Beauty and the Beast by Laurel Cain Haws

mansion.
    When Joe met with Diana at the Dinosaur Museum, they were nearly abducted by one of Gabriel’s henchmen, but a cabby, a food vendor, and a maintenance worker, all Helpers, managed to take the criminal into custody and then turned him over to Joe and the museum security guards. Joe was completely bewildered by Diana’s civilian bodyguards, but fortunately, there was no time for him to ask questions about them. While Joe and the police force were planning their attack on Gabriel’s mansion, Diana went back to Father, and they went underground through the tunnels to rescue Vincent and the baby before the police could get there and find them too.
    Gabriel, knowing that the police were on their way, was ready to smother the baby with a pillow, all the while telling him in his maniacal insanity, that he loved him. Vincent had felt the danger, had broken out of the electrified cage he was in, and had raced through the mansion to stop Gabriel. That was when Diana got there, just in time to prevent Vincent from killing Gabriel.
    After she sent Vincent with his rescued baby to Father in the tunnels below the mansion, Diana confronted Gabriel with the gun Father had given her. He proceeded to thank her for rescuing him from Vincent and then informed her that he probably wouldn’t be convicted, and if he was, he could rule his evil empire from prison and would soon have Vincent’s child back under his control again. Diana had calmly said, “Not this time, Gabriel.
    This is Catherine Chandler’s gun.” That was the end of
    Gabriel.
    Diana’s decision to end Gabriel’s miserable existence had not been without psychological consequences. Now, she had a much better understanding of how it hurt Vincent to unleash the avenging Demon within him. What Diana couldn’t have known at that time was that an even greater evil was lurking in the shadows ready to threaten Vincent’s world once again.
    Diana looked over at Vincent, who had fallen sound asleep while she was humming, probably the first good sleep he had experienced in the last nine months—the six months that Catherine was missing, and the three since her death on October 13 th . Little Jacob was asleep in her arms as well. Diana laid the baby in his bassinet with a kiss. Then she went to Vincent’s bedside and gently picked his hand up. She carefully opened it, extracted the ceramic rose, and then laid his hand back on his chest. She put the rose back in its pouch and leaned over, giving Vincent a kiss on his forehead, before walking softly out of his chamber to go find Father.
    On the way, she ran into Mary in the passageway. Diana couldn’t help but smile whenever she saw Mary with her light, youthful step belying her age. She was about the same age as Father, but there was nothing matronly about her. Tall and slender, she was a truly beautiful woman with a refined air about her. Her fine features were set off by long, soft, light brown hair,
    carefully wound on top of her head in a very becoming style. She was the community’s head nurse and their midwife, and she took her responsibilities very seriously. “Hello, Mary.” Diana greeted her.
    “Are you leaving us then, Diana?” Mary asked.
    Diana replied. “Not yet. I’m going to see Father. You don’t need to worry right now about Vincent and Little Jacob. They are both sound asleep.”
    “You’re sure Vincent’s asleep?” Mary asked incredulously.
    “He is really asleep!” Diana assured her.
    Mary shook her head in amazement. “Then, you’ve managed to accomplish what none of us have been able to do in the nine months since Catherine first disappeared, get him to relax enough to sleep. He spent six of those months scouring the city looking for Catherine, and then the next more than two months scouring the city looking for his baby. Even though Little Jacob has been safe down here for a couple of weeks now, Vincent still hasn’t relaxed. We were beginning to wonder if he would ever sleep