Anala stirred a short while later. She pulled slightly on her restraints, shifted in the chair. Emmett became nervous as she whimpered and Nolan stood silently. His fingers gripped the dagger in a loose, almost listless, grip. He moved towards his sister and Emmett hissed lowly. He could feel the air undulating, the energy rising again. It pressed down on them with an erratic pressure that felt capable of tearing through him in an instant. It was restless and prickly, it was constricting and terribly oppressive. Anala's eyes scanned the walls and her breaths started coming out faster, heart picking up, but she didn't look afraid or worried or distressed. Anala simply stared at her brother expressionlessly, watched him as he neared her. It was as if her mind wasn't connecting to the environment and her body was acting on reflex to the danger. The tip of the dagger touched her pulse.

"Nolan," Carlisle walked to the entrance, his body hesitating on impulse at the step. His instincts were warning him. "Nolan stop."

Fuck, was he really going to . . . Emmett moved forward slowly, knowing not to draw attention to his movements. Nolan didn't even seem to hear anything. He trailed the dagger to the collar of her shirt. In one smooth motion he tore it open, exposing her collar and chest and dragged the blade along her flesh. He lifted it and began cutting into his palm. A shrill ringing was filling Emmett's ears, it didn't seem as any of the others could hear it. Shadows whipped along the walls and Emmett suddenly realized the shadows couldn't move any closer from where they were. They were being blocked off, Anala's gift, Emmett and his family, Javan. Nolan had been isolating her. But why?

The shadows flickered and the pipes rattled. Anala leaned away from his outstretched hand, fingers tightening on the arms of the chair and began to struggle in the ropes. Emmett was nearly to entrance, keeping an eye on Nolan as he moved. Her head bowed and she screamed as their skin touched. Nolan pressed harder against her sliced flesh and her head snapped up. Emmett stopped, frozen. Black had swallowed Anala's eyes. The vibrant irises and the whites were pitch marbles, glaring up into Nolan. Her chest heaved and her body shuddered. Her scream cut off as choked sound escaped her. Jasper flashed past them. He only got two feet into the living room before he was on his hands and knees, a pained shout coming from him. In the next instant his body was flying back and landed on the hall floor. Jasper howled as he gripped his head. Emmett knelt next to his brother, his family joining him. Emmett reached out and touched him, anxiety and fear coming off the blonde. He was attempting to sit up as he shook his head. "Don't," he gasped painfully, pointing to the living room. "Don't go . . . don't go—agh!" he curled an arm around his midsection as he lay back down. His skin had taken a greyish hue, his eyes clouded.

Emmett looked up at the strangled sounds leaving Anala. She started to cough and dark blood bubbled on her lips, splattered on Nolan's shirt. Nolan pulled his hand from his sister and he dropped Rowan's dagger, swaying. The black of Anala's eyes faded and she leaned forward, gasping for breath. The uncomfortable sensation in the air dissipated and everything went quiet.

Nolan fell against the wall, groaning. He pushed a hand into his dark hair and hunched. Was it over? Was this . . . thing done? At this point Emmett was prepared to simply walk out the door. To try and scrub the memory of those black empty orbs and the disturbingly detached way Nolan had just cut into his sister with those frigid pools that had Emmett fixed in place. But she kept him there. Anala had been keeping him here. Nolan straightened and was on his knees next to Anala, picking up the dagger and cutting the ropes.

"Anala?"

She choked as her quaking body heaved and she vomited dark blood, sending Emmett's anxiety skyrocketing. Nolan pulled her out of the chair and pushed her hair from her face. She shifted. "How did you know?" she whispered hoarsely. A soft crack came from Rowan's body and then the blonde was sitting up, grimacing as he touched his neck and rotated his head. Nolan leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I told you," he murmured. His next words were in a soft, melodic tongue. The words rolled past his lips in a low voice. Emmett didn't know what he said but it made Anala smile slightly. Rowan moved towards the two and touched Anala as if making sure she was alright. Nolan's face turned apologetic.

"I'm sorry."

Rowan smiled slightly. Emmett would never understand him, being temporarily killed just rolled off his back. If someone snapped his neck he'd want to kill someone. How he could be that laid-back was unsettling. Nolan looked up, and his expression turned fearful.

"Jasper?" he shifted Anala into Rowan's arms and flashed to the blonde's side. He touched his face. "Jas!"

Jasper looked up at him. "I'm okay, just . . . shit, what was that?"

"Fuck, you walked into that? You could have died you idiot!"

Jasper sat up. "I thought you were going to kill her."

Nolan shook his head. "No . . . no, I was preventing having to do that."

"Really?" Emmett asked. "'cause it sure didn't look like it from where I'm standing."

Nolan gave him a hard look. "I spent nearly two years looking for a way to get my sister back. The last thing that would cross my mind would be to kill her." His gaze softened. "I know this is confusing but just let me make sure she's okay before I explain."

