The soft morning light drifted through the windows, lighting the massive bedroom with a soft glow. There was no warmth from the light, as expected here in the 'Black Kingdom', but it nevertheless dispelled the night and brought some form of brightness to the otherwise dreary and yet beautiful palace. For a moment I fought against awakening—the thought of waking up made me even more tired and sore than I already was. I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. Maybe I should stay in bed all day—I was completely sure that Delos would allow me to, probably because he himself probably needed the bed rest two. Saving the whole entire world could take a good punch out of your strength, if you know what I mean.

Staying in bed with my—well, husband in vampire terms but not yet human terms husband sounded like a good idea to me. Not opening my eyes, I moved my hands to feel for Delos's body, but came up instead with the edge of the ridiculously large bed. Realizing that I was facing the wrong way, I rolled over, fully expecting my hands to touch the soft fabric of Delos's night shirt.

Only to realize quickly that my hands met with the bed sheets beneath me. Worry flashed through me—Delos wasn't supposed to get out of bed yet; he'd only saved the world two days ago, and even with the Power he couldn't heal that quickly! Suddenly every sense was wide awake and my eyes flew open to the sight of his empty side of the bed. "Delos?" I called out into the room but not quite expecting him to have been there. Sometimes he woke up pretty early.

But to my relief Delos's voice answered me from the closet. "Good morning Maggie," his voice was filled with much love as he greeted me, but I could still detect the exhaustion in his voice.

I sat up as he walked out of the closet, fully dressed in black breeches, a long-sleeved, partly open shirt and black riding boots. Slung over his arm was his black cape. "Uh, good morning," I managed to greet, a little bewildered with his appearance. "Um…are you going somewhere?" I tried to recall if he'd said anything about needing to go somewhere today but I couldn't remember anything of the sort.

Delos shook his head, his black hair falling gently across his forehead. "No, I don't need to go anywhere; we have a meeting with Prince Alec today." I vaguely remembered Delos telling me that a prince from a neighboring and yet distant Night World kingdom wanted a meeting with him, but I hadn't imagined that Prince Alec would want it so soon after Delos had fought in one of the biggest battles ever fought.

"We?" I questioned—normally whenever matters arose for his kingdom he himself went and took care of it. So naturally I was surprised that he was inviting me in on an extremely important meeting on which I hadn't a clue about.

Delos nodded as he plopped himself down next to me, his expression soft and patient. "You are my wife by Night World standards—I want you to be by my side when I need to make important decisions. Besides—my kingdom is now your kingdom." I smiled and reached for his hand, closing it in mine tightly. He returned the squeeze before he continued on. "I also thought that we could meet with your brother and talk about what we're going to do now."

I blinked at him in surprise. "What would we be talking about?" Delos's burning golden eyes drifted away to my face and to our entwined fingers, his thumb starting to trace circles on my hand as he quietly answered me.

"I can tell that you miss your parents," He paused, and I could see the pain on his face, "I've felt you're longing to let them know that you and your brother are alright. I want for you to be happy, so I think its time that we discuss our options since its not like you can use a," He paused, his face showing that he was trying to remember a term for something, "Phone."

One of the things about being soulmates was that you couldn't hide your feelings from them, no matter how hard you tried. For the past few months since my permanent stay in the castle, I'd done whatever possible to keep the subject away from my left-behind family. Don't get me wrong, I certainly wanted to see them and comfort them and maybe even get Delos to come out and meet them, but every time I thought about doing so one thing always made me shy away from the idea.

I didn't want to leave Delos alone for more than a few hours.

Delos himself had shied away from loneliness since we'd been together so I naturally didn't want to make him feel alone and abandoned one bit. But that also meant leaving behind my family, a sacrifice that I found myself struggling with. "I don't want to leave you," I said simply, determined in my resolution. Delos instantly saw that and his own jaw tightened in frustration.

"I know that you want to go," he started, but I cut him off.

