by Kristie Cook
His sapphire blue eyes flickered once before hardening as he glared at me. “At least you still have each other,” he sneered. “I thought Tristan was more important to you than anything.”
Tristan growled now, louder than before. “Jealousy, Scarecrow? You did this out of jealousy?”
Owen didn’t answer, but his eyes flickered again. I didn’t know if he’d softened for a brief moment at the nickname, or if the accusation flared his temper.
“It doesn’t matter,” he finally barked, and then he turned toward Noah. “You didn’t say anything? Think it?”
Noah shook his head, but I entered his mind, searching for thoughts about Dorian, because he obviously knew something. Owen must have coached him, though, because he kept his mind nearly blank, focused only on an image of the abbey. Was Dorian in there? But how, if their evil selves couldn’t step onto the grounds? Or could the abbey be a mirage? Another image created by Kali that wasn’t really there? The sorceress-bitch was good at making it hard to tell reality from the false alternatives she created. She’d completely messed with Tristan and me when we were in South Beach last year. She’d done it again when Vanessa and I were in Hades. Tristan hadn’t been surprised to find the abbey and knew exactly what it was, though. However . . . the sorceress loved to play mind tricks on us.
“Where is he, Owen?” I demanded, spitting out the warlock’s name. “Where’s Dorian? You can’t do this to us!”
“I can. And I did,” he replied calmly.
I turned toward Noah, hoping to find that bit of something I’d seen in him earlier. “Please, Noah. Help me. Help us. You know Dorian doesn’t belong with the Daemoni.”
A sound rumbled in Noah’s throat.
“No,” Owen yelled, pointing a finger at Noah’s chest. “Don’t you do it. You remember yourself.”
Wow. Owen had turned into a real ass, even with his own kind. His new own kind.
“So you do know where he is,” I said to Noah, and I entered his mind again. Tell me silently. Owen doesn’t have to know. Help us, please, Noah. Rina and Sophia would want you to. They love him and miss him as much as they do you—
A blue light flashed at me, and I soared across the room. My back slammed into the stone wall, and the wind flew out of me. I landed on my feet. My eyes narrowed as red rage filled my vision. Did he really just attack me? I flew at Owen again. And this time Tristan didn’t stop me.
Owen’s hand shot up, and I crashed face first into a shield he put up around himself.
“Cheater,” I snarled as I wiped at my nose, expecting blood to be pouring from it.
“Back off, Alexis,” he growled back. “Even you aren’t powerful enough against me.”
Oh. And he’d become quite cocky, too.
My hand flew out in a karate chop, and connected with an invisible wall. Owen shot across the room, but his stupid shield protected him like a bubble, and the impact against the hard wall barely affected him. I fired electricity at him and blue-white light zapped over his shield, illuminating what really did look like a bubble. I pushed more current until cracks began to fissure into it. One grew wide enough to create a hole. Tristan blasted a ball of flame directly into it, but Owen put the fire out before it hit his body, then shot a spell at his former best friend. Tristan ducked and a stone in the back wall cracked and crumbled.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Noah simply watching us, doing nothing to help his comrade. Why didn’t he fight? His eyes bounced back and forth, as though he didn’t know who to fight for. His mind indicated the same hesitation, although he kept his actual thoughts masked with nonsense. Then his eyes and his mind completely glazed over as if his brain had shut down. His head gave one twitch then fell still.
Owen must have noticed, too, because he let out an feral growl. He twirled his hand in midair as if to shoot another spell at Tristan or me, but Tristan’s paralyzing power made its way through the hole in Owen’s shield. The warlock appeared to be frozen in space. Except his eyes. He narrowed them at us, blue orbs hard as marbles.
“All’s fair in love and war,” Tristan said with a dangerous smirk.
“Exactly,” Owen retorted, his voice nearly as treacherous as Tristan’s.
I’ll kill—
Two people popped onto the stairs half a story below, cutting off any thought I’d been sharing with Tristan.
“What is going on here?” exclaimed a familiar, accented voice, formal like the gowns its owner wore.
“Noah?” Mom gasped.
