Emily looked up at the sign which was a motorcycle on a hill silhouetted against a rising full moon, outside dozens of motorbikes were parked and several hairy looking men congregated together. They looked up and stared at her as she walked past, as much as Emily was loath to depend on him she stayed very close to Jasyn.

"What is this place?" Emily asked as they approached the door, Jasyn spared her a disdainful glance.

"It is what it says, sanctuary for our kind. Its official name is a Limani, which binds all were-hunters by the laws of the house which provides sanctuary for were-hunters, daimons, demons …

Jasyn missed a beat, "well, sometimes. Demons aren't always bound by our laws."

"Uhuh," Emily said, her head practically spinning.

As they approached the door, Emily caught sight of one of the handsomest men she'd ever seen, she and Jasyn joined the back of the line of humans filing slowly into the bar. The queue was a weird mix of bikers, locals and tourists and surprisingly a lot of women. The handsome bouncer at the door laughed at something a guy said who he was letting through the door, the laugh was deep and rich, he brushed a hand at his hair, moving the blond curls from his face. Nearly all the women in the line, Emily included, felt their knees wobble and they stretched around the bodies in front to catch a look at him. Emily looked back up at Jasyn who was staring ahead of him at nothing, though he looked like he was biting viciously on his tongue.

"Is he a …?"

"Yes," Jasyn snapped belligerently, Emily frowned at him.

"Are they all so handsome?"

Jasyn sneered at her, "You're one of us. Or have you forgotten already."

"Yeah but … look at you guys," Emily whispered to him, shrugging off his god-awful mood swings. "You all look like you should be on a runway or in vogue. I know I definitely need to lose some pounds and I have the worst split ends. You guys all look like you've been carved from cream cheese."

Jasyn arched a brow at her but said nothing, Emily could see things were going on in that mind of his but he wouldn't divulge, which was fine with her since it was their turn to approach the guy at the door.

"You should ask for a room," Jasyn said casually before moving forward into the bar, leaving Emily outside gaping after him. Emily looked up at the handsome man in front of her, her mouth still hanging open in shock, the guy sniffed suspiciously, he then leant inside, "Aimee!"

A few moments later a beautiful, slim blond woman with similar features to the bouncer came to the door, she looked inquiringly at the man.

"I think she may need a room," he said and gave Emily's luggage a pointed look the woman stared curiously for a moment before beckoning her inside.

"Thank you," Emily responded meekly, before stepping into Sanctuary.

The woman, Aimee, led Emily through the bar where she encountered blatant stares. They came to a door where a replica of the beautiful man outside stood. Wow, gorgeous twins!

Emily stared and he stared back, unlike the man outside there was no glint of kindness there, he was cold and steely, Emily gulped.

"Let us through, Remi, she's asking for a room," Aimee said with obvious impatience, before the man could say anything a woman opened the door he was guarding. Emily knew she was human; the scent she projected was the same kind that she's smelt on her friends, the scent of the human gene. Remi looked at her and Emily gaped, his eyes softened immediately and she stepped closer to him, on her hip was a baby with jet black hair in a clean, white baby-grow.

"He's getting a little fussy; I think he wants you to put him down tonight."

The woman gave Emily and Aimee a soft smile when the pouting baby reached his little arms out for his father. Emily cocked her head at them, the baby looked nothing like either the father or the mother, his skin and hair looked far too dark, but the man didn't seem to notice this obvious difference. He pulled the child to his chest and rocked him all the while manoeuvring his wife back with his body, Aimee motioned for Emily to follow them.

"It's no place for a baby out there," the father murmured to the now quiet baby, who was looking up at his dad with sleepy eyes. "Too smoky, too many drunks."

The man touched his wife's cheek and she moved closer so he could lean in to kiss her. The whole scene happened without the slightest regard to whoever was looking on, Emily saw Aimee watching her and blushed, not wanting the woman to think she was being nosy or eavesdropping.

"That's my brother, Remi," Aimee explained as she led Emily up a flight of stairs, "ever since he's been mated he's been like that. He was worse before."

"Do you own this place?" Emily asked in an awed voice, her eyes consuming her beautiful surroundings.

"My family does. We own the bar which is a front for what we really do."

"A Limani?" Emily asked curiously, Aimee glanced over her shoulder at Emily.

"Yes."

