Sacred Wrath

by Kristie Cook

  “Is there a problem, officers?” Tristan asked after we finally stopped and cut the loud engines. A deafening silence filled the air for a long moment. Not even birds, squirrels, or other wildlife in the woods lining both sides of the road could be heard. Tristan had made his voice appropriate for the situation: friendly enough, yet with the hard edge of a hardcore biker.

  Four of the officers crouched behind the three marked cars, shotguns pointed at us. Two of them, wearing khaki pants and brown leather jackets to ward off the cool mountain air, held their handguns in front of them as they slowly approached us. Neither answered Tristan.

  “What’s your business here?” the closer one asked, his eyes—and gun—trained on Jax.

  “My mates here were taking me on this Dragon ride,” Jax said casually. He gave a nonchalant shrug. “It’s all right.”

  The officer narrowed his eyes, as though he didn’t buy Jax’s answer. He appraised Jax and Blossom for a moment as he walked by them, while the other officer stayed at the front of our group, his feet planted shoulder-width apart and his gun held in position, ready to fire on any of us.

  “Is there something wrong?” Tristan tried again as the first guy passed us, his gray eyes scrutinizing us. “Because we’re just out for a good time.”

  The cop only grunted, so I jumped into his mind.

  “I don’t buy this group for one minute,” he thought as he kept walking. “On a casual ride my ass. Only thing is—”

  “Hey!” he barked aloud as he stopped at the end of our group, right next to Vanessa. “I saw that.”

  Oh, shit. What did she do now?

  “Nothing, Alexis,” she said. “I did nothing.”

  The cop suddenly grabbed Vanessa in a chokehold and dragged her off her bike. Good thing she’d already put her kickstand down.

  Go along with him, I said when he held the gun to her temple.

  She sighed in my mind. “I know the drill. I’ll wait for your order.”

  Tristan swung his leg over the bike and stood to his full height.

  “What’d she do?” he demanded, his voice rougher now. He took a step in Vanessa and the officer’s direction.

  The other cop’s gun clicked. “Don’t you move!”

  The sound of the officers behind the cars pumping shells into the chambers echoed in the otherwise still air. Tristan stopped and raised his hands to chest level, palms out, in the universal “don’t shoot” position. Of course, they didn’t know he practically stood in a fighting stance, his palms ready to fire.

  “It’s not what she did,” the first cop snarled as he dragged Vanessa up to the front of the group. “It’s what she is.”

  His gun-hand dropped the pistol into the holster, but came back with a silver-bladed knife. He slid the edge against the curve of Vanessa’s cheek. Her jaw clenched—the silver hurting, but not badly—and I stiffened, already knowing he’d have to cut her up bad to make her bleed, and then they’d know for sure we weren’t norms. Except . . . what the hell? A small trail of red trickled down the side of her face. Among all the many thoughts I monitored in my head, Blossom chanted a silent spell.

  The cop sprang back, letting Vanessa go. “I, uh—”

  “You what?” Tristan demanded as he took another step forward despite all the guns aimed at us. “You thought you’d cut up some innocent chick just because you don’t like the looks of us?”

  The cop’s head shook violently. “I could have sworn . . . look at you! No flaws on any of you.” He eyed Jax’s scar. “Except you. But all these gorgeous women with two men? Not your typical biker gang.”

  “I don’t buy it,” the other cop said. He swung his arm so his pistol aimed at Blossom. His trigger finger twitched.

  But I moved faster.

  “No!” I screamed as I jumped from the motorcycle and landed on the cop, tackling him to the ground. The gun fired into the air, the explosion right in my ear.

  The other four guns immediately aimed at me as I lay on top of the cop. The officer closest to us dropped his knife and drew his own pistol. I sprang to my feet, my hands up. We were never getting out of this now. I’d crossed twenty feet, including hurdling Charlotte, in a blur. The thought of sitting in another jail cell that smelled like piss made my stomach sink.

  “Now, now,” came a lustrous voice from behind me. “Do we really need to do this, sweethearts?”

