by Kristie Cook
“We don’t have any more,” Charlotte called out to the safe house vamps by the vans when they came in sight. “Go! Just go, go, go!”
They jumped into the vans and peeled out, carrying off only four of the twelve newborns. Charlotte and Blossom shot spells at the vampires chasing us, and lightning jolted out of my hand as we ran for the bikes. Vanessa plowed into a Daemoni and ripped his arms off, slowing him down. As soon as we were on the bikes, Charlotte cloaked us, and Tristan blasted a wall of his power at them, knocking them several yards away, giving us the chance we needed. Not close enough to find us and cloaked from their vision, they scrambled after us blindly, and we were able to escape.
I didn’t let out my breath of relief, though, until we were back at the safe house.
“I can’t believe we only got four of them,” I growled as we headed inside to begin the real work of the conversions. “I thought we were doing well.”
“We were for a while,” Charlotte said. “But this wasn’t unexpected. It happens every time. Four’s not bad. It’s a third.”
“Which means they gained twice as many as we did. We’ll never build an army that can beat them at this rate.”
“Have faith,” Char said. “We don’t need to be as big as them. Only better.”
I didn’t reply, because I didn’t see how we could be better without changing our ways. The Daemoni would always have the upper hand because that’s how the physical world worked—while the good guys stuck vehemently to their principles, the bad ones ignored everything but their end goal, regardless of the casualties and consequences to get there. They schemed, sneaked, squirmed, and stampeded their way to success. In contrast, we came across as meek and soft. Not that there was anything wrong with relying on our faith more than our brawn or adhering to our ideologies, but I thought there were some smaller changes we could make that might make a big difference in the coming war. But what did I know? I was still a baby in this world.
We went to work immediately, and the conversions of the vampires took another three days of focus from my team. With the converts who were already there, the safe house was at near capacity, which meant before long, they would need to use the house where we were staying. That reinforced my belief that we needed to move on and let the Atlanta team do their thing here. Of course, this meant a lot of new Daemoni wouldn’t be converted simply because we didn’t have room. Without a place to help the converts, we’d never be able to keep up. We needed to beat the Daemoni to the norms and prevent them from being turned in the first place. That wouldn’t help our numbers, but would at least protect the humans. But we were already at a disadvantage and couldn’t protect them until we had a bigger army. We were in a Catch-22 situation.
There had to be something we could do differently. A way to draw out the Daemoni who could still be saved and demolish the rest. I couldn’t see how their constant advantage and ability to grow maintained balance. It sure as hell seemed the world was tilting further and further off balance every day, and one day soon, we’d tip over into ruins. But again, what did I know? Whenever I brought up ideas such as this, I was immediately shut down, even by Tristan, who said it wasn’t our place to question the Amadis way. Not yet, anyway.
“I guess we should head north now,” Charlotte said the evening we’d finished with the vampires as she, Tristan, and I sat around the living room. Vanessa was watching a movie in the family room, Sheree had stayed at the safe house working, and Jax and Blossom were . . .
Where were they? They’d been spending a lot of alone time together lately, but Blossom hadn’t said anything to me yet, which wasn’t like her. Of course, Dorian and our missions consumed all of my waking thoughts—and most of my sleeping ones, too. I wasn’t being a very good friend, and I’d have to find a way to make it up to her. Someday, when life and death, including my son’s, didn’t preoccupy me.
“Actually, we need to hit Savannah first,” I replied to Char’s suggestion. I’d been right about the distraction of the conversion allowing my mind to think more clearly about our problem. “We should have gone there a long time ago, really. Where else is there a better opportunity for answers?”
“Savannah’s pretty dangerous,” Tristan reminded me. “Is it a risk we want to take?”
“It doesn’t matter. You know we need to. Mom still feels Dorian is here in the Southeast. Maybe Blossom and I aren’t feeling any more nudges because we’re so close as it is.”
