Faith (Soul Savers Book 7) (33 page)

I sighed with the
relief that small kiss brought. “I just need more of that.”

He took off my boots
and leathers, and he gave me exactly what I needed—love and
comfort. After a night with him and regenerating in his arms, I felt
fine the next day. But as I’d promised, we went to see Carlie.
He and Charlotte had been concerned for a while, anyway, and,
honestly, I couldn’t argue. I had to admit something had
changed in the last week or so.

“She feels more
active to me, but Tristan can’t feel her anymore,” I
explained to Carlie as she had me lay on the exam table.

“I still can’t
believe either of you felt her as early as you did,” she said.

“She’s our
power baby.” Tristan gloated from my side as he held my hand
like any good expecting father would do.

“She has to be to
come into this world,” I mumbled, and Tristan frowned.

“I’m
worried about her heart, though,” he said. “None of us
can hear it anymore. If Alexis didn’t still feel her kicking
around …”

He trailed off, unable
or unwilling to voice the worst-case scenario of another pending
miscarriage. Carlie frowned, too, as she pushed around on my nearly
flat belly.

“Unless I just
have bad gas, trust me, she’s still alive and kicking.
Literally.”

Without a reply, Carlie
donned a stethoscope and placed the cold disc against my skin. She
moved it around several times, the crease between her brows deepening
with each move.

“That’s
odd,” she murmured. “I can pick up the heartbeat, but
it’s really faint. And there’s something …
Tristan, there’s another scope in that box. Come listen.”

Tristan shouldn’t
have needed a stethoscope, but he found the one Carlie indicated in a
box on the counter, and then both of them hovered over my belly,
sliding their discs around.

“Huh.”
Tristan looked up at me with interest in his eyes. “I can hear
it now.”

“It’s so
faint,” Carlie said. “And now come over here.”

She moved his end an
inch or so over. After a moment of listening, his eyes darkened and
his mouth pressed into a scowl.

“I don’t
like that look,” I said. “What’s wrong?”

“You hear it,
too?” Carlie asked Tristan, and he nodded. “Well, lucky
for us, Owen was finally able to fix the ultrasound machine the
hunters brought back weeks ago. Let’s take a peek.”

A few minutes later,
after Carlie turned off every light and electrical device in the
medical unit so she could power the ultrasound machine, I again lay
on my back with cold jelly being smeared on my abdomen.

“I’ve had a
little training on reading these things, but it wasn’t exactly
my forte,” she warned as she pressed the wand against my skin.
“Do you know how, Tristan?”

“Not so much, but
between the two of us, we should surely be able to figure it out.”

They took turns moving
the wand around while strange noises sounded in their throats.

“I didn’t
think it would be this hard,” Tristan said.

“The placenta
seems unusually thick, I think.” Carlie’s brows pinched
together. “Would that be possible with you guys?”

Tristan’s
forehead wrinkled as he looked at me, one corner of his mouth
lifting. “Maybe she has a little more supernatural protection
after what happened last time.”

The Angels?
I
wondered. “Well, that would be nice. Good news for once. So why
the frowns earlier?”

A moment later, when
Tristan moved the device lower, Carlie answered with a little squeal
as she clapped her hands together, her eyes transfixed to the screen.
“There it is!”

I studied the monotone
image, trying to figure out what she saw in the gray blobs surrounded
by a black area at the bottom of what looked like a tunnel of more
gray. “What?”

She placed her hand
over Tristan’s on the wand and moved it to highlight one of the
gray, peanut-shaped blobs. Something small flashed in it. “One,”
she said, and then she moved to the other peanut with another pulsing
smudge. “Two.”

My breath caught as I
realized what she meant, and my eyes remained locked on the screen.
My own heart forgot to beat for several of those blips on the
monitor.

“No,” I
said, shaking my head, refusing to believe it. “This can’t
be.”

“You’re
having twins, Alexis!” Carlie said excitedly.

I shook my head harder,
tears springing to my eyes. My voice came out in a hoarse whisper.
“That’s not good. I can’t do this again.”