  I didn’t think I’d ever be so happy to see a fae.

  Bree, appearing in all of her golden glory, sauntered past me, her movements and her voice reminding me of Marilyn Monroe. The effect she had would have made Marilyn look like an amateur, though, and it was immediate. The guns of the two cops right in front of us clattered on the ground, and the men stared at her with their mouths gaping. She turned her full fae glamour on them, her hair blazing in the sun and her eyes a sultry gold.

  She looped an arm around each of theirs, then continued her strut toward the police cars, the two officers gladly moving along with her. I couldn’t read her thoughts, and all the cops’ minds had pretty much turned to mush.

  “We really don’t want to hurt you,” she said. “That’s not who we are.”

  “So you’re . . . you’re,” the first officer who had cut Vanessa stammered. “Shit. What’re they called? The Amadeaus?”

  So they knew about us? Who were these county cops in the middle of nowhere?

  Bree’s eyes settled on him, full of warmth. “The Amadis.”

  “And you’re them?” he asked as his tongue slipped over his lips.

  “Oh, I’m not,” Bree said with a mischievous grin.

  “Oh, fuck,” whispered a cop from behind one of the cars. “We’re all gonna die.”

  The second one’s pants darkened in his crotch area.

  They misunderstood Bree, not knowing she could be neither, although she did favor the Amadis greatly. After all, she’d sacrificed herself to serve the Angels.

  Were they scared because they knew we weren’t normal humans? Or because they thought we were Daemoni? I couldn’t get anything from their addled brains.

  “Please don’t hurt us,” the first cop said. “We’ll do anything. If I could only have a—” Looking as though he had no control over himself, he leaned closer to Bree, his gaze dropped to her lips, and his voice lowered to a whisper. “—a taste.”

  Bree let go of the other cop, who sank to his knees at her feet, apparently oblivious to his wet pants. She swiped a finger down the first officer’s cheek as she gazed into his eyes. His expression slackened as he became completely helpless.

  “Who put you here?” she cooed.

  “I . . . I don’t understand,” he said, his expression pleading for her mercy. A check into his mind told me he wanted more than her mercy—he wanted everything she could give him, and he’d willingly do anything to get it.

  “Who told you to put up this roadblock?”

  “We heard . . . we heard they move in packs, like gangs. They like danger and often travel by motorcycle.” He swallowed, then licked his lips again, his body leaning ever closer to Bree’s golden form. “The Tail of the Dragon’s always been a good time for their type.”

  I focused in on his thoughts more, picking up vague images of Norman biker gangs they’d stopped. Then a stray thought popped into his mind. “Be careful how you handle them. They’re evil and will gladly eat you for breakfast. Or make you one of them.”

  The voice belonged to Pastor Rick McCorkle.

  They’re okay, I thought for everyone to hear. Of course, Bree couldn’t hear me, though. They’re working for us.

  “We’re Amadis,” Tristan said aloud for Bree’s benefit. “We’re the good guys. The ones you work for.”

  He returned to his motorcycle and nodded at me to join him. We both mounted, as did the rest of our group.

  “See?” Bree said. “We’re all working for the same thing. So you can move your cars and let us go on our way.”

  The cop nodded helplessly. Bree let him go, and as she
strolled toward us, she gave me a wink. Three of the cops jumped into the driver’s seats of their cars but didn’t have a chance to move them.

  Daemoni! I screamed into everyone’s heads as soon as I picked up the mind signatures that popped into my range.

  The air swooshed over us as Charlotte threw up a shield and a cloak over everyone in our group. But she’d only been able to protect us. Metal smashed into metal as a white van slammed into the cop cars. Flames erupted from the van’s windows and quickly spread to the cars nearby. Several Daemoni vamps and shifters jumped out of the van, patting out the flames that burned on their clothes. A moment later, the van exploded, shaking the ground under our feet. Shrapnel flew in the air and rained back down. Black smoke rose and spread on the spring breeze, bringing the acrid smell of burning chemicals with it.

  They’d used a homemade bomb to decimate the checkpoint.

