* * *

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me."

Evabelle breathed in a smell that could never reach her from where she was as her arms tightened around a man that she wasn't truly holding. Her eyes were shut as she did her best to imagine his scent or feel his own arms that surrounded her, but it was only a dream.

Evabelle sighed and pulled back from her father's embrace. "I'm so sorry. It really does feel like it's been forever. I haven't slept well in the past few days."

Zion looked down at her, his eyes that were a reflection of her own, were like rich warm honey. "It's been quite a bit longer than a few days, I think. It's only when you want to see me that you come to find me. That's really how all of this works. You just have to choose to see or want it. You have been choosing to not see me."

Evabelle's gaze fell to her feet. Taking a few steps away from her father, she leaned against the stone balustrade of the castle. "How exactly does time work here inside my...head?"

Zion leaned beside her, not pointing out her avoidance of his words. "Well, I get a sort of sense of it. I kind of didn't really get awoken until you decided to come find me the first time. There was still a time that I was aware of, but now it's a lot clearer. Perhaps that's because your head is now clearer."

Evabelle nodded, glancing up and taking in the perpetually golden hues of the sky.

"What's happened?" Zion's voice changed very quickly.

Evabelle didn't want to bring it up, yet at the same time she knew it was the reason she had come to him. Taking a deep breath, she confessed to her father what happened to Thom, that she came up with a plan, and that that plan had ended in complete and utter catastrophe. She vented it all out (besides everything with Lucis).

"Oh, Evabelle," Zion's tone made Evabelle's eyes well up again. "Why didn't you tell me about this before? Why didn't you choose to come to me?"

Evabelle bit her lip. "I think it's because I knew you would say what Calandra was saying, what all my friends were saying really. That I was jumping the gun. I was rushing into it all before we were ready. My brother's important, and we have to get to him, but we can't do that with a stupid plan."

Evabelle got the sense of her hair being stirred as Zion ran his hand down it. "Part of being a good leader is listening to others."

It wasn't her father's words that annoyed her it was the fact that she remembered someone else saying something very familiar. "Raoul said something like that." She pulled a face.

"Who's Raoul?" Zion asked.

Evabelle briefly went over the terrible werewolf staying at the Sanctuary.

"Hmm," Zion nodded. "It sounds like he might have been an Alpha."

Evabelle blinked at him. "An Alpha? As in leader of a werewolf pack?" She shook her head. "No, he's a lone wolf. He doesn't care about anyone."

"It's the people that care the most that are the ones that get their hearts broken. Quite often they end up locking their heart away."

Evabelle flinched.

"I don't know for certain, but the way you describe him sounds like he was once a leader. He's run away from it now because it's hard, Evabelle. You must know that, now."

Evabelle nodded slowly, a nasty taste swimming on the edge of her tongue. "But he hunts other werewolves now. He's a freaking bounty hunter."

"Well, perhaps his own pack turned on him," Zion reasoned. "His hatred of his own kind might come from that.

"Being a werewolf is something I can only imagine. It's not easy to say the least. They are more primitive in many ways. Animalistic of course. Dominance is key when being an Alpha. One can rise through the ranks to become it and battle the current Alpha. It can be a very violent way of living. I've heard of a few packs who do things differently, which was something I was always intrigued by, but most do stick to a very strict code. Alpha's are dominant. They are strong and show no fear. But they have to be smart and clever. They must earn the respect of their pack, and in doing that Alpha's hold a deeper power with the individual members of their team that is quite unique. However losing that respect can break that hold and have them turning on the Alpha in one fell swoop."

Evabelle sighed. "Maybe he was an Alpha but he must have lost their respect."

"Perhaps you can earn his," Zion suggested nonchalantly.

Evabelle rolled her eyes. "I think that whole impossible task of 'beat me and I'll help you bit' was the only way to earn his respect."

"You're not listening again," Zion gave her a small smile.

Evabelle bowed her head. "Sorry, but how to I beat him? He's gigantic! And he knows what he's doing."

"That's why he would make a greater ally than you realize." Zion replied. Then he gave his daughter a side eye. "And there's more than one way to beat someone."

Evabelle stared at him for a moment, but he didn't elaborate. Instead he blinked back at her and asked, "How is everything going right now?"