“Carlie, can give
you us a moment?” Tristan asked as he passed her the wand, and
then picked up my hand between his and brought it to his lips, his
darkened eyes never leaving mine.

“Of course. Just
let me take a quick look.” She moved the wand around for what
felt like an eternity but was probably only a minute or so. My lungs
refused to function, and my hand tightened around Tristan’s
with every second that passed while I tried to suppress the tears.
“From what I can tell, everything seems to be okay. I can’t
see gender on the one, though. He or she’s behind the—”
She paused and looked at us. “Do you want to know?”

“We already
know,” Tristan said quietly.

“Oh. Um, okay.”
She handed me a tissue to clean off my belly. “I know twins are
a lot of work, but if anyone can handle it, you two can.”

She squeezed my
shoulder before leaving us.

Tristan sat on the exam
table and gathered me into his arms. We held on to each other
tightly, as though if we let go, we might fall to pieces.

“At least we’re
certain there are two babies,” he said after a while, his voice
thick with the same emotions roiling through me. “No tricks
this time.”

“If we’re
lucky, which we never are.”

“They’re
protected.”

I sniffled and wiped my
eyes against his shirt. “But even if we keep them, we
have
to break the curse. I …
we
can’t lose our sons.”

He pressed his lips to
my forehead before tucking my head under his chin. “Do you
remember on our honeymoon when you talked about the children you
wanted?”

I closed my eyes,
recalling the beautiful memory clearly. We’d lay in bed in the
Caribbean room at the beach house, discussing our future. That was
back before I knew hardly anything about our world.

“I’d wanted
a boy so badly, one just like you, and I have him. Or, I did. You
said then that a son was a bad idea, and I get it now. God, do I ever
get it.” I opened my eyes and tilted my head to see his face.
“Not that I regret having Dorian at all, but it just goes to
show we should be careful what we wish for.”

He pulled his head back
enough to look down at me. “You’d said you wanted three
or four children.”

“And you said
that was impossible.”

“Right. And now
look.”

I’d have my
three, four if we counted the one I lost—actually five, if
Satan’s story to Tristan had been true—but we’d be
lucky if we could keep one. I sighed. “Again—be careful
what you wish for.”

He brushed his lips
over my cheekbone. “I prefer the cliché of anything is
possible.”

After a moment of
pondering his unending optimism, I nodded and said with
determination, “Including breaking the curse.”

News about the twins
traveled quickly, and while the Normans found the prospect exciting,
the Amadis among us knew what this meant. My team, especially, loved
Dorian and understood the heartbreak I already suffered … and
the intensifying need to stop Dorian and break the curse.

A few days later, Char
came rushing into the training room where Tristan and I had been
leading an Aikido class. “We have news on the radio. Hurry.”

While Tristan dismissed
class, I mentally called out to the rest of the council in The Loft,
and we met them in the radio room at the command post up front.

“This news is for
anyone listening, hopefully including the mother ship one,” the
man on the radio said, referring to The Loft here, since I was the
mother. “Movement has been seen toward the land of the great
white. Almost seems to be a migration. Take note.” He paused,
then started the message again.

“Daemoni are
moving toward Hades,” Tristan translated.

I nodded. “The
great white of Siberia.”

“Why?”
Blossom asked. “What do you think’s going on?”

Dread sent a shiver up
my spine when the answer hit me. “This must be one of the signs
the matriarchs told me about. Lucas must be getting ready to act.
Which means Dorian—”

“Let’s not
jump to conclusions,” Charlotte interrupted. “Daemoni
heading to Hades may not mean anything. There could be many reasons
for them to go to their biggest city.”

“He said a
migration,” I pointed out.

“Which is
different than a swarm or a rush,” Char said. “They’re
moving slowly. Right now, it doesn’t sound urgent.”

“Agreed,”
Tristan said. “It’s just information at this time. But
that could change.”

“We should check
it out,” I said to him. “See for ourselves what’s
going on.”

He nodded. “Maybe
find out Lucas’s plans.”

Charlotte pointed at
me. “
You’re
not going anywhere.”