She and Rina stepped onto the top of the stairs and into the room, their brown eyes wide as they surveyed their surroundings. Owen’s eyes sprang wide open, too, and my mouth gaped. Noah’s eyes, however, instead of being full of recognition or regret or even hatred, remained glassy. Empty as could be.
“What are you doing here?” I practically yelled at the matriarch and her second—at my grandmother and mother. They couldn’t be here. Especially Rina. It was too dangerous. She was too weak. What. The. HELL!
“A mother always holds onto a little hope,” said another familiar voice. The redheaded witch whose body Kali had taken over cleared the landing of the stairs right behind them, her fist clamped around Charlotte’s neck as the sorceress dragged the warlock over the last step, then shoved her toward us. Charlotte stumbled once then caught and steadied herself. Kali’s bright green eyes lasered in on Mom, then Charlotte, then me, and then came to rest on Rina. “Doesn’t she? Even when she knows any hope is futile?”
You let her risk her life to see Noah? I asked Mom, disbelief coloring my mental voice.
“He reached out to her for the first time in over a century,” Mom replied. “Nobody could stop her, even if they tried.”
Kali’s green eyes flew to Mom then me and back to Mom, as though she’d “heard” us mind-talking.
“Oh, yes, I heard you. And of course I was right. A mother can’t stay away. I’ve been counting on that.” Kali’s green eyes swung to Charlotte for a moment, and then pierced into me. “Still . . . I hadn’t expected you.”
What? What did that mean? Didn’t she draw us here? Leave the portal open so we would come? Wasn’t it a battle that she wanted? Obviously—she’d gone so far as to bring the head of the Amadis into it. She had to know more Amadis would follow. And sure enough, several pops came from outside on the ground below. I dared to let out a breath as I sensed the Amadis mind signatures.
“I knew you wouldn’t come alone,” Kali said, and she snorted. “As the silly Normans say, the more the merrier. This will be so much fun.”
Do you have a plan? I asked Mom. She gave a slight shake of her head without looking at me. Her and Rina’s full attention remained on Noah. He still stared at . . . nothing. His head twitched again. I glanced at Tristan. Do you?
His eyes tightened infinitesimally. “Not until I figure hers out. Rina and Sophia aren’t here by accident, but I don’t know what she wants from them.”
A smile formed on Kali’s bright red lips. She, obviously, did have a plan. And she had a way of protecting her mind from me.
“Drop the shield, Owen,” Kali ordered. When he didn’t respond, her head cocked and anger flashed in her eyes. She turned that full force on the man she called her son. “I said to drop the shield and cloak. Your little game is over.”
My eyes flicked between Owen and Kali. What did she mean? I pushed my mind, trying to break through the protection she had on her thoughts and on Owen’s, too. I’d broken through her magic before, and I’d grown stronger since, but so had her spell.
A moment passed before Kali figured out that Owen couldn’t do anything because Tristan held him paralyzed. She flicked her wrist. Her staff, with its glowing blue ball at the top of it, appeared in her hand. She curled her fingers around the gnarly wood, lifted it in the air, and slammed it back down on the floor, making the entire structure shake. The roof of the building flew off as if whipped away in a tornado. The walls shattered and the glass disintegrated into dust, leaving us
three stories above ground on nothing but a platform. Straight below us, Solomon, Julia, Winston, and several other Amadis vampires and Weres stood with my team, everyone in fighting stances.
Lightning shot across the sky and down to Kali’s staff. A gale of wind blasted at us, whipping my hair against my cheeks. She pointed the staff toward the abbey and thrust it out. Another whoosh of air blasted past us.
“Don’t worry, Owen,” she sneered before turning to face the abbey, “I took care of it myself, like I always have to do. You think you’re so smart, what you did. As if sacred grounds could stop me.” The sorceress flipped her red hair back and looked over her shoulder at us. “But once again, you’re wrong. The boy is mine. And if any of you try to stop me, those soldiers down there will shoot your precious Dorian. Nice of Her Majesty to let me borrow them, don’t you think? Of course, she doesn’t know, but that matters not.”
