"I'll be alright," Ana replied. "A witch light doesn't take much." He was right, though... She hadn't rested enough, yet, but a good meal would help just as much as more sleep would. Energy was energy, whether it was magic or not.

Julian shrugged slightly, then headed down the steps. He always looked back at Ana, holding her hand as he helped her down the stairs.

Meanwhile, outside at the gates, two people stepped out of a transportation portal. Both had long, dark cloaks, hoods pulled up, although they were clearly of different genders. The man reached out and laid a hand on the gates.

"Wards," he murmured. "Strong ones."

"How did she get here without detection?" his companion asked quietly.

"She must have had help," the man replied. "Although... who in their right mind would aid a witch guilty of black magic?"

"We shall see soon enough," the woman said. She, too, reached out to touch the gates, but with a different purpose: she had a spell all set to go, and it immediately began to eat away at the wards on contact, chewing a hole in the wards just big enough for the two to step through.

Julian froze, almost panic on his face when he felt the hole begin to eat into the sheild. "Damn. They're here." He pulled Ana back through twisting tunneld and put her in the most secure place on the land. "You'll be safe here." He locked her in and ran across the hall to the weapon storage. He grabbed a few enchanted things and strapped them all over him. Then moved silently through the tunnels, using his link to the castle to sense where they were inside.

Ana didn't appreciate being pushed into what amounted to a closet. As soon as Julian rushed away, she followed him. She wasn't going to let him face whatever it was alone.

The two cloaked figures waited just inside the wards. Now that they were inside, it was just a matter of time before someone came to 'greet' them. And really, it wasn't hard to sense both their target and the other human being in the manor. Still, the two lingered near the hole that the woman had burned in the wards. It would serve as an escape route if things didn't go as planned.

Julian hadn't heard Ana follow him, because he didn't believe she could. When he reached the 1st floor, he peaked out a window and saw the two just standing there. He looked annoyed, they knew he would come outside. He would, but not without weapons and wards. He'd had wards against magic placed on him when he went through his training. It had been very painful, but beneficial through the years. He had the doors open as he just stood in the doorway. "You are tresspassing. Leave of your own free will or I shall make you wish you had." He was using a small amount of power from the castle grounds itself to close the hole behind them, making the spot stronger.

The two looked at each other.

"We are after a criminal we believe to be hiding on the premises," the man said, looking back at Julian. He could tell the young man was a Hunter; it was impossible to miss the tell-tale signs of personal anti-magic wards and spelled weapons. "A young witch of our own clan has been detected using black magic, and we have followed her here. If you would be so kind as to produce her, we will take her into custody and leave your home forthwith."

The woman didn't say anything throughout her companion's speech. Instead, she kept turning her face towards the manor on the estate, as if looking for the rogue witch. Finally, she lifted a hand, pointing to a spot just behind the Hunter and off to the side.

"There," she murmured.

Indeed, Ana was behind Julian. She recognized the two standing there, even though she couldn't see their faces. She didn't need to be able to see them to recognize their magic.

Julian looked at the man, letting him speak, even though he knew what he'd say. Julian sensed Ana when she came up behind him. He put his arm out to the side as if to tell her to stay back. "I repeat. Leave my property. I know what witches do to their own kind that breaks a law. I will not subject my friend here to that without having you knowing the truth of the matter." He waited, still ready to fight and protect Ana with his life. If they were willing to listen, he was willing to work with them.

The two looked at each other again, as if silently communicating. Then the man looked back at Julian.

"That witch is wanted by her clan," he said. "It would be unwise to interfere in matters of coven and clan." In one efficient movement, he freed his hands from his cloak, already forming a spell. "You seem like a reasonable creature, and it would be inconvenient to lose such a thing, but if I must, I will remove you as an obstacle."

Ana's eyes widened when she heard that, and she darted around Julian to stand in front of him.

"No," she said firmly. She looked at the two cloaked figures. "I'm the one you want. Leave him out of this, this is a clan matter."

Both of the figures paused, and looked at one another.

"What do you see?" the man asked his companion softly. Reaching up, the woman lowered her hood to reveal a pale, pretty face and blonde hair. Her eyes were closed. Ana blanched when she saw her cousin's face. The woman opened her eyes, but instead of normal human eyes, her eyes looked like smooth, albeit cloudy, crystal.

"A bond," she murmured. "It enshrouds them both, stronger than that of blood, and yet so terribly delicate in its strength." She raised one of her hands, as if tracing the course of the threads only she could see. "He is her partner, in all things that matter to them."