Evabelle's insides squirmed. She swallowed and turned away from the sky and sat on top of the parapet instead. Even if they had been talking about stupid Raoul, it had been a sort of distraction. But now they were back. "It's been four days. Four days since we went after the Annihilators. Four days since Del fell."

"How is he?" Zion copied her again and sat next to her.

Evabelle looked up without seeing. "Well, a few elves showed up and were able to work some magic on him. He's resting easier now, but he hasn't woken up. He's connected to an IV. We take care of him. We all take turns sitting by his bed just to watch and make sure everything is going well, but it just makes me sick to see him like this. The elves have done the best they could, but even they said it wasn't for sure." Evabelle hid her face in her hands. "I wasn't lying when I said I haven't slept well in the past few days. I'm pretty sure I'm not even in bed right now. I think I just fell asleep somewhere in the library."

Again that faint whisper of a touch through the dreams constraints made its way down her back.

"Eva, I know this is the last thing you want to hear, but even with a good plan people will die. This is a war."

Evabelle shot up. "But Del can't die!"

"I pray that he doesn't. I just want you to understand that you can't blame yourself for the casualties that this war will bring. You've allied yourself with the elves and I'm sure you plan to build up your army. Not all of those allies, and maybe even some of your closer friends will not make it."

Evabelle closed her eyes and then opened them slowly. "But you blame yourself for mom's death. You blamed yourself for leaving me on my own, so you ended up leaving your soul behind to help me."

Zion's eyes shimmered. "I cannot deny that."

Evabelle shook her head. "I often let blaming myself be what ended up me feeling sorry for myself and then not doing anything about it, letting misery delve me into an eternal gulf a my own misery. But I'm not letting myself do that anymore. I'm doing all I can to come up with another plan, one that will succeed, and insure that we are more prepared. I can't focus so much on what I've messed up, I have to push forward."

Lucis's face haunted her mind for a moment. "You call this moving forward?"

Evabelle tossed it away. No more Lucis.

Zion's smile stretched up his face, lighting up his golden irises. "You truly have become a spectacular young woman. There is a queen in you, my Eva."

Evabelle actually smiled back, surprising herself but then it faltered. "Um, Dad? You said that I have to choose to come see you and that that's how it all worked in here, right? Well, does that include memories? And my...wings?"

That had been another thing she had side-stepped around when telling her tale.

Zion raised an eyebrow. "Yes, memories come when you look for them, when you want to find them as well. Your wings, I assumed would come when the spell around your power was first broken. I was actually surprised you didn't have them already."

Evabelle gaped at him. "What? I thought I had to earn them!"

Zion tapped his chin. "Perhaps. You see the spell that I had Kayne do on you was an old spell that had apparently been done hundreds of years ago, but we didn't have all the information. From what I understood, your wings would come at your desire. What you explained to me made it clear to me your own fear and self-doubt prevented you from getting them, but when you started talking to me and remembering your dreams, I sincerely thought for sure they would come since you'd finally accepted this."

Evabelle reached around to her shoulder-blade, flashing back to the sudden bout of pain and the strange blurred image. It scared her the more she thought about it.

"Evabelle," Zion's voice cut into her thoughts. "Is there a reason you might not want your wings?"

Evabelle's eyes widened. "What? No! Of course I want them!"

"If you feel it is a matter of earning the right, have you not proved that to yourself? You have done so much."

Evabelle shook her head, her eyes threatening another embarrassing batch of water works. "I don't know! I don't know why I don't have them!" If she did, she could do something. Maybe she really would be able to save the angels. She knew that truly was the way, but her father's word stirred something in her. Did she even want them? It was such a strange question, one that should not even exist. Evabelle loved flying, she understood that with that with her full power she'd have an upper-hand, at least a far better chance. Jovis would open to them. They could actually align with those who were to be her people.

But something far and distant was ringing something in her mind. It was dark. It was fear. It was pain. It made absolutely zero sense, but that sickening terror was there.

Evabelle pushed herself off of the rampart and walked along the wall toward the door.

"Evabelle?" Her father called after her.

"I'm sorry!" Evabelle responded without turning. "I can't sleep right now. I have to find a way to get my brother back!"

