Author's Note: Hello, everyone. I am back with another chapter. I'm getting closer to chapter that I am afraid to admit, I had pre-planned. So I won't take too long this time. Please enjoy and review. I do not own Lords of the Underworld or any of its characters.

Chapter 29 Loyalty

Sabin was starting to grow a bit annoyed with his friends. Several people-warriors, females, and harpies alike-decided to come by his room while Gwen was sleeping. He shut the door in each of their faces. Much to the displeasure of Gwen's sisters. Just when visitors were starting to taper off, there was another knock on the door. Sabin opened the door to find Isolde on the other side, a tray of her home cooking in her hands.

"We're busy." Sabin told her.

"Yeah, don't even try to pull that BS with me. I know better. She's asleep." Isolde retorted. "And that's grand. I just brought you some food, is all."

Isolde handed over the tray in her hands. Sometimes Sabin really didn't know what to say to Isolde. That she knew Gwen was asleep, meant she knew what had happened in the woods. It was bad enough that she knew so much about him. It was worse that she also knew about his sex life. He took the tray from her, though, and didn't say anything.

"I also know you aren't going to Chicago." Isolde added.

"That's right. Are you still go, even knowing that?" Sabin asked.

"Of course I am. I already said I would, didn't I? I'm not going to go back on my word. I'm not as slimy as you think I am." Isolde told him, half turning away from him.

Sabin so wasn't going to argue with her. He always lost when he argued with her. Something else he really hated. And not just with her. He hated losing arguments in general.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'll be out of your hair soon enough. Be glad. You don't need me for whatever is going to go on here. Not that you want my help, anyway." Isolde told him, turning to leave, the last sentence muttered.

He could have sworn he heard hurt in her tone and damn it all if it didn't make him feel a little bit slimy.

"Isolde."

Isolde half turned back to him, raising one eyebrow at him in questioning. She didn't show any emotion on her face or in her eyes. Like she had carefully blanked herself.

"Remember to watch your back. You tend to forget in the heat of battle." he told her.

"Yeah, sure."

With that Isolde turned and headed off down the hall. Damn him if Sabin wasn't starting to soften towards her. It had to be Gwen's influence on him. That was the only way it would happen. Whatever the reason, he just hoped she didn't come home so injured she had Lucien and Anya worried so bad they refused to leave her side.

Kane too.

And Paris.

There were several warriors in the fortress that would be too worried to do anything. So that was his reason for not wanting her to get hurt.

Isolde didn't pay any of it a lick of attention. Instead she returned to getting ready for the trip to Chicago. She would have to leave Kane behind, she knew, and she apologized to him for that. Not that he held it against her. Disaster did, though, and she ended up apologizing to the demon too.

She left, two days later, with the others and boy did it suck.

They spent days searching for the right building. Isolde knew it was there, knew what was hiding it, and that it was being hidden, but she couldn't, for the life of her, locate it with her own eyes. It really sucked. It took Lucien following human after human in spirit form, to finally locate the building. He then tagged it with his own blood and they all ended up camping out in a construction site across the street from the building. Anya eventually joined them, though she quickly grew bored.

"We've been watching the place for over an hour, our guy has already left empty-handed and there's been no other movement. I think it's abandoned. But I'm sensing chaos. A freaking lot of chaos." Anya said.

Isolde knew why. Of course she did. She also knew it was a trap. One she personally loathed walking into since completely dark places gave her too many flashbacks for her peace of mind. That being that, it was necessary for the progress of the plot. She was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it with her big girl panties on.

"Couldn't possibly be witches and their spells." Gideon said.

"Witches. Of course. Why didn't I think of that? I've had a run-in or two thousand with them over the years. Talk about abusers of power. Wonder how they'll feel when I abuse mine and use their black hearts as our table's new centerpiece." Anya said.

"You are not getting a witch's heart near my cooking. Or even in my kitchen." Isolde piped in sourly.

Anya grinned at her. Isolde was always so serious about her cooking. And her kitchen. When she talked like that, it took away from her intimidation. Not that Isolde really cared about that.

"Perhaps I should ghost inside." Lucien suggested.

"No. We talked about this. Something's wonky with that building, and I don't even want your spirit in it. And now that witches might be involved...hell, no." Anya told him.

"I could scout inside in my shadows." Isolde offered.

"Oh hell, fucking no! There's no way in hell you're going in there by yourself." Anya snapped, rounding on her adopted daughter with a fierceness that never ceased to amaze Isolde.

"Got it, got it. Jeez, bite my head off why don't you." Isolde muttered, holding up her hands in surrender.

"So let's keep standing here, doing nothing." Gideon said.

Which meant he wanted to charge in, guns blazing.

Peachy.

"We didn't survive a bomb a while back. So we damn sure can't survive anything else they throw at us. Even spells." Gideon asked.

"Speak for yourself. I'm still testing the waters here. I have no fucking idea what spells would do to me." Isolde remarked.

She said that, but Gideon had only to look at her to know that come hell or high water...she was going in that building. And she would do it gladly because that was what her family needed of her. Gideon looked at her now. Isolde was sitting on a pile of metal beams, tossing a knife up and down, catching it with ease. Rocking her ass-kicker clothes in all black and sporting colorful feathers pinned into her hair gave her an edgy look that Gideon always loved. Above that though, she looked ready to kick some ass.

"I have an idea. Ashlyn found the immortals for the Hunters. Hell, she probably found the witches for them. So we'll just have her find one for us. Our witch can undo whatever spell their witch cast, if it's actually a spell we're dealing with, and boom, victory." Strider said from where he stood beside Isolde.

Isolde reached down and popped Strider lightly on the back of the head, making him look up at her in questioning.

"Do you have any idea how long that could take? And Maddox would never allow it." Isolde told him.

"She is right. Time is not our friend right now. We need these kids out of our enemy's hands. We need to return to searching for the box." Lucien agreed.

"But, baby," Anya started.

"I'll be fine, love. I won your heart, I can do anything." Lucien assured her, giving her a lingering kiss that made Isolde feinge choking herself.

The other men grinned as she pretended to pass out from said choking and fell side ways off her perch, Strider catching her effortlessly before she hit the ground, sitting her on her feet. Lucien gave her a look before vanishing. Anya simply sighed.

"Gods, that man revs my engine." Anya remarked.

"So glad to hear it." Isolde remarked, stretching her arms over her head as she stepped up beside Amun.

Without a word, she linked an arm through his and leaned into the man's side. Some of the tension that had been following the warrior since their trip to Egypt, seemed to leave him as the voices in his head were calmed. Isolde had that effect on him and she always knew just when he needed a little help in handling them.

"Quick, someone distract me. I'm bored." Anya declared.

Everyone, save Isolde, groaned. A bored Anya equaled trouble, but Isolde handled trouble better than most. Her adopted mother was no different. She simply just ignored the goddess in favor of watching the building Lucien was currently inside of.

"We totally could not play How Am I Going To Kill The Hunters." Gideon suggested.

"I'll stab them." Reyes said.

"I'll shoot them...in the groin." Strider added.

"I'll snap their necks, then make them watch me cut out their intestines." Anya said, rubbing her hands together. "No need to tell us you'd kiss them, Gideon. We already know."

Gideon flipped each of them off as chuckles sounded from the others. That is...until Isolde spoke.

"I'd rip them open and then hang them with their intestines. Make them into a Hunter pinata."

