He sent a wave of lust at Damiana, knowing that her love for him would be her weakness. Luckily for him, her shields were not up. His energy caught her off guard, and she stopped trying to break his shields. She looked at him in confusion.
Drake kissed her passionately. “You have never looked as sexy as you do right now,” he said, throwing another wave of passion at her. “Do you have any idea how much you are turning me on?”
He kissed her again, and she melted into his arms. He was her weakness; he always had been, and now he had to make sure to use that to his advantage. He had been too distracted with the war to notice Damiana and her schemes. And that had always been his weakness. He had always trusted her love for him to keep her in check. He had neglected her for too long, and now it was going to be his undoing.
-o-
Damiana watched Drake slowly dress. He picked up his shirt from the floor and began putting it on. He faced the door leading to the balcony, so she only got a view of his perfectly sculpted back. She stretched in her bed and propped herself up on her elbow.
“It’s been too long. We are so incredibly good together. I don’t know why you resisted me for so long,” she said.
He continued buttoning his shirt. “My focus is elsewhere right now. You know this.”
She rose from the bed and walked over to him. “Yes, your precious revenge. Well, soon enough, you will have it, and then we can finally have our lives back.”
She stood in front of him in all her naked glory and smiled. Drake grabbed her face and kissed her passionately. “There is nothing I want more than to have my life back, but first, I must finish making sure our plans do not fall apart,” he said. “I will have more of you when I return.”
“Oh, yes you will. You can count on that,” she said.
He kissed her again and then left to meet with his demons. After he left, she raised her hands above her head in a stretch of utter contentment. She wondered why she hadn’t thought of overpowering Drake sooner. Had she known that he would melt in her hands, she would have done so life years ago.
She walked outside and stood in the sunlight and absorbed the warmth of the rays on her skin. Lucifer had been right all along. Women were conniving and would destroy men if they allowed it. Whatever made Drake think that he, as a male, could ever be one step ahead of a powerful female’s mind was beyond her understanding. If he hadn’t already realized it, Drake would learn the errors of his ways soon enough. It would be too late for him, but it would be just the beginning for her.
Damiana smiled and turned to reenter her bedroom. The world was already hers, and everyone would do her bidding. They just didn’t know it yet.
-o-
Ar’ch entered the training center and found Mel practicing her skill. One minute he could see her hand; the next minute it has disappeared. He watched her pick up a dumbbell and then make her hand disappear along with the dumbbell.
“Very impressive,” he said and walked toward her. “Can you do larger objects?”
Mel’s hand became visible as soon as she lost her concentration. “Not yet, but I’m working on it. I’m hoping to be able to transfer my powers to hide another person, but I haven’t been able to manage keeping even smaller objects invisible for long periods of time.”
“I’m sure you will figure it out. It just takes concentration and practice.”
“That’s all I’ve been doing,” she said and rolled her eyes. He looked around the training center. “If you’re looking for Kai, he isn’t here.”
He smirked at her mention of Kai. A part of him wanted to tease her about her interest in him, but he had more important matters to discuss, and he didn’t want to waste any time.
“Actually, I was looking for you,” he said.
“Me? Why?”
“I was hoping you could fill me in on what Rafe was like growing up.”
“You still don’t trust him, do you?”
“I’m warming up to the idea. So, help me out.”
“Well, Rafe was your typical boy. When we were little, he loved to tease Sofia and me. It was all fun and games until someone else tried to tease her. Then, he became very defensive. He and Sofia were inseparable but in a best friends sort of way. He had an insane amount of adoration for his mother, which sickened me.”
“Because you knew who she truly was,” he said.
“I knew that my mother didn’t like her. When I turned 17, I learned the truth about Damiana, but I didn’t know about Rafe’s real identity until just recently. I don’t think he ever really loved her; I think she brainwashed him into think he did.”
“So, you think that doctor forced him to feel love for her and for Drake?”
Mel shook his head. “No, I think his love for his father is real. I just think Damiana wanted to make sure that he loved her instead of his real mom.”
“Do you think he’s being truthful with us?”
She pressed her lips together and shrugged. “He cares about the deminions. They had become his friends, and I don’t think he sees them as evil. He loves his dad, for sure, but he hates Damiana for how she betrayed him and hurt Sofia. I think he’s being truthful about saving Sofia. I just don’t know where his loyalties will lie after that.”
Ar’ch nodded. Her honesty surprised him. “Thanks, Mel. I appreciate your help,” he said and started to walk away. Then, just for fun, he added, “I’ll tell Kai you said hello.” He looked back to see her roll her eyes and shake her head before focusing on her training again. Laughing, he exited and went to the portal room.
As he entered Angel’s Anarchy, he found Kai sitting at Z’s bar. He walked over to them and slapped Kai on the back. “Hey guys, how are things with you two?”
Kai looked over at him. “Z and I were just discussing how quiet it’s been lately.”
“Yeah, that’s what we are hearing from all our main cities. The Raizyns have all crawled back to the holes from which they came to prepare for the war,” he replied as Z handed him a drink.