This argument had grown old. Tristan and I had already discussed it several times and knew we needed to go. Of course, we hadn’t found signs of Dorian anywhere near there when Blossom and I had tried while sitting in Sundae’s office, but time had passed. Maybe he’d been brought there now, since Savannah had such a heavy Daemoni presence. Probably not, but even so, people there might know things. People who might be thinking about him and his location.
“And the risk to our team?” Tristan asked again.
The question led to the whole reason why we hadn’t yet mentioned going to Savannah to anyone else: Our group was too big to sneak in, but definitely not big enough to take on all of the Daemoni there.
“You know the answer,” I said.
He rubbed his neck and nodded. Charlotte’s eyes bounced between the two of us for a moment before the answer dawned on her.
“No way in hell,” she said.
“If we’re by ourselves, Tristan and I can get close enough for me to scan thoughts without being seen. And if we are seen, well . . . we’re the strongest of our group.”
“And you’re royalty! Sophia and Rina would have my ass if something happened to you,” Charlotte said. “You can’t simply flash out of there unless you want Pastor McCorkle bailing you out again. I’ll go with you so we at least have a cloak.”
“They’ll sense your magic,” Tristan said.
“Let them,” Char replied. “Like you said—we’re the strongest of our group.”
Tristan and I exchanged a look. She was right—after him and me, she was our strongest. And the three of us, with her cloak, would be better than the two of us alone and visible. If Owen were here, we’d take him with us. Well, at one time we would have. Now the bastard would probably turn us in. Char was his replacement, which meant she’d be going with us on this mission.
“What about me?” Vanessa asked from the doorway. “You know I can help.”
And here came the problem Tristan and I had anticipated: Everyone would want to go, regardless of the risk. They’d known of the danger they’d be in when they volunteered for the team, and they all wanted to help. Whether to actually find Dorian or to protect me, though, was still a little up in the air. Vanessa, however . . . I think she wanted to prove herself every chance she could get, and I appreciated her effort. In more ways than one. Except now.
“You didn’t want to go near Savannah before,” I reminded her. “A little too risky, remember?”
“That’s when we were already captured. When I thought we’d be delivered straight into the bastards’ hands. But I did go into Savannah before. To find out where your pendant was.” She leaned against the decorative pillar at the entrance of the living room and crossed her arms over her chest. “I know exactly where to take you, where you’ll be safe so you can scan all the brains you want.”
Blossom appeared behind Vanessa, and I let out a sigh. Here we go.
“I’ll stay back,” she said. “Jax and I can hang out here.”
Thank the Angels. She’d been the one I’d worried about most. She wanted to do everything possible to help us, but I hated having her in the middle of fights, and things could get especially nasty in Savannah.
“I’ll convince Sheree that she needs to stay at the safe house,” Char said.
And so it was decided—the next morning before dawn, the four of us left for Savannah.
As we approached the small city, the dark energy of the Daemoni swirled around me like a dark mist, so heavy it hung palpably in the air. When Vanessa and I had been here ba
rely over a month ago, the evil hadn’t felt this thick. At that time, I’d been so worried Vanessa had set me up, only fear had coated my skin. A small part of me still thought she could be tricking us, but none of me felt fear now. The tight ball of anger that sat in my heart expanded and whirled in my chest, overtaking all other emotion. These assholes here shouldn’t be allowed to live. Not when their leaders had my son. Once again, I considered the dark magic that could potentially annihilate all of them. If only it didn’t come at such a great cost.
“Alexis, if you don’t gain control, I’m not taking you in there,” Tristan said in my mind. “If you’re not focused, you’re nothing but a liability.”
I’d ridden on the back of his motorcycle this time instead of on my own, and he felt my rage escalating. I inhaled deeply, but the Daemoni energy gagged me, and I blew it out quickly. So I focused on the feel of my body against his, on the rumble of the bike underneath us. He shared with me a sexy image of the two of us together, which partially annoyed me—how could he think of that right now?—but succeeded in distracting me.
I’m fine, I said after a moment, and I was.
“For the record, I can think of you naked anytime,” he said. “Especially in times like this when I need the distraction myself.”