An image that had grins lighting the faces of those present. They had no doubt that, when pissed off, Isolde would do it and then let them each take turns wacking the new pinata.

"I know what we can do. Let's take bets on how Sabin's doing with the Harpy." Reyes suggested.

"Man has balls, that's for sure. Gwen's pretty, but anyone who can rip out your throat..."

Strider cut off with a shudder. Isolde would have loved to tell him that he ended up with a harpy as well, but she kept her mouth shut. It would have been funny to see his face though.

"Hey! That wasn't Gwen's fault. Not that I think there's anything wrong with preforming a throat extraction on a Hunter. Anyway, the way I hear it, she was scared. You don't scare a Harpy and live to brag. That's, like, one of the first things they teach you in deity school. The entire race is just violent by nature. I mean, you've met Gwen's sisters, right?" Anya said.

Everyone but Isolde shuddered at this. Isolde was aware of their ability to kill, but they couldn't kill what they couldn't touch. Right? Isolde could make it where they couldn't touch her. At least for a short while. After that, she was fucked just like the rest of the warriors.

"Sabin is a lucky bastard." Gideon remarked.

"Better watch it. Or you're going to be fated to love a female far worse than a Harpy. The gods are fun that way." Anya told him, managing to freak Gideon out.

"Do you know something?" he asked.

"Maybe." Anya teased.

"Don't you dare tell me!" Gideon insisted.

"I'd absolutely tell you if I knew." Anya replied.

"Don't freak him out. The future girlfriends of a lot of these lovable lugs of ours are going to be a lot worse than Gwen." Isolde remarked, making all the single men present turn on her with wide eyes.

Isolde was idly staring ahead, pretending she didn't know they were looking at her. She was saved from having to answer any questions when Lucien appeared, looking confused.

"The place is furnished but abandoned. No paperwork, but I did see clothing strewn about. Sizes only children can wear. Must have left in a hurry." Lucien remarked.

"That means we're too late, that we made the trip for nothing." Strider said, rubbing his temple.

"There are strange markings on the wall, though. I could not decipher them. I want to flash you in one at a time so if the outside area is still being monitored, we won't be spotted. Surely someone among us will have seen the markings before and know what they mean." Lucien added.

"I'll take care of myself." Isolde said, vanishing into her shadows.

She appeared inside the building and looked around. Lucien appeared with each warrior soon after. It was always amusing for her to watch the warriors after they had been flashed. Gideon swayed like a drunkard, looking like he was so dizzy he would pass out any minute. Strider was laughing as Reyes, pale in the face, clutched his stomach like he was about to heave. Anya and Amun looked unaffected, Anya dancing around the room.

"This way." Lucien called.

He lead them down corridors with gray walls. Bedrooms branced off the halls with fifteen beds to a single room. Classrooms mixed in with those. Lucien lead them right to the gymnasium with it's one mirrored wall and one wall painted in several different colors.

"It's lovely." Gideon remarked, looking at the colored wall.

"It's also a spell, as we suspected." Anya added.

"I've seen this before. In the books I used to learn more about Anya." Reyes said.

"Oh, Panie. Your interest still flatters me, but really, get over your crush. I'm taken. Now about the spell. They definitely used the old language. Though they added their own flare, and I'm having trouble deciphering certain words. That one means dark, that one means power, and that one...helpless, I think." Anya said.

"I don't want to leave now." Gideon said.

"The lying is already getting on my nerves." Reyes remarked with a sigh.

"I care. I do. My heart is actually hurting for you. And just so you know, I can go without lying just like you can go without cutting yourself." Gideon retorted.

"Enough bickering, children. We all already know you can't help what your demons make you do." Isolde said.

The men turned to look at Isolde. The girl's voice was tense and her body language reflected that. She was stiff as a board, her eyes darting around. She knew what was coming and she absolutely hated it. They could see it in the way she stood. Before any of them could question her, Anya gasped and backed away from the wall, trembling.

"Oh my gods. Flash us, Lucien. Now. All of us, if possible." Anya demanded.

"Too late." Isolde said, her voice so small and breaking on the end that it sent chills through them all.

None of them had heard her speak like that. And she was right. Metal shade fell over the window, casting them into pitch darkness. Resounding thuds sounded through-out the building as more of those shades fell over the rest of the windows in the building. The dark, the moment it fell over Isolde, brought back flashbacks from her childhood. Days, upon days, spent locked away in a tiny, dark space, with no way to tell how much time had passed.

It had her heart leaping up into her throat, her breathing becoming labored.

"Lucien." Anya called.

"I'm here, baby, but I can't flash. I can't seem to force my body to dematerialize anymore. It's like there's some sort of a magnetic shield locking my spirit to my body." Lucien replied.

"There is. Magic. I activated it the rest of the way when I read the spell aloud." Anya admitted.

"What do the designs mean?" Strider asked.

"Most of it is the spell, locking us in the dark, our powers gone, our bodies helpless. The last line, though, is a message to all of you. It says, Welcome to hell, Lords of the Underworld. You'll be here until you die." Anya replied.

Isolde wasn't listening to a single bit of the conversation. She tried to calm herself, tell herself she wasn't where her brain was trying to trick her into believing she was. But it did nothing to calm her. Isolde barely heard anything over the mixture of her own memories and the screaming of the demons. Each of the demons of the warriors around her, were screaming, freaking out because they thought they were back inside Pandora's box. Add that to her own horrific memories and it was all Isolde could do just keep her breathing even.

She only remained calm because she knew the others would be in a bad position. Having basically lost this round with the Hunters, Strider was hit hard with pain, that had him doubled up somewhere on the floor. They tried prying open the shutters, which didn't work, and Anya even hit the walls with tornadoes, only managing to hurt Isolde and the men. Isolde couldn't use her shadows to travel, barely was able to make them move to her will. Her connection to the demons was still in perfect shape, though.

Anya stuck to Lucien, cooing to him as he started moaning and groaning. Reyes would say Danika's name now and then, but other wise was quiet. Amun would growl or snarl, giving Isolde a chance to locate him every time he made a noise. As to where Gideon was, she didn't know. He was silent.

Isolde couldn't stay still to save her life. She paced from one wall to the other, her constant footsteps bouncing off the walls. That pacing, though, did nothing to make her less edgy. So she decided to turn her attention to someone else. If she didn't dwell on herself, she could get through it. So Isolde dropped to the floor and felt her way around the floor, until she found Strider. Carefully, she lift his head into her lap, soothing back his hair from his face. The least she could do was offer him some comfort when he was in pain.

And keep him from banging his head into the wall.

He didn't need anymore brain damage.

Isolde wasn't sure how long they were in that darkness. Even the books didn't give an exact time. Having spent a lot of time in her past in a small, dark space, Isolde wasn't so much effected by the darkness as she was by the horrible memory and the constant screaming in her head from the demons. It would do her in if the lights didn't come back on soon.

"I'm going to look for a way out again." Anya announced suddenly.

Isolde picked up the rustle of clothes and the click of Anya's heels on the floor. Then there was a low thump as Anya knocked into Strider. Isolde reached out and grabbed her ankle to keep her from stepping on Strider or her.

"Sorry. Who'd I hit?" Anya asked.

"I need-Help. Help me. Please." Strider asked.