“Don’t be
like the others,” I said harshly. “You know damn well
that I am. Tristan and I are the only ones who
can
go.”

“Hey,” Owen
protested. “Vanessa and I did fine before we found you.”

I turned to look at him
while crossing my arms over my chest. “So you’re going to
open a portal to Hades and let a sorcerer or Lucas trap you?”

“Fuck no,”
Vanessa replied before Owen could open his mouth.

“We’ll have
to eventually,” he said. “If we’re going to battle
at some point. Why not beat them there now?”

“Because we’re
not talking about going to battle,” Vanessa said. “You’re
talking about the two of us going there alone to scope things out. On
land.
Alone
.”

Tristan rubbed his
chin. “She’s right. We need more intelligence before you
take the risk of a portal and getting stuck there like we did last
time. We won’t take the chance until we’re ready for that
point of no return.”

“Tristan and I
can do a flyover, maybe pick a few brains, and get back,” I
said.

“You hope,”
Charlotte corrected.

I tossed my hands in
the air. “We have a better chance than anyone else here.”

“We’re
stronger than ever, Char,” Tristan said, clapping his hand on
his own shoulder, gesturing to his wings. “Alexis is right. We
can be there and back. Trust me—nothing will happen to her and
our children.”

With only a scowl as a
reply, she turned her back on us and strode out of the room.

“I’m with
Char on this,” Sheree said, her eyes sad as she looked at me
before hobbling through the door.

Blossom stood up.
“Sorry, Alexis, but I am, too. Maybe you should let someone
else do the dirty work for a change.”

“My life is no
more valuable than anyone else’s.”

She glanced down at my
belly. “Considering there are
three
lives in that
package, yes, your body
is
more valuable.”

She left, too, and I
stood there in shock for several long moments while those who
remained in the room stayed silent. With a split vote, Tristan would
be the tiebreaker, although the final decision always belonged to me.
But I didn’t think this was really a split vote. Owen, Vanessa,
and Jax showed their support of whatever I decided by staying here,
but that didn’t mean they liked it.

Tristan broke the
silence. “Since we agree it’s not urgent yet, why don’t
we wait a few days or so before we go? Let Robin and the other
were-birds continue watching.”

“You were just
all for us going,” I argued. “You know we can do this.”

“Yes, we can. And
eventually, probably soon, we’ll
have
to. But for now,
you should probably listen to your council’s advice.” He
lifted his brow as I stared at him, and I opened my mind to his. “
You
need them one-hundred-percent behind you when the time comes. Show
that you can listen.
”

I blew out a harsh
breath.

“Okay, fine,”
I acquiesced. “Have Robin and the others gather intelligence
for now. But if something changes, we’re out of here.”

Giving in to their
wishes went a long way with my team, which was good because less than
a week later, something did change. Daemoni moved more rapidly and in
larger numbers toward Siberia and Hades, according to the reports
coming in on the radio. And then Robin showed up.

“I wanted to come
tell you myself,” she said as soon as she saw me with Tristan
on my heels as we entered the command post room. “Lucas has
been sighted.”

My stomach tumbled with
fear. “Is Dorian … with him?

“Not that anybody
saw. We found it bizarre, though, that Lucas was moving to the east,
away from Hades.”

“While everyone
else is headed toward there,” Tristan said, as though finishing
her thought.

“Exactly.”

I clutched Tristan’s
arm. “He might be going after Dorian, tired of waiting on him.”

“That would be
stupid of him,” Tristan said. “He knows Dorian must come
to him. To the Ancients, more precisely.”

“Unless he
doesn’t care about winning Dorian over and only wants him to
open the Gates to Hell.”

Robin made a noise that
sounded like a freaked-out chirp. “
What?
”

Tristan eyed me. I
threw up my hands. “The time has come for our people to know.
From the sounds of things, we won’t be able to keep it from
them much longer.”

So we told Robin about
Lucas’s need for Dorian to open the Gates to Hell and bring
Satan to Earth, knowing she’d spread the word to the groups
hiding around the world.

“Keep this among
the Amadis only,” I ordered her. “The Normans will
panic.”