Chapter 26

Jaenelle's Predicament

"Will she have to give it all up?" Saetan stared at the ancient dragon, feeling tense and...scared.

No, she will not. Great power is needed for the web, but there are two others that have the strength to power this web. A sacrifice will have to be made, but it will not be a sacrifice made by Jaenelle.

Saetan relaxed a little but sighed heavily. "Who are they?" As if he didn't already know.

This you must ask of Jaenelle. She will need you, Saetan, if her plan is to work. Daemon and Kagome will not leave willingly. But once they are gone to safety, Jaenelle will need you.

"I understand," Saetan bowed his head and turned away from Lorn, wanting very much to see his daughter-in-law before the sun went down. The web she was creating was sapping her strength and making the boyos very tense, but she wasn't going to be the one to power that web, to make yet another sacrifice in order to save Kaeleer and Japan. It was going to be someone else and he had a bad feeling that he didn't want to know who.

As he made his way to the library to seek out more books that might possibly explain what the barrier was and how it worked, his mind drifted over what kind of web Jaenelle had created and why it was going to take so much strength to defeat Hakuuyo.

Since his mind was drifting so far from the present, he didn't see Surreal and almost walked right into her.

"Are you alright?"

Startled, Saetan's gold eyes fell upon her and for a moment anger flared through him, but then he relaxed when he saw Kaelas and Graysfang with her. "Is it done?"

"Yes,"

"To your satisfaction?"

"Yes,"

Saetan studied her carefully for a moment and sighed heavily, hugging her. "Kagome told me that in order to be able to kill Naraku, you would have to find his heart. Tell me, Surreal, how you found his heart,"

"His heart found me," She whispered, pulling back from his embrace. "When I realized it...well killing him came easier than I thought it would,"

"Then it is done,"

She nodded, took a deep breath, and then let him lead her into the library for her assistance on learning about this barrier. After a few moments of quiet selection, Surreal found it the right time to tell him all that she knew about Hakuuyo.

"Hakuuyo gets his power from...from other Blood."

Surprised, he looked up from the book he'd selected and narrowed his gold eyes at her. "Literally?"

"Yeah. I don't know why, but even with the red he isn't very strong. Those witches that have gone missing or have been found dead in their rooms...he did that. He breaks them, and at the right moment he takes their blood. But he's somehow able to draw out the strength of their jewels with the blood. It's how he sustains himself."

"That's why he's after Daemon and Kagome,"

"Their combined powers will keep him sustained for centuries," Surreal breathed as she reached for one of the books. "Saetan, he's vulnerable when he doesn't have a witch to break."

"There are no witches strong enough to sustain him for more than a few months at a time,"

"He can be sustained for three months on any given witch," Surreal forced her eyes down onto the book. "The more witches he breaks, the more strength he gains, but it's never enough to last him more than three months."

"So what we need is a Witch strong enough to sustain him for longer," Saetan murmured.

Sensing that he had a plan, Surreal looked up at the High Lord of Hell with interest.

"If we give him a reason, he will come out of hiding,"

Surreal nodded, chewing on her lower lip. "A darker jeweled witch?"

"A darker jeweled witch,"

"Like me,"

"Like you," Saetan agreed. "But not you,"

"Not me?"

"No," He shifted in his chair, steepling his long, black tinted nails on his chin in thought. "There are certain spells that can hide a witch's true power, giving the illusion that she is either weaker, or stronger,"

"Who are you suggesting?"

"Someone who is already broken, but has enough knowledge in the Hourglass to pull off this plan. What is lost is never regained, but the knowledge is never so far gone that it can't be called back,"

"Sadi won't like you using Tersa as bait,"

"Sadi will be gone by then," Saetan wasn't surprised at how she'd guessed who he'd been talking about. "Tersa is the only one who can do this and make it believable."

"But without actually having the strength of the jewel that the spell will tell everyone around her that she has, she can easily be killed,"

"It won't happen that way," Saetan shook his head. "Tersa will lure the demon out into the open; into the trap. Once we have him, it will all be over."

"And the power that it's going to take to burn out his mind and destroy him? Where's that supposed to come from, Saetan? Not Jaenelle..."