Isolde leaned forward, cooing lowly to him as she stroked his hair. Strider latched onto her arm, gripping her painfully tight, but she let him. She felt more than heard Amun as he settled next to her, checking on his friend.

"A warning would have been awful, Iso." Gideon said suddenly.

"What part of "must happen for a reason", don't you people get?" Isolde retorted, though there was no fire in her voice.

Gideon, hearing the put out tone in her voice, dropped it there. She was barely doing better with their current situation than they were. A bang and then a scrape made Isolde raise her head.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Is it my birthday?" came a voice over some kind of stero system.

Anya hoofed it back to Lucien and Isolde latched onto one of Strider's hands and one of Amun's. Lights flickered on forcing Isolde to release both and cover her eyes until they could adjust to the sudden light after so long in the dark. She glanced around when she could see once more. Anya was protectively holding onto Lucien, Reyes was slumped against a wall, and Gideon was sitting not from from Isolde. Amun was knelling next to her, Strider pillowed in her lap. Isolde knew the voice, having listened to the man taunt Sabin before.

"I wondered who had tripped my silent alarm. Had to take care of your friends in Buda before I could return here, though. We've been hoping you'd come here, ever since that article was published. I see our denial of this facility's existence had the desired effect and convinced you there was no way this could be a trap." Stefano said.

"Come in here. I dare you." Reyes challenged.

"Why should I? I can starve you, watch you waste away. I can poison your air, watch you suffer. And I can do all of those things without ever touching your filthy bodies." Stefano replied.

"Let the women go. They've done nothing to you." Lucien demanded.

"Hell, no. I stay here." Anya said.

"There's no way in hell I'm leaving either." Isolde added.

"How sweet. They want to stay with their demons. Well, I think I'll remove them. Just for you, Death. I don't think you'll like what I do to them, though. Especially since my boss wants a word with your little zebra streaked girl there." Stefano taunted.

Isolde looked up, shocked. What did Galen want with her? Lucien on the other hand went into a crouched position, snarling, his gun ready.

"Try." he demanded.

Isolde eased Strider out of her lap, the man trying to keep a grip on her wrist, but she easily pulled out of his grip as she stood. Amun reached up, grabbing hold of her wrist. He shook his head when she looked at him. All of their attention turned as a young boy walked through the wall, looking between Anya and Isolde.

"Come with me. Please." he told them.

"Neat trick. You sent a child into the lion's den. Cowardly, don't you think? And do you really think your little pet can force me and my own daughter to do something we don't want to do?" Anya taunted.

"Yes, I can. But there's no need to engage in violence." the boy replied.

Isolde shook Amun's hand off her wrist and stepped up beside Anya.

"We said no." Isolde told the child.

The boy looked at her with all seriousness, but Isolde wasn't going to back down. Lucien stepped up in front of them, shoving them both behind him. Gideon stepped up beside him. The others joined them, forming a protective wall around the two women.

"Come. Please. I don't want to hurt you." the boy said.

"Isn't he wonderful? I do hope you like him, my newest weapon against you. I didn't plan to use him for a while yet. Then you had to venture into Egypt and steal my incubators. Incubators I will find and use again. Especially the one our friend Sabin so favors." Stefano said with a laugh.

"So glad to hear from you, Stefano. This is wondrous even for you." Gideon called out.

"Ahh, Lies. A delight, as always. How tedious your demon must be. But I have good news for you. We've found a way to draw the demons from your bodies and place them inside someone else. Someone weaker, someone who will accept their imprisonment for the good of mankind. Which is what we've already done to Sabin. After we defeated him, of course. He put up quite a fight, Sabin did, but in the end he fell. Just. Like. You." Stefano replied.

Isolde stood back to back with Anya, not really able to see past the wall of muscle around them. But she knew Stefano was lying.

"You don't believe me. That's fine. You will when it happens to you. Besides, why do you think your friend isn't here, saving you?" Stefano added.

Gideon punched the wall and then punched it again and again. Isolde heard his bones crack as it continued to hit it.

"Poor Lies. Without a leader. Whatever will you do now?" Stefano taunted.

Gideon snapped, then. Lies yelled at Gideon, it's voice loud in Isolde's own head as the next words left Gideon's mouth.

"Fuck you! I'll kill you. Fucking kill you. You will die by my hand, motherfucker!" Gideon yelled.

The weight of his truth hit him painfully in the gut. Isolde darted forward, wrapping an arm around Gideon as his knees gave out. She helped ease him to the floor. His knife skidded out of his hand and across the floor, one of his hands gripping Isolde's shoulder tightly.

"Hate...you...Hate you to the depths of my soul." Gideon gritted out.

"Gideon, that's enough." Isolde cooed to him.

"Ly-ing. He's...lying...Sabin...alive."

The words left Amun's mouth, sounding raw and strained. The first words he had spoken in centuries.

"You don't know that. You weren't there. He's dead, I promise you." Stefano insisted.

"Liar!" Isolde snapped, looking up. "You can't fool me, Stefano. I know you are lying. You can't lie about the future to me. Sabin is alive and that knowledge is eating you up inside."

Isolde heard a low growl from the intercom system before Amun roared and fell to his knees as well. He had spoken and it was like opening the floodgates. Every secret he had gained in the last couple of hundreds of years, spilled out of him, his voice changing with each knew secret. Murders, rapes, abuse and lies. So many different secrets, none of which were his own.

Then came Darla's voice.

"He didn't love me anymore, even though I did everything for him. Cooked and cleaned and slept with him even when I was too tired. All he cared about was his precious war. Though he still found time to screw our whore of a neighbor, over and over again. He treated me like I was garbage!"

"How are you projecting that voice? That's Darla's voice. How, damn you?" Stefano demanded. "Shut him up. Shut him up right now!"

The little boy rushed to do as told. Isolde turned to warn Lucien and Reyes not to touch the boy but it was too late. The child misted right through their grip and they both screamed in agony. Both dropped into twitching piles of flesh. Anya crouched behind them, ready to pounce if the boy tried to touch them again. Isolde released Gideon when he forced himself to a stand, using her shoulder as a crutch until he had his feet under him. He had to hunch over to keep from throwing up, but he grabbed a dagger with one hand and held it out in warning.

"Don't touch him." Anya shouted at the boy, flames shooting from her fingers. "I have power in this realm and the other. Touch him, and you'll burn. Trust me. I won't hesitate. I've done worse."

Isolde, her abilities suffering as Anya's were, barely got her shadows to twist about her. The boy stared at her with wide eyes, those puppy dog eyes following her shadows. Normally Isolde wouldn't threaten a child, but she wasn't going to let this one hurt someone else.

"There are two liars in the room, I see. I don't care what powers you and your supposed daughter have. That boy is the son of a necromancer, able to live and walk among the dead. He can enter each world at will and nothing and no one can touch him while he's in the other." Stefano said.

"I sleep with a necromancer, you idiot. Lucien can walk among the dead himself. And my daughter walks in the shadow realms. Plus, I'm Anarchy and I have no mercy. Your pet comes any closer and you'll get to see us both in action." Anya promised.

Isolde knew Anya was bluffing. Isolde herself didn't have the power to even fade into shadow at the moment. Besides...Anya didn't have it in her to hurt a child. Neither did Isolde for that matter. She claimed she was no good with children, but she couldn't hurt one. The boy was innocent after all. Just doing as he was told to avoid trouble. Gideon reached out grabbing Anya's wrist then.

