Jacob (29 page)

“Elijah, hush,” Legna admonished. “It is their joining. Let them be.”

Legna moved to snuggle up against her brother, allowing him to keep her warm as the three of them awaited the bride and her groom.

“
Jacob
! I swear if you don’t put me down this very instant I’m going to marry someone else!”

Isabella’s voice carried shrilly through the night, half annoyed, half laughing. The three waiting at the altar turned in unison to see the couple break from the tree line. Jacob had indeed carried his bride out of the woods, but he’d done so by slinging her over a shoulder, leaving her backside displayed prominently.

Elijah choked on a laugh and Legna released a horrified gasp. Noah reached to stay her from moving.

“Let it be, Legna. What did you expect from the two of them?”

Serves you right, you little tease.

Jacob, please! You’re embarrassing me!

And having me walk out of the woods in a state of arousal would not have embarrassed me?

I said I was sorry!

Was that before or after the mental striptease you sent me?

Isabella sighed with exasperation, and then giggled.

“You know, Emily Post is having heart failure right about now.”

“Good, then that makes two of us.”

Jacob approached the amused gathering standing at the outdoor altar made of a huge tree stump. With a shrug of his shoulder, he set his bride onto her feet. Isabella turned to face them, pushing back her flyaway hair, acting for all she was worth as if she’d just arrived in a limo.

“Isabella, Jacob, stand before the altar,” Noah instructed, his voice impressively official in spite of the humor dancing in his eyes. The couple did so quickly, all smiles and repressed laughter. “Isabella, take Jacob’s right hand into yours.”

Isabella extended her beribboned arm, sliding her palm warmly into her mate’s.

“Now, wind the ribbons around his wrist.”

As she did so, Isabella felt Legna step up behind her and rest both hands on her shoulders, and Elijah did the same to Jacob.

“At this point I am to ask you if you gained permission from your monarch, but... I believe that would be a little foolish, considering.”

The small gathering laughed.

“The two Demons who stand behind you hold you now to indicate their support of your union. They will not release you until your joining is complete, after which you will hold and support one another for the rest of your lives.” Noah turned to Jacob. “Jacob, the Enforcer, beloved of this female, father of her future children, guardian of her heart, her soul, and her life, kneel before her to show her your acceptance of her gift of becoming your mate, your wife, the joy and center of your destiny.”

Jacob did so quickly, kneeling in the damp grass, locking his gaze with hers.

“Isabella, you are my destiny,” he said softly, bringing their joined hands to his lips.

“Rise, Jacob.” Noah turned to Isabella as Jacob obeyed. “Isabella, the Enforcer, beloved of this male, mother to his future children, guardian of his heart, his soul, and his life, kneel before him to show him your acceptance of his gift of becoming your mate, your husband, the joy and—”

Legna released a startled gasp, cutting Noah off, the unexpected sound in the quiet reverence of the moment gaining everyone’s attention.

“Legna, you’re hurting me,” Bella complained when the female Demon’s grip tightened violently.

Isabella turned to see what had disturbed her friend and found herself looking up into the Demon female’s terror-filled eyes. Legna screamed. It was a horrific sound of fright that made the little hairs on Isabella’s arms and neck stand straight up. Instinctively, Bella reached for her friend with startled distress, grasping the biceps of the female Demon’s nearest arm with her free hand.

“Legna!”

It was the first time Bella had ever heard Noah raise his voice in such a way, and the absolute fear she heard in his shout was alarming. It occurred to her in that moment that there was very little that creatures as powerful as the three men behind her could claim to be truly afraid of.

Isabella choked when she suddenly realized that Legna’s feet and lower legs were dissolving away. In that moment, she looked like some kind of wraith, a half-present woman floating above the ground. Legna screamed again, clearly in horrible agony, her clutch on the bride growing even tighter while at the same time Jacob tried to pull Isabella away by their joined hands.

Isabella rapidly realized what was happening, that there was a name to what she was seeing, and all the ramifications beat down upon her like a million brutal fists.

“No!
No
!” she cried, hurling herself at Legna, wrapping her free arm around the Demon’s increasingly fading body.

“Bella! Let go of her!” Jacob shouted.

But because of Isabella’s strength, her very presence, none of them had the power to stop her.

“Don’t go, Legna! Fight it! Don’t let them take you!” Bella cried, tears pouring down her pale, cold cheeks as Legna’s screams began to come back to back, each more bloodcurdling than the last.

All of a sudden, Isabella was awash with pain, the most breathtaking agony she had ever known.

A bright burst of orange light struck her like an atomic shock wave, blowing her body to pieces, right down to her last molecule.