"No, I don't! I want to be here with you—we can finally live in peace and…"

"It is because of the peace that I want to discuss this now." Delos interrupted. "If we do this now when there's no impending doom looming in our future, you can enjoy your time with your family and I can be assured that you're safe." Delos took a deep breath, his eyes pleading. "Could we please talk about this with your brother?"

I sat there for a moment, reading his features, trying to look for any weakness but as expected found none. Do you really want to talk about this that badly? I thought to him mentally, knowing that he would pick up on it. He didn't disappoint. Instantaneously I was in his mind, reading his thoughts like they were mine, feeling his feelings as though they were apart of me. And I suddenly knew the answer before he directed the answer at me.

Not really, he replied, and I was overwhelmed by his feeling of longing and loneliness. But I want you to be happy.

I am happy, I told him, you make me happy.

I know; you complete me, Maggie. His mental voice was full of such reverence and vulnerable-ness that before I knew what I was doing I'd crawled out from under the covers and closed the short distance between us, wrapping my arms tightly around him, feeling his warmth against my body. I don't want you to leave, but I know, I can feel that you want to see your parents again. Who am I to deny you that right? I can't do that, Maggie; it's partly my fault you were taken away from them anyways.

I wanted to argue that it had been me who had run after Sylvia in the first place, but I decided against it. Instead I let out a resigned sigh and sent him my message of agreement; we'll talk about it.

Have I ever told you how much I love you? Delos mentally asked as he pulled me away just enough to lean down and kiss me, sending sparks shooting up my spine. For a moment my mind blanked out so it was hard for me to concentrate enough to send my message back.

You've let me know many times, I finally managed, but are you supposed to be moving around? I can tell that you're still injured. It was true—somehow I could feel his numerous bruises and almost-healed cuts as though they were my own.

I'll be alright—I'm not about to have a meeting with Prince Alec while sitting bed-ridden. I'll just sit down in a chair or something.

That was just like Delos—he never showed his weakness on the outside in public if he could help it. I'm actually more concerned about you—you didn't make it through the battle completely unscathed and you won't heal as fast as I will.

Mostly sore, I said as his lips traced my jaw, each kiss sending pleasurable shocks through my body. I didn't get nearly as injured as you did.

Be careful, alright? Delos sighed and pulled away, standing up and thus breaking all contact from me. "Are you hungry?" right on cue, my belly growled embarrassingly loud, audible for both of us to hear. I blushed furiously as Delos broke out into a soft chuckle. "I guess that means yes," He held out his hand and I gladly took it and he pulled me out of bed, bringing me in for another kiss.

KKKKKKK

I paced the large throne room in front of the two thrones, feelings Delos's eyes on me as I moved, my green tunic brushing softly on the floor. "Maggie," Delos finally sighed, "He's not going to get here any faster if you keep pacing like that," I stopped and ran a hand through my auburn hair in frustration.

"I know," I agreed as I went up the steps to my throne next to his. "He was supposed to be here," I stopped myself from looking at my wrist where my watch had been back before any of this had happened, "a while ago."

"It's not like he can get a," He paused, trying to remember the term, "Car through the pass."

I nodded, trying to relax my sore muscles. "I really just wish he'd had the courtesy to wait till you were rested up and I wish we could have had a little more protection." Delos tensed beside me but he nodded nonetheless. After the battle for the good of the world, Delos and the rest of the Wild Powers found that their blue fire had simply disappeared and that none of them could call upon it. All yesterday he'd been lying in bed taking glances at his arm, his eyebrows furrowed with stress and worry.

Even this morning I'd seen him take a few glances at his arm and a longing look would flicker onto his face. I couldn't help but feel bad for him—he'd had that power his entire life and had relied on it but now it was gone, vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye. But he didn't complain about it. I hadn't even gotten a glimpse of his feelings on the matter whenever we touched, but I knew that it still bothered him, that much was obvious.

"The witches wards will have to do for now," Delos told me, closing off the subject. I nodded—since Delos had agreed to join Circle Daybreak, the palace had been swarmed with Circle Daybreak members, including witches, all bent on protecting the Wild Power. Even after the big battle none of them had made a move to leave, so I had to wonder if they planned on staying. Something I was sure that both Delos and I would appreciate in the future. Besides Circle Daybreak members, there was Miles, Jeanne, and a few of the other human's who were uncomfortable with venturing into the outside world for the first time by themselves lived in the castle, but I was certain that now they'd eventually start to go their separate ways, leaving Delos and I alone.

