Power (Soul Savers) (13 page)

And just like that, Blossom had our conversation turned in a
whole different direction.

“Sonya’s still in early recovery mode, which means she’s
more like a zombie than a vampire, pretty much doing nothing but listening to
Sheree’s lessons. Charlotte’s busy with all the other safe houses, which are
staying pretty full with the Daemoni attacks. They’re definitely trying to
build an army.”

“And we do the same, which takes away from their numbers,
right?”

“Right. So Charlotte’s working her butt off and all the
other safe houses are so full, they can’t spare any team members to join me
down here. I can’t help them, though, because I’m not experienced enough, but
Char’s too busy to train me. It’s a catch-22.” My annoyance rose, causing my
brush to slip and paint a streak of pale aqua on the white ceiling. I swore to
myself. “I supposedly have all this power, but I’m completely useless.”

Blossom murmured something under her breath, and the blue
streak on the ceiling disappeared. “So why don’t you go into the field?”

I sighed. “You know me. I can’t leave Dorian for that long.
Besides, Rina says Tristan and I are only to leave here to retrieve the pendant
since we have no protector. But still, the stupid vampire bitch plays her game
of hide-and-seek.”

Over the last couple of months, Blossom had watched Dorian a
few times while Tristan and I tried to find Vanessa in her normal hangouts, but
if she were anywhere around, we couldn’t draw the vampire out from her hiding
spot. I thought she would have given in by now, too obsessed with killing me to
stay away, but she either had more self-control than any of us gave her credit
for, or she was distracted by something even bigger and better than we could
imagine. Which was a pretty scary thought, considering the last time we knew of
her whereabouts, Owen had been with her.

I still hadn’t figured out that whole situation, and I tried
to follow everyone’s advice not to worry—“he can take care of
himself”—but my heart still ached for him. His voicemail greeting changed
every now and then, which meant he was at least alive and kicking. I called or
texted him daily, hoping this might be the time he answered. He hadn’t answered
yet. I began to believe he truly hated me for what I’d done to his father.

“Yeah, it all pretty much sucks,” I said. “At least if I had
a team here, I’d feel like I was somehow helping the cause.” A thought occurred
to me then. “Blossom, you were born into the Amadis, right?”

The witch looked up at me as she finished the last patch of
our first wall, a strange expression on her face. She seemed to ponder whether
to tell me something, but then, after a deep breath, she let it all spill.

“Sort of. I was never part of the Daemoni, if that’s what
you mean. My father—sperm donor, as you’d call him—was a Daemoni
wizard who raped my Norman mother. Aunt Sylvie, his sister, had converted to
Amadis years before, and she found out about my mother, took her in until I was
born, then changed her memories so she thought she’d miscarried and sent her on
her way.”

“Wow,” I breathed. “How horrible.”

“Yeah. Rape is pretty common among the Daemoni. Sick
bastards.”

A thought needled into my brain, and my stomach clenched.
Had Tri
—
 
I immediately pushed the thought away. I
didn’t know if I ever wanted that answer.

“How awful that you never knew either of your parents,
though,” I said. “Why did your aunt do that to you and your mother?
How
could she do that to you?”

“Good intentions, believe me. If my father found out he’d
gotten my mother pregnant, he’d come after me, knowing I’d have magic. He would
have killed her and raised me Daemoni, and Aunt Sylvie wouldn’t allow that.
Yeah, I’m a result of a really effed-up situation.” She shrugged. “But Aunt Sylvie
loves me, even when she’s annoyed at my screw-ups. She and the rest of the
coven raised me well.”

I climbed down the ladder and moved it to the next wall,
then returned the conversation to the idea I’d had. “So did Sylvie ever teach
you to use your Amadis power?”

“In case you couldn’t tell when you met her last year, Aunt
Sylvie isn’t big on getting involved like that. She and her coven prefer
staying out of the limelight.”

“Hmm … is it something—”

“Hey, Mom!” Dorian yelled as he ran into the living room,
Sasha right on his heels.

“Hey, little man,” I said. “Watch out for the wet—”

Too late. Sasha’s tail swished across the wall we’d just
painted, leaving an ugly streak in the paint and a pretty blue tint on the tip
of her white tail.

“Um, maybe you two should go to your room,” I said.