Evabelle opened the door that lead down to the room that she always came to, to find Zion and stepped onto the stair. But the stair was gone. Instead Evabelle stepped off into a lightless hole. She screamed as she plummeted toward the unknown. This had never happened before. She flailed about in the darkness, trying to find something to catch onto. Her spine lit up again, her entire back shrieking in agony. Wings! My wings! But no great appendages burst from her back. She continued to fall. I don't have my wings!

Evabelle jerked awake so badly that she tore the page of the book she'd had open and had been using as a pillow. Her heart hammered for a moment as she steadied her breathing. She wasn't falling. She was safe....And she didn't have her wings.

Evabelle blinked and took in her surrounding, finding she was in the spiraling library just like she'd thought. She was sitting at her table that was covered in books, open and closed. Ranging through anything from locator and tracker spells, to an array of healing methods. Peering over the book she'd been reading before she'd fallen asleep, she saw the familiar words going over the laws of spell-breaking, primarily over the basis of familiars.

The rip wasn't too bad, but Calandra was still going to kill her. As much as possible, she'd been avoiding the mage for the past few days. She'd really been generally avoiding everyone. Primarily Lucis, Calandra, and Faux. But Evabelle was having a hard time facing anyone. No one questioned her. Faux had apparently remained silent about whatever he had overheard. Luckily, he didn't try to go after Evabelle to talk to her about it either.

The past four days, Evabelle had generally found herself training and reading. Her mind was a whirling tornado of thoughts, running through potential plans that never had enough to actually go through with.

She hated when it was her turn to sit by Del's side, where she felt that familiar feeling of uselessness set in. To see him lying there unmoving and vulnerable made Evabelle feel sick. He was doing better, but still none of the occupants of the Sanctuary had slept well at all over the stress and worry.

Everything was colliding down on Evabelle as she now stared around her chaos of a table that held all the books with no answers.

"Princess Evabelle,"

She glanced up and saw the elf, Baldwyn standing across the table from her. He was the high commander of the elves' army. He was the one that had come to help them escape from the traitor elves in the cave. Apparently, he'd been the first one to come when he had heard what had happened.

Long dark, purple, blue hair was weaved back from his marble face. Eyes, an eerie yellow-green glowed like fireflies, even now during the day. He was a rather beautiful man, elegant, but a bit broader and better toned that the other elves. Considering, he was one of the only ones who didn't dislike combat, it made sense. But he did seem more unique than the other elves. He wasn't like the others in a way Evabelle couldn't quite put into words.

He held a cold, harsh air about him, but Evabelle knew there was a softness to him. He had been the first to jump right in, when he heard their situation. He had been the one to give Kai blood after the whole ordeal. And he was also the one that had remained behind, while the others returned to the Spiral.

Evabelle glanced down at Baldwyn's throat and saw that the bandage was gone, and there was not even a trace of the bite mark. Elves healed fast naturally. So it really did make sense why Gem had always been the one to make sure Kai had blood.

Baldwyn's gaze swept over the haphazard desk with books open to random pages or stacked precariously on top of one another. "You asked to see me,"

Evabelle nodded and tried to smooth her hair back from her face and wipe any remnants of drool from her mouth. This was not how she wanted to meet with the Commander. This was embarrassing!

"Yes, I'm so sorry for the mess. Please sit. Could you tell me how Del is doing right now?"

Baldwyn pulled back a chair and sat. "Not much has changed. He is gaining strength. He still had the fever and has not awoken, but I believe you know this. What is the true reason you wished to discuss with me?"

Evabelle swallowed and again tried to push her fluffy hair out of her face. " I just wanted to hear how everything was going back at the Isles. A sort of general report. Are people joining the cause?"

Baldwyn leaned forward. "It has not been long since you formed the alliance with us. It is one that will still take some time. There are a few who have recruited, but most are still very wary to this. Unfortunately, this incident will not help your case."

Evabelle nodded as lead bricks dropped into her stomach. "Of course," She paused and lowered her voice. "How is everything going with Kai? How is everyone adjusting to him?"

Those unnatural eyes flickered. "No one has spoken up, but there is no doubt a deep tension over all the Isles. Kai will be a great ruler over the people, but no one can look past what he is."

Evabelle gave Baldwyn a small smile. "You believe in him."

