Nora walked into the box that Brandon called home a week or two later.

He sensed her long before the woman arrived. Her energy and all other energies around him he could feel them. The Flame was hyper aware of the food that moved behind the walls of the box at all times.

The beautiful woman had become a regular occurrence. She arrived, she greeted him, she bathed him or cleaned his room.....and then she talked to him.

She didn’t hurt him. She didn’t cut him. Or hit him.

She just sat in the white box with him....and talked.

He couldn’t talk back.

Brandon didn’t understand much of anything that the woman said to him, but he grew to accept her company.... He grew to accept that both she and Jacob were also...not food for the Flame.

Mostly because like the men in White....Brandon couldn’t devour them.

After he learned this Brandon even started to look forward to Nora’s and Jacobs visits subconsciously.

He began to look forward to seeing and hearing the woman, feeling her loving caress across his small body, that was so unlike the painful touches and beatings he normally received.

Close on Nora’s heels followed Jacob. The two of them always visited Brandon together....and they usually came just before his daily feedings.

Jacob was usually the first to leave though.

While Nora remained with him well into the day, and only returned to Brandon’s side....after he had had time to heal and regrow the pieces that the men in White had cut off of him.

****

When Nora appeared in the crack one day.... Brandon was caught off guard, to see a strange misshapen sack in her hands.

He was sitting on the floor in a small ball, but because Nora had taken to outing thick, heavy cloth on him, Brandon no longer walked around unclothed.

With a gleeful smile wide on her face Nora appeared, quickly crossed the room, stopped in front of Brandon, and unceremoniously turned the sack upside down in front of her feet

Colorful odds and ends cascaded across the hard, bright white floor, startling Brandon as they clattered on the floor. Making noise and dancing across the area around Nora’s feet.

Brandon jumped up and took a step back, staring at the odd colorful items unsure of what was about to transpire.

Nora saw his reaction....and the gleeful smile on her face faltered into a panicked sadness.

“Oh no, don’t be scared Lil One...It’s okay....see?” Nora softly asked, then encouraged before bending over, snatching up the colorful item off the ground and shaking it to indicate that it was safe.

“What are those my sweet pet Acolyte?” Jacob asked smoothly walking in behind her at that moment. Two nameless Men in White stood silently in the hallway, staring into the room, but they did not follow Jacob inside.

Coming up behind Nora, Jacob reached over her shoulder and taking the colorful item from her he waited for a response.

With a small sigh Nora turned from Brandon, who was still staring down at the items in uncertainty, so that she could look at Jacob.

“They are children’s toys. LEGO’s to be exact.” Nora softly informed him.

Jacob tilted the box shape in his hands up into the light. “LEGO’S?” He repeated in question.

Nora’s eyes widened for a second then she smiled. “AH yes” She said. “I forget sometimes that you are not mortal. Being a Shifter You probably did not have toys to play with did you?”

Jacob shrugged and said. “If you think claws and fangs are toys....then yes I did, but anyway... What are these LEGOs used for?” Jacob asked her next, looking at the small pile sitting in the middle of the floor with mild interest burning in his black eyes.

Nora nodded her head, turned, and walked over to the pile of LEGOS. With a small grunt she dropped down to her hunches and ran her fingers across the object rattling their luminous bodies against each other. “They are building blocks....” She finally answered Jacob. “You put the pieces together and you build....I thought that Brandon would take an interest I them. All he does is sit still all day....I thought he would like to do something.”

Jacob didn’t speak....but he did walk across the room at that moment, brush past Nora, and grab Brandon’s arm.

“Come. Touch.” Jacob softly commanded, tugging Brandon back towards the shiny blocks

Brandon didn’t resist, finally Jacob pressed him into the floor, besides the pile of items...and wordlessly put one of the colorful items into the middle of his hand.

After that Brandon spent a long time just touching and looking at all of the carious items with Jacob and Nora sitting back, chatting and watching him.

Suddenly....Brandon stopped, and picked up a small white object. He looked at the small object for a long moment....then he looked towards where the Men in White Robes stood on the other side of the box. Brandon repeated looking between the shaping his hand and the men standing outside of the box.

It was at this point that Jacob and Nora seemed to notice what Brandon was doing.

Wordlessly breaking away from Nora’s side Jacob slid across the floor and took a spot next to Brandon’s side.

A spicy, warm and heavy scent floated around his broad body as he pressed into Brandon’s side

“What is it Lil One?” Jacob suddenly asked him.

His words didn’t make any sense, so Brandon looked at him, then he went back to looking at the block in his hand...and at the Men in White.

With a hushed tone as if she was afraid to startle him Nora asked Jacob from her spot on the floor. “What is he doing?”

“I...I don’t know....” Jacob told her, before he finally looked across the room and his eyes settled on the Men in White standing outside. With a small squint of his eyes Jacobs looked at Brandon, lifted his hand and pointed. “Alchemist...” Jacob suddenly said. “That is an Alchemist.”