Thanks for the tip.
“My pleasure.” I could feel him smirking. “Maybe when we get out of here, we can act on it.”
Hmm . . . it would be nice to have some time alone.
“That’s what I’m talking about.”
My lower belly warmed, making the distraction a complete success. My temper came back under control, and I wanted control now. Because I would wait to unleash this wrath I embraced so dearly onto those who truly deserved it: Lucas and Kali. We had no further information about which one took Dorian, but I didn’t care. They’d both done enough to hurt the people I loved to deserve everything I could give them.
Vanessa directed us to a church on the outskirts of town, close enough for me to reach the central area of the Daemoni’s keep—down by the river, home to the bar and tourist scene, as well as the port, where freightliners docked. We crept inside the church, but it had apparently been abandoned. Go figure, considering the state of the city. Charlotte put up a shield and cloak over the entire building, then I sat in one of the wooden pews, closed my eyes, and opened my mind.
I scanned the entire area first, reaching as far as I could possibly go, which proved to be much farther than I could a month ago. Our training had apparently been working. Holding on to a small thread of hope, I searched for Dorian’s mind signature, but didn’t find it. In fact, I found only a handful of child mind signatures in the whole city. What had the Daemoni done to all the children? A sick feeling crawled along my spine, making me shudder.
I searched for Lucas and Victor, and Kali and Owen, too, but none were here.
So then I began sweeping through the Daemoni minds, skimming over their putrid thoughts, stopping only when something sounded interesting. Very little did. My mind was open to Tristan, Charlotte, and Vanessa, so they could stop me if they heard something I didn’t.
“Whoa, back up,” Vanessa whispered at one point. We’d just heard the word summoned from a vamp by the docks and Virginia from another with him.
“What the hell is this guy talking about? He’s a fucking idiot,” the first vamp thought.
“I’m tellin’ you, man. It’s in Virginia,” the second guy said aloud, but the first only snorted in response before moving the discussion on to the jewels in the crate at their feet.
I looked at Vanessa, and her eyes tightened for a moment. “I guess it was nothing.”
“Are you sure? You look like you know something,” I said, studying her face closely.
The corners of her mouth turned down. “I heard those two words—summoned and Virginia—and it sparked a memory of something I heard a long time ago. Something Lucas was spewing about one time, about the Summoned.”
“As in the sons?” I asked, excitement lacing the question.
“I think so, but I’m not definitely sure. It’s not like he told me anything when it came to shit like that.”
“But he did have plans for them?” Tristan asked. “Did he mention Virginia?”
She shook her head, the tips of her blond ponytail swishing across her back. “Like I said, he hardly said anything. Nothing that made sense, anyway. It was just one of his typical blowups that he never mentioned again. I don’t even know if this is relevant.”
“But it could be,” I persisted. “Dorian could be a Summoned. Rina said we needed to watch out for them, and Mom thinks they could all be together. Why are you just now mentioning this?”
“He’s not a Summoned, though. Not yet. And what Lucas was saying—I didn’t understand his rant, but he sounded angry with them. Whatever it was, if it had been anything at all, he wouldn’t have lumped Dorian in with the rest of them. He values the boy’s potential way too much.”
“But something must have clicked in your mind,” I said. “Something in Virginia?”
She threw her hands up. “I don’t know what to tell you, Alexis. The two words caught my attention, so I said something, but apparently there’s nothing to it. Now that we’ve listened to them, I can tell you I don’t know those two, so if there’s anything to this at all, I know for sure they wouldn’t be in the loop. They don’t have the status. But you said if anything caught my attention to let you know, so I did.”
“They could have been talking about anything,” Charlotte said. “Who the hell knows? Maybe his creator is in Virginia, and he’s being summoned there. Vampire masters can do that, you know—summon their children. There’s no telling what these guys were talking about.”
I sat back in the pew, tapping my fingers against my lips, but nodded. Char was right. There could be nothing to the whole thing. Probably just mundane thoughts like everyone else’s. Nobody knew anything here. Except, perhaps, Vanessa.