My gaze followed Kali’s lead. They hadn’t been there before, but now an army of human soldiers—a few hundred Norman mind signatures—encircled the abbey grounds, armed with automatic, military issue guns and plenty of ammo hanging across their chests and backs. How had they suddenly appeared out there? As if on cue and moving as one, they all gripped their guns, stepped their right feet out, and aimed at the center of the dark structure. I felt out for Dorian’s mind signature, and suppressed a gasp when I found it inside the abbey.
Dorian, are you okay?
“Mom? Is that you again?”
Yes, little man. Dad and I are here. But don’t come out, okay? It’s too dangerous right now.
“Okay. I’m fine. I’m not even scared, Mom.”
Hmm . . . his lack of fear wasn’t necessarily a good thing. I appreciated his bravery, but at least a little fear was healthy in this situation. It kept you alert and ready to act. Such fear of Kali and her unpredictable behavior brought my focus away from the abbey and back to the scene directly in front of me.
“You come with me,” Kali said, although she didn’t specify whom. She didn’t have to. She waved her staff, and Noah followed her like a robot as she stepped off the edge of the floor and floated over the heads of the Amadis and to the ground. Noah landed on his feet next to her without so much as a grunt. “You, too, darling.”
She waved her staff again. With a surprised cry, Rina flew off the edge of the building, her back arching and her white ball gown whipping behind her as she plummeted toward the ground.
“Rina!” I screamed as I jumped off the edge, hoping to beat her to the ground and catch her. But when I landed on my feet, Kali caught my grandmother in one arm.
Mom landed next to me and ran to Kali’s side. She wrapped her hand around the sorceress’s arm and gripped tightly. “You don’t need to do this, Kali. Whatever it is you have planned, it’s not the right strategy. It will fail. You need to stop and think for a moment. You can do better.”
She nodded her head, tried to pierce Kali with her gaze. She was using her power of persuasion.
“Save your breath,” Kali gnarled. She jerked her arm out and slammed her elbow into Mom’s gut. Mom landed several feet away, doubled over on her knees.
“Sophia!” Charlotte yelled, and she appeared by Mom’s side.
Kali let out a small chuckle. “You’re next, sweet one.”
“Come and get me,” Charlotte growled.
“Oh, I will. But not yet.”
“No!” Winston bellowed, and he blurred for the sorceress. She waved her staff. The vampire flew backwards, as though punched in the gut, and landed next to Mom and Char.
Dragging Noah and Rina with her, the sorceress turned toward all of us. My team stood behind me, except Char, who was off to my right with Mom and Winston, and Tristan, who remained on the platform above, holding Owen. Her eyes lifted to them, and then she banged her staff against the ground. More lightning shot down to it, but at the same time, electricity pulled out of me. She was draining me of my power, exactly as she’d done nearly two years ago in the courtroom on the Amadis Island. With the cries and whimpers around me, I knew she was doing it to all of us.
Her spell must have broken Tristan’s hold on Owen, because the warlock appeared next to Kali, but with a glare from her, he crumpled to his knees. “You’re a worthless liar. I should have known.”
I tried to delve into their minds, to find out what that meant, but her mind-shield remained strong against my sapping power. I had no energy to do anything but sink to my knees on the ground. Tristan landed on his feet next to me, his hand palm-out toward the sorceress, but even paralyzed, she was able to continue drawing power from her surroundings. She was gaining too much strength from me and everyone else, while we grew too weak to fight her. I shot what Amadis power I had left, and she shrieked with the pain, but the effort to push it at her quickly became too much for me.
“Now, here’s what’s going to happen,” she said as she continued bringing all of us to our knees. Everyone except Tristan. I struggled against the pull of power, trying to keep some energy for myself to at least pull out my dagger. “You lot are going to stay here and behave, while I retrieve the boy. And if you don’t—”
Tristan grabbed the dagger out of my hand and blurred for the sorceress.
“Don’t kill the host,” Mom screamed as he arced the blade down.