Hearing that word, and seeing the visual connection was a mild spark for Brandon.

The men in White. Alchemist. White. Alchemists.

Pointing and speaking those same words three more times Jacob kept his eyes locked on Brandon’s face as if willing him to speak, but also challenging him.

With a small trill across his skin Brandon’s eyes locked onto Jacobs lips. The movement of his teeth and tongue.

Suddenly....Brandon was moving his own lips. He was moving his tongue

“A...Alca....” Brandon stopped and glanced down at the blocks in his hands. With a small tilt of his head Brandon picked up another block and simply lapsed into silence.

A heavy silence existed between Nora and Jacob after this event....and never of them spoke again, until many hours later.

Suddenly with a deep sigh Nora pulled herself up from the floor, and said. “Jacob may I speak with you?”

“Why?” Jacob asked her in a moody manner, even as he jumped up from the seat he had taken next to Brandon

The pair didn’t move far, seeing as they both knew that Brandon was as good as deaf to the words that they spoke, but this did not mean that the boy did not hear the words they spoke all the same.

“Well....I just don’t understand....any of this!” Nora hissed at him under her breath. Sounding strained.

Jacob chuckled, reached out and tapped Nora on the bottom of her chin with his knuckle. “What do you not understand little flower?” He asked her in a teasing manner.

“You are out of line Lion...” Nora whispered angrily as she brushed his hand away and threw her arms up in the air.

“Why is Hovel doing all of this!?” She cried at him, glancing back at Brandon for one quick second then looking back at Jacob she continued. “And why is he doing it to his own son? That is a living breathing functioning human being. He almost spoke to us. He should be treated better!” Nora stopped, dropped her arms and waited on Jacob to speak.

Suddenly Jacobs’s black eyes flashed with yellow light, and a small growl touched his voice. With a small forwards lean Jacob pushed into Nora’s space slightly, bearing down on her with his size and height. “Why don’t you get to the point already...” he asked her then. Not in a teasing fashion. “Are you asking me a question Acolyte?” Jacob murmured

Nora paused. Then she raised her chin and looked him back in the eyes boldly.

“What is Hovel doing Jacob? I know that he told you what all of this was about after you arrived....” Nora challenged. “So tell me.” She the demanded with a small tap of her foot to the floor and a soft glare.

Jacob chuckled apparently tickled by Nora’s bold words. His eyes traveled across her face, then faster than an eye could blink, his hand shot out, and he wrapped his hand around Nora’s braid, which was hanging over her left shoulder, nearly brushing her hip.

Ignoring the gasp that Nora released, Jacob lifted the braid up to his lips and strong chin and started to nuzzle it softly.

“Why...What are you doing?” She seemed to whisper in both apprehension and fascination.

Jacob chuckled. “You smell like home sweet Acolyte...like the tall grasses and burnt earth...Tell me? Would you like to see my home one day? I would like to see you Dressed down in silks and have the most luscious oils massaged on this pale throat. I can only imagine how your parched skin trapped under those ugly white robes yearns to be drenched by fresh plain swept winds?”

A thick beat of silence passed.

“Jacob please don’t ignore me...” Nora soon whispered back.  "Give me a serious answer.”

Jacob growled then simply said to her. “I cant answer you. If you don’t know the answer already....then Hovel doesn’t want you to know. You know all that you need to know for now. Don’t you trust your beloved Grand Master?” he asked. “I thought you people worshiped his rotting heart?” he snickered. Then He pulled back and dropped her hair.

Nora’s face became shadowed and drawn up in pain. “But were killing people...We’re letting that child kill countless people!” Nora told him.

Jacob stared at her. Then he took a step back. “It’s like I said before Nora, Hovel doesn’t want you to know.” He told her. Then with a small sigh Jacob glanced past her to Brandon, saying. “What he’s doing and what the Lil One does....are all a part of a bigger Plan.” Jacob slowly began with a hard look in his black eyes.

“You don’t have to like it...” Jacob suddenly told her. “But if you try to stop it... you will find yourself at the wrong end of the Brotherhoods Plan altogether Nora.” Jacob finished looking at her.

Nora put a hand to her chest, and balled up her other hand into a fist. “So I’m just supposed to ignore what I know is happening!?” she cried back at Jacob. “I ignore what’s happening to Brandon and to the people you are letting him feed on? Shifters!? Mortals!?”

With a sigh Jacob gestured at her. “What can you do to stop it?” He asked back in question.

Then he chuckled harshly and locked eyes with her. “Fine, I will tell you this Nora. If you want to help the Lil one? Then you will stop asking these naieve questions. Brandon has to feed, because of what he is....the boy HAS to feed.”

Nora’s eyes dropped, and her small shoulders slumped. “But what is he Jacob?” She asked once more.

“Something amazing.” Jacob shot back in answer, then he turned and left without another word.

*Jacob is being cryptic and Nora is beginning to ask questions both parties are at the whims of things bigger then they can control. How will they each handle the difficult things to come?