by Kristie Cook
Then the wall disappeared from behind me, and I fell on my butt.
Lucas stood over me, and his lips turned up in a smirk. “Change your mind, my daughter?”
I jumped to my feet, and Vanessa straightened up. One glance around told me we were back in the room where we’d started.
What now? I asked Vanessa. She gave me an I-have-no-clue look. Actually, knowing her, it was more like a we’re-fucking-dead look.
So Lucas really was just playing a game with us. He had no intention of letting us go.
“Did you change yours?” I asked bravely. Or stupidly. Whatever. It didn’t matter anymore, if Vanessa was right. “Did you decide it’s okay for Dorian to break the curse? Or that it’s okay to kill me?”
Lucas grinned, exposing his perfectly straight, snow-white teeth. “See, I can’t bring myself to kill you. You have too much potential for me.” He tsked, and Rene the cheetah, in animal form, sauntered over to his side. “My followers, however . . .” He ran a hand down the cheetah’s spine. “. . . I can’t always control them.”
“So you’re still letting us go?” I asked.
“Like I said, if you can find your way out alive, yes. This time.”
Vanessa and I exchanged another glance, then moved for the doorway.
“One more thing, Alexis,” Lucas said, and I hesitated. “Since you were so kind to return, I must offer you another deal. I think you wanted this?”
I looked over my shoulder. He held his hand out, my dagger lying across his palm. I lunged, but he clamped his fist around the blade faster than I could grab it.
“Now, now. Fair trade, remember? But I’ll need more than just the garbage taken out this time,” he added, his eyes flickering to Vanessa then back to me. “Seth or Dorian will do.”
A dagger over 2,000 years old, forged by the Angels themselves, probably more precious than anything in Amadis history. And it was my best weapon, especially with Cassandra’s power behind it, my connection to her. I needed the dagger to give us any hope of escaping Hades. I needed Cassandra’s power to live through this. But nothing, not even the possibility of my own survival or even Vanessa’s, was worth the lives of my son or husband.
“Not a chance in hell,” I said.
“Ah, you’ll regret that. But don’t worry. I always get what I want. I will get what’s mine.” He glanced at his bare wrist. “Oh, sorry. Out of time. You’ve lost your head start.”
He hissed, and instead of werewolves coming after us, Rene did.
Vanessa and I ran again, the cheetah chasing us down. I’d never run so fast in my life, but it wasn’t fast enough. With a peek over my shoulder, I looked right into amber eyes. The cat roared, drool hanging from her five-inch-long fangs. Then she sprang off her back legs, and those same fangs tore into my bicep. I cried out as I spun around and slammed her with electricity.
I held the current on her, even as we ran, and the cheetah slowed enough to give us a chance. Then her footsteps behind us fell away, and I looked over my shoulder once again. The cat took off down a corridor we’d just passed.
“Where’s she going?” I asked Vanessa.
We ran another hundred yards or so, then Vanessa slowed almost to a walk now that nothing chased us. Her head turned at each corridor we passed, inspecting it even as we moved on.
“To get help?” she finally answered my question. “To spring ahead and cut us off? Who kno—”
An orange streak of light blasted through the air and smashed into the side of her head. She screamed once and fell to the floor. Another streak flew at me. I threw myself on top of Vanessa’s body, narrowly missing the spell that hit the wall, carving a chunk into it. Granules of dirt rained to the floor. My mind found a mage’s signature down the hallway that branched off to our right, where the orange lights had come from.
I lifted my head just enough to peek. A cloaked figure crouched in a doorway. I latched onto his thoughts in time to hear the next spell before the orange light soared at us. I rolled off Vanessa, flat on my back. The light skimmed over us, singeing our leathers before hitting the wall like its predecessor. I shot a bolt of electricity in return. It hit the floor right in front of the mage, making him jump. While he reconfigured, I yanked Vanessa’s body out of his path, then shot another bolt at the mage as he sent a spell at me. I connected with him and kept the current flowing in a bluish-silver arc, the air sizzling around it. But he continued shooting a series of orange lights at me. With my free hand, I pulled my knife out again and held it up to try to parry the spells. One bounced off the blade and slammed back into him. His figure sank to the ground, smoke rising from his cloaks.