“But I wanted to show you what I taught Sasha. Will you
watch?”

I lowered my brush and nodded. With a big smile, one I’d
give anything to see the rest of my life, my son proceeded to kneel down on all
fours. The lykora, looking like a normal white dog at the moment, stood next to
him, both of their butts toward Blossom and me.

“Ready, Sasha?” Dorian said, and Sasha bobbed her head. “1 …
2 … 3.”

They both let out the loudest farts I’d ever heard. Dorian
howled with laughter as he rolled on the floor, and Sasha danced circles around
him, barking and wagging her tail with pride.

“I taught her how to fart on command!” Dorian gasped with
glee, as if that was the best and funniest trick ever.

Speechless, I looked sideways at Blossom, whose body
silently quaked as she held her hand over her mouth.

“Boys,” I whispered, shaking my head, and unable to keep it
in any longer, we both doubled over with laughter, joining Dorian’s hoots.

“Sasha, that is so unladylike,” I admonished the lykora as I
wiped my eyes.

“She’s not a lady, Mom. She’s a dog! And the best one ever.”
Dorian threw his arms around Sasha’s neck, and she returned his love with a
tongue up the side of his face. “Mom, I think our guy in our book needs to have
a pet dragon.”

“A dragon?” I asked, confused. He referred to the children’s
story we were writing together. The book would probably never get published
since there was no Amadis purpose for Rina and Mom to pull their strings with
their contacts, but it gave Dorian and me something to work on together. He
enjoyed that part of his language studies, but his comment came out of the
blue. “Why not a dog?”

“Duh, Mom. Because a dragon can fart fire!”

Blossom still hadn’t stopped giggling and this idea made her
crack up harder, sending Dorian and me into hysterics again, too. Dorian abruptly
quieted.

“Mom,” he said, and my laughter stopped immediately at the
serious tone of his voice. “What’s wrong with Sasha?”

The dog stood at the window now, her nose pressed against the
glass. Her all-white fur began to show shades of her lykora stripes. Dorian
hurried over to see what she saw, but the hair on the nape of my neck already
began to rise.

“What’s out there?” I managed to ask over the lump in my
throat.

“Two babes getting out of a taxi,” Dorian said. “They have
funny hair, though. One’s blue and the other’s purple.”

I blurred to the window.
Crap.
Crap, crap, crap.

“Dorian, you need to go to your room now. I’m sure you have
more studies to do,” I said, kneeling down to stroke Sasha’s back. My fingers
grazed over knobby ridges where her wings would come out, and her baby powder scent
filled my nostrils, stronger than usual with her heightened awareness. “It’s
okay, girl,” I whispered.

“But I want to meet the pretty girls,” Dorian whined.

“Maybe later,” I said absently, watching the faeries as they
paid the cabdriver. “Now go.”

I picked up Sasha and whispered in her ear. “Protect.”

She bounded out of my hands and trailed Dorian down the hall
to his room. The faeries had never done anything to hurt us—had in fact
helped us more than once—but they couldn’t be trusted. The only faerie we
could trust completely was Bree.

“Should I get Tristan?” Blossom asked, standing next to me
at the window.

I considered it for only a moment. “Nah. I need to be able
to take care of things on my own.”

Blossom peered at me with doubt. “Faeries, though? Are you
sure?”

I nodded. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

“You don’t even want to know.” She shook her head. “I’m
staying, though. I’m not leaving you alone with them.”

The doorbell rang, and Blossom accompanied me to the front
door. The faerie sisters beamed beautifully, both dressed in halters,
short-shorts and four-inch-high wedge sandals, looking like models ready for a
shoot on the beach.

“Hey, Alexis!” Lisa, the blue-haired faerie, exclaimed, her
southern drawl pronounced. “How ahr yew?”

I blinked. “Um, fine, I suppose.”

“Not happay to say us?” Jessica asked, a fake pout on her
lips painted the same lilac color of her hair.

“Oh, no, of course not. I mean, it’s always good to see
you,” I stammered. I stepped back from the door. “Please, come in.”

The faeries pushed past Blossom and me as they sauntered
inside and down the hall, their heads bobbing to and fro as they unabashedly
scrutinized my house worse than a mother-in-law.