Still, I kept my mind focused on the docks for a little while longer, skipping back to those guys a couple of times. The word summon popped in again, but before I could grasp onto the full thought, something else caught my attention. Something very close. As in right outside the church.
“Two newborns,” Tristan said.
I focused my mind on their thoughts. Seems like they’re only a couple of days old. They’re lost and confused.
Tristan and Char nodded, then she crept over to a window. I snuck up behind her, and we peered outside. Two women who appeared to be in their mid-twenties huddled together near a tree barely outside the church’s property line. They wore torn dresses, their hair looked like rat nests, and dirt smudged their newly porcelain skin. Their eyes were big and glassed-over as they darted around, unable to settle on anything. One woman’s hand scratched at her throat, and on closer inspection, I noticed their eyes were sunken deeply into their cheeks with purple half-moons under them.
“They’re starving,” I whispered.
I sought out their thoughts and shared them with the others. The women seemed to have no idea what had happened to them. They knew they were thirsty and what they were thirsty for, but they hadn’t found any humans since they’d awoken. In fact, they hadn’t seen a single soul since their transformation. Damn irresponsible vampire parents. If there had been any humans nearby, these two would have massacred them without proper guidance. Especially as thirsty as they were now.
“They’re prime,” I said. “We need to go out there.”
“Let Vanessa and me go first,” Tristan said. “They get a whiff of you, and we’ll have a bigger problem on our hands.”
He motioned for Vanessa and Charlotte to head for the front of the church, and I followed him to the side door in the back. He and Vanessa went out first, and as soon as they had control of the two newborns, Charlotte and I came out and began our work. We’d barely said, “you’re safe with us,” when I felt the surge of mind signatures heading for us.
“It’s a trap,�
�� I yelled.
We blurred for the motorcycles, but Daemoni already surrounded us.
“Thought we sensed Amadis around,” a female vampire said as she sauntered closer to us, “and look who we found.”
Tristan, Charlotte, and Vanessa all moved in on me, but I wasn’t about to let them fight without me. I pushed myself between Tristan and Char, and we all stood in a square, shoulder-to-shoulder. I swiped my thumb over the dagger at my hip and extracted it from its sheath at the same time Char pulled hers from her cleavage. Brass knuckles, covered in silver, already covered Vanessa’s fists.
Ten Daemoni, all vampires, closed in on us. Fools. The sun shone brightly over us, which had to have weakened them at least some, and there weren’t nearly enough to overtake us.
Easy peasy, I thought just as they dove for us.
Not as easy as I expected, though. The sun barely affected these vamps, which meant they were older and, therefore, more experienced. They fought expertly, and it became apparent they’d been sent purposely to kill Amadis. Based on their thoughts, though, they hadn’t expected Tristan or me, and were a little unsure of what to do with us. They knew they couldn’t kill us, but they did their best to not let us get away.
I fought hard, slashing them with my dagger, elbowing them in the jaws, smashing their noses against my knee, and plowing my foot into temples and groins. The dagger did the most damage so I focused on using it, but they kept jumping out of my way. So I blasted lightning at them, then dove in, sending electricity through my dagger as I plunged it into a vamp’s ribs, straight into the heart. He bucked and screamed, and I jumped off, pulling my dagger with me, right before he flashed away.
Another vamp came for me, but I blasted her with electricity followed by Amadis power. Her body seized and convulsed, and I took the opportunity to slash my dagger across her chest and stomach. She fell to her knees, and her hands clawed at my legs. I swiped out again, opening a gash through her cheek. She screamed and disappeared. Tristan’s arm ensnared me, and he blurred us to his motorcycle while shooting his power at the vamps on Char and Vanessa, and I blasted more Amadis power at anyone I could hit. The Daemoni flew far enough away that Char and Vanessa could scramble for their bike. Vanessa took the driver’s seat, and Char hopped on the back, throwing up shields and cloaks over us as we took off.