“Bella!” Jacob bellowed, all of his utter joy converted into a sudden, paralyzing agony. He fell to his knees, grasping at the earth that still held the impression of where she had stood only a heartbeat ago. His fingers clawed relentlessly through the grass and loam of the sacred place. He roared out, his cry like that of a wild and tortured animal, the impossible weight of his grief echoing into the cold and the dark until all the woods ran from leaf to root with the sound. He wrenched his body aside, his fists slamming into the altar, a sharp crack resounding into the night as the wood split.

“Jacob... ”

Jacob swung his arm out, striking Elijah’s hands violently away from him when he moved to touch him.

“How?” he demanded viciously of no one in particular, his eyes wide and savage, but clearly seeing nothing—nothing but the pain and fear on Isabella’s face the moment she had been torn away from him. “She is not Demon! She cannot be Summoned! Who would even know to do so, would know her value?”

No one could answer him.

Elijah started in surprise and stumbled off balance when the earth beneath his feet rumbled and rolled, billowing like a shaken blanket. The warrior grabbed the Enforcer.

“Jacob! Stop it!”

The Enforcer looked up at the Wind Demon blankly. The ground between Elijah’s feet split apart. The warrior took to the air in reflex. He glanced down and saw steam burst from the ground. A moment later the ooze of superheated molten rock began to seep from the multitude of small fissures that had opened around them.

That was when Elijah realized he was reprimanding the wrong Demon.

He reached toward the sky, grasping at the heavens until clouds coalesced and exploded. Rain burst from their underbellies, drenching the magma that was trying to escape the depths to which it should have remained confined. The area exploded in steam as Elijah shot to the ground, landing behind his monarch.

Noah was standing with his feet braced hard apart and his hands clenched into fists so tight that blood was dripping from the cut of his own fingernails. Elijah could see the Demon was trembling hard, but it had nothing to do with the rumblings of the earth beneath their feet.

Elijah was at a loss for all of a heartbeat but then reached to grab the King by the arm and jerked him hard to get his attention.

“Time,” he spat harshly. “Jacob. Noah. Time is of the essence. We three are the only ones who have a hope of correcting this. It will take all of our combined efforts, and it will need to start now. This very moment. There are no moments to waste on pain or rage or anything else, no matter how justified!”

Jacob dragged himself up to his feet, feeling as if his heart had been sucked into the same vortex that had stolen his Isabella. He flicked a cold gaze up to Elijah and the King. He saw in Noah’s hollow gaze the very same thing he was thinking.
Time is nothing
. No Demon, not
one
, had ever been saved from a Summoning intact. But Bella was not Demon, and Legna... none of them could ever give up Legna without a fight.

The trembling ground finally gave way to quiet, settling into peace, only crusted stripes of steaming rock left to pay reminder to Noah’s outrage. The Demon King took a deep breath, as if cleansing himself of his wrath with oxygen.

“Four, Elijah,” he corrected hoarsely. “We four. Go to Gideon and demand he come here this very instant.” Noah’s voice was completely unrecognizable, and Elijah could tell he was on some sort of autopilot. However, it was enough that the King was moving into action. “When we find her”—Noah looked into the eyes of his Enforcer, his cheek twitching with the clench of his jaw—“you better remember exactly who you are and what your duty is, Enforcer. If she suffers for even one second—”

“She will not suffer,” Jacob swore, his voice reflecting the ice in his veins. “I would never fail your trust in me.”

Then the Enforcer turned that rough, chilled voice to the Warrior Captain.

“Fetch Gideon. Now.”

Elijah knew the hunter in the Enforcer when he saw it, felt it surging forward, and knew that whoever had stolen Jacob’s bride was going to pay in violent, primal ways for their heartless transgressions. As for Legna... seasoned warrior such as he was, even Elijah would not contemplate that question until the reckoning of it was forced on him.

Elijah became part of the wind a fraction of a second after that thought. Jacob flicked cold, merciless eyes back to the King.

“There is hope. If Bella is with her, if she survived this magic... ” Jacob had to pause and shake off the surge of rage that came with the obliterating concept that she might not have. “So long as there is breath in Bella, there is hope. She will do anything she can to protect Legna.”

“And if there is no hope?” Noah asked with a stoicism that still seethed as the earth had moments ago. “Will your bride stand by and allow my baby sister to... ” Noah closed his eyes, his teeth clenching with a rage that made him shake and breathe with violence enough to spew fire. “Will one so green, so soft in sensibilities, ever find it within herself to give peace to Legna if we cannot reach her? Will I find my sister a monster, rushing to murder and fornicate at her every demented whim? I have protected, cared for, and nurtured Legna from the day my mother died when she was not five years old,” Noah said in a voice that must have been raked over the coals of hell. “You will forgive me if I do not trust one so callow with so precious a task. I will not stand by and allow this.”

