A gaping hole filled the space where Sofia’s cell should have been. The whole cell was gone! No!” she yelled and shot electricity out of her hands in frustration.
Jade and Martin rushed to her with her deminions cowering behind them. “What has happened, my queen?” Martin asked, ready to fight.
“How is it possible for our enemies to break through my barriers? How did none of you see them come in and take our most valuable possession?”
Martin looked at Jade who shook her head in confusion. “What has been stolen, my queen?”
“Sofia! Sofia has been stolen!”
“But how?”
Damiana turned to ask Rafe if he had seen anything, and then it hit her. He had betrayed her.
“I should have known!” she cried. “Anything that woman touches is ruined!”
“My queen?” Martin asked.
“Rafe. It was Rafe who let them in. I will get my revenge on him for ruining my plans! Where is Khameel?”
Martin looked at Jade who shrugged her shoulders. “I am not sure, but I will find out.”
“Ugh!” she screamed and then sent shock waves through everyone around her in anger. “Leave me! Now!”
Once they picked themselves up from the floor, they staggered away. Damiana seethed with anger. Why could she never find anyone to be loyal to her? Everyone she had ever known had betrayed her, starting with her very own mother.
She felt herself get sucked back into a memory of when her mother tried to convince her to let go of her infatuation with Drake.
“It’s not infatuation, Mom. He’s the love of my life,” young Damiana had said.
“Child, he is the only man you have met. There are so many men out there for you to enjoy. Drake is not meant for you,” her mother had told her.
“That’s ridiculous. I love him, and he loves me, even if he won’t admit it yet. You will see. Drake will be mine. All mine.”
“Daughter of mine, you listen to me right now. He is not for you. Loving him will be your downfall. You need to let these ridiculous thoughts of being with him go and focus on your future.”
“Drake is my future!” she had screamed.
Her mother had grabbed her by the shoulders and had sternly said, “No, he is not. You need to accept this now before you destroy your life.”
“NO!” Damiana had screamed. “I will not. Now, let me go!”
She shoved her mother away from her and watched in horror as her mother’s body convulsed uncontrollably until it stilled, never to move again. “Drake is mine, Mother. No one will take him from me. Ever.”
Damiana remembered noticing too late that electricity had been leaving her body to her mother’s body for that entire time. Or maybe she had chosen not to notice it. She had no regrets over what had taken place. As far as she was concerned, it had been Lucifer’s plan. Her mother had betrayed her by trying to take her away from the man that she loved.
Her mother’s death was what had brought Drake and Damiana together, and that had further proven that he and she were meant to be together. But then he turned around and betrayed her with Valerie. And then her own daughter preferred the Diasodz over her. And now Rafe betrayed her, even though she had accepted him and raised him and offered him a place in her kingdom.
To hell with them all. She would have her revenge on every last one of them. They wouldn’t be able to get Sofia out of that cell which meant that she would be able to continue pulling energy from her. And if by some miracle, they removed her from the cell, Sofia was still her seed child and would have to obey her every command.
Damiana took a deep breath and smiled. This might just work out even better than she could have imagined. Calmly, she walked back to the house. Rafe and those damn Diasodz thought that they had won, but they had no idea how far her wrath could reach. The win had always been hers, and nothing and no one would change that.
Chapter Eighteen
Z pulled away from making out with Khameel. They had spent over three hours at Devil’s Dominion, playing one game after another. They had stopped keeping track of who had the better record after the first hour. After leaving DD, they walked to the pier, found a bench, and sat, quickly giving in to their mutual attraction.
Khameel kissed remarkably well. She wished she could have something real with him, but he would know about her betrayal soon enough, and then he’d never want anything to do with her ever again. Plus, the war was coming, and they were still on opposite sides of that war.
“You are something else, you know that?” he said and chuckled.
Z smiled. “Why do you say that?”
“You have so much fire to you. I could see it in you from the first time that I saw you. You are so confident and sexy and throw care to the wind.”
She laughed and shrugged. “I just figure that I’ve got one life to live, and I’m going to live it to the fullest. We all will die someday, but not all of us truly live. When my lifeline expires many, many, many moons from now, I want those who knew me to say, ‘She lived!’”
“That’s exactly how I feel,” he said and then kissed her again. Before they could get into another make out session, he pulled back. “As much as I want to stay, I really need to get back to work.”
She pouted but stood. “Hopefully, we can have a repeat soon.”
“If I have anything to do with it, we will,” he said.
They walked hand in hand to the closest portal terminal. He gave her one last kiss and said, “See you soon, sexy,” and then disappeared.
Z took a deep breath, sighed sadly, and shook her head. In another place at another time, he could have been great for her. Oh, well. She put her hand to the portal panel and went to Ar’ch’s house, hoping that everything had gone according to plan.
-o-
Ar’ch landed on his backyard lawn with Sofia’s cell beside him. It had worked! He laughed out loud. It had actually worked! He mentally called everyone to join him outside. Sofia was still fast asleep on her mattress. She must not even have realized that she had been moved.