“Any progress on your end?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Everyone is all smitten with my long-lost half-brother coming home,” he said. rolled his eyes, and took a sip of his drink.
“I take it you still don’t trust him,” Kai said.
Ar’ch chuckled. “You can say that, but let’s be real. Without him, I have no hope of finding Sofia, so whether I trust him or not, I have no choice but to work with him. The oracle confirmed that he is my half-brother, so he’s not lying about that.”
“Well, that’s great news, isn’t it? That means that you and Sofia can still be together,” Z said. “I know I didn’t like her at the beginning, but you are worthless without her.”
“Ouch,” he said. “Now, I have no value unless I have Sofia at my side. That hurts, Z.”
She laughed. “You know I love you, Ar’ch, but you’re a mess.”
He sighed. “I know. I have to find her, and I feel like I’m running out of time.”
“Then, I guess you have no choice but to work with Rafe,” Kai said.
Ar’ch groaned and took another sip of his drink. “I am going to hate every minute of it.”
-o-
Khameel stayed for a few more minutes, listening to Ar’ch’s conversation with Kai and Z, but when the topic turned to unimportant information, he scuttled along the floor as quickly as he could. He scurried toward the exit, doing his best to stay underneath the bar. Out in the daylight, he hugged the wall as he made his way past the dumpsters. When he felt that the coast was clear, he transformed back into his human shape. He shook off the imaginary filth that he felt still clung to him from his short stint as a cockroach. He loved his ability to change shape, but he really hated having to take the shape of bugs. Still, necessity called for it, and this was one of those times that not only proved necessary but had also been beneficial.
He used his erport and transported back to Damiana’s home. He found her sunbathing by the pool. He bowed low to her, making
sure not to block her sun. “Good afternoon, my queen. I apologize for disturbing you.”
“Then, why are you?” she said.
“I thought you might want the latest update regarding my reconnaissance of Ar’ch’s friends.”
Damiana perked up. “Of course. Please sit.”
“Thank you, my queen,” he said. He stopped bowing and sat in the lounge chair adjacent to hers.
“What have you learned?” she asked.
“Ar’ch came into the bar today and informed Kai and Z that the oracle had confirmed that Rafe was his half-brother.”
She laughed. “Of course, she did. He is his half-brother,” she said. Then, she pursed her lips together. “You said that the oracle told him this. What else did the oracle say? Did she reveal our plan to them?”
Khameel shook his head. “I don’t believe so, my queen. Ar’ch stated that he had no choice but to trust Rafe to help him find Sofia. He is still committed to saving Sofia, especially since they are not related.”
She laughed again. “That foolish boy. He’s just like his father. He’s all about love,” she said with a grimace. “Our plan is working perfectly, Khameel. Ar’ch will be so focused on finding Sofia that he won’t be ready for our attack. Rafe will give them the runaround until we are ready for war. And when we attack, there will be no one who can help them, especially not my disloyal daughter.”
“The victory is yours, my queen.”
Damiana sighed. “Yes, yes it is. Thank you for the update, Khameel. You may leave now.”
-o-
Khameel stood and bowed again before leaving Damiana alone. She watched him walk away as a cloud covered the sun. Even the clouds would not dampen her day. She stood and wrapped her robe around her. She looked over to her throne room. It was the perfect time for a little visit with her daughter.
Damiana loved walking into her throne room. Power permeated the room, and all of it belonged to her. She peered down into Sofia’s cell and saw her napping on her makeshift bed. The sun may have hidden from her, but she didn’t need the sun to absorb power. She had her own charging station right there. She sat upon her throne and inhaled deeply while the energy of her daughter transferred into her own body.
-o-
Sofia felt the pull of her energy and knew that her evil mother sat above her, zapping her of her strength and power. She felt helpless and hopeless. She lay on her mattress facing the crystal wall of her prison, wishing for the umpteenth time to find a way to break free.
She thought of her favorite characters from the stories she had read back on Earth and how they, too, had been tortured or imprisoned or forced to face impossible situations, and they had all survived. But they were all fictional characters, and this was reality. She laughed as she thought of Tris from Divergent when she had touched the glass and had said that nothing that was happening was real, causing the glass to shatter into a million pieces.
Sofia put her finger to the crystal enclosure and whispered, “None of this is real,” and waited. Nothing happened. She closed her eyes and let sleep pull her under again.
Chapter Ten
Ar’ch woke up thinking about his conversation with Patrysha, Cybil’s confirmation of Rafe’s purpose, and his visit from the Goddess. He didn’t doubt their words; he just couldn’t bring himself to fully trust Rafe. Just because the Goddess, Patrysha, and everyone else saw good in him didn’t meant that he would choose good when it mattered. After all, Rafe openly admitted that he loved his father, and everyone knew that Drake was nothing but evil.
Ar’ch washed up and stepped out of his room to head for breakfast. Voices came from Rafe’s room, so he looked inside and found Angel and Rafe talking while Rafe stuffed a few things into a bag.