"No, not Jaenelle,"

"Then who?"

"Surreal, tell me, who else in the realms has strength that now surpasses Jaenelle's?"

"No one," Surreal said flatly. "Jaenelle is the same person she always was. She just doesn't command the ebony. But that doesn't make her less than she used to be. She's still strong, very strong."

"I know that," Saetan murmured. "Which is why I have yet to figure out who will power this web. Lorn said that there are two with that power, but he wouldn't tell me who. But I have a feeling..."

"Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru?"

"I'm afraid so," Saetan was lying through his teeth. Of course the two brothers had the strength for it, but not the psychic strength. No, it would all come down to someone else entirely.

"Jaenelle?" Daemon tapped on the doorframe before he slipped into her workroom, totally ignoring the blackwood hourglass that turned to declare yet another hour of solitude as he did so. "Sweetheart?"

Taking a shuddering breath that did more to unsteady her than relax her, she looked up from the spell book she was studying and faced her husband. "I want to be alone, Daemon,"

"You're not going to be," He muttered as he came to stand on the other side of the table so that he was across from her. "You need rest, Jaenelle."

"I know," She growled, looking back down at the spell book. "But I can't, Daemon. Damnit, I can't!"

He shook his head, glaring at her. "You did this once before and nearly exhausted your body to the point that recovery wasn't possible and then you unleashed every bit of your power to destroy the evil in this realm. The backlash of that power being reabsorbed back into your body so quickly nearly destroyed you! I just got you back and I damn well am not going to lose you again!"

"I'm not the one who has to make the sacrifice this time!" She screamed, tears springing to her eyes in waves. Her voice was softer when she continued. "I'm not the one who has to give up everything to save the realms. Not this time..."

The shattered look she gave him scared him to death. "Who, Jaenelle?"

She choked, shaking her head, unable to contain it. "The w-web shows two. The web shows two but only one will make the sacrifice. But it won't show me who it will be! But it shows me one of the choices,"

Jaenelle pointed at a thread in her tangled web that was pulsing. Daemon brushed the web with his mind and shuddered. "Sesshoumaru,"

"Y-yes,"

He brushed the second thread, and felt a tremor run through him. "It won't reveal the other,"

"No, it won't." Jaenelle shuddered and hugged herself. "I don't like this, Daemon. I don't!"

"It's Inuyasha," Daemon muttered under his breath. "Who else could it be?"

"I don't know! And I don't understand why I feel like this over it...Daemon..."

He moved so quickly she didn't even know he'd moved at all until he'd pulled her into his arms, hefted her off the ground and had carried her to their suite. She was immediately cuddled and kissed and soothed into relaxation, and he rocked her and stroked her until she stopped crying and fell asleep in his arms. Daemon's mind was on nothing and everything all at once, threatening his already fragile sanity into snapping.

Who would be the one to make the sacrifice? Who would have to fight? Who would they lose during this battle? So many questions, no answers, and so little time.

But what could he do but wait this out? Eventually her webs would reveal the answer to her and eventually she would tell him. Of course, he wasn't particularly sure that he would like what she had to say and that bothered him very deeply. "Remember your promise, Jaenelle...please remember your promise,"

She watched him interacting with their pup and could do nothing but smile at the sight. It was wonderful. Inuyasha seemed to be a natural at parenting, despite the fact that his arrogant and prideful nature had found its way back to him shortly after Inuharu had been born.

Inuyasha was still the same smartassed hanyou they had always known, even if it was only for show.

Haru stared up at his father as he was cuddled, his brown eyes focusing on the long locks of silver hair dangling just above his face. If he could only get his hand up to it then he-ah, there we go.

"Damnit," Inuyasha groaned as his son gave his hair a hard yank and crammed it into his mouth, smiling a little devilishly. "Darn you, Haru! Let go of my hair! OWE! Kagome...!"

"Oh poor Inuyasha," Kagome giggled and tickled under her son's chin until he released the hair in a fit of giggles and turned his head to look over at his mother. "Now, Haru, let's leave daddy's hair alone, ok?"

Haru stared at her in awe, his brown eyes wide and then yawned.