Nolan, Valerie, Angel, Mel, and Kai raced out of the doors and over to him. Hugs were exchanged, and Valerie checked her son over, despite his insistence that he was fine.
“Where’s Rafe?” Angel asked.
Ar’ch looked around. “He isn’t here with you?” Everyone shook their heads. “He and I had to separate. He had to keep Damiana occupied to give me time to rescue Sofia. He should have been right behind me!”
“Tell us what happened, son,” Nolan said.
“Damiana was sitting on the throne when we found her. I left Rafe with her to try to get her to leave the room and came after you guys. Once you three left,” he looked around and asked, “Where’s Liana?”
“She’s resting,” Valerie said.
He exhaled and then continued, “Once you guys left, I went back to the throne room. Rafe had just convinced Damiana to go to the pool, so I slipped inside to get Sofia, except I couldn’t break the cell. So, I reached out to Rafe and told him that I was going to try to take the whole cell with me and to be prepared to leave quickly. I put the transporter on the cell and pressed the button, and here we are.”
“So, where is Rafe?”
“I’m here,” they heard him say and turned around to see him and Z walking toward them. Everyone went to them, and more hugs were exchanged.
“What happened when I left?” Ar’ch asked.
“All hell broke loose,” Rafe laughed. “Damiana must have felt Sofia leave because she went crazy. She started screaming and running to the throne room. The minute she began running, I pushed the button and came back here. I had just appeared in the portal room when Z showed up. She scared the daylights out of me.”
Z laughed. “You should have seen his face. You would have thought the devil had come for him.”
“I thought she had!” he laughed. “I thought Damiana had somehow followed me back here.”
Everyone laughed, and then Ar’ch said, “I’m gla
d we are all back, but we still have a major problem. We need to get Sofia out of that cell.”
They all turned to Sofia’s cell and stopped laughing. Angel placed his hand on the cell, trying to feel her emotion through it but felt nothing. “She looks -”
“Dead?” Rafe finished his sentence. Then, he shook his head. “She isn’t. I can feel her still in there, but she is very weak.”
“Then, let’s not waste any more time,” Ar’ch said. “Mel? Can you do your thing, please?”
Mel took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s hope this works,” she said and then closed her eyes and focused on seeing Damiana in her head. She knew that she had created a perfect rendition of her when she opened her eyes, not because she could feel Damiana’s shape but because of the look of part awe and part disgust that everyone gave her.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s still me, people,” she said, but Damiana’s voice came out of her, which freaked even her out just a little bit. She turned to Ar’ch. “I don’t know how long I will be able to keep it open, even if I can open it, so be ready.”
“I am ready. Just focus on opening it,” Ar’ch said.
“Here goes everything,” Mel said and then walked over to the crystal enclosure. She placed her palm against it and thought about opening the cell door. Open, damn it! she thought at the cell. With her eyes still closed, she felt the door open. She concentrated on keeping the door open even through her excitement at her success.
Ar’ch wasted no time. He called air to him and sent it to Sofia. Air picked Sofia up and carried her into his arms. “I’ve got her,” he said.
Mel took her hand away and fell to her knees. Kai immediately came to her side. She transformed back to herself and leaned against him.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Mel smiled. “Yep, I’m all peaches and cream,” she said and laughed. “Help me up. I want to see my best friend.” He lifted her up and took her over to Sofia before Ar’ch carried her away. “How is she?”
“She’s breathing, but it’s shallow,” Ar’ch said. “I’m taking her upstairs to Sarah.” Without waiting for a reply, he used his ability to race Sofia upstairs.
When he reached Sofia’s room, Liana already lay in her bed. He lay her down next to Liana; Liana instinctively curled her body around her. Silent tears fell down Liana’s cheeks when she kissed Sofia’s forehead. The rest of the crew showed up and stood silently, watching the two of them together.
“Alright, alright, I know you all love them, but they need rest to heal,” Sarah said, pushing her way through the group. “Everyone out, now. Leave me alone with them so that I can help them heal. Go on now, go.”
After they all had obediently left the room, Sarah closed the door on them. Ar’ch stared at the closed door for a minute and then turned around to see seven sets of eyes staring at him. He knew that Sofia was in the best hands for healing, so he needed to let Sarah work her magic. In the meantime, he needed to keep busy, and he had a feeling that everyone staring at him needed the same thing.
Ar’ch took a deep breath and looked at his family and said, “Now what?”
-o-
“I came when I received your message,” Drake said as he burst through the doors. “What has happened?”
Damiana looked up at him and then to the floor. She pointed to the destruction and said, “That is what happened.” She watched him look at the floor and smile, as if she had removed the cell because he hadn’t wanted it. She took a deep breath. “We were attacked, Drake. The Diasodz broke in and stole Sofia and my cell!”
“But how? I thought you had increased our security measures.”
“I did! Your bastard son helped them get in and kept me distracted so that they could rescue Liana and Sofia!”
