by Kristie Cook
I’d also been through a lot and couldn’t find the answers of what to do about him within me. Tristan and I had to figure out something, though, because if my assumption was right that Dorian’s powers had developed while he’d been gone, he’d become more valuable to our enemy, and they’d be after him, convincing him to change sides like all of the Ames sons before him. With the dark attitude Dorian had been harboring, it wouldn’t be long before he accepted their promises and walked off to the Daemoni by choice.
“Alexis.” Tristan’s mental voice tugged at my mind.
Yeah?
“Are you okay, ma lykita?”
I chuckled darkly. I often wondered how I’d ever be okay again, but I had him, so I knew I would be.
I’m fine, I answered.
“It’s almost time to meet with Scarecrow so we can get the entire lowdown.”
The sun had risen quite a bit in the sky by now, and I’d barely noticed, wrapped up in my own thoughts. Knowing I had to push beyond my grief and take my role seriously as matriarch, I’d agreed to finally sit down with Owen today to find out everything he’d learned during his time with the Daemoni. We had a war to plan, and he had the best inside intelligence. At least, he’d better, because he had a lot of making up to do after acting like a traitor and taking Dorian from us for so long.
I flashed to the matriarch’s mansion, appearing at the large, double wooden doors on the west side of the building. I entered through the three-story foyer with the stone steps that wrapped up the outer edges and fire sconces casting shadows on the walls. Rina had been a traditionalist, keeping the mansion in the past except for the media room that held all of today’s technology. The only change we’d made so far was to add Wi-Fi to the mansion and electricity to Rina’s and Mom’s offices—mine and Tristan’s now—along with all of the devices we needed to run a society and an army in today’s world.
Owen arrived shortly after me, and after a quick mind-check on Tristan, I realized he’d be a few more minutes. He was in the shower, and I briefly thought about joining him, but instead decided to harass Owen again with an interrogation. Admittedly, I hadn’t paid much attention to his previous recounts of why he’d taken our son, too lost in my grief. But I needed to know, so I asked every question I could possibly think of as I sat on the edge of Rina’s large, antique desk and Owen sat in front of me in a wingback chair.
“So let me get this straight,” I said after he’d explained everything, trying to make sure I understood. “You took Dorian to show Kali she could trust you and to be able to protect him since she was determined to have him no matter what. Kali wanted Dorian to give herself leverage with the Daemoni Ancients so she could take Lucas out and assume his position as leader of the Daemoni. You were trying to set her up with Tristan and me so we could kill her, and I could trap her soul and deliver on my so-called obligation to the faeries.”
Owen’s straw-colored hair shook as he nodded his head. “You got it.”
“Except you didn’t know about Kali’s plan to use Noah as bait to lure Rina and Mom there.”
He frowned now, producing three vertical lines between his eyebrows. “No, I didn’t. I knew she had a vendetta against Rina, but I didn’t know the plan had been to have Noah reach out to her. Of course, he wasn’t under his own control, or he never would have.”
Right. Kali had put a spell on run-of-the-mill stones from Earth to make them emulate a faerie stone. She’d developed the idea based on the stone Bree had given to Tristan and he had given to me—it created a connection between us so he could feel my emotions and keep his own in check. Kali’s stones were a little different, though. She’d implanted one into Noah, Mom’s twin, let it soak in his blood to absorb his genetic imprint, and then broke a chunk of the stone into pieces. She placed those shards into the hearts of Norman soldiers and linked them all to Noah.
My fingers absently rubbed at the cotton cloth covering Tristan’s stone embedded into my skin. Bree had implanted it into my flesh over my heart so I’d never lose it to the Daemoni again. “So Kali had taken control of Noah, who in turn had control over a whole company of the British Army.”
“Yes,” Owen confirmed. “But Lucas had his own diabolical plan as far as those soldiers were concerned.”
Lucas wanted more than control—he wanted the kind of undying loyalty a lykora gives to her master. So he’d sent Victor the vampire, Vanessa’s twin and my half-brother, after Sasha the same night Kali had sent Owen after Dorian. Right after Owen and Dorian left and before Sasha could follow them, Victor had taken advantage of the chaos in the rest of the safe house and popped into the room. Sasha had put up a big fight, but the vampire had been able to clip her wing and collect enough blood for Lucas to carry out a most atrocious act of war. He’d used her blood to create superhuman soldiers with all of Sasha’s qualities—the ability to grow to monster size, inhuman strength and speed, and unsurpassed loyalty. Combined with the bewitched stones, this gave Lucas the ultimate control over all of them. He had used Noah to create a new army that was better than the Daemoni, because in his eyes, Normans were expendable.
Tristan finally showed his beautiful self after we’d gone over the whole story and I’d taken another chance to throw the guilt on Owen for everything he’d put us through. Not just Tristan and me, but also poor Blossom, who’d really pushed her magic doing locator spells and trying to break through Owen’s cloaks on Dorian.