Reaching up, her companion lowered his hood as well, revealing a very similar, although more masculine, face. His eyes, though, were open, and a normal, light blue.

"I see," he said. He waved his fingers slightly, dissipating the spell he had been preparing. "That makes things difficult."

Julian blinked at Ana. "Please. You must let me handle this." He said softly to Ana. He cared not what the two said to each other. He moved to stand beside Ana. "I know that all you care about is that she broke a law. I don't care if its 'clan' business or not. She is guilty only of protecting me and saving my life from an evil witch that planned to open a ley gate under my city."

Ana sighed a bit, and stayed close to Julian.

"They're my cousins," she said softly to him. "I can only assume the clan sent them because they know I would never hurt my own kin."

"Ana, dearest," the man called, effectively interrupting her. "Please ask your partner if we might approach? I believe this is something that must be discussed, first." He was asking Ana, because they were related; however, the question was really for the Hunter.

Julian looked slowly between the two and Ana. He looked at her, never turning his back. "I will only let them come if you trust them 100%. If you do not, they will not come a foot closer without losing it." He put a hint of threat and promise into his words. He'd activated a spell trap that would explode if they crossed a certain line.

Ana hesitated, and then nodded.

"Jared," she called to her cousin. Jared nodded and approached slowly with his sister. They were careful, and didn't approach too quickly.

"I'm surprised to find our dear little cousin is the rogue," Jared commented when he and his sister got closer. And they were indeed siblings; Jared and Genvieve were twins. "And more surprised still to find her bound in heart and magic to a Hunter. That makes this assignment complicated. Matters of love and binding are not lightly tampered with."

Julian laid a hand firmly on Ana's arm. He still wasn't trusting of these two at all. They looked like cheetahs sneaking up on their prey. He didn't like it. They were talking to keep them calm. He raised his shields around him stronger and stronger the closer they got. "All you have to do is listen, then take the message back to your boss."

"We must discuss," Genevieve stressed the word. "Bondings are not something to be taken lightly."

"Bonds complicate things," Jared added, agreeing with his sister. "The situation isn't quite so cut-and-dry anymore. We need to know exactly what's going on."

Julian's eyes narrowed at them. "You should've asked for the whole story in the first place. Not just because we're bond." He pulled Ana gently with him. "Come in. But if you make one wrong move this castle has a mind of its own."

The twins followed Julian and Ana quietly until they were taken to a room where they could sit and talk.

"Julian..." Ana murmured. "The Laws never claimed to be fair. Their job was to eliminate me as a threat. A simple assignment. Now things are complicated." She was trying to help him see things from her perspective: it wasn't so simple as 'ask first.'

Julian sat with Ana, but he stayed in a position where he could easily defend himself. "I do not care what your peoples laws are. I'm saying for justice to be served, you need to know all the facts."

"They had all the facts they needed," Ana countered. "And now there are new facts that need to be considered." She glanced back at her cousins. Genevieve had her eyes closed again, although she seemed to be able to navigate just fine. Jared was beside her, trying to look like he wasn't eavesdropping, and failing.

Julian looked at her oddly. "There are no new facts. They were there the whole time, they just refused to look for them." He looked angry, but would not unleash his anger until one of the two weirdos across from him did something stupid.

Ana sighed in frustration.

"Julian, you're not listening," she said. "Try to see this the way I am. You don't mess with bindings. It's incredibly difficult to even try to manipulate them, and even more difficult still to break them when they form on their own rather than being put into place. At the same time, the Laws are supposed to be absolute. When the two situations collide, things need to be handled differently."

Julian looked at her for a moment, then shrugged. "I do not see a problem still. You are innocent, so they should just leave us be." He did not like the fact that Ana kept saying that she should be punished just because someone else said so.

In Ana's mind, she should be punished. She broke the Laws, she wasn't innocent the way she thought Julian was implying. She'd worked black magic, even though it was in someone's defense.

"It's their job," she said, a bit helplessly.

"If I might interrupt your little lovers' spat," Jared broke in, "It's probably a good idea to get everything out of the way so we can report back to the clan."

Julian looked angry, but he didn't argue with Ana. He looked at the two with a small glare. "I thought I told you what happened."

"All you keep repeating is that we should have gotten our facts straight," Jared pointed out. "You haven't told us anything yet, and frankly, we'd really like to know."