by Kristie Cook
“Which is?” Sheree asked.
I recited what I’d basically told Mom. “We agree to uphold our purpose of protecting the norms and converting those who have been infected, allowing us to build an army that we know will be needed.” I paused as everyone nodded, though their mouths twisted in a grimace or a scowl. “But at the same time, we’ll be searching for Dorian. Unless Blossom and I find something different when we’re done here, that means going north, even if it doesn’t make sense for our mission of conversions.”
“And it looks as though we’ll be searching for Kali if we’re to find Dorian,” Tristan said.
“We aren’t certain she has him,” Vanessa said and then added, “though it seems pretty likely.”
“She probably does.” I sighed. “All evidence seems to be pointing that way.”
Blossom and Sheree agreed. We all looked to Charlotte.
“As much as it pisses me off because it means my son was involved, I have to agree,” she said. “I’m not sure of her motive, but based on what she did to all of us with the Tristan fiasco, I’d say it has something to do with gaining power among the Daemoni. She’s capable of anything.”
“She’s extremely powerful,” Vanessa agreed.
“And dangerous,” Tristan added. “So if you don’t feel comfortable with our covert mission or going up against Kali, now’s your chance to speak up.”
Everybody stared at us. Nobody spoke up.
“So everyone agrees?” I asked, specifically looking at Charlotte. “We do our conversions while we seek out Dorian, regardless of where that takes us. And even if it means taking on Kali . . . and maybe Owen, too.”
“Agreed,” Blossom and Sheree said at the same time.
Vanessa made a face, but she nodded. “I’m with you, little sister.”
We all looked at Charlotte again, and her sapphire eyes skimmed over everybody’s faces before ending at mine. She gave me a single nod.
“I’ll kill that sorceress bitch,” she said. “For everything she’s done to my family. And to yours.”
“Not if I get to her first,” I replied, and my mouth tugged up with a small smile of relief that we had a real team and a plan.
Chapter 6
Charlotte, Sheree, and Vanessa returned to their preparations for our departure, and Blossom said she was going to run home to look up something in her books before meeting Tristan and me at our house. Tristan and I flashed to our home to wait for her. While Tristan said he was going to do a weapon check, I went straight to Dorian’s room and paused in the doorway. I couldn’t believe three days had gone by, and we were still here and not out there looking for him.
Needing something to do, I began cleaning his room, picking up toys and placing them on the shelves, and throwing dirty socks in the hamper—he seemed capable of getting everything else into the hamper but gross, stinky socks. I sat down at his desk to straighten his books and found his notebook full of notes for the story about dragons that we’d been writing together. My heart clenched. Would we ever get to finish it? I ran my fingers over the words he’d handwritten in blue ink and had to blink away tears so I could read them. There were several lines of scribbles and restarts, and then three straight lines crossed out with heavy, deep gouges of the pen. An arrow pointed here with a note, “Mom’s part. She’ll know how to fix it.”
With a force that rattled the desk and knocked the chair over, I pushed myself away. I won’t cry. I won’t cry. The pain was so great, though. Just as bad as when Tristan had left me. Worse, I thought, because I not only felt my own agony, but I could feel Tristan’s, too. I felt his torture through his mind signature, which was heavier than usual, and through the stone in my chest that gave us an unearthly connection. Doubled like this, the heartache was nearly unbearable. But I wouldn’t cry. I shook my head hard and inhaled ragged breaths until the threat of tears slipped away.
And then I saw his stuffed shark on the floor, sticking out from under his bed.
My chest tightened as I bent over and picked it up. I stared into its black, glassy eyes, and then clutched it to myself as though it were a piece of my son. What was it doing here? He usually slept with it, but apparently hadn’t taken it to the safe house with him that night. In fact, now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept with it. Was there a reason the shark had been lying under the bed? Did my baby feel like he was too old to sleep with a stuffed animal? Probably. Because he wasn’t my baby anymore, was he? Even if we found him tonight, this little act of the Daemoni’s—of Owen’s—had surely pushed him far beyond his innocent years.
