Get a room,” Elijah barked dryly. “Are we going to train, or are you two going to have public sex?”
Jacob laughed and dropped his eager burden back onto her feet. “When her dampening power kicks in, you are not going to be able to use yours, and neither will anyone else. That’s why what she needs to learn is better hand-to-hand combat.”
“And diplomacy,” she reminded Jacob quickly. “I’m only going to fight if I absolutely have to.”
“That is exactly how I approach it,” Jacob agreed.
“Just remember, Isabella, fun and games with me and Jacob is one thing. Being forced to cause harm to someone else is a very difficult position to be in.”
“Don’t patronize me,” Isabella snapped suddenly, all humor instantly dismissed as her hands went to her hips and her eyes flashed with indignant irritation. “Or do I have to break your nose again to remind you how, in the moment, I can be very serious about hurting someone else?”
Damn, but she knows how to go straight for a man’s ego, Jacob thought with amazement as the warrior flinched visibly. It wouldn’t surprise him if her ability to ferret out an adversary’s mental weakness wouldn’t end up being one of her best talents.
“All right, that is enough training for one day,” Jacob announced, circling her hips with an arm and drawing her close to his side.
“Jacob, you promised you’d take me on patrol with you soon. I want to learn how to track properly. I want to watch you work.”
“Not yet, little flower.”
“When?” she demanded.
“Soon,” he promised.
“You don’t want me to go with you,” she stated suddenly.
Damn this mental connection anyway, Jacob thought irritably.
“It is not that exactly…” he started cautiously.
“It’s exactly that,” she insisted.
Uh-oh, there go the fists on her hips, Jacob thought wryly.
“You’re damn right I’m getting my back up,” she responded sharply, making him curse the errant thought. “You don’t trust me.”
“That is absolutely wrong. Our communication mentally is not perfect as of yet, Bella, so do not think you are reading that right. It is not that I do not trust you, it is just that…I am afraid that if I should happen to be threatened, you would not keep a safe distance no matter how much you promised otherwise and you would jump into the fray without any regard for your own safety. Until you have the natural protection you are intended to have for these types of encounters, I will not risk your safety.”
“Jacob.” Her eyes narrowed on him and he read her impending words from her thoughts before they passed her lips on the way to his ego.
“And do not bring up the fact that you have already done battle twice for my benefit if you want to make it through the night without a bruised backside,” he warned.
Isabella’s temper subsided as she realized what a low blow that would’ve been, especially knowing how hard Jacob had been on himself as it was. She lowered her eyes, glancing to the right to see if Elijah had made a discreet exit. Of course he hadn’t, the big oaf. He was standing there hanging on the entire exchange with far too much amusement in his eyes. For once she wished she were the one who could turn them to dust and spirit them away to a quiet place.
No sooner had the th
ought crossed her mind than that eerie lightness washed through her. She looked up at Jacob, smiling that he’d so thoughtfully anticipated her need.
But the look on Jacob’s face was one of total shock. Suddenly they shot back into their solid forms and Isabella staggered under the clumsy return of her weight. That was so unlike Jacob. Usually these transitions went quite smoothly.
“It was not me,” he said hoarsely.
His dark eyes were wide with unease. He was pushing away from her, spreading out his arms until he was literally touching the surrounding energy. She recognized him extending his senses in a wide blanket, riding the currents of nature, testing its natural rhythms and harmonies for the disturbance of an intruder. Of course, another Earth Demon could easily mask these telltale signs, but it would take an Elder to do so. He was currently one of the only three Elders with the skill, and he knew their energy signatures well enough to recognize that they weren’t there.
“Jacob?” Elijah asked, tension radiating from his huge frame in great waves.
Jacob glanced at Elijah and a second later they both transmutated into dust and wind respectively, taking to the sky with blinding speed.
Stay where you are, Jacob demanded.
What’s wrong? What’s happening, Jacob?
I do not know. Someone just tried to turn you into dust, and it sure as hell was not me.
Isabella felt the ramifications of that possibility keenly. She sat down, her knees suddenly too weak to support her. Was this what Gideon had been afraid of? Was some other Demon trying to hurt her just because of some old hostility toward a race their ancestors had so unjustly persecuted?
No, Bella, this is something else, Jacob assured her gently. I think it is safe to say that my people have become very accepting of you, and the ramifications you represent, these past days.
Then who…?
That is what I am trying to figure out. Do you think you can safely reach Noah?
Yes. Of course. It’s only across the lawn, Jacob.
Believe me, when it comes to powers such as this, little flower, across the lawn might as well be across the world. Go. Go quickly. He will protect you.
Isabella wasted no time. She stood up and broke into a flat run. Her new strength had turned her into an incredible sprinter and she crossed the acre of lawn to Noah’s home in the span of half a minute.
Noah looked up from the discussion over a scroll he was having with two of his scholars when she burst through the door, flushed and breathless. He didn’t need to have Jacob’s connection with her to know something had rattled her. She looked terribly frightened, an expression he’d never seen on her before.
Even when she had thought Jacob might bleed to death, she’d only shown anger and determination to stop it. This was honest terror in her eyes, and out of instinct Noah’s protective magic flared into existence. His house was made from stone and steel along the outside for a reason. It was so nothing could melt when he heated up the outer walls with violent speed as he was doing just then. Anything that touched them would singe itself badly just by nearing the outside of the structure.
“Tell me,” he commanded of the little Enforcer.
She did, spilling out everything that had happened in those brief moments. Noah suddenly didn’t blame her for her fear. To have some unknown source picking apart the very molecules of her body had to be incredibly disconcerting for her.