I was aroused from my musings when the door to the throne room opened and in stepped Jeanne, her red hair slightly wind-blown and her breath coming in gasps as though she'd just finished jogging. "Prince Alec is here," She managed to announce, "Would you like me to show him in?" I couldn't help but smile in amusement—Jeanne sometimes acted like a receptionist without really meaning to.

"Yes please, let him in." Delos answered with a smile, his fingers brushing mine reassuringly.

Jeanne disappeared and a moment later the large wooden door opened again and this time an unfamiliar, tall figure stepped proudly into the room as though he was the one who commanded it and not Delos. The moment I saw him I knew instantly that he was a vampire just by his looks—he had dirty blonde hair that fell into predator-like blue eyes, and broad shoulders that were set in a posture that reflected animal-like predatory. Like he was a tiger stalking his prey. His stern expression didn't change until he was half way between us and the door.

I expected him to come forward more, but for some reason he stopped, keeping his distance. Slowly his lips stretched into a smile, but it was unfriendly and uncaring, as though he were only doing it to show that he was somewhat satisfied to be here. "Prince Delos," He greeted and I could tell that there was a more southern accent in the way he spoke, but I couldn't tell from which part of the United States it was from. "It is an honor to finally be able to meet with you in person," His eyes flickered to me casually but the moment our eyes met his stern, uncaring expression was lost, replaced by shock, confusion, and then the bone-chilling look of hunger that vampires got when they crossed a human while hungry.

I sat there frozen, not daring to move a muscle while shivers were crawling up my spine. Suddenly I had a very bad feeling about this man.

Keeping his eyes on me, he hissed, "Prince Delos, I had no idea that you let vermin in on important meetings, much less sit on the throne," I wasn't sure what emotion there was in his voice, but I could tell that whatever he was feeling it was far from happiness.

Delos wasted no time in reprimanding Prince Alec for his words, "This is my wife Maggie and I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd refrain from speaking about her like that." His voice was filled with contained anger and I knew instantly that whatever Prince Alec wanted, there was no way he was going to get it now.

Alec, on the other hand, seemed even more shocked by Delos's revelation. "But she's human!" He hissed, his eyes darting from Delos to me and then back to Delos. I could see the disgust welling up in his expression and I wondered if he meant to show his feelings. For some reason royalty in Night World kingdoms didn't like to show their emotions to one another. "I can understand human slaves," I had the sinking suspicion that he assumed Jeanne to be a slave, and although she no longer was I decided that it was probably not a good idea to bring up the issue, "But a human wife? Forgive me for asking this, but are you out of your mind?"

Delos sounded even angrier, and when I stole a glance at him I could see that his whole body was tensed as though he were trying to hold himself back from attacking Alec. "One thing you must understand is that here in my kingdom we don't treat human's like vermin,"

"You've done so for centuries!" Alec exclaimed, his composure crumbling down like the Berlin Wall.

"That may be so, but I don't intend for it to be that way any longer. So while you're here, you will treat them like equals or you can get out." There was no alternative option in Delos's voice, meaning that Alec no other choice than to work with what he'd been given.

Alec's eyes flickered back to mine, and for a moment there was something in there that made me squirm a bit in my seat. Alec, I realized, was wrong. He wasn't like Delos, who deep down was vulnerable and good-hearted. Alec was the true image of the horror that had been associated with the word vampire in human minds.

He was evil.

Finally he turned his attention back to Delos, his eyes hard and once again unreadable. "I see," He mumbled, "If that's how it is, than I guess that means that an alliance is out of the question."

Delos tensely nodded, "Correct." The two men stared at each other for a long intense moment before finally Alec turned and left the room, his boots echoing on the stone floor.