I screamed and threw the shark at the wall. The urge to throw all of his toys, to shove everything off his desk and shelves, to tear apart his dresser and closet nearly overwhelmed me. But I couldn’t do that to his belongings because it felt like I’d be doing the same to him. So I stood in the middle of the room, balling my fists, and reigning in that anger, letting it swirl in my gut until it tightened once again.
I will not cry.
But I would not let go of the quiet rage. I would hold on to the wrath for as long as I needed to, as though it were my lifeline. As though it were sacred.
I closed my eyes and took slow, deep breaths until my heart settled, until my soul hardened again with resolve. We planned to leave in a few short hours. We’d finally be on our way to finding my son.
“Ready?” Blossom asked a few minutes later as she strode into Dorian’s room. She frowned when she looked at me. “Are you okay?”
I opened my eyes and nodded. “Beyond ready.”
Just as we were about to start, though, my phone rang. I sighed when I looked at the screen, but I couldn’t ignore the call. I’d been waiting for it.
“Do I need to remind you of your priorities?” Mom asked, her voice curt.
“We already have one convert,” I answered, and I told her about Sonya. Mom gasped at the story about the faerie stone they’d used in the vampire and said she’d warn the council about this happening again. She didn’t react to the part about Owen’s involvement, though.
“What’s next?” she asked brusquely.
“We’re putting our team together and getting the colony settled. We’ll be taking off tonight, I hope.”
“And where do you plan on going?”
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. “We were just about to figure that out but . . . maybe north?”
I purposefully made it a question, hoping she’d give us her blessing to move completely out of the area. No such luck.
“Why would you do that?” Her tone told me she already knew the answer. She’d obviously been keeping her sense of truth focused on my actions. But how could she really expect me to forsake my son? What kind of person did they all think I was? Apparently, emotionless and coldhearted like them. “Alexis, there are thousands of people’s lives on the line. Their souls are at risk if you don’t do what you’re meant to do.”
“How could I forget?” I threw a hand into the air. “Nobody will let me. But I won’t abandon Dorian. I won’t let this go.”
“I understand. I lived with the same fear throughout your childhood. I wish I could tell you something different, that this news about Kali would change everyone’s minds. She hurt the Amadis, including many council members, but vengeance isn’t the Amadis way. We need to focus our efforts on what’s important. On our duty. Including you.”
“You had converters out there before me,” I reminded her.
“Everyone else who can convert is already out there, except you. And now Char.”
Guilt poked me in the side, softening my tone to more of a plea. “And we’re heading out there now. Just let us go north, though. Blossom’s been working a spell, and together we felt Dorian north—at least north of us. We can keep trying until we find exactly where he is. We’ll convert souls along the way, I promise, but please let me do this. And if we can end Kali at the same time, we’re all better off.”
More silence, but t
hen she said, “I’m sorry. It’s not my place—hold on.”
She paused again, and I assumed someone on her end was speaking to her, although I didn’t hear anyone. Perhaps Rina spoke to her telepathically.
“Honey,” she said when she came back on the line, “Rina wants you to come here to the island. Immediately.”
Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit. I must have pushed too far. “Is that really necessary?”
“She wants to speak with you in person.”
I rubbed my forehead, wishing my flash range reached a lot farther than a hundred miles at a time. But it didn’t, and going overseas to Amadis Island meant traveling by plane. I didn’t have time to fly all the way to Greece. And who knew how much farther away from Dorian the trip would take me?
“Tell her I get it. My purpose and all that. I don’t think we should waste any more time, with everything going on.” Hopefully I showed enough agreement to placate them both.
“Alexis, you don’t deny Rina,” Mom said, her voice full of warning. “When the matriarch calls for your audience, you come.”
I frowned, thankful Mom couldn’t see me. “Is that what she’s doing? Because I don’t need to hear her tell me everything you already have. Like I said, I get it. You two—and the rest of the Amadis—aren’t budging.”
