by Kristie Cook
“Whoa,” I said, my brows pushed together. “You’re not making any sense. What does it have to do with your conversion?”
“Start from the beginning,” Tristan suggested. “Where did you get it?”
“Right. Back to when I was still with the Daemoni.” Sonya grimaced on the word and then nodded. “So one night, right before you guys and Heather came to Fort Myers Beach to see me, my nest leader said Lucas had an important mission for me, and he took me to Kali. She told me to go to you and say I wanted to convert, but she said I would only be pretending. She had a plan so the conversion wouldn’t work, but they wanted me to gather valuable information for them. That’s what she said anyway, but apparently they were scamming me, too. Anyway, I really did want to convert, which was why I was okay with the whole thing. I’d hoped her stupid plan would fail. When I agreed to do it, she pressed some kind of rock into my chest, over my heart. It sunk down, beneath the skin.”
“The faerie stone,” Tristan said.
“Yeah, I guess,” Sonya said. “They called it a loyalty stone, but obviously it was more than that. I . . . I didn’t know how bad it would be. If I had any idea this could have happened, I would have never done it. I swear to you. I had no control that night. I couldn’t help it.”
I studied her face as I searched her mind, but I couldn’t find anything to contradict her words. I didn’t know if I could ever fully trust her again, but I, too, could only feel Amadis in her. She had to have been telling the truth about this.
“So tell us everything that happened the other night,” I said. “The whole story.”
Sonya’s eyes came up to my face again, then her gaze traveled behind me to the doorway. I sensed the whole gang waiting there—everyone who would probably be on my team. We all moved farther into the room.
The vamp swallowed, then began. “Kali stopped me from sharing my memories, so now you’ll know if she’s really gone. She didn’t want you to believe me.”
“Believe what?” Charlotte asked.
“What really happened here.”
Sonya’s memories of the night of the attack—only three nights ago, though it already felt like years—played in her mind, and I watched and shared them with the others while Sonya told the story aloud.
“Lucas took control of me first. He made me kill the mages, but that’s all he wanted from me. After the shield fell, I was compelled to go out to the beach. But that was Kali controlling me, just like she’d done yesterday. She’d taken over control from Lucas, and she stood out there, waiting.” Sonya’s eyes flitted over to the curtained window, as though she could see through it and out to the beach. Her voice came out quieter. “Then Owen showed up, too. He was kind of bloody, and he had Dorian in his arms. Kali let out a funny noise—almost like a squeal of happiness. Then those two disappeared with Dorian, leaving me alone on the beach. I was so scared. Scared of Kali. Scared of you guys. I got as far away as I could before I did anything worse.”
“But you kidnapped your sister,” Blossom said. “Your mom was freaking out!”
Sonya nodded. “I had to. Kali became so engrossed with Owen and Dorian, she forgot about me. Lucas seemed to, as well, but I didn’t take anything for granted. I was scared of what they’d do to Heather, so I had to get her away to keep her protected.”
“Yet there you were with several Daemoni vamps,” Tristan said.
“Vamps who wanted to turn her,” Blossom pointed out.
Sonya shook her head. “They’re not like most Daemoni. Lesley’s a little more evil than the others, but none are really bad. They wanted to turn Heather for her own good. Her own safety, so she’d be strong like the rest of us. That’s all. In fact, I’m pretty sure Alys wants to convert, but she was probably too scared to say so.”
“Who the hell cares,” I muttered under my breath, but everyone must have heard me because the room fell silent and all eyes turned toward me.
My mind remained focused on what she’d said about Owen and Kali—what she’d shown to us—and hurt and anger had bloomed. Again. Biting my tongue before I unleashed on anyone what was truly meant for Owen, I flashed to my office.
“Alexis?” Tristan had appeared right next to me. “That was—”
“Rude?” I snapped. “Yeah, I know. I don’t freaking care, though. Heather is here and safe. We need to find Dorian, but to do so, we need to figure out who we’re really looking for, not talking about a bunch of Daemoni vamps we don’t even know!”
He stepped in front of me, placed a hand on each side of my face, and tilted my head upward to look at him. His touch finally had a somewhat calming effect on me, and his eyes held mine until I relaxed.
“You don’t believe Sonya?” he finally asked as his hands slid to my shoulders.
“I don’t know what to believe,” I admitted. “She seemed sincere. Her memories seem real. Do you believe her?”
“It is hard to swallow.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. Lucas had my dagger last, and then here it was, where Dorian should have been. Where Sasha was left to bleed out.”
“Lucas could have given it to Kali to test it for magical powers.”
“And Owen would have brought it back to you,” Vanessa said, her voice small as she stood in the doorway with Blossom, Sheree, and Charlotte behind her.
I turned on her. “You’re still taking his side?”
Whether Sonya spoke the truth or not, Owen had definitely betrayed us. She shouldn’t have been defending him, as far as I was concerned. Vanessa came into the office, leaned her butt against the wall, lifted one foot against it to brace herself, and scowled at the floor. Sheree, and Blossom filed in, too, followed by Char, who waved her hands to muffle the room so we could have some privacy.