“We’re painting,” I said, as if the mess didn’t make it
obvious. “It’ll dry if we don’t keep going, so if you don’t mind …”

I led them into the half-painted living room where they both
stood off to the side since I’d removed all the furniture.

“Um … I don’t think I have any tea. Would you like some
water?”

“Water will do,” Jessia said.

“No lemon, though,” Lisa quickly added with a stunning
smile.

They each sank down onto the covered floor as I went into the
kitchen to fill two glasses with ice cubes and water.

“So what’s up?” I asked as I handed the glasses to the
faeries, trying to be calm and casual.

“Well, aren’t ya’ll business?” Jessica said with a giggle.

I picked up my paintbrush and dipped it into the pan.
“Somehow I doubt you’re here for a girls’ night out.”

Lisa’s face lit up. “Oh! Wouldn’t that bay so much fun?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jessica agreed. “Alexis, you should totally go
out with us some time.”

“Um …”
Crap
. What
had I gotten myself into? I couldn’t imagine these two in a club full of single
men. Utter chaos I didn’t want to be a part of. “Maybe sometime. But that’s not
really why you came, though. Is it?”

“Oh, of course not. We do have a few things to discuss.”
Lisa looked over at Blossom, who had resumed painting, and back at me.

“Blossom can stay,” I said. “She pretty much knows
everything. I trust her.”

The words came out of my mouth before I realized what I was
saying, but I knew they were true. Blossom had proven herself trustworthy time
and again.

Jessica cocked her head as she studied Blossom. “Huh. Are we
seeing the beginnin’s of your council, Ms. Alexis?”

My face heated. The idea of needing my own council when I
became matriarch seemed so far off that I’d never considered it. Rina’s council
was largely made up of those she’d known the longest, those she trusted more
than anyone. I supposed Blossom was that to me. Maybe she
would
be part of my council.

“I guess we’ll see one of these days,” I finally said as I
climbed the ladder and looked down on them. “But let’s focus on right now. Did
you find Owen?”

The faeries exchanged a significant look. Lisa spoke first.

“We did. We tried to distract him, as you requested when we
were on the Amadis Island, but he was, well … we didn’t have the same effect on
him as we used to,” she said cryptically.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“He wouldn’t cooperate,” Jessica said. “We tried to have a
little fun with him, but in the end, we couldn’t get him to return to the
Amadis.”

“Well, I know that much already because, obviously, he’s not
here and you are. So where is he?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the faeries exchange
another look, then shrug.

“Not our place to get involved anymore,” Lisa said. I fought
a groan of exasperation.

“Then why are you here?” I demanded, flipping my hand out.
Paint spattered off the tip of my brush, and the faeries jumped to their feet
and moved backward a few paces, out of harm’s way.

Lisa put her fist on her hip. “We’re here to collect. You
owe us.”

I turned on the ladder to stare at them with my mouth
hanging open. “But you just said you failed!”

Jessica’s pretty lips lifted into an ugly grimace. “We
didn’t fail. It’s not our fault he didn’t cooperate. We went out of our way,
did everything we could at your request and now you owe us.”

“But you didn’t deliver!” I protested.

“You dare
deny
us?” Jessica snarled, and I pulled back, not realizing I’d been leaning halfway
off the ladder toward them. “Don’t be stupid, young one. You do
not
want to ignore faeries calling on
your debt.”

Lisa placed a hand on Jessica’s arm. “Relax, little sister.
Let’s tell her what we want first. She’ll come ’round.”

I narrowed my eyes. Maybe repaying them wouldn’t be so bad.
“What do you want?”

“Well,” Lisa began, “if ya’ll haven’t figured it out, Kali the
sorceress is still alive and well. Her soul had found its way off the Amadis
Island and into a new host. A young, redheaded Daemoni witch.”

I shifted on the ladder, mostly to fight the shiver trying
to make its way up my back. “And?”

“We want her soul,” Jessica said bluntly.

My eyebrows popped up. “Seriously?”

“It’s not right, what she can do, moving herself from body
to body. It puts everythin’ off balance, and we in the spirit realm require
balance.”

“So you want me to
convert
her?”

The faeries laughed.

“Oh, no,” Lisa said. “There’s no hope for her soul! We want
her soul in
our
possession, so we can
take it to the Otherworld and leave it there.”