At the last second, Tristan’s hand dipped and instead of sinking the blade into the top of the witch’s head, he buried it in her shoulder. Blood streamed over her chest and arm, and blue smoke rose from the silver’s contact. Her green eyes filled with pain as her red lips formed a surprised O before her body slumped to the ground. The power drain stopped. Kali’s hold on us released. Summoning every bit of energy I possibly had left, I reached for the jar hidden in the inside pocket of my jacket. The soul. I needed the soul. I needed to capture the soul and be done with this bitch. Then we could retrieve Dorian and take him home. Then maybe I could breathe again.
My hand paused in midair, though, when Rina’s body jerked, convulsed, and then became still as she stood next to the Daemoni witch’s body, an awkward angle to the matriarch’s normally straight posture.
Rina jerked once more, straightening herself.
“Dorian?” she called out, her voice carrying over the lawn. “You can come out now.”
I knew I should have been trying to capture Kali’s soul, but I stood there with baited breath, anxious to see my boy. A long moment passed. Then . . .
“Rina?” Dorian’s voice—familiar, yet deeper—rang out from the dark shadows of the abbey, although I couldn’t see him.
Rina turned back to us. Her lips pulled up into a smile. But her eyes . . . they weren’t right.
“If you don’t behave,” Kali’s voice continued, but coming out of Rina’s mouth, “both Katerina and the boy will die.”
Every other soldier on this side of the circle spun, as though on command, and aimed at Rina’s body. Fifty or more barrels pointing at our matriarch. At my grandmother.
“Noah here,” Kali said as Rina’s lips moved and her arm flipped out toward her son, “has a special stone. Lucas gave me a grand idea when he had me implant the faerie stone in your little friend Sonya. Why couldn’t I create my own loyalty stones? I only needed some rocks and a spell. And I didn’t make only one, but several.”
Several loyalty stones? She had control over that many people?
“Oh, it’s worse than that,” she said, as though hearing my thoughts. “You see, Noah had a much bigger stone at one time, and I had all kinds of fun with him, but then we broke it. We divided it. And now all those soldiers out there have a piece of Noah’s stone. So I control Noah, and he controls them. Brilliant, aren’t I? Especially because I know you Amadis won’t harm those Norman soldiers out there. And how convenient that they can enter sacred grounds. Oh, as can Katerina.”
Rina’s body disappeared in a flash and reappeared in the circle of soldiers. All of those that had been aiming at her turned in unison, once again directing their barrels at Rina.
I yanked my dagger out of the witch’s body, and we all blurred for the soldiers. We stopped right behind them, though, when Rina’s power allowed Kali’s voice to sound in our heads.
“You try to stop me or come after me, I order them to shoot,” she said. “There are many bodies here for me to take, but Katerina and the boy . . . they only have their one.”
“Alexis,” Owen’s voice shouted in my mind as he appeared next to me. “She’s weakest now. She’s weakest right after taking a new body. This is our chance!”
What the hell was he talking about?
“Tsk, tsk, Owen,” Kali said. “I’ve told you which body I’ll take next.”
Owen blanched as his eyes darted to Charlotte. “No.”
“Maybe not,” Kali offered. “There’s always yours.”
“You take me, you cowardly bitch,” Char yelled aloud.
“What the hell is going on?” Tristan whispered, his voice so low Rina’s ears shouldn’t have been able to hear it.
“This is what I’ve been waiting for,” Owen replied, and his sapphire eyes landed on me. “This is our chance, Alexis. But it has to be you.”
I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes.
“And what exactly have you been waiting for?” I said, not sure whether to believe what I thought I heard. God, did I want to. I wanted to know my protector and friend had been working on our side all along. But . . . “You stole our son.”
“I’ll explain it all later, but I’ve been planning this all along and now she knows!” His voice, though still hushed, became more distressed. “She’s weakest now, when she’s new in a body. But if we don’t hurry, she’ll have Dorian, and she’ll disappear with him. I’ve blown my cover and won’t be able to track her anymore.”
“What do you want Alexis to do?” Tristan demanded.
“Kill her!”
Chapter 23
Owen’s voice had risen with urgency, and he lowered it again. “I haven’t been able to tell you, to warn you or anything because she’s been in your head for months, Alexis. She’s been needling her way in every time you got close. But this has been my plan. And it has to be you. You have to get her soul.”