“I swear to you, Noah, I will not allow it either. And you must trust Bella. The softness you see hides a fierce little warrior and a moral code to rival mine. Rest easy in that.”

“I will rest easy when Legna is safe. Safe from her captors... or safe from herself.”

“I know. And I will rest easy when I am wed.”

“Do everything in your power to provide me with the one, Enforcer, and I will do everything in mine to provide you with the other.”

Jacob extended his hand and Noah clasped it to seal the oath, neither realizing that Noah’s touch was swiftly burning away the torn ribbons draping over Jacob’s palm.

Then in a blink, she hit the ground hard, knocking the breath from her body and sending a shower of stars across her vision.

“Holy cow, two for the price of one!” a distant male voice exclaimed.

“That’s impossible,” a second man returned.

“Well, you see it, don’t you? So I guess it isn’t all that impossible after all.”

“You! Demon! What is the meaning of this?”

There was a long, soft, gurgling hiss and then, in a horrific voice Isabella had heard once before, it responded.

“It is... unprecedented, my master. But you have two. Two. Am I to be rewarded? Set me free, my master.”

“No, Demon. I’m not satisfied yet.” The speaker’s voice changed, becoming soft, hypnotic. “But I promise you that as soon as my experiments are complete, I’ll set you free.”

Bella blinked her eyes halfway open, blinding herself with the enormous amounts of light that shone around her. The room was full of that eerie blue light she’d first seen in the warehouse after meeting Jacob. She sat up slowly, expecting every bone in her body to shatter under the motion. But after a quick internal assessment, she realized she was little more than bruised. Squinting against the light, she looked around herself.

She was lying in the center of a huge pentagram that had been chalked onto wooden floorboards. The blue light was quickly fading, allowing her sight to improve, and she saw Legna’s crumpled form lying less than a foot away from her feet.

Everything suddenly rushed in on her and she remembered what had happened and understood exactly where she was. But how had this happened? She wasn’t a Demon. From what she’d been told, when a Demon was Summoned, it caused no danger to anyone in the immediate vicinity; a Summoning was quite specific and limited to the power source connected with the name used in the imprisoning act.

So then how had she been caught up in it?

She realized the how and why could wait to be answered later. She turned onto her hands and knees and slid over to Legna. When she touched the other woman’s cheek, it felt as though she were burning up with fever. What had Jacob said about a Summoning? Had he ever mentioned how much time it actually took for a transformation to take permanent hold?
Oh, why didn’t I pay better attention?
How is it she had never found a book on the subject of Summoning, what with all the books and scrolls and prophecies and laws she’d consumed?

“Look, that one is awake.”

“They’re females. I didn’t think there were females.”

“Have you never heard of a succubus? Of course these creatures of hell have both sexes. Look at how beautiful they make themselves. Who wouldn’t be tempted by that?”

Isabella finally looked up to see the faces of the people who were talking. There were two men standing relatively close to the pentagram in which she lay and a male and female seated on a table not too much farther away.

That was when she noticed the smell.

It was an awful stench, like burnt animal hair, gasoline, and rotten eggs combined. She felt her stomach turn over and her mouth water with nausea. She pressed her sleeve to her mouth and nose, hoping it would ease the disgusting odor.

“That one is a small one,” the female laughed. “I think you should throw it back.”

The men chuckled over her humor. The tallest one moved closer to the edge of the pentagram, crouching down on his haunches so he was eye level with Bella.

“What do you think, spawn? Should we throw you back?”

Isabella did not respond. Instead she moved to take Legna’s torso into her lap, trying to make her unconscious friend as comfortable as she could, cradling her head to her breast protectively.

“Aww. How sweet. I think it actually cares for its friend.”

“Give it up, Ingrid. In a few hours these two will look just as ugly and slobbery as the others. Then they will be spitting out names to save their own necks like this one does. These monsters don’t know a thing about loyalty.”

Isabella’s eyes followed the careless hand gesture the tall necromancer made, and for the first time she noticed there was a second pentagram in the room, and in its center sat a completely Transformed Demon, looking exactly as Saul had before his death.

“You know, Kyle, I think that little one is stronger than she looks. It took hours before the male woke up initially. The other female’s out cold, yet she’s already conscious.”