“Rafe? Rafe did this?” he asked. He couldn’t believe that his son would betray him in such a way. Rafe took Sofia away from him. Drake glanced at Damiana and saw the fury in her eyes. No, he thought. Rafe took Sofia away from her. He couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved in his heart that she could no longer steal energy from his daughter.
“I want to attack them NOW!” she screamed when he did not react the way he wanted her to.
“We can’t,” he said calmly. “First, I have already informed our allies that I will be declaring war when our forces are ready, so we are bound by the rules of war. Secondly, our troops are not ready. It will be another week or two until they can all be prepared. But honestly, Damiana, without the savior…” He left the rest unsaid.
“You forget that she is my daughter, and I control her,” she seethed.
Drake pressed his lips together. “Then, let’s take a step back and create a plan that will work in our favor.”
“Killing them all works in my favor.”
“They have Rafe and Sofia.”
“I don’t give a damn about Rafe. He betrayed us! He can rot in hell for all I care.”
Drake shook his head. “Ar’ch must have brainwashed him, Damiana. Rafe would never betray us. He loves us, and he absolutely hates them. Think about it.”
She leaned back on her throne and took a deep breath. “You may have a point. Dr. Kimp always had an easy enough time manipulating his mind. I should have known that he was too weak to be the savior back then.” She stood and walked over to Drake. “Maybe you are right.”
He hugged her. “We will get our children back, and we will win this war,” he said.
Damiana allowed him to hug her, but she was lost in her own thoughts. They will all burn in hell for this.
Chapter Nineteen
Khameel entered the training room with a smile on his face. He couldn’t believe how well things had gone with Z. He hoped that he’d be able to lure her away from those pathetic Diasodz so that they could have something real with each other. He had never been so attracted to anyone in his life.
He walked over to Martin, who bench pressed what amassed to the weight of a cow, and said, “How’s it going, Martin?”
Martin dropped the bar into its holder, the clang ricocheting off the walls, and stood. “Where have you been?”
He felt dread creeping up his spine. “What happened?”
Martin explained to him how Rafe led the Diasodz into their home and stole Liana and Sofia from them. And he had not been there to stop them. He had been getting it on with Z. Khameel swallowed and suddenly found it difficult to breathe.
He had been set up. Z wasn’t really into him; she had just pretended to like him to lure him away from his job so that Rafe and the Diasodz could break in without him there. And he fell for it.
He wiped his face with his hand, suddenly feeling clammy. They must have known that he would not pass up a chance to be with her, which meant that Mel must have told them how much he liked her. And that meant that Mel had joined forces with them after she had disappeared on him. He was disappointed in her for being naive and running to them, but he understood that Kai made an irresistible argument for her. And truth be told, he couldn’t very well be angry at her when he had fallen for the same trap. How could he have been so stupid?
He couldn’t understand why Rafe would betray them like that. He knew that he hated the Diasodz, so why would he bring them there to help them steal the savior from the Raizyns? Rafe would never have done that had Khameel been here. He would have been able to talk some sense into him.
The elevator doors opened and Damiana walked out and over to Martin and Khameel. Khameel dropped to his knees and bowed before her. He had betrayed his queen, the only woman that he had ever sworn to protect.
“I apologize, my queen, for not being here to protect you,” he said with his head facing the floor.
She ignored him and went straight to Martin. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the lips. “I am sorry that I hurt you earlier today. I was not in my right mind,” she said.
Martin lay his head on her shoulder. “I am yours to do what you will, my queen.”
“I know, dear Martin, but I sho
uld not have taken my anger out on you,” she said and then pulled away. Pretending to notice Khameel for the first time, she looked at him and said, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Without rising, he explained, “I had been keeping tabs on Mel to ensure that she wouldn’t betray us, but she disappeared. I followed up on a lead to her whereabouts, which delayed me from returning home. The lead most likely deliberately stalled me to keep me from being here. I never should have been away for so long. Forgive me, my queen, please.”
“In your absence, Rafe allowed our enemies to enter our home and steal our savior away from us,” she said.
“Why would Rafe do that, my queen?” he asked.
“Drake seems to think that he has been compromised, that Ar’ch brainwashed him,” she said and rolled her eyes. “They may have taken my daughter from us, but they had to take her enclosed in her crystal cell. If she stays in there, I can absorb her powers and make us mightier than they are.”
Khameel tensed up and prepared for an attack. “My queen, is there a way of the cell being destroyed?”
She laughed. “Only I can open the cell, so they took her away from us for nothing.”
“My queen, I think there might be a way for them to remove Sofia from the cell.”
“How?”
“I believe that Mel may be working with the Diasodz, my queen. She disappeared a while back, and I believe they may have captured her. With her hatred for us, it is quite possible that she volunteered to help them. She is a shifter, my queen, and a very good one at that. She may even be able to shift into your form.”
Electricity sparked off Damiana’s fingertips, and she screamed in frustration. He flinched but stayed in his place. Whatever the punishment, he deserved it and would accept it with courage.
“I should have killed her when I had the chance, but the two of you pleaded for her life, and now it has come back to hurt us,” she said.
Martin bowed his head, “I have failed you, my queen.”
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