Power (Soul Savers) (30 page)

“Where was your vampire hearing then?” I spat at her.
“Surely you heard plans, and now Tristan’s like this for
no reason
.”

She held her hand out in front of her face and studied her
nails. “I thought there’s a reason for everything. Isn’t that what you and the
tiger are always preaching?”

I inhaled deeply, trying to control my anger, and shrugged
Owen off of me.

“Are you going to help us or not?” I asked through clenched
teeth.

“Not. Just forget the idea of getting your hands on that
stone.”

“I can’t forget it! We
need
it. Our lives—including yours—are at stake.” I stared at her,
waiting for her to do the right thing, but she simply stared back at me. I
rocked back on my heels. “I think you’re bluffing. You know where it is.”

“No, I don’t. A warlock took it from me to deliver to more
powerful hands, not the mage coven in South Beach.”

“But if it’s not there, then how did they affect Tristan so
badly?”

Vanessa narrowed her icy eyes, finally showing at least some
interest. She spoke slowly, deliberately. “Very powerful, very dark magic. The
mages in South Beach only needed to be energized by a source of extreme power.
A sorcerer or sorceress, who could be anywhere in the world.”

Well, at least now we were getting somewhere.

“Kali,” I said. “Is that who they took it to?”

“No, that wasn’t the plan, at the time anyway. And you
better hope it doesn’t get to her or she to it. After Lucas and the
Ancients—” she practically spit the words as if they tasted bad on her
tongue “—Kali’s the most powerful, most dangerous, most formidable
Daemoni.”

My turn to shrug. “We beat her once. She can’t be all that bad.”

With vampire speed, Vanessa suddenly stood right in my face,
so close her breath fluttered my hair as she spoke. “In
your
house, surrounded by
your
people. And now she’s pretty fucking pissed off after what you did to her.
Don’t
underestimate her.”

I took a step back and threw my hands in the air. “Okay.
Whatever. At the moment, I don’t care about her. I care about the stone, and
you said she doesn’t have it.”

“
Yet
. She doesn’t
have it yet or you’d know it. But you’ll never be able to retrieve the stone
now, so you may as well kiss it goodbye.”

“Yeah, well, there’s a bit of a problem with that idea,” I
said. “We don’t have a choice. I’m sure you heard, with those vampire ears of
yours, what’s going to happen if we don’t get it back.”

Vanessa nodded. “Yeah, I did. Killing machine and all that.”

My eyes bugged at her nonchalant attitude. “Yeah,
all
that
.
We have to do something, Vanessa. Just tell me where the stone is, and I’ll get
it myself.”

She let out a dry chuckle.

“Don’t you get it? You’re supposed to be so smart.” She
shook her head in mock disappointment, then she stepped back into my space.
“What Mr.-Not-in-Control-of-Himself so conveniently forgot to mention is that
even if they don’t figure out the value of the stone right away, they do know two
things: you need it and you’ll come after it.”

I pulled up straight at this.
Crap. Crap, crap, crap on a crap-flavored biscuit.

“They’re using it as bait,” I said.

Vanessa nodded as she looked at me with those piercing blue
eyes. “So,
princess
, you can spread
’em wide or bend over. Either way, you’re fucked.”

Vanessa’s crass words clenched my gut and twisted until I
felt sick, not because of their vulgarity, but because of their truth.
What are we going to do?
Although
Tristan had calmed down, he wouldn’t let me release him from the shackles. He
proved why any time someone came too close to him—he’d work himself into
a frenzy, bucking and writhing against his chains and lashing out, even snapping
with his teeth. I couldn’t leave him like that forever, though, and if the
Daemoni really gained control and he lost it completely, the chains may as well
have been made of straw. He’d break right through them and have at us all he
wanted. And for that to happen was only a matter of time.

But going after the pendant myself was likely suicide or
worse—being captured and held by the Daemoni. Which would leave Tristan
still vulnerable anyway, Dorian lost forever, and Mom and Rina to deal with the
consequences. Even if I did decide to take the risk, I had no idea where to
look for the stone. Vanessa refused to cooperate and share anything she might
know, always telling me that keeping her secrets to herself was for my own
good. But I really thought she did it to keep Owen right where she wanted him—my
anger flared every time she refused, causing Owen to stand by her side, rather
than mine.