“Going somewhere without me?” he raised an eyebrow suspiciously and then looked at the bag and the two of them. “Have I been replaced? Are you two leaving for your honeymoon already?”
Rafe went rigid, and he could sense that he was ready to swing at him. He smirked, hoping to irritate him some more, but Angel pushed past Rafe and gave him a hug.
“Welcome back, brother. I’ve missed you,” Angel said.
Rafe’s face filled with confusion; Ar’ch did his best to hide his smile. “Relax, Rafe. I’m not going to kill you. Yet.”
“What changed your mind?” Angel asked, ignoring his empty threat.
“Divine intervention,” he said and waved away their confused look. He pointed to the bag. “So, how about filling me in on your plan?”
-o-
Nolan and Valerie sat under the gazebo in their backyard. Nolan rested his back on one of the corner posts while Valerie leaned up against him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her temple. She sighed which brought a smile to his face. His soul felt full every time he could make his wife feel relaxed and at peace. Lately, there hadn’t been much time for relaxing, but he had made it a point to get her out of the house and away from training, even if only for a few minutes.
“Should we go to the council and inform them of Rafe’s arrival?” Valerie asked.
He frowned. “Must we discuss this right now?”
She pulled away to face him, making him frown even more. “It’s on my mind, so whether we discuss it or not, I will still think of it.”
He exhaled his discontent. “What good will come of telling the council?”
She shrugged. “They have a right to know.”
“And what shall we tell them? Shall we tell them that your son with Drake has come home and turned against Damiana? How do you think they will react to that?”
She leaned back against him, something she tended to do when she needed to gather strength from him. “They won’t believe his sincerity. They will trust him less than Ar’ch does.”
“I believe so. I believe they will want to lock him up to make sure that he cannot harm any of us.”
“Do you believe he should be locked up?”
Nolan pressed his lips together, thinking carefully about his words. “As a council member, I would agree that that would be the safest route. As your husband, I trust your judgment of him. As someone who has grown very fond of Sofia, I want Rafe to help us save her.”
She smiled and turned her head to look up at him. “I love you.”
He smiled and kissed his wife. “Nowhere near as much as I love you.”
She relaxed against him and sighed again. After a few moments, she said, “So, we say nothing.”
“Shall we think of another consequence? How do you think Damiana will react if we inform the High Council that Rafe has shared all of her plans with us and wants to help us save Sofia?”
Valerie tensed for a moment. “She would feel betrayed.”
“I believe so, and if that woman is betrayed, she retaliates. And whom do you believe will be the recipient of her retaliation?”
“Sofia,” she whispered.
“I’m afraid so.”
“So, we say nothing,” she repeated with more conviction.
“We say nothing,” Nolan replied, “until Sofia is safe with us.”
-o-
Drake stepped through the portal at his rendezvous in the forest before Alexandra arrived. Grateful to have a few moments to himself, he sat on the fallen trunk and placed his head in his hands. How had everything become such a disastrous mess? He had just wanted to destroy Nolan and raise his child with Valerie, but Damiana had ruined any probability of that happening from almost the beginning.
He should have never involved her in his plan to woo Valerie. He should have realized that Damiana would never have allowed him to be with her. He had been blind to her obsession with him and had thought that they had simply had a convenient relationship of lust and dominion over the Raizyns. He had loved Damiana, but he had never been in love with her, and he had been foolish enough to believe she felt the same way about him.
Unfortunately, he had been gravely mistaken, and from the moment he had let her in on his plan to win Valerie over, she had b
een hellbent on making sure that Valerie would never be with him. He never should have trained Damiana when her mother asked him to, but he had felt obligated to do so. After all, the woman had saved his life and had trained him to get his revenge. Then, when her mother claimed that Lucifer had chosen them both, he had no way out of training Damiana. It was Lucifer’s will, was it not?
Drake thought back to yesterday’s episode with Damiana and cringed. Cold shivers crawled over his body. To think that he had once craved her body made him want to hurl, but why? Her confidence and power used to turn him on. Her desire to destroy his enemies used to excite him. So, why didn’t it do so now? What was different now?
Sofia, he thought. How could she torture her own child simply to gain more power? He just couldn’t understand that level of…evil. He sat up straight and stared wide-eyed at nothing in particular. Her actions had become evil, and he had never considered the Raizyns evil.
The Raizyns were about freedom from the Goddess. They were about choosing their own destinies without being slaves to the whim of a selfish deity. They were most definitely not evil, despite the Diasodz trying to paint them as such. But when Damiana placed his daughter into a cell to suck away her energy so that she could become more powerful, she had crossed the line. Now, he had to find a way to rectify the situation.
Alexandra appeared before Drake, startling him. He had forgotten that he had come there to meet with her. He stood and embraced her, breathing in the smell of coconut, most likely from the shampoo that she used. She provided him with a sense of calmness, especially in his current state.
“How have you been, my friend?” he said and released her.
The One Awakened Page 7