“Even if Owen had some good reason to take Dorian, I can’t imagine him doing that to Sasha,” Sheree said quietly. I couldn’t imagine it either, but then I couldn’t help it, and the vision sickened me.
“Maybe he didn’t,” Vanessa said, and before I could fly at her, she held her hand up. “Victor pretty much admitted to being there, too, remember?”
“And you believe him?” I asked with disbelief.
“He had the fresh scars.”
“They could have been fake.” I knew how far-fetched the idea sounded. Victor was a vampire, after all. There weren’t too many things—or creatures—who could leave scars on him. Although, Weres could, so my theory wasn’t entirely impossible. “And Sonya said Owen’s arms were bleeding, too.”
“Maybe they weren’t bleeding, but someone else’s blood was on him,” Blossom suggested.
“And Lucas could have given Victor the dagger at the same time he took control of Sonya,” Tristan said.
I peered up at him. “You just said Lucas could have given Kali the dagger. So which one is it?”
His gaze slid out of focus for a moment and then came back on me. “They’re both strong possibilities. I don’t have enough information to determine a best answer.”
“You sound like a freaking robot,” I muttered as my hand rubbed over the back of my head. “So what are we going to do? Was it Victor or Owen? Kali or Lucas?”
“Could have been both,” Charlotte said, and she grimaced. “They could have been working together, all of them sent by Lucas.”
That answer seemed to make the most sense based on what both Victor and Sonya had told us, but something about the whole thing bothered me. More than the fact that neither of our sources was very trustworthy. Even if we could trust them, there were too many unanswered questions. Like, why make Sonya create such a bloodbath when Kali and Owen together were powerful enough to break our weaker mages’ shield? Were they trying to make some kind of statement? Possibly. But I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it. If we were missing something important.
“Do you think Kali could have put one of those faerie stones in Owen?” Sheree asked, her words floating on hope that seemed to suddenly fill the room. All of us wanted to believe in
Owen. Including me.
“That would explain a lot,” Blossom said. “But he’s a pretty powerful warlock.”
“He’s too powerful.” Charlotte sighed, as though she wanted to believe the possibility, but couldn’t bring herself to allow our hopes to live on. “She wouldn’t be able to force a stone in him. He’d have to want it.”
“And he’d never want it,” Vanessa added, her voice glum, full of defeat. “He’d never allow anyone to control him like that. Not after what Kali did to Martin. Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it on his own volition.”
Charlotte’s narrowed eyes studied the vampire closely. I didn’t have to hear her thoughts to see her suspicion about how Vanessa would know this about Owen. Char didn’t know the two had had some kind of weird relationship.
“I have to agree,” Char finally said. “Owen’s too stubborn and thick-headed to allow it.”
“So you think he willingly did this?” I asked. “And worked with Victor?”
Vanessa blew out a breath. “I don’t know about Victor. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what he said and what he didn’t. On the one hand, he flat-out said he was there, and he made a point of you seeing the scars Sasha would have left.”
“But he also made a point of showing Owen dropping the dagger next to Sasha and taking Dorian,” I reminded her.
“Right. But on the other hand, if he’d had anything to do with taking your son—the big trophy besides you and Tristan—he’d have been bragging all over hell and back about it. We’d have never heard the end of it.” She wrinkled her nose with disgust. “Then again, Victor’s not as stupid as I’ve always made him sound. He’s a pain in the ass and a spoiled brat who always gets to do whatever he wants, which usually consists of parties and girls. Lucas trusts him for a reason, though, and now that things are getting serious, he probably is, too. He said all kinds of things, but there was a lot he didn’t say, and any of it could be lies anyway. He could be covering something much bigger, for all we know.”
“That’s comforting,” Blossom muttered.
“Bottom line,” Tristan determined, “both said Kali has Dorian, and Owen is probably with them.”
“We need to find him,” I said. “Them. All of them. Dorian, Owen, and Kali. I owe the faeries anyway.”
I snorted. How ironic. I supposedly owed them because I asked them to help Owen. And now he was on my shit list, too.
“It’s time to head out,” I said.
“Are we still going north?” Blossom asked.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. A full day had passed since we’d done the spell. “We should try again. The direction might have changed by now.”
Charlotte’s brows lifted as she cocked her head.
“Blossom worked a tracking spell yesterday,” I explained to all of them. “We didn’t get a lock on Dorian, but we did feel a push that he’s north of here.”
“Did Sophia or Ms. Katerina have anything to say about it?” Charlotte asked.
I frowned as I debated what to tell her, unsure of how she’d react to our plan. Surely she’d want to pursue her son and the sorceress who destroyed her family, but would she go against Mom and Rina’s orders? I knew it wouldn’t be the first time she ignored the Council—there was a reason she and Mom were such good friends—but our orders weren’t only from the Council.
Tristan must have decided the best solution was to tell her because he opened his mouth before I did.
“They haven’t given us a specific direction or area, but our primary mission is to do conversions and build our army. We’re not officially authorized to find Dorian,” he finished, and everyone in the room frowned, including Charlotte.
“That could possibly change if they know Kali has him,” Char suggested.