Emily fell silent so she could observe the house, it was decorated in a timeless way, so expensive and rich in taste and colour, it had lots of wooden cabinets with antiques placed carefully in them. Emily and Aimee stood politely back as two men came down the stairs; both inclined their heads respectfully to Aimee, who returned the gesture with impeccable grace, as they passed. Then their eye slid to Emily, they inhaled deeply and their eyes narrowed on Emily, who smiled tentatively. Emily pressed herself into the wall when they sneered at her; Aimee passed her arm in front of Emily's chest, offering a flimsy shield which Emily was profoundly grateful for.

"Move it along now, fellas," Aimee said firmly, "you know the laws; don't start any business you can't finish."

The man in front of Emily growled, actually growled, and then he and his friend moved on, Emily looked up at Aimee who seemed completely unperturbed.

"You'll have to excuse them," she said, "they're whole family was slaughtered by Arcadians. They get a little testy from time to time."

"But I didn't do anything," Emily gasped indignantly, very shaken by the utter hatred in the men's eyes.

"You're Arcadian," Aimee said as if she were obtuse and carried on walking, Emily followed quickly, not wanting to be left behind in case the men or others like them came back.

"But you didn't look at me as if you wanted to brutally hack me to pieces?" Emily said, grateful when Aimee laughed.

"To be honest I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly pass through this place. As far as I'm concerned it's live and let live, unless you offend me. Then I can't hold the bear in check."

Emily frowned, "you're a bear?" she asked cynically, she'd never seen a person look less like a bear, then she frowned further, she supposed that's what most people would say if she told them she was a hawk in disguise.

"Yeah," Aimee said in that irritating voice as if she didn't think Emily was all that bright, "can't you tell?"

"I'm new to this school," Emily muttered and Aimee stopped at a door, she gave Emily a quizzical look before opening the door. Emily peeked around the door jamb and saw a comfortable little room with an average sized window where dark green curtains hung. The walls and carpet were green too, Emily had the impression that whoever had decorated the room wanted to give its inhabitant the impression of a forest or the wilderness. Emily stepped tentatively inside, Aimee followed her stepping up to the bed and turning down the quilt. Emily placed her suitcase against the dark wood chest of draws and watched Aimee straightening the quilt.

"You're expected to work for your keep here," Aimee said matter of factly, "we'll discuss your schedule tomorrow."

"I've …" Emily blushed before continuing under Aimee's inquisitive gaze, "I've never actually worked a bar before."

"Most of the guys here haven't," Aimee said kindly with an understanding smile, Emily felt slightly better, as if sensing her uneasiness Aimee sat on the bed and stared at Emily. "What's your name?"

"Emily McLean."

"Uhuh, and why are you here, Emily?" Aimee asked, she nodded to Emily's suitcase, "most of our clientele barely escape their homes with their lives let alone a suitcase of belongings."

Emily laughed. She laughed ridiculously long and hard at how simple the question was yet how far-fetched and absurd the answer would be. What was she doing there? Why had she travelled so far from home? For what? Once she had calmed down Emily wiped her eyes and looked at Aimee.

"I didn't know I was a were-hunter until the first time I transformed," Emily said, still giggling, Aimee's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I err, I have no idea what I'm doing, what I'm supposed to do and how I'm supposed to do it, you know? So I thought …"

"You thought you'd come to New Orleans," Aimee said and shook her head as she stood, "that's kind of crazy if you don't mind my saying so."

"Oh, I know," Emily replied cheerfully, "I sure do know that."

"Okay, well, goodnight Emily McLean."

"Night … Oh, wait," Emily said as Aimee got to the door, "where can I find Jasyn?"

Aimee's eyebrows shot up once more and her face truly was a picture of shock, "Jasyn Kallinos?"

"Err, if that's his name then yeah, but I know him by Jasyn or in most cases feather-butt."

Emily's smile waned when she saw her attempt at humour was lost on the female bear … And she thought New Yorkers were bad!

"He's bedroom is higher up the house," Aimee said and left the room shaking her head. Emily bit her lip, now she really did want to go home. Back to her beautiful New York, where the people were rude and life was fast, she was used to New York. She was so out of her depth here Emily could practically feel herself drowning. She just hoped she wouldn't foul up tomorrow, she needed to learn all she could in the few days she planned to be here, and then she was out of it, back to the big apple.