"He's tired," Inuyasha was getting even better at stating the obvious.

A knock brought them out of the reverie of their son and two pairs of eyes swiveled to see Daemon standing in the doorway.

"I'm sorry, Kagome, but Jaenelle needs to see us for a moment,"

"Ok," Kagome smiled and tucked her pup into Inuyasha's arms comfortably again. The pup snuggled as he drifted off to sleep and Kagome kissed her mate rather thoroughly, smiling. "I'll be back in a few minutes,"

"Mmhm,"

"What does she need us for?"

"I don't know, exactly, but I think it has something to do with that web she's creating,"

Kagome nodded as they made their way through the corridors of the Hall, reaching Jaenelle's workroom in no time at all. She was hunched over the framework of the web, her face creased in thought.

"Sweetheart,"

"Hm?" She looked up briefly, smiled at them, and looked back down.

"Is something the matter?" Kagome asked, moving to look at the massive web. "This is it?"

"Partly," Jaenelle said, her sapphire eyes roaming over each individual thread. "This is the web that will hold Hakuuyo in paralysis until the other web can be used to contain his power and draw it out of him. The third will have be the one to destroy him," She looked back up at them and smiled faintly through her apparent exhaustion. "Now, what I need from the two of you is a bit of your strength in blood."

"How?"

"I just need a few drops of blood coupled with the tiniest reservoir of your miko powers to add to the web and the same from Daemon only with a reservoir of his black strength. It will be the power that will hold Hakuuyo at bay and aid the second web in drawing out his power."

"Even the smallest amount of miko strength is a lot. The power needed for the third web must be massive,"

"It is..." Jaenelle murmured quietly. Sadness lit her eyes for a moment but it was quickly masked.

"And the second?"

"The second web I can power easily. So the second is not of a concern. Right now, I'm just focused on the first web. This web,"

"What do you need me to do?" Kagome asked and obediently joined Jaenelle on the other side of the table.

"Draw a little of your miko strength out for me?" Jaenelle pricked the end of Kagome's index finger and smiled at the hiss Kagome let out. She couldn't help it, though. That hurt! Jaenelle turned the finger over the web and held it out over the center. When she felt Kagome's miko power filling the blood, she squeezed gently and let a few drops hit the center of the web where a small chip of the Twilights Dawn Jewel rested and then quickly sealed the wound.

The web responded to the power in a brilliant purple and white glow for only a few moments before the power was sucked back in to remain until it was triggered.

"Goodness..." Kagome breathed. "That was..."

"Different," Jaenelle admitted as she stared into the web. "Definitely different. Anyway, you're all done. Thank you, Kagome."

Kagome grinned. "No problem. Any time. If you're through with me, I'm going to go make sure Inuharu doesn't injure his father...or his pride,"

Jaenelle laughed as Kagome left and flinched under the hardened gold eyes that now stared at her. "Different? Jaenelle, just what exactly was supposed to happen just now?"

"Nothing," She sighed heavily, rubbing her face. "I still need yours..."

He cut the wound himself and let her measure the amount of blood needed from him and watched as the purple and white glow returned but darkened drastically to violet and then black before it faded again.

"And that was?"

"Different," Jaenelle murmured, suddenly worried. "That's all the web needed to be powered, which means that Kagome's Miko strength is more potent than I thought. And, coupled with yours..."

"It would have kept Hakuuyo running for centuries, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, it would have. Which is exactly why the third web needs so much energy to be maintained,"

"In order to destroy the power he already has?"

"He's ancient, Daemon. It's going to take a whole hell of a lot more than I originally thought to destroy him completely..." Her eyes saddened again. "I think that..."

"No," Daemon said sternly. "No, Jaenelle,"

She looked up at her husband and smiled. "I won't, Daemon. I don't need to. I've seen it already in my tangled webs. Someone else will make the sacrifice needed to power the web, but I'm afraid that I won't know the identity of that person until it's too late to change anything..."

"We'll get through this, Jaenelle,"

"I know,"

End of chapter. Wow, was that not like…way overdue? XD I love you guys! sinister music plays ahha! And the plot thickens!