Baldwyn nodded, solemnly. "He was the one who always believed in me. He is a great man."

Evabelle tilted her head to the side, a thought occurring to her. "Were you the one who cut Kai's hair?" It came out before she could stop it.

Baldwyn's stoic expression cracked. Much like at the ceremony where he had trouble staying impassive when giving Kai his candle, he now struggle to remain composed, but his pallid cheeks, tinged pink. "I did not know it was him. Either way it was not right, but I have loathed the vampires ever since they took him away from me. So I took my anger out on what I believed to be some common fallen elf. It was wrong and I will forever regret my actions."

Evabelle stared at him. His words had tumbled out clumsily, but held a hard passion in them. "You and Kai were close, weren't you?"

The corner of Baldwyn's lips twitched, and Evabelle saw in wonder, a flash of an entirely different person than what she had come to know of this man. It held a spark of playful mischief. It was that of a man with a light heart and a desire for fun. But it was so quick that Evabelle might have just imagined it.

"Kai was my best friend in the entire world."

"And that girl, Saya, I'm guessing she was close to you two as well?" Evabelle asked. "I don't know, but she defended him back at the dance."

Baldwyn nodded. His eyes were dancing. "Absolutely. Saya was the family that Kai ended up staying with. I was Saya's neighbor and the three of us became the inseparable three. Eventually though, the two of them grew closer and they became lovers. I, perhaps was what you call a third-wheel, but I never minded. We all were there for one another. We all loved each other."

"The three amigos," Evabelle grinned. Truly enjoying the serious man, coming out of his stiff demeanor as his voice and actions became more expressive as he went on. She much preferred this distraction.

Evabelle cleared her throat. "I was curious why didn't she come?"

Baldwyn sat back. "I am not sure. There might be a bit of a lover's quarrel between Kai and Say at the moment. She was furious when she found out he was alive."

"I'd think she'd be relieved." Evabelle said.

"Both." Baldwyn replied. "I was both too. I was so angry that he believed that we would hate him now, that he didn't trust us. Although..." Baldwyn looked down, scratching the back of his neck. He was thinking of the way he'd sheared off Kai's hair.

"He's the same with us." Evabelle rubbed her arms. "He hates himself so much that he cannot understand why we do not. It breaks our hears too. I really hope that you and Saya can help him with that. Gem has really been the only thing keeping him holding on at all."

Baldwyn sighed. "Yes, little Gem. She is truly a strong, enduring child."

"How is she?" Evabelle asked.

"She is doing well," Baldwyn's smile returned. "That girl is an eternal light. I was quite saddened to hear of her blindness. She was an artist before, taking a great love for bright, unduly colors. But now that her eyes no longer see them, her love and light never waver. No matter what pushes her down, she finds her way back up."

Evabelle mirrored his expression, even if a part of her hurt at the thought of sweet little Gem having her colors taken away from her. She really did miss that little girl.

As if the creature knew they were talking about Gem, Jewels the cat, leapt up onto the table, landing on one of the open books about medicine. She gave a little murrow.

Baldwyn chuckled and brought his hand along the cat's spine.

"That's Jewels," Evabelle explained. "Gem apparently found her and convinced Calandra to let her keep her."

Baldwyn scratched behind Jewels's ear, causing the feline to purr. "Calandra is the woman who owns this place. She allowed Kai to stay here for all this time?"

Evabelle nodded. "Yeah, Kai really helped her in more ways than I think either really know."

"She reminds me of Saya actually. Both are very strong, beautiful women, who aren't afraid to tell you what is what." Baldwyn smirked. He withdrew his hand from Jewels and stood. "Is there anything else you need from me, Princess?"

Evabelle shook her head. "Thank you so much for everything that you said. It's good to hear that Kai has some support."

Baldwyn gave a bow.

"Actually, I was wondering how much longer you'll be staying with us." Evabelle said.

"I will stay until the Oracle awakens. Then Kai and I will be returning to the Isles. All should be well for now. Saya is taking care of things at the moment actually. She's a better fighter than most assume." He gave that little hint of that mischievous half smile again before turning away and leaving Evabelle alone in the library once more.

In the silence, Evabelle let her eyes fall back to the words on the page. As her eyes starting running over the same thing again she had a crazy urge to really start tearing out the pages. How many times had she read this very book. Front to back. She'd run through every sentence over twenty times. It held nothing.