“Fetch Legna, Isabella. She should be in her room. Do not worry. You will be safe here with us.”
After she hurried off, Noah nodded to the two scholars curtly. The one on his left, of the Body, sat down abruptly, and in a second his astral self launched out of his body. The Mind Demon on his right closed his eyes and disappeared with a soft sucking of displaced air. Noah was proud of how quickly the scholars jumped to obey the task he had set upon every Demon to protect the Druid amongst them.
Isabella wasn’t entering a traditional role of Enforcer, with all the apprehension and hostility it came with. His people were practical if nothing else. She represented a change in the one thing they feared the most. The madness of the Hallowed moons, and the insulting punishment that followed, could be a thing of the past. This was a powerful motivator for his people when it came to welcoming the little hybrid into the fold.
Once Isabella returned with Legna, brother and sister took seats opposite one another and slowly began to erect further protections around Noah’s stronghold, working in a fluid, tandem dance of one-word instructions. Legna opened herself to the thoughts and intentions of everything within a mile. Noah set up a perimeter of energy-draining force. Legna circled that perimeter with one of dread. Anyone crossing this barrier would be overcome with the urge to run away.
Isabella felt all the hairs on her body tingling as power filled the room. She rubbed at her arms, chilled in spite of the heat Noah was radiating. Legna’s upper lip misted with perspiration, very likely because of her proximity to her brother—or perhaps because she was concentrating so hard, extending herself to the very edges of her ability.
Just to protect her.
Isabella was humbled by the thought. She instinctively moved closer to her protectors, her chilled skin welcoming Noah’s ambient heat.
Suddenly, the world flared into her awareness. Isabella’s brain was bombarded by a thousand feelings and instincts that weren’t her own, each rocketing through her with furious speed. She felt the fear of dozens of animals as the tension in the surrounding area sent them running. She felt arguments, lovemaking, humor, and reverence from people living not too far away, the clamor forcing her to cover her ears in an effort to protect them from the cacophony of emotions. She sensed Jacob’s tension, Elijah’s outrage. In a moment she discovered the giant warrior Demon had grown fond of her despite everything he showed otherwise to taunt her.
Overwhelmed, Isabella sat down hard on the marble floor, her eyes wide and staring blankly as she tried to push it all away. Self-preservation flared violently to life in her…
…and then out of her.
A conflagration of flames burst to life all around her, radiating outward in a rapid circular wave of which she was the central focus. Legna screamed. Noah shouted.
And then everything stopped.
CHAPTER TEN
From their patrolling position in the sky, Jacob and Elijah felt the eddy of a tremendous blast of heat. They both solidified, whirling around to seek the source. They were horrified to see a circle of flames bursting out of Noah’s home, racing across the lawn, and scorching it instantly to the soil.
Both Demons reacted in an instant. Jacob stretched out his arms and walls of earth shot up to meet the advancing fires. Elijah reached upward to the clouds, and as if throwing a spear, tossed a force of incredible wind at the back of the firewall to make sure it kept going in its present direction, and subsequently its demise, instead of possibly doubling back. The earth closed over the flames, dousing them instantly as it deprived them of oxygen. For good measure, Elijah stirred up a heavy rainfall, dampening everything in a matter of moments.
A heartbeat later they were soaring for Noah’s home at top speed.
Jacob noticed immediately that there were no safeguards protecting the home. He knew that if Isabella had begged Noah for shelter and protection it should have been nearly impossible for him to approach. He sought his connection with Isabella, fear clutching at his throat. He’d felt a powerful burst of terror from her a moment before the explosion. But now there was nothing but vacant silence where her warm thoughts should be.
Elijah and Jacob shot through the high windows as arrows of dust and wind, becoming solid again in half a millisecond as they touched the ground.
Horrified, Jacob realized that every last surface in the Great Hall had been scorched black.
And in the center of the blackness lay three bodies.
“Bella!” Jacob yelled, stumbling and skidding over the blackened marble in his haste to gather her unconscious form up in his arms. Through e
yes blinded by moist terror, he began to assess her for damage. She was raw and blistered, clearly burned as if she’d been in the sun for hours. Her hair was singed and her clothes melted to her skin, the scent of both choking her mate with outrage.
“It’s Noah and Legna!” Elijah knelt beside the King and his sister. They were barely recognizable, their skin and clothes burnt nearly black, Legna’s beautiful hair long gone. Jacob looked up from his burden, seeing tears shimmering in Elijah’s eyes as he gingerly felt for a pulse in the throat of his monarch.
“Impossible,” Jacob said hoarsely. “Noah is immune to fire!”
“We need Gideon. Now!”
Jacob watched as Elijah stood up, his fists clenching, his consciousness reaching out with the most incredible display of power Jacob had ever seen the other Demon use.
Gideon sensed the disturbance approaching seconds before it struck with wailing hurricane force at the windows of his home. He put aside the book he had been reading and stood up, cocking his head thoughtfully. He was being summoned, and by the power of it he suspected he knew by whom. His brow furrowed at the peculiar prospect, but he wasted no time in opening his door and stepping out into the maelstrom of wind. A moment later he was transformed into a part of it and was hurtling through the atmosphere.
Ashes stirred up in a wild fog of remnants of destruction as Elijah dragged Gideon into the room with incredible force, rematerializing him in a heartbeat. The minute the Ancient Demon was solid, Elijah staggered backward and dropped weakly to the floor. It had taken every ounce of his strength to perform such an incredible feat from such a distance.
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