We watched as Prince Alec stormed out of the room like an angry toddler in silence, neither of us bothering to call him back as he slammed the door behind him. "He's really that upset, huh?" I asked, more to myself than to anyone else.

"Yes," Delos answered and I could tell by his voice that he was still stiff with anger.

"So he came all this way to propose an alliance and yet he storms out the moment he finds out that we're together?" Not to mention drag you out of bed, I thought to myself but I didn't mention it out loud. "I don't see how me being human would affect anything…"

"An alliance doesn't exactly mean just promising to help protect the other," Delos interrupted, "Here in the Night World; it also means that you provide each other with…resources. Prince Alec's kingdom relies on the human slave trade, like ours used to. Because of our last battle though, I'm sure that running that business is much harder to do alone, so he came here expecting me to help him out with it." The whole time he was explaining, the pit in my stomach started to grow more and more. Now I understood why Prince Alec was so upset and why he hadn't tried to present his proposal. "No matter," Delos sighed, getting up and stretching his arms before he turned to me, a small and yet troubled smile on his face as he held his hand out to me. "Shall we go find your brother?"

I could see now that Delos was determined to forget about the last meeting, but I wasn't so sure about it. Something about the way Alec had looked at me still made chills crawl up my spine—somehow I knew that we wouldn't be seeing the last of Prince Alec anytime soon.

But instead of expressing my concerns, I pushed the thoughts out of my mind and grasped Delos's hand. "Let's," I replied, giving him my best self-assured smile.

KKK

A few days later, Delos went to my horse's side and offered me his hand, ready to help me dismount. I gratefully let him help me down—I never quite got the hang of riding horses, so Delos often had to help me get on and off.

A few days ago, after much discussion, we'd finally come to a conclusion that I wasn't so sure I was exactly happy with. Although the last thing I wanted to do was leave Delos alone, I had to reluctantly agree with Miles that we couldn't just abandon our parents with no knowledge of whether or not we were safe.

So it was decided that today Miles would drive both Jeanne and I back to our house—Jeanne and Miles had developed a fond relationship for one another and couldn't be separated—and in a few days Delos would come down to meet my parents. The story we'd come up with to explain our new relationships with Jeanne and Delos was that they were siblings—although they looked nothing alike—and that they'd helped me find Miles. The reason Delos wasn't with us when we first arrived was because he was a mountain ranger—I had to snicker at that image, since I was sure of everything Delos would do in his life, a mountain ranger was not one of them—and needed to wait for someone to come up and take his shift.

The entire story had been Miles' idea and I was sure hoped it worked. I was a little more than upset because Jeanne got to come with us while Delos –who was technically my husband although I sure wasn't going to inform my parents of that little fact—had to stay behind, but Miles insisted that our parents had enough to deal with with our homecoming after months of absence and worry. Announcing that their seventeen year-old daughter was madly in love with a strange un-known man wouldn't exactly brighten their day.

So that's how I wound up standing by a silver Mercedes supplied by Circle Daybreak in dark-blue jeans, a forest green tank top with a white wind breaker on top and a set of new converse that were steadily getting dirtier by the minute.

I hadn't worn clothes like this since the day of the battle, but even then it was only till we got back to the castle. Although I'd grown accustomed to wearing medieval-styled dresses, I couldn't help but start to like the modern clothes more. They were easy to move around in, for one, and I felt about twenty pounds lighter—so light, I felt as though I might start to float like a balloon.

I watched as my brother, also wearing a new set of modern day clothes, took the keys from Jeanne, who had taken them from him soon after he'd first received them, claiming that she was sure that since he was a guy he'd lose it. Jeanne, who had always worn something not-modern around me, looked like a complete stranger to me. Her red hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she wore a black wind-breaker that was zipped up, covering her white tank top underneath—she refused to wear something that would reveal the now faint scars on her back (The witches had conjured up some spells to help heal the scars and they'd mostly disappeared, but you could still see the faint traces of them). Unlike me, she wore a pair of white shorts that showed off her legs and black flip flops.

She looked really uncomfortable.