“Come to the island, Alexis,” Mom said more firmly. “You and your team. Rina wants a personal meeting with all of you, and she’s already sent the jet.”
“All of us?”
Mom paused again, and I assumed she spoke with Rina.
“Yes, all of you,” she confirmed when she returned. “When you’re done here, you’ll be starting on your mission. So you and Char ensure the safe house and the colony are settled and will be able to operate without you. I don’t know how long you’ll be gone.”
What? I didn’t understand them. A minute ago she told me to stay nearby to save those souls in our own backyard, and now they wanted us to fly halfway around the world and didn’t know when we’d be back? All of us tied up in this unnecessary trip?
“But—”
“Matriarch’s orders, Alexis. Don’t delay.”
Great. Freakin’ great. I hung up the phone, and once again, I wanted to hurl it across the room. Instead, I flopped backward onto Dorian’s bed and covered my face with my hands. How could Rina and Mom do this to me? To Dorian? How could they claim to love someone so much but then desert him in his time of need? How did I know they wouldn’t do the same to me or Tristan or anyone else? I thought I’d made a valid point the other day—if your own loved ones couldn’t rely on you, how could anyone else? But apparently, the Amadis didn’t believe the same way. Or, at least, the matriarch didn’t foster that kind of culture. When I became matriarch, that would certainly change.
Every soul mattered.
“We’d better get going,” Tristan said. “We don’t want to leave the matriarch waiting, and she’s given us the jet, which could probably be used elsewhere.”
I pulled my hands away from my face to give him a dirty look. Was he as bad as them?
“The sooner we get this done and over with, the sooner we can get on track to find Dorian,” he added.
“We can keep trying the spell while we’re gone.” Blossom glanced around Dorian’s room. “His presence here really helped. I need to take something . . .”
I sat up and lifted the blanket bunched in my hands. “How about this?” I pushed my face into it once again and inhaled. “It smells so much like him. He’s all over it.”
“A whole blanket is kind of awkward to carry around,” she said. “And I can’t flash with it if we need to.”
Oh, right. I glanced at the shark in the corner, but that would probably be too bulky, too. So I pulled out my dagger and cut away two squares from the blanket that could be folded and stuffed into a small bag or pocket—one for her and one for me. Then I stood and blew out a heavy breath.
“He has a room at Rina’s, too, so maybe we can try again there.” I handed her the piece of fabric. I stuck mine in the back pocket of my leathers until I could move it to my backpack and returned my dagger to its sheath. “I guess we go get this done with. Another stupid lecture. You ever been to Amadis Island, Blossom?”
Her face paled, and she shook her head. “Oh, no. Never. I don’t even know what to do.”
“Well, we’re going. All of us. Matriarch’s orders.” I let out a hollow chuckle. “This should be especially fun with Vanessa.”
Tristan and I gathered a couple of things we could take with us and stuffed them into my leather backpack where the faerie’s jar for Kali’s soul still hid. Then we secured our home as best as possible before flashing to the safe house. With Vanessa and Sheree’s assistance, Charlotte had everything taken care of. The people she’d brought to the mansion with her were experienced converters, and since Sonya proved to be an easy patient, they were already discussing their first target in Fort Myers Beach.
“Don’t worry about a thing here,” Char said to me when my impatience and worry began to show. “They’re a good team. Everything’s taken care of.”
“It’s not that,” I said. “I’m glad they’re here. I just wish we were rushing off for other reasons than for a trip to the damn island. And it’s my fault Rina’s being a pain.”
Charlotte’s brow shot up. “I’m sure she has her reasons for needing to see us. Remember to never underestimate her.”
Right. A lesson we learned with the Martin/Kali debacle. When we all thought Rina had lost her mind completely to the sorceress, she’d actually been setting up Kali’s downfall and Tristan’s acquittal.
Before we left, Tristan and I took a few minutes to be alone in the suite we’d been using.
“I hate this,” I told him as he pulled me into his arms. “I feel like we’re putting more miles between us and Dorian rather than fewer.”