“Are you done torturing Scarecrow for the tenth time?” Tristan asked as he came in wearing Norman clothes of khaki shorts and a green V-neck Polo that couldn’t have hugged his powerful build more perfectly. The gold in his hazel eyes sparkled with his teasing, and the corners of his mouth lifted in a sexy smirk. “You know that’s not the real reason he’s here.”
I shrugged. It hadn’t really been ten times. “We were waiting on you. What better way to pass the time?”
Tristan sat on the edge of the desk next to me and turned his attention to Owen. “So you were going to tell us about Noah and those soldiers.”
Owen rose to his feet, walked a little circle around the chair, and leaned his arms on the back of it. “Yeah, that. It’s not only about Noah. It’s much, much bigger.”
He explained how Lucas had teamed up with the U.S. Department of Defense—as well as other government entities around the world—to supposedly supply them with super-soldiers, but intending to keep them for his own plans. He told us how Lucas and Kali had kept the Summoned sons and some of their offspring locked up on DoD property, such as the building where we’d found Dorian the first time in Virginia. Like they’d done with Noah and his battery of soldiers, they’d been using the stones Kali had created on all of the sons and many of their descendants, then implanting chips from those stones into Norman soldiers around the world.
“So we could potentially have thousands, maybe tens of thousands of human soldiers under Lucas’s control,” Tristan surmised. “Some of them, if not all of them, enhanced with Sasha’s blood and extremely dangerous.”
“And of course, we can’t kill them,” Owen added. That was part of the Amadis creed—we couldn’t kill norms unless absolutely and entirely necessary for the protection of others. Which it may come down to if this war really happened.
Charlotte, Owen’s mother and our second-best warlock, rapped her knuckles on the doorframe before entering my office, her blond hair swishing over her shoulders as she crossed the room with long, purposeful strides. Like me, she gave the outward appearance of being okay, but the pain of losing her best friend, my mother, lingered just below the surface.
“If that’s not bad enough,” she said, “you need to turn on the TV.”
Vanessa followed her in, slowing for a moment to brush her pale hand over Owen’s arm before coming to my side and draping an arm across my shoulders. I leaned against her, feeling the silkiness of her white-blond hair against my cheek as I accepted her sisterly hug, while Tristan jabbed buttons on the remote to turn on the flat screen in th
e corner. Every channel showed the same scene: what looked like a riot at first glance, but it quickly became obvious we were witnessing a Daemoni attack. On the norms. In public.
“It’s happening in several major metropolitan areas around the world,” the reporter announced as vampires tore open the throats of humans nearby and a shifter changed on the fly.
Then Ian’s ugly ogre face and dull red hair filled the screen, his crooked yellow teeth showing in a nefarious grin.
“Guess what, mates?” he said into the camera. “Vampires, werewolves, witches, and warlocks—we’re all real. And we’re coming for your blood . . . for your flesh . . . for your souls.”
I gasped, and my hand flew to my mouth.
“They’ve come out to the humans,” Sheree said from the doorway, her voice full of disbelief, and her brown eyes wide and round. She lifted a long finger to her mouth and gnawed on a fingernail.
Vanessa slapped her hands on her thighs. “It was only a matter of time. Lucas has been planning it for ages.”
We remained glued to our spots throughout the morning and into the afternoon as we watched the carnage unfold around the world. Blossom and Jax had come into my office and watched with us, and then Ophelia and other household staff joined us, too. Everyone’s minds churned over the same question: What were we going to do now?
Then Charlotte thought and began to voice exactly what Tristan and I had been thinking. “Looks like our reprieve is over. It’s time to plan for war—”
Her words were stifled by the sound of a loud explosion and the ground quaking under our feet.
Chapter 2
I gripped the edge of the antique desk with one hand and reached out to hold onto Tristan’s forearm with the other until the shaking stopped.
“That wasn’t an earthquake.” He barely spoke the words before another bang and subsequent tremors rocked the ground.
“Daemoni!” The thoughts came from all over the island, screaming into my head the moment I opened my mind to them.
“We’re under attack,” I announced before delving into a sentry’s mind—a wizard keeping watch from the tower near the village.
Through his eyes, I shared with everyone in the room the vision he saw—Daemoni surrounding the island, uncloaked and in broad daylight. All mages hovering over the water, all shooting spell after spell at our shield.
“Owen and Char—” I started.
“Already on it,” Owen said, his voice strained.
My mind left the wizard’s, and my vision returned to my own, finding the two warlocks standing in the center of my office. Their hands lifted high above their heads, and their brows and lips set into hard lines as they concentrated on keeping the shield over the island as strong as possible. We took another hit, and both their faces turned various shades of red as the chords in their necks tensed and tightened.
Sweat beads popped out on Owen’s forehead. “They have some powerful warlocks. Maybe a sorcerer.”
“Go join the others,” I ordered. “Do what you can.”
Owen and Char disappeared from the room to join the mages who maintained the shield on the other end of the island. When they came together as a group, their power would multiply. Hopefully, it would be enough.