"Come on Maggie," My brother said as he crossed over to the drivers side and I noticed, to my disappointment, that Jeanne was silently calling shot gun by moving to the front passenger side of the car. Instead of trying to convince her that the spot was indeed mine since it was my brother and since I was the only other one in the car who could drive, I decided to shut my mouth and nod to Miles.

"I'll be just a minute," I said, hoping that he'd understand. Miles glanced at me, nodded once, and then grinned at Delos.

"Hey, I'll see you in a few days, man!" he called; Miles was the only person I knew who had the guts to call Delos 'man', but Delos didn't seem to really mind so much anymore.

Delos smiled back at him and nodded. "Goodbye Miles," He replied before turning his attention to me. Immediately his expression softened, and I could see every worry he had and I could almost see the depth of his loneliness.

Before I made the conscious decision to, I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist and burying my face into his chest. "I don't want to go," I whispered, my voice sounding child-like.

"Yes you do," Delos whispered back, his arms encircling me, trying to comfort both of us.

"But I don't want to leave you—and not just because I don't want to leave you alone. You've seriously spoiled me, Delos—I don't know how long I can go without your presence near me."

"It's only a few days," Delos reassured me, but he himself didn't sound too reassured.

"It already feels like eternity." I lifted my face from his chest, feeling the splatter of the drizzling rain on my cheeks. "I love you," I whispered. The next instant, Delos had leaned down, his lips pressing against mine in a feverish passion, his hold around me tightening to the point where I could barely breathe.

When he pulled away, he leaned his forehead against mine. "I'll be there soon, okay?" he whispered, brushing a strand of hair away from my face. I nodded and pecked him on the lips before I turned and left his embrace, opening the back door to the car. Just before I got in though, I turned around and caught gazes with Delos. We stared at one another for a moment before I sighed.

"See you soon," I whispered before I slid myself into the car and shut the door behind me. Miles took that moment to turn the car on and start to pull forward away from the curb before I could change my mind and leap out of the car and insist to stay. I looked back and stared at the slowly diminishing figure as we drove away.

KKK

"That'll be 11.95, miss," The fat, dull-looking man with a thick accent said, handing me a bag of cheep gas station goodies. I handed him over a twenty and as he counted out my change, I looked into the bag and snatched out my Butterfinger. One of the things I'd missed about the modern out-side world was the unbelievable amounts of junk food available…and indoor plumbing systems.

The man handed me back the change and I smiled and thanked him before turning and opening the door. The moment the door was open, I clutched the bag and Butterfinger to my body and broke out into a run across the flooded pavement, trying my best to shield the goodies from the pelting, freezing, cold rain.

I was half-drenched by the time I'd opened the back door and jumped in. Miles –who had been filling the gas tank—and Jeanne—who had been in the bathroom—whirled around to see the contents of the bag, their faces bright with anticipation. I was sure they'd missed this part of the outside world as well.

"Miles I got you a coke and a giant-sized pay day," I announced to him, pulling them out of the bag and handing them to him, "And I got you Sour Patch Kids and since I didn't know what kind of soda you liked I figured you couldn't go wrong with lemonade so that's what I got you."

Jeanne greedily took the candy and drink from my hands and turned back around in her seat. "Thanks Maggie!" Jeanne called back as Miles turned the car on and pulled forward. I started to peel back the wrapper to the Butterfinger and leaned back against the leather seats, trying my best to relax while watching the landscape fly by.

I managed to keep my mind occupied on the beautiful landscape for the next forty five minutes, listening to the soft sound of the radio in the background. But about ten minutes after passing through a small town which's name escapes me, I heard a seat belt unclick from up front.

I whirled my attention to the front to find Jeanne climbing over the console, trying to get into the back seat. I blinked, surprised. What was she doing? I wondered; had she and Miles got into an argument while I wasn't paying attention? "What are you doing?" I managed to ask, my voice quiet from the forty five minutes of un-use.

Jeanne pulled herself into the back and started to lie down. "I'm tired," She announced, "Unless you want me to put my feet on your lap, I suggest that you move up front." I stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was serious. When it appeared that she was, I sighed and unbuckled my seat belt.