My cell phone rang as I lay in the bed in Tristan’s room two
days later, trying to catch up on a little sleep. His head jerked up at the
sound, which had apparently woken him. I groaned as I blindly reached for the
phone. He was peaceful when he slept. For the most part, anyway. Unfortunately,
whoever had the stone didn’t let him sleep much. I glanced at the number and
knew I had to take the call, so I quietly slipped out of the room, feeling his
glare on me the whole time.

“Hi, Mom,” I answered. “Please tell me you have good news.”

With simply too much going on here, I finally confessed
everything to her and Rina the other night —Vanessa, Tristan, the stone,
Bree’s theory, the Daemoni’s scheme. They praised my ability to handle things
so well, but to say they were concerned was an understatement. We’d left off
our previous conversation with their plans to find out if we could do anything
about Tristan without actually sending out a search party for the stone.

“I’m not sure if you’d call it ‘good,’” she said. “but there
might be a way to sever the connection between Tristan and the stone.”

I contained a
whoop
of joy, only because of her tone. “Sounds like good news to me, so what’s the
problem?”

“Well, it’s possible for a mage to shield Tristan’s heart
and disconnect it from the stone, but it means dulling
all
of his emotions.
Everything
he feels for you and from you—”

I sucked in a breath. “Forever?”

“Nobody’s sure. The shield is only temporary, but the
effects can be permanent.”

But he needed to know I loved him. That knowledge kept him
strong, especially during times such as right now. If he didn’t feel love
forever, what would happen to him?

“I don’t think that’s an option, Mom,” I said.

“It might have to be. Unless we’re able to get the stone
back, we might not have a choice.”

“So you’re forming a search party?”

Mom sighed. “Not yet. Rina has ordered me to, but I don’t
have anyone to spare at the moment. Char would be willing to lead a team if I
asked her, especially if it brought her to Kali, but I’m afraid her emotions
will override her logic. Her team would probably be okay, but I’d never forgive
myself if she sacrificed herself for revenge. Besides, we need her where she
is. And I don’t have anyone else I feel confident about facing a possible
sorcerer.”

I ended the call feeling worse than I had before. Not
wanting to disturb Tristan again, I looked for Sheree, but couldn’t find her,
so I told Bree I was going for a walk and to call if they needed me. I headed
straight for the beach, kicking my shoes off and relishing the feel of the sand
between my toes. The Gulf’s low waves lapped lazily at the shore, the sound
almost immediately soothing my nerves. The caress of the late winter sun also
tried its best to relax me. Unfortunately, I found no answers written in the
wet sand, no messages in a bottle to tell me what to do. And the beach wasn’t
enough of a distraction. But I knew who would be.

“Dorian?” I called out as I entered the backdoor of our
house.

I hadn’t had the pleasure of spending much time at home
lately, unable to leave Tristan all chained up like an animal while I
luxuriated in the comforts of our home. I never knew what I could do to repay
Blossom and Heather for all the time they spent with Dorian, watching him for
me, but I would have to find a way. I also needed to find a way to repent with
my son himself for all the time we’ve spent apart.

“Blossom?” I called when Dorian didn’t answer. I frowned.
The house was empty. My mind felt no signatures except Sasha’s. The lykora sat
at my feet, looking up at me with puppy-dog eyes.
Weird
. Dorian never went anywhere without her.

Where could they be?
I’d just been on the beach, so I knew they weren’t there. I called the safe
house. Although I kept Dorian away from the safe house as much as possible, if
they’d needed something, maybe they’d gone there after I left, and we’d crossed
paths. I was about to nix that idea because nobody was answering, but then Bree
picked up.

“No, Dorian’s not here,” she said. “I haven’t seen him or
Blossom since yesterday.”

“Did you find Sheree?” I asked as my heart picked up speed.
Something’s wrong
. The frightening
feeling began creeping under my skin.

“No. She’s nowhere in the mansion. I can’t sense her at all.
Maybe she went to the store or the coffeehouse? Maybe she just needed to get
out for a few.”