  “That was kick-ass!” one of the Daemoni exclaimed before he blurred over to the car farthest away. “This one’s good. Still alive.”

  “This one, too, but barely,” said a female.

  “Oh, dear God,” Sheree whispered. “They’re going to turn them.”

  “We need to stop them.” Charlotte dismounted her bike. She dropped the shields and cloaks, then crouched into fighting position, her palms out, ready to cast spells.

  “I knew I’d smelled stinkin’ Amadis,” one of the Daemoni vampires sneered as she glared at us. “Wondered where you’d gone. Figured you’d cowered out.”

  “Leave the innocents alone,” Tristan called out to them as he, Vanessa, and I slowly approached the burning rubble, while the rest of our group stayed back. Well, I thought they all had. A white crocodile meandered up next to me, and a tiger strode next to Tristan, her fangs bared.

  The Daemoni blurred at us, as though wanting nothing more than a fight. Maybe that was the real reason they’d shown up, knowing these policemen served the Amadis, so surely there were some around. As far as my mind could find, we were the only ones.

  I blasted electricity at a vamp at the same time Tristan hit him with debilitating power. The bloodsucker fell to the ground instantly, and Jax scooped him into his large jaws and shook him like a ragdoll. The female who’d been taunting us swung a punch at me, but I parried it, taking the brunt of the pain in my forearm rather than my head. I flicked my other hand, and my dagger slid out of its sheath at my hip and landed in my palm as I clenched my fist. With a quick swipe of my thumb, the blade appeared right before I sliced it across the vamp’s shoulder. Her scream could make a person’s toes curl, but I didn’t let up. I gripped her arm with my left hand and shot Amadis power into her until she fell to her knees and shrieked for mercy.

  But something came over me, and all I could see was Dorian’s face. All I could feel was outrage exploding within me, not unlike their homemade bomb.

  I grabbed the vampire with my other hand, and electricity poured out of my palm directly into her body. Her form lit up with a bluish glow. Then smoke began to rise. Her skin started turning purple, and a saccharine stench filled the air. The sweet smell of Daemoni death.

  “Alexis!” Tristan’s arms came from behind me, and his hands wrapped around my wrists and tightened until I could no longer push my powers out. “We don’t kill.”

  “They have our son,” I snarled, glaring at the vamp whose hair had fried off as her crispy body twitched at my feet. “Where is he?”

  She gave a minute shake of her head.

  “WHERE. IS. HE?” I screamed.

  “I . . . I don’t know,” she stammered.

  “Where are the Summoned?”

  She replied with only a whimper. Her mind showed only fear.

  “Let her go,” Tristan murmured in my ear.

  I glowered at the vampire as she stared at me with a tinge of hope in her eyes. I felt something else from her that I really didn’t want to feel, but I couldn’t deny it. Her soul still had hope. My own soul dared to hold love for this evil bitch.

  With a groan of frustration, I pulled my powers completely within me. The vamp scurried away on her hands and knees.

  “That’s your problem,” a male vamp called out from the edge of the woods. “You Amadis don’t have it in you to do what you need to. You’ll never win like this!”

  He cackled along with a few others before they ran into the woods. I scowled at them until they disappeared from sight, my jaw clenched and my fists on my hips.

  “He’s right,” I muttered. “We’re too good to win.”

  The Daemoni had taken off, but we hadn’t been able to save any of the cops. At least their souls had still been Norman before they’d died. We had to get out of here before more authorities came looking for them. Although we now knew their precinct supported our side, we didn’t need the delay caused by their questions and reports.

  “Thank you so much,” I breathed as I hugged Bree goodbye.

  “Try to keep yourself out of trouble,” she said. “I don’t know how many times they’ll let me keep doing this without demanding something in return. And you better capture that sorceress’s soul soon to repay the favor already owed, or there will come a time when none of us will be allowed to help you.”

  I swallowed and nodded. Damn. For as long as they lived—forever, as far as I knew—the faeries had no patience.