"I'm coming up Miles," I announced as I stood up as far as I could, "Slow down a bit." Miles did as I said and to my satisfaction I saw the speedometer decelerate from eighty miles per hour to fifty miles per hour.

"Be careful Maggie," He started as I started to climb over the console as Jeanne had. I stopped climbing briefly to turn and shoot back a smart, playful remark, but as my eyes passed over the windshield, something large and brown caught my eye.

I didn't know what it was. All I knew was that the moment I saw it, I knew where it was going before it actually got there.

It walked right in the road in front of us.

My throat tightened in panic and I whirled to face Miles who'd taken the moment to glance at me, his mouth wide open to chew me out for not getting into my seat. "M-MILES!" I managed to yell, my brain working much faster than my mouth as I pointed ahead of us.

Miles' head snapped forward and a split second later he saw the large looming object coming at us fast and shouted a very bad word as he slammed on the breaks.

There were two major things that went wrong at once. First, by the time he'd hit the breaks he might have stopped in time under normal weather conditions. But the cold rain storm had turned the roads into a slippery wet surface that made it so that the tires squealed out from beneath us, driving us head-first into the object.

But second, before we'd hit the creature, the laws of physics were applied to both Jeanne and I. Jeanne, who had been laying down in the back seat, merely lurched off the seat and up against the back of the two front seats, yelping in protest. But unfortunately, since I had been the one who'd just barely climbed over the console, I flew forward head-first into the windshield which thankfully—but still painfully—only cracked.

I only felt the splitting pain for a second before I blacked out, thus missing the part where Miles swerved the car in one last effort to dodge the object, hit it nonetheless, and then went spinning out of control off the road where the car proceeded to roll. I chose that moment to come back to consciousness for some odd reason—not that I could see anything. All I knew was that my world was suddenly loud with yelling and screaming and spinning uncontrollably. I felt like a pinball—with each time the car rolled over, I too rolled all around with the car, knocking into the car itself and occasionally what felt to be Miles.

What seemed like eternity must have only lasted for a few seconds, because it wasn't long before the world stopped spinning and I was slammed to a stop.

Silence. Pain. Unbelievable, unbearable pain. In some places I felt numb—in other places I felt wet—and in other places I felt pain that I never knew was possible to feel. But I didn't think so much on the pain. As my world started to black out, I vaguely recognized that my scrambled thoughts were mostly on Delos, Miles and Jeanne. I wanted to find them, make sure they were okay. But when I tried to move, I found I couldn't. Instead, my world blacked out further as two strong hands grasped me from under the arm-pits and pulled me out and into darkness.

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WHOOT! :D The first ever Delos and Maggie fanfiction that's more than one page! What I mean by that is that the only Delos and Maggie posted thing is a poem, and a few people are talking about short stories, but I can't do poems unless I'm in the mood and I also can't do short stories because....well, how am I supposed to sum everything up in one chapter and not want to continue? D: I couldn't do it. And I wanted a Delos and Maggie story so much because I think that its one of the stronger story-lines of the Night World series. Don't get me wrong, I love the other books too, its just that this one is one of the more memorable ones, you know?

So I took it upon myself to write the first ever long, multiple chapter story for Delos and Maggie! :D WHOO! I don't know why, since I'm trying to work on like three of my own stories (one about a princess, the other kind of sort of similar to Black Dawn just by terms of theres human slave trades going on and the sequel to the one I'm hoping to publish soon which is about vampires). Not only that, but I'm also working on like twenty fanfics. WHOO! :D

Now since this is just the prologue, not too many things are to be revealed just yet. so naturally I'm sure there are questions. You cann ask the questions, but I'm not sure how many I'll actually answer at this point just because it would give away plot lines. As long as there is no plot-line giving away-ness, I'd be happy to answer!

But that means that you people have to REVIEW! D: I worked hard on this baby and I want to continue to work hard. But as an author, I need a little bit of support, especially since my best friend who normally supports me in my fanfic writting hasn't read this series and therefore I don't think I'll be able to convince her to read it. (sad face)

REVIEW!

Love,

Alice