Anala was sitting up now, though she seemed shaken, eyes dull. Nolan was on his feet, moving to her side. Her face was pale and she looked as if she were going to be ill but she seemed calm enough. "How do you feel?"

Her response was quiet, lethargic. "I'm tired."

Nolan smiled. "I get the sense that's a good thing."

Rowan lifted her and Anala lay her head on his shoulder. Emmett thought that maybe he should let her simply be with Rowan. She loved him, they got along. He would care for her always and the attraction was undeniably there, he'd received the blonde's confirmation long ago. It made sense. His demon was instantly refusing. He can't give her what she needs. What the fuck did he know? Emmett couldn't even sort out his own needs, let alone hers. Rowan carried her away and Nolan sat on the top step of the entrance into the room, staring at the chair his sister had been tied to and the still wet puddle of blood on the carpet. "I'm sorry Jay, about the walls and the carpet."

"Screw the walls and carpet. What the fuck just happened?"

"It wasn't right," he whispered. He looked at the vampire. "And you knew, didn't you?"

"I had my suspicions."

"Well they were right. I couldn't piece it together at first, but subconsciously, I was trying to give myself the answer and that made my mind go into overdrive. I had set a puzzle for myself and withheld the answer I already knew."

"Ingenious," Javan said as he moved to look at the symbols Nolan had carved on the floor and walls. "So, what was going on?"

Nolan was quiet for a moment. "Carus."

Carus? Carus was dead. Emmett had seen his corpse, had watched Nolan bring it back and burn it for all the Guard to see. Emmett understood that Javan couldn't grasp the hatred and utter abhorrence his name roused. He knew the story no doubt, but he hadn't seen the monsters he had sent after them, wasn't there to witness the attack that had taken Anala away from them. He didn't see what Carus had almost made her into. Nolan continued. "I don't know what events occurred to bring Anala back. I honestly doubt we will ever know, but by coming back Anala was dropped back right to where she left off last."

"What do you mean?" Esme asked. "What is, or was, wrong?"

"Before she died, Carus bound her, body and soul. He nearly merged her to his completely before I finally reached her. I may have stopped her from becoming a monstrous puppet but a trauma like that taints the soul. It leaves a mark. Again, I can't be completely sure but I think dying freed her from it, put her in a stasis of sorts since it only applied to the physical plane and once she returned that darkness was able to affect her, physically and mentally and her body couldn't adjust to the energy because of what he did to her. He forced her to tap into a power she was restricted against due to the seals he placed. The damaging effects that can cause is deadly. It delayed the flow of energy, blocking it off and made it build and build, increasing the strain. The balance was skewed. It's amazing it didn't fracture her completely. I can't imagine how hard she had to be fighting it."

"What balance?" Javan asked, turning.

"I forget how . . ." Nolan shook his head. "Never mind. Do you remember how I told you the power of our family is passed down and divided?" the dark-haired vampire nodded. "Well between the pair that carry that power there is a balance we keep, between the flow of energy and each other which is why we are connected so deeply. What Carus did disrupted it and that made my own instinct react. It wasn't right so the balance had to be restored. Our power was attempting to restore itself. Like getting a virus and the body fights to correct itself, fight off the harmful stuff." He turned and touched Jasper's face. "You're extremely lucky. These symbols were for containment. The energy restrained in there was wild, unstable. One slight change and you'd be a soulless shell walking the earth." He looked his mate in the eye. "Scare me like that again and I swear to the Goddess I will kill you myself."

Jasper leaned in to kiss his lips and Nolan turned away crossly, making him grin.

"So she's alright now?" Carlisle asked.

Nolan stood. "She should be."

Javan stepped forward. "And if she isn't?"

Nolan looked up at him. "You doubt me? I'm offended." He pointed to the blood on the floor. "Carus made Anala drink his blood in order to transfer his essence into her own and create a connection to anchor him. I reestablished the stability between us so her body had no choice but to purge the residual energy left over in the form it entered her."

"Sick."

"You don't know the half of it. If by some chance it didn't work . . . I'll have to kill her."

Emmett didn't even want to think of how Nolan had pieced this together. What sort of knowledge does a person need to have in order to understand when a soul is . . . infected, and proceed to treat it? How could he know and feel exactly what needed to be done to help his sister? More importantly, how had Emmett not noticed? The last question answered itself: how could he have noticed? He'd been avoiding her. Nolan made sense in that strange way of his and it took Anala attacking Javan and disappearing to trigger any awareness in Emmett that there was something not right. Emmett shifted on his feet. He was getting sucked into this shit again. He was seeing things that defied logic, was beyond his understanding. He had been here before, gotten drawn into an unearthly cataclysmic war and got burned for it. Emmett couldn't make this mistake again.

Anala's heartbeat plagued him as he made his way out of the two-story house.