"I would find no joy in taking care of this." he told her.

"I-I-yes." Anya agreed, before dragging Lucien away from the boy.

Isolde eased a still babbling Amun away from the boy, an arm around his waist. Stefano demanded the boy shut him up. The boy met Isolde's two-tone gaze then and something flashed across her eyes making the boy sink in his shoes. She wouldn't hurt him, not in an abusive way, but she could, and would, give him the spanking of his short life.

"I won't make the warrior be quiet." Gideon said.

The boy seemed to understand and gratefully backed off. Gideon took Amun from Isolde, whispering into the warrior's ears. Slowly Amun's voice tapered off until he was just muttering under his breath. Isolde stuck close to them. Anya stepped up on Gideon's other side, wrapping an arm around his waist and making him turn to her.

"I've been thinking. I'll willingly go with the brat." Anya said lowly.

"Me too." Isolde agreed.

"Yes." Gideon said, shaking his head no.

Anya drew Gideon close to whisper into his ear.

"Out of this room, our strength might fully return. We could finally take Stefano out together." Anya told him.

Gideon looked between the two. Both were determined. Mother and daughter even if they weren't blood related.

"Time for you to leave your men. Don't worry, after I'm done with you I'll let you return and tell them all about it." Stefano announced.

"Come. I will force you if I must." the boy said, waving his hand.

"Anya get ready to kick someone." Isolde told the goddess.

Anya gave her a questioning look before Gideon spoke up, demanding he be taken in place of Anya and Isolde. It kicked into Anya's brain what Isolde meant. She grabbed Gideon's arm and shoved him to the ground, kicking him in the stomach. Gideon threw up then.

"See? He's in no condition to talk. You'll take us, or no one." Anya said, standing next to Isolde.

"Bring all three of them." Stefano demanded.

The boy turned his eyes on the women. Instead of heading for Anya first, he stepped right up to Isolde and right into her. Isolde felt her skin prickle, her inside shifting weirdly, before her body moved of it's own accord. The feeling was one that Isolde instantly rebelled against. She had had control taken out of her hands for far too long to go with this now. The boy was finding it harder and harder to remain in place inside of her. It was almost like shadows were over coming him, trying to force him out.

Stefano was waiting outside the room when the boy forced Isolde to step out. The moment the door closed, the boy could no longer hold Isolde. He was kicked out of her and Isolde staggered back, fighting to regain her footing. Stefano didn't give her a chance. In her state of disorientation, he stabbed her in the neck with a needle. Whatever he had just injected her with, had her knees giving out from under her and she crumpled to the floor.

"You'll pay for throwing me out that window, demon whore." Stefano told her, before everything went black.

-0-0-0-0-

When Isolde came awake, it was slowly and to the feeling of mugginess and grogginess. She found herself propped in a chair, her shoulders bound to the back of the chair, her wrist to the arm-rests, and her ankles to the legs of the chair. Her chin was resting on her chest, her hair falling around her and blocking her face from view. She kept her breathing even and didn't move, not yet ready to let anyone know she was awake. She didn't know how long she had been out but she was pretty sure she had been stripped of her weapons in the time she had been out of it.

She listened closely to the room around her but didn't hear anything except Gideon's distant screams as they tortured him. It made her chest ache to hear the man scream in agony like that. Believing herself alone in the room, Isolde shifted, raising her head.

She found herself seated in the center of a small, bare room with only one more chair seated directly across from her. One door across the room was closed and more than likely locked. Shifting her legs and twisting, she didn't feel the poke and prod of any of her weapons. They had taken them alright. But that wasn't what annoyed Isolde. What annoyed her was the effects whatever drug Stefano had shot into her, was still having on her.

She couldn't make her shadows work.

She was trying to twist out of her restraints when the door opened. Stefano stepped into the room, meeting her glare with one of his own. He swung the door shut and approached her. Isolde had a good idea on what to expect before his left fist hit her in the face, whipping her head to the side.

"Did you think I forgot that you threw me out of a window?" Stefano asked.

"I really don't care what the hell you remember. I'm not sorry for what I did." Isolde retorted.

Earning herself another punch across the face from the opposite fist.

Both of her cheeks stung and felt hot. Any harder of a punch and he might have split the skin over her cheek bones. As it was, she just knew she was going to have bruises, if only that. Though the taste of blood filled her mouth from having her teeth rattled.

"Demon!" Stefano spat at her.

Isolde raised her head and, with well aimed accurancy, spit the blood in her mouth at him, hitting the front of his shirt.

"See that? That blood is red. Demons don't bleed red, they bleed black, you dumbass." Isolde snapped at him.

She saw the twitch in Stefano's eye, took pride in putting there. Of course this also earned her more hits across the face before Stefano siezed her by the hair, forcing her head back against the back of the chair. He had a knife in his other hand and Isolde had a pretty good idea on the amount of pain she was going to go through before this was done.

"Not a demon? Then how come the bruises are already fading from your face?" he asked.

"Immortals heal fast, moron." Isolde replied.

Before Stefano could do anything else to her, the door opened once more. With her head forced back as it was, Isolde couldn't see who it was but from the happy greetings she got from demons, she had a good idea on who it was.

"That's enough, Stefano. For now. Leave us."

Stefano released Isolde walking past Galen and out the door. Galen shut the door before turning to Isolde. He took hold of the chair and moved it closer to Isolde before dropping to sit in it, facing her. Two-toned eyes met blue as he stared at her.

"I don't believe I got your name the last time we met. You were too busy shooting me." Galen said, his tone patient.

"Why does my name matter. An enemy is an enemy." Isolde retorted. "No use splitting hairs."

"Perhaps, but I'm intrigued. Humor me." Galen replied.

Isolde didn't see anything bad in telling him her name. It wasn't like he was going to find any kind of record, anywhere, on her.

"Isolde."

"Isolde? It's a strong name."

"Flattery will get you kicked in the face."

Though it wasn't her intention, the comment put a small grin on Galen's face. She was so very glad to be amusement for him. If the sarcasm was clear, she would have to work on it.

"I take it you know who I am." Galen stated.

"Kind of hard not to. Your two demons won't shut the hell up."

Perhaps she shouldn't have said that last part. Knew she shouldn't have the moment it left her mouth. Galen's eyes widened and she inwardly cursed herself.

"You can hear them?" he asked, his voice lowering.

"Well no freaking duh. Wouldn't have said it if I couldn't. Jealousy and Hope. Nice combo you got there."

This seemed to amuse him, for a small grin tilted up the corners of his mouth. Though the last part made his grin appear bitter. Not that she blamed him for that part. One demon was a huge pain in the ass. Two had to suck balls.

"Just what are you?" he questioned.

"Still iffy on that one. I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."

"You don't know?"

"I prefer to think of it as, I don't care."

Her smart-ass mouth wasn't having the same effect on Galen as it did on Sabin. Galen seemed to find it amusing. Sabin didn't.

"And Lucien and the others told you about me?" he asked.

"I don't need anyone to tell me anything. I know all." Isolde answered without thinking.

What the hell was wrong with her!? Normally she would have never given that up so easily. Not when she was tied to a chair with no way to escape. Galen's expression turned serious.

"What do you mean, you know all? As in, you know the future?" he asked.

"More like I know the past, present, and future of everyone I come in contact with and oh my gods, what the fuck did Stefano inject me with!?"