Emily crept downstairs early the next morning, she hadn't expected to sleep at all that night but perhaps the heightened tension of the day had taken more energy out of her then she expected. She moved through the house quietly, both hoping and dreading that she would bump into someone. Emily was on the bottom floor and recognised the door she'd gone through last night that led into the house from the bar. She hung by the foot of the stairs nervously biting on the cuff of her pretty white cardigan.

"What should I do? What should I do?" Emily moaned to herself, her stomach tying itself in knots.

"Hi."

Emily spun around so fast she nearly fell; she caught herself on the banister and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw someone she recognised. It was the woman from last night, not Aimee, the other one.

"Hey," Emily said a little raggedly, "err, good morning."

"Come in here, I'm just feeding the baby."

The woman's head disappeared and Emily immediately walked towards the door, in need for a friendly face and conversation. Emily found the woman sitting at the table; she was wearing a pretty white dress and was cooing to the baby in the high chair. Emily sat down at the table awkwardly and the woman laughed.

"I'm Lucille," she said in a friendly way, "I'm Remi's mate."

"I'm Emily McLean, I'm nobody's mate."

Lucille smiled then her eyes narrowed, Emily felt her stomach twist thinking that Lucille may have a reason to hate her Arcadian guts.

"You're not Emily McLean, the wild life woman?"

Emily let out a relieved laugh before nodding, Lucille smiled. "I love discovery channel and wildlife programmes, which is kind of weird since I'm married to a bear. I would never have guessed you were a Were-Hunter, but I suppose it makes sense in a way. I love your show."

"Thank you," Emily said, happiness flushing her body at the praise, she watched Lucille give the baby another spoonful of oatmeal-ish looking muck.

"Lucille, I can't find Manny's diapers," came a deep voice from behind her, Emily looked around to see the big, blond bear from last night. He gave her a slight nod of the head which she returned with a foolish looking little wave as she was too in awe to speak.

"Oh, they are in the bottom draw, I forgot I moved them last night," Lucille said and Emily watched her mate shake his head exasperatedly before moving forward so he could lean around and kiss her. He sat in the seat next to Lucille, facing Emily straight on, he gave her a once over before speaking.

"Who are you?" Emily saw Lucille nudge her mate discreetly with her elbow, he ignored it and continued to scrutinise her.

"Erm, Emily. Emily McLean," she replied timidly.

"The discovery channel chick?" he asked frowning.

"I know," Lucille said to him with an excited smile, she turned to Emily, "were you frightened when you did the Amazon episode?"

"Not really," Emily said truthfully, "I've never really been afraid of heights."

Emily remembered when she'd been hoisted up into a tree on a flimsy material seat, reserved for a person weighing half of what Emily did, by one of the local tribesmen. They even allowed her to take a camera up there so that she could capture a great shot of the sun setting over the Amazon river.

"Well, I suppose it makes all the difference when you can fly," Remi said sarcastically, Lucille nudged him again but Emily laughed, the sarcasm was just the kind that came from Jay and Aaron.

"Are you working on something here?" Remi asked, his belligerency suddenly diminished.

"Well, no actually. I …" Emily opened her mouth to tell them the whole crazy story but for whatever reason she decided not to and gave them a watered down version of it. "I very rarely get to spend time with Were-Hunters, I mean, I have no family and I have to be careful when I'm around humans so I decided to take my vacation here before we start making the second series."

Remi and Lucille both accepted this; Remi questioned her a little more until Lucille told him that it wasn't an inquisition which Emily was dearly grateful for. Anymore questions and she would have had to lie and though she knew how to spot a lie herself she wasn't sure of how to conceal it. She also kept the conversation Jasyn free.

"So Aimee told me last night that I was expected to work for my keep here," Emily ventured uncertainly with Remi; he arched a brow at her.

"Which is fine," she added quickly, "but I've never actually done anything like this before and I was wondering if you could tell me … what the hell am I supposed to do?"

Remi gave her a grin that was too manic looking to be kind, "we'll put you out front with Margie."

"Out front?"

"On the bar, serving drinks. Put you on the day shift, nine in the morning 'til noon."

Emily checked the clock, it was eight thirty, she nodded and began to nibble her lip, "not that I'm complaining but, ah, isn't that kind of short?"

"To be honest we don't really need anymore staff but since your so eager," he gave an evil chuckle and Lucille rolled her eyes at him. "Then after that I'll introduce you to Mama."

