Chapter 11

B: She woke up several hours later and stretched on her bed. It was nice to be home and sleeping in her large comfortable bed. She looked at the ceiling for several moments and just watched the way things moved naturally with the air flow. She blinked slowly.

She sat up in her bed and looked around her room. It was as she had left it, but only there was a small item out of place. Her picture of her and her brother. She got up and walked over to it. There was a small note that was folded up. It was her brother's handwriting. She picked it up and unfolded it.

Dear Jessie,

I am so sorry that I have failed you. I should have taken better care of you. Maybe then you would not have run off. Maybe then you would have stayed in the institute like you should have. I am so sorry. I hope you will forgive me....if you ever get to read this.

Love,

Your brother

She held the note as she read it repeatedly and cried. She pressed it to her chest and cried harder. She walked over to her door and knocked softly. She took a deep breath as she readied herself. "I am ready for my first round of runes and other punishments." She said as the door was unlocked. She was ushered out and to Alexander

As she entered the room Alexander told everyone to leave the library. He looked at her and nodded. She took a deep breath and walked over to him. He motioned for her to hand him her stele and she did so. He took out her wrist with the broken heart rune and he looked at her puzzled. "Long story." She said and pulled her wrist away. "With that rune on you that is enough punishment. I am surprised you got half of it done. No rune punishment." He said softly.

He told her that her cleaning punishment would start today, and her hunting punishment would start once the cleaning punishment was done. She nodded. She went off to find the cleaning supplies and started to clean the entrance area.

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I: Zack had no mercy for demons. Not when demons were the soul reason why he had suffered during his lifetime. They were conniving, pretending to be human, and yet he could see right through their stupid disguises. He had killed so many after he left Jess in that room, knowing he was a complete punk for allowing her to take pain runes for punishment. If he was stronger, if he was braver, it would not have happened to her that way.

"Slow down Zack." His brother told him as Zack grabbed yet another demon mission to keep himself busy. He looked at his brother in anger and stormed away from him and his brother followed closely. "I mean it. I know you're pissed, but you are being stupid, and you will get yourself killed. She's awake now, anyway. Go and see her." Derek caught his brother by the shoulder. "Just apologize."

Zack listened, he nodded as his brother told him to go and find her. Zack went back to the institute and he saw her cleaning the entrance. Zack would have played it cool, he would have been macho. But the last time they spoke, she was furious with him. Did she know that he had come to see her? Did she know he had been with her the entire night? He walked up to her but did not speak.

After a moment, he could not stand it anymore. He went to her and gently took her hands to stop her from cleaning. "Jess? Please talk to me."

B: She had finished cleaning the entrance and looked up from her supplies. Isaac was standing in front of her. When he took her hand, she looked at him again. She was still a little mad at him but knew she could not stay mad forever. "Jess? Please talk to me." His voice rang in her ears. She pulled her hand away and took a deep breath. "I don't have anything to say to you Isaac. I have work to be doing. I have to go. I decided to clean the garden next." She said to him without emotions. Her heart screamed for his touch again, but she ignored it.

She picked up her supplies and went to get the gardening tools. She walked up the stairs and to the magical garden. She began to work on the first section of plants. The whole time her mind was on Isaac. She knew that she would have to talk to him soon but not until after she finished her ruin. It was still burning and hurt like no other. Normally the pain and sting would have went away by now, but it had not. She finished cleaning the garden and went and put the tools away and went back to her room. As she entered, she nodded to her guards and went to her bathroom and turned on the water for a bath. She stripped down and grabbed her silk black robe and slipped it on. and waited for the bath to fill.

As she waited, she looked through her many bath items that could sooth her muscles. She decided to use the lavender bath salts and several white candles. She dimmed her lights and lit the candles and went to her room as the water filled the large tub slowly, she looked for her large collection of dried and fresh lavender. Once she found it, she walked back into the bathroom and placed some fresh lavender around the tub and the dried once on a plate to burn once she got in her tub. She turned some cooler water on to make the water easier to sit in.

She walked back into her room and went over to her book shelf and looked at her many books to read. She picked a fiction book called Nightshade and smiled. "Relaxing bath...here I come." She said and walked into her bathroom yet again. Only this time she lit the dried lavender and dropped her robe off her body and climbed into the tub and sat back and relaxed for a moment. She had placed her book next to the towels she kept near her tub for reading purposes. She closed her eyes and breathed in her lavender scent around her.

I: "Jess, you can't keep running from your problems! I know what I did was pretty damn low, but I was trying to-" He stopped as he saw they were being watched and he lowered his voice. "I was trying to protect you, Jess. Don't turn your back on me. I-" He stopped as she kept going. She wouldn't stop no matter what he did. She wouldn't stop no matter what he said. He tried to explain, he tried to talk to her, but she would hear none of it.

If she honestly thought she was going to make him risk so much, and then have the nerve to give him the coldest of shoulders, then she had another thought coming. Isaac had done too much for Jess since the moment they met, and had he not come to get her then she would not even be back at the Institute! How could she treat him this way!? It was not fair!

Isaac went immediately to her room. When he heard the water running, he thought it was a bath she was preparing for. He sighed and decided now was not the best time to barge in. He stood outside and leaned against the door and raised a leg to brace against it. He waited, and waited, and then he heard the water finally stop. He looked up and sighed knowing she would be bathing now, and he should probably...leave.

Zack attempted to wait. He tried. Then it struck him. She had run from him twice. Twice! All because she could so easily escape. She would not let him explain, she would not give him a chance to talk, she would not listen, she would storm off like all females did. Now that she was bathing it was the perfect trap that she put herself into. He opened the door, a grimace on his face and walked into her room and shut the door behind him. He walked to her bathroom, fuming like a raging bull. She would listen to him, she would have no choice.

He walked into the bathroom and saw her bathing. Lying back, her body relaxing in the warm water. He snickered. As if she deserved to relax. He wondered if she received her pain punishment yet. If she had, he would do whatever he could to help her. "I hope you are enjoying yourself." His deep, quiet voice rang out over her bathtub. He stepped closer and then squatted near the edge.

"I'm sick of you running from me, Jess. I have a lot to say, and this time you won't escape it. You will listen, and you will hear it. If you move from that tub, I will stop talking. Then I will force you to listen in the only other way I know how." And he meant what he said. Not only was she naked, wet, and covered in a desirable scent, he was well aware that she cared for him, and that she was attracted to him. So, if he had to hold her down, kiss her, or make love to her for her to listen, then he would do it without hesitation.