A grin curved Galen's lips up at the corners. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. Isolde had a really bad feeling.

"Well it's nice to know that some forms of human drugs work on you. I have a feeling you and I have a lot to talk about." Galen said.

Isolde shut her mouth then and shook her head. There was no way in hell she was saying another word. She wasn't going to prove Sabin right. Galen reached out, siezing her by the chin to make her look at him. Unlike most people, who experienced a rush of false hope when they looked at him, Isolde only felt her stomach turn.

"You will speak. You will tell me what you know for I have a feeling, if you know what you say you know, that you know where the artifacts are and where Pandora's box is." he remarked.

Isolde forced herself not to speak. She wouldn't do it. Not now and not ever. Sabin would kill her as it was just for Galen now knowing about her knowledge of the future. And the gods only knew what else might come out of her mouth. She might go as far to tell him her panties were sapphire blue and she wasn't wearing a bra. Or something even worse. Galen only grinned in her face. She was in for pain, she was sure. And a lot of it.

Perhaps she shouldn't have shot him and thrown Stefano out a window...

No, that was fun.

Galen released her chin and got to his feet. Isolde watched him closely as he looked down at her. The look on his face promised her a world of pain.

"We'll see how long you're willing to keep your mouth shut." he told her, turning away from her.

When he opened the door, Stefano was waiting. Galen said something lowly to the other man before leaving, leaving Stefano behind. Stefano looked at Isolde and grinned, stepping into the room and closing the door.

Isolde sat up straight, glaring at him as he came at her, a needle in his hand. He looked more than happy to be doing this. When he reached her, he grabbed her by the hair once more, yanking her head back. Isolde eyed that needle. She was pretty sure she knew what was inside. More of that drug to block her abilities and make her tongue loose. She hissed when he jammed the needle into her neck, injecting the liquid inside into her bloodstream.

"Just enough to keep those nasty powers of your's under control while not knocking you out." Stefano said, throwing the needle aside before pulling a knife from his belt.

Isolde felt the tip of the blade come to her throat, the drug already further dulling her sense of the shadows. Try as she might, she couldn't get them to respond to her. This was going to be bad and she knew it. When the first slice of the blade-a straight upward cut from her belly button to her ribs-came, ripping her shirt, Isolde had no hopes of holding back a scream.

Bad wasn't even going to scratch the top of it.

She was in deep shit.

Each cut, each slice, every dig of the blade made her world turn first white with pain and then black as more of her blood spilled from her. Stefano asked her questions between each one and each and every time Isolde came up with a new way to tell him to go fuck himself or came up with a creative way to tell him to go suck Galen's dick.

Something that earned her extra pain.

She wouldn't tell them anything, knew she just had to hold out for Sabin and Gwen to get there. She could handle this pain, would handle it. Loyalty came first, not comfort. Loyalty to the family she had found, to the friends that welcomed her with open arms, to the men and women who loved her just as much as they loved each other, and, yes, loyalty to the asshole who insisted she was a liability, for, no matter how much he hated it, he was family as well.

So come hell or high water, and she was sure it would come to that, she was going to keep her mouth shut.

Suck on that Galen.

-0-0-0-0-

"Tell me, what's a goddess doing with a demon?"

Anya glanced at Galen where he stood on the other side of the cell, the little Ghost Boy, as Anya was calling him, at his side. Dressed in all white, Anya thought he was really over killing the whole angel bit. She didn't answer him right off the bat, though he didn't seem too bothered about that.

"Have you no answer, beauty?" Galen asked.

"I'm having fun, that's what." Anya retorted.

Her power was returning slowly and her mind was working over a plan. She just wished she knew what they had done with Isolde. She had not seen, nor heard a thing from her.

"You're feisty. I like that. Lucien is a lucky man. More than lucky. Such an ugly man capturing the heart of one such as you is nothing short of a miracle." Galen remarked.

"He isn't ugly. He's honorable and loving and wonderfully fierce." Anya replied.

"But he's a demon."

"Well, yeah. And so the hell are you." Anya retorted.

"No. I'm an angel, sent from the heavens to cleanse this earth of evil."

Anya laughed. She was sure that Isolde would been rolling on the floor laughing from the idiocy of that remark.

"That's a good one. Believing our own press, are we?" Anya asked.

"I won't argue my origins with a demon whore. Now, tell me what the Lords know of the two artifacts that remain missing." Galen said.

"Who says they're missing?" Anya asked, meaning to taunt him.

"True. For all you know, I have one."

Anya inwardly called him a bastard. Isolde would have known if he was lying or not and would have called him out on it if he was.

"If they had all four, they would not be here, at my mercy. They would be searching for the box. Or would have found it." Galen told her.

"Sure you have any mercy, angel?" Anya mocked.

"You're alive, aren't you?"

"But then, I'm sure you think you can use me in some way." Anya replied.

"Not necessarily. The other woman who came here with you, her name is Isolde, I believe...she seems able to supply me with all the answers I seek and more." Galen said.

Anya rounded on him then, her stomach twisting into knots. Galen knew about Isolde's knowledge of the future?

"What have you done with my daughter?" she demanded.

"Daughter, you say? Would this also make her Lucien's daughter? She claims not to know what she is." Galen said.

"She's our adopted daughter. What have you done to her?" Anya demanded again.

"We have a drug that has loosened her tongue and Stefano is currently...encouraging her to talk to us." Galen answered.

As if to prove his point, there was a sudden, loud and high pitched scream that echoed off the walls. Anya knew that voice even if it was screaming in pain. The bottom of her stomach gave out and she felt like her heart had suddenly shuddered to a screeching halt.

That was Isolde.

"You-"

Galen cut Anya off with a wave of his hand.

"I'm growing weary of you, goddess. Her torture will end if you tell me what I want to know. Or perhaps I should have Death brought in." Galen told her.

"Look, I'll talk to you, tell you everything you want to know, but only if you get rid of the kid. He annoys me." Anya told Galen, trying to remain calm, even when another of Isolde's screams split the air.

"I apologize if I gave you the impression that I'm foolish. He stays." Galen told her.

"Why do you hate the Lords so much, anyway? What'd they ever do to you?" Anya asked.

"A better question is this: why shouldn't I hate them? They want to ruin me. Therefore, I will ruin them first. All these years, we've only been able to injure them, too afraid of releasing their demons. If that happened, the gods would curse me anew. I've already been warned. But we're close, so close to changing that. Any day now I'll know if the demon of Distrust was able to bond with my female. If so...I will lead the most powerful army this world has ever seen." Galen replied.

"Your spineless servant seemed to think you'd use weaklings and lock them away for the good of this world."

"However would he get that idea?"

Anya threw him another glance and almost flinched when another scream cut straight through her. She silently begged Isolde to hold on.

"How did you find Distrust? How did you capture it, a crazed demon?" Anya asked.

"Unlike Amun, I'm not one to spill all my secrets." Galen replied.

"Well, until you do, I'm afraid I can't believe you."

"I'm devastated, of course." Galen replied.

"Let's see, let's see. If I were a cowardly, jealous demon pretending to be an angel and I wanted to find and control an evil spirit, I would...what? Have others do my dirty work, definitely. Maybe even use children-"

It suddenly clicked in Anya's head how Galen had found and contained the spirit of Distrust. He had used children with the abilities to see into the spirit realm. Like Ghost Boy.