I hurried to Vanessa, squatting next to her body.
“Come on, he’s gone,” I said, pulling on her arm. “At least, for now.”
“I can’t see,” Vanessa whispered as she sat up, her eyes wide but glassy. She rubbed her fists into her eyes, and when they came away, panic contorted her face. “Alexis? I can’t see!”
I grabbed her hand. “I’m right here. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!” She shook off my hand. “I can’t see. How can I run if I can’t see where I’m going?” She threw herself back on the floor. “I’m dead.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I may as well be. And you are, too, if you don’t go.”
“Then let’s go.”
She pounded her fists into the floor, leaving divots in the frozen earth. “I can’t, Alexis. Don’t you get it? You go. Get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you here.”
“Yes, you are. There’s no need for both of us to die.”
I rocked backward off my heels to sit on my butt and dropped my head into my hands. What am I going to do? After everything we’d been through, I wasn’t about to leave Vanessa behind. But I didn’t know how to get out. Hell, she knew this place and hadn’t found the way out yet. And now she couldn’t see to at least try.
“You’re still here,” she said.
“Of course I am. I told you, I’m not leaving you.”
“Then what do you plan to do, oh smart one?”
“I don’t know. We can’t sit here right in the open.” I didn’t sense any mind signatures close by, but that could change in an instant. “Do you think your vamp powers will heal your sight any time soon?”
“I’m sure. Eventually.”
“Will a drink from me help?”
Vanessa lifted her hands in a shrug. “Probably. But then you’ll be too weak to go on, and although I could, I’m not carrying your ass out of here if I don’t have to.”
“So we need a hiding place.” I looked around, then glanced down the hall where the mage had been. “I’ll be right back.”
Keeping my mind open, I rushed to the doorway where the mage’s body still lay and peeked inside. A small, empty room, no bigger than a bathroom, and with no fire in the sconce on the wall. Just dark enough that maybe we could hide there for a while. I hurried back to Vanessa.
“Keep your hands on my shoulders and try to see through my mind,” I said, and I led her to the room.
We settled in the darkest corner, huddled together, and I gave her my wrist. When she was done, I collapsed beside her. But only for a few minutes. Several mind signatures buzzed on my radar.
Someone’s coming, I told Vanessa. Can you see yet?
“Not in the slightest.” But then she straightened up. “I have an idea, though. Follow me.”
Chapter 27
Vanessa held her hand out in the air, searching for mine, and I took it, not knowing what to expect since she couldn’t exactly lead me anywhere. But then she flashed, and I realized barely in time to catch her trail. Of course, we couldn’t flash out of the Daemoni compound—that would have been too easy—but we flashed to a different part, and appeared in another tiny room that had no doors or windows, no way in or out. And treasure filled it—all gold, no silver, of course.
“Put what you can in your pockets,” Vanessa said, feelin
g her way around.
“What is this? Whose is this?”
“It’s mine. This is my vault. We can’t stay here long, though. This will be one of the first places Lucas looks for us when he realizes they lost us. But hopefully we’ll have enough time for my sight to come back.”
I picked up an ancient looking gold coin. “Wait,” I said, hesitating before putting it in my pocket. “Where did you get this stuff from?”
She shrugged. “Some I won, fair and square. Most I stole.”
I dropped the coin. “We can’t take this, Vanessa. It’s like . . . blood money.”
She groaned as she sank to the floor. “I knew you were going to say that.”
I sat on the floor, leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes. “We don’t need it anyway. Let’s get a little rest then get out of this God-forsaken place.”
But resting allowed the adrenaline to dissipate from my system and my mind to think of more than running for my life. Everything that had happened in the last few hours pressed down on me like a two-ton beast making itself comfortable on my bruised throat and chest. The image Kali had shown us of Tristan destroying Captiva Island, and the colony and the norms with it, replayed behind my eyelids. Now that she knew the power of the stone, what had she made him do? Where would she lead him next?