“You have a point,” Kyle remarked. He picked up something off the floor and threw it at Isabella’s head. She couldn’t do anything more than duck with Legna burdening her lap. The object glanced off her shoulder. She recovered and glared at her captors.

“You made it mad,” Ingrid chortled, grabbing her sides as she rocked with laughter.

“Aww, did I make you mad, little spawn?” Kyle taunted.

“I don’t think it talks,” remarked the more rotund necromancer who was seated next to the sorceress.

“I’m sure it does, it’s just being stubborn. Isn’t that right, spawn? Demon bitch?” Kyle grinned evilly at Isabella. “You want out, don’t you, little spawn? If you behave, I’ll let you go real soon. Come on. Say something. I know you want to.”

Isabella just turned her head away, fighting back the sting of angry tears. She was fairly certain she was in no immediate danger, but Legna’s life might hang on what she was able to accomplish in these next crucial minutes. She tried to calm her thoughts, tried to seek Jacob’s mind, but he was mute to her. She had no idea how far they’d been transported, and she imagined the room was blanketed with spells to prevent her from calling for help.

But then again, she mused, if her dampening ability worked as Gideon claimed it would, she should be able to neutralize any magic. Still, it was a hidden card and she kept quiet and still as she tried to figure out how best to bet on her particular ace. She glanced at the chalk drawings beneath and around her. They were meant to hold a Demon. Would they hold a Druid? Or maybe she had disarmed them by her mere presence.

Her four captors were too busy being cocky and self-righteous. They likely would have never considered the possibility of the captives breaking such a foolproof power symbol. She glanced at the other Demon, who was at present chewing off one of the claws on its foot. Why should they doubt the pentagram? It apparently had been working quite well with this other Demon.

Oh, Jacob, where are you? I don’t know if I’m ready to do this all by myself.

But she might have to, she realized as nothing but silence answered her. She couldn’t allow Legna to be their next victim. But it wasn’t just a matter of escape. She had to see to it that all of those who could possibly know Legna’s true name could never use it against her again. That would mean not only destroying the necromancers, but also destroying the perverted Demon who’d sacrificed Legna, revealing her name for the hope of freedom.

Isabella began to rock her burden softly, more for her own comfort than anything. She tried to think as clearly as she could, considering as many options and possibilities as she could. If indeed her dampening power was affecting her prison, it could just as easily affect her captors. However, she would be discovered if one came too close and became aware of something being amiss before she was ready to act.

Physically speaking, none of them presented an obvious challenge. In actuality, the group looked a lot like a collection of geeks. They sort of reminded her of the high school chess club. It was clear they were smart, probably extraordinarily so in order to become users of complex magics. Isabella realized she could sense other things about them, no doubt because she was still siphoning from Legna.

They were full of a strange false confidence. They knew they were powerful, knew they were smart, and knew they were doing incredible things, but in the end it didn’t change the deep-seated feelings of inadequacy they were trying to push aside. Isabella knew that feeling. She had been considered less than acceptable herself in her school days. But unlike the four before her, she had realized that none of that adolescent behavior counted out in the real world. She’d left those feelings behind the day she’d graduated into a world that praised intelligence and creativity and scrabbled to snap it up.

The four were trapped in their school mentality, although none of them could be a day less than thirty years old. It was no wonder they had turned to such a despicable crusade, with all its horrific consequences. It gave them a chance to be the bullies for a change, to set a group of creatures below themselves.

Isabella absorbed all this quietly, filing it away in an accessible place. She had a feeling it might come in handy.

The one called Kyle had finally moved away, having grown bored with her lack of rising to his bait. He was wearing a blue and gold cloak straight out of a Merlin fairy tale, and so were the others. Isabella had to keep herself from laughing at the theatrical absurdity of it.

“Why do you suppose we caught two?” the rotund necromancer asked.

“Maybe they have the same name. I don’t know, Rick. But you know what they say, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Santo is going to be very impressed. The more of these things we catch, the more magic he’ll share with us. I’m dying to learn that fire spell he was telling us about.”

“I want to learn the glamour spell,” the sorceress said. “I would kill to look like a supermodel and go teach some guys I know a lesson in humility.”

“You don’t need any of that. You got me now,” Rick reminded her, scooting closer to her to drape an arm over her shoulders.

Isabella turned her attention away from the exchange and looked down at Legna. She was a little pale, still out cold, but otherwise didn’t seem changed in any way. As much as it relieved Isabella, it perplexed her. Somehow she’d gotten the impression that transformation began immediately after a Summoning. But then again, she couldn’t tell if there were any internal troubles occurring in Legna. She bit her lip worriedly, closed her eyes, and once more tried to find Jacob in her thoughts.