“We have to get to town,” I said. “In case they make their way through.”
“Change first.” Vanessa pointed at Tristan and me before popping out of sight.
Right. We both still wore Norman clothes that provided no protection. We flashed to our suite and changed into our fighting leathers within a minute. After making sure Dorian was safe in his room with Sasha, we flashed to the Amadis village on the other end of the island. We appeared in front of the council hall at the top of a hill, looking down the main street of town that sloped toward the pier and the sea. Some panicked people ran amok in the streets, but many apparently hid in their homes and businesses.
The air crackled with powerful dark magic feeling thicker than it should have. The intensity of it meant our shield was failing, and if the Daemoni managed to pierce it, we’d be in deep trouble. Most of the Amadis who lived here on the island were among our weakest. My personal team contained some of our strongest fighters and other guards protected the mansion and council hall, but for the most part, everyone else lived here because they weren’t warriors. This island was their place of refuge. If the Daemoni broke their way in, though, it would be far from a safe haven.
Tristan and I lifted our hands to aim our palms toward the Daemoni to return fire, but the mages were too far away. By the time our powers reached the enemy, their potency had weakened too much to penetrate the shields and were easily deflected. Blossom and two other witches joined us, but their spells also bounced off the offenders’ protection.
Owen, can’t you blast them with something? I called out to him.
“Not if you want me to hold this shield up,” he answered from his position in the tower with Char and the other mages. “There are too many, and they’re too powerful. We’re losing our hold as it is.”
Real panic started to rise from the pit of my belly, sending my heart into a gallop. I needed to protect my people.
What if we made the shield smaller? I asked Owen. Would it be easier to hold?
“Yeah, but how? We’ve already brought it in from the sea to the edges of the island, but we have to cover the entire thing.”
No, you don’t. Hang on. I used my telepathy to call to Ophelia and ordered her to clear everyone out of the mansion and to take cover in the village. Tell the guards to come to the council hall. Without waiting for a response, I switched to my son’s mind. Dorian, I need you to bring Sasha and come here to town. Now!
He ignored me, but I could feel his mind signature, locating him where we’d left him in his room at the mansion.
Dorian! Now! We’re under attack!
“Ugh! Whatever. I’m coming. Geez.”
The sulfuric stench of dark magic filled my nose. A red flash of light flew from the sea and slammed into the island. A building near the shore exploded into shards of wood and pieces of plaster.
“They’re getting through,” Char said to me. No kidding.
Dorian dropped from the air to my side with Sasha in his arms, apparently having flown here. I reached my mind out to the mansion and found no signatures there.
“Get inside the council hall,” I told my son, but he ignored me again, his gaze locked on the Daemoni in the distance.
I wanted to shove him away and prevent him from ever setting eyes on them again, but I didn’t have time for the argument. My mind scanned the entire northern half of the island from the beach to the forest to the cliffs to be sure no one remained before I gave the orders. That part of the island was clear of any mind signatures. Perfect.
Tighten the shield to only surround the village, I ordered Owen.
“But the mansion—” He began to argue.
There’s nobody there. Just protect the people. Another flash of light hit a second building. People poured out of the pub next to it, screaming with panic and running up the hill toward the council hall. Do it, Owen, before it’s too late!
More spells soared through, one hitting an old cypress that exploded into slivers. Another hit the blacksmith’s shop not too far below us, taking out one side of it. The people running up the hill dropped to the ground or scattered between the buildings, fleeing the main street. Tristan swept Dorian and me into his arms and plastered us to the ground, making us smaller targets as another spell headed straight for us. It soared over our prone bodies and took out what sounded like a tree behind us, but I couldn’t get up to look.
The odor of Daemoni and dark magic faded, and the next round of spells ricocheted seemingly in midair. Owen and his mage team must have strengthened our magical armor. Sounds of explosions from the north side of the island meant they had, indeed, contracted the shield to protect the people. That was okay, as long as they were safe. Although millennia of history filled the halls of the matriarch’s
mansion, ultimately it consisted of only stones and material possessions. We could always rebuild it.
The attack on the northern side of the island lasted for several more minutes. Knowing we were safe here, though, Tristan and I sprang to our feet to check on our people. I reached my mind out for everyone on my team—Owen, Char, Blossom and Jax, Vanessa, and Sheree—and found them safe and sound. Blossom, Jax, and Sheree were already helping some of the Amadis in the lower part of town who’d been hurt from debris. Vanessa stood on the roof of the council hall, her fists on her hips and her ice-blue eyes staring hard at the Daemoni on the other side of the shield.
“They’re all warlocks,” she said after she jumped down to stand next to Sasha, who had already grown to her extra-large size, towering over all of us. “All of their best mages.”
I reached my mind out to those on the other side of the shield, bracing myself for entering the Daemoni’s putrid minds that filled me with the worst kind of dread. I pushed past the darkness and listened to their plans.