“I do, too, ma lykita, but who knows where they’ve taken him? There’s a chance he could be in Europe or Asia, just as much as here. He could be anywhere by now.”
I let out a sigh. “You’re not making me feel any better.”
He leaned down and brushed a kiss across my lips. “Does that help?”
One corner of my mouth tugged slightly. “Maybe a little.”
He pressed his lips to mine again for a deeper kiss, but he pulled away too soon.
“I’d offer more, but we’d better get going,” he said, regret in his voice. “The last thing we need to do right now is anger the matriarch.”
I nodded. “Right. We’ll do what we need to do to make them happy so we can get to work on our own plans.”
“While we’re there, do me a favor. In fact, as we move forward, do this for me, please.”
I eyed him with hesitation.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he warned, not for the first time. I had a bad habit of doing stupid things like jumping into situations that were over my head. “You’re no good to anyone, especially Dorian, if you’re dead.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded again. “I promise I won’t be stupid.”
He pulled me tighter against him, and I leaned up on my toes for a long kiss that didn’t last long enough.
“We need to go,” he murmured, and I frowned. He caught my protruding lower lip between his teeth before delivering another kiss. “Let’s get this over with.”
He scooped up Sasha, whose wing had completely grown back, from the bed and deposited her into my arms before we left the suite. We found the rest of the team waiting for us in my office.
“Are we ready?” Charlotte asked. Blossom, Sheree, and Vanessa all nodded.
“Wait,” came an urgent voice from the foyer. Bree the fae flew into my office and came to a halt, her golden eyes glancing around at everyone. “I need a minute with Alexis, please.”
“The jet’s waiting,” Charlotte said.
“I only need a moment,” the fae insisted. “Tristan, you can stay, too.”
The others filed out, and Bree c
losed the door behind them.
“Take off your necklace,” she demanded. I lifted a brow. “Sorry to be blunt, but the jet is waiting. For me, too. Ms. Katerina has summoned me as well. But first, just in case, I want to take care of something.”
“What do you need the necklace for?” Tristan asked as he took Sasha from my arms so I could unclasp the chain. He’d fixed it for me last night after Sonya/Kali had ripped it from my neck.
Bree ran a hand through her golden hair. “When I took you through the veil to go to Hades, Tristan, I wasn’t allowed to remain in the Otherworld, but they did allow me to stay temporarily. The Angels—”
“Did they tell you where Dorian is?” I broke in with excitement.
“No.” She frowned. “I’m sorry. It must not be my place to know. But they did say I’ll be meeting them again soon, so maybe . . .” Her voice trailed off as she gave a noncommittal shrug, leaving me with little confidence they would help. “For now, though, they ordered me to take care of that stone of yours once and for all so we don’t have any more issues with it.”
I reached my hands behind my neck, but paused. “What does that mean? Take care of it?”
She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “I’m going to make sure you can’t lose it again so easily—or that it can’t be taken from you. I’m going to make it permanently in your possession.”
Tristan and I exchanged a look, but he gave me a nod. With a little trepidation, I dropped the pendant into Bree’s hand.
“Sorry about the artwork, Tristan,” she said as she twisted the red triangular stone out of the pendant he’d designed, then dropped the silver into his hand. “But this is a better way for Alexis to keep the stone.”
She then moved my leather jacket to the side and pulled the bustier down to expose the Amadis mark on the rise of my left breast. Tristan and I traded another look as Bree cupped her hand over the mark and pressed the rock against my skin.
“Is this okay?” she asked.
Understanding now, I gave her my consent, then gasped as a warm tingle fluttered into my flesh, followed by the stone. After several heartbeats, Bree pulled her hand away and nodded her approval. The Angel stone hadn’t sunken down and hidden in my heart, as it had with Tristan when he was a little boy. Rather, it had embedded itself into my skin, a ruby-colored embellishment to my Amadis mark. In fact, the stone had settled into the hilt of the sword in the design, similar in appearance to the amethyst in the hilt of my dagger.