Only a witch can break the bond between its familiar.

Perhaps they could force Etheldreda to release CJ. But how were they supposed to do that? How were they supposed to find her? If they somehow could find Etheldreda then they could find CJ and Thom. But there seemed to be no way to do that.

Evabelle slid the witch's spell-book aside and pulled over the one on mage spells. Tracking and location spells required an object belonging to the person they were trying to find. But according to Calandra, Etheldreda had done some kind of magic that severed CJ to any ties. So they couldn't go to his house and get one of his comics. And with that reasoning, it probably meant that she had done the same with Thom.

Why could witches do so much more? Evabelle knew the answer to this. Even if they all hated to admit it, witches had an advantage over mages. The demons that the witches served granted them more power, gave them abilities that they normally wouldn't have as long as they filled their demon's requirements. There was exchanges of power.

Evabelle had read about one demon that asked for all the blood in three virgins and in return, the demon granted the witch the ability to destroy a city. It was terrifying, but normally it did not go that far. That was more in a time long ago. But still the payment the demons required was always high, cruel, and manipulative. No wonder a group of the witches split off to find a way to use their own power without the hand of the demon over them.

There was another way of locating it seemed. Evabelle's eyes scanned over the paragraph a few times, trying to construct something from what it was saying.

Ones mind can reach another at the cost of deeper prying. It is not in the way of the mage since our law dictates freedom, rights, including privacy. One may only use it to converse to those desiring entrance to ones Sanctuary. You will see the surface thoughts and know the whereabouts. Doing it outside of these constructs could result in accordant punishment.

It's like it had been directly translated from another language. But still, Evabelle was able to get the gist. It sounded like you could maybe use telekinesis to find someone, potentially. But it did seemed to be frowned upon unless they were coming and desiring refuge in the sanctuary.

Jewels, who had curled up on top of one of the books in front of Evabelle and had fallen asleep, perked up. Her pointed ears pricked and she lifted her head, diverting Evabelle's attention. She twisted her head around to stare at what Jewels was staring at.

The sun from outside shone bright in Evabelle's eyes though a great glass window that should not be there, considering the library was the center room of the house. It was surrounded by other rooms and halls that were along the outside. You just had to love the way magic flipped off the laws of physics.

But it was not the sun that had caught the cat's eye. Evabelle squinted and saw someone coming down around a shelf. Curly red her, a bit of a rounder frame, and a million freckles identified the stranger as Max, the youngest mage from Shaundee's crew. A few books were tucked under his arm as he strolled forward, coming up short when he saw Evabelle. He took a step back. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

Evabelle waved him over. "Don't worry about it. I wasn't really getting anywhere with this anyway."

Max walked over and hesitantly stood by her table, doing whatever he could not to stare at the disorder Evabelle had surrounded herself in, nor her directly, so he ended up moving his eyes around the shelves even though he was too far away to read any of the spines.

Evabelle chuckled. "You can sit down, Maxy,"

He gave a start and did actually look at her, though he still kept reserved. "Maxy? Your friend called me that too. It sounds like such a child's name."

Evabelle sighed with a half-hearted smile on her face. "Well, Shaundee introduced you to me that way and I'm assuming Aza probably got a similar introduction. And knowing her, she knew it would probably annoy you. She likes to tease."

Max pulled back the chair and slowly brought himself down next to Evabelle. "Well, you don't strike me as one who enjoys it the same way."

Evabelle shook her head. "No, not as much. I just did it more as an icebreaker. I wish I was more funny, though," She leaned her cheek against her palm. "So how are the mages doing?"

Max finally smiled. "Much better now. Everyone's feeling good and rested."

Evabelle smiled back. "Good, I'm so glad."

The mages unlike the rest of the those staying at the Ensign's, had had lots and lots of sleep. After keeping the oblivion pocket open for so long, they had all been seriously drained when they'd come back. While Evabelle, Lucis, Aza, Calandra, Faux, and Kai all stayed up stretching themselves out. Shaundee and her crew had collapsed into beds and Evabelle hadn't seen any of them almost at all, since then. At least some people were getting a decent recharge.