"We'll take them from you. Prevent you from using them ever again. We've won every other battle with you. This will be no different. Isolde will never answer any of your questions, but help us. I mean, we even have a Harpy on our side now. Have you perchance heard of what a Harpy can do?" Anya asked.

"You will shut your mouth." Galen growled at her.

"And you know what's worse than a Harpy? Isolde when she's pissed and that's exactly what she's going to be when she gets free. She will rip out your insides with her bare hands, hang you with them and then use your own limbs to beat you like a pinata. And she'll laugh the whole time. And what's worse than Isolde? Cronus, the new god king. He wants you dead. Did you know that?" Anya asked.

"You lie." Galen insisted.

"Do I? The All-Seeing Eye-the Eye you lost to us-had a vision. In it, she saw you try and murder Cronus. now he's after you. I don't know why he hasn't killed you himself. I'm sure he has his reasons. But believe me, I've been his target. he won't leave you alone until he has what he wants." Anya replied.

"I would never hurt a Titan."

"Wouldn't you? You betrayed your closest friends."

The foundation rattled when Galen slammed a fist into the wall, his anger starting to get the best of him, just like Anya wanted.

"They weren't my friends." he snapped.

"Too bad they didn't realize that earlier. But no matter. They still managed to defeat you. Just as they'll defeat you every time you challenge them. It's science, after all. You're weaker."

Just a little more and he would try to strangle her. Of that, Anya was sure.

"Your precious Lucien wasn't strong enough to lead us, Zeus's elite army. He shouldn't have been placed in charge." Galen retorted.

"So rather than challenge him like an honorable solider, you convinced him to open Pandora's box, then told the gods of his decision to betray them? You formed an army of your own and tried to stop him. Nope, that's not cowardly at all."

Galen took two steps towards her but caught himself and thought better of it. Much to Anya's disappointment. She had been so close.

"I did what I had to do. A good soldier wins by any means necessary. Just ask your friend Sabin." Galen told her.

"Ah, but like I said, you didn't win, did you? Even though you knew what Lucien and others were going to do, you weren't able to stop them and prove them weak. You lost. You were made to look weak. you got cursed to house a demon inside you just like the others. You, you, you. How humiliating." Anya mocked.

"Enough!"

"Want to hit me? Does the sweet little angel want to cut out Anya's tongue? What would your followers think then, hmm? But I'm sure they've seen you do much worse. Or do you always have Stefano order that done, so you can appear merciful?"

"Stefano's not here, and I'm feeling merciful. But don't worry. This will only hurt for a second."

Anya didn't have the time to react before he swung a crossbow from between his wings and shot her in each shoulder, pinning her to the wall behind her. Pain bloomed through her as the blood poured from the wounds.

"I think it's time for Lucien to join our little party. He'll watch everything we do to you. Strip you, take you, hurt you. Let's see if he's strong enough to save you, shall we? Then, perhaps I'll take him to see your precious little daughter. I'm sure Stefano has made a coat of her skin by now." Galen told her.

"Touch him, or Isolde, and I'll eat your heart in front of you."

Galen had the balls to laugh at that. But the laugh was cut off, Galen looking up sharply, as there was a loud boom and the building shook. Anya grinned, nearly from ear to ear.

"Looks like the cavalry's here. I knew the others would come for us. I believe I mentioned the Harpy, yes?" Anya mocked.

Galen gave her a glare before turning to leave the room, ordering the boy to not let Anya leave the room if she managed to get down from the wall. He left the room and made a b-line for the room where Isolde was being kept. When he opened the door, he found blood splattered on the floor, bright and red. Isolde was a mess, her head hanging forward and her breathing coming in ragged, and wet, gasps. Stefano stood over her, a bloody knife in hand.

"Leave." Galen ordered.

Stefano threw a look at Isolde but did as ordered. Galen slammed the door shut and turned back to Isolde, who didn't move. If it wasn't for the forced breathing, he would have thought her dead.

"You can end this by telling me what you know." he told her.

"Go...fuck...yourself." came her low, raspy voice.

She sounded like someone had rubbed her throat raw with sand paper and she was having to stop every few words to drag in a wet and ragged breath that made it sound like there was a hole in her throat.

"Why do you protect them?" Galen questioned.

"My family...won't betray..." Isolde replied.

Galen didn't get it. Really he didn't. She was so loyal to them that she had even taken Stefano carving out her stomach instead of talking. The organ now sat on the floor beside her chair, useless and trampled on. Isolde wouldn't be eating for a while.

"You know...I understand more about you...then you might want." Isolde rasped, trying to take ragged breathes between the words.

Galen focused on her, scoffing under his breath. He highly doubted she knew anything about him, despite whatever she had said to the wiser. No one understood anything about him. He highly doubted this girl, who he had only met once before her capture, would know anything.

"Holding two demons...isn't easy. I know. I constantly...constantly have several of them...bouncing around in my head. And you...suffer from them...greatly. Hope giving you...so much false...hope. And Jealousy...makes you so jealous...of what the others...have. It's not easy...watching them find happiness. Sad thing is...I understand. It sucks...constantly being the one...that's left out. But...you have a shitty way...of dealing with...it." Isolde said.

Galen stared at her. She talked like she actually did know and understand what he felt and thought. But he wasn't going to entertain the idea. He just wanted his answers. Given her current state, he couldn't cart her off with him. She would die before he could get her anywhere secure. Especially since her friends were baring down on them.

"Even...in the heavens...you were jealous. The last one...created...the last one...thought about. Baden got...so much more...as the first one. It was...unfair of Zues...to just leave you...with the leftovers. I understand...more than you know."

Galen looked down at her, his jaw tightening. He felt anger at her words, but that was because he knew she was right. But anyone with knowledge of his past could guess at that. He wasn't going to let himself dwell on it. Her information was the only thing he wanted from her. Not her understanding. He leaned forward, laying a hand on the back of the chair so he could speak close to her ear.

"Whatever you think you know, you don't. But I will return for the information about the future that you have. Next time, your dear friends will not be able to save you." he promised her before he left.

Next time he would torture the information from her, himself if he had to.

-0-0-0-0-

Breaking into the Hunter base, Sabin had encounter more of the halfling children. He tranq-ed them all, laying them down in the shade to be taken away when they all left. He had then followed Gwen inside, finding her effectively dealing with Hunters. She calmed when she saw him.

"I found your friends. They're hurt, but alive. I released them, but three are missing. Gideon, Anya, and Isolde." Gwen told him.

Isolde? Sabin got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. If Galen found out about Isolde's knowledge than she would be spared no mercy.

"Anya? Gideon? Isolde?" he shouted, hoping one of them would hear him.

"Sabin? Sabin, is that you? It's about damn time. I'm back here. With a guard." came Anya's voice from down the hall.

Sabin left Gwen to deal with three more Hunters who had just reared their ugly heads and went to help Anya. He burst through five doors before he finally found Anya, staring down a little boy, her shoulders coated in blood.

"Sabin!" Anya greeted, trying to get around the boy.

"I have to keep her here." the boy said.

"Don't touch him, and don't let him touch you. You'll go down without warning." Anya warned Sabin as he reached for his tranq gun.

Lucien's voice sounded then, calling for Anya and Isolde.

"Lucien! Stay back, baby, but tell me you're okay? I have to know you're okay." Anya called back.

"I'm fine. You?" Lucien asked, coming up behind Sabin. "Oh gods. Your shoulders."

