When they arrived, Jacob was nearly insane with anxious fury. He stared as huge white stone walls rose up out of the valley with every step they took. Each stone block had an outline of pure gold, reaching up at least 200feet.

There were two towers stretched out to the very corners of the front wall, made of metal painted a coppery shade. Roxy was starting to become a little more at ease, her shoulders relaxing slightly. Cate was completely silent, watching Jacob's face from behind Roxy's neck.

Roxy reached the gates. Five very burly vampires watched them from behind black cloaks that would have reminded Edward of the volturri. Roxy walked over to them and whispered something in a language Jacob didn't understand, and they moved aside.

One vampire glided over to a sort of metal cord gondola, and hooked a golden key onto one of the hanger-like things on the cord. The metal rope lifted it higher and higher at a fairly fast rate. After a few moments, the gate's swung open, and the key made its way back down, where the same hooded figure snatched it.

Jacob walked in the gates quickly before Roxy would start on Cate again. He looked around, astounded. Five huge gold buildings towered over a courtyard filled with nothing but queerly realistic stone statues.

Jacob passed one, jumping when he looked into it's face. It was a rock-image of a young woman, with long hair and a heartbreakingly lovely yet ideally human face. Her expression was cool and sad, as if she was simply waiting to be reawakened. Jacob shuddered and looked away.

Soon they approached the largest building with an odd crest he'd felt like he'd seen before above its door. The crest was that of a tree with a long snake coiled around its trunk, fangs bared. It was painted in beautiful turquoise paint, but it was not a pleasant emblem.

As Jacob followed Roxy into the door, he realized how quiet it was.

Jacob glanced behind them as the door shut and jumped at the two silent black-hooded vampires following them. Jacob turned back around, barely able to make out Roxy's shape in the dark gloom of the building. He continued to walk, his footsteps on marble the only sound.

He followed Roxy for at least fifteen minutes, winding through an endless tunnel of eerie luxury. At last they stood before a giant door, at which Roxy stopped.

Two more vampires stepped out of the shadows, pulling the doors open in unison. Cate's eyes were still dry, but were huge, staring around her in panicked fear. Jacob reached his hand out to her but once again Roxy began walking. He followed her, his hand dropping to his side like a dead weight.

Within seconds he was in a maze of Jacob's, all around him, he twirled effortlessly, lost in the dream of horror that had become his life. At the very height of his panic, a hand pulled him through the mirror, and he blinked, dizzy. A room of all mirrors could do that to a person.

He was now in a huge marble room with one solitary window in the shape of a flower on top of the ceiling, casting a gray reflection on the floor below. At least a hundred vampires lined either side of the room, their faces unhidden. They were all dressed in finery Jacob had thought had disappeared since the courts of Marie Antoinette. All their beautiful, white faces were expressionless.

Jacob blinked when he stumbled into Roxy, almost nauseas from the overpowering scent. His eyes swept slowly over a stone throne seated on stone steps. He dared his eyes higher.

He looked up into the face of the most frightening being he'd ever seen.

This regal vampire was also by far the most attractive. His white skin shone in the little light there was, his build slender yet powerful. His black hair was slightly curly, falling in lazy ringlets to his shoulders.

But the most frightening thing of all were his large blood red eyes, framed beneath arched eyebrows. Those eyes were filled with a cruelty so powerful Jacob nearly started to shake. And Jacob did NOT shake out of fear.

Roxy curtsied low to the floor, her head bowed in respect. Out of the circumstances, she would have looked funny dressed in the black jeans and a dark red turtle-neck she had on, but the last thing Jacob felt like doing was laughing.

"My Lord, Ashareth." Roxy murmured.

"Roxannah," His voice was like a blast of artic wind, "Who is the child?"

He apparently was direct…

"His daughter, she was a form of leverage." Her answer was direct, polite and quick.

"How…" Ashareth paused, glancing down at Jacob, "I interesting."

Roxy bowed her head.

"Let me see her."

"No!" Jacob shouted, leaping forward.

Roxy snarled, yanking Cate away, her teeth a breath away from the child's skin.

Jacob froze again, watching her desperately. Her now partly black eyes glinted against the original golden tone.

Then, he started to laugh. It filled the room, echoing off the halls.

"This is so very amusing," H he said, his face still set in a cold smile. "Roxannah, give me the child."

Roxy shot Jacob a warning glance, handing Cate up to him. Confused and exhausted, she started to wail.

Ashareth held the child up to his face, studying her.

"Don't cry," he whispered.

She sobbed once before she whispered, "I want Daddy. I want to go home."

He smiled at her, catching her eye. "You will get anything you've ever wanted. You won't need either of those things," H he said brightly, as if he were offering her a piece of candy. Cate only stared at him, uncomprehending.

He looked evenly at Jacob who was locked in the grip of terror.

"She's delightful," he said, sighing. "I really quite like her."

Jacob only looked at his daughter, afraid for the two of them beyond words.

"I think," he said, " you should give her to me."

Jacob's head shot up, his mouth hanging open. "You what?"

He gazed back at Jacob coolly. "I'll give her everything, and when she's old enough, I'll change her so that she might even join you again. I'll have to consider that, though, considering her features do have promise, she may even be pleasant enough for my attention."

Jacob's eyes were huge with horror, and whatever shade of white he'd been before, it was immeasurable to truly ghost white complexion he had now. "You can't." His voice broke.

"Ah, Jacob Black. You truly are ignorant."