“Possibly,” Tristan said, “but bringing it to their attention could just as easily cause them to give us more specific orders. Orders that won’t help us and could actually hinder us. I think it’s best that we stick with the plan Alexis and I have already started.”
“Which is?” Sheree asked.
I recited what I’d basically told Mom. “We agree to uphold our purpose of protecting the Normans and converting those who have been infected, allowing us to build an army that we know will be needed.” I paused as everyone nodded, though their mouths twisted in a grimace or a scowl. “But at the same time, we’ll be searching for Dorian. Unless Blossom and I find something different when we’re done here, that means going north, even if it doesn’t make sense for our mission of conversions.”
“And it looks as though we’ll be searching for Kali if we’re to find Dorian,” Tristan said.
“We aren’t certain she has him,” Vanessa said and then added, “though it seems pretty likely.”
“She probably does.” I sighed. “All evidence seems to be pointing that way.”
Blossom and Sheree agreed. We all looked to Charlotte.
“As much as it pisses me off because it means my son was involved, I have to agree,” she said. “I’m not sure of her motive, but based on what she did to all of us with the Tristan fiasco, I’d say it has something to do with gaining power among the Daemoni. She’s capable of anything.”
“She’s extremely powerful,” Vanessa agreed.
“And dangerous,” Tristan added. “So if you don’t feel comfortable with our covert mission or going up against Kali, now’s your chance to speak up.”
Everybody stared at us. Nobody spoke up.
“So everyone agrees?” I asked, specifically looking at Charlotte. “We do our conversions while we seek out Dorian, regardless of where that takes us. And even if it means taking on Kali . . . and maybe Owen, too.”
“Agreed,” Blossom and Sheree said at the same time.
Vanessa made a face, but she nodded. “I’m with you, little sister.”
We all looked at Charlotte again, and her sapphire eyes skimmed over everybody’s faces before ending at mine. She gave me a single nod.
“I’ll kill that sorceress bitch,” she said. “For everything she’s done to my family. And to yours.”
“Not if I get to her first,” I replied, and my mouth tugged up with a small smile of relief that we had a real team and a plan.
Chapter 6
Charlotte, Sheree, and Vanessa returned to their preparations for our departure, while Tristan, Blossom, and I flashed to our house. As I walked into Dorian’s room, I couldn’t believe three days had gone by, and we were still here and not out there looking for him. We’d hopefully have a definite direction to head within an hour or two, but before we could get started, my phone rang. I sighed when I looked at the screen, but I couldn’t ignore the call. I’d been waiting for it.
“Do I need to remind you of your priorities?” Mom asked, her voice curt.
“We already have one convert,” I answered, and I told her about Sonya. Mom gasped at the story about the faerie stone they’d used in the vampire and said she’d warn the Council about this happening again. She didn’t react to the part about Owen’s involvement, though.
“What’s next?” she asked brusquely.
“We’re putting our team together and getting the colony settled. We’ll be taking off tonight, I hope.”
“And where do you plan on going?”
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. “We were just about to figure that out but . . . maybe north?”
I purposefully made it a question, hoping she’d give us her blessing to move completely out of the area. No such luck.
“Why would you do that?” Her tone told me she already knew the answer. She’d obviously been keeping her sense of truth focused on my actions. But how could she be so coldhearted? “Alexis, there are people who need you—”
“Dorian needs me.”
“Honey, there are thousands of people’s lives on the line. Their souls are at risk if you don’t do what you’re meant to do.”
“How could I forget?” I threw a hand into the air. “Nobody will let
me. But I won’t abandon Dorian. I won’t let this go.”
“I understand. I lived with the same fear throughout your childhood. But you have a duty.”
“Why can’t someone else do it? What did you do before me?”
“Everyone else who can convert is already out there. Except you. And now Char.”
I sighed as guilt poked me in the side. “I just need a little time, Mom. Let me go after Dorian and get him back. Maybe take care of Kali once and for all. Then I’ll do whatever the Amadis want me to do.”
“I really wish I could, honey. Believe me. But these are your people. They look up to you. They need to see that you can lead. That you will do what needs to be done for them and all we stand for. A waver like this from our primary creed will create a lot of distrust that you may never be able to rebuild.”
“And abandoning my son won’t? How can they trust me to stay true to them if I can’t do so for my own child?”
“You know how they feel about Dorian. About any Amadis son. And choosing one soul over all others—especially one we know has no hope in the end—”
My temper flared. “There is always hope! And I won’t give up on him, Mom. I can’t believe you and Rina gave up on Noah so easily. He was her son. Your twin. How could you?”
My accusation must have hit Mom unexpectedly because she sucked in an audible breath and didn’t answer for a moment. When she did, her voice came out much softer than it had been. “He was already deeply entrenched in the Daemoni before Mother knew he was still alive.”
“Well, Dorian’s not. And the sooner I find him and rescue him, the less likely he will be. As for the Amadis—they don’t know the future. They don’t know what Dorian could mean for them. Right now he is one of us, and we won’t give up on anyone, no matter who he is. At least I won’t! Tell that to anyone who questions my loyalty.”
Mom fell silent again, apparently having no rebuttal for my excellent point.