Shaundee had had the least sleep, admittedly. She'd gotten up and helped the elves with Del. She'd even contacted Patrick to see if any of his potions would help.

Max was looking better than the zombie that had returned a few hours after the Anahalians, Calandra, and Aza had gotten back. He looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, contrasting against the slumped over, raggedy-haired, bags-under-eyes Evabelle.

Max's eyes did a quick glance back over the table holding the mountains of volumes. He place his few books onto his lap.

"Are you curious about my reading preferences?" Evabelle yawned.

"No," Max said hurriedly. "Unless, of course, you're okay with me being curious."

Evabelle shrugged. "I can't stop someone from being curious."

Max seemed unsure how to take Evabelle's words. He shuffled in his seat. "Okay then," He said slowly. "What exactly are you looking at?"

Evabelle flung her free hand in the air. "Everything,"

Max glanced at Evabelle before picking up the corner of the book she had just slid aside and his eyebrows drew together. "Witch and Warlock Curses. Why are you looking at this?" His cautious tone shifted pretty quickly.

Evabelle completely slouched over the book in front of her, resting her chin on her arms. "It's a long story."

Max lowered the book as if it would blow up and spurt greasy, grimy, guts all over him. "I'm all ears." He tried to give her a smile, but it was clear he was unsettled by her choice in reading.

Something Shaundee had mentioned about Max dinged in Evabelle's brain. She pushed herself back up. "You were a warlock!"

Max dropped his gaze to the floor. "Yes, and technically all mages are born a witch or warlock they just get their mages mark when they're an infant."

"But you grew up a warlock. You know these spells." Evabelle spoke quickly. She didn't want to get too excited just yet, but it was still a chance that she could see blooming over the horizon.

Max sighed and sat down. "I know some, yes."

"What do you know about familiars?"

Max tilted his head. "Well, my mother had a raven named Sabot. He was more like our pet than anything. I liked him a lot."

Evabelle took a deep breath. "My friend, CJ is the familiar to Calandra's sister, Etheldreda. He's being used by her and I've been desperately searching for a way to set him free. But all these books tell me is that the only way to break the bond is for the witch to undo it themselves."

Max's eyes grew round. "A human familiar! That's insane. That's scary powerful."

Evabelle nodded. "Yes, I know, but please tell me you know of a way that we can break the spell on him. He doesn't deserve this."

Max sat back and rubbed his freckled chin for a moment. He shook his head and Evabelle's heart took a nose-dive. "There's no way that we can break it." He looked up at Evabelle's crestfallen face. "But there might be a way that your friend could."

Evabelle lit up once more and leaned forward. "CJ? CJ can break the bond?!"

"Or sever the leash which is what it is more commonly referred to. There's old stories about how it is possible for a familiar to free itself from its master. The whole spell of the familiars is one that was taught by demons directly. Demons could inhabit an unguarded individual and use it for their own means. They taught that method to the witches and warlocks, however some witches and warlocks were not as talented. It's very rare, but if the familiar can break through the witch's control and break both the brand on themselves and their witch, then they are freed from them forever-- for if one cannot keep control of one's familiar then they never deserved to have it in the first place." Max went over it all.

Evabelle stared, open-mouthed. "Brand," she murmured. "Wait, I remember reading about that!"

Max nodded. "Yes. The brand is a mark on both the familiar and the witch or warlock that binds the two of them. Your friend would have to break through Etheldreda's hold long enough for him to cut the mark on both himself and her."

Evabelle nodded. A new plan, one that might have some real potential swirled in her head. There was still risk, but there was no way to avoid that.

"It is required he be under her control when he breaks free, if that makes sense." Max went on. "Witches are not constantly pouring their soul into their familiar. Like most of the time, Sabot was just a normal bird that we fed and took care of. It was only when..." Max swallowed. "When my mother's master needed any spying done that my mother would use him."

Evabelle scrutinized the orange-haired man for a moment. "Her master was her demon, correct."

Max shifted uncomfortably. "You know a lot about witches and warlocks."

Evabelle spread her arms, displaying her many books on the subject. "I've been a little invested."

Max wrapped his arms around himself, squeezing his arms. "Yes, Baymus was his name. My mother created a contract between them. The demon insures that the witches power does not become too much for them, while also giving more in exchange for services to him."