"Just a little scratch. Please tell me you found baby girl. Oh gods, please tell me she's alright. I heard her screaming and Galen said they were torturing her." Anya pleaded.

Sabin felt sick to his stomach and could feel the tension rolling off Lucien along with malice and killing intent. Someone was going to die a very painful death if Isolde had been harmed.

"We will find her." Lucien promised Anya.

Sabin, his hand still behind his back, handed his tranq gun over to Lucien.

"Not sure it'll go any good, but I'm going to leave you to it. Gideon and Isolde both are still missing." Sabin told him.

Lucien took the gun and let Sabin take off to find the two. Sabin ran down the halls, yelling the two's names. He pressed his ear to each door and finally heard a whimper. Sabin pried the door open and slipped inside, finding Gideon's bloody and broken form strapped to a gurney. Gideon was a mess, both of his hands cut completely from his arms.

"They'll grow back, I swear to gods they'll grow back." Sabin told the warrior, trying to free him of the bonds.

"Key. Not there." Gideon said, jerking his chin to a cabinet. "Didn't taunt me...with it."

Sabin snagged the key and got to work on the restraints.

"Save your strength, my friend." Sabin told him.

When Gideon was freed, Sabin picked him up and carried him into the hall. Strider came around the corner then. When he saw Gideon a savage cry fell from his lips.

"Is he..."

Strider couldn't even finish his sentence.

"He's alive." Sabin assured him. "Have you seen Isolde? She's still missing."

Strider shook his head.

"No, but Lucien's got Anya. He managed to tranq the kid guarding her. Reyes is somewhere in back. Stefano's called for retreat, but you'll never believe who's stuck around." Strider told him.

A loud cry of despair sounded from down the hall just then. The two of them took off, rounding a corner to find a door blasted open. When they came to the door, both froze. Lucien stood in the room, so white, his scars stood out vividly. Anya was knelling next to a blood splattered chair, something bundled up in her arms, crying as she rocked back in forth, chanting, "You'll be okay" lowly.

Blood covered the floor around the chair, a mangled stomach laying on the floor. It was then that Sabin's blood ran cold. The bloody mass in Anya's arm had zebra streaked hair. He nearly forgot he had Gideon in his arms and nearly dropped the man.

"Is that...is that Isolde?" Strider asked.

Lucien nodded stiffly as he moved to Anya's side, knelling in front of her to smooth Isolde's blood clotted hair away from her face. The girl wasn't conscious. It didn't even look like she was breathing.

"Is she-" Sabin cut off.

"No! No, no, no! She can't...but her heart beat is so slow!" Anya cried.

Lucien cupped the back of Anya's neck, pulling her forward to kiss her forehead, silently trying to assure her that Isolde would pull through. Isolde always pulled through.

"She'll be fine, love. She'll be fine."

He said it, but from the strained look on Lucien's face, Sabin didn't think Lucien entirely believed that. Torin had made a good point when Aeron had stabbed Isolde in the chest. None of them knew how far Isolde's body could be pushed. She could very well break long before they did and this could be that moment.

Anya rounded on Sabin then, her eyes blazing as she looked up at him.

"This is all because she wouldn't tell Galen a damn thing. Do you still want to believe she's not completely loyal to us!? Huh!?" Anya demanded, Lucien trying to calm her. "They carved out her stomach for crying out loud!"

Gwen had said, once, that it would take something drastic to change his view of Isolde...and she had been right. The girl lay before him, a bloody and broken mess, just like one of his men, and it was because she refused to tell his enemy anything that could be used against him. He had to admit then that Isolde really wasn't the bad person he had been making her out to be. She was just as loyal and determined as any one of his men.

And damn it, he owed her a huge apology.

"I'm sorry."

Anya looked up at Sabin, surprised when he spoke.

"I'm sorry and I'll tell her that if, no when she wakes up. So let's get out of here and get her, Gideon, and everyone else, home." Sabin told her.

Anya nodded, letting Lucien take Isolde from her arms. Sabin turned to Strider then.

"Have you seen Gwen?" he asked.

"Yeah. Down the hall and to the right. I've was searching for you. I'll take Gideon. You go help your woman." Strider told him.

"Did something happen to her?" Sabin demanded as he handed Gideon over.

"Just go." was all Strider said in reply.

Sabin took off ahead of the others. He found Gwen exactly in the same room he had left her in, but she wasn't fighting humans. She was fighting Galen.

And was losing.

Galen had a whip in one hand that was actually a hissing snake. Every time Gwen took off the thing's head, it simply grew back. Gwen was barely keeping her feet under her when she lashed out.

"The big, strong Lords of the Underworld, relying on a woman. And they call me the coward." Galen sneered.

"I'm not just any woman. I'm a Harpy." Gwen replied.

"As if that makes a difference."

"It should. I'm also a half demon. Don't you recognize me?" Gwen asked.

"Should I? All their women look the same to me. Filthy whores." Galen replied.

He cracked the whip at her again and then again. The second time it wrapped around Gwen's wrist, yanking her to her knees. Sabin jumped in then, blades flashing. He cut the whip's hold on Gwen and managed to nail Galen in the stomach with a knife, making the man fall with a roar of pain. Gwen pushed herself to her feet and Sabin stepped between her and Galen.

"Finally ready to do this? To admit defeat?" Sabin asked Galen as he yanked the knife out of his gut.

"You really think you're strong enough to best me?" Galen asked.

"I already have. We've plowed through most of your forces. All that remains is your imprisonment. And it looks like that won't be too difficult to obtain." Sabin replied, aiming his gun at Galen.

"Stop it. Just stop it." Gwen insisted, stepping forward. "I don't want you taken until you hear what I have to say. I've waited for this day my entire life, dreamed of telling you that I'm the daughter of Tabitha Skyhawk. That I'm twenty-seven years old, and thought to be sired by an angel."

Galen only laughed in her face as he got to his feet. Though, the laugh couldn't hide his wince from his injury. Sabin was glad. It was a small form of pay back for Isolde's carved out stomach.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Galen asked.

"You tell me. About twenty-eight years ago, you slept with a Harpy. She had red hair and brown eyes. She was injured. You patched her up. Then you left but said you'd be back." Gwen told him.

Galen's smirk vanished as he studied Gwen. It was starting to dawn on him.

"And?" he questioned.

"And the past has a way of catching up with people, doesn't it? So surprise. Here I am. Your long-lost daughter." Gwen said, spreading her arms.

"No. You're lying. I would have known." Galen insisted.

"Because you would have gotten a birth announcement?" Gwen retorted, laughing.

"No. It's impossible. I'm no one's father."

The rest of the Lords chose that moment to file in the doorway, Lucien still carrying Isolde and Strider still carrying Gideon. Both looked as if they were almost afraid to sit down their precious cargo. Sabin knew it to be true in Lucien's case.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. We have some business to settle after what has been done to my daughter." Lucien growled.

"Not so tough without a child around to shield you, Hope?" Anya asked with a laugh.

"Tonight I'll dine on your black heart." Reyes snarled.

Sabin sympathized with what his men must be feeling at the moment, but it wasn't their call and it wasn't his either. Isolde might hate him later for letting Galen go after what he had had Stefano do to her, as set in her vengeful ways as she was, but it was for Gwen to decide.

"Galen is ours. Stay back. Gwen?" Sabin said.