Breathing became impossible as heartbreak ripped through me. I had failed. Oh so miserably failed. The Amadis, with humanity right behind it, would fall. This whole trip had been a waste of time. I’d not just miserably failed, but epically failed. And I would never see Tristan or Dorian again.
Or would I? I could always choose to stay here and then we could all be together . . . I remembered the vision I’d seen during my Ang’dora, of Lucas—I now knew the man in the snowy field—tempting me with this idea while Mom and Rina had stood on the sunny side of the mindscape, fighting for me. With the Amadis, I was guaranteed to lose Dorian, and now I’d lost Tristan, too. But as Lucas had promised, we could have it all with the Daemoni.
Was he right, or were those more empty promises? Could I stand to live this life if it meant being with the two people most important to me? Did we even have a choice, since the Amadis would be gone anyway? Grief blossomed, enshrouded me as this thought seized hold, and my mind barely registered a muffled clanging in the walls.
“We gotta go,” Vanessa said. “That’s Lucas digging his way in.”
I shook my head, though she couldn’t see me. Tears overflowed down my cheeks. “It’s no use,” I said.
“What? What are you talking about?” She sniffed the air. “Are you crying? Oh, for fuck’s sake. You’re not doing this. You can’t break down on me now, Alexis. I have a plan. We’re going to get out of here.”
“But what’s the point? I didn’t get the faerie stone. I didn’t get Kali’s soul, and we lost Owen. They have Tristan, and they’ll get Dorian soon enough. I failed, Vanessa! You go, but there’s no reason for me to.”
She reached her hands through the air in the direction of my voice. They found my face and clamped down on each side.
“Don’t. Give. Up.” Her voice lost its musical quality, replaced by the firmness of a mother. Or an older sister. “Don’t let their evil energy get to you. It’s not over until it’s over. You wouldn’t leave me before, and I’m not leaving you now. Not like this. I’ve seen you break through their dark power before to get to Tristan and that was darker than dark. I know you will find a way to reach him again. And Owen . . .” Her voice trailed off for a moment. “I don’t know about Owen, but we can’t lose hope, Alexis. We’ll get through this.”
I sniffled and scrubbed at my wet cheeks. Was she right? Could I break through to Tristan? And what about everyone else?
More noise in the walls reminded me of the pointlessness of worrying. We were trapped, anyway.
“No, we won’t get through it. It’s futile. I don’t know my way out. You’re blind as a bat. I can’t even fight. I’ve failed, Vanessa. I. Have. Failed. We’ll never get out of here.”
“Don’t say that. We will. Look at everything you’ve done since your change. You are strong, Alexis. You are powerful!”
I tried to shake my head again, but her grip was too strong. “You don’t understand. I lost the dagger. Cassandra’s dagger. My connection to her and her power was the only reason I’d been able to do anything. It was her, not me. Her power, not mine!”
Vanessa’s hands fell from my face. “What the hell are you talking about?”
More ruckus came through the walls, but I ignored it.
“Cassandra’s power was driving me,” I admitted. “All this time, it was her helping me. The dagger connected us, she gave me her power, and she guided me through everything. Everything! Every fight she’s been there, and now I’ve lost her, too.”
Vanessa’s head tilted. “Well, from everything I’ve heard about Cassandra, her strongest power was love. They say she could literally love you to death. Sounds stupid but the threat works with the Daemoni, since they fear love so much. But even if it’s a crock of shit, I know you and your love for Tristan, for your son, for . . . everyone. Even strangers. Everything you do is to protect those you love and even those you don’t think you do. Like me.”
I wiped at my cheeks. She was right. That’s why I so easily threw myself into danger, risking my own life to protect others. But this time, everything had gone so terribly wrong. I hadn’t protected anyone. In fact, my actions would probably get us all killed.
“Yeah, well, you’re right. I’m stupid,” I said.
