by Kristie Cook
Tristan! Get your ass out here.
I felt out for the Daemoni as I waited. They hadn’t moved yet from where they’d flashed onto the island, close to the shore on the far side of the nightclub. And a new signature popped right into the middle of them. A familiar one, although we hadn’t heard from its owner since he disappeared after the trial. The sounds of a fight broke out immediately. Vanessa’s mind signature finally moved at an inhuman speed.
Owen’s here! He’s fighting them by himself. Let’s go!
Confident that would get Tristan’s attention, I bounced on the balls of my feet with impatience, but he didn’t come flying through the door. Where was he? Was he really that distracted? I couldn’t stand here doing nothing anymore. I ran toward the fight, Vanessa close behind me. Ah, crap. She was herding me right toward the cluster of Daemoni.
I stopped, ready to take her on by herself. But she blurred right past me. Surely she had to have smelled me, but she didn’t even hesitate. She headed straight for the others.
I stood in the middle of the dark street, flabbergasted for a moment. But I knew what I had to do—I couldn’t let Owen fight unassisted. My heart raced harder, and my hand shook a little as my thumb slid over the stone in the dagger’s hilt to expose the weapon. It would be stupid to do this alone, but if Tristan didn’t get his act together, I’d lose the opportunity to recover my pendant and my protector.
“You are not alone.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the soft woman’s voice in my head, vaguely familiar but not mine. However, it wasn’t attached to any mind signature around. And although the internal voice didn’t belong to me, I somehow knew it came from inside me.
“You have what you need within you, Alexis. I am here.”
The voice did anything but comfort me. Memories of Psycho and Evil Alexis came to mind instead, and I wondered if I was losing my sanity. I’d slowly but surely become used to voices in my head since the Ang’dora, but this was different. I hadn’t sought it out. I released my hold on the dagger’s hilt and massaged my temples.
Get a grip. You’re just panicking.
I drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. The voice didn’t return. Hopefully, it had been some strange fluke, my subconscious finding a different way to try to calm me. My mind remained quiet, even as I reached out again to track the nearby mind signatures.
The fight between Owen and the Daemoni had escalated, and Vanessa was about to land in the middle of it all. A yelp of pain in the voice of my protector shot through the quiet night, and my body immediately responded.
Tristan, I’m going in without you. I called out as my legs carried me down the street. I reached out to the other Amadis soldiers, as well, ordering them to join us. Tristan finally appeared by my side. Owen, we’re coming!
“Leave me alone, Alexis,” Owen barked in my mind just as we rounded the corner to the fight. Just as the Amadis appeared, too. And just as the Daemoni flashed out of sight, Owen on their trails, and Vanessa on his. But we were physically too far away to catch hers.
“Owen,” I shouted as I reached out for their mind signatures. They were gone. Not on the island at all. They could be anywhere in a 100-mile radius. I spun on Tristan and pounded him with my fists. “Where were you?” I yelled at him. “What is wrong with you? If you’d been here—”
He grabbed my wrists and pulled me to him, and the rest of the Amadis slipped away into the shadows, not wanting to be a part of this. “I know, ma lykita. I’m sorry.”
I jerked backwards out of his grasp. “You’re sorry? Don’t you think you took that ‘let’s pretend we’re not together’ thing a little too far? And now Owen and Vanessa and my pendant are gone. Again! It’ll probably be another eight months before we get another chance, Tristan. Eight. Months!” I threw my hands in the air with my violent frustration. “Actually, we’ll be lucky to ever see Owen again considering what he just flung himself into. What the hell, Tristan?”
He looked at me with guilt-filled hazel eyes, the gold flecks dim. He scrubbed his hands over his face and exhaled slowly.
“I don’t know.” He rolled his neck and his shoulders, then stared at something off to the side, avoiding eye contact with me. His jaw muscle twitched. “An off night for me, I guess.”
“An off night?” I echoed, my words dripping with venom. “You don’t have off nights. You are the warrior who’s supposed to be ready for anything and everything. Remember that? Besides, you sure didn’t look off to me. In fact, you looked to be pretty on with all those women.”
His gaze returned to me. “I admit I lost focus, but not because of them. Because of you. I didn’t like the damn act, especially when that guy put his hands on you. Then I was pissed and . . . I don’t know. Not right.”
“We’re supposed to be a team, Tristan. I need you.”
He pressed his lips together and nodded. Whatever had happened in that nightclub, he knew he’d been wrong. But he obviously had nothing else to say, so I broke my eyes from his, and my gaze traveled around the street where we stood. Stucco houses glowed white in the moonlight, and many flights of stairs twisted and wound around the homes, leading to those at the top of the hill. Not a single person sat outside on the various verandas and rooftops; no one climbed the steps. I opened my mind but Daemoni and Amadis alike were gone.
“Let’s just go,” I said with a groan.
I didn’t know what to think about Tristan’s behavior. We were on a mission. How could Tristan—Tristan, the experienced warrior—become so distracted? We’d fought side-by-side before. He couldn’t blame me, especially when he pretty much ignored me when I needed him most. But what else could have been going on?
* * *
Continue reading Dark Power here.