She got dressed and gave him a quick kiss—one that lingered into the promise of something warmer later on—then left their rooms.

There were three houses in the compound. The main house had been set aside for Second Faction residents. The second house had been put aside for First Faction. The third was an overflow for Gargoyles, humans, and anyone else who needed rooms.

Technically the two factions could share space and not even know the other was there…except for the small detail of clothing and belongings. Those were not a part of the curse so they would end up sharing drawer space. It was a wonder the factions hadn’t figured this out years ago, but it wasn’t surprising. Each race of Nightwalkers seemed to have its own area of origin and they tended to stick to that area. None of the areas seemed to overlap between First and Second Factions. And since most Nightwalkers didn’t associate with humans, it had never come up why two people couldn’t see each other.

The Druid Bella had found the prophecy about the twelve races of Nightwalkers written in ancient Aramaic by human hands, which was why others had been able to read the scroll as well. If it had been written by anyone affected by the curse, there was a good chance they would never have found it at all.

Strange that human writings had found their way into the great Demon and Druid library. Stranger still that humans were accurately prophesizing about Nightwalkers. Bella had put it down to fate and the unexplainable…or an act of some very mischievous gods. Who knew why? It was what it was. And it was for the better. The writings Kamen had found yesterday had been written in ancient Egyptian. Also, presumably, by human hands. A bit of luck, that. Again, how had such works found their way into the Bodywalker archives? How had humans known?

But those were just two lines of writing in vast amounts of scrolls and literature. And it was all they had found. Now they were acting on just these two small references. What other choice did they have?

Jasmine went into the kitchen, the hub of the household, and found Corrine and Bella chatting over their morning coffee. Her sisters-in-law. She had never been the sorority type, having always been a loner with the exception of Damien, the Vampire Prince. They had moved through the centuries together for as long as she could remember.

But she found she liked these two women. They could be a little giggly and cute every once in a while, but Jasmine was willing to forgive that. She brushed a hand over her belly, her secret burning at her conscience. She probably ought to have at least shared the news with her family members, but she had to admit she was too afraid to. She had never been a superstitious person, but she didn’t want to do anything to jinx herself.

“Hey,” she greeted them, going for the coffeemaker. Hot coffee ought to warm her up at least a little bit. But the fact was the moon was high, she had risen late, and she was hungry. What were the odds she would find someone wandering around the streets of Portales in the middle of the night? She was used to living in or near cities where people were up at all hours. This small town living was the pits when it came to getting a decent meal.

“I’m headed into town, anyone want to come?” Jasmine said.

“Feeling peckish?” Bella asked knowingly.

“A touch,” Jasmine said with a grin. “Has anyone else arrived from our faction? Noah and Damien and Siena, our lovely Lycanthrope Queen, keep sending warm and not so warm bodies,” she said.

“They’re doing what leaders should be doing in a case like this. The Mistrals don’t have a leader, but they’ve sent the Siren Windsong and her protégée Lyric to represent them. Hopefully their ability to stun with the sound of their voices will come in handy in a pitched battle. You can bet Apep will bring all those Templars with him and who knows who else. Maybe even humans. God, what will we do then? What do we do to misguided and stupid humans? Kill them?” Bella shuddered. “I hope not.”

“Let’s worry about that when the time comes,” Corrine said.

“Let’s not. We need a game plan for all instances of battle,” Jasmine said. “We need to know exactly what we are going to do and who we are going to do it to. Humans can be dangerous too you know. What if they’re necromancers? Humans using magic can be very deadly.”

Corrine and Bella nodded grimly. They knew that all too well. Necromancers could summon a Demon using its true Demon name and this gave them power over them. Those Demons then became corrupted and could be used to fight against their own brethren.

“I hope there are no necromancers. I hate those guys,” Corrine said with a little shudder. “I don’t think I should even be here. My ability is to find mates for other Nightwalkers. I’m basically useless.”

“But Kane is not and you weren’t about to let him come here alone. As a Mind Demon he has great mental powers and can teleport as well. That might come in very handy in a fight. Your job is to get to safety the minute you see the poo hit the fan,” Bella said.

“Yeah, I know. I’m supposed to corral all the humans and get us the frick out of Dodge. That’s my job.”

“I think the humans already know to get the frick out of Dodge, but they’re going to need organization and that’s a knack you possess in spades,” Bella complimented her sister.

“Gee thanks. So glad I could be useful,” Corrine said dryly.

“Hey, everyone has a job. There are no small parts here,” Jasmine said. “Now who’s coming to town with me?”

“I’ll go. I need to hit Walmart for some stuff,” Bella said. “We’re sending the kids to their siddahs. It’s too dangerous for them here. I should never have brought them. But I couldn’t bear the idea of being separated from my babies for such a long time.”

Siddahs were Demon foster parents. When a Demon child reached a certain age and their power kicked in, Demons believed someone other than a parent should take over their care and training. Technically, Bella’s eldest child, Leah, should have already been with her siddah. Her power had been apparent ever since she was a small child. But Bella wasn’t ready to send her away. She and Jacob had agreed they would let her go on her sixteenth birthday. That was still a ways off, so Bella didn’t have to start fretting over it yet.

But their siddahs were their safest bet for the time being. That meant sending Leah to the Russian court of the Lycanthrope Queen Siena, who was married to Leah’s male siddah, the Wind Demon Elijah. Leah’s female siddah was Legna, Noah’s sister and the Demon ambassador to the Lycanthrope court, so she was also in Russia.