Vanessa groaned. “Yeah, right now you’re being really damn stupid. End the self-pity party, Alexis. Tristan needs you. Dorian needs you. The Amadis need you. So put your big-girl panties back on and get your ass out of here, then we’ll figure the rest out. But you’re not going to stay here! I won’t allow it. We’re all dead if you stay. All of us. And there’s no hope for Tristan and Dorian if you don’t make it. So are you going to fight for them?”
She glared at me with blind eyes, and I still felt them piercing into my soul, forcing me to study it myself. My soul opened and bared itself to me, exposing the raw layer of nerves that contained my love for Tristan, for Dorian, for the Amadis, even for Vanessa, and strangers. All of humanity. The Angels had given me love for them all, and they all needed me.
I considered again if she was right about being able to break through to Tristan. I didn’t have the stone, but did I still, in some way, have his heart? Could I stop him from doing any more damage than what he must have done already? Was our love strong enough to drive away all of this dark power? If I could find my way to Tristan and pull him back to us before he destroyed the Amadis, we could figure out the rest. We’d all be alive to figure out the rest.
Well, there’s only one way to find out if we can salvage this mess.
I pulled in a deep breath, mentally put on my big-girl panties as Vanessa had instructed, and nodded. Vanessa gasped.
“Did you just nod?” Her hands reached out for my head. “I can see you. Sort of. You’re just a big black blur, but I can see your shape. I saw it move. So you’ll fight?”
Maybe her vision returning was a good sign. It gave me a little more confidence. I nodded again.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll fight.”
She let out a whoosh of relief. “Okay. So here’s my plan. The city has two shields and two exits. One exit is through town, which we’re staying far away from, and the other is the cave we came through.”
“Which we couldn’t find our way back to,” I pointed out.
“We’re not giving them time to change the paths this time. We’re going to flash right to where the inner shield ends, about half-way down that long tunnel. Then we can walk through the shield and flash again to the cave, where the outer shield ends.”
“But that long tunnel changed, remember?”
“They won’t change it at the shield or they’d mess up its force.”
I drew in a raggedy breath as I consid
ered her plan, which sounded too simple. “And why didn’t we do this sooner?”
She scowled. “Sorry. I was too busy running for my life to have a clear thought.”
The clamor in the walls came closer, making both of us jump. The adrenaline spiked through my system again, and if I hadn’t already decided, I knew now that I would do whatever necessary to get us out of here. My fight had, indeed, returned.
“Well, we have nothing to lose, do we?” I said.
“Nope. So are you ready for this?”
“Not exactly, but I don’t have a choice. How about you?”
She waved a hand in front of her eyes and scrunched her face. “I’ll be relying on you.”
“Well, then, let’s do it.”
We clasped hands and flashed. We appeared in the forever-tunnel, both ways empty of physical bodies and mind signatures. Was this actually going to work? Were we going to get out of here alive?
“We should feel the shield about ten yards up,” Vanessa said, and she was right. We walked uphill twelve of my paces, Vanessa stumbling after me with her hand on my shoulder to guide her way, before we felt the slight resistance and a buzz as we passed through the shield. “Now let’s flash to the cave.”
Her hand slid down my arm and grasped my palm. We flashed. And bounced. We landed on our butts.
Vanessa swore. “You’re right. This was too easy. Where did we appear?”
I looked around and swore as well. “Right where we were.”
“Damn it! They’ve blocked us from flashing.”
With no other choice, Vanessa clamped her hand on my shoulder again, and I led her up the tunnel. Being nearly blind, she lacked her normal vampire grace, and we moved slowly, for us anyway. At least until I felt the mind signatures from way down the tunnel.
“They’re coming,” I whispered.
“Go faster,” Vanessa hissed.
We picked up the speed, but the signatures were coming much faster. I took Vanessa’s hand and yanked her forward, but she kept stumbling, catching herself on me, nearly pulling us both down. I wrapped my arm around her waist and practically carried her, moving as fast as I possibly could. We made better progress, but the thoughts—shifters’ thoughts—were closing in on us.