  That night we camped by a stream in the woods, staying out of sight of the norms and the Daemoni. Blossom and Charlotte created tents for us as shelter, and Blossom and I sat inside one, searching again. She chanted her spell under her breath, and I opened my mind. Once again we were nudged north.

  As we pulled our minds back in to our own location, I sensed new mind signatures that were alarmingly close. And alarmingly Daemoni. Had they followed us? They couldn’t see us . . . unless they had a norm with them who had some kind of new trap that messed up Char’s cloak. But they weren’t attacking. I focused in on their minds and recognized them—Alys and Lesley, the vampires who’d been with Sonya and Heather when we found them.

  Blossom and I exchanged a look, and then both of us crept downstream, Sasha at our heels, until we came close enough to hear their conversation.

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Lesley’s voice hissed.

  “I can’t believe you aren’t,” Alys replied. “You’re better than this . . . this so-called life.”

  “I like this life. We have no rules. We do what we want. And soon—have you heard what they’re giving us? The world! And you want to give that up for what? A soul you only think you have but you lost when you were turned?”

  “My soul is not lost,” Alys snapped. “Neither is yours. You heard Sonya—we still have hope. Isn’t it worth it?”

  Seeing the perfect opportunity in front of us, I crept in closer to analyze the situation. The two blond vamps sat on opposite sides of the stream. Alys’s long legs were pulled up to her chin, her butt balanced on a rock on the side nearest to us. Lesley straddled a boulder on the other bank, one leg swinging impatiently back and forth.

  “I think you’re crazy,” Lesley said, and she hopped to her feet. “But if that’s what you want to do, if you’re willing to leave me all alone, then I won’t stop you.”

  “You don’t have to be alone—”

  “But you can’t stop me from living the life I want. Good luck and goodbye.” And with that unceremonious farewell, the shorter vampire blurred away.

  Alys sprang to her feet, staring into the direction Lesley had gone, but not following. No time like the present.

  “Alys?” I called out so I wouldn’t frighten her. A surprised vamp could be a deadly thing.

  She spun on me. “What are you doing here?”

  I moved closer to her, Blossom right on my heels. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  Her tongue slid over her lips, and she pulled her bottom one between her teeth to gnaw on it for a moment.

  “I want to convert,” she suddenly blurted. Her face paled, if possible, and she wrung her hands as
she continued. “I’ve wanted to for a long time, and I know I should have said something before, but I was scared. Now we have no home because Lesley and I got kicked out of our nest at FSU for not turning any students. We’ve been living in the wild ever since. She always wants to stalk campers, says it’s a cheap thrill, and we don’t drink them dry, but I can’t do it anymore. I’m starving, but I’m so done with this life. Please . . . please help me!”

  If only they were all so easy. Since they weren’t, I had to do what I did next. Without giving her warning, I jumped at her and dug my dagger into her chest, twisting and maneuvering it around, looking for a foreign object. Alys tried to hit and swat at me, but Blossom held a spell on her that made the vamp’s appendages uncooperative, and Sasha grew into the size of a St. Bernard and bared her teeth in a growl. The vampire fell still. When I didn’t find a faerie stone buried in her chest, I launched myself several yards away, putting a safe distance between us. But the vampire didn’t come after me; she only stared at me with her fangs extended and disbelief in her eyes.

  “Sorry,” I said, “but I had to be sure before we went any further. You can thank your friend Sonya for it next time you see her.”

  Alys glared at me for one long moment, and I checked her mind to see if she’d changed it. She probably hadn’t expected an Amadis daughter to be so brutal. Regardless, she retracted her fangs, and her body relaxed.

  “Do you think I’ll get to see Sonya soon?” she asked. “She was a pretty cool friend.”

  Chapter 16

  “There’s a safe house in North Carolina, right?” I asked when we returned to the campsite.

  Everyone jumped to their feet, sensing the Daemoni vampire who followed behind Blossom and me. Sasha trotted alongside us, back in her everyday form.

  “What’s going on?” Charlotte asked as she eyed Alys.

  “Easiest conversion we’ve had yet,” I said. “She’s Sonya’s friend, and she’s ready.”