"I-I don't know." Gwen replied, staring at Galen.

"Perhaps I spoke too soon. We will talk, you and I. Privately." Galen said, stepping forward to reach for Gwen.

Sabin snarled at him, sounding like a beast about to attack it's prey.

"You can leave, if she allows it, but you don't touch her. Ever." Sabin told him. "Especially not after what you ordered done to Isolde."

Galen's eyes flickered to Lucien's arm full, Gwen following his eyes only to gasp when she saw the state Isolde was in. Sabin could tell Gwen was really debating her choice now.

"No child of mine would choose to be with the Lords of the Underworld." Galen said, turning to Gwen and holding out his hand. "Come with me. We will leave, get to know each other."

Gwen doubted he really wanted to get to know her, that he only wanted to use her as another weapon against his enemies. And that hurt. And then there was sweet and accepting Isolde, who was nothing more than a bloody mess in Lucien's arms. All from an order from Galen. Gwen grabbed Sabin's gun and pointed it at Galen's head.

"No matter what happens, I'm not going anywhere with you." Gwen told him.

"You would kill your own father?" Galen asked.

Hope bloomed in her chest and Gwen instantly questioned if that hope came from his demon or from within herself.

"You were so quick to dismiss me. You said you had no children." Gwen replied.

"I was merely in shock. Absorbing the news. After all, it's not every day a man is given the priceless gift of fatherhood." Galen replied. "Your mother...Tabitha. I remember. She was the most beautiful sight I'd ever beheld, or have since. I wanted her instantly and meant to keep her, but she left me. I was never able to find her. Had I known about you, I would have desired a place in your life."

Gwen debated again. should she let him go or should she let Sabin and the others imprison him? She wanted to believe there was some good in him, but then she looked at Isolde, and Gideon, and all the pain and trouble he had caused. She didn't know if he could be saved or not.

"G-Gwen..."

The small, barely there voice, had everyone turning to Lucien. Lucien shifted his grip on Isolde, whispering in her ear to save her breath and rest. Isolde, weak, her eyes barely open, lift her head, propping it against Lucien shoulder to fix her half glazed eyes on Gwen.

"Isolde." Gwen said, relief to find the girl conscious.

"Do...do what your heart...tells you." Isolde said, dragging in wet, gasping breaths, as if her lungs didn't want to expand.

"But, Isolde, look at you!" Gwen argued.

"Forget...about me. Things have to happen...for the future I see...to come to pass. It's...for the better. Your choice...the one you know...you'll make...is correct. Don't...question yourself...not now." Isolde said.

Gwen stared in shock at Isolde as she let her head roll to the side, relaxing fully back into her father's arms. Lucien shifted her, smoothing back her hair from her face as he whispered reassurances into the girl's ear.

That was how a father was suppose to be. Kind, loving, supportive. There when his daughter was hurting, holding her and telling her it would be alright. Something Galen was not. But Isolde had said her choice was right and Gwen was inclined to believe her. Gwen turned her eyes to Galen then.

"Go." she told him.

Galen looked from Gwen to Isolde and back. He reached for Gwen, but she merely repeated herself, tears running down her face.

"Daughter..."

"I said go! Isolde's right." Gwen snapped, cutting him off.

Galen's wings snapped out, sending him rocketing through the ceiling and into the air beyond. The warriors around her fired at him, or tossed blades, and something did manage to nail him for Galen howled. When he was gone, there were muttered curses around the room.

"Not again. Why would you do that, Sabin? Why would you let her do that?" Strider demanded, sitting Gideon down on the floor.

He was already writhing in agony as he dropped to the floor beside Gideon. Galen's escape had meant defeat for the Lords, for Strider. And now he was paying the price of that defeat.

"I'm sorry." Sabin told him.

Gwen turned to apologize to Sabin for letting her father get away, but her eyes snagged on something else.

"You're bleeding." she said.

"I'm fine. I'll heal. How are you?" Sabin asked, looking her over. "I should have taken him down when I had the chance. He hurt you."

"I'll heal. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Can you forgive me?" Gwen asked, throwing herself into his arms.

"I love you. There's nothing to forgive, darling." Sabin told her.

"I wimped out. I let your greatest enemy go. I-"

"No, no, no. I'm not letting you blame yourself for this. I let him go. Isolde even said it was the right choice to make. Now tell me what I want to hear. What I need to hear." Sabin told her.

"I love you, too." Gwen told him.

"We're staying together."

"Yes. If you'll have me."

"What do you mean, if I'll have you? I told you, you're first in my life." Sabin told her.

"I know. You gave up a victory for me. I can't believe you did that." Gwen said in awe.

"I would give up anything, everything for you." he told her.

"You really do love me. You mean it. Won't grow to hate me, won't let war come between us."

"Is that what's been worrying you? Darling, I could have told you those things." Sabin said with a snort.

"But I wouldn't have believed you. I thought winning was the most important thing in your life."

"No. That's you."

Nothing had made Gwen happier. Though she still felt bad for having let Galen get away from them.

"I should have told you to lock him away forever. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. He needs to be stopped, I know that, but there at the end, I just couldn't bring myself...couldn't let you...I'm so sorry. Now he's going to cause even more trouble." Gwen said.

"It's all right. It's all right. We'll deal with it. We've severely handicapped their army." Sabin assured her.

"Not sure how much good that will do us. Galen found Distrust. He's trying to place the demon inside someone else's body, hoping to create an immortal solider he can control. He was pretty confident about his success. And now he knows about Isolde's ability to know the future. He'll try to take her again." Anya said.

Sabin ran a hand through Gwen's hair, thinking.

"I don't know what I'd do. But I do now understand how difficult your decision must have been. If you need that bastard free to make you happy, then free he'll stay." Sabin told Gwen.

Several of the other warriors muttered "Hey" from behind him, not too happy to hear that.

"We get a say in that." Reyes growled.

"I'll come to terms with his capture, I know I will. Seeing him for the first time was just too shocking to process. Don't worry, though. Next time I'll do better." Gwen told Sabin.

"Yeah, but worrying is what I do best." Sabin told her.

The mushy scene continued between the two for a while longer. When they were done, Sabin turned to Lucien.

"How is she?" he asked.

"She's unconscious again. It's the same as when Aeron stabbed her in the midst of his bloodlust. Her wounds aren't trying to heal and she's burning up with a fever." Lucien replied, laying a blood stained hand on Isolde's forehead.

If this was like that time then that meant she would spend the next week or so, suffering from her wounds before they would finally heal. It would probably take longer given that she would now have to regenerate her stomach.

"I'm flashing her home." Lucien announced, before vanishing.

When he came back, he took Anya, probably so she could take care of Isolde. One by one, Lucien flashed them all home. Anya, with the help of an overly frantic Ashlyn and Danika, cleaned and bandaged Isolde. Anya had Lucien flash her to the nearby hopsital in town and stole medical equipment, hooking Isolde up to an I.V. drip since she didn't have a stomach to drink or eat anything. But that was about all they could do for her and just had to let her rest and recover after that.

While they waited to see how Isolde would do, the women looked for new homes for the children they had rescued. Torin searched for those on Cronus' list and the others went about plotting how to find Galen. Though it would take a while for Galen to re-enter the fray after his injuries.

The same with Isolde and Gideon.

They just couldn't seem to catch a break.

At least not accident prone Isolde.