"You never had to give him the blood of virgins...right?" Evabelle knew she was in a very touchy area, but she couldn't help it.

Max blanched. "No! My goodness no! Demons are smarter than that. They're still bound to Hell, but are tied to their witch or warlock as well, as long as the witch or warlock does not sever their contract. The one advantage is that the witch can break the link between them and send the demon back. Demons have already made Hell as torturous and disturbed as they can. They want to do whatever damage they can here on earth to corrupt it, so they know not to cross the line with their witch. They'll ask for as much as they can take without the witch or warlock cutting the tie. They know when your desperate and how to get more out of you. They're all twisted psychopaths, even if they can seem charming, there clever and sly."

"Has anyone raised a demon completely from Hell?" Evabelle asked.

"A long time ago. Demons wrought havoc on the world, turning on their own contracts once they were free from the pit. Witches and warlocks can be twisted, but they're smart enough not to do that anymore." Max shuddered.

Evabelle reached out a put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry for bringing all this up. It's something I'm sure you don't like to think about."

Max gave her a shaky smile. "Yeah, admittedly, it's not my favorite subject. I never had a demon master myself, but I knew Baymus." His voice lowered and the sweet chubby cinnamon rolls face melted for a moment into something bitter. "I've never hated anyone so much."

Evabelle swallowed and withdrew her hand. "You didn't have a demon?" She whispered quietly, not sure she really wanted him to hear her question.

The anger dissipated quickly enough as Max shook his head. "I'm not particularly powerful. As a warlock grows they gain more power until it burns and one must summon a demon whether they want to or not. Some do it at a very young age. While others wait until it's absolutely necessary, which can be bad in some ways because the demon knows you're in a not so great situation." Max rubbed his hands on his jeans. "My mother had me put it off because she hated working for Baymus. She wanted to join the mages, but knew it would be difficult since she'd already been working with demons. She told me I should, but I didn't want to leave her." He closed his eyes. "It wasn't until on one of Baymus's spying missions, that my mother was shot down by another witches spells, sending her soul back, but putting her into a coma. She passed away not long afterward." Max's eyes fluttered open. "And it was then that I went to the Council and went through the steps to become a mage."

Evabelle stared with awe. "I'm so, so, so sorry, Max."

Max shook his head. "Sorry, I went a little too far into that." Pink flushed his cheeks and he looked away.

Evabelle bit her lip. "Okay, Max. Could I move on to something else?"

"Please do."

Evabelle slid the book about mages over to him. "This talks about the telekinesis ability mages have. Is there any way it could be used to find someone and speak with them?"

Max read over the page then pulled back. "Are you suggesting one of to use this to find your brother?"

"No, I'm suggesting using this to find CJ,"

Max's mouth parted as he tried to figure out what was going through Evabelle's brain. "Uh--"

"Thom won't know where they are. I hope I'm right, but I pray that he's only being kept in some sort of cell just to be used against me, so he'll have no idea where they are. CJ, on the other hand is used to go do Etheldreda's bidding quite often. I assume he's seen more of their location. He might be able to give us a clue to finding them. Also, I have to tell him how to sever the leash and free himself. If he can, he might be able to get Thom out as well."

Max thought for a moment. "Can CJ easily break free from her hold?"

Evabelle remembered the few times, CJ had shone through Etheldreda's ploy. "Pain. Pain seems to knock Etheldreda off her feet enough for CJ to fight to the surface."

"So I doubt he'll be able to do it on his own." Max reasoned.

Evabelle sighed. "I guess you're right," She sat forward again, her voice rising. "But you haven't said no. So it's not impossible, right?"

Max chewed on the tip of his thumb. "What you're asking is both very illegal and dangerous. You're asking for a sweep over every mind to find just one. You'd have to be extremely powerful to pull it off as well as careful as to not be caught. Something like this could get a mage stripped."

"Stripped?" Evabelle asked.

Max turned his back to her and lifted his curls, exposing the nape of his neck. There was a small tattoo of a black star with a tiny violet eye in the center. Evabelle had seen that once before when Calandra had shown her the same mark on her neck after Evabelle had released her power on Averno. "This is the mages mark. It's was splits you off from the demons and allows for you to not require them." He faced himself forward again. "If we break mage law we can be tried and potentially exiled, being stripped of the mark and become a witch or warlock."