“She never goes anywhere without telling me. What about
Owen?”

Bree didn’t answer at first. “I don’t sense him here,
either.”

I told myself that was a good thing. Dorian must have been
with them, and he’d be safe with them, especially with Owen. But where could
they have gone? Why hadn’t anyone told me? My heart rate spiked again. This
didn’t feel right. My finger could barely tap the buttons on the phone as I
tried to dial Owen’s number. No answer. I tried Blossom’s. Again, no answer.
Sheree’s went straight to voicemail, which wasn’t even set up. She rarely left
the safe house, so hadn’t bothered with it yet.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. My
throat tightened as I thought of all the possibilities. What if something had
happened to Dorian? Maybe he was hurt when Heather was watching him and not
knowing any better, she took him to the hospital. I shook my head. No. Heather
would
know better. Besides, Dorian could
heal himself before they’d even get to the hospital, and that didn’t explain
everyone else’s absences. I could barely scroll through the contacts on my
phone, searching for Heather’s number, as more possibilities shot through my
mind.

He ran away, mad at us for not giving him enough attention.
He’d been practicing his flying, as we had reluctantly allowed him to do, and
he’d gone beyond Owen’s cloak so they were all searching for him. He was bored
and demanded all of them to take him to the village on Captiva for something to
do and their phones were off. All of them. Maybe the batteries were drained.

But no. Those were all stupid excuses my mind created while
trying to suppress the one and only real possibility: the Daemoni had come for
him.

Strange choking sounds barked through the empty house. They
came from me. Strangled sobs trying to make their way out of my constricted
throat.

“Dorian!” I screamed.
Oh,
God, no
. I ran through the house, throwing open every single door, looking,
looking, looking. Sasha ran at my heels, barking. “Where is he, Sasha? Where’s
my baby?”

Tears flooded my eyes as I charged into his room, tripping
over toys scattered on the floor. I collapsed on the unmade bed, pulled the
covers to my chest and sobbed.
What am I
going to do? What will I tell Tristan? Oh, God, my baby!
Sasha cuddled next
to me and licked my tears away, but they gushed too fast for her to keep up.

“No, no,
no
! I
can’t do this. Dorian, please …”

“Please what, Mom?”

I bolted out of the bed and swiped at my eyes.

“Dorian?” I could hardly believe what I saw, but there he
was, standing in the doorway.

“What?” His cocked his head. “What’s the matter, Mom?”

I lunged at him and swept him into my arms, lifting him off
the ground and spinning in circles. I kissed him all over his face.

“Mom, what’s going on?” he demanded. “Put me down already.”

His annoyed tone shocked me back to reality. I put him back
on his feet as my heart finally stopped racing. I took a step back, put my
fists on my hips and narrowed my eyes.

“Where on earth have you been? Do you have any idea how
worried I was?” I shook a finger in his face.

“Universal Studios. Since you and Dad couldn’t bother to
take me, Uncle Owen, Sheree, and Blossom did.”

I recoiled with the verbal smack. “
What?
”

He lifted his chin, a look of triumph all over his face.
“Yep. They took me and Heather. We didn’t want to
bother
you with permission.”

The grief and longing fell away. Far, far away. Anger
bubbled up in my chest. Tristan’s condition and my frustrations had sent me
into panic mode over Dorian’s absence, and I admittedly overreacted. Okay, I
freaked the hell out. I didn’t even use all my gifts to search for him, but
jumped to the worst conclusion. But that emotional outburst paled to the anger
I felt now. Which was one-hundred-percent, unequivocally justified.

“You, young man, stay right here. You will
not
leave this room until I say.” I
stomped out of his bedroom toward the kitchen where I found Owen and Blossom.

Blossom took one look at my face and bolted for the backdoor.
“I need to take Heather home and Sheree back to the safe house.”

She didn’t wait for a response, swinging the door shut
behind her.

“Are you trying to
kill
me, Owen?” I shrieked. “What were you thinking?”

He gave a casual shrug. “Dorian’s been begging to go, and
you and Tristan can’t exactly take him. I thought I’d do the uncle thing and
help you all out.”