"Your mother?" Emily asked and Remi nodded still grinning in a scary, psychotic way, Emily gulped and began to bite at her cuff again. Why was she getting the feeling of forbidding with this place, as if it boded ill for her? Emily heard something creak on the ceiling above her and her thoughts turned to Jasyn, that bastard had left her high and dry yesterday. Southern hospitality her butt! Before she could stop herself Emily cleared her throat and said as casually as she could, "There aren't a lot of Arcadians here, are there?"

Lucille and Remi exchanged looks then Remi said, "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, just some guy last night, I think he was a hawk too. He seemed pretty insane about me being Arcadian."

Emily hoped she'd added just enough casual to her voice for it to look as it were an off the cuff remark. Remi frowned, "you're probably talking about Jasyn. He's the only other hawk here."

"Oh okay," Emily said and said nothing else, looking as if she wasn't bothered.

"He doesn't like Arcadians but then he doesn't like anybody really," Lucille said, "but don't worry, he literally sleeps all day and only works of a night so you'll hardly run into each other."

Emily nodded, thinking of the two Katagaria she had met on the stairs the night before, "I sure hope so."

Lucille smiled kindly, "remember Emily, this is Sanctuary, they may growl but unless they want their asses kicked by a bear they stick to the rules." Lucille gave her mate a glowing look, which he returned. "You're safe from everything but intimidation."

"That's a relief," Emily laughed; she waited a beat before saying, "so why is he here?"

"Who?"

"Jasyn."

Remi's eyes narrowed immediately, "you ask lots of questions."

"Remi!" Lucille reprimanded but he took no notice of her, keeping his eyes fixed on Emily who wanted to hide under the table. Fearing she'd blown it, Emily held up her hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm just nosy by nature."

"Sure you are," Remi sneered, his eyes dropping a few degrees below zero, "but there have been many assassins who have thought to worm their way into a Limani with the hopes of killing their target. None have ever left Sanctuary alive."

Emily shook her head, "listen pal, I am not a threat to anyone here. The first time I fired a gun I dropped it!"

Such sincerity flowed from her that Remi relented and gave a small grin at the story of her inaptness; Emily didn't question him about Jasyn anymore and stayed quiet.

At nine o clock Emily made her way to the bar area, Remi had taken the baby upstairs for his bath while Lucille showed Emily how to help set up for the day, she then introduced her to Margie. The barmaid was more pleasant then pretty but Emily liked her from the off, especially when she found out that Margie actually knew about the Were-Hunter world. Emily listened with eagerness as Margie talked non-stop while they slowly set up the tables and chairs; it was too early for customers yet so they sat at one of the tables and chatted.

"I'm shocked that you know about us," Emily said, pretending that she actually had any knowledge of Were-Hunters.

"Yeah, ain't it a hoot," Margie cackled, "I always thought there was something about this place that was kinda weird anyway. I mean, you wouldn't take any notice but to the average ignorant human as I once was, it's incredible the amount of hotties all got together in this one bar. At first I though y'all were rival gangs and stuff, the way you used to sneer and step up to each other without even meeting each other. But then I found out about the whole Arcadian versus Katagaria, that is some serious beef right there. What are you by the way?"

"Oh," the question took Emily by surprise, "I'm Arcadian."

"Wow," Margie said, staring at her for a moment, "well I knew you had to be a Were. I mean, you're a total babe. What dye do you use?"

"Its natural," Emily laughed.

"Get out of here!" Margie's hand whipped out so she could rub a strand of Emily's hair between her fingers. "That is so cool to be born with that." Margie took Emily's hands and turned them palm up, she squeaked, "and you're not mated!"

"I'm not?" Emily asked. Margie stared at her, "no, I'm not. Of course I'm not."

Emily laughed to cover herself, Margie laughed too.

"You know it's so cool that for once we actually have a female here. I mean, its nice ogling the guys and all but after a while you kind of get testosterone poisoning."

"Do any of the guys treat you different because you're human?" Emily asked and Margie sipped her coffee while she thought.

"Hmm, no I guess. There are some hard core Arcadian haters that refuse to talk to me, I guess they think human and Arcadian are one and the same. I mean, there's this one guy, Jasyn -"

Emily tried to hide her surprise and eagerness and simply nodded her head in what she hoped was an I'm-extremely-interested-in-what-your-saying expression.

"He hates anything human and when he comes down every night for his shift he just sweeps past me like I'm a bar stool or something."

"Bastard!" Emily hissed in earnest, Margie smiled, liking that the girl was taking her side.