Evabelle swallowed. She was going to be asking a lot then.

"I know what you're thinking," Max said. "I know I recently just got my mark, but I would still try if I could. You're brother and friend really don't deserve this. They need to be rescued. But I can't do what you're asking. I'm not powerful enough to pull it off."

"Who in your group is?" Evabelle asked, quietly.

Max shrugged. "In all honesty I think the only ones who can pull it off would have to be Shaundee or Calandra."

"What can only I or that woman pull off?"

The sharp voice made both Evabelle and Max jump.

Calandra ascended the ramp, with her hands on her hips.

Evabelle took a deep breath and stood, staring at the woman square in the eye. "Calandra, I have a new idea. I know you kind of hate me right now. I don't blame you. But please hear me out."

~(A/N: HELLO!!!! How be the greatest readers in the world?! Another chapter is complete and WhOa! Was that a doozy... Sorry for getting this up later than I planned. I was going to try to get it up this last weekend, but wattpad was being sketchy so I wanted to wait for things to cool off. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Anyway, there's a lot to talk about in this.

We'll start where at the end and work our way back. Evabelle has a NEW PLAN! :D I'm not sure how clear it was in this chapter, but hopefully, I'll be able to clarify it better in the next one. But still, what are your thoughts on this one? Especially compared to the last one, do you think this one has a better chance?

I do think this second half was a little rushed (I've just had such a hard time fixing it) but we did get a bit more exposure to some more minor characters. Baldwyn and Max. I know we've seen gotten very little characterization from Shaundee's crew of mages and poor sweet Jamie has taken such a backseat I'm pretty sure you've forgotten about the little guy (I don't blame you if you). It's been tricky juggling so many people. I'm thinking I might have to dial it back a little. A few characters will probably end up being cut from the final draft. But Max is an important guy, a convert who knows what it's like to be under a demon's thumb. What did you think of him? And what did you think of Baldwyn? He's also had very little screen-time. But he's Kai's best friend. (And- fun fact: I have a little side project I'm working on that it kind of a short story about Kai being an elf, finding out about his mother's death, and his revenge, leading to him becoming a vampire, up to the point where he stays at the Sanctuary...) That little story will have more of Baldwyn and Saya before everything, which should be good, I hope.

I know it's been forever since we've seen Zion. But I hope you didn't forget about him too. He's still around and he gave some very interesting thoughts on Evabelle's wings...Thoughts on that??

Speaking of wings.....WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?! I'm going to guess a lot of you are thinking that right now. Yes 'what just happened' will be answered in due time. >:)

Del is still not doing well. He's doing better but he's still not awake. So he's alive...for the moment... Don't let your wings get torn off. Let this be a lesson to you, kiddies. No wings = DEATH!

And finally... 'Where there is desire, there is gonna be a flame ~ Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned.' Try by P!nk - I just heard this song the other day and it made me think of the second bit of the first half of this chapter. So do you think this really is the end of Luvabelle? Just like the flowers they planted together, do they really have no chance?

I have one little announcement before the challenge... for the 50k special. I will be doing the Daza dance from Kai's coronation ball. It will be in Del's point of view. There were several really fun scenes that others mentioned, and maybe I will write them to be released at another time in the future. But the other one had the most votes, so that will be going up before chapter twenty at some point so stay tuned! :D

***CHALLENGE TIME***

Strengths and weaknesses. Everyone's got them. The challenge today is for you to analyze my work and tell me what YOU personally, as the reader think is one really good strength that I have and one unfortunate weakness that I possess. I don't like having my weaknesses shoved in my face, but I know I have them and I do need to know what they are so I can work on them. Sooooo, you are NOT allowed to say that I don't have any weaknesses, because I DO! Please don't be afraid to tell me. An example of this is --- Strength: I'm good at creating characters that people can relate to or sympathize with. Weakness: My descriptions are inconsistent - sometimes I go overboard with them, sometimes I don't give enough on certain points. --- If you can, please say different things that you think are my strengths and weaknesses. Thank you guys! I hope this will really help me!! :D

Alright! I love you all and I hope all your lives are going well! Have a wonderful day wherever you are!! <3 )~