"I know, right? I mean, a part of me wants to say like 'who the hell do you think you are?', but there's this look in his eyes that makes me think he is mentally subnormal, if you get me."

Margie gave Emily a knowing tilt of the head and her eyes were all emphasis, Emily smiled and began to wonder more and more about her fellow hawk. Everything she'd heard about him so far, and that wasn't a lot by any means, but none of it was character redeeming.

Jasyn was dreaming; he had to be. He was in his bird form perched on the back of a bench looking at Emily's side profile; her burgundy hair was blowing ever so gently in the breeze. Jasyn thought he must be by the sea because he could hear it, yet his surroundings suggested he was sitting in the middle of a park. Emily turned to look at him with a slight smile on her face.

"You never told me how we got mated?" she murmured, holding up her hand to show him her palm, marked with the mating symbol, unique to his and her lineages. Jasyn reached out a hand, and as it was with dreams, though he believed himself to first be in his hawk form he was then human.

"I didn't?" Jasyn asked, touching his finger to her palm, she laughed and a pigeon that had been bathing in a birdbath nearby swooped low over him, drenching him in water. Jasyn woke with a squawk and fell from his perch; he barely had time to regain consciousness before he was shot with a sharp spurt of ice cold water that soaked his feathers.

"You bastard!" someone snarled near him, "you feathery bastard!"

Jasyn flashed into human form and rubbed furiously at his eyes, he was naked and soaked but Emily was far too angry at him to take notice of that fact.

"You're lucky I don't clip your wings! How could you leave last night? You wait if I don't get back at you!"

Jasyn rubbed the water away from his eyes and looked up into Emily's furious face; she was standing legs apart and holding a water pistol at him as if it were a glock. He was so shocked that she actually had the balls to spray him with water that he couldn't do much else but gape.

"What are you doing up here?" Jasyn said, realising suddenly that he was naked, yet his shock was absolutely immobilising him. No one … not one person had ever … in his life … done such a thing to him! Treated him with such casual disrespect, had been ballsy enough to take him on like that, to shout at him and call him names in a fearless way as if they didn't expect reprisals.

"Oh, save your modesty!" Emily snarled, "I should have squirted acid at your soon-to-be-thanksgiving-dinner ass!"

Jasyn's face darkened yet Emily wasn't scared, she would have been before the train ride but she felt as if he was all bluster and hot air when it came to threatening her.

"Get out of here!" he ordered fiercely, "you get out of here right now, Arcadian, before I do something you don't like."

"Oh, like leaving me stranded outside a biker bar? Or perhaps trying to kill me? Hey, why don't I just get my list out and recite the many things you've done that I don't like? We wouldn't want you doing something unoriginal now, would we?"

"Cut the sarcasm!" Jasyn hissed at her, Emily held up the water pistol again and took aim, Jasyn roared when she doused him in cold water, his skin breaking out in goose bumps. Jasyn growled and made to grab her but shot out of his reach and run for the door, it opened before she got to it, Jasyn saw Max the dragon, Dev, Remi and Colt all piling in, rearing for a fight. They stopped dead when they saw Emily, their eyes moved to the water gun then to Jasyn's soaking body.

"That'll teach you for being so nasty," Emily snapped and shoved the water pistol at Remi, who caught it at his chest, still watching her with an expression of respect and shock. When Emily had gone downstairs, they all looked back at Jasyn who growled.

"Did she do to you," Dev asked, "what I think she did to you?"

"Get out!" Jasyn snarled, and all except for Max erupted into fits of laughter, Max simply looked confused.

"She shot you with a water gun?" The dragon said with disbelief, "you let her shoot you with a water gun?"

"I didn't let her do anything!" Jasyn barked, "She crept up on me and did it! A filthy Arcadian trick!"

Colt, Remi and Dev who were all Arcadian did not respond to the insult but kept laughing.

"Hey whatever she did, I am so going to congratulate her!" Colt chuckled.

"That's not all you're going to do, I'm betting," Dev jibed, wagging his eyebrows lecherously, Colt laughed and gave a light-hearted shrug. Jasyn saw that there was no denial from the sentinel and in that moment he wanted to rip his throat out more then ever before. He'd never liked Colt because the guy was Arcadian and that was that, and he was a sentinel to boot, but Jasyn felt a furious surge of hatred for the sentinel in that moment. He'd never known jealousy before but it had him flashing clothes on himself and then flashing himself downstairs to the bottom of the house to beat Colt to Emily.